Planetary Procession

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£1100 In stock

A beautifully carved hardwood relief in two 85cm panels showing the stately procession of gods (and their mounts) that appear to represent a series of planets and days of the week from over the north window, on the east wing of the pavilion at Angkor Wat. From the front of the procession on the right to the last figure on the left, the sequence is:

1. Ketu (‘comet’) on his lion
2. Agni on a rhinoceros
3. Yama on his buffalo
4. Indra holding a vajra and riding on his elephant
5. Kubera mounted on a horse
6. Skanda, multi-armed and holding weapons, on his peacock
7. Varuna holding a pasa (noose) riding on his hamsa (a goose or duck)
8. Nirrti on the shoulders of yaksa

Indra is positioned centrally as he is most important, king of the devas, the god of lightning and thunder, representing the planet Jupiter. He is very similar to Western gods of Thursday: Thor, Germanic god of thunder, and Jupiter or Zeus, the father or ruler of the Greek and Roman gods. Varuna, the god of water, is associated to the planet Mercury and Wednesday. The Brhat Samhita explains how Mercury is the one chosen to preside over the seven major rivers of India, as well as all other rivers, bridges, waterways, dykes and reservoirs. In Indian descriptions of the planets, Venus (Friday) is always placed in the north, the direction ruled over by Kubera, the god of wealth. The Chinese character meaning ‘gold’ or metal (jin) is given to Venus and gold is of course a fitting symbol for Kubera. According to the Mahabharata Venus is the Lord of Riches. In Prasat Prom there is an inscription that identifies Venus as ‘Dhanesa’, which is another name for Kubera (the name derives from ‘dhana’, which means wealth). These sources associate Venus with Kubera by means of riches, wealth, gold, and a northerly direction. Friday is the sixth day of the week and Kubera is in the sixth position in the procession. Saturday, the seventh day of the week, corresponds to Agni, the seventh deity in the planetary sequence. Agni, who is often described as black and malevolent in his role as ‘eater’ of corpses in cremation, is an appropriate regent for Saturn, a planet depicted as both black and nefarious.
In this Angkor Wat relief, Skanda and Nirrti are two extra deities, beyond the count of 9 planets (Chandra and Surya are good of Moon and Sun). Why are they here? Nirrti is the guardian of the southwest and would therefore be its symbol, as he has no known planetary associations. Skanda, the god of war and a son of Shiva, is the regent for the planet Mars. Yama, king of the ancestors, most probably symbolises the south, as he rules over that direction of the compass, especially at Angkor Wat. This places the south in third position in the line of deities and gives the following sequence:

1. Ketu comet
2. Agni Saturn
3. Yama south
4. Indra Jupiter
5. Kubera Venus
6. Skanda Mars
7. Varuna Mercury
8. Nirrti southwest

In July 1131 the planets followed this sequence based on the order in which the rose over the eastern horizon. It is this year that King Suryavarman became 32 years old. If he was born under the sign of Sravana, as postulated, he would have been joined to Vishnu since birth. The extraordinary conjunction of a rare planetary sequence under the sign of Vishnu on the kings thirty-second birthday would have been enough, most probably, to recommend that the king take Vishnu as his personal deity and build a royal temple to him – the temple of Angkor Wat.