Cambodia Trip Planning - A closer look at Angkor

Since Angkor Wat is the "big deal" in Cambodia, and one of my primary motivations for going, I thought I would take a closer look at it. As previously mentioned, The Angkor Empire started in 802 CE when King Jayavarman II broke away from Java. He set up his capital in Hariharalava (today called Roluos), just southeast of Angkor Wat. Harihara is the name of a deity that combines the essence of Vishnu (Hari) with that of Shiva (Hara). He also started a trend of associating the ruler with the power of Shiva by proclaiming himself a devaraja or "god king" (deva = god, raja = king). A title he felt he deserved after unifying several political factions in the area.

Side note: Connecting the king to Hinduism was started 300 years earlier by the first Khmer ruler, Rudravarman, who's name comes from adding the name of a powerfull Hindu deity (Rudra = Controller of awesome powers) with varman (protected by). Jaya and Vijaya were the gate-keepers of Vaikuntha, which was Vishnu's dwelling and means "place or eternal bliss".

In 877 Indravarman I comes to power and builds the empire's first "baray", a giant artificial body of water used for irrigation.

His son, Yashovarman I, then comes to power in 889 and moves the capital to the Angkor area. The new capitol is called Yasodharapura and is centered around a temple on a low hill known as Phnom Bakheng, surrounding it with a moat fed from the East Baray. In this case the baray not only irrigated the rice fields, but also represented the mythological oceans surrounding Mount Meru (Phnom Bakheng), the abode of the Hindu gods.

Typically, a lingam served as the central religious image of the Angkorian temple-mountain. Usually set in an open base (the female yoni), the lingam was anointed by priests with milk and other libations as the source of life. The temple-mountain was the center of the city, and the lingam in the main sanctuary was the focus of the temple. The name of the central lingam was the name of the king himself, combined with the suffix "-esvara" which designated Shiva. Through the worship of the lingam, the king was identified with Shiva, and Shaivism became the state religion.

Over the next 300 years, the Khmer empire produced some of the world's most magnificent architectural masterpieces in the Angkor. There was a short period where Jayavarman IV moved the capitol to Koh Ker in 928, but Rajendravarman II moved it back to Angkor in 944. Some 72 major temples or other buildings dot the area. King Suryavarman II built the most famous temple, Angkor Wat, between 1113 and 1150 as his personal temple mausoleum.

Beautiful nymphs called apsaras arose from the foam in a Hindu creation myth, Churning of the Sea of Milk. They dance and sing for the gods and mortals who reach paradise. Some 1700 apsaras are carved on the walls of Angkor Wat alone; thousands more - individual in dress, hairstyle, and ornamentation - appear in almost every Angkor temple, Hindu and Buddhist alike. Classical Cambodian dance echoes an apsara's graceful gestures.

Breaking with the tradition of the Khmer kings, and influenced perhaps by the concurrent rise of Vaisnavism in India, he dedicated the temple to Vishnu rather than to Siva. With walls nearly one-half mile long on each side, Angkor Wat grandly portrays the Hindu cosmology, with the central towers representing Mount Meru, home of the gods; the outer walls, the mountains enclosing the world; and the moat, the oceans beyond. However worship of Vishnu was secondary and always pressant.

After Suryavarman, thinks went downhill for a bit. Internal strife opened the door for the Cham (now southern Vietnam) to invade and destroy Yasodharapura. The future King Jayavarman VII rallied his people and defeated the Cham. After he was crowned in 1181 he built Angkor Thom over the ruins of Yasodharapura. He also shifted the state religion from Hinduism to Mahayana Buddhism. He built the Bayon at the heart of Angkor Thom, and on the face towers, the king represented himself as the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Buddhist hero who renounced nirvana to save all sentient beings) moved by compassion for his subjects. Hindu temples were altered to display images of the Buddha, and Angkor Wat briefly became a Buddhist shrine. But after his death there was a Hindu revival and most of the Buddhist images were desecrated.

In 1296 Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan visited Angkor and the journal of his experiences are the most significant source of information about everyday life at Angkor. He also observed tree separate religious groups: Theravada Budhism (the dominant one), Brahmans and Shaivites or lignam worshippers. It was around this time that the Angkorian civilization began to decline and officially came to an end when Thai invaders sacked Angkor in 1431. Only Angkor Wat remained occupied as a Buddhist shrine.