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Angkor's Ayurvedic Empire: The Khmer Medical System That Outlasted the God-Kings
Description
Before Angkor fell, its temple hospitals served a vast network of healing. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the arogyasala — the 102 hospitals established by Jayavarman VII across the Khmer Empire. Drawing on inscriptions from Preah Khan and Ta Prohm, they trace how these institutions blended Hindu Ayurveda with local Khmer medicine, staffed by hundreds of physicians, pharmacists, and ritual specialists. The episode examines a controversial stele from Say Fong that lists herbal remedies, the role of Buddhist ethics in medical care, and why the hospital system survived the collapse of the devaraja cult. It also considers how the Angkorian approach to public health compares to other premodern systems, raising questions about what we've lost in modern centralized medicine.