Neak Pean (or Neak Poan) ( km, ប្រាសាទនាគព័ន្ធ, "the entwined serpents") at
Angkor,
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...
is an artificial island with a
Buddhist temple
A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism repres ...
on a circular island in
Jayatataka Baray, which was associated with
Preah Khan temple, built during the reign of King
Jayavarman VII.
[Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., ] It is the "Mebon" of the Preah Khan baray (the "Jayatataka" of the inscription).
Etymology
Some historians believe that Neak Pean represents
Anavatapta,
a mythical lake in the Himalayas whose waters are thought to cure all illness.
[Higham, C., 2001, The Civilization of Angkor, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ] The name is derived from the sculptures of snakes (
Nāga
The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...
) running around the base of the temple structure, ''neak'' being the Khmer rendering of the Sanskrit ''naga''. "They are Nanda and Upananda, two nagas traditionally associated with Lake
Anavatapta."
[Willett, William. ''An Angkor Roundabout''. Unpublished manuscript, undated. Soon to be published online (2014) by the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society (Singapore)]
History
Neak Pean was originally designed for medical purposes (the ancients believed that going into these pools would balance the elements in the bather, thus curing disease); it is one of the many hospitals that Jayavarman VII built. It is based on the ancient Hindu belief of balance. Four connected pools represent Water, Earth, Fire and Wind. Each is connected to the central water source, the main tank, by a stone conduit "presided over by one of Four Great Animals (''maha ajaneya pasu'') namely Elephant, Bull, Horse, and Lion, corresponding to the north, east, south, and west quarters....The stone conduits in the little pavilions are fashioned to represent the heads of the Four Great Animals...the only exception being that on the east, which represents a human head instead of a bull's."
[Willetts, William.] Originally, four sculptures stood on the floor of the lake. The only remaining statue is that of the horse Balaha, a form of the bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara, saving sailors from the ogresses of Tamradvipa. The temple on the lake was originally dedicated to Avalokitesvara. Willetts believed that "this is Jayavarman as he would have wished to have appeared to his people"
refers to Neak Pean in his visit to
Angkor in the late 13th century.
Gallery
File:Neak Pean layout.svg,
File:Neak Pean, Angkor, Camboya, 2013-08-17, DD 01.JPG,
File:Neak pean 2009 1.jpg,
File:Neak Pean-2.JPG,
File:Neak Pean, Angkor, Camboya, 2013-08-17, DD 12.JPG,
File:Neak Pean, Angkor, Camboya, 2013-08-17, DD 14.JPG,
See also
*
Angkor
*
Traditional Cambodian medicine
Traditional Cambodian medicine ( km, វេជ្ជសាស្រ្តបូរាណខ្មែរ, ALA-LC: ) comprise several traditional medicine systems in Cambodia.
Healers and herbalists of Cambodian traditional medicine are collectivel ...
References
Buddhist temples in Siem Reap Province
Angkorian sites in Siem Reap Province
12th-century Buddhist temples
{{Buddhism-monastery-stub