Beng Mealea or Bung Mealea (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបឹងមាលា,
its name means "lotus pond") is a temple in the Angkor Wat period:118–119
located 40 km east of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia, on the
ancient royal highway to Preah Khan Kompong Svay.
It was built as a Hindu temple, but there are some
carvings depicting buddhist motifs.Its primary material is sandstone and it is
largely unrestored, with trees and thick brush thriving amidst its towers and
courtyards and many of its stones lying in great heaps. For years it was
difficult to reach, but a road recently built to the temple complex of Koh Ker
passes Beng Mealea and more visitors are coming to the site, as it is 77 km from Siem Reap by road.
The corridor in the temple.
The history of the temple is unknown and it can be
dated only by its architectural style, identical to Angkor Wat, so scholars
assumed it was built during the reign of king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. Smaller in size than Angkor
Wat, the king's main monument, Beng Mealea nonetheless ranks among the Khmer
empire's larger temples: the gallery which forms the outer enclosure of the
temple is 181 m by 152 m. It was the center of a town, surrounded by a moat 1025 m by 875 m large and 45
m wide.
Beng Mealea is oriented toward the east, but has
entranceways from the other three cardinal directions. The basic layout is
three enclosing galleries around a central sanctuary, collapsed at present. The
enclosures are tied with "cruciform cloisters", like Angkor Wat.
Structures known as libraries lie to the right and left of the avenue that
leads in from the east. There is extensive carving of scenes from Hindu
mythology, including the Churning of the Sea of Milk and Vishnu being borne by
the bird god Garuda. Causeways have long balustrades formed by bodies of the
seven-headed Naga serpent.
It was built mostly of sandstone: Beng Mealea is
only 7 km far from the angkorian sandstone quarries of
Phnom Kulen, as the crow flies. Presumably sandstone blocks used for Angkor
were transported along artificial water canals and passed from here. Despite of lack of information, the quality of architecture
and decorations has drawn the attention of French scholars just from its
discovery.
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| Map Of Beng Mealea temple and others |
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