The term 'Surya Varman' translates to 'he who is protected by the sun' in Sanskrit, indicating a royal lineage from the Mun River Valley in northeastern Thailand. This region lies near the Dongrek Mountains, separating modern Thailand from northern Cambodia, where the Khmer Empire thrived for approximately 600 years starting in the 9th century. The name 'Angkor' derives from a Khmer interpretation of the Sanskrit word 'nagara,' meaning 'royal city,' and denotes the heart of the Khmer Empire and its capital. Angkor was a central part of what scholars refer to as the Sanskrit cosmopolis, a culturally rich area spanning from Afghanistan to Bali, highlighting the flourishing of Sanskrit culture alongside various local vernaculars, representing a form of cultural colonialism.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the largest and arguably the most astonishing religious structure on Earth, built for Suryavarman II in the 12th Century in modern-day Cambodia. It is said to have more stone in it than the Great Pyramid of Giza, and much of the surface is intricately carved and remarkably well preserved. For the last 900 years Angkor Wat has been a centre of religion, whether Hinduism, Buddhism or Animism or a combination of those, and a source of wonder to Cambodians and visitors from around the world.
With
Piphal Heng
Postdoctoral scholar at the Cotsen Institute and the Programme for Early Modern Southeast Asia at UCLA
Ashley Thompson
Hiram W Woodward Chair of Southeast Asian Art at SOAS University of London
And
Simon Warrack
A stone conservator who has worked extensively at Angkor Wat
Producer: Simon Tillotson