Prang
The
prang is the tall finger-like spire, usually richly carved, common to much Khmer religious architecture.
Enclosure
Khmer temples were typically enclosed by a concentric series of walls, with the central sanctuary in the middle; this arrangement represented the mountain ranges surrounding
Mount Meru, the mythical home of the gods. Enclosures are the spaces between these walls, and between the innermost wall and the temple itself. By modern convention, enclosures are numbered from the centre outwards. The walls defining the enclosures of Khmer temples are frequently lined by galleries, while passage through the walls is by way of gopuras located at the cardinal points.
Gallery
A cruciform gallery separates the courtyards at
Angkor Wat.
A gallery is a passageway running along the wall of an enclosure or along the axis of a temple, often open to one or both sides. Historically, the form of the gallery evolved during the 10th century from the increasingly long hallways which had earlier been used to surround the central sanctuary of a temple. During the period of
Angkor Wat in the first half of the 12th century, additional half galleries on one side were introduced to
buttress the structure of the temple.
Gopura
A gopura leads into the 12th century temple compound at
Ta Prohm.
A
gopura is an entrance building. At
Angkor, passage through the enclosure walls surrounding a temple compound is frequently accomplished by means of an impressive gopura, rather than just an aperture in the wall or a doorway. Enclosures surrounding a temple are often constructed with a gopura at each of the four
cardinal points. In plan, gopuras are usually cross-shaped and elongated along the axis of the enclosure wall; if the wall is constructed with an accompanying gallery, the gallery is sometimes connected to the arms of the gopura. Many Angkorian gopuras have a tower at the centre of the cross. The
lintels and
pediments are often decorated, and guardian figures (
dvarapalas) are often placed or carved on either side of the doorways.
Hall of Dancers
A Hall of Dancers is a structure of a type found in certain late 12th century temples constructed under King
Jayavarman VII:
Ta Prohm,
Preah Khan,
Banteay Kdei and
Banteay Chhmar. It is a rectangular building elongated along the temple's east axis and divided into four courtyards by galleries. Formerly it had a roof made of perishable materials; now only the stone walls remain. The pillars of the galleries are decorated with carved designs of dancing
apsaras; hence scholars have suggested that the hall itself may have been used for dancing.
House of Fire
House of Fire, or
Dharmasala, is the name given to a type of building found only in temples constructed during the reign of late 12th century monarch
Jayavarman VII:
Preah Khan,
Ta Prohm and
Banteay Chhmar. A House of Fire has thick walls, a tower at the west end and south-facing windows.
Scholars theorize that the House of Fire functioned as a "rest house with fire" for travellers. An inscription at
Preah Khan tells of 121 such rest houses lining the highways into
Angkor. The Chinese traveller
Zhou Daguan expressed his admiration for these rest houses when he visited Angkor in 1296 AD. Another theory is that the House of Fire had a religious function as the repository the sacred flame used in sacred ceremonies.
Unusually, the libraries at
Angkor Watopen to both the East and the West.
Library
Structures conventionally known as "libraries" are a common feature of Khmer temple architecture, but their true purpose remains unknown. Most likely they functioned broadly as religious shrines rather than strictly as repositories of manuscripts. Freestanding buildings, they were normally placed in pairs on either side of the entrance to an enclosure, opening to the west.
Srah and baray
Srahs and barays were
reservoirs, generally created by excavation and embankment respectively. It is not clear whether the significance of these reservoirs was religious, agricultural, or a combination of the two.
The two largest reservoirs at Angkor were the
West Baray and the
East Baray, located on either side of
Angkor Thom. The East Baray is now dry. The
West Mebon is an 11th century temple standing at the center of the West Baray; the
East Mebon a 10th century temple standing at the center of the East Baray. The baray associated with
Preah Khan is the Jayataka, in the middle of which stands the 12th century temple of
Neak Pean. Scholars have speculated that the Jayataka represents the Himalayan lake of Anavatapta, known for its miraculous healing powers.
Temple mountain
The
Bakong is the earliest surviving Temple Mountain at Angkor.
The dominant scheme for the construction of state temples in the Angkorian period was that of the Temple Mountain, an architectural representation of
Mount Meru, the home of the gods in
Hindumythology. The style was influenced by
Indian temple architecture. Enclosures represented the mountain chains surrounding Mount Meru, while a moat represented the ocean. The temple itself took shape as a pyramid of several levels, and the home of the gods was represented by the elevated sanctuary at the center of the temple. The first great Temple Mountain was the
Bakong, a five-level pyramid dedicated in 881 AD by King
Indravarman I. Other Khmer Temple Mountains include
Baphuon,
Pre Rup,
Ta Keo and most notably
Angkor Wat.
Elements
Bas-relief
Bas-reliefs are individual figures, groups of figures, or entire scenes cut into stone walls, not as drawings but as sculpted images projecting from a background. Sculpture in bas-relief is distinguished from sculpture in haut-relief, in that the latter projects farther from the background, in some cases almost detaching itself from it. The Angkorian
Khmer preferred to work in bas-relief, while their neighbors the
Cham were partial to haut-relief.
Narrative bas-reliefs are bas-reliefs depicting stories from mythology or history. Until about the 11th century AD, the Angkorian Khmer confined their narrative bas-reliefs to the space on the
tympana above doorways. The most famous early narrative bas-reliefs are those on the tympana at the 10th century temple of
Banteay Srei, depicting scenes from
Hindu mythology as well as scenes from the great works of Indian literature, the
Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. By the 12th century, however, the Angkorian artists were covering entire walls with narrative scenes in bas-relief. At
Angkor Wat, the external gallery wall is covered with some 12,000 or 13,000 square meters of such scenes, some of them historical, some mythological. Similarly, the outer gallery at the
Bayon contains extensive bas-reliefs documenting the everyday life of the medieval Khmer as well as historical events from the reign of King
Jayavarman VII.
This scene from the outer gallery at the Bayon shows Chinese expats negotiating with Khmer merchants at an Angkorean market.
The following is a listing of the motifs illustrated in some of the more famous Angkorian narrative bas-reliefs:
- bas-reliefs in the tympana at Banteay Srei (10th century)
- bas-reliefs on the walls of the outer gallery at Angkor Wat (mid-12th century)
- bas-reliefs on the walls of the outer and inner galleries at the Bayon (late 12th century)
- battles on land and sea between Khmer and Cham troops
- scenes from the everyday life of Angkor
- civil strife among the Khmer
- the legend of the Leper King
- the worship of Shiva
- groups of dancing apsaras
This blind door at
Banteay Srei is flanked by colonettes. Above the door is a
lintel, above which is a tympanum with a scene from the
Mahabharata.
Blind door and window
Angkorean shrines frequently opened in only one direction, typically to the East. The other three sides featured fake or blind doors to maintain symmetry. Blind windows were often used along otherwise blank walls.
olonette
Colonettes were narrow decorative columns that served as supports for the beams and
lintelsabove doorways or windows. Depending on the period, they were round, rectangular, or octagonal in shape. Colonettes were often circled with molded rings and decorated with carved leaves.
Corbelling
Angkorian engineers tended to use the
corbel arch in order to construct rooms, passageways and openings in buildings. A corbel arch is constructed by adding layers of stones to the walls on either side of an opening, with each successive layer projecting further towards the centre than the one supporting it from below, until the two sides meet in the middle. The corbel arch is structurally weaker than the true
arch, of which the Angkorian engineers appear to have been ignorant. The use of corbelling prevented the Angkorian engineers from constructing large openings or spaces in buildings roofed with stone, and made such buildings particularly prone to collapse once they were no longer maintained. These difficulties did not, of course, exist for buildings constructed with stone walls surmounted by a light wooden roof. The problem of preventing the collapse of corbelled structures at Angkor remains a serious one for modern conservation.
Lintel, pediment, and tympanum
A
lintel is a horizontal beam connecting two vertical columns between which runs a door or passageway. Because the Angkorean Khmer lacked the ability to construct a true
arch, they constructed their passageways using lintels or
corbelling. A
pediment is a roughly triangular structure above a lintel. A tympanum is the decorated surface of a pediment.
The styles employed by Angkorean artists in the decoration of lintels evolved over time, as a result, the study of lintels has proven a useful guide to the dating of temples. Some scholars have endeavored to develop a periodization of lintel styles. The most beautiful Angkorean lintels are thought to be those of the
Preah Ko style from the late 9th century.
Common motifs in the decoration of lintels include the
kala, the
nāga and the
makara, as well as various forms of vegetation. Also frequently depicted are the
Hindu gods associated with the four cardinal directions, with the identity of the god depicted on a given lintel or pediment depending on the direction faced by that element.
Indra, the god of the sky, is associated with East;
Yama, the god of judgment and Hell, with South;
Varuna, the god of the ocean, with West; and
Kubera, god of wealth, with North.
Stairs
The stairs leading to the inner enclosure at
Ankor Wat are daunting.
Angkorean
stairs are notoriously steep. Frequently, the length of the
riser exceeds that of the
tread, producing an angle of ascent somewhere between 45 and 70 degrees. The reasons for this peculiarity appear to be both religious and monumental. From the religious perspective, a steep stairway can be interpreted as a "stairway to heaven," the realm of the gods. "From the monumental point of view," according to Angkor-scholar
Maurice Glaize, "the advantage is clear - the square of the base not having to spread in surface area, the entire building rises to its zenith with a particular thrust.
Motifs
Apsara and devata
Apsaras (left) and a
devata (right) grace the walls at
Banteay Kdei.
Three
apsaras appear on this pillar at the 12th century Buddhist temple the
Bayon.
Apsaras, divine nymphs or celestial dancing girls, are characters from Indian mythology. Their origin is explained in the story of the churning of the
Ocean of Milk, or
samudra manthan, found in the great epic
Mahabharata. Other stories in the Mahabharata detail the exploits of individual apsaras, who were often used by the gods as agents to persuade or seduce mythological demons, heroes and ascetics. The widespread use of apsaras as a motif for decorating the walls and pillars of temples and other religious buildings, however, was a
Khmer innovation. In modern descriptions of Angkorian temples, the term "apsara" is sometimes used to refer not only to dancers but also to other minor female deities, though minor female deities who are depicted standing about rather than dancing are more commonly called "
devatas".
Apsaras and devatas are ubiquitous at
Angkor, but are most common in the foundations of the 12th century. Depictions of true (dancing) apsaras are found, for example, in the
Hall of Dancers at
Preah Khan, in the pillars that line the passageways through the outer gallery of the
Bayon, and in the famous bas-relief of
Angkor Wat depicting the churning of the Ocean of Milk. The largest population of devatas (around 2,000) is at
Angkor Wat, where they appear individually and in groups.
Dvarapala
Dvarapalas are human or demonic temple guardians, generally armed with lances and clubs. They are presented either as a stone statues or as relief carvings in the walls of temples and other buildings, generally close to entrances or passageways. Their function is to protect the temples. Dvarapalas may be seen, for example, at
Preah Ko,
Lolei,
Banteay Srei,
Preah Khan and
Banteay Kdei.
Gajasimha and Reachisey
The gajasimha is a mythical animal with the body of a lion and the head of an elephant. At Angkor, it is portrayed as a guardian of temples and as a mount for some warriors. The gajasimha may be found at
Banteay Srei and at the temples belonging to the
Roluos group.
The reachisey is another mythical animal, similar to the gajasimha, with the head of a lion, a short elephantine trunk, and the scaly body of a dragon. It occurs at
Angkor Wat in the epic bas reliefs of the outer gallery.
Garuda
In this 9th century lintel now on display at the
Musée Guimet,
Garuda bears Vishnu on his shoulders.
Garuda is a divine being that is part man and part bird. He is the lord of birds, the mythologial enemy of
nāgas, and the battle steed of
Vishnu. Depictions of Garuda at Angkor number in the thousands, and though Indian in inspiration exhibit a style that is uniquely Khmer.They may be classified as follows:
- As part of a narrative bas relief, Garuda is shown as the battle steed of Vishnu or Krishna, bearing the god on his shoulders, and simultaneously fighting against the god's enemies. Numerous such images of Garuda may be observed in the outer gallery of Angkor Wat.
- Garuda serves as an atlas supporting a superstructure, as in the bas relief at Angkor Wat that depicts heaven and hell. Garudas and stylized mythological lions are the most common atlas figures at Angkor.
- Garuda is depicted in the pose of a victor, often dominating a nāga, as in the gigantic relief sculptures on the outer wall of Preah Khan. In this context, Garuda symblizes the military power of the Khmer kings and their victories over their enemies. Not coincidentally, the city of Preah Khan was built on the site of King Jayavarman VII's victory over invaders from Champa.
- In free-standing nāga sculptures, such as in nāga bridges and balustrades, Garuda is often depicted in relief against the fan of nāga heads. The relationship between Garuda and the nāga heads is ambiguous in these sculptures: it may be one of cooperation, or it may again be one of domination of the nāga by Garuda.
Indra
In the ancient religion of the
Vedas,
Indra the sky-god reigned supreme. In the medieval
Hinduism of Angkor, however, he had no religious status, and served only as a decorative motif in architecture. Indra is associated with the East; since Angkorian temples typically open to the East, his image is sometimes encountered on lintels and pediments facing that direction. Typically, he is mounted on the three-headed elephant
Airavata and holds his trusty weapon, the thunderbolt or
vajra. The numerous adventures of Indra documented in Hindu epic
Mahabharata are not depicted at Angkor.
Kala
A
kala serves as the base for a deity at the 10th century Hindu temple
Banteay Srei.
The kala is a ferocious monster symbolic of time in its all-devouring aspect and associated with the destructive side of the god
Siva. In Khmer temple architecture, the kala serves as a common decorative element on lintels, tympana and walls, where it is depicted as a monstrous head with a large upper jaw lined by large carnivorous teeth, but with no lower jaw. Some kalas are shown disgorging vine-like plants, and some serve as the base for other figures.
Scholars have speculated that the origin of the kala as a decorative element in Khmer temple architecture may be found in an earlier period when the skulls of human victims were incorporated into buildings as a kind of protective magic or
apotropaism. Such skulls tended to lose their lower jaws when the ligaments holding them together dried out. Thus, the kalas of Angkor may represent the Khmer civilization's adoption into its decorative iconography of elements derived from long forgotten primitive antecedents.
Krishna
Scenes from the life of
Krishna, a mythological hero and
avatar of the god
Vishnu, are common in the relief carvings decorating Angkorian temples, and unknown in Angkorian sculpture in the round. The literary sources for these scenes are the
Mahabharata, the
Harivamsa, and the
Bhagavata Purana. The following are some of the most important Angkorian depictions of the life of Krishna:
- A series of bas reliefs at the 11th century temple pyramid called Baphuon depicts scenes of the birth and childhood of Krishna.
- Numerous bas reliefs in various temples show Krishna subduing the nāga Kaliya. In Angkorian depictions, Krishna is shown effortlessly stepping on and pushing down his opponent's multiple heads.
- Also common is the depiction of Krishna as he lifts Mount Govardhana with one hand in order to provide the cowherds with shelter from the deluge caused by Indra.
- Krishna is frequently depicted killing or subduing various demons, including his evil uncle Kamsa. An extensive bas relief in the outer gallery of Angkor Wat depicts Krishna's battle with the asura Bana. In battle, Krishna is shown riding on the shoulders of Garuda, the traditional mount of Vishnu.
- In some scenes, Krishna is depicted in his role as charioteer, advisor and protector of Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata. A well-known bas relief from the 10th century temple of Banteay Srei depicts the Krishna and Arjuna helping Agni to burn down Khandava forest.
Linga
This segmented
linga from 10th century Angkor has a square base, an octogonal middle, and a round tip.
The
linga is a phallic post or cylinder symbolic of the god
Shiva and of creative power. As a religious symbol, the function of the linga is primarily that of worship and ritual, and only secondarily that of decoration. In the
Khmer empire, certain lingas were erected as symbols of the king himself, and were housed in royal temples in order to express the king's consubstantiality with Siva. The lingas that survive from the Angkorean period are generally made of polished stone.
The lingas of the Angkorian period are of several different types.
- Some lingas are implanted in flat square base called a yoni, symbolic of the womb.
- On the surface of some lingas is engraved the face of Siva. Such lingas are called mukhalingas.
- Some lingas are segmented into three parts: a square base symbolic of Brahma, an octagonal middle section symbolic of Vishnu, and a round tip symbolic of Shiva.
Makara
The corner of a lintel on one of the brick towers at
Bakong shows a man riding on the back of a
makara that in turn disgorges another monster.
A
makara is a mythical sea monster with the body of a serpent, the trunk of an elephant, and a head that can have features reminiscent of a lion, a crocodile, or a dragon. In Khmer temple architecture, the motif of the makara is generally part of a decorative carving on a lintel, tympanum, or wall. Often the makara is depicted with some other creature, such as a lion or serpent, emerging from its gaping maw. The makara is a central motif in the design of the famously beautiful lintels of the
Roluos group of temples:
Preah Ko,
Bakong, and
Lolei. At
Banteay Srei, carvings of makaras disgorging other monsters may be observed on many of the corners of the buildings.
Nāga
Mucalinda, the
nāga king who shielded
Buddha as he sat in meditation, was a favorite motif for Cambodian Buddhist sculptors from the 11th century. This statue is dated between 1150 and 1175 A.D.
Mythical serpents, or
nāgas, represent an important motif in Khmer architecture as well as in free-standing sculpture. They are frequently depicted as having multiple heads, always uneven in number, arranged in a fan. Each head has a flared hood, in the manner of a cobra.
This multi-headed
nāga is part of a decorative lintel from the end of the 9th century.
Nāgas are frequently depicted in Angkorian
lintels. The composition of such lintels characteristically consists in a dominant image at the center of a rectangle, from which issue swirling elements that reach to the far ends of the rectangle. These swirling elements may take shape as either vinelike vegetation or as the bodies of nāgas. Some such nāgas are depicted wearing crowns, and others are depicted serving as mounts for human riders.
To the Angkorian Khmer, nāgas were symbols of water and figured in the myths of origin for the Khmer people, who were said to be descended from the union of an Indian Brahman and a serpent princess from Cambodia. Nāgas were also characters in other well-known legends and stories depicted in Khmer art, such as the churning of the Ocean of Milk, the legend of the Leper King as depicted in the bas-reliefs of theBayon, and the story of Mucalinda, the serpent king who protected the Buddha from the elements. Nāga Bridge
Nāga bridges are causeways or true bridges lined by stone
balustrades shaped as nāgas.
In some Angkorian nāga-bridges, as for example those located at the entrances to 12th century city of
Angkor Thom, the nāga-shaped balustrades are supported not by simple posts but by stone statues of gigantic warriors. These giants are the
devas and
asuras who used the nāga king
Vasukiin order to the churn the Ocean of Milk in quest of the
amrita or elixir of immortality. The story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk or
samudra manthan has its source in Indian mythology.
Quincunx
A
linga in the form of a
quincunx, set inside a
yoni, is carved into the riverbed at
Kbal Spean.
A
quincunx is a spatial arrangement of five elements, with four elements placed as the corners of a square and the fifth placed in the center. The five peaks of
Mount Meru were taken to exhibit this arrangement, and Khmer temples was arranged accordingly in order to convey a symbolic identification with the sacred mountain. The five brick towers of the 10th century temple known as
East Mebon, for example, are arranged in the shape of a quincunx. The quincunx also appears elsewhere in designs of the Angkorian period, as in the riverbed carvings of
Kbal Spean.
Shiva
Most temples at
Angkor are dedicated to
Shiva. In general, the Angkorian Khmer represented and worshipped Shiva in the form of a
lingam, though they also fashioned anthropomorphic statues of the god. Anthropomorphic representations are also found in Angkorian bas reliefs. A famous tympanum from
Banteay Srei depicts Shiva sitting on Mount Kailasa with his consort, while the demon king
Ravana shakes the mountain from below. At
Angkor Wat and
Bayon, Shiva is depicted as a bearded ascetic. His attributes include the mystical eye in the middle of his forehead, the trident, and the rosary. His
vahana or mount is the bull
Nandi.
Vishnu
Angkorian representations of
Vishnu include anthropomorphic representations of the god himself, as well as representations of his incarnations or
avatars, especially
Krishna and
Rama. Depictions of Vishnu are prominent at
Angkor Wat, the 12th century temple that was originally dedicated to Vishnu. Bas reliefs depict Vishna battling with against
asura opponents, or riding on the shoulders of his
vahana or mount, the gigantic bird-man
Garuda. Vishnu's attributes include the discus, the conch shell, the baton, and the orb.
Ordinary housing
The nuclear family, in rural Cambodia, typically lives in a rectangular house that may vary in size from four by six meters to six by ten meters. It is constructed of a wooden frame with gabled thatch roof and walls of woven bamboo.
Khmer houses typically are raised on stilts as much as three meters for protection from annual floods. Two ladders or wooden staircases provide access to the house. The steep thatch roof overhanging the house walls protects the interior from rain. Typically a house contains three rooms separated by partitions of woven bamboo. The front room serves as a living room used to receive visitors, the next room is the parents' bedroom, and the third is for unmarried daughters. Sons sleep anywhere they can find space. Family members and neighbors work together to build the house, and a house-raising ceremony is held upon its completion. The houses of poorer persons may contain only a single large room. Food is prepared in a separate kitchen located near the house but usually behind it. Toilet facilities consist of simple pits in the ground, located away from the house, that are covered up when filled. Any livestock is kept below the house.
Chinese and Vietnamese houses in Cambodian town and villages typically are built directly on the ground and have earthen, cement, or tile floors, depending upon the economic status of the owner. Urban housing and commercial buildings may be of brick, masonry, or wood
