Re. Devaraja

[Ven. Tantra]

Thanking R. Srinivasan who, as part of a much longer
posting, wrote: <<Khmer tradition is an extension of
this, since the Prashastis found all over Siem Reap
[Angkor] reflect this concept. Western historians who
could not understand the concept have tended to think
that Khmer kings treated themselves as "Gods"; LIKE
Gods is different from being Gods.>>

Among the Khmer, the cult of the Devaraja emerged
during the ninth-century reign of Jayavarman II. At
this time, the previously dominant Zakti religion �
based mainly on fecundity and the life-giving energy
of nature � was modified anew or replaced by a
politicized form of Zaivism founded on rites of the
Devaraja. This would seem to imply nothing less than a
king's personal deification by merging his soul with
the essence of Ziva's subtle being. Here,
interestingly, R. Srinivasan suggests something
different. This invites some amplification and
clarification.

> From this time, the rites of Devaraja and the
consecration of the king's royal linga became the
chief sources of royal legitimacy. Popular worship of
the royal linga also became supreme. Such sculpted
stone phallic representations of Ziva were placed
throughout the Khmer Empire. They were normally
installed at the summits of pyramidal temple-mountains
representing Mount Kailasa, the navel of the universe.
Ziva's association with The Sacred Mountain is
generally understood. But here we have Ziva in the
symbolic form of a linga placed in the central shrine
of a temple that is itself symbolic of the sacred
mountain. The compound effect can nothing but swell
the ramifications of the primordial concept. As the
Cosmic Pillar, or axis mundi, the royal temple that
enshrined the linga symbolized the sacred mountain
Kailasa, "the abode of the gods." In this way, the
linga also plotted the "essential center" or primal
locus of the Royal Dominion. [BTB, could this be the
meaning of "cakratiirtha"?]

Cambodian monarchs seem to have made tremendously
exacting calculations to determine the kingdom's
essential power-point. And there they erected the
royal temple. This mysterious "point-zero" furthermore
functioned as the fundamental reference point to which
all-subsequent centers were aligned. Thus, the linga
of the king became the primal locus of not only the
immediate geographic locale, but also by extension,
the entire universe. By erecting temple-mountains to
enshrine the royal linga, each succeeding king was
essentially constructing a personal quincunx or
"four-cornered force-field" in the form of a
religio-architectural mandala of universal alignment,
power and protection. But mandalas, we should note,
are more than just "microcosmic mirrors of the
universe." Mandalas are also "receptacles" of the
gods. And as Eliade has written, in Vedic India the
gods "descended into the altar." This conception was
extremely widespread, and existed beyond the frontiers
of India and even of Asia. "�The symbolism of royal
cities, temples, towns, and, by extension, every human
habitation was based upon such a valorization of the
sacred place as the center of the world and hence the
site of communication with heaven and hell [Eliade,
_Yoga_ 220]. Still, the notion and evolution of the
linga itself, particularly among the Khmer, would be
an interesting discussion if someone wants to go
there.

Finally, by way of personal observation, I could
hardly help reflecting when visiting the ruins of the
Greater Angkor Archeological Complex, that while
thieves and archeologists had deprived the place of
nearly every linga that ever stood, there remained
abandoned yonis in remarkable abundance.

VT


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/