94 the mornings and closed at night, and it is said no male or female bonded servants were allowed. The width of the entrance to the city gate was 3.3 meters, which was wide enough for the king’s elephant to enter and depart. At the entrance to the city gates, a four-sided Buddhist face was fixed to the upper portion, and it truly revealed the facade of a religious city. There existed likewise a fifth city gate, namely the “Gate of Victory.” This gate was located on a base axis linking the royal palace and the East Baray (artificial reservoir), and since ancient times it had been used as a city gate for the main thoroughfare. Well, since about the end of the 12th century, the city had drifted into a state where time had as it were fallen asleep, let us enter inside and take a look. At that time the Chinese referred to Cambodia as “Fugui Zhenla” [Rich and Honorable Cambodia] (Ming History), and hailed it as a nation for which one longed for. Within the glorious city of Angkor Thom, the huge wooden palace and rear palace, the great tower at the entrance of the royal palace, the family temple, the male and female ponds, and the many wooden warehouses and huts were closely lined up, and besides, small shrines of guardian spirits, large and small temples and so on, were thronged together. Within the capital enclosure, in accordance with the divisional upkeep the residences were densely lined up (survey by J. Gaucher), large and small roads ran vertically and horizontally, and high-ranking straw-roofed stilt houses were lined up facing the road. The sizes of the residences were based on variances in professions. The king’s chamberlain, his many servants, religious officers, guards, preceptors (gurus), ladies in waiting, those related to dancing and orchestral groups and so on as well as their families and houses lay massed together, in close proximity. Also, mahouts, those in charge of ox carts, custodians of warehouses and their families and so on dwelt there, making it a noisy and lively place echoing with human voices and other sounds. In some places the smoke of food being prepared arose, and the
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