The following presentation does not purport to be an
in-depth study of ancient Cambodia’s religion and beliefs. It merely presents
the major figures of the time and provides a brief overview of religious
practice. It aims to provide insight into the meaning of the Preah Neang Deví.
Female deities are not only representations of the
Brahmanist and Buddhist gods from India; they also reflect the primitive ideals
of ancient Khmers through religious practice.
Even though we are not able to determine accurately
which of these two great religions was first adopted in ancient Cambodian, we
do know that Cambodia was influenced by Indian civilization, probably as early
as the beginning of the Christian era. As reference materials, the inscriptions
also provide information on the ways that the faithful practiced these two
great religions.
The influence of Brahmanism and Buddhism turned
Khmer art into religious art, which is represented by the temples in its
architectural form and by the deities in the field of sculpture; not forgetting
other art forms.
There are no objects remaining in the museum’s
sculpture collections to provide evidence of the practice of these two
religions in Cambodia between the 1st and the 5th
centuries. Most of the sandstone and bronze items have already been studied and
catalogued by the archaeologists into several periods. The most ancient one
being the Phnom Da period, late Fu-Nan era (6th century), followed
by the Angkorian and Post-Angkorian eras.
Historical research shows that the Fu-Nan existed
long before the arrival of a new civilization from India and that Fu-Nan kings
were given the title of Cakravartin (‘king of the mountain’), as evidenced by
George Coedés.
The significance of such a title shows that in the
past, Khmer people believed the mountain –a natural symbol – held magical
powers. As such, the mountain was considered to be a sacred object.
Contemporary scholars have described this belief as ‘animism’.
This interpretation indicates that the Khmers
considered their king as a god endowed with the forces of nature.
This ideal vision was more clearly expressed at the
time when the Khmer kings practiced Brahmanism and Buddhism as state religions.
The inscriptions and the Chinese historic records provide additional evidence.
Kamaleswar Bhattacharya mentions that, “…these very documents (the Chinese
dynastic records) teach us, among other things that Sivaism had fused with
native worship and beliefs”.
Such evidence can be found in the names of some of
the mountains where the Khmer kings developed the cult of Siva, such as the
Lingapparvata Mountain, which towers above the Vat Phou site in southern
present-day Laos, and the Chinese-named Motan Mountain in Ba Phnom district
Prey Veng province. Nowadays, Khmer people call the latter Phnom Ksach Sar,
‘White Sand Mountain’, or Phnom Chhoeu Kach, ‘Broken Tree Mountain’.
On both mountains, the Khmer kings erected the
symbols of the Brahmanic god Siva in its ling an appearance, to meet their
religious beliefs. In doing so, the kings achieved a successful fusion of
native cuts and religious concepts.
Man represented the Brahmanic and Buddhist supreme
gods through works of art to make their power and functions more accessible to
all.
