Ancestral Land-Guardian Spirit

Spirit-class entity treated as a deity (a class of tutelary guardian spirits rather than a single named god). Sex listed male as the prototypical neak ta is male, though female neak ta (e.g. Yeay Mao) also exist. English description leads; native Neak Ta (អ្នកតា) in alt/transliterations.

Domains

• land and territory
• tutelary guardianship
• rain and fertility of the soil

Powers

• Watches over a tree, stone, field or village in return for offerings
• Speaks and cures through a chosen human medium

Sources

• Ang Chouléan, Les êtres surnaturels dans la religion populaire khmère, Cedoreck, 1986
• Courtney Work, 'Chthonic Sovereigns? Neak Ta in a Cambodian Village', The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 2019