Cambodia 2020 - 11. Ta Prohm Temple

11. Ta Prohm Temple

The year is 1182 AD and Jayavarman VII has ascended the throne. In 1186 he started a ‘HUGE’ building spree across Cambodia. No, I mean HUGE, like you would not believe.

West Entrance to Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm was one of the first buildings he started. This building was dedicated to Wisdom 

(Prajnaparamita) and this King chose his mother to be in the center and focus of this Royal Monastery. Yes, monks lived around this place along with their service staff. The main image (which is no longer there) in the center of this temple showed Jayavarman’s mom. She must have felt honored to be called ‘wise’ by her son.

West Entrance Unsafe So Had to Walk Around This Building

We know all this because a stele was found spelling it out. The name Ta Prohm, which means Ancestor Brahma, used to be originally Rajavihara (Monastery of the King). 

We also learned from this stele, that a partner building was built named Preah Khan, built to honor the King's father but we will visit that later.

 

Information About the Khmer Musicians

On the way to the main entrance, we bought a CD from a group of disabled musicians.  All of them were maimed by stepping on land-mines. In the video below, they are playing traditional Khmer music on traditional instruments.

Khmer Musicians

Buying a CD

Oh, what a delightful visit this Ta Prohm was.

The ‘Ecole Francaise d’ Extreme-Orient’ Society, in the 20^th Century, decided that this Monastery is ‘best allowed to merge with the jungle’.

Strangler Fig Tree, Ficus Gibbosa

Much Rubble Everywhere

Meaning, leave it alone, don’t cut the trees down. The French were in charge of Cambodia at that time and ‘decided’.

Experts today have scoured this place, and established that the original layout, still very well visible, had 5 rectangular walls surrounding the center.

Silk-Cotton Tree Roots (Ceiba Pentandra)

There used to be moats inside and outside of the 4^th wall but those moats have dried up, were taken over by the jungle.  The jungle is all around Ta Prohm.

You might have seen some of the pictures we show here. Ta Prohm is one of the most popular places to take pictures.

More Strangler Fig Roots

Pictures of the roots of giant trees (Ficus Gibbosa) a Strangler Fig tree and the roots of the Silk-Cotton Tree, (Ceiba Pentandra) are famous. Both tree specimens are very aggressive trees and it is obvious now that the French Society may have made a mistake years ago. To let nature take over means to lose all the details very quickly.

Today, India has stepped in. In co-operation with the Cambodian Government, they are trying to preserve what is left, but also trying to not disturb too much of the root systems visible now, that actually are hastening its destruction. It’s a complicated situation.

Recognize This Scene From Tomb Raider?

But my, the effect of the roots crawling along the walls from the roof, is amazing.

Movies were made here because of the kind of eerie effect produced. Tomb Raider (Lara Croft played by Angelina Jolie) was one of those films that took advantage of the all over effect of these ruins.

Some Amazing Carvings Remain - Not Stolen or Demolished

The whole complex is 650,000 square meters. Yes, again, it was built on a grand scale. The long side of this rectangle is 1000 meters, east to west. The shorter side is 650 meters. Yes, Jayavarman VII thought in huge terms!

Along the outer perimeter wall (5^th wall) are 2 small, satellite temples.

One was built for the King’s brother, the other for his Guru (teacher).

I love those names, the Guru was called:  Jayamangalartha.

Mostly Intact Carvings Above the Door

Notice, Jaya is part of the Kings name… so it might mean Kings… something. Consensus is it means ‘guru’.

It is good when a stele is found, it helps establish things.

Ta Prohm is a ‘flat’ temple; it does not have the towers in it like there are at Angkor Wat for example and which represent mountains. The whole temple of Ta Prohm is oriented towards the East, meaning the main buildings were on the East side of the rectangular shaped complex, which is the case with most of the buildings then being built.

It Must Have Been Spectacular in the Late 1100s

We walked from west to east. Our tuk-tuk dropped us off on the west side and picked us up on the east side. I was puzzled how those tuk-tuk drivers know whom they have to pick up, but they seem to know. Our guy was there, no problem.

We asked our driver to pass by the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King but we did not go in. We might do that at a later date.

Being that we, again, walked what seemed like forever, we asked the driver to take us back to the hotel. The temperatures had reached 34C again and it was also hot and humid.

Both the Silk-Cotton Roots and the Building Structure Supported by Metal Rods

Shortly after we took off from Ta Prohm the tuk-tuk needed gas. So the driver bought a liter gas (you can buy it by the liter along the road, its stored in old Coca Cola bottles or such) and poured it into his moped.

This Is the Main Entrance But We Exited Here

A bit down the road his bike stalled. Here we sat, at the side of the road, in blazing sunshine. Nice!

It took the driver a few minutes to use his mouth to blow into the tank. He had to do it a few times, I guess it must have been a vapor lock, but after a

few tries…. Put-put-put… the moped started up with a cough and then ran a bit unevenly and then straightened out… we got to the hotel just fine.  

The Long Walk to the Exit

Phew, walking through rubble, bending under small doors, watching our footing and then afterwards trudging through sandy roads for a km wore me out. Glad to be in A/C at the Hotel.

Best Hours we found are the very early hours….

Gopura  = Exit Gate

We do learn quickly.