The Rise of the Khmer Empire (Part One): Before Angkor

Who are the Khmer people, and where did they come from? 

Why does almost everything written about early Cambodia need to be revised?

Time period covered: Pre-history – 850 CE

In this episode, Lachlan introduces the landscape, the people, and the deep history of the Khmer civilisation before the era of god-kings. The monsoon cycle that defines everything. The animist world of spirits and sacred hills that underlies all the religions that come later. We examine what archaeology and inscriptions actually tell us about the pre-Angkorean period, and why the old frameworks of Funan and Chenla (borrowed from Chinese chronicles and repeated for a century) don't quite hold up. The episode ends on Phnom Kulen, the sacred mountain, where Jayavarman II performs a ceremony declaring him the universal monarch: Devaraja.

Watch The Full YouTube Documentary Here: https://youtu.be/RfEnSrw-hMU