Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Angkor Wat

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Angkor's away! India plans larger than life copy of Cambodia's iconic temple

Cambodians protest as construction begins on copy that will be world's tallest Hindu temple

Thursday 08 March 2012

Andrew Buncombe

The Independent (UK)

Delhi

It is often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Not so, perhaps when it comes to ancient Hindu temples.

Earlier this week, officials in eastern India announced their plan to build a replica of Cambodia's spellbinding 12th century temple, Angkor Wat, on the banks of the Ganges in the state of Bihar. A religious group, the Mahavir Mandir Trust, said that when it is completed, the £13m project will not only be a major attraction in its own right, but will be the tallest Hindu temple anywhere in the world.

As he laid the foundation stone, Kishore Kunal, the trust's secretary, told local media the temple's name will be Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir. "The site is blessed as Ram, Lakshman and Vishwamitra were welcomed here on their arrival by King Sumati of the Vaishali kingdom," he added, referring to Hindu deities.

But while people in Bihar may be excited about the project, not everyone is happy. Having learned of the plan, officials in Cambodia yesterday said they believed the move was "a shameful act" that would undermine the value of the country's best- known tourist attraction which has been a World Heritage Site since 1992.

ក្រសួង​​វប្បធម៌​​ ប្រតិកម្ម​ការ​សង់​​​​ប្រាសាទ​​​​ហិណ្ឌូ

អត្ថបទ៖ កង ចាន់​បញ្ញា
រូបថត៖ លន ហ្សាឌីណា
Sabay.com.kh

ឯកឧត្ដម​ ហាប់ ទូច អគ្គនាយក​ បេតិកភណ្ឌ​​​ នៃ​ក្រសួង​វប្បធម៌​ និង​ វិចិត្រ​​សិល្បៈ​ ​បាន​មាន​ប្រតិកម្ម​​ភ្លាម​ៗ បន្ទាប់​ពី​​​បាន​ទទួល​ព័ត៌មាន​ដែល​​ថា​ ប្រទេស​​ឥណ្ឌា​បាន​ចាប់​ផ្ដើម​សាង​សង់​​​​ប្រាសាទ​​បែប​​ហិណ្ឌូ​ ​​​ចម្លង​តាម​ប្រាសាទ​អង្គរ​វត្ត​​របស់​កម្ពុជា។

ឯក​ឧត្តម​​​​បន្ត​ថា​ ​នេះ​ជា​ព័ត៌មាន​មួយ​ដែល​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ ភ្ញាក់​ផ្អើល​​មែន​ទែន​ ​​ព្រោះ​ឯក​ឧត្តម​ពុំ​បាន​ទទួល​ព័ត៌មាន​​​​​​ជា​ផ្លូវ​ការ​ពី​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​​ឥណ្ឌា​នោះ​ទេ។ ឯក​ឧត្តម​បន្ត​ថា​ ​ប្រាសាទ​អង្គរវត្ត​​ជា​របស់​ខ្មែរ​ ​ទោះ​បី​ជា ​ប្រាសាទ​នេះ​ចូល​ជា​បេតិកភណ្ឌ​ ​ពិភពលោក​​​​​​កាល​ពី​ឆ្នាំ​១៩៩២​ ក៏​ដោយ​ ​ក៏​ការ​ចម្លង​​​ត្រូវ​តែ​សុំ​ការ​អនុញ្ញាត​ពី​ប្រទេស​សាមី​ដែរ​ មិនមែន​ចេះ​តែ​ធ្វើ​ៗ​ទៅ​នោះ​ទេ​ ព្រោះ​វា​ប៉ះពាល់​កម្មសិទ្ធិ​បញ្ញា​ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ​ណាស់​។

ឯក​ឧត្តម​​ប្រឆាំង​​​ជា​ដាច់​ខាត​ ចំពោះ​ការ​​លើក​ឡើង​ដែល​ថា​ ប្រាសាទ​អង្គរវត្ត​សាងសង់​ក្នុង​សម័យ​កាល​​​​ដែល​អាណាចក្រ​ខ្មែរ​គោរព​សាសនា​​ហិណ្ឌូ​​ ​​​​ហើយ​​​សាសនា​មួយ​នេះ​មាន​ដើម​កំណើត​នៅ​ក្នុង​​ប្រទេស​ឥណ្ឌា​​​​​​​ ​ប្រទេស​ឥណ្ឌា​​​​អាច​មាន​សិទ្ធិ​​ចម្លង​បាន។​​​ ​ឯក​ឧត្តម​លើក​សម្អាង​ថា​ ​​​​​​ប្រាសាទ​​ដ៏​អច្ឆរិយៈ​របស់​ខ្មែរ​ មួយ​នេះ​ មាន​លក្ខណៈ​និង​រចនាបថ​ខ្មែរ​ ហើយ​​ប្រាសាទ​ទាំងអស់​នៅ​ឥណ្ឌា​ ក៏​គ្មាន​មួយ​ណា​ដូច​ប្រាសាទ​នៅ​កម្ពុជា​ដែរ ដូច្នេះ​ចំពោះ​ការ​ចម្លង​ទាំងស្រុង​គឺជា​រឿង​មិន​ត្រឹម​ត្រូវ​ទាល់​តែ​សោះ​។

World's Largest Hindu Temple To Come Up In Bihar

(Getty Photo)

05 Mar 2012
PTI (India)

Patna, Mar 5: Replicating the world's largest Hindu temple in Cambodia's Angkor Wat, the Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust ( BMMT) on Sunday said they will build a bigger temple in Bihar's Vaishali district.

To be built at a cost of Rs 100 crore, the five-storied and 222-feet tall temple will come up at a sprawling campus spread over 15 acres at a place near Ismailpur village on Hajipur-Bidupur road, which will be christened as Angkor Nagar, BMMT's secretary and ex-IPS officer Acharya Kishore Kunal said.

Land worth around Rs 30 crore has already been acquired for the purpose from locals, he said.

Hindus upset at damage to landmark Hindu temple by Thai-Cambodian clashes

2011-02-07
ANI (India)

Phnom Penh: Hindus are shocked and upset at the reported damage to 11th century Preah Vihear Hindu Shiva temple complex because of Thai-Cambodian crossfire at their border.

Notable Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) on Monday, urged the international community to urgently intervene to stop the fighting in order to save the landmark Hindu temple from further damage.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that world community should raise funds to restore the temple to its original shape and provide some infrastructure in the area for devotees and other visitors. As temple was the cause of long-running border feud between Thailand and Cambodia, it should be turned over to United Nations control.

Angkor construction technology used to build Hindu temple in West London

The Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir temple in Wembley, West London

Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir
The pride of the Hindus

June 20, 2010
By Mithun Dey
Organiser.org

Most of the Mandir parts have been hand-carved in limestone in a small town called Sola, located in Gujarat. About 41 statues of the deities made-up of marble were made in India especially for the Mandir.

I got surprised after receiving an email from one of my friends living in London stating that a new Sanatan Hindu Mandir has been constructed in London. It’s really a great achievement for the Hindus around the world.

The Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir was constructed at a cost of £16 million i.e. 113,60,00000 crore in Indian currency. It took 14 years to construct the temple in the locality of Wimbley, situated in West London. The technology used in the construction of this temple is similar to that of the world famous Vishnu Temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The Vishnu Temple of Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple in the capital city of Khmer empire which Cambodia is now part of. The temple is an of epitome of high classical style of Khmer architecture.

No doubt that the Sanatan Hindu Mandir has been built by great people who must have been working very hard and we cannot take their achievement for granted. The Mandir has been built by using ancient technology based on Hindu sculptures and made of shilpa shastras technique. The Mandir covers an area of 2.4 acres and it is 66ft (20m) tall. Its bright sand-coloured walls stand out in stark contrast to the unassuming surroundings. The Mandir is also known as Wembley’s newest looming landmark.

Most of the Mandir parts have been hand carved in limestone in a small town called Sola, located in Gujarat. About 41 statues of deities made-up of marble were made in India especially for the Mandir.

Famous spiritual leaders and forms of Gods from other religions such as Mother Teresa, Gurunanak Devji, Meerabai, Lord Swaminarayan and many more have been featured in the carvings of the temple. Featuring of other Gods have made the Mandir run into controversies and many have questioned the carving of the image of Mother Teresa on one of its columns, but Dr Raj Pandit Sharma of the Hindu Council UK as well as the chief priest of the Mandir said, "It represents the inclusive nature of the Hindu religion."

The opening ceremony known "Pran Prathistha" was celebrated on May 31, 2010 to "infuse the spirit of God into the statues. The opening ceremony was attended by a large number of distinguished devotees. It is our faith that the Mandir will offer a place of worship for all the Hindus, said Dr Raj.

Dr Raj Pandit Sharma said that the new Mandir not only stand out as a structure but it also fits well with the eclectic local community. He also said, "I think it will add to the charm of the area".

He further said that all Hindu festivals will be celebrated in the Mandir. It is expected that around 400-500 devotees will visit the Mandir during the week days and double that on weekends.

Unearthed lingam to link Vellore with Cambodia? [-Cambodia ruled by Tamil kings of South India???]

25 May 2010
V Narayana Murthi
Express Buzz - Tamilnadu (India)

VELLORE: The six-foot Shiva Lingam (minus the base), which was for the first time unearthed in the Palar riverbed near Pallikonda on May 18, has raised an interesting debate on the age of this beautiful stone carving that has been lodged at the Government Museum here.

The green Lingam is carved out of a single piece of stone that symbolizes the union of the three divinities of the Hindu trinity, Brahma (represented by the cubic base), Vishnu (by the octagonal section) and Shiva (the top portion). While the museum officials estimate the age of this lingam to be around four hundred years, linking the artefact to the Vijayanagar Naikkar period, whose rulers had built the famous Vellore fort, the possibility of its existence in the much earlier Pallava or Chola period is gaining grounds.

S Asokan, a businessman from Ambur, who had recently visited Cambodia, had brought back with him a model of a Shiva lingam, which in fact resembles the one that was found in the Palar bed. Quoting a book by Emma C Bunker and Douglas Latchford titled ‘Adoration and Glory-The golden age of Khmer Art’, he said that the design of the lingams found in the temples of Cambodia and in the museums in that country were dated to belong to the 10th and 11th centuries during the Angkor Vat period.

According to historians, Cambodia, earlier known as Kampuchea is a culturally rich country, which was in fact ruled by the Tamil kings of South India then. The influence of art and culture on Cambodia was, however, most vigorous and prolific during the rule of the Pallavas (third to ninth centuries) and Cholas (ninth to 13th centuries) in South India. Given the fact that temples with Chola and Pallava architecture are in existence in many places, more particularly in Kalathur near Wallajah in Vellore district, the unearthed Lingam could very well be a piece of work dating back to the Pallavas or the Cholas. Going by this logic alone, the Pallikonda piece must be at least 1,200 years old, as the region had once been held sway by the Pallavas! Of course, this is mere conjecture unless ascertained by the experts in the Archeological department.

Splendour of a magnificent past

Sunday, March 9, 2008
Deccan Herald (India)

The remains of the mighty Khmer empire are there for us to see at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, writes Vaasanthi

As I stand before the magnificent temples I can hardly think of the tumultuous history of the land on which they have been standing for centuries. As if mocking history, they are a reminder of a past splendour that also speaks of what must have been an unrivalled empire spanning across South East Asia. Forgotten to the world for centuries, hidden behind the steaming jungles of Cambodia, rediscovered in the 19th century by diligent French explorers, the thousand-year-old stunning religious monuments of Angkor Wat stand as a testimony to human aspirations and imagination.

From Bangkok in Thailand, it is an hour’s flight to Siem Reap the nearest town to the fabled temples of Angkor in Cambodia. Siem Reap, a little more than a village before, is now undoubtedly Cambodia’s fastest-growing town.

It seems to have undergone a metamorphosis ever since the miraculous discovery of the temples. The past decade has seen its rapid growth from a sluggish impoverished village to a booming tourism spot. It is brimming with tourists from all round the world and quickly reinventing itself as a sophisticated centre for the new wave of visitors passing through each year. There are 100 hotels and thousand guesthouses and the number is going up every month; restaurants and bars every week.

It is still a small town with all the charm that goes with small towns. Thanks to tourism development the roads are good and the streets clean and oh, the people from old to the young and the very young always smiling and friendly. Who can say that this has been a land ravaged mercilessly in recent history by war and crime? They seem to have put their lives of recent past of terror and trauma behind to revel in the memory of a glorious past, which now remains a source of inspiration and national pride.

Contemporary Cambodia is the successor state to the mighty Khmer empire which during the Angkor period (9th to 15th centuries) ruled much of what is now Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The remains of the empire are there for us to see at Angkor Wat, the ultimate of Khmer genius, described by travel brochures as ‘unrivalled in scale and grandeur in Southeast Asia’.

Tough times
The first glimpse of Angkor Wat is indeed staggering especially if you remember what Cambodia has gone through. Things were good in the past, culminating in the vast Angkor empire, unrivalled in the region during four centuries of dominance. Then the bad set in, from the 13th centuries neighbours steadily chipped off chunks of its territory. In the twentieth century it went downright ugly, as a bloody civil war lead to the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge (1975-79) from which Cambodia is still recovering.

But meet the man in the street, you will hardly see any rancour towards the evil done. Cambodians have weathered through poverty, bloodshed and political chaos but their smiles have not faded. The tourists that throng and rush to the temple campus in the wee hours of the morning to catch the magnificent view of Angkor Wat at the first light of dawn are not bothered either. Their main worry is the overcast sky that threatens to break into a pouring rain.

As the sun slowly lights up the sky Angkor Wat turns into an ethereal golden hue with its reflection weaving magic in the lily pond. It is like divine inspiration. And yet it is the work of human hands that toiled to create such divinity out of sand stone. It takes some time to see how big the temple complex is.

Angkor’s monuments are spread throughout a huge forest. Heading north from Siem Reap, you first come to Angkor Wat, then the walled city of Angkor Thom to the east and west of this city are two vast reservoirs which helped to feed the Angkor Thom population. Further east are the temples of Ta Prohm and Pre Rup and in the north east is the beautiful well preserved temple of Banteay Srei. There are in fact a hundred temples and probably more.

What is of particular interest to the Indian visitor is the remarkable evidence of the spread of Hinduism and its gods and fables across the seas and the earth more than a thousand years ago. Angkor Wat temples are a celebration and glorification of the Hindu god Shiva and the mythologies of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Though the lingams are no longer there and stone statues of the Buddha have taken over, the carvings of scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharata on the walls of the long corridors of Angkor Wat have been restored and are intact. Hinduism and Buddhism were both the preferred faiths followed alternately according to the reigning king’s belief. The myth of the churning of the milk ocean by Asuras and Devas seems to have fascinated Angkor sculptors and kings. There are two huge rows of the scene at the gate of Angkor Thom temple.

Naga worship must have been prevalent as the snake motifs with erect hoods are carved in stone almost in all the temples. In the temple of Banteay Srei, which is praised as the jewel of Angkor, the pillars come alive with dancing apsaras and the gateways are filled with exquisite carvings depicting scenes from the Ramayana.

So the story goes...

There is an interesting story about the origin of the Indian connection. Cambodia came into being, so the story goes through a union between a Hindu Brahmin named Kaundinya who sailed by and a princess, the daughter of a dragon king who ruled the watery land. They fell in love and the king gave the land as dowry to Kaundinya to rule over. The kingdom was called Kambuja. The myth may or may not be true but it does say something about the cultural influences that affected Cambodia. Cambodia’s religious royal and written traditions stemmed from India. Buddhism spread there when Asoka sent his emissary to Cambodia. The long list of powerful Angkor kings has Hindu names beginning from Jayavarman II- who started building Angkor Wat two hundred years before Raja Raja Chola built the big temple of Tanjavur— the list has names like Yashovarman, Harsha varman, Rajendra Varman, Ishwara Varman— similar to the names of the Pallava kings of south India.

The French ‘discovery’ of Angkor in the 1860s made an international splash. It was only in 1901 the Ecole Francaised’Extreme-Orient began its long association with Angkor by funding an expedition to the Bayon temple.

In 1907 Angkor, which had been under Thai control, was returned to Cambodia and the EFEO took responsibility for clearing and restoring the whole site. Since the temples had Indian connection and the theme Hinduism, the cooperation of the Indian government was also taken for some sites. It was a stupendous task indeed. The monuments of Angkor were left to the jungle for many centuries. A large number of monuments are made of sandstone that tends to dissolve in prolonged exposure to wind and rain.

Monuments that wow!
At Ta Prohm, the jungle had stealthily made an all out invasion. The huge roots swoop down the monuments as if to devour them and the visual is at once breathtaking and awesome. What is striking about the sculptures is that no structure is made out of single rock boulders like you see in the temples of South India, but an assembly of blocks. The remarkable symmetry and serenity that prevails in the faces of the Bayon temple is truly amazing.

The temples of Angkor are the heart and soul of Cambodia. When our guide made a repeated reference to ‘My people, my country’ there was not only a natural pride but also the belief that Angkor was a true symbol of inspiration for the people to rise to eminence leaving behind the memories of suffering and trauma…

Cambodian History Writ Large At Angkor Wat

January 25, 2008
By LESLIE HOOK
The Wall Street Journal

SIEM REAP, Cambodia -- This country's most famous temple may be 900 years old, but the message it sets out to convey is timeless: Angkor Wat is all about glory. The temple is one of hundreds built by kings of the Khmer Empire to commemorate themselves and their empire, as well as to worship their gods. But Angkor Wat stands out from the rest -- in artistry, in scale and in popular imagery.

One of the largest religious structures in the world, and the only religious monument to appear on a national flag, Angkor Wat has become synonymous with Cambodia at its most powerful -- when it was the seat of the Khmer Empire, stretching from the South China Sea to the Bay of Bengal. The monumental scale of the temple has the same effect on visitors today as when it was first built. Angkor Wat has but a single approach: a wide stone causeway more than a third of a mile long (that's as long as six football fields end-to-end). The entry walkway crosses a moat 600 feet wide (my guide assures me it used to be filled with crocodiles) and ends at a wall and gates leading into the center of the compound. The central compound covers about 400 acres and once supported a town of about 100,000 people.

With one central tower more than 130 feet high surrounded by four shorter towers, the center of the temple imitates the five peaks of Mount Mehru, the mythical mountain at the center of the Hindu universe. The temple walls (three concentric rectangles that demarcate the progressively higher levels of the temple), garden grounds and moat represent the soil and seas of the earth.

Reaching Mount Mehru is no easy chore: The temple's stone steps are dizzyingly steep -- more like a stone ladder than a staircase -- as a reminder of the effort it takes for humans to get closer to heaven. And, as if to drive home the point, the inner sanctuaries of the central tower were accessible only to the king and a select handful of priests.

When Angkor Wat was built, Cambodia was primarily Hindu and Khmer culture drew much of its inspiration from India. Most of the inscriptions at Angkor are in Sanskrit, and the nymph-like apsaras, or celestial dancers, that grace the walls derive from Hindu mythology. Later, however, the Khmer kings became interested in Buddhism, and Angkor Wat was converted into a Buddhist monastery between the 12th and 15th centuries. The central statue of the innermost sanctuary -- likely a statue of Vishnu -- was removed and a Buddhist image erected in its place. For several centuries, the Khmer empire practiced a syncretic faith that combined Buddhism and Hinduism.

In many ways Angkor Wat is so much larger than life that the details of the temple get overlooked amid the legends that surround it. It's easy to forget that it contains nearly 2,000 feet of the finest Khmer bas reliefs in the world. Its nearly 2,000 celestial apsaras represent the apogee of Cambodia's apsara-carving tradition and provide a detailed account of court dress and female fashions during the period of its creation, the elaborate headdresses, heavy jewelry worn on the arms and neck, and flowing skirts. Traditional Cambodian dance to this day imitates the apsaras' poses and costumes.

One of the most intricate reliefs decorating the walls of the temple's first gallery depicts the Churning of the Sea of Milk, a key event in Hindu cosmology in which the world was created by an epic tug-of-war between gods and demons. Each side pulled on a giant five-headed snake wrapped around Mount Mehru, and the subsequent twisting of the mountain and churning of the seas gave birth to the apsaras that grace the walls of Angkor Wat, as well as an elixir of immortality over which the gods and demons subsequently dueled. In this story, Mount Mehru is not only the center of the universe, but also the birthplace of the known world.

The Khmer empire included modern-day Burma, Thailand and Vietnam -- the largest area ever covered by Cambodia -- and laid the foundations for Cambodian culture and art for centuries to come. In a sign of the temple's importance, the king's palace was most likely on the temple grounds, although nothing of it remains today. About one million men, women and children populated the Angkor area, according to an estimate by French archaeologist Bernard-Philippe Groslier, making it the largest settlement in the preindustrial world.

All this manpower was necessary to build the temples, which were painstakingly erected from giant sandstone monoliths hewed out of a quarry more than 37 miles away. Rather than having foundations that sink into the ground, most Angkorean temples are built on huge mounds of earth that give them their pyramid shape, the soil excavated from a moat or from one of the lakes. Some historians theorize that the blitz of building during the Khmer Empire could have been accomplished only through a mandatory labor requirement levied on all citizens, or perhaps even through slavery.

The grandeur that marked the Khmer Empire was not to last, however. The royal city of Angkor was repeatedly sacked by the Thai army during the 14th century, and in 1431 the capital was relocated farther away from Thailand. Angkor Wat itself -- by that time converted to a Buddhist temple -- continued to function, and for centuries it was home to a flourishing monastery that attracted pilgrims from as far away as Japan, even while the former capital city nearby was gradually overtaken by the jungle. Although the Buddhists occupying the temple removed most of the original Hindu art, Angkor Wat's habitation and its continuous maintenance helped the temple remain relatively intact while many other Angkorean temples now lie in ruins.

Even after surviving the removal of its Hindu art, Angkor Wat did not entirely escape the turbulence of Cambodia's recent history. The Western part of Cambodia in which Angkor Wat is located was a Khmer Rouge stronghold through the 1990s (the Khmer Rouge were ousted from the capital city, Phnom Penh, in 1979). Restoration work on the temples took a forced, decades-long hiatus during the wars that wracked Cambodia through the later half of the 20th century. The area was unsafe for tourists until about 10 years ago, when the Khmer Rouge signed a peace treaty that formally ended Cambodia's civil war. There was relatively little physical damage to the temple as a result of the wars, but they did irreparable damage by destroying almost all of the remaining written records pertaining to the Angkorean period. Khmer archaeology scholar Christophe Pottier of the French Research School of the Far East estimates that 95% of the relevant documents have been destroyed in the past three decades, an irreplaceable loss.

In the years since peace has come to Cambodia the opportunities for looting have also increased, and many of the finest sculptures have been spirited out of the country and sold to buyers abroad. Tourism also poses its own set of dangers, with some temples suffering from overexposure to footsteps or curious hands. But despite this -- even as the physical structures of the temples inevitably decay -- Angkor will continue to symbolize something greater than itself. The memory of the Khmer Empire, and with it Cambodia's full potential, is unlikely to fade anytime soon.

Ms. Hook is an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal Asia.

India's RSS wants Angkor Wat included in seven wonders, ask Indians to vote for Angkor and the Taj Mahal

RSS wants Angkor Wat included in seven wonders

20 Jun, 2007
The Times of India

NEW DELHI: As a campaign to include the Taj Mahal among the seven new wonders of the world gathers momentum, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has pitched for including the 12th century Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia in the category.

An article in the party mouthpiece Organiser said: "We should also undoubtedly join the campaign to enable this enduring symbol (Taj Mahal) of our country to make it to the top seven. But, equally significant, both for all Indians and Hindus across the globe for the presence of the world's largest Hindu temple, Angkor, among the 21 finalist candidates in the campaign to choose the new Seven Wonders of the World."

It appealed to the people to also vote for Angkor Wat saying, "So, if Taj deserves your vote, click the mouse for Angkor Wat too. It is as much ours as is the Taj".

The article goes to say, "Angkor not only reminds us of our ancient glory but also symbolises the deep impact Indian culture had across the globe, particularly Southeast Asia. After the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by Taliban in Afghanistan, Angkor remains the most potent symbol of the glory of Hindu culture outside India."

India had helped to conserve the Angkor temple complex between 1986 and 1993 when no other country was willing to volunteer because of the political instability in Cambodia. During this period, the Indian Government spent about Rs 30 million in carrying out renovation work.

The Angkor Wat, spread over 200 sq km, encompasses some 300 temples of varying styles and sizes. It is the largest archaeological site in the world and the scene of one of the most intensive restoration efforts.

It was built by King Suryavarman II between 1113 and 1150 AD and is seen as a masterpiece of Khmer architecture.

The shortlist of 21 for the new seven wonders of the world was chosen by a panel of world-renowned architects and former UNESCO Chief Federico Mayor in January 2006 out of 77 public nominations. Amongst those in the list are the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Alhambra castle in Granada, Spain, the Acropolis in Greece, the Great Wall of China and the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.