La Femme et l'Oiseau (Women and Birds)

by Pierre Le Roux

Aesthetical and symbolical outlook on Birds in Southeast Asian cultures.

 
Publication
Author's publication
Published
2006
Author
Pierre Le Roux
Pages
92
Language
French
View publication

pdf 14.7 MB

This essay on bird cultural representations and their correlation with feminity explores numerous cultures through Southeast Asia.

Regarding Cambodia, the author stresses the centrality of three bird-like mythical figures in Khmer folklore and traditions: hângsa (from Sanskrit hamsa), wild goose often assimilated to the swan, kinari, the bird-woman so important in the Reamker, and khrut, the Khmer version of the garuda, often associated with drought. 

As a symbol of aesthetical perfection — an embodiment of grace, frailty and strength” –, the bird often meets with the female principle, a promise of a new life to be born. Icarus and fertility, an truly encompassing concept…

Photo: Birds at Pek Toal Bird Sanctuary, Cambodia

About the hangsa (KH ហង្សទ, SK हंस, haṃsa or hansa): this aquatic bird of passage, which various scholars have interpreted as the goose, the swan,or even the flamingo, is an icon used in Indian and Southeast Asian culture as a spiritual symbol and decorative element. In Hindu tradition, this bird is the vahana (vehicle) of Brahma, Gayatri, Saraswati, and Vishvakarma.

Below: Hangsa as a ceiling support in in Wat Preah Theat Basrey, Tbong Khmum Province (Photo Kim Hong).

hangsa-kim-hong.jpg#asset:3940:squareMediumFit

Tags: women, symbolism, Asia, ethnology

About the Author

Pierre Le Roux

Pierre Le Roux

Pierre Le Roux is an ethnologist and a professor of ethnology at Strasbourg University.

Glossary Terms

  • Garuda

    sk गरुड Garuḍa | pl गरुळ Garuḷa | kh គ្រុឌ Krud

    Garuda is described as an eagle-like sunbird deity, the king of birds and, in Hindu mythology, the vehicle (vahana) of Vishnu. "Lord of the garudas" is also one of the epithets of Shiva.

    In Vedic tradition, personification of courage, a potent creature who can stop the spinning of the worlds its wing flapping, the younger brother of Aruna, the driver of sun god Surya. Garuda is the one attempting to stop Rāvaṇa from abducting Sītā, as described in the Rāmāyaṇa and the Viṣṇu Purāṇa.

    In Cambodian tradition, the powerful bird, a companion of Vishnu (ព្រះនារាយណ៍, Preah Neareay), fights the evil forces, its image protecting temples and houses. He is the one who moved Mount Mandara and stole the amrita for the benefit of the gods in the Churning of the Sea of Milk, an essential part of Khmer mythology. Initially an enemy of the nagas, the image of the Khmer garuda evolves into a mythical creature embracing the nagas, a fusion denoting its "evolution from Vishnu's vahana to a protective figure of Khmer Buddhism" (J. Boisselier 1951).

  • Vishvakarma

    sk विश्वकर्मा Viśvakarmā, 'all maker'

    Vishvakarma or Vishvakarman is a craftsman deity, "The Architect", "The Divine Engineer of the Universe", earlier known as Tvastar. He is credited to have crafted all of the chariots of the devas, and weapons including the Vajra of god Indra, and was related to the sun god Surya.

    King Norodom of Cambodia believed that the Khmer Royal Sacred Sword ( ព្រះខ័នរាជ្យ, Preah Khan Reach), the double-edge straight sword with a chiseled steel blade sheathed in a jeweled gold scabbard tjhat disappeared from the Royal Palace in 1970, had been made by Vishvakarma.

    Vishwakarma or Visvhvakarma was an important deity in 12-13th c Lopburi Kingdom. In modern South India, the Vishwakarma or Vishwabrahmin community comprises five subgroups—carpenters, blacksmiths, bronze smiths, goldsmiths and stonemasons— claiming to be descendants of Vishvakarma, the builder and architect of heavenly realm.

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