p122  Grand Circuit

From the Veal, or central square of Angkor Thom, the Grand Circuit takes one out of the North Gate to Prah Khan, thence to Neak Pean, Ta Som, Eastern Mebon, Pre Rup and back to Angkor Wat. Distance: •16.25 miles.

Prah Khan

This great and fortified temple, situated outside and northeast of Angkor Thom, was built during the reign of Jayavarman II (802‑869) at the very inception of the Angkorean period. Some authorities are of the opinion that it may have been the Khmer capital before Angkor Thom was built.

Though Prah Khan signifies "Sacred Sword," the original of which (if it ever existed) vanished when Angkor was sacked, no definite proof exists that it is not the same now regarded as the priceless Palladium of the modern Cambodian realm, which is guarded day and night by Brahman priests in the King's Palace at Phnom Penh and which is reputed to have been a gift from the god  p125 Indra (some say Vishnu) to a Khmer ancestor of the present ruler.

Prah Khan is surrounded by a high laterite wall, •2,700 feet, or half a mile (east and west) by •2,150 feet or ⅖ths of a mile (north and south), and a wide moat, spanned on each of its four sides by causeways with the usual Naga balustrades. One should enter this area by the north gate •(650 feet off the main highway) and emerge at the east, or front, gate.

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Naga Balustrade, North Entrance to Prah Khan

[A larger version of the photo opens here.]

Each of its four entrance porticoes has three gopura, the central passage being intended for the use of processions. Between the outer and inner walls a dense jungle intervenes, beyond which appears a ruined mass of pillars and galleries around a huge edifice caught in the savage embrace of the forest. From the top of its galleries rise the inevitable fromagers, or banyans, which by some odd inconsistency hold together the central walls and gables they once pried apart. Yet not a single tree among them, according to George Groslier, curator of the Cambodian Museums at Phnom Penh, is "of slow growth or of several hundred years of age."

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"From the top of its galleries rise the inevitable fromagers which by some odd inconsistency now hold together what they once pried apart." Prah Khan

Built of laterite and sandstone, this shrine, square in shape, was originally surmounted by a high tower terminating in a lotus flower. But the hand of the wrecker has ruined it, and its halls are choked with rubbish. Though a considerable number of Brahmanic scenes and deities are carved on doorposts,  p126 friezes, walls and niches, it is not yet definitely known whether this edifice was used as a temple or whether it was the seat of one of the monarchs of the early Angkorean period. It abounds in conflicting details of construction that defy an authentic solution of the mystery.

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Plan of Prah Khan (Inner Enclosure)

In area, however, it is second only to Angkor Wat, though its architects were less daring, less original perhaps. And in devastation, it is second to none.

However, especial note should be made of the frieze of apsaras (dancing girls) decorating the architraves above the doors of the central cruciform gallery. It is one of the most charming in all Khmer art.

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Ruins of Prah Khan (note frieze over lintel)

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Tympanum of Apsaras (celestial nymphs) Prah Khan

Just north of this gallery is a small temple of unknown purpose, with round (in some cases, almost hexagonal) pillars — the only ones (except as supports for foot-bridges or terraces) yet discovered.

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Only round pillars in all of Angkor, Prah Khan

Neak Pean

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Neak Pean (restored 1938)

•About 1¼ miles east of Prah Khan's eastern moat is a square pond with a little shrine in its center — the strange Temple of Neak Pean.

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Lokesvara and Three-headed Elephants, Neak Pean

[A larger version of the photo opens here.]

When built in the 9th century, it was dedicated to Lokesvara as a healer and worker of miracles. Its waters at one time were reputed to possess magic powers and to be able to perform miracles of healing.

 p128  Meaning "Entwined Nagas," Neak Pean manifestly alludes to the two stone serpents coiled to form its circular base, a series of eight steps. Their heads are reared before the little chapel's only entrance on the east; their entwined tails, on the west.

The square pond, faced with ten sandstone steps, •225 feet on a side, is flanked by four smaller basins forming a cross.

These smaller tanks communicate with the larger by means of gargoyles representing an open-mouthed Bodhisattva on the east, a white elephant with raised trunk on the north, a heavenly steed on the west, a lion on the south. During October and November, after the heavy rains, these basins are full of water. They then reflect the image of the island sanctuary, which seems to float on its beauti­fully carved lotus-flower pedestal, •45 feet in diameter. Its three false doorways, on north, west and south, are carved with large figures of Lokesvara; the upper frontons with scenes from the Buddha's life; the angles with three-headed elephants.

Until 1936 the little chapel was almost obscured among the roots of a great spreading banyan that spouted from its roof. Then a bolt of lightning splintered the tree. The temple collapsed like a house of toy blocks but was immediately, flawlessly reconstructed (1938).

Before its east facade are the assembled fragments of a rearing horse, "of magnificent  p129 gait." According to Marchal, "Nothing in Khmer statuary . . . can be compared to it." He thinks it may be an avatar of Lokesvara so metamorphosed to enable it to rescue shipwrecked unfortunates (shown clinging to the tail) from an island inhabited by horrible female demons.

Ta Som

Ta Som, meaning "Shrine of the Ancestor Som," is passed next, •1¼ miles east of Neak Pean. Being a monument of the second category, it scarcely merits a visit, though its four-faced western gateway, smothered in a mass of vegetation and the huge roots of a wild fig tree, is singularly picturesque, especially when viewed from the inside. Built about the same time as Prah Khan this monument is enclosed within two walls, •815 by 650 feet.

Eastern Mebon

•About 1½ miles south of Ta Som, in the center of an immense depression that once was an artificial lake, known as East Barai, is the East Mebon, a Brahmanic temple built by the great king Rajendravarman about 945. An inscribed stone found among the debris records in florid language the beauty, splendor, courage and majesty of the monarch.

 p130  The East Barai, 5 miles long by •1.1 miles wide and •30 feet deep, was built by Yasovarman, who called it Yasodharatataka, or "Yasovarman's Pond." Like the West Barai on the opposite side of Angkor Thom, it is presumed to have been not only a reservoir of fresh water for the Royal City, but a fish preserve as well. It is now filled with trees and rice-fields.

The East Mebon, •420 feet square and built •10 feet above the ground, occupied what was once an artificial island. Two walls enclose the temple, at the four angles of which are well-proportioned figures of elephants with bells about their necks. These are something rare in Khmer art as they are more than shadowy bas‑reliefs; they are complete sculptures anatomically correct and well executed.

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Elephant, East Mebon

On the third terrace, built quincunx fashion, are five square brick shrines of elaborate construction. At one time their facades were coated with a glaze that has crumbled away. Their door posts, lintels and small columns are of remarkable workman­ship — a definite architectural mile-post toward the eventual realization of Angkor Wat.

Pre Rup

•A mile south of the East Mebon is Pre Rup, a large 9th century Brahmanic temple opening  p132 to the eastward. It is built on three terraces, the lowest of which is on an elaborate base •13 feet high, 390 feet long and 351 feet wide, and is topped by a pyramid with a central cluster of five prasat, elaborately designed.

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Pre Rup (Crematorium)

This temple is believed to have been a crematorium, as Pre Rup means "the turning of the body," alluding to the practice of tra­cing in the warm ashes at the end of an incineration ritual the profile of the deceased, first on one side, then on the other.

Just within the east portal is a curious rectangular depression resembling a sarcophagus. Modern Cambodians believe this to be the pit used by the Khmers for the incineration of the dead. The edifices on either side, they say, were mortuaries where bodies awaiting cremation were kept and the long galleries along the inner wall were for the use of mourners and relatives.

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Pre Rup (Crematorium) "Curious rectangular depression resembling a sarcophagus"

But Curator Marchal wrote in 1930 that such a "legend connected by the natives with this monument is not historical in the least and only depends on folklore." However, he advances no other theory as to the probable nature of the monument.

The five sanctuaries within the inner wall are turret-shaped, the central one, on the third terrace, being built on a pedestal •10½ feet high. Four flights of steps, adorned with lions, lead up to the terrace, which is •49 feet above the plain. The view is admirable, but  p135 the detail of the limestone decorations in the corner sanctuaries, particularly the southwest tower, which is the best preserved, probably merit the most attention. The Indravarman art displayed here, with its foliage patterns and garlands, is frequently compared with that of Louis XV.

With this monument, the Grand Circuit ends, except for

Sra Srang

which is passed on the way back to the hotels. Sra Srang, or "Basin of Ablutions," is an artificial lake (never dry), •437 yards long by 218 wide, •about 6½ miles from the Hôtel des Ruines,º just opposite the east entrance to Banteai Kedei, on the Minor Circuit. At one time it was the Royal Bath reserved for the exclusive use of the King, the Royal Family and High Church Dignitaries.

On its west shore is a terrace ornamented with Nagas and formerly adorned with pavilions that either have been demolished or have crumbled away.

In the middle of the lake are the ruins of an exquisite little shrine.

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