Located on the Eastern bank of the Tonle Sap lake, close to the Steung Saen River, the central part of Sambor Prei Kuk is divided into three main groups. Each group has a square layout surrounded by a brick wall. The structures of the overall archaeological area were constructed at variable times: the southern and north groups (7th century) by Isanavarman I, who is considered a possible founder of the city[4] and the central group (later date). The buildings of Sambor Prei Kuk are characteristic of the Pre-Angkorean period with a simple external plan. The principal material is brick, but sandstone is also used for certain structures.[5] Architectural features include numerous prasats, octagonal towers, shiva lingams and yonis, ponds and reservoirs, and lion sculptures. Sambor Prei Kuk is located amidst mature sub-tropical forests with limited undergrowth. The area has been mined and could still contain unexploded ordnance.[6]
Clusters
A temple in Sambor Prei Kuk
The whole compound is made of three clusters classified as group C for Central, N for North and S for South (Michon & Kalay, 2012).[citation needed] They are enclosed in a double-walled encircling 1,000 acre in which there were 150 Hindu temples today mostly in ruins.
Group N: Prasat Sambor (ប្រាសាទសំបូរ) is considered the main temple and it dates from the 7th century. It was dedicated to one of the reincarnations of Shiva known as Gambhireshvara (from Sanskrit गम्भीर - gambhir, profound, deep, solemn - and शिव, shvara, Shiva, Śiva, The Auspicious One).
Group S: Prasat Yeah Puon (ប្រាសាទយាយព័ន្ធ) includes 22 sanctuaries dated from the 7th century (600 - 635 AD) during the reign of Isanavarman I in dedication to Shiva.[7]
Group C: It is occupied by the Central Sanctuary or Prasat Boram (ប្រាសាទបុរាម) with lion sculptures that had inspired the popular name of Prasat Tao (The Lions' Temple). It is, however, the newest group dating the 9th century. The other main feature is the Tower of Ashram Issey, but there were also other constructions (18 temples) now in ruined (Palmer, 2011).[8]
History
7th century
Isanavarman I reigned over the Chenla Kingdom between 616 and 637 AD, taking Isanapura as his capital[9] and it is argued that he built the main temple Prasat Sambor (Group N), as there is an inscription on the site attributed to his reign and dated 13 September 627 AD.[10] The king is also known for sending his first embassy to the court of the Sui dynasty in China (616-617). Chenla conquered different principalities in the Northwest of Cambodia after the end of the Chinese reign period yǒnghuī (永徽) (i. e. after 31 January 656), which previously (in 638/39) paid tribute to China.[11] An inscription dating from the reign of Isanarvarman I claimed that he was, "the King of Kings, who rules over Suvarnabhumi".[12] Vong Sotheara, of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, claimed that the inscription would "prove that Suvarnabhumi was the Khmer Empire."
The last important king in Isanapura was Jayavarman I, whose death caused turmoil to the kingdom at the start of the 8th century, breaking it in many principalities and opening the way to a new time: Angkor. This site is also claimed as an early capital of Jayavarman II (O'Reilly & Jacques, 1990).[13]
20th century
After the Lon Nol's coup d'état to Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1970, US President Richard Nixon ordered a secret bombing of Cambodia to fight the Khmer Rouge guerrillas and any influence of North Vietnam in the country. The US aircraft bombed positions inside the archaeological site, causing craters near the temples, while the guerrillas left several mines on the land that were cleared only in 2008.
The official religion at Sambor Prei Kuk city was Shaivism, one of the four most widely followed ancient monotheist Dharmic religions which was retrospectively and erroneously included by the British Empire and British-educated Indian elites as a sect under the banner of Hinduism. It reveres the Shiva as the monotheist God and Supreme Being, and the Lingam (in Sanskrit लिङ्गं, liṅgaṃ, meaning "mark", "sign", or "inference") or Shiva linga representing Shiva to be worshiped in temples.[15] In Cambodia as it is in India, the lingam is a symbol of the energy and potential of god Shiva himself[16] and this phallic symbol is often represented with the Yoni (Sanskrit: योनि yoni, literally "womb"), symbol of goddess Shakti, female creative energy.[17]
Shaivism was the religion of Chenla (ca. 550 - ca. 800 AD), including elements of Shaivism, Buddhism and indigenous ancestor cults.[18] In the Sambor Prei Kuk temples, it is possible to contemplate stone inscriptions in both Sanskrit and Khmer, naming both Shaiva and local ancestral deities with Shiva and several altars with the lingam.
↑ Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., ISBN9786167339443
↑ Coedès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella (ed.). The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN978-0-8248-0368-1.
↑ Zimmer, Heinrich Robert (1946). Campbell, Joseph, ed. Myths and symbols in Indian art and civilization. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 126. ISBN0-691-01778-6. But the basic and most common object of worship in Shiva shrines is the phallus or lingam.
Khmer architecture, also known as Angkorian architecture, is the architecture produced by the Khmer during the Angkor period of the Khmer Empire from approximately the later half of the 8th century CE to the first half of the 15th century CE.
Angkor, also known as Yasodharapura, was the capital city of the Khmer Empire, located in present-day Cambodia. The city and empire flourished from approximately the 9th to the 15th centuries. The city houses the Angkor Wat, one of Cambodia's most popular tourist attractions.
Prasat Kravan is a small 10th-century temple consisting of five reddish brick towers on a common terrace, at Angkor, Cambodia, south of the artificial lake (baray) called Srah Srang. Its original Sanskrit name is unknown. The modern name in Khmer, "Prasat Kravan", means artabotrys odoratissimus temple. The temple was dedicated to Vishnu in 921 CE, according to an inscription on doorjambs.
Kampong Thom is a province (khaet) of Cambodia. It borders the provinces of Siem Reap to the northwest, Preah Vihear to the north, Stung Treng to the northeast, Kratie to the east, Kampong Cham and Kampong Chhnang to the south, and the Tonle Sap to the west.
Chenla or Zhenla is the Chinese designation for the vassal of the kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late 6th to the early 9th century in Indochina. The name was still used in the 13th century by the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan, author of The Customs of Cambodia. It appears on the Mao Kun map. However, modern historiography applies the name exclusively to the period from the late 6th to the early 9th century. This period of Cambodian history is known by historians as the Pre-Angkor period. It is doubted whether Chenla ever existed as a unitary kingdom, or if this is a misconception by Chinese chroniclers. Most modern historians assert that "Chenla" was in fact just a series of loose and temporary confederations of principalities in the pre-Angkor period.
Kbal Spean is an Angkorian-era archaeological site on the southwest slopes of the Kulen Hills to the northeast of Angkor in Banteay Srei District, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. It is situated along a 150m stretch of the Stung Kbal Spean River, 25 kilometres (16 mi) from the main Angkor group of monuments, which lie downstream.
Banteay Chhmar is a commune (khum) in Thma Puok District in Banteay Meanchey province in northwest Cambodia. It is located 63 km north of provincial capital Sisophon and about 20 km east of the Thai border. The commune of Banteay Chhmar contains 14 villages.
The khloy is a traditional bamboo vertical duct flute from Cambodia and more specifically the Khmer people. The khloy and other similar bamboo flutes can be found throughout Asia, due to bamboo’s abundance in the region. The khloy is a duct flute and has two sizes: smaller, higher-pitched and larger, lower-pitched. It has six finger holes and a thumb hole, or seven finger holes and no thumb hole. A hole above the highest finger hole may be covered with a membrane made of rice paper or bamboo inner skin, similar to di mo.
Koh Ker is a remote archaeological site in northern Cambodia about 120 kilometres (75 mi) away from Siem Reap and the ancient site of Angkor. It is a jungle filled region that is sparsely populated. More than 180 sanctuaries were found in a protected area of 81 square kilometres (31 sq mi). Only about two dozen monuments can be visited by tourists because most of the sanctuaries are hidden in the forest and the whole area is not fully demined.
Mahendravarman was also called Protégé of the Great Indra.
Angkor Borei is a district located in Takéo Province, in southern Cambodia. According to the 1998 census of Cambodia, it had a population of 44,980.
Hariharalaya was an ancient city and capital of the Khmer empire located near Siem Reap, Cambodia in an area now called Roluos. Today, all that remains of the city are the ruins of several royal temples: Preah Ko, the Bakong, Lolei.
Ak Yum is an ancient temple in the Angkor region of Cambodia. Helen Jessup dates the temple to the 8th century, and states it is the oldest known example of "temple mountain" in Southeast Asia.
Theravada Buddhism is the state religion of Cambodia, which has been present since at least the 5th century.
Phnom Chisor is a 133-metres high mountain in Dok Por village, Rovieng commune, Samraŏng District, Takéo Province, Cambodia. It lies about 42 km south of Phnom Penh. The Ministry of Culture and Fine Art are preparing documents to nominate the site in the list of UNESCO world heritage.
Lakhon Khol or Khmer Masked Theatre is a dance drama genre that is performed in Cambodia.
Isanapura, also known as Sambhupura or Sambor of St'ung Sen, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Chenla. It is located in what is now Kampong Thom Province in Cambodia. The city was founded in about 618 at Leek Sambor Kuk by King Isanavarman I. According to Paul Pelliot, Sambhupura was the capital of Land Chenla.
Īśānavarman or Yīshēnàxiāndài was a king of the kingdom of Chenla in 7th century, which would later become the Khmer Empire. He was the son of, and successor to Mahendravarman.
Henri Ernest Jean Parmentier was a French architect, art historian and archaeologist. Parmentier became one of the first European specialists in the archaeology of Indochina. He has documented, depicted and preserved many Khmer, Cham and Lao monuments.
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