Wondrous Angkor • Introduction

p1 Words cannot describe Angkor, most amazing of all the wonders of our modern world.

Books and pictures may prepare one for something of bewildering greatness and marvelous beauty, but what he actually sees surpasses everything that might be imagined.

Descriptions and photographs convey only a very faint notion of the dazzling picture. To realize what Angkor is, one must have gazed upon it.

Henri Mouhot, the French naturalist, resurrected Angkor in 1861 during a scientific expedition1 in quest of tigers, leopards, gibbons and other animals of the forest. He wrote in his journal of that trip:

The region in which we are now traveling (Cambodia, Indo-China, in southeastern Asia) is rich in floral and faunal specimens. A superstitious dread of the jungle has kept it free from natives, and so, under the protection of a tabu, the wild life probably has flourished as nowhere else in the world.

The story of the district is quite like that of other regions of Indo-China. The forest is haunted p2 by a million ghosts and it is bristling with enchanted cities. But that fact seems hardly worth recording inasmuch as any uninhabited place will be bristling with enchanted cities as long as men have the fecund imagination necessary to construct them out of moonshine and star-dust.

The story of hidden cities in this part of the world becomes more and more absurd as one penetrates the jungle . . . it is manifest that there has never been any civilization in this region. The jungle here is virgin — just as it was after God breathed upon the face of the waters. . . . Native tabus, persisting probably through untold cycles of years, made of this valley a region proscribed, and so the great cultures of the East — the migrations of peoples and the missionary movements of the intelligentsia — passed it by. If there are cities in this wilderness they must date back to some time before Adam.

But three days later (on January 22, 1861), in the very heart of this unknown jungle, 261 miles east of Bangkok, Siam, and 343 miles west of Saigon, French Indo-China, he came upon a vast and awesome spectacle. Rising in a steady, masterful sweep above the tallest trees of the forest were five lofty towers, enthroned amid such terrifying desolation and amazing mystery as no mortal eye had beheld for hundreds of years.a

He wrote of this monument, subsequently identified as Angkor Wat, or the Temple of Angkor (from the Sanskrit "Nagara," meaning capital, corrupted by the Cambodian tongue to Nokor, then to Angkor), as follows:

p5 Picture to yourself the finest productions, perhaps, of the architecture of all ages dumped down in the depths of these forests, in one of the remotest countries of the world, a wild, unknown, deserted tract, where the tracks of wild beasts have blotted out those of man and the silence is only broken by the roaring of the tiger, the harsh trumpeting of the elephant and the call of the stag to its mate. We spent a whole day exploring the place, and still one marvel after another met our enchanted gaze.

In proportion as one draws nearer, one's admiration and pleasure grow deeper. In the first place, there are beautiful and lofty square pillars, all in one piece; porticoes, capitals, roofs rounded off into domes; the whole built of big blocks, admirably polished, hewn out and carved. At sight of this temple, the mind feels crushed, the imagination staggered; one can but gaze admiringly and in respectful silence, for where, indeed, are words to be found to praise a marvel of architecture that has perhaps never been equalled in the whole world? True, the gilding, the coloring, have practically disappeared from the edifice. Only the stones remain, but how eloquent their language. How loudly they proclaim the genius, the force and patience, the wealth and power of the Khmerdom, or ancient Cambodians!

Mouhot, though only 35 years old, died that same year (November 10, 1864) near Luang Prabang, capital of the Lao kingdom (•1,000 miles north), unaware that his discovery embraced so vast a city.

The probable story of Angkor Thom ("the great capital") and the vanished Khmers, who built it, has become generally intelligible only since 1907. On March 23rd in that year Siam p6 ceded three provinces in western Cambodia to the French, who soon began to extricate from the savage embrace of its impenetrable jungle the vast bones of what was once a rich and powerful city of more than a million inhabitants.

At first no one could even conjecture how or when this mighty metropolis and its exceeding population vanished from the face of the earth. Then archaeologists determined that it was destroyed by an orgy of pillage early in the fifteenth century. But by whom?

Why was this most magnificent of cities utterly abandoned by victor and vanquished and left to the jungle and its denizens? No one really knows, even now.

All that we do know is that the jungle did swallow it up and that the Khmer kingdom became as forgotten as if it had never existed. Amazing, impossible and preposterous as this seems, yet the wondrous ruins are here, silent, indisputable testimony of a sumptuousness and a glory that must have been the wonder of that world even as they are of ours today.

Legendary History

Khmer is the name by which the present‑day natives in the vicinity of Angkor still term themselves, while "Cambodian" is a European word, probably derived from Kambuja ("son of Kambu," mythical ancestor of the race).

p7 Kambu, according to legend, was an Indian prince who had been driven from his native land by drought and famine. He came to this far corner of Asia in the 4th century and married a princess of the Nagas, a race of gods who represented themselves as seven-headed cobras.

This, no doubt, was the source of the abiding tradition that the culture of the Khmers was derived from India, though it is now conceived to have had as a nucleus the art and legends of a "small-eyed people who worshipped snakes," probably the aborigines in the valley of the Mekong. In other words, the accepted belief now is that India's conquest of Cambodia was rather more intellectual than physical, that Brahman missionaries made their way to Indo-China either from North India, across Burma and Siam, or from South India, by way of Java, and through their superior wit and intelligence grafted upon the aboriginal stock the ancient learning and wisdom of Mother India.

Factual History

But whether this be true or not, no doubt remains that an Indian influence does exist. All of the Angkorean gods were of Indian origin. So was the Khmer alphabet. It was adopted, along with such terms as varman, the regal suffix signifying "protector", from an old tongue of southeastern India.

p8 Nor can one doubt the deep impress left by the aborigines. Their naga motive of multi-headed cobras, found only in Cambodia, is regarded as "one of the mightiest conceptions the history of art has ever had to register." Nor should one overlook the probability that a strong current of immigration, bringing both civilization and commerce, flowed in from India and China. From the former, the Khmer race, even today, derives its religious notions; from the latter, its ideas of commerce and industry.

But be that as it may, the fact remains that this new race in Indo-China flourished and prospered. It erected mighty cities, among them Angkor Thom, in its day probably the largest city in the world. When it was begun late in the ninth century, Rome had collapsed, Paris was little more than a village, London did not exist. In extent and population it rivaled Carthage; in intellectual state, Athens; in might, Babylon.

And yet it perished. Its people and its civilization utterly vanished. Photographic studies do reveal that modern Cambodian is the physical counterpart of the figures in Angkor's bas‑reliefs, but there the verisimilitude ends. The Khmers, by any standard, were highly civilized; the modern Cambodian is almost a savage.

The world may never know exactly who the Khmers were or what became of them, but we p11 do know that they were a race of builders and conquerors, attested by a hundred temples and a thousand towers and by projects so colossal that only slaves at the point of the sword could possibly have been induced to undertake them.

At the beginning of the Christian era, Cambodia, Cochinchina, Siam and the Malay Peninsula became a part of Founan, a vast empire of Sivaites and Buddhists. To the east, along the Annam coast, was the mighty kingdom of Champa, an eventual enemy of the Khmers.

By the 4th century, when Prince Kambu married the Naga princess, Cambodia was a small vassal state of Founan. But some years later a Khmer prince inherited the throne of Founan, and Cambodia began to attract immigrants from India and China.

Towards the middle of the 6th century, a vassal state in the north, near the frontier of Laos, declared its independence of Founan and called itself Chenla. By 625 Chenla was powerful enough to overthrow the kingdom of Founan, but in 705 it was again divided — into Chenla of the Earth and Chenla of the Water, on either side of the Dangrek Mountains.

In the same century Tonkin and Annam, in the north, came under Chinese domination and the Malay Peninsula was invaded and occupied by the Kingdom of Palembang in Sumatra.

p12 Kings of Angkor

During the 9th century Chenla was reorganized by a conqueror from Sumatra and Java, the great Jayavarman II (802‑869). To him, then, goes the credit of founding the Khmer Empire, probably the most powerful in the history of the world. He constructed several temples, among them Prah Khan, and instituted a new religious cult dedicated to Devaraja, a Hindu deity whose symbol, like Siva's, was the linga.

He was succeeded by his son Jayavarman III (869‑877), then by the latter's cousin, Indravarman I (877‑889).

In the last years of the 9th century Indravarman's son, Yasovarman (889‑910), founded the royal city of Angkor Thom, which he called Yasodharapura after himself. At that time it comprised merely the palace and temples surrounding the main square, enclosed within a huge laterite wall, •13 feet high.

In the center, on the site now occupied by the Bayon, he threw up a Central Mount, where was enthroned the linga, or active symbol of Siva, the protecting deity of the dynasty. He erected both Sivaite and Buddhist monasteries and built, opposite the palace, the twelve Prasat and the two Kleang (quod vide), and, south of the city, the Phnom Bakheng.

His sons, Harshavarman I and Ishanavarman II (910‑928), carried on his great work, p13 but his brother, Jayavarman IV (928‑942), undid it by seizing the government and removing the capital to Koh Kor where it remained until 944.

In that year Rajendravarman (944‑968), eldest son of Jayavarman IV, restored the prestige of the holy city of Yasodharapura (Angkor Thom), rebuilt the royal palace and erected new sanctuaries, among them the East Mebon, Pre Rup and Ta Keo.

His son, Jayavarman V (968‑1001), built the Baphuon, another temple of primary importance, just south of the palace.

In 1001, Udayadityavarman I, the Buddhist king of Ligor, gained possession of Cambodia and placed his son, Suryavarman I (1002‑1049), on the Khmer throne. Some authorities believe that Prah Khan may date from this reign.

Four other kings intervened before Suryavarman II (1112‑1152) built the stately temple of Angkor Wat, most famous and most magnificent of Angkor's many monuments.

In 1178 the king of Champa sailed up the Mekong, surprised the Khmer court, captured Angkor and pillaged its monuments.

But the next king of Angkor, Jayavarman VII (1182‑1201), waged relentless war against the Chams, until, in 1199, he succeeded in placing a Khmer prince on the Champa throne.

Also during his reign the Bayon, when first discovered believed to date from the 8th p14 century, was built and consecrated to the worship of the Buddha. The city walls were extended to the present limits and the entrances adorned with fine gateways. The Terrace of the Elephants was constructed, and, in the environs, the monasteries of Ta Prohm and Banteai Kedei erected.

His successor, Indravarman II (1201‑1243), ordered the design of the Bayon to be altered and its central block built on a grander scale. This was done, though the Buddhist characteristics appear to have been attenuated.

Tcheou‑Ta-Kwan

Prior to Mouhot's astonishing discovery, the Occident knew absolutely nothing about Angkor. In China a manuscript, entitled "Memoir on the Customs of Cambodia," by Tcheou‑Ta-Kwan, a keen observer who accompanied an envoy of the Chinese emperor, Tch'eng‑tsing (successor to Kublai Khan, who died in 1294), to Angkor Thom in 1296, was known to exist, but no authentic translation into French appeared until 1902. To quote from a later English version:

The outer wall of the city of Angkor is about 20 li •(8 miles) in circumference. It has five main gateways, each flanked by oriented side gates. . . . Outside the wall is a big moat; outside the moat, causeways with big bridges. On either side of the bridges are fifty-four stone genii (108 in all, a sacred number), like stone generals, huge and terrible. The five gates are exactly alike. The parapets of p17 the bridges are of stone, carved in the shape of nine-headed snakes.

On the gates of the wall are five stone heads of the Buddha; one of the middle ones is ornamented with gold. On both sides of the gates are carved elephants. The wall is built throughout of stones laid one on the other; it is about two chang •(23½ feet) high. The stones are very carefully and solidly joined, and no weeds grow on them. There are no battlements. In certain parts the ramparts have been sown with Kuang-Lang (caryota ochlandra). Here and there are small houses, empty.

The inner side of the rampart forms as it were a ramp of more than ten chang •(117½ feet), at the top of which are large gates, closed at night, opened in the morning. There are guardians at the gates, dogs alone being forbidden to enter. The wall forms a regular square, at the four corners of which stand four towers. Criminals who have had their big toes cut off are likewise debarred from entering the gates.

Marking the center of the nagara, there is a tower of gold (Bayon), flanked by more than twenty (51) stone towers and several hundred stone cells. On the east side there are a gold bridge with two gold lions on each side, and eight gold Buddhas, standing at the foot of the stone chambers.

About one li (705 yards) north of the tower of gold is a tower of brass (Baphuon) still higher than the tower of gold, and the aspect of which is really impressive. At the foot are ten small stone houses. One li still farther north lies the residence of the King. In the Sovereign's retiring-chambers is yet another tower of gold (Phiméanakas).

The Palace, the official dwelling and the houses of the nobles all face the east. The tiles of the private apartments are of lead; those of the other buildings, p18 of yellow clay. The piers of the bridges are of enormous size and have Buddhas carved and painted on them.

All, from the King downwards, men and women alike, wear the top‑knot, and have their shoulders bare. They simply wrap a piece of cloth round their loins. The King alone may dress in flowery garments. He wears a gold diadem, like those on the head of the vajradhara. When he has no diadem, he wreathes his top knot in garlands of highly scented flowers of the jasmine variety. About his neck he wears close upon three pounds of large pearls. His wrists, ankles and fingers are covered with cats'-eyes. He goes barefooted and the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands are dyed red. When he appears in public he holds in his hand a sword of gold (Prah Khan, the gift of Indra). The higher dignifies use palanquins with gold shafts and four parasols with gold handles.

When the King goes out, cavalry heads the escort; then come the standards, the pennants and the band. Maidens of the Palace, to the number of three to five hundred, dressed in flowery gowns, with blossoms in their hair and holding big tapers in their hands form a troop; even by daylight, their tapers are lighted. Then come other handmaidens carrying the royal utensils of gold and silver and a whole set of ornaments of widely different pattern, the uses of which are unknown to me. Next come Maidens of the Palace carrying lances and shields; they are the King's bodyguard, and likewise form a troop.

After these come the carriages drawn by goats, and those drawn by horses, one and all ornamented with gold. The ministers, the princes, ride in front on elephants and look far ahead; their red parasols are not to be numbered. After them come the King's wives and concubines in palanquins, in carriages, p21 or on elephants. They certainly carry more than a hundred parasols adorned with gold. Behind them is the King, standing upright on an elephant and holding in his hand the precious sword (Prah Khan). The elephant's tusks are cased in gold. There are more than twenty white parasols, adorned with gold, and with gold handles. Numerous elephants crowd round him and he is further protected by cavalry.

This account establishes that at the opening of the 14th century the Khmer kingdom was at the height of its power and prosperity. Trade was being carried on with India, Ceylon, Malayasia and China. Word had gone abroad of the fabulous wealth and treasures of Angkor Thom, inciting the cupidity of neighboring races who frequently in the past had been despoiled or reduced to vassalage by its conquering armies.

Thousands of slaves, weary of erecting massive stone temples and other edifices, are believed to have rebelled and to have allied themselves with the rising tide of Thais, the antecedents of the Siamese, who, having forsaken their ancestral homes in Southern China, were settling in the fertile valleys of the Menam and Mekong Rivers.

Toward 1357, Rama-dhipati, King of the Thai capital of Ayuthia, 48 miles north of present‑day Bangkok, beleaguered Angkor for sixteen months, then plundered the country and took 90,000 of its inhabitants into captivity. Thereafter, three Thai rulers occupied p22 the Khmer throne before being dislodged in 1388.

Then, in 1404, Parama Rajadhiraja, another Ayuthian king, besieged Angkor again. After seven months it capitulated and 40,000 more Khmers were borne away as slaves.

From that time its power and supremacy waned. Weakened by the misuse of its luxury and the effeminacy of its habits, the Royal Court could no longer resist the invaders, who soon were joined by the multitude of slaves and other subject peoples employed on the countless architectural projects of the Khmers.

By 1433, the Khmer monarch, Ponhea‑yat, having concluded that Angkor was too much exposed to the assaults of the Thai, transferred his capital to Phnom Penh, 196 miles southeast. There, crushed between the Annamites on the northeast and the Thais on the west, the once powerful Khmer race and nation sank into comparative oblivion. Angkor was wholly forsaken and, due to a superstitious dread of the jungle and its roving ghosts, utterly forgotten. Inconceivable though it is that a culture could be removed less than 200 miles from the place of its birth and expire of inanition, yet that is just what seems to have happened.

By the middle of the 19th century, the Cambodians, now believed to be the direct, though somewhat degenerated descendants of the p25 Khmers, re‑established their royalty at Phnom Penh. Then, in 1864, France safeguarded the future integrity of the Khmer country by proclaiming a protectorate thereover, though the more important provinces of Battambang, Sisophon and Siemreap, in which Angkor is situated, were not included until after the Siamese treaty in 1907.

By 1908 Jean Commaille, the first conservator of Angkor, was combatting the jungle. He extricated the Wat and the Bayon, but was brutally murdered in April, 1916, while clearing the Baphuon. A monument to his memory, erected by the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, under whose auspices the ruins are being exhumed, now stands near the southwest corner of the Bayon.

On September 29, 1909, H. M. Sisowath of Cambodia (1904‑1927) journeyed to Angkor to offer a sacrifice to its ancient kings and to receive an oath of allegiance from the sparse population of the recovered provinces. He and his son, Sisowath Monivong, who succeeded him in 1927, have visited the ancient capital several times since to commemorate "exceptional occasions."

The Author's Note:

Thayer's Note:

a Some of the very earliest photographs of Angkor were taken by John Thomson in 1866: an excellent page at Angkor Database reproduces over a hundred of them (which in turn can be viewed quite large by clicking on each one), and includes a very detailed and interesting commentary: Visions of Angkor by John Thomson.