Angkor vat

The Anghkor Vat 

I learn is the biggest Hindu temple ever built by mankind .

it was more a city than a temple complex with more than 200 hectares of which temple as such is around 9 hectares ,the outer moat limited in 82 hectares,rectangle of 1.5 x1.3 km ,its orientation is strangely to West probably because it was built as a Vishnu temple which have a predilection to the west .started in 12 th century AD by Suryavarman II its construction continued for more years to come ,later by 14th century it was changed into a Theravada Buddhist temple and principle deity of Vishnu shifted from its central site to one of the turrets on one side .

The temple or more the city complex was built in lines with Hindu mythological beliefs of the mythical mountains of the Gods the Devas mount meru itself and its aspiring turrets surrounded by water in moats of the churning oceans and the raging seas .

The balustrades of the moat bridges were made of naga serpent heads and bodies which was a recurrent find in most Khmer temple architecture

We owe great gratitude to the French archaeologists and historians who painstakingly lived in these wet forested ruins meticulously discovering these wonders unerringly noting their details poring over the minutiae in scientific scrutiny unparalleled by any such similar expeditions while the wars raged on revolutions massacres and khmer killing fields ,were they en consed during these trying times in those wet daring forests with crumbling edifices of history falling into pieces of decay but heralding the beauty of art in history and beliefs of people 

Henri Mohout french naturalist visit to Cambodia in 1860 and his details created a great interest on the ancient temples of Cambodia ,though the 

Portuguese ,Spaniard and Japanese earlier had all recorded glimpses of greatness in the jungles 

Antonio da madelenia a Portuguese friar visited monument in 1589

he told the historian Diogo do Couto in 1589, “that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of.”

the khmer pot pol regime killed almost 60 % of Cambodian population between 1975 and 79 and its remnants held back till 1999 

cheance and Evans modern archaeologists did laser archaeology using helicopters and found Angkor wat a city as big as Berlin .

Our first monument in Siem Reap started off with Anghkor wat 5.5 km from the tourist town .

After getting the tickets for 3 days we took our tuk tuk into the Angkor wat area ,alighted and walked in the twilight of pre dawn following the tourist hordes armed with cameras ,tripods ,light fixtures and people with totebags ,knapsacks 'hats caps overalls .

The air was crispy not yet humid as the day would turn into cool winds gazing as we crossed the wide white plastic bridge almost floating on the moat ,and crossed vast expanse of green and bushes to reach the two large ponds in front of the Angkor vat turrets .

In the dawn light thier dark silhouttes were shrouded in blackness only thier outlines stood against the starless skies .

Slowly imperciptible dawn crept in and woke the images with slow stretching and then the temple outline became clearer though sunrise that day was no dramatic event it was just incontinuity with a flurry of clicks from hundreds of cameras as they clicked probably some of the most photographed monuments in the world at this time of the day .

With the sun up we moved into the temple itself walking up its long corridors our guide explaining the sandstone etchings with whole corridors on Ramayana'Mahabharata,bhagwatham,

khmer chams fighting, Suryavarman, dancing apsaras etc .

The sqaures ,balustrades,libraries,corner temples it was a massive temple unsurpassed any we had ever seen