This is a sandstone statue of Yama, Lord of Death. It originated from Angkor Thom in Siem Reap Province, and this now part of the collection of the National Museum of Cambodia.
The date of its creation is unclear, but it is assumed to be dated between the late 12th century and early 13th century, or perhaps much earlier, in the Angkorian era. The statue was first seen in a field northeast of Angkor Thom, and people often called it the Leper King. In that field, near the Angkor Thom palace, there is an elevated site, nicely decorated, where the ancient Khmer erected this statue, they called the Lord of Death. Which is now commonly refer to as the Leper King. When Angkor Thom was abandoned in the middle of the 15th century, this statue was left in the open. When it was found, it was covered in bird dropping and lichens. Its fingers were damaged, and look like those of leprosy patients, leading local to call it the Leper King.
But in fact, this statue is that of Yama. Many people believed that this statue is that of an Angkorian king, or even, perhaps, King Jayavarman VII. Or could have been a statue of one of his sons, who has a similar statue to this one carved after he was killed of leprosy. Nevertheless, there are no records to confirm such assumptions and beliefs. We can, however confirm that this statue is Yama, because it has teeth protruding from the corner of the mouth. The name Yama sounds even more convincing due to the fact that it was erected to look toward the royal cremation field.
Yama uses the male buffalo as his vehicle. Among this collection exhibited in the National Museum, this work is well known due to tell from the pass associated with this statue. This figure played a very important role in ancient traditions and through the century its reputation remained unshakable in Khmer psychology.
This statue was erected at many places, especially at Angkor Wat. The Lord of Death was sculpted to ride on the back of the buffalo, sometimes a three-headed buffalo, while carrying a large stick in his hand. In both ancient Indian and Khmer traditions, Yama was regarded also as a king. Such a characterization makes Yama, Lord of Death, as he was the first to die.