Ta Som Temple
| Date: | Late 12th – early 13th century CE |
| Style: | Bayon |
| King: | Jayavarman VII (reign 1181 – 1220 CE) |
| Cult: | Mahayana Buddhist |
Ta Som (Khmer: ប្រាសាទតាសោម) is a relatively small but beautiful temple, with several attractive features. It has richly decorated pediments, a variety of lovely devatas, and excellent face-towers – the eastern gate is covered by the roots of a spectacular ficus tree.
Ta Som is a satellite temple of Preah Khan Temple, located at the eastern edge of the Jayatataka (Baray).
I love this peaceful place that is rarely visited by tour groups. The road leading to Ta Som brings you to the west side of the temple, but I prefer to walk straight through to the eastern gate, with its beautiful face-tower caught in the roots of a tree, and then walk back and visit the temple in the direction intended by its designers, from east to west.
Ta Som features several representations of Lokeshvara, and one can easily observe here the transformation inflicted to the Bodhisattva during the Hindu Reaction. There is an interesting Buddhist/Hindu 'Trimurti’, in which Buddha, defaced in the 13th century, was flanked by Vishnu and Brahma.
Map of Ta Som
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On The Lantern Chronicles, I gather writings from Angkor, myth and legend, contemplative essays, and poetry — works shaped by silence, beauty, wonder, memory, and the deeper questions that follow us through the world.
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