Ornately carved central tower entrance at Banteay Srei Temple with guardian statue
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- May 1997
- Location
- near Siem Reap, Cambodia
- License
- This photograph copyright ©1997. Terms of use
See this photograph in context
- East from India: Cambodia and Southern Vietnam: Photographs and text tell the story of the Cham and Khmer cultures of southern Vietnam and Cambodia, including a look at Angkor Wat and other great temples and cities. (Page 6)
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Learn more
- Search LEARN NC for Angkor, Banteay Srei Temple, Cambodia, carvings, deities, Hinduism, Khmer, religion, sculpture, Siem Reap, and stone carving.
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A guardian statue kneels in front of the entrance to an ornately carved central tower entrance at Banteay Srei Temple. Seen behind the statue is a closed “false door” created of stone for the passage of deities only. The original doors used by Khmer worshippers were made of wood and long ago deteriorated in the humid, tropical weather.
The statue of the male guardian nature spirit (known as a “yaksa”) is missing its right arm. Many of the original Angkor area temple statues are safely stored in museums with replicas on display at the outdooe temple sites. In small niches to the sides of the door are female deities (known as “devata”) who signify fertility and good blessings.
Banteay Srei is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Siva that was built during the tenth century A.D. It was constructed by Yajnyavaraha during the reign of two Khmer kings whom he served as councillor: Rajendravarman and Jayavarman V. The name Banteay Srei means “Citadel of Women.”
Classical Khmer kings promoted the idea (known as “devaraja”) that there was an intersection of the ruling king and a validating god, usually the Hindu god Siva. Their temples thus often portray the ruling king as the god, whose shrines are within a monument on earth that models the design of the cosmos and heavens.
Banteay Srei is an early classical Khmer temple that is noted for the small scale of its buildings and their exquisitely fine carvings. Because the sandstone used here was of a more durable variety than the stone used at the main Angkor sites, it allowed for a precise, wood-like style of bas-relief carving, which also has retained greater preservation over the centuries. The Banteay Srei site also contained many free-standing statues of deities and guardian spirits. Most of the original statues are now removed, either by thieves or for museum preservation.
The style of the buildings, abstract motifs, and carved bas-reliefs depicting Hindu epic scenes is described by Southeast Asian art historians as partly archaic, but also sometimes progressive in terms of where classical Khmer temple art would lead. Overall, Banteay Srei is considered a small but precious jewel among the Angkor kingdom temples.
