The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

402 CEYLON AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
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employed by the gods and giants in the churning
of the Sea of Milk.
Here at Angkor Wat the whole temple is in
reality a vast, stepped pyramid, with its terraced
levels completely unified by connecting galleries
and staircases. Indeed, the temple marks a
culmination of all the architectural refinements
contained in earlier buildings. More than anything
else, it is the cruciform plan, with its arms
joining the enclosing galleries at each level, that
made possible the architectural unity of this
new and grandiose ensemble, a plan that, like
another Versailles, was calculated to suggest the
universal radiant power of a Roi Soleil or
Devaraja [330]. Following a principle of Indian
origin, the scale of the central mass is enhanced
by lesser replicas of the innermost tower at
successively lower levels on the corners of the
galleries. Again typical of the originality and
the sense of rhythm of the Khmer builders is the
effect of scale obtained by subtle methods of
transition from one level to another: the roofs
of the galleries overlap or telescope one another,
so that each lower level becomes progressively
a smaller replica of the upper segment. The
monument marks the final successful integration
of vertical and horizontal elements
which had always troubled the Khmer architects.
'As a correlation of parts to the whole, in
the measured movement of the entire conception,
in a word in the cadency of its articulation,
it has few equals.' 17
The individual spires at Angkor have a
bombshell or pine-cone profile, only faintly
suggested in the towers of earlier structures
[332]. Ultimately, of course, the prototype is
the Indian sikhara, but the towers of Angkor are
as different from the sikharas of Bhuvanesvar
as a spire by Christopher Wren differs from its
Gothic prototype. The bases of the towers at
Angkor are square, but a transition to a starshaped
plan is made at the beginning of the
curvature. Although in this latter regard it
might be tempting to see a connexion with the
favourite stellate plans of the temples of
Mysore, it is really impossible to assign any one
Indian antecedent to this Khmer form. The
towers are built in nine levels or rings of
masonry, and each one of these horizontal
divisions is girdled by sharply pointed acroteria,
their shapes vaguely suggestive of the chaitya
arch form. All these projecting details, however,
in no way interfere with the verticality of the
soaring profile.
Just as the temple in its plan and elevation
marks the high point of architectural design in
Cambodia, so the hundreds of details comprising
its fabric are individually and collectively
the ultimate refinement of Khmer architectural
decoration. Again, the development of each
single type of moulding and fenestration could
be traced step by step through an evolution
beginning with the very earliest examples of
Cambodian architecture. 18 Among the multiple
elements worthy of special notice is the manner
in which the curved roofs of the galleries are
carved in imitation of earlier overlapping tile
construction; each individual 'tile' is cut in
the shape of a lotus petal. The openings of the
cloister on the first level and all the windows of
the temple were originally filled with slender
balusters in continuation of a technique already
observed at the Phimeanakas. It should be
noted that there is no distinctive Khmer order
in the pillars used for support in the structure
of Angkor Wat: these are for the most part
square posts with a very simple lotiform necking
at the top of the individual shafts in no way
comparable with the elaborate pillars of the
Indo-Aryan and Dravidian orders in India. The
builders of Angkor Wat displayed the greatest
skill and taste in providing textural variety to
the exterior in terms of light and shade; we have
already seen evidence of this in the carving of
the -roofs; and it is especially notable in the
depth and number of torus mouldings relieving,
and at the same time strengthening by these
bold horizontal accents, the facades of the