Ancestral Land-Guardian Spirit
Khmer · deity · pre Indic Khmer animism; living village cult · Recorded classification
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
- Neak ta ('the ancient ones') are the tutelary ancestral spirits of Khmer animism, localized guardians of land, water and settlement that predate and coexist with Theravada Buddhism.: Ang Chouléan, Les êtres surnaturels dans la religion populaire khmère, Cedoreck, 1986 (secondary); Courtney Work, 'Chthonic Sovereigns? Neak Ta in a Cambodian Village', The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 2019 (secondary)