Preah Ko and Bakong Temples

Our last group of temples included Preah Ko, which means the Scared Bull in Khmer.  It was the first temple to be built in the ancient and now defunct city of Hariharalaya and is in the area that today is called Roluos. The temple was built under the Khmer King Indravarman I in 879 to honor members of the king's family, whom it places in relation with the Hindu deity Shiva.

The name derives from the three statues of sandstone cow located in the front of and facing the temple's central towers.These statues represent Nandi, the white bull who serves as the mount of Shiva.


The temple is one of the older ones that we saw, but the Khmer writing is still readable today.  According to Mr. Moon, our guide from the first day, a lot of the same words and symbols are used in modern-day Khmer. 

 

 Across the street from Preah Ko are several workshops for the local children and young adults.  One featured young kids leathercrafting.  They imprinted an image onto a hide and then punched, craved, hammered it out to create traditional images of Khmer culture: Shiva, three-headed elephants, dancing Aspara. 


Next door were the silk makers, busily with the shuttlecock rocking back and forth as their feet lifted and pushed the various silk strings up and down to weave the pattern.

 There was also the stone carving workshop, with kids chiseling out intricate designs and sculptures of traditional Khmer art.

 

Also in this area is the temple of Bakong, and it is the first temple mountain of sandstone constructed by rulers of the Khmer empire at Angkor. In the final decades of the 9th century AD, it served as the official state temple of King Indravarman I in the ancient city of Hariharalaya.  Large stone statues of elephants are positioned as guardians at the corners of the three lower levels of the pyramid. Statues of lions guard the stairways.

This group of temples were our last as sadly, we had to leave Cambodia and return to the chaos that is Bangkok.  We had a marvelous time, despite the illness, and we would absolutely return, without hesitation.