Angkor Wat in Cambodia-World’s largest Hindu Temple Complex: Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Angkor Wat in Cambodia

World’s largest Hindu Temple Complex

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

I have come to Singapore, where my son Aditya is working for Google as its Human Resources Director for Asia-Pacific Countries, with my wife on August 15^th 2012. After few days spending in Singapore, four of us (I, my son Aditya, daughter-in-law Parul and wife Vijayalaxmi along with two year old granddaughter Kanak) planned a visit to Cambodia for three days. We reached Siem Reap-a town with half a million population-on 24^th August. For an Indian the Visa requirement for Cambodia is Visa on arrival. It took us just couple of minutes in the Air Port to complete the formality. But to our surprise we were asked a Tip as bribe by the immigration authorities which we refused. They did not insist too. Later we came to know that Cambodia is one of the corrupt countries and ahead of at least 170 world nations in corruption. But the people are courteous. The Hotel “Borei Angkor Resort and Spa” where we have a reservation sent a Vehicle to pick-up us from Air Port.

Four of us in front of a Lion Statue in the Resort

Aptly named after a “territory of Angkor” in Cambodian, Borei Angkor Resort and Spa, a truly Cambodian five-star hotel-is set right in the center of Siem Reap, where privacy and connectivity blend together to form a perfect base for exploring the "Kingdom of Wonder". Borei Angkor Resort is ideally situated within 7 km from airport, 7 km from Angkor Wat, and within 5 minutes drive of the main shops center, Night Market and restaurants in Siem Reap. The evening we hired two “Tuk-Tuk”s-similar to an Indian auto but slightly different. Tuk-Tuk is a motor cycle or a moped welded or tagged to a four seated compartment with the Top covered. The driver is not protected from sun and rain like that of an auto. We spent that evening till late in the night in the night market which is a great attraction in Cambodia. Like in India’s crowded market streets where we can buy any item after considerable bargain here in Siem Reap it is done the same way.

Tuk-Tuk

Most of the transactions in Cambodia are made in US Dolores. Each Dolor is equivalent to 4000 Riel. The riel is the currency of Cambodia. The first riel was issued between 1953 and May 1975. Between 1975 and 1980, the country had no monetary system. A second currency, also named "riel", has been issued since April 1, 1980. However, this currency has never gained much public acceptance, with most Cambodians preferring foreign currency. The UN peacekeeping operation of 1993 injected a large quantity of U.S. dollars into the local economy. As a result, the dollar has become the country's common currency. Riel notes are used for fractional dollar amounts as U.S. coins are not in circulation.  Our dinner bill in the night market amounted to 90, 000 riel!

For the next two days we planned a visit to the world famous Angkor Wat-the largest Hindu temple complex in the world and accordingly requested the Resort’s Hospitality unit to make arrangements. 160 Dolores-45 Dolores for the Vehicle, 35 Dolores for the guide, 80 Dolores for four of us towards entry fee-is all that we needed to spend per day to visit the site. We spent the whole of the first day and the second day morning there.

Long Shot taken in front of the Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat temple was built by King Suryavarman-II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual burial chamber. Breaking from the Shaivism tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation–first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the Devatas in Hindu mythology. It is surrounded by a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometers long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer. Prior to this the temple was known as Preah Pisnulok (Vara Vishnuloka in Sanskrit). Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometers north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centered at Baphuon. The Baphuon is a temple built in the mid-11th century at Angkor and dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. 

Before reaching the site the visitor requires buying at least a one day entry pass paying 20 Dolores each (for more than a day there are concessional rates) with a photo identity and has to be shown at the entrance. The passes are issued by “Apsara Authority”. One need to walk four to five kilometers distance, often climbing up and getting down wooden stories as well as occasionally passing through narrow doors. The day we visited there was intermittent rain and we had to protect from it. The second day early morning when we visited it was still dark and as there was no power supply we used to battery. We had to wait till 6-20 hours for the sun rise between two gopuras, the shade of which could be seen in the waters below-fantastic scene to watch!

            

Angkor Wat Work seems to have ended shortly after the king Suryavarman's death, leaving some of the work unfinished. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometers to the north. In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat was never completely abandoned. Its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle. Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation. Work was interrupted by the civil war during the 1970s and 1980s. The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States and its neighbor Thailand.

            

The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. Cambodia, which was a protectorate of France since 1863, gained independence on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time. During the midst of the Vietnam War, Chief of State Norodom Sihanouk hosted Jacqueline Kennedy in Cambodia to fulfill her "lifelong dream of seeing Angkor Wat".

Angkor Wat is a unique combination of the influences from temples of Orissa and the Chola of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods. The central quincunx-an arrangement of five objects in a square with four at the corners and one in the center-of towers symbolizes the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture. Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and for hidden structural parts.

            

The outer wall, 1024 by 802 meters and 4.5 meters high, is surrounded by a 30 meter apron of open ground and a moat 190 meter wide. Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to the west; the latter, the main entrance, is a later addition, possibly replacing a wooden bridge. There are gopuras at each of the cardinal points-the directions of north, east, south, and west. The western is by far the largest and has three ruined towers.

Under the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu, known as Ta Reach, which may originally have occupied the temple's central shrine. Galleries run between the towers and as far as two further entrances on either side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are large enough to admit those animals. These galleries have square pillars on the outer (west) side and a closed wall on the inner (east) side. The ceiling between the pillars is decorated with lotus decorations; the west face of the wall with dancing figures; and the east face of the wall with threatened windows, dancing male figures on prancing animals, and Devatas, including (south of the entrance) the only one in the temple to be showing her teeth.

            Jwala and Mrs Jwala in front of Vishnu Deity

A gallery is a passageway running along the wall of an enclosure or along the axis of a temple, often open to one or both sides. Historically, the form of the gallery evolved during the 10th century from the increasingly long hallways which had earlier been used to surround the central sanctuary of a temple. A gopura is an entrance building. At Angkor, passage through the enclosure walls surrounding a temple compound is frequently accomplished by means of an impressive gopura, rather than just an opening in the wall or a doorway. Enclosures surrounding a temple are often constructed with a gopura at each of the four cardinal points. The temple locates on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. These galleries are dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, and Vishnu. Because the temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.

            

The outer gallery measures 187 by 215 meters, with pavilions rather than towers at the corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned half-galleries extending and supporting the structure. Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is the "Hall of a Thousand Gods". Buddha images were left there by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed or heads chopped off. This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese.

Gallery View

            

The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava clans). On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hells and 37 heavens of Hindu mythology. On the eastern gallery is one of the most celebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea of Milk, showing 92 Asuras and 88 Devatas using the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea under Vishnu's direction It is followed by Vishnu defeating Asuras. The northern gallery shows Krishna's victory over Bana and a battle between the Hindu gods and Asuras. The north-west and south-west corner pavilions both feature much smaller-scale scenes, some unidentified but most from the Ramayana or the life of Krishna.

            

The monument was made out of enormous amounts of sandstone, as much as Khafre's pyramid in Egypt (over 5 million tons). This sandstone had to be transported from Mount Cullen, a quarry approximately 40 kilometers to the northeast. The stone was presumably transported by raft along the Siem Reap River. This would have to have been done with care to avoid overturning the rafts with such a large amount of weight. One modern engineer estimated it would take 300 years to complete Angkor Wat today. Virtually all of its surfaces, columns, lintels even roofs are carved.

Temple with shade seen in waters 

There are miles of reliefs illustrating scenes from Indian literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader and celestial dancing girls with elaborate hair styles. The gallery wall alone is decorated with almost 1,000 square meters of bas reliefs. Holes on some of the Angkor walls indicate that they may have been decorated with bronze sheets. These were highly prized in ancient times and were a prime target for robbers.

            

The Archaeological Survey of India carried out restoration work on the temple between 1986 and 1992. Since the 1990s, Angkor Wat has seen continued conservation efforts and a massive increase in tourism. The temple is part of the Angkor World Heritage Site, established in 1992, which has provided some funding and has encouraged the Cambodian government to protect the site. The German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) is working to protect the Devatas and other bas reliefs-sculpture in which the design projects slightly from a flat background, but without any part being totally detached from the background-which decorates the temple from damage. The organization’s survey found that around 20% of the Devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone but in part also due to earlier restoration efforts. Other work involves the repair of collapsed sections of the structure, and prevention of further collapse.

Crowd waiting to see sun rise in the morning

Angkor Wat has become a major tourist destination and every day thousands of visitors come there from several countries.

Jwala and Mrs Jwala praying in front of rising sun