Nāgas

Khmer style. Phnom Rung Sanctuary, Thailand, 10th-13th century. 

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Khmer temples normally installed long elaborate stone-carved balustrades depicting Hindu nāgas or "serpent-beings." These functioned simultaneously as guardians and bridges, both connecting and protecting the access paths between the realms of Gods and those of men. The mythical nāgas are believed to dwell on the bottom of seas and rivers or in their own splendid subterranean realm called Nāgaloka that abounds in precious stones and metals. They appear as serpents but also in human form. As the archetypal symbol of the transfigurative power of primordial nature, nāgas are the bearers of divine knowledge, too. This is well illustrated by the great Indian tantric-saint Nāgārjuna who, as his name directly indicates, was "born of the nāgas."