Cambodia or Kambodia is veritably the English transliteration of the French
name Kambodge implying for Sanskrit Kamboja. The Funan kingdom existed in the
1st century BC as a pre-Angkor Indianised Khmer kingdom located around the
Mekong Delta with its capital at Vyadhapura. Funanese culture was a blend of
native beliefs and Indian ideas with Sanskrit as the court language. Funanese
advocated Hinduism till the advent of Buddhism in the fifth century AD. Thus
Funanese were the first in Cambodia to usher in Hinduism.
In ancient Sanskrit literature, there are references of Kambojas located in the
northwest of the Indian subcontinent. The Kamboja transmigration from
north-west India is a fascinating chapter recognised by most of the historians.
The Khmer empire in the Indochina archipelago was founded by
Jayavarman-the-second of the Kambojas which went on to become the largest
empire of south-east Asia. He had earlier been a resident at the court of
Sailendra in Java and towed away the Hindu culture to Cambodia. In 802 AD he
declared himself Chakravartin, commemorating a Hindu ritual taken from the
Hindu tradition. He founded his new capital and named it Hariharalaya after the
name Harihara, a Hindu deity prominent in pre-Angkorian Cambodia having Hari
and Vishnu on opposite sides.
His successors went on to build several Hindu temples. Suryavarman the second
went on to make what remains the largest temple complex in the world at Angkor
Wat in the early 12th century AD.
Cambodia has one of the only two Brahma temples in the world. The empire’s
official religions included Hinduism besides Mahayana Buddhism till the advent
of Theravada Buddhism in the 13th century.
The kingdom of Champa was initially under the influence of Chinese culture. But
from 4th century onwards when it took on Funan kingdom, Indian culture steadily
kept creeping all throughout. This can be gauged from the fact that Champa was
a confederation of five principalities— Indrapura, Amaravati, Vijaya, Kauthara
and Panduranga each named after a historic region of India. Sanskrit was
accorded a scholarly language and Shaivism became the state religion; Hinduism
too getting a boost. This scenario remained until the 10th century when Arab
maritime trade threw its Islamic mantle over Champa, then an important hub on
the spice route.
>From around the 4th century AD, royal temples started coming up in a valley
>two kilometers wide, mostly devoted to Shiva and also some to Vishnu and
>eventually grew to be one of the most prominent temple complexes of southeast
>Asia. My Son bears strong architectural resemblances with India. It had its
>own architectural template of that period now denoted by scholars as My Son E1
>named after a particular edifice that stands emblematic of the birth of Brahma
>from a lotus issuing from the navel of sleeping Vishnu and the entire thing
>placed upon Shiva-linga serving as a pedestal. In 1969, The Vietnam War with
>American bombing did havoc to this temple complex. It has been selected as a
>UNESCO World Heritage Selected Site.
(The author can be contacted at [EMAIL PROTECTED])
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