Background to the TEMPLES OF ANGKOR

“Angkor” literally means “Capital City” or “Holy City”. “Khmer” refers to the dominant ethnic group in modern and ancient Cambodia. In its modern usage, “Angkor” has come to refer to the capital city of the Khmer Empire that existed in the area of Cambodia between the 9th and 12th centuries, as well as to the empire itself. The temple ruins in the area of Siem Reap are the remnants of the Angkorian capitals and represent the pinnacle of the ancient Khmer architecture, art and civilization.

At its height, the Age of Angkor was a time when the capital area contained more than a million people, when Khmer kings constructed vast waterworks and grand temples and when Angkor’s military, economic and cultural dominance held sway over the area of what we know today as Cambodia and much of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

The Barays

Several huge water reservoirs (barays) were constructed during the Angkorian era. The barays appear to have been used not only for agricultural purposes but also played political and religious roles as well. They irrigated the rice fields, were symbols of the king’s power and represented the sacred waters that surrounded Mt Meru of Hindu mythology.

The Linga Cult

The linga cult of Hinduism centres on the god Shiva who is worshipped in the form of a linga or phallic symbol. Most of the Hindu temples at Angkor housed stone lingas. Water that passed over lingas was believed to have sacred, even magical, qualities. Today, you will see countless linga stands but very few lingas as most have been lost to time, stolen or are now housed in the Angkor Conservatory in Siem Reap and the National Museum in Phnom Penh.

Hindu Mythology and the Temple Mountain

Hindu mythology drove the architectural design and artistic content of most pre-Bayon (i.e. pre Buddhist) monuments. “Temple mountains” such as Angkor Wat were based on the layout of Mt Meru which sits at the centre of the universe and is where the gods of Hindu mythology resided. It is a 5-peaked mountain surrounded by other mountains and oceans and this design is reflected in the architecture of all the temple mountains. Moats surround a multi-tiered temple pyramid which is crowned by towers representing the peaks of the mythological mountain home of the gods.

The characters in the scenes of Hindu mythology are called "asparas". They are celestial dancers created in the froth when the gods churned the oceans to create the elixir of life. There are nearly 2,000 asparas carved in Angkor Wat alone.

A Brief History of Angkor

Jayavarman II was the first king of Angkor. He was a Khmer warrior prince who returned to Cambodia in 790 CE after a lengthy stay in the royal court of Java. On his return to Siem Reap he established a royal linga-worshipping cult which would remain central to the Angkorian era and began construction of the series of temples known today as the “Roluos Group”.

King Indravarman III reigned after Jayavarman II and he moved the capital to Angkor, where the first major temple in that area, Phnom Bakheng, was begun in 893. Subsequent kings moved the capital several times but it was re-established in the Angkor area with the building of a new state-temple of Pre Rup in 961.

An era of great expansion followed the return to Angkor. Royal courts flourished and several kings of the period expanded the empire militarily, including King Rajendravarman who led successful campaigns against the eastern enemy of Champa in the mid 10th century. Following the turn of the millennium, King Suryavarman I took firm control in 1010 he led the Khmer to many important victories including conquering the Mon Empire to the west and bringing enormous tracts of territory under Khmer control. (Modern-day Thailand has still not forgiven them!) A century later, King Suryavarman II led several successful campaigns against the Khmer’s traditional eastern enemy, Champa, in today’s central and southern Vietnam.

In the early 12th century under Suryvarman II, the empire was at its zenith and Angkor Wat was built as Suryavarman II’s state-temple and perhaps as his funerary temple.

In the late 12th century, rebellious states, unsuccessful external military campaigns and internal conflict weakenned the empire. In 1165, during a turbulent period when Khmer and Cham princes plotted and fought both together and against one another, a usurper named Tribhuvanadityavarman seized power at Angkor. However, in 1177, he was killed in one of the worst defeats suffered by the Khmers at the hands of the Cham in a sneak naval attack on Angkor. It’s fleet sailed up the Tonle Sap River into the lake just south of the capital city and, after fierce fighting, the city was burned and occupied by the invaders from the east.

The Cham controlled Angkor for just four years until Jayavarman VII mounted a series of counter attacks and expelled them from Cambodia in 1181. After his victory, he was declared king and he broke with almost 400 years of tradition and made Mahayana Buddhism the state religion. In so doing, he initiated Angkor’s most prolific period of monument building. Hundreds of monuments were constructed in less than a 40 year period, including the Bayon, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei and Preah Khan.

At the same time, the King also led an aggressive military struggle against their old enemies, the Champa, which culminated in the capture of the Cham king in 1190 and the annexure of almost all of what today is Vietnam. However, no more grand monuments were completed following the king's death.

After the 13th century, Angkor suffered repeated invasions by the Thais and,in 1431, King Ponhea Yat moved the capital to Phnom Penh. The temples remained active, though their function changed over the years. Angkor Wat was visited several times by western explorers and missionaries between the 16th and 19th centuries but Henri Mouhot is popularly credited with "discovering" Angkor Wat in 1860.

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