Adventure at Angkor

Om Sri Sai Ram

Angkor Wat - would capture any imagination. A magnificent Hindu temple, built by in the 12th century, in a foreign land, forgotten by the world, discovered by accident by a French Explorer after centuries- Legends are made of these.


Angkor Wat , when I heard of it , joined - the Egyptian pyramids, traveling up Amazon river, the Machchu Pichu, Venice, the Stonehenge along with some more in the list of places I wanted to see. A bucket list of sorts.

King Suryavarman ll, a native Khmer ruler of the Angkor dynasty built this temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, as his state temple and capital in the early 12th century. It was abandoned by subsequent kings and later converted to a Buddhist temple. The locals worshipped all through. The Angkor Wat symbolizes the Khmer pride and is found on Cambodia‘s flag.

When I first heard the name Suryavarman, I was thrilled! I thought “Aha! We ,South Indians, are not stodgy and have intrepid souls scattered around in bygone eras. Cholas must’ve taken to the seas and captured other countries in their quest to expand their boundaries.”

But the Hindu religion was adopted by that region from the traders , there for business, not the invaders. The kings then used to invite learned Brahmins from India to teach them about religion and governance.

We landed in Seam Reap, Cambodia, via Bangkok, on the first day of the New Year in the region. The same day as the Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese and the Burmese New Years- another Indian connection. In front of every house from a hovel to a mansion was an altar decorated with a red cloth, a variety of fruits, flowers, various food stuff, candles, incenses sticks and a star. All to welcome the new year and pray for abundance. I was grudgingly allowed to light incense sticks by the resort employees at the altar in the reception, after I explained to them I was Hindu not Buddhist, but I meant no disrespect.

Few travelers had visited the temple through the centuries but their accounts had never caught the fancy or the interest of the people. It took the posthumous account of the French adventurer Henri Mohout who described it as -

“ The temple was erected by some ancient Michelangelo - might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome. “


I joined the throngs of the native Khmer, who had come in droves with their families, to visit the temple for the New Year. I walked across the massive moat, absorbing the remnants of our culture so far away from home, flanked by weatherworn idols of nagas(snakes) and lions. Walking the long path through the walled courtyard I was caught up by the grandeur of the temple. I could almost disregard the draining heat of the summer sun.

The Angkor Wat, was designed as a microcosm of Hindu universe. It was built using a combination of Khmer and South Indian temple architecture. The moat around the temple- the oceans surrounding the earth. Three rectangular galleries, one higher then the previous, representing the three worlds. The main temple with its 5 gopuras representing the Mount Meru’s five peaks, the home of the gods.

Our driver had advised us not to hire any guide as we would know more about Hinduism and our puranas than they would. I was glad I had done some reading up on the history. I became the impromptu tour guide to my kids.

The corridors of the outer gallery are exquisitely carved with stories from the Puranas- The churning of the ocean, Battles of Kurukshetra, Lanka, Devas(demigods) and Asuras(demons). The victory of Krishna over Bana, Vishnu over the Asuras. The corner pavilions are carved with the stories of Krishna’s childhood, Vali’s death, Ravana shaking the Mount Kailas, Kama being burnt by Shiva’s third eye. The Judgment of Yama, heavens and hells according to Hindu lore. Only one half of a corridor was used to carve the glory of the King Suryavarman II, who built this temple.

The bas relief work was so detailed, you could actually see the individual belly buttons on the marching soldiers. All the gods, devas, asuras had distinctly Khmer features, which was slightly disconcerting.

The upper most level of the temple containing the 5 gopuras and the galleries around them, is at the top of a flight of steps just 11m high. But the steep angle makes it look like the final ascent of a great mountain.

My husband, Arvind, took one look at the stairs and said , "It might be too much for you, I'll take the kids on up , you stay here."

I'd not waited this long or come this far to be dissuaded gently, albeit for my own good, considering my size. Holding the railing, I climbed as carefully as the senior citizen before me. I reached the top, out of breath, to just sit, catch my breath and allow the feeling of being in Angkor Wat to seep in. I’m here! At last!

The summit has four gopuras(temple towers) at the four corners of the 60m square gallery and the main temple with 42m high gopura was connected by axial galleries. Lord Vishnu in the main temple was replaced by Buddha and shifted to a temple in the outer most gallery. About 2000 carvings of apsaras are found in the temple complex.

Coming down was even more hair-raising, clutching the railing tighter, walking sideways, I trailed after my kids who had scampered down quickly. We ran out of water very quickly, the heat and the walking made us very thirsty. My patient family put up with my curiosity at great discomfort, finding whatever little shade they could and silently waiting. It was touching, as none are shy in voicing their displeasure. I tried to see things quickly and not strain their patience.

Angkor Thom, a mile away, is an enclosed Capital city and temple complex built by Jayavarman VII in the latter part of the 12th century. Surrounded by a moat and walls 8m high, the city is within 3 km long sided square having towers at cardinal points. A causeway spans the moat in front of each tower.

The Churning of the ocean was three-dimensionally depicted by the almost life-size calm devas and demonic, pointy teethed asuras, tugging 5 headed naga on each side of the causeway over the moat.

Wow! The jungle inside was so lush green, and the trees so tall, traveling beneath the canopy was a feast for the eyes and the cool air was soothing. We went to see Bayon temple, whose replica is at home, the souvenir of my husband’s first visit to Cambodia.

Bayon, then state temple, had 54 towers which have dwindled to 37 now. Each tower is carved with four faces facing the cardinal points. The faces are assumed to be Buddha but could be Jayavarman’s face. The temple is known for two impressive sets of bas-reliefs, which present an unusual combination of mythological, historical, and mundane scenes.

The lower corridors by themselves are not as huge or impressive as Angkor Wat, and the USP of this temple is the face towers or the gopuras. The conservation here is not to the level where the access to the top has been made easy or safe.

The steps were so small and narrow, even in Angkor Wat - either the Khmer have small feet or they are very agile to traverse them. Since I’m neither I had to find finger holds in the wall for balance while climbing the high and narrow steps. The close look I got of the enigmatic faces on the towers, the carvings of apsaras and devas scattered around made the effort worthwhile. We wandered around trying to guess who the devas, apsaras depicted were, when the wandering and wondering was cut short by the strident ringing of my workaholic husband’s phone.

Since it’s a usual occurrence, kids and me went about seeing the sights. Assuming that Arvind’ll be a while, we just went around the corner looking at the carvings more closely. We come back to find that Arvind’s nowhere to be seen, we go around the whole place twice to make sure he’s AWOL. We were a little perturbed, there we were in a foreign country, Arvind went missing with the only working phone, and English speaking people were far and few then. We decided to go back from where we came up, I remember the driver telling us to come to the west entrance when he dropped us off at the east entrance. We thought we’ll go to the van. Ignoring the smell of bat guano, we started walking through the dark, labyrinthine corridors. We came across people praying to reliefs of Buddha, a Lingam and something on the gopuram which was visible through a hole in the roof.

The corridors seemed endless, everything looked the same -with no exit in sight, we could be walking in circles for all we knew. Turning a corner we spied daylight streaming through an opening in the far end. A wall had collapsed and conservation work had not commenced.

The kids jumped down to the nearest stone and scrambled down to the lawn outside the temple, I was way less agile. We started to the entrance visible, a short walk away. I was sure only that it wasn’t the East entrance.

The midday sun didn’t help in finding the direction using the shadows, especially since my sense of direction is atrocious. Ganesh, my older son ran forth to the parked cars, to find the driver and borrow his mobile to call his dad. I held Sanjay, the younger one, back with me and I asked Ganesh to be in my sight (plain common sense) much to their aggravation.

I heard Arvind calling my name and turned to find him coming out of the temple, relieved I gathered both the kids and went to meet him.

Arvind said, “I was so sure I’ll find you in the wrong entrance, that’s why I came in search of you guys. You’re in the south entrance, the car is at the west entrance. Always remember to reach the pick up point if we are ever separated.”

I took Arvind’s teasing reprimand in my stride, because I had no business leaving Arvind behind presuming he saw me and I left my mobile with the in-built compass in the car.

I’m very sure that I would’ve eventually found the car by myself even if Arvind hadn’t come in search for me.

But Bayon became even more unforgettable after our adventure.