Date: Late 12th to 13th century
Style: Bayon
Reign: Jayavarman VII, enlarged by Indravarman II
Visit: at least 1 hr
Highlights
One of the major temples of Jayavarman VII -in fact, a temple-monastery-Ta Prohm features a set of concentric galleries with corner towers and gopuras, but with many other additional buildings and enclosures. The complex city of its lay out is increased by its partly collapsed state,
with trees interlaced among the ruins. According to its steel, which until recently was In situ, the principle divinities of Ta Prohm were installed 1186 to transfer merit the king's mother the principle deity, prajnaparamita, the (perfection of wisdom) was carved in her likeness (similarly, the Principe deity of Preah Khan, Lokesvara, was carved in the likeness of - The king's father). This was only five years after Jayavarman's accession, making it clear that much of the building work took place throughout and after his reign.
with trees interlaced among the ruins. According to its steel, which until recently was In situ, the principle divinities of Ta Prohm were installed 1186 to transfer merit the king's mother the principle deity, prajnaparamita, the (perfection of wisdom) was carved in her likeness (similarly, the Principe deity of Preah Khan, Lokesvara, was carved in the likeness of - The king's father). This was only five years after Jayavarman's accession, making it clear that much of the building work took place throughout and after his reign.
Ta prohm's original name was Rajavihara the royal monastery). In the initial plan for Ta Prohm, 260 divinities were called for; many more were added later, this was the temple chosen by the Ecol Francaise d'extreme- Oreint to be left in its "Natural state" as an example of how most of Angkor looked on its discovery in the 19th Century. This was an inspired decision, and involved a significant amount of work to prevent further collapse and enough clearing of vegetation to allow entry. It has been maintained in this Condition of apparent neglect. : Partly overgrown and gently declining. The trees that have grown intertwined among the ruins are especially responsible for Ta Prohm's atmosphere, and have prompted more writers to descriptive excess than any others.
Feature of Angkor
There are two species: the larger is the silk cotton tree (Ceiba pentadra) distinguished by its thick, pale brown roots with a knobby texture, the smaller is the strangler fig (ficus gibbosa), with a greater mass of thinner, smother grey roots. In both cases, the plant takes hold in a crevice somewhere in the superstructure of a building, usually where a bird had deposited the seed, and extends roots downwards to the soil. In doing this, the root work their way between the nonstories, so that as they grow thicker, they gradually wedge open the blocks.
eventually the tree becomes a support for the building, but when it dies, or is felled by a storm, the loosened blocks collapse. in this way, the trees are agents of destruction. in the itineraries below, we point out some of the prominent trees but remember that they are temporary feature. Back to Top
Plan
Because of the jumble of closely-spaced buildings and galleries at the heart of Ta Prohm, most published plan omit to show the outer enclosures. This helps to give a false sense of the scale in particular of the great size the urban area beyond the temple Proper, now forested, apart from some occasionally farmed area in the east, this outer area was in its day a fully inhabited city. Beyond it, 3,140 villages and 79,365 lay people helped to maintain the whole enterprise. The outer wall measures 1 km E-W and 650 m N-S, certainly big enough to accommodate the 12,640 people mentioned in the temple's inscription. Within, another wall 250 m + 220 m marks the fourth enclosure (numbered as usual with Khmer temples, from the center outwards). Similar proportion is repeated at Preah Khan and Banteay kdei, which build at about the same time.