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: Moul Vongs, Picture by : Sem Vannjohn. |
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The smile
of the four-faced Bayon has become a world-recognized
symbol of Cambodia.
The towering faces, reaching up to four meters in
height, adorn the Bayon Temple at the exact center
of Angkor Thom in Siem Reap as many as 216 faces
on 54 remaining towers, each represented one province
of Khmer empire in the ancient time.
At first glance, they look identical. But on closer
inspection, each of the four faces of these statues
smile with a slightly different expression. Most
have half closed eyes, but some stare more resolutely.
Some smile serenely, some broadly, some almost sadly.
But what do the smiles of these ancient creations
mean, and in whose image have their features been
cast? That is still a matter of much debate. Some
of the confusion might be better understood by looking
at the confused history of the Bayon Temple itself.
It was not until a long time after Angkor Wat had
attracted the interest of the finest archeologists
in the world that some French archeologists turned
their attention to Bayon, which had until then lain
deep in undisturbed jungle. It was only then that
they realized its importance and its beauty. Even
when the discovery was made that the Bayon Temple
had in fact been built on top of another, much older
structure, people still believed it to be a Hindu
dedicated temple. The man who had commissioned the
Bayon Temple, King Jayavarman VII (1181-1218), had
formerly been known to be a devotee of the Hindu
faith.
Then, in the year 1924, Henri Parmentier found a
representation of Lokeshvara inside the Bayon's
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The mysterious smiles of the
Bayon surround visitors to their temple, which
is at the exact center of Angkor Thom in the Angkor
complex in Siem Reap. No one knows for sure who
the model was that they were based on.
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walls. Lokeshvara
is the Bodhisattva of compassion and an important deity
in Mahayana Buddhism. Then a statue of the Buddha was
found inside, and the Bayon was confirmed as a Buddhist-dedicated
creation.
Researchers concluded that, following the sacking of Angkor
by the invading Cham army in the late 12th century, the
king concluded that his former gods had failed him and
moved towards Mahayana Buddhism. But who was the model
these stone faces were created in the image of? Archeologists
have argued that they are representations of Buddha, that
they are the likeness of Lokeshvara and many find their
startling resemblance to Jayavarman VII himself an obvious
clue as to their origins. Undersecretary of State for
the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Professor Pich
Toum Kravel, believes the statues reflect the faces of
their sculptors, at least slightly.
"A sculptor cannot help but put some of himself into
a work. That is why the faces each reflect a different
personality," he said.
But both he and fellow Undersecretary of State, archeology
expert Mr Chuch Phoeurn, agree that all the faces represent
four elements Khmers see as virtues necessary for a wise
ruler. The Pali words these concepts have their roots
in have been adopted into Khmer. |
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Metta is compassion,
whether through a physical act, thought, word or deed.
Karuna is the representation of pity. Mutita is the virtue
of rejoicing at other people's happiness and Oupekha is
impartiality. No one face in the temple can be defined
by one single one of these virtues, however. Bayon literally
means a throne that a deity or a king sits.
The temple rears to a height of 43 meters and was perhaps
once even more stunning than its surreal faces render
it now.
Some say each of the faces were plastered and painted
in skin tones, making them seem almost real. Some, like
noted scholar of Chinese history, Paul Pelliot, say 13th
century Chinese emissary Zhou Daguan was speaking of this
temple when he described a "golden tower flanked
by more than 20 towers" rising from the middle of
the Kingdom.
The Bayon Temple is rich in bas-relief carvings, too,
which detail scenes of everyday life in Angkorian times.
It is obviously an important temple from its position
at the center of Angkor Thom and experts estimate it could
have taken as much as 20 years to build.
But what takes the visitor's breath away is always the
huge stone faces, staring from every angle, watching over
the entire complex with satisfied expressions, secure
in their confidence in their own power.
What these faces were really meant to represent or preside
over has been lost to time, as has the true
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The eerie faces look sometimes
serene and sometimes even stern but always commanding.
Photo: Sem Vannjohn
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identity of the
model they were based on.
So their smiles remain, a beautiful mystery, as enigmatic
and intriguing as Cambodia itself. |
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Suite
B8, Regency Square, InterContinental Hotel, 294 Mao Tse Toung
Boulevard,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Tel: (855) 23 213 133 Fax: (855) 23 213 033
E-mail:
editor@leisurecambodia.com |
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