Kambuja

Kambuja was the ancient name of Cambodia,the correct pronunciation of name Kambuja should have been Kom-Bu-Ja , not Kam - Bu -Ja . Scholars believe that "this name is obviously derived from Sanskrit Kamboja, the name of a well-known ancient tribe of Indo-Iranian affinities" [Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1915, p 447, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland - Middle East; Tribes of Ancient India, 1977, p 18, M. Choudhury - Ethnology; Indian Epigraphy, 1996, p 203, Dr D. C. Sircar - History; Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India, 1971, p 320, Dr D. C.Sircar - History; Racial Affinities of Early North Indian Tribes, 1973, p 76, Dr S. Chattopadhyaya - Ethnic Groups; Studies in Sanskrit Inscriptions of Ancient Cambodia, 2003, p 47, Mahesh Kumar Sharan, Abhinav Publications; Journal of the Greater India Society, 1959, p 110, Greater India Society - India Civilization Periodicals; A Current Tradition among the Kambojs of North India Relating to the Khmers of Cambodia, Dr B. R. Chatterji, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 24, No. 3/4 (1961), pp. 253-254; Cf: Vietnam, Kampuchea, Laos, Bound in Comradeship: A Panoramic Study of ..., 1988, p 422, H. R. Chakrabartty - Political Science etc etc.] , still living as Kamboj & Kamboh in northern India and Pakistan.

The "Kamboja" frequently referenced in ancient Sanskrit literature refers to the Buddhist Kamboja located in the Uttarapatha of the Indian Subcontinent, and not to "Trans-Gangetic Kambuja or Kamboja" located in Indochina, as is erroneously supposed by some writers [Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 133, Dr H. C. Raychaudhury, Dr B. N. Mukerjee; The Book of the Gradual Sayings =: Anguttara-Nikāya, Or, More-numbered Suttas, 1994, p 192, Frank Lee Woodward, Edward M. Hare.] . However, the later (Medieval) Pali chronicles Chamadevivamsa, Jinakalamali, Mulasasna etc., composed in Chiangmai (Thailand), all used "Kamboja" to refer to the Indochinese Kambuja [The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, 1968, p 136, George Cœdès - East Indians.] .

The alternative names "Kampuchea" or "Kampuchia" for Cambodia are also clearly derived from the ancient Kambuja.

Numerous scholars including J. Fergusson [Bulletin de la Société des études indo-chinoises de Saigon, 1952, p 174, J. Fergusson, Société des études indochinoises - Indochina; Tree and Serpent Worship Or Illustrations of Mythology & Art in India, 2004, pp 52-53, James Fergusson - Religion etc.] , G. Coedes [ Bulletin de la Société des études indochinoises, p 55, Société des études indo-chinoises; The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, 1968, p 47, George Cœdès - East Indians; The Journal of Asian Studies, 1956, p 384, Association for Asian Studies, Far Eastern Association (U.S.).] , D. G. E. Hall [ A History of South-east Asia, 1955, p 29, Daniel George Edward Hall - Southeast Asia.] , Dr B. R. Chatterjee [ Indian Cultural Influence in Cambodia, 1964, p 274, Dr B. R. Chatterjee - Cambodia; A Current Tradition among the Kambojs of North India Relating to the Khmers of Cambodia, Dr B. R. Chatterji, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 24, No. 3/4 (1961), pp. 253-254.] , Dr Buddha Prakash [India and the World, 1964, p 71, Dr Buddha Parkash.] and many others [ A History of South-east Asia, 1968, p 31 etc.] [Cf: Rivers of Life: Or Sources and Streams of the Faiths of Man in All Lands ... , 2002, p 114, J. G. R. Forlong - Religion.] etc accept the ancient historical, political and cultural connections between the Ancient Kambojas of the north-west and the Kambujas of the Indochina archipelago [See: Kambojas and Cambodia.] . See also: Migration of Kambojas

Intermarriages and blood mixing

The colonists and the ruling families of Kambuja who originally came from north-west Kamboja, for reasons of convenience, must have married with the local elites and thus there apparently occurred a blood mixing between the original population and the new colonists, at least, at the surfacial layer. This possibility has also been accepted by George Coedes and other scholars on this subject.

References

ee also

*Kambojas
*Cambodia
*Kambojas and Kambodia
*Etymology of Kamboja