Phnom Bakheng
Template:Infobox Hindu temple Template:Infobox mountain Template:Contains special characters
Phnom Bakheng (Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a Hindu temple in the form of a temple mountain in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.Template:Sfnp Dedicated to Shiva, it was built at the end of the 9th century, during the reign of King Yasovarman (889–910). Located atop a hill, it is nowadays a popular tourist spot for sunset views of the much bigger temple Angkor Wat, which lies amid the jungle about 1.5 km to the southeast. The large number of visitors makes Phnom Bakheng one of the most threatened monuments of Angkor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Since 2004, World Monuments Fund has been working to conserve the temple in partnership with APSARA.
HistoryEdit
Phnom Bakheng, built more than two centuries before Angkor Wat, was once the main temple in the Angkor region. It was the central architectural feature of a new capital called Yasodharapura, established by Yasovarman when he moved the court from the old capital, Hariharalaya, in the southeast Roluos area.Template:Sfnp
An inscription dated 1052 AD and found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple in present-day Thailand states in Sanskrit: "When Sri Yasovardhana became king under the name of Yasovarman, the able Vamasiva continued as his guru. By the king's order, he set up a linga on Sri Yasodharagiri, a mountain equal in beauty to the king of mountains."Template:Sfnp Scholars believe that this passage refers to the consecration of the Phnom Bakheng temple approximately a century and a half earlier.Template:Sfnp
Phnom Bakheng is one of 3 hilltop temples in the Angkor region that are attributed to Yasovarman's reign. The other two are Phnom Krom to the south near the Tonle Sap lake, and Phnom Bok, northeast of the East Baray reservoir.Template:Sfnp
Workers built a protective outer moat around the mountain and temple. There were avenues extending in the north, south, east, and west directions from the mountain. A raised pathway, first going northwest to southeast from the old capital to the new capital's outer moat, and then turning to go east to west, connected directly to the east entrance of the temple.Template:Sfnp
Later in its history, Phnom Bakheng was converted into a Buddhist temple. A monumental Sitting Buddha, now lost, was created on its upper tier. Across its west side, a Reclining Buddha of similar scale was crafted in stone. The outlines of this figure are still visible.
SymbolismEdit
Phnom Bakheng is a symbolic representation of Mount Meru, home of the Hindu gods, a status emphasized by the temple's location atop a steep hill 65 m above the surrounding plain. The temple is built in a pyramid form of seven levels, representing the seven heavens.Template:Sfnp At the top level, five sandstone sanctuaries, in various states of repair, stand in a quincunx pattern—one in the center and one at each corner of the level's square. Originally, 108 small towers were arrayed around the temple at ground level and on various of its tiers; most of them have collapsed.Template:Sfnp
Jean Filliozat of the Ecole Francaise, a leading western authority on Indian cosmology and astronomy, interpreted the symbolism of the temple. The temple sits on a rectangular base and rises in five levels and is crowned by five main towers. One hundred four smaller towers are distributed over the lower four levels, placed so symmetrically that only 33 can be seen from the center of any side. Thirty-three is the number of gods who dwelt on Mount Meru. Phnom Bakheng's total number of towers is also significant. The center one represents the axis of the world and the 108 smaller ones represent the four lunar phases, each with 27 days. The seven levels of the monument represent the seven heavens and each terrace contains 12 towers which represent the 12-year cycle of Jupiter. According to University of Chicago scholar Paul Wheatley, it is "an astronomical calendar in stone."<ref>Time Life Lost Civilizations series: Southeast Asia: A Past Regained (1995) p.93-4</ref>
Following Angkor's rediscovery by the outside world in the mid-19th century, decades passed before archeologists grasped Phnom Bakheng's historical significance. For many years, scholars' consensus view was that the Bayon, the temple located at the center of Angkor Thom city, was the edifice to which the Sdok Kak Thom inscription referred. Later work identified the Bayon as a Buddhist site, built almost three centuries later than originally thought, in the late 12th century, and Phnom Bakheng as King Yasovarman's state temple.Template:Sfnp
Phnom Bakheng in popular mediaEdit
The view of the Angkor Wat from the top of Phnom Bakheng is featured in the movie Tomb Raider (when Lara Croft looks through the binoculars upon arriving in Cambodia).
GalleryEdit
- Angkor Phnom Bakheng Tonle Sap アンコール・プノンバケン DSCF4182.jpg
Tonlé Sap seen from Phnom Bakheng
- Angkor Phnom Bakheng アンコール・プノンバケン DSCF4168.jpg
Phnom Bakheng is a viewpoint of the setting sun
- Phnom Bakheng Angkor Thom Cambodia.jpg
Phnom Bakheng
- Angkor Wat, Camboya, 2013-08-16, DD 073.JPG
Angkor Wat seen from Phnom Bakheng at sunset
- Phnom Bakheng-1.JPG
General view
- Phnom Bakheng-2.JPG
Upper terrace
- Phnom Bakheng-4.JPG
Stone tower and Angkor Wat far afield
- Relieve en Phnom Bakheng, Angkor, Camboya, 2013-08-16, DD 01.JPG
Bas-relief in Phnom Bakheng
See alsoEdit
NotesEdit
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ReferencesEdit
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- Goloubev, Victor. Le Phnom Bakheng et la ville de Yasovarman. Bulletin de l'EFEO (Paris), 33 (1933): 319–344.
- Goloubev, Victor. Nouvelles récherches autour de Phnom Bakhen. Bulletin de l'EFEO (Paris), 34 (1934): 576–600.
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