BAYON TEMPLE (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបាយ័ន)

Date: Late 12th century
Style: Bayon
Reign: King Jayavarman VII
Religion: Buddhism
The Bayon is difficult to interpret because it was altered so many times. Long considered to be a Hindu sanctuary, only in 1925 it was recognized as Buddhist. The walls of Angkor Thom itself constitute the outermost enclosure wall of this temple, which is articulated on three levels. When approaching the Bayon from the E. The firs structure is a platform 236 ft (72m) long and 88.5 ft (27m) wide, flanked by two pools. A terrace bordered by nagas and lions leads to the gopura to the third enclosure, a rectangle measuring 512 x 462 ft (156 x 141 m), consisting of a gallery with a blind wall facing the exterior and double row of columns facing exterior, which has led scholars to suppose that a half-nave was added.



Note the graceful apsaras dancing on the lotuses. The corner towers and entrance pavilions in the gallery are cruciform, with broad, projecting porticoes: the four central pillars in the main hall are larger than the eight adjacent ones. These hypostyle edifices, with sides measuring 66.5 ft (20m) had corbelled vaults and cross vaulting that collapsed because the bay was extended and because of flaws in the overall construction. The techniques adopted, borrowed from carpentry for example, the use of superposed pediments-proved to be un suitable to bear the weight of stone roofs.
On the blind wall, which is 14.7 ft (4.5 m) high, is a stupendous series of bas-relief sculpture on several registers, the incomplete parts of which allow us to follow the various working stages.



Having entered by way of the gopura, visitors should then turn left and go through the south wing of the east gallery: in the ranks of troops that march among scenes of everyday life there are also Chinese soldiers, as well as the

procession of the ark of the Sacred Fire, accompanied by bearded Brahmans; in the second register a buffalo is about to be sacrificed. In the south gallery the west wing celebrates Jayavarman VII’s victory in the naval battle of Tonle Sap against the Chams, who wear helmets in the shape of overturned flowers. The backgrounds are fully detailed and the lake fauna is rendered with lively precision. In between the battle scenes, daily life is humming: in the houses on stilts pigs are being cooked in large cauldrons and on




skewers over the fire, and the utensils and furnishings are the same that are used to this day in the rural areas of the Khmer region. In the marketplace the men are drinking brandy and watching cock and boar fights, while on the upper registers there scenes of life in the royal palace: the princesses are dressing and the nobles are playing chess. The common people proceed on foot with their possessions on their heads, and the wealthy are transported in palanquins. The military procession continues in the west wing. In the south wing of the west gallery there are many incomplete carvings, but the scone of the construction of a temple is interesting, as is the scuffle that seems the representation of a civil war. In the north wing there are traces of inscriptions that were ‘instructions’ for the sculptors-and were never removed. In the northwest corner pavilion are the remains of a Buddha on a naga.




The west wing of the north gallery contains festive scenes with acrobats, wrestlers and images of combat that continue in the east wing, where the Khmers seem to be fleeing from the Chams. The central gopura of this gallery is watched over by a headless dvarapalaback at the east façade of the temple, the north wing has other war scenes.



While in the bas-reliefs of the third gallery it was not only the gods and kings who dominated the scene but also the common people, who at the twilight of the Khmer empire gained the right to appear side-by-side with their rulers, in the second gallery the subjects change. Given the prevalence of Hindu subjects, scholars feel that this reflects the return of Jayavarman VIII to Hinduism in the second half of the 13th century.



Furthermore, since the walls have limited space, there are more single scenes and small sections than long panels. Your visit begins by turning left at the east entrance. In the south wing there is Shiva among hermits; in the east wing of the south gallery where you can see the beautiful ceiling in its entirety-troops marching and palace scenes flank the representation of the myth of a young boy saved from drowning, while in the west wing are a bearded Shiva and a four-armed Vishnu.

In south wing of the west gallery, Vishnu’s combats alternate with scenes of the construction of a temple; the Churning of the Sea of Milk is depicted in the north wing. The west wing of the north gallery offers scenes of court life and religious devotion, as well as two images of the Trimurti and one of the myth of Kama, the god of love, killed by Shiva. In the east wing we again see representations of Shiva with his consort Uma and bull Nandi, and of Vishnu withLaksmi. Back at the east façade of the gallery, the east wing illustrates two myths that are still a part of Khmer folklore: the liberation of a girl imprisoned in the rock and a king becoming ill with leprosy after being bitten by a serpent.



Most probably the second gallery was added to an earlier cruciform structure in order to transform it into a rectangle by means of a four square wings. In the interior, in fact, the open spaces are tiny, reduced to extremely small courtyards that look almost like wells, since the cruciform platform on the third level occupies almost all the area of the second one.                                                  


                                                                                   
 Bayon: A unique Khmer architecture in this temple mountain situated at the heart of Angkor Thom, is circular. The pyramid has three levels. The first is surrounded by a gallery containing a series of bas reliefs relating to the life of Jayavarman VII: Battles of the beginning of his reign, daily life of Khmer people. 



The second floor also includes a gallery in bas-reliefs relate them to themes that Hindus can be surprised in a Buddhist temple. After a journey in these galleries and narrow passages, to rise up to the third floor, the terrace offers the best performance of a monumental multiplicative smiling faces of the four directions, looking in all directions and the scruptant visitor. At this level, participates in the open space feeling of peace and eternity that the visitor will be entering this area of the Gods.



At last but not least.. next time when you come to see Bayon Temple you can try to find each item showed above and if you found it meaning that is great surprise at most.