ANGKOR THOM AND THE BANYON TEMPLE
Angkor Thom, one of the last capital cities built in the Khmer empire, was constructed in the late 12th century as the capital during Jayavarman VII's empire. It was the centre of the king's massive building program to outdo his predecessors and covers an area of 9 square kilometres. The city is believed to have had a population of 80,000–150,000 people.
The city was highly developed with a system of roads and waterways, as well as four hospitals.
The city is surrounded by high defensive walls, three kilometers long on each side.
Access to the city was through five gopura gates, one at the center of each wall, and an extra one (the Victory Gate) on the road to the Royal Palace.
The towers, known as “face towers”, contain four very large heads on top of the gates, each facing the four cardinal directions. They are believed to represent Lokeshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion.
On the ground level of the gates on either side of the entrance is a large sculpture of Airavata, the three headed mythological elephant.
The opening of the gates originally had massive wooden doors that were closed at night.
Located in the city of Angkor Thom is the Bayon temple. It is the only temple which was a Mahayana temple dedicated to Buddha.
There are carvings on the outer wall of the first level depicting scenes of everyday life and battles in 12th-century Cambodia.
It was eventually abandoned in the 16th century and the jungle slowly began to take over.
PROHM TEMPLE RUINS:
Completed in the early 13th century, during the reign of Jayavarman VII, Ta Prohm was constructed as a gift for his mother.
Tra Prohm Temple has been left in the same state that it was first discovered, with a tangle of trees growing out of its ruins.
It looks close to what the early European explorers would have seen when first “rediscovering” the temples of the Angkor area.
We were told that some of the structures are now being held together by the trees and if they were removed the ruins would fall apart.
Parts of Laura Croft Tomb Raiders was filmed here in 2000.
BANTEAY SRIE:
My favourite site was Banteay Srei.
Banteay Srei (“Citadel of the Women” or also referred to as “Lady Temple”) was constructed in the late 10th century by members of an influential priestly family.
It is very different in style from the other temples in the Angkor area. It is constructed from red sandstone and decorated with intricate carvings of scenes from Hindu mythology. It is dedicated to Shiva.
There are many carvings which show scenes from Hindu mythology. There is a belief that the carvings are so fine that they could only have been done by the hands of a woman.
I like this area which apparently shows a fight between Vali and Sugriva, the monkey princes.
It is not known exactly when the temple was abandoned, but they figure that it would have been around the same time as the other Angkor temples in the 15th – 16th century.
It was another scorchingly hot day breaking heat records of over 43C temps, which necessitated rehydration.
Purely for hydration research.
No comments:
Post a Comment