Heritage site
Prasat Kravan
Prasat Kravan is a row of five brick towers at Angkor, founded in 921, whose sanctuaries have reliefs carved into the brick walls inside.[1] Maurice Glaize, in his 1944 guide to the Angkor monuments, called this sculpture in the brickwork of the sanctuaries unique in the art of Angkor.[1]
History
Inscriptions on the door jambs record that a statue of Vishnu was set up in 921, in the first quarter of the 10th century.[1] Glaize placed the temple in the reign of King Harshavarman I.[1] An older Jayaviravarman, whose title marks him as probably a prince, was among its founders in 921, as Michael Vickery noted from George Coedès's edition of the Prasat Kravan inscriptions.[2] The temple served the Brahmanic (Hindu) religion.[1]
The temple
The five towers stand close together in a line on a single terrace, set at an angle to the road of the Small Circuit and opening to the east.[1] A moat surrounds them, crossed by a small causeway at its north-west corner. The thresholds are very high, but there are no stairways up to them.[1] Large trees, whose roots broke up the brickwork, caused most of the damage to the towers.[1]
The central tower is the only one that keeps part of its upper tiers. Its bricks were laid with great care, with tight joints held by a thin plant-based binder instead of mortar.[1] Outside, the east face carries door guardians (dvarapala) in shallow niches, and the pilasters are decorated with zigzags and little figures in frames. Only the lintel, with its frieze of small heads, and the eight-sided colonnettes with their four ringed bands are of sandstone.[1] The sanctuary chamber, 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) square, held a linga, an emblem of the god Shiva, on a pedestal. Stone hooks for a hanging cloth canopy survive.[1]
Reliefs
The brick reliefs inside the central tower show Vishnu.[1] On the left of the entrance, a large four-armed Vishnu holds a disc, a sphere, a conch and a club. One foot rests on a pedestal beside a praying figure, and the other on a lotus held by a woman against waves of the ocean. Glaize read the scene as the three strides with which Vishnu won the world.[1] On the right, Vishnu sits astride Garuda's shoulders, flanked by two seated worshippers. Facing the door, an eight-armed Vishnu stands framed by six rows of praying figures, mostly men, which grow in number toward the top, under a frieze of more worshippers and a huge lizard.[1]
The northernmost tower, cut off at mid-height, is also carved inside with female figures, and Glaize thought it may have been dedicated to Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu. A pedestal decorated with small praying figures was found there during clearing.[1] The other three towers have bare walls inside, with traces of false brick doors and carved pilasters. The best-kept lintel, of Vishnu on Garuda, is on the southernmost tower.[1]
Restoration
Henri Marchal cleared the site from 1929 to 1931, and G. Trouvé in 1935.[1] Bernard-Philippe Groslier restored it further from 1962 to 1966.[1] After this work in the 1960s all the towers were in better condition, and the new bricks used in the repairs are stamped with the mark "CA".[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 1.18 Angkor Database, Maurice Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group (1944; English translation of the fourth French edition)
- ↑ Angkor Database, Michael Vickery, The Reign of Sūryavarman I and Royal Factionalism at Angkor, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 16(2) (1985)