| This dissertation on the history of medicine and health in Cambodia under the reign of King Jayavarman VII (1181-1220 AD) is based on the analysis of three themes: the relation between the field of politics and that of medicine in the flourishing Kingdom of Angkor (1181-1220 AD); the relation between religion and medicine with respect to its theoretical and institutional dimensions; and finally the patterns of the education systems and the practice of medicine at that period. Based on a variety of primary sources, epigraphic, iconographic, archaeological, our thesis shed the light on the intimate relation between the diffusion of Buddhism, educational (monastic universities) and medical institutions and the development of the hospital network under the patronage and leadership of King Jayavannan VII, in search for legitimacy and stability for his kingdom. In contrast to the classic historiography of Angkor at the end of the 12th century AD, where Jayavarman VII was thought to have based his public health policy on pure Buddhist compassionate motives, we found out that this king's patronage of universities, hospitals and other public infrastructures serve his political ambition to become the most powerful imperial monarch of Southeast Asia. At that period. Jayavarman VII's strategy to fight diseases and epidemics was double: The first is founded on religious approach by promoting Mahayana Buddhism with the establishment of the widespread cult of Avalokitesvara and that of the Bhaisajyaguru. The second is the medical approach by establishing universities to train doctors and by building hospitals to serve the need of patients from across his empire.;Key words: Angkor, Jayavarman VII, medicine, buddhism, Bhaisajyaguru, universities, hospitals, power of monarch, compassion. |
