From Takeo, the visitor who has the time will find in a trip
to Ta Nei the pretext for a pleasant walk through the forest. A path to the
north continues the route Batteur and leads directly in 800 metres - having
crossed several mounds and ditches - to the western gopura of the temple, on
the western side of the road.
The monument is built 200 metres west of the western dike of
the eastern baray, and though it has been left untouched, overall it is
relatively well preserved. Its style, from the second half of the twelfth
century, is consistent throughout - only the two gopuras (east and west) of the
external (or third) enclosure, whose wall has disappeared, would seem to be
slightly later than the rest of the monument.
These two small gopuras, in sandstone and partially ruined, are
cruciform in plan and covered with a crossing of barrel-formed vaults. Quite
crude in construction, with decoration based on foliated scrolls, false windows
with blinds and devatas, they relate to the end of the style of the Bayon. A
decorative cornice surrounds the interior. On the east side of the eastern
gopura - which is joined to the temple by the remains of a terrace and a
pavement - one can see a curious fronton in place; - a Lokesvara, standing on a
lotus surrounded by apsaras and flying figures, dominates a lower line of other
kneeling figures with large bellies who seem to be pleading with him. Are these
the sickly who seek healing, or perhaps the damned "rice thieves" who
appear on the Hell bas-relief of Angkor Wat? It is difficult to say.
A pavement joined the western gopura to a small sandstone
portico which cuts the laterite wall of the second enclosure, most of which has
collapsed. Similar porticoes were to be found on the north and south sides, simulating
gopuras as the walls themselves simulate galleries. In fact, above one of the
doors in the south-east corner (east side) and on the plain wall of the north-west
corner (west side) one can still see triangular sandstone frontons which, from
the exterior, seemed to abut internal galleries of which there remains no trace.
If they ever existed they were probably constructed in light weight materials -
the Khmer architects having accustomed us to such tricks. This second enclosure,
of 47 metres by 55, was bordered to the north and south by pools.
The temple as such had four gopuras joined by galleries with
corner pavilions, a central sanctuary and, in the eastern part of the internal
enclosure, a single "library" on the southern side - the whole
arrangement forming a rectangle of 26 metres by 35. At some time, the eastern
gallery was moved out to the wall of the second enclosure, blocking this side
of the surrounding courtyard and transforming the original eastern gopura into
a second isolated sanctuary within the enclosure - extending it from 35 metres
to 46.
The sandstone gopuras form towers with two upper tiers. They
are cruciform in plan and crowned with lotuses. The central sanctuary, also
forming a cross but additionally with four small vestibules, had four storeys, was
open to each side and joined to the north gopura by a passage. Its sanctuary
chamber forms a square of 2m.75 each side.
The surrounding gallery has laterite walls and sandstone
vaults with a stone finialed ridge-line. To the east and the west each element
forms a secondary passageway, while to the north and south they have simple
door openings to the internal courtyard and false doors to the exterior. The
sandstone corner pavilions are cruciform in plan with a simple crossing vault, like
the extreme eastern gopura which, as an adjustment, has not been treated with a
multi-levelled tower like the other gopuras. The laterite and sandstone "library"
has mostly crumbled - it opens to the west and is preceded by a vestibule. Generally
the false windows have balusters sculpted into them without blinds.
The frontons are for the most part interesting, of
reasonable craftsmanship and of Buddhist inspiration. One can see; - on the
north side of the southern gopura, - above a line of figures in prayer - a
kneeling figure blessing two children in a palace surrounded by apsaras, - on
the south side of the northern gopura, an elegant cavalier brandishing a weapon
above two lines of figures, - and on the central sanctuary, north side, a
person standing in a boat, surrounded by flying figures carrying parasols, making
a gesture of benediction.
Some lintels on the ground remain intact; - in the western
gopura, one on which two figures present offerings above a head of Kala - an
image of the Buddha is sculpted on only one of the branch motifs, which is
separated into four quarters, - while in the south-west corner pavilion, there
are three Buddhas on a head of Kala, one in the centre and two on the lateral
motifs.
