![]() ![]() On the equinoxes, the rising Sun appears to sink into the shoulder of the half-man, half-lion and then into the pyramid’s side. The famous Sphinx is perched to the east of the Great Pyramid of Khafre and watches the Sun rise each day. The most famous ancient Egyptian monuments, the pyramids, are aligned with the stars and the cardinal points. getty The Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt Photographed on location in the National Park in horizontal format. ancient Pueblo site featuring architectural ruins of homes, food storages, spiritual kivas and villages built in the ancient adobe style architecture. Its crumbling, emptied ruins continue to help keep a beleaguered nation afloat.The Kiva, a spiritual site in The Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. The Wat itself was spared the fate of the other temples by the protection afforded by its moat that held the encroaching jungle at bay. Nearly 300 years after the construction of this abode of Vishnu, a series of natural calamities, the failure of the elaborate reservoir system and repeated Siamese invasions subdued this great empire. In the end no cosmic alignment could save Angkor. The advent of Buddhism from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) eroded the cult of the God King and the power of the Brahmin priesthood, whose knowledge of temple architecture and cosmology was soon lost. While later years saw more temple building, particularly under Jayavarman Vll, none would ever match the scale and hidden architectural coding of Angkor. We eschewed the horrendously crowded Phnom Bakheng for sunset and returned here, to be rewarded by this glorious vision of the temple bathed in golden light. But it is now believed that Suryavarman, whose name means ‘Protected by the Sun’, was just paying homage to hie divine benefactor. Its very unusual orientation to the West, and the anti-clockwise order of the bas reliefs, suggests that this might have been built as a funerary temple. The rays of the solstice sun are precisely directed onto specific panels of bas reliefs in the outer gallery, and the reliefs themselves are redolent with cosmic meaning. The circumference of the wall is equivalent to the exact length of the lunar year. The axis of the outer wall equals the exact length of the solar year in days. Thus deifying him and symbolising his divine right to rule. On the spring equinox, the sun appears to rise from the central tower that once held a colossal idol of Vishnu, cast in the likeness of the King. Its gigantic 200m wide moat, the cosmic ocean. The lotus bud towers, once clad in gleaming gold, represent the mythical Mount Meru, (abode of Bramha) and the centre of the universe. Its every measurement embodying the Hindu cosmos. It remains the largest religious monument in the world.īuilt in the early twelfth century by King Suryavarman ll, and possibly known then as Preah Pisnulok (world of Vishnu), Angkor Wat was conceived as a harmonious synthesis of divinity, astronomy and architecture. And of the journey of the Khmer princes from petty rulers to God Kings (Devaraja’s).Īngkor Wat (temple city) dedicated to Vishnu – a deviation from the earlier Shaivite temples – marked the zenith of that period of architectural perfection. Stretching over 400 square kilometers, the Angkor archaeological park is a magnificent chronicle of that evolution. Whether it was Khambu or later merchant princes that introduced Brahminic customs, religion and the written languages of Sanskrit and Pali to Cambodia, they prompted a fusion of local and borrowed cultural traditions that gave birth to a unique landscape of art and architecture. The famous churning of the ocean of milk by Devas (Gods) and Asuras (demons) According to Angkorologist Eleanor Mannikka the 91 Asuras mark the 91 days between the winter solstice and spring equinox in March, while the 88 Devas represent the 88 days to the summer solstice after the equinox period!! ![]()
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