[Footnote 318:  The strange statement of Chou Ta-kuan (pp. 153-155) that the Buddhist and Taoist priests enjoyed a species of jus primae noctis has been much discussed.  Taken by itself it might be merely a queer story founded on a misunderstanding of Cambojan customs, for he candidly says that his information is untrustworthy.  But taking it in connection with the stories about the Aris in Burma (see especially Finot, J.A. 1912, p. 121) and the customs attributed by Chinese and Europeans to the Siamese and Philippinos, we can hardly come to any conclusion except that this strange usage was an aboriginal custom in Indo-China and the Archipelago, prior to the introductions of Indian civilization, but not suppressed for some time.  At the present day there seems to be no trace or even tradition of such a custom.  For Siamese and Philippine customs see B.E.F.E.O. 1902, p. 153, note 4.]

[Footnote 319:  The French Archaeological Commission states that exclusive of Angkor and the neighbouring buildings there are remains of 600 temples in Camboja, and probably many have entirely disappeared.]

[Footnote 320:  Maspero, pp. 62-3.]

[Footnote 321:  The food is prepared in the monasteries, and, as in other countries, the begging round is a mere formality.]

[Footnote 322:  But in Chinese temples notices forbidding smoking are often posted on the doors.]

[Footnote 323:  The word dhyana is known, but the exercise is more commonly called Vipassana or Kammathana.]

[Footnote 324:  M.G.  Coedes in Bull.  Comm.  Archeol. 1911, p. 220.]

[Footnote 325:  Although there is no reason why these pictures of the future life should not be Brahmanic as well as Buddhist, I do not remember having seen them in any purely Brahmanic temple.]

[Footnote 326:  After spending some time at Angkor Wat I find it hard to believe the theory that it was a palace.  The King of Camboja was doubtless regarded as a living God, but so is the Grand Lama, and it does not appear that the Potala where he lives is anything but a large residential building containing halls and chapels much like the Vatican.  But at Angkor Wat everything leads up to a central shrine.  It is quite probable however that the deity of this shrine was a deified king, identified with Vishnu after his death.  This would account for the remarks of Chou Ta-kuan who seems to have regarded it as a tomb.]

[Footnote 327:  See especially the inscription of Bassac.  Kern, Annales de l’Extreme Orient, t.  III. 1880, p. 65.]

[Footnote 328:  Pali books are common in monasteries.  For the literature of Laos see Finot, B.E.F.E.O. 1917, No. 5.]

CHAPTER XXXIX

CHAMPA[329]

THE kingdom of Champa, though a considerable power from about the third century until the end of the fifteenth, has attracted less attention than Camboja or Java.  Its name is a thing of the past and known only to students:  its monuments are inferior in size and artistic merit to those of the other Hindu kingdoms in the Far East and perhaps its chief interest is that it furnishes the oldest Sanskrit inscription yet known from these regions.