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Southern Gate of Angkor Thom
Keywords : Yasovarman, Jayavarman VII, Prasat Bayon, Angkor Thom
| Site common name | Southern Gate of Angkor Thom |
|---|---|
| Type of artwork | Architecture |
| Village | - |
| Province/City | Angkor |
| State | Siem Reap |
| Country | Cambodia |
| Geographic Coordinates Decimal degree | Lat : 13.427222 Long : 103.859444 |
| History of production | Jayavarman VII constructed Angkor Thom, his new capital, which is overlapped in the original city of Yaśovarman’s Angkor. Prasat Bayon, the temple of the Buddhist Mahayana pantheon, is conceived to be the central landmark of the city. The city is surrounded by the three-kilometer walls at four sides. There are the gateways at four cardinal directions. The establishment of the new city is the attempt of the king to initiate the auspiciousness to his kingdom after the kingdom was sacked by the Chams before his reign. |
|---|---|
| Art | The Gateway of Angkor Thom composes of 2 elements, the tower decorated with the gigantic four human faces and the bridge crossing the city moat. The balustrade is associated with the story of the churning of the milky ocean in accordance with Hindu mythology. This iconography is associated with the auspiciousness for the people who would be blessed to be the immortals. Concerning the gigantic four human face at the tower is possible to be the faces of the lords of the cardinal directions. |
| Period | Historical Period |
| Art period | Bayon |
| Age | 13th Century A.D. |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| Sect | Mahayana |
| Religion and belief | According to the Hindu mythology, once upon a time, the divinities tried to churn the milk ocean to get the nectar of immortality. The therefore erected Mount Mandara as the pivot and tied the serpent of time as the rope for the churning. Viṣṇu incarnated as the tortoise to support Mount Mandara . Asura pulled at the head of the serpent while the divinities at the tail. After the churning the elixir of immortality emerged and the divinities became immortal. |
| Related artwork | The balustrades of the bridge across the moat are conceived iconographically as the balustrade of deities and that of demon. This balustrades therefore are connectible to the legend of the churning of milky ocean and bless the citizen with immortality. |
| Type of License | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) |
|---|---|
| Rights | Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre |
| Date of record creation | 2015-02-00 |
| Record creator | Chedha Tingsanchali |
