Geometry of a perfected world

Four of the five central towers at Angkor Wat form a mandala, a geometric design of a perfected world. (Learn more)

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Many Hindu and Buddhist Southeast Asian temples were designed as a mandala, usually with square nested walls and passages leading past deity images towards a high central tower.

This view from the main causeway over the moat toward the west face of Angkor Wat shows how the monument’s tiers rise upward to the five central towers. Four of the towers are set in a perfect square around the center one that symbolizes Mount Meru, home of the Hindu gods. Mount Meru’s five peaks are conceived as surrounded by mountain ranges and oceans, represented architecturally by the outer walls and moats. At Angkor Wat, the sacred monuments rise in tiers toward the center tower, with higher towers at every corner of the concentric squares.

The fact that the main central tower of Angkor Wat faces west, symbolizing death in Southeast Asia, when virtually all other Khmer temples face east to the rising sun, has suggested the idea that Suryavarman II intended the monument to be his tomb as well as a temple. Other scholars have suggested that the western orientation is connected with the temple’s dedication to Vishnu, or with astronomical measurements designed into the temple complex.

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Definitions

mandala n.
In Buddhism, a geometric pattern that represents the cosmos or universe.
deity n.
A god or goddess.
causeway n.
A raised road or passage across low or wet ground.
moat n.
Body of water constructed to surround and protect something (such as a city, palace, or castle) from invasion.
concentric adj.
Nested inside one another and sharing the same center.
Khmer n.
The ethnic group to which most Cambodians belong.

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