A Story Moves

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"With a woman's whole affection fond and trusting Sita loved,
And within her faithful bosom loving Rama lived and moved,

And he loved her, for their parents chose her as his faithful wife,
Loved her for her peerless beauty, for her true and trustful life,

Loved and dwelt within her bosom though he wore a form apart,
Rama in a sweet communion lived in Sita's loving heart!"

This a summarised and translated section of the Ramayana, one of the great Indian epics. The passage I chose details the deep and truthful love of the two protagonists, Rama and Sita. Curiously I've come across this love story three times whilst staying in Phnom Penh. And I've had it portrayed to me in three different ways, each of which speak differently about Cambodia.

Throughout Asia, as is common with lots of ancient stories, different cultures have taken the Ramayana and adapted it to make it their own. The Cambodian version is called the Reamker and Rama and Sita are called Preah Ream and Neang Seda respectively. I heard for these names for the first time in S.21 the most prominent prison used during the Khmer Rouge era. It is now called the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and coupled with a visit to the Killing Fields on the outskirts of Phnom Penh makes for an absorbing if chilling experience. After learning what I have I'd be willing to argue with anyone the view that what the Khmer Rouge did was the worst atrocity in human history. I can't believe I was so unaware of what happened in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge killed at least 1.5 million people but the figure could be as high as 2 million, either 20 or 25%!o(MISSING)f the population at the time. The museum does a very good job of conveying how large a number this actually is by listing all the burial pits that have so far been found. I counted up just one of the five columns on the list and got a total of over 700,000. At the killing fields, over 8,000 people were killed and buried. It's a very tranquil place now with pits scattered everywhere marked only with signs soberly detailing the number of people exhumed from it. There's also a tall Buddhist stupa which contains layers of skulls, organised by gender and age, on top of the clothes of the dead. Before they were killed all inmates of S.21 were tortured. They were electrocuted, hit and whipped just by the guards and in interrogations they were also drowned and had their fingernails pulled off. Outside the prisons and killing fields, the Khmer Rouge made life miserable for all the people of Cambodia. All citizens who lived in cities or towns were driven out and relegated to second class status because the lives did not fit with the agricultural ideal the Khmer Rouge promoted. A families were split up and moved across the country. People couldn't trust each other as informants became common. This happened over a period of three years, eight months.

Against this backdrop of fear a reenactment of the Reamker took place. Documented in a film shown twice daily in the museum is the tragic love story of Bophana and her cousin and husband Sitha. Seperated by the Khmer Rouge, Bophana was forced to work in the fields, whilst her husband a Khmer Rouge member worked in an office. Their only method of communication was their correspondence in which they took the pen names of Neang Seda and Preah Ream. The letters convey how the Khmer Rouge affected ordinary people, Bophana and Sitha weren't brave or special, they weren't going to be able to help those around them, nor did they particularly care for them anyway. All they wanted was each other and for each other to be safe. Their impotence in these matters is clear as Bophana's pleas to her husband to save her become more and more pitiful. As the Khmer Rouge era progressed, the leaders, Pol Pot being infamously at their head, became paranoid and turned inwards on their own. Thus it was that both Bophana and Sitha were arrested and taken to S.21, both were taken to the Killing Fields and were killed. Tragically it was their correspondence that roused suspicions. Bophana and Sitha were tortured until they made false confessions detailing numerous crimes they never committed, including being agents for the CIA. Bophana's confession runs to several pages. Unlike Neang Seda and Preah Ream, Bophana and Sitha's story did not end happily and one of the film's strengths is that it continues to remind you that Bophana's tragedy was just one of many as the Khmer Rouge destroyed a country.

A reminder of what influence Cambodia once held and it's proud history can be found at the National Museum. A beautiful red stone building with a tiered roof it holds hundreds of stone sculptures and artifacts dating from the stone age. A lot of the exhibits have been carted down from Angkor Wat which at least stops tourists eroding them I suppose. They also have a huge and partly intact bronze statue of Vishnu which I was mesmerised by. Of particular interest to me was the fact that on all the Vishnu's statues the sculptor had chosen to give him a moustache. Now I'm sure this is a common feature of all images of Vishnu, but a moustache? Really? It just doesn't denote godliness to me. Victorian villain, yes, but one of the three major gods of a world wide religion? No. Still things could be worse, he could have a goatee. All of the sculptures are done with amazing skill, the flowing clothes of the statues come to mind especially. However Yvonne noticed that there's not much from the 13th to the 17th centuries apart from a few marriage cups. This seems to suggest that for five hundred years Cambodians put aside thoughts of art or culture in preference to spending a decent amount of time enthusiastically increasing the population. One of the exhibits is a manuscript telling the Reamker through pictures alone. It too showed a great amount of skill, though for reasons unknown to me the story is told from the bottom image upwards. Seeing it the day after visiting Tuol Sleng gave it added meaning. The bright colours of the illustrations countered the haunting black and white photos of the museum and showed how the Khmer Rouge was not able to eliminate the achievements that came before their rule.

One of the things I most wanted to see in Phnom Penh was a shadow puppet show, an art form indiginous to China which the Cambodians have adapted for their own stories. Yvonne found a small theatre near the genocide museum that puts on a show of Cambodian theatre or dance every weekend and both coincidentally and luckily the weekend we were there, they were performing with shadow puppets. And as I'm sure you've already worked out the story they were telling was the Reamker. Previously all my limited experience with shadow play consisted of paper puppets, when in fact the art form originated with puppets made from leather and it was out of this material that the company's puppets were made. Another assumption I had made was that the puppets would all have moving joints, when in fact nearly all of them were large tableaus showing still characters or animals in the course of doing a particular action. So the puppets themselves were most often used in battle scenes when the movement of the puppeteers further away or closer to the light source conveyed the speed and fury of the fight. Along with the puppets there were also dancers and clowns who took the role of the human and demon characters, often wearing masks. If it weren't for the programme outlining the story I know I wouldn't have really understood the narrative. But that seemed unimportant when compared to the skill of the performers. Most if not all had perfect control over their delicate and deliberate movements. However what impressed me most of all was the sheer professionalism of the entire ensemble actors, lighting, musicians, front of house, the lot. I felt that they took great pride in doing what they do well, which in a subtle way is also the impression I get about Cambodia itself.

The hopelessly out of date guidebook I brought with me, confidently informing me that the country has no ATMs or that all journeys must be undertaken on the back of a motorbike, gives the impression that when I visit Cambodia I'll see a country that is lagging five years behind all other nations. My own impression couldn't be more different. I've seen a country that wants to be taken seriously internationally and people who support themselves and each other. I feel that I'm seeing Cambodia at a turning point. I'm so pleased I got to see it when I did.

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Comments

[Celebros]

Ramayana
Well, there are many adaptations of Ramayana and the only one I know is the Thai version. But as far as I know, the Thai version and the Cambodian version are not the different. The point is I must disagree that the story ended happily. Although it did not have a tragic ending as Bophana and Sitha; it is contestable that Neang Seda really loves Preah Ream... Well, she was given to Rama because he won a contest. And then he did not really trust her throughout the story. But that might be my interpretation of the story. (I can tell you more about Thai version of Ramayana, and my view about it; if you would like to know.) And that there are not many things for 13 - 17 th century, it might be because Khmer was conquered by Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. I must admit that the Thai states were quite nasty to the Khmers... I'm not sure if that is the reason, but it is possible.