Wat Romlok (Takeo)

Contemporary monastery and pagoda and provenance of an inscribed stele registered under K. 27 which is stored at the nearby Angkor Borei Museum. The contemporary pagoda we see today retains fragments of its important post and pre-Angkorian era heritage with sandstone pedestals implanted and used to demarcate the pagoda itself.

Historical Images

The images below come from the 1931 publication Les Collections Khmeres by George Groslier. He attributed them to the Funan era of the 6th century noting the greco-gupta influence via Sarnath and Ajanta of north-central India. The first three items pictured below can be seen today in the Phnom Penh National Museum and hold an incredibly important place in ancient Khmer arts.

Contemporary Research

Nancy Dowling’s publication shed new light on early Buddhist art in particular noting the Wat Romlok standing Buddha, seated Buddha, and Buddha head (pictured above 1-3), identifying them as among the earliest at Angkor Borei, displaying a highly stylized naturalism derived from South Asian artistic influences (North and South India/Sri Lanka) with other pieces from here (4) and the wider region evolving towards more abstract forms over time.

See: New Light on Early Cambodian Buddhism, Dowling, 2000

Historical Notes

Anlok. Vat Anlok or Vat Romlok is the pagoda of the small village of that name, south of Sremà Leo and one league north of Angkor Baurei, between ponds and lagoons to the east and pretty gardens to the west. In the temple, against the alter of the Buddha, was erected a sandstone statue bearing on one of its faces a modern Buddhist inscription of twenty-eight lines surmounted by designs of rosettes carved into the stone. This document tells us that, 2129 years 4 months 4 days after the death of the Buddha, year of the Pig, 949 of the Little Era, i.e. 1587 A.D., the king of Siam, Brah Nares Khanatap, captured Lovêk the capital of Cambodia : he thus corrects the dates given, either by the Siamese Annales (1583), or by the Official Chronicle of Cambodia (1593). All these chronicles or annals are only of approximate accuracy; they were only compiled and written towards the end of the last century. According to this inscription, the temple of Anlok was built in three months, in the year of the Ox, 941 of the early era 1579 A. D., and the sacred markers were planted the following year.

Le Cambodge, E. Aymonier, 1901

Inscription of Anlok. In the pagoda, near the village of that name, the bonzes guard, erected behind the pedestal of the Buddha, a well-served sandstone stele measuring 1 m. 20 x 0 m. 39 of surface on o m. 09 thick. It bears on one of its faces an inscription of twenty-six lines framed fornements. It is a modern inscription (16th century)

Inventaire descriptif des monuments du Cambodge, E. Lunet de Lajonquière, 1902

Inscription

Also, see the history section of Longvek-Oudong

• K. 27 – stele – 28 lines of Khmer – 1587 AD, noting the construction of a pagoda delayed due to an invasion at Longvek – Pou-Lewitz. Inscriptions khmères K. 39 et K. 27. In: Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient. Tome 70, 1981. pp. 121-134.

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..