KHMER EMPIRE TEMPLE ECONOMY

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KHMER EMPIRE (TEMPLE ECONOMY)

• CAMBODIA
• ANGKOR VAT, BAYON TEMPLE CITIES

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KHMER EMPIRE (900-1434 CE)
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KHMER EMPIRE

• One standard by which early southeast Asian
  polities are measured is the number of stone
  temples complexes they left- the more impressive
  the archaeological remains, the more prosperous
  or accomplished was the state or so the
  reasoning goes. Now the historians are coming to
  find that broad levels of social, economic and
  political integration were not necessary for such
  construction, and that

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KHMER EMPIRE

• the building of impressive religious edifices
  does not necessarily demonstrate the political
  and economic achievement of the society. In the
  Angkor era inscriptions proclaimed the king as
  the creator and director of public works that
  were designed to ensure prosperity. These works
  irrigated some 5 million hectares, and were
  constructed around Khmer capital at Angkor

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KHMER EMPIRE

• and in a number of regional domains under Khmer
  authority. Without this hydraulic system, the
  water supply was irregular and thus limited
  agricultural productivity.

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KHMER EMPIRE

• The ancient Khmer kings adopted a successful
  monarchical system borrowing heaving from India.
  Being revered as the "god-king" or deva-raja, the
  Khmer kings were able to rule over the empire
  with divine kingship and absolute power. This
  enhanced the kings to mobilize large manpower to
  serve in its military force to defend the nation
  as well as to invade the neighbours.

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KHMER EMPIRE

• In addition, the kings could maintain their
  extensive irrigation system which was the prime
  factor of its successful economy with their Khmer
  labourers and foreign slaves. 

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KHMER EMPIRE

• Moreover, the kings surrounded themselves with
  the wise men or the "learned" Khmer Brahmins as
  their counsellors. The Brahmins were known to
  have acquired vast knowledge which were inherited
  from father to sons or taught only within the
  family. These learned Brahmins help the kings to
  run an efficient administration of the country,
  and thus resulted in stronger empire.

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KHMER EMPIRE

• The Angkor was situated in the North of Tonle Sap
  Lake, and the only possible way for invaders to
  bring in a large enough troops to fight against
  the Angkor is by sailing upstream from the Mekong
  River. Geographically, the Angkor was protected
  by rugged thick forests from all sides.  There
  were no well-developed roads, and the land access
  with large military force could turn out into a
  tragedy.

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KHMER EMPIRE

• When the enemies intended to attack the Angkor,
  they have to sail up from the Mekong River only
  to meet with the strong naval force of Angkor
  upstream.  The enemy's battle ships moved slower
  thus became an easier target of being attacked
  and sunk. Throughout the history of over 600
  years, Angkor lost only one major naval battle on
  Tonle Sap Lake to Champa in 1171.

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KHMER EMPIRE

• The geographical location of the Angkor Empire
  itself faces two extreme seasons, i.e. the heavy
  rainfall during Monsoon and the dry period during
  the off-Monsoon season. Numerous large
  reservoirs, dikes, moats and ponds helped
  significantly to prevent floods over the
  farmlands during the heavy rainfall in Monsoon
  and to conserve water storage for use during the
  dry season.

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KHMER EMPIRE

• The efficient and extensive irrigation system of
  the ancient Khmers enabled the empire to
  cultivate crops two to three times a year which
  led to high productivity and strong economy of
  the Angkor Empire.

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ANGKOR VAT
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ANGKOR VAT
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ANGKOR VAT
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ANGKOR VAT
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BAYON (BUDDHIST TEMPLE)
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BAYON
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VAT PHOM
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PAGAN BURMA

• BUDDHISM AS AN ECONOMIC FORCE

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BURMA
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PAGAN (1100-1400 CE)

• The Burmese state of Pagan at its height also
  drew its support from a temple networks. Early
  Pagan monarchs had two needs as they established
  their authority economic and ideological that
  substantiated their superiority over their
  political rivals. Buddhism provided the answer.
  The Buddhist sangha was able, as an existing body
  of literati with at least a

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PAGAN

• primary level of technological expertise, to
  assist in the development of hydro-agricultural
  systems. King Anawrahta (1044-77 CE) resettled
  skilled and unskilled labourers in central and
  northern Burma and imported Theravada Buddhism
  from Thaton region (southern Burma).
• Pagan era society was organized into professional
  communities, and the status was

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PAGAN

• determined by ones birth, occupation, and
  ethnicity. Hereditary status was enforced by the
  state and the Buddhist church (sangha). The
  private workers were subjected to intense
  specialization and became more and more
  regimented by occupations into specialist groups.
  
• In Burma the status was defined by how much one
  gave to the Buddhist church than the

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PAGAN

• wealth one accumulated. Kings received merit and
  legitimacy in return for their generosity. In
  Burma the Kammatic karma Buddhism , which
  stressed that salvation was due to ones good
  work took precedence over belief that salvation
  accrued via intellectual attainment (nirvana).
• In absence of a strong centralized political
  system, Pagan monarchs drew upon the

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PAGAN

• Buddhist religious order to sanctify their
  authority by endowing monasteries and temples
  with lands and peoples, thus kings set in motion
  the legacy of royal patronage.
• Over expansion of the sangha became a major
  political problem since it had the institutional
  capacity to co-ordinate its affairs over the
  entire realm, while the state could not. The
  kings recourse against the churchs

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PAGAN

• wealth and power was periodic purification of
  the religious order by publicly accusing the
  sanga of being corrupt and thus impure. The
  purification of sangha was an act of piety by the
  king. Burmese rulers followed their public
  accusation by sending selected monks to Sri
  Lanka, which was considered to be the centre of
  Buddhist piety.

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PAGAN
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PAGAN
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PAGAN
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STANDING IDOL OF BUDDHA
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SITTING IDOL OF BUDDHA
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BUDDHAS IDOL
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BUDDHIST TEMPLE (MOUNT POPA)