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Courtesy of Ministry of Cults and Religions,Translated by :
Moul Jetr. |
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Along National
Route 3 in Kampot Province, on the way to Kep as
you near Chakrei Ting District, a large mountain
looms into view.
This is Phnom Tvear (Door Mountain), and it is home
to a famous neakta, or spirit, called Neakta Chumteav
Mao (Her Excellency Mao).
Travelers passing her shrine must be wary, for locals
believe that if the spirit is not treated with the
respect that she expects, sickness and even death
will be the punishment for the foolhardy souls who
have ignored her.
This is the story of how Neakta Chumteav Mao came
to be, and how she became so powerful.
Once upon a time, many years ago, the jungle around
Phnom Tvear was very wild, and filled with dangerous
animals.
Villagers took their lives in their hands going
into the jungle but go there they must as they needed
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Slar Thor (above) and
Baisei are common offerings.
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materials to build
homes, fuel for fires and meat to eat.
One day, a villager called Krahom Kar (Red Neck) and his
wife Mao journeyed to the edge of the jungle with some
friends.
Before entering the wildest area, they decided to have
lunch and sat down to unwrap the rice and banana leaf
packages they had brought with them.
But no sooner had they settled down than a herd of wild
elephants stampeded out of the jungle ready to gore them
to death.
Krahom Kar fled one way and Mao another, but her path
was not a lucky one.
A tiger leapt from the bushes, and although she screamed
and shouted, it tore her to pieces and ate her. Her husband
never looked back but kept running to safety.
For years, everyone remembered the death of Yeay Mao (Grandmother
Mao) but because of the remoteness of where she was killed,
few people passed.
Those who did began to speak of a powerful spirit in the
area who rewarded them if they paid her homage. At first,
people made offerings of umbrellas if they prayed for
the rain to hold off until they got home and it did.
Then people began to make offerings of food and incense,
praying for good luck and good health.
When National Route 3 was built in the late 1800's, more
people began to pass the territory of Neakta Chumteav
Mao, and as offerings grew in number, so did her power.
Local people approached her with gifts of steamed chicken
and money to ask for health and good luck. If someone
lost something, they would make offerings of joss sticks
and candles to ask the spirit to act as a medium to help
them locate it or find out who had stolen it. Thieves
who stood before her altar and lied about their misdeeds
were struck down.
If someone became sick, a gift of traditional Khmer music
performed at her shrine and an offering of a pig's head
on a hook, one tale of gold and two meters of white clothing
would usually entice her to enter the body of a medium,
spit betel leaves on the invalid and either feed or chase
out the spirit which was making the person sick.
Even if she did not succeed in this, she could tell the
family what spirits were behind the illness and what they
wanted in return for the patient's renewed health.
But for all her good deeds, Chumteav Mao was a vengeful
spirit, and often wreaked havoc on local residents. This
reached a climax when a Chinese man, greedy for the money
that littered the neakta's shrine, tricked her into playing
cards with him for it.
At first, he pretended to lose, and the neakta became
careless and arrogant.
Then, at the very end, he suddenly revealed his skill,
winning the game and taking all the spirit's money. Angry
at being tricked, Chumteav Mao snapped the Chinese man's
neck.
After that day, many local people became sick as the spirit
took her revenge on innocents.
Two things happened to end her reign of terror.
Firstly, a French battalion leader stationed in the area
(for this was 1944 and Cambodia was at that time a French
protectorate) heard the pleas of the people for help and
brought a squad of men to her shrine. They shot into the
shrine, thereby depleting her power considerably.
The other was that a man named Oung a corporal stationed
at the site of her shrine realized that the spirit needed
to know she was respected. He built her a newer, larger
shrine in the form of a house. Chumteav Mao entered the
body of his wife, Sao.
"You are a local man," she said through the
voice of Sao. "Do you know and fear me?"
"Your excellency, I do, and I recognize your power,
but why do you cause such suffering to your people?"
he replied.
"What you witness is my strength. I use it to punish
those who do not respect me or are insolent," she
said.
"I bow before you and ask your forgiveness. We have
not known you well enough to truly appreciate your power
before," the clever Oung said. "But from now
on, we will look after you like you deserve, in return
for your protection."
The man’s answer satisfied Chumteav Mao and the villagers
were safe once more. Chumteav Mao visited Sao many times
more to use her as a medium to help the people.
Some time later another Chinese man, happy that she had
helped him to win the lottery, built her an even more
elaborate shrine, and this still stands today.
And travelers along National Road 3 still stop to bow
before this powerful but moody neakta, to make offerings
and ask her blessing before continuing their journey.
It is, after all, not safe not to. |
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Information
courtesy of the Ministry of Cults and Religion.
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