ANGKOR WAT Religion Influences

ANGKOR WATRELIGION INFLUENCES

• Angkor Wat was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II, as his state temple in the capital city of Angkor.

• It was dedicated to the Hindu God, Vishnu.

• Though, initially a Hindu temple, it became an important Buddhist religious center, under the rule of Srindravarman who adopted Buddhism as the state religion.

• the temple is depicted as Mount Meru, the abode of Hindu Gods.

The wall represent the mountains and the moat represents the oceans at the edge of the universe. A stone causeway leads through the Hindu universe to the temple home of the gods from the west. The temple complex itself is a series of buildings on rising terraces like the slopes of a mountain.

• The five towers represent the five peaks of Mount Meru. The round towers mark out the corners and the center of the innermost square of the complex. Like the mountain peaks they represent, the towers are pointed on top.

• The three galleries are believed by some to represent Brahma -the creator according to Hindu mythology, the moon, and Vishnuthe Hindu god who is supposed to be the preserver of all forms of life.

• Although the temple follows the basic principles of Khmer architecture, unlike other temples built around the same time, the Angkor Wat faces the west.

• Some believe that this deviation from the usual orientation of Khmer temples towards the east, is because it is dedicated to Lord Vishnu, who is associated with the west direction.

• However, some other scholars believe that orientation towards the west direction reflects Suryavarman II's desire to use the temple for personal funerary purpose.

• Under the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu, known as Ta Reach, which may originally have occupied the temple's central shrine

• Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is a cruciform cloister called PreahPoan (the "Hall of a Thousand Gods").

• Buddha images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed.

• This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese.

• Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of the inner gallery.

• The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods

• The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabarata.

• Angkor Wat is decorated with depictions of Apsaras and Devata; there are more than 1,796 depictions of devata in the present research inventory

• An Apsara is a female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist mythology

• Deva is the Hindu term for deity.

• The temples of Ankgor Wat uses architectural features in order represent various ideas of Hindu Cosmology; all contribute to the re-creation of the heavenly world on Earth. In constructing Angkor Wat to represent religious beliefs, the Khmer people literally built heaven on Earth. By creating a tangible representation of what is believed to have happened in the past, the past becomes more real and more concrete to viewers and believers alike.