The
temple complex of Angkor
Tep Pranan (Late 9th century)
Information
24-Aug-2005
Last Edited
"Nor does it seem that Seller's "code" is confined to mythology. In
the jungles of Kampuchea the temple complex of Angkor looks as it could have
been purpose-built as a precessional metaphor. It has, for example,
five gates to each of which leads a road bridging the crocodile-infested
moat that surrounds the whole site. Each of these roads is bordered by
a row of gigantic stone figures, 108 per avenue, 54 on each side (540
statues in all) and each row carries a huge Naga serpent. Furthermore,
as Santillana and von Dechend point out in Hamlet's Mill, the
figures do not 'carry' the serpent but are shown to 'pull' it, which
indicates that these 540 statues are 'churning the Milky Ocean'. The
whole of Angkor 'thus turns out to be a colossal model set up with true
Hindu fantasy and incongruousness' to express the idea of precession."
- pages 260-261
"Fingerprints of the The Gods" by Graham
Hancock. "The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization"
Photo Gallery 2
A Chronology
Angkor Map
The Angkor Temples
* Diagrams also
Angkor Wat
*
(1113-1150 A.D.)
Phnom Bakeng
*
(9th-10th Century)
Angkor Thom
(1190-1210 A.D.)
Baksei Chamkrong
(947 A.D.)
Banteay Kdei
or the Citadel of
the Cells (1186 A.D.)
Banteay
Samre
(1150-1175 A.D.)
Banteay Srey
the Citadel of
Women (967 A.D.)
Banyon Temple
(1190 A.D.)
Chau Say Tevoda
and Thommanon (1190 A.D.)
Eastern Mebon and Eastern Baray
Neak Pean
(1190-1210 A.D.)
Northern and Southern Khleangs (967 A.D.)
Phimeanakas
(1000-1025 A.D.)
Prasat Kravan
(10th Century)
Pre Rup
(961 A.D.)
Preah
Pallilay
(end of the
12th century)
The Roluos Group
(850-893
A.D.)
* Preah Ko Temple
* Bakong Temple
* Lolei Temple
Srah Srang
(1190-1210 A.D.)
Ta Keo *
Ta Nei
(12th
Century)
Ta Prohm
(1186 A.D.)
Ta Som
(1190-1210 A.D.)
Tep Pranan
(late
9th century)
Terrace of the Elephants
(1190-1210 A.D.)
Terrace of
the Leper King
(1190-1210 A.D.)
The terrace lies east of Preah Palilay, a temple built by King Yasovarman VII to the north of the Royal Palace. A 4.5 meter high statue of Buddha survives. Several monks live in a wooden monastery nearby while another building houses nuns widowed under the Pol Pot regime.
"The adoring god"
From the road, a hundred metres north of the
Terrace of the Leper King, one can see the large sitting Buddha of Tep
Pranam at the end of a long cutting through the forest. One gains access
along a laterite pavement of 75 metres by 8, after which is a typical
Buddhist terrace delimited with "sema", or doubled steles, placed at the
corners and on the axis.
Fifty metres long by fourteen wide, the western end of this terrace terminates with a cruciform platform of 30 metres by 30. The moulded walls of its plinth are in sandstone, as is part of its paving. Two lions in the style of the Bayon precede it to the east side, while the nagas of its balustrades date from an earlier period.
A stele inscribed on its four sides, found in the vicinity but whose true origin is unknown, tells of its ancient Buddhist monastery or "asrama" (Saugatasrama) founded by Yasovarman towards the end of the 9th century. The text defines the various rules of organisation - that are almost identical to those of the Shivaïte "Brahmanasrama" and of the "Voirsnavasrama" founded by the same king to the south of the eastern baray. The buildings were certainly constructed in light-weight materials and one can find, on either side, the remains of funerary monuments or "cedei", as well as two stone tanks.
Set on a 1m.00 high moulded base, the statue itself is formed in assembled blocks and reaches to a height of 6m.00 - an enormous Buddha, sitting on a lotus and "calling the earth to witness". Constructed from a number of re-used stones, the body has the look of a rough-formed model whose head - with its "ushnisha" topped by a flame - is certainly of a late period.
Just to the west of Tep Pranam are the remains of a pool with laterite steps, next to which it has been possible to reconstruct another large standing Buddha, over 4m.00 in height and making the ritual gesture of "absence of fear". His face has not been found.