THANKS TO THE intervention by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the war between Cambodia and Thailand over a Khmer-style Hindu Shiva temple was brought to a halt. This was a fiercely fought war. The Thais claimed they killed more than 100 Cambodian soldiers, while the Cambodian side reported 21 soldiers dead, 50 citizens injured and more than three lakh people displaced. Thailand reportedly deployed F-16s and Swedish-made JAS-39 Gripen fighters against Cambodian military targets.
For the last five decades, the temple known as Preah Vihear (meaning holy site) has been a point of contention between the two predominantly Buddhist countries that have had strong cultural relations with the Hindus of India for more than a millennium. The temple’s major building phases occurred under Khmer kings Suryavarman I (1006-1050 CE) and Suryavarman II (1113-1150).
It is difficult to guess how many Indians visit this temple, which draws a large number of pilgrims from all over the world. When, in 2011, I tried to visit it as a sitting member of Parliament in the wake of renewed tensions, I was ‘advised’ by the ministry of external affairs not to go. I pleaded. It was a temple of my faith; I must visit in its troubled times. But no one listened. So, I ignored their advice, undertaking the journey on my own. Sadly, none in the land of Hindus seemed to be interested in this temple or in at least raising a voice to save it. I wrote in 2011: “While India is addressing matters arising out of political street skirmishes, a Hindu temple in Cambodia is crying for help between gun shots.”
When I arrived in Phnom Penh in August 2011, I put the soil on my forehead with reverence, remembering the great sage Kambu and the brave prince Kaundinya I, who had married the Naga princess Soma. Kambu had given the land its ancient name, Kambuja, meaning descendants of Kambu. The French still call it Cambodge. It is a land of Shiva, having the world’s largest Hindu temple, Angkor Wat, and the incredible “river of the thousand Shivlings” (Kbal Spean, an ancient Angkorian archaeological site featuring numerous Hindu religious carvings, including hundreds of Shivlings, on its riverbed and surrounding rocks). The Archaeological Survey of India has a long standing presence in Cambodia, earning accolades and gratitude from all quarters for its restoration work.
The morning after I reached, I was taken to the temple site. There were two ways to reach there. One was a pucca highway, but it fell within the firing range of the Thais. The other, more difficult path was to climb the stairs up the hill. The Indian embassy in Phnom Penh feared the Thais might bomb the highway once they know an Indian MP was visiting, to attract world attention. So, we decided to take the harsher path and were amply rewarded.
Perched atop the Dângrêk mountains, which is within the territory of Cambodia, the temple has exactly 2,250 steps. The beautiful wooden stairs, built with UNESCO’s aid, pass through a thick forest and run parallel to ancient stone stairs.
The Preah Vihear is rightly called a temple in the sky. A feat of engineering reaching out to the heavens, it took 400 years of royal patronage to complete the magnificent temple structure with a grand axis of 800 metres. The dancing Shiva over an elephant head, so pristinely structured over the sanctum sanctorum in the first gopuram (there are five), leaves the visitor speechless.
The guide showed us several shells and cartridges fired by the Thais in the temple compound. But, I felt that even while fighting, both sides remained sensitively aware not to harm the main temple.
How do we describe this battle for the temple?
It is so important for Cambodia that it was the first issue to be raised after its independence from France in 1950. The temple is equally revered in Thailand, which claims it so intensely that it becomes a major issue (like Ayodhya) during Thai elections. Cambodia took the matter to the International Court of Justice and, in 1962, the ICJ ruled in its favour.
Cambodia not only took control of the temple, but also popularised it globally. Its submission to declare the temple a world heritage site was approved by UNESCO in 2008 “recognising its outstanding Khmer architecture and its harmonious integration with the rugged natural surroundings”. That was a trigger point for the first military clashes between the two countries as Thai people admonished their leaders for failing to preempt Cambodia’s UNESCO move. Between 2008 and 2011, clashes between the two countries over the temple killed 16 soldiers and displaced around 36,000 civilians.
As then prime minister Hun Sen was busy during my visit in 2011, I met the deputy prime minister Sok An, who explained his country’s position and profusely thanked India for its help in the meticulous restoration work at Angkor Wat.
However, the irony remains. Cambodians, Thais and UNESCO have engaged deeply with the temple. Chinese, Americans, Germans, Vietnamese and Indonesians have shown extraordinary interest in the matter. And the media, from The New York Times to Xinhua, give regular updates on the issue. The only silence comes from India.
The writer is a former member of the Rajya Sabha.