The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

386 CEYLON AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
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and Prei K.uk, the ancient capitals of Funan, in
the almost impenetrable jungles near Kompong
Thorn on the road from Saigon to Angkor.
There one may see literally dozens of towered
shrines in brick and stone, most of them covered
with vines or crushed in the octopus grasp of
giant banyans rooted in the spires. Forecasting
a technique of later Khmer temple planners,
numbers of the individual cells set within a
walled enclosure are grouped around a more
impressive central edifice. These towers, each
originally containing a cult image or lingam, are
either square or rectangular in plan. The superstructure
rises in gradually diminishing stages
so that the buildings are conical in profile. The
only ornament is massive stone lintels with a
frame of makaras and carved brick panels set in
the main wall faces. These panels generally
represent a miniature prasada, perhaps a replica
of the shrine itself. The sanctuaries at Sambor,
overgrown with vegetation and scarcely visible
in the green half-light of the jungle, cannot be
adequately photographed :
the drawing in illustration
315 will give the reader an idea of the
general appearance of most of them.
Both the use of brick as a material and its
employment for carved exterior decoration
suggest Indian precedents, such as the temples
at Sirpur and Bhitargaoh. A similar employment
of brick ornament may be seen in the early
temple at Bayang [316]. The main temple of
Siva, dramatically crowning a hilltop, was built
in the first years of the seventh century. It is a
rectangular shrine - a plan occasionally found
at Sambor, too - surmounted by a keel roof
of the vesara type that calls to mind the form
of Bhima's rath at Mamallapuram [233]. The
building rises in three diminishing storeys
demarcated by cornices with blind chaitya
windows. These storeys, unlike the similar
315. Sambor, shrine
316 (right). Phnom Bayang
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