The Resurrection of Two Cambodian Queens of the 12th Century by a Photographer
While these queens are revered and worshipped by the locals, they have been grossly overlooked by both Khmer and foreign historians, who have dismissed them as a common garden variety of celestial dancers known as apsaras. So everybody followed and so did I until I noted the “braided” eyebrows, my French friend made me notice, to which I replied to him. “I don’t think they were braided, but gemstones were removed and left these knitted like little holes.” The unique feature on the eyebrows with other gemstones hacked off, sparked my interest to discover who they really were: dancing apsaras, or dancing queens or local goddesses?
An ordinary day of temple exploration has led to an extraordinary discovery. Hidden in a narrow labyrinth of galleries, amid dark and moss-covered stone walls and ceilings in precarious danger of collapse; there stood before me two queens of the 12th century Khmer kingdom. It was unknown to the eyes of the world and the Cambodians, who fondly remembered the queens through oral history with no pictures and rare written notes; nevertheless, ever present, these stately queens had endured the ravages of time, invading jungle, and human pillage.
I proudly present to you the 12th century Khmer royals, Queen Indradevi and Queen Jayarajadevi. These sisters were the spouses, professors, and advisers of the beloved and most respected King Jayavarman VII, the prolific builders of temples, hospitals, and training centers for the people of Cambodia.
On the following days, in a different temple, Bayon, I re-photographed my two favorites sculptures to complete my portfolio of the ”Belles d'Angkor”. While editing the photos, I noticed compelling resemblances of my last 2 sculptures to the queens. The confirmations of their lives and status as queens in Bayon temple were the necessary, irrefutable proofs I needed. As my curiosity grew about the queens’ mysterious lives, I fashioned a theory that there was a strong possibility that I might find other renderings of the queens in additional temples built under the same reign. I feel extremely fortunate to have discovered not just one set, but ten plus sets of sculpted images of these prominent, surprising, and kindhearted queens in Khmer history.
France has “Mona Lisa.” Egypt has “Cleopatra.” And now Cambodia and the whole world will be inspired by two influential, beautiful, and compassionate queens, Indradevi and Jayarajadevi. This is an exciting story and discovery about people of the past by people of the present for people of the future.
However, their time is running out. We must act before all antiques, artifacts, statues, sculptures, and traces of them are lost forever. I believe there is an urgency to save the queens from further vandalism and collapsing ceilings, and rightfully place them in a museum, where they belong, to inspire Khmers and free the whole world’s imagination. They have already survived 800 years with extreme environmental hardship and will not be there for the next ten if we don’t act now to safeguard them for Khmer history sake and as world heritage treasures. This is a discovery story as well as an appeal to save the queens!
Best regards,
Phalika Ngin
23 dec 2009/18 Mar 2010