EASTERN BARAY & EASTERN MEBON

EASTERN BARAY & EASTERN MEBON
The enormous one-time reservoir known as the Eastern Baray was excavated by
Yasovarman I(r889-910), who marked its four corners with steles.
This basin, now entirely dried up, was the most important of the public work of Yasodharapura, Yasvarman I’s capital, and is 7km by 1.8m. It was originally fed by stueng Siem Reap (Siem Reap’s river).
The Hindu temple known as the Eastern Mebon, erected by Rajendravarman
II (r 944-68), would have been on an islet in the centre of the Eastern Baray, but
is now very much on dry land. This temple is like a smaller version of Pre Rup,
which was built 15 to 20 years later and lies to the south. The temple-mountain
form is topped off by the now familiar quincuncial arrangement of towers. The
elaborate brick shrines are dotted with neatly arranged holes, which attached the
original plasterwork. The base of the temple is guarded at its corners by perfectlycarved stone figures of elephants, many of which are still in a very good state of