Heritage site
Kbal Spean
ក្បាលស្ពាន
Kbal Spean (ក្បាលស្ពាន) is a stretch of river northwest of Phnom Kulen whose natural stone bedrock is carved with lingas and Hindu gods.[1] It is also called the "River of a thousand lingas".[2] Piphal Heng and Paul Lavy describe a linga as a representation of Shiva in the form of a phallic pillar.[2]
The site lies in Khun Ream commune, Banteay Srei district, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the city of Siem Reap.[1] Its stream, the Stung Russei, is a tributary of the Siem Reap River, which rises in the Kulen hills and carries their water down to Angkor.[1][3][4][5] Kbal Spean is one of two carved riverbeds in Phnom Kulen National Park. The other, also called the Thousand Lingas, is on the Kulen plateau.[3]
History
The carvings are dated to the 11th or 12th century[2] or to the 11th century, in the reigns of King Suryavarman I and King Udayadityavarman II.[1]
Inscriptions record a hermitage at the site.[1] Hermits lived in more than 40 rock shelters on Phnom Kulen from the 10th century onward.[3] One series of inscriptions tells of an official of Suryavarman I who withdrew to a hermitage on the mountain and made a Sahasrahlinga of Ishvara. The inscriptions also speak of the site's importance to Udayadityavarman II and of a golden linga set up on the mountain.[1] Inscriptions show that kings consecrated the carved riverbed.[3]
Another inscription likens the stream to the legendary river Ganga.[1] In the Angkorian period the river was identified with the Ganga, the sacred river of India, and Phnom Kulen was probably linked with Meru and Kailasa, the mythical mountains of the Himalayas.[3] Heng and Lavy wrote that images of Vishnu like these may underline how important Vishnu remained for managing water in Khmer culture. In their view, Shiva and Vishnu together on the holy mountain blessed the water on its way down to Angkor, the capital on the plain below.[2] The entry for Phnom Kulen on the tentative list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization gives the two carved riverbeds a symbolic function rather than a water management one.[3]
The site came to light in February 1968 and was cleared in the months that followed. Jean Boulbet carried out the first research there that same year.[1] Eleven inscriptions are recorded at Kbal Spean, numbered K. 1011, K. 1012, K. 1015, K. 1016, K. 1343 to K. 1347, K. 1545 and K. 1547. Claude Jacques published the first four in the Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient in 1999.[1]
The carvings
At the northern end of the site, a natural arch of stone spans the shallow river. The carvings begin a little upstream of this bridge and run about 150 meters (490 feet) downstream to a waterfall, where they end.[1] Upstream of the bridge are a large linga, many small lingas and an image of Brahma seated on a lotus. Near the bridge, several reliefs show Vishnu reclining on a hooded serpent (naga). A lotus rises from his navel with Brahma seated on it, and his consort Laksmi sits at his feet. Beside one of these reliefs, three temple towers are carved. Another shows Shiva and his consort Uma riding the bull Nandin.[1]
Below the bridge, more lingas and more reclining figures of Vishnu with Brahma follow. Boulbet recorded a square basin cut into the bedrock of the riverbed, with reliefs on its inner walls.[1] A larger relief of Shiva and Uma on Nandin faces the river from a rock wall. On the rock face just above the waterfall are small figures of worshippers in different headdresses, an ascetic and the god Ganesha holding a string of prayer beads. Between them is the worn space of a large standing figure that has been lost, and above it a crocodile. A stone at the edge of the waterfall is shaped like a frog or a turtle.[1]
Two rock shelters on the riverbank hold small sandstone pedestals and other fragments. Rodney Charles L'Huillier, of Hello Angkor, suggested that they may have been the main place of worship of the ascetic who made the site.[1]
Related sites
Blocks of sandstone crowded with small carved lingas lie in the moat of Neak Pean, a temple at Angkor. Similar groups are carved in the bed of the Siem Reap River on Phnom Kulen and at Kbal Spean.[5] Reliefs on Khan Mak Houk, a rocky islet in the Mekong near Champasak, in Laos, show Brahmanic themes comparable to those at Kbal Spean. By their style they date, like the earliest carvings on Phnom Kulen, to the period of the Baphuon.[4] In India, lingas of the 17th century are carved in the bed of the Shalmala River in Karnataka.[3]
Visiting
As of 2026, the drive from Siem Reap takes about an hour. A dirt track leads from the main road to a ticket checkpoint where food stalls stand. From there a trail climbs to the carvings in about 40 minutes. The walk up, along the carvings and back takes about three hours.[1] The site opens at 7:30 a.m. Last entry is at 3 p.m.[1] In the dry season the stream may run low or stop until the rains, which last from late April to November, and more of the carvings can be seen.[1] The Angkor Center for Conservation of Biodiversity stands beside the car park.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Hello Angkor, Rodney Charles L'Huillier, Kbal Spean: Visiting Info, Layout, History and More (updated January 7, 2026)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Angkor Database, Piphal Heng and Paul Lavy, Pre-Angkorian cities: Ishanapura and Mahendraparvata (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Phnom Kulen: Archeological Site/Ancient Site of Mahendraparvata, tentative list entry (March 27, 2020)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Marielle Santoni, Christine Hawixbrock and Viengkeo Souksavatdy, The French archaeological mission and Vat Phou: Research on an exceptional historic site in Laos, English version of a chapter in Recherches nouvelles sur le Laos (École française d'Extrême-Orient, 2008)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Udaya, Thomas S. Maxwell, The Stele Inscription of Preah Khan, Angkor: Text with Translation and Commentary (undated)