Preah Khan Temple Mystery Door of Legends

By Kent Davis for Devata.org

Preah Khan, Cambodia – Hidden in the jungle north of Angkor lay the ruins of Preah Khan. In 1,191 AD, King Jayavarman VII and Queen Indradevi consecrated the royal temple to commemorate a victory over an invading army at that very spot. The temple included a huge Buddhist university and more than 100,000 people reputedly worked and studied there. We will never know the curriculum taught but a mysterious door frame hints at some ancient tales that must have been familiar to students at the time.

Photographer Jaro Poncar ponders the mystery door at Preah Khan. To see his extraordinary images of Angkor visit www.poncar.de

Classic Cambodian Legends

“Tales of the Hare”

The Khmer people have always maintained a rich oral tradition of myths, legends and folklore. Technically, “myths” are fantastic tales of imagination while “legends” have some basis in real people, places and events…although the tales may become exaggerated or distorted over time (see this page for a comparison of these concepts).

In recent years, I’ve been working on a series of books relating folktales of Southeast Asia. The first in print, by Chhany Sak Humphry, is a bi-lingual (Khmer and English) collection, Tales of the Hare – 27 Classic Folktales of Cambodia.

In 2012, DatAsia Press will release scholar Solang Uk’s first English translation of G. H. Monod’s collection of Cambodian legends gathered in the early 20th century under the title “Women’s Wiles“. Also in final preparation is a collection of tales from Northeastern Thailand called, “The Naga Prince“, collected by Kermit Krueger while teaching in Mahasarakham in 1963.

The three collections include a wide range of characters and adventures. Some stories explain how great monuments like Angkor Wat were built. Others tell tales of kings and queens of old, magicians, lovers, pirates…and even a clever rabbit who tricks tigers, elephants, crocodiles and people!

With these ancient tales in mind, one day I found myself facing a mystery at Preah Khan.

Preah Khan’s Mystery Door of Legends

In 2008 while exploring Preah Khan I was intrigued to see, among the ruins, an intricately carved door frame with nine distinctive emblems. Each one seems to tell a story long since forgotten but, evidently when they were carved nearly 900 years ago, these stone images spoke quite clearly to passersby. Read the full article here.