Prasat Kravan Temple

New day, new Angkor temples to explore. I went to do the rest of the temples on the small circuit but this time around doing it the right way – counter-clockwise so as to catch them in good lighting, with sun illuminating their faces, not backs (temples are normally built facing east). Prasat Kravan, small five tower temple from the 10th century the name of which means Cardamom Sanctuary was the first on the way.

Photo: Prasat Kravan Temple - the Front Face
Photo: Prasat Kravan Temple - the Front Face

According to the inscription on the temple’s door jambs, Prasat Kravan was dedicated to Hindu god Vishnu and had a statue of it placed within in 921AD. Moat once surrounded Prasat Kravan, but there was but a big puddle of it left when I visited the temple. Several carvings of Vishnu and Lakshmi decorate the interior of central and northern towers respectively, with the other three were left undecorated. Prasat Kravan underwent extensive restoration works and was brought to its current splendour in 1968.

Researchers are divided as to the sponsor of Prasat Kravan with some believing it was king Harshavarman I who ordered its constructions while others say it was Isanavarman II. Then they are some who maintain it was not the king who had the temple built, because of its unusual location and architectonic style. Either way, stone masons who built the temple sealed it so well the mortar-free joints are as tight today as they were a millennium ago. The bas reliefs found within the temple’s interior resemble the art of the Cham people which makes Prasat Kravan unique.

Photo: Prasat Kravan Temple from the Rear
Photo: Prasat Kravan Temple from the Rear

Doorway of the central (tallest) tower is flanked on both sides by 2 meters tall carvings of guardians sculpted in sandstone. Stone lions also guard the stairways leading up to each of the towers but nowadays only five are still there, the other five are missing (probably decorating a villa of some millionaire who paid a few bucks to the thieves who stole it). Central tower is the tallest of them all, but south tower still has two layers of the roof that may have once decorated each of the towers. Because Prasat Kravan faces east, the doorways to the towers are on the eastern walls but all other walls contain their own set of fake doors.

Prasat Kravan is a smaller temple so it is often skipped or avoided by large tour operators. Because of that it’s not as overrun with touts and pestering children as other, bigger temples on the small circuit. There is a line of shops along the side of the causeway leading to Prasat Kravan with sellers getting in your way as you approach the temple to force you into pausing so they can pester you into buying something from them, but luckily they are not as plentiful as causeways to bigger temples.

Photo: Prasat Kravan Central Tower Has Doors Flanked by Guardian Carvings and Stone Lions Guarding the Stairs
Photo: Prasat Kravan Central Tower Has Doors Flanked by Guardian Carvings and Stone Lions Guarding the Stairs

Prasat Kravan is a smallish structure so it only takes a few minutes to thoroughly explore, but while I was there, I was approached by two separate individuals who attempted to pull the same guide trick as that guy at Thommanon did. They walked right up to me and started telling me about interesting facts related to the temple and advising me of good photography angles seeing that I had a big camera hung on my neck. Having had this attempted on me before, I knew very well where this was going to lead and just vehemently ignored each of the men, strictly following my own pace and going where I wanted to go, not where they said I should go. It worked and each of them gave up after a couple of minutes.

Photo: Bas Relief of Lakshmi Goddess, Consort of Vishnu at Prasat Kravan
Photo: Bas Relief of Lakshmi Goddess, Consort of Vishnu at Prasat Kravan

It was early morning yet, but the sun was already beyond intense. Prasat Kravan was my first stop of the day and I was already drenched in sweat. I had a long way ahead of me and a lot of bike riding to do. I replenished lost fluids out of the bottle of Water O I had on me, mounted my bike and rode off to the nearby Bat Chum ruins.

Bakan – The Principal Sanctuary of Angkor Wat

Bakan is the name of what used to be the principal sanctuary of Angkor Wat. It is the summit of Angkor Wat’s central temple, the highest of temple’s three galleries and the uppermost point of world’s largest religious complex. Unfortunately for me, access to Bakan was prohibited at the time of my visit to Angkor Wat due to ongoing construction and restoration work on the temple. This basically means that I will be coming back to Cambodia at some point in my life and hopefully by then the access will be restored so that my Exploring Angkor Wat experience is complete.

Photo: Bakan - The Principal Sanctuary of Angkor Wat
Photo: Bakan - The Principal Sanctuary of Angkor Wat

Just as it is with other Angkor Wat sanctuaries, galleries and libraries, Bakon has a doorway at each cardinal point. Scholars tend to think that Bakon originally housed a statue of Vishnu which is currently located at the “Sanctuary of the Royal Ancestor” (locally known as Kuk Ta Reach) in the southern part of the west wing of the exterior wall.

When Angkor Wat became a centre of Theravada Buddhist pilgrimage, the doorways were sealed with newly constituted sandstone walls and statues of standing Buddha were carved into them. Bakan remained sealed off like that until 1908 when archaeologists re-opened the southern doorway to gain access to the sanctuary.

Upon entrance, the archaeologists found several sculpting-art fragments of which two seemed of particular importance: a statue of Buddha seated on a naga (which is now venerated in Bakan’s eastern gallery) and a rectangular object made of stone which is believed to have served as a sarcophagus (for god-king Suryavarman II? Could that explain why Angkor Wat was built facing west?). Similar objects in which a corpse would have been laid in a foetal position were also found in other Angkorian temples.

Some of the inscriptions at Bakan and Preah Poan (Hall of the Thousand Buddhas) indicate that the transformation of Angkor Wat from Hindu into a Buddhist sanctuary took place in the late 16th century and was carried out on king’s order (whose court was already in Phnom Penh). This theory is further supported by the style of Buddha statues found within the blocked off Bakan sanctuary.

I have not been lucky enough to explore Bakan with my own eyes, but I understand it shelters four statues of Buddha, each facing different cardinal point. The Buddha of the future (Maitreya), which symbolizes peaceful transformation of Angkor Wat from the Brahmanic sanctuary into a Buddhist stupa is enclosed within garbha, the matternal matrix which the four Buddhas surround. There must be some truly spectacular view from Bakan, I have to come back!

Angkor Wat

There is no denying it – Angkor Wat is the most breathtaking temple complex at the Angkor Archaeological Park. It is also the best preserved monument at Angkor because unlike all other temples, Angkor Wat was never abandoned. Compared in its grandeur to architectonic gems of ancient Greece or Rome, Angkor Wat is still the largest religious structure in the world.

Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century for then King Suryavarman II (ruled Cambodia between 1112 and 1152). It was initially constructed in honor of the Hindu god Vishnu with whom the god-king Suryavarman II identified, but was restored to become a shrine for Buddhist pilgrims in the 16th century. From that point on, Angkor Wat has been the only temple at Angkor that was continuously used which significantly contributed to its well preserved state.

Photo: Angkor Wat View from the East
Photo: Angkor Wat View from the East

After flourishing Khmer civilization mysteriously vanished and abandoned the monumental city, Angkor was overtaken by jungle and started to fall into ruin. Phnom Penh has become the capital city and the center for the Khmer Royal court and Angkor continued to deteriorate until it was rediscovered by French explorers in the 1860’s.

Portuguese monk Antonio da Magdalena visited Angkor Wat in 1586 and became the first westerner to make a written account about it. However, even though completely astounded by its splendour and having made a colourful report describing Angkor’s magnificence, his story was not published until 1958. It wasn’t until 1868 when French explorer Henri Mouhot published his account in Voyage a Siam et dans le Cambodge that Angkor Wat got widely popularized in the western countries.

Architectonically, Angkor Wat represents the epitome of Khmer architecture. It is widely accepted as a symbol of Cambodia and has been on country’s national flag since about 1863, when Cambodia’s first flag was introduced. Angkor Wat is also the most recognizable landmark of the country and is responsible for attracting more foreign tourism to Cambodia than anything else.

Photo: Main Causeway to Angkor Wat in Morning Light
Photo: Main Causeway to Angkor Wat in Morning Light

The reason why Angkor Wat faces west is still left for speculations. Temples are by default built facing east and because west represents death, many experts speculate that Angkor Wat was not built to be a temple, but rather a tomb for Suryavarman II – the god-king who had it built. Strangely enough, the remains of Suryavarman II were never laid in Angkor Wat. So why was it built facing west???

Despite its west facing orientation, Angkor Wat does bear signs of being a temple. One of prime reasons to assume that it was a temple is the design which represents Mount Meru – a holy mountain in the center of the universe which has long been regarded to be the home to Hindu gods (Shiva). This is where the term “temple-mountain” comes from. Banteay Samre, Beng Melea, Wat Atwea and Thommanon are other Angkorian-era temple-mountains built in the same style as Angkor Wat and may have served as prototypes for the design of their most famous cousin. Moat surrounding the temple represents the oceans surrounding Mount Meru. Aside from being a Temple Mountain, Angkor Wat also encompasses the layout style known as “Galleried Temple” and serves as an architectural combination of the two.

The heart of Angkor Wat consists of a three tiered temple with five distinctive towers. Four of these lotus-shaped towers crown each of the corners of the temple while the fifth one is in the middle and reaches above all others. Center tower rises up no less than 65 meters from ground level.

The walls of this 1 square kilometre temple are covered on both sides with carvings and bas reliefs. The exterior of temple’s lower level wall is covered with bas reliefs depicting complete stories from Hindu mythology, including Churning of the Ocean Milk on the east wall, and successful war lead by Suryavarman II against Chum (Battle of Kurukshetra) on the west wall. Nearly 2,000 carvings of Apsaras (or Devatas) can be found at various places throughout Angkor Wat. Apsaras were celestial dancers who were widely regarded as messengers between the gods and humans.

Photo: Apsara Dancers Carved on the Interior of the First Level of Angkor Wat Wall
Photo: Apsara Dancers Carved on the Interior of the First Level of Angkor Wat Wall

Including the moat, Angkor Wat spreads over a chunk of land that’s 1.3 kilometers wide and 1.5 kilometers long. Exterior wall that wraps around the temple measures 1025 meters by 800 meters. The moat that surrounds the exterior wall from the outside is 190 meters wide and filled with water, making any moat around medieval castles look like a puddle after rain.

According to preserved inscriptions, 300,000 workers and 6,000 elephants were involved in the construction of Angkor Wat. However even though not fully completed, the construction works stopped shortly after king Suryavarman II’s death leaving some of the bas reliefs unfinished. Scholars speculate that Angkor Wat’s original name may have been Vrah Vishnulok – based on the name of the deity it was dedicated to but none of the inscriptions found has any reliable reference to the original name so this remains a speculation.

Hope you have enjoyed my little introduction to Angkor Wat – the acme of the Angkor World Heritage Site. It contained brief history, information about its architecture, overview of its king and the empire, art, size, symbolism and other useful facts. Few pictures accompany the article, for more pictures visit any of my extensive galleries:

Angkor Wat in the Morning Light Photo Gallery