CAMBODIAN Temple Stories
Neang Khmao Temple
(
Takeo Province )
Prasat
Neang Khmao is located in Rovieng commune, Samrong district, Takeo
province. The tale related to this temple is as the following:
A
long time ago, there was a king, Sorya Tevong, stayed on Chiso
mountain, was very powerful and had goodness. The king built five
temples and had four ponds digged in all directions of the temple.
There were four rives, Tonle Om, Tonle Sngout, Tonle Sdok, and Tonle
Protron in all direction of Chiso mountain. Preah Bat Sorya Tevong
had a daughter, Neang Khmao. When she was 16 years old, she was most
beautiful girl in the kingdom. One day, she wanted to go out for
enjoying herself at Tonle Protron so she went to salute the king to
get permission. The king agreed with her and asked the servants to
prepare and accompany her for enjoying herself in the afternoon.
At
that time, there was a man, Bandit Srey, who had just resigned from
being a monk, was more handsome than other men in the village in the
west of Chiso mountain near the road to Tonle Protron. Bandit had a
lot of knowledge of magic. At the same time, when Neang Khmao went
to Tonle Protron for enjoying herself, Bandit Srey was bored and
went for a walk near the road, he saw the princess walk down the
mountain with servants. He fell in love with her greatly. Bandit
Srey thought for a while and decided " I must find ways to coax
her even though I am very poor or her father will punish me. "
Thinking so, Bandit Srey recalled the knowledge of magic, he took
tree leaves to be blown and recited with magic and he climbed up the
tree to blow the leaves in order to make loud sound.
The
leaf sound Bandit Srey blew impressed princess Neang Khmao and made
her become confounded. When she was conscious she appeared to be in
deep thought for a while, the blown leaf sound got more and more
beautifully until she decided to go see the blower clearly. Princess
Neang Khmao fell in love with him more and more when she saw him and
talked with him as it was traditional talk between man and woman.
They both made a date for the next day and they left the place.
Princess Neang Khmao always missed Bandit Srey. Later, she went to
get permission from her father for enjoying herself. The king agreed
and asked for the same preparation for her daughter. She told the
servants, " Please wait for me here because I want to go over
there for a while " when arriving a place where they made a
date to meet each other.
The
princess walked to the dated place to meet Bandit Srey and they both
succeeded in their plan. The servants looked secretly and saw
improper behavior of the princess. They were very frightened of the
king's punishment, so they discussed and agreed to inform the king.
Arriving in royal palace, the servants went to inform the king the
event. The king felt so furious that he ordered the executioner to
take her to be killed. The wife of the king asked him to forgive the
princess, and not to kill her but to exile her from here. The
king agreed with the wife, mother, who requested so be commanded the
chief of an army to construct two temples 3 Yojanas ( Yojana is an
ancient unit of measurement equivalent to about 16 kilometers ).
Then
he told his daughter, Neang Khmao to live there. Since then,
Princess Neang Khmao was very sad because of exiling and living
alone and she never met her sweetheart who she heard nothing. At
that time, there was a monk, Keo, who left home land to study magic.
He was highly educated. He came back to home land and stayed in a
place in Takeo province. The villagers digged a pond for him which
was later called Srah Keo ( Keo's pond ) until nowadays. He stayed
so long that he became well known in all villages and districts.
Having
heard that, princess Neang Khmao wanted to meet him in order to know
about her sadness and happiness. So she asked the servants to
arrange royal seat on elephant's back to salute the teacher Keo.
When she arrived she entered to salute the teacher Keo traditionally
and she saw all appearances of teacher Keo so she forgot her old
sweetheart and fell in love with teacher Keo. Since then the
relationship between Princess Neang Khmao and teacher Keo was
getting closer and closer that teacher Keo decided to leave from
being a monk in order to be a layman to share happiness and pain
with princess in the temple. Because of such a tale that it was
called Neang Khmao temple until now. |
