Indian Art and Letters

Author(s): India Society
Publisher: India Society

Page 56

Angkor in the Ninth Century
At the moment when this hypothesis of mine took shape it was based mainly upon the following consideration. On the archaeological map of Angkor, drawn up in 1909 by Lieutenants Buat and Ducret, the Phnom Bakhèng marks the exact geometrical centre of a rectangular space measuring about 16 square kilometres, the western and southern sides of which are still represented by broad moats now transformed into rice-fields, while the eastern side is represented by a line running parallel to the Siemréap river diverted from its original course to form a kind of channel with banks as straight as if they had been drawn with a ruler.
A short stay in Cambodia in October-November, 1931, enabled me to verify on the spot the principal elements of my thesis, and to draw up, in collaboration with M. Henri Marchal, the Conservator of Angkor, a theoretical plan of the old capital. In July, 1932, the Director of the École Française entrusted me with the charge of methodical researches, which it was estimated would occupy three months. As a matter of fact, this work kept me at Angkor till the middle of November. At the commencement of my mission the Government gave us the assistance of two marine aviation officers, Naval-Lieutenants Menès and Aussenac, who took a certain number of photographs from the air over the locality to be explored. When flying with Lieutenant Menès over the little hill of Bakhèng I noted that it was surrounded by a great number of artificial water ponds half hidden in the forest. This was an important indication in support of my hypothesis, as the symmetrical arrangement of these ponds attested the existence of axial avenues starting from the foot of the hillock in all four directions-towards east, south, north, and west. Together with my colleague, M. Henri Marchal, I then took in hand the clearing of these avenues. At the same time careful trial borings were made around the Phnom Bakhèng, as well as in the southern portion of Angkor Thom, where one might perhaps expect to find hitherto undiscovered remains dating from the time of Yasovarman. These soon yielded a large number of valuable indications bearing upon our researches, which encouraged us to persevere in the task we had undertaken. By the close of the first stage of our explorations, in November, 1932, we had discovered not only the great axial avenues of the first town of Angkor, but also its inner enclosure comprising moats and a rectangular embankment surrounding the Bakhèng hill at plain level. We had found, besides, the remains of several buildings and works in stone deeply buried in the bush, the existence of which had not hitherto been in the least suspected. I was able then to leave Angkor with a very clear impression that our investigations had not ended in failure. (Cp. Plates I-V.)
A year later, in December, 1933, I returned to Angkor charged with a
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