Rise Of The Ham Empire Essay

Three aspects that contributed to the Khmer Empire rise to prominence were society and government, control over water systems and the role of daily life.
Society and government had a large influence on the success of the Khmer Empire. The ancient Khmer kings had a successful monarchy system based on a concept of ‘god-king’ in which he had divine and absolute power and society’s belief in the divine powers of the ruler helped the society be successful. Ordinary Khmers feared their kings, regarded them as their protectors and worshiped them as gods. The ‘god-kings’ surrounded themselves with Bhramins who were teachers, scholars and priests. They advised the ‘god-king’ with personal knowledge they had passed down through generations. This gave the ‘god-kings’ confidential but important information on how to run an efficient and successful empire. The ‘god-king’ used this information and their ‘god-king’ power to organise large groups of men to defend the nation and
Since the people believed in the divine powers and total authority of the ruler they worked in different occupations to ensure the growth of the Khmer Empire. This belief that the ‘god-king’ was their protector meant that he was able to assemble a large number of men for the military to defend the empire and attack neighbours to expand the empire. The engineering of the water systems required technical knowledge but it also involved a huge amount of labour to move large rocks and earth to build the systems. The peasants and farmers fished in communal ponds and in Tonle Sap Lake which was the centre of the fishing industry. They also took care of animals and tended to the rice fields. This agriculture not only fed a growing population but was also used to trade with. The activities of ordinary people in their daily life helped the Khmer Empire become wealthy and added to the success of the Khmer