The Cambodian version of the epic Ramayana is known as ‘Reamker.’ It is also known as Ramakerti. There are references of Ramayan in Cambodian culture from the tenth century AD. The literary text of Khmer adaptation dates back to the 16 th century. Ramayana might have reached Cambodia through the contact with the South Indian kingdoms. Ancient Hindu temples here provide the earliest references of Ramayan and the world famous Angkor Wat temple depicts various episodes from the epic. In Reamker, Lord Ram is known as ‘Preah Ream’ and Ravana is known as ‘Krong Reap.’ Sita is called ‘Neang Seda’ and Lakshman is called ‘Preah Leak.’ The name of Hanuman is the same but with a slightly different pronunciation. In Cambodia, the earliest reference to the Ramayana is the Val Kantel inscription (seventh century), which mentions the recitation of both this epic and of texts from the scriptural tradition known as the Purana. The influence of the Ramayana on Cambodian cultu

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, one of the world’s finest collections of modern and contemporary art, will be auctioning a rare Lord Shiva idol on March 23 rd . The rare four-headed stone idol is called ‘Figure of Shiva as Brahma’ and is expected to fetch $3 Million. The idol belongs to the Chola period and is believed to have been created between 10 th and 11 th century. The auction is at the Sotheby's. This blog had reported about the sale way back in November 2006. The statue is part of Sotheby's 80-odd Indian and southeast Asian Works of Art sale. The 64-inch Lord Shiva idol is sitting on a double-lotus pedestal. Earlier, the idol was misunderstood to be Lord Brahma due to the four head, but a third eye on each forehead of the sculpture helped to identify it as Lord Shiva. Sadly, so far there has been no attempt from any government or non-government agency in India to collect details about this rare idol. There are some H