My goal is to have everyone who visits Angkor understand what he or she sees. And so, if you are an Angkorian scholar, I want you to succeed! Here are a few tips.
Dr. Sachchidanand Sahai of Apsara Authority gave me invaluable advice. “Question everything you read about Angkor.” There is so much misinformation out there that I put a section in Through the Eyes of a Queen entitled, Angkor Unscrambled (pages 183 - 191). And my advice? Never quote another scholar until you’re sure that he was right - your reputation depends on it.
That said, it’s tough to do research. I’ve been refused interviews. Granted interviews only to be fed misinformation. And given misinformation unintentionally. Some of the loss of information in Cambodia is due to the Khmer Rouge genocide, but some isn’t. I talk about all of these issues on page 70 of Through the Eyes of a Queen. But think about this, too. If you persevere, you’ll find incredible people who really want to help you – and have more knowledge than the last ten people you interviewed.
To study Angkor, you must have Classical Sanskrit. At least one semester. Get this under your belt first. Learning Sanskrit will help you more than learning Khmer.
I’ve used linguistic research to get information on everything from caste to silk to the queens of Angkor and what was in their perfume. Even the Cambodian water dragon - click the tab on this website. I explain how I do linguistic research on pages 177 - 180 of Through the Eyes of a Queen, so that you can do it, too.
If you’re using a Sanskrit word, you must spell it correctly. For example, pidhāna – “covering”. There are two “P”s in Sanskrit, two “I”s, four “D”s, two “A”s and four “N”s. If you don’t spell the word correctly, no one is going to take your work seriously. And if you don’t give the correct meaning (with a footnote or other reference), or don’t give the meaning at all, you’ll have even less credibility. Spell the word in Devanāgarī as well as in the Roman alphabet; there are on-line dictionaries on the Internet – you can cut and paste the Devanāgarī spelling, and even change the font.
If you’re trying to trace the origin of a loan word in modern Khmer, if it came in through Hinduism or Mahayana Buddhism, look for a Sanskrit word. But if it came in through Theravada Buddhism, look for a Pali word. Be sure you check the Chuon Nath dictionary; the librarian at any of Siem Reap’s three academic libraries can help you. For how to locate these libraries, see page 203 of Through the Eyes of a Queen.
Few people understand the role of Buddhist temples in Cambodia. They run schools and provide other social services. They try to recover knowledge that was lost in the Khmer Rouge genocide. The next time you’re in Siem Reap, look at the bridgeheads - the temples built some of the bridges over the river when the war was over. Wat Bo in Siem Reap established a museum that houses nearly 2 millennia of artifacts. Wat Bo and Wat Unalaum in Phnom Penh are distinguished seats of knowledge; when doing your research, don’t forget that these resources are available to you. And make a generous donation. It was the abbot of Wat Bo who confirmed for me that the 1860+ standing women in Angkor Wat are devatā, not apsarā; without him, I wouldn't have been able to even begin my research on these figures.
Use metrics. For example, D. S. Sood of Archeological Survey of India told me that Suryavarman II would arrive by elephant at Angkor Wat, and dismount on a ledge in the back. I’d seen a model in Thailand showing how this was done - the elephant’s belly slid under the ledge. Taking my own advice, “Never quote another scholar until you’re sure that he was right.”, I went out to verify D. S. Sood’s assertion. The shoulder of a large bull Asian elephant is 11 feet from the ground. So the ledge should be 11 feet from the ground. But I had no way to measure. There were stairs running up to the level of the ledge. I measured the height of a step - 6 inches. Then I counted the steps - 22. And then I did the math. 11 feet. The ledge was 11 feet from the ground. D. S. Sood was right.
Your footnotes must be air tight. Check them carefully before you publish.
You can use a “selected bibliography” - see the Contacts tab of this website. And take a look at the list of scholars that I trust.
Proofread from both soft and hard copy.
You can easily build your own website, for free, using www.squarespace.com – that’s how I built this one. You just have to pay for the domain.
Put your website address on your copyright page – that’s where your readers will look for it. You can tell them to contact you through your website – put your e-mail address on your CONTACT tab.
We all have to use Facebook, but you can simply refer readers to your website.
If you would like to self publish a book, try Amazon. Go to www.kdp.com and the software will walk you through everything. You can make your own cover, too – the software is a little cumbersome, but patience will get you through. Remember that your book’s interior must be in industry-standard format – look at any book published by a publishing house for the page order (where the copyright page should be, where the Table of Contents should be, etc.).
If you’re using Microsoft Word, you do not need to use section breaks between your chapters (section breaks are a nightmare). Of course you’ll begin each chapter on an odd page. If you end up with a blank even page at the end of the previous chapter, you can put a photo or sidebar on that page that relates to the new chapter. Or lengthen the previous chapter so you don’t have a blank even page. I can’t tell you how much time this will save you.
If you can’t get the Microsoft Word Table of Contents feature to work, you can opt not to use it and simply type in your Table of Contents. I use a two-column table. (I started using “work-arounds” like this one, and the one below, because every time Microsoft installs a new version of Word I seem to have a new problem.) Your Table of Contents is very important - when your book goes live on Amazon, it appears when buyers use the "Look Inside the Book” feature. Make it attractive - an invitation to readers to buy your book.
You can easily set up a page so that your caption (or text) is next to your photo instead of under it. Simply make a 1-row, 2-column table, paste the photo in one column, and paste the text in the other.
If your phone’s camera takes high-resolution pictures and you’re not publishing a coffee-table book, for most photos you can use your phone. When you get the first proof of your book you can decide which photos, if any, must be re-taken with a camera.
Last, but very important if you use reading glasses - if the prescription for one of your eyes is very different than the prescription for your other eye, try getting prescription reading glasses instead of over-the-counter glasses.
I hope these tips help. I know how hard you work, and wish you great success!