Heritage site
Mangalartha
Mangalartha, also known as Monument 487, is a small Hindu temple of the late 13th century inside Angkor Thom, in Siem Reap province.[1][2] It is among the last Hindu temples built at Angkor.[2][3]
Location
The temple stands in the forest east of the royal square of Angkor Thom. Glaize's guide reaches it by a track of about 250 meters (820 feet) that leaves the road to the Victory Gate some 900 meters east of the square and runs south.[1]
Dedication and date
A stele inscribed on all four sides dates the temple to the end of the 13th century, which makes it the last Angkor monument with a fairly exact date. The inscription also gives some history of the years that followed the reign of Jayavarman VII, and records that the temple honored two deified people: the Brahman Mangalartha, identified with Vishnu, and his mother.[1] Hello Angkor, drawing on National Museum documents by Hou Nolamony, says that King Jayavarman VIII dedicated the temple to the priest Jayamangalartha and his mother, Subhadra.[2] Canby Publications also names Jayavarman VIII as its patron, but writes that Jayavarman VII first commissioned the temple and that it was consecrated only in 1295.[3]
The inscription, numbered K. 567, dates from 1295. In a 2013 article in the Journal Asiatique, the archaeologists Martin Polkinghorne, Christophe Pottier and Christian Fischer note that it shows Jayavarman VIII supporting Brahmanism. They add that the historian Michael Vickery found the same pattern under the kings who followed him, who paid for the foundations of senior Brahman officials while stating in other inscriptions that they favored Buddhism.[4]
The temple
Mangalartha is a single sandstone sanctuary that faces east. It sits on a double base, with a stairway on each of its four sides. The upper part has fallen. The plan is cross-shaped, with a vestibule on the east side whose walls carry false windows with half-lowered blinds. Inside, the chamber is 2.20 meters (about 7 feet) across, and the pedestal that held two statues is still there.[1] Glaize saw signs that some building materials were reused, and placed the architecture close to the late Bayon style.[1]
Most of the pediments have been put back together on the ground. Glaize lists Vishnu lying on the serpent Ananta to the east and the Three Strides of Vishnu to the south. To the north are a four-armed Shiva dancing among apsaras with his consort on his knee, and a lintel of the Churning of the Sea of Milk. To the west, a lintel shows Krishna holding up Mount Govardhana to shelter herders and their animals.[1] Hello Angkor also notes a lintel of Krishna subduing the serpent Kaliya, and fine carving on the base moldings, with small figures of Krishna in one band.[2]
Discovery
Henri Marchal of the École française d'Extrême-Orient wrote the first report on the temple. The inscription was found on the southern jamb of the east door, under a termite mound.[2] Glaize gives 1924 for Marchal's clearing of the site.[1] A carved stele from the temple is shown at the Angkor National Museum.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Maurice Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group, English translation of the 4th French edition (first published 1944), p. 129
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Hello Angkor, Mangalartha (Monument 487) (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Canby Publications, Khmer (Angkor) Temples: East Prasat Top (undated)
- ↑ Angkor Database, Martin Polkinghorne, Christophe Pottier and Christian Fischer, One Buddha Can Hide Another, Journal Asiatique 301:2, pp. 575-624 (2013)