THE BAS RELIEF CARVING AND ICONOGRAPHY OF ANGKOR WAT:
The bas relief 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 Mahabharata and the Ramayana are all brought to life. 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.
