The ancestry of Cambodia is traced back to the legendary Indian Kaundinya and Soma, a Khmer princess, and this lineage was called Somavamsa. It was in the 7th century that Kambu and Mera, another legendary couple established a different lineage, the Suryavamsa. Amidst several warring kings, King Jayavarman II
declared himself a universal ruler in 802.

The Khmer kings ruled over what is today Southern Vietnam to Yunan, China and from Vietnam to the Bay of Bengal. The beautiful structures seen at Angkor today, which consist of more than 100 temples, are all the religious remains of a grand administrative and social metropolis, whose other palaces, houses and buildings made of wood are long gone.

The Khmer Emperor Suryavarman II, who reigned during AD 1113-50 built the Angkor Wat temple. It was one of the many temples that came up when the Khmer civilization was enjoying the height of its power. This temple has earned the distinction of being one of mankind’s most impressive and enduring architectural achievements.

Lord Vishnu is the main deity; however, the sculptures on the temple also pay homage to several Vedic gods and goddesses including Lord Siva. The Angkor Wat temple is said to have served as an observatory where the rising sun was aligned on the equinox and solstice days with the entrance to the West of the temple, and numerous sighting lines were identified to be able to observe the rising of the sun and moon seasonally.

Angkor Wat is a masterpiece of Khmer art. All descriptions of the temple fall far short of communicating the perfect proportions and the astoundingly beautiful sculptures that the viewer is treated with face to face. The majestic architecture and the representation of form are astonishingly powerful and graceful. The inner galleries of the temple depict the battle of Kurukshetra, scenes from heaven and hell, churning of the sea of milk, and several more scenes drawn with great artistic beauty.

There were some European scholars who dated Angkor Wat as being built after the 14th century. The main reason for this being some of the decorative motifs at the temple bore a striking resemblance to some motifs from the Italian Renaissance. This argument has been proven to be wrong. Although, there is some connection between the art of the Renaissance and the 12th century art of the Khmer, it must have been due to a reverse process, which is that of importing oriental art into Europe and not the other way round.

The chief architect of the Angkor Wat temple is said to be Divakara Pandita, He is the priest who is most praised in all the inscriptions; and an image of him is also found at Wat Phu. He was said to have lived around 1050-1135. He designed the temple based on astronomy and the astronomical aspects were derived from Puranic and Siddhantic ideas based on the Indian traditions of altar and temple design. It is no wonder that Angkor Wat is ranked among the greatest human creations ever.