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The Archeological complex of Banteay Chhmar

摘要: Comparison with other similar properties  One unique feature of the Banteay Chhmar temple is the relief carving on the East Gallery Wall, of a series of extraordinary, images of multi-headed Avaloketd

Comparison with other similar properties

  One unique feature of the Banteay Chhmar temple is the relief carving on the East Gallery Wall, of a series of extraordinary, images of multi-headed Avaloketdshvara Bodhisattvas, one bearing 32 arms. The relief carvings of this section of the gallery of the temple depict an array of remarkable Tantric Buddhist images, evidence of Banteay Chhmar’s significance as a sacred site for Buddhist practice.

  Banteay Chhmar was compared with twenty-three sites using not only the criteria under which these World Heritage sites were inscribed (Criteria (iii) (iv)), but also the attributes that are embodied in the national, regional, and universal value of Banteay Chhmar. Firstly, heritage sites in Southeast Asia were considered, followed by India, and other sites throughout the world. The primary focus was to compare and confirm the attributes representing the Universal Value of Banteay Chhmar with comparable sites throughout the world.

  Each historical/cultural site was evaluated against the physical and intrinsic attributes exhibited by Banteay Chhmar. These attributes include architecture, art, hydraulic systems, agriculture, religious affiliation, commerce and economic, social and political environment, special site attribute, subjective site condition, and urbanization as well as size and site chronology regardless of their categorization in World Heritage.  The evaluation criteria measures sites which:

  The aim was to identify habitat complexes worldwide, preferably rural, which include a temple or religious monument, and appear to express Criteria (iii) and (iv)), defining the significant development of a low-density urban landscape occurring worldwide, but especially in Southeast Asia with a focus on the late 12th early 13th century CE (Criterion (iv)). In this way, Banteay Chhmar was compared with important historical sites in Southeast Asia and Asia.

  Comparable sites currently inscribed on the World Heritage List that cover a similar development period but not necessarily the same time frame are Vat Phou, My Son Sanctuary, Prambanan Temple Complex, and the complexes of Beikthano-Myo, Halin, Sri Ksetra in Myanmar, and, currently on the tentative list, Angkor Borei and Phnom Da. The comparative sites exhibit a variety of elements, such as trading networks, religious affiliation, city-state development, and monumental art, which are shared with Banteay Chhmar, but lack the vital, substantial combination of urban complexity, spiritual significance, artistic innovation, and religious polity which Banteay Chhmar accomplished in less than a century. Some of the sites display hydraulic systems, however they encompass a far smaller area with substantially less monumental artistry and engineering then that displayed at Banteay Chhmar. While many sites contain artistic and architectural elements of note, only a few combine these with the hydraulic features incorporated into the religious and urban centre as found at the Banteay Chhmar.

  Banteay Chhmar bears unique testimony to the cultural values and artistic and architectural stylesof Southeast Asia in the late 12th early 13th century CE. Only My Son Sanctuary, and the heritage sites of Beikthano-Myo, Halin, and Sri Ksetra in Myanmar exhibit this to a similar extent. However, the monuments of the Myanmar serial sites effectively span nine centuries (1st-9th CE). The sites in Myanmar are Buddhist and do not exhibit the engagement with Hinduism elements  as exemplified by My Son and Banteay Chhmar. Additionally, few sites in Asia exhibit the religious eclecticism and syncretism that is expressed in the religious arts of Buddhism, along with Animism, and Hinduism as at Banteay Chhmar.   Other early Hindu/Buddhist sites in Southeast Asia, such as Angkor Borei, similarly lack extant architecture to the extent of Banteay Chhmar. Together with the statuary and decorative elements that comprise the distinctive “Bayon Style” and the important historical evidence contained in the site's inscriptions, the site preserves the most significant record of the artistic and architectural achievements, together with their associated religious and political elements, that emerged from the uptake and transformation of Buddhism during this period.

  Banteay Chhmar is a key example of the development of the agrarian-based, low-density urban landscape believed to lack adequate agrarian elements for long-term sustainability. This pattern of urban complex has been identified in three locations: Southeast Asia (Cambodia’s Khmer Empire) and Sri Lanka. The rise and fall of this type of urban formation is of international importance, particularly in understanding the relationships between urban planning and the environment. The Sri Lankan site is currently well-represented on the World Heritage List associated urban centres of the late 12th early 13th century CE.

  However, the development of the urban hydraulic complex in Southeast Asia is currently under-represented: of Southeast Asian cultural heritage sites on the World Heritage List, only the Myanmar city-state Pyu Ancient Cities and the Angkor Archaeological Park have habitat components dating to around this period. The economies represented by sites contemporaneous with Banteay Chhmar are substantially different: Vat Phou was a religious center for the most part with habitat components, while the Myanmar walled city-states of Pyu were primarily trading capitals.

  Banteay Chhmar must be considered alongside other urban formations in Southeast Asia, including those on the Cambodian Tentative List for World Heritage inscription, such as Beng Mealea and Preah Khan Kampong Svay, as well as other important sites. When compared to these other sites in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, Banteay Chhmar stands out for its size, the quality of its extant architectural and artistic components, and the complexity of design. Again, many of the other early urban landscapes in Southeast Asia were city-states with their economic bases in trade, unlike Banteay Chhmar, with its emphasis on agriculture and religion as well as trade. Banteay Chhmar provides outstanding evidence of the evolution of the agrarian, low-density urban landscape in Southeast Asia, and the associated developments in the formation of the state and its supporting religious ideology.  The habitat of Banteay Chhmar marked the appearance of a new kind of urban complex almost solely dedicated to the royal family and its extension of power and politics.

  Accompanying the habitation and temple complex zone was a substantial system of canals, moats, ponds and other water management features. Water management at the site would have been crucial, given that the region where Banteay Chhmar is situated is subject to annual fluctuations in water flow. Scholars have designated such examples of Angorian-era monumental complexes including extensive water management systems as “theocratic hydraulics”, arguing that their primary purpose was to ensure a supply of water for temple ponds, baray and moats. At Banteay Chhmar, the technology for large-scale water management certainly existed, but may have been directed towards other secular purposes, including transport, town water supply, and defence against periodic inundation.

  Banteay Chhmar is a site of immense historical importance. There is currently no site on the World Heritage List, tentative list, or as yet identified that exhibits the unique combination of a religious building complex and art from this period that are accompanied by a sizeable urban complex with the hydraulic and agricultural features of a polity that is found at Banteay Chhmar.

  Banteay Chhmar can be compared to World Heritage sites, Tentative Listed sites and others within the Kingdom of Cambodia. Based on the architectural and engineering style, belief, faith arts and site location the Angkor Archaeological Park is comparative in all aspects while Sambor Prei Kuk has a similar hydraulic system, although from centuries earlier. Sites on the Tentative List as Beng Mealea, and Preah Khan Kampong Svay are also contain aspects identical to those noted at Banteay Chhmar.


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