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Document Details :

Title: Le sol et l'ancêtre
Subtitle: L'amorphe et l'anthropomorphe
Author(s): ANG, Ch.
Journal: Journal Asiatique
Volume: 283    Issue: 1   Date: 1995   
Pages: 213-238
DOI: 10.2143/JA.283.1.556567

Abstract :
Through a consideration of each of the known types of material representation associated with the Khmeranak tā, the present study attempts to gain some insight into the deep nature of these territorial divinities. The rich spectrum of these representations varies from an implied presence in an idolless shelter, to the brute form of the stonespirit, to elaborate anthropomorphic representation. This diversity touches at the very essence of the anak tā: the earth which can become social territory into which the community’s ancestors are condensed. An examination of this cult reveals the modalities of the adoption, the spread, and the extent of the perception of Sivaism in ancient Cambodia. In many ways, the linga is an ideal material and ritual extension of the brute stone. We have thus a diachronic perspective on the cult of territorial divinities in Cambodia.

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