Searching the Answers
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| UNESCO: Face Tower at South Gate, Angkor Thom |
Mystery and the search for answers of the Angkor Kingdom is a universal appeal to people who interested in these World Heritage site. These puzzles have only presumptions, discussions and debates that are not conclusive.
Everyone wants to know who
is the owner of face on Face Towers.
Everyone wants to know who
are the brilliant rulers of Ancient Khmer Kingdom.
Everyone wants to know how
did this great kingdom happened, developed and fallen down.
We have read descriptions of the questions above from Southeast Asia civilisation
experts who gathering and analysing evidences such as stone inscriptions,
record of Chinese diplomats, missionaries, western explorers and archaeological
evidences for ancient monuments and artifacts.
There is no related
information that I eager to know from visiting Angkor National Museum and the
historic sites in Angkor Archeological Park.
A lot of information that
difficult to remember are described the art history, ancient architecture and
artifact characteristics that are more tangible.
The idea that I think is a
solid foundation and a powerful conductor of the Ancient Khmer civilization is
Devaraja (God-king) concept.
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| Devaraja: Suryavarman II, Angkor Wat Gallery |
According to history of
Thailand, Ayutthaya kings adopted Devaraja cult from Ancient Khmer to rule the
country. This concept was carried over to the Rattanakosin era, along with the
concept of the Buddhist concept "Dhammaraja". Do not forget that by
Buddhism (Mahayana) has also been recognised from the beginning with the
Ancient Khmer Empire as well as Hinduism.
Currently, Thailand is a
democratic nation by constitutional monachy. But Devaraja also has influence on
Thai society and people.
Experienced under the
influence of Devaraja as Thai people, presumptions based on Western idea for
example Khmer people could not tolerate to long time excessive power usage of
the kings or the influence of Theravada Buddhism are the reasons to loosen
their love and loyalty to the kings and brought the collapse of the
kingdom. These factors are weightless.
The notion of Devaraja and
Dhammaraja are my key to understand and appreciate prosperity of the Angkor
civilisation, talent of the kings and loyalty of the people. Deterioration and the collapse of the kingdom
would come from other causes such as disease outbreaks of water resources that
play an important role in the kingdom. The struggle for power among the members
in royal family brings the monarchy weakness. This is my personal beliefs.
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