The Royal Road (Dharmasal Route) was a 225 km roadway going northwest between Angkor (in Kampuchea) and Phimai (now in Thailand). While it was not the only such road built by the Khmer, it was the most important one. Most of the road is overgrown by the jungle, and only visible today on aerial photographs. Few of the rest house chapels or hospital chapels survive (only the chapels remain as they were the only buildings built of sandstone or laterite, and all wooden constructions rotted away long ago). The only part of the road which is still driveable is at the entrance to the town of Phimai (state route 2163). The road has been proven to exist in the 12th and 13th century, but it is quite certain that it existed much earlier. Most of the buildings along the road date from the reign of King Jayavarman VII. The road used the Ta Muen Thom pass over the Dongrek mountains, and the first major stop was the Prasat Phanom Rung temple. |
Prasat Khao Pravi Haan Prasat
Khao Pravi Haan
(ประสาทเขาพระวิหาร) is a Khmer temple situated atop a
525-metre cliff in the
Dângrêk
Mountains, in the Preah Vihear province of northern Cambodia and near
the border of the Kantharalak district (amphur) in
the Sisaket province of eastern Thailand. Affording a
view
for many kilometers
across a plain, Prasat Khao Pravi Haan has the most spectacular setting
of all the temples built during
the six-centuries-longKhmer Empire.
As a key edifice of the empire's spiritual life, it was supported and
modified by successive kings and so bears elements of several
architectural styles. Pravi Haan is unusual among Khmer temples in
being constructed along a long north-south axis, rather than having the
conventional rectangular plan with orientation toward the east. The
temple gives its name to Cambodia's Pravi Haan province, in which it
is located, as well as the Khao Phravi Haan National Park
in Thailand's Sisaket province, through which the temple is most easily
accessible. Please
note: Owing to a dispute between the Thai and Khmer Governments, Khao
Pravi Haan is currently not accessible from Thailand. | |
During different periods it has been located in Cambodia and Thailand in turn. Following Cambodian independence and the Thai occupation of the temple it was listed by Thailand as being in Bhumsrol village (which means "Village of pine trees") of the Bueng Malu sub-district (now merged with the Sao Thong Chai sub-district), in the Kantharalak district of the Sisaket province of eastern Thailand. It is 110 km from the Mueang Si Sa Ket district, the center of Si Sa Ket province. Construction of the first temple on the site began in the early 9th century; both then and in the following centuries it was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva in his manifestations as the mountain gods Sikharesvara and Bhadresvara. The earliest surviving parts of the temple, however, date from the Koh Ker period in the early 10th century, when the empire's capital was at the city of that name. Today, elements of the Banteay Srei style of the late 10th century can be seen, but most of the temple was constructed during the reigns of the Khmer kings Suryavarman I (1002 -1050) and Suryavarman II (1113 -1150). An inscription found at the temple provides a detailed account of Suryavarman II studying sacred rituals, celebrating religious festivals and making gifts, including white parasols, golden bowls and elephants, to his spiritual advisor, the aged Brahman Divakarapandita. The Brahman himself took an interest in the temple, according to the inscription, donating to it a golden statue of a dancing Shiva. In the wake of the decline of Hinduism in the region the site was converted to use by Buddhists. The temple complex runs 800 m (2,600 ft) along a north-south axis, and consists essentially of a causeway and steps rising up the hill towards the sanctuary, which sits on the clifftop at the southern end of the complex (120 m above the northern end of the complex, 525 m above the Cambodian plain and 625 m above sea level). Although this structure is very different from the temple mountains found at Angkor, it serves the same purpose as a stylised representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods. The approach to the sanctuary is punctuated by five gopuras. Each of the gopuras before the courtyards is reached by a set of steps, and so marks a change in height which increases their impact. The gopuras also block a visitor's view of the next part of the temple until he passes through the gateway, making it impossible to see the complex as a whole from any one point. The fifth gopura, in the Koh Ker style, retains traces of the red paint with which it was once decorated, although the tiled roof has now disappeared. The fourth gopura is later, from the Khleang/Baphuon periods, and has on its southern outer pediment, "one of the masterpieces of Pravi Haan" (Freeman, p. 162) : a depiction of the Churning of the Sea of Milk. The third is the largest, and is also flanked by two halls. The sanctuary is reached via two successive courtyards, in the outer of which are two libraries. Visiting
Khao Pravi Haan? Why not stay at Suan Loong Daeng Farm Stay? |