118 We have no idea as to when the seated statue of the Leper King was enshrined on the terrace. According to an oral tradition there used to be a large temple on this terrace, where the seated statue of the Leper King was enshrined. However, as the temple foundation began to collapse due to the heavy downpour of the rainy seasons they hurriedly erected a retaining wall on the outside as reinforcement, which is why a double retaining wall still exists. Since along with other towers on the terrace the large wooden temple also vanished because of battles, it is said that finally the statue of the Leper King alone remained. Eventually, villagers began making offerings to the statue. Despite the fact that people of the EFEO moved this splendid seated statue to the National Museum of Phnom Penh and set up in its place a replica, a smaller seated statue, yet the offerings by the villagers persisted as before. The current seated statue is a second one. On an occasion when the villagers had to flee as refugees they struck the head of the first statue with a hammer, intending to steal just the Leper King’s head. At that time the reinforcing bar of the statue got detached, which is the reason why the real statue of the Leper King is currently in the National Museum of Phnom Penh, enshrined in the central part of the courtyard. It is a gallant and majestic figure, that seems as though to intimidate the other statues. Who indeed was this Leper King? Whether he is truly Jayavarman VII or not is unknown, since until now he has been known only as the Leper King. Nevertheless in 2009, when we packed and moved the statue in order to display it at the Angkor Wat exhibition in Japan (World Heritage Angkor Wat Exhibition, sponsored by the Okada Cultural Foundation), a short inscription was found on its pedestal which read, “Dharmādhipati-Adhirāja, or the Supreme King of Order.” This sitting statue the “God Yama” is a grand masterwork of Cambodian religious art, having a seated height of 153 cm. It is a 12th to 13th century work of sandstone with a round carved pedestal, it has Indian-style whiskers, the upper half of the body is naked, no strict equipment is worn, and genitals are not revealed. The
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