Article Title: Angkor wat Temple
21-02-2023
History & Art and Culture Prelims Plus
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Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and one of the largest religious monuments in the world.
It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu by the Khmer Empire, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century.
It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura (present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum.
The temple represents Mount Meru, Hindu home of the Gods.
It is made of sandstone, with more than 1800 carved apsaras and hundreds of meters of bas relief.
Temple was dedicated to Theravada Buddhism around the 14th Century.
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