The Bayon
Jayavarman VII built the Bayon in the late 12th century as his state temple. It is located at the physical center of Angkor Thom, the nine square kilometer or (three and a half square) mile city complex, and is the focal point of the building boom Jayavarman VII initiated after he defeated the Chams to reclaim the Khmer Empire. As with his other constructions, the Bayon is a Mahayana Buddhist temple; its primary deity is Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Since the Bayon sits in the center of Angkor Thom, his state capital, this monument makes the entire capital a temple complex, with the walls of the city and the moat representing the outer mountain ranges and oceans of the mythical Hindu universe. In various ways the relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism is seen here. Just as the Victory Gate was part of a three-dimensional representation of the Churning of the Sea of Milk, with Phineas as the central churning stick, the Bayon is a similar representation with the gates at the four cardinal points of Angkor Thom. The naga balustrade of one side of a gate that symbolically extends to the Bayon, wraps around the temple, and then continues to the opposite gate, where the opposing force holds the other side of the snake. The Bayon sits in the center as another metaphorical Mt. Meru. This setup also makes the Bayon look a bit different, since its outer walls are so far removed as to seem nonexistent. From the outside, this gives the Bayon an open feel, but the interior of the temple is actually quite cramped. The temple is organized on three levels, but the specific arrangement has led scholars to believe that the original plan was a flat temple along the lines of Ta Prohm, which is located to the east.
While the bas-reliefs of
the Hindu temples often deal with the gods and their epic adventures, those in
the outer gallery of the Bayon deal more with historical events and everyday
life. Part of the reason for this change in focus may be the differing views of
the Hindu and Buddhist religions. The Hindu religion puts much emphasis on
matters of cosmic importance like the battle of gods to maintain good and evil.
The Buddhist religion emphasizes that enlightenment is achievable by the
actions of the individual. For an example of a Buddhist bas-relief, take a look
at the bas-reliefs of the southern gallery. Some of its highlights are the
bas-relief that details battles with the rival Cham Empire as well as everyday
market scenes, fisherman, and even a cockfight. The inner galleries primarily
depict Hindu mythology again. These were added by Jayavarman VIII, a successor
who restored Hinduism as the state religion of the Hindu Khmer Empire. He
converted the Bayon to a Hindu temple, and these bas-reliefs were added later
to reflect this change. Some of these images are vague beyond their connection
to certain gods like Shiva and Vishnu, but of course classic stories like the
Churning of the Sea of Milk appear, too. In addition to adding the more
strictly Hindu imagery, Jayavarman VIII took the main statue from the central
tower's sanctuary, a 3.6 meter (or 12 foot) tall Buddha, and smashed it,
throwing the pieces down a well. The statue was recovered and pieced back
together again in 1933. It now sits in a small pavilion on the road from the
Victory Gate to the Elephant Terrace to the northeast of here.
The exact meaning of the
faces is still under debate by scholars. One explanation is that the primary
deity of the temple is Avalokiteshvara, also known as Lokesvara, or the
"lord who gazes down on the world" or "he who hears the cries of
people who need help". Avalokiteshvara is a bodhisattva or Buddha-to-be
who listens to the prayers of people in need and has postponed his own
enlightenment until he has assisted all people in achieving nirvana. To help
all of these people and hear all their prayers, he would need many eyes and
ears, which may explain the multiple faces. Others have argued that the face is
that of Jayavarman VII himself. This is also realistic, since Jayavarman VII
considered himself a devaraja, or god-king. George Coedes, a former director of
the École Française d'extrème-orient, also known as the EFEO, saw these two
interpretations as complementary rather than mutually exclusive. Since
Jayavarman VII considered himself a god-king, it makes sense that he would use
himself as the prototype of Avalokiteshvara. The reason for the huge number of
faces remains a mystery. Some have tried to tie some significance to the number
of faces, but the state of disrepair of the temple has made accurate counts
difficult.
The Bayon is one of the
more popular temples. To avoid most of the crowds, you might want to time your
visit for dawn or sunset. Most of the crowds flock to Angkor Wat at dawn and
the hill Phnom Bakheng at sunset, allowing you to enjoy some solitude at the
Bayon. The golden, slanted light at those times of the day make the faces even
more magical, as the enigmatic smile of one face will jump out past the shadow
of another. It's worth an early morning trip, because those moments are the true
magic of the temples of Angkor.
