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Angkor Wat

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What caused the decline of Angkor Wat?

Angkor Wat was Angkor was the capital of Khmer Empire from 802 to 1431 AD. It was ruled by ‘god-kings’ and spread its influence and customs through a large part of Southeast Asia. Society was firmly divided into two: the great landowners and the ordinary people. Cambodia was then, as now, an agricultural country. The Khmer had mastered the art of water control and took advantage of regular monsoonal rainfall to create huge irrigation systems. In this way they were able to surplus of rice for export. Trade influenced Khmer society and India became a dominant cultural influence. The Khmer wrote in Sanskrit, the Ancient language of India, as well as in their own language. Most kings practised Hinduism, although some kings became Buddhists in the Mahayana tradition of India and Tibet.
The first cause for decline was of Angkor Wat was that Angkor was at war with neighbouring Siam (western Thailand) for over a century. Finally in 1431 AD, the Siamese besieged the city for seven months and eventually took it. They destroyed the temples, taking statues and images back to their capital. A Siamese Prince was made king, while the Khmer king fled east towards Phnom Penh. The evidence for this event comes from Siamese texts and archaeological evidence. At Angkor, the temples were damaged and sacred images defaced. However, it is almost impossible to date this decline precisely, although all scholars agree that no new buildings of stone were constructed. Building maintenance stopped, no new inscriptions were written and jungle covered several temples. Rivalry with Phnom Penh
The second cause for the decline of Angkor Wat is that the Khmer ran out of resources and starved. However this cause would be found very unlikely as Cambodia was, as now, an agricultural country. Although it would explain how no new buildings of stone were constructed, building maintenance had stopped and now new inscriptions were written. No supply during wet season cause of floods made it hard for people to survive
The third cause for the decline of Angkor Wat is that the Khmer people didn’t like where they were living and left. After Jayavarman died, the Khmer people were putting all their money and time into building a temple and thought it just wasn’t worth all the money and effort and they decided to leave. The temple wasn’t even theirs weren’t receiving resources to busy building temple people got sick of working with no reward
In conclusion Siamese texts and archaeological evidence would suggest that there was a war at Angkor, causing the decline of Angkor Wat. However there is not enough evidence to say that this is what really happened, the decline may have been from lack of resources, or the fact that the Khmer people decided to leave as the temple was costing them too much money and effort.

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