Place · mountain

Phnom Kulen

Also known as Kulen hills, Mahendraparvata, Kulen Mountains

Phnom Kulen is a sandstone plateau in Siem Reap province, Cambodia, about 40 kilometres north-east of Angkor. In 802 Jayavarman II held a ceremony there proclaiming himself universal monarch (chakravartin) and Cambodia free of Javanese overlordship, an act traditionally taken as the founding of the Khmer Empire. Known in ancient times as Mahendraparvata, it remains a sacred site, with river-bed carvings of lingas and quarries that supplied stone for Angkor.

Phnom Kulen
Image: Xufanc · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Khmer EmpireFoundation, Summary

Mentioned in 1 state history

Chenla

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Phnom Kulen. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/phnom-kulen
MLA
“Phnom Kulen.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/phnom-kulen. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Phnom Kulen.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/phnom-kulen.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Phnom Kulen’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/phnom-kulen (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻