Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c43.15

c43.15

Here a study of the monuments themselves may throw light on this aspect of the subject. For the walls of these buildings are engraved with a long series of pictures in bas-relief illustrating scenes from the rich mythology of India, and from the Hindu religion, in detail and in technique equal to if not excelling anything the Indian sculptors ever produced. But although conceived in the Indian tradition, they are staged in a Cambodian setting, much as if, a western parallel, episodes from the Old Testament were depicted in an environment similar to that of the "Field of the Cloth of Gold," the famous historical pageant which took place in France in 1520 The result is that we are not only presented with Khmer interpretations Indian themes, but, incorporated with these, there runs throughout the entire series the physical and spiritual pattern of Cambodian life during its most dynamic period. And from the evidence so graphically provided it seems implicit that to the Khmers a sensitiveness to art was even something more than a matter of common interest, it was the essence of life itself, the breath of their existence. With such aesthetic perceptions it is not therefore surprising that this element in their racial consciousness manifested itself in all forms of art, specially the building art, and in the raising of grand architectural monuments, as the Cambodian remains are abundant proof.