| At
a lower level in Khmer society, the active part played by women. They had
equal education and could become judges, professors and even royal counsellors.
Wives were often married for their skills in commerce or in the barter of
the market-place, where money was unknown (for the Khmer never developed
a monetary system). He also tells of the deflowering ceremony for girls
at about the age of nine, carried out by a priest who then received a fee
from the parents. Later, these girls became lascivious, demanding much love-making
from their husbands. |
