Forlong - Rivers of Life

Serpent and Phallic Worship.
have yet to be read. Dr Bastian calls a city here Iutha para pari, or Nakon-Thom, 1
and. says it was founded in 957 A.C., which, it would appear is a date twice given of
the accession of its founder-king Pathuma suri vong of tenth century, who one
tradition states was a stranger who revered trees. It is believed that the cities
were ruined and deserted during the war with Siam, which began in 1351, and ended
by the subjugation of Kambodia in 1374; and Fergusson thinks that this was
Boodhism finally driving out serpent worship. I believe that Boodhiam permeated
all these parts during its reign in India, as I show in my historical sketch of the
violent propagandism of the energetic Magadoo empire; of course the faith would not
be so pure a Boodhism, as Siam would be able to give to Kambodia in the fifteenth
century A.C. I have shown, in the case of Kashmeer and adjacent states, that the
king was only nominally a Boodhist, even in Hweng Tsang’s time, and that eight
centuries after him, Akbar’s census showed that Hindooism was to serpent worship
something like 1 to 7, and Boodhism “nowhere.”
The early legends of Kambodia presnt two striking features. First, a HOLY
TREE, which the kingly race, who came to this serpent oountry, reposed under, or
descended from heaven by; secondly, that this tree-loving race are captivated by the
dragon princess of the land. It is the serpent king, however, who builds the city of
Nakon-Thom for his daughter and her stranger husband, which may or may not mean
the serpent palaces or temples.
The husband was no doubt of some superior race, or he could not have gained
access to the king and won his daughter. As such, he would guide the builders,
though he could not constrain them to neglect their Dragons on their grandest national
buildimg; and so we find to this day in China the Boodhist temples are most profusely
adorned with Dragons and hideous monsters, yet none would say that these Chinese
temples are serpent shrines. In reality “the Serpent is there,” say Boodhists, “to
frighten sceptics,” as some British pietiests try to do by preaching of devils, hell, and
its horrors.
One legend says that. the stranger of Kambodia was a banished prince called
Phra-thon, and that in time, he won over the people of the city which his father-in-law
built for him—so much so, that his subjects complained of his, their king’s, presence, and
finally got rid of the king by placing an image of four faces (which is Brahma) over the
city gates. This RAJA NAGA, or Serpent-King-Father, was a Sabbatarian, or Sabean,
and a very pious one; he every seventh day went forth from his palace, and, ascending
a lofty mountain, “poured forth his soul in ardent devotion.”—(Fergusson quoting
Colonel Low.) The four-faced god was evidently to him a horror—so much so, that
at last he yielded up his kingdom. One legend says that Indra, or Hindooism, finding
himself lonely in this Serpent land, married the Dragon’s daughter, and had a son,
Ketumālia, who was father of the founder of the city, Pathuma-Suri-Vong. The
1 Naga Tumb in Sanskrit signifies “The Invisible Serpent.”
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