An assignment done by students of Architecture, BUET. The task was to compare Paharpur to Angkor Wat and imagine how Paharpur actually looked like.

1. Understanding Paharpur and Angkor Vat
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2. Angkor Wat is considered to be
thelargest and most impressive stone
temple in existence. This magnificent
architectural composition was the
conception of King Suryavarman II.
Howvever it completed during the
reign of King Dharanindravarman II.
The name Angkor is a corruption of
the Sanskrit “Nagara”, meaning city or
capital while “Vat” is a relatively
modern Siamese name, so the name
means “City Temple.”
Angkor Wat
The temple was dedicated to the
Hindu God Vishnu, by the fall of the
empire in 15th century, the site had
become a Buddhist shrine.
Angkor Wat is partly protected from its
most lethal destroyer, water, by a
network of hidden drains emplaced in
the 1960’s by the French scholar and
former conservator Bernard Philippe
Groslier and his staff of 1000.

3. The epic symmetries of
Angkor Vat begin
with the outer
gallery that
runs in a
circumference
of half a mile.
Within the
gallery
sculptures
in bas-relief
unfold narratives from
the myths of Vishnu,
Krishna and Rama.
One section of gallery top left that sheltered the depiction of a Hindu creation
myth was removed for restoration. The stones were catalogued and neatly laid
out in the grassy area beyond..Although the plan, form and symbols differ,
Angkor Vat is cathedral-like in its harmonious mix of small details and massive
architecture.
•Plan consists concentric rectangles. Orderly and balanced. Logically
symmetrical.
•Principal approach is from the west. Why the main gateway, flanked by libraries
at right, faces west is unclear. The other temples face east, away from the
direction of the dead. Partly to bring it into alignment with the royal city.
•Façade consists of elaborate storied structure breaking the long
lines of arcaded enclosure.
Gateway
•Interiorly the portico resolves itself into a square plan of pillared halls with
two diametrical corridors.

4. •Entire scheme
was laid out in
650 ft water
moat. Broad
square in plan.
Total length of 24
miles.
•Communication
across the
water barrier
was by a bridge
on western side
and approached
by a pave of
36/1500 ft.
•Stone platform
on which it
stands is square
in plan.
Water Moat
•Stairway continuing the axial line of the portico ascends to the second
terrace.
• At each angle of the terrace, the inner space of which is a square of 130
ft side is a Sikhara.

5. Sectional Perspective of Angkor Wat
Details can be seen here.

6. Somapura Mahavihara in Paharpur, is
among the best known Buddhist Viharas in
the Indian Subcontinent and is one of the
most important archeological sites in the
country.
Somapura Mahavihara, an ancient
Buddhist monastry was built between
700-800 A.D during the reign of a
Buddhist empire
According to the Bengali Vocabulatory,
the name Paharpur (Pahar = hill, pur =
locality) means a locality of hill.
World-famous Angkor Wat temple of
Cambodia was inspired by this Somapura
Mahavihara
Paharpur

7. Comparative Analysis of Paharpur Temple and Angkor Wat

8. •Within the walls is a courtyard containing the remains of a
traditional Buddhist stupa.
•Each side of the monastery measures some 900
feet (270 metres) in length and is composed of
monks' cells;
•Each worshipping point, excepting the southern one, has
a staircase connection with the monastery courtyard in
front.
•The monastery is square in plan, being 281m on each
side. The structure holds more than 170 such cells and 92
altars of worship.
•Two entrance provisions on the north and
one in the east.
Temple plan of Paharpur

9. The central shrine is a terraced structure springing from a cruciform
ground plan and expanding from a mid-pile of square configuration.
The unflustered
wall surfaces of
the lower two
terraces are
decorated with
friezes containing
terracotta plaques
showing different
scenes.
The courtyard around the central shrine is dotted with
several units of straggling structural ruins. Of them,
Panchavede , a group of five votive stupas.
Evidence of other sacred objects and shrines is found
throughout, including the Jaina chaturmukhar structure,
which displays the artistic and religious influences of the
monastery's three main residential groups: images of
Jaina deities abound on its main walls, and Buddhist
terra-cotta artwork and sacred Hindu sculptures are
found on its base walls.
During rain, the excavated place becomes a lake, completely
placing the lower areas of the underground room wall together
with their unique rock and clay relieves, resulting in damage by
the activity of salt and dangerous plants growth, while water
increasing by capillary activity impacts the higher areas.

10. • Entrance in Paharpur is from north and east whereas in
Angkor Wat it is from the west.
•Sikhara of Angkor Wat ws terraced wheres in Paharpur it could have
been terraced but it is still unknown.
• Paharpur
was of brick
and Angkor
Wat was of
stone.
Paharpur monastery is much older than those
and more importantly Buddhism spread to
south-east asia via bengal, so is the
architecture and its not the whole monastery,
only it's ruins.
The 3d image of assumed Paharpur compared
with Angkor Wat could have been like this-
Paharpur complex is similar but much smaller in scale to Angkor Wat.The basic
idea is the same, massive central stupa surrounded by smaller and more and
more numerous stupas. Some other diffrences we get are –
•Bas reliefs
speak of
Hindu God
Vishnu in
Angkor Wat
and in
Paharpur it
speaks of
more or
less
Buddhist
culture.
Comparative Analysis
•Angkor
wat has a
huge water
moat for
protection
whereas
Paharpur
does not
have it.