Wat Langka

About

Wat Langka stands southwest of the Independence Monument in central Phnom Penh, near Sihanouk Boulevard and Street 51. It is counted among the five most ancient pagodas of the Cambodian capital and was established in 1442 CE during the reign of King Ponhea Yat, the founder of Phnom Penh.

The temple was raised first as a refuge and as a safe repository for the Tripitaka, the canonical Buddhist scriptures, and as a meeting place for monks travelling between Cambodia and Sri Lanka. Its very name, Wat Langka, was chosen to commemorate that gathering — Langka being the Khmer rendering of Lanka, the historic island of Theravada learning to the south of India.

The Cambodian Royal Chronicles record that Ponhea Yat restored Wat Phnom Don Penh and ordered the construction of canals, roads, and several other temples around the new capital. Among these were Wat Koh, Wat Langka, and Wat Preah Buddhagosachar — three temples whose shared names recall the story of Buddhaghosa, the great fifth-century commentator who carried the scriptures from Sri Lanka.

In the dark years of the Khmer Rouge regime, the precinct was used as a storage warehouse — a grim repurposing that, by an unintended grace, spared the temple from the more thorough destruction visited on many other Cambodian wats.

History

Wat Langka was founded in 1442 CE under King Ponhea Yat as part of his broader plan for the new capital at Phnom Penh, alongside the digging of canals and the raising of monasteries surrounding Wat Phnom. The chronicles describe the construction of a great stupa on the hill behind the main sanctuary to enshrine bronze Buddha images facing the four cardinal directions, and the founding of several monasteries — including Wat Langka — to house the Tripitaka and the Sangha.

During the Khmer Rouge period the temple was converted into a storage facility, a fate that, while damaging, helped it survive when many other religious sites were destroyed.