Cambodia is best known for Angkor Wat which leapt into popular imagination with Angelina Jolie’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The country got a further fillip when Jolie adopted a Cambodian child and actively worked against landmines (the infamous Pol Pot lined the country with landmines at the rate 1:1 – i.e. one landmine for each Cambodian). Landmines are not the focus here, though. It is about Angkor Wat which has become the financial mainstay of the country which is today laughingly called “The most frequented ‘off-the-beaten-track’ destination”.
Angkor Wat for long has been known to be the largest Hindu
temple complex and monument in the world. Fairly recently, it is said to be the
largest temple monument (not only Hindu) in the world. Mostly by means of
trade, there was a time when Hinduism was spread wide in all of South East
Asia. A little over three decades ago, Indonesia was supposed to be the second
largest Hindu country (following India, of course) in the world. Some really
fine jade Ganpatis are still available in Vietnam. And Angkor Wat, the various
other amazing temples and the Khmer dynasty populated by kings with names like
Suryavarnam and Jayavarman whose capital Khmer was called Yasodharapura stand
testimony to the religious beliefs of Cambodia before it became Buddhist.
Most Khmer kings were Shivaites.
So the oldest temples there are Shiv temples complete with Shivlings. Built in
the 12th century, Angkor Wat, however, is a Vishnu temple. Considered
to be the most vaastu compliant
structure in the world, Angkor Wat is built as per the description of Mount
Meru. The five gopuras of the
structure represent the five peaks and the moat is the protective ocean
surrounding the abode of the Gods. While the outside is breathtaking and
everything in the complex mesmerising, the bas-relief galleries hold you
totally spellbound.
There are three entryways. Bhrama, Vishnu and Shiv statues
stand large. These have now been converted to Buddha. Walking down a long bridge,
you enter the main structure and go right. There is a closed room which has
stories from the Ramayana carved on the walls. Here you see the entire story of
Ram unfolding before you including one arresting depiction of the famous Vali –
Sugriv wrestling match during which Ram killed Vali with an arrow. One version
of this story says that while dying Vali asked Ram why he did that, as he
(Vali) would have willingly given the vanar
sena to Ram in his search and rescue of Sita. Ram replied that this was his
karma in this avatar and promised Vali that in the next avatar, Vali would be the one to end his
(Vishnu’s avtaar’s) life. In the
eighth avatar, Vali is supposed to be
the hunter whose arrow ended Krishna’s earthly presence. This story is in the
temple in Veraval, Gujarat, around the place where Krishna is believed to have
been wounded.
Moving ahead in Angkor Wat you come to the piece de resistance of the structure:
the Kurukshetra war carved into a massive (read enormous massive) wall along
the outer gallery. The battle is so vividly carved that it could well be
unfolding in front of you. Orderly soldiers for both ends meeting in a chaotic
war centre; Bhishma on his bed of arrows, with the fighting at a standstill
around him; Karna’s stuck wheel; Abhimanyu’s brave last fight – it is all there
in glorious detail. Every centimetre is a work of art.
When you finally tear yourself away from the Mahabharat and
turn the corner, you come upon some Khmer history and the 37 heavens and 32
hells from Hindu mythology. This is the time to take some breathing time and
rest for your sense because the next is the wondrous story of the churning of
the Ocean Of Milk in minute detail. The churning of the ocean is a frequent
motif in most temples including sculptures on either side of the road going
into and coming out of Bayon and Angkor Thom. The fine knowledge of Hindu myths
is demonstrated in these two bas-reliefs with finesse.
Unfortunately, as with most travelling, by this time my
senses were totally overloaded, so I didn’t see the last gallery, choosing
instead to go into the temple which did utter justice to the fantastic
galleries.
Cambodia is a must-go-to destination – unmissable, truly.
Sujata Garimella