Khmer Temples - 1

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

South-East Asia has a long history, stretching back  2,000 years, of kingdoms, empires and rulers adhering to the Hindu/Brahminical religion and belief systems.  The mighty Khmer Empire, which covered most of today's Cambodia and substantial areas of today's Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, was one of them.  It is believed to have begun in AD 802 when जयवर्मन् द्वितीय had himself declared चक्रवर्तिन्. It lasted from AD 802 till about the middle of the 14th century, when invasions by the Siamese from the west, long years of draught, declining agricultural production and replacement of the Hindu faith by Theravada, brought over from the present-day Sri Lanka, finally swept it away.

Today, due to lack of any archival material, very little is known of the history, culture and life in the Khmer Empire beyond a bare sketch of the names of its rulers, gathered from more than 1200 Sanskrit and Khmer stone-carved inscriptions found in abandoned temple ruins spread through the length and breadth of its territory, of which the temple of Angkor Wat is the most well-known example.  (’Angkor’ is a corruption from नगर-नोकोर-अंगकोर, while 'Wat' is Sanskrit वाट an enclosure, a fence, a piece of enclosed ground.)  These temple ruins are rich treasure-troves of carvings and statuary depicting tales from Indian epics of रामायण and महाभारत, stories from Indian पुराणs and mythology.  Here is the first sample of such carvings.

A theme often met in these carvings and statuary is that of समुद्रमन्थन. Angkor Wat has the समुद्रमन्थन scene carved on the south wing of the east gallery of the 3rd enclosure.  It extends over 49 meters in length and is more than 2 meters in height.  It is a low relief carved on the stone-wall.  It depicts देवs and the असुरs churning the ocean with मन्दारपर्वत by pulling from two sides of the snake वासुकि.  मन्दारपर्वत rests on a tortoise which is the first अवतार of विष्णु.  He is in the middle of the two teams, with इन्द्र (?)  flying  overhead.  At each end of the snake वासुकि is a figure that is larger than the others.  These have not been identified but one of them resembles मारुति. Fish are swimming in the water of the ocean.  The pictures below show these details.

The समुद्रमन्थन scheme also appears in balustrades of bridges.  Many temples are surrounded by moats and there are bridges over them to approach the temple.  The two balustrades of the bridges are made of figures of gods and demons holding the snake वासुकि.  The ruins of the city now known as Angkor Thom, 3 km north of Angkor Wat, was earlier known as यशोधरपुर.  Its surrounding wall has gates in all 4 directions.  The south gate has a bridge on a moat approaching it.  The balustrades of the bridge on this moat are made up of 54 gods and 54 demons holding वासुकि.  Another temple has a similar bridge.  The pictures below show these gods and demons holding वासुकि.  (Many of the heads of these figures have been stolen away by trophy hunters in earlier days.  In some cases these have been restored by modern additions.  (Andre Malraux, the well-known French leftist intellectual was, in 1922, convicted and given a suspended sentence for stealing temple art from the famous Banteay Srei temple of the Khmer ruins.)