Banteay Srei Temple - Photo Gallery

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History of  Banteay Srei Temple

Banteay Srei
"The women's citadel"
Date : 2nd half of the 10th century (967)
King :Yajnavaraha under the reign of Rajendravarman II and Jayavarman V
Cult: Brahmanic (Shivaïte)
Clearing: H. Parmentier and V. Goloubew in 1924 with anastylosis by H. Marchal from 1931 to 1936.

Banteay Srei Temple

Banteay Srei is the most beautiful temple of Cambodia constructed with pink sandstone which has much better quality than gray sandstone used to build Angkor Wat, Bayon, Taprom and other temples. Pink sandstone is veryhardthat makes the carving of Banteay Srei still very exquisite although it’s more than 1000 years old. Banteay Srei temple is considered as a jewel of art of Khmer civilization. Most visitors feel in deep appreciation with its special workmanship.

King Rajendravarman II died one year after he had started to build this beautiful temple. Then king Jayavarman V, who was his 15 year old son too young to complete his father’s project, so Yajnavaraha and his younger brother who were king’s teachers played a great role to manage this temple construction.

Name:The intact inscription tells us that, Isvarapura, which means the home of god Shiva,was the original name of this temple. The local people renamed this temple as Banteay Srei which means a ‘Women Temple’because Cambodian culture praises women than men and this temple also has fine carvings as women beauty.

Banteay Srei Temple

DESCRIPTION

The temple is presented to the east with a cruciform laterite gopura. This is flanked by two small side doors and probably corresponded to an external enclosure (fourth enclosure) formed as a timber palisade. The eastern door, with its sandstone pillars, the fine ornament of its pilasters and the fronton of Indra on a three headed elephant, give a taste of the internal decoration to come - and of the beautiful rose tint of the stone. The location of the beams which carried the tiled roof still remains visible in the masonry.
A processional way bordered with decorative bornes - that were toppled conscientiously every year by the wild elephants - leads to the third enclosure. Lining either side are galleries, with foundation walls in laterite and pillars in sandstone. These are divided towards their middle by small buildings, like gopuras, which lead, to the south, to three long rooms orientated in parallel north-south, and to the north to a single-roomed building. Here one should notice the superb fronton where Vishnou in the form of the god-lion (Narasimha) is holding Hiranya-Kasipu - the king of the Asuras who has dared to challenge him - upside-down below him while cleaving his chest with his claws. On the ground near the entrance is a long stone representing seven feminine divinities, facing forward on their mounts - then, to the side, a Ganesha and an unidentified figure. The remains of two other buildings can be seen before arriving at the third enclosure, near to which, on the north side, the fronton of the eastern door of the third gopura east has been reconstructed on the ground. It shows, mounted in a decoration of foliated scrolls with animals and small figures, the abduction of Sita - the wife of Rama - by the Yeak Viradha.

Apsara at Banteay Srei Temple

History of  Banteay Srei Temple

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