The charred wall of Banteay Temple, in Kampong Cham Province. KT/James Reddick

A King’s Temple Remembered

Khmer Times/James Reddick and Chea Takihiro

Sunday, 20 September 2015

BANTEAY (Khmer Times) – The elders of Banteay Village have a favorite comparison when discussing the temple perched above a floodplain on the outskirts of town.

“It was just like Angkor Wat,” said Pra Heng, one of a handful of residents alive before the Khmer Rouge who expressed this opinion. 

“Now, if you don’t know about the history, you won’t stop to say ‘what is this?’” 

That’s because the temple – built in the early 1400s by King Ponhea Yat – has largely vanished, and with it one of the few vestiges of the kingdom that once called this area its capital. Despite being plundered by the Spanish and Portuguese before the French arrived, the site was largely preserved until the Khmer Rouge came to power. 

As part of their quest to rid the country of religion, the Khmer Rouge then turned it into both a prison and a hospital, in the process destroying much of what remained. Where a majestic steeple once stood is now a roof made of corrugated tin.

“I feel really sorry when I see it this way,” said Yin Choin, a local resident.

Currently, the complex still features remarkable carved friezes depicting stories from Hindu scripture. Broken sculptures lean against a foundation, one of the original temple walls is charred black and clay fragments litter the ground. Despite the temple complex’s current shabby state, its history is still passed down from generation to generation. 

Although King Ponhea Yat originally settled here, it is the usurper, Sdach Kan, who garners the most pride among the villagers, and who also based himself for a time in what was then known as Tuol Basane. 

According to legend, Kan was born in this district into a slave family but got his opportunity when the king at that time, Srey Sokonthor Bat, fell in love with his sister. Supposedly, the King had a dream in which his brother-in-law attempted to kill him. Believing it a prophecy, he arranged to have Kan drowned. Managing to flee, Kan vowed to get his revenge on the king, and after raising an army he eventually took power in 1512.

Humble

Perhaps because of Kan’s humble origins and because he too is from what is now Kampong Cham province, Prime Minister Hun Sen has made good use of Kan’s rise to power. He has spoken often of his legacy and both commissioned and wrote the forward to a history of Kan in 2007. In neighboring provinces, the Prime Minister has signed off on projects to preserve temples from the Sdach Kan era. 

The temple at Banteay, however, gets little attention. 

Residents say that seven years ago a thief decapitated the temple’s original Buddha, and that pillagers have slowly chipped away at the remaining artifacts. Once every year, the entire village gathers at the temple to celebrate Khmer New Year, but apart from that occasion it is a solitary place. Three elderly men look after it but, with no salaries and limited by old age, there is little they can do to protect it. 

“The next generation may not know about this history,” said Yin Choin. “They should know and protect their ancestors’ honor.”