STUDY ON THE PREAH NEANG DEVÍ

As stated earlier, the Preag Neang Deví are representations of the female ancestors, in the form of goddesses embodied in portrait-statues and, at the same time, works of art.

These two notions form the beasis of our study on the evolution and the value of the Preah Neang Deví sculptures.

The essence of the Preah Neang Deví statue

The plurality of the Indian Brahmanism and Buddhism figures can be found also in ancient Cambodia’s religious history. However, they diverge in terms of religious practice as the ancient Khmers viewed their ancestors as supreme gods.

The Khmers, who fully mastered the Sanskrit language – as evidenced by the inscriptions found on steles, piers, small columns and even objects-expressed this divergence through the production of portrait-statues.

If, forgetting their previous role, we consider the Preah Neang Deví only as goddesses and if we reduce them to simple museum pieces – something they never were in the past since they were the owners of temples, which in turn were considered to be the gods’ palaces – we alter their role and their function.

Some temples, made of brick or stone, were built at the top of mountains; others are large sides. All took many years to decorate. The temples are dedicated to the ancestors’ spirits, represented by statues of the deities. Religious architecture therefore complements these statues.

Temple building becomes a respected tradition, which the kings use to express their gratitude to their ancestors.

We know that the temples are surrounded by moats; Angkor Vat, Banteay Kdei and Bakong are some of the finest examples. The moats no only mark the boundary of the sacred space, they are also a main source of water for local residents and an aquatic environment where fish, shrimps, frogs, eels, turtles and many other species thrive and a natural habitat for aquatic plants such as water – lilies, bindweeds and many more. The moats are essential both to the daily lives of the people and, as a sacred place, to protect the natural environment.

Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian era inscriptions teach us that a great many servants were appointed to care for the temples, each being assigned a specific task; there are cloth weaves, palm leaf weavers, dancers and ‘vina’ players. The temple is viewed as a small community serving religion and society.

Such activity reflects temple life and the monumental statue placed inside the building is considered to be a living state closely connected to its environment and the inhabitants. We can therefore assume that the Preah Neang Deví, under the appearance of goddesses and as representations of the ancestors, are important contributing factors to social development and the safeguarding of cultural properties.

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The Preah Neang Deví as the guardian deity of the house

The role of the Preah Neang Deví as guardian of the house is almost identical to the role of the Preah Neang Deví protector of the country. But the role of the former does not extend beyond the scope of inhabited places.

We know that the god and the goddess have no physical from, no ‘rúpa’. In some instances, they are represented by deified object.

Ang Choulean wrote that, “the guardian of the house, in Khmer ‘mnán phdah’, is a supernatural being that plays a rather minor role. It is associated with purity, cleanliness and domestic tidiness”.

Present-day Khmers honors two deities, ‘Preah Phúm’, the guardian of the land, and ‘Mneang Phteah’ or ‘Neak Chumneang Phteah’, the guardian of the house, who grants prosperity and worldly possessions. In both cases, the deities are not symbolized by any objects.

We know that Visnu’s wife has two names, Bhúdeví – from the Sanskrit word ‘Bhú’, which means land – symbolizes the guardian of the land (of the house), and Laksmí the goddess of fortyne and prosperity.

Thus we can conclude that the ‘Preah Phúm’ and ‘Neak Chumneang Phteah’ honored by the Khmers are merely incarnations of Visnu’s wife and they played a similar role. At the same time, there are the female equivalents of Visnu, the god of conservation.

In therefore possible to say that:

-               - Preah Phúm is Bhúdeví, who is also Laksmí, the latter being Neak Chumneang Phteah

-               - Bhúdeví and Laksmí are the same goddess and Visnu’s wife, but they also are the goddesses that embody the women’s ancestors.

Conclusions

Given the way the role of the Preah Neang Deví as representations of the gods’ or the kings’ wives is interpreted the statues have three key meanings.

1-      They are works of art representing the gods’ or the Bodhisattvas’ saktí, used to illustrate religion and literature. They are simply the embodiment of the goddesses.

2-      They represent the ancestors’, queens’ or other female characters’ souls. The respect paid to the statues of the gods is not respect for the gods themselves, but rather shows respect expressed towards the ancestors, who are considered to be gods.

The kings’ architectural legacy explains this further. They built magnificent temples; some decorated with precious metals and considered to be archaeological treasures, which they dedicated to their ancestors’ spirit to express their gratitude for their heroic feats. Khmer people pursue this tradition until today, by building ‘caitya’ where they place their parents’, grandparents’ or masters’ relics.

3-      The Preah Neang Deví represents our ancestors’ spirits who are also, in the invisible world, the guardians of the Cambodian land and the providers of prosperity. As such, the Preah Neang Deví may e represented by any object, as well as by the absence of objects. The way each Deví is represented is left to the decision of the worshipper.

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The Preah Neang Deví as a protector

Brahmanism and Buddhism have been neglected for too long and some Cambodians do not have the knowledge necessary to identify the sculptures that represent characters from these two religions. As a consequence, the statue of Siva carrying Umá is called Neak ta Por Kon, which means ‘Neak ta holding his child’; the statue of Siva riding the  Nahdin bull has become  Neak ta Chis Ko, which means ‘Neak ta riding an ox’.

The Blank Lady, one of the museum’s female sculptures (Ka. 1653) found in Neang Khmao temple Takeo province, is commonly called ‘Neang Khmao’.

The study of this statue, which is headless and has no arms, revealed that it is a Brahmanic deity, and most likely Visnu’s wife Laksmí, since a sculpture of Kalkin, one of Visnu’s incarnations, was found in the same place.

In Phnom Chisor temple, built under the reign of Suryavarman I, an adorned Buddha can be found, called Neang Khmao by local residents.

In Ba Phnom district, Prey Veng province, there is a Neak ta called ‘Mesar’. According to research studies, the word ‘Mesar’ is probably derived from ‘Mesvara’, one of Siva’s names when in the past, a king erected a linga on this mountain.

These examples show common mistakes made by local residents where the sculptures have been found.

Thus,

-          Siva is Neak ta; Siva being the god

-          Buddha is Neang Khmao, who is also Kálí, Siva’s wife.

For the latter, local residents mistook the adorned Buddha for a female deity and thought it was Sica’s wife.

If the statue of the Blank Lady (Ka. 1653) is a Brahmanic deity, as evidenced by the statue of Kalkin, and If the adorned Buddha is compared to the Blank Lady, we may conclude that present-day Khmers respect all the characters in the Brahmanic and Buddhist religions and  designate them under a single unique name, ‘Neak ta’.

The word ‘Neak ta’ is also linked to the word Machas Srok, which means ‘Lord of the Village’ and refers to the guardian of the village in the invisible world.

Under the reign of Jayavarman VII, the states of Brahmanic and Buddhist deities also represent the kings and the queens, who are both the country’s heroes and protectors.

The word Neak ta designates the elements that represent the ancestors’ souls or the ancestors themselves. The ancestors were previously the country’s protectors; they are therefore considered to be powerful and ambivalent beings.

As for the Preah Neang Deví, they may be compared to the Neak ta. In that case, they are representations of the ancestors’ wives. But the ancestors being Neak ta, they symbolize the Neak ta’s wives or the country’s protectors.

Such an interpretation reminds of the existing syncretism between Brahmanism and Buddhism in modern Khmer society, but there are no works of art in the museum’s collections to support and illustrate this.

Evidence of this syncretism can be found in a Brahmanic temple such as Phnom Chisor where Buddhist ceremonies are held, as well as in religious ceremonies when the Khmers, as have become a tradition that present-day Khmers, as they have always done, invoke the Brahmanic gods.

It is likely that Brahmanic beliefs dare back to ancient times and that they have become a tradition that present-day Khmers still honor.

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The Preah Neang Deví as a symbol of fidelity

In the Khmer version of the Rámáyana, the Reamkerti, Ráma is one of the incarnations of Visnu. His wife Sitá is therefore the incarnation of Laksmí. She remains faithful to Ráma by refusing Rávana.

In this instance, the Sitá Preah Neang Deví is the symbol of fidelity.

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