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'Sdok Kak Thom' is an 11th Century Khmer temple in present-day Thailand, located about 18 miles northeast of the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet. Dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, it dates to the reign of King Udayadityavarman II. Historians know it as the site of one of the most illuminating inscriptions left behind by the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of Southeast Asia from 802 A.D. to 1431 A.D.
Built of red sandstone and laterite, the temple is a prime example of a provincial seat of worship during the empire's golden age. It is small by the standards of many of the monuments in Angkor, the empire's capital area, but shares their basic design and religious imagery. In the 11th Century, it would have been tended by a cadre of Brahman priests and supported with food and labor by the people of surrounding rice-farming villages.
The temple's central feature is a sandstone tower, which served as the main sanctuary, probably sheltering a linga, symbol of Shiva. A few meters to the northeast and southeast of the tower are two sandstone structures known as libraries, mounted on laterite bases. Enclosing these three principal structures is a rectangular court measuring roughly 60 by 40 meters. On the court's eastern side is a gopura, or gate, reflecting the temple's orientation to the east.
In various places in the temple, there is extensive carving on stone, including floral decoration, Naga serpents and a figure identified as the reclining Hindu god Vishnu. A moat, likely representing the Hindu Sea of Creation, lies beyond each of the court's four sides. An avenue leads east from the gopura. A laterite wall standing approximately 2.5 meters high and measuring 126 meters from east to west and 120 meters south to north provides additional enclosure to the entire complex. The midpoint of the eastern side of this wall has an elaborate gopura, standing on a laterite base. About 300 meters to the east of this gopura, along a paved avenue with free-standing stone posts on either side, is a baray, or holy reservoir, measuring roughly 400 by 500 meters.
Many historians consider Sdok Kak Thom to be most notable for the 340-line inscription that was carved on a gray sandstone stele that stood in the northeast corner of the court. Written both in Sanskrit and Khmer, its text dates to 1052 A.D. and provides a remarkable and often poetically worded look at the faith, aristocracy and social structure of the times.
The Sanskrit text opens: "Praise be to Shiva! whose nature is proclaimed wordlessly yet thunderously by the subtle soul-life of the body -- which reaches everywhere and quickens the senses of all living beings."[1] Further on, the inscription provides a genealogy of preceding Khmer kings and their spiritual advisers. It begins with Jayavarman II, who is generally considered to have founded the Khmer empire in 802 A.D. It recounts religious ritual in some detail, notably the cult of the god-king (devaraja), and the virtues and pious deeds of the spiritual advisors. The establishment of various settlements is listed, as are land boundaries, gifts provided to temples and the size and duty schedules of work teams.
The inscription ranks among the most important basic sources for scholars concerning the Khmer history; for decades, they have analyzed and debated its precise meaning. It includes the often-quoted claim that Jayavarman II came from a place called Java. Scholars are divided on whether this refers to the island in present-day Indonesia, or to some other foreign place.
The inscription's existence was reported to the outside world in 1884 by the scholar Etienne Aymonier. Early in the 20th Century, another European scholar, Etienne Lunet de Lajonquiere, conducted a detailed physical survey of the temple. At some point the inscription stele was moved to the Thai capital Bangkok, where it entered the collection of the national museum. In 1958, it was severely damaged when a fire swept through the museum, but museum staff were able to reconstitute much of it. In any case, rubbings had been made of the text prior to the fire, so the words were not lost.
Following the Vietnamese army's invasion of Cambodia in 1978 and the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge government, the forested area around the temple became the site of a large camp of Cambodian refugees. Anti-communist guerrillas opposed to the Vietnamese presence in Cambodia operated from the camp.
Starting in 2002, the Japan Alliance for Humanitarian Demining Support, the Thailand Mine Action Center and the General Chatichai Choonhavan Foundation cooperated on a program to remove landmines and other unexploded ordnance from the area.[1] Local villagers were recruited and trained for this work, which ended in 2004 after the removal of 76 mines and other pieces of ordnance.[2]
The Thai government’s Fine Arts Department has begun an extensive restoration of the temple, which had fallen into a grave state of disrepair. Brush and trees have been cleared and fallen stones catalogued and returned to their original positions.[3] This work is on-going and will take a considerable amount of time.
1. Sak-Humphry, ''The Sdok Kak Thom Inscription'' p. 35.
★ Sak-Humphry, Chhany. ''The Sdok Kak Thom Inscription''. The Edition of the Buddhist Institute 2005.
★ Higham, Charles. ''The Civilization of Angkor''. University of California Press 2001
★ Freeman, Charles. ''A Guide to the Khmer Temples of Thailand and Laos''. Weatherhill 1998
Built of red sandstone and laterite, the temple is a prime example of a provincial seat of worship during the empire's golden age. It is small by the standards of many of the monuments in Angkor, the empire's capital area, but shares their basic design and religious imagery. In the 11th Century, it would have been tended by a cadre of Brahman priests and supported with food and labor by the people of surrounding rice-farming villages.
| Contents |
| Architectural Features |
| Inscription |
| Recent History |
| Notes |
| References |
Architectural Features
The temple's central feature is a sandstone tower, which served as the main sanctuary, probably sheltering a linga, symbol of Shiva. A few meters to the northeast and southeast of the tower are two sandstone structures known as libraries, mounted on laterite bases. Enclosing these three principal structures is a rectangular court measuring roughly 60 by 40 meters. On the court's eastern side is a gopura, or gate, reflecting the temple's orientation to the east.
Central sandstone tower of Sdok Kak Thom, viewed from north. Photo circa 1980
Inscription
Many historians consider Sdok Kak Thom to be most notable for the 340-line inscription that was carved on a gray sandstone stele that stood in the northeast corner of the court. Written both in Sanskrit and Khmer, its text dates to 1052 A.D. and provides a remarkable and often poetically worded look at the faith, aristocracy and social structure of the times.
Northeastern library. Photo circa 1980
The Sanskrit text opens: "Praise be to Shiva! whose nature is proclaimed wordlessly yet thunderously by the subtle soul-life of the body -- which reaches everywhere and quickens the senses of all living beings."[1] Further on, the inscription provides a genealogy of preceding Khmer kings and their spiritual advisers. It begins with Jayavarman II, who is generally considered to have founded the Khmer empire in 802 A.D. It recounts religious ritual in some detail, notably the cult of the god-king (devaraja), and the virtues and pious deeds of the spiritual advisors. The establishment of various settlements is listed, as are land boundaries, gifts provided to temples and the size and duty schedules of work teams.
The inscription ranks among the most important basic sources for scholars concerning the Khmer history; for decades, they have analyzed and debated its precise meaning. It includes the often-quoted claim that Jayavarman II came from a place called Java. Scholars are divided on whether this refers to the island in present-day Indonesia, or to some other foreign place.
Recent History
The inscription's existence was reported to the outside world in 1884 by the scholar Etienne Aymonier. Early in the 20th Century, another European scholar, Etienne Lunet de Lajonquiere, conducted a detailed physical survey of the temple. At some point the inscription stele was moved to the Thai capital Bangkok, where it entered the collection of the national museum. In 1958, it was severely damaged when a fire swept through the museum, but museum staff were able to reconstitute much of it. In any case, rubbings had been made of the text prior to the fire, so the words were not lost.
Following the Vietnamese army's invasion of Cambodia in 1978 and the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge government, the forested area around the temple became the site of a large camp of Cambodian refugees. Anti-communist guerrillas opposed to the Vietnamese presence in Cambodia operated from the camp.
Starting in 2002, the Japan Alliance for Humanitarian Demining Support, the Thailand Mine Action Center and the General Chatichai Choonhavan Foundation cooperated on a program to remove landmines and other unexploded ordnance from the area.[1] Local villagers were recruited and trained for this work, which ended in 2004 after the removal of 76 mines and other pieces of ordnance.[2]
The Thai government’s Fine Arts Department has begun an extensive restoration of the temple, which had fallen into a grave state of disrepair. Brush and trees have been cleared and fallen stones catalogued and returned to their original positions.[3] This work is on-going and will take a considerable amount of time.
Notes
1. Sak-Humphry, ''The Sdok Kak Thom Inscription'' p. 35.
References
★ Sak-Humphry, Chhany. ''The Sdok Kak Thom Inscription''. The Edition of the Buddhist Institute 2005.
★ Higham, Charles. ''The Civilization of Angkor''. University of California Press 2001
★ Freeman, Charles. ''A Guide to the Khmer Temples of Thailand and Laos''. Weatherhill 1998
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