l the Bhikkhus smoke
large cigarettes. In most Buddhist countries it is not considered
irreverent to smoke,[322] chew betel or drink tea in the intervals of
religious exercises. When the cigarettes are finished there follows a
service of prayer and praise in Cambojan. During the season of Wassa
there are usually several Bhikkhus in each monastery who practise
meditation for three or four days consecutively in tents or enclosures
made of yellow cloth, open above but closed all round. The four stages
of meditation described in the Pitakas are said to be commonly
attained by devout monks.[323]

The Abbot has considerable authority in disciplinary matters. He eats
apart from the other monks and at religious ceremonies wears a sort of
red cope, whereas the dress of the other brethren is entirely yellow.
Novices prostrate themselves when they speak to him.

Above the Abbots are Provincial Superiors and the government of the
whole Church is in the hands of the Somdec prah sanghrac. There is,
or was, also a second prelate called Lok prah sokon, or Brah
Sugandha, and the two, somewhat after the manner of the two primates
of the English Church, supervise the clergy in different parts of the
kingdom, the second being inferior to the first in rank, but not
dependent on him. But it is said that no successor has been appointed
to the last Brah Sugandha who died in 1894. He was a distinguished
scholar and introduced the Dhammayut sect from Siam into Camboja.
The king is recognized as head of the Church, but cannot alter its
doctrine or confiscate ecclesiastical property.

6

No account of Cambojan religion would be complete without some
reference to the splendid monuments in which it found expression and
which still remain in a great measure intact. The colonists who
established themselves in these regions brought with them the
Dravidian taste for great buildings, but either their travels enlarged
their artistic powers or they modified the Indian style by
assimilating successfully some architectural features found in their
new home. What pre-Indian architecture there may have been among the
Khmers we do not know, but the fact that the earliest known monuments
are Hindu makes it improbable that stone buildings on a large scale
existed before their arrival. The feature which most clearly
distinguishes Cambojan from Indian architecture is its pyramidal
structure. India has stupas and gopurams of pyramidal appearance but
still Hin