Rites of the God-King: The Brahmanic Foundations of the Cambodian Throne

Rites of the God-King: The Brahmanic Foundations of the Cambodian Throne
Chapter One: The Court of the Cosmos: The Practice of Brahmanism at Angkor The spiritual life of the Angkorian Empire was a world of spectacular and potent ritual, a constant dialogue between the earthly realm and the heavens. The religion that governed the court of the great Khmer kings was Brahmanism, the ancient faith of India that would evolve into modern Hinduism. In Cambodia, however, this was not a popular religion for the masses, but an exclusive and esoteric state cult. Its practice was the sole domain of the king and his specialized Brahmin priesthood. The purpose of this state religion was twofold: to provide a powerful, divine justification for the king's absolute authority, and to perform the complex ceremonies necessary to maintain harmony between the kingdom and the universe itself. To understand the practice of Brahmanism at Angkor is to understand the operating system of the empire. It was a form of sacred statecraft, a fusion of political theology and elaborate rit…