GENERAL
Khmer inscriptions describe the king as: ....Under the reign of this king, who has manifested the krta yuga....This king....by means of his politics, actualized the conditions of the krta age...Have no doubt whether the time causes the king or the king causes the time; it is the king who is the cause of the times. This king is the creator of the krta age.
There are at Angkor Wat ritual paths that conduct visitors first around and then into a gallery. One type path is recognized as a circumambulation pathway. This begins at the edge of the first step up into a structure and ends at the last step on the other side. This type path will circle a main image three times and circle subsidiary images either not at all or one or three times. The sides of the main image are 5 cubits.
Galleries and enclosures are form by a set of crossing axes framed by a rectangle. The rectangle is the gallery itself and its axes extend to the base of entrances on all four sides. Both the axes and the rectangle in every gallery have measurements that are two halves of one set - the two parts define the gallery and form a whole architectural unit.
Libraries held important manuscripts that were the instructions for ritual and sacred life.
MAIN ENTRANCE AND WESTERN BRIDGE-CAUSEWAY
The outer enclosure forms a division of the mundane from the world of the God-King
There are 54 sandstone columns paired with 54 balustrade supports on each half of the span on the western entry bridge
At the nearby Angkor Thom, the capital of Jayavarman VII, there are five bridges over the moat. Each has 54 asuras and 54 devas. There are a total of 540 devas and asuras on all five bridges at Angkor Thom
If one stands at the center point between all three end staircases on the west side of the bridge on December 21, the sun rises exactly over the center of the southern gateway of the western entrance
If one stands at the center point between all three end staircases on the west side of the bridge on June 21, the sun rises over the center of the northern gateway
The northern, southern and eastern entrances are all the same, but the southern entrance appears to be the most finished and detailed. (See plans.)
The circumference around the outer wall enclosing the main temple is 354.3671 X 24 cubits
The sum of the axes within the central western entrance equals 365.24 X 24 cubits
There are 32 pillars in front of the western entrance and 33 steps in that entrance.
The axes of the naga terrace sums to 354 phyeam
The circumambulation path through the western entrance is 32 phyeam.
The axes of the outer most perimeter of the complex measures 60 X 108 cubits
From points along the western entrance there are a series of alignments
that connect this feature and the causeway into the temple with major points
on the second and first galleries (See plans)
These points are the first staircase to the southwest tower of the second
gallery (D in plan); the second staircase to the northwest tower of the
second gallery (A in plan); the
second staircase to
the southwest tower of the second gallery(D in plan); the third staircase
to the southwest tower of the second gallery (B in plan); the fourth staircase
to the first gallery northwest tower (C in plan); the fourth stairway to
the southwest tower of the second gallery (B in plan); and the fifth staircase
to the northwest tower of the first gallery
The alignment along the central east-west axis from the center of the entrance and along the causeway with the central tower marks the equinox sunrise in the east
PREAU CRUCIFORME
To the west of the Third Gallery we find a few steps and we enter an area surrounded by pillars in the form of a cruciform. There are only a few ways to look outside of this enclosed area where filtered sunlight hits. This part of Angkor Wat seems to form a transition between the Third and Second Galleries. It probably functioned for rituals and celebrations.
The Cruciform Terrace sits west of the Preau Cruciforme. Here there are three staircases with a total of 24 steps. The north-south axis is 24.6 phyeam. There are 28 balustrade supports on the perimeters north-south and east-west. The west-east axis is 27 phyeam. There are 54 columns on the north-south and east-west sides of the cruciform. The north-south axis is 11.97 phyeam.
On the north side, there is a small chamber barely 4 cubits across where sounds resound - this is the "echo chamber". This small room opens up onto a porch that leads down to a courtyard and a nearby library.
There are four basins in which water was filled.
The inner axis (chambers crossing north-south and east-west) measure 120 cubits in each direction.
If one were enter from the main western entrance to perform a circumambulation clockwise around the Preau Cruciforme - a ritual circuit around the perimeter in other words - the measurement would be 360 phyeam.
Late in the afternoon of the Winter Solstice, shafts of light shine on the exact geometric center of the Preau Cruciforme.
As the sun moves toward the spring equinox after December 22, the center of the Preau Cruciforme is gradually left in darkness. Except for a solitary shaft of light, it remains in almost total darkness at the summer solstice. This narrow sliver of light, however, moves across the floor until it passes by the central square late on the solstice day. The right side of a statue sitting at that point would have been lighted but not the left side.
SECOND GALLERY
The path of circumambulation into and out of the corner towers of the Second Gallery is based on a 27/28 number averaging 27.6 units.
Outer axes for all of the entrances to the Second Gallery sum to a total of 27 units based on a 33 cubits/unit configuration.
The distance from the edge of the naga terrace to the first step of the western entrance to the Second Gallery from the Preau Cruciforme is configured on a based of 21 units.
There are 49 chambers in the Second Gallery.
The circumambulation path for all four corner towers is 27.60 units based on the latitude unit of 13.43..
The circumambulation path for each of the north, south, and east axial entrances is 26.84 units based on the latitude unit of 13.43.
There are 49 steps total for all four of the western entrances to this gallery.
There are a total of 21 steps in the main staircases for the northern, southern, and eastern entrances.
The circumference to the Second Gallery is 20 X 49 cubits.
To exit the Second Gallery and enter the final First Gallery area, you much use one of the exits on the sides of the Preau Cruciforme or one of the two lateral entrances flanking the main entrance to the Second Gallery. In other words, you must deviate a path leading from the Preau Cruciforme into the Second Gallery in order to enter the courtyard surrounding the First Gallery.
There are 27 steps in the north and south entrances. There are 28 steps in the east entrance.
FIRST GALLERY
There are 12 entrances to this gallery.
There are 12 staircases leading into this gallery and each has 28 steps.
The axial measurement total for east-west and north-south axes through the First Gallery equal 366. If the central image is removed, that figure is 356.
Each of the four main axial entrances has 12 windows and 12 pillars.
There are 32 chambers around the gallery and 33 if you include the gallery itself.
There are 33 steps in the northern and southern axial entrances.
There are 30 steps in the main western staircase and 29 steps in the eastern staircase.
The in and out circumambulation is 365 cubits.
Each axial entrance has 33 pillars.
The circumambulation path for the main image in each of the four corner towers of the First Gallery is 108 cubits. Since there are four towers, the total of all four is 108 phyeam.
The circumambulation paths for the corner towers of the First Gallery equal 21 units with each unit equaling 10 cubits.
Circumference of this last gallery is 455.07 cubits (19 X 24 cubits).
The circumference of is 504.33 cubits (21 X 24 cubits) if the entrant axis of each axial entrance is included.
Each of the topmost libraries have 4 doorways, 4 interior pillars, 4 porch pillars, 4 blind windows. The inner axes for each is 28.02 cubits and the inner axes minus the ledge next to the doors is 27.02 cubits. The circumambulation path into and out of each library is 20.96 phyeam. The outer east-west axis is 10.98 phyeam in each, and the outer north-south axis is 7.19 phyeam.
CENTRAL SANCTUARY/TOWER
The focus on the central sanctuary is on an image of the Supreme Visnu. This image sits 23 meters above ground level and above all else at the temple
The axial measurements for the central sanctuary are 91.29 cubits.
The north-south axis in the sanctuary is 13.41 cubits.
The distance from the first step to the image of Vishnu in the center of the sanctuary is 20 cubits on teach side.
All four of these side distances sum to 20 phyeam.
The distance from the capstone to the sacred deposit below the central tower is 108.
The central image of Visnu probably was installed in A.D. 1126.
This tower along with the beginning of the western causeway entrance to Angkor Wat mark the spring equinox.
