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: Staff Writer, Picture by : Nathan Dexter. |
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About 40
kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh along National
Route 5, a mountain topped with the spires of stupas
rears from the plain like a fairytale castle. This
is Phnom Oudong, at one time an ancient capital,
bombed and desecrated by the Americans and then
the Khmer Rouge, but still possessing an eerie beauty
that no war has been able to steal from it.
As the capital, it was called Oudong Meanchey Oudong
means noble or excellent, and Meanchey means victory.
From 1618 until 1866 it was home to a succession
of kings, deposed from the former capital of Longvek
by the invading Thais. The mountain itself runs
from southeast to northeast, with a low saddle in
the middle. Khmers say it has the shape of a Naga
the magical multi-headed |
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serpents that
guard the Buddha. Along Route 5, signs point the way to
silversmithing villages, a legacy of the past when kings
and nobility used to come to the Tonle Sap to bathe and
the people would offer them delicate gifts fashioned from
the precious metal. Turn left at the large billboard,
and at the very base of the mountain is a flurry of picnic
huts. On weekends, hoards of people descend on the area
from Phnom Penh to eat roast chicken, fish and palm fruit
in the cool of the thick forest. At the base of the mountain
near the path, a memorial containing bones of some of
the hundreds of bodies exhumed from a large Khmer Rouge
killing field here has been built testament to the area's
bloody past. Stairs to the left lead to a huge, shattered
statue of Buddha, the feet almost the only part still
intact. On the path up the mountain to the right, the
stairs climb steeply and a large structure rises on the
left. Inside, huge pillars stand underneath sky, and in
between their bullet-strafed skeletons, a statue of Buddha
sits, only his right arm and shoulder still intact from
the ravages of aerial bombings and shelling that shook
Oudong from 1970 onwards.
The Khmer Rouge finished the job in 1977, setting explosives
inside the temple.
This is Arthross Temple (Temple of Eight Points), and
legend has it that the Buddha here, facing north instead
of the traditional direction of east, is a testimony to
the strength and power of the ancient Cambodian kingdom. |
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The spires of Oudong’s
stupas can be seen from long distances away, giving
the mountain the appearance of a fairytale castle.
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In the 18th
century, locals say, a Chinese king sent his people
out across Asia to identify potential threats. When
they came to Oudong, they saw the mountain shaped
like a naga, a cavern on top of the Arthross end,
and observed the wealth and power of Khmer society.
They went home and told their king that the Khmers
were already a powerful race, and should a naga
appear through the cavern of Arthross, they would
be strong enough to rule the world.
The Chinese king did not want this, nor did he want
a war. Instead, he asked the Khmer king if he could
build a temple above the cavern, with Buddha's face
towards China in order to protect his kingdom. This
was named Arthaross temple (Arthaross means 18 corners)
because there are 18 points, or corners, built into
the structure of the temple. This temple also once
stood 18 hats high a Khmer measurement the length
of an arm from elbow to fingertips. One hat is about
half a meter. Behind Arthross is Chker Amao stupa.
Chker Amao was the dog of the head monk of Preah
Sokhun Mean Bon. He was reportedly so remarkably
clever that the monk could send him shopping with
a list tied to his collar and the faithful dog would
walk from market stall to market stall, collect
the shopping, then bring it home. When he died he
was reincarnated as the son of a Chinese king. The
young prince began to get terrible headaches, and
the court astrologer diagnosed the problem as the
roots of the bamboo growing across the dog Amao's
head in his Oudong grave.The king sent his people
to Cambodia to cut the roots of the bamboo and build
the temple that became Chkeri Amao Temple to consecrate
the |
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spot.As the ridge
meanders northeast, three small viharas Vihear Preah Ko
(Sacred Cow), Vihear Preah Keo (Sacred Precious Stone)
and Vihear Prak Neak (The Buddha Protected by a Naga)
have been restored and feature a statue of the sacred
cow, glittering golden Buddhas and vibrant murals. The
invading Thais took the original Preah Ko and Preah Keo
when Longvek fell in 1594.These statues were said to have
held golden books full of all the knowledge in the world
in their bellies, and legend says that when they were
lost to the Khmers marks when the Kingdom of Cambodia
fell behind her neighbors. As the head of the naga comes
into sight, three large stupas mark the resting place
of kings.The first stupa, Chetdei Mouk Pruhm, is where
the remains of King Monivong lie. He died in 1941. The
middle stupa, with its four bayon faces looking out over
Kandal in all directions, is Trai Traing, built by King
Norodom for his father, King Ang Duong, in 1891.The last
is called Damrei Sam Poan and was built in the 17th century
for King Soriyopor. At the very point of the mountain,
a huge stupa is just in the final stages of construction.
This is probably where the Buddha relics that were once
housed in the vihara outside the train station in Phnom
Penh will be placed.
Across on the smaller ridge, Ta Sann Mosque is a testament
to King Ang Duong's broadminded intellectualism. Grandfather
Sann was born in Champa, the former Islamic empire that
once shared Indochina with the Khmers, and was an Iman
at Phnom Chumreay. He and the king became firm friends
during long discussions about the dharma of both religions,
and the king offered him a 50 square meter area on any
mountain he chose to build a mosque, which he snappily
accepted. But Oudong has not always witnessed such magnanimous
tolerance. The alternative stairway that tumbles down
the mountainside near the stupas of past kings passes
murals depicting the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. No
one here has forgotten that past, and the bullet-riddled
temples are an everyday testament to what this fairytale
city of the dead has suffered in the recent past. |
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Suite
B8, Regency Square, InterContinental Hotel, 294 Mao Tse Toung
Boulevard,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Tel: (855) 23 213 133 Fax: (855) 23 213 033
E-mail:
editor@leisurecambodia.com |
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