Prasat Bat Chum- Cambodia

Address

Prasat Bat Chum- Angkor Archaeological Park, Krong Siem Reap 17000, Cambodia

Diety

Buddha

Introduction

Bat Chum Temple is a small temple built by Kavindrarimathana, a learned Buddhist minister of khmer king Rajendravarman, at the middle of the 10th century. It is located about 400 meters south of Srah Srang, at Angkor, Cambodia. It consists of three inline brick towers (in poor conditions at present), standing on the same platform, surrounded by an enclosure and a moat, with a single gopura to the East.

Puranic Significance

On the doorjambs there are Buddhist inscriptions that mention Kavindrarimathana, the “architect” who built Srah Srang, East Mebon, and maybe planned the temple-mountain of Pre Rup. The latter was dedicated in 960 AD, shortly before death of the architect. There were houses and a Buddhist monastery near the temple, but these wooden structures have been gone for a long time. During the excavations in 1952, in the northern and central towers, flagstones showing a yantra were found, which George Coedès was able to reconstitute and with extreme difficulty link to the Buddhist divinities mentioned on doorjambs. In every tower there is a different inscription signed by three different persons. The last verse of each of the three refers to the elephants as “dyke breakers”.