Recently, a sandstone naga head was accidentally spotted when a large tree collapsed, causing pieces of naga head buried in the ground for many years to emerge from the tree’s roots in the area of Wat Tep Pranom, Angkor Thom, according to a news release of the APSARA National Authority issued this morning.
Mr. Chhouk Somala, Head of the art registration team of the Department of Conservation of Monuments and Preventive Archaeology of the APSARA National Authority, said that the naga head sculpture was buried in the ground about half a metre deep. When the tree collapsed, the naga head sculpture was found in the tree’s roots.
Mr. Somala added that the fragment of the naga head sculpture was the upper head, which was 1.2 metres long, 1 metre wide, and 0.3 metres thick.
Mr. Chhouk Somala concluded that the naga head sculpture could be removed from the Bayon temple, but did not know for what purpose and when. He added that such sculptures were often seen in the Bayon style during the reign of Jayavarman VII, who combined Naga and Garuda. Perhaps it was used to express the idea of religious unification between Brahmanism and Buddhism, so the king asked the architects to combine Naga and Garuda and display them in his temples.
To keep the pieces of the naga head sculpture safe, the APSARA National Authority cooperated with the Heritage Protection Police and the tourism agent to make a record and hand over the piece to be kept at the Preah Norodom Sihanouk-Angkor Museum for registration and cleaning as well as search for other data related to this naga head sculpture, so it is easy to put it back to its original location, said the news release.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press