Siem Reap : Ta Prohm Temple

Ta Prohm Temple

Ta Prohm Temple is best known as a tree temple, located in a forest, with a two-story water tank. The temple is located on the small road to Dwar Chey after Takeo Temple, about 1 km, and is surrounded by a wall adjacent to the walls of Banteay Kdei Temple to the northwest.

Ta Prohm Temple was built in 1186 by King Jayavarman VII, a Mahayana Buddhist, and according to the inscriptions on the temple, it was dedicated to his mother, in the form of the goddess of wisdom.

According to the locals, the temple is sometimes called "Ta Prohm" and sometimes "Bantey Ta Prohm". The name "Bantey Ta Prohm" refers to the temple's surrounding walls. The name "Ta Prohm" is the current name, and according to the locals, it refers to the four-faced Ta Prohm. However, the temple also has a Sanskrit name, Raja Vihara.

Currently, the more than 900-year-old temple in the Angkor complex has attracted the hearts of national and international visitors to admire it as a magnificent temple with large trees growing inside and on top of the temple, deeply rooted in the foundation and penetrating through the walls. In addition, the temple also has exquisite carvings.

Ta Prohm Temple is built of sandstone and sandstone, has five-story walls and has 39 towers. The outer wall of the temple is 700 meters long by 1,000 meters. At the foot of the eastern gopura of the outer wall, there is a dance hall. Ta Prohm Temple was also considered a scientific university under the control of Queen Indra Devi at that time.

Ta Prohm Temple was built on a rectangular area, 1,000 meters long from west to east, 670 meters wide from north to south, and has an area of ​​67 hectares, including the outer wall, and is surrounded by five-story walls and a total of 39 towers.

It is worth noting that Ta Prohm Temple was built in the second half of the 12th century AD, 1186 AD, of sandstone and sandstone during the reign of King Jayavarman VII to dedicate it to Mahayana Buddhism. Previously, the temple was also a monastery and a university called the Royal University. King Jayavarman VII built the image of the mother represented by Paramita. As well as the image of the king, the teacher, and 260 other images.

The four gopuras, the outer walls, are surrounded by sandstone walls, and the top (top) has four Brahma faces facing the four directions. A stone inscription measuring 0.60m by 0.60m by 2.40m, inscribed on all four sides, with 73 lines of writing on each side, was translated in 1906 and states that King Jayavarman VII ordered the carving of this stone, with the meaning: Ta Prohm Temple is the place of remembrance for the Ratana Troya, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, and he fought victorious wars and spoke about the construction of the temples he built.

According to the inscription, Ta Prohm Temple had 3140 villages and 12,640 people in charge of the temple, including:

- 18 chiefs

- 1940 chiefs

- 2232 servants

- 615 dancers

- The equipment used in the temple included:

- 5 tons of gold bowls

- 35 silver bowls with stones

- 965 large Chinese lanterns

- 512 beds made of reeds

- 523 beds

- 102 hospitals

- All kinds of food such as Angkor, milk, sugar, oil and other grains used in daily sacrifices during the festival, including milk, honey, sesame oil, wax, moon cake, etc. 2387 items of clothing for all the gods.

Over time, natural disasters and wars have caused the temple to suffer from severe damage, but the Apsara National Authority has collaborated with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to restore the Ta Prohm temple since February 2004 to the present to enhance the authenticity, antiquity and conservation of the unique diversity of trees and stone structures in the temple and to pass this heritage on to future generations.

The India-Cambodia Cooperation Project for the Conservation and Restoration of Ta Prohm, which involves the Apsara National Authority and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has been restoring various parts of Ta Prohm since 2004. During the 10-year phase of the project (2004-2014), the team has achieved many remarkable achievements. For the second phase (2015-2025), the project is in the process of restoring the almost completely damaged dance hall by collecting the damaged stone fragments and reassembling them in their original locations.

Mr. D.S. Sood, technical advisor to the Ta Prohm temple restoration site of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), said that in the second phase, the team has continued to repair the dance hall and plans to repair four other important points: the southern corner of the dance hall, the eastern entrance gate, the southern entrance gate and the third gate at the crossroads. He added that in addition to the planned repairs, his team has also carried out other tasks on the conservation, maintenance and regular maintenance of all the various structures of the temple according to the actual situation, in collaboration with the technical team of the Apsara National Authority.

In particular, the dance hall, which was almost completely damaged and tourists could not travel through in the past, was repaired in 2019.Mr. Sood added that even the repairs are not complete, as some of the damage will be preserved so that researchers and tourists can see which parts have been repaired and which parts have been preserved. In addition, because large trees are hundreds of years old, some parts of the temple have also been left untouched to avoid cutting down these historical trees. But even without repairs, the team has maintained and protected them from further damage. Mr. Chan Lay, the manager of the restoration site, said that the trees and Ta Prohm are so closely related that some tourists and researchers have called the temple a tree temple. Most tourists who visit Ta Prohm want to see the large trees that have grown on the temple and coexisted with the temple for hundreds of years. These factors require the restoration team to consider both the temple and the trees.