Kuk Yay Hom Temple

Also recorded as Kuk Yeay Ham Temple and Yay Hom, it is a sandstone temple possibly constructed under the reign of Jayavarman VI. It is also the location where an inscribed stele was found that is registered under K. 86 and is now believed to be held at the nearby Wat Sangke.

The temple is set amongst the farmlands of Kampong Cham in a charming setting with its moat sometimes filling with water and at other times a lush green when used for rice cultivation. The sandstone temple is a cruciform layout opening on each side with forebodies or halls albeit today in a quite ruinous state with only its very core remaining standing.

Inside the sanctuary is a mass of fallen rubble while above each of its doors are lintels, some more decayed than others, the central idols being from the Buddhist pantheon, Avalokiteshvara in one, Prajnaparamita in the other, and a seated Boddhisatva in the other. Part of a lintel remains above one of the outer doorframes.

Around the site there is lots of sandstone rubble, pedestals, a block with a spherical cutout, some decorative, decorated octagonal columns can be seen on one outer door.

However, the centerpiece of this temple has to be its standing Buddha that lays in front of the temple

He wears robe and a long sash across his left shoulder running almost the length of his body with a cross sash at his waist, a decorated right nipple, decorated toes and ball of his feet. Sadly he is headless. Where did he originally stand I wonder?

Update: On revisiting the site (06/22) I was lucky enough to meet a local who said the Buddha originally laid in a reclining position in front of the temple, as for his head, it was taken away by the French for safekeeping and was in the local conservation depot at one point. At the rear of the site were two brick shrines that have completely collapsed and further behind those is a natural water spring. Among the pieces, I also noticed a old-style sema stone.

The stele of Kuk Yay Hom and Inscription K. 86

According to George Coedes, the stele, measuring 90cm x 41 cm x 11 cm featured Sanskrit inscriptions on both sides, one side more legible than the other. It is a Buddhist inscription beginning with an invocation to the Prajnaparamita and Triratna coming from a princess, Haranyalaksmi who was a niece of King Jayavarman. He notes some interesting genealogy and devotion of the princess to the Buddhist faith while pondering which Jayavarman was being referred to and concluding it was likely Jayavarman VI rather than Jayavarman VII. Read more in Inscriptions Du Cambodge Volume V p 280.

Rodney Charles LHuillier

Living in Asia for over a decade and now residing in beautiful Siem Reap. Rodney Charles L'Huillier has spent over seven years in Cambodia and is the author of Ancient Cambodia (2024) and Essential Siem Reap (2017, 2019). Contact via [email protected] - more..