Angkor Thom

Several years after the death of the king who built this city and many years after the sacking of the city by enemies, the new king Jayavarman VIII, built a new capital and state temple at Angkor Thom. 
 Angkor Thom means "the great city" in Khmer. The 12th-century royal Buddhist city is famous for the Bayon Temple with the huge smiling heads, but has also several other sights of interest. Though it was a very hot morning, we visited Bayon, Phimeanakas, the terrace of elephants and the terrace of leper king.

 
The city of Angkor Thom was supposed to have had a population of one million people in the surrounding area. Itt was built in a nearly perfect square, the sides of which run north to south and east to west. It was surrounded by a wall 8m high and further protected by a 100m-wide moat (now dry), said to have contained ferocious crocodiles (haven’t heard of loving ones yet).

The city has five monumental gates (something like south Indian gopurams), 20m high and decorated with stone elephant trunks and the king's favourite motif, the four faces of Avalokiteshvara (the manifestation of the compassion of all Buddhas).























Each of these gates leads onto a causeway across the moat.

The causeway is flanked with statues of 54 gods on the left and 54 demons on the right and depicts a theme from the Hindu myth of the Churning of the Milk-Ocean to get Amrit (nectar of immortality)

 

 The first temple we visited was Bayon. Bayon is a Buddhist temple with some elements of Hindu cosmology and imagery. It stands in the exact centre of the walled city and represents the intersection of heaven and earth. This is where you see the smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara. 

The Sanskrit name "Avalokiteshvara" is interpreted many ways -- "The One Who Hears the Cries of the World"; "The Lord Who Looks Down"; "The Lord Who Looks in Every Direction".

Avalokiteshvara is venerated as the ideal of karuna. Karuna is the activity of compassion in the world and the willingness to bear the pain of others.

Some of the images had distinctly Chinese features (have a look at the eyes)


































The Terrace of the Elephants was about 300 m long and was used as a viewing platform for royal parties. It has several deep bas reliefs of apsaras (celestial beings), elephants and garuda (a mythical bird-like creature).

With the afternoon sun playing light and dark on the carvings, it starts looking like those scenes from Lara Croft - Tomb Raider

 

 Ulli striking yogic postures at the terrace of elephants

Construction of all terraces done with laterite stone blocks and topped with sandstone for bas reliefs and statues. Below is a view looking towards the elephant terrace from the terrace of the leper king

  The Terrace of the Leper King is also a decorative platform with a statue on it. It was called the Leper King because discoloration and moss growing on the original statue was a bit like that of a person with leprosy, and also because it fit in with a Cambodian legend of an Angkorian king who had leprosy (but it seems the story is a misconception).

Here are a few lighter moments at Bayon
Our guide was very insistent about making pics of us and had us pose a couple of time

The guide got Ulli to do what all cambodian guides get all tourists to do : touch noses with Avalokiteshvara!