Angkor Wat

In the middle of the earth, surrounded by cosmic oceans, sits mythical mount Meru--840,000 miles high and home of the gods. The stars, planets, and even the earth itself revolve around it.

Here is a diagram showing Mount Meru with the heavens above, and hells below.

The mountain appears in many Hindu myths, and is the model for the temple-city of Angkor Wat.

The city's 200m wide moat is said to represent the cosmic oceans, and the steep, many-tiered temple at its center represents mount Meru.

Surrounding the temple are galleries with long bas-relief carvings depicting scenes from Hindu mythology and the city's history. They don't make very dramatic photos (at least, not for me), but contain innumerable interesting small depictions.

These two details, for example, is from a 50-meter long depiction of the epic battle of Kurukshetra--a battle between two sibling clans for the throne of Hastinapura. It is believed that the battle took place around 3067BC in the modern state of Haryana, India.

Here, for a sense of scale, is the full length of panels.

Other galleries depict the battle of the monkey-army from the Ramayana (which we saw performed in both Bali and Java), and the various punishments and rewards to be found in the numerous heavens and hells. I'll detail one of my favorite panels in the next post...