Puthisan Neang Kong Rei

Puthisan Neang Kong Rei is a Khmer popular legend which first found in Hindi and had live in many countries but with another title.Example: Nang Sib Song (Thailand). This story is adopted to a poem written by a Khmer rich poet named Mien Pakley and adopted to films several times. The Story tells about the powerful love and openly of Neang Kong Rei toward Puthisen.

Plot

Once Upon the time,There was an Rich man who now turned to a poor man because of his Twelve doctor,So he abandoned his daughters in a deep forest. There are the giant Neang Santema who took the 12 foundlings to be the servants of her daughter, Kong Rei.

Eventually tiring of the toil of their lives under the terrifying giants, the 12 fled their bondage and made their way to a neighboring kingdom where they were wed en masse to its king, Preah Bath Rothasith.

But the giant San-tema was unwilling to allow the dozen former servants of her daughter to live in even the relative freedom that polygamous relationships of the time allowed. Instead, Santema concealed her identity - not a small matter considering her physical stature and reputation - and charmed Rothasith into making her his 13th wife.

Once she had gained the trust and sympathy of her new husband, Santema feigned a deadly illness, one that all the doctors and medicines of her husband failed to cure.

Santema capitalized on Rothasith's growing desperation and informed him that only a potion concocted from the eyeballs of her 12 pregnant co-wives would save her life. Entranced by Santema's wiles, Roth-asith ordered his soldiers to carve out the eyes of 11 of the 12 women, with wife Neang Pov allowed to keep one of her eyes.

After their ritual mutilation, the now blind or nearly blind women were confined in a cave, where they were forced to consume their newly born children one by one.

Only one-eyed Neang Pov was allowed to let her son, Puthisan, survive. In the darkness of the cave with his blind, grief-crazed aunts, Sen quietly fortified himself with dreams of revenge as he nourished himself with the flesh of his dead cousins.

When he became an adult, the evil Santema began to fear the consequences if Puthisan became King. To circumvent any possible acts of revenge by Sen, Santema sent him a letter instructing him to use it for passage into the Forest of Giants. In fact, the letter was a death warrant that stated "When Pothisan arrives, eat him".

But the letter was cunningly altered by a hermit living in the forest to read : "When Puthisann arrives, marry him to my daughter."

Thus when Pothisan entered the Forest of Giants, the letter was read and its instructions obeyed by the sentinel giants. Unbeknownst to Santema, her beloved daughter Kong Rei became the adoring wife of her greatest enemy.

After their married,Kong Rei had told Puthisan all about the magic thing in her Kingdom including the Eyeballs that belonged to Puthisen's mother and aunts. Predictably, rather than fulfilling his conjugal duties Puthy Sen took advantage of his new position to steal back the eyeballs of his long-suffering aunts along with some magical potions designed to facilitate his escape. When a stricken Kong Rei attempted to pursue Sen, he used the magical potion to turn the land between them into water, allowing him to flee. Kong Rei cried and begged him to back lived with her but he refused cause he should thought of his mother stronger than wife.Kong rei cried until she died and became the Mountain called Kong Rei Mountain at Kampong Chhnang

When he arrived his kingdom, he made his mother and aunts had their eyeballs again and killed Santema.Finally,Putisan, his mother and aunts lived happily in the royalpalace with Santema's body turned to the stone and had abandone in the deep forest.

The Tourism Of Kong Rei Mountain

Kong Rei Mountain is one of the main tourist spots in Kampong Chhnang province, particularly during Khmer New Year. Along with sightseers, the mountain attracts spiritually motivated laymen and women who come to pray and meditate. [http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/200105253773/National-news/The-mountain-of-doomed-love.html ] At the base of the mountain there is a hut for resident monks and lay followers to do that. Leading from the hut to the top of the mountain is a path named plov sdach {king's path}.

While in previous decades a hike up the mountain involved the potential risk of encounters with tigers and other animals, the area is now sadly denuded of wildlife.

Belief toward The Story

The People live in Kampong Chhnang Province believe that the story is real and they warn their children do not eat every vegatabe in Kong Rei mountain because it should be Kong rei's Hairy.

Chan Pav, 40, a resident of Trabek village at the mountain's base, says that Kong Rei's attraction for spiritually-minded visitors are caves that possess strong spiritual power. While Pav said that spiritual power noticeably decreased during the Pol Pot regime, recent peace and stability had put it on an upward trend."The scientists seem not to believe in spirit power, but we here must believe in it because it is true," he said. "This mountain requires [visitors to express] the truth. If not [they] will get trouble. [http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/200105253773/National-news/The-mountain-of-doomed-love.html ]

Films

The Story has adopted many times for times:
*Puthisen Neang Kong Rei(1975Film) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGsyeKGThGE ]
*Rithisen Neang Kong Rei(2000film). [http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t9174. ]

References