Upstate man uncovers lost story of 12th century king

Riverside High School world history teacher Steve Johnson spent two summers doing research in Cambodia. / Steve Johnson/Reader submittted

Riverside High history teacher did his research in Cambodia

Aug. 28, 2011
Anna Lee | Staff Writer
GreenvilleOnline.com (USA)

Some stories take years to tell and thousands of miles to find.

Steve Johnson found his story an hour’s motorbike ride out of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, where a Buddhist temple sits halfway up a small mountain.

For the last two years, Johnson, a Riverside High School world history teacher, has spent his summers talking to natives about King Jayavarman VII, who ruled from 1178-1219 and was considered the greatest of the Khmer (Cambodian) kings.

“He’s kind of like the George Washington and the Abraham Lincoln all in one of this country, yet no one knows his story,” Johnson said. “I researched every book I could find on the subject, but there were still some holes in the story that needed to be filled in.”

To find someone who knew the entire tale meant traveling to Wat Tamov temple, where a handful of Buddhist monks who survived Pol Pot’s Communist regime lived on the edge of a tiger sanctuary.

More than a million Cambodians were killed when the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975, and “anyone that was educated or any kind of religious leader was hunted down and killed,” said Johnson, whose wife is Cambodian.

Those who survived hid.

The sun was rimmed in red, and shadows slipped across the roof of Wat Tamov as Johnson listened to an old monk tell the stories of King Jayavarman.

The oral tradition was alive in Sav Sarong, who when asked his age through a translator, put it at somewhere between 90 and 100.

“He was fascinating to talk to,” Johnson said. “There’s a joy in this guy, a happiness.”

Stories have a way of unraveling more stories. Between the tales of a legendary king, Johnson learned how Sav Sarong survived four years of genocide.

“The Khmer Rouge wanted to kill him because they were trying to kill all the Buddhist monks and teachers. They wanted everyone to believe in Communism, and no one was supposed to have a religion,” Johnson said.

While others fled across the border to Thailand, Sav Sarong found his own refuge in a cave deep in the tiger sanctuary.

The tigers didn’t bother him, the monk said. They looked him in the eye and stalked away, but the Khmer Rouge weren’t so lucky.

“The tigers killed two men who came looking for him and ate them, and after that, they never came up again,” Johnson said.

Sav Sarong was the last piece of his research.

In October, the Angkor National Museum in Cambodia will publish the high school teacher’s essay on King Jayavarman VII in English and Khmer. Strategy & Tactics magazine will carry the essay next year, available at all Barnes & Noble stores.

“What I did was just some investigative reporting,” Johnson said. “It took a few years, but I found it, so that’s my story.”

Anna Lee can be reached at 298-4246.