Kamboja (name)
Encyclopedia
Kamboja
or Kambuja is the name of an ancient Indo-Iranian
kingdom.
They are believed to have been located originally in Pamirs and Badakshan in Central Asia
.
The name has a long history of attestation, both in the Iranian
and the Indo-Aryan
spheres.
The etymology
of Kamboja (or "Kambuja", "Kambujiya") is unclear. There are several suggestions, most scholars favouring Iranian
origin (visible in the de-aspiration of the b, from an Indo-Iranian bhuj). Inspired by the proper name Cambyses,
Michael Witzel proposes that the name may originate as a title given to the Persian crown prince.
The same root appears as bhuj "use, possess; rule, govern".
The first part of the compound would then be kam, which Bailey interprets as Avestan kan "to long, want", related to Sanskrit kama
"desire, lust".
The Old Indian lexeme occurs in compounds where it means "at will" i.e. Kama-krta, kama-cara, Kama-vritti. Avestan has vaso-xsathro, "ruling at will".
Bailey's interpretation for Kambujiya or Kamboja is "king ruling at will" or ultimately, "king at will" .
Another interpretation (Seth 1937) accept's bhuj as the root of the second element, but takes the kam as the name of a particular region, thus "ruler of Kam", Kam being interpreted as referring to the territory of Sogdia.
originated from their legendary patriarch figure called Svayambhuva Kambu
. According to Casey, "Kambuja" is etymologically deived from Kambu+ja, where ja in Sanskrit is said to mean "son or descendant". Hence, Kambujas means "descendants of Kambu" . On similar lines, some argue that the name of the Indo-Iranian Kambojas may have eponymously originated from some ancient patriarchal figure known as Kambo. The Kambu as a name of an Asura
(Iranian) clan is attested in ancient Hindu
texts like Markendeya Purana
and Devi Mahatam , where the Kambu (Kamboja) clan
is portrayed "in clash with" the Indo-Aryans
.
It is notable that King Ashoka
's Rock Edicts (3rd century BCE) located in Peshawar
also write Kamboy (i.e. Kambo) for Sanskrit Kamboj. It is also notable that the terms Kambo and Kambu were used in medieval Muslim
writings for the Kamboj
population of greater Panjab
.
by their enemies. The same scholar adds that the name is a remainder of an archaic
name giving habit. This is shown by the alleged disappearance of the name after the death of Cambyses
(Kambaujiya) in 522 BC. Unfortunately for Harmatta, the name still occurred in the three Elamite tablets dated 498-497 and 501-500 BCE " . Prof Wojciech Skalmowski rejected Harmatta's etymology on the basis that Herodotus attests that "their (i.e the Persians) names agree with the nature of their persons and their nobility".
Prof Wojciech Skalmowski who rejected Harmatta's etymology of Kambaujiya has suggested that the name Kambaujiya ( and Kamboja) is an adjectival form from a compound like *kamp + auj-ias- (cf. Sanskrit
kampate " = he trembles", Avestan *auj, as in aojvah, "stronger than"), meaning "unshaken, stronger than trembling, undaunted, intrepid (intrepidus)" . Therefore, this would give the name Kamboja a meaning like powerful, mighty, fearful, undaunted, valiant etc.
: the last two syllables, no doubt, represent the Sanscrit Sthala, 'place,' 'district;' and the word denotes the dwellers in the Kamba or Kambis country: so Kamboja may be explained as those born in Kamba or Kambas . http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp061.htm. In the like manner, the name Kambavati or Kambhavati or Khambavati (-vati means residence, pura) has also been connected with the Kambojas. In English, the name Kambavati or Kambhavati appears as Cambay
mountains west of Armenia
, there was an ancient region which Strabo
attests as Kambysēnē . It comprised a rugged region through which a road connecting Caucasian Albania
and Caucasian Iberia
passed . The Greek
form of the name i.e. Kambysēnē, must have been derived in the Hellenistic period from an indigenous name, corresponding to Armenia
n Kʿambēčan, with the common ending -ēnē. In Georgian
it is written Kambečovani, in Arabic Qambīzān . In Sanskrit
, it is believed to have been transliterated as Kamboja. Though not attested prior to Strabo, the region Cambysene and the rivers Cyrus and Cambyses are believed to have born these name since remote antiquity. The tribal people living around this region were also called by the same name
. Strabo also attests two rivers viz: Cyrus (modern Kura) and Cambyses or Kambyses (modern Jori or Jora), the latter was a tributary of the former. These territorial and river names Kambysene and Cambyses which occurred north of Iran
have been linked to ethno-geographical name Kambuja/Kamboja of Sanskrit tradition . According to Ernst Herzfeld
, the names of Cyrus and Cambyses rivers, as well as the Achaemenid names Kurush
and Kambujiya, were derived from two ethnics Kuru and Kamboja . The name Kambujiya occurs in Egypt
as Kambuza, Kambatet (rather Kambuzia ) as well as Kambunza . Dr Chandra Chakravarty states that the hordes, who had participated in the ancient invasion of Iran along with Yautiyas were the Nordic
Scythians (Kuru-Kambojas) from around the Kambysene region near Mt Caucasus
. A branch of these Kambysene Scythians later mixed with the Xsatyatia Parsas (=Puru Khattis) thus giving birth to the well known Achaemenians . However, a section of them also settled on north-west of India. These Kambysene hordes later came to be known as Kambojas
and their province as Kamboja
in ancient Indian traditions .
In Zend Avestan
, Kambyses or Kambujiya takes the form of Kavaus and in modern Persian
as Kavus and Kaus . In modern times, the name appears as Kamoj in Kafiristan
and Kamboj
/Kamboh in Punjab. Spiegel
regards the personal name Kambujiya as originally an adjective, meaning belonging to the Kambuja or Kamboja .
(seventh century BCE) etymologizied the name as both Kambal.bhojah and Kamaniya.bhojah. According to Nirukta
, the Kambojas enjoy kambalah (blankets) i.e. they are Kambal.bhojah, and also they enjoy beautiful (kamaniya) things, hence they are 'kamaniya.bhojah'. Therefore they are called "Kambojas" .
Pāṇini, the 4th century BC Sanskrit grammarian a native to Gandhara
in his Aṣṭādhyāyī mentions many terms pertaining to the geography and ethnology of pre-Mauryan India.
In his sutras (4.1.168-177) Pāṇini references the a number of Kshatriya
janapadas
and notes it as one of the fifteen prominent Kshatriya monarchies
of the times.
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
or Kambuja is the name of an ancient Indo-Iranian
Indo-Iranians
Indo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family....
kingdom.
They are believed to have been located originally in Pamirs and Badakshan in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
.
The name has a long history of attestation, both in the Iranian
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
and the Indo-Aryan
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...
spheres.
- In Sanskrit literature, it appears from the middle Vedic periodVedic periodThe Vedic period was a period in history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. The time span of the period is uncertain. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the Rigveda, the oldest of the Vedas, was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE, also...
(Iron AgeIron Age IndiaIron Age India, the Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent, succeeds the Late Harappan culture, also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition...
). While not reflected in the Vedic samhitasVedasThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
, it is attested in the later Brahmana stage (ca. 7th century BCE) in the Vamsa Brahmana, as well as in YaskaYaska' ) was a Sanskrit grammarian who preceded Pāṇini , assumed to have been active in the 5th or 6th century BC.He is the author of the Nirukta, a technical treatise on etymology, lexical category and the semantics of words...
's NiruktaNiruktaNirukta is one of the six disciplines of Hinduism, treating etymology, particularly of obscure words, especially those occurring in the Vedas. The discipline is traditionally attributed to , an ancient Sanskrit grammarian...
. Kamboja becomes tangible as a Mahajanapada kingdom in the Hindukush from the Epic Sanskrit stage. Kambojas enter India proper with the Indo-Scythian invasion and the name becomes established as the dynastic name of a number of ancient and medieval kingdoms of Bengal, Tibet, South India, Sri LankaAncient history of Sri LankaThe Ancient history of Sri Lanka begins with the gradual onset of historical records in the final centuries BC, ending the prehistoric period....
and Indochina - In Iranian, Kambuj is reflected in the name of Cambyses of Anshan in the early 6th century BCE. The name appears in Old Persian as C-n-b-n-z-y in Aramaic, Kambuzia in AssyriaAssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n, Kambythet in EgyptianEgyptian languageEgyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
, Kam-bu-zi-ia in AssyrianAkkadian languageAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
, Kan-bu-zi-ia in Elamite, Kanpuziya.
The etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of Kamboja (or "Kambuja", "Kambujiya") is unclear. There are several suggestions, most scholars favouring Iranian
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
origin (visible in the de-aspiration of the b, from an Indo-Iranian bhuj). Inspired by the proper name Cambyses,
Michael Witzel proposes that the name may originate as a title given to the Persian crown prince.
Royal title
H. W. Bailey analyzes the name Kamboja as Kam-bauja- or Kan-bauja- and focuses on the second part -bauja. This should be the form belonging to the three Iranian roots *Baug-: (1) "to bend", (2) "to free, loose, deliver, save", (3) "to possess, be lord, rule".The same root appears as bhuj "use, possess; rule, govern".
The first part of the compound would then be kam, which Bailey interprets as Avestan kan "to long, want", related to Sanskrit kama
Kama
Kāma is often translated from Sanskrit as sexual desire, sexual pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, or eros54654564+more broadly mean desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, without sexual connotations.-Kama in...
"desire, lust".
The Old Indian lexeme occurs in compounds where it means "at will" i.e. Kama-krta, kama-cara, Kama-vritti. Avestan has vaso-xsathro, "ruling at will".
Bailey's interpretation for Kambujiya or Kamboja is "king ruling at will" or ultimately, "king at will" .
Another interpretation (Seth 1937) accept's bhuj as the root of the second element, but takes the kam as the name of a particular region, thus "ruler of Kam", Kam being interpreted as referring to the territory of Sogdia.
Anthroponym "Kambu"
Scholars like Casey suppose that Kambuja lineage of the ruling family of ancient CambodiaCambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
originated from their legendary patriarch figure called Svayambhuva Kambu
Sage Kambu Swayambhuva
Kambu Swayambhuva was a Hindu sage prince of Kamboja lineage who finds mention along with sage Agastya, Kaundinya Swayambhuva, king Rajendra Chola, king Ashoka Maurya and king Pushyamitra Shunga in Shloka-22 in Ekamata Stotra. The legend holds that Kambu Swayambhuva was a learned prince who had...
. According to Casey, "Kambuja" is etymologically deived from Kambu+ja, where ja in Sanskrit is said to mean "son or descendant". Hence, Kambujas means "descendants of Kambu" . On similar lines, some argue that the name of the Indo-Iranian Kambojas may have eponymously originated from some ancient patriarchal figure known as Kambo. The Kambu as a name of an Asura
Asura
-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...
(Iranian) clan is attested in ancient Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
texts like Markendeya Purana
Markandeya Purana
The Markandeya Purana is one of the major eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of Hindu religious texts. It is written in the style of a dialogue between the ancient sage Markandeya and Jaimini, a disciple of Vyasa.-Contents:...
and Devi Mahatam , where the Kambu (Kamboja) clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
is portrayed "in clash with" the Indo-Aryans
Indo-Aryans
Indo-Aryan is an ethno-linguistic term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian family of Indo-European languages...
.
It is notable that King Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
's Rock Edicts (3rd century BCE) located in Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
also write Kamboy (i.e. Kambo) for Sanskrit Kamboj. It is also notable that the terms Kambo and Kambu were used in medieval Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
writings for the Kamboj
Kamboj
The Kambojs , also Kamboh, are an ethnic community of the Punjab region. They may relate to the Kambojas, an Iranian tribe known to the people of Iron Age India and mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts and epigraphy. Kamboj is frequently used as a surname in lieu of the sub-caste or the gotra name...
population of greater Panjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
.
Exonym
J. Harmatta considers Old Persian "Kambaujiya- as an apotropaic name meaning "weak", to Avestan Kambishta-, "the least" a name which, he says, was given to the KambojasKambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
by their enemies. The same scholar adds that the name is a remainder of an archaic
Archaism
In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately or as part of a specific jargon or formula...
name giving habit. This is shown by the alleged disappearance of the name after the death of Cambyses
Cambyses
Cambyses can refer to two ancient rulers and two plays:-*Cambyses I, King of Anshan 600 to 559 BCE*Cambyses II, King of Persia 530 to 522 BCE*Cambyses, a tragedy by Thomas Preston...
(Kambaujiya) in 522 BC. Unfortunately for Harmatta, the name still occurred in the three Elamite tablets dated 498-497 and 501-500 BCE " . Prof Wojciech Skalmowski rejected Harmatta's etymology on the basis that Herodotus attests that "their (i.e the Persians) names agree with the nature of their persons and their nobility".
Prof Wojciech Skalmowski who rejected Harmatta's etymology of Kambaujiya has suggested that the name Kambaujiya ( and Kamboja) is an adjectival form from a compound like *kamp + auj-ias- (cf. Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
kampate " = he trembles", Avestan *auj, as in aojvah, "stronger than"), meaning "unshaken, stronger than trembling, undaunted, intrepid (intrepidus)" . Therefore, this would give the name Kamboja a meaning like powerful, mighty, fearful, undaunted, valiant etc.
Toponym "Kamba"
According to Dr Wilson, part of the name Kamboja (i.e. Kambi) is in the Cambistholi of ArrianArrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
: the last two syllables, no doubt, represent the Sanscrit Sthala, 'place,' 'district;' and the word denotes the dwellers in the Kamba or Kambis country: so Kamboja may be explained as those born in Kamba or Kambas . http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp061.htm. In the like manner, the name Kambavati or Kambhavati or Khambavati (-vati means residence, pura) has also been connected with the Kambojas. In English, the name Kambavati or Kambhavati appears as Cambay
Cambysene
Bordering on the CaucasusCaucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
mountains west of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, there was an ancient region which Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
attests as Kambysēnē . It comprised a rugged region through which a road connecting Caucasian Albania
Caucasian Albania
Albania is a name for the historical region of the eastern Caucasus, that existed on the territory of present-day republic of...
and Caucasian Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
passed . The Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
form of the name i.e. Kambysēnē, must have been derived in the Hellenistic period from an indigenous name, corresponding to Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n Kʿambēčan, with the common ending -ēnē. In Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
it is written Kambečovani, in Arabic Qambīzān . In Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, it is believed to have been transliterated as Kamboja. Though not attested prior to Strabo, the region Cambysene and the rivers Cyrus and Cambyses are believed to have born these name since remote antiquity. The tribal people living around this region were also called by the same name
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
. Strabo also attests two rivers viz: Cyrus (modern Kura) and Cambyses or Kambyses (modern Jori or Jora), the latter was a tributary of the former. These territorial and river names Kambysene and Cambyses which occurred north of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
have been linked to ethno-geographical name Kambuja/Kamboja of Sanskrit tradition . According to Ernst Herzfeld
Ernst Herzfeld
Ernst Emil Herzfeld was a German archaeologist and Iranologist.-Life:Herzfeld was born in Celle, Province of Hanover...
, the names of Cyrus and Cambyses rivers, as well as the Achaemenid names Kurush
Cyrus (name)
Cyrus is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great. Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan Cyrus is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great. Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan Cyrus is the...
and Kambujiya, were derived from two ethnics Kuru and Kamboja . The name Kambujiya occurs in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
as Kambuza, Kambatet (rather Kambuzia ) as well as Kambunza . Dr Chandra Chakravarty states that the hordes, who had participated in the ancient invasion of Iran along with Yautiyas were the Nordic
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
Scythians (Kuru-Kambojas) from around the Kambysene region near Mt Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
. A branch of these Kambysene Scythians later mixed with the Xsatyatia Parsas (=Puru Khattis) thus giving birth to the well known Achaemenians . However, a section of them also settled on north-west of India. These Kambysene hordes later came to be known as Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
and their province as Kamboja
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
in ancient Indian traditions .
In Zend Avestan
Zend
Zend can mean:*Zend, commentaries on the Avesta, the sacred texts of the Zoroastrian religion.**In older texts, Zend can refer to the Avestan language*Salla Zend, a character in Star Wars*Zend Technologies, a PHP-focused company...
, Kambyses or Kambujiya takes the form of Kavaus and in modern Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
as Kavus and Kaus . In modern times, the name appears as Kamoj in Kafiristan
Kafiristan
Kāfiristān or Kāfirstān was a historic name of Nurestan , a province in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, prior to 1896. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, basins of the rivers Alingar, Pech , Landai Sin, and Kunar, and the intervening mountain ranges...
and Kamboj
Kamboj
The Kambojs , also Kamboh, are an ethnic community of the Punjab region. They may relate to the Kambojas, an Iranian tribe known to the people of Iron Age India and mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts and epigraphy. Kamboj is frequently used as a surname in lieu of the sub-caste or the gotra name...
/Kamboh in Punjab. Spiegel
Friedrich von Spiegel
Friedrich Spiegel was a German orientalist. He was one of the pioneers in the field of Iranian philology.- Biography :...
regards the personal name Kambujiya as originally an adjective, meaning belonging to the Kambuja or Kamboja .
Sanskrit literature
YaskaYaska
' ) was a Sanskrit grammarian who preceded Pāṇini , assumed to have been active in the 5th or 6th century BC.He is the author of the Nirukta, a technical treatise on etymology, lexical category and the semantics of words...
(seventh century BCE) etymologizied the name as both Kambal.bhojah and Kamaniya.bhojah. According to Nirukta
Nirukta
Nirukta is one of the six disciplines of Hinduism, treating etymology, particularly of obscure words, especially those occurring in the Vedas. The discipline is traditionally attributed to , an ancient Sanskrit grammarian...
, the Kambojas enjoy kambalah (blankets) i.e. they are Kambal.bhojah, and also they enjoy beautiful (kamaniya) things, hence they are 'kamaniya.bhojah'. Therefore they are called "Kambojas" .
Pāṇini, the 4th century BC Sanskrit grammarian a native to Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
in his Aṣṭādhyāyī mentions many terms pertaining to the geography and ethnology of pre-Mauryan India.
In his sutras (4.1.168-177) Pāṇini references the a number of Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
janapadas
Janapadas
The Janapadas were the major realms or kingdoms of Vedic India which, by the 6th century BC, evolved into the sixteen classical Mahajanapadas.-Etymology:...
and notes it as one of the fifteen prominent Kshatriya monarchies
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
of the times.