Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Siem Reap - Banteay Srei Part 2

Imagine having a carving like the above at the door ways of your house. Isn't it cool? It's like you have your own guardian protecting your own dwelling place. I may not be religious, but I love myth and mystery. I like symbols and signs. A small reminder and talisman, if you know what I mean. Nothing religious. More psychological :P

 

Finally, the main reason why we came to Banteay Srei. It was these guardians I saw in the photo of the travel book. At first I though they were monkeys. Like an army of monkey gods protecting the temple. But after visiting Angkor National Museum the next day, I finally found out that these were guardians with lion heads..... And again, the similarity to Egypt is striking to me. Have anyone done a comparison and analyst of the Egypt civilisation vs the Khmer Empire? I bet someone did, I just haven't found it yet.... Or if you're a historian reading this, can you please do a study on it or point me to the appropriate papers?

But I was pretty sure not all were lion head guardians. Surely the ones above are human heads?

If you ask me, they still look like monkey heads to me....

If you want to know some details of the temple, here are some official information. If not mistaken, this temple is more for the feminine deities.... 


My beautiful dancer ladies, or were they actually devas?


And here are some more explanation of the place. 

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