blog@Yantrajaal

North of the ruins of Angkor Wat, that we have described in previous posts [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ] is the relatively small mountain range, Phnom Kulen [ the "Mountain of Lychees"] that most visitors give a miss to because there are no ruins of any massive temple that the Angkor civilisation is famous for. But for the rulers of Cambodia, these mountains were very significant. Jayavarman II, the first powerful king and the de facto founder of the Angkor dynasty, announced his ascendancy to the throne and the assumption of the title, Chakravartin -- the Supreme Ruler as per Indian / Hindu traditions -- from the top of this mountain in the 8th century and even the communist Pol Pot regime, that virtually destroyed the country in the closing years of the 20th century held on to these mountains as their last redoubt before they were ejected by the invading Vietnamese army. Why are the Kulen Mountains so important ? If you go back to the early years of the first millennium, yes, so...

Angkor Wat, that we have described in the previous post , was primarily a temple complex measuring 1.2 km x 1.2 km. Angkor Thom on the other hand, was a city, the capital city of the Angkor empire with a walled area of approximately 3 km x 3 km.  This city was built in the 12th century by Suryavarman VII and his successors who lived there till the eventual collapse of the Angkor empire. As a city it had multiple palaces, numerous temples and many other structures. Like all Angkor structures, Angkor Thom is surrounded by a moat, walls and four gates (plus one funeral gate for dead bodies) This is where we enter the city through the South Gate. [ Please click on the images to enlarge them] These large faces are characteristic of Angkor Thom The moat is crossed over a causeway that has a row of Gods on one side and a row of Demons, Asuras, on the other At the centre of the city is the temple of Bayon, that is a similar to Angkor Wat but smaller. A...