104 The Angkor plain wherein the Angkor capital is located, is about the size of Tokyo. It appears as though rivers large and small once flowed towards the Tonle Sap Lake, creating an alluvial fan. The Banteay Srei temple (10th century) at the foot of the Phnom Kulen hill is 68 meters above sea level. Angkor Wat is 25 meters above sea level, and the height variation between the two temples is 43 meters. Since the two temples are 24 kilometers apart as the crow flies, there is a gentle fan-shaped slope that is invisible to the human eye. Takoshi irrigation was conducted in the dry season by utilizing this slope. A U-shaped artificial embankment (a raised footpath between rice fields) was created in parallel with the reservoir, the water of the Baray was streamed in, and when the rice was planted and it had taken root, the water was then streamed into another large rice field below. By repeating the same procedure many large paddy fields were created in the Angkor region. Huge Barays are located to the east and west of Angkor capital. It is said the West Baray (excavated in 1020) had a water storage capacity of 42 to 70 million cubic meters, and it is reckoned that they could supply water directly to 1,400 hectares of rice fields (B. Ph. Groslier’s article). Also, by utilizing the aforesaid farming method referred to as Takoshi irrigation the water in the reservoir was used for paddy field cultivation, and they were able to achieve a second crop. The area of irrigation is estimated to have reached 70,000 hectares, using both large and small Barays. Why was the Takoshi Irrigation Farming method of achieving a double crop made possible? The reason was because a large number of temple workers and their families were constantly involved in it. On computing the figures, we see that a total of about 400,000 people continually inhabited the Angkor capital. There are numerous theories concerning this, but to build Angkor Wat around 9,500 to 11,500 temple building workers were needed each day. The erection of Angkor Wat took 35 years. However, according to a recent new hypothesis, it is reported that around
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