Reamker, Cambodia's national epic of Preah Ream, Neang Seda and a mermaid princess

the gist

The Reamker, "Glory of Rama", is the national epic of Cambodia, based on the Sanskrit Ramayana and adapting its Hindu ideas to Buddhist themes. A 7th-century inscription at Veal Kantel already mentions Ramayana manuscripts being offered to a temple, while the surviving text dates from the 16th century and was composed by at least three unknown authors. Preah Ream is understood to be an incarnation of Vishnu, but in Cambodia the characters are interpreted as mortals with human strengths and weaknesses. Preah Ream wins Neang Seda by firing arrows through a spinning wheel with spokes, and is sent into exile with her and his brother Preah Leak. The ten-headed Krong Reap of Lanka carries Neang Seda away after his uncle Mohareech lures Preah Ream off as a golden deer. Building a stone bridge to Lanka, Hanuman finds mermaids stealing the stones, sets out to capture their princess Sovanna Maccha, and the two fall in love. Krong Reap heals every wound until a defecting general reveals his weakness, and with Hanuman's aid he is slain.

so what

The Reamker is a mainstay of the Cambodian royal ballet and runs through every Cambodian art form, from sculpture and painting to dance drama. Carvings at Angkor Wat depict a Ramayana scene nearly a thousand years old, and in 1969 the storyteller Ta Chak's oral telling was recorded over ten days, five hours a day.

D. W. Griffith’s A Corner in Wheat (1909)

the gist

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.

how it works

To corner a market, a trader buys up most of the available supply and the futures contracts that promise more. Anyone who has to deliver the commodity must then buy from the cornerer at whatever price is demanded. The trader profits until the stock is released or the scheme collapses.

so what

A century on, it still shows how markets can be rigged by someone who controls supply, and how the people at either end, farmers and eaters, pay for it. It also helped establish editing as a way to argue a point, not just tell a story.

the bigger pattern

Corners have recurred whenever supply could be locked up, from the Hunt brothers' attempt on silver in 1979 to 1980 to the 'Black Friday' gold panic of 1869. Many such schemes end by collapsing, and the response is often new rules on speculation.

fun fact

In the film the Wheat King dies by falling into a grain elevator and being buried in the wheat he hoarded, an ending borrowed from Norris's novel The Octopus.

Usman Khawaja refuses to answer Sandpapergate question about Pat Cummins | 7.30

from ABC News In-depth

One of the darkest days in Australia's sporting history has been dragged back into the spotlight.

A new autobiography by former Test cricketer Usman Khawaja has made explosive revelations about the Australian Test team's 2018 ball-tampering saga in South Africa.

7.30 host Sarah Ferguson speaks to Usman Khawaja.

7.30 is the ABC's flagship current affairs program, delivering original journalism, exclusive investigations, in-depth analysis and interviews on the major issues affecting Australia and the world.

With on-the-ground reporting from ABC journalists across every state and territory and around the world, 7.30 has the latest on politics, policy, the economy, cost of living, housing, health, climate and energy, national security and global affairs.

Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated.

on YouTube: ABC News In-depth ↗