Angkor Thom temple (BayonTemple )”in Siem Reap province,Kingdom of Cambodia Saturday, April 22, 2023
Angkor Thom temple (BayonTemple )”in Siem Reap province,Kingdom of Cambodia
Angkor Thom ,the first Buddhist city and temple complex ,was built 100 years after Angkor Temple .Its towers have large figures which could be those of Shiva ,Buddha or Budhisattva AValokitesvara(or Lokesvara).
The most plausible is the figure of a Buhisattva as King Khmer Jayavarman VII was a devout Buddhist and a monk who twice refused the throne.But in the end he became one of the most powerful Khmer rulers.
The entrance to Angkor Thom is decorated with a Naga balustrade on one the other ,the demons and guardians.
In the Hindu mythology,a rainbow represents a bridge between human beings and gods.The naga balustrades on each side of the bridge leading to Angkor Thom may symbolize a double rainbow between heaven and earth.
According to mythology,Buddha descended from a staircase from the heaven at 33 rd station to summit of Mount Meru to Preah the Wheel of Law (Gorge Coedes ).
King Jayavarman VII was a great Patron of Buddhism in Cambodia.There was a violent Brahmin who destroyed the Buddha images and replaced them by lingas symbolic of Shiva.
But later there was a revival of Buddhism of a more conservative type practiced in Cylon which didn’t approve of the individual cult of god king promoted by king Jayavarman VII.
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