Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c43.41

c43.41

Situated about one mile towards the south of the walled capital of Angkor Thom, too spacious even to be located within its ample perimeter, the principal approach, instead of being as was the custom from the east, is from the west, to bring it into alignment with the royal city. No doubt partly for the sentimental reason of isolating the great sacred pile from the material world, as well as with the object of propitiating the Naga spirits, the entire scheme was laid out within an environment of water in the form of an immense moat 650 ft. broad, square in plan, and having a total length of 2½ miles. It is recorded that the vast quantity of earth excavated for this purpose was piled up in the centre of the site to create the massive mound on which the actual temple structure was erected. But this system may also explain the presence of a wide moat surrounding other architectural undertakings of the Khmers, as the soil thus removed provided a substantial foundation to carry the load of a heavy building. In the design of Angkor Vat the only communication across the water barrier of the moat was by means of a bridge supported on piers on the western side and approached by a raised causeway consisting of a broad paved avenue 36 feet across and 1500 feet long elevated seven feet above the ground and bordered on each side by a massive balustrade. As this causeway nears the main building it is expanded into a cruciform terrace raised above the surface of the foundational platform on which the whole temple stands. This immense stone platform is square in plan and considerably over three thousand feet side, in the centre of which the temple gathers itself up into a towering turretted mass. In terminating the approach in such a manner the cruciform terrace thus forms an appropriate prelude to the imposing entrance gateway which immediately confronts it. From here the actual structure begins.