The Bas-Reliefs of Banteay Srei
Jan. 15th, 2015 10:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranOlder than Angkor Wat, and on a much smaller scale, is Banteay Srei. The name means "Citadel of the Women", but like most of the temples, that's actually quite a modern name and has little to do with the temple's original purpose. It was built by an adviser to King Rahendravarman who then became a guru to King Javarman V.
Banter Srei's relatively miniature scale makes its architecture and symmetry easy to appreciate, and there's a strong element of optical illusion making it seem like a much larger structure. It is also exceptionally well-detailed, with almost every surface covered with narrative or decorative carvings. (By coincidence or design, none of the Angkor temples is actually "complete" - they all have blank spaces and in many cases sketch marks where carvings were started but never finished.)
Here, with a close up of one of the towers, you can see the classic trick of how having successively smaller stories creates the illusion that the tower is much taller than it is. In another nice piece of symmetry, each of the levels is decorated by miniature versions of the tower itself to create a fractal effect.
Getting closer still, and the real treasure of Banteay Srei is revealed. Amazingly detailed carvings in the soft sandstone, all depicting scenes from Hindu mythology.
Here Hiranyakashipu, who cannot be killed by god, man or animal; in night or in day; inside or outside; on earth or in the air; or via any weapon, is slain by Vishnu incarnated as Narasimha using the old "half-man, half-lion, at twilight, in a doorway, held on his knees" trick... Note the detail even on the tiny surrounding apsaras.
Indra, the God of the Sky, mounted on Airavata, the three-headed elephant, creates rain to put out a fire in the Khandava forest, created by the fire god Agni to kill the naga Taksaka, while Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, and his brother Balarama, on each side of the forest, try to help Agni by shooting arrows to block the rain. (It's complicated.)
Even at the smallest scale, there is exceptional detail. And most of the carvings are not just random decorations, but recognisable narratives. As you walk around, you can watch different scenes from the Mahabharata play out and see Shiva dance the universe to destruction.
In one final twist, there's a story from the early 20th century, when a desperate Frenchman stole four apsaras to try to raise money. He was caught almost immediately and the apsaras returned and the man became better known, later in life, as a novelist, art theorist and the French Minister of Culture.
Banter Srei's relatively miniature scale makes its architecture and symmetry easy to appreciate, and there's a strong element of optical illusion making it seem like a much larger structure. It is also exceptionally well-detailed, with almost every surface covered with narrative or decorative carvings. (By coincidence or design, none of the Angkor temples is actually "complete" - they all have blank spaces and in many cases sketch marks where carvings were started but never finished.)
Here, with a close up of one of the towers, you can see the classic trick of how having successively smaller stories creates the illusion that the tower is much taller than it is. In another nice piece of symmetry, each of the levels is decorated by miniature versions of the tower itself to create a fractal effect.
Getting closer still, and the real treasure of Banteay Srei is revealed. Amazingly detailed carvings in the soft sandstone, all depicting scenes from Hindu mythology.
Here Hiranyakashipu, who cannot be killed by god, man or animal; in night or in day; inside or outside; on earth or in the air; or via any weapon, is slain by Vishnu incarnated as Narasimha using the old "half-man, half-lion, at twilight, in a doorway, held on his knees" trick... Note the detail even on the tiny surrounding apsaras.
Indra, the God of the Sky, mounted on Airavata, the three-headed elephant, creates rain to put out a fire in the Khandava forest, created by the fire god Agni to kill the naga Taksaka, while Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, and his brother Balarama, on each side of the forest, try to help Agni by shooting arrows to block the rain. (It's complicated.)
Even at the smallest scale, there is exceptional detail. And most of the carvings are not just random decorations, but recognisable narratives. As you walk around, you can watch different scenes from the Mahabharata play out and see Shiva dance the universe to destruction.
In one final twist, there's a story from the early 20th century, when a desperate Frenchman stole four apsaras to try to raise money. He was caught almost immediately and the apsaras returned and the man became better known, later in life, as a novelist, art theorist and the French Minister of Culture.
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no subject
Date: 2015-01-15 04:59 am (UTC)We only spent two days, visited four temples (Angkor Wat, Banteay Srei, Pre Rup & Ta Prohm), wish we could have had more time.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-15 06:05 am (UTC)We only spent two days, visited four temples (Angkor Wat, Banteay Srei, Pre Rup & Ta Prohm), wish we could have had more time.
We had four days and saw about ten sites in total. We were completely templed out by the end of it though, and already I've been struggling to remember which photos were taken where (this is the first time I've wished I've actually had location-tagged photos). Did you see the Angkor museum though? That was really world class.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-15 05:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-15 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 10:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-19 07:28 pm (UTC)We were supposed to go to Cambodia in 2010 during our trip around the world, but when I found out I was pregnant, we headed back to France, missing Cambodia and India.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-21 01:04 am (UTC)