Heaven on Earth | The Story of God

NARRATOR: The Hindu god Vishnu is the protector of creation, and Angkor Wat was built for him. Inside the temple are over 12,000 square feet of intricately carved reliefs. One relief was created to link King Suryavarman II to Vishnu himself. Look, you can see that by relief, the king who built this temple. And if you look closely over there, there is an inscription saying, [non-english speech] Meaning that he is the king who went to the highest world of Vishnu.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists aren't sure whether the king is buried here. But local people believe that his spirit resides here in Vishnu's paradise. That paradise, that heaven, lies at the top of the central tower.

DAVID: So they believed that Suryavarman II's spirit would inhabit these towers in the afterlife.

NARRATOR: Exactly. If you look at the steps, like the wide of the step, why it's too narrow? It can be implied, the ideas of that approaching the worlds of God is not that easy. All right. Well, let's not wait a moment longer. Let's go up. Please, go.

NARRATOR: The peak of the temple was believed by the Khmer to be the highest reaches of heaven and the realm of Vishnu himself.

DAVID: David, what do you think?

DAVID: I think that everyone is impressed by your ancestors. This is phenomenal. Perhaps they were building such immaculate, beautiful structures to entice the gods to inhabit the structures so that the priests, the king would have had this opportunity to have a direct connection with the supernatural.

NARRATOR: That's true. Even if you're not a spiritual person, you can feel the aura of this kind of place. We really are at heaven on earth.

NARRATOR: Mm-hmm. [music playing]