Jayavarman II (; c. 770 – 850) (reigned c. 802–850) was a Khmer prince who founded and became the ruler of the Khmer Empire (Cambodia) after unifying the Khmer civilization. The Khmer Empire was the dominant civilization in mainland Southeast Asia from the 9th century until the mid-15th century. Jayavarman II was a powerful Khmer king who declared independence from a polity inscriptions named "Java". Jayavarman II founded many capitals such as Mahendraparvata, Indrapura, Amarendrapura, and Hariharalaya. Before Jayavarman II came to power, there was much fighting among local overlords who ruled different parts of Cambodia. No inscriptions by Jayavarman II have been found. Future kings of the Khmer Empire described him as a warrior and the most powerful king from that time frame that they could recall. Historians formerly dated his reign as running from 802 AD to 835 AD. Universal monarch Jayavarman II is widely regarded as the king that set the foundation of the Angkor period in Cambodian history, beginning with the grandiose consecration ritual he conducted in 802 on Mount Mahendraparvata, now known as Phnom Kulen, to celebrate the independence of the Khmer Empire from "Java". At that ceremony, he was proclaimed a universal monarch (Kamraten jagad ta Raja in Khmer) or God King (Deva Raja in Sanskrit). According to some sources, he had resided for some time in Java during the reign of the Sailendra Dynasty, or "The Lords of Mountains", and as such the concept of Devaraja or God King was ostensibly imported from Java. At that time, the Sailendra Dynasty allegedly ruled over Java, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and parts of Cambodia. An inscription from the Sdok Kak Thom temple recounts that at Mahendraparvata, Jayavarman II took part in a ritual performed by the Brahman Hiranyadama, and his chief priest Lord Sivakaivalya, a devaraja () which placed him as a chakravartin, Lord of the Universe. Taken in sum, the record suggests that Jayavarman and his followers moved over the course of some years from southeast Cambodia to the northwest, subduing various principalities along the way. Jayavarman II founded Hariharalaya near present-day Roluos, the first settlement in what would later become the Khmer Empire. Historian Claude Jacques writes that he first seized the city of Vyadhapura in the southeast, then pushed up the Mekong River to take Sambhupura. He later installed himself at another city state, now known as Banteay Prei Nokor, near present-day