Editing Khmer architecture (section)

===Temple mountain===<!-- This section is linked from [[Angkor Wat]] -->
[[File:Roulos_Group_-_005_Bakong_(8587796725).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Bakong]] is the earliest surviving Temple Mountain at Angkor.]]
The dominant scheme for the construction of state temples in the Angkorian period was that of the Temple Mountain, an architectural representation of [[Mount Meru]], the home of the gods in [[Hinduism]].<ref>Glaize, ''The Monuments of Angkor'', p. 24.</ref> Enclosures represented the mountain chains surrounding Mount Meru, while a moat represented the ocean. The temple itself took shape as a pyramid of several levels, and the home of the gods was represented by the elevated sanctuary at the center of the temple.

The first great temple mountain was the [[Bakong]], a five-level pyramid dedicated in 881 by King [[Indravarman I]].<ref>Jessup, ''Art & Architecture of Cambodia'', pp. 73 ff.</ref> The structure of Bakong took shape of [[stepped pyramid]], popularly identified as temple mountain of early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of the Bakong and [[Borobudur]] in [[Java]], going into architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces, strongly suggests that Borobudur might have served as the prototype of Bakong. There must have been exchanges of travelers, if not mission, between Khmer kingdom and the [[Sailendra]]s in [[Medang Kingdom|Java]]. Transmitting to Cambodia not only ideas, but also technical and architectural details of Borobudur, including arched gateways in [[Corbel arch|corbelling]] method.<ref>{{cite book| title=Southeast Asia in the 9th to 14th Centuries | author=David G. Marr, Anthony Crothers Milner | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lon7gmj040MC&pg=PA244 | publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore | date=1986 | page=244 | isbn=9971-988-39-9 | access-date= 23 September 2016}}</ref>

Other Khmer temple mountains include [[Baphuon]], [[Pre Rup]], [[Ta Keo]], [[Koh Ker]], the [[Phimeanakas]], and most notably the [[Phnom Bakheng]] at [[Angkor]].<ref name=Coedes>{{cite book|last=Cœdès|first= George|author-link=George Cœdès|editor= Walter F. Vella|others= trans.Susan Brown Cowing|title= The Indianized States of Southeast Asia|year= 1968|publisher= University of Hawaii Press|isbn= 978-0-8248-0368-1}}</ref>{{rp|103, 119}}

According to [[Charles Higham (archaeologist)|Charles Higham]], "A temple was built for the worship of the ruler, whose essence, if a [[Shaiva|Saivite]], was embodied in a linga... housed in the central sanctuary which served as a temple-mausoleum for the ruler after his death...these central temples also contained shrines dedicated to the royal ancestors and thus became centres of ancestor worship".<ref name=Higham>Higham, C. (2014). ''Early Mainland Southeast Asia''. Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., {{ISBN|978-6167339443}}</ref>{{rp|351}}