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** Brain Full. Information overload **
** Brain Full. Information overload **
If a human face could emulate the Blue Screen of Death, I think we could do a good job of it this evening. Our heads were spinning with the names of various Khmer Kings, temples, and gods from Hindu Mythology and their interrelationships. I'm not sure how much I want to bore you with details, since you can easily look all of these up on Wikipedia, the de-facto repository for all human knowledge.
Just to keep this blog entry from becoming a Homeric Epic, I think I will divide this day up into several sections:
Note that the various guidebooks I'm using differ slightly in dates / dimensions / interpretations / spellings of the monuments, so details will vary depending on your source.
Just to keep this blog entry from becoming a Homeric Epic, I think I will divide this day up into several sections:
- The morning's Angkor Temples and Monuments
- The afternoon's visit of Angkor Wat
- A bit of a synopsis of Angkor history/religion
- Some overall thoughts impressions
Note that the various guidebooks I'm using differ slightly in dates / dimensions / interpretations / spellings of the monuments, so details will vary depending on your source.
We met our guide, Thany, at the hotel at 8AM. From there, we went to Prasat Kravan. This smallish brick temple with its 5 towers was built in 921 AD (1086 years ago - wow). The temple was dedicated to Vishnu, and the central tower has an impressive brick carving cut into the interior wall of Vishnu, in his incarnation as the dwarf Vamana. The north tower had an equally impressive carving of Lakshmi, Vishnu's consort.
Next we went to Sra Srang, which is a huge 400m x 800m rectangular man-make lake. Originally build in the 10th century as a water reservoir, in the 12th century it was remodelled into a royal swimming pool. Assuming that the pool is 1.5 m deep on average, and topsoil is 1.5 tonnes/cubic metre, that amounts to moving three-720,000 tonnes of dirt. Moved using slave labour with shovels. For a swimming pool. It's good to be king.
Adjacent to Sra Srang was Banteay Kdei, a massive Buddhist monastery built in the 12th Century by Jayavarman VII (henceforth known as JV7). The outer wall measures 500m by 700m and enclosed a small town. The temple itself consists of two galleried enclosures, and was about 58m x 60m.
Following this, we went to Ta Prohm, an even more massive Buddhist temple, also built in the late 12th / early 13th centuries by JV7. The outer wall measures 650m x 1000m. It probably has the most surreal ambiance of all the temples, like a Salvador Dali painting. Over the years massive trees have grown over the temples, the roots intricately intertwining with the masonry. Because they would be very difficult to remove without severely damaging the temple, they have been left in place. Hence, with a bit of imagination, Ta Prohm gives you a pretty good idea of what most of the temples looked like when the first Europeans stumbled across them, that ruins-swallowed-up-by-the-jungle feeling. This temple is where one of the scenes of the Tomb Raider movie was shot, and seems to be quite popular because of it.
Following that, we did a brief stop at Ta Keo, built by Jayavarman V, in the 10th century, and dedicated to Shiva. This was a giant 'temple mountain', and one of the first such temples to be built out of sandstone. It's five temple 'peaks' symbolize the mythical Mt. Meru. Apparently, JV5 died before it was completed, since its carvings had only just begun when all work on it was stopped.
The next temple we saw (and this was becoming a blur now) was Thommanom, built in the early 12th Century by Suryavarman II and dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu. Although a relatively minor temple, the sandstone relief carvings were quite impressive.
Next we came upon Angkor Thom (lit. Great Angkor or Great City), which was actually a walled city, some 9 square km in area. The wall around this city is 8m high, and 3km on a side. This wall was encircled by a moat 100 m wide and was said to contain crocodiles to keep intruders out. Again: 12,000m moat perimeter, 100m wide, 1.5m deep @ 1.5 tonnes/m^3, means that 2.7 million tonnes of dirt had to be shovelled by hand. The manpower used to build these structures staggers the imagination.
There were five monumental gates, each topped with a massive stone Buddha face. We went through the central Victory (East) Gate, and went to see the Terrace of the Leper King, which is a 7m high platform. The retaining wall of the terrace contains stunning sandstone carvings of apsaras, or celestial dancers (a very common, amost iconic motif here in Angkor). On top of the terrace is a mysterious nude, sexless statue, which is believed to be a statue of the Hindu god Yama, the god of Death. Possibly because of the patchy/mossy exterior, resembling someone with leprosy, the statue became known as the Leper King. The naming probably reflects legends that two of the Angkor kings were afflicted with the disease.
Following this, we proceeded to the Terrace of the Elephants, a 350m long terrace which was used as a giant stage for public ceremonies and a base for the king's grand audience. The middle section of the retaining wall is decorated with life-sized garudas (bird-men) and lions. And the outer ends are carvings of the parade of elephants for which the terrace is named. One can imagine the spectacle of soldiers, cavalry, chariots pulled by horses and elephants parading in procession before the terrace, before a god-king in full royal costume attended to by a plethora of servants. It's good to be king.
Next on the itinerary was Phimeanakas, a relatively small (35m x 38m x 12m high) pyramid that was part of the Royal Palace, built by Jayavarman V in the late 10th / early 11th centuries. It was here in the santuary of Phimeanakas that the king would sleep nightly with one of his 3000 girlfriends (that's a different one every night for 8.2 years, folks) . Needless to say, the queen was not allowed inside. I've said it before, and I'll emphasize it again: it's good to be king! (As an aside, you really have to wonder how many karma points you have to save up before you get reincarnated into a station of life like that).
Next we visited the Baphuon, built in the middle of the 11th century by Udaydityavarman II (shortened to Udaydityavar for his friends ;-), and dedicated to Shiva. This is a enormous, five tiered mountain temple (again, representing Mt. Meru), that was probably very impressive in its heyday, being over 43m high. In the late 15th century, it was converted to a Buddhist temple, with a large reclining Buddha being added. Unfortunately, it is undergoing a massive 10 year restoration project, so we could only walk around the temple, as opposed to explore it.
The next stop was the Bayon, built by the prolific JV7 in the late 12th/early 13th centuries. This is also one of the most iconic of the Angkor temples, and one of my favourites. Not only is it fairly large, but quite complex and dense in its design. It is composed of two enclosed galleries, and built on three levels. The galleries contain impressive bas-relief carvings, primarily of various battles between the Khmers and their nemesis, the Chams. For me, the highlight was the upper terrace of the third level. It is here that you can see the 37 remaining towers (there were originally 49), with each tower having a large Buddha face on all 4 sides (technically the face of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, but suspiciously bearing a strong resemblance to JV7 himself). The faces are simultaneously tranquil and eerie with their subdued smile and eyes closed in contemplation. The terrace's labyrinthine qualities made it easy to lose yourself in the architecture, and winding your way along the corridors, stairwells, and chambers, you would encounter the enigmatic faces at various angles, or though the windows and door frames. The experience of wandering around was almost surreal... it was like being lost in an Escher sketch (as opposed to an etch-a-sketch).Next we went to Sra Srang, which is a huge 400m x 800m rectangular man-make lake. Originally build in the 10th century as a water reservoir, in the 12th century it was remodelled into a royal swimming pool. Assuming that the pool is 1.5 m deep on average, and topsoil is 1.5 tonnes/cubic metre, that amounts to moving three-720,000 tonnes of dirt. Moved using slave labour with shovels. For a swimming pool. It's good to be king.
Adjacent to Sra Srang was Banteay Kdei, a massive Buddhist monastery built in the 12th Century by Jayavarman VII (henceforth known as JV7). The outer wall measures 500m by 700m and enclosed a small town. The temple itself consists of two galleried enclosures, and was about 58m x 60m.
Following this, we went to Ta Prohm, an even more massive Buddhist temple, also built in the late 12th / early 13th centuries by JV7. The outer wall measures 650m x 1000m. It probably has the most surreal ambiance of all the temples, like a Salvador Dali painting. Over the years massive trees have grown over the temples, the roots intricately intertwining with the masonry. Because they would be very difficult to remove without severely damaging the temple, they have been left in place. Hence, with a bit of imagination, Ta Prohm gives you a pretty good idea of what most of the temples looked like when the first Europeans stumbled across them, that ruins-swallowed-up-by-the-jungle feeling. This temple is where one of the scenes of the Tomb Raider movie was shot, and seems to be quite popular because of it.
Following that, we did a brief stop at Ta Keo, built by Jayavarman V, in the 10th century, and dedicated to Shiva. This was a giant 'temple mountain', and one of the first such temples to be built out of sandstone. It's five temple 'peaks' symbolize the mythical Mt. Meru. Apparently, JV5 died before it was completed, since its carvings had only just begun when all work on it was stopped.
The next temple we saw (and this was becoming a blur now) was Thommanom, built in the early 12th Century by Suryavarman II and dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu. Although a relatively minor temple, the sandstone relief carvings were quite impressive.
Next we came upon Angkor Thom (lit. Great Angkor or Great City), which was actually a walled city, some 9 square km in area. The wall around this city is 8m high, and 3km on a side. This wall was encircled by a moat 100 m wide and was said to contain crocodiles to keep intruders out. Again: 12,000m moat perimeter, 100m wide, 1.5m deep @ 1.5 tonnes/m^3, means that 2.7 million tonnes of dirt had to be shovelled by hand. The manpower used to build these structures staggers the imagination.
There were five monumental gates, each topped with a massive stone Buddha face. We went through the central Victory (East) Gate, and went to see the Terrace of the Leper King, which is a 7m high platform. The retaining wall of the terrace contains stunning sandstone carvings of apsaras, or celestial dancers (a very common, amost iconic motif here in Angkor). On top of the terrace is a mysterious nude, sexless statue, which is believed to be a statue of the Hindu god Yama, the god of Death. Possibly because of the patchy/mossy exterior, resembling someone with leprosy, the statue became known as the Leper King. The naming probably reflects legends that two of the Angkor kings were afflicted with the disease.
Following this, we proceeded to the Terrace of the Elephants, a 350m long terrace which was used as a giant stage for public ceremonies and a base for the king's grand audience. The middle section of the retaining wall is decorated with life-sized garudas (bird-men) and lions. And the outer ends are carvings of the parade of elephants for which the terrace is named. One can imagine the spectacle of soldiers, cavalry, chariots pulled by horses and elephants parading in procession before the terrace, before a god-king in full royal costume attended to by a plethora of servants. It's good to be king.
Next on the itinerary was Phimeanakas, a relatively small (35m x 38m x 12m high) pyramid that was part of the Royal Palace, built by Jayavarman V in the late 10th / early 11th centuries. It was here in the santuary of Phimeanakas that the king would sleep nightly with one of his 3000 girlfriends (that's a different one every night for 8.2 years, folks) . Needless to say, the queen was not allowed inside. I've said it before, and I'll emphasize it again: it's good to be king! (As an aside, you really have to wonder how many karma points you have to save up before you get reincarnated into a station of life like that).
Next we visited the Baphuon, built in the middle of the 11th century by Udaydityavarman II (shortened to Udaydityavar for his friends ;-), and dedicated to Shiva. This is a enormous, five tiered mountain temple (again, representing Mt. Meru), that was probably very impressive in its heyday, being over 43m high. In the late 15th century, it was converted to a Buddhist temple, with a large reclining Buddha being added. Unfortunately, it is undergoing a massive 10 year restoration project, so we could only walk around the temple, as opposed to explore it.
From here, we departed Angkor Thom, leaving through the south gate, and headed to just outside Angkor Wat, where we stopped for lunch at 1 PM... yes folks that's right.... all that in 5 hours; it hardly seemed to do it justice. Stay tuned for the afternoon's exploration on Angkor Wat.
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