Tourist Attractions Temple in Siem Reap (Part 14) East Mebon Temple (Part 2)!

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East Mebon, a 10th century Hindu temple, erected by Rajendravarman II, would have been on an islet in the centre of the Eastern Baray, but is now very much on dry land. This temple is like a smaller version of Pre Rup, which was built 15 to 20 years later and lies to the south. The temple-mountain form is topped off by the now familiar quincuncial arrangement of towers. The elaborate brick shrines are dotted with neatly arranged holes, which attached the original plasterwork. The base of the temple is guarded at its corners by perfectly carved stone figures of harnessed elephants, many of which are still in a very good state of preservation. 

The East Mebon was built dedicated to the Hindu god of Shiva and honours the parents of the King. Its location reflects Khmer architecture? Concern with orientation and cardinal directions. It was built on a north-south axis with Rajendravarman’s state temple, Pre Rup, located about 1,200 meters to the south just outside the Baray. The East Mebon also lies on an east-west axis with the palace temple Phimeanakas, another creation of Rajendravarman’s reign, located about 6,800 meters due west. 

It has two enclosing walls and three tiers. It includes the full array of durable Khmer construction materials: sandstone, brick, laterite and stucco. At the top is a central tower on a square platform, surrounded by four smaller towers at the platform’s corners. The towers are of brick; holes that formerly anchored stucco are visible. 

The sculpture at the East Mebon is varied and exceptional, including two-meter-high free-standing stone elephants at corners of the first and second tiers. Religious scenes include the god Indra atop his three-headed elephant Airavata, and Shiva on his mount, the sacred bull Nandi. Carving on lintels is particularly elegant.

East Mebon is a small temple built in the reign of King Rajendravarman, who named the temple “Yashodharatataka” (the reservoir of Yashodhara). King Rajendravarman greatly admired King Yashovarman I, who ruled from 889-900 A.D. and built the East Baray (reservoir). Out of respect, King Rajendravarman built East Mebon at the center of the Baray. Its main god was Rajendreshvara, a linga of the present King.

The lovely temple of Mebon, a pyramid of receding terraces on which are placed many detached edifices, the most effective being the five towers which crown the top, could any conception be lovelier, a vast expanse of sky-tinted water as wetting for a perfectly ordered temple. The East Mebon is 500 metres (1,640 feet) north of Pre Rup. Enter and leave the temple from the east entrance. It was built in the second half of the tenth century (952) by King Rajendravarman II, dedicated to Siva (Hindu), an ancestor temple in memory of the parents of the King, following the Pre Rup style art. 

The Mebon stands on a small island in the middle of the Eastern Baray, which was a large body of water (2 by 7 kilometers, 1.2 by 4.3 miles) fed by the Siem Reap River. The temple was accessible only by boat. Today the Baray, once a source of water for irrigation, is a plain of rice fields and the visitor is left to imagine the original majesty of this temple in the middle of a large lake.

The East Mebon is a temple with five towers arranged like the numbers on a die atop a base with three tiers. The whole is surrounded by three enclosures. The towers represent the five peaks of the mythical Mount Meru.

Lions flank the stairways of the tiered base. Beautiful monolithic elephants stand majestically at the corners of the first and second tiers. They are depicted naturalistically with fine detail, such as harnessing.

Tip: The elephant in the best and most complete condition is in the southwest corner.

The large inner courtyard contains eight small brick towers, two on each side, opening to the East. Each one has octagonal columns and finely worked lintels with figures amongst leaf decorations. On the East Side of the courtyard, there are three rectangular laterite buildings without windows opening to the west. The two on the left of the entrance are decorated with either scenes of the stories of the nine planets or the seven ascetics. Vestiges of bricks above the cornices suggest they were vaulted. There are two more buildings (without windows) of similar form at the northwest and southwest corners of the courtyard.