Sage Kambu Swayambhuva
Encyclopedia
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 initially been an Indian king. He had ventured into the Far East and entered an area having jungles that was being ruled by a king of Naga
lineage. Defeating the Naga king, prince Kambu married his daughter Mera and developed the land into a fertile and flourishing country. The combination of Kambu and Mera names is said to have given rise to the name Khmer (Kambu + Mera =Khmer) according to George Coedes . Sage-prince Kambu of the Cambodian legends, to all probability, belonged to the Kamboja lineage and appears to have sailed from Indian subcontinent
, probably from Saurashtra/Gujarat on the west coast of India and established a small Kamboja kingdom in Bassac around Vat-Ph'u hill in Mekong
Basin
. In ancient Chinese accounts, this kingdom is known as Chenla
. The time frame for this event could be the later half of 4th c AD. Sage prince Kambu was succeeded by his little son Shrutavarma Kambuja who ruled in 5th century AD. Shrutavarma was succeeded by his son Shreshthavarma Kambuja who was followed by king Viravarma Kambuja. Princess Kambujarajalakshmi (fortune of the kings of the Kambujas), the queen of prince Bhavavarman I
, was from the line of Kambu Swayambhuva and it was through her that Bhavavarman I inherited the royal lineage and became king of Kambuja. The Kamboja power established by sage prince Kambu in Indo-China, however, did see many ups and downs in the succeeding centuries before culminating into Angkorean fame. Around 8th century A.D, the kings of Shailendra dynasty
seized control of Chenla (i.e. Kambuja) but at the start of 9th century, the Kambuja family reasserted itself under a capable Kamboja prince Jayavarman II
, shook off the foreign yoke, unified the Land Chenla and Water Chenla and renamed the unified country as Kambuja after his family's lineage. Thus began the long line of Kambuja princes and also the famed Angkor
ean period in Cambodia
n history which was to reach to very splendorous and glorious heights in the succeeding centuries.
Prince Swayambhuva Kambu is claimed to be the eponymous ancestor of the Kambujas i.e. the royal family of Cambodia with celestial nymph Mera given to him by god Siva . Princes of Kambodia expressly state themselves as Kambujas and to have descended from the lineage of Kambu.
As is otherwise also obvious, the name Kambu is stated to be a corruption of the standard Sanskrit
term Kamboja.
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...
sage prince of 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...
lineage who finds mention along with sage Agastya
Agastya
Agastya was a Tamil/Vedic Siddhar or sage. Agastya and his clan are also generally credited with uncovering many mantras of the Rig Veda, the earliest and most revered Hindu scripture, in the sense of first having the mantras revealed in his mind by the Supreme Brahman...
, Kaundinya Swayambhuva, king Rajendra Chola, 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...
Maurya and king Pushyamitra Shunga in Shloka
Shloka
A ' is a category of verse line developed from the Vedic Anuṣṭubh. It is the basis for Indian Epic verse, and may be considered the Indian verse form par excellence, occurring, as it does, far more frequently than any other meter in classical Sanskrit poetry. The Mahabharata and Ramayana, for...
-22 in Ekamata Stotra. The legend holds that Kambu Swayambhuva was a learned prince who had initially been an Indian king. He had ventured into the Far East and entered an area having jungles that was being ruled by a king of Naga
Naga people
The term Naga people refers to a conglomeration of several tribes inhabiting the North Eastern part of India and north-western Burma. The tribes have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority ethnic group in the Indian state of Nagaland...
lineage. Defeating the Naga king, prince Kambu married his daughter Mera and developed the land into a fertile and flourishing country. The combination of Kambu and Mera names is said to have given rise to the name Khmer (Kambu + Mera =Khmer) according to George Coedes . Sage-prince Kambu of the Cambodian legends, to all probability, belonged to the Kamboja lineage and appears to have sailed from Indian subcontinent
Subcontinent
A subcontinent is a large, relatively self-contained landmass forming a subdivision of a continent. By dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies "having a certain geographical or political independence" from the rest of the continent, or "a vast and more or less self-contained subdivision...
, probably from Saurashtra/Gujarat on the west coast of India and established a small Kamboja kingdom in Bassac around Vat-Ph'u hill in Mekong
Mekong
The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....
Basin
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
. In ancient Chinese accounts, this kingdom is known as Chenla
Chenla
Chenla is the Chinese designation for Cambodia after the fall of Funan. That name was still used in the 13th century by the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan, author of the Manners and Customs of Cambodia...
. The time frame for this event could be the later half of 4th c AD. Sage prince Kambu was succeeded by his little son Shrutavarma Kambuja who ruled in 5th century AD. Shrutavarma was succeeded by his son Shreshthavarma Kambuja who was followed by king Viravarma Kambuja. Princess Kambujarajalakshmi (fortune of the kings of the Kambujas), the queen of prince Bhavavarman I
Bhavavarman I
Bhavavarman I was a king of the Cambodian kingdom of Kamboja, which would later become the Khmer empire. Though the full dates of his reign are unknown, it is known that he reigned around the year 550....
, was from the line of Kambu Swayambhuva and it was through her that Bhavavarman I inherited the royal lineage and became king of Kambuja. The Kamboja power established by sage prince Kambu in Indo-China, however, did see many ups and downs in the succeeding centuries before culminating into Angkorean fame. Around 8th century A.D, the kings of Shailendra dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
seized control of Chenla (i.e. Kambuja) but at the start of 9th century, the Kambuja family reasserted itself under a capable Kamboja prince Jayavarman II
Jayavarman II
Jayavarman II was a 9th century king of Cambodia, widely recognized as the founder of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of the Southeast Asian mainland for more than six hundred years. Historians formerly dated his reign as running from 802 AD to 850 AD, but some scholars now have set it back to...
, shook off the foreign yoke, unified the Land Chenla and Water Chenla and renamed the unified country as Kambuja after his family's lineage. Thus began the long line of Kambuja princes and also the famed Angkor
Angkor
Angkor is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from approximately the 9th to 15th centuries. The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit nagara , meaning "city"...
ean period in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
n history which was to reach to very splendorous and glorious heights in the succeeding centuries.
Prince Swayambhuva Kambu is claimed to be the eponymous ancestor of the Kambujas i.e. the royal family of Cambodia with celestial nymph Mera given to him by god Siva . Princes of Kambodia expressly state themselves as Kambujas and to have descended from the lineage of Kambu.
As is otherwise also obvious, the name Kambu is stated to be a corruption of the standard 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...
term Kamboja.