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

CEYLON
396
'
AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
This eminence has been made into a terraced
pyramid in rive levels. Five sandstone towers
stand on the upper terrace, with smaller replicas
on the lower stages of the elevation. Presumably
at one time the spires at the top were auxiliary
shrines grouped around a vanished central
building, in which the symbol of the god-king
was worshipped. The most important architectural
aspect of this building is the location of
a group of still isolated individual towers on the
summit of a pyramid.
Before the solution of the riddles of the Bayon
and Phnom Bakheng, it used to be maintained
that the sanctuary known as the Phimeanakas or
'celestial palace' was the temple-mountain of
Yasovarman I [326]. This was presumably
built in the tenth century as a subsidiary temple
within the walls of Yasodharapura. It is too
small and inaccessible ever to have served as the
327. Angkor Thorn, Phimeanakas
chief temple-mountain of the Empire. As it
exists today, the monument consists of a threestoreyed
pyramid faced with sandstone and
surrounded on its topmost storey by a fenestrated
stone gallery [327]. Stairways with lion
guardians on each landing lead to the summit
326. Angkor Thorn, Phimeanakas