The much awaited trip to Siem Reap - Part II

While my first post on Siem Reap, was about the temples in Angkor Wat, which were built by the Hindu kings, this one is about Buddhist temples of Angkor Thom as well a forgotten little gem called Neak Pean. 

Angkor Thom or The Great City was the last capital of the mighty Khmer empire and comprises of the Buddhist temples of Bayon, Baphoun, the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. 

The entry to Angkor Thom are through some stunningly carved grand towers, each of which is topped by four faces of the Buddha, each facing a different direction. 

Samudra Manthan or the churning of the Ocean of milk that happened at the beginning of time; is a theme oft seen in the temples of Angkor; with the Devas and the Asuras using the mount Mandar as the churning rod and with the serpent king Vasuki as the churning rope to obtain Amrit, the nectar of immortality.
Here too, the themes is seen in a causeway which is flanked by Devas  and Asuras on either side - holding a serpent.

The Asuras

The Temple of Bayon: 

Of all the temples we cover in this post, the Bayon is probably the most famous and well recognised  because of it's distinctive Buddha faces. According to our guide, there are 2 distinctly different sets of faces here - the one with the eyes closed is supposed to be that of Buddha while the ones with their eyes open are supposed to be those of the King keeping watch over his territory. 

The Bayon temple also has a lot of intricate carvings - drawn from the lives and the wars around them

Seen here the Queen with her subjects

A carving depicting a scene of a battle fought in the water while
ordinary villagers go about their day to day chores

The Terrace of the Leper King: 
There are many interpretations of who the Leper King is: Some say it is Yama, the God of Death, while Cambodian mythology insinuates it to be the King who possibly suffered from leprosy.

Carvings on the Terrace of the Leper King, 

Preah Khan:
Reminiscent of the Ta Prohm, because of the vegetation that threatens to take over the temple, this is a stunning temple filled with sculptures of Apsaras, Nagas and their sworn enemy the Garuda.

A guard at one of the entrances to Preah Khan

A Stupa inside Preah Khan

A headless statue of Buddha.
There are a lot such sculptures in Siem Reap, where the statues have
either been destroyed by incessant wars or have been sold off in the black market

Garuda, the King of birds and the arch nemesis of the Nagas

And finally, Neak Pean or the Temple of the Intertwined Naga Serpents. Once upon a time, these waters were supposed to be a cure for all illness. Today it is a dead swamp filled with dead trees and snakes. 

The temple of Neak Pean