1-West wall, upper register
This
register must be read from left to right.
 |
Fig.1.W. - Hiran, feeling over-potent, rolled up the surface of earth and brought it to Badan, the underworld. Shiva commanded Vishnu to destroy the giant and restore the earth’s surface
 |
Fig.2.W. - For the
occasion, Vishnu took the form of a potent white boar.. Hiran, unaware that the boar was really
Vishnu, beat the boar viciously. Vishnu, regaining his godly shape, assaulted
the giant (Fig. 2. W, bottom left). Vishnu then unrolled and replaced the
Earth’s surface.
Fig. 3.WE. -Vishnu
returned to his abode in the middle of the ocean and from his umbilicus emerged
a lotus carrying a small, beautiful boy, Anomatan. It is interesting to note
the similarity of the iconography here with that of Vishnu reclining and the
creation of Brahma as in Hindu mythology.
These first image painted on the top left corner of
the western wall that initiates the visual narrative refers to the story that
does not appear in any known Cambodian publications, but only in the Thai
Ramakien.
Fig.4. W. - Indra
bringing Anomatan (as a youth of white skin) dressed in princely costumes, to
see Shiva. They proceeded on elephants
driven by mahouts, with carriers of parasols, together with cavaliers and
guards in Western costumes, until they faced the doors of Shiva’s palace.
Admiring the boy Shiva ordered to build a beautiful city for him (instantly, by
magic).
In
the city, surrounded by walls, there is grand palace of complex structure (Fig.
07 W). To the upper left side of the panel, Indra can be seen conferring the
city to Anomatan. In an open compound or perhaps a garden, there are four rishis,
wearing their traditional pointed headdress (right). According to Ramakien, the site chosen for the
building of the city was a clearing in a forest inhabited by four ascetics.
Indra composed the name of the city by the first syllables of the four rishis
names: A-Yu-Tha-Ya. Their names were Achonkhawi,
Yukakra, Thaha and Yakha.
In
the Ramakien is said that
contemporaneously to the making of Ayudhya, in the underground, Brahma built
the new city, a gift to Chaturaphak (a yak with four faces). Iit was later
moved to Lanka.
Fig.5.W.
– Detail of the city of Ayhudhya.
*Here
end the upper register
2 -West wall, middle register
Fig.6.W.- There was a yak named Asura Phrom[1]
who, greedy for more power, begged Shiva to be granted invincibility and a
magic club. He immediately abused his new power, tormenting gods and humans.
However, Maliwakha Phrom[2]
informed Shiva of the danger, who gave him a sacred sword which was more
powerful than the club he had given to Asura Phrom. Maliwakha Phrom, took the
sword of Shiva, flew to the palace in Ayuthaya, descended from the sky to
present the sacred sword to Atchaban, the new king Ayuthaya Fig.6.W. .
[1] Also called Asura Phak in Ramakien.
Fig.7.W. - The demon
Triburam entered the forest to perform meditation and asceticism for seven
years and seven days sitting near a river and encircled by magic fires in the
belief that he could obtain more power and invincibility from Shiva (Fig. 7. W,
center). On the mural, Shiva is shown sitting on the back of Nandin (Fig. 15 W,
left, or Fig. 16 W), with a servant protecting him with a parasol, appearing in
front of Triburam, kneeling to request a boon of supernatural powers (Fig. 16
W). Before granting the favour, Shiva made Triburam promise he would not use
his might against the inhabitants of the earth or the heavens, to which
Triburam agreed, but soon disobeyed, succumbing to his lust.
Fig.8.W. -When Shiva was
told of the misbehavior of Triburam, he decided to raise an army against the yak (Fig. 17 W). The painting shows the god standing on Nandin, while holding his
massive bow with his right arm. Shiva will later donate the bow to the king of
Mithila, Janaka and which only
Rama will be able to lift. Triburam, after raising a well-equipped army, fought
Shiva.
Fig.9.W. - Because of his
boon, the arrow used by Shiva had lost its power and could not reach or kill
Triburam, forcing Shiva to use the fire of his third eye to reduce him to
ashes, although this not depicted.
The end of the middle
register of the west wall.
1 -West wall, lower register
This
register must read from left to right.
Fig.10.W.- Some panels
were originally illustrating the legend of Nonthok.
The
much damaged murals show only two fragmentary scenes. Seated in a pavilion,
next to the palace of Shiva, a bald Nonthok is shown pointing the index finger
of his left hand towards flying deities (Fig. 10 W, left). In the second scene,
we see the upper part of a dancing girl, the incarnation of Vishnu, pointing
her finger at her own thigh (Fig. 10W, right), which Nonthok copied and fell,
killed by his own diamond finger.
Fig.11.W. - In the next
panel, we find reincarnated as Ravana receiving the teaching of Khobut
(Fig. 22 W, left); the young Ravana looks submissive, and after having been
completed his studies, he went to enjoy the flowers and fruits in the garden of
the god Orachun, infuriating him.
Fig.12.W. - The
succeeding scenes shift to go to the legend of the origin of the two monkeys,
who, in the future, will be allied with Rama. Khodom, formerly a great ruler
but without any sons, became totally devoted to ascetic life. While he remained
immobile for 2,000 years, a pair of birds nested in his beard. Khodom overheard
the birds say he was cursed because he had no children. Therefore, by a secret
fire, he made a woman appear, named Kala Atchana, whom he married. From them a
girl was born, named Sawaha, and later his wife Kala Atchana mothered two boys: one from Indra and another
from Suriya, the sun god.
Fig.13.W. - One day Khodom, who is depicted
caricatured with a floppy belly, went to bathe with the children. Khodom is
shown walking towards the river with a boy on each hip, one of green skin that
being the child of Indra, then other with red skin that being the child of
Suriya, and the girl Sawaha, with white skin, walking at his side. The left
part of the sanel shows Kala Atchana and Khodom sitting in their hermitage
holding their three children, each with different skin colour). Sawaha
complained to her father that he was carrying the sons of somebody else while
letting his real child walk. The old hermit became furious and threw the
three children into the river, saying that his own children would swim back to
him, and those of someone else would become monkeys. The only one to return was
Sawaha and the two brothers were carried away by the water and transformed into
monkeys (extreme right of panel), to become known as Valin and Sugriva, rulers
of the kingdom of Kiskindha; Valin was the king and Sugriva the viceroy.
Fig.14. W.-Sawaha who had
betrayed her mother Kala Atchana was cursed by her to stand frozen atop Mount
Chakkrawan with an open mouth eating only wind until she was put into the mouth
some fecundating drops of Shiva. She gave birth to a white monkey named
Hanuman, who would become the most devoted and effective soldier of Rama.
Fig.15.W. - Hanuman, who
was born fully grown, with two arms and
twice with multiple arms, large and strong, shows off his powers to all.
Fig.17.W. - Shiva ordered
that all the deva, naga, khrut, and learned men, along with Valin
and Sugriva, help to straighten the mountain. They used a naga as a pulling rope wrapped around Mount Sumeru, but the
mountain could still not be straightened. Sugriva, who was holding the naga,
tickled the naga on his navel causing the naga to contract,
allowing Valin to move and straighten the mountain although little. On the
panel Sugriva is depicted holding the naga, with Valin shown seated in
front of Shiva.
Fig.18.W. - Only the top
part of the panel is preserved, showing many nagas at the back of a building in which there are two asura
and their consorts (Fig. 35 W). To the right of this is illustrated the episode
of the naga, Kala Nak, king of the
underworld, who wanted to eliminate the herds of demons surrounding his city
(Fig. 36 W), and decided to attack. Saha Maliwan knew that to repel the attack
of the nagas he needed garudas
and that his friend Latsatian
possessed a magic arrow that transformed into garudas.
The
end of the west wall narrative.
It continues in the top register of the
northern wall
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