Temples of Shiva at Cambodia

Disclamer: Do note that while planning your temple visits in Cambodia try and start early so you can take your time and cover each temple leisurely before the temples close. Most of the temples in Cambodia close by 5 pm hence it’s advised to plan your temple visits accordingly.

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Shiva, Bhramha and Vishnu- the three main gods( Trimurthi) , are the trinity of supreme divinty in hinduism. One thing we noticed at Cambodia is that most temples of Cambodia focus on all the three main gods of Hinduism- Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu.

Lord Shiva is our common favourite among the trinity and we were enamoured by the Shiva temples of Cambodia. All the other temples of both Brahma and Vishnu are amazingly beautiful as well.

Well!for those who wish to have a more clear picture let me begin by mentioning this: Beng Mealea and Angkor Wat are temples of Lord Vishnu. You can check my previous blogs to know more about visiting these temples.

Here in this blog, I’ll discuss about all the Shiva temples that we went to in Cambodia. Cambodians, though majority of their population are into budhism now, they still do have idols representing Shiva, Vishnu and Bramha in the temples.

Mentioned below are our personal favourite Shiva temples of Cambodia.

Koh ker temple: Koh ker temple is also called Prasat thom. Koh Ker in ancient times was called Lingapura- city of lingas. Koh ker was considered the capital of Khmer empire for a short period in history. This temple was built in the 10th century. This is a 7 tier pyramid shaped temple and at the top you’ll find a huge rectangular hole at the centre. The locals and our guide said that this huge pit at the apex of the pyramid was closed from top by a 16m tall shiva linga. The shiva linga is no longer there at Prasat thom, albeit ,you’ll find the huge pit at the centre , when you reach the top of the 7 tier pyramid structure.

Prasat Linga: Prasat thom temple is the main temple in Koh Ker( Lingapura). You’ll also find small temples beside Prasat thom where you’ll find Shiva lingas. These temples are called Prasat Linga. Here in cambodia , we noticed most shiva temples did not have shiva lingas as they were either lost in war or theft. However, we were quite happy to actually find Shiva lingas at the temples of Prasat Linga. The main shrine walls were slightly damaged though the Lingas were quite intact.

Sahasralinga: We were awed seeing sahasralinga ,thousands of shiva lingas carved beautiful on the river bed in the Kulen mountains. Take a stroll along the river bed to see the lingas .In the upstream, you’ll find areas where carvings representing Vaikuntam ( Lord Vishnu reclining on the giant serpant vasuki, with his wife goddess lakshmy at his feet along with brahma and Shiva) carved beautifully on the river bed among the thousand lingas. This is an amazing view that we’ll cherish our entire life.

Ta keo: Climbing up this shiva temple was quite an adventure. As we completed our visit to Bayon Temple we called our Tuk Tuk driver to go to our next destination Ta Prohm. Yes that’s right, Ta Prohm is the amazing temple where the movie “Tomb Raider” was filmed. As a kid I have always loved the idea of becoming a cool archeologist who explores ancient ruins and mysterious places from around the world like the ones shown in the movie “Tomb Raider”. Exploring Ta Prohm felt just like that. Click here to know more about Ta Prohm and our visit to bayon Temple. For now, let’s stick on to the temples of Shiva .

As I was saying, Ta Keo temple was quite a serendipitous find on our way to Ta Prohm. There was something spectacular about the way the Temple looked from the outside that made us want to come and visit it on our way back from Ta Prohm and we both are super glad we did.

Ta Keo is an unfinished monument. Temple that was never built to its completion. One of the first sandstone temple of the early angkorian period. Locals say that construction of Ta Keo first began during the reign of King Jayavarman V, son of Rajendravarman who built the temple Pre Rup. Pre Rup is a temple we missed out during our visit to Cambodia but it is definitely worth visiting. We’ll for sure start with Pre Rup the next time we visit Cambodia.

Interesting Note: Pre Rup was the first temple built with the design of a quincunx( a geometric pattern consisting of five dots arranged in such a way that four of the dots form the vertices of a square and the fifth dot at the centre, equidistant to all the other four points), where in place of each dot a sanctuary tower was built on the uppermost level( most temples in Cambodia are 3 tiered temples) surrounded by a moat together the whole temple design symbolically represents Mount Meru. The famous Angkor Wat temple was built with the same design many years later .

History has it , that the construction of the temple of Ta Keo was terminated due a lightning that struck the entire place severely. At the time, most of the people were Vaishnavas ( devotees of Vishnu) hence many people did not support the idea of building a Shiva Temple ( Ta Keo). When this lightning struck , rumors about the cosmic energy preventing the construction spread . Thus, King Jayavarman V halted the construction process abandoning the temple of Ta Keo. Also, due to unfortunate circumstances King Jayavarman V passed away at a young age. His successor due to all these speculations about the lightning that struck the temple and King Jayavarman V ‘s untimely death abandoned the construction of the temple of Ta Keo, hence the temple remained unfinished.

Note: During the ancient era there were two main sects of devotees- Vaishnavas (devotees who believe Lord Vishnu is the supreme power) Shaivas (devotees who believe Lord Shiva is the supreme power).

Roulos grp: This is a set of three main temples . You can either choose to plan an entire day to visit the temples that fall in the Roulos group or combine Koh Ker, Beng Mealea and Roulos group for one day. Lolei temple, Preah Ko and Bakong Temple are the three temples in Roulos group of temples. Our favourite was Bakong Temple. Hariharalaya was the ancient capital of Cambodia when these temples in Roulos group were built.

• Lolei temple: Is the northernmost temple in the Roulos group built during the reign of King Yasovarman I ( devotee of Lord Shiva). The temple consists of four temple towers. It is said that the King built the Lolei temple as a tribute to his family. One tower for his grandfather, one for his grandmother, one for his mother and one for his father.
The four temple towers are built in such a way that they are arranged in a ” two towers in front and two behind them” fashion. The two temple towers in front are for his father and grandfather. While the two towers in the back row was for the king’s mother and grandmother. The temple towers built for the king’s grandparents are designed to be taller than the ones for his parents.
• Preah Ko: This is yet another Shiva temple built by King Indravarman I in 879 AD. Preah Ko according to Khmer text means “Sacred bull”. The temple is named so because of the three sandstone carved sculptures of Nandi( bull) in front of each of the three sanctuary towers.
The temple consists of six towers made of brick arranged in two rows , three brick towers in each row. These towers are built as a dedication to the king’s three important forefathers and their respective wives. The central tower was a tribute to the King Jayavarman II ( founder of Khmer Empire) the tower to the left of the central tower is a tribute to King’s (Yasovarman I) father and the tower to right is for his grandfather. The three towers in the second row as I mentioned earlier is for their wives.

• Bakong Temple: This temple has an amazing aura to it. This was our personal favourite among all the Shiva temples we visited. The architectural beauty with which the temple stands is remarkable. Bakong temple was built during the reign of King Indravarman I ( 881 AD).
Bakong temple is built in a 5 tier pyramid fashion. The Central tower which is considered to be a symbolic representation of Kailash is built on the topmost level of the pyramid.

One fascinating fact about the temple was that when we stand at the base of the temple and look up we can’t see the topmost tower, all we can see are the steep steps above. It is only after we start climbing upwards the topmost tower becomes visible. The construction of the temple was deliberately made this way , in order to represent and show the concept of nirvana. The path to knowing god though it looks really tough when we just begin looking for answers , it becomes easier as we follow the right path even further.

For those who are interested in covering these temples we have mentioned. Here’s a brief summary of our itinerary for visiting these temples. Check out our blog-“Itinerary for visiting Cambodia Temples”