There is a whale temple in every Vietnamese fishermen village and every whale festival lead to the coastal shores thousands of pilgrims to pay tribute to the “Savior of men”. Just a few miles away, behind Cambodian borders, paintings on walls celebrate Athon, the sea crocodile, the one who created Cambodian land with its tail. The worship of maritime creatures illustrates people’s faith since centuries. But with the changes that occurred in the world one would expect the declining predominance of beliefs. Instead, the religious fervor of the fishermen for whom the Lord Whale is the Protector remains intact. In Cambodia, incense sticks still burn on the altars dedicated to the sea crocodile. Why beliefs on these maritime creatures still exist in Vietnam and Cambodia while they are tending to disappear elsewhere? Having multicultural roots saved them from the decline?

Southeast Asia is a corridor in which cultures converge. According to Victor Goloubew from Ecole Française d’Extrême Orient, the influence exercised by Java island in 9th century on Southeast Asia is of key importance. It should be pointed that the worship of whale is coming from ancient Champa kingdom, who was under the Kelantan cultural influence, which had itself traces of Java influences. For its part, the worship of Athon has roots in India but the frescoes representing this crocodile on the Bayon, in Angkor Thom, have Java artistic style. Is the diversity of cultures helped to keep the beliefs alive? Is the cultural syncretism the answer? Gilberte de Coral-Rémusat who studied the “Fabulous animals of Indochina, Insulindia and China” also underlined the role of Buddhism in these beliefs. For the Vietnamese fishermen, Lord Whale has been created by Bodhisattva to save them from famine. Athon, the crocodile, is the companion of a Buddhist monk. What is the role played by Buddhism in the survival of these beliefs when both Vietnam and Cambodia are Buddhist countries?  Examining these sources will allows us to explore the complexity of the phenomenon of encounter between civilizations and the relationship between beliefs and cultural roots.

Keywords: Maritime cults, Beliefs, Syncretism, Fishermen, Marine mammals

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Nguyen Quoc-Thanh is an Associate member of Institute of East Asian Studies and the author of Le culte de la baleine, un heritage multicultural du Vietnam maritime (The whale’s cult, a multicultural heritage of maritime Vietnam), Presses Universitaires de Provence, 2017.