The Hindu : India to restore 12th century temple in Cambodia

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Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

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India to restore 12th century temple in Cambodia

By T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI, MARCH 20. India will take up a five-phase restoration and conservation of the 12th-century Ta Prohm temple in the Angkor region of central Cambodia, according to K.T. Narasimhan, leader of the Indian team entrusted with the work.

"It will take a decade to complete this project. Each phase will consume two years. Given weather conditions there, the work can be carried out only during November-April," Mr. Narasimhan, a superintending archaeologist in the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), told The Hindu.

Built by the Khmer King Jayavarman-VII (A.D. 1181-1220), the Ta Prohm temple was originally called `Rajavihara' and dedicated to the King's mother. Made of sandstone, the temple was built in the "Sarvato Bhadra" style, having entrance on all cardinal directions with a `gopura' superstructure over the entrance wall. "It is very similar to the style of Lord Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam," said the veteran archaeologist, who returned to Chennai this week after a two-month investigation work in Cambodia.

Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire from the early 9th century to the mid-15th century. Another important monument built by Jayavarman VII was a Buddhist temple complex at Angkor Thum.

For the Ta Prohm project, India has agreed to provide the know-how, technical expertise, materials and funds and the ASI has been assigned the responsibility. The two countries signed an agreement in April, 2002 during the visit of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to south-east Asia. The project cost is put at Rs. 25 crores.

Mr. Narasimhan said the Indian team submitted on March 9 two voluminous reports to the APSARA Authority, ASI's counterpart. The reports will be scrutinised by a three-member panel of experts from Italy, France and Japan. "We hope to get their nod soon and start the work this year," he said. India was associated with a similar restoration work of the Angkor Vat temple from 1986-87 to 1992-93.

Pointing out that the Ta Prohm project complex has about 145 giant trees of 150 to 200 years old, he said the project would be executed without intervening with the trees.

For the investigation of the project, the ASI took the help of experts from different organisations, such as Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and the Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS). The experts from the IIT comprised S.R. Gandhi, Professor and Head, Geotechnical Division in the Department of Civil Engineering, and his colleagues, Devadas Menon and Meher Prasad, who studied the soil conditions and structural stability of the temple. WAPCOS assessed the hydrology and water and drainage system in the area. A private company, Elecom Technologies, carried out a three-dimensional laser scanning for drawings on the monument.

Mr. Narasimhan said India had allotted Rs. 2 crores for starting the project.

Emphasising that the Indian school of temple architecture influenced the Khmer architecture immensely, he said similarities could be found in many respects. "One can see there influences of Dravidian architecture in the form of pyrammidical structure of Vimanam or that of Rashtrakutas in door jambs or that of Oriya in `sukanasika' (a prominent projection in Vimana). Similarly, the concept of `panchayatana' [having main sanctum at the centre flanked by four sub-shrines on all the cardinal directions] was adopted and improved by them. An Indian example of this concept is the 8th century Lord Amareshwara temple in Amaravati, Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.

The Khmer Kings followed even our methodology in construction of temples. For example, Ta Prohm temple was built using stone as the only core material. This method of construction is called `suddha.' Indian examples are Lord Kailasanatha temple in Kancheepuram and the Big Temple in Thanjavur, which were built earlier."

Given the historical bonds between the two nations, Mr. Narasimhan said more Indians should evince interest in Cambodian art and culture.

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