Visit to Cambodia -Reminiscences of visit to an Ancient Heritage –relics of the Hindu kingdom “Travel Writer’s Diary” –Vatsala Jambunathan
We read from our Indian History that our country has been subject to periodic foreign invasions, mostly from North west and from across the seas.-first by Arabs, Afghans, Mongols and lastly European colonists. It is also believed, wrongly of course, that India had no tradition of Naval Power or extending its influence beyond its borders. The above observation becomes crystal clear on when one visits the south east Asian countries like Thailand(its International Airport at Bangkok is called SWARNABHOOMI with panels of Hindu Mythology), Cambodia , originally called Khambhuja, with its World Heritage temples at Angorwat, tracing its root, inspiration and expertise from India.
It is in the above context, that we had planned our visit to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia in south East Asia on a ten day tour- in the last week of December 09 through first week of Jan 2010.
While Thailand had the luck of escaping colonial rule from the European countries, the monarchs focused on the economic development, and now tourist traffic is booming in all these three countries.
An hour of flying from Bangkok into Siem Reap International airport, Cambodia, we reached Angkorwat and moved into our accommodation. Having read, seen visuals, heard from others about this city’s greatness as “The World Heritage Monument”, we were all set to see its beauty from dawn to dusk. Braving the early morning chill we were woken up in the pre dawn hours and got ready to see the massive structure at day break!
Siam Reap means (Siam defeated)
Cambodia is heavily dependent on tourism. This is evident from the US dollar, being accepted as national currency, besides their own. It was a strange experience to see that the dollar was accepted in way side villages! Visa on arrival is a great facility and the fee is $20.and strangely enough the exit visa fee is charged at the airport which is $25.per visitor.
Siam Reap is the gateway to Angkor Wat, the temple complex built by King Suryavaram II in the early 12th Century, as the state temple and capital city. Numerous hotels, some of the three star and above, besides the economy ones attracts tourist, and tourist taxis are attached to each of them. They pick up the visitors right from the airport to the hotel and we could a get a glimpse of the city as we travelled in the prefixed taxi.
The hawker” menace” thrives on the unending stream of tourist who comes through the year round from far and wide.
A peep into the history:
King Suryavarman, in the early 12th century built this magnificent monument as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation—first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is the epitome of the classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.
Ankor+Wat , means City Temple “ with pagoda “and wat means city , A city with Pagodas” a temple for Buddhism , built in the 18th century. ,It was earlier known as “VISHNUPURA” with predominant Hindu religion, and over the years changes to Buddhism and also change in the name to the city now known as Angkorwat.
A Tamil king from southern India migrated to Cambodia centuries ago and constructed this vast complex of architectural wonders. The bas relief of Arjuna‘s penance at Mamallpuram (earlier known as Mahabalipuram) near Chennai is miniscule compared to the hundred meter by three meter long bas relief at Angkor Wat. The temple has two distinct architectural types –the Khmer temple and “the Mountains “and the “Galleries” based on south Indian Hindu architecture. . . It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the “devas “in Hindu Mythology. The temple is surrounded by a thin a Moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometers (2.2 mi) long. There are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a series of towers
The land of Ancient Hindu Kingdom still attracts visitors throughout the year , just to admire the oldest temple at predawn hours, .Crowds wait to see the silhouette of this temple complex as the first rays of the sun falls like a curtain raiser, the remains of Angkor at rise above tot eh azure skies
The entrance is covered by a huge moat, 13 meters long and 7 feet deep, gets its water during the monsoon season and from the Mekong river from its source in the upper reaches and flows south wards in to the moat; maintained to keep it clean, bereft of boating or swimming activities, and the rain water collects through the months into Siam Reap river that skirts the temple moat. Our guide said that during the dry summer months there is a reverse flow of water from the Siam reap river to the moat, so there is water around the temple throughout the year.
In the long walls are depicted stories about Ramayana and Mahabharata. On the other side of
The city is landscaped with 1000’s of pagodas big and small, and very many were destroyed by several battles, and were excavated as broken structures have been saved from further destruction , preserved for posterity to talk about the Golden era of the kingdom
The temple is built in a unique way called the Meru Mountain the centre and four pagodas adorn in all the four direction and the fifth pagoda over the central meru. A walk round the four sides takes nearly two days or more to go in into the intricacies of the architecture, each of the walls have carvings depicting stories of the two Epic s- Ramayana, Mahabharata, also stories about Buddha and Buddhism and finally on the fourth side, the wall shows the two sides of heaven and Hell as visualized in the ancient times.
The workmanship and attention to small details are noticeable as one walks past the four walls. We were glad to see the assistance rendered by the Archeological Survey of India in the restoration work being carried out on a massive scale.
An hour’s drive from Siam Reap is the Srei Temple complex, again built by suryavarman dynasty. These temples also have intricate carvings depicting scenes from Hindu Purina’s .Highlight of the temples around are those specially dedicated to Shiva –Parvati and Vishnu.
Besides the main Angkor wat temple there is one huge temple dedicated to the Goddess and is said to have been built by the then councilor/Minister in the Suryavaraman kingdom. This is still in much better shape .
On our way back we stopped at this temple .This one is dedicated to goddess lakshmi. The entrance to the temple has huge wooden panels, with goddess Lakshmi depicted as Gaja Lakshmi , and Amman with hooded serpents. The other panels and interior prakrams have stone carvings of Siva –Parvati in sitting postures. There were also carvings of Vishnu with his conch and chakra, but some of them having been chipped beyond recognition.
It reminded us of the “EllaiAmman Koil “ the deity who guards the boundaries of a kingdom and offers protection to the people, from invading armies or enemies who come to plunder the riches of the city and surroundings temples.
We were informed about the presence of snakes in and around the forested region and to propitiate them , the kings got them engraved , so that people may pray to the naga kings and also be fearless as they went for worshipping the other temples.
Like the neighboring countries, Cambodia was also subjected to eh tyranny of war, where several millions died during the Pol Pot regime. Their main objective was to destroy the precious libraries with their anti intellectual tirade. This warn torn country is bouncing back, benefitting from the global boom, thanks to this wonderful; monument .
One of the highlight of the city drive is that as we enter through any of the entrance to see the monuments, there are stone carvings depicting the story of “CHURNING THE OCEAN OF MILK, THE DEVAS ON ONESIDE AND THE ASURAS ON THE OTHER. In fact the Bangkok airport Swarna Bhoomi has a huge mural with a write up besides it. Thus we bade farewell to the year 2009 with memories still lingering of about Cambodia.