Are the statues the symbol of the founding of the city, or is the wat, or are both?The Wat or pagoda was built, according to legend, by a wealthy Khmer widow named Srey Penh in 1373 to protect the four bronze Buddha statues and a single stone statue of Vishnu that she found in a Koki tree floating down the Tonle Sap River. The statues and the Wat together are symbols of the founding of the city of Phnom Penh.
Question on Wat Phnom History
Question on Wat Phnom History
Editing a fiction manuscript, but seeking historical accuracy. Here is the passage:
Cantankerous Curmudgeon
Is this a mss you wrote yourself or are you editing for someone else? Anyway, I wouldn't call the statues and the wat symbols of the founding, though you could certainly call them modern symbols of the city, like the Opera House is a symbol of Sydney. Incidentally, there is no wat (monastery) at Angkor Wat - there was once, but it's long gone.Pecahead wrote:Editing a fiction manuscript, but seeking historical accuracy. Here is the passage:
Are the statues the symbol of the founding of the city, or is the wat, or are both?The Wat or pagoda was built, according to legend, by a wealthy Khmer widow named Srey Penh in 1373 to protect the four bronze Buddha statues and a single stone statue of Vishnu that she found in a Koki tree floating down the Tonle Sap River. The statues and the Wat together are symbols of the founding of the city of Phnom Penh.
The building on top of the hill is a vihear, or shrine. The tower behind it is a stupa, built to contain the ashes of Ponhea Yat, the king who founded Phnom Penh. He was a bit later than Daun Penh, the lady who discovered the statues. The stupa also contains the original statues. Inside the vihear is a statue of the Buddha, and behind it a sort of tall square object with a Buddha on each side. This called the Chaktomuk, the Four Faces, and probably the origin of the ancient name of Chaktomukh for Phnom Penh. (Not the four rivers, which is a story that started in the French period - Phnom Penh is called Chaktomukh in earlier chronicles).
Sorry for boring you but I tend to get carried away by nerdy stuff. Anyway, not symbols of the founding, but relics of the founding and symbols of the city. An even better symbol for the city would be Preah Ang Doung Ka, the shrine on the Riverside in front of the Royal Palace. There's a good article on it in Steve Boswell's "King Norodom's Head". Another good book is Milton Osborne's "Phnom Penh: A Cultural and Literary History".
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