SEAMEOSPAFA's video: Ta Reach the Grand Vishnu at Angkor Vat: from Brahmanism to Animism

Ta Reach, literally translated as the Royal Ancestor, is an impressive eight-armed statue of Vishnu – the Hindu Preserver of the World. It was the most important deity worshipped at Angkor Vat and its statue was made and consecrated inside Angkor’s central tower in the 12th Century. From approximately the 16th Century, Angkor Vat has been a Buddhist temple. During this period the statue of the Grand Vishnu was transferred to the main gate of the 3rd enclosure at the western entrance of Angkor Vat: a marginal position within the temple when the central sanctuary was closed off as a stupa for Buddhism. Since then, the statue has gradually become a local deity and a spiritual guardian of the Angkor community. Today, not only locals but worshippers living in all parts of the world still travel to Angkor Vat to pay homage to Ta Reach, not as a brahmanic god, but Neak Ta, an animistic deity of the local community. Worshippers will visit for a variety of reasons, such as for protection, to chase away bad luck, ask for good business, to bear children or to acknowledge marriages. An annual festival is held at Angkor Vat in homage to Ta Reach at the end of the harvesting season. Either a man or woman acts as a messenger, medium or incarnate of Ta Reach by receiving individual requests from worshippers. As a spiritual representative of Ta Reach, the medium performs the rite of responding to all supplications. This paper will explore how meaning and audience response in connection with the statue of Ta Reach have changed. It will discuss the ritual practices performed and the spiritual value of the statue of Ta Reach to worshippers today. Keyword: Angkor Vat, Vishnu, Ta Reach, Neak Ta, Community Spiritual protector, medium, performing art, agrarian rite, animistic believe *This presentation was delivered by Mr Sokrithy IM of APSARA Authority at SEAMEO SPAFA's programme activity, "Animism in the Arts of Southeast Asia", which took place at Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand from 8-9 August 2019. For more details on this event, visit the SEAMEO SPAFA website at: http://www.seameo-spafa.org/animism-in-the-arts-of-southeast-asia/