The crocodile carving, according to historians was for "human sacrifice" apparently. Although I have not been there, nor am I an historical expert, I find that a bit out of place as the Khmer tried their most to become as "Indianized" as much as possible. In fact, the site was called "Kurukshetra" after the Indian city of the same name which was the battleground for the epic, the Mahabharata. It's a bustling city today in Haryana, India. Throughout the place, there are several depictions of scenes from Hindu epics and mythologies. India did not have human sacrifices for more that 1000 years before this Vat Phu was built. So, it seems unlikely that a culture that is trying it's best to mimic all Indian customs, would have human sacrifices or more so, a carved and decorated site for human sacrifice. The temple is mainly a temple of Shiva although you will find other gods like Indra, Krishna and Vishnu depicted in the carvings. The phallic stones are the Shivalingas, which is the most common iconography in Shiva worship back then as well as today. So, I don't see how a "Shaivate" (branch of hinduism which venerates Shiva as the supreme deity) would have a place dedicated for human sacrifice when such traditions were highly taboo in India before the development of "Tantric Hinduism". Later this temple became a Buddhist temple like most Khmer temples. There are however evidence from local sources/edicts and inscriptions that some kings might have performed human sacrifices. Animal sacrifices are a separate issue though. Buffalo sacrifices are common in all Indic influenced south east asian countries. They still do it I think each year in Vat Phu festival. Nice video though. I just discovered your channel and I subscribed. Sorry if I bored you with details. I hardly have anyone to talk to and way too much information to share when it comes to Mathematics or religious history. I am exactly what people would call a stereotypical depressed, frustrated PhD student (Mathematics).
Thank you for that insight. And as you know in the ancient times cultures traveled across the world so it wouldn't surprise me if there was parts of hinduism there as I saw a lot of the stupas I visited in Laos had Hindu origins. As well as that Buddhism is huge in Laos and that originally came from India. I feel there is there own spin on it ina little way. Even with Wat Phu, when they were reconstructing the temple, it was a collaboration between Laos and India. If you have anything else to add please do :)
@@freshbeliefadventures Wat Phu ws a Hindu temple dedicated to shiva. I mean even the first line of the wikipedia entry would tell you so. It was a temple of the Khmer empire which was a Hindu empire and tried almost too hard to adopt Indic and Brahminical customs( the rituals and religious customs of the Vedic Indian Civilization) as well as the astronomy. That's why to this date, almost all of south east asia follows the Hindu calender and celebrates harvesting festival like Songkran (Sankranti in Sanskrit in India) on the same day as us. Later with the spread of Buddhism (as a result of Ashoka adopting and patronizing Buddhism), the South East Asian countries became Theravada Buddhist. Initially, Campuchea(Cambodia, named after sage Kamboj from India), Indonesia, Lao, Myanmar, Vietnam were Hindu kingdoms during Khmer/Champa rule. Stupas by the way, are Buddhist sculptures and not Hindu ones. This is as per wikipedia, "During the Koh Ker and Baphuon(Shiva temples) periods, most of the Hindu temples were converted to Buddhist ones". This especially took place after Jayavarman VII 's reign who was the first Khmer king who converted to Buddhism from Hinduism. I just wanted to point out that the crocodile figure which is supposed to be a site for "human sacrifice" might not have been so. The story of the Elephant and Crocodile is an important one in Hindu Mythology (part of Bhagavat Puran). It is known as Gajendra Moksha. That's why I won't be surprised if it indeed was a benign carving and nothig else, especially not for human sacrifice or other sinister activities.
@@freshbeliefadventures ok. Well pretty impressive..I have no knowledge of that Thai language. Unless it a similar word to the Lao language then i can understand..otherwise I cannot speak or understand thai. Only Lao.
@@viexay Nice, so you're from Laos :) There are some similar words but not everything, when my friends speak only Lao it can sometimes get difficult to understand what they're talking about.
@@freshbeliefadventures yes I'm originally from Laos but not living in Laos. So I am of Lao ethnicity. My parents fled during the Laos Civil War and relocated to the states. But I will be in Laos February 2024 to March 2024
Fcເຈົ້າເດື່ອLAOS
ຂອບໃຈ 🙏
The video was enjoyable❤
Thank you, I'm happy you enjoyed it
The crocodile carving, according to historians was for "human sacrifice" apparently. Although I have not been there, nor am I an historical expert, I find that a bit out of place as the Khmer tried their most to become as "Indianized" as much as possible. In fact, the site was called "Kurukshetra" after the Indian city of the same name which was the battleground for the epic, the Mahabharata. It's a bustling city today in Haryana, India. Throughout the place, there are several depictions of scenes from Hindu epics and mythologies. India did not have human sacrifices for more that 1000 years before this Vat Phu was built. So, it seems unlikely that a culture that is trying it's best to mimic all Indian customs, would have human sacrifices or more so, a carved and decorated site for human sacrifice. The temple is mainly a temple of Shiva although you will find other gods like Indra, Krishna and Vishnu depicted in the carvings. The phallic stones are the Shivalingas, which is the most common iconography in Shiva worship back then as well as today. So, I don't see how a "Shaivate" (branch of hinduism which venerates Shiva as the supreme deity) would have a place dedicated for human sacrifice when such traditions were highly taboo in India before the development of "Tantric Hinduism". Later this temple became a Buddhist temple like most Khmer temples.
There are however evidence from local sources/edicts and inscriptions that some kings might have performed human sacrifices. Animal sacrifices are a separate issue though. Buffalo sacrifices are common in all Indic influenced south east asian countries. They still do it I think each year in Vat Phu festival.
Nice video though. I just discovered your channel and I subscribed. Sorry if I bored you with details. I hardly have anyone to talk to and way too much information to share when it comes to Mathematics or religious history. I am exactly what people would call a stereotypical depressed, frustrated PhD student (Mathematics).
Thank you for that insight.
And as you know in the ancient times cultures traveled across the world so it wouldn't surprise me if there was parts of hinduism there as I saw a lot of the stupas I visited in Laos had Hindu origins.
As well as that Buddhism is huge in Laos and that originally came from India.
I feel there is there own spin on it ina little way.
Even with Wat Phu, when they were reconstructing the temple, it was a collaboration between Laos and India.
If you have anything else to add please do :)
@@freshbeliefadventures Wat Phu ws a Hindu temple dedicated to shiva. I mean even the first line of the wikipedia entry would tell you so. It was a temple of the Khmer empire which was a Hindu empire and tried almost too hard to adopt Indic and Brahminical customs( the rituals and religious customs of the Vedic Indian Civilization) as well as the astronomy. That's why to this date, almost all of south east asia follows the Hindu calender and celebrates harvesting festival like Songkran (Sankranti in Sanskrit in India) on the same day as us.
Later with the spread of Buddhism (as a result of Ashoka adopting and patronizing Buddhism), the South East Asian countries became Theravada Buddhist.
Initially, Campuchea(Cambodia, named after sage Kamboj from India), Indonesia, Lao, Myanmar, Vietnam were Hindu kingdoms during Khmer/Champa rule.
Stupas by the way, are Buddhist sculptures and not Hindu ones. This is as per wikipedia, "During the Koh Ker and Baphuon(Shiva temples) periods, most of the Hindu temples were converted to Buddhist ones". This especially took place after Jayavarman VII 's reign who was the first Khmer king who converted to Buddhism from Hinduism.
I just wanted to point out that the crocodile figure which is supposed to be a site for "human sacrifice" might not have been so. The story of the Elephant and Crocodile is an important one in Hindu Mythology (part of Bhagavat Puran). It is known as Gajendra Moksha. That's why I won't be surprised if it indeed was a benign carving and nothig else, especially not for human sacrifice or other sinister activities.
Omg. You speak Lao !!! Not bad 👍🏻
It's a mixture of Thai and Laos. Still learning 😀
@@freshbeliefadventures ok. Well pretty impressive..I have no knowledge of that Thai language. Unless it a similar word to the Lao language then i can understand..otherwise I cannot speak or understand thai. Only Lao.
@@viexay Nice, so you're from Laos :)
There are some similar words but not everything, when my friends speak only Lao it can sometimes get difficult to understand what they're talking about.
@@freshbeliefadventures yes I'm originally from Laos but not living in Laos. So I am of Lao ethnicity. My parents fled during the Laos Civil War and relocated to the states. But I will be in Laos February 2024 to March 2024
You'll have a great time, Laos has changed a lot since that time your parents fled.
Philippines next please! XD
safe travels Mike!
I'll see. Has all come down to my work.
Are you over in the Philippines?
hello Mike
👋 hello
❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thank you for the love
@@freshbeliefadventures You From bro
England 🇬🇧