CAMBOJA[242]
1
The French Protectorate of Camboja corresponds roughly to the nucleus,
though by no means to the whole extent of the former Empire of the
Khmers. The affinities of this race have given rise to considerable
discussion and it has been proposed to connect them with the
Muṇḍa tribes of India on one side and with the Malays and
Polynesians on the other[243]. They are allied linguistically to the
Mons or Talaings of Lower Burma and to the Khasias of Assam, but it is
not proved that they are similarly related to the Annamites, and
recent investigators are not disposed to maintain the Mon-Annam family
of languages proposed by Logan and others. But the undoubted
similarity of the Mon and Khmer languages suggests that the ancestors
of those who now speak them were at one time spread over the central
and western parts of Indo-China but were subsequently divided and
deprived of much territory by the southward invasions of the Thais in
the middle ages.
The Khmers also called themselves Kambuja or Kamvuja and their name for
the country is still either Srŏk Kâmpûchéa or Srŏk Khmer[244]. Attempts
have been made to find a Malay origin for this name Kambuja but native
tradition regards it as a link with India and affirms that the race is
descended from Kambu Svayambhuva and Merâ or Perâ who was given to him
by Śiva as wife[245]. This legend hardly proves that the Khmer people
came from India but they undoubtedly received thence their civilization,
their royal family and a considerable number of Hindu immigrants, so
that the mythical ancestor of their kings naturally came to be regarded
as the progenitor of the race. The Chinese traveller Chou Ta-kuan (1296
A.D.) says that the country known to the Chinese as Chên-la is called by
the natives Kan-po-chih but that the present dynasty call it
Kan-p'u-chih on the authority of Sanskrit (Hsi-fan) works. The origin of
the name Chên-la is unknown.
There has been much discussion respecting the relation of Chên-la to
the older kingdom of Fu-nan which is the name given by Chinese
historians until the early part of the seventh century to a state
occupying the south-eastern and perhaps central portions of
Indo-China. It has been argued that Chên-la is simply the older name
of Fu-nan and on the other hand that Fu-nan is a wider designation
including several states, one of which, Chên-la or Camboja, became
paramount at the expense of the others[246]. But the point seems
unimportant for their religious history with which we have to
deal. In religion and general civilization both were subject to Indian
influence and it is not recorded that the political circumstances
which turned Fu-nan into Chên-la were attended by any religious
revolution.
The most important fact in the history of these countries, as in
Champa and Java, is the presence from early times of Indian influence
as a result of commerce, colonization, or conquest. Orientalists have
only recently freed themselves from the idea that the ancient Hindus,
and especially their religion, were restricted to the limits of India.
In mediæval times this was true. Emigration was rare and it was only
in the nineteenth century that the travelling Hindu became a familiar
and in some British colonies not very welcome visitor. Even now Hindus
of the higher caste evade rather than deny the rule which forbids them
to cross the ocean[247]. But for a long while Hindus have frequented
the coast of East Africa[248] and in earlier centuries their
traders, soldiers and missionaries covered considerable distances by
sea. The Jâtakas[249] mention voyages to Babylon: Vijaya and Mahinda
reached Ceylon in the fifth and third centuries B.C. respectively.
There is no certain evidence as to the epoch when Hindus first
penetrated beyond the Malay peninsula, but Java is mentioned in the
Ramayana[250]: the earliest Sanskrit inscriptions of Champa date from
our third or perhaps second century, and the Chinese Annals of the
Tsin indicate that at a period considerably anterior to that dynasty
there were Hindus in Fu-nan[251]. It is therefore safe to conclude
that they must have reached these regions about the beginning of the
Christian era and, should any evidence be forthcoming, there is no
reason why this date should not be put further back. At present we can
only say that the establishment of Hindu kingdoms probably implies
earlier visits of Hindu traders and that voyages to the south coast of
Indo-China and the Archipelago were probably preceded by settlements
on the Isthmus of Kra, for instance at Ligor.
The motives which prompted this eastward movement have been variously
connected with religious persecution in India, missionary enterprise,
commerce and political adventure. The first is the least probable.
There is little evidence for the systematic persecution of Buddhists
in India and still less for the persecution of Brahmans by Buddhists.
Nor can these Indian settlements be regarded as primarily religious
missions. The Brahmans have always been willing to follow and
supervise the progress of Hindu civilization, but they have never
shown any disposition to evangelize foreign countries apart from Hindu
settlements in them. The Buddhists had this evangelistic temper and
the journeys of their missionaries doubtless stimulated other classes
to go abroad, but still no inscriptions or annals suggest that the
Hindu migrations to Java and Camboja were parallel to Mahinda's
mission to Ceylon. Nor is there any reason to think that they were
commanded or encouraged by Indian Rajas, for no mention of their
despatch has been found in India, and no Indian state is recorded to
have claimed suzerainty over these colonies. It therefore seems likely
that they were founded by traders and also by adventurers who followed
existing trade routes and had their own reasons for leaving India. In
a country where dynastic quarrels were frequent and the younger sons
of Rajas had a precarious tenure of life, such reasons can be easily
imagined. In Camboja we find an Indian dynasty established after a
short struggle, but in other countries, such as Java and Sumatra,
Indian civilization endured because it was freely adopted by native
chiefs and not because it was forced on them as a result of conquest.
The inscriptions discovered in Camboja and deciphered by the labours
of French savants offer with one lacuna (about 650-800 A.D.) a fairly
continuous history of the country from the sixth to the thirteenth
centuries. For earlier periods we depend almost entirely on Chinese
accounts which are fragmentary and not interested in anything but the
occasional relations of China with Fu-nan. The annals of the Tsin
dynasty[252] already cited say that from 265 A.D. onwards the kings
of Fu-nan sent several embassies to the Chinese Court, adding that the
people have books and that their writing resembles that of the Hu. The
Hu are properly speaking a tribe of Central Asia, but the expression
doubtless means no more than alphabetic writing as opposed to Chinese
characters and such an alphabet can hardly have had other than an
Indian origin. Originally, adds the Annalist, the sovereign was a
woman, but there came a stranger called Hun-Hui who worshipped the
Devas and had had a dream in which one of them gave him a bow[253] and
ordered him to sail for Fu-nan. He conquered the country and married
the Queen but his descendants deteriorated and one Fan-Hsün founded
another dynasty. The annals of the Ch'i dynasty (479-501) give
substantially the same story but say that the stranger was called
Hun-T'ien (which is probably the correct form of the name) and that he
came from Chi or Chiao, an unknown locality. The same annals state
that towards the end of the fifth century the king of Fu-nan who
bore the family name of Ch'iao-ch'ên-ju[254] or Kauṇḍinya and
the personal name of Shê-yeh-po-mo (Jayavarman) traded with Canton. A
Buddhist monk named Nâgasena returned thence with some Cambojan
merchants and so impressed this king with his account of China that he
was sent back in 484 to beg for the protection of the Emperor. The
king's petition and a supplementary paper by Nâgasena are preserved in
the annals. They seem to be an attempt to represent the country as
Buddhist, while explaining that Maheśvara is its tutelary deity.
The Liang annals also state that during the Wu dynasty (222-280) Fan
Chan, then king of Fu-nan, sent a relative named Su-Wu on an embassy
to India, to a king called Mao-lun, which probably represents
Muruṇḍa, a people of the Ganges valley mentioned by the
Purâṇas and by Ptolemy. This king despatched a return embassy to
Fu-nan and his ambassadors met there an official sent by the Emperor
of China[255]. The early date ascribed to these events is noticeable.
The Liang annals contain also the following statements. Between the
years 357 and 424 A.D. named as the dates of embassies sent to China,
an Indian Brahman called Ch'iao-ch'ên-ju (Kauṇḍinya) heard a
supernatural voice bidding him go and reign in Fu-nan. He met with a
good reception and was elected king. He changed the customs of the
country and made them conform to those of India. One of his
successors, Jayavarman, sent a coral image of Buddha in 503 to the
Emperor Wu-ti (502-550). The inhabitants of Fu-nan are said to make
bronze images of the heavenly genii with two or four heads and four or
eight arms. Jayavarman was succeeded by a usurper named Liu-t'o-pa-mo
(Rudravarman) who sent an image made of sandal wood to the Emperor in
519 and in 539 offered him a hair of the Buddha twelve feet long. The
Sui annals (589-618) state that Citrasena, king of Chên-la, conquered
Fu-nan and was succeeded by his son Iśânasena.
Two monks of Fu-nan are mentioned among the translators of the Chinese
scriptures[256], namely, Saṇghapâla and Mandra. Both arrived in
China during the first years of the sixth century and their works are
extant. The pilgrim I-Ching who returned from India in 695 says[257]
that to the S.W. of Champa lies the country Po-nan, formerly called
Fu-nan, which is the southern corner of Jambudvîpa. He says that "of
old it was a country the inhabitants of which lived naked; the people
were mostly worshippers of devas and later on Buddhism flourished
there, but a wicked king has now expelled and exterminated them all
and there are no members of the Buddhist brotherhood at all."
These data from Chinese authorities are on the whole confirmed by the
Cambojan inscriptions. Rudravarman is mentioned[258] and the kings
claim to belong to the race of Kauṇḍinya[259]. This is the name
of a Brahman gotra, but such designations were often borne by
Kshatriyas and the conqueror of Camboja probably belonged to that
caste. It may be affirmed with some certainty that he started from
south-eastern India and possibly he sailed from Mahâbalipûr (also
called the Seven Pagodas). Masulipatam was also a port of embarcation
for the East and was connected with Broach by a trade route running
through Tagara, now Têr in the Nizam's dominions. By using this road,
it was possible to avoid the west coast, which was infested by
pirates.
The earliest Cambojan inscriptions date from the beginning of the
seventh century and are written in an alphabet closely resembling that
of the inscriptions in the temple of Pâpanâtha at Paṭṭadkal in
the Bîjapur district[260]. They are composed in Sanskrit verse of a
somewhat exuberant style, which revels in the commonplaces of Indian
poetry. The deities most frequently mentioned are Śiva by himself
and Śiva united with Vishṇu in the form Hari-Hara. The names of
the kings end in Varman and this termination is also specially
frequent in names of the Pallava dynasty[261]. The magnificent
monuments still extant attest a taste for architecture on a large
scale similar to that found among the Dravidians. These and many other
indications justify the conclusion that the Indian civilization and
religion which became predominant in Camboja were imported from the
Deccan.
The Chinese accounts distinctly mention two invasions, one under
Ch'iao-ch'ên-ju (Kaundinya) about 400 A.D. and one considerably
anterior to 265 under Hun-T'ien. It might be supposed that this name
also represents Kauṇḍinya and that there is a confusion of
dates. But the available evidence is certainly in favour of the
establishment of Hindu civilization in Fu-nan long before 400 A.D. and
there is nothing improbable in the story of the two invasions and even
of two Kauṇḍinyas. Maspéro suggests that the first invasion came
from Java and formed part of the same movement which founded the
kingdom of Champa. It is remarkable that an inscription in Sanskrit
found on the east coast of Borneo and apparently dating from the fifth
century mentions Kuṇḍagga as the grandfather of the reigning
king, and the Liang annals say that the king of Poli (probably in
Borneo but according to some in Sumatra) was called Ch'iao-ch'ên-ju.
It seems likely that the Indian family of Kauṇḍinya was
established somewhere in the South Seas (perhaps in Java) at an early
period and thence invaded various countries at various times. But
Fu-nan is a vague geographical term and it may be that Hun-T'ien
founded a Hindu dynasty in Champa.
It is clear that during the period of the inscriptions the
religion of Camboja was a mixture of Brahmanism and Buddhism, the only
change noticeable being the preponderance of one or other element in
different centuries. But it would be interesting to know the value of
I-Ching's statement that Buddhism flourished in Fu-nan in early times
and was then subverted by a wicked king, by whom Bhavavarman[262] may
be meant. _Primâ facie_ the statement is not improbable, for there is
no reason why the first immigrants should not have been Buddhists, but
the traditions connecting these countries with early Hinayanist
missionaries are vague. Târanâtha[263] states that the disciples of
Vasubandhu introduced Buddhism into the country of Koki (Indo-China)
but his authority does not count for much in such a matter. The
statement of I-Ching however has considerable weight, especially as
the earliest inscription found in Champa (that of Vocan) appears to be
inspired by Buddhism.
2
It may be well to state briefly the chief facts of Cambojan
history[264] before considering the phases through which religion
passed. Until the thirteenth century our chief authorities are the
Sanskrit and Khmer inscriptions, supplemented by notices in the
Chinese annals. The Khmer inscriptions are often only a translation or
paraphrase of Sanskrit texts found in the same locality and, as a
rule, are more popular, having little literary pretension. They
frequently contain lists of donations or of articles to be supplied by
the population for the upkeep of pious foundations. After the
fourteenth century we have Cambojan annals of dubious value and we
also find inscriptions in Pali or in modern Cambojan. The earliest
Sanskrit inscriptions date from the beginning of the seventh century
and mention works undertaken in 604 and 624.
The first important king is Bhavavarman (c. 500 A.D.), a conqueror
and probably a usurper, who extended his kingdom considerably towards
the west. His career of conquest was continued by Mahâvarman (also
called Citrasena), by Iśânavarman and by Jayavarman[265]. This last
prince was on the throne in 667, but his reign is followed by a lacuna
of more than a century. Notices in the Chinese annals, confirmed by
the double genealogies given for this period in later inscriptions,
indicate that Camboja was divided for some time into two states, one
littoral and the other inland.
Clear history begins again with the reign of Jayavarman II (802-869).
Later sovereigns evidently regard him as the great national hero and
he lives in popular legend as the builder of a magnificent palace,
Beng Mealea, whose ruins still exist[266] and as the recipient of the
sacred sword of Indra which is preserved at Phnom-penh to this day. We
are told that he "came from Javâ," which is more likely to be some
locality in the Malay Peninsula or Laos than the island of that name.
It is possible that Jayavarman was carried away captive to this region
but returned to found a dynasty independent of it[267].
The ancient city of Angkor has probably done more to make Camboja
known in Europe than any recent achievements of the Khmer race. In the
centre of it stands the temple now called Bayon and outside its walls
are many other edifices of which the majestic Angkor Wat is the
largest and best preserved. King Indravarman (877-899) seems
responsible for the selection of the site but he merely commenced the
construction of the Bayon. The edifice was completed by his son
Yaśovarman (889-908) who also built a town round it, called
Yaśod harapura, Kambupuri or Mahânagara. Angkor Thom is the
Cambojan translation of this last name, Angkor being a corruption of
Nokor ( = Nagara). Yaśovarman's empire comprised nearly all
Indo-China between Burma and Champa and he has been identified with
the Leper king of Cambojan legend. His successors continued to
embellish Angkor Thom, but Jayavarman IV abandoned it and it was
deserted for several years until Rajendravarman II (944-968) made it
the capital again. The Chinese Annals, supported by allusions in the
inscriptions, state that this prince conquered Champa. The long
reigns of Jayavarman V, Suryavarman I, and Udayâdityavarman, which
cover more than a century (968-1079) seem to mark a prosperous period
when architecture flourished, although Udayâdityavarman had to contend
with two rebellions. Another great king, Sûryavarman II (1112-1162)
followed shortly after them, and for a time succeeded in uniting
Camboja and Champa under his sway. Some authorities credit him with a
successful expedition to Ceylon. There is not sufficient evidence for
this, but he was a great prince and, in spite of his foreign wars,
maintained peace and order at home.
Jayavarman VII, who appears to have reigned from 1162 to 1201, reduced
to obedience his unruly vassals of the north and successfully invaded
Champa which remained for thirty years, though not without rebellion,
the vassal of Camboja. It was evacuated by his successor Indravarman
in 1220.
After this date there is again a gap of more than a century in
Cambojan history, and when the sequence of events becomes clear again,
we find that Siam has grown to be a dangerous and aggressive enemy.
But though the vigour of the kingdom may have declined, the account of
the Chinese traveller Chou Ta-kuan who visited Angkor Thom in 1296
shows that it was not in a state of anarchy nor conquered by Siam.
There had however been a recent war with Siam and he mentions that the
country was devastated. He unfortunately does not tell us the name of
the reigning king and the list of sovereigns begins again only in 1340
when the Annals of Camboja take up the history. They are not of great
value. The custom of recording all events of importance prevailed at
the Cambojan Court in earlier times but these chronicles were lost in
the eighteenth century. King Ang Chan (1796-1834) ordered that they
should be re-written with the aid of the Siamese chronicles and such
other materials as were available and fixed 1340 as the point of
departure, apparently because the Siamese chronicles start from that
date[268]. Although the period of the annals offers little but a
narrative of dissensions at home and abroad, of the interference of
Annam on one side and of Siam on the other, yet it does not seem that
the sudden cessation of inscriptions and of the ancient style of
architecture in the thirteenth century was due to the collapse of
Camboja, for even in the sixteenth century it offered a valiant, and
often successful, resistance to aggressions from the west. But Angkor
Thom and the principal monuments were situated near the Siamese
frontier and felt the shock of every collision. The sense of security,
essential for the construction of great architectural works, had
disappeared and the population became less submissive and less willing
to supply forced labour without which such monuments could not be
erected.
The Siamese captured Angkor Thom in 1313, 1351 and 1420 but did not on
any occasion hold it for long. Again in 1473 they occupied Chantaboun,
Korat and Angkor but had to retire and conclude peace. King Ang Chan I
successfully disputed the right of Siam to treat him as a vassal and
established his capital at Lovek, which he fortified and ornamented.
He reigned from 1505 to 1555 and both he and his son, Barom Racha,
seem entitled to rank among the great kings of Camboja. But the
situation was clearly precarious and when a minor succeeded to the
throne in 1574 the Siamese seized the opportunity and recaptured Lovek
and Chantaboun. Though this capture was the death blow to the power of
the Khmers, the kingdom of Camboja did not cease to exist but for
nearly three centuries continued to have an eventful but uninteresting
history as the vassal of Siam or Annam or even of both[269], until
in the middle of the nineteenth century the intervention of France
substituted a European Protectorate for these Asiatic rivalries.
The provinces of Siem-reap and Battambang, in which Angkor Thom and
the principal ancient monuments are situated, were annexed by Siam at
the end of the eighteenth century, but in virtue of an arrangement
negotiated by the French Government they were restored to Camboja in
1907, Krat and certain territories being at the same time ceded to
Siam[270].
3
The religious history of Camboja may be divided into two periods,
exclusive of the possible existence there of Hinayanist Buddhism in
the early centuries of our era. In the first period, which witnessed
the construction of the great monuments and the reigns of the great
kings, both Brahmanism and Mahayanist Buddhism nourished, but as in
Java and Champa without mutual hostility. This period extends
certainly from the sixth to the thirteenth centuries and perhaps its
limits should be stretched to 400-1400 A.D. In any case it passed
without abrupt transition into the second period in which, under
Siamese influence, Hinayanist Buddhism supplanted the older faiths,
although the ceremonies of the Cambojan court still preserve a good
deal of Brahmanic ritual.
During the first period, Brahmanism and Mahayanism were professed by
the Court and nobility. The multitude of great temples and opulent
endowments, the knowledge of Sanskrit literature and the use of Indian
names, leave no doubt about this, but it is highly probable that the
mass of the people had their own humbler forms of worship. Still there
is no record of anything that can be called Khmer--as opposed to
Indian--religion. As in Siam, the veneration of nature spirits is
universal in Camboja and little shrines elevated on poles are erected
in their honour in the neighbourhood of almost every house.
Possibly the more important of these spirits were identified in
early times with Indian deities or received Sanskrit names. Thus we
hear of a pious foundation in honour of Brahmarakshas[271], perhaps a
local mountain spirit. Śiva is adored under the name of Śrî
Śikhareśvara, the Lord of the Peak and Krishṇa appears to be
identified with a local god called Śrî Champeśvara who was
worshipped by Jayavarman VI[272].
The practice of accepting and hinduizing strange gods with whom they
came in contact was so familiar to the Brahmans that it would be odd
if no examples of it occurred in Camboja. Still the Brahmanic religion
which has left such clear records there was in the main not a
hinduized form of any local cult but a direct importation of Indian
thought, ritual and literature. The Indian invaders or colonists were
accompanied by Brahmans: their descendants continued to bear Indian
names and to give them to all places of importance: Sanskrit was the
ecclesiastical and official language, for the inscriptions written in
Khmer are clearly half-contemptuous notifications to the common
people, respecting such details as specially concerned them:
_Aśramas_ and castes (_varṇa_) are mentioned[273] and it is
probable that natives were only gradually and grudgingly admitted to
the higher castes. There is also reason to believe that this Hindu
civilization was from time to time vivified by direct contact with
India. The embassy of Su-Wu has already been mentioned[274] and an
inscription records the marriage of a Cambojan princess with a Brahman
called Divâkara who came from the banks of the Yamunâ, "where
Kṛishṇa sported in his infancy."
During the whole period of the inscriptions the worship of Śiva seems to
have been the principal cultus and to some extent the state religion,
for even kings who express themselves in their inscriptions as devout
Buddhists do not fail to invoke him. But there is no trace of hostility
to Vishnuism and the earlier inscriptions constantly celebrate the
praises of the compound deity Vishṇu-Śiva, known under such names as
Hari-Hara[275], Śambhu-Vishṇu, Śaṇkara-Narâyaṇa, etc. Thus an
inscription of Ang-Pou dating from Iśânavarman's reign says "Victorious
are Hara and Acyuta become one for the good of the world, though as the
spouses of Parvatî and Śrî they have different forms[276]." But the
worship of this double being is accompanied by pure Śivaism and by the
adoration of other deities. In the earliest inscriptions Bhavavarman
invokes Śiva and dedicates a linga. He also celebrates the compound
deity under the name of Śambhu-Vishṇu and mentions Umâ, Lakshmî,
Bhâratî, Dharma, the Maruts, and Vishṇu under the names of Caturbhuja
and Trailokyasâra. There appears to be no allusion to the worship of
Vishṇu-Śiva as two in one after the seventh century, but though Śiva
became exalted at the expense of his partner, Vishṇu must have had
adorers for two kings, Jayavarman III and Sûryavarman II, were known
after their death by the names of Vishṇu-loka and Parama-Vishṇu-loka.
Śiva became generally recognized as the supreme deity, in a
comprehensive but not an exclusive sense. He is the universal spirit
from whom emanate Brahmâ and Vishṇu. His character as the Destroyer
is not much emphasized: he is the God of change, and therefore of
reproduction, whose symbol is the Linga. It is remarkable to find that
a pantheistic form of Śivaism is clearly enunciated in one of the
earliest inscriptions[277]. Śiva is there styled Vibhu, the
omnipresent, Paramvrahmâ ( = Brahmâ), Jagatpati, Paśupati. An
inscription found at Angkor[278] mentions an Acârya of the
Pâśupatas as well as an Acârya of the Śaivas and Chou Ta-kuan
seems to allude to the worshippers of Paśupati under the name of
Pa-ssŭ-wei. It would therefore appear that the Pâśupatas existed
in Camboja as a distinct sect and there are some indications[279] that
ideas which prevailed among the Lingayats also found their way
thither.
The most interesting and original aspect of Cambojan religion is its
connection with the state and the worship of deities somehow identified
with the king or with prominent personages[280]. These features are also
found in Champa and Java. In all these countries it was usual that when a
king founded a temple, the god worshipped in it should be called by his
name or by something like it. Thus when Bhadravarman dedicated a temple
to Śiva, the god was styled Bhadreśvara. More than this, when a king or
any distinguished person died, he was commemorated by a statue which
reproduced his features but represented him with the attributes of his
favourite god. Thus Indravarman and Yaśovarman dedicated at Bakô and
Lolei shrines in which deceased members of the royal family were
commemorated in the form of images of Śiva and Devî bearing names similar
to their own. Another form of apotheosis was to describe a king by a
posthumous title, indicating that he had gone to the heaven of his divine
patron such as Paramavishṇuloka or Buddhaloka. The temple of Bayon was a
truly national fane, almost a Westminster abbey, in whose many shrines
all the gods and great men of the country were commemorated. The French
archæologists recognize four classes of these shrines dedicated
respectively to (_a_) Indian deities, mostly special forms of Śiva, Devî
and Vishṇu; (_b_) Mahayanist Buddhas, especially Buddhas of healing, who
were regarded as the patron saints of various towns and mountains; (_c_)
similar local deities apparently of Cambojan origin and perhaps
corresponding to the God of the City worshipped in every Chinese town;
(_d_) deified kings and notables, who appear to have been represented in
two forms, the human and divine, bearing slightly different names. Thus
one inscription speaks of Śrî Mahendreśvarî who is the divine form (vraḥ
rûpa) of the lady Śrî Mahendralakshmî.
The presiding deity of the Bayon was Śiva, adored under the form of
the linga. The principal external ornaments of the building are forty
towers each surmounted by four heads. These were formerly thought to
represent Brahmâ but there is little doubt that they are meant for
lingas bearing four faces of Śiva, since each head has three
eyes. Such lingas are occasionally seen in India[281] and many metal
cases bearing faces and made to be fitted on lingas have been
discovered in Champâ. These four-headed columns are found on the gates
of Angkor Thom as well as in the Bayon and are singularly impressive.
The emblem adored in the central shrine of the Bayon was probably a
linga but its title was _Kamrateṇ jagat ta râja_ or _Devarâja_, the
king-god. More explicitly still it is styled _Kamrateṇ jagat ta
râjya_, the god who is the kingdom. It typified and contained the
royal essence present in the living king of Camboja and in all her
kings. Several inscriptions make it clear that not only dead but
living people could be represented by statue-portraits which
identified them with a deity, and in one very remarkable record a
general offers to the king the booty he has captured, asking him to
present it "to your subtle ego who is Iśvara dwelling in a golden
linga[282]." Thus this subtle ego dwells in a linga, is identical with
Śiva, and manifests itself in the successive kings of the royal
house.
The practices described have some analogies in India. The custom of
describing the god of a temple by the name of the founder was known
there[283]. The veneration of ancestors is universal; there are some
mausolea (for instance at Ahar near Udeypore) and the notion that in
life the soul can reside elsewhere than in the body is an occasional
popular superstition. Still these ideas and practices are not
conspicuous features of Hinduism and the Cambojans had probably come
within the sphere of another influence. In all eastern Asia the
veneration of the dead is the fundamental and ubiquitous form of
religion and in China we find fully developed such ideas as that the
great should be buried in monumental tombs, that a spirit can be made
to reside in a tablet or image, and that the human soul is compound so
that portions of it can be in different places. These beliefs combined
with the Indian doctrine that the deity is manifested in
incarnations, in the human soul and in images afford a good
theoretical basis for the worship of the Devarâja. It was also
agreeable to far-eastern ideas that religion and the state should be
closely associated and the Cambojan kings would be glad to imitate the
glories of the Son of Heaven. But probably a simpler cause tended to
unite church and state in all these Hindu colonies. In mediæval India
the Brahmans became so powerful that they could claim to represent
religion and civilization apart from the state. But in Camboja and
Champa Brahmanic religion and civilization were bound up with the
state. Both were attacked by and ultimately succumbed to the same
enemies.
The Brahmanism of Camboja, as we know it from the inscriptions, was so
largely concerned with the worship of this "Royal God" that it might
almost be considered a department of the court. It seems to have been
thought essential to the dignity of a Sovereign who aspired to be more
than a local prince, that his Chaplain or preceptor should have a
pontifical position. A curious parallel to this is shown by those
mediæval princes of eastern Europe who claimed for their chief bishops
the title of patriarch as a complement to their own imperial
pretensions. In its ultimate form the Cambojan hierarchy was the work
of Jayavarman II, who, it will be remembered, reestablished the
kingdom after an obscure but apparently disastrous interregnum. He
made the priesthood of the Royal God hereditary in the family of
Śivakaivalya and the sacerdotal dynasty thus founded enjoyed during
some centuries a power inferior only to that of the kings.
In the inscriptions of Sdok Kâk Thom[284] the history of this family is
traced from the reign of Jayavarman II to 1052. The beginning of the
story as related in both the Sanskrit and Khmer texts is interesting but
obscure. It is to the effect that Jayavarman, anxious to assure his
position as an Emperor (Cakravartin) independent of Javâ[285], summoned
from Janapada a Brahman called Hiranyadâma, learned in magic
(siddhividyâ), who arranged the rules (viddhi) for the worship of the
Royal God and taught the king's Chaplain, Śivakaivalya, four treatises
called Vrah Vinâśikha, Nayottara, Sammoha and Śiraścheda. These works
are not otherwise known[286]. The king made a solemn compact that "only
the members of his (Śivakaivalya's) maternal[287] family, men and women,
should be Yâjakas (sacrificers or officiants) to the exclusion of all
others." The restriction refers no doubt only to the cult of the Royal
God and the office of court chaplain, called Purohita, Guru or Hotri, of
whom there were at least two.
The outline of this narrative, that a learned Brahman was imported and
charged with the instruction of the royal chaplain, is simple and
probable but the details are perplexing. The Sanskrit treatises
mentioned are unknown and the names singular. Janapada as the name of
a definite locality is also strange[288], but it is conceivable that
the word may have been used in Khmer as a designation of India or a
part of it.
The inscription goes on to relate the gratifying history of the
priestly family, the grants of land made to them, the honours they
received. We gather that it was usual for an estate to be given to a
priest with the right to claim forced labour from the population. He
then proceeded to erect a town or village embellished with temples and
tanks. The hold of Brahmanism on the country probably depended more on
such priestly towns than on the convictions of the people. The
inscriptions often speak of religious establishments being restored
and sometimes say that they had become deserted and overgrown. We may
conclude that if the Brahman lords of a village ceased for any reason
to give it their attention, the labour and contributions requisite for
the upkeep of the temples were not forthcoming and the jungle was
allowed to grow over the buildings.
Numerous inscriptions testify to the grandeur of the Śivakaivalya family.
The monotonous lists of their properties and slaves, of the statues
erected in their honour and the number of parasols borne before them show
that their position was almost regal, even when the king was a Buddhist.
They prudently refrained from attempting to occupy the throne, but
probably no king could succeed unless consecrated by them. Sadaśiva,
Śaṇkarapaṇḍita and Divâkarapaṇḍita formed an ecclesiastical dynasty
from about 1000 to 1100 A.D. parallel to the long reigns of the kings in
the same period[289]. The last-named mentions in an inscription that he
had consecrated three kings and Śaṇkarapaṇḍita, a man of great
learning, was _de facto_ sovereign during the minority of his pupil
Udayâdityavarman nor did he lose his influence when the young king
attained his majority.
The shrine of the Royal God was first near Mt. Mahendra and was then
moved to Hariharâlaya[290]. Its location was definitely fixed in the
reign of Indravarman, about 877 A.D. Two Śivakaivalya Brahmans,
Śivasoma and his pupil Vâmaśiva, chaplain of the king, built a
temple called the Śivâśrama and erected a linga therein. It is
agreed that this building is the Bayon, which formed the centre of the
later city of Angkor. Indravarman also illustrated another
characteristic of the court religion by placing in the temple now
called Prah Kou three statues of Śiva with the features of his
father, grandfather and Jayavarman II together with corresponding
statues of Śakti in the likeness of their wives. The next king,
Yaśovarman, who founded the town of Angkor round the Bayon, built
near his palace another linga temple, now known as Ba-puon. He also
erected two convents, one Brahmanic and one Buddhist. An
inscription[291] gives several interesting particulars respecting the
former. It fixes the provisions to be supplied to priests and students
and the honours to be rendered to distinguished visitors. The right of
sanctuary is accorded and the sick and helpless are to receive food
and medicine. Also funeral rites are to be celebrated within its
precincts for the repose of the friendless and those who have died in
war. The royal residence was moved from Angkor in 928, but about
twenty years later the court returned thither and the inscriptions
record that the Royal God accompanied it.
The cultus was probably similar to what may be seen in the Sivaite
temples of India to-day. The principal lingam was placed in a shrine
approached through other chambers and accessible only to privileged
persons. Libations were poured over the emblem and sacred books were
recited. An interesting inscription[292] of about 600 A.D. relates how
Śrîsomasarman (probably a Brahman) presented to a temple "the
Râmâyaṇa, the Purâṇa and complete Bhârata" and made arrangements
for their recitation. Sanskrit literature was held in esteem. We are
told that Sûryavarman I was versed in the Atharva-Veda and also in the
Bhâshya, Kâvyas, the six Darśanas, and the Dharmaśâstras[293].
Sacrifices are also frequently mentioned and one inscription records
the performance of a Koṭihoma[294]. The old Vedic ritual remained
to some extent in practice, for no circumstances are more favourable
to its survival than a wealthy court dominated by a powerful
hierarchy. Such ceremonies were probably performed in the ample
enclosures surrounding the temples[295].
4
Mahayanist Buddhism existed in Camboja during the whole of the period
covered by the inscriptions, but it remained in such close alliance
with Brahmanism that it is hard to say whether it should be regarded
as a separate religion. The idea that the two systems were
incompatible obviously never occurred to the writers of the
inscriptions and Buddhism was not regarded as more distinct from
Śivaism and Vishnuism than these from one another. It had
nevertheless many fervent and generous, if not exclusive, admirers.
The earliest record of its existence is a short inscription dating
from the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century[296],
which relates how a person called Pon Prajnâ Candra dedicated male and
female slaves to the three Bodhisattvas, Śâstâ[297], Maitreya and
Avalokiteśvara. The title given to the Bodhisattvas (Vrah
Kamratâañ) which is also borne by Indian deities shows that this
Buddhism was not very different from the Brahmanic cult of Camboja.
It is interesting to find that Yaśovarman founded in Angkor Thom a
Saugatâśrama or Buddhist monastery parallel to his Brâhmaṇâśrama
already described. Its inmates enjoyed the same privileges and had
nearly the same rules and duties, being bound to afford sanctuary,
maintain the destitute and perform funeral masses. It is laid down that
an Acârya versed in Buddhist lore corresponds in rank to the Acâryas of
the Śaivas and Pâsupatas and that in both institutions greater honour is
to be shown to such Acâryas as also are learned in grammar. A Buddhist
Acârya ought to be honoured a little less than a learned Brahman. Even
in form the inscriptions recording the foundation of the two Aśramas
show a remarkable parallelism. Both begin with two stanzas addressed to
Śiva: then the Buddhist inscription inserts a stanza in honour of the
Buddha who delivers from transmigration and gives nirvâṇa, and then the
two texts are identical for several stanzas[298].
Mahayanism appears to have flourished here especially from the tenth to
the thirteenth centuries and throughout the greater part of this period we
find the same feature that its principal devotees were not the kings but
their ministers. Sûryavarman I († 1049) and Jayavarman VII († 1221) in
some sense deserved the name of Buddhists since the posthumous title of
the former was Nirvâṇapada and the latter left a long inscription[299]
beginning with a definitely Buddhist invocation. Yet an inscription of
Sûryavarman which states in its second verse that only the word of the
Buddha is true, opens by singing the praises of Śiva, and Jayavarman
certainly did not neglect the Brahmanic gods. But for about a hundred
years there was a series of great ministers who specially encouraged
Buddhism. Such were Satyavarman (_c._ 900 A.D.), who was charged with the
erection of the building in Angkor known as Phimeanakas;
Kavindrârimathana, minister under Râjendravarman II and Jayavarman V, who
erected many Buddhist statues and Kîrtipaṇḍita, minister of Jayavarman
V. Kîrtipaṇḍita was the author[300] of the inscription found at Srey
Santhor, which states that thanks to his efforts the pure doctrine of the
Buddha reappeared like the moon from behind the clouds or the sun at dawn.
It may be easily imagined that the power enjoyed by the court chaplain
would dispose the intelligent classes to revolt against this hierarchy
and to favour liberty and variety in religion, so far as was safe.
Possibly the kings, while co-operating with a priesthood which
recognized them as semi-divine, were glad enough to let other
religious elements form some sort of counterpoise to a priestly family
which threatened to be omnipotent. Though the identification of
Śivaism and Buddhism became so complete that we actually find a
Trinity composed of Padmodbhava (Brahmâ), Ambhojanetra (Vishṇu) and
the Buddha[301], the inscriptions of the Buddhist ministers are marked
by a certain diplomacy and self-congratulation on the success of their
efforts, as if they felt that their position was meritorious, yet
delicate.
Thus in an inscription, the object of which seems to be to record the
erection of a statue of Prajñâ-pâramitâ by Kavindrârimathana we are
told that the king charged him with the embellishment of
Yaśodharapura because "though an eminent Buddhist" his loyalty was
above suspicion[302]. The same minister erected three towers at Bàṭ
C̆uṃ with inscriptions[303] which record the dedication of a
tank. The first invokes the Buddha, Vajrapâni[304] and Lokeśvara.
In the others Lokeśvara is replaced by Prajñâ-pâramitâ who here, as
elsewhere, is treated as a goddess or Śakti and referred to as Devî
in another stanza[305]. The three inscriptions commemorate the
construction of a sacred tank but, though the author was a
Buddhist, he expressly restricts the use of it to Brahmanic
functionaries.
The inscription of Srey Santhor[306] (_c_. 975 A.D.) describes the
successful efforts of Kîrtipaṇḍita to restore Buddhism and gives the
instructions of the king (Jayavarman V) as to its status. The royal
chaplain is by no means to abandon the worship of Śiva but he is to be
well versed in Buddhist learning and on feast days he will bathe the
statue of the Buddha with due ceremony.
A point of interest in this inscription is the statement that
Kîrtipaṇḍita introduced Buddhist books from abroad, including
the Śâstra Madhyavibhâga and the commentary on the Tattvasangraha.
The first of these is probably the Mâdhyântavibhâga śâstra[307] by
Vasubandhu and the authorship is worth attention as supporting
Târanâtha's statement that the disciples of Vasubandhu introduced
Buddhism into Indo-China.
In the time of Jayavarman VII (_c_. 1185 A.D.), although Hindu
mythology is not discarded and though the king's chaplain (presumably
a Śivaite) receives every honour, yet Mahayanist Buddhism seems to
be frankly professed as the royal religion. It is noteworthy that
about the same time it becomes more prominent in Java and Champa.
Probably the flourishing condition of the faith in Ceylon and Burma
increased the prestige of all forms of Buddhism throughout
south-eastern Asia. A long inscription of Jayavarman in 145 stanzas
has been preserved in the temple of Ta Prohm near Angkor. It opens
with an invocation to the Buddha, in which are mentioned the three
bodies, Lokeśvara[308], and the Mother of the Jinas, by whom
Prajñâ-pâramitâ must be meant. Śiva is not invoked but allusion is
made to many Brahmanic deities and Bhikkhus and Brahmans are mentioned
together. The inscription contains a curious list of the materials
supplied daily for the temple services and of the personnel. Ample
provision is made for both, but it is not clear how far a purely
Buddhist ritual is contemplated and it seems probable that an
extensive Brahmanic cultus existed side by side with the Buddhist
ceremonial. We learn that there were clothes for the deities and
forty-five mosquito nets of Chinese material to protect their statues.
The Uposatha days seem to be alluded to[309] and the spring festival
is described, when "Bhagavat and Bhagavatî" are to be escorted in
solemn procession with parasols, music, banners and dancing girls. The
whole staff, including Burmese and Chams (probably slaves), is put
down at the enormous figure of 79,365, which perhaps includes all the
neighbouring inhabitants who could be called on to render any service
to the temple. The more sacerdotal part of the establishment consisted
of 18 principal priests (adhikâriṇaḥ), 2740 priests and 2232
assistants, including 615 dancing girls. But even these figures seem
very large[310].
The inscription comes to a gratifying conclusion by announcing that
there are 102 hospitals in the kingdom[311]. These institutions, which
are alluded to in other inscriptions, were probably not all founded by
Jayavarman VII and he seems to treat them as being, like temples, a
natural part of a well-ordered state. But he evidently expended much
care and money on them and in the present inscription he makes over
the fruit of these good deeds to his mother. The most detailed
description of these hospitals occurs in another of his inscriptions
found at Say-fong in Laos. It is, like the one just cited, definitely
Buddhist and it is permissible to suppose that Buddhism took a more
active part than Brahmanism in such works of charity. It opens with an
invocation first to the Buddha who in his three bodies transcends the
distinction between existence and non-existence, and then to the
healing Buddha and the two Bodhisattvas who drive away darkness and
disease. These divinities, who are the lords of a heaven in the east,
analogous to the paradise of Amitâbha, are still worshipped in China
and Japan and were evidently gods of light[312]. The hospital erected
under their auspices by the Cambojan king was open to all the four
castes and had a staff of 98 persons, besides an astrologer and two
sacrificers (yâjaka).
5
These inscriptions of Jayavarman are the last which tell us anything
about the religion of mediæval Camboja but we have a somewhat later
account from the pen of Chou Ta-kuan, a Chinese who visited Angkor in
1296[313]. He describes the temple in the centre of the city, which
must be the Bayon, and says that it had a tower of gold and that the
eastern (or principal) entrance was approached by a golden bridge
flanked by two lions and eight statues, all of the same metal. The
chapter of his work entitled "The Three Religions," runs as follows,
slightly abridged from M. Pelliot's version.
"The literati are called Pan-ch'i, the bonzes Ch'u-ku and the Taoists
Pa-ssŭ-wei. I do not know whom the Pan-ch'i worship. They have no
schools and it is difficult to say what books they read. They dress
like other people except that they wear a white thread round their
necks, which is their distinctive mark. They attain to very high
positions. The Ch'u-ku shave their heads and wear yellow clothes. They
uncover the right shoulder, but the lower part of their body is draped
with a skirt of yellow cloth and they go bare foot. Their temples are
sometimes roofed with tiles. Inside there is only one image, exactly
like the Buddha Śâkya, which they call Po-lai ( = Prah), ornamented
with vermilion and blue, and clothed in red. The Buddhas of the towers
(? images in the towers of the temples) are different and cast in
bronze. There are no bells, drums, cymbals, or flags in their temples.
They eat only one meal a day, prepared by someone who entertains them,
for they do not cook in their temples. They eat fish and meat and also
use them in their offerings to Buddha, but they do not drink wine.
They recite numerous texts written on strips of palm-leaf. Some bonzes
have a right to have the shafts of their palanquins and the handles of
their parasols in gold or silver. The prince consults them on serious
matters. There are no Buddhist nuns.
"The Pa-ssŭ-wei dress like everyone else, except that they wear on
their heads a piece of red or white stuff like the Ku-ku worn by
Tartar women but lower. Their temples are smaller than those of the
Buddhists, for Taoism is less prosperous than Buddhism. They worship
nothing but a block of stone, somewhat like the stone on the altar of
the God of the Sun in China. I do not know what god they adore. There
are also Taoist nuns. The Pa-ssŭ-wei do not partake of the food of
other people or eat in public. They do not drink wine.
"Such children of the laity as go to school frequent the bonzes, who
give them instruction. When grown up they return to a lay life.
"I have not been able to make an exhaustive investigation."
Elsewhere he says "All worship the Buddha" and he describes some
popular festivals which resemble those now celebrated in Siam. In
every village there was a temple or a Stûpa. He also mentions that in
eating they use leaves as spoons and adds "It is the same in their
sacrifices to the spirits and to Buddha."
Chou Ta-kuan confesses that his account is superficial and he was
perhaps influenced by the idea that it was natural there should be
three religions in Camboja, as in China. Buddhists were found in both
countries: Pan-ch'i no doubt represents Paṇḍita and he saw an
analogy between the Brahmans of the Cambojan Court and Confucian
mandarins: a third and less known sect he identified with the Taoists.
The most important point in his description is the prominence given to
the Buddhists. His account of their temples, of the dress and life of
their monks[314] leaves no doubt that he is describing Hinayanist
Buddhism such as still nourishes in Camboja. It probably found its way
from Siam, with which Camboja had already close, but not always
peaceful, relations. Probably the name by which the bonzes are
designated is Siamese[315]. With Chou Ta-kuan's statements may be
compared the inscription of the Siamese King Râma Khomhëng[316] which
dwells on the nourishing condition of Pali Buddhism in Siam about 1300
A.D. The contrast indicated by Chou Ta-kuan is significant. The
Brahmans held high office but had no schools. Those of the laity
who desired education spent some portion of their youth in a Buddhist
monastery (as they still do) and then returned to the world. Such a
state of things naturally resulted in the diffusion of Buddhism among
the people, while the Brahmans dwindled to a Court hierarchy. When
Chou Ta-kuan says that all the Cambojans adored Buddha, he probably
makes a mistake, as he does in saying that the sculptures above the
gates of Angkor are heads of Buddha. But the general impression which
he evidently received that everyone frequented Buddhist temples and
monasteries speaks for itself. His statement about sacrifices to
Buddha is remarkable and, since the inscriptions of Jayavarman VII
speak of sacrificers, it cannot be rejected as a mere mistake. But if
Hinayanist Buddhism countenanced such practices in an age of
transition, it did not adopt them permanently for, so far as I have
seen, no offerings are made to-day in Cambojan temples, except flowers
and sticks of incense.
The Pa-ssŭ-wei have given rise to many conjectures and have been
identified with the Basaih or sacerdotal class of the Chams. But there
seems to be little doubt that the word really represents Pâśupata
and Chou Ta-kuan's account clearly points to a sect of linga
worshippers, although no information is forthcoming about the "stone
on the altar of the Sun God in China" to which he compares their
emblem. His idea that they represented the Taoists in Camboja may have
led him to exaggerate their importance but his statement that they
were a separate body is confirmed, for an inscription of Angkor[317]
defines the order of hierarchical precedence as "the Brahman, the
Śaiva Acârya, the Pâśupata Acârya[318]."
From the time of Chou Ta-kuan to the present day I have found few
notices about the religion of Camboja. Hinayanist Buddhism became
supreme and though we have few details of the conquest we can hardly
go wrong in tracing its general lines. Brahmanism was exclusive and
tyrannical. It made no appeal to the masses but a severe levy of
forced labour must have been necessary to erect and maintain the
numerous great shrines which, though in ruins, are still the glory of
Camboja[319]. In many of them are seen the remains of inscriptions
which have been deliberately erased. These probably prescribed certain
onerous services which the proletariat was bound to render to the
established church. When Siamese Buddhism invaded Camboja it had a
double advantage. It was the creed of an aggressive and successful
neighbour but, while thus armed with the weapons of this world, it
also appealed to the poor and oppressed. If it enjoyed the favour of
princes, it had no desire to defend the rights of a privileged caste:
it offered salvation and education to the average townsman and
villager. If it invited the support and alms of the laity, it was at
least modest in its demands. Brahmanism on the other hand lost
strength as the prestige of the court declined. Its greatest shrines
were in the provinces most exposed to Siamese attacks. The first
Portuguese writers speak of them as already deserted at the end of the
sixteenth century. The connection with India was not kept up and if
any immigrants came from the west, after the twelfth century they are
more likely to have been Moslims than Hindus. Thus driven from its
temples, with no roots among the people, whose affections it had never
tried to win, Brahmanism in Camboja became what it now is, a court
ritual without a creed and hardly noticed except at royal functions.
It is remarkable that Mohammedanism remained almost unknown to
Camboja, Siam and Burma. The tide of Moslim invasion swept across the
Malay Peninsula southwards. Its effect was strongest in Sumatra and
Java, feebler on the coasts of Borneo and the Philippines. From the
islands it reached Champa, where it had some success, but Siam and
Camboja lay on one side of its main route, and also showed no
sympathy for it. King Rama Thuppdey Chan[320] who reigned in
Camboja from 1642-1659 became a Mohammedan and surrounded himself with
Malays and Javanese. But he alienated the affections of his subjects
and was deposed by the intervention of Annam. After this we hear no
more of Mohammedanism. An unusual incident, which must be counted
among the few cases in which Buddhism has encouraged violence, is
recorded in the year 1730, when a Laotian who claimed to be inspired,
collected a band of fanatics and proceeded to massacre in the name of
Buddha all the Annamites resident in Camboja. This seems to show that
Buddhism was regarded as the religion of the country and could be used
as a national cry against strangers.
As already mentioned Brahmanism still survives in the court ceremonial
though this by no means prevents the king from being a devout
Buddhist. The priests are known as Bakus. They wear a top-knot and the
sacred thread after the Indian fashion, and enjoy certain privileges.
Within the precincts of the palace at Phnom Penh is a modest building
where they still guard the sword of Indra. About two inches of the
blade are shown to visitors, but except at certain festivals it is
never taken out of its sheath.
The official programme of the coronation of King Sisowath (April
23-28, 1906), published in French and Cambojan, gives a curious
account of the ceremonies performed, which were mainly Brahmanic,
although prayers were recited by the Bonzes and offerings made to
Buddha. Four special Brahmanic shrines were erected and the essential
part of the rite consisted in a lustral bath, in which the Bakus
poured water over the king. Invocations were addressed to beings
described as "Anges qui êtes au paradis des six séjours célestes, qui
habitez auprès d'Indra, de Brahmâ et de l'archange Sahabodey," to the
spirits of mountains, valleys and rivers and to the spirits who guard
the palace. When the king has been duly bathed the programme
prescribes that "le Directeur des Bakous remettra la couronne â M. le
Gouverneur Général qui la portera sur la tête de Sa Majesté au nom du
Gouvernement de la République Française." Equally curious is the
"Programme des fêtes royales à l'occasion de la crémation de S.M.
Norodom" (January 2-16, 1906). The lengthy ceremonial consisted of a
strange mixture of prayers, sermons, pageants and amusements. The
definitely religious exercises were Buddhist and the amusements which
accompanied them, though according to our notions curiously out of
place, clearly correspond to the funeral games of antiquity. Thus we
read not only of "offrande d'un repas aux urnes royales" but of
"illuminations générales ... lancement de ballons ... luttes et
assauts de boxe et de l'escrime ... danses et soirée de gala.... Après
la crémation, Sa Majesté distribuera des billets de tombola."
The ordinary Buddhism of Camboja at the present day resembles that of
Siam and is not mixed with Brahmanic observances. Monasteries are
numerous: the monks enjoy general respect and their conduct is said to
be beyond reproach. They act as schoolmasters and, as in Siam and
Burma, all young men spend some time in a monastery. A monastery
generally contains from thirty to fifty monks and consists of a number
of wooden houses raised on piles and arranged round a square. Each
monk has a room and often a house to himself. Besides the dwelling
houses there are also stores and two halls called Salâ and Vihéar
(vihâra). In both the Buddha is represented by a single gigantic
sitting image, before which are set flowers and incense. As a rule
there are no other images but the walls are often ornamented with
frescoes of Jâtaka stories or the early life of Gotama. Meals are
taken in the Salâ at about 7 and 11 a.m.[321], and prayers are recited
there on ordinary days in the morning and evening. The eleven o'clock
meal is followed by a rather long grace. The prayers consist mostly of
Pali formulæ, such as the Three Refuges, but they are sometimes in
Cambojan and contain definite petitions or at least wishes formulated
before the image of the Buddha. Thus I have heard prayers for peace
and against war. The more solemn ceremonies, such as the Uposatha and
ordinations, are performed in the Vihear. The recitation of the
Pâtimokkha is regularly performed and I have several times witnessed
it. All but ordained monks have to withdraw outside the Sîmâ stones
during the service. The ceremony begins about 6 p.m.: the Bhikkhus
kneel down in pairs face to face and rubbing their foreheads in the
dust ask for mutual forgiveness if they have inadvertently offended.
This ceremony is also performed on other occasions. It is followed
by singing or intoning lauds, after which comes the recitation of the
Pâtimokkha itself which is marked by great solemnity. The reader sits
in a large chair on the arms of which are fixed many lighted tapers.
He repeats the text by heart but near him sits a prompter with a
palm-leaf manuscript who, if necessary, corrects the words recited. I
have never seen a monk confess in public, and I believe that the usual
practice is for sinful brethren to abstain from attending the ceremony
and then to confess privately to the Abbot, who assigns them a
penance. As soon as the Pâtimokkha is concluded all the Bhikkhus smoke
large cigarettes. In most Buddhist countries it is not considered
irreverent to smoke[322], chew betel or drink tea in the intervals of
religious exercises. When the cigarettes are finished there follows a
service of prayer and praise in Cambojan. During the season of Wassa
there are usually several Bhikkhus in each monastery who practise
meditation for three or four days consecutively in tents or enclosures
made of yellow cloth, open above but closed all round. The four stages
of meditation described in the Piṭakas are said to be commonly
attained by devout monks[323].
The Abbot has considerable authority in disciplinary matters. He eats
apart from the other monks and at religious ceremonies wears a sort of
red cope, whereas the dress of the other brethren is entirely yellow.
Novices prostrate themselves when they speak to him.
Above the Abbots are Provincial Superiors and the government of the
whole Church is in the hands of the Somdec práh sanghrâc. There is, or
was, also a second prelate called Lòk práh só̆kŏn, or Braḥ Sugandha,
and the two, somewhat after the manner of the two primates of the
English Church, supervise the clergy in different parts of the kingdom,
the second being inferior to the first in rank, but not dependent on
him. But it is said that no successor has been appointed to the last
Braḥ Sugandha who died in 1894. He was a distinguished scholar and
introduced the Dhammayut sect from Siam into Camboja. The king is
recognized as head of the Church, but cannot alter its doctrine or
confiscate ecclesiastical property.
6
No account of Cambojan religion would be complete without some
reference to the splendid monuments in which it found expression and
which still remain in a great measure intact. The colonists who
established themselves in these regions brought with them the
Dravidian taste for great buildings, but either their travels enlarged
their artistic powers or they modified the Indian style by
assimilating successfully some architectural features found in their
new home. What pre-Indian architecture there may have been among the
Khmers we do not know, but the fact that the earliest known monuments
are Hindu makes it improbable that stone buildings on a large scale
existed before their arrival. The feature which most clearly
distinguishes Cambojan from Indian architecture is its pyramidal
structure. India has stupas and gopurams of pyramidal appearance but
still Hindu temples of the normal type, both in the north and south,
consist of a number of buildings erected on the same level. In Camboja
on the contrary many buildings, such as Ta-Keo, Ba-phuong and the
Phimeanakas, are shrines on the top of pyramids, which consist of
three storeys or large steps, ascended by flights of relatively small
steps. In other buildings, notably Angkor Wat, the pyramidal form is
obscured by the slight elevation of the storeys compared with their
breadth and by the elaboration of the colonnades and other edifices,
which they bear. But still the general plan is that of a series of
courts each rising within and above the last and this gradual rise, by
which the pilgrim is led, not only through colonnade after colonnade,
but up flight after flight of stairs, each leading to something higher
but invisible from the base, imparts to Cambojan temples a sublimity
and aspiring grandeur which is absent from the mysterious halls of
Dravidian shrines.
One might almost suppose that the Cambojan architects had deliberately
set themselves to rectify the chief faults of Indian architecture. One
of these is the profusion of external ornament in high relief which by
its very multiplicity ceases to produce any effect proportionate to
its elaboration, with the result that the general view is
disappointing and majestic outlines are wanting. In Cambojan buildings
on the contrary the general effect is not sacrificed to detail: the
artists knew how to make air and space give dignity to their work.
Another peculiar defect of many Dravidian buildings is that they were
gradually erected round some ancient and originally humble shrine with
the unfortunate result that the outermost courts and gateways are the
most magnificent and that progress to the holy of holies is a series
of artistic disappointments. But at Angkor Wat this fault is carefully
avoided. The long paved road which starts from the first gateway
isolates the great central mass of buildings without dwarfing it and
even in the last court, when one looks up the vast staircases leading
to the five towers which crown the pyramid, all that has led up to the
central shrine seems, as it should, merely an introduction.
The solidity of Cambojan architecture is connected with the prevalence
of inundations. With such dangers it was of primary importance to have a
massive substructure which could not be washed away and the style which
was necessary in building a firm stone platform inspired the rest of the
work. Some unfinished temples reveal the interesting fact that they were
erected first as piles of plain masonry. Then came the decorator and
carved the stones as they stood in their places, so that instead of
carving separate blocks he was able to contemplate his design as a whole
and to spread it over many stones. Hence most Cambojan buildings have a
peculiar air of unity. They have not had ornaments affixed to them but
have grown into an ornamental whole. Yet if an unfavourable criticism is
to be made on these edifices--especially Angkor Wat--it is that the
sculptures are wanting in meaning and importance. They cannot be
compared to the reliefs of Boroboedoer, a veritable catechism in stone
where every clause teaches the believer something new, or even to the
piles of figures in Dravidian temples which, though of small artistic
merit, seem to represent the whirl of the world with all its men and
monsters, struggling from life into death and back to life again. The
reliefs in the great corridors of Angkor are purely decorative. The
artist justly felt that so long a stretch of plain stone would be
wearisome, and as decoration, his work is successful. Looking outwards
the eye is satisfied with such variety as the trees and houses in the
temple courts afford: looking inwards it finds similar variety in the
warriors and deities portrayed on the walls. Some of the scenes have an
historical interest, but the attempt to follow the battles of the
Ramayana or the Churning of the Sea soon becomes a tedious task, for
there is little individuality or inspiration in the figures.
This want of any obvious correspondence between the decoration and
cult of the Cambojan temples often makes it difficult to say to what
deities they were dedicated. The Bayon, or Śivâśrama, was
presumably a linga temple, yet the conjecture is not confirmed as one
would expect by any indubitable evidence in the decoration or
arrangements. In its general plan the building seems more Indian than
others and, like the temple of Jagannâtha at Puri, consists of three
successive chambers, each surmounted by a tower. The most remarkable
feature in the decoration is the repetition of the four-headed figure
at the top of every tower, a striking and effective motive, which is
also found above the gates of the town. Chou Ta-kuan says that there
were golden statues of Buddhas at the entrance to the Bayon. It is
impossible to say whether this statement is accurate or not. He may
have simply made a mistake, but it is equally possible that the fusion
of the two creeds may have ended in images of the Buddha being placed
outside the shrine of the linga.
Strange as it may seem, there is no clear evidence as to the character
of the worship performed in Camboja's greatest temple, Angkor Wat.
Since the prince who commenced it was known by the posthumous title of
Paramavishṇuloka, we may presume that he intended to dedicate it to
Vishṇu and some of the sculptures appear to represent Vishṇu
slaying a demon. But it was not finished until after his death and his
intentions may not have been respected by his successors. An
authoritative statement[324] warns us that it is not safe to say more
about the date of Angkor Wat than that its extreme limits are 1050 and
1170. Jayavarman VII (who came to the throne at about this latter
date) was a Buddhist, and may possibly have used the great temple for
his own worship. The sculptures are hardly Brahmanic in the
theological sense, and those which represent the pleasures of paradise
and the pains of hell recall Buddhist delineations of the same
theme[325]. The four images of the Buddha which are now found in the
central tower are modern and all who have seen them will, I think,
agree that the figure of the great teacher which seems so appropriate
in the neighbouring monasteries is strangely out of place in this
aerial shrine. But what the designer of the building intended to place
there remains a mystery. Perhaps an empty throne such as is seen in
the temples of Annam and Bali would have been the best symbol[326].
Though the monuments of Camboja are well preserved the grey and
massive severity which marks them at present is probably very
different from the appearance that they wore when used for worship.
From Chou Ta-kuan and other sources[327] we gather that the towers and
porches were gilded, the bas-reliefs and perhaps the whole surface of
the walls were painted, and the building was ornamented with flags.
Music and dances were performed in the courtyards and, as in many
Indian temples, the intention was to create a scene which by its
animation and brilliancy might amuse the deity and rival the pleasures
of paradise.
It is remarkable that ancient Camboja which has left us so many
monuments, produced no books[328]. Though the inscriptions and Chou
Ta-kuan testify to the knowledge of literature (especially religious),
both Brahmanic and Buddhist, diffused among the upper classes, no
original works or even adaptations of Indian originals have come down
to us. The length and ambitious character of many inscriptions
give an idea of what the Cambojans could do in the way of writing, but
the result is disappointing. These poems in stone show a knowledge of
Sanskrit, of Indian poetry and theology, which is surprising if we
consider how far from India they were composed, but they are almost
without exception artificial, frigid and devoid of vigour or
inspiration.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 242: See among other authorities:
(_a_) E. Aymonier, _Le Cambodge_, Paris, 3 vols. 1900, 1904 (cited as
Aymonier).
(_b_) A. Barth, _Inscriptions Sanscrites du Cambodge (Notices et
extraits des MSS. de la Bibliot. Nat._), Paris, 1885 (cited as
_Corpus_, I.).
(_c_) A. Bergaigne, _Inscriptions Sanscrites de Campâ et du Cambodge_
(in same series), 1893 (cited as _Corpus_, II.).
(_d_) L. Finot, "Buddhism in Indo-China," _Buddhist Review_, Oct.
1909.
(_e_) G. Maspéro, _L'Empire Khmèr, Phnom Penh_, 1904 (cited as
Maspéro).
(_f_) P. Pelliot, "Mémoires sur les Coutumes de Cambodge par Tcheou
Ta-kouan, traduits et annotés," _B.E.F.E.O._ 1902, pp. 123-177 (cited
as Pelliot, _Tcheou Ta-kouan_).
(_g_) _Id._ "Le Founan," _B.E.F.E.O._ 1903, pp. 248-303 (cited as
Pelliot, _Founan_).
(_h_) Articles on various inscriptions by G. Coedès in _J.A._ 1908,
XI. p. 203, XII. p. 213; 1909, XIII. p. 467 and p. 511.
(_i_) _Bulletin de la Commission Archéologique de l'Indochine_, 1908
onwards.
(_j_) _Le Bayon d'Angkor Thom, Mission Henri Dufour_, 1910-1914.
Besides the articles cited above the _Bulletin de l'Ecole Française
d'Extrême Orient_ (quoted as _B.E.F.E.O._) contains many others
dealing with the religion and archaeology of Camboja.
(_k_) L. Finot, _Notes d'Epigraphie Indo-Chinoise_, 1916. See for
literature up to 1909, G. Coedès, _Bibliothèque raisonnée des travaux
relatifs à l'Archéologie du Cambodge et du Champa_. Paris, Imprimerie
Nationale, 1909.]
[Footnote 243: See especially P.W. Schmitt, _Die Mon-Khmer Völker. Ein
Bindeglied zwischen Völkern Zentral-Asiens und Austronesiens_.
Braunschweig, 1906.]
[Footnote 244: Cambodge is the accepted French spelling of this
country's name. In English Kamboja, Kambodia, Camboja and Cambodia are
all found. The last is the most usual but _di_ is not a good way of
representing the sound of _j_ as usually heard in this name. I have
therefore preferred Camboja.]
[Footnote 245: See the inscription of Bàksĕ, Càṃkró̆ṇ,
_J.A._ XIII. 1909, pp. 468, 469, 497.]
[Footnote 246: The Sui annals (Pelliot, _Founan_, p. 272) state that
"Chên-la lies to the west of Lin-yi: it was originally a vassal state
of Fu-nan.... The name of the king's family was Kshatriya: his
personal name was Citrasena: his ancestors progressively acquired the
sovereignty of the country: Citrasena seized Fu-nan and reduced it to
submission." This seems perfectly clear and we know from Cambojan
inscriptions that Citrasena was the personal name of the king who
reigned as Mahendravarman, _c_. 600 A.D. But it would appear from the
inscriptions that it was his predecessor Bhavavarman who made whatever
change occurred in the relations of Camboja to Fu-nan and in any case
it is not clear who were the inhabitants of Fu-nan if not Cambojans.
Perhaps Maspéro is right in suggesting that Fu-nan was something like
imperial Germany (p. 25), "Si le roi de Bavière s'emparait de la
couronne impériale, rien ne serait changé en Allemagne que la famille
régnante."]
[Footnote 247: It is remarkable that the Baudhâyana-dharma-sûtra
enumerates going to sea among the customs peculiar to the North (I. 1,
2, 4) and then (II. 1, 2, 2) classes making voyages by sea as the
first of the offences which cause loss of caste. This seems to
indicate that the emigrants from India came mainly from the North, but
it would be rash to conclude that in times of stress or enthusiasm the
Southerners did not follow their practice. A passage in the second
chapter of the Kautilîya Arthaśâstra has been interpreted as
referring to the despatch of colonists to foreign countries, but it
probably contemplates nothing more than the transfer of population
from one part of India to another. See Finot, _B.E.F.E.O._ 1912, No.
8. But the passage at any rate shows that the idea of the King being
able to transport a considerable mass of population was familiar in
ancient India. Jâtaka 466 contains a curious story of a village of
carpenters who being unsuccessful in trade built a ship and emigrated
to an island in the ocean. It is clear that there must have been a
considerable seafaring population in India in early times for the Rig
Veda (II. 48, 3; I. 56, 2; I. 116, 3), the Mahabharata and the Jâtakas
allude to the love of gain which sends merchants across the sea and to
shipwrecks. Sculptures at Salsette ascribed to about 150 A.D.
represent a shipwreck. Ships were depicted in the paintings of Ajanta
and also occur on the coins of the Andhra King Yajñaśrî (_c_. 200
A.D.) and in the sculptures of Boroboedoer. The Dîgha Nikâya (XI. 85)
speaks of sea-going ships which when lost let loose a land sighting
bird. Much information is collected in Radhakumud Mookerji's _History
of Indian Shipping_, 1912.]
[Footnote 248: Voyages are still regularly made in dhows between the
west coast of India and Zanzibar or Mombasa and the trade appears to
be old.]
[Footnote 249: See Jâtaka 339 for the voyage to Baveru or Babylon.
Jâtakas 360 and 442 mention voyages to Suvaṇṇabhûmi or Lower
Burma from Bharukaccha and from Benares down the river. The Milinda
Pañha (VI. 21) alludes to traffic with China by sea.]
[Footnote 250: Râm. iv. 40, 30.]
[Footnote 251: Pelliot, _Founan_, p. 254. The Western and Eastern Tsin
reigned from 265 to 419 A.D.]
[Footnote 252: Pelliot, _Founan_, p. 254. Most of the references to
Chinese annals are taken from this valuable paper.]
[Footnote 253: The inscription of Mi-son relates how Kauṇḍinya
planted at Bharapura (? in Camboja) a javelin given to him by
Aśvatthâman.]
[Footnote 254: This is the modern reading of the characters in Peking,
but Julien's _Méthode_ justifies the transcription Kau-ḍi-nya.]
[Footnote 255: See S. Lévi in _Mélanges Charles de Harlez_, p. 176.
Deux peuples méconnus. i. Les Murunḍas.]
[Footnote 256: _Nanjio Catalogue_, p. 422.]
[Footnote 257: I-Tsing, trans. Takakusu, p. 12.]
[Footnote 258: _Corpus_, I. p. 65.]
[Footnote 259: _Corpus_, I. pp. 84, 89, 90, and _Jour. Asiatique_,
1882, p. 152.]
[Footnote 260: When visiting Badami, Paṭṭadkal and Aihole in
1912 I noted the following resemblances between the temples of that
district and those of Camboja. (_a_) The chief figures are Harihara,
Vâmana and Nṛisiṃha. At Paṭṭadkal, as at Angkor Wat, the
reliefs on the temple wall represent the Churning of the Sea and
scenes from the Râmâyana. (_b_) Large blocks of stone were used for
building and after being put in their positions were carved _in situ_,
as is shown by unfinished work in places. (_c_) Medallions containing
faces are frequent. (_d_) The architectural scheme is not as in
Dravidian temples, that is to say larger outside and becoming smaller
as one proceeds towards the interior. There is generally a central
tower attached to a hall. (_e_) The temples are often raised on a
basement. (_f_) Mukhalingas and kośhas are still used in worship.
(_g_) There are verandahs resembling those at Angkor Wat. They have
sloping stone roofs, sculptures in relief on the inside wall and a
series of windows in the outside wall. (_h_) The doors of the Linga
shrines have a serpentine ornamentation and are very like those of the
Bayon. (_i_) A native gentleman told me that he had seen temples with
five towers in this neighbourhood, but I have not seen them myself.]
[Footnote 261: _E.g._ Mahendravarman, Narasinhavarman,
Parameśvaravarman, etc. It may be noticed that Paṭṭadkal is
considerably to the N.W. of Madras and that the Pallavas are supposed
to have come from the northern part of the present Madras Presidency.
Though the Hindus who emigrated to Camboja probably embarked in the
neighbourhood of Madras, they may have come from countries much
further to the north. Varman is recognized as a proper termination of
Kshatriya names, but it is remarkable that it is found in _all_ the
Sanskrit names of Cambojan kings and is very common in Pallava names.
The name of Aśvatthâman figures in the mythical genealogies of both
the Pallavas and the kings of Champa or perhaps of Camboja, see
_B.E.F.E.O._ 1904, p. 923.]
[Footnote 262: Some authorities think that Kaundinya is meant by the
wicked king, but he lived about 300 years before I-Ching's visit and
the language seems to refer to more recent events. Although
Bhavavarman is not known to have been a religious innovator he appears
to have established a new order of things in Camboja and his
inscriptions show that he was a zealous worshipper of Śiva and
other Indian deities. It would be even more natural if I-Ching
referred to Iśânavarman (c. 615) or Jayavarman I (c. 650), but
there is no proof that these kings were anti-buddhist.]
[Footnote 263: Schiefner, p. 262.]
[Footnote 264: See Maspéro, _L'Empire Khmèr_, pp. 24 ff.]
[Footnote 265: Perhaps a second Bhavavarman came between these last
two kings; see Coedès in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1904, p 691.]
[Footnote 266: See Mecquenem in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1913, No. 2.]
[Footnote 267: But the captivity is only an inference and not a
necessary one. Finot suggests that the ancient royal house of Fu-nan
may have resided at Javâ and have claimed suzerain rights over Camboja
which Jayavarman somehow abolished. The only clear statements on the
question are those in the Sdok Kak Thom inscription, Khmer text c. 72,
which tell us that Camboja had been dependent on Javâ and that
Jayavarman II instituted a special state cult as a sign that this
dependence had come to an end.
It is true that the Hindu colonists of Camboja may have come from the
island of Java, yet no evidence supports the idea that Camboja was a
dependency of the island about 800 A.D. and the inscriptions of Champa
seem to distinguish clearly between Yavadvîpa (the island) and the
unknown country called Javâ. See Finot, _Notes d'Epig._ pp. 48 and
240. Hence it seems unlikely that the barbarous pirates (called the
armies of Java) who invaded Champa in 787 (see the inscription of Yang
Tikuh) were from the island. The Siamese inscription of Râma Khomhëng,
c. 1300 A.D., speaks of a place called Chavâ, which may be Luang
Prabang. On the other hand it does not seem likely that pirates,
expressly described as using ships, would have come from the
interior.]
[Footnote 268: For these annals see F. Garnier, "La Chronique royale
du Cambodje," _J.A._ 1871 and 1872. A. de Villemereuil, _Explorations
et Missions de Doudard de Lagrée_, 1882. J. Moura, _Le Royaume de
Cambodje_, vol. II. 1883. E. Aymonier, _Chronique des Anciens rois du
Cambodje. (Excursions et reconnaissances_. Saigon, 1881.)]
[Footnote 269: _E.g._ Ang Chan (1796-1834) received his crown from the
King of Siam and paid tribute to the King of Annam; Ang Duong
(1846-1859) was crowned by representatives of Annam and Siam and his
territory was occupied by the troops of both countries.]
[Footnote 270: The later history of Camboja is treated in considerable
detail by A. Leclerc, _Histoire de Cambodge_, 1914.]
[Footnote 271: Inscrip. of Moroun, _Corpus_, II. 387.]
[Footnote 272: Other local deities may be alluded to, under the names of
Śrî Jayakshetra, "the field of victory" adored at Basset Simâdamataka,
Śrî Mandareśvara, and Śrî Jalangeśvara. Aymonier, II. p. 297; I. pp.
305, 306 and 327.]
[Footnote 273: Inscrip. of Lovek.]
[Footnote 274: Prea Eynkosey, 970 A.D. See _Corpus_, I. pp. 77 ff.]
[Footnote 275: This compound deity is celebrated in the Harivamsa and
is represented in the sculptures of the rock temple at Badami, which
is dated 578 A.D. Thus his worship may easily have reached Camboja in
the sixth or seventh century.]
[Footnote 276: Jayato jagatâm bhûtyai Kritasandhî Harâcyutau,
Parvatîśrîpatitvena Bhinnamûrttidharâvapi. See also the Inscrip. of
Ang Chumnik (667 A.D.), verses 11 and 12 in _Corpus_, I. p. 67.]
[Footnote 277: The Bayang Inscription, _Corpus_, I. pp. 31 ff. which
mentions the dates 604 and 626 as recent.]
[Footnote 278: _Corpus_, II. p. 422 Śaivapaśupatâcâryyau. The
inscription fixes the relative rank of various Acâryas.]
[Footnote 279: See _B.E.F.E.O._ 1906, p. 70.]
[Footnote 280: See specially on this subject, Coedès in _Bull. Comm.
Archéol. de l'Indochine_, 1911, p. 38, and 1913, p. 81, and the
letterpress of _Le Bayon d'Angkor Thorn_, 1914.]
[Footnote 281: I have seen myself a stone lingam carved with four
faces in a tank belonging to a temple at Maḥakut not far from
Badami.]
[Footnote 282: Suvarṇamayalingagateśvare te sûkshmântarâtmani.
Inscrip. of Prea Ngouk, _Corpus_, I. p. 157.]
[Footnote 283: _E.g._ see _Epig. Indica_, vol. III. pp. 1 ff. At
Paṭṭadkal (which region offers so many points of resemblance to
Camboja) King Vijayâditya founded a temple of Vijayeśvara and two
Queens, Lokamahâdevî and Trailokyamahâdevî founded temples of
Lokeśvara and Trailokyeśvara.]
[Footnote 284: Aymonier, II. pp. 257 ff. and especially Finot in
_B.E.F.E.O._ 1915, xv. 2, p. 53.]
[Footnote 285: See above.]
[Footnote 286: Sammohana and Niruttara are given as names of Tantras.
The former word may perhaps be the beginning of a compound. There are
Pali works called Sammohavinodinî and S. vinâśinî. The inscription
calls the four treatises the four faces of Tumburn.]
[Footnote 287: This shows that matriarchy must have been in force in
Camboja.]
[Footnote 288: Jânapada as the name of a locality is cited by
Böthlingck and Roth from the Gaṇa to Pâniṇi, 4. 2. 82.]
[Footnote 289: Possibly others may have held office during this long
period, but evidently all three priests lived to be very old men and
each may have been Guru for forty years.]
[Footnote 290: This place which means merely "the abode of Hari and
Hara" has not been identified.]
[Footnote 291: _Corpus_, II. Inscrip. lvi. especially pp. 248-251.]
[Footnote 292: Veal Kantel. _Corpus_, I. p. 28.]
[Footnote 293: Inscr. of Prah Khan, _B.E.F.E.O._ 1904, p. 675.]
[Footnote 294: _B.E.F.E.O._ 1904, p. 677.]
[Footnote 295: Just as a Vedic sacrifice was performed in the court of
the temple of Chidambaram about 1908.]
[Footnote 296: Aymonier, _Cambodja_, I. p. 442.]
[Footnote 297: Śâstâ sounds like a title of Śâkyamuni, but, if
Aymonier is correct, the personage is described as a Bodhisattva.
There were pagoda slaves even in modern Burma.]
[Footnote 298: See Coedès, "La Stèle de Tép Praṇaṃ," in _J.A._
XI. 1908, p. 203.]
[Footnote 299: Inscrip. of Ta Prohm, _B.E.F.E.O._ 1906, p. 44.]
[Footnote 300: See Senart in _Revue Archéologique_, 1883. As in many
inscriptions it is not always plain who is speaking but in most parts
it is apparently the minister promulgating the instructions of the
king.]
[Footnote 301: Inscript. of Prasat Prah Khse, _Corpus_, I. p. 173.]
[Footnote 302: Buddhânâm agraṇîr api, _J.A._ XX. 1882, p. 164.]
[Footnote 303: See Coedès, "Inscriptions de Bàt Cuṃ," in _J.A._
XII. 1908, pp. 230, 241.]
[Footnote 304: The Bodhisattva corresponding to the Buddha Akshobhya.
He is green or blue and carries a thunderbolt. It seems probable that
he is a metamorphosis of Indra.]
[Footnote 305: An exceedingly curious stanza eulogizes the doctrine of
the non-existence of the soul taught by the Buddha which leads to
identification with the universal soul although contrary to it. Vuddho
vodhîm vidaddhyâd vo yena nairâtmyadarśanaṃ viruddhasyâpi
sâdhûktaṃ sâdhanaṃ paramâtmanaḥ.]
[Footnote 306: Aymonier, I pp. 261 ff. Senart, _Revue Archéologique_,
Mars-Avril, 1883.]
[Footnote 307: Nanjio, 1244 and 1248.]
[Footnote 308: The common designation of Avalokita in Camboja and
Java. For the inscription see _B.E.F.E.O._ 1906, pp. 44 ff.]
[Footnote 309: Stanza XLVI.]
[Footnote 310: The inscription only says "There are here (atra)." Can
this mean in the various religious establishments maintained by the
king?]
[Footnote 311: See also Finot, _Notes d'Epig_. pp. 332-335. The
Mahâvaṃsa repeatedly mentions that kings founded hospitals and
distributed medicines. See too, Yule, _Marco Polo_, I. p. 446. The
care of the sick was recognized as a duty and a meritorious act in all
Buddhist countries and is recommended by the example of the Buddha
himself.]
[Footnote 312: Their somewhat lengthy titles are
Bhaishajyaguruvaidûryaprabharâja, Sûryavairocanacaṇḍaroci and
Candravairocanarohinîśa. See for an account of them and the texts
on which their worship is founded the learned article of M. Pelliot,
"Le Bhaiṣajyaguru," _B.E.F.E.O._ 1903, p. 33.]
[Footnote 313: His narrative is translated by M. Pelliot in
_B.E.F.E.O._ 1902, pp. 123-177.]
[Footnote 314: Pelliot (_B.E.F.E.O._ 1902, p. 148) cites a statement
from the Ling Wai Tai Ta that there were two classes of bonzes in
Camboja, those who wore yellow robes and married and those who wore
red robes and lived in convents.]
[Footnote 315: M. Finot conjectures that it represents the Siamese
Chao (Lord) and a corruption of Guru.]
[Footnote 316: See chapter on Siam, sect. 1.]
[Footnote 317: _Corpus_, II. p. 422.]
[Footnote 318: The strange statement of Chou Ta-kuan (pp. 153-155)
that the Buddhist and Taoist priests enjoyed a species of _jus primæ
noctis_ has been much discussed. Taken by itself it might be merely a
queer story founded on a misunderstanding of Cambojan customs, for he
candidly says that his information is untrustworthy. But taking it in
connection with the stories about the Aris in Burma (see especially
Finot, _J.A._ 1912, p. 121) and the customs attributed by Chinese and
Europeans to the Siamese and Philippinos, we can hardly come to any
conclusion except that this strange usage was an aboriginal custom in
Indo-China and the Archipelago, prior to the introductions of Indian
civilization, but not suppressed for some time. At the present day
there seems to be no trace or even tradition of such a custom. For
Siamese and Philippine customs see _B.E.F.E.O._ 1902, p. 153, note 4.]
[Footnote 319: The French Archæological Commission states that
exclusive of Angkor and the neighbouring buildings there are remains
of 600 temples in Camboja, and probably many have entirely
disappeared.]
[Footnote 320: Maspéro, pp. 62-3.]
[Footnote 321: The food is prepared in the monasteries, and, as in
other countries, the begging round is a mere formality.]
[Footnote 322: But in Chinese temples notices forbidding smoking are
often posted on the doors.]
[Footnote 323: The word dhyâna is known, but the exercise is more
commonly called Vipassanâ or Kammathâna.]
[Footnote 324: M.G. Coedès in _Bull. Comm. Archéol._ 1911, p. 220.]
[Footnote 325: Although there is no reason why these pictures of the
future life should not be Brahmanic as well as Buddhist, I do not
remember having seen them in any purely Brahmanic temple.]
[Footnote 326: After spending some time at Angkor Wat I find it hard
to believe the theory that it was a palace. The King of Camboja was
doubtless regarded as a living God, but so is the Grand Lama, and it
does not appear that the Potala where he lives is anything but a large
residential building containing halls and chapels much like the
Vatican. But at Angkor Wat everything leads up to a central shrine. It
is quite probable however that the deity of this shrine was a deified
king, identified with Vishṇu after his death. This would account
for the remarks of Chou Ta-kuan who seems to have regarded it as a
tomb.]
[Footnote 327: See especially the inscription of Bassac. Kern,
_Annales de l'Extrème Orient_, t. III. 1880, p. 65.]
[Footnote 328: Pali books are common in monasteries. For the
literature of Laos see Finot, _B.E.F.E.O._ 1917, No. 5.]