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“It now seems probable that the Krishna statue was erected at the place which was revered as the site of the founding Khmer myth: the place where the newly arrived Indian Brahmin Kaundinya was believed to have met and married local Mera the naga princess (we will hear more of this myth shortly). By erecting a major temple there to Lord Krishna, ‘Phnom Da becomes a new Mount Govardhan, and probably, by extension, the Mekong River becomes the holy river Yamuna,’ thereby ritually extending the sacred geography of India to South-east Asia.” — William Dalrymple
It now
seems probable that the Krishna statue was erected at the place which was
revered as the site of the founding Khmer myth: the place where the newly
arrived Indian Brahmin Kaundinya was believed to have met and married
local Mera the naga princess (we will hear more of this myth shortly). By
erecting a major temple there to Lord Krishna, ‘Phnom Da becomes a new
Mount Govardhan, and probably, by extension, the Mekong River becomes
the holy river Yamuna,’ thereby ritually extending the sacred geography of
India to South-east Asia.