The Angkor civilization

Episode 1 Planning

Most of us feel a patronizing interest in the famed Angkor Wat temple with its ancient Hindu carvings. Some of us also cherish a secret desire to actually witness the temple one day. But few, if any, are actually aware of the exact location, or even the specific country in which the temple is located. I was no exception. 

My knowledge relating to the geography of the area was rudimentary at best. I knew that somewhere between Burma and China there was a great bulge of land containing a few countries one of which was Vietnam, upon which greatness had been thrust by the US of A.  I wasn’t quite sure in which of these countries stood the enormous Angkor temple with remarkable carvings of our very own gods and goddesses. It was at this juncture that we met a friend who had just visited the Angkor temples and was profoundly impressed by them. He also gave us very detailed information on places to stay and modes of travel. Suddenly, a trip to the Angkor Wat began to look easily possible. 

This ancient land of Kamboj lies to the south east of our country tucked in between Thailand on the west and Vietnam on the east. To the north of Cambodia is Laos and to the south lies the Gulf of Thailand. The Angkor temples are near the town of Seam Reap (meaning Siam defeated) close to the nearer border of the country. The capital Phnom Penh lies far off to the east. There were no direct flights from India to Cambodia even though the total flying time from Kolkata to Phnom Penh is under three hours. Indian faces were rarely visible amongst the thousands of tourists arriving daily to visit the Angkor temples. Quite naturally, not much information regarding the area was available from our local travel agents. 

Extensive research was begun from the net. Copious advice was collated from friends and relatives who had any experience of the east, no matter how dated nor how far off from our target area. Phone calls flew fast and furious across the globe. Air tickets were booked on the net and printouts taken. Exhaustive studies of Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and Footprints were undertaken. Hotels were shortlisted, vetoed, and net reviews studied more minutely.  Many meetings and more arguments later, armed with maps, guide books and magazine articles, we finally set off to visit the famed Angkor Temples of Cambodia.

There was a very affordable red eye flight by Thai Air to Bangkok from where it is easy to head to Cambodia. This mode of travel does involve a double entry visa to Thailand even if one goes no further than the airport. Within two hours we were at the stunning Suvarnabhoomi airport from where there did exist a direct flight to Seam Reap lasting much less than an hour. This flight was unreasonably costly probably because there is only one airline in the sector. We availed of the no-frills airline Air Asia, to fly from Bangkok to the capital city Phnom Penh, much further east than our target area of Seam Reap. The fare was an astonishing Rupees 800/- plus airport taxes. The added benefit was viewing more of Cambodia literally at grassroots level. 

There is a possible third and more adventurous mode of getting to Siam Reap from Bangkok and this is by road across the Thailand-Cambodia border. Only the intrepid risk this surface route, for although the roads and services are splendid to Aranya Prathet, on the Thai side of the border, beyond this point one travels in truckloads over indeterminate paths in terrain known to contain landmines. No day in Cambodia passes without being reminded of landmine explosions as one sees people missing limbs or eyes all the time. Groups of such land mine affected musicians play plaintive melodies for alms at the gates of each temple at Angkor.

 

 

Episode 2 - Journey

The flight to Phnom Penh lasted no more than an hour. In between seat belt signs there is hardly time to fill immigration forms. The aerial view of the Thai-Cambodia interface is startling. One crosses all of a sudden from an endlessly spreading perfect geometrical grid of large rectangular farms in fetching shades of green into an expanse of virgin forests with a prominent river winding through it and bordered on either side by many a horseshoe shaped piece of sand. These were remains of ox-bow lakes formed when the river changed course. 

Immediately upon walking into the airport terminal, one hands over one's passport and $20 and before one has arrived at immigrations, it is back with visa stamp. This country states upfront on their official website that citizens from Pakisthan, Bangla Desh, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia …. would have to put in prior applications for visas.

It is clearly stated in all information brochures that there is a town centre where one hires any form of conveyance to one's destination. This is also the bus terminus. From the airport, city taxis drove past frangipani lined avenues to arrive at this central vehicle terminus and finally disgorged us at a congested narrow lane chock-a-block with traffic and touts. There were no vans in sight. We were informed by all the locals crowding around us that a small vehicle accommodating a maximum of three, was to cost more than double the $50 we were expecting to pay. The only alternative was to go by bus. We were hoping to have more space collectively to the five of us to enjoy the long journey, but with one's luggage on the tarmac and hardly any room to stand, one's bargaining powers are somewhat impaired. 

On the verge of settling for the best at hand, Reethu and I walked off determinedly down the road leaving the men to guard the luggage. Fifty yards down the road we were approached by other touts. Through a haze of incomprehensible utterances, we gathered that we were being asked to ride pillion on two 'motos'. On we jumped and were taken off to another side of the square where there were a couple of large vans. We paid off the two motos a dollar apiece and involved in a long but extremely polite bargaining process with a smiling young man. When the discussion was well underway, the youngster called in an elderly person somewhat more proficient in the language and the bargaining continued on the same polite vein with much gesturing and folded hands. Finally settling on a large van at $130 we drove around the town centre on the way back to our men we were startled to see such minivans by the score waiting to be hired at the other end of the square!

 

Episode 3 – Pnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a small town. On our return from Siam Reap we took in the royal palace and the silver which was a display of valuable metals and gemstones.  More enjoyable was the actual experience of the oriental garden – stand-alone plants carefully selected for effect, in huge pots with twirling sprinklers dotting the space overhead adding greatly to one's comfort level. This town stands at the confluence of the mighty Mekong which rises in the Tibetan highlands and flows into the South China Sea, with its tributary – the Ton Le Sap. 

There is a promenade lined with hotels and eateries. Perhaps the high point of our one day sojourn there was the Foreign Correspondents' Club – a colonial relic with a balcony and a terrace overlooking the river, where one settles during the golden hour enjoying sundowner cocktails or draught beer. We should have stuck to their steaks for dinner if we had any good sense. Most other facilities involve tiresome bargaining with unrealistic starting levels. Money in these parts is incidentally the USD. The local Rial is used only as small change against the dollar. For our overnight stay we moved away from the promenade towards the palace and made a spot selection of a hotel that stood out from the others by virtue of its large grounds, high plinth, massive columns, heavily draped cavernous rooms with four poster beds and large toilets with ancient fittings. 

The town closest to the Angkor temple complex is Siam Reap, meaning Siam defeated. This westward journey by road is around 300 km and takes no less than 5 hours. Vehicles drive on the right of the road here. It was a featureless journey over flat unvarying terrain - acre upon acre of barren land devoid of irrigation. There was no evidence of electricity anywhere. The sparse habitation in evidence comprised hovels on stilts. Party offices were noticeable in every village

Cambodia is almost a different planet from Thailand. It has been a French colony for long years. They claim that while the British gave us roads, railways and education, the French only gave them the art of baking bread which is excellent all over the country. Cambodia is a monarchy. Having come past the era of colonization, they then ran into the Vietnam war. Being next door neighbours, they encountered heavy fallouts of war including being bombed. Sometime after this war, came the dictator Pol Pot who forced everyone regardless of age, sex, education or expertise, into cultivating rice. Any one who dared to ask a question, was shot down. He massacred over a million of his countrymen and all this almost in the last quarter of the 20^th century. The king escaped and his heir now back in the palace after the natural demise of the despot. As is to be expected, the country is struggling to recover after the prolonged devastation. And even here, as in Thailand, one is saddened by the all too frequent sight of a slip of a local girl yet to reach adulthood, draped over the arm of a big brawny westerner, and caught up in the act of earning a living.

 

 

Episode 4. Angkor Thom

And then suddenly one arrives at Siam Reap - a boom town containing some hundreds of hotels of all ranges, boutiques, supermarkets and malls where one can get the fanciest brands of perfumes and clothing. Lining the roads were eateries for all pockets. Available at every shop are tourist information brochures. The airport is small but is frequented by many airlines. Chartered flights from Korea, China, Japan, Hongkong and Taiwan disgorge planeloads of tourists by the hour. Every so often one sees aircraft landing or leaving. There exists also a congested market selling local produce, opium pipes, dried fish, wood carvings, pickles and apparel, cheek by jowl with hair dressing saloons all in one large dimly lit barn-like structure, without partitions. 

Around mid afternoon we reached the Golden Orange, a boutique hotel which had lovely spacious ac rooms with fridge, TV and wooden furniture, attached baths with running hot water – ours had a Jacuzzi style bath tub. We occupied three of the five rooms on the second floor so that the lobby and the open air balcony on that floor became our private space. The 1st floor landing provided 24 hour free internet service. Ground floor housed the reception and the dining area. Outside was a well equipped bar and a pool table. At that time this was to be had for $20 per double room inclusive of a wholesome breakfast and taxes. Reservations were confirmed on the net. A short walk from our hotel were eateries of every description. We preferred the ones more suited to local tastes and were never disappointed.

All visitors hailing from beyond Cambodian borders need permits to visit the Angkor. These are id cards valid for a given period and are worn around one’s neck. Along with the charges, one needs to submit a photograph to have affixed on the pass. This is the first job on arrival. 

What then is the Angkor Wat? Wat means temple. Angkor is big or big city. There is also Angkor Thom - also big city place. The Angkor Thom is a very large area containing many impressively carved temples, palaces, storehouses, treasuries, huge terraces where perhaps the nobility sat viewing the olden-day equivalent of the republic day parade. Some of these structures are terracotta but most are sandstone. Many of them are still inaccessible It is now estimated that the construction work of all these temples was spread across 400 years from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries AD. The temples were accidentally rediscovered in the 1860s, reclamation work began in late 1890s and was interrupted by the two wars. It was seriously taken in hand in 1960s. Even now the Archeological Deptt of the Govt. of India is at work trying to stabilize the temple called Ta Phrom (forefather Brahma). 

The earlier temples were Hindu – decorated with Indra on his elephants, Shiv with trident, Vishnu with Chakra, Chaturmukh Brahma, Vamana Avatar. The largest of these temples is the Bayon which has a large outer area bounded by a long wall in which there were five gateways. Each of these gates has a benign face watching from the top while the sidewalls leading up to the gate represent the samudramanthan scene. Much of this temple has collapsed into ruins. Apart from the Bayon temple there are also the Baphuon, still under renovation, the terraces of the elephants and the leper king, the Preah Kahn, the Preah Palilay, the Ta Phrom, the Bantai Srei ….. the list goes on. All of them have carvings depicting mythology with which one can identify. And most of them are in a state of devastation by the encroaching forests. Collassal serpentine roots dramatically encircle some of the temples strangling parts into complete collapse.

Around the early 1100s came Buddhism. This possibly was the time of Hindu revivalism under Adi Shankaracharya in India, leading to extreme persecution of Buddhists. This is also the period assigned to the Ajanta caves near Nagpur - a Buddhist hideout deep in the recesses of forests rediscovered in the 1800s. So intensive was this persecution of Buddhists, that there is hardly any evidence of this religion in its land of origin. And in the succeeding centuries, so many shaven headed Buddhists switched to Islam to avoid persecution, that Islamic people came to be called 'Nerey'. To this day even rational thinking people hesitate to keep an image of Buddha in the home, as it is "unlucky". 

Perhaps the persecuted Buddhists fled to far off Kamboj in search of peace. In any event, it was after the advent of Buddhism, that the heads of many of the old statues were replaced with larger heads with benign expressions and elongated years. One mighty conqueror called Jaya Varman, had statues of himself constructed in every nook and cranny.  He was really the last significant ruler. And then the whole settlement just disappeared quietly!

 

Episode 5 – Angkor Wat

The Angkor Wat is one colossal temple which was perhaps a complete society having school and library along with staying and praying areas. It was the local meeting centre. There is a wide moat surrounding the entire walled temple area - a square of about 3 kilometre on each side. Across the moat is the main gateway in the heavily walled complex. This leads on to a very long, raised flagstone pathway. What reason could there have been for the expensive elevation of the pathway? It is probable that the enormous enclosed and untended fields on either side of the pathway were once large water bodies. At least for part of the year they must have been submerged. Half way along the raised pathway are two single storeyed structures with carved walls believed to have been libraries. Given their large distance from the core living area and the fact that even the interiors are carved, these seem unlikely candidates for libraries. But they may well have been changing rooms for male and female bathers. The flagstone pathway itself is more than a kilometre long and ends in the core area of the temple. 

The ground floor of the temple is a square structure of not less than half a kilometre on each side. It is the outer walls of this structure which contain the famous carvings. This is a pillared verandah serving as a walkway. One of the four sides contains carved scenes from the Ramayana – a  flying ape with a  mountain on his head, a warrior driving a chariot carrying a woman and flying over a large wounded bird, a city being set ablaze, monkeys building a bridge, arrows raining down from behind clouds, a bearded hermit escorting two little boys, and many other easily identifiable scenes filling the entire wall. 

A second side has a single long carving of the churning of the oceans - samudra manthan, with Gods churning on one side and demons or Asuras on the other in their search for the elixir of life.  It is worth noting that all the gods are smiley faced and slitty eyed and the Asuras are round eyed and grim faced. 

The third side contains scenes from the Mahabharat. These include scenes of war, of elephants and chariots and warriors in combat. There is one where a single small warrior is being attacked by many warriors from all sides. Another scene shows a warrior down on his knees trying to lift his chariot wheel. A third depicts a tall man lying on a bed of arrows. Local guides have been known to point to this one and inform tourists that this was “the Booddha on Swarasajja”. 

The fourth side of this floor is dedicated to tales of royal valour. 

On the inside of the galleries is the praying area. The temple has two more floors above this one. The first of these has a covered balcony enclosing a large courtyard. The second floor is the innermost part of the temple rising high above the surroundings and accessed by a staircase designed only for the intrepid. The insides of this floor also have carvings of apsaras and of Indra. The Angkor temple seemed to have a great deal of focus on beauty and culture and on utilitarian aspects such as safety, water storage and on places of social exchange. Only a small part on the ground floor seemed to have any bearing on praying activities.

 

 

Episode 6

A vanishing civilisation

We went to Cambodia to visit a temple and found an entire civilization, unknown and unsung, shrouded in the folds of time and forever lost to history. Who were these people? Where did they hail from? Why did they choose to build an entire city in the depths of the forest far removed from any known water source? Where were their artisans trained? In order to devote their energies to prolific architectural activities, their safety perception must have been very high. Where was their easy supply of food? How did Hindu scriptures spread so far across thousands of impenetrable miles of forests and mountains? The local opinion is that this culture was brought by Himalayan tribes called the 'Khmers' through the unlikely overland route from the eastern Himalays. But the Eastern Himalayan region is not famed for temple carvings nor for Hindu kingdoms. During the Chola regime in India however, there was a great deal of sea trade from South India with countries far and wide. These would have used the prevailing monsoon winds – necessitating long sojourns in foreign parts and exchange of culture. Could this be the manner of spread of Hindu temple carvings? 

In the entire Angkor area, there is a lot of focus on water storage. There are man-made tanks, moats, canals and barays, which are just low lying areas which filled up periodically with rain water and perhaps flood waters. There is no evidence of aqua ducts but the area around the temples contains as much sand as the sea beach – a foolproof sign of flowing water. Did the mighty Ton Le Sap river flow in this region at some point of time? Or perhaps a tributary of of it? Perhaps the river flooded with Nile-like regularity every season, allowing the people to grow one abundant crop of rice in the alluvium left by the receding floodwaters? Hopefully all these answers will be available to mankind someday.

On our way back from Seam Reap, we took the speed boat service down the Ton Le Sap to Phnom Penh standing at the junction of this river with the mighty Mekong. The Ton Le Sap is a uniquely tidal river flowing downstream for only half the year. When monsoons arrive in the coastal lower Mekong, the convergence of melting snows from upstream and coincident heavy rain downstream forces the water up the Ton Le Sap for six months of the year. The volume of water in this vast basin rises tenfold during this period. Even at this fag end of the dry season, the basin of the Ton Le Sap was as vast as the sea. Neither shore was visible from the boat for the major part of our boat trip. Is it because the people fear the might of the river that even miles from the river itself, the hutments are on high stilts and they face determinedly away from the river? After all, the ox-bow lakes do suggest a whimsical river given to changing its course from time to time. 

How did this civilization disappear? Where did they go? It is possible that repeated attacks from Thailand forced them to shift eastwards leaving only a skeletal team which proved inadequate for maintenance allowing the forest to take over subsequently?  But surely a planned evacuation would necessarily involve detailed records being left on stone? Could it be that there was some sudden change of catastrophic proportions involving the life-giving river itself? 

Unforgettable though the Angkor is both in terms of the titanic scale and the sheer complexity of the settlement, the takeaway from this visit was the chilling realisation that civilization exists only  by the consent of nature, subject to change without notice.