Way of Life in the Khmer Empire | History at the University of Queensland

Way of Life in the Khmer Empire | History at the University of Queensland: "Way of Life in the Khmer Empire
Our knowledge of everyday life in the Khmer empire is based largely on three main sources: stone inscriptions written in Sanskrit (the classical Indian language) or old Khmer, which were translated by French and other Western scholars including the famous George Coedes (1886-1969), stone reliefs on some of the temples of the Angkor complex, and descriptions written by foreign visitors.
One of the most famous of these latter sources was the account written by the Chinese envoy, Chou Ta-Kuan (or Zhou Daguan). For many centuries China had maintained trade relations with Angkor. Chou stayed for one year in Angkor in 1296 and recorded his account in Memorials on the Customs of Cambodia. His record is the only surviving first person account of Khmer daily life. From this work we can obtain a detailed picture of the religious life, the role of women, local customs, housing and architecture, the system of justice, agriculture, language and writing, the local diet, health, village organization, and the local flora and fauna in the later period of the Angkorean Empire."

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