Materials Science and the City of Angkor

What was the building process of Angkor Wat?

Dr.Uday Dokras

Deservedly so, when one visits Europe we marvel at the building they built in
the 1600s and 1700s. What impressive feats they accomplish. But then Angkor
Wat meaning  'temple city / city of temples, located in northwest Cambodia, was
built at the behest of Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (
same Place as Angkor) . It is the largest religious structure in the form of a
temple complex in the world by land area, measuring 162.6 hectares
(401+3⁄4 acres). At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of four towers
surrounding a central spire that rises to a height of 65 m (213 ft) above the
ground.[5] next. It lies within an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2+1⁄4 miles) long and
a moat more than five kilometres (three miles) long.

The main construction materials used in its construction were sandstone and
laterite. Laterite is a clayey soil and a rock material that is rich in iron and
aluminium. Sandstone was the main material for the visible parts of the temple.
Laterite was primarily used for the hidden parts. People don’t believe that
Angkor wat was constructed by a Tamil king - because it wasn’t built by a Tamil
king.

Khmers and Tamils had friendly relations through trade, so there might have
been some Tamil influences in the architecture, but :
Angkor wat was built by a Khmer king : Suryavarman II in the 12th century.
Most southeast Asian Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms had kings from various
dynasties who used the Surname : Varma - this has given rise to a
misunderstanding among Tamils that the Khmer kings were Tamils.
Varma is a Sanskrit title popularized by Pallavas, Later Cholas , Pandyas and SE
Asian dynasties followed suit and started using the title.

Who were Khmers ?

Khmer empire or Kampuja was an ancient empire of Cambodia. It was
established by a Khmer - Jayavarman II (Rule: 802AD –835AD)who overthrew
the Shailendra Dynasty.
The language they spoke was : Old Khmer
Since they followed Hinduism (and later Buddhism), they used both Old Khmer
and Sanskrit in their inscriptions.
 Suryavarman II

The architectural design of this temple is linked with the great khmer empire
which ruled for about 700 years. At the center of the temple is a sandstone tower,
which served as the main sanctuary, probably sheltering a linga , symbol of
Shiva. The tower's door is on the east, approached by steps; the other three sides
have false doors. A few meters to the northeast and southeast are two sandstone
structures known as libraries, with large side windows and laterite bases.
Enclosing the tower and libraries is a rectangular courtyard measuring roughly 42
by 36 meters and having galleries on all four sides.

On the court's eastern side is a gopura , or gate, reflecting the temple's orientation to the east.
Central sandstone tower of Sdok Kok Thom, viewed from north. Photo c. 1980 In various
places in the temple, there is extensive carving on stone, including floral
decoration, Nāga serpents and a figure that appears to be the reclining Hindu god
Viṣṇu . A moat, likely representing the Hindu Sea of Creation, lies beyond each
of the courtyard's four sides. An avenue leads east from the gopura. A laterite
wall standing approximately 2.5 meters high and measuring 126 meters from east
to west and 120 meters south to north provides additional enclosure to the entire
complex. The midpoint of the eastern side of this wall has an elaborate gopura,
standing on a laterite base. About 200 meters to the east of this gopura, along a
laterite-paved avenue with free-standing stone posts on either side, is a baray , or
holy reservoir, measuring roughly 200 by 370 meters. Court's eastern gate, or
gopura, exterior view. Note carved Naga heads at base of doorway. Holy image
at left is from a later period. Photo c. 1980 The inscription (classified K. 235) is a
340-line composition, in both Sanskrit and ancient Khmer, carved on a gray
sandstone stele 1.51 meters high that stood in the northeast corner of the temple's
court. Dating to 8 February 1053, it recounts two and a half centuries of service
that members of the temple's founding family provided to the Khmer court,
mainly as chief chaplains to kings. In laying out this long role, the text provides a
remarkable and often poetically worded look at the faith, royal lineage, history
and social structure of the times. Northeastern library. Photo c. 1980 The Sanskrit
text opens: "Homage to Śiva whose essence is highly proclaimed without words
by the subtle Śiva, His form, who pervades (everything) from within and who
activates the senses of living beings." The inscription is perhaps most useful to
historians in providing an account of twelve Khmer kings who ruled over the
course of the two and a half centuries. It recounts monarchs' spiritual and martial
virtues and basic events of their reigns. “As a teacher zealously impels his
disciples or a father his children, so did he, for the sake of his duty, zealously
impel his subjects, rightfully securing them protection and nourishment,” says the
inscription of Udayādityavar.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sdok_Kok_Thom#/media/File%3APrasat_Sdok_
Kok_Thom-007.jpg

Old Khmer is an Austroasiatic language. Old Khmer gave rise to the Khmer
language - official language of Cambodia.The Script used by Khmer language is
derived from Tamil-brahmi. There was extensive trade between Tamil kingdoms
and Southeast Asia.So the script must have had travelled through the Maritime
Silk Road.
Tamil and Khmer relations :The Khmer king Suryavarman I (Reign : 1006AD
- 1050AD) established friendly relations with Cholas. It is said that he even sent a
Chariot to Chola king Rajaraja Chola as a gift.

Later during king Rajendra Chola’s rule (Rajaraja’s son) the Khmer king
requested aid from Cholas against Tambralinga kingdom.
Tensions were already raising between the Cholas and Srivijaya ( As, Sri Vijaya
failed to curb the pirates attacking Chola Vessels transporting goods to China and
forcing them to make a stop in Srivijayan ports)
On top of this Sri Vijaya came to the aid of Tambralinga. Tambralinga was a
vassal state to Srivijaya, so it’s obvious they would come to their aid.

Jayavarman VII
 Sometimes Chola seafaring led to outright plunder and conquest as far as
Southeast Asia . While Srivijaya that controlled two major naval choke points;
Malacca and Sunda Strait ; at that time was a major trading empire that possess
formidable naval forces. Malacca strait's northwest opening was controlled from
Kedah on Peninsula side and from Pannai on the Sumatran side, while Malayu (
Jambi ) and Palembang controlled its southeast opening and also Sunda Strait .
They practiced naval trade monopoly that forced any trade vessels that passed
through their waters to call on their ports or otherwise being plundered. [ citation
needed ] The reasons of this naval expedition are unclear with Nilakanta Sastri
suggesting that the attack was probably caused by Srivijayan attempt to throw
obstacles in the way of the Chola trade with the East (especially China ), or more
probably, a simple desire on the part of Rajendra to extend his digvijaya to the
countries across the sea so well known to his subject at home, and therefore add
luster to his crown. Another theory suggests that the reasons for the invasion
was probably motivated by geopolitics and diplomatic.

So it is far fetched to claim Angkor wat was built by Tamil kings. But Khmers
did maintained a very good relationship with Tamil kings.

Construction-techniques
The buildings at Angkor Wat posed their own challenges. To support them a
tough material called laterite was used, which in turn was encased with softer
sandstone that was used for carving the reliefs. These sandstone blocks were
quarried at the Kulen Hills, about 18 miles (30 km) to the north. Angkor Wat
shows that the Khmer Empire was a sophisticated, culturally advanced kingdom
capable of extraordinary architectural feats.

It was originally built in the first half of the 12th century as a Hindu temple.
Spread across more than 400 acres, Angkor Wat is said to be the largest religious
monument in the world. ... Originally dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, Angkor
Wat became a Buddhist temple by the end of the 12th century. It was built
by Suryavarman II as a vast funerary temple within which his remains were to be
deposited. Construction is believed to have spanned some three decades. Angkor
Wat, near Siĕmréab, Cambodia. The scale of his construction programme was
unprecedented: he built temples, monuments, highways, a hundred hospitals, and
the spectacular Angkor Thom complex - a city within a city in Angkor.
Jayavarman also expanded the empire's territorial control to its zenith. Angkor
was built by human labor power. Hundreds of thousands of slaves put their
sweat, their blood and their whole lives into its construction. Their experiences
and abilities led them to solve the technical and engineering problems, as well as
to create the great art works.

Angkor site is worldwide renowned for its sophisticated architecture and its
current state of monuments. One of Angkor lover´s dream is to see the whole site
in its full form, but it seems challenging even with the reconstitution plan
because components as well as its particular use within the monument
construction are still in discussion between the scholars.
Following this circuit will allow you to learn that the Khmers temples were
mainly built using material such as sandstone, laterite, brick as well as wood and
stucco. Metal was also present in the masonry work to join adjacent stones
together. Each object had its own value and quality in term of construction.
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.

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.
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.

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.
Materials: Ancient Cambodians could actually create temples without any lime
stones. Considering quarries in the vicinity, the builder chose sandstone, laterite
and brick as the main stone materials used in the monuments. In a study, The
stone materials of the Angkor monuments, Cambodia. The magnetic
susceptibility and the orientation of the bedding plane of the sandstones used in
the 28 main monuments were investigated and compared to each other. The
sandstones can be divided 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

1.The stone materials of the Angkor monuments, Cambodia. The magnetic susceptibility and the
orientation of the bedding plane of the sandstoneJOURNAL OF MINERALOGY PETROLOGY
AND ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 93(11):411-426,roject: Restoration of the Angkor monuments by
Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor,Etsuo Uchida,Yoshinori OGAWA,Takeshi
NAKAGAWA, January 1998
Andesite is the the main building blocks in Borobudur because geographically
due to presence of Volcanoes in the region Andesite was found in abundance. It
is a very light volcanic rock.

On average, between 20% to 40% of the rock's volume is actually air due to the
pores. These pores came from the way the rocks were born inside the belly of a
volcano. Because there were a lot of it lying around, using Andesite would be a
no brainier instead of importing a more robust type of rock from outside the
region.

On average the weight of individual stones in Borobudur rarely exceeds 9 kg.

Meaning it would be very efficient and cheap to build the temple. Another trick
they did in order to finish the job is the involvement of a mortar free construction
method.
Today, despite our technological advances, mortar free construction is still rare.
From small simple homes to tall skyscrapers, nearly all used mortars. But
Borobudur and many other ancient structures in Java are actually free from
mortar. How? By using spacial imagination.

They used interlocking mechanisms to get the stones in place and support each
other. By joining the stones this way there's no need for a complex computation
or mathematical equations to get the job done. They simply used their
imagination. Why mortar free?
The Angkor Wat temple and the surrounding metropolitan area is
well known for its water systems. The moat, man-made
reservoirs, and channels are just some of the most significant
elements that prove how important water was in the development of
this infrastructure . In fact, Angkor is often dubbed “The Hydraulic
City” today. The water management system at the Angkor Wat and
the surrounding city was developed with attention and care and
backed by science. The most apparent water source at the Angkor Wat
is likely the moat surrounding the temple ruins. The 200 m wide moat
circles the perimeter of the Angkor Wat and is about 4 m deep.Moats
are not usually naturally occurring; therefore, a lot of manual work
and manpower would have been required to com- plete the digging.
Specifically, 53 million cubic feet of sand and silt was displaced during
the digging . A task of this magnitude would not be undertaken
without good reason, and indeed, research- ers believe the moat had a
critical structural purpose. In addition to serving as a form of defence
by making the area harder to access, it may have also helped
stabilize the temple foundation by regulating the groundwater level.
Similarly, numerous canals and rivers weave through the entire city,
and these, along- side man-made reservoirs were likely part of a vast
water management system created for flood control and irrigation
water storage.
There seems to be no end to the variety of modern building materials
available for construction today. Engineered for specific functions, the
building material is an important aspect of any structure and shapes its
characteristics, while ensuring that the structure fulfils its purpose.
Choosing the building material is a critical component in the design
process, and the science of engineering and architecture puts great em-
phasis on understanding the properties of materials. In fact, Materials
Science is a branch of science in itself. In ancient architecture, building
materials were extremely limited, not only because humans lacked the
capacity to fabricate new materials that were not found in nature, but also
by location, as society lacked the efficient transportation meth- ods of
today and architects had no choice but to source their building material
close to the building site. Even with their limited choice of materials, the
architects and builders of the Angkor Wat utilized their knowledge of
Materials Science and selected their building materials purposefully for
specific functions.

Following tradition and the classical style of Khmer architecture, sand-

stone was chosen as the building material for the Angkor Wat. Sand-
stone was often used in the construction of ancient buildings, and it is
easy to see why. Relatively resistant to weathering when compared with
other natural stones, sandstone is durable. How- ever, the composition
of sandstone means it is relatively soft, making it the perfect material
for carving the intricate designs, figures, and statues all over Angkor
Wat. Furthermore, multiple sandstone quarries at the base of Mount
Kulen serve as an accessible source of the build- ing material less than
a hundred miles from the building site.

Although the material had been chosen and its source identified, one
serious problem remained. How exactly would such an enormous
amount of heavy sandstone be transported from the source to the
building site? Research shows that Angkor Wat may be made up of
around 10 million bricks, weighing up to 3,300 pounds each. An
initial hypothesis stated that the stone was first transport-ed by canal
to Tonle Sap Lake, and then rowed upstream through an additional
river to the site.

However, further exploration of the area surrounding the temple site

and the quarries showed an intricate network of canals and roads that
connected the quarries and the temple site. After measuring an
alternate route, a distance of only 22 miles was calculated, as opposed
to the 54 miles that made up the Tonle Sap Lake route mentioned
earlier. This research may also provide the answer to another puzzling
question: Exactly how was the construction of such an enormous and
complex architectural master- piece completed in just a few decades?
The short time- frame of construction and the uncompromised
splendor of Angkor Wat suggests that the builders and planners of
this monument had planned meticulously. It is highly likely that they
had explored the surrounding areas and were well aware of the
various transportation routes available to them. In order to select the
shortest route, they would have undertaken several journeys on
various routes and com- pared the length of time taken to complete
their trip. As it took cam- eras, aerial vehicles, and teams of people for
modern day researchers to locate the shortest route to the quarries, the
fact that the builders of Angkor Wat might have done so centuries
ago using
 nothing but the limited tools and people at their disposal is highly impressive.
In addition to sandstone, a natural stone material called Laterite was also chosen for the
construction of Angkor Wat. Laterite was used mainly for the foundational structural
elements of the temple, such as the inner walls, pillars, or the core of certain elements. It was
then enclosed with sandstone, which is much softer and suitable for carving. This was
another effective decision made by the builders, as Laterite can harden into a material
tougher than sandstone.
Conclusion
Enormous statues, intricate carvings, complex transportation and water networks, and a rich
history that can almost be sensed in its surroundings ensure that Angkor Wat remains
unrivaled in size, gran- deur, and complexity. Irrespective of the fact that it was constructed
centuries ago, without the modern science, technological advance- ments, and principles of
architecture and engineering humankind has today, the temple continues to stand, leaving
historians, archaeologists, and researchers awestruck. This is in fact no accident, as every new
discovery about the temple proves that a great amount of knowledge and planning went into
its construction. Angkor Wat was not only a work of art and a religious monument, but also
an engineering marvel and architectural masterpiece. There is much left to discover about the
temple and large areas left to explore, especially after the very recent discovery of a complex
metropolitan area hidden for centuries. With every discovery, new questions arise about this
incredible temple and the mysterious people who built it. What exactly caused an entire so-
ciety to abandon such a magnificent city that they worked so hard to build? What exactly
were the intentions of King Suryavarman II for the temple, the city, and the areas beyond.
How much more of this vast expanse remains undiscovered, and what other secrets are the
num- erous unexplored temples hiding? Angkor Wat may have been built without the use of
modern science and technology, however, without the use of highly advanced technology
and research techniques, its secrets may remain locked to humankind forever.

“The art of Angkor, created between the 9th and the 15th centuries in the empire centered around
this town in northern Cambodia, has been the target of occupiers and looters since French
explorers rediscovered the city in the mid-19th century.

Drawings of the period show large statues strapped to rafts and protected by armed Frenchmen
as they floated down rivers on their way to Paris. In the 1920's, as a young writer, André
Malraux, who later became France's minister of culture, was convicted in an Indochina court for
stealing priceless figures from one of the most beautiful temples, Banteay Srei. He was sentenced
to three years in prison but never served any time.

Cambodia's recent violent history provided an almost ideal opportunity for plundering. The
Communist Khmer Rouge destroyed temples and written records, while the occupying
Vietnamese Army, well aware of the value of Angkor art in the West, removed pieces by the
truckload.”

12