Angkor Wat of Cambodia

Largest (Hindu-Buddhist) Temple Complex in the World

Travelogue 31

“One of these temples, a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo, might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.”

Alexandre Henri Mouhot

French Naturalist and Explorer, 1860

Aerial View of Angkor Wat

(Photo: Peter Garnhum, CC BY-NC 2.0)

Overview

All over the world, religious monuments take pride of place.  Indeed, most of the greatest monuments in the ancient world are also religious monuments.  Here are some of them that I have visited (in no particular order): Prambanan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey; The Brihadeeshwara Temple, Thanjavur, India; The Kailasanatha Temple, Ellora, India; Christ the Redeemer Statue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Srirangam Temple, Tiruchirapalli, India; Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India, Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto, Japan; The Luxor Temple, Luxor, Egypt. 

But the largest and best of these, though not in terms of quality of preservation, is Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the subject of this article. It is in fact the largest religious monument in the whole world, a not too well-known fact because of its poor quality of preservation as also because of its location, in one of the poorest countries in the world, ruled for long by oppressive and totalitarian regimes.

Angkor Wat, literally meaning ‘city temple’, was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II (see picture of bas relief below) in the twelfth century and dedicated to the Hindu deity Vishnu.  Its original name is not known definitively, but could have been the Sanskrit name Vrah Visnuloka or Parama Visnuloka. Khmer is an ancient kingdom in Southeast Asia that reached the peak of its power in the 11th century, when it ruled over the whole of the Mekong valley from its capital at Angkor.  It was representative of how far Indosphere had reached southeast Asia. Both Sanskrit and Pali were influential languages as in other southeast Asian countries.

Today, Angkor Wat has become such an important symbol for Cambodia that the nation’s flag has its silhouette emblazoned on it.  Tourism is a major source of income for the country, accounting for about 12% of its GDP. Before the Covid 19 setback, Cambodia saw an annual tourist inflow of around 6.6 million, most of them also visiting Angkor Wat. 

Spread over a huge area of 402 acres (see aerial view above), Angkor Wat is the amalgamation of two basic design features of Khmer temple architecture: the temple-mountain at the heart and a galleried outer structure around it. It is designed to represent the exalted Mount Meru, home of the devas (gods) in Hindu mythology. Within a moat more than 5 kilometres long and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres long (see picture below) are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre stands a quincunx (an arrangement of five objects with four at the corners of a square or rectangle and the fifth at its centre) of towers as can be seen in the previous aerial picture.

According to ancient Sanskrit and Khmer texts, religious monuments must be organized in such a way that they are in harmony with the universe, meaning that the structure should be planned to accord with the rising sun and moon, in addition to symbolizing the recurrent sequences of days, months and years. Angkor Wat seems to embody this requirement.

The building of Angkor Wat appears to have involved about 300,000 workers, including architects, construction workers, masons, sculptors and support workers. Construction of the complex took over 30 years and was never really completed in all respects. It was nearly as demanding an endeavour as the building of the Egyptian Pyramids.  Remarkably, the temple is built entirely out of sandstone fetched from quite some distance.  Almost every surface is intricately engraved with narrative or decorative details, illustrating tales from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as also scenes featuring animals like unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots, as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader, and celestial dancing girls (apsaras) with elaborate hairstyles and ornaments. The gallery wall alone is decorated with almost one thousand square meters of bas reliefs. Holes on some of the walls indicate that they may have been decorated with bronze sheets. 

The picture below is a depiction of a battle scene in Lanka:

The Journey

Although I had a general idea, the first time I heard about the greatness of Angkor Wat was from my esteemed friend and colleague Dr C Seshadri who recounted some highlights of his visit to Angkor Wat and urged me to do so as well.  It was many years later that I could do so, as part of an extended trip that included Cambodia and Thailand.

I reached Siem Reap, the second largest city in Cambodia and the location of many of its greatest archaeological treasures, by a flight via Singapore, on 9 Mar 2018. The airport was small (see picture below), one of the smallest I have experienced anywhere, and visa could be obtained on arrival.  I didn’t have to wait too long to get it.

Though taxis were available, I chose to get into a tuk-tuk, the Thai and Cambodian equivalent of the auto-ricksha, also very familiar on Indian roads. Though motorised, it is driven quite slowly everywhere, with the driver sitting as on a cycle ricksha.  He drove me at a leisurely pace through a highway with light traffic and dropped me off at the impressive hotel pictured below where I had taken out an online reservation. It was located on the main thoroughfare, with many such hotels serving the needs of foreign tourists.

The visit

The hotel manager readily fixed up a full day tour of Angkor Wat and neighbouring attractions with a tuk-tuk driver at a reasonable price, but payable only in US$, something that was the norm where tourists were concerned because, as I discovered later, the Cambodian currency was virtually worthless.  The driver could understand simple English and made himself understood quite well mainly through monosyllables supported by sign language.  Our first halt was at the ticket centre at the outskirts of the city where I had to show my passport and purchase a full day ticket, again paying in US$. Here is a picture of the beautiful building where this was done:

Then the tuk-tuk started on a fairly long journey to the huge temple complex.  Here is the picture I shot from inside as he was driving past one side of the long moat around Angkor Wat, in such serene surroundings that I felt it was indeed a shame I was not walking instead of riding in undue comfort. 

Soon, the vehicle reached the large parking area far in front of the main entrance to the temple complex, quite early in the morning, and we were early arrivals too.  The driver thoughtfully advised me to take a picture of his vehicle so that I would be able to locate it easily on my return from the visit. I did better than that, capturing the picture (see below) along with him standing right next to it, quite an impressive figure!

As I looked around, I could see the majestic Angkor Wat far away, silhouetted against the early morning eastern sky (see picture below).  The entire quincunx of towers could be seen at one glance.  It was indeed a spectacular sight, though the details of the structure were missing because of the backlighting. 

Entry to the interior of the complex was through a long causeway across the water filled moat as can be seen in the picture below, which shows a long line of visitors far away, crossing over to the other side.

Restoration

Angkor Wat and other ancient structures in Cambodia have suffered extensive damage and deterioration by a combination of plant overgrowth, fungal attacks, advancing forest, ground movements, vandalism, and theft, as is often the case with ancient artifacts (Egyptian ones came particularly to my mind, after having visited that country two years previously).  Restoration has received major attention and there have been extensive efforts initiated by other countries such as France and India, besides an international initiative spearheaded by UNESCO. One example of this was immediately apparent at the western entrance through the causeway.  It is a beautifully restored head of a naga (mythical half-serpent half-human being) as can be seen in the picture below. It stands in sharp contrast to the unrestored lion right next to it.

A Major Restoration Project

The poster below, displayed prominently at the long ‘churning of the sea of milk’ (samudra manthana in Sanskrit) gallery pictured in the next photograph, describes a major project undertaken at one of the inner courtyards of Angkor Wat.

The celebrated ‘churning of the sea of milk’ gallery (see pictures below) is one of four such long galleries adorning the four sides of Angor Wat, each about 50 m long. It is the eastern gallery, showing 92 asuras and 88 devas using the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea under Vishnu's direction (seen at the centre of the second picture, which is of a small segment of the previous one). In its symbolism, it depicts a fascinating story about the beginning of time and the creation of the universe. It is also a story about the victory of good over evil, of devas over the asuras.

Inner Courtyard

After spending a considerable amount of time at the outer parts of Angkor Wat, I moved to the inner courtyard from the eastern side, with scattered sunlight still providing a good view.  Here is a picture of the layer on which the quincunx of towers is located, with the two end towers visible.  A wooden staircase provides part of the way up, though it spoils the overall view of the otherwise distinctly ancient architecture. 

Below is another part of the now crowded courtyard, with a longer way up the wooden staircases. 

Below is a close-up view, looking steeply upward, of one of the four corner towers: 

To go up to the very top of the grand central tower, I had to first stand in a long line of people waiting for their turn to climb up a steep staircase as can be seen from the picture below:

Climb to the top

Pictured below is a polite and thoughtful way of reminding one of the amount of time one had to spend in the normally crowded line to reach an intermediate platform on the way up to the top.  Rather ingeniously, the placement of the guideposts could be changed depending on the density of people queued up in the line!

Right in front of me in the line was a young lady from Viet Nam who caught my attention through her fluent English, and she became equally pleased with my way of speaking.  Initially, she was mildly offended when I remarked that she looked like Chinese, but any cobwebs between us were swept away quickly through mutual candour.  Indeed, we stuck up a very friendly conversation, talking about our experiences in Cambodia till then, about her life in Hanoi, about the remarkable recovery and economic progress Viet Nam had achieved after its wars in the last century, and generally about the travel experiences of each of us as tourists in recent times. What a shame I didn’t capture a selfie with her, something that could have been so appropriately posted here.  Forty-five minutes didn’t feel like too long a time to have spent talking to her! 

When I went up to the top layer on which the central tower stood, my attention was diverted by what appeared to me like a setting Sun near the western horizon (see at the top right of the picture below). I was rather taken aback since it was just about noon time then.  When I looked at the object through my camera under full zoom, it revealed itself as just a hot air balloon, a close-up picture of which appears later. Incidentally, this picture shows the western gate to the vast inner courtyard, the outer one lying much farther away.

The following picture shows the much less crowded and comfortable return staircase, against the background of the central tower, after the visit to the top. 

Sideshow

Angkor Wat was built as a Hindu (Vishnu) temple when Hinduism was the dominant religion everywhere within the Indosphere, influenced by great classics like Ramayana and Mahabharatha. It was only later, after Buddhism took over as the dominant religion, that it was slowly transformed into a Buddhist temple, even as it came under the ravages of time coupled with sheer neglect.  Buddhist religious practices were evident in some parts of Angkor Wat, though on a modest scale.  More in evidence was some sideshows of a cultural nature designed to entertain visitors as well as to lighten their purses.  Here is a picture at the end of one such sideshow, a short dance performance in full costume:

Apsaras

Carvings of beautiful Apsaras (loosely translated as heavenly maidens), who have a major presence in ancient Indian mythologies, in widely differing costumes and sizes constitute the most visible part of the bas reliefs seen almost everywhere on the walls in Angkor Wat.  Below are two prominent ones: 

Exit

As I traced my reluctant journey back to where I had started early that morning, with the Sun now nearly overhead, I took a head-on look at the famous temple complex (see picture below, with the eastern side towers well hidden behind the visible western side towers) from close quarters and in finer detail this time, again marvelling at what was surely one of the greatest monuments of any kind anywhere, certainly the greatest of the religious variety.

 

As I moved out towards the western outer entrance, I could now see clearly the hot air balloon, much closer and clearer this time (see picture below). It appeared to be a tethered device, floating still, without any noticeable movement in any direction. 

After exiting the outer gate, I had to walk back on the causeway, and this time I captured a good close-up view of it (see below). 

It was a long walk back to the parking area and to my tuk-tuk whose driver anticipated my arrival and was ready to take me to the next stop on the day’s journeys.

Later that evening, on my way back to the hotel, I passed by a beautiful building (see below) housing the National Museum of ancient artifacts of Angkor Wat and other historical sites of the city.  Unfortunately, it was closed for the day and I had no further time at my disposal while I was in Siem Reap. 

A sad tid-bit

In 2007, Angkor Wat was one of 21 finalists for the New Seven Wonders of the World, but sadly did not make it to the seven winning sites which turned out to be: The Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall of China, Machu Pichu in Peru, Petra in Jordan, the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Pyramid of Chichen Itza in Mexico.  In my view, Angkor Wat definitely deserved to be one of the final seven. Incidentally, I have been able to visit all but the last one of these.  I hope to make up for the shortfall sometime next year.

Adieu Angkor Wat

Thanks to timely interventions by the UNESCO, and independent initiatives by many nations, Angkor Wat seems to be on its way out of the endangered list of heritage sites the world over.  I left the place with some sense of relief as well as a great sense of wonder at how far and how deep the influence of greater India in ancient times had penetrated.

As I write this, I look back upon an experience just last year, of viewing the remains of a small but beautiful Vishnu temple, perhaps matching Angkor Wat in its splendour, though nowhere near it in scale, at Awantipora, on the banks of river Jhelum near Srinagar in Kashmir.  It is with immense sadness that I sign off this narrative with a picture of this edifice that has been one of the countless victims of intolerance and hatred down the ages in human history.  The ruins are now well protected and maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, with an armed guard in constant attendance!