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Enhancing Shared Civilizations Links in India-Cambodia Relations: a Cambodian Perspective on Soft Power in Foreign Policy

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Enhancing Shared Civilizations Links in India-Cambodia Relations: a Cambodian Perspective on Soft Power in Foreign Policy ISSN 0975-6035 Volume 13, No.2, July-December 2019, pp.11-40 © Centre for Southeast Asian and Pacifichttp://cseaps.edu.in/areastudies/index.html Studies, Visit: cseaps.edu.in © Centre for Southeast Asian and Pacific Studies, Visit: cseaps.edu.in Enhancing Shared Civilizations Links in India-Cambodia Relations: A Cambodian Perspective on Soft Power in Foreign Policy Khath Bunthorn * Abstract Cambodia is one of the Indianized states in Southeast Asia. The arrival of Indian culture in Cambodia can be traced back to the Funan empire, the first kingdom in Cambodia’s earliest history predating the Angkor empire. Prior to contact with Indian culture, local inhabitants had their own indigenous culture and customs. The interaction between both cultures allowed local inhabitants to freely absorb or choose what Indian cultural elements that would appeal to their thinking. At the same time, those elements were localised and modified. Indian epics, Ramayana, for instance, were considerably changed from their original form. Against this backdrop, the article examines the process of Indianization in Cambodia and shows how the local people formed their distinctive variations of the Indian cultural elements to reflect their ideas. It also provides an overview of India’s soft power promotion in Cambodia through architectural ------- * Khath Bunthorn, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Email: [email protected] Enhancing Shared Civilizations Links in India-Cambodia Relations conservation, capacity building, cultural event organisations and Buddhist tourism. It concludes that India appears to have a comparative advantage in its soft power in Cambodia and has the potential to transform relations between the two states in the long run. The Indo-Khmer cultural and historical linkages create a conducive atmosphere for fostering bilateral relations between the two countries. Keywords: Cultural Adaptation, Historical Linkage, Indianization, India’s Soft Power, Bilateral relations. Introduction While talking about the Indian cultural expansion in Southeast Asia, interestingly Cambodia is occupying a unique position. It is noteworthy to look at three aspects of Cambodia’s Indian historical linkages. First, the name of Cambodia or Kampuchea in Khmer1 is an Indian Sanskrit name. It derives from Sanskrit Kambuja desa or Land of Kambuja. According to the legend recorded in the 10th century Baksei Chamkrong inscription, Kambuja derives from Kambu Svayambhuva, a legendary Indian hermit who arrived in Indochina and married the celestial nymph Mera, thus uniting the Indian and local races (Coedes 1968: 66). In this legend, Kambuja derives from Kambu+ja, meaning ‘descendants of Kambu’. Secondly, Cambodia is located in Suvarnabhumi (Golden Land), a toponym that appears in ancient Indian literary sources and Buddhist texts.2 Finally, Cambodia is geographically located in Indochina, a term denoting the influences of the world’s two largest and oldest civilizations of India and China. These three terminologies quickly show how Indian influences and connections in ancient Cambodia are relevant even today. 12 | Area Studies Enhancing Shared Civilizations Links in India-Cambodia Relations However, archaeological works and studies on inscriptions reveal the depth Indian characters and influence on ancient Cambodia. Indeed, Cambodian culture and society were deeply influenced by Indian culture. It was the centuries-long phenomena known as Indianization in which elements of Indian culture were absorbed or chosen by the Cambodian people (Chandler 2008: 15). However, scholars are of different views on Indian influences in Southeast Asia in general and Cambodia in particular. Sometimes, Indian cultural expansion has been misconstrued as political expansion as well. Some Indian historians regard it as ‘colonisation,’ Greater India or further India. For instance, Indian historian Majumdar (1944a: 66) argues that the manifestation of the dominance of Indian influence in the development of culture and civilization in Cambodia in epigraphic evidence and chronicles could show that Cambodia was ‘colonised by the Indians.’ In contrast, Western scholars call it ‘Indianization,’ a term first used by George Coedes, a leading archaeologist and historian of Southeast Asia. He explains that: Indianization must be understood essentially as the expansion of an organised culture that was founded upon the Indian conception of royalty, was characterised by Hinduist Buddhist cults, the mythology of the Purana, and the observance of the Dharmasastras, and expressed itself in the Sanskrit Language. (Coedes 1968: 15–16) Therefore, Indian culture was considered superior to the local culture in terms of religion, epic, religious law and language. And because of such a language, the Indian cultural expansion is sometimes called ‘Sanskritization’. Similarly, some anthropologists have regarded the interactions between the 13 | Area Studies Enhancing Shared Civilizations Links in India-Cambodia Relations new and the existing cultures as ‘the Great and others or the Little traditions’. The former concerned India, Sanskrit, the courts, and Hinduism, and the latter was the local Cambodian, Khmer, villages, and folk religion (Chandler 2008: 16). The spread of Indian ideas in Southeast Asia as well as in Cambodia was “a process in which selective borrowing, shaped by pre-existing understandings and cultural frameworks, had a decisive role” (Acharya 2013: 56–57). The people of Southeast Asia, however, did not borrow Indian culture exclusively, nor did they replace their civilization with it entirely. British historian D. G. E. Hall (1964: 4) points out that the great mass of the people of the ‘Hinduized’ states of Southeast Asia “was for long either untouched by Indian culture or in absorbing it changed it by bringing it in line with indigenous ideas and practice.” The magnificent structure of Angkor Wat and Bayon in Angkor Thom complex manifest the greatness of the culture and civilisation evolution of the Khmers during the ninth to fifteenth centuries, under the Angkor kingdom. Therefore, it can be said that Cambodian culture and civilisation is the offspring of Indian influences, which are seen in nearly all aspects of Cambodian society and history. Against this backdrop, this paper provides an overview of the Indian cultural influences in ancient Cambodia during the Funan period. It shows how Cambodian culture and civilisation developed out of Indian influence and highlights Cambodian adaptations of Indian epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. Lastly, it examines the cultural implication of India’s soft power promotion in contemporary Cambodia. 14 | Area Studies Enhancing Shared Civilizations Links in India-Cambodia Relations The Mythical Legend of Cambodia’s Evolution: Cambodian civilization is one of the oldest in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, there is no official record or document that can trace its origins or ancestors. However, Cambodian people believe that the first kingdom of Cambodia was founded after the marriage between an Indian prince and a Cambodian woman based on various versions of legendary stories, one of which is Preah Thong-Neang Neak. The different versions of the legend are available in separate sources such as the Chinese official records, an inscription found in Champa (central Vietnam) dated to 657 CE, Cambodian annals and similar myths popular among the Pallava kings, who ruled over South India in the early centuries CE. They provided considerable value in sharing the origins of Cambodia’s evolution. The historical significance of these legends cannot be left out while studying the influence of Indian culture over Cambodia. The story is commonly called Preah Thong–Neang Neak or Prince Thong–Princess Neak (Chantrabot1998: 29–38; Chatterjee 1928: 3–4). The legend revolves around the central figure of one of the sons of the king of Indraprastha, named Adityavamsa. He was displeased with one of his sons, Preah Thong, and drove him out of the kingdom. The prince travelled to the country of Kok Thlok (the land of the Thlok tree) along with thousands of his followers. Kok Thlok was ruled by a Cham prince who was soon dethroned by Preah Thong. One evening, he was trapped by the tide on the seashore. So he was obliged to spend the night there. The prince saw a magnificent Neang Neak (Nagi princess) who came from the underworld to play on the beach. He fell in love with and was married to her. The Neakareach 15 | Area Studies Enhancing Shared Civilizations Links in India-Cambodia Relations (Nagaraja), the father of the Neang Neak, enlarged the kingdom of his son-in-law by drinking up the water, which covered the country. The Neakareach also built for him a capital including many castles in it. Moreover, he changed the name of the country into Kambuja. Although the legend mentioned above is merely a legendary story, which cannot be regarded as the authentic proof of history, it is of great value in the absence or lack of any precise document or record. In the myth, Cambodians see themselves as the offspring of the marriage between culture and nature. This idea would have been familiar to Cambodians, and that remained in practise to a large extent in modern Cambodia. A prospective bridegroom often has to gain his in-law’s approval by living with them before his marriage. While living with the groom’s family members, the bridegroom will have to act and behave appropriately up to the satisfaction of her family, so that he will be accepted to marry her or otherwise he will be rejected. More important, in the traditional wedding ceremony, the story of Preah Thong is reconstructed again and again beginning with a symbolic ‘snake skin’ given to the groom by his bride. Doing so is to commemorate Preah Thong’s visit to the underworld (Gaudes 1993: 353). On the other hand, the myth accounts that the local people (i.e. the dragons) respected the Brahman and his honour. So they agreed to change the kingdom from Kok Thlok (which is more often in the mind of Cambodian people in general) to an Indian name Kambuja (which first appears in the 10th century Baksei Chamkrong inscription).
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