The ancient Funan sites of Angkor Borei ( km, អង្គរបុរី) and Phnom Da ( km, ភ្នំដា) are located in the

Angkor Borei District Angkor Borei ( km, អង្គរបូរី, ) is a district located in Takéo Province, in southern Cambodia. According to the 1998 census of Cambodia, it had a population of 44,980. Administration The district has 6 communes, 34 villages ( ...

, Takéo Province, of southern

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

.Site d'Angkor Borei et Phnom Da - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Retrieved on 2009-03-27. It is in southern part of Cambodia, about 10 kilometers from the western split of Mekong river delta, 150 kilometers from the seacoast, and near the Vietnam border. The Angkor Borei site was an early capital and a region where southeast Asian culture and arts fused in the ancient times. Archaeological excavations have yielded items that are carbon dated to roughly 400 BC and thereafter, many related to early

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and Hinduism, confirming a continuous human settlement at least for some 2,500 years. They contain the earliest known dated

Khmer inscriptions Khmer inscriptions are a corpus of post-5th century historical texts engraved on materials such as stone and metal ware found in a wide range of mainland Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos) and relating to the Khmer civilization. ...

as well as the earliest tradition of Khmer sculpture. The Phnom Da is a granite outcrop and a historic site about 3 kilometers from Angkor Borei. It is notable for the oldest surviving temples, Khmer and Sanskrit inscriptions and as a source of the earliest stone statues in Cambodia that can be dated with reasonable certainty based on the epigraphical evidence, iconography and style.George Coedes (1968), ''The Indianized States of Southeast Asia'', Susan Brown Cowing (Transl), ed. Walter F. Vella, The University of Hawaii Press, , pages 46–62, 67–69, 330–333 These are attributed to the reign of King Rudravarman (514–539 CE), and confirm the adoption of ideas from what is now Vietnam and India, along with the Cambodian creativity and innovation with design. Among these is the Triad of Phnom Da, a stone statue set of three avatars of Vishnu – as Vishnu, Rama and

Balarama Balarama (Sanskrit: बलराम, IAST: ''Balarāma'') is a Hindu god and the elder brother of Krishna. He is particularly significant in the Jagannath tradition, as one of the triad deities. He is also known as Haladhara, Halayudha, Bala ...

(related to Krishna).Bertrand Porte (2006), La statue de Krsna Govardhana du Phnom Da du Musée National de Phnom Penh, UDAYA, Journal of Khmer Studies, APSARA, Vol 7, pp.199-206 Other free standing stone statues found here – such as the Trivikrama, Krishna Govardhana and Hari Kambujendra – relate to Hinduism, with a style and iconography similar to the late or post-Gupta Empire period. The Phnom Da site also has the oldest standing Khmer stone temple (6th-century CE), with evidence that wooden Hindu temples preceded it and were the original house of some of the stone statues of Vishnu and his avatars that are found here. Most of these statues have been moved to the

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become ...

National Museum, in the capital of Cambodia.Richard M. Cooler (1978), ''Sculpture, Kingship, and the Triad of Phnom Da'', Artibus Asiae, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 29-40, In recent years, the archeological sites have attracted a growing number of tourists. At the same time, looting and illicit trafficking of antiquities continue as a serious problem in the area.Miriam T. Stark and P. Brion Griffin, “Archaeological Research and Cultural Heritage Management in Cambodia's Mekong Delta: The Search for the ‘Cradle of Khmer Civilization,’” in ''Marketing Heritage: Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past'', ed. by Yorke Rowan and Uzi Baram, Walnut Creek, California: Altamira Press, 2004, 117–141.

World Heritage Status

This site was originally added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 1, 1992, in the Cultural category. The submission has been renewed on March 27, 2020.

Images

References

Funan Khmer Empire Archaeological sites in Cambodia Buildings and structures in Takéo province Angkorian sites in Takéo Province {{Cambodia-struct-stub