Last Updated on May 21, 2021
From Banteay Samre, a short drive took us to the mountain temple of East Mebon. It sits in the midst of an artificial reservoir – East Baray – built to provide water to the city. From a distance we could make out that East Mebon was a large temple, rising to three levels and crowned by five towers on the top.
However, the East Baray reservoir is dried up now; remnants of the laterite landing platforms that were used for boats to deck were found on all the four sides outside the outer enclosure.
Elephants of East Mebon
Another striking feature of this temple was the large elephants standing at each corner of the platforms on two levels – there were eight elephants altogether. These 2-m high free-standing elephants were carved from single blocks of stone.
We could make out the chains carved onto the elephant’s body. There were a few guardian lions as well.
Mountain temple dedicated to Shiva
There were stairways on all four sides leading up to the second and third platforms. The East Mebon temple complex is dedicated to Lord Shiva and had the usual shrines, carvings on the walls, and towers.
As in most of the Angkor temples, the towers had a real door to the east, while there were false doors on the other three directions. The central tower contained a sanctuary chamber that enshrined a linga. The lintels on the towers showed various depictions but not as vivid as the many other temples we had visited.
The central tower had a depiction of Indra riding on the three-headed elephant Airavata with horsemen emerging from a garland.
Some of the carvings looked incomplete or only lightly chiseled into the brick. It was as if only the base of the figures were carved and the highly detailed plasterwork was yet to be done. There were many small circular holes on the brick walls, intended as an aid to binding the stucco to the brick.
As we climbed down the steps towards our next destination, we could not help but let our minds into imagining how beautiful the temple must have looked at its prime. As the beautiful Khmer ladies and gents embarked from their boats, the sun must have created a magical streak of glitter on the waters.
For the time being I had to create my own magic with a rock elephant before moving onto our next destination, Ta Som.
