Along the Royal Roads to Angkor

Chapter Four The Royal Roads of King Jayavarman VII and its Architectural Remains 4.1 King Jayavarman VII’s Royal Roads 4.1.1 General Information Jayavarman VII’s Royal Roads was believed (by many scholars) to be built in the era of Jayavarman VII who ruled Khmer empire between AD 1812 – 1218. The road network not only cover the area of the modern-day Cambodia but also the large areas of the present Laos, Thailand and Vietnam that were under the control of the empire as well. As demonstrated by Ooi Keat Gin in Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopeida from Angkor Wat to East Timor Volume Two; highways were built—straight, stone-paved roads running across hundreds of kilometers, raised above the flood level, with stone bridges across rivers and lined with rest houses every 15 kilometers. Parts of some roads are still visible, even serving as the bed for modern roads. From the capital city, Angkor, there were at least two roads to the east and two to the west. One of the latter ran across the Dangrek Mountains to Phimai and another went due west toward Sisophon, which means toward the only lowland pass from Cambodia into eastern Thailand in the direction of Lopburi or Ayutthaya. Toward the east, one road has been traced almost to the Mekong, and according to an inscription in which these roads are described, it may continue as far as the capital of Champa1 1 Ooi. (2004). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopeida from Angkor Wat to East Timor Volume Two, (California: ABC-CLIO.inc.) pg. 696. 51 52 The main roads were paved with stone, so that chariots drawn by elephants could use them and also that they would remain passable during the rainy season, when dirt roads turned to mud2. This type of paving made it possible for chariots drawn by elephants to use, even in rainy season, to deliver goods, products and tributes. Moreover the “royal roads” that led to every region of the realm not only made possible the delivery of goods and tribute to the royal capital but also played as a useful role in quelling local rebellions. But the roads led both ways3. There are five routes of Royal Roads constructed during the reign of Jayavarman VII, connecting the capital city of Angkor Thom with every region of the empire; 1. From Angkor to Preah Khan, Kampong Sway 2. From Angkor to Sambor Preikuk 3. From Angkor to Vat Phu 4. From Angkor to Phimai 5. From Angkor to Sdok Kok Thom Of all five routes of the roads, the route from Angkor to Phimai has been studied the most by the scholars because of the close relationship between Angkor and Phimai. Also, along with numerous inscriptions, numbers of rest houses and hospitals were found. 4.1.2 Architectural Remains along the Royal Roads In the Khmer Civilization during the reign of Jayavarman VII, there were three types of architectures in which known by the name of Prasada, Dharmasala and Arogyashala. However the Khmer architectures were hard to categorize by their given names since people tend to recognize all of them as ‘Prasat’ (ปราสาท) which is the Thai and Khmer terms of palace, castle and temple. 2 Ishizawa, Yoshiaki. Along the Royal Roads to Angkor. (New York : Weatherhill, 1999), pg. 167 3 Ibid, pg. 172 53 However, these so-called prasats could be generated (as Prasada, Dharmasala and Arogyashala) by their scales and functions since these three types of Khmer architectures are distinctively different in terms of the mentioned condition— especially in terms of functions. The first type of architectures is prasada. The purpose of building this type of architectures is mostly to express the builder’s (or the one who given order of construction) devotion to gods in which could be gods from Brahmanism, Hinduism or Buddhism. The center of each prasada located a room called Garbhagriha (ครรภคฤหะ) which means the womb-chamber—where the Hindu sacred statue was place. In Khmer culture, the prasada are used as the place to commit religious ritual. Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Preah Vihear and Phimai are noted as Prasada. The numbers of prasada by Jayavarman VII is not yet confirmed. The second type of architectures is Dharmasala (sometimes called vahni-griha or วนิคฤหะ) or the rest houses. This types of architectures were built during the reign of Jayavarman VII in order to give “associations to some kind of accommodation for travelers.4” The king has built one hundred and twenty one rest houses; from Angkor, ten were found in the Yasodharapura; fifty seven were found one the route to Champa; another seventeen were found on the road to Phimai; another fourteen are mentioned that they were built at the cities in which the scholars still don’t know where; the other twenty three are not mentioned where. The third and last type of architectures is Arogyashala or the hospital. The Arogyashala is built in order to cure people from diseases. However, some scholar stated that Jayavarman VII has built the architectures for merit. Coedès also stated that the intention of the king to make this merit of building hospitals is of his belief. As the king believed that his merit could help cure his cousins from leprosy5. According 4 Asger Mollerup. The Dharmasala Route from Angkor to Phimai. [Online]. Retrieved 24 November 2016. From http://www.sundial.thai-isan-lao.com/dharmasalaroute.html 5 Vanvipa Suneta, Concept of Rattanatriya: a study of Khmer art during 13th century a.d. in Central Thailand. (Thesis, Master of Arts Program, Department of Art History, Silpakorn University, 2003). Pg. 19 54 to the inscription, Jayavarman VII has built one hundred and two hospitals; thirty one of them were found on the route to Phimai and the other left are not yet confirmed. For the further understanding, Prasat Ta Muean Group (กลุ่มปราสาทตา เมือน) is a good example of categorizing Khmer architectures and it was also located on the Royal Roads. The Prasat Ta Muean Group consist of three important architectures; Prasat Ta Muean Thom; Prasat Ta Muean Toj and Prasat Ta Muean. Prasat Ta Muean Thom is the biggest of all three and is considered as prasada. It consist of three prang (ปรางค์) with the principal prang at the middle. There were two ponds built here. On the east and west side of the prasada located the architectures called ‘บรรณาลัย’. Prasat Ta Muean Thom located on the hill and astrided the ‘สยัมภูวลึงค์’. This place was also used for committing Hindu religious rituals. Prasat Ta Muean Toj is located around 750 meters away from Prasat Ta Muean Thom and is surrounded by a wall with a small pond on the north. The Arogyashala Inscription was found here. Prasat Ta Muean Toj is considered as the hospital or the Arogyashala. Prasat Ta Muean is the smallest one. It looks like a chapel with an intact roof and a long hall inside and is considered as the rest house or the Dharmasala. According to the statement above, it could be saying that the Khmer architectures built during the reign of Jayavarman VII could be specified into three types (Prasada, Dharmasala and Arogyashala) by using ‘functions’ as the variable (ตัว แปร). The prasada is used for religious ritual and god worshipping (and is the biggest one), the Dhamasala is used as a rest house and the Arogyashala held the role of a hospital. 55 4.2 Architectural Remains on Jayavarman VII’s Royal Roads: Prasada 4.2.1 General Information on Prasada The word “Prasada” (or “Prasat” in Sanskrit) is the Khmer and Thai terms that implied to palace or temple. In Khmer’s belief, Prasada is “the residence of god”. Many of prasadas were capable of housing numerous numbers of people (mostly were authorities and dependants). The passage demonstrated below is the translation of numbers of people housed and their roles at Ta Prohm that was mentioned in Ta Prohm Inscription; There are here 400 men, 18 high priests, 2,740 others priests, 2,332 assistants, including 615 female dancers, a grand total of 12,640 people, including those entitled to stay. There are 66,625 men and women who perform services for gods, making a grand total of 79,365 people, including the Burmese, Chams, etc.6 During the reign of Jayavarman VII, there were numbers of Prasada were built dedicating to his parents and teachers. However, Prasada in Khmer culture did not served only for one reason—as the memoirs of his ancestors and gurus (means teachers), some of Prasadas also served as the rest houses and hospitals which will be demonstrated later. In this chapter, the word “temple” will be used instead of “prasada.” 6 Ta Prohm Inscription 56 4.2.2 The Purpose of Constructing Prasada Even though the word “prasada” means “the residence of god” and usually implied as a “temple”, prasada in Khmer culture did not served only for one reason, which will be demonstrated in the statement below; The first purpose was out of cultural and religion matters. Some prasadas were built in honor of the kings’ parents and teachers under the belief of Ratanatriya, the Buddhist Three Jewels of Mahayana School— Lokeshvara, Bodhisattva and Prajnaparamita. For example; Ta Prohm (dedicated to Queen Sri Jayarajacudamani), Preah Khan (dedicated to King Dharanindravarman II) and East Prasat Top (also called “Mangalartha” and was dedicated to the Brahmin monk Jayamangalartha). The other purpose was to be the monastery and university of a Mahayana School Buddhism. As Mahayana School Buddhism became the dominant religion of Khmer Empire during the reign of Jayavarman VII, some temples (prasada) were built in order to be the foundation of teaching the way of Mahayana School Buddhism.

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