Temple in the pond on an island in a lake - Cambodia blog entry #24

After being overwhelmed by the beauty of Banteay Srei Temple, we rode our tuk tuk to Neak Pean. But I wouldn’t consider Neak Poan a temple.

It is located on an artificial island in the center of Jayatataka Baray, which translates to pool or reservoir of Jayavarman. We walked across the long bridge over the lotus-filled lake to get there.  

Built in the middle of the 12^th century, it is one of the many “hospitals” that Jayavarman VII commissioned. It was originally designed for medical purposes.

The temple sits in the middle of its own square pool, and on each of the four sides, there were four smaller ponds, representing water, earth, fire, and wind. Each of those pools were presided over by either an elephant, bull, horse, or lion.

The ancient people believed that going into the pools would balance the elements in the person, thus curing disease. It is based on the ancient Hindu belief of balance.

The horse is the only remaining statue of the animals.

It was an interesting place, but we couldn’t walk around the entire structure so it was hard to put all the features into perspective. There was also work going on, but that is a good thing, as maybe it will be easier to visualize in the near future.