Preah Theat Prei Chong Srok Temple

Set in the charming and scenic grounds of what is now a small monastery, is an ancient brick temple spectacularly engulfed by the roots of a tree. The site is entered from the east by a causeway that is flanked by basins (ancient or new?) and is surrounded on its other sides by a moat. Two short inscriptions found here were registered under K. 761

The brick temple opens to the east with a sandstone doorframe flanked by the remains of round decorated door columns, topped by the remains of a decayed lintel and false doors set in the brickwork on the other sides.

Above the false door on the south side, you can see the carving of a temple within the pediment which is also visible on the west side, split in half by the giant crack that divides the temple in two, and perhaps covered by the tree on the north side.

Inscription

An inscribed tank was discovered by R. DALET at Práḥ That Prei Con Srok, in a brick tower of pre-Angkorian art, in the khum of Ben Car (srök of Sithor Kandàl). “Inside the tower. he writes, is half an ablution tank inscribed on the side, with a word on it; the inscription bears the date 633, the reading of which is not absolutely certain.”

In 1959, an Inscribed tank entered the Phnom Pen Museum under the name of Pràsȧt Prača, and inventoried under number 6279 (new number C 20, 14). Comparison of the stampings taken from the inscription of this tank with those taken in silu by R. Dalet proves, without any doubt, that it is the same object.

The inscription of 2 lines engraved on the sides of the tank is in Angkorian characters, poorly traced on a coarse-grained stone, and the fact that the part inscribed on one of the long sides is missing does not facilitate its interpretation. However, we understand that a Brahmin named Cridharasvami made a foundation in favor of a divinity whose name is not preserved. This foundation included the donation of land whose boundaries were specified.

This inscription, of uncertain date, is later than the pre-Angkorian tower, and the tank itself which bears the date 555 c (633 A.D.) on its upper part.

Inscriptions du Cambodge, George Coedes

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..