Cambodia - BANTEAY SREI (4of7) [EN]

At the end of the causeway and just in front of the gopura of the next enclosure (Gopura III) are two long galleries on either side. A passage between these and the walls of the third enclosure allowed access from the town. This gopura immediately in front of you is the entrance to the temple proper; though smaller than the outer gopura, it was flanked by lions, and contains the pedestal for a linga. There are inscriptions on the inner door-frames. The E-facing pediment, which lies on the ground just N of the causeway, shows Sita being seized by the demon Viradha (from the Ramayana). The W-facing pediment is now in the Musee Guimet in Paris, and shows a scene from the Mahabharata in which two asuras, the brothers Sunda and Upasunda, fight over the possession of the apsaras Tilottama. Crossing through this gopura, you are inside the laterite-walled third enclosure, on a broad earth causeway with the moat on either side.

The next gopura (II), with its magnificent double-tiered pediments, takes you through another laterite wall into what at first glance appears to be an over-crowded central enclosure. However, this is only because the brick wall of the innermost enclosure has collapsed and was, in any case, only 9m away. The tiny, exquisite building directly ahead of you is, in fact, the innermost E gopura {Gopura I). On either side you can see laterite 'long galleries' in poor condition. These, continuing with four others round the walls, take up most of the space between the second and inner enclosures, and were originally roofed with tiles. Almost at your feet are the remains of a sculpture of the bull Nandi in a sitting position.

The most immediately striking feature of the central enclosure in front of you is its scale, more suited to small children than to normal adults. The doorway of the central shrine, for example, is only 108cm high. The slim east gopura, now free-standing, appears hardly to have been designed as a gateway. The three sanctuary towers stand in a row on a 90cm-high T-shaped platform, so close together that it is hardly possible to walk between them, let alone stand back to view their pediments and lintels. Each has an E-facing entrance, with the usual blind doors on the other three sides. The central sanctuary, taller than the other two, is .fronted by an arrangement that became common much later elsewhere - a mandapa, or antechamber, connected to the sanctuary by a narrower corridor - the antarala. The central sanctuary was dedicated to Shiva, as was the southern sanctuary, while the northern one was dedicated to Vishnu - a lopsided and unusual arrangement (contrast this with the three-tower layouts at Phnom Krom and Phnom Bok, dedicated to Shiva in the centre, Vishnu to the N and Brahma to the S).

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Cambodia
• Kampuchea
• Khmer
• Banteay
• Srei
• Tribhuvanamahesvara
• Kulen
• Mountains

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