Serpents and Buddhas

Preeminent in several Khmer temples (the Bayon in particular), the figure of Buddha seated on a serpent (naga) is generally considered as an early effort to combine Indian cosmogony with the local cults of the Naga. But which image of Buddha is represented in these sculptures?

Revisiting earlier works by Asian religion and culture scholars, particularly Hiram Woodward, the author reaches the following conclusion: "The Angkorian Buddha should be seen as the Khmer Vairocana or ‘Sarvavid’ (‘Omniscient’, named in one key inscription) of the tantric Vajrayana, and unrelated to the minor Mucalinda biographical episode which later occasionally appears in the southern Buddhism of modern Thailand, Burma and Cambodia."

Vairocana, one of the five Celestial or Cosmic Buddhas, is central in many Buddhist rituals, including the Mantra of Light. The author's thesis is that Buddha-on-naga representations in Khmer art symbolize a vast spectrum of religious and mythical concepts, and do not limit themselves to the depiction of the well-known moment in Sakyamuni's life, during the sixth week after the Enlightenment, when he was protected by the serpent Naga Mucalinda.