Angkor Wat Rear View – Photo by Diego Delso
Dawn view of the temple of Angkor Wat, with 2 Nāgas in the
foreground, a gallery in the middle and the temple mountain in the back. The
Angkor Wat was first a Hindu and later a Buddhist temple complex built by the
Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century, and capital of the Khmer
Empire, today Cambodia. This temple complex is the best preserved temple in the
site and a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag.
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat or "Capital Temple" is a temple complex
in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. It was first a
Hindu and later a Buddhist temple. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman
II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura, present-day Angkor), the capital
of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from
the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to
Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have
remained a significant religious center since its foundation. 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.
Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple
architecture: the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple. It is
designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within
a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular
galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a
quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to
the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is
admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive
bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.
The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City"
or "City of Temples" in Khmer; Angkor, meaning "city" or
"capital city", is a vernacular form of the word nokor, which comes
from the Sanskrit word nagara (नगर). Wat is the Khmer word for "temple
grounds" (Sanskrit: वाट vāṭa ""enclosure").
Angkor Wat Aerial View – Photo by Charles J Sharp
Architecture:
Angkor Wat, located at 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E, is a unique
combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state
temples and the later plan of concentric galleries. The temple is a
representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods: the central quincunx of
towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the
surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Access to the upper areas of the temple
was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the
lowest level.
Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the
west rather than the east. This has led many (including Maurice Glaize and
George Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his
funerary temple. Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs,
which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction—prasavya in Hindu terminology—as
this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order
during Brahminic funeral services. The archaeologist Charles Higham also
describes a container which may have been a funerary jar which was recovered
from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the greatest
expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse. Freeman and Jacques, however,
note that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern
orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication
to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.
A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by
Eleanor Mannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the
content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she argues that the structure
represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the
measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of
Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers
and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the
deities manifest in the heavens above." Mannikka's suggestions have been
received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in academic circles. She
distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham Hancock, that
Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.
However, it is important to know the facts so below you will
find compelling information by Graham Hancock through his mathematical and
astronomical investigation of Angkor Wat.
Heaven on Earth Stones in the Sky (Part 1 of 2)
Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0lZFghk8UE
Heaven on Earth Stones in the Sky (Part 2 of 2)
Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDYIkWQNi8A
According to Graham Hancock, Angkor Wat and all the temples
were conceived by its builders as a symbolic diagram of the universe. The
notion of a land that is the image of heaven on which are built cosmic temples
with halls that resemble the sky was an idea that took root in Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat consists of a series of five inter nested rectangular enclosures.
The short dimensions are aligned with high precision to true north-south,
showing no deviation whatever according to modern surveys. The long dimensions
are oriented, equally precisely, to an axis that has been deliberately diverted
0.75 degrees south of east and north of west.
The first and outermost of the five rectangles that we find
ourselves looking down on from the air is the moat. Measured along its outer
edge it runs 1300 meters north to south and 1500 meters from east to west.
Its ditch, (moat) 190 meters wide, has walls made from
closely fitted blocks of red sandstone set out with such precision that the
accumulated surveying error around the entire 5.6 kilometers of the perimeter
amounts to barely a centimeter.
Angkor Wats principal entrance is on the west side where a
megalithic causeway 347 meters long and 9.4 meters wide bears due east across
the moat and then passes under a massive gate let into the walls of the second
of the five rectangles. This second enclosure measures 1025 x 800 meters. The
causeway continues eastward through it, past lawns and subsidiary structure and
a large reflecting pool, until it rises on to a cruciform terrace leading into
the lowest gallery of the temple itself. This is the third of the five inter
nested rectangles visible from the air and precision engineering and surveying
are again in evidence with the northern and southern walls, for example, being
of identical lengths, exactly 202.14 meters.
Ascending to the fourth rectangle, the fourth level of
Angkor Wats gigantic central pyramid, the same precision can be observed. The
northern and southern walls measure respectively 114.24 and 114.22 meters. At
the fifth and last enclosure, the top level of the pyramid which reaches a
height of 65 meters above the entrance causeway the northern wall is 47.75
meters in length and the southern wall 47.79 meters.
According to a study published in the journal Science, these
minute differences, less than 0.01 percent, demonstrates an astounding degree
of accuracy on the part of the ancient builders.
The Draco-Angkor Correlation
The principal monuments of Angkor model the sinuous coils of
the northern constellation of Draco. There seems to be no doubt that a
correlation exists: the correspondence between the principal stars of Draco and
at least fifteen of the main pyramid-temples of Angkor are too close to be
called anything else.
Cycles of the Ages
A detailed survey of Angkor Wat published in Science
magazine in July 1976 reveled that even the causeway incorporates cosmic
symbolism and numbers encoding the cycles of time.
After establishing the basic unit of measure used in Angkor
as the Khme hat (equivalent to 0.43434 meters) the authors of the survey go on
to demonstrate that axial lengths along the causeway appear to have been
adjusted to symbolize or represent the great world ages of Hindu cosmology:
These periods begin with the Krita Yuga or golden age of man
and proceed through the Treta Yuga, Dvarpara Yuga and Kali Yuga, the last being
the most decadent age of man. Their respective durations are 1,728,000 years;
1,296,000 years; 864,000 years; and 432,000 years.
It therefore cannot be an accident that key sections of the
causeway have axial lengths that approximate extremely closely to 1,728 hat,
1,296 hat, 864 hat, and 432 hat the yuga lengths scaled down by 1000. We
propose, conclude the authors, that the passage of time is numerically
expressed by the lengths corresponding to yugas along the west-east axis.
Angkor wats dominant feature is its long and massive
east-west axis which locks it uncompromisingly to sunrise and sunset on the
equinoxes. In addition, the temple is cleverly anchored to ground and sky by
markers for other key astronomical moments of the year. For example, reports
Science:
It is interesting to note that there are two solstitial
alignments from the western entrance gate of Angkor Wat. These two alignments
(added to the equinoctial alignment already established) mean that the entire
solar year was divided into four major sections by alignments from just inside
the entrance of Angkor Wat. From this western vantage point the sun rises over
Phnom Bok (17.4 kilometers to the north-east) on the day of the summer
solsticeThe western entrance gate of the temple also has a winter solstice
alignment with the temple of Prast Kuk Bangro, 5.5 kilometres of the
south-east.
Origins:
The origins of the temple lie in what may be the world's
oldest religious text, the Rigveda, one of the four Veda Samhitas of Hindu
literature. This text describes the gods of heaven and earth, including the
earthly god Vishnu, The Preserver. It is to Vishnu that Angkor Wat is
consecrated, and with more than mere symbolic intent. Hindu temples were built
to be earthly abodes for the gods. The central sanctuary was the most sacred
place, directly in line with the vertical axis of the central spire that
provided the connection between the realms of heaven and Earth. The surrounding
architecture of the temple would then mirror Hindu cosmology, being essentially
a mandala in stone a diagram of the cosmos itself. Furthermore, the Khmer
civilization had by the time of Angkor Wat's construction incorporated the idea
that a king would, after his death, be transmuted into one of the gods. Hence,
it was at Angkor Wat that Suryavarman II, after his death, was believed to
reside as Vishnu.
Astronomical significance:
Astronomy and Hindu cosmology are inseparably entwined at
Angkor Wat. Nowhere is this more evident than in the interior colonnade, which
is dedicated to a vast and glorious carved mural, a bas-relief illustrating the
gods as well as scenes from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. Along the east wall
is a 45-meter (150-foot) scene illustrating the "churning of the sea of
milk," a creation myth in which the gods attempt to churn the elixir of
immortality out of the milk of time. The north wall depicts the "day of
the gods," along the west wall is a great battle scene from the
Mahabharata, and the south wall portrays the kingdom of Yama, the god of death.
It has been suggested that the choice and arrangement of these scenes was
intended to tie in with the seasons—the creation scene of the east wall is
symbolic of the renewal of spring, the "day of the gods" is summer,
the great battle on the west wall may represent the decline of autumn, and the
portrayal of Yama might signify the dormancy, the lifeless time of winter.
The architecture of Angkor Wat also has numerous
astronomical aspects beyond the basic mandala plan that is common to other
Hindu temples. As many as eighteen astronomical alignments have been identified
within its walls. To mention but three of them: when standing just inside the
western entrance, the Sun rises over the central tower on the spring (vernal)
equinox; it rises over a distant temple at Prasat Kuk Bangro, 5.5 kilometers
(3.4 miles) away, on the winter solstice; and on the summer solstice it rises
over a prominent hill 17.5 kilometers (10.9 miles) away.
Finally, some researchers have claimed that the very
dimensions of many of the structures at Angkor Wat have astronomical
associations. These associations emerge from consideration of the unit of
length that was in use at that time, a unit known as the hat or "Cambodian
cubit." There is some question as to how long a hat was, and indeed its
definition may not have been uniformly applied; but a value of 43.45
centimeters (17.1 inches) for the length of a hat is suggested by the
structures themselves.
Using this value, archaeologists discovered numerous
dimensions of the temple that seem to have astronomical and cosmological
significance for example, the following:
The dimensions of the highest rectangular level of the
temple are 189 hat in the east-west direction and 176 hat in the north-south
direction. Added together these give 365, the number of days in one year.
In the central sanctuary, the distances between sets of
steps is approximately 12 hat. There are roughly 12 lunar cycles, or synodic
months (from full Moon to full Moon, say the basis for our modern month) in one
year.
The length and width of the central tower add up to
approximately 91 hat. On average, there are 91 days between any solstice and
the next equinox, or any equinox and the next solstice.
Because of its orbit around the Earth, the Moon's apparent
position in the sky relative to the background stars will appear to shift from
night to night. Since it takes the Moon just over 27 days to complete one orbit
(known as its sidereal period), it will, during this time appear to move
through 27 successive regions of the sky. In Hindu cosmology, these regions
were known as the naksatras, or lunar mansions. In some contexts there were 27
lunar mansions, while in other contexts an additional naksatra containing the
star Vega was included, giving 28 lunar mansions.
The Temples of Angkor
Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcWoW-YUCng
Temples in the video: Angkor Wat (0:05), Angkor Thom (3:20),
Terrace of the Elephants (3:20), Baphuon (3:41), Bayon (4:09), Ta Prohm (6:15),
Preah Khan (7:56), Banteay Kdei (9:00), Pre Rup (9:35), Neak Pean (9:59),
Banteay Srey (10:11), Bakong (10:32), Phnom Bakheng (10:45).
Preah Khan Temple Ruins – Photo by Allie Caulfield
A view of the ruins of the temple of Preah Khan at Angkor in
Cambodia. Preah Khan was built by the powerful Khmer king Jayavarman VII in the
late 12th century who dedicated it to his father, Dharanindravarman II.
Secrets of Angkor Wat
Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCzpJAm_y_Q
Links to information on the Angkor Archaeological Sites:
The area of Angkor has many significant archaeological
sites, including the following:
Angkor Thom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Thom
Angkor Wat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat
Baksei Chamkrong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baksei_Chamkrong
Banteay Kdei: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banteay_Kdei
Banteay Samré: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banteay_Samr%C3%A9
Banteay Srei: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banteay_Srei
The Bayon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bayon
Chau Say Tevoda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chau_Say_Tevoda
East Baray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Baray
East Mebon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Mebon
Kbal Spean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kbal_Spean
The Khleangs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khleangs
Neak Pean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neak_Pean
Phimeanakas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phimeanakas
Phnom Bakheng: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Bakheng
Phnom Krom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Krom
Prasat Ak Yum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ak_Yum
Prasat Kravan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prasat_Kravan
Preah Khan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preah_Khan
Preah Ko: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preah_Ko
Preah Palilay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preah_Palilay
Preah Pithu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preah_Pithu
Spean Thma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spean_Thma
Srah Srang: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srah_Srang
Ta Prohm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta_Prohm
Terrace of the Elephants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrace_of_the_Elephants
Terrace of the Leper King: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrace_of_the_Leper_King
Thommanon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thommanon
West Baray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Baray
West Mebon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Mebon
Another city at Mahendraparvata was discovered in 2013.
Mahendraparvata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahendraparvata
"Faces towers of Bayon" Photo by Philip Giddings
Links:
Graham Hancock – Official Website
Amazing Places on our Planet – YouTube Channel
Angkor - Wikipedia
Photo - "Faces towers of Bayon" by Philip Giddings
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faces_bayon.jpg#/media/File:Faces_bayon.jpg
Photo – “Preah Khan Temple Ruins” by Allie Caulfield
