Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c43.44

c43.44

From even this brief outline of the temple of Angkor Vat, it may be inferred that the scheme revolves itself into a somewhat complicated composition, but such is not actually the case. On analysis it will be found that, in spite of certain elaborations, it is a comparatively uninvolved arrangement, the plan consisting of a series of rectangles concentrically disposed, while the elevation is a system of superimposed diminishing terraces with the angles emphasized by towers and a larger and higher one in the centre. Orderly and balanced, and logically symmetrical it is readily comprehensible, and from this view alone the Angkor Vat stands out as an architectural masterpiece But there are other and more subtle qualities in this building which raise it above the material plane of mere stone and its physical manipulation by means of immense labour and skill. Its grouping of terraces and halls, colonnades and towers enunciates a profound sense of rhythm which is characteristic of the Khmers as a people and a very real factor in their being. From their art, which is intensely expressive of their life, it is clear that rhythm in all things was their ideal, in the dance, music, their figure drawing, dress and ornament ; but in no aspect of their aesthetic and social environment is this quality more pronounced than in their architecture, as exemplified in the design and composition of the Angkor Vat. In some of its details this building has certain faults of structure, but as a correlation of parts to the whole, in the measured movement of the entire conception, in a word in the cadency of its articulation it has few equals.