Banteay Kdei

My favorite spots:
1. The beautiful dvarapalas
2. The finely crave devatas
3. A Buddha statue is still worshipped by the locals

Banteay Kdei is thought to have been built around the end of the 12th century as a Mahayana Buddhist temple under the King Jayavarman VII, having a Bayon style in architectural and artistic elements like Bayon and Ta Prohm, but five inscriptions discovered here do not mention clearly its founder or the date of construction. The archaeological excavations have enabled to develop important information about Banteay Kdei dating to the Post-Angkorian period suggested that the temple functioned in the Theravada Buddhist context.

The excavation of the Buddha statues, which amounted to 274 in number, was carried out in a spot located immediately to the west of this monument. The statues were placed in an artificial pit, and later soil was placed above them and tamped down firmly into a mound. The majority of the sculptures were those of the Buddha protected by a Naga, and many of them had been forcibly decapitated. It is believed that these Buddha statues were earlier dedicated to the temple of Banteay Kdei during the reign of Jayavarman VII, but later a king who was a believer in Hinduism, subsequently destroyed them.

#historical #temple #本地遊 #mytripvlog #2023travelwish #travel

Post by TimentoDiver | Jul 31, 2023