Pre-History to 8th century
No one knows for sure what the original inhabitants of the region called themselves, for no literary recordings have yet been found, except for the writings by the Chinese beginning in the 3rd century CE. The early history of Cambodia saw two separate but concurrent peoples, both of whom were written about by the Chinese travellers. The Chinese name for these two separate were the people were Chenla in the north and Funan to the south. Funan was possibly transliterated from the Khmer term for mountain-phnom. The Khmer king, the high priest, was known as "King of the Mountain". To the Chinese imperial court, Funan was a collective name for the people in that region who sent tributes and envoys. "Funan", as the name goes, may not be what the people actually call themselves, but it serves well in organizing history. Conveniently, the Chinese word Nan means "south", thus names such as Funan, Nanking, and Hainan are not just place names, they also give a point of reference for spatial orientation. Later Chinese writings would reveal much more about the people.
According to early Chinese recordings, the myth of creation traces the Cambodian people's ancestry to the marriage of a local dragon princess and a foreigner. Kaundinya who was a Brahman (Hindu priest), made such an impression on Princess Nagi and her father, that the king decided to drain the water from the country side and made land for the couple to multiply and prosper. Kaundinya later built a capital and named the country Kambuja. Another version told about a Brahman named Kaundinya who was called by the spirits to rule Funan, so he went there and was greeted by the locals as their king. He then taught them to built reservoirs and canals instead of digging wells, to model their institutions after the Indians'. That much was written and known about the period, but so much of Cambodian history is built upon this myth.1
At the minimum, these myths can serve as themes with which this paper aims to highlight about the people and their psyche:
1. They believe in the union of a local entity and a foreign element-local nature with foreign culture.
2. The monarchy later claimed lineage from the mythical couple to legitimize their status and power. To be a monarch is to have both the Khmer blood and spirit, and Indian cultural heritage (mainly the belief in Hindu gods), and
3. The common idea of removing the water from the land. Without this activity and the benefits it brought to farming and the people, the Angkor that remains today may not have been built in the first place.
What was going on before there was Indian culture and beliefs? How did Indian culture arrive there and when?
Fragments of pottery found in Cambodia suggest that the prehistoric people who lived there understood the process of claywork. Through Carbon-14 dating, different fragments found in the same cave in the northeast found to be around 4200 BCE, others dated about 9th century CE. Pointing out the fact that the cave was occupied off and on for atleast five thousand years, and that the method of making pottery did not change, the same was found of similar patterns incised on the surface.
Prehistory is subject to interpretations; thus identifying the original people cannot be without speculations. Recent findings suggest that mainland Southeast Asia had comparatively sophisticated cultures, attributing to bronze work, and wet rice cultivation. It is possible that by the beginning of the current era, the people there spoke a language related to today's Khmer language. Linguistically classified as part of Mon-Khmer family, variations are widely spoken throughout mainland Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and parts of eastern India. The earliest evident of anything written locally was found on stone inscriptions, dated to about the third century (CE). The writing is adapted from the Sanskrit alphabet, thus Indian contacts were made prior to that date.2
Did the local people ingeniously adapted the customs and beliefs of the Indian visitors? or did the Indian travellers come with mission to civilize? In any case, Cambodians in the countryside today still wear sarong (wrap-around skirt) and wrap a modified cloth turban on their head, eat with their fingers, and carry things on their head. To highlight the point, their Vietnamese neighbors wear loose pants, cover their heads with conical hats made of reed, eat with chops sticks, and carry things suspended on ends of a pole slung over the shoulder. Yes, Vietnam is so China, and Cambodia is so India. An important point to be made here is that in all of Cambodia's long history, not once was it a part of India. No Indian invasions, no armies came to force the locals to adopt new ways, just traders and their contributions.
Trade between India and the east began in the first century about the same time that Roman influence began to spread throughout Europe. On their way to China, Indian traders anchored in many places throughout Southeast Asia, including the kingdom of Funan, and waited for the passing of the monsoon rain. Then, and for the next one thousand years, the visitors exchanged with local people their ways and beliefs, including those brought by Hindu Brahmins and Buddhist priests. The Sanskrit writing was adopted, along with elements of art, architecture, irrigation, literacy, and most importantly: religions.3
From the 1st to the 6th century, Funan occupied the area of what is now southern Vietnam. Not much evidence is left in the way of architecture and art, except a few fragments of foundations and terracotta decorative elements fashioned after the Gupta style of India, as well as bronze images possibly copied from samples brought by Indians. A collection of gems, coins, and seals made of gold are found, many pieces were clearly brought from or inspired by India, other showed influence of Eastern Roman Empire.4
Recent archaeological findings regarding the Funanese were found in a village in southern Vietnam during World War II. Oc-Eo is found to be the site of an ancient Funan trading center. In 1944, French archaeologist Louis Malleret excavated and revealed a port city laid out in a rectangular form, two miles long, a mile wide, surrounded by a moat with rampart. The city is divided by canals into 10 sections, and linked also to other settlements and access to the gulf of Thailand. Most of the construction were carried out by wood, few traces remained. Larger piles of brick and stones suggest they were important edifices, presumably temples. On the lists of finding were: Han Chinese bronze mirrors, gold seals made in Sanskrit, Indian jewelries, Roman coins and seals from the 2nd century, as well local bronze, jewelry, and pottery. More recent findings include artifacts from all over the region, further proving that Funan traded far and wide.5
By the 6th century, Funan showed signs of decline, catastrophic floods destroyed irrigation systems, forced people to move inland to higher grounds, the coastal Funan became coastal swamps,6 thus came opportunities for usurpations.
Contemporary with Funan was another Indianized society just to the north, in today's southern Laos. On the shores of the Mekong there established the livelihood of the people who called themselves Kambujas, to whom Cambodia owes its name. The seat of this principality was located in a place called Chenla. Chinese texts from the 6th century mentioned Chenla as a political entity, but modern historians tend to argue that the region was not necessarily a unified country, but rather a collection of regional circles of influence. They further argue that circular influence tend to overlap and prone to shift, therefore political ties were of dynamic nature, and not static.7
Slightly different from the Funanese, the Chenla people were also of Mon-Khmer stock, owing their variations to geographical and environmental differences. Though of common stock and geocultural influences, the two people were waried of the other's influence. Thus the tone was set for future developments-although Chenla eventually annexed its southern bretherens, the disunity will not be resolved.8
In the middle of the 5th century, a Funan prince married a princess of Chenla. In the first recorded instance of antagonism between the two groups, Prince Bhravavarman with the support of Chenla court successfully overtook northern part of Funan, pushing the parent state further south. In time, other Chenla leaders annexed even more of northern Funan. To make matters more bleak, the Indianized state of Java also took opportunities to control the southern part of Funan. Historians classify the time from the fall of Funan in the 5th century to the 8th century as Pre-Angkorian period.9
Possibly due to times of uncertainty, disunity, and dislocation, no envoys brought tributes to the Chinese Imperial court, thus no written records have been found regarding Chenla and Funan between the 7th and 8th centuries. However, what the people left behind on the Cambodian landscape offer clues to what might have happened. Minding that mental rift existed between the people, plus the total eclipse of Funan, by its northern neighbor, there no doubt existed animosity and distrust, and thus circles of influence tend to shift more readily. Add to that confusion the fact that the new Java rulers down by the coast were hostile to begin with, and possibly were not satisfied with what they got on the coastal fringe. This period of drastic change in the political mental framework therefore must have a tremendous effect on the people and their allegiance. It is possible that there were no real political units, just small principalities and their circles of influence, due to the nature of distrust. A trail of brick temples and sandstone statues dotted the landscape, each successive site seems to keep to formation as the trail moves north. These temples mark the beginning of employing durable materials in construction. They tell us that new capitals were built to accommodate new rulers, which soon were replaced by others. The people now are further up from the coast, adapted to upland rice cultivation, cut off from Indian sources-they began to transform into the cultural shape that is to be fully in bloom in the Angkor period.
An important event took place in the waning years of the 8th century. The outcome set the stage for the up and coming Khmer Kingdom, in addition it serves well to make a point about political allegiance. An obscured prince distantly related to the former Funan dynasty had been taking refuge in the Java had decided to come home. He indeed returned and liberated his people from their struggles, unified the kingdom, but not without the support from his benefactors back in Java. The king named his kingdom Khmer, and himself Jayavarman II. In 802, after settling in several places, he had chosen the northern shore of the great lake to be the seat of his throne, home for the next 600 years of Cambodian achievements and eventual decline. His successors further widened their Khmer borders and controlled the regions in times of high and low. Some of the border extensions included the coastal land that were formerly held by Javanese, the people who helped make possible the returned of the first Khmer king.10
To add to Jayavarman II's list of achievements, he instituted a new concept: God-King.11 This implies that the people will be ruled by a god, thus the ruler must associate himself with one of the Hindu gods that are etched in the Cambodian consciousness in the previous 800 years. Naturally, Shiva and Vishnu were high on the list of choosing. And quite naturally the people will comply with the wishes of their God-King. Jayavarman II indeed got the whole Khmer scene going by establishing this cult and standard protocols, the latter kings had to measure up.Â