ANGKOR and I

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92 From Angkor Wat to Angkor Thom Angkor Wat is the largest stone temple in the world. The splendor of its scale and cosmological view astonish people, and for that reason this archaeological site poses plentiful queries to visiting tourists and worshipers. The messages from Angkor Wat have persistently issued are innumerable, and the transmission is likely to be endless in the future. The site abounds in issues we have not as yet comprehended, and in its present situation as well it is replete with mysteries. While strolling around the temples at times, I stopped and asked myself, “What is it that is inspiring me to move on thus?” It has been over 50 years since I first came upon this site, and hence it is an event I cannot sum up in a nutshell. The awesome influence of the stone temple, the embossed illustrations along the long walls, the goddess’s cities smiles from the recesses, and the decorations on the pillars, houses and so on, are imbued with an incessant charm. The stimulus evoked by the thrill and intellectual curiosity of these rare works of religious art, is a thing that cannot be expressed in words. In contemporary Angkor Wat, starting from the present moment, the time and narratives of the past approximately 900 years are pressed together. (Suryavarman II who erected the monument ascended the throne in 1118). In this chapter, as I roam about the site from place to place, I would like to write about what I associate with those various places and what I wish to convey to you all, on the spot as the thoughts arise within my mind. Let us first of all move out through the entrance to Angkor Wat at the Western Causeway, and walk towards the right. If we were to walk towards the north about A Message from Angkor Wat Chapter 5