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105 a million individuals including those in the vicinity resided over there (Le Figaro, 14.08.2007). Nevertheless though, on considering the maintenance and management of the Baray in units of 10 or 20 years, we see that each year with the steady amassing of mud and mire the waterways filled with sediment, and with the rise in the water-level its functioning in time ceased, and the king had to plan the creation of the next Baray. Hence, several Barays were created in the Angkor region. Since vast numbers of temple workers were constantly at the spot due to their operation, the erection of Angkor Wat was made possible. The Decline of the Angkor Dynasty The following account is a rather somber historical tale. What happened to the Angkor dynasty that encountered defeat in the war of 1431? What became of the temples, Barays, bridges, embankments, and historical highways that were erected during the dynasty? I shall attempt to track them as far as I can up to the 19th century. Since that event Cambodia continued to suffer a state of turmoil in domestic politics, for around 400 years. It was attacked on both sides by Siam (Thailand) and Vietnam, and it underwent a history of chaos and hardship until the dynasty that led to the present was somehow restored in 1847. After the political unrest following the succession of Jayavarman VII to the throne, the Angkor dynasty which had been proud of its glory headed towards rapid decline. At around the same time, the early Ayutthaya dynasty (1351~1569) gained ascendency in the lower Chao Phraya region in the direction of Siam (Thailand), and what once used to be Cambodian territory was slowly encroached on from the west. According to Thailand’s “Ayutthaya Dynasty Chronicles,” around 1351 the first invasion of the Angkor capital by the early Ayutthaya army occurred. As a prop to that historical fact the Chinese Zhou Daguan states, “there were frequent disputes with the Siamese over the place (paddy fields). The result was the paddy fields began