CAMBODIA LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

 Cambodia is a country in Southeast Asia that borders the Gulf of Thailand.

Neighboring countries include Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. The geography of
Cambodia is mountainous in the southwest and north and is dominated by the
Mekong River and Tonle Sap Lake. The government system is a multiparty
democracy under a constitutional monarchy; the chief of state is the king, and the
head of government is the prime minister.
GEOGRAPHY

 Cambodia’s landscape is characterized by a low-lying central alluvial plain that is

surrounded by uplands and low mountains and includes the Tonle Sap (Great
Lake) and the upper reaches of the Mekong River delta. Extending outward from
this central region are transitional plains, thinly forested and rising to elevations
of about 650 feet (200 metres) above sea level.
CULTURE

 - The culture of Cambodia has had a rich and varied history dating back many
centuries, and has been heavily influenced by India.
 - Religion has been an important source of inspiration for Cambodia throughout
its lengthy history. Over the course of about two millennia, the indigenous
animistic beliefs and the Indian religions of Buddhism and Hinduism were
combined to create the distinct Khmer religious system.
LITERATURE

 Cambodian or Khmer literature has a very ancient origin. Like most Southeast
Asian national literatures its traditional corpus has two distinct aspects or levels:

 - The written literature, mostly restricted to the royal courts or the Buddhist
monasteries.

 - The oral literature, which is based on local folklore. It is heavily influenced by

Buddhism, the predominant religion, as well as by the Hindu epics Ramayana and
Mahabharata.
 A testimony of the antiquity of the Khmer language are the multitude of
epigraphic inscriptions on stone. The first written proof that has allowed the
history of the Khmer empire to be reconstructed are those inscriptions.

 Following the stone inscriptions, some of the oldest Khmer documents are
translations and commentaries of the Pali Buddhist texts of the Tripitaka written
in the Khmer script.

 These texts were written with stencils by the monks on palmyra palm leaves.
Reamker

 - Is a Cambodian epic poem, based on the Sanskrit’s Rāmāyana epic.

The name means “Glory of Rama”. It is the national epic of
Cambodia. The earliest mention of this epic’s manuscript in
Cambodia dates back to the 7th century based on Veal Kantel
inscription
SUMMARY

 - Reamker is a Cambodian epic poem, based on the Ramayana, an

Indian ancient Sanskrit epic which follows Prince Rama’s quest to
rescue his beloved wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana with the help
of an army of monkeys.
THEMES OF THE STORY

 Love and trust, the harmony of good and evil, the temptation to
commit wicked deeds, and sorrow over a broken vow are all themes
covered in this intricate tale.