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East Baray
The East Baray ( km, បារាយណ៍ខាងកើត), or Yashodharatataka, is a now-dry baray, or artificial body of water, at Angkor, Cambodia, oriented east-west and located just east of the walled city Angkor Thom. It was built around the year 900 AD during the reign of King Yasovarman. Fed by the Siem Reap River flowing down from the Kulen Hills, it was the second-largest baray in the Angkor region (after the West Baray) and one of the largest handcut water reservoirs on Earth, measuring roughly 3.6 kilometers by 870 m and holding over 50 million cubic meters of water. Stones bearing inscriptions that mark the construction of the baray have been found at all four of its corners.Higham, C., 2001, The Civilization of Angkor, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, The labour and organization necessary for its construction were staggering: Its dikes contain roughly 8 million cubic meters of fill. Scholars are divided on the purpose of this and other barays. By some theories, th ...
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Baray
A ''baray'' ( km, បារាយណ៍) is an artificial body of water which is a common element of the architectural style of the Khmer Empire of Southeast Asia. The largest are the East Baray and West Baray in the Angkor area, each rectangular in shape, oriented east-west and measuring roughly five by one and a half miles. Historians are divided on the meaning and functions of barays. Some believe that they were primarily spiritual in purpose, symbolizing the Sea of Creation surrounding Mount Meru, font of the Hindu cosmos. Others have theorized that they held water for irrigation of fields. Others believe that it was used to store water, the current most popular theory. It is possible that the function was a combination of these explanations, or others. The building of barays might have originated from the tradition of building large reservoirs called dighi in Eastern India. See also * Srah and baray * Temple tank Temple tanks are wells or reservoirs built as part of ...
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Angkor
Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Bureau of Special Research in Modern Languages. The Catholic University of America Press. Washington, D.C. Chuon Nath Khmer Dictionary (1966, Buddhist Institute, Phnom Penh). was the capital city of the Khmer Empire. The city and empire flourished from approximately the 9th to the 15th centuries. The city houses the Angkor Wat, one of Cambodia's most popular tourist attractions. The name ''Angkor'' is derived from ''nokor'' (), a Khmer word meaning "kingdom" which in turn derived from Sanskrit ''nagara'' (), meaning "city". The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and "god-king", and lasted until the late 14th century, first falling under ...
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Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh. The sovereign state of Cambodia has a population of over 17 million. Buddhism is enshrined in the constitution as the official state religion, and is practised by more than 97% of the population. Cambodia's minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 hill tribes. Cambodia has a tropical monsoon climate of two seasons, and the country is made up of a central floodplain around the Tonlé Sap lake and Mekong Delta, surrounded by mountainous regions. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, the political, economic and cultural centre of Cambodia. The kingdom is an elective co ...
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Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom ( km, អង្គរធំ ; meaning "Great City"), alternatively Nokor Thom ( km, នគរធំ ) located in present-day Cambodia, was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire, Khmer Empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by King Jayavarman VII.Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors. At the centre of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Bayon, with the other major sites clustered around the Victory Square immediately to the north. The site is one of the major tourist attractions of southeast Asia. Etymology Angkor Thom ( km, អង្គរធំ) is the transform name from another alternative name of Nokor Thom ( km, នគរធំ), which is believed to be the correct one, due to neglect of calling it in incorrect pronunciatio ...
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Yasovarman I
Yasovarman I ( km, ព្រះបាទយសោវរ្ម័នទី១) was an Angkorian king who reigned in 889–910 CE. He was called " Leper King". Early years Yasovarman was a son of King Indravarman I and his wife Indradevi. Yaasovarman was said to be a wrestler. Inscriptions say he was capable of wrestling with elephants. The inscriptions also say he was capable of slaying tigers with his bare hands. His teacher was the ''purohit'' Brahman Vamasiva, part of the Devaraja cult priesthood. Vamasiva's guru, Sivasoma, was connected to the Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara. After the death of Indravarman, a succession war was fought by his two sons, Yasovarman and his brother. It is believed that the war was fought on land and on sea by the Tonlé Sap. In the end Yasovarman prevailed. Because of his father had sought to deny his accession, according to inscriptions cited by L.P. Briggs, "Yasovarman I ignored his claim to the throne through his father, Indravarman I, ...
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Siem Reap River
The Siem Reap River (Steung Siem Reap; km, ស្ទឹងសៀមរាប) is a river flowing through Siem Reap Province, in north-west Cambodia. The Siem Reap River was originally an offtake channel constructed during the Angkor period, used to divert water from the Puok River southward, probably to the East Baray. Because of the straight nature of a channel, the water flowed much faster than in a natural river. This caused the bed of the channel to erode as much as 10 meters in some areas, and probably caused problems with diverting the water to the East Baray. Over the past thousand years, the channel has gained small meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...s and a unique ecosystem, and thus it is more accurate to call it a river. References Rivers o ...
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West Baray
The West Baray ( km, បារាយណ៍ខាងលិច, UNGEGN: , ALA-LC: ) or Baray Teuk Thla ( km, បារាយណ៍ទឹកថ្លា, UNGEGN: , ALA-LC: ; "Clear Water Reservoir") is a baray, or reservoir, at Angkor, Cambodia, oriented east-west and located just west of the walled city Angkor Thom. Rectangular in shape and measuring approximately 7.8 by 2.1 kilometers, the West Baray is the largest baray at Angkor and one of the largest handcut water reservoirs on Earth, possessing a current maximum capacity of 12 to 14 billion gallons of water (53 million m3). Its waters are contained by tall earthen dikes measuring 11.9 meters in height. In the center of the baray is the West Mebon, a Hindu temple built on an artificial island. Construction of the baray probably began in the 11th Century during the reign of King Suryavarman IHigham, C., 2001, The Civilization of Angkor, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: Ri ...
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Khmer People
The Khmer people ( km, ជនជាតិខ្មែរ, ) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia. They comprise over 90% of Cambodia's population of 17 million.Cambodia
CIA World FactBook.
They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic-language family found in parts of Southeast Asia (including Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia), parts of central, eastern, and northeastern India, parts of Bangladesh in South Asia, in parts of South China, Southern China and numerous list of islands in the Indian Ocean, islands in the Indian Ocean. The majority of the Khmers follow Theravada Buddhism. Significant populations of Khmers reside in adjacent areas of Thailand (Northern Khmer people, Northern Khmer) and the Mekong Delta region of neighboring Vietnam (Khmer Krom), while th ...
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Mount Meru
Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes. There is no clear identification of Mount Meru with a particular geophysical location. Many famous Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu temples have been built as symbolic representations of this mountain. The "Sumeru Throne" 須彌座 xūmízuò style base is a common feature of Chinese pagodas. The highest point (the finial bud) on the pyatthat, a Burmese-style multi-tiered roof, represents Mount Meru. Etymology Etymologically, the proper name of the mountain is Meru (Sanskrit: Meru), to which is added the approbatory prefix su-, resulting in the meaning "excellent Meru" or "wonderful Meru". ''Meru'' is also the name of the central bead in a mālā. In other languages In other languages, Mount Meru is pronounced: * Assamese: ...
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Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. The term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Old Persian which derived these names from the Sanskrit name ''Sindhu'' (सिन्धु ), referring to the river Indus. The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu (Indus) River. By the 16th century CE, the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims. Hindoo is an archaic spelling variant, whose use today is considered derogatory. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the local In ...
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East Mebon
The East Mebon ( km, ប្រាសាទមេបុណ្យខាងកើត) is a 10th Century temple at Angkor, Cambodia. Built during the reign of King Rajendravarman, it stands on what was an artificial island at the center of the now dry East Baray reservoir.Higham, C., 2001, The Civilization of Angkor, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, The East Mebon was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva and honors the parents of the king. Its location reflects Khmer architects’ concern with orientation and cardinal directions. The temple was built on a north–south axis with Rajendravarman's state temple, Pre Rup, located about 1,200 meters to the south just outside the baray. The East Mebon also lies on an east–west axis with the palace temple Phimeanakas, another creation of Rajendravarman's reign, located about 6,800 meters due west. Built in the general style of Pre Rup, the East Mebon was dedicated in 953 AD. It has two enclosing walls and three tiers. It includes the full array ...
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Angkorian Sites
Khmer architecture ( km, ស្ថាបត្យកម្មខ្មែរ), also known as Angkorian architecture ( km, ស្ថាបត្យកម្មសម័យអង្គរ), is the architecture produced by the Khmers during the Angkor period of the Khmer Empire from approximately the later half of the 8th century CE to the first half of the 15th century CE. The architecture of the Indian rock-cut temples, particularly in sculpture, had an influence on Southeast Asia and was widely adopted into the Indianised architecture of Cambodian (Khmer), Annamese and Javanese temples (of the Greater India). Evolved from Indian influences, Khmer architecture became clearly distinct from that of the Indian sub-continent as it developed its own special characteristics, some of which were created independently and others of which were incorporated from neighboring cultural traditions, resulting in a new artistic style in Asian architecture unique to the Angkorian tradition. Th ...
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