The Bayon

Another temple at Angkor, the Bayon, is a rather famous temple set in a complex known as Angkor Thom. Built by Jayavarman VII (say that five times really fast), it's known for it's numerous spires, all sporting the four faces of the Buddha. According to our Khmer guide, there are 256 Buddha faces carved into the stone at the Bayon, and I was seemingly on a mission to take a picture of each one.

In contrast to the king that built Angkor Wat, Jayavarman VII was more into Buddhism, believing it provided a clearer path to enlightenment,and by some accounts, believing he himself to be the next incarnation. However, it doesn't seem to me that either religion was exclusive of the other; in several places you will still see recreation of Hindu mythology, and random carvings a smaller patron gods obviously carried from that tradition. Hindu ascetics were allowed to live side-by-side with the Buddhist monks--I can only guess that the people, who spent their lives in service to the king and building and maintaining his temple-cities, went with the flow.

Demon

An example of the two traditions consorting with one another is the entrance to Angkor Thom. Two major Hindu myths get recreated several times in just the four temples I saw at Angkor: The Ramayana (Rama and Sita vs. the Demon King) and The Churning of the Ocean of Milk. This last epic is the one you see walking the causeway into Angkor Thom: It tells the story of Gods and Demons joining together to stir a cosmic sea in order to obtain their immortality. I think. I was absorbing a lot of information this day.

God

As for the cohabitation of two previously competing schools of thought, not all kings were as open-minded. Jayavarman VII's story makes a great Khmer legend--the guy was kidnapped in a war, grew up in exile, returned to his homeland to oust the occupiers, became king late in his life, built loads of stuff--Angkor's roads, hospitals, libraries, rest-stations for pilgrims coming to the temples--and then he disappeared. So he's something of an enigma--credited for being an empire builder, even though no real account of his reign survives. And then, seemingly, he vanished. Siddhartha-ish, almost.

At any rate, the king who succeeded him wasn't really that into Buddhism. They wouldn't necessarily destroy former king's temples, but he made a point of removing what Buddha images he could from the Bayon, to relatively little effect,

Your face here.

considering what he chose to leave up.

Want more pictures? I got a million of 'em: The Bayon.

By the way, my accounts of these temples should in no way be interpreted as historical scholarship. What I understand about them is a mixture of several different points of view, those I've encountered through reading material summarizing the different scholarly approaches to the history of Angkor, and folk accounts from my loquacious Khmer guide giving the generally agreed upon historical points fit to deliver to tourists. How the culture developed thousands of years ago, and how Buddhism and Hinduism intermingled to drive the kingdom forward, is far too complex a thing to be able to articulate after one day's exposure to this evidence of a turbulent, yet somewhat prosperous, empire. What is interesting is that Angkor existed at all, outside the sphere of references we attach to ancient civilizations.

Up next: Ta Prohm, the temple "with the tree."