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00:01This is the largest temple in the world. It's called Angkor Wat.
00:09Immense in size and complexity of design, it has entranced visitors to Southeast Asia for nearly a thousand years.
00:19British archaeologist Pauline Carroll has been drawn here to see the temple for herself.
00:25I'm blown away by this epic scale of buildings. This is just going to be magical.
00:31And to follow the amazing new discoveries being found across Cambodia,
00:36as experts continue their work to piece together the history of the great Khmer people that built Angkor Wat.
00:44So I'm one of the first people to see this.
00:48800 years ago, Angkor was the beating heart of a powerful civilization.
00:53Angkor was a city of between 800,000 and a million people. The largest city on earth outside China.
01:01But within two centuries, it had all but vanished.
01:05Swallowed by the jungle, along with our knowledge of a great ancient society.
01:12Today, local archaeologists are building a new understanding of their ancient ancestors.
01:22Before King German was crowned in 1181, Angkor was in turmoil.
01:28While making huge leaps with the help of new technology.
01:32There's something emerge. If you're excited to discover new things in the modern day.
01:38What they are revealing exceeds their wildest hopes.
01:42Temples, infrastructure on a mind-boggling scale, and entire lost cities.
01:49Identifying the royal palace of an old city, you know, it doesn't happen every day.
01:55The story of the Khmer Empire is one of the most amazing in all of world history.
02:02But what are the secrets of its remarkable rise? And its catastrophic fall?
02:08British archaeologist Pauline Carroll has been exploring the world-famous temple Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
02:24And discovering the roots of the civilization that built it.
02:27I'm still pinching myself that I'm here. It's been a really incredible journey from an archaeological point of view.
02:42Now, Pauline is travelling far from the empire's heart in Angkor, to a far lesser known site.
02:48Built at the peak of the empire, with her guide, Kin Po Tai.
02:55So, where are we going today then, Thay?
02:59We are going to look at the major sites, known as Bhante Chema.
03:05It is actually west of Angkor.
03:08170 kilometres away from Angkor, Bhante Chema is a three-hour drive towards the north-western border with Thailand.
03:18And we see what, you know, what it would look like in terms of these Khmer empires that spread out to this part of the country.
03:34One of the great, still to be discovered, elements of the Khmer empire is the temple of Bhante Chema.
03:44It's near the Thai border. It was difficult to reach. The temple is absolutely huge.
03:53And its name, Bhante Chema, means the second temple.
04:00This magnificent ruin, much of it still in pieces on the ground, yet to be lifted back into place, or properly studied,
04:22is a vital clue to unlocking the forgotten history of the great Khmer civilization.
04:30It will hold the key for us to really learn more about part of the empire.
04:37And that's the thing of archaeology, isn't it? It's, you know, it's an ongoing, ongoing questions and answers and requests to find out more.
04:49The archaeologists and scholars working here are in the process of applying for UNESCO World Heritage status,
04:56which, if granted, will put the site on a par with the Angkor Park.
05:07So what makes Bhante Chema so important?
05:14It is one of the least understood sites with many interpretations about its original purpose.
05:21But experts around the world are starting to piece its story together.
05:25It was a huge temple with massive infrastructure to bring water from fairly remote mountains to support large lakes and whatever community was central to it.
05:46Pauline is with Cambodian archaeologist and historian Im Sokrati.
05:50He is showing her around the huge site and some of the most impressive treasures found to date.
05:59Such as this carving of the famous Hindu poem, the Ramayana.
06:05This is the unique story.
06:07This is about the beginning and the reason why they write the Indian epic name Ramayana.
06:15And then you see the god Brahma witness to the hermit who will write a poem dedicated to the story, to the epic Ramayana.
06:29So this is unique in this place.
06:31It's never seen anywhere.
06:33Right, it's fantastic. It's beautiful.
06:34It's beautiful.
06:37Although the site is yet to be fully uncovered, Bhante Chema's importance is obvious.
06:43The carved galleries are longer even than their counterparts at the Bayon, the main temple of the Angkorian capital, with much still to be restored.
06:53They built walls around their temple, which were half as long again as the Bayon and much more complete.
07:03So they started earlier and they did more.
07:07Those walls, many of them are collapsed and are in the process of being restored.
07:12When they get back up again, when the archaeologists put them back, we will have a lot more stories to attach to events on the walls of the city.
07:25What the wall carvings tell us so far is that Bhante Chema was built by one of the Khmer's greatest kings, perhaps one of history's greatest kings.
07:35Yet, his is a name most of us are unfamiliar with.
07:40Jayavarman VII, a man who was never meant to be king, but would lead the Khmer empire to its most glorious era in the 12th century.
07:52Bhante Chema is the last great Cambodian temple to be rescued from beneath the tropical forest and restored for the world to see.
08:05Jayavarman VII is remembered for much more than his temple.
08:10He was a warrior king and it was his military prowess that brought him to the throne.
08:15He came to power by defeating forces from a neighbouring country that was attacking the city of Angkor, the Cham.
08:22The Cham.
08:26So, we know that that's the king because he's depicted larger than everyone else.
08:29Yes.
08:31They were prepared for the war.
08:34They were ready to campaign against the Cham.
08:40The big image here is the king with his armour.
08:43The Cham's were neighbouring peoples from what is now Vietnam.
08:44They had a complicated history with the Khmer.
08:46But Jayavarman VII was, you know, his army.
08:49And on this place, this place, you see this defeat, the defeat of the Cham army.
08:55You see, you can easily recognise that someone who wear the head, this is Cham,
09:01and not wear anything, this is Khmer.
09:06The Cham's were neighbouring peoples from what is now Vietnam.
09:09They had a complicated history with the Khmer.
09:13But Jayavarman had spent much of his youth there and built strong alliances.
09:18His armies, even when fighting against the Cham people,
09:22included other Cham's who were loyal to him.
09:26So, with the helmet is the Cham and without the Khmer.
09:30And then it comes to another scene, another story about the navy,
09:36the combat between the Khmer navy and the Cham navy.
09:41So, you see all this boat, you know, to Khmer.
09:46And another boat from the right-hand side says, you know, worst charm.
09:50And the confrontation, you know, they're fighting together on this path.
09:55And the unfortunate soldier, you fall down and become the crocodile king.
10:01By looking at the inscriptions, the main inscriptions inside Bhantiyachma,
10:08we can work out that Jayavarman's great ambition to bring Champa into his empire,
10:15the place where he'd fought alongside a Cham king in his twenties and thirties,
10:20in his heart, he wanted Champa in the empire.
10:22But there was a great deal more to this king than military ambition.
10:29Spirituality was a key element of Jayavarman's vision of the world,
10:34and he was to make big religious changes.
10:37And Sakati, can I ask a question?
10:41Please.
10:42I've just noticed there's a Buddha.
10:43Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Okay. You're right.
10:46There are actually, every column here, there are always the Buddha image.
10:52So, you know, appear to all the four faces, you know, of the column.
10:57And this is very unique, you know, case in Angkorian, you know, history,
11:05because this is the time of Jayavarman the servant,
11:08who worshiped the Buddha, the Buddhism, Mahayana.
11:12So this is the case of religious being found with the historic event.
11:20The Buddha was a driving force behind much of the king's vision and ambition.
11:25Jayavarman was the first Buddhist king in an empire where Hinduism,
11:30and in particular a devotion to Shiva, had previously dominated.
11:34He chose to build Bhantie Chema in a region where there was more support for Buddhism
11:40and the complex became central to his strategy.
11:43The military campaigns for ten years were run out of Bhantie Chema.
11:48Why was that?
11:49Probably because it was probably safer to have a great invasion army stationed there,
11:58equipped there, supported from there, rather than Angkor,
12:02because here was the Buddhist king taking over a Shaiva state.
12:06It was Shiva's land.
12:07So it seems to make sense to set it all up in Bhantie Chema and run the military operation from there.
12:14And it's clear that it did.
12:17The king's capital city in Angkor, known as Angkor Thom, housed his state temple of the Bayon.
12:24Here at Bhantie Chema, he built something equally spectacular.
12:29Archaeologists are still questioning why it was so large.
12:34Why do we think Bhantie Chema was built and on such a large scale?
12:40Generally, scholars believe that Bhantie Chema is a sister city to Bayon, to Angkor Thom.
12:49The name of this side, Bhantie Chema.
12:54Bhantie, it means city.
12:56And Chema literally means small, small city.
13:01And in Angkor, we are Angkor Thom.
13:04Angkor city, and Thom is big, great city, and this is small city.
13:07It seems likely that Bhantie Chema was built to be a twin to the king's central power base, the capital Angkor Thom.
13:19Located close to his borders, the city provided a good base from which to expand the empire further.
13:25The city, not only isolated, but they are on the road network, they are on the network, belong to empire.
13:36But the site reveals more than Jayavarman's plans for expansion.
13:42It also gives us fascinating insights into how Khmer society operated.
13:49Pauline Carroll has been exploring Bhantie Chema in northwest Cambodia, built by the great king Jayavarman VII, illustrating the sophistication of the Khmer empire under his reign.
14:13It's truly magical just walking around this site.
14:18My time working in Egypt, I'm always in awe of how these ancient civilizations built, the manpower that went into these structures, the engineering, all those dynamics.
14:30And I think you see the sheer scale of this site, and we see all the stonework, we see the structures, it's just, it's captivating.
14:38If Angkor as capital was the head of the empire, this huge temple city may have been its heart.
14:49To his neighboring enemies, Jayavarman VII was a warring king, a leader to be feared, protected by fearsome Buddhas.
15:00But the king's Buddhism also offered another profound vision for his rule, compassion.
15:08Jayavarman brought together a sort of military capable, supernatural kind of Buddhism, protecting the state.
15:19A medical Buddhism which drew on the expertise of monks and compassionate Buddhists who could help you.
15:29At the heart of Jayavarman VII's story is this paradox, the benevolent warrior.
15:42His shift to Buddhism led to huge societal innovations.
15:46The most profound of which may have been his paternalistic form of leadership, in which he cared for his people.
15:59Jayavarman VII should be known to all of us.
16:04He was the great king of Angkor.
16:06His legacy is well known in Cambodia, and now he is finally finding his rightful place in world history.
16:20As a leader whose vision helped to grow the Khmer empire.
16:23Pauline is journeying back to Angkor to learn more about how Jayavarman VII came to power, and the role he plays in today's understanding of the Khmer empire.
16:40He built the most standing building in Angkor today, like the temple of Bayan, the temple of Ta-Prom, all those are all well-known sites.
16:55So the whole infrastructure is known for being a super builder in the Khmer empire.
17:01But that's when the empire actually reached to the peak.
17:05Probably one of the largest empires that ever ruled in this part of the world.
17:14Jayavarman VII's reign began with fire and bloodshed.
17:19A mere 60 years after his predecessor, Suryavarman II, had begun work on the great Angkor Wat,
17:27the kingdom was invaded and the city of Angkor was all but destroyed.
17:35Angkor was attacked, it had never been attacked.
17:41And a Cham army came in and chariots over land, and they burnt the palace and they killed the king.
17:52They'd never been attacked, they'd had hundreds of years of growth and prosperity and expanding their connections with the outside world.
18:03And suddenly, their palace was burnt.
18:07They were attacked and Angkor, which was basically undefended, a void, a political void.
18:13This was Jayavarman's moment.
18:24He seized the crown, raised an army and led it to decisive victory against the invaders, setting the stage for Angkor's golden age.
18:33Jayavarman built on his victory at Angkor throughout his reign.
18:48His military campaigns would push the boundaries of the Khmer Empire to their largest extent.
18:53The longer that I'm here and spending my time and looking around and learning about, you know, this ancient civilization and culture,
19:03it kind of, you know, makes you realize the scale of the Khmer Empire is in itself jaw-dropping.
19:08From military victory to huge infrastructure projects and wise, benevolent actions, Jayavarman VII's impact on the Khmer Empire was enormous.
19:23He built on a scale that was unprecedented.
19:29Suryavarman built Angkor Wat, but that's all he built.
19:33Jayavarman built more than all his predecessors put together.
19:36We are building a picture of one of humanity's great kings.
19:42A king of great compassion, of great military ability, of great architectural innovation,
19:51and of organization on a scale unprecedented in the world at the time.
19:58Outside China, his only rival was the emperor of China.
20:01There was nothing in the rest of the world, in Europe, on anything like the scale.
20:12Once saved from invasion, the king determined Angkor would never again be defenseless.
20:17His answer was to create a newly fortified capital, Angkor Thom, a decision recorded for posterity by his family.
20:30And in Jayavarman's many inscriptions, written by his sons and his queens, he explains how he defeated the Chams in crucial battles,
20:47and then set about rebuilding the palace and settling the whole population in a fortified Angkor, Angkor Thom.
20:56For the first time, all the population was in walled enclosures with Buddhist temples in the center.
21:03The newly fortified city included a new temple complex created by Jayavarman VII, the Bayon.
21:12One of the most spectacular temples in Cambodia.
21:17Carved into its towers are the faces of Buddha, looking down over the people.
21:36Jayavarman was making a powerful statement about his intentions for the future.
21:49This king came in with a whole new strategy of developing a Buddhist empire and protecting it.
21:59So he picked up on the new vogue of Buddhism at this period, known as State Protection Buddhism.
22:20But many of the intricate carvings at the Bayon don't simply celebrate Buddha.
22:25They record King Jayavarman's own achievements.
22:33Pauline is with Cambodian archaeologist A. Darit.
22:46What do the bas-reliefs in the Bayon tell us about Jayavarman VII's military victories?
22:51Actually, Jayavarman VII became a king when he defeated the Jayavarman army in 1181.
23:01So he won the battle.
23:04King Jayavarman VII is a really good king for Cambodia and very famous from Angkor period until now-day.
23:12As a warrior, Jayavarman was motivated by more than just conquest for its own sake.
23:20His Buddhist principles of compassion guided him perhaps even more than military glory.
23:26Jayavarman's plan for the empire was very ambitious.
23:29He wanted to make Buddhism central and he did that.
23:38He's the first king that had the courage to say the state temple from today is the Bayon and it's Buddhist.
23:45So he is the Buddhist king.
23:50Previously the king believed in Hindu but when he became a king, Jayavarman VII, like a revolutionary one, he changed to Buddhism.
24:01He really cared to his people.
24:04His aim is to decrease the suffering of the people.
24:08Incorporating his religious beliefs into the architecture of Angkor Thom, Jayavarman set a clear template for what he hoped his new city and his new kingdom could be.
24:25When you climb up into the Bayon, you have that impression.
24:28The faces are the size of a human being and they're beautifully carved and they're almost all identical.
24:36This was a huge innovation in architecture.
24:39This was probably the biggest innovation of all in architecture in Angkor.
24:44And so the Bayon was a tower, a skyscraper of stone at the center of the city with huge Buddha faces on it.
24:52Which was a vision of the Buddhist cosmos, which didn't have one Buddha, the historical Buddha that we know about, but thousands of Buddhas.
25:08Many Buddhas who each offered the people they protected something they needed.
25:13Compassionate Buddhism, military support Buddhism with fierce deities that can repel people that threaten your borders.
25:27And medicinal Buddhas, so the medical Buddha by Shadya Guru, at the heart of the empire.
25:34And the compassionate Buddhism went along with a long tradition of medical Buddhism, of monks who were experts in medicine.
25:44This Buddhist vision of medical care was not just pious religious belief.
25:50It was something Jaya Vahman could act on with the same scale and commitment as his building and infrastructure projects.
25:58And its legacy would be astonishing.
26:01A world first in national healthcare.
26:04An achievement recorded in the stone freezers at the Bayon.
26:07So this is the hospital scene at the Bayon temple built during the King Jaya Vahman VII.
26:16There are two doctors in one hospital.
26:20So probably one doctor for physical treatment and one doctor for mental treatment.
26:25And then you've got the king there and again that kind of just reconnects us, doesn't it, with the king looking after his people.
26:34And the king really support the hospital.
26:38He really pay attention or take care of the people where he might.
26:43And he wants to eliminate that suffering, doesn't he?
26:45Yeah.
26:46And where was these hospitals located?
26:50Now we know that there are four hospitals located all the four directions out of the city wall.
26:58The subject of extraordinary new archaeological research, these buildings are adding a whole new dimension to our understanding of the Khmer Empire.
27:16The hospitals were spread out across the empire, there are 102, and they all had the same inscription in front, which said,
27:29All classes may enter here.
27:32So it was democratic, Buddhist medicine, state-sponsored, free.
27:37It's a template that had never been seen before anywhere in the world.
27:46And as Pauline will discover, the hospitals were part of a much bigger overall plan for the king's empire.
28:07Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII, is known for his transformation of the kingdom according to his Buddhist beliefs.
28:23He built a stunning 102 hospitals.
28:27And part of the reason they could be rolled out so quickly was because the empire's administrators found a formula that worked.
28:37It's a model which is statewide.
28:41So you would build a hospital outside of each city, all over the empire.
28:53Pauline is traveling two kilometers from the Bayonne, to the hospital site that sits just outside the northern wall of Angkor Thom, called Tonle Swood.
29:08She is met by Professor Chem Retty, a medical doctor and historian.
29:14In order to understand the purposes and the structure of the network of hospitals, you have to understand the political context.
29:24Before King Jayavarman VII was crowned in 1181, Angkor was in turmoil.
29:32The estimated population of the capital was 800,000 people.
29:37This amount needs to be properly managed politically, economically, socially and medically.
29:42When he started to reign over the kingdom, it was a moment, a period of peace.
29:54King Jayavarman VII started to push Buddhism, particularly Mahayana Buddhism, to the highest level of worship in the empire.
30:00And according to the belief, the benevolent king characteristic is very important.
30:07So you said that he was a benevolent king, because he looked after the people, didn't he?
30:12So it's kind of like putting like a soft power there, isn't it?
30:15But in a Western paradigm, soft power is to do something good for now, to win the heart and the mind of people for now.
30:23But in Buddhism, it's about accumulating good deeds. We call that marriage for next life also.
30:29So he's also protecting himself?
30:32Yeah.
30:33Essentially as well, yeah.
30:34Overall, it's a benevolent, a Buddhist king that believes that with his good deeds and policy,
30:43it's important to make sure that they can protect the well-being of his people.
30:47Tell me a bit more about the actual hospital structure themselves.
30:50The hospitals during that period have the same layout.
30:53They have a wall, and when you go in, you have two shrines.
31:00This is the shrine of the hospital, the temple where you come to pray, you know, to be cured.
31:06But in area surrounding this here, these are real hospitals.
31:12Every year, the king has budget, resources for the public health system,
31:18established based certainly on the belief of the Buddha's teaching.
31:25This is one of the most sophisticated systems in the ancient world.
31:31They've all got the same model.
31:33There is a sanctuary in the middle to the medical Buddha.
31:37His name is Bhaisadya Guru.
31:41And he has two assistants.
31:42One is the Bodhisattva sunlight and the Bodhisattva moonlight.
31:47So you get a 24-hour service in the hospital.
31:51But it's the presence of Bhaisadya Guru,
31:55who has penetrated across the Buddhist world still, very important Buddha,
32:00who puts the potency into the herbs, which are what benefit humans.
32:06At the hospital site outside Angkor Thom, it is the stone sanctuary that housed the Buddha that survives.
32:15But experts believe the original hospital site would have extended to house many staff and different areas for treatment.
32:22Where they would be attended by a staff of about a hundred in each hospital.
32:30And they were experts in grinding medicine, in giving medicine, repairing bones, doctors, nurses, cleaners, fully established hospitals.
32:42Beyond Angkor Thom's southern wall is another hospital site, Taprom Kel.
32:56The area is currently in the process of being restored.
32:59Pauline is uncovering the steps into what would have been the hospital's healing pond, the site of the first archaeological trench.
33:19She has been given the tour by lead architect Mao Sokny.
33:33You can see they put the system, they have different layers.
33:40Yeah, so you label each layer, so then you can record that.
33:42And the steps are either side, aren't they? So there's two ways, two ways in.
33:47Yeah, yeah.
33:48And I can see that there's some fine spags hanging.
33:51Yeah, they have some sandstone.
33:54There's some sandstone?
33:55Yeah, ceramics in here.
33:58And here is a big sandstone.
34:01In time, the pond will be fully revealed and restored to use.
34:09Meanwhile, the main shrine is also undergoing urgent repair work.
34:17Half of the central tower, the shrine of the hospital, has collapsed.
34:21Mao Sokny and his team of architects and stonemasons are carefully working to strengthen and restore it.
34:34This hospital is helping to decipher the blueprint for every other hospital that Jayabhama VII built.
34:42Under the protection of the medical Buddha, his people could be assured they were cared for, no matter their status.
34:49There's another poetic line in the inscription Stella that was set up outside each hospital.
34:58It says, the suffering of the people are the real suffering of kings.
35:05That's why I have constructed this place for you.
35:09Within each of these hospitals were well-trained medical professionals
35:14who had some of the most sought-after understanding of medicine in the world.
35:18The Khmer's skill in medicine was such that the emperor of China sent an envoy to Cambodia
35:28to learn what herbs they were using and to find out about their medicine.
35:33And he went back and the Chinese were very impressed.
35:37So that's how good the Khmer's were at preparing medicinal herbs for all kinds of diseases.
35:48Doctors were trained in Ayurvedic and Buddhist medicine at hospital sites like Tart Prom in Angkor,
35:56before being dispatched to hospitals around the empire.
35:59This was the first in the world of free state-sponsored hospital in highly equipped and superbly maintained hospital units.
36:14This network of hospitals and healthcare is yet another example of the extraordinary vision of one of history's greatest leaders.
36:24Jayavarman VII.
36:26Pauline has been following the story of the rise of one of history's greatest kings.
36:39Jayavarman VII.
36:41Built temples for worship, hospitals for healing and whole palaces of learning.
36:46He also undertook enormous infrastructure projects, building networks of roads to connect his empire and its people together.
36:58Back with Dr. A. Darut at the Bayon, the stone reliefs show how long journeys were supported by rest houses built on the roadsides.
37:07You can see a number of rest houses here.
37:11And again, the rest houses were another part of Jayavarman VII.
37:16The building project.
37:18Yeah, actually there are 121 rest houses were recorded from the Prakhan inscription.
37:27So this is showing about rest house activity.
37:32You can see people grill meat and people drink wine.
37:42Rest houses gave weary travellers shelter during their long journeys on foot, horseback or even elephant.
37:50And after the rest house you can see the forest again.
37:58So sometimes you can see a lot of animals and the tiger, a whole lot of people, people clam up on the tree.
38:05The stone reliefs provide an extraordinary portal into the past, transporting you back into life under the Khmer empire.
38:14From great battles and victories, to life at the royal court, to hospital treatment, daily work and the realities of travel within the empire in the 12th century.
38:27Shows them, you know, moving around, doesn't it?
38:31The sort of, you know, when they've sort of travelled through the forest and then there's another rest house for them to stop at.
38:35Yeah, another rest house.
38:36This is like continuation of the people travel along the road from one rest house to another rest house.
38:44So this is the rest house that people sleep, they sleep on the luggage, you can see here.
38:50And before sleeping they hang up the luggage and then they're chatting.
38:56And after that they continue the travel, you can see, they start to carry to continue the travel to other places.
39:03Archaeologist Im Sokrati has been mapping Cambodia's ancient roads as part of his Angkor Living Roads Project.
39:15And the roads literally lead right back to Bantie Chamar, the king's second city.
39:23Not just a military garrison, but also central to the hospital network he had created.
39:30Bantie Chamar, despite its distance, was connected to the capital at Angkor.
39:43There are also four of Jaya Vaiman's 102 hospitals here.
39:48Just on the eastern part, connected to Angkor, there are several hospitals that have been lined up.
39:59And also many hospitals lined up to the west.
40:02Probably Bantie Chamar is like a hub, a hub of, you know, the, the, the, the, of the network, of the hospital network community.
40:15Actually, I prefer a community, a hospital community.
40:20The main, the main drug, the main medicine, it brings from, you know, import from the, from the city, from the capital city.
40:30The roads not only extended to the edge of the kingdom, as evidenced by Bantie Chamar, but made an extensive network of hospitals possible by enabling the collection and distribution of medicines from as far away as China and India.
40:47The assumption is, this is the place that the herbs were brought in, blessed in these chapels, and distributed to the whole chain of hospitals across the empire.
41:03Bantie Chamar played two vital roles, a military base to expand the empire, and a center to the hospital network that protected the empire's people.
41:17This impressive dual purpose was served by its connection to the rest of the Khmer world.
41:24And we met the road, we were excited to find out, you know, the whole system of, you know, the empire, the Khmer empire.
41:36The empire, the Khmer empire, because it's just, you know, and the empire, the town was lost. Excited.
41:47So you've spent over 20 years working on Bantie Chamar. Where do you, the site will be in 20 years time?
42:02Oh yeah, you know, like discovery something, you know, discovery a lot of things that, yeah, that, that many people miss.
42:11If, you know, God bless us, if we can, you know, produce, you know, can have, you know, a title, to the world where it takes time in the future.
42:25For now, Im Socrates' archaeological work continues, offering clues to the past.
42:31But it is not just through the work of archaeological researchers that the history, traditions, and beliefs of the Khmer empire can be glimpsed.
42:40This Buddhist water festival involves the entire local community.
42:47This ceremony is a reenactment of the gods showering the Buddha with rain.
42:53Traditions like these have their roots in the ancient Khmer past, and even earlier.
43:00Once the formalities are dispensed with, the chaotic fun begins.
43:07And just like every year before, the gods respond.
43:22The rain arrives.
43:31Both here in Bhante Chema and back in the capital of Angkor, Jayvaman VII had established a fusion of religious, social and political visions that the kingdom had never seen before.
43:54He should be a much better known king than he is, and he will be, I'm persuaded, as we put together all the pieces of this difficult story, which is where most of the pieces of the jigsaw are still missing.
44:12We will have a complete picture of this king, and we will be able to celebrate him as one of the great creative kings and humane kings of human history.
44:27For Pauline, learning about Jayvaman VII and the empire he built has been eye-opening.
44:39You know, King Jayvaman VII and his relationship with the people, I think, you know, is really special.
44:47And he's, you know, he's a great king. He's like, he's like Ramaziz the Great.
44:51And, you know, we're so used to hearing about Ramaziz the Great.
44:54But this is the king that we hardly ever talk about in the UK and in the Western world.
45:03In her journey across Cambodia, Pauline has discovered the story of an innovative and courageous ancient king,
45:13who created a whole new approach to royal rule.
45:16As Pauline's journey continues, we discover how the heady days of King Jayvaman VII gave way to decline.
45:29The empire started to go downhill, and then it reached to the abandon in the 15th century.
45:36It was lost to humanity because of the decline of the empire and the forest taking over.
45:49But Cambodia has not yet revealed all its secrets.
45:54That's a roof, and then you get the towers just behind the roof.
45:59And Cambodian archaeologists are taking control of their history once again to make brand new discoveries.
46:12And this is incredible. So you basically brought this back to life.
46:16To build a more complete picture of everyday life in these magnificent ancient cities.
46:23Lost Temples of Cambodia continues next Saturday at 6.50.
46:41George Clark's remarkable renovation starts Monday 8, transforming rotting relics.
46:46Next is the network premiere of Monster Hunter.
46:48We'll see you next time.
46:49We'll see you next time.