Heritage site
Tep Pranam
Tep Pranam is a Buddhist terrace in Angkor Thom with a large seated Buddha at its western end. It lies about 100 meters (330 feet) north of the Terrace of the Leper King.[1] Maurice Glaize gave the meaning of the name as "the adoring god".[1]
History
A stele inscribed on all four sides was found near the site, though where it first stood is unknown. It records a Buddhist monastery, or ashrama, called the Saugatashrama, which King Yasovarman I founded toward the end of the 9th century.[1] George Coedès translated the stele in 1908 and described the monastery as serving a small Buddhist community.[2]
The stele sets out rules for the monastery that are nearly the same as those of the Shaivite and Vaishnavite ashramas the same king founded south of the East Baray.[1] It opens with praise of Shiva and ranks the Buddhist teacher a little below the learned Brahmin. It ends with the king's promise that supporters of the ashram will go to the abode of Shiva. Peter D. Sharrock wrote in 2009 that the ashram leaves the impression of "a Buddhist island in a Saiva sea".[2] Glaize judged that the monastery buildings were surely made of light materials. Remains of funeral monuments (cedei) and two stone tanks lie on either side.[1]
Henri Marchal cleared the site in 1918.[1] Glaize dated the large Buddha to a late period, the 15th and 16th centuries.[1] Nhim Sotheavin gave Tep Pranam as an example of a "Buddhist terrace". Its sanctuary (vihara), stupa and boundary stones are features of Theravada Buddhism. In Nhim's account, such terraces in Angkor Thom were probably built from about the 14th century onward, often reusing stone from older temples. They show that people still lived at Angkor in that period.[3]
The terrace
The seated Buddha is visible from the road down a long clearing cut through the forest. A laterite pavement 75 meters (246 feet) long and 8 meters (26 feet) wide leads to the terrace. Boundary stones (sema), set in pairs, mark its corners and axes.[1] The terrace is 50 meters (164 feet) long and 14 meters (46 feet) wide. At its western end it ends in a platform in the shape of a cross, 30 meters (98 feet) on each side. The molded walls of its base and part of its paving are of sandstone.[1] Two lions in the style of the Bayon stand before it on the east. The serpent (naga) balustrades are older.[1]
The Buddha
The statue sits on a molded base 1 meter (3.3 feet) high and rises to 6 meters (20 feet). It is built of fitted blocks, many of them reused stones. The Buddha sits on a lotus and makes the gesture of calling the earth to witness.[1] Glaize found that the body looks like a rough model. He judged the head, with its cranial bump (ushnisha) topped by a flame, to be certainly of a late period.[1]
A ruined pool with laterite steps lies a short way to the west. Beside it, a second large Buddha, standing and over 4 meters (13 feet) tall, has been put back together. It makes the gesture of fearlessness. Its face has not been found.[1]
Visiting
In Glaize's guide, an oblique path behind Tep Pranam leads northwest for 150 meters (490 feet) to the temple of Preah Palilay.[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 Angkor Database, Maurice Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group (1944; English translation of the fourth French edition)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Peter D. Sharrock, Garuda, Vajrapani and Religious Change in Jayavarman VII's Angkor (February 2009)
- ↑ Institute of Asian Culture, Sophia University, Nhim Sotheavin, Factors that Led to the Change of the Khmer Capitals from the 15th to 17th century (undated)