Jayavarman VII's Hospitals: Angkor's Ancient Healthcare Network

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the remarkable hospital network established by King Jayavarman VII in the 12th century. Jayavarman VII, the Buddhist monarch who built Angkor Thom and the Bayon, also founded over 100 hospitals—known as arogyasalas—across his vast empire. Drawing on the Say Fong stele, a detailed inscription found in modern-day Laos, we learn about the staffing, equipment, and medications these hospitals provided. Each hospital had physicians, orderlies, and a dispensary stocked with hundreds of jars of medicines, including remedies for fevers, dysentery, and eye ailments. The system was free to all subjects, funded by royal taxes and temple revenues. We discuss the integration of Ayurvedic and local Khmer healing traditions, the role of Buddhist ethics in universal healthcare, and the challenge of maintaining such a system after Jayavarman's death. This episode reveals how Angkor's infrastructure extended far beyond temples and waterworks into the realm of public health, and why Jayavarman VII is remembered not just as a builder of stones, but of a caring society. #JayavarmanVII #AngkorWat #Arogyasala #SayFongStele #KhmerEmpire #Ayurveda #AncientMedicine #BuddhistHospitals #SoutheastAsia #AngkorHistory #PublicHealth #TaProhm #PreahKhan #12thCentury #Cambodia #HistoryOfMedicine #FexingoHistory #History #SuryavarmanII #Bayon Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo