Wat Preah Theat (Phnom Penh)

A contemporary monastery and pagoda, and also an ancient site located about 20km south of central Phnom Penh in Sangkat Roluos. The monastery (or Wat) features two beautiful pagodas while the southmost pagoda is built atop where the ancient site once existed and apparently features a bell-type stupa inside (it was locked on the most recent visit). Around the site, there are several contemporary shrines and statues, it’s a very beautiful and well-kept Wat.

Between the two pagodas are remains from an ancient site covering more than one era. The remains include ornate balustrade sections, various shale and sandstone slabs, several sandstone pedestals of varying style, the torso of a female deity with interesting neck jewelery, another female torso, a fragment of a Buddha on Naga statue, another statue fragment of a seated figure holding something, a sandstone fragment depicting a Hamsa, etc.

It’s interesting to note that the remains are of differing eras. In 1909, French researchers discovered an inscription on a sandstone plinth laying in the grass around 100m from the vihara of that time. It was registered under K. 426 and transferred to the Phnom Penh Museum see the inscription notes further below. From this, and perhaps the shale pieces, we can gather it was a circa 7th-century site, noting the balustrades, a new temple was constructed during the Angkor-era, and noting the sema fragments, it was again in use/re-use in the post-Angkor period.

Also found here was a lintel featuring Indra or a three-headed Airvata, flanked by medallions supported by lotus depicting Shiva on Nandin and a Brahmin in prayer. In 1971, Mireille Benisti gave a detailed overview of the lintel attributing it to the 7th century and of Sambor Prei Kuk Style.

On visiting the site in the 1900s, Lunet de La Jonquière, the iconic French researcher, noted on the site

At this point are installed two adjoining bonzeries: the south bonzerie, older, almost abandoned; the north bonzerie, very modern, very flourishing. The vihâra of the bonzerie south is however built on the site of an ancient sanctuary. It rises on a high rectangular two-storey terrace, with laterite facing walls, surrounded by partly filled-in ditches. At the foot of the east side, two sandstone lions guard the entrance to a staircase that leads to a sort of portico made of two monolithic straight legs, supporting a decorative lintel. In this lintel, the central medallion frames a figurine of Indra, seated from the front on the neck of an elephant also represented from the front. In the right side medallion is a figure in profile, kneeling before an altar on which a fire is lit. The left medallion frames a figurine of Shiva on Nandin.

Three lions and other fragments of sculptures, among which pedestal are deposited around a small brick cell, of recent construction, vestiges of a monument which must have been quite considerable. In the vihara which crowns the terraces, a stupa is erected in the place where the colossal statue of the Buddha usually rises. In front, on the base of the stupa, are rows five sandstone statues of the Buddha shaded by the nagas, terribly painted in garish colors.

Inscription

K. 427 – Translated by George Coedes in the 1900s, he wrote

The 10-line Khmer inscription engraved on the upper part of this stone (which measures 1 m. 90 x 0 m. 95 x 0 m. 28) is written in large seventh-century characters. Each line is amputated from the end, which makes any subsequent translation impossible. In what remains, we read, after a date fragment (3rd day of the waxing moon of Vaiçãkha), the names of various poñ and mratan, then other names devoid of titles. At the end, mention is made of donations of rice fields and clothing.

References

• Bénisti Mireille. V. Notes d’iconographie khmère. VIII. Le linteau de Vat Preah Theat . In: Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient. Tome 58, 1971. pp. 125-130. DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/befeo.1971.5077 www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1971_num_58_1_5077

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..