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58-554: A wat is a monastery temple in Cambodia, Thailand or Laos. Wat or WAT may also refer to: Wat A wat ( Khmer : វត្ត , vôtt [ʋɔət] ; Lao : ວັດ , vat [wāt] ; Thai : วัด , RTGS :  wat [wát] ; Tai Lü : 「ᩅᨯ᩠ᨰ」(waD+Dha) ; Northern Thai : 「ᩅ᩠ᨯ᩶」 (w+Da2) , [wa̋t] ) is a type of Buddhist and Hindu temple in Cambodia , Laos , East Shan State , Yunnan ,

116-468: A synagogue ( Thai : โบสถ์ยิว ; RTGS :  bot yio ). Thus, a wat chin ( วัดจีน ; lit.   ' Chinese temple ' ) or san chao ( ศาลเจ้า ; lit.   ' shrine ' ) is a Chinese temple (either Buddhist or Taoist ), wat khaek ( วัดแขก ; lit.   ' Indian temple ' ) or thewasathan ( เทวสถาน ; from Sanskrit : devasathān ) is a Hindu temple , wat sik ( Thai : วัดซิกข์ ; lit.   ' Sikh temple '

174-484: A "rest house with fire" for travellers. An inscription at Preah Khan tells of 121 such rest houses lining the highways into Angkor . The Chinese traveller Zhou Daguan expressed his admiration for these rest houses when he visited Angkor in 1296 CE. Another theory is that the House of Fire had a religious function as the repository the sacred flame used in sacred ceremonies. Structures conventionally known as "libraries" are

232-459: A background. Sculpture in bas-relief is distinguished from sculpture in haut-relief, in that the latter projects farther from the background, in some cases almost detaching itself from it. The Angkorian preferred to work in bas-relief, while their neighbors the Cham were partial to haut-relief. Narrative bas-reliefs are bas-reliefs depicting stories from mythology or history. Until about the 11th century,

290-484: A common feature of the Khmer temple architecture, but their true purpose remains unknown. Most likely they functioned broadly as religious shrines rather than strictly as repositories of manuscripts. Freestanding buildings, they were normally placed in pairs on either side of the entrance to an enclosure, opening to the west. Srahs and barays were reservoirs , generally created by excavation and embankment , respectively. It

348-534: A decorative motif in architecture. Indra is associated with the East; since Angkorian temples typically open to the East, his image is sometimes encountered on lintels and pediments facing that direction. Typically, he is mounted on the three-headed elephant Airavata and holds his trusty weapon, the thunderbolt or vajra . The numerous adventures of Indra documented in Hindu epic Mahabharata are not depicted at Angkor. The kala

406-406: A distinct style is particularly evident in artistic depictions of divine and royal figures with facial features representative of the local Khmer population, including rounder faces, broader brows, and other physical characteristics. In any study of Angkorian architecture, the emphasis is necessarily on religious architecture, since all the remaining Angkorian buildings are religious in nature. During

464-461: A guardian of temples and as a mount for some warriors. The gajasimha may be found at Banteay Srei and at the temples belonging to the Roluos group. The reachisey is another mythical animal, similar to the gajasimha, with the head of a lion, a short elephantine trunk, and the scaly body of a dragon. It occurs at Angkor Wat in the epic bas reliefs of the outer gallery. Garuda is a divine being that

522-451: A light wooden roof. The problem of preventing the collapse of corbelled structures at Angkor remains a serious one for modern conservation. A lintel is a horizontal beam connecting two vertical columns between which runs a door or passageway. Because the Angkorean lacked the ability to construct a true arch , they constructed their passageways using lintels or corbelling . A pediment is

580-487: A periodization of Angkorean architectural styles. The following periods and styles may be distinguished. Each is named for a particular temple regarded as paradigmatic for the style. Angkorian builders used brick , sandstone , laterite and wood as their materials. The ruins that remain are of brick, sandstone and laterite, the wood elements having been lost to decay and other destructive processes. The earliest Angkorian temples were made mainly of brick. Good examples are

638-414: A roughly triangular structure above a lintel. A tympanum is the decorated surface of a pediment. The styles employed by Angkorean artists in the decoration of lintels evolved over time, as a result, the study of lintels has proven a useful guide to the dating of temples. Some scholars have endeavored to develop a periodization of lintel styles. The most beautiful Angkorean lintels are thought to be those of

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696-421: A spiked tower (bosbok) ( Khmer : បុស្បុក )(some temples have three or five spiked towers; some have none) on the rooftop along with pediments , naga heads, and chovear ( Khmer : ជហ្វា ) (a decorative ridge-piece that is placed at each topmost edge of the roof, just above the tip of each pediment). Below the edge of the roof and at the top of external columns, garuda or kinnari figures are depicted supporting

754-402: A stone statues or as relief carvings in the walls of temples and other buildings, generally close to entrances or passageways. Their function is to protect the temples. Dvarapalas may be seen, for example, at Preah Ko , Lolei , Banteay Srei , Preah Khan and Banteay Kdei . The gajasimha is a mythical animal with the body of a lion and the head of an elephant. At Angkor, it is portrayed as

812-404: A temple, an edifice housing a large image of Buddha and a facility for lessons. A site without a minimum of three resident bhikkhu s cannot correctly be described as a wat although the term is frequently used more loosely, even for ruins of ancient temples. As a transitive or intransitive verb, wat means to measure, to take measurements; compare templum , from which temple derives, having

870-474: A type found in certain late 12th-century temples constructed under King Jayavarman VII : Ta Prohm , Preah Khan , Banteay Kdei and Banteay Chhmar . It is a rectangular building elongated along the temple's east axis and divided into four courtyards by galleries. Formerly it had a roof made of perishable materials; now only the stone walls remain. The pillars of the galleries are decorated with carved designs of dancing apsaras ; hence scholars have suggested that

928-545: Is a Gurdwara , and bot khrit ( โบสถ์คริสต์ ) or wat farang ( วัดฝรั่ง ; lit.   ' Farang temple ' ) is a Christian church, though Thai โบสถ์ ( RTGS :  bot ) may be used descriptively as with mosques. According to Thai law, there are two types of Thai Buddhist temples: A typical Buddhist wat consists of the following buildings: Almost all Buddhist temples in Cambodia were built in Khmer architectural style . Most temples were finely decorated with

986-425: Is a ferocious monster symbolic of time in its all-devouring aspect and associated with the destructive side of the god Siva . In Khmer temple architecture, the kala serves as a common decorative element on lintels, tympana and walls, where it is depicted as a monstrous head with a large upper jaw lined by large carnivorous teeth, but with no lower jaw. Some kalas are shown disgorging vine-like plants, and some serve as

1044-584: Is explained in the story of the churning of the Ocean of Milk , or samudra manthan , found in the Vishnu Purana . Other stories in the Mahabharata detail the exploits of individual apsaras, who were often used by the gods as agents to persuade or seduce mythological demons, heroes and ascetics. The widespread use of apsaras as a motif for decorating the walls and pillars of temples and other religious buildings, however,

1102-616: Is not clear whether the significance of these reservoirs was religious, agricultural, or a combination of the two. The two largest reservoirs at Angkor were the West Baray and the East Baray located on either side of Angkor Thom . The East Baray is now dry. The West Mebon is an 11th-century temple standing at the center of the West Baray and the East Mebon is a 10th-century temple standing at

1160-505: Is part man and part bird. He is the lord of birds, the mythological enemy of nāgas , and the battle steed of Vishnu . Depictions of Garuda at Angkor number in the thousands, and though Indian in inspiration exhibit a style that is uniquely Khmer. They may be classified as follows: In the ancient religion of the Vedas , Indra the sky-god reigned supreme. In the medieval Hinduism of Angkor, however, he had no religious status, and served only as

1218-416: Is soft when taken from the ground but that hardens when exposed to the sun, for foundations and other hidden parts of buildings. Because the surface of laterite is uneven, it was not suitable for decorative carvings, unless first dressed with stucco. Laterite was more commonly used in the Khmer provinces than at Angkor itself. Because the water table in this entire region is well high, Laterite has been used in

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1276-640: The Greater India ). Evolved from Indian influences, Khmer architecture became clearly distinct from that of the Indian sub-continent as it developed its own special characteristics, some of which were created independently and others of which were incorporated from neighboring cultural traditions, resulting in a new artistic style in Asian architecture unique to the Angkorian tradition. The development of Khmer architecture as

1334-590: The Hall of Dancers at Preah Khan , in the pillars that line the passageways through the outer gallery of the Bayon , and in the famous bas-relief of Angkor Wat depicting the churning of the Ocean of Milk. The largest population of devatas (around 2,000) is at Angkor Wat , where they appear individually and in groups. Dvarapalas are human or demonic temple guardians, generally armed with lances and clubs. They are presented either as

1392-697: The Phimeanakas , and most notably the Phnom Bakheng at Angkor . According to Charles Higham , "A temple was built for the worship of the ruler, whose essence, if a Saivite , was embodied in a linga... housed in the central sanctuary which served as a temple-mausoleum for the ruler after his death...these central temples also contained shrines dedicated to the royal ancestors and thus became centres of ancestor worship". Bas-reliefs are individual figures, groups of figures, or entire scenes cut into stone walls, not as drawings but as sculpted images projecting from

1450-499: The Preah Ko style from the late 9th century. Common motifs in the decoration of lintels include the kala , the nāga and the makara , as well as various forms of vegetation. Also frequently depicted are the Hindu gods associated with the four cardinal directions, with the identity of the god depicted on a given lintel or pediment depending on the direction faced by that element. Indra ,

1508-515: The Southern Province of Sri Lanka, and Thailand . The word wat is borrowed from the Sanskrit vāṭa ( Devanāgarī : वाट), meaning "enclosure". The term has varying meanings in each region, sometimes referring to a specific type of government-recognised or large temple, other times referring to any Buddhist or Hindu temple. In Buddhism , a wat is a Buddhist sacred precinct with vihara ,

1566-463: The Angkorean period, not all of these features were equally in evidence throughout the period. Indeed, scholars have referred to the presence or absence of such features as one source of evidence for dating the remains. Many temples had been built before Cambodia became the powerful Khmer Empire which dominated a large part of mainland Southeast Asia . At that time, Khmer was known as the Chenla kingdom,

1624-653: The Angkorian Khmer confined their narrative bas-reliefs to the space on the tympana above doorways. The most famous early narrative bas-reliefs are those on the tympana at the 10th-century temple of Banteay Srei , depicting scenes from Hindu mythology as well as scenes from the great works of Indian literature, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata . By the 12th century, however, the Angkorian artists were covering entire walls with narrative scenes in bas-relief. At Angkor Wat ,

1682-699: The Bakong and Borobudur in Java , going into architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces, strongly suggests that Borobudur might have served as the prototype of Bakong. There must have been exchanges of travelers, if not mission, between Khmer kingdom and the Sailendras in Java . Transmitting to Cambodia not only ideas, but also technical and architectural details of Borobudur, including arched gateways in corbelling method. Other Khmer temple mountains include Baphuon , Pre Rup , Ta Keo , Koh Ker ,

1740-453: The Khmer civilization's adoption into its decorative iconography of elements derived from long forgotten primitive antecedents. Scenes from the life of Krishna , a hero and Avatar of the god Vishnu , are common in the relief carvings decorating Angkorian temples, and unknown in Angkorian sculpture in the round. The literary sources for these scenes are the Mahabharata , the Harivamsa , and

1798-552: The Vedas and the Shastras, require no adhesives to be used while building blocks are assembled one over the other to create the Temples, as such bricks have been used only in relatively smaller temples such as Lolei and The Preah Ko. Besides, strength of bricks is much lesser as compared to the stones (mentioned here-in) and the former degrade with age. Angkor's neighbor state of Champa was also

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1856-402: The axis of the enclosure wall. If the wall is constructed with an accompanying gallery, the gallery is sometimes connected to the arms of the gopura. Many Angkorian gopuras have a tower at the centre of the cross. The lintels and pediments are often decorated, and guardian figures ( dvarapalas ) are often placed or carved on either side of the doorways. A Hall of Dancers is the structure of

1914-419: The base for other figures. Scholars have speculated that the origin of the kala as a decorative element in Khmer temple architecture may be found in an earlier period when the skulls of human victims were incorporated into buildings as a kind of protective magic or apotropaism . Such skulls tended to lose their lower jaws when the ligaments holding them together dried out. Thus, the kalas of Angkor may represent

1972-473: The cardinal points. A gallery is a passageway running along the wall of an enclosure or along the axis of a temple, often open to one or both sides. Historically, the form of the gallery evolved during the 10th century from the increasingly long hallways which had earlier been used to surround the central sanctuary of a temple. During the period of Angkor Wat in the first half of the 12th century, additional half galleries on one side were introduced to buttress

2030-670: The center of the East Baray. The baray associated with Preah Khan is the Jayataka, in the middle of which stands the 12th-century temple of Neak Pean . Scholars have speculated that the Jayataka represents the Himalayan lake of Anavatapta , known for its miraculous healing powers. The dominant scheme for the construction of state temples in the Angkorian period was that of the Temple Mountain, an architectural representation of Mount Meru ,

2088-420: The centre of the temple, and by the greater decoration on its walls. Symbolically, the sanctuary represented Mount Meru , the legendary home of the Hindu gods. The prang is the tall finger-like spire, usually richly carved, common to much Khmerreligious architecture. Khmer temples were typically enclosed by a concentric series of walls, with the central sanctuary in the middle; this arrangement represented

2146-475: The centre than the one supporting it from below, until the two sides meet in the middle. The corbel arch is structurally weaker than the true arch . The use of corbelling prevented the Angkorian engineers from constructing large openings or spaces in buildings roofed with stone, and made such buildings particularly prone to collapse once they were no longer maintained. These difficulties did not, of course, exist for buildings constructed with stone walls surmounted by

2204-575: The end of 2017, there were 4,872 wats with 69,199 Buddhist monks supporting Buddhism in Cambodia . By 2019, it was illustrated that 97.1 percent of the Cambodian population was Buddhist, making Cambodia to be one of the most predominant Buddhist nations in the world. Despite having only 3.8 percent Buddhists in Kelantan, the northern Malaysian state of Kelantan has numerous Thai wats. As of 2016 Thailand had 39,883 wats. Three hundred-ten were royal wats,

2262-401: The external gallery wall is covered with some 12,000 or 13,000 square meters of such scenes, some of them historical, some mythological. Similarly, the outer gallery at the Bayon contains extensive bas-reliefs documenting the everyday life of the medieval Khmer as well as historical events from the reign of King Jayavarman VII . The following is a listing of the motifs illustrated in some of

2320-438: The god of the sky, is associated with East; Yama , the god of judgment and Hell, with South; Varuna , the god of the ocean, with West; and Kubera , god of wealth, with North. Angkorean stairs are notoriously steep. Frequently, the length of the riser exceeds that of the tread , producing an angle of ascent somewhere between 45 and 70 degrees. The reasons for this peculiarity appear to be both religious and monumental. From

2378-407: The hall itself may have been used for dancing. House of Fire, or Dharmasala , is the name given to a type of building found only in temples constructed during the reign of late 12th-century monarch Jayavarman VII : Preah Khan , Ta Prohm and Banteay Chhmar . A House of Fire has thick walls, a tower at the west end and south-facing windows. Scholars theorize that the House of Fire functioned as

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2436-670: The home of the gods in Hinduism . Enclosures represented the mountain chains surrounding Mount Meru, while a moat represented the ocean. The temple itself took shape as a pyramid of several levels, and the home of the gods was represented by the elevated sanctuary at the center of the temple. The first great temple mountain was the Bakong , a five-level pyramid dedicated in 881 by King Indravarman I . The structure of Bakong took shape of stepped pyramid , popularly identified as temple mountain of early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of

2494-590: The home to numerous brick temples that are similar in style to those of Angkor. The most extensive ruins are at Mỹ Sơn in Vietnam . A Cham story tells of the time that the two countries settled an armed conflict by means of a tower-building contest proposed by the Cham King Po Klaung Garai . While the Khmer built a standard brick tower, Po Klaung Garai directed his people to build an impressive replica of paper and wood. The only stone used by Angkorian builders

2552-402: The more famous Angkorian narrative bas-reliefs: Angkorean shrines frequently opened in only one direction, typically to the east. The other three sides featured fake or blind doors to maintain symmetry. Blind windows were often used along otherwise blank walls. Colonnettes were narrow decorative columns that served as supports for the beams and lintels above doorways or windows. Depending on

2610-399: The mountain ranges surrounding Mount Meru , the mythical home of the gods. Enclosures are the spaces between these walls, and between the innermost wall and the temple itself. By modern convention, enclosures are numbered from the centre outwards. The walls defining the enclosures of Khmer temples are frequently lined by galleries, while passage through the walls is by way of gopuras located at

2668-428: The period of Angkor, only temples and other religious buildings were constructed of stone. Non-religious buildings such as dwellings were constructed of perishable materials such as wood, and so have not survived. The religious architecture of Angkor has characteristic structures, elements, and motifs, which are identified in the glossary below. Since a number of different architectural styles succeeded one another during

2726-423: The period, they were round, rectangular, or octagonal in shape. Colonnettes were often circled with molded rings and decorated with carved leaves. Angkorian engineers tended to use the corbel arch in order to construct rooms, passageways and openings in buildings. A corbel arch is constructed by adding layers of stones to the walls on either side of an opening, with each successive layer projecting further towards

2784-479: The predecessor state of the Khmer empire. Latest research reveals that the Khmer already erected stone buildings in the protohistoric period, which they used for the worship of mighty tutelary spirits . This earliest extant architecture consists of relatively small cells made from prefabricated megalithic construction parts, which probably date at least to the second century BC . There are three pre-Angkorean architectural styles: Scholars have worked to develop

2842-456: The religious perspective, a steep stairway can be interpreted as a "stairway to heaven", the realm of the gods. "From the monumental point of view", according to Angkor-scholar Maurice Glaize , "the advantage is clear – the square of the base not having to spread in surface area, the entire building rises to its zenith with a particular thrust". Apsaras , divine nymphs or celestial dancing girls, are characters from Indian mythology. Their origin

2900-682: The remainder were private (public). There were 298,580 Thai Buddhist monks, 264,442 of the Maha Nikaya order and 34,138 of the Dhammayuttika Nikaya order. There were 59,587 Buddhist novice monks. Khmer architecture The architecture of the Indian rock-cut temples , particularly in sculpture, had an influence on Southeast Asia and was widely adopted into the Indianised architecture of Cambodian (Khmer), Annamese and Javanese temples (of

2958-404: The roof. There are a pair of guardian lions and one head or several (three, five, seven, or nine). naga sculptures are beside each entrance of the temple. Inside the main temple ( vihara ) and the multipurpose hall (lunch hall), mural paintings depict the life of Gautama Buddha and his previous life. The roofs of Thai temples are often adorned with chofas . Some well-known wats include: At

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3016-547: The same root as template . In Cambodia , a wat is any place of worship. " Wat " generally refers to a Buddhist place of worship, but the precise term is vôtt pŭtthsasnéa ( វត្តពុទ្ធសាសនា ) meaning "Buddhist pagoda". " Angkor Wat " ( អង្គរវត្ត ângkôr vôtt ) means 'city of temples'. In everyday language in Thailand, a "wat" is any place of worship except a mosque ( Thai : สุเหร่า ; RTGS :  surao ; or Thai : มัสยิด ; RTGS :  matsayit ) or

3074-430: The structure of the temple. A gopura is an entrance building. At Angkor , passage through the enclosure walls surrounding a temple compound is frequently accomplished by means of an impressive gopura, rather than just an aperture in the wall or a doorway. Enclosures surrounding a temple are often constructed with a gopura at each of the four cardinal points . In plan, gopuras are usually cross-shaped and elongated along

3132-654: The temple towers of Preah Ko , Lolei and Bakong at Hariharalaya , and Chóp Mạt in Tay Ninh . Decorations were usually carved into a stucco applied to the brick, rather than into the brick itself. This was because bricks were a softer material, and did not lend themselves to sculpting, as opposed to stones of different kinds such as the Sandstones or the Granites. However, the tenets of the Sacred Architecture as enunciated in

3190-473: The underlying layers of Angkor Wat and other temples (especially the larger ones), because it can absorb water and help towards better stability of the Temple. The central sanctuary of an Angkorian temple was home to the temple's primary deity, the one to whom the site was dedicated: typically Shiva or Vishnu in the case of a Hindu temple, Buddha or a bodhisattva in the case of a Buddhist temple. The deity

3248-462: Was a Khmer innovation. In modern descriptions of Angkorian temples, the term "apsara" is sometimes used to refer not only to dancers but also to other minor female deities, though minor female deities who are depicted standing rather than dancing are more commonly called " devatas ". Apsaras and devatas are ubiquitous at Angkor , but are most common in the foundations of the 12th century. Depictions of true (dancing) apsaras are found, for example, in

3306-437: Was represented by a statue (or in the case of Shiva , most commonly by a linga ). Since the temple was not considered a place of worship for use by the population at large, but rather a home for the deity, the sanctuary needed only to be large enough to hold the statue or linga; it was never more than a few metres across. Its importance was instead conveyed by the height of the tower ( prasat ) rising above it, by its location at

3364-449: Was sandstone, obtained from the Kulen mountains . Since its obtainment was considerably more expensive than that of brick, sandstone only gradually came into use, and at first was used for particular elements such as door frames. The 10th-century temple of Ta Keo is the first Angkorian temple to be constructed more or less entirely from Sandstone. Angkorian builders used laterite, a clay that

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