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

CAMBODIA: THE KHMERS 393
in a sort of mandala has its origin in the very
earliest precincts at Sambor and Prei Kuk. By
the ninth century the tower form had reached a
new stage in its development, already considerably
removed from any dependence on Indian
prototypes.
At Lolei the sanctuaries dedicated to Siva and
Parvati are cruciform in plan with massive projecting
porticoes, real and false, forming the
arms of a cross around the central square of the
building. The superstructure rises in successively
diminishing storeys in a manner
faintly reminiscent of Dravidian temples; it was
crowned by a stupika or finial ultimately derived
from the same source. Miniature replicas of the
whole shrine stood at the corners of each level.
The construction of these towers is brick, with
sandstone for the doorways and niches, with
stucco also employed for relief decoration. A
distinctive feature for later Khmer architectural
sculpture is the door lintels that are now heavily
carved with foliate motifs framed in a reversed
U, terminating in makara heads. Above this
lintel, and supported by pilasters framing the
whole doorway, is an even more massive
tympanum, its shape suggesting a flattened
trilobed chaitya arch. Beyond the fact that they
stand together on an artificial platform, the
shrines have no real architectural relationship
one to another.
In the beginnings of the Classic Period of
Khmer art,
we notice the appearance in architecture
of other completely new types of
building methods and ornamentation. Most
important and typical is the elevation of the
cella of the pre-Khmer type to the summit of a
stepped pyramid. The form of this type of
sanctuary and its lofty stepped base are the
result of the cult of the temple-mountain and
of the Devaraja or 'God-king'. 11 The templemountain,
simulating the imagined shape of
either Mount Meru or Mount Kailasa, is, of
course, the importation of the old Indian concept
of praribtmba, the making of either sacred
mountains or unseen celestial regions in architectural
constructions.
With regard to the cult of the Devaraja 12
it must be explained that the Khmer kings, even
in their lifetimes, were regarded as incarnations
of a deity like Siva, Vishnu, or Lokesvara, to
whom the well-being of the realm was confided.
The ritual and cult of the Devaraja centred
around a sacred lingam which was imbued with
the essence of divine kingship and installed in a
temple-mountain, described in many inscriptions
as being located in the centre of the capital
and the Empire - and magically in the centre of
the Universe. The consecration of this symbol
and the continuance of a cult in perpetuity
around it were to ensure the magic essence of
kingship essential to the security of the state.
Of extreme importance to us in its relation
to the cult of the temple-mountain and the
development of Khmer architecture is the
question of the chronology of the successive
capitals established at the famous site of Angkor.
Summarizing the results of brilliant researches
by generations of French archaeologists on this
vexing problem, 13 It can be stated that the first
capital was founded by Yasovarman I (889-
910). It used to be believed that this city had as
its centre either the Bayon temple or the shrine
known as the Phimeanakas in the city of Angkor
Thorn. Actually, the city of Yasodharapura,
which took its name from the king, Yasovarman,
was built around the temple of Phnom Bakheng
between Angkor Wat and Angkor Thorn [323];
this sanctuary was the centre of a vast quadrangle,
nearly two miles on a side, and bounded
on the east by the Siemreap River artificially
deviated from its course to form a moat.
Presumably this site remained the capital of the
Khmer Empire until the founding of a new
capital at Angkor Thorn by Jayavarman VII
(1181-1201), with the Bayon as its centre and
temple-mountain. 14
The temple-mountain in its simplest form
may be illustrated by the shrine of Baksei
it