Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c10.42

c10.42

It is hardly necessary to add that with the growth of the Kambuja empire the religious endowments also increased to a proportionate degree. The epigraphic records contain numerous references to these. We need only refer to the royal donations described in Ta Prohm Inscription (No. 177). It concerns the Rājavihāra, *i.e.* the temple of Ta Prohm and its adjuncts where the king set up an image of his mother as Prajñā-pāramitā. It is not possible here to record all the details, but a few facts may be noted. Altogether 66,625 persons were employed in the service of the deities of the temple and 3,400 villages were given for defraying its expenses. There were 439 Professors and 970 scholars studying under them, making a total of 1,409, whose food and other daily necessaries of life were supplied. There were altogether 566 groups of stone houses and 288 groups of brick. Needless to say that the other articles, of which a minute list is given, were in the same proportion, and they included huge quantities of gold and silver, 35 diamonds, 40,620 pearls and 4,540 other precious stones. All these relate to a single group of temples. And the inscription informs us that there were 798 temples and 102 hospitals in the whole kingdom, and there are given every year 117,200 *khārikās* of rice, each *khārikā* being equivalent to 3 *maunds*, 8 *seers*. In conclusion the king expresses the hope that by his pious donations, his mother might be delivered from the ocean of births.