Angkor

Please keep this a secret internet but up until two days ago I had no clue regarding Angkor Wat. I blame my education as history is one of my favorite subjects to learn about. I have actually thought a lot about my education growing up and realized how narrow it was in the history department. Even my world history class only touched on Greece, Rome, European development, and how that all brought the US into the world. I now know that there are at least five other countries that have histories that don't involve bringing the US into the world... maybe six.

Angkor was a kingdom established in the 800's lasting for about 500 years. In this time it rose, strengthened, maintained, declined, and collapsed as many kingdoms do but in its wake was left numerous temples, monuments, and carvings that give us a unique look into the history of this country. The largest and perhaps the most spectacular of these temples or "wats" is Angkor Wat and it is also the last one that was build. On its walls are carvings of the battles of the age as well as epic stories and depictions of legendary characters.

Angkor was mainly built as Hindu temples but have since been taken over by buddhism. Angkor Wat for example was built to the Hindu god Vishnu but in the 12th century after the kingdom experienced turmoil a new king made buddhism the prime religion and Vishnu's images were replaced with Buddha's. Only a few decades later Hinduism made a resurgence and most of the likenesses of Buddha were defaced or destroyed replaced with Hindu images. The temples are now a mix of images of Buddhas, Vishnus, Shivas, and Shivas that were once Buddhas

What has impressed me most is the story of this king named Jayavarman VII. He built many many of these monuments and he did it at a very rapid pace. He was in power for 40 years and build over 100 monuments some being the largest constructions in the area. At the same time he launched an aggressive military campaign that conquered another people and ensured his people's reign for another hundred years or so. What was most impressive to me though was that at this time of building he also built into his society many hospitals. He made sure that despite being the most successful king and having the platform to build monuments to his greatness, his focus was on taking care of his people and essentially ensuring their place in history. I like that.

Angkor is a protected world heritage site and is undergoing extensive protective and well as reconstructive measures. Many of the sites we visited had large scaffold and green tarps in some sections and most had wooden braces holding up walls of stone. I am thankful to have seen it and to learn of it first hand.