Preah Khan

While there parking areas at the north, west, and east entrances of Preah Khan, it is most appropriate to enter Preah Khan from the east (toward which it is oriented) and proceed directly through to the west. Ask your tuk-tuk driver to drop you at the eastern exterior gopura and wait for you on at the western gopura (Dont forget what the tuk-tuk looks like!).

The eastern entrance of Preah Khan faces the now dry Jayatataka Baray, Jayavarman VII’s massive reservoir. As you approach the temple, the path into the city and temple will be on your right; before turning towards the Preah Khan, you will notice a wooden deck on your left that looks out over the now swampy baray; this was the site of the recently excavated boat platform that once provided access to the Neak Poan.

Heading west, a causeway is lined with short, square pillars featuring defaced Buddha images (chipped away during an anti-Buddhist backlash sometime after the death of Jayavarman VII). Shortly, you will arrive at an elevated causeway spanning the temple moat that is adorned by Asuras and Devas (demons and gods) holding naga balustrades, similar to but smaller than those at Angkor Thom, .

At the end of the causeway is a gopura that provides access to temple through an imposing 16 foot (5m) tall laterite wall. Unique to Preah Khan, the enclosure features 72 sandstone Garudas that are stationed every 160 feet (50 m) along the wall. Many of these Garudas have been restored thanks to the efforts of the World Conservation Society; there is a trail leading along the outside of the wall if you wish to examine some more of these sculptures.

Beyond the gate, a dirt trail passes through the forest, which is home to a variety of indigenous bird species. Once, this expansive area was occupied by the city population mentioned on the foundation stela. As you near the next gopura and enclosure you will pass a small, sandstone building that some have suggested is one of the 121 Dharmasalas (rest areas) that Jayavarman built throughout his kingdom. Others have suggested it was a temple dedicated to the Sacred Flame, a mysterious cult that little is known about today.

At the end of this path, there is an elevated platform guarded by statues of lions and naga balustrades, which end not with the typical flared snake heads but in winged Garudas atop the nagas. This is the entrance to the temple proper. Here you will notice the first (and largest) of the silk-cotton trees that have grown atop the temple towers and walls.

Passing through the central doorway of the third enclosure will deposit you in the Hall of Dancers. Once capped with a corbel roof, the largest room ever to have been enclosed in such, this hall is likely where the 1,000 dancers in residence preformed ritual dance, as suggested by the low-relief carvings on the pillars and the bas-relief carvings on the interior-facing lintels above the doorways.

Before continuing along the east-west axis, exit a doorway to the north (your right). Unlike any other structure built by the Khmer, the two-story pavilion features circular columns: this shrine may have been used to house the sacred sword. The naga balustrades along the walkways here suggest there were pools surrounding the pavilion and adjacent “library” platform. Climb the stairs of the platform beside the pavilion for an elevated perspective on the compound or to relax in the shade for a picnic.

Returning to the east-west axis you will pass through doorways leading toward the central sanctuary. Along the way, you may notice inscriptions on the south-facing doorframes of east-west doorways; these typically indicated the devotion of the image consecrated within the following room.

After a tall, open-ceiling chamber with a square pedestal, the next room to the west has an intact corbel roof of cruciform design “supported” by garudas at the upper, interior corners; these are flanked by rows of fairy-like, winged female images. On the walls of the room are low-relief carvings of a 10-armed dancing Siva with his sons Ganesha and Skanda beneath each image. In the room just north of this chamber, the foundation stela was discovered.

Continuing westward, just beyond another tower with a missing ceiling, there is a westward facing carving above a doorway that depicts Brahma upon a chariot, returning to Ayutthaya.

Next, you will pass through a hallway with a missing a roof. Here you will see holes in the pillars as well as upon the exterior walls of the central sanctuary just ahead of you. Despite many tour guides’ assurances that these holes, along with those that grace the interior walls of the central sanctum, sported massive gems, the holes primary function was to anchors brass panels that adorned the sandstone –though inscriptions did indicated jewels adorning the walls these were likely embedded in the brass paneling that cumulatively weighed 1,500 tons.

Within the central tower, a stupa (typically a funerary spire) is located where the image of Lokesvara once stood. The central sanctuary is still a highly sacred place; the Cambodian people believe that wishes made here can come true. If you haven’t brought your own offering, you may purchase some incense from the attendant here. Again, note the number of holes bored into the surrounding walls, evidence of once elaborate brass decoration.

Shrines dedicated to Siva, Vishnu, and ancestral spirits are located north, west, and south, respectively. The southern chambers are relatively uninteresting (and generally inaccessible), so you should explore the chambers to the north before backtracking and continuing west.

While it can be easy to get lost in the confusing series of collapsed chambers and corridors leading away from the north-south axis that connects the central sanctuary with the shrine of Shiva, there are a number of interesting carvings located near the chamber dedicated to Shiva. Head north (right) from the central sanctuary through a series of doorways that become increasingly smaller; the shrine to Shiva is unadorned, but is located in the room with the smallest doorway. Just east of this room there is a carving above a western-facing doorway that features Vishnu with his consort, reclining on a dragon while a lotus flower grows above him, symbolizing the beginning of a new cosmic cycle of the universe. In the chamber just west of the Shiva shrine is a lintel carving that features a dancing Shiva.

Returning to the central sanctuary, continue along the east-west axis towards the shrine of Vishnu. Shortly you will arrive in a small, roofless courtyard. Looking to your right, you will see a wall covered with low-relief carvings of jackfruit trees beneath which hermits are meditating. Farther along, there is a chamber with a pedestal for statues of Rama (an incarnation of Vishnu), his brother Lakshmana, and his wife Sita. While there are no statues here any longer, there is an inscription that explains this on the left-hand side of the doorway (opposite the earlier inscriptions, as the shrine to Vishnu is oriented towards the west).

Next is the chamber for the shrine to Vishnu, again without any statue to signify it as such; there is simply a yoni style pedestal upon which a headless, seated Buddha now resides. There are, however, a number of lintels and bas-relief frontons as you exit westward, and beyond the western entrance to the temple for Vishnu there are flanking statues, both headless, representing the Asura and Deva who once guarded the sanctuary.

Continuing west, you will exit the west gopura of Preah Khan, cross the causeway flanked by Asuras and Devas, and finally pass the square boundary markers similar to those on the eastern entry.