Foundation and expansion In 1186 A.D.,
Jayavarman VII embarked on a massive program of construction and public works. Rajavihara ("monastery of the king"), today known as Ta Prohm ("ancestor Brahma"), was one of the first temples founded pursuant to that program. The
stele commemorating the foundation gives a date of 1186 A.D. Jayavarman VII constructed Rajavihara in honour of his family. The temple's main image, representing
Prajnaparamita, the
personification of wisdom, was
modelled on the king's mother. The northern and southern satellite temples in the third enclosure were dedicated to the king's guru, Jayamangalartha, and his elder brother respectively. As such, Ta Prohm formed a complementary pair with the temple monastery of
Preah Khan, dedicated in 1191 A.D., the main image of which represented the
Bodhisattva of compassion
Lokesvara and was modelled on the king's father. The temple's
stele records that the site was home to more than 12,500 people (including 18 high priests and 615 dancers), with an additional 80,000 inhabitants in the surrounding villages working to provide services and supplies. The stele also notes that the temple amassed considerable riches, including gold, pearls, and silks. Expansions and additions to Ta Prohm continued as late as the rule of Srindravarman at the end of the 13th century.
Abandonment and restoration running along the gallery of the second enclosure. After the fall of the
Khmer Empire in the 15th century, the temple of Ta Prohm was abandoned and neglected for centuries. When the effort to conserve and restore the temples of
Angkor began in the early 20th century, the
École française d'Extrême-Orient decided that Ta Prohm would be left largely as it had been found, as a "concession to the general taste for the picturesque." According to pioneering Angkor scholar
Maurice Glaize, Ta Prohm was singled out because it was "one of the most imposing [temples] and the one which had best merged with the jungle, but not yet to the point of becoming a part of it". Nevertheless, much work has been done to stabilize the ruins, to permit access, and to maintain "this condition of apparent neglect." By 2013, the
Archaeological Survey of India restored most parts of the temple complex, some of which were constructed from scratch. ==The site==