HTML clipboardTo the E of the S gopura, the theme is the
judgement of souls and their consignment to heaven or hell. 66m long, this
section is significantly shorter than the preceding Army of Suryavarman II
because of the way in which the temple's enclosures are successively set back
towards the E, away from the entrance. In order to keep a single N-S axis, all
ol the N and S gopuras are aligned with the central tower. Note the restored
ceiling which shows how the space would have appeared originally. It was
reconstructed based on a small piece of wood found there. The scene begins on
two registers, with two processions, among them the great and good of Khmer
society, carried on thrones and palanquins. They are confidently on their way to
Heaven. Almost immediately, both levels rise to make room for "the way down to
the realms of hell" at the bottom, where demons waste no time in beating the
damned and dragging them towards their just punishments. See how emaciated the
sinners are; after 20m they are menaced by Yama's dogs - the hounds of hell -
and beyond that they are savaged by wild animals, including a tiger and a
beautifully observed Javan rhinoceros. Some of the damned are pulled along like
cattle, with a cord through their nostrils.
The central register, after some 18m, shows the place where souls are
judged by Yama, the God of Judgement and of the Underworld, 18-armed and riding
his traditional mount, a buffalo. His two assessors Dharma and Chitragupta, 3m
further on, listen without mercy to the pleas of sinners, who are thrown down
into to Hell through a trapdoor. In fact, they are directed to sin-specific
Hells - 32 of them, identified by short inscriptions. At this point, 22m into
the bas-relief, the two upper registers end, and the 37 1 leavens begin,
considerably less interesting than the Hells, where the cruelty is extreme and
the tortures imaginative. Supported by a frieze of garudas, the Heavens appear
as a succession of palaces where not very much happens, and whatever delight the
apsaras are supposed to give, they do it modestly. The inhabitants may, however,
think it sufficient that they are spared the punishments below, some of which
are spectacularly horrible.
Consider, for instance, the 3rd Hell, Vaitarani, the Hindu equivalent of
the Iliver Styx, where demons use long pincers to pull out the tongues of their
victims (5m after the trapdoor); the 6th, Nirucchvasa, where the damned are
slowly cooked; the burning lake of the 9th, Taptalaksamaya; bone-smashing in the
10th, Ashthibhanga. In the next, Krakaccheda, gluttons are sawn in two, which
seems a little out of proportion, while in Puyapurnahrada immediately following,
"those who steal strong liquor, seduce others' wives, go near the wives of
scholars" (a strange combination) are torn to pieces by birds of prey and thrown
into a lake of slimy pus. In the 23rd 1 Iell, Kalasutra, demons roast a man on a
spit. The 29th is Cita, the frozen Hell, where you can see thieves shivering.
Between 3m and 2m from the end is a particularly unpleasant punishment in the
Hell of Maharaurava: the victims are tied to frames, and nails hammered into
their entire bodies.
Walk through the SE corner pavilion, which is undecorated, to the next
section.
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