The
East Baray () is a now-dry
baray, or artificial body of water, at
Angkor,
Cambodia, oriented east-west and located just east of the walled city
Angkor Thom. It was built around the year 900 A.D. during the reign of King
Yasovarman. Fed by the
Siem Reap River flowing down from the Kulen Hills, it was the second-largest baray in the Angkor region, measuring roughly 7,150 by 1,740 meters and holding close to 50 million cubic meters of water. The labor and organization necessary for its construction were staggering: Its dikes contain roughly 8 million cubic meters of fill.
Stones bearing inscriptions that mark the construction of the baray have been found at all four of its corners. It was originally called Yashodharatataka, after its creator king.
Scholars are divided on the purpose of this and other barays. By some theories, they held water for irrigation, but no inscription has been found mentioning such a function. Other theories say that barays served primarily a symbolic purpose in
Khmer religious life, representing the seas of creation that surround
Mount Meru, home of the
Hindu gods.
The East Baray today contains no water; farmers till crops on its bed. But its outlines remain clearly visible in satellite photographs. In the middle of the baray is the
East Mebon temple, located on elevated ground that was an island in the days when the baray contained water.