Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/473

 CHAP. II. OTHER TEMPLES. 397 fine sculpture. The two inner enclosures are surrounded with corridors, of which the outer one consists of a central and side aisle, as at Angkor Vat, the wall being on the inner side. On the gopuras of the four enclosures, the angles of the larger inner enclosure, the sanctuary, and other structures, there are said to have been as many as twenty-eight towers, nine of which were carved with the four faces of Brahma. The temple of Banteai Kedei is said to have been originally dedi- cated to Buddha, but as the faces of Brahma decorate the towers of the east and west gopuras, this is doubtful. The plan of the two structures in the inner enclosure differs from any other examples, the larger one which from its position should be the sanctuary, consists, according to Aymonier, 1 of a series of four corridors, running north and south and east and west, crossing one another and carrying corbelled domes at their intersection. In the temple of Phnom Chisor (Prov. Bati) the corridor of the single enclosure is subdivided by a number of cross walls forming separate compartments, four of which have entrance doors, a flight of steps leading to the park outside, and to the internal court. All the rooms are lighted by baluster windows, those on the east or entrance side looking outwards, the others on to the court. The same disposition of windows is found in the temple of Prah-khan (Prov. Kompong Svay), but here the corridor is not subdivided by cross walls. Parts of that temple, of which two illustrations are given, are well preserved (Plate XLV.), showing the baluster windows and the universal door- way, which is found in all the temples, varying only in the sculptured decoration of the architrave and the tympanum of the gable. The octagonal shafts which flank the entrance doors of all the Cambodian temples are gone in this instance at Prah-khan, but Woodcut No. 471, at Bassak, may be taken as a typical example of the usual doorway. The courses of masonry of the temples are always horizontal, and those above the doorway are carried far back into the wall, so that the octagonal shafts on each side are only decorative features. The architecture above the door is always richly carved with varying designs, the gable being enshrined with two serpents with Naga head terminations, which respond to the antefixc-e of Greek temples ; outside the serpents' bodies are flames which take the place of crockets, and the tympana are carved with figures. The same illustration (Plate XLV.) shows the rectangular windows with balustrades, the panel decoration between them with female figures representing the Thevadas or 1 Op. cit. tome iii. pp. 19-21.