Angkor temples

Eastern Baray and Eastern Mebon

A baray is an artificial reservoir used for irrigation and water supply, supplied by rainfall and diverted rivers. The Eastern Baray is a vast reservoir, that served to regulate the flow of the river and to irrigate the surrounding plains. Now dry, it was an immense reservoir, measuring 7 kilometres by 1.8 kilometres. Judging by the laterite steps which surround the small island of the Mebon, its original depth must have been three metres and its volume therefore was near to 40 million cubic metres.

It was realised during the reign of king Yasovarman I (889-900+) towards the end of the 9^th century and supplied by the Stung Siem Reap.

The barays were the foundation of the Angkorian religious, political and economic institutions. By irrigation with techniques from Brahman origin, it became possible to three rice crops per year, creating an oversupply, large enough to support an urban society. Once the irrigation system, no longer maintained, stopped functioning, the Cambodian capital was abandoned.

The Eastern Mebon on what once was an island in the baray, was dedicated by Rajendravarman II (944-968) to Shiva in memory of his parents in 952. It is best visited at sunset because the temple then takes a reddish glow.

It is a temple with five towers. The whole is surrounded by three enclosures. The towers represent the five peaks of the mythical Mount Sumeru and the Baray represents the endless ocean that surrounds the mountain that was the dwelling of the Gods.

On the central tower on the east side one can see Indra on a three headed elephant with small cavaliers on the branches and flights of figures being disgorged by makaras, under a small frieze of figures in meditation; to the west, Skanda the god of war on his peacock with a line of figures holding lotus flowers and to the south, Shiva on the sacred bull Nandin.