Terrace of the Leper King is the modern name
for the royal platform at
Angkor Thom
(fig.),
i.e. a
Khmer
edifice built in the
Bayon style
under King
Jayavarman VII (fig.)
and assumingly used for funeral functions.
The designation purportedly derives from
a 15th-century sculpture discovered at
the site that depicts
Yama,
the Hindu god of death, which
due to its imperfection, reminiscent of someone with
leprosy, was nicknamed the Leper King.