Young Artists To Carve Battambang Buddhas

The 100 sculptors commissioned this month to carve three giant Buddha monuments into Battambang province’s Phnom Sampov are not nationally re­nowned artists, or even professional sculptors. They are a group of former street children and orphans, set to embark on a seven-year carving project.

The 38-by-112 meter wall of mountain rock in Banan district, 12 km west of Battambang, will depict three statues of the Bud­dha—at his birth, enlightenment and death, said Yi Hwa, director of Morodak Angkor, the NGO that trained the students.

The statues will be renditions of the Cambodian form of the Bud­dha, as opposed to Thai and Jap­an­ese Buddha statues, which differ in head shape and clothing. “We don’t want people to get con­fused,” said In Siyonda of the Min­­istry of Culture’s plastic arts and handicraft department. “We want them to know which Bud­dhas are ours and which ones are theirs.”

Local Buddhist and cultural au­thorities are in full support of the project. The Nov 27 groundbreaking ceremony will be at­tended by the supreme patriarchs of the two dominant sects of Cam­bodian Buddhism, and the Minis­try of Culture will provide materials and expertise in shaping the bas-reliefs, In Siyonda said.

The mountain is a former quarry that was abandoned in recent years for fear of destroying a culturally and environmentally im­portant region.

According to legend, the “Moun­­­­­­­­tain of Large Boat” was named after a scorned lover sent her talking crocodile to attack an escaping beau. The crocodile was thwarted by the man’s new mis­tress; his grounded boat be­came the site of today’s mountain, which visually resembles a tipped boat.

Many youths are unfamiliar with the lore, and the monuments are intended to remind young generations of their ancestry.

“The statues will be both Bud­dha replicas and historical to­kens,” said In Siyonda.

The monuments are also in­tended to promote culture, non-violence, Buddhism and tourism, said officials. The project is not yet fully funded, and later stages of the sculpting will depend on future charitable donations.