In continuation of Four Days In Cambodia Part 2 Of 3 we go ahead today in Cambodia for seeing more temples in Angkor city after seeing Angkor Thom, Bayon temple, Banteay Srie temple and take balloon ride. We will see today Ta Prohm temple-monastery and killing fields site of Khmer Rouge. It takes about minimum 4 hours to visit inside Ta Prohm and killing fields museum.
Before we see this temple we need to take a look again at history of temples of Cambodia. As we know Jayrvarman II was imprisoned under Sailendra dynasty of Java and after his release he founded Khmer dynasty in Rolus (Hariharalaya) 10 KM from Siem Reap in 802 AD. Hariharalaya means half Shiv and half Vishnu. His nephew Indravarman I built three temples Bakong, Preah Ko (Nandi bull) and Lolei temple in Rolus which are today a tourist attraction. I did not go to Rolus as one more day is required to cover that.
Yasovarman I (889–910 AD), also called Leper king moved the capital from Hariharalaya (Rolus) to Angkor (Yashodharapura). Angkor remained Khmer capital for next 600 years. Later king Suryavarman II built famous Angkor Wat Vishnu temple in 1113 AD. Rajendravarman II constructed Banteay Srei in 944 AD, a Shiva temple and Jayavarman VII built Angkor Thom complex in 1177 AD in Angkor. So Angkor region has two major complexes- Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom.
After the Cham people of modern-day Vietnam sacked Angkor in 1177, King Jayavarman VII felt that Hindu Gods betrayed him, decided to build a new capital nearby, Angkor Thom (9 Sq. KM area) and Ta Prohm monastery. Angkor Wat became a Buddhist shrine, and many of its carvings and statues of Hindu deities were replaced by Buddhist art.
Let us now start our journey to Ta Prohm.
Ta Prohm is 12th century temple buit by Jayavarman VII and was dedicated in honor of his mother in 1186
As a Buddhist monk Jayavarman VII was a major patron of Sangha, community of monks and at Angkor he built three settelments almost like miniature city it its own. One such was Ta Prohm aptly described as ‘temple-monastry’.
Its immense size and importance is made clear in inscription that says that 12,640 persons-probable many of them monks were employed within the walls, supported by labor and produce of 79365 people in various 3140 villages belonging to this Mutt of Ta Prohm.
It seems those days Brahmins were exempted from taxation by virtue of the theory that transferred one-sixth of their spiritual gains to the king, a notion that was extended to exempt the private religious foundations, themselves the recepient of vast revenues from land grants. Ta Prohm grew rich enough to support 18 priests, 2740 officials,2202 assistants, 615 dancers , along with a host of monks, commoners and slaves.
Hall of Dancers is one the most important structures of Ta Prohm temple. It si rectangular structure with high masonry walls measuring 72 feet X 102 feet. The roof has corbelled vaults, semi vaults, supported by 96 stone pillars of different sizes. It has tree porches on eastern and western side. The exterior walls are decorated with relief of sculputures of graceful apsaras. The interior portion is a complex composition of Crises-crossing galleries with side aisels, four small rectangular courtyards and three decorated false doors. The inside lintels have have rows of apsaras and beautiful pediments which are rich in mythology contents. The temple is restored now after strenuous efforts of Archaeologists departments.
Compared to Angkor Wat or Angkor Thom,Ta Prohm has not many bas-reliefs but some depictions of scenes from Buddhist mythology are there. One badly eroded bas-relief illustrates the “Great Departure” of Siddhartha, the future Buddha, from his father’s palace. The temple also features stone reliefs of devatas, meditating monks or ascetics, and dvarapalas or temple guardians.
The temple was built without mortar and, after it was abandoned, trees took root in the loosened stones. The trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of the most popular temples with visitors to the area. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1992.
After the fall of the Khmer Empire in the 15th century, the temple of Ta Prohm was abandoned and neglected for centuries. Nevertheless, much work has been done to stabilize the ruins, to permit access, and to maintain “this condition of apparent neglect.
The archaeology department better left the jungle covered temples as it is as the roots are so much embedded in temple walls that removing them could damage the structures.
By 2013, the Archaeological Survey of India restored most parts of the temple complex, some of which were been constructed from scratch. Wooden walkways, platforms and roped railings were put in place around the site to protect the monument from further damages from tourists.
Below photo also is display of efforts and contribution towards the restoration of one of the structures inside Ta Prohm monastery. We can imagine how much effort and money involved in this.
After visit of Ta Prohm, a one thousand year old history we moved to museum of called “Killing-Fields”. There are few more killing museums in Cambodia such as in Pnom Penh. These killing fields are museums of acts of war criminals of Khmer Rouge autocratic government which was led by coterie of 5-6 politicians – Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, his wife Ieng Thtrith, Duch and Ta Mok.
There was some development during this time but Cambodians had to pay heavy taxes and in 1930s Cambodian nationalism grew. This led to establishment of Cambodian Communist Party (CCP) which is also current party of Cambodia.
Rise of Khmer Rouge party in Cambodia
There were frequent invasions by Thai and Vietnam to assert their supremacy over Cambodia. The country was squeezed between these two powers. They invaded Cambodia several times in 18th century. In last years of 18th century Vietnam also invaded. Cambodia king was forced to look at Thai for protection. In return Thais took North West of Cambodia. In 19th century, king turned to Vietnam for protection against Thais and finally in 1850s the French missionaries arrived in Cambodia and king sought their help to protect country from Vietnam and Thais. And in 1863 Cambodia became French protectorate.
Since Vietnamese had done most of the fighting against the French and the Americans in Indochina they wanted to bring Laos and Cambodia to accept Vietnam as their leader and form an alliance. But this was not accepted by Cambodians and this let to rise of new autocratic, dictator politician Pol Pot of Khmer Rouge party (a group of radical Communist rebels) in Cambodia. They immediately launched a violent and destructive transformation of Cambodian society. Their motto was good the followed purely dictator approach. They drove people out of the cities and into labor camps, and they murdered thousands of intellectuals who opposed their rule. Within a short time, more than one million Cambodians had been executed or had died of hunger or disease under the Khmer Rouge. Autocratic government was too much nationalist, wanted that each and everyone should work (irrespective of his capability and ability) for development of country- even children, farmers and ladies were pressed into labor job of construction, they did not allow even rotation of crops, marriages were forced and sometimes to disabled Khmer rouge cadres, forced relocation of people. If the marriages are disagreed the couples were killed, forced evacuation of cities and then their mass killings….so on so forth as per the information boards displayed in this museum. Married couples were spied and if not found happy were killed.
They murdered hundreds of thousands of their perceived political opponents, and its racist emphasis on national purity resulted in the genocide of Cambodian minorities. 15-20 Lakh of Cambodians died due to murder and hunger in the 5 years of their regime. This is called Cambodian Genocide.
Here used to be a historical building which was meant for Chinese engineers hospital who were constructing Siem Reap airport. During Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79) this building was turned into “killing site”.
This site was detention Centre for prisoners arrested from nearby three provinces. The prisoners who were brought here were accused of being associated with CIA of KGB (Russian spy agency) or being traitors to Khmer regime. They were transported here in trucks covered with canvas. Once arrived all prisoners were detained for short time in a one-story building. Prisoners were eventually told to walk in a line while their hands were tied to their back. They were brought to be killed inside or outside compound of pagoda. The killing instruments were machete, hoe and iron bars.
After 1979, local villagers living near pagoda found lots of pieces of bones around pits. These were eaten by animals. Local authorities excavated bones and skull and placed them on ground floor. Later in 1987 this site became worshipping stupa site and in 1990 this was built as actual stupa. The skeletons of few victims were kept inside stupa as a homage. The stupa was names as Wat Adthikaram.
In this museum we can see the well where the victims were thrown. This well was actually used for drinking water in Village.
When we see this museum, let us have a look in modern history of Cambodia in simple words.
Fall of Khmer Rouge – Once the Khmer Rouge claimed power, Pol Pot demanded the return of Cambodian territory that Vietnam had seized generations earlier. In December 1978, the Vietnamese government sent troops into Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge and protect its borders. This led to fall of Khmer rouge in Cambodia. But China, West and USA were very angry with Vietnam for their intervention in Cambodia.
Epilogue
Today we saw two contrast sites- one was a glorious past of Khmer Ta Prohm (Ancestor Brahma) temple monastery (1186 AD) in which habited the torch bearer monks of peace and non violence and other was dark past of Khmer known as Killing Fields Museum (Cambodian Genocide of 1975-79) in which about 1.5-2 million of population was killed brutally. There was a total of about 5 KM of walking.
Visits: 245