APAD 124: Buddhist temple entrance
Sorry if I sound a bit like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft here but here’s a few more temple photos that I took in one of our road trips earlier this year. Remember Prasat Vihear Suor which I visited last February? If you had forgotten, here it is (please click the highlighted text).
We entered through a cement archway that is decorated with elephants and faces similar to that found at Bayon Temple. We could not stop the car by the entrance so I had to walk inside (looking out) to take a photo. Here is the result:
Archways like this are very typical of an entrance to Cambodian temples. They give you a sense that you are entering Buddha’s domain.
These statues of temple guards, called dvarapalas, and the creature they are holding is called a naga, the mythical seven-headed, miles-long serpent that is said to inhabit the waters of the great Mekong River.
Looking in the same direction, I went closer to the statues to my right and managed to get a close up shot of a dvarapala.
This should give you an idea how it looks like:
Looks grouchy; scary even, isn’t it? There must be a hundred of them on either sides of the road. I found out not all of these dvarapalas look the same. I kid you not. Here is another dvarapala, on the other side of the road.
Those soldiers are called dvarapalas and the creature they are holding is called a naga, the mythical seven-headed serpent that is said to inhabit the waters of the great Mekong River.
After our visit and on our way out, while my husband was waiting for a gap in the traffic, I hurriedly took this photo.
You can see the two seven-headed nagas being carried by the dvarapalas on both sides.
APAD 112: Mystical
Pardon the not-so-wordless entry this week.
This photo was taken more than a month ago when my brother, my husband and I explored around Wat Phnom Prasith, an hour’s drive northwest of Phnom Penh. This old stupa attracted my attention. With the gnarly trees surrounding it, it looked interesting so I took photos (one of them is shown above). After camera shots were done, something jolted me.
I sensed something, like a mystical air, blowing through this part of the woods. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. And when I started to walk away, I felt goosebumps on my arms making me quicken my steps to catch up with my husband and brother.
I wonder what that was. I can still remember the odd feeling up to now.
APAD 111: Temple guardian
I’ve always been fascinated by different mythical creatures and deities and living here in Cambodia doesn’t disappoint. These creatures are present in Khmer culture.
This is a temple guardian called, or a dvarapala. And it’s only one of the many other dvarapalas that adorn in most Khmer temples. Another kind of dvarapala is found here.
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