Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The Khmer empire of Jayavarman VII · as at first light, 1 January 1200

The royal works

The works are the visible organisation of the state.

The Preah Khan stele of 1191 counts 121 rest houses ('houses with fire', vahnigrha, dharmasala) along the royal roads, 17 of them on the road to Phimai and 57 on the roads to Champa (English Wikipedia, Phimai), and 102 hospital chapels (arogyasala) for the people, each with its foundation stele; seven such steles dated Saka 1108 (1186) are known, five from the Nakhon Ratchasima region (same article), another at Sai Fong near Vientiane. Stone comes from the Kulen quarries by canal, laterite from the plain; the roads are raised and carry bridges with corbelled arches (Spean Praptos, Spean Ta Ong). The labour is the endowed servants of the great foundations.

The totals are the king's claims, not counts: fewer than half the hospitals are identified on the ground (English Wikipedia, Arogyasala).

Who he is

Title
The king's officers of works (overseers of the foundations' servants and of the roads)
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
not known
Confidence
low for the officers, high for the works

The stelae of Ta Prohm (1186) and Preah Khan (1191) as reported in English and French Wikipedia and in Higham; seven hospital stelae of Saka 1108 (1186) (English Wikipedia, Phimai).

What it holds

  • Roads east to Champa and Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, north to Phimai (225 km, English Wikipedia), north-west to Banteay Chhmar, west to Lavo (nothing listed in the stele)
  • Rest houses (17 on the road to Phimai; 57 on the roads to Champa; 121 in all)
  • Hospital chapels (102 claimed; at Ta Prohm Kel, Ta Muen, Koh Ker's Prasat Andong Kuk, Prang Ku in Chaiyaphum, Ku Santarat, Sai Fong and others)
  • The Kulen sandstone quarries and loading canals
  • The corbelled bridges

How things stand that morning

In use. Work on the Bayon and Angkor Thom is the largest call on labour; nothing is dated to 1200.

Wealth

Tens of thousands of endowed servants by the stelae's claims.

Threats

  • Silting of canals and barays; the labour cost

Places of note

  • Spean Praptos: The longest corbelled bridge.
  • Kulen quarries: Sandstone for the temples.

Where the sources disagree

  • Board 'khmer-west-road-rest-houses': the western line is inferred; the Lavo page on English Wikipedia says hospitals and fire houses reach no further west than Prachin Buri.

Evidence: Stele claims, partly confirmed on the ground; the officers are unnamed.

On the map: A block for the first stages of the eastern road and the quarries; the full network is in the religious records.

Primary sources for Khmer empire

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
  • The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
  • The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
  • History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
  • History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
  • Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
  • The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
  • The Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia and Champa (ISCC), Various (Khmer and Cham kings), edited by Auguste Barth and Abel Bergaigne (inscriptions of the 7th to 12th centuries; edited 1885 to 1893). The founding edition of Khmer and Cham Sanskrit epigraphy, public domain and online, which Coedes's later corpus supersedes but does not replace. Read online

5 more in the sources library for Mainland Southeast Asia.

Sources and studies

  1. English Wikipedia, Phimai Historical Park
  2. English Wikipedia, Arogyasala
  3. English Wikipedia, Ancient Khmer Highway
  4. English Wikipedia, Koh Ker
  5. Higham, The Civilization of Angkor (2001)
  6. Jacques and Lafond, The Khmer Empire (River Books, 2007)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.