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The Last Brahmin: Angkor's Forgotten Chief Priest
Description
In the final decades of the Khmer Empire, a single man held the crumbling cosmic order together: the Purohita, or chief priest. This episode follows the last known Brahmin high priest of Angkor, who served from the 1320s to the 1350s. We explore his role in maintaining the devaraja cult, his struggles against the rising tide of Theravada Buddhism, and his ultimate disappearance from the historical record. Drawing on Sanskrit inscriptions from the Prasat Kok Roka stele and the accounts of Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan, we piece together how the priestly class lost its grip on Khmer society. The show also examines the shift from Sanskrit to Pali in royal inscriptions, the decline of the state-sponsored temple economy, and the priest's failed attempt to preserve the old gods against the wave of monastic Buddhism. A tale of faith, power, and legacy—told through one man's eyes. Featuring terms like Purohita, devaraja, Theravada, Mahayana, Angkor Wat, Prasat Kok Roka, and the last Sanskrit inscription of Angkor.