Ta Prohm Temple

Ta Prohm, meaning Old Brahma, was originally called Rajavihara, meaning Royal Monastery. Jayavarman VII consecrated a statue in Ta Prohm temple to Prajnaparamita, the personificaton of wisdom, whom the king identified with his mother. He built it as a Mahayana Buddhist temple, but after the king died the next king converted it to a Hindu temple, removing a lot of the Buddha statues.

The path leading to Ta Prohm goes through a quiet forest with many species of big old trees, all conveniently labled. Crickets make a deafening noise in the tree tops. Before I came to south east Asia, I had no idea that crickets could make so much noise.

Liquid roots of the trees flow over the temple walls, like streams and rivulets, rocking the stone walls until they begin to fall apart. They are repairing this temple, painstakingly putting back the fallen stones, rebuilding the walls. But they haven't removed any of the trees yet. Judging by the swarms of tourists (more even than in Angkor Wat, it seems to me) they will have to leave at least some of the more spectacular trees that the tourists come to see.