The Dragon's Mirror: The Magic of Angkor Wat V

Part 5

REPTILIANS' PRESENCE

We arrived in Siem Reap after about a five hour drive on the Phnom Penh-Battambang-Siem Reap route, crossing much of Western Cambodia. Despite the late hour we ask our guide to lead us immediately to Angkor Wat. The temple is closed to visitors at night, but the road that runs along the entire outer perimeter allows you to see the pond and, beyond it, the treetops that surround the sacred area.



We stop in front of the stone corridor that the next morning will take us over the water barrier to the Western entrance of Angkor Wat.
The clearing of the car park is deserted even though we know that there are guards, hidden nearby, who watch each access in case any reckless tourist decides to approach out of the visiting hours. We say tourists, because no Cambodian would ever dare to enter Angkor Wat at night.
We admire the statues of the two Nagas towering on the stone slab that marks the beginning of the walkway, the silence and the night give the already magical place an ineffable aura of vitality.

The Nagas, mythical snakes of Hindu mythology who in some versions would be chthonian beings whose inherent wickedness drives them out of their underground burrows only to kidnap and kill human children; in Khmer culture the Nagas represent a fundamental element both from an architectural and a sculptural point of view. The Nagas are depicted as huge, multiple-headed snakes (seven or nine usually, and in any case always in odd numbers) positioned in the shape of a corona. Each head has a membrane on the neck similar to that of cobras.

The view of the Nagas guarding the walkway to the temple was quite an impressive moment, for all around us was silence. The sounds of the jungle and the guard lighting up his cigarette somewhere in the darkness seemed irrelevant if compared to the striking image of the stone serpents, and the silhouette of the temples looming in the background.
During our research on the origins of mankind we came across the symbol of the snake (or dragon, which in some cases is a different version of the same symbol) way too many times to ignore its importance. Here, in the heart of the Khmer Empire, we know that the Nagas were connected to the water element, and present in the myths of the origin of the Khmer people: ancient legends tells that the Nagas are the result of the union between an Indian Brahmin and a Cambodian princess-snake.

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The Nagas appear in many other legends, from the Churning of the Milk Sea to that of King Leper (whose bas-relief is located in the temple of Bayon) to the story of Mucalinda, the Snake King who protected the Buddha from the fury of the elements.
We feel that we have traveled not only in space but also in time, a feeling that only magical places can produce, and those who have tried it at least once recognize it immediately.
Angkor is one of the ancestral cradles of our origins; our guide had repeated it several times in Phnom Penh, and tells us again, with a proud smile:

"In Angkor Wat, the gods are still here."

We then remember the phrases and beliefs that we collected in Phnom Penh about the magic in the temple, and a code of conduct to keep inside it on every occasion: do not raise your voice, do not swear, do not make promises, do not disrespect the gods, do not take away any object.
From various sources we have learned about people who, for having failed to comply to those rules, saw their face deformed, their mouth sealed, their throats squealed by invisible hands, their heads turned one hundred and eighty degrees and, in the most serious cases, being hit by diseases and persecution even after leaving Angkor.
After silently expressing thoughts of gratitude for visiting such a unique place, we decide to go back to the hotel to rest. The next day would be very long and intense.



As soon as we enter the temple, we cross the esplanade where the city once ought to be. We head towards the walls which were entirely decorated with bas-reliefs with the intention of walking all the inner perimeter of the galleries, then visiting the smaller temples at the four corners (their exact function has not yet been confirmed: according to our guide, those were the places where the king's wives lodged, while others said that they functioned as “libraries". The small temples are oriented to the West and have two entrances, one to the East and one to the West.)

On observing the bas-reliefs we noticed war scenes, and specifically:
- The Battle of Lanka between the Rakshasa and the Vanaras (described as monkey-men) which is described in the Ramayana: Ravana, a ten-headed demon and king of the Rakshasa was a mortal enemy of Rama (the hero of the sacred text.) In the Mahabharata, the sage Markandeuya tells how Ravana kidnapped Rama's wife, Sita, and led her to Lanka. Rama, aided by the King of the Vanaras Sugriva and his army, put Lanka under siege, quartered Ravana and freed Sita;
- The procession of King Suryavarman II, the first who built Angkor Wat;
- The Battle of Kurukshetra between the Pandavas and the Kauravas also called the Battle of Mahbharata as it is described in that Hindu sacred text. The Battle of Kurukshetra is a conflict which started over a succession struggle between two related groups, the Kaurava and Pandava, for the throne of Hastinapura in the Indian kingdom of Kuru;
- Yama's judgment and the torture of hell;
- The Churning of the Milk Sea, one of the best known episodes in Hindu mythology, and one which tells the origins of Amrita, the drink of immortality;
- A battle between Devas and Asuras;
- A battle between Vishnu and the Asuras;
- The conflict between Kṛiṣhṇa and the Asura Bana;
- The story of the monkey princes Vali and Sugriva.
 We must remain on the mythological figure of the Vanaras as a prominent element in the bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat. Tradition speaks of monkey-men, or monkeys endowed with particular magical powers. However, if the word Vanara [of various etymology, from vain (forest) and nara (man) to vav and nara ("is he a man?" or "maybe he is a man")] has taken on the meaning of "monkey" over time, and the Vanaras are depicted as monkeys in folk art, their exact identity is not clear as shown in various interpretations of the Hindu’s sacred texts. Unlike other creatures such as the Rakshasa, the Vanaras do not have a precursor in the Vedic literature. In the Ramayana they are described as human being in so far as language, outfit, dwellings, funerals, celebrations, etc, and capable of great jumps, hairy and with a tail. There is no verse which identifies the Vanaras as monkeys.



According to one theory, the Vanaras are mythological creatures, as they have supernatural powers and divine origin (Brahma would command other deities to perpetuate the Vanaras lineage or reincarnate into Vanaras to help Rama in his mission.) Another version of the Ramayana calls them Vanara Vidyadharas and describes them as a clan of supernatural beings who have as their standard the emblem of monkeys.