Angkor and it’s temples…

Trending now… Going viral… Six degrees of separation… All familiar terms! All associated with the effective spread of an idea across a large number of people, using social media or online social networking. But what’s the link to the 8th century?  

It’s quite fascinating really! Angkor Wat is irrefutably the largest Hindu temple in the world. But Angkor Wat is in present day Cambodia! And Hindu…as in Hinduism, the religion from India?! Curiosity aroused, I checked… yes, shortest distance between India and Cambodia: approximately 2,500 nautical miles. By 8th century yardsticks, that would be months of journeying over uncertain stormy seas! So how …? This tale of how Cambodia acquired its colossal heritage of Hindu temples, has similarities to our modern day concept of “going viral”…!!

TBT — let’s do a Throwback Thursday to any random Thursday in early 8th century Cambodia, or rather Khmer, as it was called then! Life was steady, a new king had been crowned. For the average Joe, or Dara (that’s how our handsome Khmer equivalent is hailed), his ship came in literally when the ships came in! 🙂 The Khmer prosperity revolved around maritime trade, and their strong trading partnerships, particularly with merchants from the highly advanced kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent. They were Dara’s frequent guests.

Dara had traded long and close with these trusted Indian merchants, their interactions weren’t always just merely business. They regaled him with accounts of their great and prosperous land, their customs, beliefs, and faith, and Dara listened enraptured! The Indian merchants came from a rich heritage of narrative tradition. The tales from their Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, portraying the interplay between the forces of good and evil, between duty and family loyalties, found resonance with Dara.

Annually, when the south west monsoons hit the seas hard, Dara’s Indian trader friends would have to remain in Khmer. For months, as the heavens poured down outside, Dara had torrents of philosophical exchanges with his Indian trader friends. As the paddy fields filled up with rain, Dara’s family, friends, whole communities were swept in a tidal wave  of absorbing from the Indian traders… not just the Hindu belief system, but elements from their language, alphabet, numbers, way of dressing… as close as they could get to a total immersion. Soon even the King adopted it, and the Hindu way of life went viral in 8th century Khmer. Thus started a lengthy period of Khmer incorporating all aspects of the Hindu faith and other Indian aspects, into their daily lives.

Three centuries (yes, centuries!) later, Dara’s descendants would work with fervor toward a shared dream of their 12th century ruler, King Suryavarnam II — a project to build a colossal impressive Hindu temple, resplendent in artistic and architectural expression. To ensure even the non-literate understand, elaborate decorative bas-relief would be designed and sculpted, depicting the same Hindu epic stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The results of their dreams are about 300 Hindu temples in the Angkor region, and the epitome of that vision is the world’s largest ever religious monument, a gem of Cambodian heritage protected by UNESCO, the most spectacular Angkor Wat.

The Angkor Wat is the most beautiful culmination of incorporating their Hindu faith and Indian cosmological themes, woven into typical Khmer architectural traditions. The bas-reliefs are extensive and stupendous, and the architecture is a study in symmetry, balance and harmony. Originally it was built as a temple to the Supreme Protector, Lord Vishnu and the temple complex represented Mount Meru, home of the Gods in Hindu mythology. With a strange sense of déjà vu, later in the 12^th century, Buddhism would propagate through Khmer via the Indian traders in the same way, and the temple would become a Buddhist temple, which it continues to be to date. Buddhism remains the main religion of present day Cambodia, and they celebrate their Hindu and Buddhist heritage, with the Angkor Wat on their national flag.

I am left awed when, not by wars or conquest, nor by force or  coercion, but just by travel and meaningful exchange, bridging the six degrees of separation, a concept propagates far and wide – trending, 8th century style 🙂 And yes, they have coined a term for it, they call it cultural diffusion. 🙂