Prasat Dap (Yeang Commune, Preah Vihear)

Prasat Dap. This monument, like Prasat Bei (No. 286), is located towards the extreme north of the province of Promtep on the first upheavals of the ground which announce the chain of Dang Rek, in a region now almost deserted.

It consists of: I. Ten shrines; II. Of an interior building; III. Of an enclosure with gopura; IV. Of various exterior buildings (see layout map above).

I. Shrines. The shrines are brick, square, open to the east. Nine of them are, it seems, arranged in a rather symmetrical fashion. Sanctuary A, which is, moreover, of larger dimensions, is the central sanctuary, around which the different parts of the temple normally develop. E and F, D and G, C and H, B and I are small sanctuaries of lesser dimensions symmetrically arranged two by two around the main temple, either because things were thus designed in the initial plan, or rather that these aedicules were erected later due to the development of the temple. Sanctuary K, which differs from the rest of the others in its layout and dimensions, is asymmetrical and was probably built at an even later date.

Sanctuary A, like all the other aedicules, is of rather crude construction. The exterior faces are not decorated. The doorway in the east face is almost entirely filled in by rubble from the upper parts: it presents the ordinary decorative elements. The colonettes are round and embedded in a kind of housing formed by a rod protruding over the entire height of the uprights (fig. 194).

The decorative lintels, coarsely crafted, well preserved: it is of the type I (?). “des makaras”; these are very distinct: they are dressed on their rooster’s legs supporting a bird’s body with a tail formed in large volutes, their wide open mouth is adorned with formidable teeth, it is surmounted by a curved trunk, the barbed tongue darting in the shape of a spearhead, the round eyes protruding; characters with ears adorned with large rings, standing behind them with one foot on their backs, as if to climb. A streamer is stretched in between their mouths; it is adorned with three oval medallions; the one in the center frames a figure of a man with the head of a lion, the other two, lion figures. A lambrequin of garlands of beads and tassels hangs below this arch.

A wide nave L adjoins the east face of this sanctuary. The width dimensions greatly exceed those usually found in similar buildings. It was to be covered by a wooden frame roof, resting on wooden pillars; a limonite wall determines its exterior layout on the N. and S. faces and at the connection with the sanctuary. The east facade of this nave was formed by a brick wall, pierced by a central door and two side posterns. The central door, preceded by a rather long peristyle, is of the ordinary system; its decorative lintel, very ruined, was of type III with, as a central motif, a figurine of Indra on the three-headed elephant.

The other nine sanctuaries are of entirely crude construction, without ornamentation. G, H, K are just formless heaps of bricks.

II. Annexe building. Annex building M is a very rough construction in limonite. It contains a large square room open to east and west and preceded on both sides by rectangular rooms forming large vestibules. This building was not vaulted. It occupies the place usually reserved for buildings intended, according to us, to serve as treasuries or libraries, but it does not present the general characteristics so constant of these monuments; it cannot therefore be assigned, without restriction, an identical destination.

III. Enclosure. The rectangular enclosure is formed by a limonite wall, with a coping, interrupted on the east face by a gopura N.

This gopura is a large rectangular building, of crude construction and not vaulted. It contains a single room crossed by three passages; the main passage is in the center: the doors. without ornamentation, are pierced in projecting parts of facades; the interior door was preceded by a peristyle. The doors to the side passages are simple unornamented openings.

A sacred pool surrounds the enclosure on the outside, interrupted only on the east side to clear access to the doors of the gopura and make room for the external accessory buildings.

IV. Exterior buildings. Outside, a T-shaped terrace P interrupts the access avenue. On the edge of this alley, to the south between P and the surrounding wall, there is another building O. It is a gallery in limonite that rises on a base also in limonite. It is made up of a solid wall on its S face and two solid gabled walls for the small faces. The north face, bordering the aisle, is determined by a row of sandstone pillars. All this construction was unfinished, it shows no trace of decoration, the solid walls remain alone, the pillars are mostly knocked down.

Finally, Q is a second limonite terrace with molded retaining walls, the destination of which we have not been able to determine.

End quote.