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Sunday 16 May 2010

The City of the Gods: Angkor Wat (4)

Then we visit Angkor Wat...one from seven wonder places in the world


Angkor Wat is a symbol of modern Cambodia, but also of the ancient Angkor Empire, with its vast network of roads weaving throughout all Indochina.Angor Wat,built in the early part of the twelfth century by the Angkor ruler Suryavarman II ,is a Hindu temple/It was constructed as a royal tomb,and its central sanctuary housed and image of Shiva,the god with whom the king was said to be one.Three concentric galleries enclose the central sanctuary,rising as one approaches the center of the complex.

The stairway leading up to the third and innermost gallery is so steep as to be treacherous and the design of the whole seems almost intended to rebuff the devotee.

There are towers at each of the four corners of the innermost gallery and the taller central sanctuary rises in their center, the peak of Mount Meru,the very center of the world. It was here,in this sacred space, that the secret ceremony uniting the king and the god was conducted.Carvings of devatas,frmale deities,appear throughout the temple,and the galleries display scenes from the ancient Indian epic the Mahabharata ,as well as other Hindu myths, heightening the drama of ths holy citadel.




 















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