Liberal Arts Blog — Cambodia I — Anghor Wat, Angkor Thom, — Jayavarman II (The Founder), Suryavarman II (The Builder) And Jayavarman VII (The Smiling One)
Liberal Arts Blog — Sunday is the Joy of Humor, Food, Travel, Practical Life Tips, and Miscellaneous Day
Today’s Topic: Cambodia I — Anghor Wat, Angkor Thom, — Jayavarman II (the founder), Suryavarman II (the builder) and Jayavarman VII (the smiling one)
Thematic continuity is key to depth of thought and joy. So is crossing disciplinary boundaries. On Thursday, music day, I shared with you what I learned about the most beloved Cambodian song “I’m sixteen” (“Chnam out dop pram muy”).
Today, I decided to further explore Cambodian culture and share my discoveries.
Have you been to Cambodia? Are you in fact Cambodian? Have you worked there? What do you know about Cambodia that the rest of us might not but would be delighted to learn? Highlights: 1.) “Bayon” — a Temple covered with the Smiling Face of the Emperor — Jayarvarman VII (1122–1218), 2.) the “dharmasala” or “Houses of Fire” — rest houses on highways for pilgrims with “sacred flames.” 3.) Ta Prohm, aka “the Angelina Jolie Temple,” or the “Tomb Raider Temple: after the film “Lara Croft — Tomb Raider.”
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
ANGKOR WAT (eg. “City Temple” or “Capital City Temple”) built between 1116 and 1150; the builder was King Suryavarman II (1113–1150)
1. “The largest religious monument in the world.”
2. “Dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu who is one of the three principal gods in the Hindu pantheon (Shiva and Brahma are the others). Among them he is knowns as the “Protector.””
3. “The major patron of Angkor Wat was King Suyavarman II whose name translates as the “protector of the sun.”
NB: “Many scholars believe that Angkor Wat was not only a temple dedicated to Vishnu but that it was also intended to serve as the king’s mausoleum in death.”
BAYON — built by King Jayavarman VII (1122–1218), covered with statues of him, smiling, eyes closed
1. “He was the first king devoted to Buddhism, as only one prior Khmer king had been a Buddhist. He then built the Bayon as a monument to Buddhism.”
2. “Jayavarman VII is generally considered the most powerful of the Khmer monarchs by historians. His government built many projects including hospitals, highways, rest houses, and temples.”
3. “With Buddhism as his motivation, King Jayavarman VII is credited with introducing a welfare state that served the physical and spiritual needs of the Khmer people.”
THE FOUNDING OF THE KHMER EMPIRE, ITS DURATION, ITS ABANDONMENT
1. The Khmer Empire was founded by Jayavarman II in 802 CE and lasted until 1350.
2. Jayavarman II was a warrior who united disparate kingdoms ruled from 802 to 850 CE.
3. “Angkor Thom” was “the last and most enduring city of the Khmer Empire.”
NB: “One inscription found in the city refers to Jayavarman II as the groom and the city as his bride.” “The Ayutthava Kingdom led by King Borommarachathirat II, sacked Angkor Thom, forcing the Khmers under Ponhea Yat to relocate their capital southeast to Phnom Penh. Angkor Thom was abandoned sometime prior to 1609 when an early western visitor wrote of the uninhabited city “as fantastic as the Atlantis of Plato. It is believed to have sustained a population of 80,000 to 150,000 people. “The Poem of Angkor Wat” composed in Khmer verse in 1622 describes the beauty of Angkor Thom.” Wait a minute.
Does it celebrate Angkor Wat or Angkor Thom?
Below: Ta Prohm, the “Tomb Raider Temple” aka the “Angelina Jolie Temple”
FOOTNOTE — the geography of Cambodia — surrounded by Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and the Gulf of Thailand
1.”Cambodia’s landscape is characterized by a low-lying central plain that is surrounded by uplands and low mountains and includes the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) and the upper reaches of the Mekong River delta. Extending outward from this central region are transitional plains, thinly forested and rising to elevations of about 650 feet (200 metres) above sea level.” Parenthetically, Tonle Sap literally means “Fresh River.”
2. “The most distinctive geographical feature is the inundations of the Tonle Sap, measuring about 2,590 square kilometres (1,000 square miles) during the dry season and expanding to about 24,605 square kilometres (9,500 square miles) during the rainy season. This densely populated plain, which is devoted to wet rice cultivation, is the heartland of Cambodia. Much of this area has been designated as a biosphere reserve.”
3. “Cambodia’s climate, like that of the rest of Southeast Asia, is dominated by monsoons, which are known as tropical wet and dry because of the distinctly marked seasonal differences.
NB: The temperature range is between 70 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Note that the Mekong River, the third longest in Asia after the Yangtse and Yellow Rivers in China, passes through Cambodia on its way from the Tibetan plateau to southern Vietnam and the South China Sea.
Cambodia — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayon
Cambodian People’s Party — Wikipedia
Centrist Democrat International — Wikipedia
Tonlé Sap — Wikipedia
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Anything miscellaneous to share? Best trip you ever took in your life? Practical life tips? Random facts? Jokes?
Or, what is the best cartoon you have seen lately? or in the last 10 years? or the last 50?
Or what is your favorite holiday food? Main course? Dessert?
Fondest food memories? Favorite foods to eat or prepare This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your mind a memory that might otherwise disappear. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
