Indo Nordic Author’s Collective

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS of
Angkor Temples

Dr UDAY DOKRAS
Architect SRISHTI DOKRAS

The temple architecture portrays the advancement of ancient Indian building sciences. This
paper discussed the styles, design and geometry, structural system and construction
materialsandtechnologyof the Indian temples. The distinctive architectural styles of Hindu
temples Nagara and Dravidian are also discussedin the paper along with the distinctive
elements of Hindu Temple. The relationship between structural stability and symmetry and
proportion of the Indian Temples is also given here which is used to explain the resistance of
Indian Temples against Seismicforces and other environmental effects
The Hindu temples were constructed with all types of materials depending upon the
availability from region to region. The materials varied from timber to mud, plaster, brick or
stone incorporating the entire India. The material played a significant role in overall aesthetics,
construction techniques and monumental character of the temple.
Earlier temple structures were constructed with less durable materials such as timber, brick or
plaster and thus, have mostly disappeared or only fragment
The architecture of the Indian rock-cut temples, particularly the sculptures, were widely adopted
in South Indian, and Indianised architecture of Cambodian, Annamese (Khmer)
and Javanese temples (of the Greater India). In any study of Angkorian architecture, the
emphasis is necessarily on religious architecture, since all the remaining Angkorian buildings are
religious in nature. During the period of Angkor, only temples and other religious buildings were
constructed of stone.
A Hindu temple is a symmetry-driven structure, with many variations, on a square grid of padas,
depicting perfect geometric shapes such as circles and squares. Susan Lewandowski states that

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the underlying principle in a Hindu temple is built around the belief that all things are one,
everything is connected. A temple, states Lewandowski, "replicates again and again the Hindu
beliefs in the parts mirroring, and at the same time being, the universal whole" like an "organism
of repeating cells".The pilgrim is welcomed through mathematically structured spaces, a network
of art, pillars with carvings and statues that display and celebrate the four important and
necessary principles of human life—the pursuit of artha (prosperity, wealth), the pursuit
of kama (desire), the pursuit of dharma (virtues, ethical life) and the pursuit of moksha (release,
self-knowledge).
At the centre of the temple, typically below and sometimes above or next to the deity, is mere
hollow space with no decoration, symbolically representing Purusa, the Supreme Principle, the
sacred Universal, one without form, which is present everywhere, connects everything, and is the
essence of everyone. A Hindu temple is meant to encourage reflection, facilitate purification of
one's mind, and trigger the process of inner realization within the devotee. The specific process is
left to the devotee's school of belief. The primary deity of different Hindu temples varies to
reflect this spiritual spectrum.
Banteay Srei is built largely of a hard red sandstone that can be carved like
wood. Brick and laterite were used only for the enclosure walls and some structural elements.
The temple is known for the beauty of its sandstone lintels and pediments.
A pediment is the roughly triangular space above a rectangular doorway or openings. At Banteay
Srei, pediments are relatively large in comparison to the openings below, and take a sweeping
gabled shape. For the first time in the history of Khmer architecture, whole scenes of
mythological subject-matter are depicted on the pediments.
A lintel is a horizontal beam spanning the gap between two posts. Some lintels serve a structural
purpose, serving to support the weight of the superstructure, while others are purely decorative in
purpose. The lintels at Banteay Srei are beautifully carved, rivalling those of the 9th
century Preah Ko style in quality.
Noteworthy decorative motifs include the kala (a toothy monster symbolic of time), the
guardian dvarapala (an armed protector of the temple) and devata (demi-goddess), the false door,
and the colonette. Indeed, decorative carvings seem to cover almost every available surface.
According to pioneering Angkor scholar Maurice Glaize, "Given the very particular charm of
Banteay Srei – its remarkable state of preservation and the excellence of a near perfect
ornamental technique – one should not hesitate, of all the monuments of the Angkor group, to
give it the highest priority." At Banteay Srei, wrote Glaize, "the work relates more closely to the
art of the goldsmith or to carving in wood than to sculpture in stone."
remains. Sites excavated in Vaisali in Bihar shows examples of temples constructed with mud
or mud brick. The usage of timber and bamboo was mainly in the temples of Himalayan
valleys and the region of West Bengal and Kerala. The construction of the temples with bricks
was prominent in pre Christian era but were limited to those area where suitable stone or bricks
are available. The use of stone for temple construction was one of the prominent developments
in Indian temple architecture [7]. The construction from stone evolved from rock cut
sanctuaries (Stupa, Sanchi) to more complicated structure with ornate carvings and sculptings.
Fine grained dark marble and soapy chloritic schist was used by later western chalukyas who
established themselves in the tenth century around the areas of Malkhed and kalyani. Jain
temple of Lakkundi is a great example of this era. Earlier Pallava temples were constructed of

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hard igneous rocks such as granite (Olakkannesvara temple), leptinite (shore temple of
Mamallapuram) and gnesis (Mukundanayanar temple). At later stages especially during Pandya
era (around 6 century), the lower portion of the temples were being constructed using solid
granite stone masonry whereas the lighter materials like brick, timber and plaster were used to
construct the super structure [1]. The Hoyasala Empire (a prominent souther empire) which
ruled over parts of Karnatka, parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh used greenish grey
soapstone which were soft and sculptor friendly [1]. The temples of Kerala primarily used
timber, tiles or copper sheet to build super structure whereas the vimana was constructed using
granite or hard laterite blocks. The temples of Himachal Pradesh were generally built using the
combination of wood and stones generally in dry stone machinery. The architects of Bengal
used laterite, bricks, wood, terracotta or mud for erecting different types of temples with lime
or mud mortar as binding materials.

THE STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS OF THE HINDU TEMPLES

The tarbeated system or the post and lintel method was the basic construction technique used in
Hindu temples which was later developed into corbelling techniques. This method was
primarily used for wooden construction but later evolved for stone construction.

TRABEATED SYSTEM
In the trabeated system, the various arrangements between vertical elements (pillars and
pilasters) and horizontal elements (cross beams and lintels) are used to provide the stability to
the system. The most salient feature of the tarbeated system is that only horizontal and vertical
members are used in this system and the spans were used to close the interior spaces. The
roofing was done by laying horizontally the slabs of stone from one supporting beams or walls
to another.

CORBELLING SYSTEM
In corbelling system, each horizontal course is constructed in such a way that stone or bricks
in each layer are projected out to bridge the gap between the two walls. It diminishes the space
until it can be closed with a single piece of stone or brick. It was primarily used to create
interiors of the temple and stone shells of super structure above the sanctuary.

The Construction Technology of Hindu Temples

The available information of temple construction was collected from stone slabs, metal plates,
palm leaves and manuscripts. Primarily, both Dravidian and Nagara temple construction
followed same procedures up to construction of the temple. The slight variation occurred due
to the variability of materials used for construction, the climate or theavailability of manual
labors for construction.

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It started with the selection of team headed by chief architect (sompuras in the west,
mahapatras in the east and sthpatis in the south). The construction team consisted of four
classes: 1) Sthapati (Main architect versed in traditional science, mathematics and
Shilpashastras) 2.) Sutragrahin who did the work assigned by sthapati 3.) Taksaka who did the
carving and cutting of stone 4.) Vardhakin is the mason or carpenter who assembled all the
pieces.

The construction of temple was a long and tremendous process which sometimes used to last
for years. The first stage was the planning of the temple where the sthpati with the team did
the selection of site, inspection of site, orientation and layout of the site, selection of materials,
quarrying and transportation of materials. The layout was done on the basis of Indian Circle
Method and with the help of instrument known as „shanku yantra‟. The nature of main deity
played a major role in determining the orientation of temple. The stone which was to be used
for construction must have some quality features such as even color, hard and perfect and
pleasing to touch. The second stage was the craving of different parts of the temples in which
the takshaka directed the sculptors and shilpis to carve parts according to the drawings and
specification. The cutting and carving the stone was done according to pre defined shape. The
joining was also pre decided and rough joinery was created while cutting. The tools required
such as hammers, chisel were locally made and sharpened regulary. The sketching was done
either by charcoal piece or sharpened bamboo pieces. The polishing was done using stone bars.
The third and the final stage consisted of tassembling of the parts of temple which consisted of
the actual construction of the temple. Ramps were constructed for the easy placement of heavy
materials. The major joinery system used during the assembling of temple were mortise and
tenon joint ( peg is fixed between the two mortise cut out in two different stones and was used
primarily used between two courses of masonry to avoid movement due to lateral forces) and
lap joint. The usual thickness of stone used for wall varied form 800 mm to 1200 mm. The
column consisted of 5 parts as two parts of base, one part as shaft and two as the capital of
column. Also, columns and beams were monolithic structure.

Symmetrical forms are always preferred from earthquake resistance as asymmetrical forms
produces eccentricity between the centre of mass and centre of rigidity which results in the
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torsion and tends to stress the concentration. Thus selection of symmetrical plans and layouts
is important in seismic design [13]. The square is selected as the basic unit and of triangle as
the principle controlling the layout which concluded in strictly symmetrical plans.
Earthquake forces are felt more at the ground level. The ground story has dual purpose as apart
from carrying its own lateral loads it also carries the shear force of the upper floors which is
similar to the downward building of vertical gravity loads [14]. Structural Plan Density is
defined as the total area of all vertical structural members divided by gross floor area. For a
RCC framed building it is 3 but it is as high as 47 % for Surya Konark Temple giving it
earthquake resistance. As building grows taller, its period increases with a change either
upward or downward. The period of building is not a function of height to depth ratio, story
height, type of structural system and amount of distribution of mass. The construction
technique used in construction of tall pyramidical temple roofs (Shikharas).
Baksei Chamkrong  The name Baksei Chamkrong means "The Bird Who Shelters Under Its
Wings" and comes from a legend. In it, the king tried to flee Angkor during a siege and then a
huge bird landed and sheltered him under its wings.
Architecture: This temple is one of the first temples constructed of durable material such
as bricks and laterite and with decoration in sandstone. A brick enclosure originally surrounded
the pyramid with a stone gopura on the east side is now almost completely disappeared. Much of
the stucco on the surface of the temple has vanished. The main sandstone lintel is decorated with
a fine carving of Indra standing on his three-headed elephant Airavata. Garlands emanate from
either side of Indra in the style current to the monument. There is an inscription on either side of
the small doorway which detail the dedication and praises the early Khmer kings
from Jayavarman II onward as well as earlier legendary kings, including the ancestor of the
nation, the hermit Kambu.
The pyramid measures 27 metres across at the base and 15 at the summit for an overall height of
13 metres. Four stairway reach the summit at the cardinal points. The brick sanctuary tower,
eight meters square on a sandstone base open to the east with the usual blind doors on the other
sides.

Non-religious buildings such as dwellings were constructed of perishable materials such as

wood, and so have not survived. The religious architecture of Angkor has characteristic
structures, elements, and motifs, which are identified in the glossary below. Since a number of
different architectural styles succeeded one another during the Angkorean period, not all of these
features were equally in evidence throughout the period. Indeed, scholars have referred to the
presence or absence of such features as one source of evidence for dating the remains.
When the French assumed rule over the Angkor area in the late 1800s, they marvelled at the
ruins and debated their origins. Many of the puzzles were solved by translating inscriptions on
stone slabs at Angkor, and other stones resting as far away as Laos.

The stone inscriptions, written either in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit or in an old form
of Khmer transcribed with a Sanskritic form of writing, describe the accomplishments of Khmer
kings during their reigns, royal accounting practices, rice production, and even the amount of
medicines used in imperial hospitals. Apparently the human dwellings at Angkor, even those of
the kings, were made of wood and they perished long before the remaining stone temples.
The sandstone for Angkor's temples was quarried from a mountain range some twenty miles
northeast of the royal city. The task of transporting the stones would have been enormous,

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involving weights comparable to the construction of the larger pyramids in Egypt. The stones
used were carefully "dressed" so that they would fit together perfectly without the use of mortar.
Angkorian builders used brick, sandstone, laterite and wood as their materials. The ruins that
remain are of brick, sandstone and laterite, the wood elements having been lost to decay and
other destructive processes.

Brick
Brick was an important material used by the Khmers from the ancient time to the beginning of
Angkor period for construction of temples, enclosure walls, platform, base of foundation and
monasteries construction.

The earliest Angkorian temples were made mainly of brick. Good examples are the temple
towers of Preah Ko, Lolei and Bakong at Hariharalaya. Decorations were usually carved into a
stucco applied to the brick, rather than into the brick itself.[7] This because bricks being softer
material do not lend itself to sculpting as opposed to stones of different kinds such as the
SandStones or the Granites. However, the tenets of the Sacred Architecture as enunciated in the
Vedas and the Shastras, require no adhesives to be used while building blocks are assembled one
over the other to create the Temples, as such bricks have been used only in relatively smaller
temples such as Lolei and The Preah Ko. Besides, strength of bricks is much lesser as compared
to the stones (mentioned here-in) and the former degrade with age.

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Angkor's neighbor state of Champa was also the home to numerous brick temples that are similar
in style to those of Angkor. The most extensive ruins are at Mỹ Sơn in Vietnam. A Cham story
tells of the time that the two countries settled an armed conflict by means of a tower-building
contest proposed by the Cham King Po Klaung Garai. While the Khmer built a standard brick
tower, Po Klaung Garai directed his people to build an impressive replica of paper and wood. In
the end, the Cham replica was more impressive than the real brick tower of the Khmer, and the
Cham won the contest.

Sandstone

Angkor Wat is only one of hundreds of beautiful structures built by the kings of the ancient
Khmer Empire. With the nightmare of the rule of the murdering Khmer Rouge over,
archeologists and artisans are today back at work, restoring many of the structures and retrieving
dozens more from the choking jungles — which, ironically, have in many cases saved the
temples from collapse.

Unlike the great buildings of many other ancient civilizations — the granite and quartzite
monuments of ancient Egypt; the marble beauties of the Parthenon and other structures on the
Acropolis in Athens; the astounding achievements in concrete and brick of the ancient Romans
— Angkor Wat and the many other temples and royal pavilions were constructed from one of the
humblest of sedimentary rocks: sandstone.

The term “sandstone” is generic because technically any type of rock can be reduced to sand-
grain-sized particles and then cemented together to form rock.  But the term usually refers to
rock composed of silica sand — the sand found on many of the beaches and in many of the
dunes of the Earth.  In some places, the silica is mixed with shell fragments of many sizes,
producing “calcareous sandstone,” which weathers in natural acids just as limestone, marble, and
gypsum will.

 But the sandstone of Cambodia’s Kulen Mountains from which the Angor temples are
constructed is essentially pure silica, which does not easily weather chemically, and, given the

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often extremely humid climate conditions of Cambodia, is undoubtedly the reason that the
Angkor temples have survived relatively intact for so many centuries. Had they been built from
limestone or marble, the natural acids of the environment and the entangling vines would almost
certainly have erased the many delicate architectural and sculptural features of the temples,
leaving behind only sad, stubby remnants protruding from the lush jungle floor.

The earliest of the temples were constructed in the 10th Century by the first kings of what would
eventually emerge as the ancient Hindu Khmer Empire, men with melodious names such as
Jayavarman, Harshavarman, and Suryavarman.  Unlike the great temples of many Western
civilizations, these Hindu religious structures were not intended as gathering places for worship
by the faithful but as residences for the gods of the Hindu pantheon.

In this function, they exhibit some similarities to many ancient Egyptian temples. Only the
attending priests entered a temple’s inner sanctum and worshippers would gather outside the
building’s walls for prayers and rituals.  Thus, the temples’ architects did not have to solve the
challenges of constructing and covering immense gathering spaces such as are found in Christian
basilicas, Islamic mosques, and Jewish synagogues.

As a result, the temples’ interiors are dimly-lighted and maze-like, with long corridors, steep
ascending and descending staircases, and small, often diminutive chapels in which statues of
Hindu gods and goddesses — and somewhat more recent depictions of the Buddha — reside in
the incensed gloom. Both interior and exterior walls are covered with thousands of square feet of
beautifully detailed carved figures from the Hindu pantheon and with the enchanting “apsaras,”
the winsome dancing maidens with smiles as enigmatic as that of the Mona Lisa.

A few miles from the main temple at Angkor stands a small temple known as Banteay Srei, and
though unlike Angkor Wat it does not seek to overwhelm the visitor with vastness and mass, it
leaves its impression though the astounding delicacy and intricacy of its carvings. It is familiarly
known as “the Citadel of Women” because of its numerous carvings of Hindu goddesses and the
ubiquitous “apsaras.”

Perhaps because nowhere do its many chapels stand more than 30 feet in height and the fact that
until fairly recently the temple was protected by the vines and tree trunks of the enfolding jungle,
the intricate, filigree-like carvings that seem to cover every square foot of the exterior and
interior of the structures are preserved in stunning detail.  Here the hard Kulen Mountains
sandstone has retained much of its original cinnamon-red color.

To wander through its open-air maze-like layout is to enter a fantastic world of goddesses and
other figures out of the Hindu pantheon, alluring or sometimes frightening fantastical animal-
headed humanoids, juxtaposed with delicately-depicted trees and flowers.

 The only stone used by Angkorian builders was sandstone, obtained from the Kulen mountains.
Since its obtainment was considerably more expensive than that of brick, sandstone only
gradually came into use, and at first was used for particular elements such as door frames. The
10th-century temple of Ta Keo is the first Angkorian temple to be constructed more or less
entirely from Sandstone. Angkorian builders used brick, sandstone, laterite and wood as their

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materials. The ruins that remain are of brick, sandstone and laterite, the wood elements having
been lost to decay and other destructive processes.

The massive sandstone bricks used to construct the 12th-century temple of Angkor Wat were
brought to the site via a network of hundreds of canals, according to new research.
The findings shed light on how the site's 5 million to 10 million bricks, some weighing up to
3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms), made it to the temple from quarries at the base of a nearby
mountain.
"We found many quarries of sandstone blocks used for the Angkor temples and also the
transportation route of the sandstone blocks," wrote study co-author Estuo Uchida of Japan's
Waseda University, in an email.
Archaeologist knew that the rock came from quarries at the base of a mountain nearby, but
wondered how the sandstone bricks used to build Angkor Wat reached the site. Previously
people thought the stones were ferried to Tonle Sap Lake via canal, and then rowed against the
current through another river to the temples, Uchida told LiveScience.
To see whether this was the case, Uchida's team surveyed the area and found 50 quarries along
an embankment at the base of Mt. Kulen. They also scoured satellite images of the area and
found a network of hundreds of canalsand roads linking the quarries to the temple site. The
distance between the quarries and the site along the route Uchida's team found was only 22 miles
(37 kilometers), compared with the 54 miles (90 km) the river route would have taken.
The grid of canals suggests the ancient builders took a shortcut when constructing the temple,
which may explain how the imposing complex was built in just a few decades.

Sandstone is a natural stone made of rounded to polygonal sand grains (quartz) of rock fragments
(clast) and particles of former existing stones.From the 6th to the end of the 8th century,
sandstone blocks had been less used than bricks and mainly for door frames, colonnettes, false
doors, and lintel structure for the brick shrines. But, later on, starting from the 9th century, the
whole structures of temples were erected by sandstone blocks within fulfilled of carving and
figures decoration on stone surfaces.

Sandstone blocks are the main construction materials used in the Angkor monuments in
Cambodia. However, a thorough study of the quarries has not yet been carried out. We
conducted a field investigation of sandstone quarries from the Angkor period at the southeastern
foot of Mt. Kulen, which is approximately 35 km northeast of the Angkor monuments. As a
result, we discovered more than 50 sandstone quarries. On the basis of the measurements
of magnetic susceptibilities and thicknesses (step heights), we found that they were quarried at
different times. These four quarrying areas were identified as the quarries D to G inferred
by Uchida et al. (2007). In addition we investigated a canal that was identified on satellite
images, connecting quarry sites at the foot of Mt. Kulen to the Angkor monuments. The field
investigation suggests a high probability that the canal was used for the transportation of
sandstone blocks from Mt. Kulen.

The only stone used by Angkorian builders was sandstone, obtained from the Kulen mountains.
Since its obtainment was considerably more expensive than that of brick, sandstone only
gradually came into use, and at first was used for particular elements such as door frames. The

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10th-century temple of Ta Keo is the first Angkorian temple to be constructed more or less
entirely from Sandstone.

In Quarries and transportation routes of Angkor monument sandstone blocks,EtsuoUchida and

IchitaShimoda(Journal of Archaeological Science,Volume 40, Issue 2, February 2013, Pages
1158-1164) found and identified more than 50 sandstone quarries in the Angkor period. The
quarry sites are distributed around a bank 2.4 km long at the southeastern foot of Mt. Kulen. A
route of interconnected canals and rivers was identified that links quarry sites for the Angkor
monuments to the Angkor area. 

They divided the sandstones into three types : (1) grey to yellowish brown sandstones, (2) red
sandstone and (3) greenish greywacke. The grey to yellowish brown sandstone is most popular
and used in almost all monuments. Based on the magnetic susceptibility of the grey to yellowish
brown sandstone, the investigated monuments can be divided into 8 groups except for Banteay
Srei. This may suggest that the quarry of the sandstones changed with the times. For the grey to
yellowish brown sandstones, there is however no significant difference in regard to the
constitutent mineral, bulk chemical composition and chemical compositions of plagioclase and
garnet. The percentage of the sandstone blocks with the vertical bedding plane decreased
abruptly after West Mebon construction. This fact means that the monuments have began to be
constructed with taking account the orientation of the bedding plane of the sandstone after West
Mebon construction.1

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Banteay Serai: What makes this Hindu temple stand out among the rest is that it was constructed
using mostly red sandstone, and because this stone lends itself very well to carving, Banteay
Srei was embellished with far more detailed carvings and sculptures than say Angkor Wat or
Bayon

Sandstones
Ta Keo is a temple-mountain in Angkor (Cambodia), possibly the first to be built entirely
of sandstone by Khmers. Jayavarman V was ten years old when he succeeded his father,
Rajendravarman, in 968. His early years of reign were turbulent and the court officials
dominated the royal politics. When he was 17 (in 975), he began the construction of his own
state temple, whose modern name is Ta Keo, that was dedicated some time around 1000. In
contemporary inscriptions it is called Hemagiri or Hemasringagiri ("the mountain with golden
summits").It remained unfinished until the reign of Suryavarman I. Yogisvarapandita, a high
priest who became minister of Suryavarman I and "received" the temple from him many years
later, says in inscriptions that a lightning strike hit the unfinished building, an evil omen, so the
work stopped. Maybe work stopped simply because of the death of Jayavarman V, as there was a
struggle for succession. The temple worked continuously as a cult center until the 13th
century, and even Yogisvarapandita worshiped the shrines at the first levels of the temple.

Ta Keo was the state temple of Jayavarman V, son of Rajendravarman, who had built Pre Rup.
Like Pre Rup, it has five sanctuary towers arranged in a quincunx, built on the uppermost level
of five-tier pyramid consisting of overlapping terraces (a step pyramid), surrounded by moats, as
a symbolic depiction of Mount Meru.
Its particularly massive appearance is due to the absence of external decorations, as carving had
just begun when the work stopped,[1] besides an elaborate use of perspective effects. It is
considered an example of the so-called Khleang style.

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Plan of Ta Keo

The main axis of the temple is east-west and a 500 meters long causeway connects its eastern
entrance to a landing stage on the East Baray, with which Ta Keo was in a tight relationship.
[2]
 The outer banks of the surrounding moats, now vanished, measured 255 m by 195 m.
The first terrace is 122 m by 106 m. Its wall of sandstone on laterite basis constitutes the outer
enclosure. Along the east side there are two long galleries, whose roofs were made of wood and
tiles.[3] They were illuminated by balustrade windows.
The second terrace is 5.5 m higher. Each of the first two terraces has a gopura at the four cardinal
points. Each gopura has three independent passages and a central tower with diminishing tiers.
A continuous gallery (1.4 m width) constitutes the inner enclosure of the second terrace. It has
windows only towards the interior and measures 80 m by 75 m. It has no door and seems purely
decorative. It is a first example of Khmer gallery (together with Phimeanakas). Before Ta Keo
(e.g., in Pre Rup) there were long buildings that followed the length of enclosures with some
discontinuity. However, it hasn't got a stone vault; its roof was possibly made of wood and tiles.
Along the eastern side of the second terrace in the corners there are two buildings that are the
shorter version of the long galleries of the first terrace. More towards the central axis[5] there are
two little sandstone "libraries", opening to the west, with false windows on upper storeys.
The final pyramid rises 14 m in three narrow steps from the second terrace. Its base is 60 m
square; the summit is 47 m square and stands 21.5 m above the ground. The four stairways that
lead on the summit are continuous and very steep. At the foot of the eastern one there is a statue
of a kneeling Nandi, which confirms that Ta Keo was a Shivaite temple. The absence of any
decoration makes the final pyramid really massive. However, on the east face some damaged
carvings of floral patterns are visible.
The four corner towers on the summit stand on 0.8 m high basements and open to the four
cardinal points with protruding vestibules. In the central tower, which dominates the others from

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its basement 4 meters high, the vestibules are doubled. Fragments of lingas and several statues
were found in the sanctuary chambers (some 4 meters wide) and around the towers. The central
tower reaches a height of 45 meters.
A term tightly linked to Hemasringagiri is Jayendranagari (which in Sanskrit means "capital of
the victorious king"), the royal palace or maybe the new capital city of Jayavarman V. However,
the remains of this large hypothesized ensemble are very scarce. Today only a tower in the
southwest survives, similar to the corner towers of Ta Keo, with an unusual single door to the
south.
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Laterite
Laterite is red clay, rich in iron, resulting from the decomposition of sandstone and
conglomerates. Exposed to the sun rays, it dries up and becomes as hard as stone. The Khmers
used it mainly to build the temple structure such as foundations, enclosure walls, pavers in
laterite. Its porosity facilitated the drainage of rain water.
Royal Palace was made of wood but nothing remains of it. Wood was mainly used for doors,
ceilings, pavilions or galleries but over centuries, humidity, fire and termites destroyed most of
wooden structures.

Angkorian builders used laterite, a clay that is soft when taken from the ground but that hardens
when exposed to the sun, for foundations and other hidden parts of buildings. Because the
surface of laterite is uneven, it was not suitable for decorative carvings, unless first dressed with

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stucco. Laterite was more commonly used in the Khmer provinces than at Angkor itself. Because
the water table in this entire region is well high, Laterite has been used in the underlying layers
of Angkor Wat and other temples (especially the larger ones), because it can absorb water and
help towards better stability of the Temple.

Despite their brilliance as stone carvers, the Khmer never mastered the engineering principles of
staggered block joints and vaulted arches, as used by the Egyptians and Romans. Instead, the
Khmer often piled stones directly on top of each other so the joints lined up, and later split apart
easily. They also built "corbel" or "false" arches above walls, which did not distribute the stones'
weight well. Such building practices led to a more rapid crumbling of Khmer stone structures
over time.

The Angkor Wat complex was designed as an earthly model of Mount Meru, home of the Hindu
god Vishnu. 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

Microbial biofilms have been found degrading sandstone at Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, and the
Bayon and West Prasat in Angkor. The dehydration and radiation resistant filamentous
cyanobacteria can produce organic acids that degrade the stone. A dark filamentous fungus was
found in internal and external Preah Khan samples, while the alga Trentepohlia was found only
in samples taken from external, pink-stained stone at Preah Khan.

Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminum and is commonly considered to
have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because
of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolonged weathering of the
underlying parent rock. Tropical weathering (laterization) is a prolonged process of chemical

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weathering which produces a wide variety in the thickness, grade, chemistry and ore mineralogy
of the resulting soils. The majority of the land area containing laterites is between the tropics
of Cancer and Capricorn.
Laterite has commonly been referred to as a soil type as well as being a rock type. This and
further variation in the modes of conceptualizing about laterite (e.g. also as a complete
weathering profile or theory about weathering) has led to calls for the term to be abandoned
altogether. At least a few researchers specializing in regolith development have considered that
hopeless confusion has evolved around the name. Material that looks highly similar to the Indian
laterite occurs abundantly worldwide.
Historically, laterite was cut into brick-like shapes and used in monument-building. After 1000
CE, construction at Angkor Wat and other southeast Asian sites changed to rectangular temple
enclosures made of laterite, brick, and stone. Since the mid-1970s, some trial sections
of bituminous-surfaced, low-volume roads have used laterite in place of stone as a base course.
Thick laterite layers are porous and slightly permeable, so the layers can function as aquifers in
rural areas. Locally available laterites have been used in an acid solution, followed by
precipitation to remove phosphorus and heavy metals at sewage-treatment facilities.
Laterites are a source of aluminum ore; the ore exists largely in clay minerals and
the hydroxides, gibbsite, boehmite, and diaspore, which resembles the composition of bauxite.
In Northern Ireland they once provided a major source of iron and aluminum ores. Laterite ores
also were the early major source of nickel.

In the Project: Restoration of the Angkor monuments by Japanese

Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor the following paper presented
reveals that:
The laterites of the Angkor monuments, Cambodia. The grouping of the monuments on the
basis of the laterites, Etsuo Uchida, Noriyuki MAEDA, Takeshi NAKAGAWA, JOURNAL OF
MINERALOGY PETROLOGY AND ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 94(5):162-
175,1999

The magnetic susceptibility, pore size, orientation of the bedding plane and chemical
compositions of the laterites used in the Angkor momunents, Cambodia, were measured. The
laterites used as building blocks of the 25 main monuments can be classified into porous laterites
and pisolitic laterites based on the texture. Main constituent minerals of the both type laterites are
the same, that is, goethite, hematite, kaolinite and quartz. These laterites are supposed to be
formed by weathering of sandstone and conglomerate. Based on the average pore size and
magnetic susceptibility of these laterites, the investigated monuments can be classified into 5
groups (Groups A to E) except for two monuments of Phnom Krom and Banteay Srei. This
grouping is also supported by As, Sb, Sr and V contents of laterites. The laterites of the Groups
A, C and E are rich in As, Sb and Sr, but poor in V compared with those of the Groups B and D.
These facts suggest that the quarries from which the laterites were mined changed with the time.
The investigation of the bedding plane of the laterite blocks revealed that the percentage of the
laterite blocks with the vertical bedding plane is high (about 30 to 75%) in the monuments
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constructed prior to Angkor Wat, but low (less than 14%) in Angkor Wat and subsequently
constructed monuments. Judging from the petrographic similarities of the laterites used for the
embankments of the two ponds ajacent to Prasat Suor Prat and Khleangs, it is concluded that the
ponds were constructed in the same age as Khleangs.

O R G AN I C M ATERI ALS : TERRACE OF THE ELEPHAN TS (BEGI N NI N G

O F 13 T H   CEN TU RY)

The Terrace of the Elephants is part of the walled city of Angkor Thom, a ruined temple
complex in Cambodia. The terrace was used by Angkor's king Jayavarman VII as a platform
from which to view his victorious returning army. It was attached to the palace
of Phimeanakas of which only a few ruins remain. Most of the original structure was made of
organic material and has long since disappeared. Most of what remains are the foundation
platforms of the complex. The terrace is named for the carvings of elephants on its eastern face.
The Terrace of the Elephants was built at the beginning of the 13th century by King Jayavarman
VII. towards the end of his reign, a platform to welcome the returning and victorious armies. The
350m long Terrace of the Elephants was used as a huge stage for public ceremonies. The middle
part of the supporting wall is decorated with life-size Garudas (a bird that is used as mount) and
lions.

A carved stone lion statue stands on guard near a causeway over the huge water reservoir and
moat surrounding Angkor Wat, the largest temple complex at
These natural resources allowed the Khmer population at Angkor to reach an estimated one
million inhabitants. The "footprint" of Angkor's stone monuments spans about eighteen by eight
miles. During its peak, Angkor's influence extended far, into what are now Vietnam, Laos,
Thailand, Burma, and Malaysia. The ruler who oversaw the building of Angkor Wat was
Suryavarman II. He ruled the Khmer empire by 1113 A.D. and began an ambitious building and
imperial expansion project. Angkor Wat's stone buildings, built within nested square walls, took
over thirty years to complete.
.
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.

Bas-relief carvings on the central temple walls at Angkor Wat illustrate scenes from the
Mahabharata and Ramayana, two epic tales from India that were important to classical
kingdoms, philosophy, and art throughout Southeast Asia. Both epics include heroes, such as
Rama and Krishna, who are earthly incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu, as well as animal
deities such as Garuda (a bird) and Hanuman (a monkey).
Angkor Wat is also famous for its bas-relief sculptures of dancing female divinities (each called
an apsaras) created for the entertainment of the Hindu gods. These female deities, who wear
pointed crowns, are often depicted in dance poses.

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In contrast to the intricately carved outer wall, the interiors of the stone temples are usually bare.
Small holes on some walls along with inscriptions describing the grandeur of Angkor, suggest
the idea that there originally were interior murals, possibly of bronze, which long ago were
removed and re-forged

Ultimately, it was the ascending Siamese kingdom, based in what is now Thailand, that sacked
Angkor in 1431 and ended the kingdom's regional power.
Although the Angkor Wat site originally was dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu and most of its
images are from Hindu scriptures, the temple later became used as a shrine for Theravada
Buddhists. Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion among the contemporary Khmer
people of Cambodia (as well as majorities in Thailand and Burma) although it is influenced by
earlier local ideas and practices, as well as the Hindu antecedents of Buddhism.

Ta Prohm
There is a traditional stone cutting method consisting of making a series of small holes in the
stone, then inserting wood into the holes, and then adding water to the wood. When the wood
expands, it will break the stone.

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How is energy being conserved, when the stone is being broken by the expansion of the wood?
Dry wood consists of air-filled pores surrounded by cellulose fibers and lignin. As such it has
extremely high internal surface area, all of which possesses a certain amount of surface energy,
which has the ability to perform work. An easy way to get it to perform that work is by bringing
the wood into contact with water. that surface energy then does work by drawing water up into
the open-celled structure of the wood to wet out those surfaces and fill all the pores. Since the
pores are very small, the radius of curvature of the air/water meniscii that are in contact with the
cell surfaces in the wood are tiny, and the Young-Laplace pressure jump across them is
correspondingly large. This causes the water to wedge the cell structure open as it wets out the
wood, causing it to swell. the forces developed in this process are sufficient to break rocks.

The classic demonstration of this effect is one in which a cylindrical container of dry pinto beans
is filled with water, fitted with a piston, and slid under the rear axle of a car to produce a snug fit.
12 hours later, after the beans have rehydrated themselves, the car's axle will have been lifted up
by several centimeters by the expansion of the beans.

Besides Angkor Wat itself, the temple known as Ta Prohm is perhaps the most familiar to
Western eyes as its setting irresistibly evokes the romantic spirit of the Indiana Jones epics.
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Situated a few miles from Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm retains — by deliberate design of the
archeologists — much of the appearance of the entire vast temple complex when it first came to
the attention of Western explorers in the late 1800s.  Its extensive staircases, courtyards, chapels,
and hallways have been left to a large extent wrapped in the huge above-ground roots of
immense Silk Cotton trees and the smaller vines of the strangler fig.  And therein lies a paradox.

While the process known as “root-wedging” is one of the most efficient methods of breaking
down rock — many of us have seen our sidewalks and driveways damaged or even destroyed by
the roots of trees that get under or between concrete surfaces — the giant roots of the engulfing
tropical trees at Ta Prohm and scores of the other ancient Khmer temples have held its immense
carved sandstone blocks in place.

As many of the other temples were restored, the huge encasing roots were removed and any
stones that had been displaced were returned to their original positions and secured with mortar.
But at Ta Prohm, the visitor gets a sense of what it was that the first explorers saw when they
trudged through the steamy jungle and laid eyes on the spectacular remnants of the ancient
Khmer kingdoms.

The serpentine appearance of the huge roots and vines adds immeasurably to the haunting lure of
the mazes of the temple’s interior and, where they hang suspended or wrap around the statue of a
Hindu deity or a frieze of dancing “apsaras,” they evoke awareness of the passage of eons and
hint at the glories of lost civilizations.

One wall carving that is not obscured by the huge trees presents a mystery that has provoked
controversy from the day of its discovery, but it is well known to the local guides — some of
whom are children who have played hooky from school and scurry about the temple, hoping to
pick up tips from tourists for showing them what the kids call the “dee-no-soo”:  a stunningly
accurate depiction of the dinosaur known as a Stegosaurus, triangular back-plates and all.

Given the fact that the critter has been extinct for at least 66 million years, is this carving simply
an amazing coincidence — depicting some hitherto unknown figure out of Hindu mythology?
Or is it conceivable that some ancient Khmer sculptor had seen an almost-intact fossil of the
beast or heard accounts of it from someone who had?

Needless to say — the accuracy of the carving and its mystical location have produced all kinds
of so-called “non-mainstream” theories about its origin of the kind presented all too frequently
on cable TV. It represents one more of the conundrums that the Angkor temples present.

Eve n today t h e s ton e ca rver s of Ta mil Nad u in India begin with a prayer t h a t fir s
t begs forgive n e ss fro m Moth er E a rt h for cutting the s tone. The prayer en ds
with offerin gs of sweets a n d milk to t he eart h a n d a solemn promise never to mis
u se or waste s tone.
The s tone cu tter s t arts by locating a good s tone q u arry. Then begin s t he process
of cu tting wh a t he needs from t he mot h er rock. Met al pegs a re h a mm ered in
a s tr aigh t lin e in to t he rock a t in tervals. Water is pou red on to t he rock to wet
it . The ch a nge in nigh t a n d day te m per a t u res ca u ses co n tr a c t io n a n d

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ex pa n s io n a n d t h e rock gr ad u ally s lit s along t he s tr aigh t peg lines in to

perfect slabs.
The most in teresting part of t he creative process is when t he artist
chooses t he s tone piece to work on. How does he d ecid e w h ic h i s t
h e p e rfect piece of rock to u s e? Wh a t q u alitie s of t h e rock does t
h e a rtis t look for ó colo u r or grain or text u re, or t he soft ness or h ard
ness of t he s tone? C a n h e ë s eeí t h e i m age wit h i n t h e roc k
piece? C a n h e im agine wh a t it s for m will be or ca n he tell by touch
how it will feel when it is com pletely ca rved? An a n da K. Coom araswa
my in his book en titled The Indian Craftsman describes t he crafts men
of In dia a n d Sri La n ka t h a t h e h ad s t u die d i n t h e e a rly twe n t ie t
h ce n t u ry. He divided cr aft s communities in to t he following
categories.

 Those who lived a n d worked in t he village

 Those who travelled from village to village a n d town s
 Those who lived a n d worked in town s
 Employed by Royals in workshops
The Village: The potter, ca rpen ter, s tone sc ulptor, m ason a n d
golds mit h lived a n d worked often in t heir own homes in design a ted
parts of t h e village. Everyon e in t h e village k new t heir local crafts
men a n d t herefore he h ad no need to a u togr ap h h i s work s . Th e
jajm ani sys t e m e n s u r e d t h a t hereditary artisa n s were bou n d to t
he domin a n t agricult u ral gro u ps t h ro u g h tr aditio n al tie s . This
was a hier a rc hic al a n d sy m biotic rela tio n s hip, in w hic h t h e
a rtis t s worked u n d e r t h e protectio n a n d h o spit ality of t h e la n
dow n i n g class . Wh e n t h e r e w as a fe s tival, t h e la n dow n e r or t
h e jajm an wo uld req u est t h e potter to m ake cere monial pots a n d
diyas a n d in ret u r n pay him in kin d with food for t he res t of t h e
yea r. Wh e n his ho u se hold n eeded a grin ding s to n e, t
h e s to n e c u tter wo u ld m ak e o n e to t h e specified req uire m e n t
a n d size.
It inerant Crafts m en: So m e a rtisa n s like t h e blacks mit h even
today a re itiner a n t cr aft s m en who move from village to village
servicing t he community a n d spen ding as much time as is required in
each place. These crafts communities were often paid in kin d with
gifts of grain a n d food, clothing a n d money so t h a t t hey did not h
ave to c ultivate la n d for food b u t could p u r s ue t heir craft to perfection.
In the Town: While t he a rtis t s in t he village worked as a fa mily,
individ u al artists in the town s formed guilds to protect t heir in terests
a n d to en s u re t he qu ality of t heir work. The g u ild protected t h e
gro u p a n d it s occ u patio n al in teres t s , p u nis hing t he wrong doer,
negotiating prices a n d enforcing s ta n dards of work. The artist in t he

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town was also paid in kind a nd with la nd gra nts or prod uce from la
nd.
In the Court: Th rough t he ages r ulers tried to attract well- k nown
perfor ming a rtis t s a n d cr aft s m e n like sc ulptor s to work in t heir co
u rt. It is t he creation s of s u ch artists t h a t pr ovid e a n i d e a of c
u l t u r e s a n d e r as go n e b y. R u le r s u n der s tood t h a t h aving
brillia n t a rc hitect s a n d sc ulptor s

The Angkor temple is also a rare example of a shrine planned and built without
subsequent additions as was the practice in earlier times. The square jaganmohana or
porchwith its pyramid-shaped roof is built lower than the tower of the sanctum
sanctorum. The tower or shikhara is composed of five storeys and the pidha
 superstructure is in the shape of a stepped pyramid and is bedecked with four Natarajas
 and four kirthimukhas on the four faces.

The n a t u re of t he s tone will deter mine how t he sc ulpt u re is m ade a n d

also it s possibilities. Soft soap s ton e allows for delica te, in trica te ca
rving whereas sa n dstone, a fr agile sedimen t ary rock wit h layers of fine
com pressed sa n ds and grains, has to be handled with extreme care as it
breaks easily.

Wit hin each category of s tone t here is enor mou s variety. S a n dston e
r a nges from t h e golde n yellow of J aisalm er to t he soft pitted a n d
speckled s tone of Mat h u ra a n d Fateh p u r Sikri. The sc ulptors of In dia
h ave been u sing t hese s tones for t he past five t hou sa n d years.

The differe nce in treat men t of one s tone from a not her in t he h a n ds
of a n artist ca n be seen in t he gra nite sculpt u res of Ma h abalip u ra m
a n d t he sa n dstone figu res of Kh aju ra ho. Hard gra nite s tone was u
sed in Sou t h In dia to m ake tem ples a n d h o u se h old ite m s like grin
ding s to n es. Th e q u ality of s to n e available in e a c h regio n of In
dia dis ting uis h es t h e s tyle a n d for m t h a t ca n be created.

Carving: Carvi n g i s a pr oce ss i n which for m s a re c u t away o r s u btra c t e d f r o m

t h eorigin al solid m a terial. O n ce t h e s to n e is selected t h e m eas u re m e n t s
for ro u gh - hewing a n d cu tting of t he sculpt u re are taken. Carving is a diffic ult
process, requiring skill, concen tration a n d extreme c a u tio n . It is a process in
w hic h for m s a re c u t away or s u btracted from t he origin al solid m a terial.

A block of stone is carved by chiselling away tiny chips in order to create the desired s
h ape. Once the stone h as been carved the chips ca nnot be p u t back or replaced.
This mea n s the artist h as to h ave a precise a n d accu rate idea of how far to ca rve

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a n d wh a t to re move. O n e ca nnot afford to m ake mistakes in t his process for once

t he s tone is cu t away or carved it ca nnot be p u t back. Im agine t he acumen
needed to pla n in adva n ce t h e s h ape of t h e face, t h e size of t h e s mile a n
d t h e righ t a n gle of t h e jewel t h a t will ador n a carved im age. Once the rough work
is over, details are carved with finer tools a n d then the stone is polis hed. Some
stones ca n be polis hed to s hine like a mirror. Types of Stone Wor k s

Sto n e object s in cl u de h o u s e h old object s like bowls , pla t e s , grin din

g s tones, a n d pilla r s , bea m s a n d brackets for con s tr u ction of hou ses.
Figu res m ad e in solid m a terials like s to n e a re fu rt h er classified in to ca
tegories t h a t explain t h eir tec hnical dim e n sion s:
 Relief- sc ulpt u red pa n els
 Th ree- dim e n sion al figu res in t h e ro u n d.

Re l i ef- sc ulp t ure d Pa nels: A relief h as c a rvings o nly o n one side. The
carving ca n be s h allow or deep while the other side is flat a nd is u s u ally em
bedded into the m asonry work of t he b uilding. A low relief ca n be 1 ñ 3 cm deep a
n d high. Relief ca n almost look like a t h ree- dimention al sculpt u re.

Three-di m ens ional Figures: S u c h figu res ca n be viewed from all sides. They
ca n also be u sed to create free- s t a n ding pillars like t hose erected b y E m p o r o r
As h o ka t h r o u g h o u t his e m pire in th e t hird ce n t u ry BCE.

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1. The stone materials of the Angkor monuments, Cambodia. The magnetic susceptibility and the
orientation of the bedding plane of the sandstone, EtsuoUchida and IchitaShimoda, JOURNAL
OF MINERALOGY PETROLOGY AND ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 93(11):411-426, 1998

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