For a lot of tourists, a visit to Cambodia begins and ends with Angkor Wat. But barely a few kilometres from it is the 12th century capital town of the Khmers guarded by tall towers with massive faces. And Bayon temple, built around the 13th century by King Jayavarman V11 lies at the centre of the town .
Faces of Bayon
A plethora of towers, almost 40 of them with carved faces gape at you as I realize that they are arranged in a staggering manner to form a stone mountain with smaller peaks. But while the faces dominate the temple design, it is the outer bass reliefs on the walls of Bayon temple that catches my attention.
The war between Khmers and Chams
The outer bass reliefs in Bayon temple depict several themes – but one of them is recurring – the battles between Khmers and their traditional enemies the Chams.
Khmers defeating the Chams
War ships on the Ton le Sap
You can see these battles fought on land as well as water ,especially the war ships are seen on the Ton Le Sap lake.
War ships on the Ton le Sap
A boat or a warship on the Ton le sap
Another recurring theme in these outer bass reliefs in Bayon Temple is the social life of the Khmers – from market scenes to cooking, to women playing with children, one can see vignettes carved on these walls.
Woman playing with children
Vignettes of Khmer lifestyle
A cockfight and a market scene
Bass relief sculptures in Bayon
Stunningly beautiful shots Lakshmi…visiting your blog after a while, and I really like the look of it 🙂
Hi
Good to see you here again..thanks for such for dropping by and for the kind words..
We visited Cambodia pretty much at the same time as you, Even though we knew what most carvings meant, we knew all the Gods, it was still very refreshing.