Cambodia - BANTEAY SREI (3of7) [EN]

Enter through the town gopura (Gopura IV) with its E-facing pediment in pink sandstone showing Indra on his three-headed elephant mount Airavata; appropriately, as Indra is the guardian of this direction. This gopura is the largest at the site - the others decrease in size towards the central sanctuary. The gopura is cross-shaped in plan and it was here that the main stele of the temple was discovered in 1936, enabling the date of consecration to be worked out precisely from its information about the position of the sun, moon and planets.

Walking through, you face the causeway that leads, almost 70m distant, to the next enclosure. It is lined on either side with stone boundary posts (32 in all), which are almost identical to those at the cliff-top temple of Preah Vihear far to the N. To left and right, beyond these posts, the causeway is flanked by the remains of galleries, with stone pillars on the inner sides and laterite walls facing outwards.

Halfway along the causeway, stop to look at the two porches on the left and right. Each of these leads to a 'long gallery' aligned N-S and originally roofed with tiles. The 'long gallery' to the S has a pediment facing you that shows Shiva and his wife Uma riding the bull Nandi -the motif known as Umamahesvara - and is flanked by two other, slightly shorter galleries. On the other side of the causeway the 'long gallery' has a pediment showing Vishnu in the form of the lion Narasimha ripping the chest of the king of the asuras Hiranyakasipu. The purpose of these 'long galleries' is unknown.

Category:

Education

Tags:

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

[sahauwannabe]

Noone can escape being a slave even now you are a slave too. you work just to survive and when you died you have nothing left to show the world. the slaves in those days left this beautiful temples to show you and the world.

[tajmaishu]

All thats works is from slave who has die!!

[kingdomofcambodia]

Such a beautiful temple..one of the finest of the khmer architecture. Well known for its fine carvings and goddesses adorn all over..Michael.