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The secret story of the naga |  |
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| Goddesses - Devata - Apsara - Naga The Naga or Nagaraja (Naga King) is shaped like a cobra with many heads; Naga princesses can take human shape Naga - the true Lord of Cambodia "The Naga is the guardian of the treasures of the Earth, the keeper of the The naga also represents the ‘bow of Indra', the rainbow, the connection of heaven and earth, of gods and living beings. The legend of Soma - Link Sprawling naga At the Bakong, at Koh Ker, at Preah Vihear, and last at Neak Pean, the naga is lying on the ground, in touch with his elements, water and earth. Taming the naga I - giant balustrades In front of the gates the Naga have to guard the causeways, escorting human beings from the secular world to the sacred area of the temple. Giant balustrades are at the entrances of Preah Khan, Angkor Thom, and Banteay Chhmar. Looking outside you see gods to the right and demons in equal number to the left. " The fifty - four deities are all pulling at the snake with their hands, and look as if they are preventing it from escaping." (Credit 2) But lifted from the ground, the naga loses the contact with the Earth, the source of his power. Taming the naga II - Garuda Along the outer wall of Preah Khan Garuda shows up in 40 huge reliefs. Garuda is the King of the Birds and the mount of God Vishnu, representing light and fire, the male principles, the culture. He wants to get and keep the naga under control by taming him. He holds the naga by his hands and his claws. Traditionally naga and Garuda are regarded as deadly enemies; but obviously he is just taming him. Having lost his power, the naga can be tamed. Killing the naga - naga balustrade In the Bayon era the Naga is lifted by balusters. He loses the touch with the ground, his tail is cut. He is dead. His heads still look pretty and imposing. The torso of his body makes the rail and looks like misshaped taxidermy. Naga balustrades are almost omnipresent in Angkor; they were also added to temples from the Angkor Wat era. Naga underground But the naga was still in power. Zhou Daguan, a Chinese envoy in the late 13th century, relates a legend: " Inside the palace there is a gold tower [the Phimeanakas], at the summit of which the king sleeps at night. The local people all say that in the tower lives a nine-headed snake spirit which is the lord of the earth for the entire country. Every night it appears in the form of a woman, and the king first shares his bed with her and has sex with her. […] If for a single night this spirit does not appear, the time has come for this […] king to die. If for a single night he stays away, he is bound to suffer a disaster ." (Credit 3) The naga has withdrawn from the World, the daylight. But in the darkness, in the underworld, the king has to submit to the supreme power of the naga. Naga and the Buddha By the legend the Buddha was meditating when a thunderstorm attacked him. The Naga King Mucalinda coiled his body around him and spread the array of his heads over him, thus covering and protecting him like a powerful mother. The body of the naga was transformed to a triangular coil, the heads make a decorative frame to the Buddha's head. The naga has been degraded to a piece of furniture. This Buddha on the Naga is the icon of Mahayana Buddhism in the Bayon era. Ecological disaster In the 13th century Angkor's irrigation system got overstressed and broke down. The limits set by nature – the female principle – were ignored and eliminated; the male principle had to fail. Angkor was abandoned. (Credit 4) The Naga King is the lord of the water. When the naga was superficially eliminated, the irrigation system in Angkor collapsed. This may be mere coincidence; anyhow the failure of water supply was the main reason for the decline of Angkor. Triumphal return of the naga - sprawling roots at Ta Prohm At Ta Prohm and at other temple sites roots are destroying the structures, their attractive roots stealing the show from the architecture made by males. They look female and so they are. |
 Sprawling Naga, Bakong Giant balustrades. South Gate of Angkor Thom  Garuda, Preah Khan  Wat Suthat, Bangkok: Naga protercting the Buddha  Vihear Prampil Loveng:
Buddha on the coiled Naga Roots, Ta Prohm |
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