Preah Khan temple, Siem Reap, outermost wall and enclosure 3

The 3 kms long outer or enclosure 3 wall forms not only the temple boundary but also acted as a city wall. This wall is surrounded by a moat which is 900 meters long and 750 meters wide.

External East Gate or the 4th Eastern Gopuram:

The eastern entrance is located to the west of western bank of Jayatataka Baray. Jayatataka Baray is the the last of the reservoirs to be built in Angkor and is 3.5 km by 0.9 km.  It was the original entrance but now visitors enter through the western entrance.

Western bank of Jayatataka baray or reservoir.

From a pier here, the King would visit the temple of Neak Pean which is at the center of this baray.

                          Two lion structures once stood here on pedestal guarding the place.

Processional pathway:

The 200 meter procession avenue or passage is flanked by stone pillars. A similar thing is present in the western gate entrance but is absent at the northern and southern entrances.

Processional pathway with bollards

   The procession avenue or passage is flanked by these stone pillars

The stone pillars are decorated with flower petals, above an empty space. The empty niches are said to be having an image of Buddha. On top, is a blooming lotus.

Human torso with head of a lion, which holds the upper portion of pillar. Legs belong to Garuda, scales on the leg are so clearly visible.

I may be wrong, but when looking at pictures closely, I could see that the Garuda images are not the same. They look different in each picture. Probably, one looks more like a lion and other like a Garuda.

Moat and Eastern Causeway:

A causeway connects avenue to the entrance to 3rd enclosure wall. The moat which surrounds the temple and is 40 meters wide. 

A very small version of Angkor Thom moats is seen in the railing of moat bridge. It depicts similar scene with asuras and devta churning the milk of ocean holding the body of mythological snake, Vasuki. The faces of both asuras and devatas do not exist now. A lone face can be seen.

One of the few partly intact faces

3rd enclosure wall:

The outermost laterite wall of 3rd enclosure on the outside has 5 meter high Garudas, uniformly spaced.

Garuda

External East Gate or the 4th Eastern Gopuram:

Entry inside the 3rd enclosure is through the outer gopurams. The towers are decorated with pediments depicting a scene. It is, at times, difficult to understand the theme of pediments.

All the gopuras have 3 towers, central one being the largest so as to allow elephants to pass through. The side smaller ones are for pedestrians. I could not see anything on top of gopuras due to scaffoldings for restoration work. The pediments on central and side towers have eroded.

The area between 3rd and 2nd enclosure is 220 meters by 165 meters. This area of  temple city was equipped with houses and huts where people once lived. The houses which were mainly wood houses are no more. The place was densely forested when the temple was found. Only the fire house remains in this area.

Fire house or Dharamsala:
Entering from the east entrance, on the north side, is a single very well preserved lone structure.

Referred to as Vahnigriha (vahni is fire and griha is house in Sanskrit) or dharamsala or fire house. Many a times, griha is written as graha. Griha is a house and graha is a planet! These were the resting places for travellers and were a special feature of Jayavarman VII's construction. One would see a similar one in Ta Prohm which was constructed by Jayavarman VII to honor his mother. A fire was supposed to be burning all the time for travellers, for light and for cooking purposes.

front view

inside the vahnigriha

External South Gate or the 4th Southern Gopuram:

Southern side of the temple is hardly visited. This side of the temple was built to honor their deceased Kings. The orientation of these Ancestor Palace is always to the south, the direction of death.

By the time I reached the southern side of temple, I was drained of all energy. I had exhausted my supply of water. With scorching sun and having lost my sun hat, I skipped going to the entrance on the southern side. I do regret not dragging myself to it.

The outside external wall also has Garuda placed at regular intervals but it lacks the causeway like on the eastern and western direction.

External West Gate or the 4th Western Gopuram:

Though the actual entrance is from the east but most of the visitors enter through the west gate, maybe it is closer to Angkor Thom, only 6 minutes drive and the first part of the temple you see is the Western Gate. This is the entrance which is often taken by visitors now. Western satellite temple is dedicated to Vishnu.

APSARA board at entrance

Western Causeway:

Very similar to eastern causeway in layout, is the western causeway with bollards on both sides.

western avenue

Moat on western side:

The moat are similar in design outside every entrance.

Naga railing with the scene of churning of sea of milk. Naga or Vasuki's head still intact but the heads of devta and asura are broken. If the water level is low, you can reliefs on the wall below.

                                                 Looking carefully, one can see reliefs

They are not in a very good shape, water has eroded most of the work but, I could just see some human figures. I tried to see if I could see anything on the eastern side but since the water level was high, I could not see anything.

Garuda on the outermost 4th enclosure

All around the 3 km, 4th or the outermost enclosure are 72 Garuda, placed 50 meters apart. They are 5 meter high, each holding a naga in their claws. Four garuda on the corners are even taller.

Western Gopuram or the Exterior Gate:

 three gates on west side

entrance gate facing east

pediment shows Vishnu and worshippers

This is something which I noticed in all the entrance gates. Is it a guard house? I could not understand its purpose.

center gate, view towards the eastern side

eroded pediment shows people sitting probably praying, north side

Out of the three gates, the one on the south eastern side has carvings still intact

Vishnu  on pediment

Towards the temple facing side or east-facing side, the pediment shows Vishnu. Worshippers can be seen sitting.

Visitor's center on western side:

When entering through the west entrance, is the visitor center. It is not outstanding but gives a glimpse of the temple and its conservation history.

The stele measures 2 meters by 0.60 meters and has inscriptions on all four sides. It was originally located in the central sanctuary. The actual stele is the prized possession of Angkor Conservation in Siem Reap.

The stele provides information about the history of this temple.

The writings on stele praise King Jayavarman VII telling how he founded 'Nagarajayasri, the city of the Sacred Sword'. It further tells about the number of monks, dancers, teachers, farmers living in the city.

External Northern Gate or the 4th Northern Gopuram:

Very few visitors wander to this gate. The gopurums are in a good state.

Northern entrance to temple

entrance to temple and moat

the pediments are missing but gopurams are still intact

This part of the gate seemed to be almost perfect with a blooming lotus on top

one head of devta saved from ravages

moat and the external boundary with Garuda

The northern and southern walkways do not have a processinal pathway with bollards

North entrance is one of the best preserved gates

Though the relief work on towers is gone, the towers are still in good form with lotus still intact till now.

Having finished with this enclosure, I venture to see the gopurams in enclosure 3.