Regarding the story last week of the Thailand military destroying a statue of a Hindu deity on the border with Cambodia, at the time it was unclear which deity it was. Now clearer photographs have become available. The deity is an 8 armed form of Lord Vishnu. This form is originally found in the ancient Angkor Wat temple (which is the largest Hindu temple in the world).
Though this is a rare form of Lord Vishnu, we also have something similar in South India at Kanchipuram called as Ashtabuja Perumal (“Eight Armed Narayana”), which is an eight armed form of Lord Vishnu. That temple in Kanchipuram is one of the 108 divyadesams, divine abodes of Lord Narayana sung by the Alvars.
Ashtabhuja Perumal at Kanchipuram in India.
This eight armed form of Vishnu is worshipped throughout Cambodia, at places such as Angkor Wat. Why in ancient times would the Cambodian Hindu king established deities of the 8 armed form of Lord Vishnu and not the more common four armed form we usually find in India? I would assume he was invoking the Narayana Kavacha from Srimad Bhagavatam where the 8 armed form of Lord Vishnu is worshipped. He may have been worshipping such a form to protect the kingdom through the Narayana Kavacha armor. There Lord Vishnu is described as having 8 arms as follows:
om harir vidadhyān mama sarva-rakṣāṁ
nyastāṅghri-padmaḥ patagendra-pṛṣṭhe
darāri-carmāsi-gadeṣu-cāpa-
pāśān dadhāno ’ṣṭa-guno ’ṣṭa-bāhuḥ
“Om. May Lord Hari arrange complete protection for me. The Supreme Lord, who sits on the back of the bird Garuḍa, touching him with His lotus feet, holds eight weapons — the conchshell, disc, shield, sword, club, arrows, bow and ropes. May that Supreme Personality of Godhead protect me at all times with His eight arms. He is all-powerful because He fully possesses the eight mystic powers [aṇimā, laghimā, etc.].” – Srimad Bhagavatam 6.8.21
A similar form of Vishnu at Angkor Wat temple.
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