This is research report, used to produce a documentary film by OHM en Rob Hof. The documentary was broadcasted on 12/12/2007 on Nederland1 TV Channel.
Scroll down to see in English>>
Dit is een van mijn literatuuronderzoek rapport voor een documentairfilm.
Aan de hand van dit rapport over invloed van India in ASEAN heeft OHM en RobHof Film een documentair gemaakt. Het was uitdezonden op Nederlands 2 op 12 december 2007
zie die film: India buiten India
Samenvatting van de repport.
De tempels van Angkor zijn in circa negen honderd jaar geleden opgebouwd door verscheidene Khmervorsten. Daardoor verschillen ze duidelijk in bouwstijl en zijn er zowel hindoeïstische als boeddhistische tempels te zien. Het was al jaren in de bos geheim gebleven.
In de loop van de jaren zijn er veel boeken verschenen over de tempel Angkor. Zo zijn er schrijvers geweest die beweren dat het een Boeddhistische tempel is. Anderen daarentegen beweren dat het een Hindoeïstische tempel is.
In dit onderzoeksrapport probeer ik door middel van literatuuronderzoek antwoord te geven op de volgende Centrale vraag:
Zijn er invloeden van de Indiase cultuur(Vedische geschriften) terug te vinden in de architectuur van Angkor?
Om hierop antwoord te geven volgt allereerst een korte beschrijving van de geschiedenis, opbouw, interne en externe architectuur van de Angkor tempel. Ook wordt gekeken naar de vernietiging waaraan de tempel onderhevig is en wordt gezocht naar de reden waarom de tempel werd verlaten.
Daarna wordt gekeken naar de invloed van de Indische beschaving op Angkor. En, de culturele achtergrond van het monument en de verloren architectuur.
Tot slot wordt de analyse van de opbouw van Angkor tempel vergeleken met de Vedische geschriften, om uiteindelijk een antwoord te geven op de Centrale vraag.
Angkor: a lost temple in Cambodia
A glimpse of its architecture
The temples of Angkor in Cambodia was built by the different Khmer kings in different period about a thousand years ago. Therefore it reflects different architectural design, mainly derived from Hinduism and Buddhism. It remained undercover in the forest for several hundred years.
This literary research report attempts to explore the influence of Vedic or Indian culture in the making of Angkor and the ways it is understood by various authors. It looks into its brief history, culture and architectural design. It also investigates the external influence on the belief of the Khmer people in the past. It points out to the way Agnkor was in decline and deterioration. Finally it provides the Vedic view of the design of Angkor. The references are made mainly from Angkor: an introduction written by George Coedes, translated into English by Emily Gardiner, 1993, Oxford University press. It deals with the following topics:
1. The temple site
2. The recent history of Cambodia
3. Location of Cambodia
4. The Khmer people
5. The earliest historical account
6. The Angkorian period
7. The timeline of construction
8. The internal and external architecture of Angkor
9. The purpose of the monument
10. The influence of Indian civilization
11. The cultural background of the monument
12. Destruction and the abandonment of Angkor
13. The lost architecture
14. Vedic terms of explanation to the making of Angkor
1. The temple site:
Angkor in Cambodia was listed on both World Heritage List and on the World Heritage in Danger List in 1992. I was removed from the list of World Heritage in Danger in July 2004[1][1].
Angkor consists of about 12 monuments located in the Sim Rap plain not very far from Pnom Penh. They are Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bakong, Bantea Srei,The Baphoun, The Bayon, The Preah Koh, Preah Khan, Ta Prohm, Ta Keo.
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| Ankor temple- aireal view |
The main temple buildings are designed in the basic settings of five towers, one in the middle and four others in its four corners. This is apparent in the design of Angkor Wat. It is also surrounded by the vast arena of water reservoir. It resembles the celestial ocean. The bridge that leads to the entrance is observed by seven hooded Nagas. The square surface is decorated with bas relief. Every walls and surface area reflects the pages of its historical past.
In the north of Angkor is Angkor Thom. It is a typical city surrounded by splendid gates. On its east and west direction lies enormous water reservoirs, used to safeguard the city and provide water for irrigation. In the centre of the city lies the main temple the Bayon. It has at least 54 towers. Each of these towers stand smiling figures looking at every direction.
Further in the east lies Ta Prohm. It is almost ruined and was not restored. One can see how the roots of the fig trees have splited the constructions apart. Near to this temple liesBantreay Srei, which means the citadel for the women. Its is very nicely decorated with pretty motifs[2][2]. The other temples are located in the same compound not far from each other.
2. The recent history of Cambodia
Cambodia was governed from Hanoi as part of French Indo-China from 1864 until 1954 when King Norodom Sihanouk, who had been placed on the throne by the French in 1941, achieved full independence. He ruled Cambodia until 1970, when Marshal Lon Nol ousted him in a coup. Prince Sihanouk, as he was known from 1955 to 1993, then linked up with the Khmer Rouge, an extreme left-wing party, led by Pol Pot which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 when it is estimated around 1.7m Cambodians (over 20% of the population) died from starvation, disease or execution. At the end of 1978 Vietnam invaded Cambodia and established the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, later renamed the State of Cambodia (SOC).
The Khmer Rouge regrouped their forces along the Thai border and waged a war against the Phnom Penh government. The Vietnamese eventually withdrew their forces from Cambodia in 1989, paving the way for the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 and the establishment of UNTAC (the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia – the largest ever UN peacekeeping operation). FUNCINPEC (Royalists) won a narrow victory in the UNTAC organized democratic elections in 1993 and formed a coalition government with the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) but heavy fighting broke out between the two coalition partners in 1997 in advance of the 1998 elections, won by CPP. A new coalition government between CPP and FUNCINPEC was formed in November 1998 with Hun Sen as Prime Minister. A Senate was established in 1998. Currently the king Norodom Sianouk serves as the head of the state while the prime minister Samdah Hun Sen is the head of government.
3. Geography
Cambodia, with an area of 69,898 square miles, and population of about 13 million, is bordered by Thailand, Laos and Vietnam and has a coastline on the Gulf of Thailand. Apart from the Cardamom Mountains in the South-west and uplands in the North-east, the country is predominantly flat. The scarp slope of the Dangrek Mountains marks much of the northern border with Thailand. In the centre of the country is the largest lake in South East Asia, the Tonle Sap. The capital, Phnom Penh, is located at the confluence of the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Bassac rivers. Beyond the river valleys the land is frequently infertile, because rainfall is scant and there is little irrigation. Most Cambodians live in rural areas, cultivating rice as their staple crop[3][3].
4. The Khmer people[4][4]
The most widely held theory, according to Pelerin de’ Angkor, the earliest recorded account in French, states that the Khmers came form India. ‘At some unknown time this city, later completely shrouded by the forest, was one of the wonders of the world. Like the ancient Nile, whose mud gave birth to a great civilization, the Mekong River overflowed its bank annually, depositing its riches on the surrounding land and laid the foundation for a luxurious empire of the Khmers. It was probably at the time of Alexander the great that a great people migrated from India and settled on the shores of that river after subjugating the cowering native tribes. The conquerors brought with them their Brahman gods and the lively saga of the Ramayana, and as their prosperity increased on this fertile soil, they built temples after temples, each carved with thousands of figures.
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| Gate to the temple- Samundra manthan |
The Khmer people were a detached branch of the great Aryan race, who settled here by chance, and developed far from their roots isolated from everything by an immense stretch of forest and swamps. The civilizing influence of India on Indochina cannot be denied. Its history certainly exemplifies one of the most remarkable developments of Hinduism in a foreign country. Judging from their ethnic and linguistic characteristic, the Khmer people including both the builders of Angkor and the modern Cambodians belonged to a people who had settled in Indochina in prehistoric times and who spread beyond Cambodia into southern Burma and the east to the Annamite chain. One can conclude thus that the Khmers were an indigenous people who are invigorated by and admixture of Hindu blood and Brahman culture influenced by Chinese ethos. One cannot think of them as coming in a body from India to an uninhabited country, or as having annihilated the indigenous population.
Some western writers assumed that these earliest Khmers have been disappeared altogether either due to unsuccessful wars, internal strife, and natural calamities or due to the inevitable evolution of civilization. Others think this is not the absolute case although there was decline. A passage in Pelerin d’ Angkor states: Little Cambodia of today, the conserver of complicated rites, the origin of which has been forgotten, is the last remnant of the vast Khmer Empire which after five hundred years of existence was completely extinguished among the silent trees and the moss…Despite their much reduced kingdom, the Cambodians have remained Khmers, the same people who once astonished Asia with their mysticism and their pomp. Further more they have never given up hope of recovering their ancient capital, shrouded for centuries by the Siamese forests.
5. The earliest historical account
The history of ancient Khmers or the Cambodians is limited to the knowledge of their kings because the historical records are based on the inscriptions placed in their palaces and temples.
The history of the monuments of Angkor can be described in terms of three different periods, Funan, pre-Angkorian and Angkorian. The center of the Khmer Civilization is at theAngkor Wat area which is situated on the plain of present-day Siemreap province north of the Great Lake of Tonle Sap.
The word "Angkor" is derived from Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language, of "Nagara" which means "City". Angkor Watliterally means "City of Temple" and Angkor Thom "The Magnificent City"[5][5].
6. The Angkorian period:
The earliest period of their historical account is given by some Chinese historians, that goes back only up to the first century AD to the middle of 6th century. At that time Cambodia was a Hindu kingdom. Chinese used to call this country as Funan. Funan in Khmer language is Phnom which means mountain that implies ‘king of the mountain’.
In the north of Funan (Cambodia) across the Mekong River was a country named Kambujas. It was ruled by Bhavavarman. There was continuous war between the North and West that led their capital city to shift. In course of time, up to 8thcentury another king Isanavarman and Jayavarman I ruled the country. Later Jayavarman II, who ruled from 802 to 850 AD unified Cambodia and installed the line of Khmer kings in the region of present Angkor that lasted for another 6 centuries. Those kings were Jayavarman III (850-877), Indravarman (877-889), Jayavarman IV (921-944?), and then Rajendravarman (944– 968) who fixed Angkor as their capital and remained then on. Then followed there the rule of Jayavarman V (968-1001), who built Bantey Srei and Takeo temples. Suryavarman I (1002-1050) was followed by Udayadityavarman II (1050-1066) who built Baphuon. The next was Harshavarman III up to 1079. In 1080 Jayavarman IV who was not related to any of the predecessors installed him self with the help of the Brahman Divakara whose dynasty lasted up to 14th century. Of this dynasty, Suryavarman II appeared the greatest king of Cambodia who built the famous Angkor Wat during his reign from 1113 to 1150. Later in the reign of Jayavarman VII, the last great king of Cambodia, crowned in 1181 added a number of buildings to Angkor.
The dominating aristocracy, particularly in the beginning of the colonization, was most probably Hindus. But the studies of the names of the queens and other members of the royal family indicates that intermarriage began very early and that the rigid cast system was soon relaxed in this far part of outer India. At the time of building the Angkor the royal dynasty must have been so integrated with the indigenous blood that there was no question of their being considered foreign rulers superimposed on the local population. Their main cultural distinction was their Sanskrit writing. But their portrayal of the kings and gods was entirely typical of the Khmers.
7. The timeline of construction
There are different assessment and assumption as to when Angkor was constructed. Mouhot, the first French expeditioner, about one hundred years ago, in his account La Tour de Monde, was skeptical to the claims of the Khmer king that there are inscriptions that show the construction of Angkor dates back to pre Christian era. George Ceodes asserts that oldest architectural remains do not antedate the 6th century, and the building of Angkor itself began at the end of 9thcentury and continued to the end of 12th century. Let us turn to the question of how long it may have taken to build Angkor.
If we consider the amount of stones in Angkor Wat in relation to the mechanical means that Khmers had at their disposal, we are dumbfounded and we can understand why Cambodians attributed its construction to Vishwakarma, the divine architect. A former Cambodian minister for justice, H. E. Chhun tried to calculate the approximate cubic measurement of the stones in Angkor Wat, and figured that its construction could not have taken less than 300 years. From this, one can understand that this is exactly the amount of time it took to build all the great Khmer monuments. George Groslier, 1924, asserted that a temple can be constructed from all its side at a time with large laborers and that Angkor could not have taken more than fifty years to construct. In view of the recent epigraphic discoveries, one can make precise estimate of the duration which eventually reflects that Angkor Wat was build within the period of fifty years, the length of Suryavarman II’s reign that lasted 30 years.
8. The internal and external architect of Angkor
The remnants inside the Angkor found of the Funan period are four Sanskrit inscriptions and a few sculptures, the oldest is Nha Trang. There are two Vishnuite, one Buddhist found that dates between 3rd to 5th century. The other numerous pre-Angkorian structures are difficult to attribute to the period of Funan.
There are Vishnuite images from Phnom Da and few Buddhas that give idea of how Funan tradition of sculptures is like.
The pre-Angkorian art can be seen in abundance in Southern Cambodia. In architecture, the central monuments are brick towers with high square ground plan, false doors and mounting stories of decreasing size, each replica of the one below. The carving work is remarkable in its originality.
The architecture of the Angkorian period, 9th to 12th century, includes all monuments of Angkor group and the great centers at Koh Ker, Prah Khan, Beng Mealea to name a few.
Angkor Thom contains splendid monument with a Shiva temple; Bayon, in its center. There is also a shrine of Lokesvara that shows that the temple was once Buddhist.
In most cases the internal sculpture reflects the epic of Ramayana, Vishnu puran, Krishna Lila and Siva and Sivalinga in the form of picturesque stories.
9. The purpose of the monuments
Naturally some of the monuments of Angkor are intended for the palaces, princely or royal residence besides some prominently being temples for the gods. But the discoverers saw this differently. The religious character of the buildings appears unsuitable for habitation. The buildings intended for princely residence were covered with tiles either of lead or clay which implies that the buildings must have been of light construction, because these types of buildings were never used for bricks or stone buildings. There are no remains of the light buildings today and we are seeing only the religious skeleton of the city. Then what could have been the purpose of such an accumulation of religious buildings? The modern epigraphic discoveries show that the ones built by the royalties were funerary temples, mausoleums and, to a certain extent, tombs, since royal ashes were inserted into the bases of the statues that pictured the deceased in divine form. This was the distinctive glory of the Khmer Empire.
The general purpose of the construction of the temples in that manner was to represent on earth a terrestrial model of all or part of the heavenly world, thus enduring that intimate harmony between the two worlds without which humanity could not prosper. The structure is not merely a temple, a palace or architectural expertise but a replica of the world of Hindu cosmology, a small model of universe, a microcosm. According to Vedic narration, the world consists of a central continent, Jambudipa, with mount Meru at its centre. This continent is encircled by six concentric rings of land separated by seven oceans. At the summit of Meru was the city of Brahman, the home of the gods, surrounded by eight guardians of the cardinal points. This is represented by the city of Angkor, the capital of the kingdom of Khmers which Jayavarman II restored in the last decade of the 12th century. Like Hindus, Buddhist cosmology also includes the existence of a central mountain- Meru, on top of which rise the various layers of heavenly residence of gods. This idea is genuinely incorporated in the making of Angkor city.
10. The influence of the Indian civilization
The Vedic literature, such as puranas, Mahabharat and Ramayan recounts the civilization of ancient India. These are no means of mythical stories as many writers put it. If the information given in the Vedic literature is mere mythology, then the expansion of the Indian civilization may not have convinced the Khmer rulers to base their magnificent art and culture and the architectural design of the Angkor on the descriptions given in the puranas and Ramayan. Angkor itself stands as an unquestionable statute, a proof of the application of the Vedic art and architecture flourished from India. It is very astonishing to the modern science. The puran, namely the Srimad Bhagavad states that some of the kings of the Vedic time used to rule over the entire world.
Undoubtedly, the civilization in the Indian Subcontinent had been highly developed since ancient time. The geographical location of India being in the middle of Asia, with its southern peninsula connected with the ocean and the North-east landlocked, has the varieties of trading opportunities with its neighbors. Its commercial interaction with the South East Asian nations was described as the silk-route opportunity in the past. Indians used to describe these island countries assubarnabhumi, the land of precious metal.
The excavation at Eo Oc, a Funanese main port lying in South Vietnam today, revealed that the region was one of the prominent transitory points between the West and the East, and the trading connection between the two distant continents as far as the Roman Empire in the West and the Chinese civilization in the Far East[6][6].
The Indian traders sailed to this region to establish Indian trading posts in order to collect goods and products during the off monsoon season. These traders brought with them their civilization, cultures, philosophy and religions, which were mostly appreciated and adopted by the indigenous people. They were concerned mainly in trading and in collecting goods from the local to sell in distant lands. During those days, the indigenous people accepted many aspects from their foreign folks by which they deemed to be better and beneficial. One of these aspects was the religious and cultural elements of the Indian civilization. The natives adopted Hinduism as their religion and its gods Shiva and Vishnu were revered as their supreme gods. It was also found that the Brahmins were invited into the royal courts to help in administration during the Funan period (1st century - 613 A.D) which was a predecessor of the Khmer civilization. In addition to the religious belief, the natives also learned the engineering skills such as the irrigation system as well as stone carving from the Indian Brahmins.
When the Khmer civilization evolved in early 9th century, the Khmer inherited several elements from its predecessor as well as those from the Indian civilization. Its first king Jayavarman II crowned himself as a deva-raja or "god-king" and his regime was more or less a replica of the successful Indian monarchy. Although the Khmer adopted many aspects of Indian cultural and religious elements, the way of Indian life did not penetrate deeply into the root of Khmer civilization which was consisted of the laymen who still maintained their own way of life-style
11. Cultural background of the monument
The monuments are the product of a Hindu civilization transplanted to Indochina. This does not preclude the originality of Khmer art in relation to its prototypes and its Indian forebears. This originality was marked, and naturally the reason for it was that the artisans who built the temples were Khmers, and were imbued to ancient artistic traditions quite foreign to India. But as soon as one looks behind the external forms for the motivating inspiration, one finds Indian ideas revolving. Except for some bridges, every Khmer monument was a religious building. They are all constructed of stones, or bricks, for the belief were that the God alone has the right to dwell in such monuments. Others lived in the pavilions of wood that did not existed long. This was the custom until European influence that began in 17th century. From the time of Funan up to the 14th century, the Hindu and Buddhist religion existed side by side in Cambodia. In Funan and in the pre-Angkorian era, Hinduism was mostly represented by the worship of Harihara, who is embodied in a single deity. At the time of Angkor Siva was the deity most in favor with royal family. In the 12th century at the time of Angkor Wat, Vishnu worship seems to have become more popular. The inscriptions found written in the murals and walls were in Sanskrit. Later on Buddhism crept in and Pali language replaced the growth of other religion.
The temple of Angkor was dedicated to Vishnu, into whose spirit the king Suryavarman is supposed to have transmigrated at his death.
12. Destruction and abandon of Angkor
Suryavarman has earlier annexed a part of Champa territory, but they revenged and destroyed a part of Angkor. Jayavarman’s successors were regularly threatened by Thais who were settled in the valley of Menam that continued until the middle of 15th century. Eventually, the Khmer rulers seemed to have abandoned Angkor and moved their capital to Phnom Penh not far from the ancient capital of Funan and of pre-Angkorian Cambodia.
The lack of care during the time of construction that took place particularly at the end of 12th century is one of the causes of ruined state of the monuments. The chaotic conditions of some of them, for instance the Beng Mealea monument have sometimes been systematic destruction, perhaps as a consequence of war. Another reason behind the destruction is due to robbery of the artifacts that may also contain gold and valuable gems. This led the miscreants knock the statues, set fire, dig holes, break walls up to the bases of the towers that do contain gold and gems. It was not necessarily the act of religious vandalism. Another causes of the deterioration of the monument were the natural forces which operated silently but all the way effectively. In this tropical country where the climate is wet, an abandon building laid open to the rain and termites, is promptly overgrown with vegetation and is destined to easy destruction. The fig trees, for example, ruling the Angkor today, whose seed dropped on the top of the building, germinates with thin roots piercing across the walls until it reaches at the base from where with the availability of the sap grows in to enormous size tearing the walls apart from top to bottom. Another reason of the fall of the monument is the sinking of the foundation. Cambodia has not suffered from seismographic disturbances much and earthquake is not the real dilapidation of the monuments.
Khmers Empire has the glory for constructing temples that are of funerary significance since the ashes of the final rites of the chieftains are entombed in the base of the temples and statues. The tremendous effort expended in building such royal mausoleums finished by draining the resources of the kingdom that may have constituted later a principal cause of its decline. Illicit excavation, pillaging and landmines were the main additional threats of the modern times that led to the destruction of the remarkable complex
13. The lost architecture
There were towers characterized by the absence of false doors and structure of shallow stories of decreasing size prevalent in the tradition of Funan but later these forms of architecture have disappeared. The temple buildings were built with stones and bricks since the belief were that the god has the right to such concrete dwellings. For the residential purpose, the buildings of light structures were erected with the roofing of clay or lead sheets, and, these types of residential structures vanished into complete ruins in course of time. In general the architectural structure both inside and outside the monuments are in denudation. Besides, the paintings, color and any other visual art that are produced of the materials that cannot last long if not protected from calamities and natural infestations has disappeared totally.
14. Vedic Cultural influence on Angkor
India is known for the practice of Vedic culture. It certainly has this cultural influence to the life of all its neighboring countrymen. The ancient India is known as Mahabharat. It means ‘Great India’, which not only refers to the war of Kuruchetra but the country as whole whose geographical area extended beyond the present day India. Until the end of the war Mahabharat, Indian surface area constituted the entire Asian continent if not the world at large as the purana suggests. Therefore, undoubtedly, the prehistoric India included the South East Aian nations, that did have cultural influence greater than its political power. Angkor in South Cambodia and Hindu temples in Bali and Malayasa are the self-evidence of this influence.
In addition to this evidence, the practice of the following Vedic tradition confers the influence of Indian culture in Khmer Cambodia.
14.1. Through the deity worship tradition
The Vedic literature suggests the prominence of deity worship from Dvaparyug onwards as a method of pleasing the lord or to attain the divine.
Krite yad dhyayato Visnum
Tretayam yajato makhaih
Dvapare paricaryayam
Kalau tad dhari kritanat
Srimad Bhagavad Puran, canto 12, ch.3.verse 52.
Translation: Whatever result was obtained in Satya yuga by meditation on Vishnu in Treta by performing sacrifices, and in Dvaparyuga by serving the Lord’s lotus feet can be obtained in Kaliyuga simply by chanting the Hara Krsna mahamantra.
This assertion of the sastra reveals to us that in the earliest times the self realisation is achieved through meditation, primarily during satya yuga. Later in Dvapar yuga, the worship of the deity form (arcavigraha) of the lord became prominent. At this time many temples are built in and out of India where the influence of the Vedic knowledge was dominant. This tradition of the worship of the God is still continuing. As such, the main purpose of the king of Cambodia, Suryavarman and his successors, to build huge temple such as Angkor was to worship Vishnu, including the trinity, ie. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in their many different forms of manifestations.
14.2. Through the kings as Devaraja
In view of the Puranas, the influence of the Vedic culture was universal. This was possible because the rulers were self realized kings or godly kings. The kings who build Angkor are also referred as god-kings, Devaraja, or in other words saintly kings such as Suryavanrman. The name Suryavarman indicates that he belongs to the Sun dynasty. The Sun dynasty, according to puranas, began form the Sun God Vivasvan. Sri Ramchandra, the incarnation of Vishnu appeared in this dynasty. The speciality of the rulers of prehistoric or Vedic times are that they do not subjugate other nations under their political power nor the leaders of the nations rise against the leadership for the independence. Only the nations that rebels against the other or are irreligious in their conduct are put under control by replacing the king by another who appears divine.
The Srimad Bhagavatam desribes how the Lord Parsuram, the greatest descendent of Bhrgu, annihilated all the ksatriyas on the face of the earth. It further recounts the lives of glorious kings who appeared in the dynasty of the moon-god- kings such as Aila, Yayati, Nahus, Dusmanta’s son Bharata, Santanu and Santanu’s son Bhisma. Also described is the great dynasty founded by king Yadu, the eldest son of Yayati[7][7].
Many neighbouring states of India remained always independent of their rule partly because they were ruled by the descending family members of the ruling authority of India or installed by him in recognition of his peaceful conduct. The nature of governance remained all the same, that is based on the tenets of Veda. An account of the kingship according to Bhagavad puran is significant in view of the expansion of the Devaraja system in the neighbouring states of India.
Disi daksina – purvasyam
Druhum daksinato yadum
Pratiyam turvasum cakra
Udicyam anum isvaram
Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 9ch.19, verse 22
Translations: King Yayati, mentioned above, gave the southeast to his son Druhyu, the south to his son Yadu, the west to his son Turvasu, and the north to his son Anu. In this way he divided the kingdom. Then it is mentioned in the next verse that; Yayati enthroned his youngest son, Puru, as the Emperor of the entire world and the proprietor of all its riches, and he placed all other sons, who were older than Puru, under Purus control[8][8]. This shows that Indian neighbours did have their own kings with political independence but followed the norms and traditions of the Indian system of government. Based on this Vedic story, it is imperative to declare that builders of Angkor are perhaps the descendent of this dynasty who used to revere the worship of Vishnu. In Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna reminds us that the spiritual knowledge, in the past, was given to the kings who puts into practice in is life and in the life of his people as the formula for peace. Accordingly, everything is done to please the Lord, based on the scriptures. Undoubtedly, the construction of Angkor reveals the practice of such spiritual understanding.
…………………er komt nog over de berg meru…enz. ( dit zijn al ingeleverd)
MOUNT MERU: a Hindu concept
Mount Meru or Mount Sumeru is a sacred mountain in Hindu and Jain folklore considered to be the center of the universe. It is believed to be the abode of Brahma and other deities. The mountain is said to be 80,000 leagues (450,000 km) high and located in Jambudvipa, one of the continents on earth in Hindu literatures. Many Hindu temples, including Angkor Wat, the principal temple of Angkor in Cambodia, have been built as symbolic representations of the mountain.
Legends
Mount Meru finds mention innumerable times in Hindu literature. Some of the better-known legends are recounted here.
Meru, Vayu and Lanka
Legends say that Mount Meru and the wind god Vayu were good friends. However, the sage Narada approached Vayu and incited him to humble the mountain. Vayu blew with full force for one full year, but Meru was shielded by Garuda with his wings.(he was flying high) However, after a year Garuda took respite for some time. Thus the apex of the mountain was broken and it fell into the sea and created the island of Sri Lanka.
Meru, Agastya and the Vindhya mountains
Another legend well-known to this day in India, is regarding the daily circumnambulation of the sun around mount Meru, and involves the sage Agastya. The legend goes thus: The Vindhya mountains that separate north and south India from each other once showed a tendency to grow so high as to obstruct the usual trajectory of the sun. This was accompanied by increasing vanity on the part of that mountain range, which demanded that Surya, the sun-God, circumnambulate the Vindhya mountains daily, just as he does Mount Meru (identified by some as being the north pole). The need arose to subdue, by guile, the Vindhyas, and Agastya was chosen to do that.
Agastya journeyed from north to south, and on the way encountered the now impassable Vindhya mountains. He asked the mountain range to facilitate his passage across to the south. In reverence for so eminent a sage as Agastya, the Vindhya mountains bent low enough to enable the sage and his family to cross over and enter south India. The Vindhya range also promised not to increase in height until Agastya and his family returned to the north. Agastya settled permanently in the south, and the Vindhya range, true to its word, never grew further. Thus, Agastya accomplished by guile something that would have been impossible to accomplish by force.
Beliefs
The legends, puranas and Hindu epics frequently state that Surya, the sun-God, circumambulates Mount Meru every day. In late 19th c. when it was believed that Aryans may have had their original home Urheimat in North Europe, it was thought that Mount Meru may actually refer to the "center of the world." The Iranians claim that the Aryans came from Mount Hara. Har is another name of Shiva, who has His abode in this mountain. Some beliefs, local to that area of the Himalayas, associate mythical Mount Meru with a mountain called Kailasa near the Lake Manasarovar in Tibet.
MOUNT MERU: A Buddhist concept
In the mythology of Tibetan Buddhism, Mount Meru is a place which simultaneously represents the center of the universe and the single-pointedness of mind sought by adepts. Thousands of miles in height, Meru is located somewhere beyond the physical plane of reality, in a realm of perfection and transcendence. Symbolic representations of Mount Meru are commonly found in Tibetan mandalas, contemplative diagrams designed to aid meditators in focusing.
It is said that Meru has its roots in hell, and its summit in heaven. Meru is surrounded by seven rings of golden mountains, each separated from the other by one of seven circular oceans. It is crowned by a golden palace wherein Indra, king of Hindu gods, resides. This entire superstructure rises from an outer ocean, and is flanked by four main continents, each with two subcontinents.
The southern continent, Jambudvipa, corresponds to the physical earth. Each of the other continents represents a nearby planet upon which transmigrating souls following the yellow light-path may be reborn. However, it is said that all of these worlds are undesirable, for they are non-human worlds inhabited by sheep, cattle, or horses. The teachings of Buddhism clearly state that existence as a human being is the only way to achieve Buddhahood, so rebirth in any other form (including that of a deva or demigod) is a distraction from the path to enlightenment.
According to legend, somewhere in the northwest region of Jambudvipa lies a land called Shambhala. This is a magical land which is shaped like an eight-petalled lotus flower. It has been ruled by priest-kings for many thousands of years; in fact, the legend of Shambhala predates the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet. In the aboriginal Bon religion, Shambhala is known as Olmolungrung, and is based on the square instead of the circle.
Shambhala forms a gateway between the physical and spiritual realms. It is endowed with riches, and is ideally suited for the habitat of enlightened souls. They are not attached to the fruits of karma, and are but one step from Buddhahood. This is the realm to be sought for rebirth if one desires the swiftest path to nirvana.
In the Tibetan Buddhist version of the apocalypse, barbarians will overtake the earth at the end of the Kali Yuga, the present age. It will be necessary for the king of Shambhala to join forces with the gods to wage war on the barbarians. At this time, armies will be sent forth from the city, the location of which has been kept secret for millenia. Order will be restored on earth, and the wisdom which Shambhala has been holding will be dispensed to the peoples of the world.
Many western explorers, hearing tales of a "golden city" of Shambhala, sought to find it in the frozen wastes of northern Tibet. This resulted in the present-day term "Shangri-la," which, like El Dorado, signifies an unattainable goal. This is an unfortunate misunderstanding, for ultimately Shambhala is a place accessible to anyone, if only one can be free of karmic attachments.
Source: http://www.dr-yo.com/meru.html
wikipedia
[11][3] http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1018965310423
[12][4] ANGKOR, an introduction by George Coedes (in French) and translated into English by Emily Floyd Gardiner, 1963, Oxford University press)
[13][5]http://archaeology.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=archaeology&cdn=education&tm=60&gps=146_26_1276_643&f=00&tt=8&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.cambodia-travel.com/khmer/funan.htm
[14][6]http://archaeology.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=archaeology&cdn=education&tm=60&gps=146_26_1276_643&f=00&tt=8&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.cambodia-travel.com/khmer/funan.htm
[15][7] Sirmad Bhagavatam Puran, canto 12, chapter 12, verse 25-26
[16][8] Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 9ch.19, verse 23
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