Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
on elephants. Amid thrilling hand-to-hand combat, the Kaurava general, Bhisma, is
shown shot through with arrows, while Arjuna can be seen on his chariot with Krishna
serving as his charioteer.
Southwest corner
Despite erosion, some tales from the
Ramayana
(see box, p.65) and other Hindu
legends can still be made out here. One panel shows Krishna holding up Mount
Govardhan in one hand as a shelter for villagers against storms sent by Indra. Another
depicts the duel between the monkey gods Valin and Sugriva, in which Valin dies in
the arms of his wife after he is pierced by an arrow from Rama. Monkeys mourn Valin
on the surrounding panels.
South gallery: west section
This gallery (running west to east on two levels) depicts a
battle scene
, beginning with
a royal audience (upper level) and the palace ladies in procession (below). Further
along, the Khmer commanders, mounted on elephants and shaded by parasols, muster
the troops and march through the jungle. At the centre of the panel they surround
Suryavarman II, who is of larger stature and has fifteen parasols around him. Beyond,
the army - accompanied by musicians, standard-bearers and jesters - is joined by
Cham mercenaries, identified by their moustaches and plumed headdresses. It's
thought that the niches along the wall were used as hiding places for golden artefacts,
though some say the chunks of stone were removed by devotees who believed they
possessed magical properties.
3
South gallery: east section
Called the
Heaven and Hell gallery
, this panel, carved on three levels and nearly 60m
long, shows the many-armed god Yama mounted on a buffalo and judging the dead. At
the start of this section, a path is shown on the top level along which people ascend to
heaven, while a corresponding route at the bottom leads to hell, the two paths being
separated by a frieze of garudas. The people in heaven can be seen living a life of leisure
in palaces, whereas sinners are pushed through a trapdoor into the underworld to have
terrible punishments inflicted on them - gluttons are cut in two, vandals have their
bones broken and rice stealers have red-hot irons thrust through their abdomens.
East gallery: south section
This gallery contains the most famous of Angkor Wat's bas-reliefs, depicting the
Churning of the Ocean of Milk
(see box opposite). The bas-relief picks up the story just
as the churning is about to yield results; in the central band of the panel, 92 bulbous-
eyed asuras with crested headdresses are shown holding the head of Vasuki and pulling
from the left, while on the right, 88 devas, with almond eyes and conical headdresses,
hold the tail. To the top, thousands of divine apsaras dance along the wall, and at the
bottom, the ocean teems with finely detailed marine creatures.
he
chedi
just outside the east gopura was placed here in the early eighteenth century
when the temple was a Buddhist monastery; its history is recorded on a wall inscription
within the gopura itself.
RESTORING ANGKOR
At the time of writing, parts of Angkor Wat (and some other temples, most notably Ta Prohm
and Ta Keo) are undergoing extensive
restoration
, and some towers and other buildings are
covered in scaffolding and/or cordoned off. In Angkor Wat, the northwestern quarter of the
second level is currently inaccessible, while various works around Cruciform Cloister mean that
you might find yourself diverted when entering the main temple.
