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.

Preah Khan temple, Siem Reap

Preah Khan transliterated as Prah Khan is six minutes drive from Angkor Thom and was built by King Jayavarman VII in the 12th century.

Our driver dropped us off at the western entrance so we started our journey from the west end. We faced one disadvantage, the sun was glaring onto our camera so taking pictures was not easy. It is better if one starts from the east end, that way sun is behind you but looks over at the temple gopuras.

eastern gate of outermost enclosure

History of the temple:

• Preah Khan, pronounced Pra Khan means 'sacred sword', was built on the site where King Jayavarman VII (23rd king of Khmer Empire)  defeated the Chams in 1191.
• The temple's stele which was found in the central sanctuary gives information about the history of the temple. The temple was dedicated to Dharanindravarman II, Jayavarman VII's father.
• According to information from the inscription, 430 images of Hindu deities were placed here.
• The main image in the center of temple represented bodhisattva Avalokiteshwar in the form of Dharanindravarman II.  It has been replaced by a stupa now.
• Ta Prohm, also made by Jayavarman VII, was dedicated to his mother, Queen Sri Jayarajachudamani, where he identified his mother with goddess Prajnaparamita. After five years completion of Ta Prohm temple, Jayavarman VII constructed this temple.
• The temple had 430 deities and shrines.
• Preah Khan means 'sacred sword', is derived from the temple's original name, Nagara Jayashri (नगर जयश्री), meaning city of victory. in Khmer, Shri is also spelt as "Sri" which mean holy or great.
• The temple covers an area of 138 acres. It also covers Neak Pean, in Jayatataka Baray where the King used to visit to pay homage.
• The King himself lived here till his place at Angkor Thom was  constructed.
• When Jayavarman VIII, (grandson of Jayavarman VII) came to power he removed all Buddha images. Moreover, much damage was done during Khmer Rouge during which period many images were stolen.

Restoration of temple:

Restoration of temple has not been easy with trees penetrating the walls.

tree finds its way into the walls

• The clearing of temple took place from 1927 to 1932. With partial anastylosis, attempts were made to restore the temple. Many statues and stele have been removed to keep them safely.
• After 1991, the temple has been maintained by the World Monuments Fund.
• Continuous effort to conserve the temple is taking significant time.

Plan of the temple:

When I visited the temple, just reading from the notes I had made was very confusing, so I thought of adding location to the temple map by Maurice Glaize

I, II, III, IV--- 4 temple boundaries, 1. western satellite temple, 2. north Shiva temple, 3 south temple, 4. central sanctuary, 5. north east temples, 6. two- storey building, 7. ceremonial platform, 8. Hall of Dancers, 9. libraries, 10. water pit, 11. moat and west and east gopura,  12. avenue with bollards, 13. Fire house

three enclosures, fourth being the outermost

• The outer or the fourth enclosure wall made of laterite has 72 Garudas at a distance of 50 meters  each. This also served as a city wall.
• The wall is circled by a moat measuring 800 by 700 meters.
• This area inside the second wall was the  was living place for monks, students, and common men.
• Between the second and third enclosure are temples in north, south and west direction. The temples on west are dedicated to Vishnu, on north to Shiva. The southern section which has hardly any intact temples was for ancestor worship.
• The eastern direction formed the grand entrance to central shrine which was the accepted direction for a temple to face.
• The plan of the temple is not confusing. Entrance to temple gopura on each cardinal direction is connected by a causeway over a moat. The sides depict a scene from churning of sea, samudra manthan, to get the elixir. Here, the asur and devta are seen with Vasuki, the naga king as the rope.
• Hall of dancers connects eastern entrance to the central sanctuary. Central sanctuary is surrounded by many temples especially in the north eastern direction.
• The satellite temple on north is dedicated to Shiva, where as temple on the west to Vishnu.
• On the south, is ancestor place in memory of the deceased parents.
• The area in the north eastern area of central sanctuary has become very congested owing to continuous later additions of temples.
• Apart from being a temple, Preah Khan was also a Buddhist monastery, a Mahayana university with 1000 teachers, shrines for almost 430 Hindu gods and professional dancers who used to dance in the Hall of dancers.
• With an area of 56 hectares,  the temple served not only as a temple but as a complete city with over 100,000 people. The wooden structures have long since gone.
• A House of Fire can be seen to north after the third enclosure measuring 200 meters by 175 meters.

The devtas can be seen on one side and asur on the other side. The style is very similar to that of moat in Angkor Thom.

moat with churning of the ocean, asur on one side and devta on the other side

moat outside the wall

Angor Thom and Preah Khan are so close to each other that their moats are just 250 meters away from each other.

The laterite wall of the outermost fourth enclosure is more than 3 kms and has 72 Garuda, each 5 meter tall, all around at regular intervals. On the four corners, they are much higher.

Each garuda holds a naga in each hand

The vast area of this temple city surrounded by moat was equipped with wooden houses and huts where the people lived. With the passage of time, these wooden houses are no more. It also had hospitals, house with fire for cooking or dharmsala.

The stone structures of temples have somehow endured the onslaught of time.

a chopped off tree which has engulfed the walls and inside structure

Degradation of structure:

Most of the archeological sites are struggling with microbial degradation.

discoloration of stone

water seepage and algae damaging the wall

Algae Trentepohlia, which thrives on hot and humid climate leading to degradation of stone

                             What could be better than coconut water at the end of a trip?

The temple is largely unrestored and lots of effort needs to be put to restore it properly. We shall now be entering the temple. 

I initially thought of writing gate wise but that became too complicated so decided that enclosure wise would be much better.

Entering the temple, Outer walls