The tantric cities of angkor

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TheTantricCitiesofAngkor
DrUday Dokras
Phallus Worship: Worship of the male phallus or lingam has been more extensive than worship
of the yoni, and examples of its power as a fertility symbol can be seen throughout Indian
culture. Modern lingam sites include the Thai shrine in Bangkok to the fertility goddess Tap-Tun,
filled with phallic amulets called palad khik. In Indian sources, where the yoni may be the older
of the two representations, they are often joined as Tantric symbols for the divine intercourse
between Śakti and Śiva: the yoni standing for śakti, energy and immanence, and the lingam for
consciousness or transcendence. While Śakti has the vital, active role, Śiva has the cool, passive
role, and their interplay is that of all dualities—life and death, creation and destruction,
movement and quiescence. In Tantric practice, adepts move among these dualities, raising
consciousness from the material to the transcendent, a plane beyond all opposition.
The worship of the yoni is the worship of the goddess, as well as the worship of women as living
expressions of the goddess. Yoni is a Sanskrit word for female genitals—the vulva, vagina, and
uterus or womb. It can also mean a place of birth, as in the source or origin; a place of rest, as in
a vessel or home; and a family or social station fixed by birth. It is most well known, however, as
the female sex organ and, in India, is often linked with lingam, the male phallus embedded in its
pedestal throne (pīṭha) or yoni, and worshipped especially in Conjugation with the Lord Shiva.

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The magical powers of nudity, especially of the sexual organs, are strong and, in the case of the
female, the yoni gives off healing and protective energies, and its display has the effect of a
magical spell used to turn away evil forces. Such practices are known not only in India and
Japan, but also in Europe, the ancient Near East, Africa, and Oceania. A phenomenon called

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the "yoni-maṇḍala" is an expression of the goddess within the geography of the earth,
appearing, in one case, as a sacred stone shaped like a yoni within the Manobhavaguha cave at
Mount Nila in Assam; it sends out red (arsenic) waters from its cleft, thought to be the menstrual
fluid of the mother goddess. The mixture of male and female fluids in intercourse is considered
a sacred essence, a yonipuṣpa or "vulva flower," made even more powerful when the coupling
involves menstrual fluid. Drinking the mixture is thought to lead to liberation.
Indian lovemaking practices highlight qualities of the yoni. In the Kāmasūtra, for example, the
"lotus woman" has a yoni like a lotus bud issuing delicately scented love waters; the yoni of the
"woman of dance" is a gentle hill covered with fine wispy hair with juices smelling of wild honey;
the "conch woman" has a deep yoni of thick curly hair and with a sour molasses smell; and
the yoni of the "elephant woman" is a deep cavern lost in a thick hairy jungle smelling of
elephant. The compatibility of lovers depends, in part, on the depth of the woman's yoni and the
length of the man's penis; equal female/male partnerships are as follows: doe/hare, mare/bull,
and elephant/horse. Moreover, a man's embrace of a woman is most successful when it includes
touches, stabs, caresses, and squeezes of her "mound of Venus," and kissing of the yoni in
cunnilingus involves nibbles, tickles, and tracings of the tongue. The Kama sutra is perhaps best
known for the various sexual positions it describes and, in the treatment of the yoni, attention is
paid to front and back entry; stretching the yoni opening; using yoni muscles to massage the
penis; and arousal using the lover's fingers, tongue, or other object.
In Tantra, the yoni has pride of place near the first, and therefore base, cakra known as
the mūlādhāra. It is a triangular space in the middle section of the body with its apex turned
downwards. In Tantric texts, such as the Mahānirvāna Tantra and those on Kuṇḍalinī Yoga,
the mūlādhāra is described as a red lotus with four petals situated at the base of the sexual
organ and the anus. The mūlādhāra is the root of the central channel (suṣumṇā) in the
body's cakra system through which the life force is guided, as well as the resting place of the
Kuṇḍalinī serpent coiled three and a half times around.
In Tantric practice, the adept sets up a system of inner circulation and then draws energies into
the yoni-triangle. Using a special contraction of muscles, energies are concentrated into a subtle
form of the female serpent who, as energy (śakti), moves through the cakras, opening and
closing them, and working out psycho-physical transformations. Using yogic postures, muscular
actions, and sexual intercourse, Kuṇḍalinī is vitalized and driven upwards into higher cakras or
lotuses. This guiding of the life force is also helped by the recitation of mantras, and the
movement of breath. The breath that dwells in the mūlādhāra is the apāna breath ("out-breath")
which naturally goes down and out the anus, but through contractions at the first cakra can be
made to go up to meet the prāṇa, or "in-breath." As the Kuṇḍalinī is awakened and the breath
current opens up the mūlādhāra, the Devī leaves the first lotus, having turned its flower upward
and then closed down.
The practice involving the movement of yoni energies falls under maithuna (coition), one of the
five practices making Tantric process towards enlightenment a quicker and more intense
process. Maithuna figures are couples closely embracing or in coitum, and commonly decorate
the exteriors of Hindu temples. They have parallel form and function in the Tibetan

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Buddhist yab-yum couple, and in the Tibetan use of the female bell (ghanta) and
male vajra (also called dorje, diamond scepter) in meditation. Here, as in art objects from other
cultures, the yoni expresses a basic human focus on the dynamics of life energy.
ShaivismMurtiShvetashvatara Upanishad
A Shiva lingam with tripundra
A lingam (Sanskrit: लिङ्ग- liṅga, lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to
as linga or Shiva-linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of
the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. The original meaning of lingam as "sign" is used
in Shvetashvatara Upanishad, which says "Shiva, the Supreme Lord, has no
liūga", liuga (Sanskrit: लिūग IAST: liūga) meaning he is transcendental, beyond any characteristic
and, specifically the sign of gender. Lingam is regarded as the "outward symbol" of the
"formless Reality", the symbolization of merging of the 'primordial matter' (Prakṛti) with the
'pure consciousness' (Purusha) in transcendental context. It is typically the
primary murti or devotional image in Hindu temples dedicated to Shiva, also found in smaller
shrines, or as self-manifested natural objects. It is often represented within a disc-shaped
platform. It is usually shown with yoni – its feminine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the
merging of microcosmos and macrocosmos,.
the divine eternal process of creation and
regeneration, and the union of the feminine and the masculine that recreates all of
existence. The lingam is conceptualized both as an emblem of generative and destructive
power, particularly in the esoteric Kaula and Tantra practices, as well as
the Shaivism and Shaktism traditions of Hinduism.

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The metaphorical creative principleof lingam-yoni, the union of the feminine and the masculine,
the eternal cosmological process of creation is also depicted in Chinese philosophy of Yin and
Yang, where etymologically and semantically Yin represents the feminine, half-unity of
consciousness and Yang denotes the masculine, the other half, together symbolizing the entirety
or unity-consciousness in the creation.
"Lingam" is additionally found in Sanskrit texts, such as Shvetashvatara
Upanishad, Samkhya, Vaisheshika and others texts with the meaning of "evidence, proof"
of God and God's existence, or existence of formless Brahman. Lingam iconography found at
archaeological sites of the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia includes simple cylinders set
inside a yoni; mukhalinga rounded pillars with carvings such as of one or more mukha (faces);
and anatomically realistic representations of a phallus such as at Gudimallam. In the Shaiva
traditions, the lingam is regarded as a form of spiritual iconography.
Nomenclature and significance
Lingam as interpreted in the Shaiva Siddhanta tradition, a major school of Shaivism. The upper and
lower parts represent Parashiva and Parashakti perfections of Lord Shiva.
Lingamappears in the Upanishads and epic literature, where it means a "mark, sign, emblem,
characteristic".Other contextual meanings of the term include "evidence, proof, symptom" of
God and God's power. The term also appears in early Indian texts on logic, where an inference is
based on a sign (linga), such as "if there is smoke, there is fire" where the linga is the smoke.[18]
It
is a religious symbol in Hinduism representing Shiva as the generative power, all of existence, all
creativity and fertility at every cosmic level.
The lingam of the Shaivism tradition such as in Angkor or other SEAsisn temples, is a short
cylindrical pillar-like symbol of Shiva, made of stone, metal, gem, wood, clay or precious
stones. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the lingam is a votary aniconic object found in the
sanctum of Shiva temples and private shrines that symbolizes Shiva and is "revered as an
emblem of generative power". It often is found within a lipped, disked structure that is an

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emblem of goddess Shakti and this is called the yoni. Together they symbolize the union of the
feminine and the masculine principles, and "the totality of all existence", states Encyclopædia
Britannica. According to Alex Wayman, given the Shaiva philosophical texts and spiritual
interpretations, various works on Shaivism by some Indian authors "deny that the linga is a
phallus".[26]
To the Shaivites, a linga is neither a phallus nor do they practice the worship of erotic
penis-vulva, rather the linga-yoni is a symbol of cosmic mysteries, the creative powers and the
metaphor for the spiritual truths of their faith.
According to Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, the lingam signifies three perfections of Shiva. The
upper oval part of the Shivalingam represent Parashiva and lower part of the Shivalingam called
the pitha represents Parashakti In Parashiva perfection, Shiva is the absolute reality, the timeless,
formless and spaceless. In Parashakti perfection, Shiva is all-pervasive, pure consciousness,
power and primal substance of all that exists and it has form unlike Parashiva which is
formless. According to Rohit Dasgupta, the lingam symbolizes Shiva in Hinduism, and it is also a
phallic symbol. Since the 19th-century, states Dasgupta, the popular literature has represented
the lingam as the male sex organ. This view contrasts with the traditional abstract values they
represent in Shaivism wherein the lingam-yoni connote the masculine and feminine principles in
the entirety of creation and all existence.
According to Sivananda Saraswati, Siva Lingam speaks unmistakable language of silence: "I am
one without a second, I am formless." Siva Lingam is only the outward symbol of formless
being, Lord Siva, who is eternal, ever-pure, immortal essence of this vast universe, who is your
innermost Self or Atman, and who is identical with the Supreme Brahman, states Sivananda
Saraswati.
linga in the Shiva tradition is "only a symbol of the productive and creative principleof nature as
embodied in Shiva", and it has no historical trace in any obscene phallic cult hence the symbolic
title DEVARAJA by the kings to make them symbolic.
Linga Purana
The Linga Purana states, "Shiva is signless, without color, taste, smell, that is beyond word or
touch, without quality, motionless and changeless".[56]
The source of the universe is the signless,
and all of the universe is the manifested Linga, a union of unchanging principle and the ever
changing nature. The Linga Purana and Siva Gita texts builds on this foundation.. Linga,
states Alain Daniélou, means sign.[56]
It is an important concept in Hindu texts, wherein Linga is a
manifested sign and nature of someone or something. It accompanies the concept of Brahman,
which as invisible signless and existent Principle, is formless or linga-less.
The traditional lingam rituals in major Shiva temples includes offerings of flowers, grass,
dried rice, fruits, leaves, water and a milk bath. Priests chant hymns, while the devotees go the
sanctum for a darshana followed by a clockwise circumambulation of the sanctum. On the
sanctum walls, typically are reliefs of Dakshinamurti, Brahma and Vishnu. Often, near the
sanctum are other shrines, particularly for Shakti (Durga), Ganesha and Murugan (Kartikeya). In
the Hindu tradition, special pilgrimage sites include those where natural lingams are found in
the form of cylindrical rocks or ice or rocky hill. These are called Svayambhuva lingam, and

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about 70 of these are known on the Indian subcontinent, the most significant being one in Kashi
(Varanasi) followed by Prayaga, Naimisha and Gaya.
The historic lingam iconography has included:
 Mukhalingam, where the lingam has the face of Shiva carved on it. An Ekmukha lingam has
just one face, Chaturmukha lingam has four faces in the cardinal directions, while
a Panchamukha lingam has a total of five (the fifth is on the top) and represents
Sadashiva. Among the mukha-lingam varieties, the four face version are more common.
 Ashtottara-sata linga, where 108 miniature lingas are carved on the pujabhaga (main linga)
following certain geometric principles.
Lingam iconography exists in many forms, and their design are described in the Agama texts.
Left: a 5th-century Mukha-linga (with face), Right: a Sahasra-linga (with 1001 carvings).
 Sahasra linga, where 1001 miniature lingas are carved on the pujabhaga (main linga)
following certain geometric principles (set in 99 vertical lines, 11 horizontal).
 Dhara linga, where lingas have five to sixty four fluted facets, with prime numbers and
multiples of four particularly favored.
 Lingodbhavamurti, where Shiva is seen as emerging from within a fiery lingam. On top of this
icon is sometimes a relief of a swan or goose representing Brahma, and a boar at the bottom
representing the Varaha avatar of Vishnu. This reflects the Shaiva legend describing a
competition between Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu, as to who has priority and superiority.[1]
A lingam may be made of clay (mrinmaya), metal (lohaja), precious stone (ratnaja), wood
(daruja), stone (sailaja, most common), or a disposal material (kshanika). The construction
method, proportions and design is described in Shaiva Agama texts. The lingam is typically set
in the center of a pindika (also called yoni or pithas, symbolizing Shakti). A pindika may be
circular, square, octagonal, hexagonal, duodecagonal, sixteen sided, elliptical, triangular or

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another shape.[130]
Some lingams are miniaturized and they are carried on one's person, such as
by Lingayats in a necklace. These are called chala-lingams. The Hindu temple design manuals
recommend geometric ratios for the linga, the sanctum and the various architectural features of
the temple according to certain mathematical rules it considers perfect and
sacred. Anthropologist Christopher John Fuller states that although most sculpted images
(murtis) are anthropomorphic or theriomorphic, the aniconic Shiva Linga is an important
exception.
According to Shaiva Siddhanta, the linga is the ideal substrate in which the worshipper should
install and worship the five-faced and ten-armed Sadāśiva, the form of Shiva who is the focal
divinity of that school of Shaivism..
SE Asian Style of lingam iconography
The various styles of lingam iconography are found on the Indian subcontinent and southeast
Asia. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, phallicism, worship of the generative principle
as symbolized by the sexual organs or the act of sexual intercourse. Although religious activities
that involve sexuality or the symbolism of the male or female sexual organs are sometimes
called phallic cults, there is no evidence that any cult is preeminently phallic.
The most important forms of sexual rituals are those in which intercourse is believed to promote
fertility, those that release a flood of creative energy by breaking boundaries and by returning
a culture to the state of primeval and powerful chaos (e.g., the orgy during New Year festivals),
or those in which sexual intercourse symbolizes the bringing together of opposites
(e.g., alchemy or Tantrism, a Hindu esoteric meditation system).
In other traditions objects of adoration are representations of the sexual organs (e.g., the phallus
borne in Dionysian processions in Greece and Rome; the male lingam and female yoni in India)
or deities with prominent genitals (e.g., Priapus in Greece). In these instances, the powers of
creativity that the sexual organ represents, rather than the organ itself, are worshiped.

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The monuments closest to Koh Ker`s main temple complex of Prasat Thom are five isolated
temples belonging to the north-eastern group. Each of them shelters a decorated monolithic
Lingam of enourmous size on equally huge Yoni pedestals, which symbolizes the female genital.
This is why the five single structures are called Linga-temples, named from G to K and numbered
277 to 281.-all Linga temples
RIGHT PIC-linga shown emerging from a vulva( Yoni)
Demystifying Tantric sex
Tantra transformed South Asia’s major religions, and today elements of it can still be found
across Asia’s diverse cultures. However, it remains largely misunderstood in the West, where it is
usually equated with sex
TheTantras
Tantra is a Hindu and Buddhist philosophy which affirms all aspects of the material world as
infused with divine feminine power. It is rooted in sacred instructional texts, composed from
around the sixth century onwards, called the Tantras. Many describe rituals that transgress social
and religious conventions within mainstream Hinduism and Buddhism.
Some Tantras describe sexual rites for achieving enlightenment. These can be understood both
literally and symbolically. If taken literally, a couple assumes the role of deities in sexual union,
the woman often being the focus of worship. When interpreted symbolically, a practitioner
visualises this union within their own body, the deities symbolising qualities such as wisdom and
compassion. The Tantra pictured here, composed in ancient Sanskrit, recommends the union of
the ‘thunderbolt’ and ‘lotus’, which can be understood as the phallus and vulva.

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The Tantras were first translated into English in the 19th century, when India was under British
rule, and were reductively misinterpreted by many Christian missionaries, Orientalist scholars
and colonial officials. Such distortions went on to inform current misunderstandings of Tantra in
the West as an orgiastic ‘cult of ecstasy’.
Theroleof sex
Erotic imagery not only plays an important role in Tantra, but also in mainstream Hinduism.
According to Hindu belief, the creation of the universe is believed to be a product of divine
sexual union, and the goals of a fulfilling and righteous life are not only duty (dharma),
prosperity (artha) and liberation (moksha), but also desire (kama).
During the medieval period in India, erotic carvings of couples (mithuna) were considered to
bring good fortune and protection. The sculpture below would have once been positioned on
the wall of a Hindu temple. Two lovers caress each other, their lips about to touch. There is
nothing particularly Tantric about this sculpture. An architectural manual written in about AD
900 includes the following instruction: ‘kama is the root of the universe … erotic sculpture panels
should be mounted [in temples] in order to delight the general public.’
An image of a courtly looking couple painted in the 17th century is one of a series illustrating
sexual positions. Such images were influenced by ancient texts dedicated to kama, such as
the Kama Sutra, written by Vatsyayana around the AD 200s. According to this text, sexual
pleasure for those living at court should be a cultivated ‘art’. Contrary to Western
misperceptions, Tantra had little to do with the science of pleasure outlined in the Kama Sutra,
which was composed before the rise of Tantra and was guided by Hindu beliefs.
Tantra introduced a different idea. Rather than seeking pleasure as an end in itself, Tantra taught
practitioners to harness the body and sensuality in order to unite with divinity and attain
transformational power. Tantric sexual rites were also distinguished by their transgressive nature,
engaging with the taboo rather than repressing it.

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Painting of a couple having sex. Possibly Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. Gouache on paper, about
1690./Erotic mithuna (‘couple’) sculpture. Red sandstone, India, late 10th century. Funded by the
Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund.
On the left of the temple frieze sculpture below a man engages in oral sex with a woman. It
probably represents the Tantric ritual of yoni puja (veneration of the vulva). According to
orthodox Hindu codes of conduct, this was transgressive because it threatened reproductive sex
and social stability. While female sexual fluids were also traditionally regarded as polluting,
Tantric practitioners aimed to access the repressed power of the forbidden, transforming it into
divine matter.
In Tantric texts, women are described as embodiments of Shakti (divine feminine power), and
this power could be ritually accessed through their sexual fluids. To venerate the yoni (vulva) was
to venerate the source of creation itself. When they engaged in sexual rites, practitioners
imagined themselves as divine incarnations of Shakti and the Hindu god Shiva.
Erotic maithuna (‘sexual union’) sculpture. Sandstone, Maharashtra, India. 11th century.
Tantricyoga
While Tantric sexual rites could be carried out literally, by a couple assuming the roles of Shiva
and Shakti, they could also be imagined as an internal union of deities using visualisation
exercises. The goal of Tantric yoga is to awaken an individual’s inner source of Shakti, located at
the base of the spine and visualised as the serpent goddess Kundalini. Around her is a network
of energy centres (chakras), each of which contains a deity. Through breath control and complex
postures, Kundalini rises up the body. In this painting a yogi experiences bliss as Kundalini
(represented as a white coil at the base of the spine) prepares to move upwards through

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the chakras. As she comes into contact with each deity within, she infuses them with power,
enabling the yogi to reach higher spiritual planes. At the crown of the head resides Shiva,
embodying pure consciousness (represented here by a multi-petalled lotus). They unite,
enacting a sexual rite within the yogi’s own body. Their union triggers an awakened, liberated
state and is believed to grant access to various powers, from long life to invulnerability.
Yogi with chakras, Rajasthan, northwest India, early 1800s.RIGHT Parts of a Linga.
Divineunion
The rise of Tantra led to a new school of Tantric Buddhism known as Vajrayana or the Path of
the Thunderbolt, which had spread across Asia by the eighth century, with a particularly strong
hold in Tibet. According to Vajrayana teachings, the qualities of wisdom (prajna) and
compassion (karuna) must be cultivated on the path to enlightenment. Tantric texts and images
represent these qualities as a goddess (wisdom) and a god (compassion) in sexual union.
In Tibet this is known as yab-yum, meaning ‘father-mother’. Devata (Deity) yoga is a Vajrayana
practice that involves visualising and fully internalising these deities in union within the body,
with the aim of embodying their supreme qualities. This practice inspired the creation of yab-
yum images, which are used to support meditation.
The Tibetan thangka below shows two deities embracing, Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini. Their
red-rimmed, wild eyes and laughing, fanged mouths suggest their immense power. The role of
such wrathful imagery highlights the Tantric belief that only the most ferocious deities can
abolish the obstacles to enlightenment. They are deities to be adored as well as emulated.
The image evokes the interplay of feminine (wisdom) and masculine (compassion) principles
that must be internalised. Both deities hold up weapons with which they destroy misplaced
pride, attachment, anger, ignorance and worldly desire. Yab-yum images such as this were
commissioned to aid visualisations during Devata yoga. The practitioner internalises the deities
and recognises in themselves both the female and male principles, merging the two within their

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own body. Emptied of ego, the practitioner achieves self-deification.
Thangka (painting on silk) depicting Chakrasamvara in union with Vajrayogini. Tibet, 18th
century.RIGHT PIC. Palm leaf, Bengal, India, 15/16th century. © Cambridge University
Library. RIGHT Stone pedestal for linga and water, Preah Khan, Angkor, Cambodia
The Hevajra Tantra dates to the late AD 800s and describes the benefits of engaging in sexual
rites in order to elevate and transcend desire itself. On the folio below are the words: ‘by passion
the world is bound; by passion too it is released.’ Sexual rites should not be ‘taught for the sake
of enjoyment, but for the examination of one’s own thought, whether the mind is steady or
wavering.’ Even celibate monks and nuns could engage with this method by internalising deities
in union through visualisation.
Hevajra Tantra.
Sexanddeath
During the 19th century, Bengal in eastern India was an early Tantric centre as well as the
nucleus of British rule. Tantra informed the way many Christian missionaries and colonial officials
imagined India, as a subcontinent apparently corrupted by sexual depravity. Their
misconceptions were embodied by seemingly demonic Tantric goddesses such as Chinnamasta,
pictured in the print below. Here she clutches her own severed head, which drinks one of the
three streams of blood spurting from her neck. The other two streams nourish her attendants. A

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revolutionary Bengali text described Chinnamasta’s radical potential as a symbol of the
Motherland, decapitated by the British but preserving her vitality by drinking her own blood,
representing an ideal of heroic fearlessness and self-sacrifice.
The image communicates the inseparability and interdependence of sex, life and death at the
heart of human experience. She stands upon the copulating deities of love and desire (the god
Kama and goddess Rati), as if to suggest that she transcends desire while also being
fundamentally supported by it. Rati is shown on top of Kama, signalling the superiority of the
female principle within Tantra.
Chinnamasta (‘She Whose Head is Severed’),
Lalashiu Gobin Lal. Hand-coloured woodblock, Kolkata, India, late 19th century.
In Khmer
Saiva tantra was especially successful because it managed to forge strong ties with
South Asian kings who valued the power (shakti) of fierce deities like the warrior
goddess Durga as a way to increase their own royal power. These kings took part in
royal rituals led by Saiva "royal gurus" in which they were symbolically married to tantric
deities and thus became the earthly representative of male gods like Shiva. Saiva tantra
could also employ a variety of protection and destruction rituals which could be used
for the benefit of the kingdom and the king. Tantric Shaivism was adopted by the kings
of Kashmir, as well as by the Somavamshis of Odisha, the Kalachuris, and the Chandelas
of Jejakabhukti (in Bundelkhand). There is also evidence of state support from
the Cambodian Khmer Empire. As noted by Samuel, in spite of the increased depiction

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of female goddesses, these tantric traditions all seemed to have been mostly "male-
directed and male-controlled."
During the "Tantric Age", Buddhist Tantra was embraced by the Mahayana Buddhist
mainstream and was studied at the great universities such as Nalanda and Vikramashila,
from which it spread to Tibet and to the East Asian states of China, Korea, and Japan.
This new Tantric Buddhism was supported by the Pala Dynasty (8th–12th century) which
supported these centers of learning. The later Khmer kings and the Indonesian Srivijaya
kingdom also supported tantric Buddhism. While the sexual and transgressive practices
were mostly undertaken in symbolic form (or through visualization) in later Tibetan
Buddhist monastic contexts, it seems that in the eighth to tenth century Indian context,
they were actually performed.

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The idea of being the Lord of Patala- the realm of that which is below the feet, denotes the
subterranean realms of the universe – which are located under the earthly dimension pointing
towards the underworld or netherworld and opposite of Swarga or Heaven In Hindu
cosmology, the universe is divided into the three worlds: Svarga, Prithvi or Martya (earth/mortal
plane) and Patala (gross dimensions, the underworld). Patala is composed of seven
realms/dimensions or lokas,the seventh and lowest of them is also called Patala or Naga-loka,
the region of the Nagas. The Danavas (demon sons of Danu), Daityas (demon sons
of Diti), Yakshas and the snake-people Nagas (Serpent-human formed sons of Kadru), live in the
realms of Patala.
In Vajrayana Buddhism, caves inhabited by asuras are entrances to Patala; these asuras,
particularly female asuras, are often "tamed" (converted to Buddhism)
as dharmapala or dakinis by famous Buddhist figures such as Padmasambhava
Chok Gargyar/Koh Ker: Angkor city dedicated to Lord Shiva as Tribhuvaneshwara
The King and Lord Shiva as Tribhuvaneshwara
The King and Lord Shiva as Tribhuvaneshwara: Devotion to Lord Shiva and
veneration of the sacred phallus, the lingam, was the base of establishment of the
Civilization of Khmer–right from its foundation in 802 CE. Phallus worship started
when Jayavarman II, founder of Khmer Kingdoms or the first mighty Lord of the
Khmer tribes consecrated himself king on top of Mahendraparvata, announcing his
lordship over the country and sovereignty of Cambodia- by a Rajyabhishekh- or
Coronation.
This CORONATION or CONSECRATION was not what normally is coronation in
other civilizations that are non –hindu. In Hinduism it is “taking over the reigns”
and celebratory practices that follow this. To cond uct this ceremonyBrahmins or
Hindu priests are invited and Jayavarman II had as per inscriptions called forward a
Priest named Hiranyadama. In this ceremony this Hiranyadama , sanctified a royal
lingam symbolising the temporal authority of Jayavarman II
as Chakravartin (universal monarch). After his death, Jayavarman II was given the
posthumous title Paramesvara (Supreme Lord), one of the many manifestations of
Lord Shiva.
Over the next century, every new ruler on the occasion of his rajyabhiseka would
consecrate the royal lingam, thus establishing his divine authority, and taking on
the responsibilities of kingship as the Devaraja (God -King). The royal lingam was
ceremonially installed in a mountain-temple, which formed the nucleus of an urban
settlement. During the period of Harshavarman I (r. 910–923) and his successor
Ishanavaraman II (r. 923–928), Angkor was ruled from the twin cities
Yashodharapura and Hariharalaya. However, mere installation of a lingam with

17. 17
magical powers neither ensured peace and stability nor longevity of the ruler.
Rulers had to be eternally vigilant and be ready to thwart rivals and quell
rebellions.
In 921 CE, an inscription describes the establishment of a rival power at a remote
location, 127 km northeast of Yashodharapura. This challenger, Jayavarman IV, was
a maternal uncle to Ishanavarman II. Jayavarman IV named his seat of power Chok
Gargyar and on December 12, 921 CE, conducted a grand consecration ceremony of
the royal lingam as Tribhuvaneshwara.
This specially chosen manifestation of Lord Shiva as the Supreme Lord of Three
Realms, i.e. swarga (heaven), prithvi (earth) and patala (netherworld), was an
appropriate metaphor for the new king’s ambitions. This city of Chok Gargyor was
located roughly midway on a highway connecting Yashodharapura to Preah Vihear.
From Preah Vihear, the road split in two directions: one went towards Phimai in
Thailand, and the other to Wat Phu in Laos; both crucial outposts of the empire.
This gave Jayavarman IV strategic edge, allowing him to boss over Angkor. In 928
CE, Isanavarman II’s chaotic reign ended, and Jayavarman IV’s moment of glory
arrived. He crowned himself Chakravartin.
RELOCATION
Jayavarman IV set about commissioning grand construction projects to encourage
new settlers and establish his writ as absolute monarch. He shifted the seat of
power to Chok Gargyar, and set out planning a new city worthy of its status as
capital of the most powerful empire in Southeast Asia. Jayavarman IV was acutely
aware of Chok Gargyar’s Achilles’ heel, its disadvantageous location in a hot, dry
region with few natural water resources. To address this problem, the largest
project undertaken at Chok Gargyar was the construction of a vast baray (water
harvesting tank), called the Rahal. Measuring 1185 m x 548 m, the Rahal met the
daily water requirements of a large population and helped in irrigation of
agricultural fields. Most important, Koh Ker ushered in a golden age of Hindu
culture in Cambodia and laid the foundation of a renaissance which follo wed in the
immediate period. According to UNESCO:
Hariharalaya ( Abode of Shiva) was an ancient city and capital of the Khmer empire located
near Siem Reap, Cambodia in an area now called Roluos (Khmer: រលួ ស). Today, all that remains
of the city are the ruins of several royal temples: Preah Ko, the Bakong, Lolei. Tge entire city was
dedicated to Lord Shiva.

18. 18
This 7th century sculpture of Harihara is from Phnom Da in Cambodia./// The Bakong is the royal temple
mountain founded by King Indravarman I at Hariharalaya.
The name "Hariharalaya" is derived from the name of Harihara, a Hindu deity prominent in pre-
Angkorian Cambodia. The name "Harihara" in turn is a composite of "Hari" (one of Vishnu's
names listed in Vishnu sahasranama) and "Hara" (meaning the Hindu god Shiva). Cambodian
representations of Harihara were of a male deity whose one side bore the attributes
of Vishnu and whose other side bore the attributes of Shiva. For example, the deity’s head-
covering consisted of a mitre-type hat (the attribute of Vishnu) on one side and as twisted locks
of hair (the attribute of Shiva) on the other. Alaya is a sanskrit word meaning "basis," or "home,"
so Hariharalaya is home of Harihara or home of the deity representing both Hari (Vishnu) and
Hara (Shiva).
Toward the end of the 8th century A.D., the Cambodian king Jayavarman II conquered vast
territories near the great lake Tonle Sap. For at least part of this time, he established his capital
at Hariharalaya. However, when he declared himself the universal monarch of the country in 802
A.D., he did so not at Hariharalaya, but at Mahendraparvata on the Phnom Kulen Plateau. Later,
he returned the capital to Hariharalaya, where he died in 835.
Jayavarman II was succeeded by Jayavarman III and then by Indravarman I, who were
responsible for the completion of the royal temple mountain known as the Bakong and the
construction of Indratataka baray. Indravarman I consecrated the temple’s dominant religious
symbol, a lingam called Sri Indresvara (the name is a combination of the king’s name with that
of Shiva), in 881. Indravarman I also constructed the much smaller temple today called Preah
Ko ("Sacred Bull"), dedicated in 880. In 889, Indravarman I was succeeded by his son Yasovarman

19. 19
I, who constructed the temple of Lolei (the name may be a modern corruption of "Hariharalaya")
on an artificial island in the middle of Indratataka.[6]
Yasovarman also founded a new city at the
site of Angkor Thom north of modern Siem Reap and called it Yasodharapura. Yasovarman
made the new city his capital and constructed a new royal temple mountain, known as
the Bakheng. Yasodharapura was to survive until the 1170s when it was sacked by invaders
from Champa.
Roluos once it was the seat of Hariharalaya, first capital of Khmer Empire north of Tonlé
Sap (as the first capital in the strict sense of the term could have been Indrapura, identifiable
with Banteay Prey Nokor) today Roluos is a Cambodian modern small town and an
archeological site about 13 km east of Siem Reap along NH6. Among the "Roluos Group" of
temples there are some of the earliest permanent structures built by Khmer. They mark the
beginning of classical period of Khmer civilization, dating from the late 9th century. Some were
totally built with bricks, others partially with laterite or sandstone (the first large angkorian
temple built with sandstone was possibly Ta Keo)
At present it is composed by three major temples: Bakong, Lolei, and Preah Ko, along with
tiny Prasat Prei Monti. At both Bakong and Lolei there are contemporary Theravada buddhist
monasteries.
Bakong is the first Khmer temple mountain of sandstone constructed by rulers of the Khmer
Empire at Angkor near modern Siem Reap in Cambodia. In the final decades of the 9th century
AD, it served as the official state temple of King Indravarman I in the ancient city
of Hariharalaya, located in an area that today is called Roluos ( see above) The inscription on its
stele (classified K.826) says that in 881 King Indravarman I dedicated the temple to the
god Shiva and consecrated its central religious image, a lingam whose name Sri Indresvara was
a combination of the king's own and the suffix "-esvara" which stood for Shiva
("Iśvara").According to George Coedès, the devarāja cult consisted in the idea of divine kingship
as a legitimacy of royal power, but later authors stated that it doesn't necessarily involve the cult
of physical persona of the ruler himself.
The structure of Bakong took shape of stepped pyramid, popularly identified as temple mountain
of early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of the Bakong and Borobudur temple
in Java, going into architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces,
suggests strongly that Borobudur was served as the prototype of Bakong. There must have been
exchanges of travelers, if not mission, between Khmer kingdom and the Sailendras in Java.
Transmitting to Cambodia not only ideas, but also technical and architectural details of
Borobudur, including arched gateways in corbelling method.
In 802 AD, the first king of Angkor Jayavarman II declared the sovereignty of Cambodia. After
ups and downs, he established his capital at Hariharalaya. A few decades later, his successors
constructed Bakong in stages as the first temple mountain of sandstone at Angkor.

20. 20
A statue of a lion guards the stairs on the central pyramid.
Bakong was a state temple of Angkor for only a few years, but not abandoned. Toward the end
of the 9th century, Indravarman's son and successor Yasovarman I moved the capital from
Hariharalaya to the area north of Siem Reap now known as Angkor, where he founded the new
city of Yaśodharapura around a new temple mountain called Bakheng.
The site of Bakong measures 900 metres by 700 metres, and consists of three
concentric enclosures separated by two moats, the main axis going from east to west. The outer
enclosure has neither a wall nor gopuram and its boundary is the outer moat, today only partially
visible. The current access road from NH6 leads at the edge of the second enclosure. The inner
moat delimits a 400 by 300 metres area, with remains of a laterite wall and four cruciform
gopuram, and it is crossed by a wide earthen causeway, flanked by seven-headed nāgas, such as
a draft of nāga bridge . Between the two moats there are the remains of 22 satellite temples of
brick. The innermost enclosure, bounded by a laterite wall, measures 160 metres by 120 metres
and contains the central temple pyramid and eight brick temple towers, two on each side. A
number of other smaller buildings are also located within the enclosure. Just outside the eastern
gopura there is a modern buddhist temple.
The pyramid itself has five levels and its base is 65 by 67 metres. It was reconstructed by
Maurice Glaize at the end of the 1930s according to methods of anastylosis. On the top there is a
single tower that is much later in provenance, and the architectural style of which is not that of
the 9th century foundations of Hariharalaya, but that of the 12th-century temple city Angkor
Wat. Though the pyramid at one time must have been covered with bas relief carvings in stucco,
today only fragments remain. A dramatic scene-fragment involving what appear to be asuras in
battle gives a sense of the likely high quality of the carvings. Large stone statues of elephants are
positioned as guardians at the corners of the three lower levels of the pyramid. Statues of lions
guard the stairways
.

21. 21
Hariharalaya
Koh Ker: Archeological site of Ancient Lingapura Or Chok
Gargyar
Today it is a remote archaeological site in northern Cambodia about 120 kilometres (75 mi)
away from Siem Reap and the ancient site of Angkor. It is a jungle filled region that is sparsely
populated. More than 180 sanctuaries were found in a protected area of 81 square kilometres
(31 sq mi). Only about two dozen monuments can be visited by tourists because most of the
sanctuaries are hidden in the forest and the whole area is not fully demined.
Koh Ker is the modern name for an important city of the Khmer empire. In inscriptions the town
is mentioned as Lingapura (city of lingams) or Chok Gargyar
(translated as city of glance, or
as iron tree forest).
Under the reign of the kings Jayavarman IV and Harshavarman II Koh Ker was briefly the
capital of the whole empire (928–944 AD). Jayavarman IV enforced an ambitious building
program. An enormous water-tank and about forty temples were constructed under his rule. The
most significant temple-complex, a double sanctuary (Prasat Thom/Prang), follows a linear plan
and not a concentric one like most of the temples of the Khmer kings. Unparalleled is the 36-
metre (118 ft)-high seven-tiered pyramid, which most probably served as state temple of
Jayavarman IV. Really impressive too are the shrines with the two-meter 6 ft 7 in high lingas.
Under Jayavarman IV, the style of Koh Ker was developed and the art of sculpture reached a
pinnacle. A great variety of statues were chiseled. Because of its remoteness, the site of Koh

22. 22
Ker was plundered many times by looters. Sculptures of Koh Ker can be found not only in
different museums, but also in private collections. Masterpieces of Koh Ker are offered
occasionally at auctions. These pieces, in present times, are considered stolen art.
What UNESCO says :
“ Koh Ker or Chok Gargyar, as it is known in Old Khmer inscriptions, is a 10th-century temple
complex and former capital of the Khmer Empire, situated in northern Cambodia. The name of
the site, Chok Gargyar, is in itself unique, as it is the only site we know of to be named in the Old
Khmer language (Khmer ancient capital are usually named in Sanskrit) and referring to a natural
feature, namely the tree now known as Koki or iron wood tree (Hopea odorata) which can reach
up to 45 m and is valued for its dense wood quality that is water and termite-resistant. The
densely forested site containing a total of 169 archaeological remains, including 76 temples, as
well as civil structures, ponds, dykes, and ancient roads, is located centrally between three other
Cambodian World Heritage Sites - Preah Vihear, Angkor, and Sambor Prei Kuk. It stands at a
distance of 102 km to the north-east of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, 126 km to the south of Preah
Vihear Temple Site, and north-west to Sambor Prei Kuk Site at a distance of 171 km. Situated
between the slopes of the Dangrek and Kulen mountains, Koh Ker has a landscape characterized
by rolling hills of variable heights ranging from 70 m to 110 m, forming a gentle slope from
South to North, and coinciding with the watershed of the Steung Sen River.
Koh Ker was the capital of the Khmer Empire for a brief period, between 928-941 C.E. under its
founder King Jayavarman IV. As yet, the only authentic, contemporary information about the
political ideology of Angkor comes from the Koh Ker inscription which establishes a clear shift of
Khmer political ideology from ‘rāja’ or king, to ‘rājya’ or the kingdom and its people. In support

23. 23
of this new ideology, no war was waged by Jayavarman IV; his reign was the most peaceful
phase of the Khmer Empire, which enabled a cultural resurgence. This time of peace allowed
Jayavarman IV to carry out projects of regional, social, economic and architectural development,
town planning and rural infrastructure, of which the ensemble of monuments at Koh Ker bear
testimony. The art and architecture of Koh Ker was also developed to reflect and affirm the
dominance and uniqueness of Jayavarman IV’s political identity, particularly with the use of a
monumentality of scale in architecture, and dynamism in sculpture, both of which is unmatched
in other Khmer legacies.
Ancient Tamil
Justification of Outstanding Universal Value
Koh Ker represents a unique vision in the arts, architecture and introduces new technologies,
which changed urban planning for the coming centuries. The most important monuments of the
capital are situated close to and in the immediate vicinity of the Prasat Thom complex, where
the seven-tiered pyramid, also known as Prasat Prang, the only one in Southeast Asia, forms the
apotheosis of an eccentric building style known only in Koh Ker. Prasat Thom complex is also the
central axis around which the capital is geometrically formed.
Another exceptional characteristic of Koh Ker is the development of water management
techniques. The water management system at Koh Ker was a hybrid one, combining elements of
a highland system of damming river valleys with elements of the classical lowland system of
huge reservoirs, canals and bunded fields. An earlier form of this system may be observed at the
World Heritage Site of Sambor Prei Kuk (6th
-7th
centuries C.E.), while a far more elaborated
system was later in use in Angkor. Koh Ker thus served as a huge laboratory for what was to
come, situating itself perfectly between early drainage (Oc-Eo) and catchment trials (Sambor Prei
Kuk) and the far more sophisticated hydrological system can be observed in the later Angkor
period. Along with management of water, the structures of Koh Ker, particularly the Lingas and
the Rahal were planned using the natural terrain in such a way that the flow of water through
the site becomes an act of sacralising.
Koh Ker marks the time when a distinctive Khmer culture/identity emerged from this
cross‐cultural exchange. It is at Koh Ker that we find the first evidence of the giant-size
infrastructure symbolizing powerful elements in Cambodian and Southeast Asian history. The
infrastructure was the biggest not only in Cambodia, but in Southeast Asia. Jayavarman IV
introduced the first artificial giant structure in his capital, where he established the stepped
pyramid of Prasat Thom, as well as its giant sculptures.The Hindu character of the site is best

24. 24
revealed through its monumental art of which the sculptures are the most prominent, executed
in the ronde-bosse technique. Drawing on earlier styles, its creators soon developed a distinct
art, advancing sculpting techniques while inventing the hybrid figure. The best examples are the
Dancing Shiva with a presumed height of 6 m at Prasat Kraham and the recently discovered
ensembles at Prasat Chen depicting scenes of the Mahabharata (the last fight in the battle of
Kurukshetra between Bhima and Duryodhana) and the Ramayana (the fight between Valin and
Sugriva). Scenes like these may well be found at other temple sites but is the first time and also
last that they have been brought alive through monumental sculpture formations, whether in
and outside the Khmer Empire. Its iconography is unique and is currently referred to as the Koh
Ker style.
Koh Ker’s sphere of influence too was secured through a well developed network of cultural
Its outstanding architecture, a distinct and original adaptation of Indian influence, introduces to
the Southeast Asia region colossal-sized statues and construction in new aesthetic forms. This
shows a creative idea and concept that originated at Koh Ker, giving rise to the so-called Koh
Ker style. The scenes of Mahabharata and Ramayana were narrated in the form of individual
characters carved in stone rather than carvings in the form of bas-relief. The extraordinary
architecture of the religious shrines is apparent in the stepped-pyramid temple of Prasat Thom
and other temples dedicated to Shiva.
Archaeological Site of Ancient Lingapura or Chok Gargyar embodies the remains of a very well-
organized urban complex, the capital of a unique past civilization. The ancient capital city is an
exceptional testimony of a cultural tradition with centralized political power, bearing Hindu
religious features. Its civilization was deeply influenced by the Indian subcontinent in terms of
social institutions, religion and art which were assimilated into indigenous customs, ideology
and artistic expressions. The uniqueness of the architecture and sculpture in Koh Ker represents
the technological prowess exhibited in Khmer art.
Koh Ker ushered in a golden age of Hindu culture in Cambodia and laid the
foundation of a renaissance which followed in the immediate period
PRASAT PRANG - City Crowned by the Tribhuvaneshwara Linga,
Jayavarman IV further executed his imperial vision through the temple-mountain he
commissioned, which surpassed all previous temple-mountains in scale and size.
Prasat Prang —as the pyramidal structure is now called— rose to a height of 120
feet and was crowned by the Tribhuvaneshwara Linga, which, according to Fr ench
archaeologist Henri Parmentier, stood 14-feet tall. This was the largest lingam ever
made in Angkor, and lifting it to the top of the pyramid was a monumental feat of
engineering and manpower, recorded in inscriptions with great joy and relief on its
successful installation.

25. 25
Before Koh Ker became capital of the Khmer empire (928 AD), numerous sanctuaries with Shiva-
lingas existed already. Koh Ker was a cult site where Shiva had been worshipped a long time.
Also Jayavarman IV was an ardent worshipper of this Hindu god. As later kings (whose residence
was not in Koh Ker) changed from Hinduism to Buddhism they gave orders to make the
necessary adjustments at their temples. Because of its remoteness, the sanctuaries at Koh Ker
were spared from these interventions.
Jayavarman IV’s intent to scale up things was also evident in statues produced
during this period. A dancing Shiva (Nataraja) installed in Prasat Kraham was 4
meters tall! A giant statue of Garuda —two metres tall— was recovered from the
site, which now welcome visitors at the National Museum at Phnom Penh.
Monolithic lingams were carved in the bedrock, meaning they were not installed by
any person but existed naturally. These in situ lingams are similar in concept to the
12 sacred Jyotirlingams of India, which are also swayambhu (self-manifested).
Ornamental pediments make their debut at temple entrances and sculptures
anticipate dynamism and fluidity, qualities which reach their apogee in the later
artwork of Banteay Srei.
Jayavarman IV ruled only for 13 years, not enough time to fully realise his ideas. He
was given the posthumous title Paramasivapada (Devoted servant at the feet of
Shiva), further emphasising his loyalty to Lord Shiva. During his period, many Shiva
temples were built at Chok Gargyar, however, nothing was added by his son and
successor Harshavarman II. In 944 CE, when Rajendravarman I became the new king,
he restored the capital to Yashodharapura, bringing an end to Chok Gargyor’s 16 -
year period as capital of Angkor.
Without patronage and facing debilitating factors, Chok Gargyor’s construction
boom went bust. As feared by Jayavarman IV, the Rahal dried up. The last recorded
building added during the period of Jayavarman VII, in beginning of the thirteenth
century, was one of his 102 hospital-chapels. By the fourteenth century, when
Buddhism established itself as the new official religion of Angkor, the site was
abandoned. Since no Buddhist structures were added, Chok Gargyor remained a
Hindu site, dedicated exclusively to Lord Shiva. In the nineteenth century, French
explorers rediscovered the site and the old name was revived in a new avatar —Koh
Ker.
Covered by thick forests and left unguarded, wanton destruction was unleashed on
Koh Ker. Cambodia in the nineteenth century wa s a shadow of its glorious past and
was relegated to a rump state dependant on protection by the French. The French
colonialists, taking full advantage of a weak and poor country, plundered Angkor
sites, digging up monuments hoping to find hidden treasure. Precious artworks
were smuggled out to fill museums in France, like the Guimet Museum in Paris that

26. 26
has in its collection a statue of Jayavarman IV paying homage to Yama —the Hindu
God of Death—taken from Koh Ker.
In the 1970s, Cambodia plunged into a ci vil and in comparison to temples at
Angkor, little restoration has happened at Koh Ker. Koh Ker needs better protection
and conservation. Since 1992, it has been on the UNESCO tentative world heritage
list, but has not been recognised yet. During its short period as capital of Angkor,
https://www.sahapedia.org/chok-gargyarkoh-ker-angkor-city-dedicated-lord-shiva-
tribhuvaneshwara
The sacred stone lignum and yoni sculpture in the centre of Preah Khan temple, Angkor,
Cambodia. The cylindrical stone is believed to have male powers, the surrounding, larger
stone is female.RIGHT Place of ritual execution, blood collection vessel in Angkor Wat
templeExtreme Let- Bantey Kdai

27. 27
Tantric Style?
The lively and famous carving on this pediment represents Shiva Nataraja, the Dancing Shiva, his
ten arms splayed out in a dance of death and destruction on Mount Kailash in front of several
others gods, including Ganesh, Brahma and Vishnu. Nataraja (literally, The Lord (or King) of
Dance, Sanskrit: नटराज) is a depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the cosmic dancer who performs
his divine dance to destroy a weary universe and make preparations for god Brahma to start the
process of creation.
None of the immense, expressive and beautiful sculptures are left at the site. Numerous of them
were stolen and are standing now in museums and also in private collections. Some statues
were put away by government organizations to protect them from looters. Many masterpieces
of Koh Ker are now in the collection of the National Museum in Phnom Penh.
The center of the ancient city was in the north-east corner of the baray (water-tank). Inscriptions
say at least ten thousand inhabitants lived there during the rule of Jayavarman IV. Past
researchers believed a square wall with a side length of 1.2 km (1,312 yd) protected the town.
But new research indicates that the linear structures found in this part of Koh Ker were dykes of
ancient canals. Concerning the wooden buildings of the Khmer time no artefacts are found.
Laterite, sandstone and brick were used as construction materials in Koh Ker. Laterite and
sandstone of excellent quality were quarried in great quantities in the region of Koh Ker, so the
transport of the stones to the site was no problem. The bricks produced were small, regular and
very solid. A thin layer of organic mortar of unknown formula was used, possibly some form of
plant sap. After more than a millennium the brick sanctuaries in Koh Ker are in a much better
condition than the laterite ones. The roofs of some temples in Koh Ker had a wood construction
and were covered with tiles. In these monuments, holes for the wooden girders are found. The

28. 28
main sanctuary (the temple-complex Prasat Thom/Prang) was not standing in the middle of the
ancient city.
BARAYS- water Tanks
Rahal
The huge Baray (water-tank) called Rahal is the largest object at the site of the ancient capital
Koh Ker. Its length is about 1,200 m (1,312 yd) and its breath about 560 m (612 yd). The water-
tank has three dams covered by steps of laterite. The orientation of the Rahal is not from east to
west like the huge water-reservoirs in Angkor; it follows an orientation of North 15° West.
Because the most important monuments at Koh Ker have the same orientation it is thought that
the Baray was constructed first and the rest of the structures were laid out around it. The Rahal
was carved out partly of the stone ground but it is not clear if a natural hollow was the reason
for its orientation. These days most parts of the Baray are dried out and covered by grass. Some
puddles can be seen in the corner next to the double-sanctuary.
Trapeang Andong Preng
200 m (219 yd) south of the double-sanctuary Prasat Thom/Prang is a basin dug into the earth
with a length of 40 m (44 yd). It has steps of laterite on all sides. During the rainy season the
water is standing to a depth of 7 m (23 ft 0 in). The Trapeang Andong Preng does not belong to
a temple, but it could have been a royal bath, because near this place was once the wooden
palace of the king.
Trapeang Khnar
Trapeang Khnar is a village that lies in the Nitean Commun

29. 29
Complex of the double sanctuary Prasat Thom/Prang
Linear plan
The complex of the main monument in Koh Ker has a linear plan and is about 800 metres
(875 yd) long. Its orientation is E15°N, that is parallel to the Baray. The parking area cuts the
complex in two parts. On the east side of the parking are two structures, called palaces. On the
west side are the other monuments. They are standing behind the restaurants and are from east
to west: an immense entrance pavilion, two towers, a red brick entrance-tower (Prasat Krahom),
a surrounding wall with two courts (in the eastern court is the temple-complexPrasat Thom with
a moat, in the western court stands the seven tiered pyramid, named Prang). Behind the
enclosure is an artificial hill, the so-called Tomb of the White Elephant. Except the Prasat
Krahom and the Prang (pyramid). This temple-complex is in a bad condition.
Palaces
At the east side of the parking area are two structures the so-called palaces. Each consists of
four rectangular buildings surrounding a court. All eight buildings have three rooms, some have
a patio with pillars. Possibly these palaces served as meditation- or prayer-rooms for the king or
nobles.
Entrance pavilion and laterite towers
Between the palaces and the closest monument is a distance of 185 metres (607 ft). On the left
side of the parking area (behind the restaurants) is the entrance pavilion made of sandstone. It
stands 45 metres (148 ft) away from the double sanctuary and has a cruciform ground-plan. The
crossbar is 60 metres (197 ft) long; the stringer has a length of 30 metres (98 ft). Parallel to the
cross-bar are two halls. Directly behind the entrance-pavilion are the ruins of two huge laterite
towers.
Prasat Krahom once housed a statue of the Dancing Shiva with five heads and ten arms. The
sculpture had a height of 3.50 metres (11 ft 6 in), but is now broken completely. A fragment of a
hand of 0.5 metres (20 in) can be seen in the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Prasat Khrom
lies behind the ruins of the entrance-pavilion and the laterite towersand is a red brick tower,
(krahom = red), which gives entrance to the enclosed monuments. It has a cruciform plan, is in a
good condition.
Outer enclosure
The outer enclosure has a length of 328 metres (1,076 ft) and a breadth of 151 metres (495 ft)
An additional wall divides the inner area in two. In the eastern court are a moat and the temple-
complex Prasat Thom; in the western court is the pyramid, called Prang. The eastern court with a
length of 153 metres (502 ft) is nearly square, the western court has a length of 171 metres
(561 ft).

30. 30
Moat
The moat in the eastern court is about 47 metres (154 ft) wide. It borders the Prasat Thom. Lined
by trees it looks very picturesque. Two dams, one at the east side, the other at the west side are
leading to the ground within the moat. The dams are flanked by Naga-balustrades. On the
eastern dam between the Nagas was additionally a colonnade with pillars. Behind each Naga of
the east side was standing a huge Garuda.
Prasat Thom
Probably some parts of the Prasat Thom including the moat and the 1. (inner) enclosure were
built before 921 AD. The sanctuary was expanded under the reign of Jayavarman IV and has now
two surrounding walls inside of the moat. The first wall (inner wall) is made of brick; the second
wall (outer wall) with a length of 66 m (217 ft) and a breath of 55 m (180 ft) is made of laterite.

31. 31
Two doors are in the east and in the west. The doors of the second wall have a cruciform plan.
The doors of the first wall are smaller and not of cruciform layout. The plane between the first
and second wall is completely overbuilt with rectangular structures, possibly later additions. In
the center court is the sanctuary and opposite it are two so-called libraries. Behind the sanctuary
on a rectangular platform stand nine towers in two rows (one of five, one four towers). Twelve
smaller prasats in groups of three surround the platform. All 21 towers once housed lingas.[1]: 27–
29
Prang
The seven-tiered pyramid called Prang was probably the state temple of Jayavarman IV.
Construction of the sanctuary was started in 928 AD. At ground level one, side of the square
building measures 62 m (203 ft). The height is 36 m (118 ft). Originally on the top platform stood
a huge lingam probably more than 4 m (13 ft) high and having a weight of several tons.
Inscriptions say that it was the tallest and most beautiful Shiva-ling-am. The ling-am probably
stood in a shrine which some researchers say could have been about 15 m (49 ft) high. On the
north side of the pyramid is a steep staircase leading to the top. The original stairs are in a very
bad condition as is the bamboo-ladder which was constructed in the 20th century, so it is
forbidden to climb to the top of the pyramid via this route. There is however a new staircase
which can be used to ascend to the top tit of the pyramid. Concerning the seventh tier some
scientists say, this was the platform of the shrine because on its sides beautiful reliefs of Garudas
were made. There is just one Khmer temple which resembles the temple Baksei Chamkrong in
Angkor. But the four-tiered monument there is much smaller and has a staircase on each of the
four sides. On the platform on the top of the Baksei Chamkrong is a prasat in a good condition.
Tomb of the White Elephant
Behind the court with the seven-tiered pyramid is an artificial hill of exact circle form covered
with trees. It is named Tomb of the White elephant. "The white Elephant" is a very well-known
legend in southeast Asia. There are different theories about the hill. Some say that this structure
could be the foundation of a second pyramid. Others say that it could be the grave of
Jayavarman IV. The steep path leading to the top of the hill is closed now because of security
reasons.[1]: 7–8
Sanctuaries along the access road
Prasat Pram

32. 32
Prasat Pram
The most south sanctuary of this group is the Prasat Pram on the west side of the road. A small
(300 metres (328 yd)) long path leads to the monument. It has five towers or prasats (pram =
five). Three brick towers stand in a row on the same platform. They face east. The central one is a
bit taller than the others. In each of these prasats, once stood a lingam. These and the
beautifully carved lintels were looted. Two prasats (faced west) are standing in front of the
platform. One is built of brick and has diamond-shaped holes in the upper part. This fact
indicates that this tower once served as a fire sanctuary (fire cults were very important during
the era of the Khmer kings). The other building is small, made of laterite and (in comparison with
the brick towers) in bad condition. The bricks of small regular size are held together with an
organic mortar of unknown composition (plant sap?). Originally the towers were covered by
white stucco; remains of it can still be seen. Two of the towers are pictorially covered by roots.
The five towers are surrounded by an enclosure. The collapsed entrance door (gopuram) is at
the east side. Two artefacts of the Prasat Pram can be seen in the National Museum in Phnom
Penh: A damaged lion statue and fragments of a standing four-armed Vishnu.
Prasat Neang Khmau
Prasat Neang Khmau showing fire-scarred walls
Located 12.5 km (7.8 mi) to the south of the main Koh Ker pyramid and built of sandstone and
brick.[9]
An early 10th century temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva. The temple's fire
damaged (black) outer surface probably gave it its name (Neang Khmau means the "Black Lady"
in Khmer).
The name of the temple is also said mean "Black Virgin" and legend says it might once have
been heaven to Kali, the Dark Goddess of Destruction.
Another legend about the temple says that many years ago a powerful king Preah Bat Sorya
Teyong lived at the Chiso mountain. One day his daughter Neang Khmao, went to Tonle Protron
and met a handsome man, Bandit Srey, who instantly fell in love with her and who used magic
to make her fall in love with him. When the king heard about this he ordered his daughter be
exiled and he built two temples for her to live in. Whilst in exile she fell in love with a monk who
subsequently fell in love with her and gave up being a monk to live with the princess in the
temple since which it has been known as Neang Khmao Temple

33. 33
Prasat Bak
More north than the Prasat Neang Khmau and on the west side of the road is the Prasat Bak, a
small square sanctuary built of laterite; one side measures only 5 m (16 ft). The temple which is
in a very bad condition today housed till 1960 a colossal statue of Ganesha (Ganesha is a Hindu
god, son of Shiva and Uma. He is depicted with a human body and an elephant's head). It is
known, that the sculpture with the sitting Ganesha now is in a collection outside of Cambodia.[
Prasat Chen
This sanctuary is the most north of this group and lies too on the west side of the street. It has
two enclosures. The main entrance door (now collapsed) was itself a sanctuary with a square
central room (one side measured 4 m (13 ft)). Three laterite towers (partially collapsed) stand on
the same platform. In front of them are the remains of two brick libraries. The statue of the two
fighting monkey kings Sugriva and Valin (figures of the Hindu epic Ramayana) was found at this
site and is now in the National Museum in Phnom Penh. A fragment of a multi-armed statue of
Vishnu was found in front of the tower in the middle. In this temple are five inscriptions. They
mention the names of all the numerous peoples connected to the temple site and their
function.
Monuments along the ring-road
Ruins of Prasat Krachap
Prasat Balang (Prasat Leung Moi)
The Prasat Balang is the first of three Linga-Shrines standing along the ring-road. It is a
square laterite building standing on a platform and has one doorway and an open roof. In the
sanctuary is an impressive lingam standing on yoni. The phallus-symbol is about 2 m (7 ft) high,
has a diameter of nearly 1 m (39 in) and a weight of several tons. Together with the yoni it was
carved out of the bedrock at this place. The lingam is in a good condition. The yoni is about 1 m
(39 in) high and looks like an altar. On all four sides once were carved reliefs. In each of the four
corners stood a beautiful chiselled Garudu with raised arms giving the impression these mythical
figures would bear the yoni. Unfortunately the reliefs and the Garudas were looted. Around the
Yoni there is just a small space giving room for some priests to perform the prescribed rituals.
The water they put on the lingam became holy by touching the symbol of Shiva, run down and
was collected in a ditch of the yoni. Then via a spout (with is still intact) it flowed to the outside
of the shrine where believers could touch the blessed water.

34. 34
Sansakrit-writing (ancient) right -forgotten giant
Prasat Thneng (Prasat Leung Pee)
The Prasat Thneng is very similar to the Prasat Balang. Unfortunately looters tried to hack away
the impressive lingam but were not successful. A notch of about a depth of half a meter (20 in)
is left but the Shicva-symbol is still standing unshakeable at its place on the damaged yoni.
Leung Bye
Prasat Leung Bon
Prasat Andong Kuk (Prasat Sralau)
A Buddhist temple built late 12th century/early 13th century in the reign of Jayavarman VII, it
was one of more than 100 of hospital-sanctuaries he built. The modern name Sralau refers to a
species of tree.
Prasat Krachap
Sometimes written Prasat Kra Chap, today the site has well preserved entrance gate and the
ruins of 5 towers arranged in a quincunx. From inscriptions around the doors it has been

35. 35
established that the temple was dedicated in 928 to Tribhuvanadeva, a linga representation of
Shiva.[
Prasat Bantaey Pee Chean
Banteay Peechean
Prasat Chrap
A temple comprising 3 towers built of laterite. Today all towers are badly damaged; the interiors
with fire damage and the west facades destroyed suggesting damage was deliberateor due to a
common design flaw. There are no surviving inscriptions to date the temple nor to identify
which gods it was dedicated to.
Prasat Damrei
A small path leads from the ring-road to the Prasat Damrei (damrei = elephant). This sanctuary
has an enclosure and stands on a high platform. On each of its four sides is a staircase with
about ten steps. Eight stone lions once flanked the stairs but only one remains in its original
place. A beautiful elephant sculpture once stood at each of the four corners of the platform but
only two remain. The sanctuary is built of brick and is in good condition. A Sanskrit inscription
found at the temple offers evidence that an erstwhile lingam was once erected on the top of the
pyramid (Prang).
Jayavarman IV may have ruled for only 13 years, not enough time to fully realise
his ideas but he was given the posthumous title Paramasivapada (Devoted servant
at the feet of Shiva), further emphasising his loyalty to Lord Shiva. During his
period, many Shiva temples were built at Chok Gargyar,
Not done
however, nothing was added by his son and successor Harshavarman II. In 944 CE,
when Rajendravarman I became the new king, he restored the capital to
Yashodharapura, bringing an end to Chok Gargyor’s 16-year period as capital of
Angkor.

36. 36
Without patronage and facing debilitating factors, Chok Gargyor’s construction
boom went bust. As feared by Jayavarman IV, the Rahal dried up. The last recorded
building added during the period of Jayavarman VII, in beginning of the thirteenth
century, was one of his 102 hospital-chapels. By the fourteenth century, when
Buddhism established itself as the new official religion of Angkor, the site was
abandoned. Since no Buddhist structures were added, Chok Gargyor remained a
Hindu site, dedicated exclusively to Lord Shiva. In the nineteenth century, French
explorers rediscovered the site and the old name was revived in a new avatar —Koh
Ker.
Covered by thick forests and left unguarded, wanton destruction was unleashed on
Koh Ker. Cambodia in the nineteenth century was a shadow of its glorious past and
was relegated to a rump state dependant on protection by the French. The French
colonialists, taking full advantage of a weak and poor country, plundered Angkor
sites, digging up monuments hoping to find hidden treasure. Precious artworks
were smuggled out to fill museums in France, like the Guimet Museum in Paris that
has in its collection a statue of Jayavarman IV paying homage to Yama —the Hindu
God of Death—taken from Koh Ker.
In the 1970s, Cambodia plunged into a civil war unleashed by the ultra -left Khmer
Rouge regime. After the war ended, Koh Ker was painstakingly de -mined and more
than 180 monuments identified. In comparison to temples at Angkor, little
restoration has happened at Koh Ker. Many ruined monuments are on the verge of
collapse; some are supported by wooden frames while others are tied up with wire.
Although the site has been pillaged of all standing artwork, it continues to be
targeted by gangs of thieves.
Koh Ker needs better protection and conservation. Since 1992, it has been on
the UNESCO tentative world heritage list, but has not been recognised yet. During
its short period as capital of Angkor, Koh Ker ushered in a golden age of Hindu
culture in Cambodia and laid the foundation of a rena issance which followed in the
immediate period. The site fully deserves the UNESCO World Heritage Site status,
which it should hopefully get in the near future. https://www.sahapedia.org/chok-
gargyarkoh-ker-angkor-city-dedicated-lord-shiva-tribhuvaneshwara
SOFT TRANTRISM
In the 10th and 11th centuries, both Shaiva and Buddhist tantra evolved into more
tame, philosophical, and liberation-oriented religions. This transformation saw a move
from external and transgressive rituals towards a more internalized yogic practice
focused on attaining spiritual insight. This recasting also made tantric religions much
less open to attack by other groups. In Shaivism, this development is often associated
with the Kashmiri master Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) and his followers, as well the

37. 37
movements which were influenced by their work, like the Sri Vidya tradition (which
spread as far as South India, and has been referred to as "high" tantra).
In Buddhism, this taming of tantra is associated with the adoption of tantra by Buddhist
monastics who sought to incorporate it within the Buddhist Mahayana scholastic
framework. Buddhist tantras were written down and scholars
like Abhayakaragupta wrote commentaries on them. Another important figure, the
Bengali teacher Atisha, wrote a treatise which placed tantra as the culmination of a
graduated Mahayana path to awakening, the Bodhipathapradīpa. In his view, one
needed to first begin practicing non-tantric Mahayana, and then later one might be
ready for tantra. This system became the model for tantric practice among some Tibetan
Buddhist schools, like the Gelug. In Tibet, the transgressive and sexual practices of tantra
became much less central and tantric practice was seen as suitable only for a small elite
group. New tantras continued to be composed during this later period as well, such as
the Kalachakra (c. 11th century), which seems to be concerned with converting
Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, and uniting them together against Islam.
The Kalachakra teaches sexual yoga, but also warns not to introduce the practice of
ingesting impure substances to beginners, since this is only for advanced yogis. This
tantra also seems to want to minimize the impact of the transgressive practices, since it
advises tantrikas to outwardly follow the customs of their country.
HATHA YOGA
Another influential development during this period was the codification of tantric yogic
techniques that would later become the separate movement known as Hatha Yoga.
According to James Mallinson, the original "source text" for Hatha Yoga is the Vajrayana
Buddhist Amṛtasiddhi (11th century CE) attributed to the mahasiddha Virupa. This text
was later adopted by Saiva yogic traditions (such as the Naths) and is quoted in their
texts.
Another tradition of Hindu Tantra developed among the Vaishnavas, this was called
the Pāñcarātra Agama tradition. This tradition avoided the transgressive and sexual
elements that were embraced by the Saivas and the Buddhists. There is also a smaller
tantric tradition associated with Surya, the sun god. Jainism also seems to have
developed a substantial Tantra corpus based on the Saura tradition, with rituals based
on yakshas and yakshinis. However, this Jain tantrism was mainly used for pragmatic
purposes like protection, and was not used to attain liberation. Complete manuscripts of
these Jain tantras have not survived. The Jains also seem to have adopted some of the
subtle body practices of tantra, but not sexual yoga.
The Svetambara thinker Hemacandra (c. 1089–1172) discusses tantric practices
extensively, such as internal meditations on chakras, which betray Kaula and Nath
influences.

38. 38
The earliest date for the Tantra texts related to Tantric practices is 600 CE, though most of
them were probably composed after the 8th century onwards. Very little is known about who
created the Tantras, nor much is known about the social status of these and medieval era
Tantrikas.
The pioneers of Tantra may have been ascetics who lived at the cremation grounds, possibly
from "above low-caste groups", and were probably non-Brahmanical and possibly part of an
ancient tradition. By the early medieval times, their practices may have included the imitation of
deities such as Kali and Bhairava, with offerings of non-vegetarian food, alcohol and sexual
substances. According to this theory, these practitioners would have invited their deities to enter
them, then reverted the role in order to control that deity and gain its power.These ascetics
would have been supported by low castes living at the cremation places.
Samuel states that transgressive and antinomian tantric practices developed in both Buddhist
and Brahmanical (mainly Śaiva ascetics like the Kapalikas) contexts and that "Śaivas and
Buddhists borrowed extensively from each other, with varying degrees of acknowledgement."
According to Samuel, these deliberately transgressive practices included, "night time orgies in
charnel grounds, involving the eating of human flesh, the use of ornaments, bowls and musical
instruments made from human bones, sexual relations while seated on corpses, and the like."[
Another key element of in the development of tantra was "the gradual transformation of local
and regional deity cults through which fierce male and, particularly, female deities came to take
a leading role in the place of the yaksa deities." Samuel states that this took place between the
fifth to eighth centuries CE. According to some, there are two main scholarly opinions on these
terrifying goddesses which became incorporated into Śaiva and Buddhist Tantra. The first view is
that they originate out of a pan-Indian religious substrate that was not Vedic. Another opinion is
to see these fierce goddesses as developing out of the Vedic religion.
There is an argument that tantric practices originally developed in a Śaiva milieu and was later
adopted by Buddhists. He cites numerous elements that are found in the
Śaiva Vidyapitha literature, including whole passages and lists of pithas, that seem to have been
directly borrowed by Vajrayana texts. This has been criticized by Ronald M. Davidson however,
due to the uncertain date of the Vidyapitha texts. Davidson argues that the pithas seem to have
been neither uniquely Buddhist nor Śaiva, but frequented by both groups. He also states that
the Śaiva tradition was also involved in the appropriation of local deities and that tantra may
have been influenced by tribal Indian religions and their deities. Samuel writes that "the female
divinities may well best be understood in terms of a distinct Śākta milieu from which both Śaivas
and Buddhists were borrowing," but that other elements, like the Kapalika style practices, are
more clearly derived from a Śaiva tradition.
Samuel writes that the Saiva Tantra tradition appears to have originated as ritual sorcery carried
out by hereditary caste groups (kulas) and associated with sex, death and fierce goddesses. The
initiation rituals involved the consumption of the mixed sexual secretions (the clan essence) of a
male guru and his consort. These practices were adopted by Kapalika styled ascetics and
influenced the early Nath siddhas. Overtime, the more extreme external elements were replaced
by internalized yogas that make use of the subtle body. Sexual ritual became a way to reach the
liberating wisdom taught in the tradition.

39. 39
The Buddhists developed their own corpus of Tantras, which also drew on various Mahayana
doctrines and practices, as well as on elements of the fierce goddess tradition and also on
elements from the Śaiva traditions (such as deities like Bhairava, which were seen as having been
subjugated and converted to Buddhism). Some Buddhist tantras (sometimes called "lower" or
"outer" tantras) which are earlier works, do not make use of transgression, sex and fierce deities.
These earlier Buddhist tantras mainly reflect a development of Mahayana theory and practice
(like deity visualization) and a focus on ritual and purity. Between the eighth and tenth centuries,
new tantras emerged which included fierce deities, kula style sexual initiations, subtle body
practices and sexual yoga. The later Buddhist tantras are known as the "inner" or "unsurpassed
yoga" (Anuttarayoga or "Yogini") tantras. According to Samuel, it seems that these sexual
practices were not initially practiced by Buddhist monastics and instead developed outside of
the monastic establishments among traveling siddhas.
Tantric practices also included secret initiation ceremonies in which individuals would enter the
tantric family (kula) and receive the secret mantras of the tantric deities. These initiations
included the consumption of the sexual substances (semen and female sexual secretions)
produced through ritual sex between the guru and his consort. These substances were seen as
spiritually powerful and were also used as offerings for tantric deities. For both Śaivas and
Buddhists, tantric practices often took place at important sacred sites (pithas) associated with
fierce goddesses. Samuel writes that "we do not have a clear picture of how this network of
pilgrimage sites arose." Whatever the case, it seems that it was in these ritual spaces visited by
both Buddhists and Śaivas that the practice of Kaula and Anuttarayoga Tantra developed during
the eighth and ninth centuries. Besides the practices outlined above, these sites also saw the
practice of animal sacrifice as blood offerings to Śākta goddesses like Kamakhya. This practice is
mentioned in Śākta texts like the Kālikāpurāṇa and the Yoginītantra. In some of these sites, such
as Kamakhya Pitha, animal sacrifice is still widely practiced by Śāktas.
Another key and innovative feature of medieval tantric systems was the development of internal
yogas based on elements of the subtle body (sūkṣma śarīra). This subtle anatomy held that there
were channels in the body (nadis) through which certain substances or energies (such
as vayu, prana, kundalini, and shakti) flowed. These yogas involved moving these energies
through the body to clear out certain knots or blockages (granthi) and to direct the energies to
the central channel (avadhuti, sushumna). These yogic practices are also closely related to the
practice of sexual yoga, since sexual intercourse was seen as being involved in the stimulation of
the flow of these energies. Samuel thinks that these subtle body practices may have been
influenced by Chinese Daoist practices.
One of the earliest mentions of sexual yoga practice is in the
Buddhist Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra of Asanga (c. 5th century), which states "Supreme self-control
is achieved in the reversal of sexual intercourse in the blissful Buddha-poise and the
untrammelled vision of one's spouse." According to David Snellgrove, the text's mention of a
'reversal of sexual intercourse' might indicate the practice of withholding ejaculation. Snellgrove
states that it is possible that sexual yoga was already being practiced in Buddhist circles at this
time, and that Asanga saw it as a valid practice. Likewise, Samuel thinks that there is a possibility
that sexual yoga existed in the fourth or fifth centuries (though not in the same transgressive
tantric contexts where it was later practiced).

40. 40
It is only in the seventh and eighth centuries however that we find substantial evidence for these
sexual yogas. Unlike previous Upanishadic sexual rituals however, which seem to have been
associated with Vedic sacrifice and mundane ends like childbirth, these sexual yogas were
associated with the movement of subtle body energies (like Kundalini and Chandali, which were
also seen as goddesses), and also with spiritual ends. These practices seemed to have developed
at around the same time in both Saiva and Buddhist circles, and are associated with figures such
as Tirumülar, Gorakhnath, Virupa, Naropa. The tantric mahasiddhas developed yogic systems
with subtle body and sexual elements which could lead to magical powers (siddhis), immortality,
as well as spiritual liberation (moksha, nirvana). Sexual yoga was seen as one way of producing a
blissful expansion of consciousness that could lead to liberation.
According to Jacob Dalton, ritualized sexual yoga (along with the sexual elements of the tantric
initiation ritual, like the consumption of sexual fluids) first appears in Buddhist works
called Mahayoga tantras (which include the Guhyagarbha and Ghuyasamaja). These texts
"focused on the body's interior, on the anatomical details of the male and female sexual organs
and the pleasure generated through sexual union." In these texts, sexual energy was also seen as
a powerful force that could be harnessed for spiritual practice and according to Samuel
"perhaps create the state of bliss and loss of personal identity which is homologised with
liberating insight." These sexual yogas continued to develop further into more complex systems
which are found in texts dating from about the ninth or tenth century, including the
Saiva Kaulajñānanirṇaya and Kubjikātantra as well as the Buddhist Hevajra,
and Cakrasamvara tantras which make use of charnel ground symbolism and fierce goddesses.
Samuel writes that these later texts also combine the sexual yoga with a system of controlling
the energies of the subtle body.
Tantricism of the Kbal Spean?
Kbal Spean ("Bridge Head") is an Angkorian era archaeological site on the southwest slopes of
the Kulen Hills to the northeast of Angkor in Banteay srei, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. It is
situated along a 150m stretch of the Stung Kbal Spean River, 25 kilometres (16 mi) from the
main Angkor group of monuments, which lie downstream.
The site consists of a series of stone rock relief carvings in sandstone formations of the river bed
and banks. It is commonly known as the "Valley of a 1000 Lingas" or "The River of a Thousand
Lingas". The motifs for stone carvings are mainly myriads of lingams (phallic symbol
of Hindu god Shiva), depicted as neatly arranged bumps that cover the surface of a sandstone
bed rock, and lingam-yoni designs. There are also various Hindu mythological motifs, including
depictions of the gods Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Lakshmi, Rama, and Hanuman, as well as animals
(cows and frogs).
Kbal Spean is described as "a spectacularly carved riverbed, set deep in the jungle to the
northeast of Angkor".The river over which the bridge head exists is also known as Stung Kbal
Spean, a tributary of the Siem Reap River that rises in the Kulein mountains north of Banteay
Srei. The river bed cuts through sandstone formations, and the many architectural sculptures of

41. 41
Hindu mythology have been carved within the sandstone. The archaeological site occurs in a
stretch of the river starting from 150 metres (490 ft) upstream north of the bridge head to the
falls downstream.[1]
The river, being sanctified by flowing over the religious sculptures, flows
downstream, bifurcating into the Siem Reap River and Puok River, which eventually flows into
the Tonlé Sap Lake after passing through the plains and the Angkor temple complex.
The archaeological site is in the western part of the Kulein mountains within the Phnom Kulen
National Park. Approach is from the Banteay Srei temple by a road which is about 5 kilometres
(3.1 mi) from an army camp. Thereafter, it is a 40-minute walk through the forest for about 2
kilometres (1.2 mi) uphill along a path before reaching the first site, a water fall, where the
carved sculptures start appearing in the river bed.
The carving of vestiges began with the reign of King Suryavarman I and ended with the reign
of King Udayadityavarman II; these two kings ruled between the 11th and 12th centuries. The
1,000 lingas, but not other sculptures, are attributed to a minister of Suryavarman I during the
11th century, and these were carved by hermits who lived in the area. Inscriptions at the site
testify to the fact that most of the sculpting was done during the reign of Udayadityavarman II.
It is also mentioned that King Udayadityavarman II consecrated a golden ling here in 1059
AD.[1][3]
It is believed that the Siem Reap River flowing into Angkor is blessed by the sacred lingas
over which it flows.
The archaeological site was discovered in 1969 by Jean Boulbet, an ethnologist, but further
exploration was cut off due to the Cambodian Civil War. The site regained prominence for safe
visits from 1989.[
Left: Sahasralingas or 1000 lingas in the rocky bed of Kbal Spean River. Right: A grid
pattern layout with the channel flowing out representing Yoni
The bridge is a natural sandstone arch 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Siem Reap River. Just
after the monsoon season, when the water level in the river starts dropping, the carvings are
visible in a 150 metres (490 ft) stretch upstream of the bridge and from the bridge downstream
up to the falls. The 11th century carvings in this stretch of the river are a galaxy of gods,
the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva or Maheswara and celestial beings; several carvings of
Vishnu with Lakshmi reclining on the serpent Ananta, Shiva with consort Uma, known
as Umamaheswar Brahma on a lotus petal over a plant stem rising from the navel of
Vishnu, Rama and Hanuman are the sculptures seen not only in the river bed but also on the
river banks.
Sequentially, while walking along a path which skirts the eroded channel of the river-formed
natural stone bridge, one can see a pair of Vishnu sculptures with Lakshmi seated at his feet in a
reclining pose. Upstream of the bridge, there is a sculpture of Shiva and Uma mounted on the
bull. Approximately 30 metres (98 ft) downstream of the bridge, there are additional Vishnu
sculptures. Further downstream up to the water fall and till the water pool are the Sahasra
lingas in Sanskrit language with English equivalent name of "Thousand Lingas".[1]
The sculpted
lingams in the coarse sandstone river bed outcrops are seen from about 6 metres (20 ft)
downstream of the bridge. According to the journalist Teppo Tukki of Phnom Penh Post who
visited the site in 1995, the lingams, some of which date back to the 9th century, are about 25

42. 42
centimetres (9.8 in) square and 10 centimetres (3.9 in) deep and lined in a perfect grid pattern.
The river runs over them, covering them with 5 centimetres (2.0 in) of pristine water. The holy
objects are designed to create a "power path for the Khmer Kings".
After the carvings, the river falls by 15 centimetres (5.9 in) to a clear water pool. As it flows over
the holy lingams, the river attains a sanctified status and passes through the temples that are
downstream.[5]
The visible lingams are in a rectangular enclosure with a channel flowing out,
which is interpreted to represent the yoni as the "female principle". Beyond these lingams, the
river stretch of about 40–50 metres (130–160 ft) includes a small rocky island and ends over a
fall into a pool. In this stretch of the river, there are bas reliefs on the rock faces. It has been
inferred that one of the bas reliefs in this stretch, the central figure, unrecognizably damaged,
could be that of Shiva as an ascetic, similar to the bas relief seen in Angkor Wat temple. The
meaning of the crocodile carving seen here has not been ascertained. Near to this location, a
boulder has been carved as a frog. The pond, in a rectangular shape, filled with water at all
times, has many "Reclining Vishnu" carvings on the walls, and here again, a pair of crocodiles are
carved but with their tail held by women. The small island formed in this stretch of the river has
carvings of Shiva and Uma mounted on a bull.

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Lord Vishnu in a reclining repose lying on the serpent god Ananta, with Goddess Lakshmi at his
feet and Lord Brahma on a lotus petal, in Kbal Spean River bank
The sculptures carved in the river bed and banks depict many Hindu mythological scenes and
symbols. There are also inscriptions which get exposed as the water level in the river decreases.
The common theme of these sculptures emphasizes creation as defined in Hindu mythology in

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the form of Lord Vishnu lying on a serpent in a reclining repose on the ocean of milk in
meditation, the lotus flower emerging from Vishnu’s navel which bears god Brahma, the creator.
Following these sculptures seen carved on the banks of the river, the river flows through several
sculpted reliefs of Shiva the destroyer shown in the universal symbol of the Linga; 1000 such
lingas have been carved in the bed of the river which gives the name to the river valley formed
by the river as "valley of 1000 lingas". Vishnu is also carved to match the contours of the river
bed and banks. A carving of Shiva with his consort Uma is also visible.
Though the sculptures have been vandalized and damaged, the carved idols still retain their
original grandeur. Under the supervision of archaeologists, the graduates of Artisans
d'Angkor have been able to reproduce some portions of Kbal Spean's missing bas-relief
carvings.
Preah Kahn
Preah Khan, one of the temples in Cambodia, was built by King Jayavarman VII in the twelfth
century and attracts followers of both Hinduism and Buddhism. The name Preah Khan translates
to Holy Sword. The temple was dedicatedto about a hundred gods and served as a venue for
eighteen grand festivals.
Apart from being a holy place, this place was also a university teaching element of Buddhist,
Vaishnava, and Shiva worship which can be glimpsed while visiting the galleries and the two
libraries inside the large complex. Visitors feel awedwhile exploring the Prasat Preah Stung, a
central tower with 4 ornate Bayon-like carvings.

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e
Pre Rup is one of the Cambodia temples which was built in the 9th century to serve as the
king’s state temple. This Hindu temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva, is entirely made of brick and
grey.sandstone.
The temple is also associated with funerary rituals. Though a major part of the temple has
been ruined over the years, its extrinsic carvings can still be viewed on some of the towers,
especially on the South-west side. The temple attracts visitors especially during the sunrise or
the sunset for its spectacular view.
The final squared pyramid, measuring 50 m at its base, rises in three steep tiers a dozen
metres in height to a 35 m square platform at the summit. The lowest tier is symmetrically
surrounded by 12 small shrines. At the top, five towers are arranged in a quincunx, one at
each corner of the square and one in the center. Deities carved as bas-reliefs stand guard
at either side of the central tower's eastern door; its other doors are false doors. The
southwest tower once contained a statue of Lakshmi, the northwest tower a statue of Uma,
the southeast tower a statue of Vishnu and the northeast tower a statue of Shiva. The last

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one has an inscription on doorjambs that dates from Jayavarman VI and is the only proof
of his reign at Angkor.
Internal corridors of famous Pre Rup temple viewed through an ancient stone doorway and dark mysterious
corridor Angkor Cambodia