Strange as it may seem, there is no clear evidence as to the character of the worship performed in Camboja’s greatest temple, Angkor Wat.  Since the prince who commenced it was known by the posthumous title of Paramavishnuloka, we may presume that he intended to dedicate it to Vishnu and some of the sculptures appear to represent Vishnu slaying a demon.  But it was not finished until after his death and his intentions may not have been respected by his successors.  An authoritative statement[324] warns us that it is not safe to say more about the date of Angkor Wat than that its extreme limits are 1050 and 1170.  Jayavarman VII (who came to the throne at about this latter date) was a Buddhist, and may possibly have used the great temple for his own worship.  The sculptures are hardly Brahmanic in the theological sense, and those which represent the pleasures of paradise and the pains of hell recall Buddhist delineations of the same theme.[325] The four images of the Buddha which are now found in the central tower are modern and all who have seen them will, I think, agree that the figure of the great teacher which seems so appropriate in the neighbouring monasteries is strangely out of place in this aerial shrine.  But what the designer of the building intended to place there remains a mystery.  Perhaps an empty throne such as is seen in the temples of Annam and Bali would have been the best symbol.[326]

Though the monuments of Camboja are well preserved the grey and massive severity which marks them at present is probably very different from the appearance that they wore when used for worship.  From Chou Ta-kuan and other sources[327] we gather that the towers and porches were gilded, the bas-reliefs and perhaps the whole surface of the walls were painted, and the building was ornamented with flags.  Music and dances were performed in the courtyards and, as in many Indian temples, the intention was to create a scene which by its animation and brilliancy might amuse the deity and rival the pleasures of paradise.

It is remarkable that ancient Camboja which has left us so many monuments, produced no books.[328] Though the inscriptions and Chou Ta-kuan testify to the knowledge of literature (especially religious), both Brahmanic and Buddhist, diffused among the upper classes, no original works or even adaptations of Indian originals have come down to us.  The length and ambitious character of many inscriptions give an idea of what the Cambojans could do in the way of writing, but the result is disappointing.  These poems in stone show a knowledge of Sanskrit, of Indian poetry and theology, which is surprising if we consider how far from India they were composed, but they are almost without exception artificial, frigid and devoid of vigour or inspiration.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 242:  See among other authorities: 

(a) E. Aymonier, Le Cambodge, Paris, 3 vols. 1900, 1904 (cited as Aymonier).