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Twelve little stone towers stand in
front of the royal palace. Each of the contestants is forced to de seated in one
of the towers, with his relatives standing guard over him. They remain
imprisoned two, three, or four days. When allowed to emerge, one of them will be
found to be suffering saome illness- ulcers, of catarrh, or malignant fever. The
other man will be in perfect health. Thus is right or wrong determined by what
is called 'celestial judgment'
Henri Mouhot wrote that the towers were 'said to have been the royal treasure..
It served, they, as a depository for the crewels. Another theory is that they
may have served as an altar for each province on the occasion of the taking of
the oath of loyalty to the king
LAYOUT
Prasat Suor Prat is a row of 12
square laterite and sandstone towers, six on either side of the road leading to
Angkor Thom, parallel to the front of the terraces. The two
towers closest to the road are back slightly from the others.
The towers are connected by galleries and are of similar style
and construction. The towers have an unusual feature of windows
with balusters on three sides. |
