Sunrise at Angkor Wat (Enlarge)
There are two great complexes of ancient temples in Southeast Asia, one
at Bagan in Burma, the other at Angkor in Cambodia. The temples of
Angkor, built by the Khmer civilization between 802 and 1220 AD,
represent one of humankind's most astonishing and enduring architectural
achievements. From Angkor the Khmer kings ruled over a vast domain that
reached from Vietnam to China to the Bay of Bengal. The structures one
sees at Angkor today, more than 100 stone temples in all, are the
surviving remains of a grand religious, social and administrative
metropolis whose other buildings - palaces, public buildings, and houses
- were built of wood and have long since decayed and disappeared.
Conventional theories presume the lands where Angkor stands were chosen
as a settlement site because of their strategic military position and
agricultural potential. Alternative scholars, however, believe the
geographical location of the Angkor complex and the arrangement of its
temples was based on a planet-spanning sacred geography from archaic
times. Using computer simulations, it has been shown that the ground
plan of the Angkor complex – the terrestrial placement of its principal
temples - mirrors the stars in the constellation of Draco at the time of
spring equinox in 10,500 BC. While the date of this astronomical
alignment is far earlier than any known construction at Angkor, it
appears that its purpose was to architecturally mirror the heavens in
order to assist in the harmonization of the earth and the stars. Both
the layout of the Angkor temples and the iconographic nature of much its
sculpture, particularly the asuras (‘demons’) and devas (‘deities’)
are also intended to indicate the celestial phenomenon of the
precession of the equinoxes and the slow transition from one
astrological age to another.
At the temple of Phnom Bakheng there are 108 surrounding towers. The
number 108, considered sacred in both Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies, is
the sum of 72 plus 36 (36 being ½ of 72). The number 72 is a primary
number in the sequence of numbers linked to the earth’s axial
precession, which causes the apparent alteration in the position of the
constellations over the period of 25,920 years, or one degree every 72
years. Another mysterious fact about the Angkor complex is its location
72 degrees of longitude east of the Pyramids of Giza. The temples of
Bakong, Prah Ko and Prei Monli at Roluos, south of the main Angkor
complex, are situated in relation to each other in such a way that they
mirror the three stars in the Corona Borealis as they appeared at dawn
on the spring equinox in 10,500 BC. It is interesting to note that the
Corona Borealis would not have been visible from these temples during
the 10th and 11th centuries when they were constructed.
Angkor Wat, built during the early years of the 12th century by
Suryavaram II, honors the Hindu god Vishnu and is a symbolic
representation of Hindu cosmology. Consisting of an enormous temple
symbolizing the mythic Mt. Meru, its five inter-nested rectangular walls
and moats represent chains of mountains and the cosmic ocean. The short
dimensions of the vast compound are precisely aligned along a
north-south axis, while the east-west axis has been deliberately
diverted 0.75 degrees south of east and north of west, seemingly in
order to give observers a three day anticipation of the spring equinox.
Unlike other temples at Angkor, Ta Prohm has been left as it was found,
preserved as an example of what a tropical forest will do to an
architectural monument when the protective hands of humans are
withdrawn. Ta Prohm's walls, roofs, chambers and courtyards have been
sufficiently repaired to stop further deterioration, and the inner
sanctuary has been cleared of bushes and thick undergrowth, but the
temple has been left in the stranglehold of trees. Having planted
themselves centuries ago, the tree's serpentine roots pry apart the
ancient stones and their immense trunks straddle the once bustling
Buddhist temple. Built in the later part of the 12th century by
Jayavarman VII, Ta Prohm is the terrestrial counterpart of the star Eta
Draconis the Draco constellation.
During half-millennia of Khmer occupation, the city of Angkor became a
pilgrimage destination of importance throughout Southeastern Asia.
Sacked by the Thais in 1431 and abandoned in 1432, Angkor was forgotten
for a few centuries. Wandering Buddhist monks, passing through the dense
jungles, occasionally came upon the awesome ruins. Recognizing the
sacred nature of the temples but ignorant of their origins, they
invented fables about the mysterious sanctuaries, saying they had been
built by the gods in a far ancient time. Centuries passed, these fables
became legends, and pilgrims from the distant reaches of Asia sought out
the mystic city of the gods. A few adventurous European travelers knew
of the ruins and stories circulated in antiquarian circles of a strange
city lost in the jungles. Most people believed the stories to be nothing
more than legend, however, until the French explorer Henri Mouhot
brought Angkor to the world's attention in 1860. The French people were
enchanted with the ancient city and beginning in 1908 funded and
superbly managed an extensive restoration project. The restoration has
continued to the present day, excepting periods in the 70's and 80's
when military fighting prevented archaeologists from living near the
ruins.
Orthodox archaeologists sometimes interpret the temples of the Angkor
complex as tombs of megalomaniacal kings yet in reality those kings
designed and constructed the temples as a form of service to both god
and their own subjects. The temples were places not for the worship of
the kings but rather for the worship of god. Precisely aligned with the
stars, constructed as vast three dimensional yantras and adorned with
stunningly beautiful religious art, the Angkor temples were instruments
for assisting humans in their realization of the divine.
Jayavaram VII, spoke of his intentions in erecting temples as being:
“full of deep sympathy for the good of the world, so
as to bestow on men the ambrosia of remedies to win them
immortality….By virtue of these good works would that I might rescue all
those who are struggling in the ocean of existence.”
Temple of Ta Prohm, Angkor, Cambodia
Stone Heads of Bodhisattva Avilokiteshvara, Bayon temple, Angkor, Cambodia
Bayon Temple, Angkor, Cambodia
Angkor Wat, Cambodia, aerial view
Angkor Wat, Cambodia, painting
