Chhat Moha Russei

Large blocks of sandstone formed a shelter where various sculptures were stored. It is located near a small pool featuring rock carvings.

Historical Notes

Chhat Maha Ru’sei (The Great Hermit’s Parasol). This name refers to a block of sandstone located about twenty meters to the S. of Prah Thom. It is a sort of sandstone mushroom balanced on a bare area. Annamite monks have set up a shelter there and have gathered nineteen statues of the Buddha which are almost all ancient.

Next to it, a square hole measuring about 1 meter on each side and 0.80 meters deep was dug, at the bottom of which a water turtle is rather summarily represented in hollow. A round hole pierced on the back of this turtle suggests that a stick was placed there and that the famous scene of the churning of the sea was thus represented

Lajonquiere, 1911

Near the rocks used as Buddhist shelters, the Čhát Mahà Rosěi of Práh Thom, there is a basin dug into the rock with a turtle in relief at the bottom, with a hole in its back, a sculpture whose period cannot be determined, and next to it a checkerboard with 17 compartments whose rosettes in the vague shape of a lotus could be the transformation of groups of five linga similar to those of Anlon Sambur.

Parmentier, 1927

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