Naṭarāja is one of the avatars of Shiva as "Supreme dancer-actor", represented in several striking bronze or stone sculpures across India, in particular temples dedicated to Lokeśvara. 

Neak ta: a Cambodian ancestral or tutelary force, a local guardian spirit watching over a place or land. Neak ta can be either male or female, and are often associated as a ancestral couple. 

Note: Chuon Nath Dictionary takes តា "ta" literally as "grandfather", adding that he is "an old man of the land, who has been looking over the land for a long time."

1. Khmer honorific meaning 'nobleman' or 'lord'. Initially envoys of the Angkor kings, then title in used during the Oudong monarchy from the 18th century, substituting Ponhea (ពញា - equivalent to Phraya (พญา) in Thai). The title "Oknha" was transformed into Thai as Okya (ออกญา) by the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The word Oknha occurs in ancient Vietnamese records.
2. Since 1993, title bestowed by the King (later by the Cambodian government) on civilians (non-royalty) distinguished for their goods deeds. Recently, 'oknha' has become a Khmer version of 'tycoon', as since 2017 wealthy people donating a minimum of 500,000 USD to the State can obtain the title.

A palimpsest is a manuscript page with an initial text being scraped or washed off in order to reuse it, a practice dictated by economy as parchment supports were scarce. 

In architecture and archaeology, the term denotes an object made or worked upon for one purpose and later reused for another.

In literary stylistics, a text bearing traces of previous meanings or suggestions. In George Orwell's 1984, a palimpsest is a metaphor for Big Brother's constant rewriting of history, as records are "scraped clean and re-inscribed exactly as often as was necessary".

This figure, also called a kala (monster face) in Thailand, was a monster depicted beneath the Buddha during the Dvaravati period. 

Accprding to Diskul (1970), "Panasbati seems to have a beak of a garuda (the king of birds), ears and horns of a bull, and wings of a hamsa (wild goose). These three animals are mounts of the three great Hindu gods, respectively Vishnu, Siva and Brahma. This placement of the Buddha upon Panasbati might be an attempt to indicate a belief that Buddhism was stronger than Hinduism. Such an iconography does not exist in India."

A Thai traditional garment consisting in a  a long strip of cloth wrapped around the waist and often tucked at the back after being passed between the legs. 

The Buddhist notion of "perfection", "transcendent perfection", as accomplished in the practices of the Boddhisatvas. There are six paramitas in Mahayana Buddhism, while the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism lists ten paramis: 

1. dana parami: Forsaking ones goods and possessions (animals or non living objects) by making gifts.
2. sila parami: Control of ones actions and speeches in order to refrain from evil actions.
3. nekkhamma parami: Renouncement of the life of the laity to the sake of a solitary life (bhikkhu, ermite).
4. panna parami: Development of knowledge and understanding through study and analytical reflection. Imparting knowledge to others. Making use of ones wisdom so as to take the highest benefits from it.
5. viriya parami: Effort to do good to others as much as possible and to the peril ones life.
6. khanti parami: Establishment of an always perfect tolerance, whatever, on others behalf, performed actions and uttered speeches might be.
7. sacca parami: Truthfulness (to tell only what is fair).
8. adhitthana parami: Decision to solely perform beneficial actions and to stick to them.
9. metta parami: Cultivation of a state of mind turned towards others happiness, to practice love towards all beings.
10. upekkha parami: Rejection of hatred and adoration. Not to stick to an idea in particular. Keeping ones mind even minded.

Parashurama [also known as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Virarama] is the sixth avatar of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism, destroyer of evil, advised by Shiva to liberate Mother Earth from felons and demons, one of the Chiranjivis (Immortals) who will appear at the end of the Kali Yuga to be the guru of Vishnu's last incarnation, Kalki.

A Brahmin and hermit married to Dharani, an incarnation of Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, he is known for destroying the members of the Kshatryia caste who were abusing their power, armed with the Parshu [Parashu], an axe.

In the Ramayana, he challenges Rama to combat after the latter's wedding with Sita at Mithila, later deducing that Rama is himself an incarnation of Vishnu. Several temples in South India are dedicated to Parashurama, in particular in Kerala and Karnataka. 

Pashupata Shaivism is one of the oldest major Shaivite Hindu schools, a movement influential in South India from 7th to 14th century, with mainstream current Mahapāśupata believing in Vedic Pāśupata penance, and schismatic Lakula Pasupata. The main aim of this ascetic and social-order-challenging sect was to get rid of all pains through tapasiya (penance) and by channeling Shiva's shakti.

The influence of Pashupata Shaivism was attested by Buddhist pilgrim monk Xuanzang, who traveled to India in the early 7th century. In Cambodia, the Pashupata followers were most respected at the Chenla court in Ishanapura (Sambor Prei Kuk), at Jayavarman II's Mahendraparvata, and later at Angkor Thom. According to Alexis Sanderson, "of Śaivism, Puficarātrika Vaisnavism and Mahāyāna Buddhism, the three Indie religions that flourished among the ruling and priestly elites of the Khmers up to the 14th century, Śaivism was predominant.

ពាក្យកាព្យ peakab indicates the homophony in កំណាព្យ kamnap, poetic style. Khmer poetics (and language) often recourse to homonymy, words that have different meanings but are pronounced the same way. 

Traditional Khmer versification follows the stanza form called វគ្គនៃកំណាព្យ wek nei kamnap, from វគ្គ wek "session", "group of syllables". For melodious music, the Khmer has an all-together word, ពិរោះ piroah. 

Pradakshina refers to the rite of circumambulation - ritual salutation - of the linga in Shivaism, of the fire in the Vedas, of idols or temples.

As the Sanskrit term clearly states, the ambulation has to be done while always keeping the object of devotion to one's right side, thus proceeding clockwise, from left to right - from south to north. 

A tall tower-like spire, usually richly carved, common shrine element of Hindu and Buddhist architecture in the Khmer Empire (802–1431). Later adapted by Buddhist builders in Thailand, especially during the Ayutthaya Kingdom (1350–1767) and Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932). In Thailand, only related with most important Buddhist temples.

Khmer for 'Lord Narayana': Vishnu.

Ravananugraha-murti ("form [of Shiva] showing grace to Ravana") is a benevolent aspect of Shiva, depicted seated on his abode Mount Kailash with his consort Parvati [or Uma], while the rakshasa-king (demon-king) Ravana of Lanka attempts to uproot it. According to Hindu scriptures, Ravana once tried to lift Mount Kailash, but Shiva pushed the mountain into place and trapped Ravana beneath it. For a thousand years, the imprisoned Ravana sang hymns in praise of Shiva, who finally blessed him and granted him an invincible sword and a powerful linga to worship.

The theme is found as early as the Gupta-Pallava era in India (300–600 CE), and was popular among artists of Ancient Southeast Asia, in particular on a lintel and pediment at Banteay Srei, Cambodia.

In Sanskrit (Indic cultures), a rishi is a sage, a human or divine ascetic versed in the Vedas (scriptures). 

In Southeast Asian Buddhist tradition, the term is often referring to pious, learned people who renounce the world, anchorites or hermits living in the forest. 

satrā, satra: in middle and modern Khmer, scripture, rule, treatises; palm leaf manuscripts. 

Śakti (शक्ति) is the "active" aspect of a Hindu deity, the "energy" emanating from it. In the case of Shiva [Śiva], his shakti is feminine, often personified as the goddess Devi, and has three aspects: creative energy (Shakti), peaceful, harmonious space (Pārvatī), destructive as time caan be (Kālī).

Śakti is the all-important goddess of Tantra, in charge of the creation, expansion and destruction of the universe. Puruṣa comes second, yet Śakti cannot accomplish the work of creation of the universe without Puruṣa. 

Peak, top, summit. [Indian arch.]: the vertex, apex of a tower. | unrel. shikara: a light, flat-bottomed boat. In Kashmir, a houseboat.

Smita (स्मित) in Sanskrit refers to 

• the “slight smile” of an actor/actress in Natyashastra (theater and dance treatise)
• the act of "blooming" in Ayurveda (science of life).
• the smile of Lord Buddha in Mahayana tradition. Even when asked by the venerable Ananda about the meaning of this smiling, the Buddha didn't reply explicitely.
• In Nagarjuna's commentary of the Prajnaparamita treaty, it is said that the Buddha '[knowingly] smiled (or laughed) with the whole body when he peacefully emerged from Samādhi (समाधि, "completion" "self-absorption" in yoga philosophy).

[In Khmer, ស្មារតី smartei, refers to "the course of the mind".]