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based on a number of huge
artificial reservoirs fed by the local rivers and linked
to each other by means of a rectangular grid system of
canals.
These reservoirs, called
barays, were located at the highest point in the river
system, and were used to feed a vast chain of irrigation
channels spreading out over the lower lying land.
The huge acreage of rice paddy
so watered was the
continual support of the strength and prosperity of the
Khmer empire. And since Angkor itself was the source of
that support, it was regarded by the Khmers with
religious reverence as a divine endowment. Its temples
and palaces are thus both an expression of that
reverence and at the same time an essential part of the
mechanism.
The continual
gift of the waters of heaven, divine by origin,
is ensured by continual royal intercession, and
by the performance of correct ceremonial. In
this the king, who was the earthly image of God,
his Brahmins and later on Buddhist monks, play
an essential part. The Khmer king believed
himself to be united with the deity of his cult
after his death, and dedica¬tory statues were
set up in his chief temple to commemorate the
divinization of the king. here are
Angkor Wat
pictures.
Indravarman built
the first colossal baray at Angkor, and laid
down the basis for the irrigation system. The
idea was perhaps an expansion of the concept of
irrigation by means of the |
