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PHI
MAI
TEMPLE
(
Norkor Riech Seyma Province )
The tale said there was a son of Khmer king named Preah Chintra in Angkor
Thom. The astrologer told when the prince grew up and was mature, the fiancée
was not born yet and was beginning at the stage of mother's pregnancy in
the north. Preah Chintra left the royal palace to have a look. The prince
took a long walk and arrived at Phnom Rong, Prasat Krom, he saw two
farmers, husband and wife who were ploughing the field and planting rice
with pregnancy. At that time, the sun was very hot, the prince saw a
rainbow umbrella shape in the sky shading the wife of the farmer from the
heat.
Having seen the strangeness, Preah Chintra walked to and asked to be a
servant by telling the wife of the farmer that " If you gave birth to
a male baby I would regard him as my friend but I would treat as my wife
if it was female one ". Preah Chintra served the farmers until the
baby was born and named Or Phoem. Or Phoem had played with Preah Chintra
since she was young and called him brother since then. When she was 16,
Preah Chintra told the truth to Or Phoem's mother that he was the prince
and he would go to take bride price for marrying to Or Phoem. Preah
Chintra said good bye to Or Phoem's parents and left for Angkor Thom to
bring the bride price.
Or Phoem was special because of her lovely fragrant hair. One day, she
came down to have a wash in small river, her three hairs fell off her head
and floated down the stream. At the end of the small river, there was a
king named Prommea Tott walking in the woods and washing himself. He saw
the three hairs floating and sticking on his body. Because of the most
fragrant hair, king Prommea Tott was most interested, he ordered soldiers
to look for the owner of the hair at the upper part of small river. They
saw her and took her with force to the king. King Prommea Tott brought Or
Phoem until they reached Neang Yom district where is now called Neang
Rorng district by Siamese.
She missed Preah Chintra so much that she just sat with thought and sorrow
and forgot about rice and water. At night, she escaped and hid herself at
a place called Plai Bat. King Prommea Tott found and took her to another
place in Norkor Riech Seyma. As for Preah Chintra, after arriving in
Angkor Thom, he described the story to his mother and arranged engagement
present that were valuable in order to ask for Or Phoem in marriage. When
he arrived and saw Or Phoem's parents crying with sorrow because they lost
their daughter, they both told Preah Chintra about event. After that Preah
Chintra and the others took a journey to find Or Phoem.
Preah Chintra traveled and arrived at a small river where he threw silver,
gold, precious crystal and bracelet and commanded all soldiers and people
who accompanied him to go back to
the capital. But only he himself continued finding Or Phoem. The place
when Preah Chintra threw gold and silver was called Plai Meas river which
is called Plai Moth by Siamese at the moment. King Prommea Tott forced Or
Phoem to get married to him but she always asked for a delay because she
hoped that Preah Chintra was looking for her. Preah Chintra walked and
walked to find her until he got to the country of king Prommea Tott and
met her there.
The place when Preah Chintra and Or Phoem met each other was called Vi Mai
or Pi Mai but later it became Phi Mai till now. Preah Chintra and Or Phoem
had several separations and at last, Or Phoem was determined to be a
female Brahman with white dress in order to look for Preah Chintra. Later
day, she got to a country on foot at the time the daughter of the king in
that country was bitten by a snake. A lot of doctors treated her but she
did not get better at all. The king, father, announced to look for a
competent person to cure his daughter and the king would offer her as a
wife.
Or Phoem asked for a permission to cure the king's daughter until she was
well again. Then the king decided to build a pagoda near Royal Palace so
that the female Brahman could stay. As for Preah Chintra, he went to find
Or Phoem in all forest and villages till he took a rest in that pagoda.
The prince could not recognize Or Phoem but Or Phoem recognized her
husband well. She tried to ask her husband background because she wanted
to experiment her husband's mind. He told her that he was looking for his
wife Or Phoem.
The female Brahman asked Preah Chintra, " If your wife died or not,
would you get married again? " " Although she has already had a
husband, I will still love her " replied the Prince, " If I do
not live with her I will be alone until I die. " After taking
experiment of Preah Chintra's heart, the female Brahman knew that Preah
Chintra still loved her so she told the truth that she was Or Phoem. From
then, she resolved to leave from being a female Brahman and Preah Chintra
took her to throne in Angkor Thom. Nowadays, there seen a bed in which her
mother stayed for getting warmness when giving birth to her, a loom when
she began weaving and a cow stable. After that, she built Phi Mai temple
and Prnom Rong temple in order to worship for gods that helped protecting
her and her husband from trouble.
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