THE BAS-RELIEF CARVING AND ICONOGRAPHY OF ANGKOR WAT:
The [G 05 / bas-relief] [P 012 / carvings at Angkor] are both an expression of the genius of the age and the most complete iconographical record of Hindu mythology ever made, just as the stone carvings in Chartres Cathedral are a record of Christian iconography (SEE CHARTRES). On the colonnaded gallery on the first level of the complex, there is over a mile of sculpture six feet high.
The legends of the [G 20 / Mahabharata] and the [G 28 / Ramayana] are all brought to life. [P 036 / Asparas] dance, light and delicate, around scenes taken from the Mahabharata, which tells the story of the feud between the Pandava and Kaurava families. In the south gallery, we see a grand procession headed by Suryavarman II on an elephant. Another pavilion shows the judgement of the dead, vividly portraying the damnation to hell of the wicked and the ascension to paradise of the virtuous.
One of the most famous of the series of carvings is that depicting `[P 040 / The Churning of the Sea of Milk],' a famous story in Hindu mythology. The gallery in which these superb carvings were executed used to be covered with a roof.
In the early 1970s, the French restorers dismantled the roof to begin work on restoring the temple, but they were interrupted by the civil war in Cambodia. The gallery was exposed to the elements for the next 20 years, resulting in some erosion of the carvings.
The bas-reliefs show the huge snake, Vasuki, winding around the Mountain Mandara. This mountain rests on the back of an enormous turtle in the Sea of Milk which is the Hindu primeval ocean. The gods and demons are illustrated pulling the serpent to turn the mountain around, and thus churn the sea of milk. This, according to the myth, releases the essence of life, amrita. The god Vishnu is the controlling force in this story.
The carving is one of the most unified, detailed and exciting of all the Angkor bas-reliefs and was probably executed by one artist of supreme talent over a period of several years.
