Indian Culture in Cambodia

Ancient and colourful Cambodia is fast becoming the cockpit between French colonialism and Asian nationalism. Subject for centuries to foreign incursions and mandarin exactions, the Cambodian whose only pride is ancient glory, now stands divided between two warring ideologies.

Cambodia is one of the eastern countries which have been influenced by Indian culture to a high degree. As a matter of fact, it is the only foreign culture so far discovered in Cambodia. Whether it is art, religion, mode of living, sculpture, literature or language, there is a touch of Indian culture everywhere.

The ancient glory of Cambodia reads like a fairy tale. Over 1000 years ago, it was the hub of a vast Hindu empire extending from the Bay of Bengal to the China Sea. Cambodia was then prosperous and thickly populated. Being, by nature, lovers of music and all forms of arts and crafts, the people erected colossal palaces and temples, whose architectural beauty has been unexcelled elsewhere. The wisdom of the enlightened kings and priests was influential in making the Khmer tribes civilised. Their culture spread even to the tropical jungles of Cambodia.

Cambodia was already a powerful State long before the Sailendra kings had consolidated their power. Whether this country was under the sway of the Sailendras is open to debate, but it is clear that Cambodia was fully independent in the 9th century and its empire existed till the close of the 13th century. Under the rule of such great builders as Jayavarman and Indravarman, the country was covered with a wonderful network of roads, which have since been obliterated. The area which they ran through is now a wilderness.

Angkor, the capital of the empire, was known as the Magnificent City, in which flourished a million inhabitants. All of a sudden, disintegration set in. One by one the provinces were torn from the old empire by the Mongol Emperors of China, and the northern invaders of Tibetan stock. During the collapse, a number of monuments were left unfinished.

Most of the jungle tribes had shrunk to insignificant numbers owing to tropical disease, and again lapsed into a pitiable state. Consequently, little remains of the great and glorious work of Hindu civilisation, except a charming romantic court till recently under French protection, and a few monuments by Hindu architects and sculptors and a royal school of ballet dancing, whose sacred performances are a match to similar dances in immortal Bali.

With the onslaught of the invading Thais and Annamese, the Cambodians, by seeking refuge under the wing of the French, were to a certain extent unsuccessful in retrieving their ancient capital of Angkor, along with the jungle around it, from their former enemies.

Writing about Cambodia without mentioning Angkor Vat would be incomplete. Angkor Vat is to Cambodia what the Taj Mahal is to India. It is a living memory of the Khmer genius which produced it. This great monument was built in the reign of Jayavarman.

The main temple of Angkor Vat is over 270 yards long and about a furlong wide. It is formed in terraces, one above the other. There are five towers of which the central one is about 125 feet high. Every inch of stone work is finished to the smallest details. Round this great edifice is a vast area of mighty ruins, with tanks and pools. Along one terrace are life-size elephants, sculptured from one end to the other. The five gates of this town are also formed in sculptured elephants picking lotus flowers with their trunks. The favourite subject of sculpture is that of women in the form of dancers and goddesses. It is the marvellous dress and posture, which are to this day adopted in all dances and ceremonies in Cambodia.

The greatness of Angkor has been praised to the skies by many authorities on Oriental sculpture, but there is no better description than that of Osbert Sitwell, who states: “Let it be said immediately that Angkor, as it stands, ranks as the chief wonder of the world today, one of the summits to which human genius has reached in stone, infinitely more impressive, lovely, and as well romantic, than anything that can be seen in China.”

India’s connection with most of the countries in the East dates to over 2000 years. India’s traders ventured across the Bay of Bengal to ply their trades. Stories of the fabulous wealth of the East soon spread in India, creating great interest among the people. Indian scholars in Sanskrit accompanied these traders to study these lands. The inhabitants began to appreciate the doctrines of these scholars so much that by stages they found themselves converted to Hinduism and Buddhism. It was therefore from India that Buddhism and Indian culture spread over the East, including Cambodia, which was essentially a Buddhist empire, and to this day Buddhism flourishes there.

During the first 1000 years of the Christian era, according to various authorities of ancient Oriental history, there were four or five waves of colonisation by Indian adventurers all over the East. Scattered as these colonies were, they were ‘mainly situated on strategic points and on trade routes. These settlements were given old Indian names. Thus Cambodia, as it is known now, was called Kambhoja, which was a well-known town in ancient India.

The early Buddhist scholars were instrumental in establishing various institutions of Sanskrit learning. One such centre was situated at Angkor in Cambodia. Sanskrit was absorbed to such an extent in the life of the people, that everything came to be known by a Sanskrit name. In Cambodia, the alphabet was derived from South Indian script. There is also evidence of ‘records of regular Sanskrit recitations and dramas too in Cambodia in the 7th century.’

The persistence of Indian culture in Cambodian life in every sphere has been due to the fact that after the Buddhist scholars had crossed the dangerous land and sea routes, many of those who survived the ordeal (a number of them perished en route) settled in the new lands of the East and adopted them as their own. Their enlightened teachings and art took the inhabitants as if by storm. As a result, Cambodian culture is actually a mixture of Indian and Khmer culture. It was the genius of this fusion that produced the magnificent monuments of Angkor Vat and elsewhere in Cambodia. Since then, Indian culture has literally flowed in the veins of the Cambodians.

No greater tribute has ever been paid to Indian culture than that of Dr. Quaritch Wales, the noted archaeologist, who says: “When the guiding hand of India was removed, her inspiration was not forgotten, but the Khmer genius was released to mould from it vast new conceptions of amazing vitality different from, and, hence not properly to be compared with anything matured in a purely Indian environment...It must be admitted that here, more than anywhere else in Greater India, this inspiration fell on fertile soil.”

There are about 8,000 Indians in Indo-China, out of whom there are nearly 1000 in Cambodia. Found in all sorts of small trades, their main business is in cloth and cotton piece-goods. The majority of them are Sikhs and Sindhis. As traders, they have won the respect of the Cambodians, with whom they maintain cordial relations. The Indians there are a living link between their motherland and the land of their adoption. By settling there they have become permanent ambassadors of India in Cambodia. Having lived long enough in that country, they have attained domicile benefits. During their residence, they have been successful in bringing into closer relationship the two ancient lands whose past is so full of glory.

Indians have always been sympathetic towards the genuine aspirations of the Cambodians. As far as 1927, when the Indian National Congress met to evolve its foreign policy, Indians developed an interest in the national movement of Indo-China. This policy of supporting genuine nationalism on democratic lines has never abated. For that matter, India has always stood for the freedom of all subject nations, especially those in Asia. The Cambodians reciprocate their sentiments by cordial relations with the Indians living among them. It is for this reason that India’s relations with Cambodia are closer than ever before.

The Cambodians, being a religious and freedom loving people, least of all desire their country coming into the grips of the present strife in Indo-China. Who knows, by some miracle the Cambodians may escape the horrors of war. Perhaps, it is not too late for the democratic forces among the French to strengthen their own hands by recognising the complete independence of Cambodia. They would thusgain the goodwill of not only Cambodia, but also the rest of the nations of Asia.