Bayon: Jayagiri of the Khmer

Whilst Angkor Wat gets much of the attention and plaudits from tourists, there is something enigmatic and an other-worldly quality to the Bayon, with its enormous towers ending in the most compassionate expression that you could possibly find carved into stone. After going in through the East approach, we arrive in front of the south gate. There is a huge crowd there already, particularly a group of Japanese tourists, who are quite irksome. Without wanting to be politically correct, I should point out that the Japanese and some Spanish speaking tourists are the most inconsiderate that I’ve personally come across during my travels. The Spanish speakers tend to push their way through and speak far too loudly hogging spaces. The Japanese tend to travel in huge groups, speak not a word of any other language than Japanese, appear to be oblivious to everyone around them and most selfishly keep taking photographs in front of key spots, preventing others from doing so. It’s as though if they are not there, no one will believe that they ever visited those spots. Knowing the lengths that they go to in order to remain socially included perhaps this is an area of social niceness that their sociologists and psychologists can work on. Europeans and Americans are the best, they take their snaps quickly and move on or wait until you’ve done your bit without rushing in. I’ve come across far too few people from south Asia to be really able to offer an opinion on their touring styles, but all those that I’ve come across have been polite and shy, at least outwardly so.

The morning is fresh, and there is a clear sky that displays the eery looking structure in front of me. The colour of the stones is strangely black – I’m told its latterite but this one seems to have a covering of black sandstone. I take out my new 55-300mm Nikkor lens and try and take a long distance shot which does not come out well. On second thoughts it isn’t the camera. There’s nothing attractive about the pile of black stones, dark and imposing, stacked up in front of me, which is exactly how the Bayon looks from about 500m away. As I approach the temple, perhaps as a conjurer’s trick, the temple begins to adopt its identity. Scores of the most compassionate face begin to magically appear out of the black stones until you cannot avoid them. The faces are everywhere, yet you don’t feel as though you’re caught in an intense stare as all of them have their eyes closed in the form of the meditating Buddha. There are 49 towers on the outer circle and 5 in the inner – a total of 54 which Sukun, out guide, says is the magical number of 9 which is considered auspicious in Buddhism. However each of the towers have 4 faces making it a total of 216 faces in all, again a total of 9. Is that all there is to it or do the numbers hide a deeper secret. More shall be revealed in these pages later.

Bayon's original name was Jayagiri - the Victory Peak or Victory Tower. Strangely the French who have the most atrocious pronounciation rules on this planet, could not pronounce it and so called it, the aboslutely hideously unimaginative 'Bayon'. Why? Because the temple was covered in a huge bnayan tree. So much for French creativity. Jayavarman VII had this majestic temple built in late 12th or early 13th century intending it to be a ‘Sarvadharmasthal’ or a place to embrace all the religions of the kingdom including the Islamic beliefs of the newly conquered Cham (modern Vietnam). This was rapidly consecrated as a Buddhist temple as the kings of Angkor had changed their religion from Hinduism. It was not until Jayavarman VII reconverted the state to Hinduism that the Buddha in the central tower was lowered into the well and replaced by Vishnu. This act was reciprocated in Angkor Wat when after the advent of Buddhism, Vishnu was casted out to a non-descript corner while Buddha was instated at the central place.

The best way to enjoy Bayon is to enter through the south gate (see map) and make your way to the south-east corner and the bas-relief on the 3rd enclosing wall. Then follow the corridor to the north-east section to view the scenes on 2nd enclosing wall and finally walk into the central sanctuary and climb up the stairs until you reach the roof-less top. The Bayon temple seemed to me to have three distinct levels to it and I don’t mean the Hindu cosmological levels, described elsewhere. The lowest tier is devoted to bas-reliefs and whilst these are not of the quality of Angkor wat, they are quite imposing in their own right. The second tier consists of the central sanctuary full of images of Buddha that tourists can worship to. This level also allows opportunity to take photographs of the image of Lokesvara in various manners, especially through strategically placed windows. The upper-most tier (bear in mind that the tops of the towers have been destroyed) allows a great view of the surrounding forest and Siem Reap town in a distance, as well as engage in touristy thing such as take snaps with modern day Apsaras.