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The Khmer or Angkor
Civilization came
into existence during
the period from 802 to
1431 A.D. and stretched
as far as the modern
Thailand-Burma Border in
the West and Wat Phou of
Laos in the North during
its peak.
Its emergence lies in
the fact that the
ancient Khmer rulers
adopted a right
political doctrine of
its time, which enforce
the unity among people.
Moreover, they had
developed an intelligent
irrigation system to
control the water of the
great Mekong River for
agricultures, which
enhanced its
prosperity. The Khmer
Civilization had long
been perished over 5
centuries ago, but it
left outstanding
monuments such as the
great Khmer temples of
Angkor Wat and Bayon and
numerous unique
sculptures like Apsara.
The word "Angkor"
is derived Sanskrit, an
ancient Indian language,
of "Nagara" which
means "City".
Angkor Wat literally
means "City of Temple"
and Angkor Thom "The
Magnificent City".
No doubts, the ancient
Khmers were great
masters of stone
carving. As we can see
today the unarguable
evidences of various
Angkor temples lying on
the vast plain of
Siemreap, or even beyond
its present-day border
to the Preah Vihear
at Dangrek Mountain,
Phnomrung and
Phimai in Thailand
and Wat Phu in
Laos. All these were
created and carefully
crafts by the ancient
Khmers in successive
centuries. This seems to
contradict with the
normal and easy-going
life of the local Khmer
people and villagers of
their time. What drive
them to put such an
extraordinary efforts
and time will be
explained in the next
chapters.
The study of Khmer
civilization in depth is
not easy and pain-taking
by the historians and
archaeologists. Most of
the writing, found after
the excavation of
Angkor, were carved in
the stones which became
the unperishable
materials against time.
Although these evidences
are important for us to
understand the basic
constituency of Khmer
society and its
chronology, they were
mainly concerned with
religious rituals,
King's praise, and
literature of Indian
epics of "Ramayana"
and "Mahabharata".
There were little things
saying about the
ordinary life of the
local people.
Interestingly, we learn
about the daily way of
life of the ancient
Khmers, not from the
Khmer themselves, but
from the Chinese
annals. In the middle
of 13th century during
Chinese Yuan Dynasty, a
Chinese ambassador named
Zhou Daguan
traveled to Angkor,
stayed with the local
villagers, and explored
this empire for a year
before his return. He
wrote in his Chinese
chronicle about this
amazing empire, and
explain vividly how the
people lives with the
clear portrayal of the
Khmer society during
those days.
The center of the Khmer
Civilization is at the
Angkor Wat area
which is situated on the
plain of present-day
Siemreap province north
of the Great Lake of
Tonle Sap. Throughout
the course of Khmer
history, the kingship
was frequently attained
by violent means with
bloodshed throne. There
were successive capitals
built by different kings
in the region, not far
from each others; these
capitals are at area of
Angkor Wat and Roluos
with the different names
such as Harihalara,
Yasodharapura,
Jayendanagari, Angkor
Thom and a few
unknown names.
Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom
and several other Khmer
temples are undoubtedly
the relics of the past
Khmer Civilization. In
order to help travelers
as well as readers to
get a clearer picture of
Cambodia and these
temple complexes, we
have put up several
articles on Khmer
Civilization which
covers the historical
background, successive
eras from the beginning
till the end, reasons of
rise and fall of this
civilization and a
chronology.
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