Lolei () is the northernmost temple of the Roluos group of three late 9th century

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

temples at

Angkor Angkor ( , 'capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura (; ),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Bureau of Special Research in Modern Languages. The Catholic Uni ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, the others members of which are

Preah Ko Preah Ko (, "The Sacred Bull") was the first temple to be built in the ancient and now defunct city of Hariharalaya (in the area that today is called Roluos), some 15 kilometers south-east of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia. The t ...

and the

Bakong Bakong ( ) is the first Khmer temple mountain of sandstone constructed by rulers of the Khmer Empire at Angkor near modern Siem Reap in Cambodia. In the final decades of the 9th century AD, it served as the official state temple of King Indrav ...

. Lolei was the last of the three temples to be built as part of the city of

Hariharalaya Hariharalaya (, Hariharalaya) was an ancient city and capital of the Khmer Empire, Khmer empire located near Siem Reap, Cambodia in an area now called Roluos (temples), Roluos (Khmer language, Khmer: រលួស). Today, all that remains of the ...

that once flourished at Roluos, and in 893 the Khmer king

Yasovarman I Yasovarman I () was an Angkorian king who reigned in 889–910 CE. He was called " Leper King". Early years Yasovarman was a son of King Indravarman I and his wife Indradevi. Yasovarman was said to be a wrestler. Inscriptions say he was capa ...

dedicated it to

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

and members of the royal family. The name "Lolei" is thought to be a modern corruption of the ancient name "Hariharalaya," which means "the city of

Harihara Harihara (Sanskrit: हरिहर) is the dual representation of the Hindu deities Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara). Harihara is also known as Shankaranarayana ("Shankara" is Shiva, and "Narayana" is Vishnu). Harihara is also sometimes used as ...

." Once an island temple, Lolei was located on an island slightly north of the centre in the now dry Indratataka

baray A ''baray'' () is an artificial body of water which is a common element of the architectural style of the Khmer Empire of Southeast Asia. The largest are the East Baray and West Baray in the Angkor Angkor ( , 'capital city'), also known a ...

,Higham, C., 2001, The Civilization of Angkor, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, construction of which had nearly been completed under Yasovarman's father and predecessor Indravarman I. Scholars believe that placing the temple on an island in the middle of a body of water served to identify it symbolically with

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ...

, home of the gods, which in

mythology is surrounded by the world oceans.

Site

Lolei consists of four brick temple towers grouped together on a terrace. The king built Lolei for his ancestors. One for his grandfather, one for his grandmother, one for his father, and one for his mother. The two front towers are for the males while the two towers at the back are for the females. The two taller towers are for his grandparents while the two shorter towers are for his parents. Originally, the towers were enclosed by an outer wall access through which was through a gopura, but neither wall nor gopura has survived to the present. Today, the temple is next to a monastery, just as in the 9th century it was next to an

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< false doors, their carved

lintels A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case of ...

, and their carved devatas and dvarapalas which flank both real and false doors. Some of the motifs represented in the lintels and other sandstone carvings are the sky-god

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

mounted on the elephant

Airavata Shachi.html" ;"title="Indra (alias Sakra) and Shachi">Indra (alias Sakra) and Shachi riding the five-headed Divine Elephant Airavata, Folio from a Jain text, Panch Kalyanaka (Five Auspicious Events in the Life of Jina Rishabhanatha), c. 1670� ...

, serpent-like monsters called makaras, and multi-headed nagas.

Footnotes

References

* Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques, ''Ancient Angkor'' (Bangkok: River Books, 1999.) * Helen Ibbetson Jessup, ''Art & Architecture of Cambodia'' (London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.)

Site

Footnotes

References

See also