Saturday September 23, 2006
Story by Sharon Chan
The Star Online (Malaysia)
Nearly 2,000 apsara sculptures adorn one central tower in the temple ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. What are these feminine forms in graceful poses? Why are they so prominently featured in the temple?
I went in search of the answer during a recent trip to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat (literally “capital city temple”) was built in the early 12th century by King Suryavarman II (1112-1150). After just two years, it was abandoned for some mysterious reasons and the jungle claimed it back. It was in 1861 that the temple was rediscovered by French naturalist Henri Mouhot and later restored.
Today, Angkor Wat is considered one of the wonders of the world. The temple complex covers 500 acres (202ha), roughly the size of Paris and is part Hindu and part Buddhist. It was probably initially built as a city, which then became a religious place as well as a monument to Suryavarman after his death.
The architecture is reminiscent of Hindu temples in India because Suryavarman identified himself with Lord Vishnu. Later Angkor Wat became a Buddhist temple. Today, saffron-robed monks can still be seen wending their way through these ancient temples.
Since I was particularly interested in the apsara sculptures, I made a beeline for the five central towers of Angkor Wat.
The causeway from the restaurant and hawker centre crosses a wide moat and leads to the grand entrance of the lowest tier. Think of Angkor Wat as a three-tiered wedding cake, with two causeways that link the outermost lowest tier to the second tier, and then to the third tier.
Huffing and puffing up the steps of the central tower, I wondered why the steps had to be at such a steep 70° angle and very narrow at that. Is it because the people back then had small feet and were very fit?
I was surrounded by apsara everywhere I turned. They were on walls and pillars, lintels and window frames. An apsara has been variously described as a female divinity, a heavenly dancer and a celestial nymph. An apsara is skilled in dance and music, and said to be irresistible to men.
Although they were all carved in stone, I observed that each apsara showed slightly different characteristics, either in facial expression, pose or costume and adornments. I was fascinated by the headdresses and trinkets worn by the dancers and noticed that they had ears stretched by heavy earrings. Elongated ear lobes remind one of Lord Buddha.
All the apsaras were presented bare-breasted and they were generously endowed. I think some visitors have not been able to resist rubbing and touching the sculptures because certain parts of the anatomy of a few of these sculptures have been rubbed almost black. Fortunately such vandalism and disrespectful behaviour is not widespread.
In most souvenir shops, restaurants and hotels, tourists will find apsara dancers depicted in all manners and forms: as beautiful wooden carvings and ceramic statuettes, as sand sculptures and brass figurines; in drawings and paintings, in photographs and moving heliographs; on glass and trinkets, on bracelets, earrings and lockets.
Life-sized wax models can be found at the Wax Museum in the Cultural Village in Siem Reap. Indeed, they are everywhere.
So now what is left for me to do is to seek out a live performance of the apsara dancers. I found them in a dinner-cum-cultural show at Restaurant Angkor Mondial in Siem Reap, the nearest town to Angkor Wat, where we stayed for four days. I was also lucky to catch another performance at the Cultural Village.
The present day dancers wear flesh-coloured body stockings and make-up and do not have elongated ears. Watching the graceful and sensuous movements, as the women danced to haunting music, I felt like I had been transported back to the days of King Suryavarman.
I felt privileged to be able to visit Angkor Wat, the largest religious complex in the world and take away with me a bit of sacred history in the form of a more intimate knowledge and appreciation of the apsara dancers.
[KI-Media note: It is inaccurate to say that Angkor Wat was rediscovered by Henri Mouhot. Angkor Wat was never abandoned by Cambodians, for one thing, Henri Mouhot arrived at Angkor Wat with the help of Cambodian guides. When they arrived there, they found a sparse population and monks living along the periphery of the temple. Louis Delaporte, a French colonial Lieutenant, described and showed drawings of the Cambodian inhabitants living in the vicinity of Angkor Wat in his book "Voyage au Cambodge" (Travel in Cambodia)]
I went in search of the answer during a recent trip to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat (literally “capital city temple”) was built in the early 12th century by King Suryavarman II (1112-1150). After just two years, it was abandoned for some mysterious reasons and the jungle claimed it back. It was in 1861 that the temple was rediscovered by French naturalist Henri Mouhot and later restored.
Today, Angkor Wat is considered one of the wonders of the world. The temple complex covers 500 acres (202ha), roughly the size of Paris and is part Hindu and part Buddhist. It was probably initially built as a city, which then became a religious place as well as a monument to Suryavarman after his death.
The architecture is reminiscent of Hindu temples in India because Suryavarman identified himself with Lord Vishnu. Later Angkor Wat became a Buddhist temple. Today, saffron-robed monks can still be seen wending their way through these ancient temples.
Since I was particularly interested in the apsara sculptures, I made a beeline for the five central towers of Angkor Wat.
The causeway from the restaurant and hawker centre crosses a wide moat and leads to the grand entrance of the lowest tier. Think of Angkor Wat as a three-tiered wedding cake, with two causeways that link the outermost lowest tier to the second tier, and then to the third tier.
Huffing and puffing up the steps of the central tower, I wondered why the steps had to be at such a steep 70° angle and very narrow at that. Is it because the people back then had small feet and were very fit?
I was surrounded by apsara everywhere I turned. They were on walls and pillars, lintels and window frames. An apsara has been variously described as a female divinity, a heavenly dancer and a celestial nymph. An apsara is skilled in dance and music, and said to be irresistible to men.
Although they were all carved in stone, I observed that each apsara showed slightly different characteristics, either in facial expression, pose or costume and adornments. I was fascinated by the headdresses and trinkets worn by the dancers and noticed that they had ears stretched by heavy earrings. Elongated ear lobes remind one of Lord Buddha.
All the apsaras were presented bare-breasted and they were generously endowed. I think some visitors have not been able to resist rubbing and touching the sculptures because certain parts of the anatomy of a few of these sculptures have been rubbed almost black. Fortunately such vandalism and disrespectful behaviour is not widespread.
In most souvenir shops, restaurants and hotels, tourists will find apsara dancers depicted in all manners and forms: as beautiful wooden carvings and ceramic statuettes, as sand sculptures and brass figurines; in drawings and paintings, in photographs and moving heliographs; on glass and trinkets, on bracelets, earrings and lockets.
Life-sized wax models can be found at the Wax Museum in the Cultural Village in Siem Reap. Indeed, they are everywhere.
So now what is left for me to do is to seek out a live performance of the apsara dancers. I found them in a dinner-cum-cultural show at Restaurant Angkor Mondial in Siem Reap, the nearest town to Angkor Wat, where we stayed for four days. I was also lucky to catch another performance at the Cultural Village.
The present day dancers wear flesh-coloured body stockings and make-up and do not have elongated ears. Watching the graceful and sensuous movements, as the women danced to haunting music, I felt like I had been transported back to the days of King Suryavarman.
I felt privileged to be able to visit Angkor Wat, the largest religious complex in the world and take away with me a bit of sacred history in the form of a more intimate knowledge and appreciation of the apsara dancers.
[KI-Media note: It is inaccurate to say that Angkor Wat was rediscovered by Henri Mouhot. Angkor Wat was never abandoned by Cambodians, for one thing, Henri Mouhot arrived at Angkor Wat with the help of Cambodian guides. When they arrived there, they found a sparse population and monks living along the periphery of the temple. Louis Delaporte, a French colonial Lieutenant, described and showed drawings of the Cambodian inhabitants living in the vicinity of Angkor Wat in his book "Voyage au Cambodge" (Travel in Cambodia)]
3 comments:
I remember the word "gay" in the old day means happy! But now in 2006! If you use the word "gay" it means something completely different! It means guy loves guy!
The word "nymph" is no different! You will find the word "nymph" widely used in hustler magazine or playboy magazine or abnormal sexually explicit magazine nowaday! This word "nymph" give such a bad connotation especially when using it to describe female in general! Please don't use "nymph" to describe something that Cambodian people respect or deal with Cambdoian culture!
Why not use the word maiden! There are many ways to say thing unless you want to say something bad about Cambodian culture!
The word nymph is a short word for nympho and it means a woman with abnormal sexual desires!
APSARA are heavenly dancers came from heaven not from rock, tree,river or mountain! Better get the shit right otherwise don't just say stuff!
Yep, Apsara are not for the ordinary people. Back then, they were the celestial dancers of the God-king.
The steps to the central tower are very steep. The intention of this steepness was for the visitors to climb with two feet and two hands. It's a sign of respect for the god-king.
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