The Mystery of Angkor Wat Temple – How I Experienced it

I have a thing for ruins. I don’t quite understand why. Something about the echoes of History I think. 

When I see a ruin, I try to imagine what it looked like in its prime. The years of neglect fall away and in my mind’s eye, I see the place come to life. 

I picture people inhabiting the place, going about their daily lives, oblivious of the fact that it would one day lay barren. I think of the activities that could have taken place there, the laughter that echoed in its walls, the rage it endured, the tears it absorbed and the secrets it held. I see the sunrays building patterns on the walls and the rain washing it all down and I think – what a wonderful place it must have been.

It was this affinity that drew me to Angkor Wat. 

I had read about Angkor Wat years ago. It is the largest temple in the world, standing tall in a predominantly Buddhist nation. Cambodia was once a Hindu nation. And the harbingers of this religion to the country were none other than Indian traders. It was during this time that Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II as a dedication to Lord Vishnu. This is evident in the presence of massive Vishnu statues and carvings of the 10 Vishnu ‘avatars’ in the temple complex.

If I remember correctly, the king had another purpose behind building the temple. He wanted to be buried there with his family. Now that is quite something. There is nothing middle class about the inner workings of a king’s mind. Imagine conceiving the idea of having a grand final resting place, so grand that one day thousands of people from all corners of the world would travel there just to watch the sun rise behind it! That king had taste and was obviously loaded.

So at his command, all the skilled artisans and engineers of the country were gathered, elephants were brought in and bamboo rafts were made. Sandstone was quarried from the Kulen mountains some 80 kilometres away from the site. Elephants carried these massive stones on their backs all the way from the mountains. Sometimes rafts were used to transport the stones down the Siem Reap river. And then the engineers got to work.

The stones were carved with utmost precision. The carvings depict different Vishnu ‘avatars’, Shiva lingas, ‘apsaras’, scenes from Ramayan and Mahabharat, Garuda and other mythological creatures.

You would be surprised as I was to know that no binding agent was used to construct the walls of Angkor Wat. Which means there is no cement or mortar between the stones. They are held in place by precise cuts that lock the stones in, just like the Japanese art of Kumiki. My mind was blown! Imagine the human ingenuity it took to make this happen one thousand years ago without the tools we have today!

It took 300,000 workers, 6000 elephants and 35 years to build the 400 sq. km. engineering marvel that is Angkor Wat. Today, it draws a million travellers a year!

No wonder Angkor Wat was the glory of the Khmer empire. But then the inevitable happened. Climate change did not come as a friend to the massive structure. Neither did the Khmer Rouge. And then invasions from neighbouring countries banished the people away from the temple area. If that wasn’t enough, the descendant kings began a shift towards Buddhism. This is evident in the hurried efforts made to replace the Vishnu idols and the Shiva lingas with Buddha statues.

In the end, Angkor became a ghost town. But the temple remained as a testament to what humans are capable of.

So when the captain of our flight announced, “Welcome to the Kingdom of Cambodia”, right before touchdown, I expected nothing less than grandeur. And I was rewarded manifold.

I remember being barely able to sleep my first night in Cambodia. I was all riled up with excitement. By 5 am the next morning, we reached the temple site and lined up around a bamboo-fenced lake right in front of the main temple. There were hundreds of tourists, each of us trying to occupy the best vantage point for a dramatic sunrise shot. It was pitch black then. We had crossed a moat and then two ancient libraries to reach this place.

It was a little cloudy that day. Not the best weather for a dramatic sunrise. But I was ecstatic nonetheless. The night was ending. In no time, the dark blue sky had given way to twilight. The sun was still below the horizon but its oncoming was signalled by an orangish tinge. As the sky brightened, the temple slowly came into view. Everybody watched in silence. Only the cicadas could be heard buzzing. The sun rays unveiled layer after layer of Angkor Wat. It looked unreal and unbelievably huge. I was captivated. The rest of the world had receded way behind me and it felt like I was the only one standing, watching the marvel unfold in front of my eyes like a mirage. I had to pinch myself to believe it was real.

It is illegal to touch the Angkor Wat or bring back stones from the temple, no matter how tiny. Seems poetic because sitting here now two thousand miles away and typing this, it still feels like a dream. 

I took time to explore the temple, look at its walls, its ceilings and floors, its stairs and corridors and huge surrounding grounds and imagine what went on there a thousand years ago. The symmetry of the structure is fascinating, which is why the centre of the temple is easy to discern.

I tried and failed miserably to put myself in the architect’s shoes to understand how this place was planned. Was it sketched on a parchment? Which structure was built first and why? Were the carvings planned meticulously? Or was some of it left to the workers’ whims? Probably some of it was because there is a small dinosaur carved in a stone in one of the corners – a stark contrast to the theme of the rest of the carvings.

Sadly, the damage to Angkor Wat is enormous. The complex has seen many wars. Artillery shellings and bullet holes caused large-scale destruction. The Khmer Rouge destroyed statues and carvings. Then came the art thieves, looting the place dry. Finally, Nature began to reclaim Angkor. A jungle developed around the temple, enveloping it from the world. Roots grew unchecked through stoneworks. This can be seen in the Ta Prohm temple in the Angkor complex. The roots of a strangler fig tree have enveloped its walls like a boa constrictor swallowing its way through the temple. It looks as if the tree is an extension of the temple. But in reality, these roots clawing through the walls have kept the weathered stones from toppling over. 

What I like most about the restoration efforts is that their premise is salvaging instead of rebuilding. So the roots and the forests have been kept intact. The old stones have been salvaged and reused. Only in places where the stones are missing have they put in new bricks to fill the gaps. In places where the roots have not clawed through, scaffolding has been used to hold the stones together. The restoration has been mindful and respectful of how the original structure was built. A lot of the work has been commissioned by India and that made me a proud traveller. 

I went to Angkor Wat 2 days in a row and was only able to cover the small circuit route. If I get another chance, I would return and spend a whole week there just to let my imagination run loose and hear those echoes of an era gone by. It’s like a drug. I feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins, heart pounding in my chest, mouth gaping at the enormity of the structure, my brain runs into overdrive trying to process the gravity of the place. I think to myself – how lucky we are to inhabit the same earth where a place like this exists. And a human like me, like you just put their mind to it one day and built it.