North Eastern Angkor Photo Gallery by Susan at pbase.com

North Eastern Angkor

This includes:

1) PREAH KHAN - Preah Khan is a huge, highly explorable monastic complex. It originally served as a Buddhist monastery and school, engaging over 1000 monks. For a short period it was also the residence of King Jayavarman VII during the reconstruction of his permanent home in Angkor Thom. 'Preah Khan' means 'sacred sword.бж In harmony with Ta Prohm, which was dedicated to Jayavarman VII's mother, Preah Khan is dedicated to his father.

2) NEAK PEAN - A small central temple sits in the center of a cross or lotus pattern made up of eight pools. The temple took its name, Neak Pean, means 'coiled serpents', from the encoiled nagas that encircled the temple. The temple is faced by a statue of the horse, Balaha, saving drowning sailors. Neak Pean may have served an absolution function, and the waters were thought to have healing properties.

3) TA SOM - The most distant temple on the grand circuit. Small but classic Jayavarman VII temple consisting of a relatively flat enclosure with towers much like the temple Ta Prohm on a much smaller scale. A huge tree grows from the top of the east gopura. It is destroying the gate but it is a photo classic. Currently undergoing renovation.

PREAH KHAN - entering from the east walkway, lined with boundary stones	carving of a monster with a human torso, the legs of a garuda, and a lion-like face	E. gopura	the naga 'bridge' between the worlds of men and the gods
the stance of the giant figures recalls the well-known scene of the Churning of the Sea	body of giant naga supported by gods and asuras		giant garuda on the E wall
doorway guarded by two enormous dvarapalas	Battle of Lanka		beheaded, but dutiful
		'yoni" pedestal	'linga' pedestal
false balustered window	hermits in prayer	the stupa in the central sanctuary
	two-storey building with round columns, maybe dated from 2nd half of 13th century
		the root of an old silk-cotton tree
NEAK PEAN - the sancturay opens to the E, with blind doors on the other 3 sides	the central pond is a replica of Lake Anavatapta in the Himalayas, situated at the top of the universe	the lake gives birth to the 4 great rivers of the earth, feeding water to the lake at the 4 sculpted gargoyles	view from inside the chapel
fountain head - the elephant	fountain head	fountain head - the lion	fountain head - the horse
the circular island in the middle is encircled at its base be 2 naga serpents, their heads on its E and tails entwined on the W	flying horse Balaha and the naga heads	Balaha, a forms of Bodhisattva Lokesvara, helping seafaring merchants escape from an island inhabited by an ogress	statue of Lokesvara on the S side of the sanctuary
	attendant of Lokesvara		TA SOM

	devata with stretched earlobes	fallen blocks of stone crowding the entrances
a huge tree grows from the top of the east gopura			it's falling
		fragment of an octagonal colonette
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