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s a c r e d    a n g k o r

c o n t e n t s

Situated between India and China, Southeast Asia has been the birthplace of several cultures, some of which rank among the world’s greatest civilizations. Among the Indianized kingdoms which sprang up in Southeast Asia before the Common era, the great Khmer civilization and its capital, Angkor, in modern day Cambodia. The advent of Indians in Southeast Asia has hardly a parallel in history. In view of the ethnic affinities between the prehistoric Austro-Asiatic races of India and those of Suvarnabhumi, contact between the two regions may well go back to the remotest antiquity. Most of the countries of Southeast Asia came under the cultural and religious influence of India. This region was broadly referred to by ancient Indians as Suvarnabhumi (the Land of Gold) or Suvarnadvipa (the Island of Gold). Vedic Indians must have charted Java, Yawadvip, thousands of years ago because Yawadvip is mentioned in India's earliest epic, the Ramayana. The Ramayana reveals some knowledge of the eastern regions beyond seas; for instance Sugriva dispatched his men to Yavadvipa, the island of Java, in search of Sita. 

Southeast Asia was often called by many British, French and Indian scholars as Farther India, Greater India, L’Inde Exterieure, and the Hinduized or Indianized States. The whole area was so influenced by India, that according to a European scholar who wrote in 1861, that "the Indian countries situated beyond the Ganges hardly deserve the attention of History." The various states established in this region can therefore be called Indianized kingdoms. Invasion nor proselystism was by no means the main factor in the process of Indianization which took place in the Indian Archipelago. International trade was very important. Angkor Wat indeed deserves to play the leading part not only because of its exceptional artistic and architectural achievements but also on account of the hydrological, agricultural and ecological problems solved there. 

Angkor wat is often hailed as one of the most extraordinary architectural creations ever built, with its intricate bas-reliefs, strange acoustics and magnificent soaring towers. Angkor Wat, originally named Vrah Vishnulok - the sacred abode of Lord Vishnu, is the largest temple in the world. It was built by King Suryavarman II in the 12th century. The Sanskrit Nagara (capital) was modified by the Cambodian tongue to Nokor and then to Angkor. The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit word 'nagara' meaning 'holy city'. Vatika is Sanskrit word for  temple. "The city which is a temple," Angkor Wat is a majestic monument, the world's largest religious construction in stone, and an architectural masterpiece. The Khmers adhered to the Indian belief that a temple must be built according to a mathematical system in order for it to function in harmony with the universe. Distances between certain architectural elements of the temple reflect numbers related to Indian mythology and cosmology. The sheer size of the place leaves visitors in awe and the complex designs illustrate the skills of long gone priest architects.  Every spare inch has been carved with intricate works of art. The sculptures of Indian icons produced in Cambodia during the 6th to the 8th centuries A D are masterpieces, monumental, subtle, highly sophisticated, mature in style and unrivalled for sheer beauty anywhere in India says Philip Rawson. The scale of Angkor Wat enabled the Khmer to give full expression to religious symbolism. It is, above all else, a microcosm of the Hindu universe.

It is frequently said that Angkor was 'discovered' by the Europeans but this is patently nonsense and simply reflects a Eurocentric view. The Khmer never forgot the existence of their monuments. French naturalist Henri Mouhot stumbled across the city complex of Angkor Wat while on a zoological expedition. He was overwhelmed by the magnificence of these ruins hidden in the jungle and wrote: “One of these temples – a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michael Angelo  - might take its place besides our most beautiful buildings – Grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome …it makes the traveler forget all the fatigues of the journey, filling him with admiration and delight, such as should be experienced on finding a verdant oasis in the sandy desert."

The grandeur of this ancient civilization is truly astounding. Covering an area of one square mile, Angkor Wat is one of the largest temple complex in the world. The temple is dedicated to the Lord Vishnu from whom the king was considered a reincarnation. Essentially a three-layered pyramid, Angkor Wat has five distinctive towers, 64 meters high. On the outer wall are eight panels of bas-relief depicting scenes of Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. These relics of past grandeur bear mute testimony tone of the least known yet most glorious chapters in the history of mankind: that of the classical culture of ‘Greater India.’ 

Unlike other countries, Cambodia does not minimize Indian influence on the local culture. On the contrary, the people of the country generously acknowledge it. Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia recalled the close cultural ties that have existed for two thousand years between India and Cambodia. He said: "When we refer to 2000 year old ties which unite us with India, it is not at all a hyperbole. In fact, it was about 2000 years ago that the first navigators, Indian merchants, and Brahmins brought to our ancestors their gods, their techniques, their organization. Briefly India was for us what Greece was for the Latin Occident."

Introduction
Angkor Wat: Symphony in stone
Background of Vrah Vishunlok
Breath Taking Carved Bas-Reliefs

© Michael Freeman

For the rest of the chapter refer to the links listed below:

Sacred Angkor part 2
Sacred Angkor part 3
Sacred Angkor part 4

Introduction:

Jon Ortner ( ? ) author of Sacred Places of Asia: Where Every Breath Is A Prayer has remarked:

"As I walked along the huge, ancient stone of the causeway leading to Angkor Wat, I was forced to look inward and question my own significance in the universe. Everything here, from the huge moat protecting the complex to the giant nagas flanking my path, is designed to make one shrink before the majesty of Vishnu. 

"After passing through a succession of courtyards, each grander and more elaborate than the last, I arrived at an enormous Meru with its five soaring peaks and exquisitely carved walls. What a spectacle this all must have been long ago....Angkor Wat is the representation of the Khmer universe, reflecting a relationship to nature on such a deep level, that it makes modern architecture seem spiritually empty. The soul of the Khmer is alive in these temples and mirrored in the faces of today's Cambodians, the recipients of a rich artistic and spiritual heritage."

(source: Sacred Places of Asia: Where Every Breath Is A Prayer - By Jon Ortner  p. 113).

Lord Vishnu: 12th century bronze housed in Phnom Penh Museum.

Everything here, from the huge moat protecting the complex to the giant nagas flanking my path, is designed to make one shrink before the majesty of Vishnu. 

The sculptures of Indian icons produced in Cambodia during the 6th to the 8th centuries A D are masterpieces, monumental, subtle, highly sophisticated, mature in style and unrivalled for sheer beauty anywhere in India. - says Philip Rawson. 

(image source: Angkor: Splendors of the Khmer Civilization - By Marilia Albanese p. 77).

***

Henri Mouhot (1826 -1861) a French naturalist and explorer, who had gone to South-east Asia in the late 1850's and succumbed to fever there in 1861. Mesmerized by what he saw at the temple of Angkor Vat, Mouhot in lyrical descriptions said: 

"At the sight of this temple, one feels one's spirit crushed, one's imagination surpassed. One looks, one admires, and, seized with respect, one is silent. For where are the words to praise a work of art that may not have its equal anywhere on the globe? ... What genius this Michalangelo of the East had, that he was capable of concaving such a work.'' 

(source: Le Tour du Monde, 2-1863-299). 

He said: "See Angkor and Die."

He was staggered by his discovery. There was a city so vast and so sophisticated that it must have been built by people with an advanced knowledge of engineering, science, mathematics and art. The young Frenchman soon sent word back to Europe telling of the most beautiful lost city ever to be discovered. The monumental scale, grandeur and beauty of Angkor justifies its reputation as one of the world’s great creations.  

Mouhot wrote: What strikes the observer with not less admiration than the grandeur, regularity, and beauty of these majestic buildings, is the immense size and prodigious number of the blocks of stone of which they are constructed. In this temple alone are as many as 1532 columns. What means of transport, what a multitude of workmen, must this have required, seeing that the mountain out of which the stone was hewn is thirty miles distant!...."

(source: Angkor: Heart of an Asian Empire - By Bruno Dagens  p. 140-141).

"It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome."

Henri Mouhot was staggered by his discovery. There was a city so vast and so sophisticated that it must have been built by people with an advanced knowledge of engineering, science, mathematics and art.

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"It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome." "To obtain any idea of its splendor on one must imagine the most beautiful creations of architecture transported into depths of the forests in one of the more remote countries in the world."

Mahout recorded excitedly in his diary for January 1860 after gazing on the 200-ft temple of Angkor Vat. 

(source: The World's Last Mysteries - Readers Digest  ASIN 089577044X  p. 243).

When he first brought it to the knowledge of the modern Western world in 1860, the explorer, Henri Mouhot, said of it, quite simply, “this architectural work perhaps has not, and perhaps never has had, its equal on the face of the globe.”

(source: The Culture of South-East Asia - By Reginald Le May p. 133).

(image source: A Survey of Indian History - By Sardar Kavalam Madhava Panikkar).

(source: Greater India - By Arun Bhattacharjee  p.11 - 15 and The Culture of South-East Asia - By Reginald Le May - p. 133).

Paul M Collard ( ? ) author of Cambodge et Cambodgiens, métamorphose du royaume khmer par une méthode française de protectorat, Paris, 1925 wrote:   

“A book in stone, a tangible document of history, they at least remain, the astonishing proof of a Cambodian civilization which has disappeared forever.” 

(source: Angkor and the Khmer empire- By John Audric  p. 19).

Rene Grousset (1885-1952) wrote in the Historie de l’Extreme-Orient:  He writes about the Indian influence in South East Asia:

"In the high plateau of eastern Iran, in the oases of Serindia, in the arid wastes of Tibet, Mongolia, and Manchuria, in the ancient civilized lands of China and Japan, in the lands of the primitive Mons and Khmers and other tribes of Indo-China, in the countries of the Malaya-Polynesians, in Indonesia and Malay, India left the indelible impress of her high culture, not only upon religion, but also upon art, and literature, in a word, all the higher things of spirit."

"There is an obstinate prejudice thanks to which India is constantly represented as having lived, as it were, hermetically sealed up in its age-old civilization, apart from the rest of Asia. Nothing could be more exaggerated. During the first eight centuries of our era, so far as religion and art are concerned, central Asia was a sort of Indian colony.

It is often forgotten that in the early Middle Ages there existed a "Greater India," a vast Indian empire.

A man coming from the Ganges or the Deccan to Southeast Asia felt as much at home there as in his own native land. In those days the Indian Ocean really deserved its name." 

“This conquest, these spiritual colonies represented by Angkor and Borobadur, constitute India’s greatest title to fame, her contribution to mankind.”

(source: Civilizations of the East - By Rene Grousset Vol. II, Chapter - Farther India and the Malay Archipelago p. 275-343 and Angkor and the Khmer empire- By John Audric  p. 19).

John Audric ( ? ) was a French scholar whose interest in the Khmers lasted some forty years. He was the author of Angkor and the Khmer Empire has observed:

"The great edifice of Angkor Wat with its huge lotus-bud-shaped towers, the glory of Khmer architecture and of its founder Suryavarman II stands out above them all. It is a spectacle of beauty, wonder and magnificence. One is struck by its sheer enormity. It is 5,000 feet by 4,000 feet. What brilliant scenes in Khmer history had this causeway witnessed. Armies had marched, cavalry had galloped, priests had walked in procession with all the ceremonial of their office. It continues on to a majestic, five-storeyed and flame-crested triumphal entrance gateway which had been set in the middle of an outer enclosure 600 feet long, which in turn is continued in the form of galleries in both directions and along all four sides. This huge gateway is crowned by three magnificent towers with broken summits."  

It is often forgotten that in the early Middle Ages there existed a "Greater India," a vast Indian empire.

***

India left the indelible impress of her high culture, not only upon religion, but also upon art, and literature, in a word, all the higher things of spirit."

***

Angkor Wat was a miniature universe, a microcosm, a magnificent replica in stone of Khmer cosmology. Its five towers symbolized the peaks of Mt. Meru, the enclosing wall the mountain at the edge of the world, the surrounding moat the ocean beyond. Angkor Wat is an architectural masterpiece. It is also the culmination of the efforts of the Khmers over the centuries to produce a monument of outstanding merit to the gods of Hindu trinity….”

"The bas-reliefs are one of Angkor Wat’s greatest treasures and outstanding attractions. In the lower terrace they continue for over half a mile, which gives some idea of the vastness of the temple. Every stone is decorated. The bas-reliefs are about 8 feet high. The whole effect is that of an almost endless tapestry in stone. The subjects are principally religious, of legends and of war. The scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharat take up nearly half a mile, and the total number of figures of men, animals and birds has been calculated to be nearly 20,000. There are combats between opposing forces who are mounted on elephants. Hundreds of elephants have been sculptured on the walls, and illustrate some incidents from these two epics; warriors fighting from chariots, scenes from the lives of the God Rama and his wife Sita, who was kidnapped by the demon Ravana, armies of men and monkeys. Vast stretches depict Khmer victories on land and sea, naval pageants, victory marches with bands and banners. The God Vishnu is mounted on a Garuda; there are invocations to the Hindu trinity, goddesses, and guardian deities." 

"The sculptors were fortunate in being provided with a most sensitive, ideal and endless canvas upon which to exercise their talents. This was polished sandstone. They used about 4,000 feet of it. The bas-reliefs decorate eight panels, four of which are over 100 yards long. Everything about Angkor Wat is on a massive and lavish scale, as if time, expense and labor were of little importance. The bas reliefs in the majority of cases are executed with exquisite beauty, and the most minute attention to detail, symmetry and proportion." These were not only men of culture; they possessed a knowledge of medicine produced from the herbs, were familiar with the anatomy, and were well versed in cultivation and irrigation."

(source: Angkor and the Khmer empire- By John Audric  p.136 - 146).

Donatella Mazzeo and Chiara Silvi Antonini author of Ancient Cambodia: Monuments of Civilization have remarked: 

“No film, no photograph, nothing can prepare one for Angkor and its impact. It is even difficult to speak of it in other than superlative terms. For it is colossal, enormous, prodigious, startling, awesome..”

(source: Ancient Cambodia: Monuments of Civilization - By Donatella Maezzo and Chiara Silvi Antonini).

C M (Chandra Mohan) Bhandari (1949 -  )  Indian Ambassador to Cambodia has observed in his book Saving Angkor, in the chapter, A Golden Era of Ties with India:

"Twelfth century Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu temple in the world is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. To the Cambodian people it symbolizes their nation's soul. Angkor Wat, the most precious jewel of the Angkor period, was built during the reign of King Suryavarman II whom Cambodian history recognizes as the one ushering in the Golden Age of the Khmer Empire. Unlike the previous kings who were devotees of Shiva - the God all creation and destruction, Suryavarman's personal deity was Vishnu, the nourisher or preserver. 

"that Angkor Wat's inspiration was derived from Indian Vedic literature is beyond doubt. The scores of learned Brahmin priests who controlled and advised the Angkor sovereigns, were responsible not only for deciding the themes of the art and architecture but also for ordering numerous steles which have helped in piecing together Cambodia's early and medieval history. The word 'Angkor' in written text is exactly like the Sanskrit word Nagarah, the only difference lies in script and phonetics. Khmer language derives its origin from Sanskrit."

(source: Saving Angkor - By C M Bhandari  p. 1 - 17).

D G E Hall ( ? )first head of the Dept of History in the University of Rangoon and later Professor of History of Southeast Asia in the University of London and author of A History of South-East Asia, rightly points out: 

"Both politically and culturally south-east Asia has been overshadowed by India."

Dr. P C Bagchi ( ? ) writes: "The history of the Indian colonization of Indo-China and the Malay Peninsula forms a glorious chapter to the history of India."

(source: The Indian Colony of Siam - By Phanindra Nath Bose p. foreword 1927 Lahore).

King Sihanouk (1922 - ) very often reminds his Indian visitors that Khmers are the progeny of an Indian prince named Kambu (ja in Sanskrit means 'born of, hence Kambu = ja). He also very warmly explains, which in many ways brings out the pride Prince Sihanouk and indeed all Khmers have for their Angkorean ancestors of Indian descent, that the river Mekong is actually the Khmer equivalent of the holy river 'Mother Ganges of India (Sanskrit name 'Ma Ganga' in Khmer becomes 'Mai Kong'). 

King Sihanouk reminisces in his book ‘Cambodia owes its cultural roots to India’ and “more than a thousand years ago an Indian prince Kambu, reached our shores and also saw wild people. The Indians brought us civilization; architecture, philosophy, our alphabet (which derives from Sanskrit and Pali) and our religions (both Hinduism and Buddhism, latter ultimately prevailed).”

(source: Saving Angkor - By C M Bhandari  p. 1 - 17 and Sihanouk Reminisces - World Leaders I have Known - By Prince Sihanouk with Bernard Krisher  p. 55). Watch Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge

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Angkor Wat: Symphony in stone

Hinduism’s patrimony at its most magnificent.

India is a country of temples without equal but there is a certain irony in that one of the largest and most dramatic monuments to Hinduism rests not in India but thousands of miles away from the subcontinent amid the ruins of a metropolis hidden in the jungles of Cambodia. One of the largest cities of the ancient world, Angkor was built at the height of the Khmer Empire's supremacy in South East Asia. In the 12th century the vast temple of Angkor Wat, which is larger even than the Vatican, was built in the heart of the city by King Suryavaranm II to honor Lord Vishnu. 

Angkor Wat, originally named Vrah Vishnulok - the sacred abode of Lord Vishnu. 

Lord Vishnu on Garuda and Lord Vishnu statue

This man-made wonder is seductively unique. Originally all nine great pinnacles of the temple were plated with gold, while the sculptures of incredible richness, covering the walls in high and low relief, were ablaze with color. 

(image source: Guimet Museum, France and National Museum, Thailand).

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Angkor Wat's distinctive terraced towers rising above the skyline are in the from of lotus buds, one of Lord Vishnu's principal symbols. It was a place of devotion as well as an astronomical observatory. The legend was that the temple was not built by human hands but by Indra, the Lord of Heaven, who sailed down to earth for the purpose. Originally all nine great pinnacles were plated with gold, while the sculptures of incredible richness, covering the walls in high and low relief, were ablaze with color. 

The central shrine contained a gold statue of Vishnu mounted on a garuda, which was taken out of its sanctuary on festival occassions.

The approach to Angkor Wat is dramatic in the extreme. The deep shade of encircling jungle opens on to a spacious expanse of water, shimmering in the sunlight, the great moat, some 600 ft wide enclosing a rectangle nearly a mile square. A single monumental causeway lined by a magnificent balustrade of hooded serpents and lions spans the moat, like an umbilical cord, affording access to the triple entrance gateways, the two wide-spreading, arcaded galleries, forming a composition no less than eight hundred feet in width.  

Angkorwat - originally named Vrah Vishnulok - the sacred abode of Lord Vishnu. 

One of the most spectacular and mesmerizing structures of astronomical significance that has ever been built is the temple of Angkor Wat in what is now Cambodia.

"Its splendid plan, the balance of its proportions, the elegance of its pillared cloisters and the beauty of its decoration make it one of the masterpieces of world architecture." 

It is a pity India has forgotten the Angkors. A visit to Siem Reap is essential to understand Hinduism and to appreciate Indian art.

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Itself a stupendous work of architecture, the proplylaeum provides a fitting prelude to the breathtaking vista that expands before one’s gaze on emerging from its dark, deliberately constricted chambers.  

A thousand foot long, raised, processional way, flanked midway by elegant library pavilions and later by immense reflecting pools – microcosms of the Cosmic Oceans – leads to a cruciform podium from which the sovereign could watch processions and the performances of the temple dancers; and up to the main structure. Here is the apotheosis of the abode of the Devarja, a temple-mountain of stupendous proportions flaring skyward in a vision of otherworldly splendor. Each of the terraces of the three-tiered pyramid has continuous galleries accented with gateways and towers, elaborate stairways, and the plan is further enriched by additional ‘libraries’ and subsidiary cruciform galleries.  

The miracle of Angkor Wat lies, above all, in the ensemble; in the fact that these numerous and complex elements have not merely been combined in an assemblage but have been orchestrated into a stupendous symphony in stone; that a Euclidean clarity of form in the total layout can be intuitively sensed by the spectator even if it can only be confirmed from the vantage point of the gods – or modern man: the air.   

Imperial Scale of Angkor Wat

A sacred site of Angkor, a sprawling archeological treasure trove covering 250 square miles of jungle in the centre of Cambodia. 

The sculptural decoration of Angkor Wat, is if anything, even more astonishing than the architecture. That the main temple alone should constitute the largest religious building in all history, covering an area as great as that of the largest pyramids, is astounding enough; that every square inch of such a structure should be carved and decorated, passes imagination. Yet so it has been, and with a loving care and skill which have infused the cold stone with pulsating life.   

Angkor Wat, in its beauty and state of preservation, is unrivaled. Its mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp and a luxury surpassing that of a Pharaoh or a Shah Jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the Pyramids, an artistic distinctiveness as fine as that of the Taj Mahal.

Angkor Wat, the largest monument of the Angkor group and the best preserved, is an architectural masterpiece. Its perfection in composition, balance, proportions, relief's and sculpture make it one of the finest monuments in the world. The general appearance of the wonder of the temple is beautiful and romantic as well as impressive and grand it must be seen to be understood and appreciated. One can never look upon the ensemble of the vat without a thrill, a pause, a feeling of being caught up onto the heavens. Perhaps it is the most impressive sight in the world of edifices.

The great Vishnu temple at Angkor Wat is known to have been built according to an astronomical plan.

Visitors are amazed at the scale of Angkor City. The complex covers around 400 square kilometers and comprises over 100 monuments and edifices of temples, sculptures, statues and incomparable bas-relief that have withstood the ravages of time.

(image source: Lost Civilizations - By Austen Atkinson p. 164).

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One stands dumbfounded at the mere thought of the labor involved in the six miles of exquisitely carved moldings on the steps which line the great moat; or at the ten thousand stone pinnacles of lace-like intricacy assembled to crown each of the five towers; or the two thousand life-size reliefs of apsaras, ranged like some celestial corps de ballet, clothed in the most gorgeous stuffs and sporting unbelievable head-dresses, no two alike; or at the acres of background ornament, carved to represent the floral patterns. One of the supreme masterpieces of world sculpture in terms of quality alone, this bas-relief is some six feet high and over a mile in length.

Exquisitely carved reliefs

Richly adorned walls of Angkor wat: The Epic Battle of Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata. The sculptural decoration of Angkor Wat, is if anything, even more astonishing than the architecture. 

Arjun and Krishna, his charioteer. The Bhagavad Gita is the essence of the symbolic meaning of the battle of Kurukshetra as a conflict between the sons of Darkness (the Kauravas) and sons of Light (the Pandavas). Arjuna is the soul of men and Krishna the charioteer of the soul.

 Lord Krishna says: "I am the seed of all things that are; not a being, standing or moving, can exist without me."

The Bhagavad Gita has influenced great Americans from Thoreau to Oppenheimer. Its message of letting go of the fruits of one’s actions is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written more than two millennia ago.  The Bhagavad Gita, a world beloved, timeless classic was treasured by American writers from Emerson to T S Eliot.

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

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The themes of the continuous reliefs are taken from Hindu epics. Particularly noteworthy are the battle scenes from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. At Angkor Wat the great battle between the forces of the demon-king and the cohorts of the monkey general is depicted with enormous verve in a monumental composition. 

In this temple, Vishnu's heaven, he was depicted as merciful and compassionate, despite his mighty power. Deep in cosmic sleep, he creates a new world. His great deeds of chivalry were described in the Mahabharata and handed down from generation to generation. They provided the sculptors of Angkor Wat with subject matter as well as inspiration for their sandstone canvases.

The most monumental relief and possibly the most magnificent, is the depicting of Samudra Manthan - ‘the Churning of the Sea of Milk’. 

The Gods and Titans (asuras) though in eternal conflict, formed a temporary alliance to procure the drink of immortality, amrita or ambrosia. The body of the Cosmic Serpent, Vasuki, an avatar of Vishnu, was twined around the ‘World Mountain’ Mount Madara placed in the primal void of the ‘Sea of Milk’ and teams of ninety-two demons and eight-eight gods ranged on either side, grasped the head and tail of the serpent and enacted a celestial tug-of-war under the direction of Vishnu. They pulled the serpent back and forth and the mountain, pivoted on the back of the Cosmic Tortoise, Kurma – yet another manifestation of Vishnu – rotated, acting as a churning stick. As the Milky Ocean turned to butter, various symbols of power and delight emerged: apasaras, jewels, a milk-white charger and elephant, and Dhanvantari, the physicians of gods, bearing a bowl of brimming with amrita.   

The proudest of achievements of the ASI - The Archaeological Survey of India has been restoration of the Samudra Manthan Gallery which, had been dismantled by the French.

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Samudra Manthan:  Lord Vishnu directing the Churning of the Milk Ocean.

The Puranic story of the Churning of the Primeval milk ocean (kshirasagara) by the gods and the demons, using the primeval serpent, Vasuki, as a rope and Mount Meru as a churning stick with Kurma, the tortoise as the base.

Fluid Elegance of Samudra Manthan: The Churning of the Milk Ocean.

Lord Vishnu at the center directing the Churning of the Milk Ocean.

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

Ravana on the left as the head of the asuras.

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

Human on the right as head of the devas.

The most monumental relief and possibly the most magnificent, is the depicting ‘the Churning of the Sea of Milk’. 

One of the supreme masterpieces of world sculpture in terms of quality alone, this bas-relief is some six feet high and over a mile in length.  

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

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Executed at it was, on a scale of imperial magnificence, the building of such a structure as Angkor Wat presupposed ‘a high degree of economic and social integration, plus a government strong enough to command the labor and talents of vast numbers of trained participants. All told, we are dealing with a concurrence of favorable circumstances on a vast scale such as has occurred only a dozen times in world history.  

Angkor Wat is the world's largest sacred building and an architectural masterpiece that took more than thirty years to build. Angkor Wat, originally named Vrah Vishnulok - the sacred abode of Lord Vishnu. For centuries it was known only to locals, existing as a myth for the rest of the world until the early 1850's, when French explorer Henri Mahout 'rediscovered' the site deep within thick jungle. It would take weeks to view all of the ruins and truly understand the magnitude of Angkor.

The sight of the ruins, he wrote in his diary, made the traveler “forget all the fatigues of the journey, filling him with admiration and delight, such as would be experienced in finding a verdant oasis in the sandy desert. Suddenly, and as if by enchantment, he seems to be transported from barbarism to civilization, from profound darkness into light.” The French (with their Eurocentric attitude) could not imagine that the Khmer kings were responsible for such monumental work. The theories as to who constructed Angkor’s monument ranged from the ancient Romans to Alexander the Great. Indeed, the structures echo styles from other monumental ruins. Angkor Wat is built in classical Indian style, and yet the numerous bas-reliefs have a strangely Egyptian character. The columns and arches at Preach Khan Temple, evoke those of the Greeks and Romans, while the Pyramid of Phimeanakas resembles those of the Maya at Tikal, Guatemala. 

Angkor wat: Hinduism’s patrimony at its most magnificent.

Angkor Wat is visually, architecturally and artistically breathtaking. It is a massive three-tiered pyramid crowned by five beehive-like towers rising 65 meters from ground level. Angkor Wat is the centerpiece of any visit to the temples of Angkor.

At the apex of Khmer political and military dominance in the region, Suryavarman II constructed Angkor Wat in the form of a massive 'temple-mountain' dedicated to the Hindu God, Vishnu.

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If you are looking for Hinduism’s patrimony at its most magnificent, you won’t find it within our borders of India. 

For that, you’ll have to take a flight to Bangkok. From there, it’s a short hop to a rural town in the middle of nowhere in Cambodia. Here in an area that stretches 25 km east to west and 10 km north to south, the local Hindu kings built a hundred or so temples in praise of Vishnu and Shiva a thousand years ago. The temple at Angkor Wat is the center piece. It rivals the monuments of ancient Greece and Rome and is the largest religious structure in the world. 

Angkor Wat is impressive for its majestic scale as well as for exquisite, intricate details. There are bas-reliefs of scenes from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. An entire stretch of wall has the Kauravas and the Pandavas in furious battle. On another wall, Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Lakshmi and even Hanuman make an appearance at the churning of the oceans.

An entire stretch of wall has the Kauravas and the Pandavas in furious Battle of Kurukshetra in the Epic of The Mahabharat.

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

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From the ninth to the fifteenth century the Khmer Empire was the greatest civilization in Southeast Asia, and gave birth to some of the world’s richest works of art. Inspiration from the magnificent temples and cities of this period, which contained exquisite carvings in wood and stone seemingly adorning every nook and cranny, and whose kingdom stretched from the coast of Vietnam to present-day Thailand. At the heart rose the magnificent towers of Angkor Wat, now a World Heritage site.

Combining great technical mastery on an unprecedented scale with extraordinary architectural and artistic innovations, Angkor Vat has a unique place in the long ancient Khmer tradition of the royal "Temple-Mountain.". Built in the 12th century in the reign of King Suryavarman II, this was the residence of Vishnu

The inspiration for Angkor architecture come from Hinduism. The early rules of Angkor promoted various Hindu sects, mainly dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu.  

Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva 
Vishnu and Shiva were later worshipped together as Harihara. 

The inspiration for Angkor architecture come from Hinduism. The early rules of Angkor promoted various Hindu sects, mainly dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu.  

Today there seems to be an active scheme to de link Hinduism from Angkor wat, much like the de linking Yoga from Hinduism in the West.

(image source: Museum Guimet).

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Visitors are amazed at the scale of Angkor City. The complex covers around 400 square kilometers and comprises over 100 monuments and edifices of temples, sculptures, statues and incomparable bas-relief that have withstood the ravages of time.

The enormous temple complexes had been expanded to the large area by successive kings. The architectural style of Angkor is largely based on Indian (Hindu) cosmology to symbolize the center of the universe and mixed with local architecture. At the fall of the Empire, the jungle reclaimed the decaying ruins until being rediscovered in 1861.

No photograph can quite capture the immensity of this monument. Some of the apparent grandeur of the complex is due to clever perspective. The tip of the central tower is only 65 meters high. However, many of the other statistics of the temple are still quite impressive. The temple is surrounded by a 200 meter wide moat (that's more than two football fields to you Americans). The main temple is built on three levels.

(image source: Angkor: Splendors of the Khmer Civilization - By Marilia Albanese p. 57).

The first level consists of an open gallery, with the inner wall continuously covered with bas-reliefs depicting the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and other stories from the Hindu pantheon. Its nearly a kilometer walk to see the whole thing, but its worth it.

Angkor Wat was built at the height of Cambodian political power in the late 8th century by King Jayavarman II (802-834), a fervent follower of Hinduism, he dedicated the temple to God Vishnu.

Angkor Wat, originally named Vrah Vishnulok - the sacred abode of Lord Vishnu. The temples were designed to represent Mount Meru, The name "Angkor" is derived from the Sanskrit word nagara meaning "city", successing kings continued the practice of building temple mountain at the heart of their capital. Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world, it measures more than a half mile long on each side. Angkor was a metropolis of a million or so people, the capital of Khmer kingdom, which flourished for 500 years, peaking in the 12th century. Angkor Wat is the most perfect of the Angkor temples. Built in monumental proportions on three levels, its symmetrical five tower layout symbolizes the peaks of Mount Meru and were designed to be a microcosm of the Hindu universe. There is not only the grandeur, for every spot in the temple is ornamented with sculptures and bas-reliefs of wonderful detail.

These relics of past grandeur bear mute testimony tone of the least known yet most glorious chapters in the history of mankind: that of the classical culture of ‘Greater India.’ 

(source: Lost Cities of Asia - By Wim Swaan  p. 148 - 160 and p. 13).

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Background of Vrah Vishnulok
Architectural Grandeur

Angkor Wat, originally named Vrah Vishnulok - the sacred abode of Lord Vishnu, is the largest temple in the world. It was built by King Suryavarman II in the 12th century. Angkor wat is often hailed as one of the most extraordinary architectural creations ever built, with its intricate bas-reliefs, strange acoustics and magnificent soaring towers.

Angkor Wat dedicated to Lord Vishnu was originally named Vrah Vishnulok - the sacred abode of Lord Vishnu.

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

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Angkor Wat is an architectural masterpiece. Built at the end of the eleventh century by King Suryavarman II, (reigned from 1113 - 1150 AD) it is larger than Paris. A shrine dedicated to Lord Vishnu, it is the largest religious building in the world and took over thirty seven years to build. 

The layout of its remarkable mathematic design forms a diagram which corresponds symbolically with the Hindu stories of the creation of the universe. 

Angkor wat was built by King Suryavarman II and was dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

Divakarapandita, the Brahmin in Suryavarman’s service, contributed to its conception and planning.

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

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Angkor Wat is the grandest and most sublime of all Khmer temples. It is the world's largest religious monument. A completely realized microcosm of the Hindu universe, culminating in the five peaks of Mt. Meru. It is an architectural masterpiece in fine proportions and rich in detail; apogee of classical, Khmer construction. 

Angkor Wat is the supreme masterpiece of the Khmer art. The great size, the perfect proportions and the astoundingly beautiful sculptress everywhere presents itself to the viewer. Its architecture is majestic and its representation of form and movement from Indian mythology and epics has astounding grace and power.  The temples are designed to teach spiritual knowledge as one traverses their interior.

Divakarapandita, the Brahmin in Suryavarman’s service, contributed to the conception and planning of Angkor wat.

Divakarapandita was from a long line of illustrious Brahmins, and he must have been quite old by Suryavarman’s accession, having served the previous two kings Jayavarman VI and Dharanindravarman I. The building of the temple commenced upon Suryavarman taking the throne and continued for approximately the next thirty years.  

In 1080, Divakara, a Brahmin who had been in the service of Harshavarman II, brought a new dynasty to the throne which was unrelated to the previous one, and crowned the new king under the name of Jayavarman VI. This king seems to have resided, not at Yashodharapura, but somewhere farther north, which is probably where his family came from. Upon his death in 1107, his elder brother Dharanindravarman, was crowned by the Brahmin Divakara; but five years later his grandnephew, who was still quite young, seized power and was in turn consecrated as king by Divakara in 1113 under the name of Suryavaman II.

(source: The Making of South East Asia - By George Coedes p. 100 – 101).

A variety of legends from Hindu texts are skillfully illustrated at Angkor wat in the reliefs of the 3^rd enclosure.  

Angkor wat’s narrative reliefs clearly refer to popular events from the Epics - The Ramayana and The Mahabharata and the Puranas, visually narrated in a way which is generally faithful to the original Sanskrit texts in terms of the plot – even down to the last detail.  Ramayana The story of Rama is the most widely diffused tale in South and Southeast Asia. In Cambodia of the Angkorean  period, it seems that the Ramayana in use pertained to Valmiki’s tradition.  

The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit word 'nagara' meaning 'holy city'. Vatika means temple. "The city which is a temple," Angkor Wat is a majestic monument, the world's largest religious construction in stone, and an architectural masterpiece.

Cambodia, the ancient Khamboja, boasts the largest temple complex in the world, named Angkor, from the Sanskrit language meaning "the capital city." It was built in the 9th century C. E. in honor of the Hindu god Vishnu. The complex extends over an area more than twice the size of Manhattan and took thirty-seven years to complete. Its physical and spiritual grandeur if found elsewhere only in ancient Greece, Egypt, and among the Mayan and Aztec civilizations. Cambodia's principle river is today called Me Kong, which is derived from India's Ma Ganga. It rises 200 feet from the Cambodian jungle floor like a gigantic mandala, its walls adorned throughout with scenes from the Hindu epic Ramayana and legends of the god Vishnu and his incarnation, Krishna. Built between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries by a succession of twelve Khmer kings, Angkor spreads over 120 square miles in Southeast Asia and includes scores of major architectural sites. In 802, when construction began on Angkor Wat, with wealth from rice and trade, Jayavarman ll took the throne, initiating an unparalleled period of artistic and architectural achievement, exemplified in the fabled ruins of Angkor, center of the ancient empire. According to the poem inscribed on its walls, the temple at Angkor Wat was not built by humans, but by Celestial architect commanded by Indra, chief of the gods

The Hydraulic Empire

Angkor is located at the foot of Mount Kulen, a large natural water-tower from where many rivers flow down. But water was an irregular resource and the surplus had to be stored for use in the dry season. The Angkorian kings understood this and chose to build barays. These were large artificial reservoirs supplied by rainfall and diverted rivers. They were well thought out: instead of digging into the ground, people raised dykes to hold water. Water would enter through the north dyke and would later be released to irrigate rice fields.  

Indratataka, Sanskrit for "Indra's basin," was the first baray. 

It was built around 880 by Indravarman I near Roluos, south of Siem Reap. The reservoir was a perfect rectangle four times longer than wide. The dykes were 2 to 5 meters high, and as much as 10 million m3 of water was stored there! The Roluos river supplied the baray, which provided for tens of thousands of people.

A baray is a water reservoir - an area of land where dikes have been raised to catch and hold water. Angkorian kings built massive barays, and such projects became one of the marks of Angkorian kingship. At the center of each baray is an island temple.

The prosperity of the Khmer state was determined by an unfailing abundance of three resources: fish, rice, and water. Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire from 802 to 1431, is well-placed on the northern margin of the Great Lake, to take advantage of the inexhaustible supply of fish which the lake produces. Equally important was plentiful water for farming rice. This water was supplied by rains and rivers, stored in artificial reservoirs, and distributed to the rice fields by irrigation canals. 

Hariharalaya is the first hydraulic city of classical Angkorian type. The baray of Lolei (Indratataka) is the first of its kind.

The first great barays in the Angkor region were Indratataka at Hariharalaya, built by Indravarman I in the late 9th century, and the East Baray at Angkor, also begun by Indravarman but completed by his son and successor, Yashovarman I. The East Baray is a monumental artificial lake measuring 1.8km by 7.5km, which is 1.1 miles wide and 4.7 miles long. As with all the great barays, it was built by excavating and piling up an enormous earthen retaining wall, about 4m-5m (14') tall, around the perimeter, so that the water was held above ground behind what is, essentially, a giant dyke. The East Baray was fed by the Siem Reap river, and would have held 37.2 million cubic meters of water at a depth of 3m (10'). (A figure of 55 million cubic meters of water is also quoted; the larger figure assumes an average water depth of 4.5m). 

The amazing scale of such a construction, and the amount of labor (about 10,000 man-years) necessary to dig and pile up the reservoir walls, can hardly be put into adequate words.

Most likely the water was used for irrigation (this has been questioned, but recent surveying and satellite imagery seem to confirm it). Waterworks on this scale must also have had stunning religious and political implications.

The major problem with the baray system was siltation - the gradual influx of sand, carried by the river, into the reservoir. The East Baray was completed around 890. During the next century, as it gradually became filled up with sand, it was periodically renovated by raising its banks, and new, smaller, barays were constructed to supplement the water supply (Srah Srang, east of Banteay Kidei, mid-10th century). The enormous West Baray was completed in the mid-11th century, followed later by diversion of the Siem Reap river around the East Baray and into excavated canals. The last great baray at Angkor was the Jayatataka, built by Jayavarman VII (1181-1218). 

What is now called the Eastern Baray was the second baray built. Work was completed in the late 10th century under Yasovarman I's rule. The baray was five times larger than Indratataka. Just imagine a 7 km-long and 2 km-wide reservoir with dykes 5 to 8 m high! Hundreds of thousands of people could be supplied with water. The Eastern Mebon, a temple-mountain dedicated to Lord Shiva, was completed later on in 953. Located in the center of the reservoir, it used to be accessible only by boat.  

The Khmer had developed an elaborate irrigation system of canals, dikes, moats, and large reservoirs. The water was drawn from the Tonle Sap, Cambodia's huge central lake, which floods 'every year during the rainy season. In the 1960s, the French archeologist Bernard-Philippe Groslier made a series of aerial photo-graphs of the district, revealing that the Khmer had harnessed the lake's flooding cycle, filling upland reservoirs to insure abundant rice crops each year. 

Agronomists rate this thousand-year-old irrigation system higher than any used by modern Cambodians.  

Map of Angkor with its barays.

(image source: www.art-and-archaeology.com).

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Srahs and barays were reservoirs, generally created by excavation and embankment respectively.

(source:  online sources).  Also refer to The application of microwave scattering mechanisms to the study of early Angkorean water management  

The laterite bridge of Kompong Kdei, known as Spean Praptos, is one of the most impressive of the Khmer barrage-bridges. It dates from the first half of the 13th century and is 285 feet (87 meters) long. The arches are very narrow because of the method of construction by a system of corbels. The architect Jacques Dumarcay has shown how these arches could be fully or partially closed in order to contain the water upriver from the bridge. This method of irrigation, where a noria was needed to contain the water subsequently used to irrigate the surrounding fields, was very different from the barray system. At the end of the bridge, there is the head and the tail of a snake with 9 heads, the naga. The bridge of Kompong Kdei built with ramparts forming a very long snake.

(source: Khmer: The Lost Empire of Cambodia - By Thierry Zephir   p. 21). 

Without doubt, the largest existing bridge from the Angkorean period, its a fantastic piece of engineering, with 21 laterite arches, its 85 metres long and is topped by an original naga balustrade and four massive naga heads. How these are still in their original location is a miracle but they are well worth investigating, as is the bridge itself.

By founding his capital at Rouluos, just southeast of Angkor, in the middle of an arid plain annually plagued by drought and flash floods, Jayavarman II bequeathed to archaeologists and other scholars a geo-climatic conundrum. What possessed him to site the nerve-center of Khmer civilization at such an environmentally unfriendly spot and how did the great city sustain itself through the centuries?  Archaeologists have postulated that the Khmers engineered a complex irrigation system to grow enough rice to feed the city's population. In this view, Angkor was a classic hydraulic society.  

In the Art of Southeast Asia, Philip Rawson writes:  

"Angkor was a capital, filled with temples and supporting many inhabitants. But its nucleus was a splendid irrigation project, based on a number of huge artificial reservoirs fed by the local rivers and linked to each other by means of rectangular grid system of canals. "The barays, or man-made lakes, were used to feed an intricate network of irrigation channels. The first baray was Lolei, built by Indravarman at the city of Rolous. "The engineering involved at Angkor," Rawson says, "was vaster and far more sophisticated than anything seen before in that part of the world." Lolei was more than 3 ½ km long and 800 m wide. The East baray was twice the size of Lolei and the West Baray, built during Udayadityavarman II's reign is thought to have held about four million cubic meters of water when full.

(source: Art of Southeast Asia - By Philip Rawson  p. 44 - 45).

A Sanskrit inscription compares the reservoirs of Angkor with the Ganges and its tributary in India, where they meet at the site of Prayag, the ancient city where Allahabad now stands:

"Prayag should be approached with the respect worthy of its proximity to the two holy waters. What can we then say of the city of Jayasri, made illustrious by the holy waters consecrated to Shiva and Vishnu and the Buddha?"

(source: Angkor: The Hidden Glories - By Michael Freeman and Roger Warner  p. 122).

Shiva Linga: the symbol of the creative potency of God.

"On the crest of this mountain of gold, in a temple of gold, shining with celestial brilliance, he erected a linga of Shiva, honored with ablutions at the prescribed times."

Kneeling in reverence, a Khmer Monarch pays homage to Lord Shiva while his personal Brahmin pours an offering of ghee over a stone lingam. The Shiva lingam symbolized Shiva as the source and creator of all life. 

(image source: Splendors of the Past: Lost Cities of the Ancient World  - National Geographic Society  p. 197). 

For more on Lord Shiva refer to chapter on Symbolism in Hinduism.

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The Royal Roads in the Khmer Empire 

The Khmer rulers placed great priority on communications within the empire, and one of the great accomplishments was the network of roads fanning out from the capital. These are mentioned in several inscriptions, and although over much of their length the actual highway has disappeared, the routes can be traced by means of various constructions – bridges, rest-house chapels and hospital chapels, particularly from the reign of King Jayavarman VII. 

In addition, maps and aerial photography reveal some stretches. One of the most important of the royal roads was that connecting Angkor to Phimai, about 225 km in length. Others ran from the capital to Beng Mealea and Preah Khan of Kompong Svai to the east, to Koh Ker and probably on to Champa (to the north-east), to Kompong Thom and Sambor Prei Kuk (to the south-east), and towards present day Sisiphon (to the west). Although the bridges and chapels, and much of the highway construction, belong to the reign of Jayavarman VII, some of these roads must have been in use long before, simply because of the dates of the cities and temples they connected. 

The royal road to Phimai almost certainly existed at the time that King Suryavarman II came to power at the beginning of the 12^th century, and probably considerably earlier. Phimai was then a major center, and the road had both military and trade importance. Today, the only part of the original road that is drive able is Route 2163 that enters the town of Phimai in Thailand.

(source: A Guide to Khmer Empire in Thailand and Laos - By Michael Freeman   p. 154).

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John Audric ( ?  ) has observed: "The bas-reliefs are one of Angkor Wat’s greatest treasures and outstanding attractions. In the lower terrace they continue for over half a mile, which gives some idea of the vastness of the temple. Every stone is decorated. The bas-reliefs are about 8 feet high. The whole effect is that of an almost endless tapestry in stone. The subjects are principally religious, of legends and of war. 

"The scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharat take up nearly half a mile, and the total number of figures of men, animals and birds has been calculated to be nearly 20,000. There are combats between opposing forces who are mounted on elephants. Hundreds of elephants have been sculptured on the walls, and illustrate some incidents from these two epics; warriors fighting from chariots, scenes from the lives of the God Rama and his wife Sita, who was kidnapped by the demon Ravana, armies of men and monkeys. Vast stretches depict Khmer victories on land and sea, naval pageants, victory marches with bands and banners. The God Vishnu is mounted on a garuda; there are invocations to the Hindu trinity, goddesses, and guardian deities."

The sculptors were fortunate in being provided with a most sensitive, ideal and endless canvas upon which to exercise their talents. This was polished sandstone. They used about 4,000 feet of it. The bas-reliefs decorate eight panels, four of which are over 100 yards long. Everything about Angkor Wat is on a massive and lavish scale, as if time, expense and labor were of little importance. The bas reliefs in the majority of cases are executed with exquisite beauty, and the most minute attention to detail, symmetry and proportion."

(source: Angkor and the Khmer empire - By John Audric p. 139 - 140).

The entire temple is richly decorated with splendid reliefs, mainly of the narrative type which are visual retellings of episodes from the two Sanskrit Epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana and the Puranas, and as such, they can be considered a narrative genre in their own right. The proliferation of narrative reliefs in Cambodia since Agkorean times suggests that they had become a popular device for communicating religious beliefs and historic events through the medium of 'stone writings.' 

The large relief panels of the galleries of the 3^rd enclosure are the first narrative reliefs, that one encounters when entering the temple. They surprised the first explorers and still astonish the modern visitor. Due to their great beauty and rich narrative content, they made Angkor Wat famous. The Large Panels, are sculpted in the long galleries forming the rectangular perimeter of the temple proper, and on entering the enclosure they immediately engage the eye, drawing the visitor along the galleries. The panels’ dimensions are enormous, ranging from 48.35 to 93.60 meters in length and of over 2.40 meters in length.  

Unquestionably, the Large Panels are, together with the reliefs from the western corner pavilions,  an outstanding contribution to the sacredness of Angkor Wat.

Description of the Reliefs

The Epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata have both contributed in a big way to enrich the folklore of not just India but most of South east Asia. 

According to Sir C Rajagopalchari, the first Indian Governor General of Independent India, Mahabharata and Ramayana are noble poems transcending national and religious frontiers, and belong to the whole world and human family. They possess in supreme degree the characteristics of a true epic, great and fateful movement, heroic characters and stately diction. 

According to Sir C Rajagopalchari, the first Indian Governor General of Independent India, Mahabharata and Ramayana are noble poems transcending national and religious frontiers, and belong to the whole world and human family. 

Both Ramayana and Mahabharata are not mere epics but romances too, telling the tales of heroic men and women, and of some who were divine. 

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

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Both Ramayana and Mahabharata are not mere epics but romances too, telling the tales of heroic men and women, and of some who were divine. The contain a code of life, a philosophy of social and ethical relations, speculative thought on human problems that are hard to rival. Above all, they carry divine wisdom through the lives of human folks, like us and not super humans. Both epics are symbolic of the duality of nature: earh-water, day-night, love-hate, comfort-pain, sweet-sour, truth-falsehood, violence-non-violence, good-evil, peace-war, and so forth.

A variety of Indian sacred stories and legends from Hindu epics are skillfully illustrated at Angkor Wat in the reliefs of the third enclosure.

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The Mahabharata Gallery:

Battle of Lanka

The reliefs of the northern portion of this western gallery illustrate a renowned episode of the Ramayana, the Indian epic tale which recounts the exploits of Prince Rama (an avatar of Vishnu). We see here the Battle of Lanka, in which Rama's monkey army led by the monkey General Hanuman fights the Demon King Ravana's army. Rama's army seeks to rescue his wife Sita, who has been captured and held hostage in Lanka, Ravana's island kingdom.

Ravana in battle with Lord Ram.

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

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The sequence of this bas-relief depicts battle between Rama and Ravana. This is one of the best executed panels, as the figures are exquisitely carved, especially the depiction of monkeys fighting with the soldiers of Ravana. The ferocious fight between monkeys and the enemy is seen all over, and then suddenly at the ninth bay the graceful figures of Rama and Lakshmana stand.  

The Battle between the Devas and the Asuras

The Western wing of the northern gallery is given over to a great battle between the devas and asuras extending for 93.60 meters. Hinduism greatest deities shown in heroic posture and size, riding their mounts. Vishnu/Krishna on Garuda, Indra on Airavata, Yama on his buffalo, Skanda on his peacock, Agni on his rhinoceros.

Yama: Lord of Death on his buffalo.

(image source: Sacred Angkor: the Carved Reliefs of Angkor wat - By Vittorio Roveda  p. 47)..

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The rest of the chapter continues at the link listed below:

Sacred Angkor part 2
Sacred Angkor part 3
Sacred Angkor part 4

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The ancient Ta Prohm (Grandfather Brahma) temple in Cambodia will be restored to its pristine glory, thanks to a new proposal envisaged by the Cambodian government involving Indian agencies.   

The ancient Ta Prohm temple in Cambodia will be restored to its pristine glory, thanks to a new proposal envisaged by the Cambodian government involving Indian agencies.

For the restoration work at the Ta Prohm, which is dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses, the Cambodian government has roped in the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehra Dun.

While the restoration work on various idols would be undertaken by the ASI, the preservation of scores of ancient trees in the vicinity of the temple complex would be done by the FRI. The FRI, which is one of the world’s largest institutes of its kind, will undertake a foreign assignment for the first time. “We have been asked to conserve the trees inside the temple complex,” Dr S S Negi, Director of the FRI said. 
There are an estimated 250 ancient trees in the temple complex here, Dr Negi added.

The Ta Prohm temple — which was constructed in 1139 — is situated in the Siemreap city of Cambodia. The temple is dedicated to Lord Brahma among other gods.

The FRI has developed its expertise in silviculture and documented nearly 550 tree species in Asia. A team of experts from the Forest Research Institute would be travelling to Cambodia next week, Dr Negi said.

(source: ASI set to renovate temple in Cambodia - deccanherald.com).

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Vajpayee tree amid Cambodian temple ruins

Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Dec 7 2002:  Shaped like a dancer's body, a 200 -year-old tree standing tall amidst the Ta Prohm ruins near the historic Angkor Wat temple site has a special connection with India.

It is called the Vajpayee Tree, after former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

"Everyone here calls it the Vajpayee Tree," said Pradeep Kumar Kapur, India's ambassador to Cambodia. "Earlier it was called the Dancing Tree because it is shaped like the body of a dancer." But then Vajpayee came to the site in 2002, on a visit to Cambodia, and the name changed. "He had become very poetic under this tree, very touched, very moved by its beauty and since then the tree has been called Vajpayee Tree. "Everyone calls it by that name."   

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is helping Cambodia conserve the 13th century Ta Prohm, a bit of which crumbles every monsoon, for around a decade after it helped clean up and conserve the ancient Angkor Wat monuments. 

An ASI team is working in the ruins of the temple built by King Jayavarman VII which was essentially a sprawling monastic complex.

"India is providing around $4.2 million to help conserve this complex," said Kapur, as he showed participants of the first India-ASEAN rally, as it passed through Cambodia on its 20-day, eight-nation journey, around the ruins filled with images of Lord Vishnu and dancing celestial beauties.

"We are working to maintain this unique and wonderful heritage."

India had spent $4 million on the restoration work of the Angkor Wat during 1986-93. "Last time, we cleaned the moss that was growing on the stones," said Chandra Mohan Bhandari, former Indian ambassador to Cambodia and author of "Saving Angkor".

"It is because of our work that a lot of the Angkor monuments could be saved."

Ta Prohm is only partially cleared of jungle overgrowth. Massive fig and silk-cotton trees grow from its towers and into its corridors giving a unique trees- merging-into-temples look. Flocks of noisy parrots flit from tree to tree, sometimes sitting on the gaping holes on the walls, where precious stones once sat. Enormously wealthy in its time, Ta Prohm controlled 3,000 villages and a population of almost 80,000 people. "We are doing our best so that the splendour of this monument is kept intact," said Kapur.

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Updated - October 28, 2008