The Preah Thong and Neang Neakii statue symbolises the birth of
Khmer land, culture, traditions and civilisation of
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 ...
. The statue is 21 metres tall, on a pedestal 6.34 metres high (27.34 metres in total), and weighs 60 tonnes, being the largest copper statue in Cambodia, facing the sea.
History
Preah Thong (
Kaundinya I / Y Da) and Neang Neakii (
Queen Soma / Y Ga) are symbolic personas in
Khmer culture. They are thought to have founded the pre-Angkorian state of
Funan
Funan (; , ; , Chữ Hán: ; ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Khmer-Mon Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''( Mandala)''—located in Mainland Southeast Asia covering ...
. Much of Khmer wedding customs can be traced back to the marriage of Preah Thong and Neang Neakii.
According to reports by two Chinese envoys,
Kang Tai and Zhu Ying, the state of Funan was established by an Indian named Kaundinya. In the first century CE, Kaundinya was given instruction in a dream to take a magic bow from a temple and defeat a
Naga princess named Soma (Chinese: Liuye, “Willow Leaf”), the daughter of the king of the
Naga. She later married Kaundinya and their lineage became the royal dynasty of
Funan
Funan (; , ; , Chữ Hán: ; ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Khmer-Mon Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''( Mandala)''—located in Mainland Southeast Asia covering ...
. Kaundinya later built a capital,
Vyadhapura and the kingdom also came to be known as ''Kambojadeśa''.
Modern DNA research
A December 2022 published research study, titled "Ancient
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
from Protohistoric Period Cambodia indicates that South Asians admixed with local populations as early as 1st–3rd centuries CE," analyzed the DNA of a protohistoric individual from the
Angkor Borei
Angkor Borei () is a district located in Takéo Province, in southern Cambodia. According to the 1998 census of Cambodia, it had a population of 44,980.
Administration
The district has 6 communes, 34 villages (as of 2019).
History
This anci ...
site in Cambodia. The key finding is that this individual contained a substantial level of
South Asian
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
, estimated at 40–50%. Radiocarbon dating">Radiocarbon
Carbon-14, C-14, C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...
dating result on the human bone (95% confidence interval is 78–234 calCE) indicates that this individual lived during the early period of Funan, one of the earliest states in Mainland Southeast Asia. This discovery aligns with one of the prominent Khmer creation lore, which recounts the marriage of an Indian merchant named Kaundinya I (Preah Thong) and a Naga (serpent deity) princess named Soma (Neang Neak). Their union is said to have founded the kingdom of Funan and led to the Khmer people. The presence of significant South Asian DNA in an individual from this early Funan period provides genetic evidence that supports the possibility of early interactions and admixture between South Asian populations and the local populations of Cambodia, potentially contributing to the origins and development of Khmer culture and state formation.