Prasat (design)

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The central tower of the small Angkor temple Banteay Srei with a mandapa in front

A prasat is primarily a temple tower of Angkor architecture. The Sanskrit word Prasada ("multi-storey building", the main building of a temple or palace) migrated in the form of Prasat into the Khmer language ( ប្រាសាទ ) and further into the Thai language ( ปราสาท ).

The Khmer word Prasat exclusively refers to religious buildings. These Prasat (in German mostly with an endless plural ) have an often checkered Hindu , mahayana - and theravada - Buddhist history. In today's Cambodia , the term denotes

  • the entire complex of a terraced pyramid temple based on the South Indian model,
  • but also its individual towers, especially the central temple tower,
  • and (derived from it) the central sanctuary of a flat temple.

In today's Thailand the temple towers of the Angkor period are called Prang ; the word Prasat, on the other hand, means "palace" - many buildings from the Rattanakosin period bear this name.

Examples in Cambodia

All the buildings that have survived from the Angkor period could be mentioned here, as all buildings made of durable materials ( laterite , sandstone and brick ) served religious purposes.

A prasat as a central temple tower or central sanctuary stands at the intersection of axes that point in the four cardinal directions. In principle , the floor plan is square , but the corners are always stepped, which means that it approximates the shape of a circle . The main entrance usually opens to the east; often the other three sides show false doors: doors that look like they have been walled up. The main entrance and false doors can have small vestibules - then the floor plan appears cross-shaped . In an elevated Prasat , stairs lead to all doors, both to the main entrance and to the false doors. The architecture symbolizes in its alignment harmony with earth and sky, in its structure the path leading to the center to the gods who live in the center of the world on Mount Meru .

The walls are thick, the interior (the cella ) of the Prasat is comparatively small, mostly around 3 m². Enough space for the priest or, in the state temple, for the king to make sacrifices to the Hindu gods.

A central temple tower can be joined in different arrangements by "auxiliary prasats". The arrangement in the quincunx had a school- forming effect , i.e. corresponding to the five points on a cube surface.

Silhouette of the bud-shaped tower structures of Angkor Wat
The central tower of the older Prasat Kravan temple with a four-tier roof pyramid

The history of the pyramid temple in the Khmer empire: The Bakong (second half of the 9th century) was the first large step pyramid. The Phnom Bakheng (late 9th century), a natural hill with temple buildings, had the first quincunx and 108 "secondary prasats". Baksei Chamkrong (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបក្សីចាំក្រុង , early 10th century) was the first steep step pyramid, Prasat Thom (early 10th century) increased the dimensions. In Pre Rup (mid-10th century) we encounter a step pyramid with a quincunx in prototype form. Ta Keo (early 11th century), Baphuon (mid 11th century) and Angkor Wat (first half of 12th century) were each much larger . The bud-shaped tower structures are characteristic of the latter temple; in the Bayon (early 13th century) we encounter the famous face towers.

All Angkor flat temples were built in the 12th century; Beng Mealea (beginning of the 12th century) and Ta Prohm (second half of the 12th century) were prototypical for the large flat temples . Zieger explains - see the literature references below: “The flat temple meets the needs of Buddhism. It creates space for communities. "

Some of the Angkor buildings in today's Cambodia already have the term Prasat in their name:

Examples in Thailand

Reconstruction of the Sanpeth Prasat Palace, the throne hall of the Ayutthaya Kingdom ( Mueang Boran open-air museum )

Khmer temple

Rattanakosin period

literature

  • Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques: Ancient Angkor . Bangkok 1999 (River Books). ISBN 974-8225-27-5 .
  • Raghunatha Purushottama Kulakarni: Prasada Mandana Of Sutradhara Mandana. Sanskrit text and English translation with notes and glossary . New Delhi 2005 (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers). ISBN 81-2150961-0 .
  • Johann Reinhart Zieger: Angkor and the Khmer temples in Cambodia . Chiang Mai 2006 (Silkworm Books). ISBN 974-9575-60-1 .

Web links