Robaim Apsara
(Dance of the Apsaras)

Apsaras figure prominently on the carvings of Cambodian temple walls.

According to legend, the apsaras are divine dancing girls, wives of the gandharvas the divine musicians. Apsaras are said to have been born during The Churning of the Ocean of Milk, the act of creation in ancient Hindu mythology in which gods and demons acquired their immortality.

In an act of love between the apsara Mera and the hermit Kumpu, the nation of "Kumpu-Mera," or what we know as Kampuchea or Cambodia was born.

The true Khmer (Cambodian) dancer radiates both beauty and spiritual power. She is able to reach beyond herself to all those who have gone before her, enveloping her soul with those of all the dancers who have gone before her and even the divine apsaras themselves.

In this dance, the apsara Mera, dressed in white for purity, dances in a garden with her handmaidens, who are also apsara. The golden flowers they carry symbolize the happiness and well being of the Cambodian people.

Pictured are (left to right) veteran dancer Bonavy, master dancer Yim Devi Dos, and veteran dancer, Mome.