How Hindus influenced ancient Cambodia

Indian culture and civilization in all its aspects was imbibed in Kambuja. This was particularly true of religion. Kambuja was a stronghold of the Puranic form of Hindu religion.

Buddhism played a minor role and was confined to the kings and the ministers who professed that religion. The most dominant sect was Saivism. The worship of Visnu was also popular. A composite worship of Siva and Visnu under various names was also in great favor. The people of Kamboja knew the entire Hindu pantheon of Puranic deities with innumerable names as in India. They were even familiar with the mystic philosophy of Upanisads and the magical Tantric rites. The religion of Kambuja was so much a borrowing from India that if we are to narrative of religion that prevailed in India. The basis of the religion was the Indian Sastras or sacred scriptures. In the inscriptions of Kambuja we find reference to the Brahmanas proficient in the Veda, Vedanga, Samaveda and Buddhist scriptures. The same source tells us that the kings and the ministers possessed a profound knowledge of the Dharmasastras. In the inscription it is stated that a visit to Kurukshetra-Tirtha was as much gainful as one thousand Asvamedhas and one hundred Vajapeyas and a gift of one lakh cows. Several verses from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were daily recited. It was also considered to be a Punya (pious act) to present copies of these texts to the temples.

The prominent role played by religion in the life of the people is also demonstrated by the large number of temples and images erected by the kings and others. We find not only the external forms of Indian religion but also the ethical and spiritual view of life that was the most distinguished feature of ancient Indian civilization. The religion is marked by a deep yearning for emancipation from the trammels of birth and evils of the world and longing for the attainment of the highest bliss by union with Brahma. These ideals had their appeal for the kings, ministers and other high officials as well. The spiritual outlook of the people was also largely due to the royal priests and the intermarriage between the royal and priestly lines. The tutelary deity of the kingdom with the cult of Devaraja placed in charge of a long line of royal priests who were considered the gurus or preceptors of the king must be responsible to a large extent in moulding the whole view of religious life in Kambuja. The religion in Kambuja was kept alive by keeping constant contact with India. There was not only visits to India by the Kambojas and of Kambuja by the Indians but there were also constant marriage ceremonies between these two countries.

We find from the inscriptions that a daughter of king Jayavarman I married a Saiva Brahmana named Sakrasvamin who was born in India. Again, Raja Lakshmi, the daughter of Rajendravarman and the younger sister of Jayavarman V was married to a Brahmana of the name of Divakara Bhatta who was born on the bank of the river Kalindi, sacred with the association of Krishna’s boyhood. Two Brahmanas from India came to Kambuja during the reign of Jayavarman V. Again, one of the ancestors of Yasovarman’s mother is said to be a Brahmana of India. According to Dr. R.C. Majumdar Kambuja imbibed Indian culture and civilization to a much fuller degree than any other country of Greater India. 

The Cult of Devaraja:

King Jayavarman II who ruled over Kambuja for over fifty years from 802 to 854 AD was the founders of the cult of Devaraja (King of Gods) which had its special sanctuary and a priestly hierarchy to conduct its ritual. He invited a Brahmana from India of the name of Hiranyadama to perform some Tantric rites so that Kambuja might have paramountcy and independence from Java. As Dr. L. May rightly observes: “This ritual was drawn up so that Kambuja-Desa (Khmer Land) might no longer be dependent on Java, but have its own paramount monarch.” The adoption of the cult of Jayavarman was a gesture of independence. It signified that he recognized no superior on earth. More than that, it was a sign of his claim to be a Chakravartin – a universal monarch.

Hiranyadeva who had instituted the cult of Devaraja made Siva Kaivalya the royal guru (Preceptor) for ritual of this worship. The king Jayavarman II took a vow to give to the family of Siva Kaivalyathe hereditary claim to celebrate the worship of Devaraja. This cult was a form of Tantric Saivism and remained the state religion of Kambuja for many years. Since his reign the pyramid sanctuary marked the center of the royal city. Through the sanctuary the Devaraja entered into relationship with the divine world. He himself was the god to whom in his own lifetime the temple was dedicated.

The central shrine contained a gold status of Visnu mounted on a Garuda. This was taken out of its sanctuary on festival occasions. It was of course a representation of the king defied as Visnu. After his death the majestic shrine would become his mausoleum i.e., tomb.

Following their king the magnates erected shrines, in their own capacity, to their own personal cults. It was the belief that by establishing an image the “Sacred ego” of the person to be worshipped became fixed in the stone. The shrine would contain an inscription recommending to the founder’s descendants to continue this cult. When he died the shrine would become his tomb. Thus there were innumerable statues of Siva, Visnu, Harihara, Lakshmi, Parvati and Bodhisattva all around the temple sites. These were actually portraits of kings, queens and magnates. It is quite clear from the evidence that their names carved on the statues shows a fusion of their personal titles with the names of the gods and goddesses with whom they were united. Each statue was an artificial body with magic properties conferring immortality upon the person it represented.

According to Professor Hall this conception of a temple-mountain is much of earlier origin that Siva-worship itself. It traces its origin to an old Mesopotamian practice and from Mesopotamia it came to ancient India, where a number of Hindu dynasties had their sacred mountains. The concept of Devaraja shows a blending of the cult of ancestor-worship dating from Neolithic times with Hindu and Buddhist ideas introduced from India.

The cult of Devaraja remained the official religion of Kambuja until Jayavarman Paramesvara (1327-1368 AD) took to Hinayana Buddhism. With this passed away the cult of Devaraja from Kambuja. This cult was widespread throughout south-East Asia. It is found in Champa and was of special importance in Java and Bali.

That the spread of Indian culture abroad did not result in the suppression of the indigenous style of life, but rather led to its transformation in new pattern is borne out by the most notable evidence of the reconciliation of the native and Indian cultural materials in the cult of Devaraja. According to J. Przyluski the mythology of the Bataks of North-West Sumatra was embedded in the cult of Siva brought by the Indians. Their greatest god Bataraguru, residing in Bangdjer-Block (city of the mountains) corresponds to Himavat or Sailendra and his daughter who is believed to have created the world.

She may be easily identified with Parvati. To say in the words of Przyluski: “We discern under the religious elements furnished by Mahayana Buddhism, the ancient belief in deity, enthroned upon a high mountain, to whom, therefore, properly identified with Sivagrisa and the supreme Buddha.” The Supreme deity incarnated himself as the king so that the temple of god became also the seat of king-worship.

According to J.G. de Casparis the Javanese Chandi combines the idea of ancestor-worship with that of the god residing on the mountain. Thus the progenitor of a dynasty, the first king of a line was identified with the supreme God, the lord of the mountain and was worshipped as such in Chandi. Thus the Bodhisattva on the outside of Chandi Mendut, near Borobudur may be interpreted as representing the ancestors of the Sailendra king – Indra. This religious syncretism has given a new orientation to Indo-Javanese art.

Bibliography:

Religious life in Kambuja, Greater India, Arun Bhattacharya, Published 1981, pp. 114-118.

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