Place
Tonle Bati
ទន្លេបាទី
Tonle Bati (ទន្លេបាទី) is a lake in Bati district, Takeo province, about 30 to 35 kilometers south of Phnom Penh off National Road 2.[1][2][3] On its shore stand two temples from the reign of Jayavarman VII, Ta Prohm and Yeay Peau, beside the monastery of Wat Tonle Bati.[3][4] People come on weekends to picnic in huts built on stilts over the water.[4]
The lake
Koh Santepheap described the lake in 2018 as a natural lake about 7 kilometers long and 1 to 1.5 kilometers wide. In the rainy season it is 2 to 3.5 meters deep, and in the dry season the water drops to 1 to 2.5 meters.[2] The picnic area lies in Thnal Teaksen village, Krang Thnong commune. That year the site was run by the commune's community, and it was busy on Saturdays and Sundays and quiet during the week.[2]
The amateur archaeologist Andrew Spooner described the lake in 1877 as a shallow basin running east to west, with wooded banks. Toward the east, in the distance, he saw a natural outlet that joined the lake to the great river when the rains flooded it.[5]
Ta Prohm
Ta Prohm (ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្ម) was built in the late 12th or early 13th century under Jayavarman VII.[3][2][1] It is also called Ta Prohm Tonle Bati (ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្មទន្លេបាទី).[6] Kampuchea Thmey places it in the Bayon style.[1] It was dedicated to both Brahmanism and Buddhism.[1][7] Canby Publications writes that builders altered and enlarged it into the 16th century.[3] It adds that the area was settled, with temples, from the Funan period before Angkor.[3] Kampuchea Thmey, citing the provincial Department of Culture and Fine Arts, gives its size as 42 by 36 meters and 11 meters in height, built of sandstone and laterite with five rooms inside. Its outer walls carry carvings of apsaras from Brahmanic stories, among them Vishnu protecting the world.[1] Into Cambodia also describes it as sandstone,[6] while Tourism of Cambodia gives brick and laterite, with many rooms.[7] In 2005 its gallery, enclosure wall, gateway and the moat around it were badly damaged.[1][7] Inside stood two 13th-century Buddha images facing east, in front of a figure of Garuda,[1] or one such image.[7] Into Cambodia records a Buddha image of the Nirvana at the center of the temple, made in the 16th century under King Ang Chan I.[6] The linguist Saveros Pou, writing on the names of Khmer temples, notes that in Prasat Ta Prohm the name Ta Prohm is a person's name, the Khmer form of Brahma.[8]
When Spooner saw the temple in 1877, the east pediment of the sanctuary had been recut to show a reclining Buddha, and a standing Buddha 2.5 meters high stood under the central tower.[5] Into Cambodia compares it with Ta Prohm at Angkor, as both are in the Bayon style.[6]
Yeay Peau
Yeay Peau (ប្រាសាទយាយពៅ) stands about 100 meters from Ta Prohm, on the grounds of the monastery.[1][9] It is a single sandstone tower,[3] 7 meters square and facing east.[1] In 1877 the monks of the monastery beside it kept a linga in the sanctuary.[5] Hello Angkor describes a lintel over the east doorway showing three worshipers holding up a seated bodhisattva, and a stele with 23 lines of Khmer found nearby, recorded as K. 39 and dated to 1574.[9]
A local legend, retold by Kampuchea Thmey in 2005, links the two temples. King Ketumala loved Pov, a young woman of Bati, and they had a son named Prohm. Prohm later ruled the area as a lesser king, and he built Yeay Peau for his mother and Ta Prohm for himself.[1]
Wat Tonle Bati
Tourism of Cambodia writes that the monastery of Wat Tonle Bati was built in 1576.[4] Koh Santepheap calls Tonle Bati a sacred place of worship, crowded during national festivals.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Kampuchea Thmey, ស្វែងយល់ពីប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្ម និងប្រាសាទយាយពៅនៅទន្លេបាទី (June 2005), reprinted on the kntravel blog (February 17, 2006)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Koh Santepheap, ទន្លេបាទីគ្មានការអភិវឌ្ឍឱ្យសមជារមណីយដ្ឋាន (July 27, 2018)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Canby Publications, Ta Prohm at Tonle Bati (undated)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Tourism of Cambodia, Tonle Bati (undated)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Angkor Database, Les monuments religieux de la province de Bati, notes on Andrew Spooner's 1880 article (undated)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Into Cambodia, Takéo Province (undated)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Tourism of Cambodia, Ta Prohm Temple (undated)
- ↑ Saveros Pou, Les noms de monuments khmers, Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient 78 (1991)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Hello Angkor, Rodney Charles L'Huillier, Yeay Pov Temple (updated January 1, 2026)