Legends explaining the carvings of Bantaey Srei

Bantaey Srei is a 10th century Cambodian temple built largely with Sandstone.”Bantaey Srei” simply means “Citadel of Women” due to its grace and the beauty of the carvings. There is so much detailing in the carvings in Bantaey Srei, that this temple is called the “Jewel of Khmer Art”.

Most of the temples of Cambodia is built under the supervision of the Royal King himself. Bantaey Srei is one of the few temples that was built under the supervision of Yajnavaraha, a minister in the Empire of King Rajendravarman II.

We decided to write this blog since we wanted to share the joy we felt at appreciating the lintels, since we knew the legends of the carvings. We were conscious of the tourists groups who were filing in and out of the temples at an amazing speed, sadly unaware of the rich legends that were painstakingly depicted. We felt, as a Hindu if we could convey some of these stories so that one may do justice to the astounding masterpiece that is Banteay Srei temple. This is the only way we can pay tribute to this amazing temple.

We would like to digress a bit into the legends, so that anyone who’s planning to visit Bantaey Srei will have an idea of how well thought out the temple really was.

As you enter Bantaey Srei, you’ll notice temple libraries built to both right and left direction.The ones built to the right direction that are north facing are dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Similarly, those on the left side and that are built south facing are dedicated to Lord Shiva. Bantaey Srei is thus a temple dedicated to both Lord Shiva and Vishnu.

We will describe the legend of each lintel on the basis of its location, and in the same order that we found it while seeing the temple:

1. The legend of Hiranyakashipu and Narasimha:

The lintel at the entrance of the library building on the right side.

Legend of Vishnu

Legend has it that there was a demon by the name of Hiranyakashipu, who had won the kingdoms of heaven from the devas, the earth and the netherworld. He started forcing people to worship him as god. His own son however was an ardent devotee of lord Vishnu. The secret behind his invincibility was that he had obtained a boon from Lord Brahma, stipulating that he would not be killed in the following ways: not by the hand of man, woman or animal; not by disease, old age, poison or any known weapon; not during day or night; neither inside or outside the house, not in the ground, water or air etc.. he assumed that since these conditions were almost fool proof he would be almost immortal or invincible.

He then made the mistake of attempting to kill Prahlada, his son, since he could not dissuade him from worshipping lord Vishnu. Enraged at this, Lord Vishnu incarnated as Narasimha, a terrifying creature; and the best part was Lord Vishnu managed to meet all the stipulations for killing the demon king:-

• He was killed by eviscerating him by claws of a half man and half lion being.. not man or woman or animal per se and not by any weapon.
• He was killed at the threshold of his palace; so neither inside nor outside the house.
• He was killed in the twilight hours; so neither morning nor night.
• He was eviscerated by lord Vishnu while on his lap. so technically he was neither on the ground not in air nor in water.

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2. The image of lord Shiva and his consort Parvathi seated on Nandhi ( sacred bull, vehicles of lord Shiva):

The lintel at the entrance of the library building on the left side.

Legend of Shiva

Legend of Shivas marriage is the story of devotion of Parvathi to win Shiva’s hand and despite multiple attempts by Shiva and many sages to test her devotion, Parvathi remained steadfast in her devotion to Lord Shiva, and attained him as her better half. In Hindu cosmology Shiva is represented as the Tamas, latent energy of creation and his Consort Parvathi “shakthi” represents the energy.. the union of both results in creation of all there is.

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3. At the entrance there is the lintel depicting Indira mounted on his three headed elephant Airavata.

In the Hindu cosmology especially in the vedic ages, Indra held a paramount position which has later been usurped in importance by the trinity of Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma in later ages. We then proceeded to walk towards the north, and the temples in this direction showed most of the legends of Vishnu.

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4. The burning of the Khandava forest:

The lintel at the doorway of the first temple:

Legend of Vishnu

Legend has it that once Lord Agni (lord of fire) had requested aid from lord Shree Krishna and Arjuna, both invincible warriors, one an expert in a deadly discus and another a world renowned archer, respectively. Lord Agni came in the guise of a brahmin and requested to burn the Khandava forest and partake the organisms and trees therein to satiate his hunger. As warriors they were duty bound to help. The Nagas (serpents) in the forest were under the protection of Lord Indra, and so the warriors had to fight Indra to help Agni consume the forest. The lintel depicts the arrows of Arjuna forming a wall of arrows both preventing the Nagas and animals from below from escaping the conflagration of Lord Agni, and also to prevent the rain produced by Indra from flowing down to extinguish the fires. Lord Krishna with his discus is also seen at the side killing the animals.

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5. Lord Krishna killing Kamsa:

The lintel at the doorway of the second temple:

Legend of Vishnu

For those who are unaware of Hindu Mythology, Lord Vishnu was said to have reincarnated 10 times (hence Dasavathar, das meaning ten and avathar meaning incarnation), to restore righteousness and destroy evil. Lord Krishna was the seventh incarnation who killed the demon Kamsa, once he reached adulthood and freed his parents form his captivity. The scene depicts Krishna standing over a prostrate Kamsa in his palace while his palace folk are running helter skelter.

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6. Bheema killing Jarasandhan:

The lintel at the doorway of the third temple:

Legend of Vishnu

Lord Krishna was instrumental in helping the five righteous Pandava brothers in their war of succession against 100 sons of their uncle Dritharashtra (also known as kauravas), which is the fascinating story of the epic poem of India also known as Mahabharata. The epic comparable and even more voluminous than Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Illiad put together is a fascinating study of the nobility and fraility of human nature, that is evergreen and even relevant to this day. The scene depicts the killing of the mighty king Jarasandha by the Pandava warrior Bheema. Jarasandha was said to be born as two halves as a still born baby, and was abandoned by the king. The two halves were subsequently joined by a demoness called Jara, hence his name Jarasandha (literally meaning “one who was joined by Jara”). Krishna aware of the secret of his birth, advised Bheema to literally tear Jarasandha’s body into two pieces at the center in order to kill him. The scene depicts the killing scene with Jarasandha prone on the floor and Bheema pulling one leg of Jarasandha in an attempt to tear his body into two.

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7. The fratricide between Bali and Sugreeva:

The lintel at the main doorway facing the west facing exit to the temple complex

The equivalent story of Cain and Abel proportions, is a staple of the other main epic of hindu mythology, “Ramayana”. In Ramayana, Bali was a great monkey king of the deccan, who was invincible since he had a boon that he automatically got half of his opponents strength at the start of the battle. He had a feud with his brother Sugreeva, since Sugreeva aspired to be the king and usurped the throne decietfully once. When Sugreeva in exile came upon Rama he promised all the help of his monkey army if Rama helped him kill Bali. The scene depicts the fight between the brothers in which lord Rama treacherously shot Bali from the back.

The next few temples had few lintels at the doorway which neither the experience of our guide or our mounting excitement or enthusiasm could decipher. This respite gave us ample time to click a few nice shots of the temple, and quietly admire the thought and effort that went into the elaborate carvings. The colour of the sandstone here also is unique, with a tinge of reddish orange hue, which was becoming to most of the sculptures.

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8. The legend of Ravana lifting Mount Kailash:

Both of us are ardent devotees of Lord Shiva, we were pleasantly surprised and amazed at the importance of the icongraphy of Lord Shiva in most of the Cambodian temples and at the sacred site of Phnom Kulen, Kbal Spean. Legends of Shiva reiterate to us mortals the real significance of our birth as a human being, a realisation that we are part of the divine and an absolution from life and birth.

According to the legend, Lord Ravana the antagonist of the main epic of Indian mythology “Ramayana”, was the son of a renowned sage and a demoness. It was said that he was so knowledgeable in the affairs of state, science, music and religion that he was surmised to have the intelligence equivalent to ten men (hence depicted commonly in mythology with ten human heads). Ravana was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. In this legend, Ravana in his pride decided to uproot Mount Kailash to shift the abode of Lord Shiva to his kingdom (called “Lanka”, surmised to have been at the current country of Srilanka). The animals, sages and attendants of Lord Shiva residing in Mount Kailash, started appealing to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva in his magnanimity, to allay the fears of the attendants, sages and to humble the hubris of Ravana, put his toe on the ground. Upon which Ravana was no longer able to lift the mountain and had to abandon his desire to relocate the abode of Lord Shiva.

The lintel beautifully depicts the figures of Lord Shiva and Parvathi seated at the top, with the sages and attendants and animals running helter skelter all around the mountain, sages praying to Lord Shiva, and at the bottom Ravana struggling to lift the mountain.

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9. Siva engaged in meditation served by Parvathi, his future consort, looked on by sages and devotees. Kama deva aiming to hit Lord Shiva with his arrow.

Legend of Siva

Lord Shiva is an enigmatic god of the trinity. After the unfortunate event of the samadhi of his first wife lord Shiva was inconsolable. He was engaged in deep meditation in the himalayas. Meanwhile there was a demon king Tarakasura who was running rampant and terrorizing the devas. Devas sought the help of Lord Brahma, who prophesised that only the son of Lord Shiva could defeat Tarakasura. In order for this to happen, the devas prayed to Adisakthi/goddess and she consented to incarnate as Parvathi and woo Lord Shiva to be her husband.
When she came of age she went to the himalayas to serve Lord Shiva and to propitiate him. The impatient devas tried to hasten the wooing by inducing kamadeva to shoot his arrow which induces love in most beings.
When hit by the arrows of kamadeva, he was momentarily distracted from his penance and was enamoured by Parvati. But instantly recognizing the disturbance lord searched for the cause and finding Kamadeva he instantly burns him to ashes.

The wedding eventually happens between Shiva and Parvati, at the request of the goddess and listening the entreaty of Rati the wife of kamadeva, lord shiva revives Kamadeva and forgives him.

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Here are few photographs taken to give you a glimpse of Bantaey Srei Temple.

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Sharing is Caring!! Please do share this post with your near and dear ones!!

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Happy trails and culture travelling guys!!!

By: Unni & Achu