ASI team is engaged in preserving Hindu culture in Laos, a country in South East Asia located hundreds of miles away from India’s border.
In 2005, ASI started the survey work of Vat Phou temple. In 2007, an MoU was signed between the Governments of India and Laos, and ASI started working here from the year 2009. The first phase of restoration work was done between 2007 and 2017, during which Rs 17 crore was spent. The second phase of this project started in 2018 and will end in 2028. In Phase 2, about Rs 24 crore has been spent by ASI.
Wat Pho temple was built in the fifth century by the Khmer royal family as a Shiva temple, but by the fourteenth century, with the spread of Buddhism in South East Asia, it was converted into a Buddhist temple. However, evidence of it being a Shiva temple is still present in every corner of this temple complex.
Shivling is still present in the courtyard of the temple sanctum sanctorum. Many Shivlings have been found in this temple courtyard, including a broken statue of the Shiva family seated on Nandi. The ASI team has been engaged in the restoration work of this UNESCO-protected site since 2007. This work of ASI will not only strengthen the relations between India and Laos but the signs of Hindu culture that spread in Far South East Asia thousands of years ago will be preserved once again.
UNESCO describes it as a temple complex that was “shaped” to express the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity. Moreover, two planned cities on the banks of the Mekong River are also part of the site, as well as Phou Kao Mountain.
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