- The picture of Rahu is always painted on the gable of a temple or if it is painted in a pagoda, it is normally painted on the gable of the Buddhist temple to show that Rahu was a "powerful deity". 2- The picture of Rahu is also painted on the gateway of a temple or a pagoda. 3- The picture of Rahu is normally painted from armpit upward, clearly showing the arms, neck and the head with a broad face bearing teeth. It is normally painted blue to make it look powerful to those who look at it. 4- The picture of Rahu is painted in the house or in the royal palace to let people know that it is "a strong man or a high-ranking man. 5- They sometimes call it "Reahou" or just "Realm" like the words "Realm Chap Chan" (means Rahu swallows the moon). Sometimes, people call it "Aksorin but they mostly call it "Rahu Aksorin 6- The reason why they painted only the half of the picture of Ralm is because there is a story as follows: The History Of Rahu Rahu Aksorin was the supreme commander of the army of Preah Bat Vech Chet, who reigned in a country called Chetraso on the bottom of the Mountain of Mem. This Rahu was said to be the biggest of all the demons there with the height of 4,500 Yaoch (each Yaocli equals about 16 kilometers). It had the width from one shoulder to another of 1,600 Yoach, the width between the forearm was 1,200 Yoach long, each joint of its finger and toe was 50 Yoach long, its slit of the mouth was 200 Yoach long, its each sale and palm hand was 300 Yoach wide, the dept of its mouth was 300 Yaoch, its nostril was 200 Yaoch deep, its neck was 300 Yoach long, the width of its forehead was 300 Yaoch, the distance from one eye to another was 50 Yaoch, the size of its head was 900 Yaoch, the width of each tooth was 50 Yaoch, its body hair in general was 50 Yaoch and each fingernail and toenail was 50 Yaoch long. Rahu had 10,000 wives who were all beautiful and who were as big as him. One day, Rahu Aksorin convened a meeting of all his concubines and boasted about his power and strength (he liked to be flattered) and then he asked his concubines: "In this entire universe, is there anyone who is as big as I am? And is there anyone who looks as great as I am?" He asked from the first concubine till the 10,000th. concubine. The last concubine said: "You are many Very big. but it is not so huge as the Gautama Buddha. The Gautama Buddha l have ever seen many times is the biggest of all in the universe. The Gautama Buddha is the tallest, the biggest, the most handsome and the most powerful of all men in the world." Hearing his concubine boasting about the qualities of the Buddha and as he was also boastful, Rahu exclaimed: "Yi! That Gautama Buddha's sleeping room or the door of his temple is not even big enough for me to enter, let alone his size and appearance. Why do you say that I am not so big and tall as him? So I will go to measure his height to know how big he is!" As for the Buddha, he knew that Rahu Aksorin claimed himself to be bigger than him (the Buddha) and wanted to measure him. so the Buddha magically enlarged the door of the temple of Jetavana monastery. milking it far bigger than Rahu himself as though an ordinary person walked into an ordinary temple. When Rahu entered the temple, he saw the Buddha sleeping. He looked up at the Buddha as if he was looking up in the sky. But, Rahu still thought that the Buddha was not bigger than him. One day, when the Buddha went out to beg for food, Rahu snuck to follow the Buddha from behind about 50 Yaoch away, but he did not look so tall as the Buddha, so he took out a very long bamboo cane. It was about SO-Yaoch long to measure the Buddha from behind, but it was still far shorter, so he tried to connect one bamboo cane to one thousand canes to by spending the whole morning, sweating profusely, but still it was not so tall as the Buddha. One day, Rahu wanted to see the Buddha's face closely in order to compare his height, so be transformed himself as a leech in a pond. Then, the Buddha called out. to him: "Rahu! Why do you transform yourself into a leech to peep at me? Come up here and I will tell you what you want to know! I am not big. In fact, the Brahmans living in heaven are much bigger than me." Rahu thought: "This Gautama Buddha is really bigger than I am, but now the so-called Brahmans are also bigger than Then, Rahu was ashamed of his concubines and did not dare to return to his place, so he begged the Buddha to bring him to heaven to see the Brahmans. The Buddha told Rahu to cling to the edge of his robe and flew to beg food at the place where the Brahmans lived. Seeing Rahu clinging to the edge of the Buddha's robe, the Brahmans told the Buddha: "A louse is biting the edge of your robe!" Hearing what the Brahmans had said, Rahu was even more ashamed of the Brahmans by the thought that: "I am also huge, but now the Brahmans say I am as small as a louse." Therefore, Rahu said 800dbye to the Buddha to return to his place. The Buddha told Rahu: "Don’t stop on your half Way and don't stop to drink water if you are thirsty... When he was on half way, Rahu saw a pond with clear water and lotus flowers with sweet smell. He forgot the Buddha's instructions and when he went into the water up to his armpit. the lower part of his body broke and fell down. The Birth Of Rahu, The Sun And The Moon In the religion of the Buddha Vespou, there were rich husband and wife living in Hangsavatei country. They always offered food to that Buddha everyday. They had three sons and the eldest son was called Vate Komar, the middle son was called Tho! Komar and the youngest son was called Tikheavuth Komar. After their parents had passed away, one day, the three brothers met and discussed "We will cook rice and offer it to the Buddha to preserve our parents' habits." The two brothers Said “You should hold the ladle to scoop up the cooked rice, the middle brother should wash the rice pot, put rice in it. wash it clean and put it over the fireplace and the youngest brother should make a fire," The three brothers divided the duties among themselves. The youngest brother tried to make a fire till it burned strongly, making the pot of rice boiling profusely and the elder brother rushed to take the ladle to stir the boiling rice. When the smoke went into his eyes, he hit his youngest brother on the head with the ladle and cursed: "Why don't you make it burn into flame?" The youngest brother was angry. with his eldest brother and answered back: "You did not consider it seriously and hit my head with the ladle just like I am a servant." Then, he clenched his fist and punched his eldest brother. The youngest brother was strong and he took out the pestle to beat his eldest brother. but the middle brother prevented him from beating his eldest brother. After they had cooked a pot of rice, the three brothers divided the cooked rice among (munch/es. Vale Komar put rice on a golden plate, Thai Kama, put rice on a silver plate and Tikheavuth Komar being angry with his eldest brother and crying pm rice in a black bowl. Before long, the Buddha Vesphou came and the three brothers put their rice in his bowl. ‘ 'Ihe first brother wished that he would be bom as the sun who was very powerful and had the ray like gold to light all kinds of animals in the four continents and could live to be nine million years. After putting his rice in the Buddha's bowl. the second brother wished that he would be born as the moon divinity who had bright light like silver and who was as cold as emerald for all kinds 0f animals in the four continents and could live to be nine million years. A5 for the Y0ungcst brother. after putting his rice in the Buddha's bowl, he wished that he would be born as the one who was the biggest, me strongest and the most powerful in the four continents and his two brothers would fear him once they saw him. After their prayer, the Buddha Vesphou said thank you and then he went back to monastery. After the three brothers had died, the first brother was born as the sun, the second brother as the moon and the youngest brother as Rahu Alison); According to the Khmer people who love the painting of Rahu, they like the painting of Rahu because they think "Rahu is strong and powerful". Therefore, they painted the picture of Rahu on the gable of a Buddhist temple or on the walls of 8 temple or they had this picture tattooed on their bodies because they wanted themselves to be Powerful against all sorts of disaster, including evil Spirits.
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