Kambu Swayambhuva or Kambu Svayambhuva was an ancestor of the Kambuja tribe and king of Aryadesa. He is listed and praised in

shloka Shloka or śloka ( , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927).) in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is "any verse or stan ...

22 of the ''Ekatmata Stotra'' hymn among

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

sages A sage (, ''sophós''), in classical philosophy, is someone who has attained wisdom. The term has also been used interchangeably with a 'good person' (, ''agathós''), and a 'virtuous person' (, ''spoudaîos''). Some of the earliest accounts of t ...

, warriors and conquerors alongside

Agastya Agastya was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He is regarded in some traditions to be a Chiranjivi. He and his wife ...

Narasimhavarman I Narasimhavarman I was a Pallava emperor who reigned from 630 CE to 668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the works started by Mahendravarman in Mamallapuram. During his reign, the famous Pancha Rathas ...

Rajendra Chola I Rajendra I (26 July 971 – 1044), often referred to as Rajendra the Great, was a Chola Empire, Chola Emperor who reigned from 1014 to 1044. He was born in Thanjavur to Rajaraja I. His queen was Vanavan Mahadevi and he assumed royal power as ...

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

Pushyamitra Shunga Pushyamitra Shunga ( IAST: ; reigned ), also known as Pushpamitra Shunga ( IAST: ) was the founder and the first ruler of the Shunga Empire which he established to succeed the Maurya Empire. His original name was Puṣpaka or Puṣpamitra and ...

and others.

History

Scholar

George Coedes George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

refers to a 10th century inscription of a

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

n dynastic legend in which the

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

''Kambu Swayambhuva'' and the celestial nymph ''Mera'' unite and establish the Cambodian ''Solar'' royal dynasty (Kambu-Mera), that begins with the

Chenla Chenla or Zhenla ( zh, t=真臘, s=, 真腊, p=Zhēnlà, w=Chen-la; , ; ) is the Chinese designation for the vassal of the kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late 6th to the early 9th century in Indochina. ...

ruler ''

Srutavarman Srutavarman (; , ) was the first king of Chenla. Biography King Srutavarman freed Kambuja “Chenla” from the domination of Funan in the 5th century. He descended from the House of Kambuj founded by Bramin, Kambu Svayambhuva and Apsara ...

'' and his son ''

Sreshthavarman Sreshthavarman (; , ) was the second king of Chenla. Biography King Shreshthavarman was the son of King Shrutavarman. He was the founder of the capital, Sreshthapura, at the foot of the mountain where Prasat Vat Phou Vat Phou (or Vat Ph ...

''. Coedes suggests that the ''Kambu Swayambhuva'' legend has its origins in

southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

, as a version of the

Kanchi Kanchipuram (IAST: '; ), also known as Kanjeevaram, is a stand alone city corporation, satellite nodal city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''Ci ...

Pallava dynasty The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The Pallavas played a crucial role in shaping in particular southern Indian history and heritage. The dynasty ros ...

creation myth. Claimed to be the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

of the

Kambojas The Kambojas were a southeastern Iranian peoples, Iranian people who inhabited the northeastern most part of the territory populated by Iranian tribes, which bordered the Indian subcontinent, Indian lands. They only appear in Indo-Aryan langua ...

, ''Kambu Swayambhuva'' is characterized as a

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

chieftain, married to ''Mera'', who was given to him by Lord

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

. The name Kambu is stated to be a corruption of the standard

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Kamboja. English Scholars such as C. Lassen, S. Levi,

Michael Witzel Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–100). He ...

, J. Charpentier, A. Hoffman,

A. B. Keith Arthur Berriedale Keith, FBA (5 April 1879 – 6 October 1944) was a Scottish constitutional lawyer, scholar of Sanskrit and Indologist. He became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology and Lecturer on the Constitution of t ...

, A. A. Macdonell, H. W. Bailey and many others have traced the ethnic name Kamboja in the royal name Kambujadeshah (कम्बुजदेशः) in the

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

Inscriptions Parskar Gryhamsutram spells the usual Kamboja as Kambuja. The ''

Markandeya Purana The ''Markandeya Purana'' (; IAST: ) is a Sanskrit text of Hinduism, and one of the eighteen major Puranas. The text's title Markandeya refers to a sage in Sanatana Dharma, who is the central character in two legends, one linked to Shiva and oth ...

'' (8.1-6) as well as in '' Srimad Devi Bhagawatam'' (5.28.1-12) etc. refers to the Kambojas as Kambu clan. King Ashoka's Rock Edicts V & XIII located at

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

write

Kamboj The Kamboj (Devanagari: कंबोज, Nastaliq: کمبوج, Gurumukhi: ਕੰਬੋਜ ALA-LC: ), also Kamboh (Nastaliq: کمبوہ ALA-LC: ), is a caste and agrarian community of India and Pakistan that originated from the central Punjab ...

as ''Kamboy'' or ''Kambo''. Numerous

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

writings of medieval era spell the Kamboj

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

name as Kambu as well as Kambo. Obviously, these Kambu/Kambo terms are the corrupted forms of Kambuj/Kamboj and relate to the Kamboja of ancient Sanskrit and

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

texts and Inscriptions. This Sanskrit Kamboja appears as '' K.b.u.ji.i.y'', ''Kabujiya'' or perhaps ''Kabaujiya''/''Kaboujiya'' and ''Kambujiya'' or perhaps ''Kambaujiya'' ( OR with -n- in place of -m- as ''Kanbujiya'' or ''Kanbaujiya'') of Old Persian inscriptions, and

Cambyses Cambyses may refer to: * Cambyses I, King of Anshan 600 to 559 BCE * Cambyses II, King of Persia 530 to 522 BCE * Cambyses, ancient name of the Iori river in the South Caucasus * '' Cambyses Romance'', a prose narrative * ''Cambyses'', a tragedy ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

writings. The same name appears as ''C-n-b-n-z-y'' in

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

, ''Kambuzia'' in

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n, ''Kambythet'' in

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

, ''Kam-bu-zi-ya'' or ''Ka-am-bu-zi-ya'' in Akkadian, ''Kan-bu-zi-ia'' or ''Kan-bu-si-ya'' in

Elamite Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Scythic, Median, Amardian, Anshanian and Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was recorded in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite i ...

, and ''Kanpuziya'' in the

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

n language.Bailey, H.W. (1971). "Ancient Kamboja", in Iran and Islam: In Memory of Vladimir Minorsky, ed. Bosworth, C.E., pp. 65-71. Edinburgh.

References

External links

Full text of "Kambuja Desa"

Ekatmata Stotra (in Sanskrit and English, Kambu mentioned on p.4)
{{Rishis of Hindu mythology Rishis Indian hermits Kambojas

History

See also

References

External links