The dark chapters of Angkor Wat world’s largest Vishnu temple pushed him into oblivion.
God is worshiped in different forms all over the world including India, but in Hinduism, deities are given a lot of recognition. Hindus consider the place sacred where the Lord resides. There are many such big and grand temples in India where lakhs of devotees visit.
But have you heard about Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu temple in the world? This Angkor Wat temple is very huge and grand, but in this temple full of grandeur, there are many mysteries of the past, which no one has been able to solve to date.
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Angkor Wat Temple
The world’s largest temple of Lord Vishnu in Cambodia is Angkor Wat, which is spread over an area of about 402 acres, Angkor Wat Temple was built in the city of Siemreab on the banks of the Mekong River is itself a grand religious monument. This temple is a symbol of Mount Meru. On its walls, scenes from Indian religious texts have been depicted.
People who believe in Sanatan Dharma consider the Angkor Wat temple to be a holy pilgrimage site. The name of the entry gate present in the north direction of this temple is Angkor Wat which people know about but there is also a door in the south direction to enter the temple which is known as Angkor Thom. Although very few people know about this gate because according to Hindu beliefs, the north direction is considered to be the most important.
Angkor Wat Temple was originally built as a Hindu temple for the Khmer Empire. With the passage of time, this temple was transformed into a Buddhist temple by the end of the 12th century. Angkor Wat Temple is located in Angkor, Cambodia whose old name was Yasodharapura.
It is believed that in the 12th century, a king named Suryavarman II built the Angkor Wat temple for the worship of Lord Vishnu, but he could not complete it while he was alive. Later his nephew and successor Dharindravarman completed the temple work.
To protect the temples of Angkor wat from robbers and bandits, a moat was built around it which is 700 feet wide and is always filled with water. To enter this temple, there is a bridge to cross the ditch on the west side. After crossing the bridge, there is a huge door to enter the temple which is about 1000 feet wide.
The entire Ramayana is inscribed on the walls of the temple through sculptures. Apart from Lord Vishnu, the idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha, and other deities are present in the Angkor temple.
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Angkor Wat Architectural Analysis
The construction of the Angkor Wat temple has been influenced by Indian secret architecture. The original peaks of the temple are about 64 meters high. Apart from this, the temple has 8 peaks which are 54 meters high.
The temple corridors of Cambodia contain rock paintings from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, including the then emperor Bali, heaven and hell, the churning of the ocean, the war of the gods and demons. The series of these rock paintings also include the sacrifice of the gods to kill Ravana and the scene of Sita Swayamvara.
In another rock painting, Lord Rama is seen chasing a golden deer with a bow and arrow. Apart from this, in the rock paintings of the temple, the presence of Hanuman in Ashoka Vatika is also a scene of Mata Sita’s ordeal and Lord Rama’s return to Ayodhya.
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Angkor Wat temple was built in the greed of getting rich
In fact, King Suryavarman wanted to worship Hindu deities and go near them so that they would become immortal as a boon, so he built a special place of worship to worship God and in it, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Shiva all three were worshipped.
The actual name of this temple built to please Lord Vishnu was “Paramvishnuloka” which was prepared by joining together 50 lakh tons of heavy stones. Instead of mortar and lime, a special mixture of vegetables was used to connect the stones to each other. These stones were brought from a mine located 25 miles away to the construction site.
About 3 lakh laborers and 6 thousand elephants were employed to build the Angkor Wat temple. At that time this temple was very colorful and happy, but by the end of the 13th century, the Buddhists established their authority over this temple, then after the emergence of a limited religion under the influence of Buddhism, since then till now Buddhism in “Angkor Wat temple” The deity of the Mahayana branch of religion is worshipped.
Due to the lust for power, the attacks of enemies on Angkor Wat Temple and the Khmer Empire started increasing. By the beginning of the 16th century, the golden chapter of the Angkor Wat temple was almost finished and the ancient temple was in ruins.
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Angkor Wat prepared with supernatural power
There is also a mystery related to this temple that it was ready in a day. In fact, in the 13th century, a Chinese traveler had claimed that the Angkor Wat temple was built by supernatural power in just one night. However, due to lack of any solid evidence, no one believed this and gradually this claim became an unsolved mystery.
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Indra’s Temple Angkor Wat
There are many famous stories about the construction of the Angkor Wat temple. Many people believe that Devraj Indra himself had built the Angkor Wat temple for his son in the form of a grand palace. However, archaeologists do not believe these heard things.
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followers of Hindu and Buddhism
If we look at the golden pages of history, about 27 rulers ruled Cambodia, out of which some rulers were Hindu and some were Buddhist. Perhaps this is the reason why statues and temples related to both Hindu and Buddhist religions are found in Cambodia.
Cambodia has the largest number of Buddhist followers, so the statue of Lord Buddha is seen everywhere, but Angkor Wat is the only temple where the idols of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Shiva are seated together.
The identity of the Angkor Wat temple was almost lost for a long time after it assumed Buddhist form, but the French archaeologist and naturalist “Henri Mouhot” caught sight of this temple and once again presented this prized and luxurious temple to the world.
Many people call the Angkor Wat temple one of the seven wonders of the world.
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Angkor Wat Temple care
From the 15th century to the 19th century, Buddhist monks took care of the Angkor Wat temple, due to which the temple did not suffer much damage despite several invasions. After this, in the years from 1993 to 1996, the Archaeological Survey of India took over the responsibility of preserving this temple.
Seeing the grandeur of Angkor Wat, UNESCO named it as a major world heritage, while its name has also been recorded in the Guinness World Records. Presently Angkor Wat is one of the most famous religious places in South Asia.
There is a strong influence of Buddhism on this temple. This temple is that golden page of the history of the Hindu religion, which was lost somewhere over time, but when it was presented in front of this world, the whole world was shocked.
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