Phimeanakas Temple

Phimeanakas (Khmer: ប្រាសាទភិមានអាកាស) is another of the grand pyramid-based state-temples that was the common archetype of the 8-11th century. Located inside the ancient Royal Palace of Angkor Thom, it is a grand three-tiered pyramid with a rectangular base whose corners are mounted with stone elephants and staircases flanked by lions which lead up to a narrow galleried wall with small towers at the axis enclosing a single cruciform-shaped sanctuary.

History

The Phimeanakas temple is one of the earliest temples constructed in the area that would go on to serve future generations of kings as the Royal Palace up until the mid-15th century at least. Phimeanakas temple can be dated by its inscription, one providing a date of early 10th century, but some prefer to date it by art style which is attributed to the Khleang style in reference to the North and South Khleang buildings 500m to the east that are dated to the early 11th century for reasons we will get to.

Phimeanakas is also believed to be the “golden tower” described by the Chinese envoy Zhao Daguan who famously visited the Khmer empire in the late 13th century and later wrote The Customs of Cambodia. Amongst many other topics, he notes

“The local people commonly believe that in the tower there lives a genie in the form of a nine-headed serpent, whom presides of the entire kingdom. Every night this genie appears in the shape of a woman, with whom the sovereign couples. Not even the wives of the King may enter here. At the second watch, the King comes forth and is then free to sleep with his wives and concubines. Should the genie fail to appear for a single night, it is a sign that the King’s death is at hand. If, on the other hand, the King should fail to keep his tryst, then disaster is sure to follow…”

In 1916, Henri Marchal carried out excavations around the base of the pyramid to reveal successive floors, two steles, bronze works, and piles of debris including tiles that connect to the belief of the temple had a wooden superstructure. Also, a large number of sandstone blocks carved with reliefs similar to the Terrace of the Leper king were found that possibly formed a frieze in the vicinity of where the large stele (K. 485) was found.

An inscription on doorjambs of the sanctuary on the upper level provides a date of 910 AD, although, translated from the French publication by Georges Coedes, he notes

The chapel which rises at the top of the pyramid of Phimānākās and on the jambs of which this inscription is engraved, “seems to be a fairly late reconstruction, the current plan of the chapel does not correspond to the plan of the base, the columns being of different styles, the doors having been reworked, and that where the inscription is located having, been at least dismantled and reassembled, etc. “

From these observations made by M. H. Parmentier in 1926 it follows that the inscription is perhaps unrelated to the Phimānākas monument and that it could have been brought there from elsewhere. However, the mention in the Khmer text of rice fields, whose position is indicated in relation to a vraḥ mandira, seems despite everything to establish a relation between the inscribed stone and the royal palace, whatever may have been being the location of the latter at the beginning of the tenth century.

George Coedes – Inscriptions du Cambodge Volume III

At the foot of the eastern entrance to Phimeanakas temple, in 1916, Henri Marchal discovered a large stele, broken into 70 pieces, that was embedded in rammed laterite and covered by landfill. It was reconstructed and would be known as the Grande Stele, with the inscription on its four sides translated by Louis Finot and later Geroge Coedes and recorded as K. 485.

The inscribed stele features a poem authored by Queen Indradevi praising her younger sister Queen Jayarajadevi, who she succeeded as the wife of King Jayavarman VII on her passing. Along with praising Jayarajadevi, it retraced her biography and recalled her good works, it also noted the defeat of the Cham, and more. It also mentions the gold coating of a monument designated as being the ornament of the Earth (Vasudhatilaka), which is hypothesised to be referencing the Phimeanakas temple. The inscription is undated although according to its composition, Coedes placed it in the last ten years of the twelfth century.

Henri Marchal would discover a further stele at the site, a small sandstone stele, which was still in situ on its pedestal and whilst the text is not dated, it is also attributed to the reign of Jayavarman VII in the 12-13th c. It consists of an invocation to a religious fig tree (Boddhi tree?), followed by a series of wishes intended to preserve it from destruction and to attract its benefits to all beings.

It is also interesting to note, excavations around the base of the temple were continued by later researchers and have again resumed in 2022, meaning, there is still a lot more to know about this ancient wonder.

Historical Images

A selection of images from the collection at Fonds Cambodge

Inscriptions

• K. 291 – sanctuary doorjamb – 26 + 2 lines of Sanskrit and 32 lines of Khmer – ISCC, n° LXII, p. 545 ; IC III, p. 199
• K. 484 – double-sided stele (now in ANM) – 6 lines of Sanskrit and 11 lines of Khmer – Cœdès 1918[a], p. 9 ; Lewitz 1971
• K. 485 – in front of east staircase (now in PPNM) – four-sided stele – 52 + 52 + 52 + 48 lines of Sanskrit – IC II, p. 161

References and further reading

• Marchal Henri. Dégagement du Phimànakas. In: Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient. Tome 16, 1916. pp. 57-68.