ANGKOR and I

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119 narrowly constricted waist and rounded rear are sensual, reminiscent of the back of a woman. Village Elders who still Protect the Ruins From the terrace wherein the “God Yama” is seated, let us walk around and visit the villages large and small, around the Angkor monuments. Those places have continued for many years as sites of interaction between the villagers and monuments. Among the archaeological sites of Angkor, there are several with names like “Ta Prohm” or “Ta Keo.” In the Cambodian language, such names would signify the “Temple with Grandfather Prohm” or the “Temple protected by Grandfather Keo.” I have no idea as to exactly when it occurred, but Grandfather Prohm, an old man from a village nearby settled in the temple as a guardian. He cleared away the undergrowth, swept the place clean of fallen leaves, and offered flowers and incense every day. In the wet season, the rainwater within the ruins was drained with a bamboo broom. In course of time villagers began to refer to the ruins as “Grandfather Prohm’s Temple,” and that in time became a popular name for the archaeological site. At the Ta Prohm temple, I visited in the 1960s, an old man with a bent back and wearing a black coat was cleaning the place using a broom, and his grandchild also appeared to be assisting him. Even within the same Buddhist religion, the Buddhism of the Angkor period was not directly linked to Theravada Buddhism, of which the grandfather was an adherent. Aside from such historical backdrops however, the old man daily offered the sacred light to God, and with a prayerful mindset he spent the entire day cleansing the place. The intent behind such tedious tasks as sweeping and removing fallen leaves one by one, was to slow down the