There seems never to have been a time in Cambodia’s history when Khmers were not fighting each other, or waging war on foreign enemies. For the Classic Khmer period, while Zhou Daguan and the inscribed monuments have little to say on the subject, there is abundant pictorial information on armaments, order of battle and actual warfare in the reliefs of Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Banteay Chhmar. Even the Buddha’s message of peace and his prohibition on the taking of life did not deter Jayavarman VII from glorifying what seems to have been his great and bloody defeat of the Cham invaders in gruesome detail.
The ordinary Khmer soldiers as well as officers might carry a lance; or a bow, with the arrows being held in a quiver; or sabers of different length; or various sizes of knives and daggers; or a kind of halberd known as a phka’k. The latter was basically an iron axe mounted on a long handle curved at one end. At Angkor Wat, the phka’k is held in the hands of high-ranking warriors mounted on elephants or horses; it was still in use in the twentieth century for hunting and work in the forest. Crossbows were known, but are extremely rare in the reliefs.
For personal defence, there were two kinds of shields: round ones ornamented with vegetal or flower motifs, and long ones ornamented on the top border. The latter could be grouped together to form a kind of rampart. Both were probably of wood and hide, with metal plaques. Although most warriors wore only a kind of short-sleeved jacket (sometimes resembling the quilted cotton ‘armour’ in use in Mesoamerica), many were protected by a cylindrical cuirass, often with one or two knives lashed over it for close combat.
Far more sophisticated armament is to be seen on the Bayon and at Banteay Chhmar, especially among the infantry. This includes a ballista, mounted either on elephant back or on a wheeled vehicle that could be rolled onto the field of battle; it consisted of two opposed bows, worked by two men, and shot arrows with tremendous force. Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h, the leading authority on Khmer warfare, believes it may be of Chinese origin. Shield ‘ramparts’ mounted on wheels are another innovation of Jayavarman VII’s reign.
A combat unit consisted of foot soldiers, three to four mounted cavalrymen, and one war elephant. Elephants were reserved for the king and for his highest officers; these stood on roofless, decorated howdahs, with a mahout placed in front to direct the elephant, and wielded various kinds of weapons – the lance-and-shield, the phka’k , or the bow-and-arrow. Cavalry horses were ridden without saddle or stirrups, and during combat the mounted knights often stood on their steeds’ backs. In the great procession depicted at Angkor Wat, the riders (and some infantrymen) were distinguished by headgear in the shape of eagle or deer heads. War chariots were very similar to naga-decorated carts, but were roofless, and drawn by pairs of horses.
Some sections of the Khmer army consisted of foreign mercenaries, such as the colorful Siamese (Thai) unit depicted in the South Gallery relief of Angkor Wat, with their beaded, wig-like headgear and beaded jackets and skirts; these were led by a Thai general mounted on an elephant. Even traditional enemies like the Cham (recognizable from their flower-like headdress) or the Vietnamese could be recruited into the military service of the Angkor state.
The Khmer army on the march must have been an impressive sight – and sound. It was accompanied by military music produced by a huge gong struck by a dwarfish person, long trumpets, bronze castanets, and blasts from conch shells. The ark of Sacred Fire, under the care of Brahmin priest, was carried along into battle, and there were parasols, banners and battle standards. The latter consisted of a staff mounted with the small bronze figure of one of the monkey generals from the Ramayana, or of Vishnu mounted on Garuda, or of Garuda by himself. Supplies and food for the army were brought in covered wagons drawn by bullocks, and even on pack elephants, while pigs were driven along the route of March. There were many camp-followers, perhaps the wives and children of the soldiers. Women of far higher rank traveled with the army in palanquins, rickshaws and sedan chairs.
Great naval battles with the Cham appear on the Bayon and at Banteay Chhmar, both sides employing essentially identical ships embellished with garudas on the prow and nagas on the stern. Each vessel had 20 to 42 rowers plus a steersman, and must have been enormous. These bloody engagements on the waters of the Great Lake included the use of grappling hooks.
Zhou Daguan was unimpressed by Khmer military know-how, denigrating it with the brief statement, ‘Generally speaking, these people have neither discipline nor strategy.