77 King,” was a blend of faith in native guardian spirits and deities of Hinduism, and here the king was the presiding priest. This belief, wherein people had faith in a native ruler who is adored as a “Living God” has had its precedent in another part of Cambodia, since the 7th century. The Angkor kings expanded the Devarāja faith to a national scale. In every region small temples or temples of wood were erected for the worship of the God King, and within the temples they left inscriptions carved on stone. The outcome of all this was that it led to the formation of regional strongpoints. That is to say erecting a temple was a means to commence local development, and even now the king of Cambodia is viewed as a god by the village people. Re-distribution of Wealth by the Erection of a Temple The inscriptions mention an “Area of God, and this refers to the temple. The temple was a barricaded world having a surrounding wall, in order to isolate it from the secular world. Starting with the king, large amounts of donations came in from top-ranking officials, as well as from influential and devout people in nearby villages. Charitable donations inclusive of both movable and immovable goods were gathered within the temple in vast quantities. These became the assets of the temple and were used for its running. Such a large volume of donated goods caused an “economic reallocation of wealth,” which in turn led to the stability of society. Within the vast temple precincts lived male and female employees and their families, who led a slave-like existence. They lived and worked within the temple, engaged in tasks like weaving cloth for garments used by monks, creating medicinal stones, preparing meals, and cultivating rice in fields within the temple precincts. Certain temples had what resembled a private estate in a remote area that was meant exclusively for use by the temple, and all agricultural products harvested there were stored within the temple. Since the temple had tax exemption privileges, no taxes were levied on fabrics, rice and other commodities manufactured within its precincts.
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