Ancestor Cult
From time immemorial the Cambodians grow rice and venerate the spirits of their ancestors who own the land. Ancestor spirits are known as Neak Ta or Anak Ta.
Apsaras
The Apsaras, celestial nymphs, were created with the Churning, for the amusement of the gods.
Bodhisattvas
About 1200 AD King Jayavarman VII stamped the kingdom Buddhist, building a multitude of Buddhist temples.
Smiling faces of a Bodhisattva look from the towers of gates and the Bayon. They give us their blessing.
The Buddha
Legends of the Buddha are sparsely depicted in Angkorian temples.
Devatas
The walls of temples were adorned with goddesses, guarding the temples. Their beauty is legendary; they give their divine blessings to those who face them respectfully.
Durga
Durga killed the Buffalo Monster. She was venerated in pre-Angkorian temples.
Indian influence
During the first centuries of the Christian era, enterprising traders sailed to the Mainland and the islands of Southeast Asia. They took contact with the local chiefs and settled down. They brought with them among other things the script, Sanskrit language, Buddhism and Hinduism, the conceptions of kingdom and building temples.
Indra - the Pretentious
Indra on his three-headed elephant Airavan can be seen in many reliefs.
The Naga
The Naga King is a cobra-shaped serpent with multiple heads. He is a God, at home in the deepest Underworld. He symbolizes the earth, the water, nature, the female and maternal energy and principle.
Nagini (Naga Princesses) take shape as beautiful young women with Naga heads in their hairdo.
The Naga is proudly guarding the causeways of the Bakong and other temples.
Shiva
At the end of times Shiva, as the Nataraja, the King of Dance, will destroy the rotten world under his feet.
In Angkor, Shiva is regarded as the supreme god.
The kings of Angkor ruled on behalf of Shiva, “the Lord of the World”, and built pyramid temples for him, Bakong, Phnom Bakheng, Pre Rup, Ta Keo and Baphuon.
Kala
Shiva also manifests himself as Kala, the absolute time, devouring everything. Kala reliefs are omnipresent in Angkor.
Lingam means “symbol”, symbol of Shiva. In Angkor, the Lingam stands in the Yoni.
Yoni is vulgarly translated as “vulva”, but it is square and a symbol of the Earth, receiving the divine energy of the Lingam.
Vishnu
Vishnu is the preserver of the world. To save the world he incarnates as Krishna and Rama.
Angkor Wat is dedicated to Vishnu.
Garuda
He is the mount of Vishnu, the king of the birds, a symbol of the sun, of light and reason. He is also a trickster. He tries to tame the Naga, of course in vain.
Krishna and Rama
When the demons threaten to overpower the gods, Vishnu incarnates to fight them on earth. His most important incarnations were Krishna and Rama.
The Churning of the Sea of Milk
To gain immortality, the gods must get Amrita, the elixir of life from the Sea of Milk.
Vishnu gets the demons, the anti-gods, to cooperate with the gods. The Naga King Vasuki makes the rope. The Mount Mandara in the middle of the Sea is the pivot. The gods are pulling on one side, the demons at the other. When the amrita is won, the gods become immortal. Vishnu cheats the demons out of Amrita. Eternal war breaks up between Vishnu and the demons.