Social Society

The Khmer social oganisation was very different and similar, to modern day society. The Khmer Empire was strictly based around the kings and temples and each person had a role to play. The village temples of the Khmer Empire were a big part in society as they acted like a 'storehouse', in which they would collect and store most of the produce from the villages, these would be led by the local village aristocracy. The aristocracy would be like the 'mayor of a town' in this modern generation, but in this modern gerneration the mayor would have people to take care of different things in the town. But, in Khmer social structure the aristocracy administered their land and their resources throught the village temple, often managing the land in the temple's name. For example, it be like group of people have leader and he is the speaks and leads in the group's name. These village temples then made dontaions to the regional temples and in return they would get protection from the king. Sort of like the towns connect to the states and the states connect to the capital, working as one.

The 'god-king' is the leader and king of the Khmer Empire, like pharos of ancient Egypt, the Khmer citizians thought 'god-king' is the source of all legal and religious power. Their was also an oath where the leaders swore an oath of loyalty to the king. If they broke this oath, there was the threat of eteranl punishment. The 'god-king' was also viewed out to be the main force behind the creation of buildings and works. This belief was carried out because, to guarantee the prosperity of Khmer and the kings power. So temples were dedicated towards Hindu gods, such as Vishnu, it was also a good image for the king. In the end the king still had to respect the nobility and his people, and their social positions, and to acknowledge powers within the realm. So this is very different to our society, as we believe the prime minister, dosent have any religous relations and we don't treat him as a god.

We dont have much info about daily life in Khmer, but we do have a a diary by Zhou Daguan a 13th-century Chinese diplomat and he says,



This text is a diary entry by Zhou Daguan, a 13th-century diplomat. From this diary we can tell that people in Khmer had no rights, restricted and had no freedom of speech. Today in society (mainly in Australia) we have morals, rights and freedom of speech. But this diary is only one persons perspective, but because it's the only real thing describing life in Khmer we have to go with it. Zhou Daguan also described in another diary that the rich people had everything - fancy temples, clothes and food - but, only showed Zhou Daguan the rich part of the Khmer society, so the rich where deceptive and prideful.

Khmer and our society (mainly Australia) Khmer had a very difficult life and the rich lived very selfishly, this is similar in our society the poor have a difficult life and the rich boast in pride.