Himalayan Times (1956)

tftjmjilttljaH ijimca

December 23, 1956

Buddha in eaoh, making
sixty images In all.

It is very similar to
the Shat mahal Prasada
at Polunnarwa in Ceylon
and was built in the first
halt of the twelveth cen-
tury before the city was
conquered by the Thai.
But in Labpuri and the
Cambatong many beauti-
ful images of Buddha in
bluish lime stone have
been found, showing a
very high quality of ar-
tiitery and executino and
based clearly on Gupta
models.

Moreover, wheels of
the Law, figures of the
deer symbolising the Bud-
dha have also been un-
earthed aa well as one
gigantic image 25 feet
high in five pieces fitting
into sockets and cut out
of quartz a very rare
medium for sculpture.

Khmer Style
When the Khmer oo.
oupied the central Thai-
land about the beginning
of the eleventh century,
they naturally, introduced
their own style of Bud-
dha image but. even so,
the Mon influence can still
be seen and the Khmer
images of the Lobpuri
Sohool are easily distin-
guishable from the parent
sohool of Angkor. Their
dominion over Thailand
lasted for 2>0 years and
during the period many
fine images of the Bud-

dha were produced though
the temples of the Log-
puri and elsewhere were
more of a Brahamanic
than a Buddhist look
about them. I often vi-
sited Logpuri and grew
very fond of the temples
there,

Cambodia

' In Cambodia itself
nearly all the temples
known today were dedi-
cated to the Hindu Gods,
Shiva or Vishnu. But
at the end' of the )2th
century ' the famous
Khmer king Jayavarman
VII built the temple
Bayon in the centre of
his new capital at Ang-
kor. Jayavarman whose
ancestors influenced by
the Pallava dynasty either
came from or were much
of South India was atta-
ched to the Mahayana
School and the Bayon
consists of 45 great to-
wers each showing four
faces of the Bodhisattava
Lokeshwara.

In some way this
temple which wan a com-
plete ruin when I saw
it last in 19:52 but which
has now been restored
by the Frenoh school of
the Far East, is the most
mysterious and awe-ins-
piring monument in, the
East and I ke the French
author Pitrr Loti I felt
most, frightened and fas-
cinated by the endless
faces with their eternal
enigmatic smile.

*f The great temple of
Angkor as far as I know
is the most magnificent
religious building in the
world, was later turned
to Buddhist ubfs. But
as originally built was
dedicated to the Vishnu
and so intended to be a
memorial tomb of the
great king Suryavarman,
the second who reigned
from the 1110 to 1150
A.D. It should not strictly
be included in this sur-
vey of Buddhist art and
architecture, but I feel
I must make a brief re-
ference to one of the
man-made wonders of the
world.

Thailand

Now I return to
Thailand. The Thai peo-
ple came from Yunan in
Southern China and
brought certain Chinese
ideas with them, when
they migrated South. It
is true that they turned to
Binayana form of Bud-
dhism of which a new
influence oame into Thai-
land from Ceylon, in the
thirteenth century, but
their monasteries partake
of a duel nature. The
usual lay-out is both of
an ordination hall facing
East, for the priest alone,
then a Vihara for the
congregation and lastly a
Pagoda or memorial for
the dead, facing West.

The Thai Pagoda was
'built on a Sinhalese model