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Kambuja

Kambuja

Kambuja was the ancient name of Cambodia. This name is obviously derived from Sanskrit Kamboja, the name of a well-known ancient tribe of Indo-Iranian affinities, still living as Kamboj & Kamboh in northern India and Pakistan. The "Kamboja" frequently referenced in ancient Sanskrit literature always refers to Kamboja located in the Uttarapatha of the Indian Subcontinent, and not to Trans-Gangetic Kambuja or Kamboja located in Indochina, as is erroneously supposed by some writers. However, the later (Medieval) Pali chronicles Chamadevivamsa, Jinakalamali, Mulasasna etc., composed in Chiangmai (Thailand), all used Kamboja to refer to the Indochinese Kambuja. The alternative names Kampuchea or Kampuchia for Cambodia are also clearly derived from the ancient Kambuja.

See also:


- Kambojas
- Cambodia
- Etymology of Kamboja

Cambodia

The Kingdom of Cambodia (for the various names of the country in Khmer, see naming section below) is a constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia with a population of more than 13 million people. Most Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction. A citizen of Cambodia is usually identified as Cambodian. Most Cambodians are ethnically Khmer, but the country also has a substantial number of Cham and small hill tribes. Cambodia is the successor state of the mighty Khmer Empire, which ruled most of the Indochinese Peninsula between the 11th and 14th centuries. The country shares a border with Thailand to its west, with Laos to its north, with Vietnam to its east, and with the Gulf of Thailand to its south. The geography of Cambodia is dominated by the Mekong river (colloquial Khmer: Tonle Thom, i.e. "the great river") and the Tonle Sap (i.e. "the fresh water river"), an important source of fish. The country has three main political parties: the Cambodian People's Party, FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party. The Cambodian People's Party, which is led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, is the ruling party. In 2004, after a year of negotiations, a coalition between the Cambodian People's Party and the royalists' FUNCINPEC came to power in the National Assembly.

Naming

In the Khmer language, Cambodia is known by two names. The formal name is Prâteh Kampuchea (Khmer: Mul script 100px; regular script 80px), literally "the Country of Cambodia". Prâteh is a formal word meaning "country"; it comes from Sanskrit and is a cognate of the word pradesh, as in Uttar Pradesh. Cambodia is the traditional transliteration of the Khmer name of the country, while Kampuchea is another transliteration, more faithful to the Khmer pronunciation of the word. Contrary to what some believe, Cambodia and Kampuchea are exactly the same word, being merely two different transliterations of the same Khmer word -- much as Peking and Beijing are two different transliterations of the same Chinese word. Due to its use by the Khmer Rouge, the transliteration Kampuchea is now eschewed, and the traditional Cambodia is preferred for use in Western languages. The name Cambodia is derived from that of the ancient Khmer kingdom of Kambuja (Kambujadesa). Kambuja or Kamboja is the ancient Sanskrit name of an early north Indian tribe, the Kambojas, named after the founder of that tribe, Kambu Svayambhuva, apparently a variant of Cambyses. See Etymology of Kamboja. The French name for Cambodia, Cambodge, is also derived from Kambuja. The informal and colloquial name of Cambodia, the one most used by Khmer people, is Srok Khmae (regular script 55px) -- literally, "the Khmer Land " (the name Khmae is spelled with a final "r" in the Khmer alphabet, but this "r" is not pronounced; final "r" disappeared from Khmer pronunciation in the 19th century). Srok is a more colloquial word than prâteh, but both words roughly mean the same thing. Srok Khmae is used in almost every circumstance of life, whereas Prâteh Kampuchea is used on more formal occasions, such as in news programs or political speeches. The official name of the country is Preahreachanachâk Kampuchea (Mul script 150px; regular script 130px), i.e. "Kingdom of Cambodia". The etymology of Preahreachanachâk is: Preah- ("sacred", cognate of the Indian word Brahmin); -reach- ("king, royal, realm", from Sanskrit, cognate of the Indian words raja and raj as in maharaja and British Raj, also cognate with German Reich); -ana- (from Pali , "authority, command, power", itself from Sanskrit , same meaning) -châk (from Sanskrit cakra, meaning "wheel", a symbol of power and rule). Pali Since independence was achieved in 1953, the official name of Cambodia has changed several times, following the troubled history of the country. In English and French, the following names have been used since 1953.
- Kingdom of Cambodia/Royaume du Cambodge under the rule of the monarchy from 1953 through 1970;
- Khmer Republic/République khmère (a calque of French Republic) under the rule of the fascist military rule of Lon Nol from 1970 to 1975;
- Democratic Kampuchea/Kampuchea démocratique under the rule of the communist Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979;
- People's Republic of Kampuchea/République populaire du Kampuchea (a calque of People's Republic of China) under the rule of the Vietnamese-sponsored government from 1979 to 1989;
- State of Cambodia/État du Cambodge (a neutral name, before deciding whether to return to monarchy or not) under the rule of the United Nations transitional authority from 1989 to 1993;
- Kingdom of Cambodia/Royaume du Cambodge (return to the pre-1970's name) used after the restoration of the monarchy in 1993.

History

Main article: History of Cambodia From the 9th century to the 15th century, Cambodia was the center of the mighty Khmer Empire, which was during this time based at Angkor. Angkor Wat, the empire's main religious temple, remains a symbol of Cambodia during its time as a world power, and is also the country's top tourist attraction to this day. Cambodia was a protectorate of France from 1863 until the country received independence in 1953. During this period, Cambodia was under Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. During the 1950s and 1960s the country was under the rule of King Norodom Sihanouk, where the country maintained a precarious neutrality in the wake of active aggression against South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese. In 1969 the USA began B-52 bombing operations in Cambodia to destroy Communist bases in Cambodia. The US administration kept the bombing secret until 1970. In 1970 the Nixon administration briefly invaded Cambodia, and the bombing continued until 1973. About 30,000-500,000 civilians were killed during the bombing raids. During the 1970s and 1980s, the country was plagued with a brutal civil war, a hated military monarchist regime, as well as an even worse genocidal, agro-communist regime led by the Khmer Rouge. During the Khmer Rouge period, autogenocide was committed against millions of people who were perceived intellectuals, detractors of Marxism, and some just innocent civilians. Millions fled across to neighbouring Thailand. Vietnam invaded in 1978 and the USA instituted an embargo on the new Vietnamese-sponsored government. The Carter administration helped the Khmer Rouge to retain its seat at the UN, giving the impression that Pol Pot's regime was still the legitimate government of Cambodia. After United Nations intervention, however, Cambodia has gained stability and has begun to rebuild the country's infrastructure that was lost during the brutality that reigned in the 1970s and 1980s.

Ancient states: Funan and Chenla

The first advanced civilizations in present day Cambodia appeared in the 1st millennium AD. During the 300s, 400s, and 500s AD, the Indianized states of Funan and Chenla took hold in what is now present-day Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. These states had close relations with China and India. After these states collapsed, the Khmer civilization began to flourish in this area from the 9th century to the 13th century.

Angkor and the Khmer Empire

Main article: Early history of Cambodia Early history of Cambodia, from a relief on the Bayon.]] The Angkorian period was in terms of cultural accomplishments and political power, the golden age of Cambodia. The kingdom was founded by Jayavarman II with its capital at Angkor, and the Khmer Empire lasted from the early 9th century to the 15th century. The Khmers had adopted religious and political ideas and institutions from India and began to establish a centralized kingdom which dominated Southeast Asia for much of this period. The rule of Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-ca. 1218) saw the rapid expansion of the Khmer Empire. Unlike his ancestors, who had concentrated upon the cult of the Hindu god-king, Jayavarman VII was a patron of Theravada Buddhism. Jayavarman VII began building activity that included the popular Angkor Thom complex and also the Bayon, a temple whose stone towers bear faces which have been identified as Avalokitesvara, which are either the king himself or the guardians of the cardinal points (Kerlogue, p. 109). He also built over 200 rest houses and hospitals throughout the empire and maintained a system of roads between his capital and provincial towns throughout the empire which would make it simpler for magistrates to collect taxes or for building projects. According to historian George Coedes, "No other Cambodian king can claim to have moved so much stone." Often, quality suffered for the sake of size and rapid construction. An example of this was the beautiful but poorly constructed Bayon.

Foreign occupation

Main article: Colonial Cambodia Colonial Cambodia] After the Siamese seized Angkor in 1431, Cambodia began to endure years of foreign domination by neighboring Siam to the west and by Vietnam to the east. This period is known as the "dark ages of Cambodia". This period ended when Cambodia was made a French protectorate in 1863 and became part of French Indochina. Cambodia's chief colonial official was the Résident Supérieur (Resident General) while lesser résidents, or regional governors, were posted in all of the provincial centers. In 1897, the incumbent Resident General complained to his superiors in Paris that the current king of Cambodia, King Norodom, was no longer capable of ruling, and thus received permission to assume the king's roles of issuing decrees, collecting taxes, and appointing royal officials, including the next king. Norodom and his successors thus assumed the role of figureheads and heads of the Buddhist religion. Even in the colonial bureaucracy, French nationals held the highest positions, while even in the lowest rungs of the bureaucracy the colonial government preferred to hire Vietnamese. During World War II Cambodia was occupied by the Japanese. After it ended in 1945, King Norodom Sihanouk demanded independence from France. With the military situation getting worse throughout Indochina, the French agreed to grant independence to the three states of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 1953. King Sihanouk, a revered hero in the eyes of his people, returned to Phnom Penh in triumph, and independence was celebrated on November 9, 1953. The last French officials left Cambodia in 1954 after control of residual matters affecting sovereignty, such as financial and budgetary affairs, passed to the new Cambodian state.

Civil war and genocide

Main article: Democratic Kampuchea Democratic Kampuchea]] During the Second Indochina War (the Vietnam War), the Nixon administration of the United States began to bomb the border of South Vietnam and Cambodia, targeting secret Vietcong camps and supply routes. The Vietcong sought refuge in nearby villages, and the United States began to bomb these villages as well. The neutralist government of Prince Sihanouk could do nothing, and when Sihanouk began to send supplies to North Vietnam, a civil war began. In 1970, while Prince Sihanouk was away in Beijing, General Lon Nol seized power in a military coup d'état with US approval and declared the Khmer Republic. Immediately a civil war began between this military regime and the xenophobic and communist Khmer Rouge, which had gathered much strength because of support by the communist North Vietnamese and the Vietcong. Led by Pol Pot, who later became the Prime Minister of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge captured the capital Phnom Penh in 1975 and renamed the country to Democratic Kampuchea. The Khmer Rouge ideology included:
- closing schools and hospitals;
- abolishing banking and currency;
- outlawing religion;
- confiscating private property; and
- relocating people from urban areas to collective farms where they were subject to forced labor. The Khmer Rouge justified its actions by claiming that Cambodia was on the brink of major famine due to the American bombing campaigns, and that this required the evacuation of the cities to the countryside so that people could become self-sufficient, however this claim is generally dismissed as an excuse by many. It had the effect of converting the entire country into a re-education/labor camp. During the rule of the Khmer Rouge, about 1.7 million people were killed, or one-fifth of the country's population of the time. The Killing Fields and the S-21 prison, also known as Toul Sleng, shocked the entire world as the government committed brutal autogenocide. In addition to death from work starvation and exhaustion, the regime killed anyone suspected with connections with either the defeated Khmer Republic government or the previous Sihanouk government, as well as intellectuals (Pol Pot defined anyone who wore glasses as automatically an intellectual), professionals, and also ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams, Laotians, and Thai. If this wasn't enough, Cambodia broke into Vietnamese, Lao, and Thai territory and massacred entire villages of border provinces. Even the royal family was brutalized. Prince Sihanouk was put under house arrest and many of the Sisowath branch of the family were massacred. The Tuol Sleng museum is a good authority on this period. In 1978, a newly-unified Vietnam invaded Cambodia after repeated Khmer Rouge raids into Vietnamese territory and drove the Khmer Rouge to the western border with Thailand. They helped create the People's Republic of Kampuchea, which became a Vietnamese puppet government. A civil war between the Vietnamese-sponsored government of Phnom Penh and the Khmer Rouge continued until United Nations sponsored elections in 1993 restored stability. Prince Sihanouk became King again, and a coalition government between the conservative-royalist Funcinpec party and the pro-Vietnamese Cambodian People's Party was formed in 1998. That year also saw the surrender of the remaining Khmer Rouge troops and the death of Pol Pot. Nonetheless, none of the Khmer Rouge leaders have been tried for their war crimes. Cambodia now attempts to rebuild itself after years of horror.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Cambodia Politics of Cambodia] Cambodia underwent turbulent events from the 1970s until the early 1990s, when elections, administered by the United Nations, were held. Ever since then, Cambodia has enjoyed greater stability and peace. One effect of this was the smooth transition when King Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his son Norodom Sihamoni on October 14, 2004. Cambodia is now a constitutional monarchy where executive power is held by the prime minister. The head of the state is the king, who reigns but does not govern. Although in the Khmer language there are many words meaning "king", the word officially used in Khmer (as found in the 1993 Cambodian Constitution) is preahmâhaksat (Khmer regular script:80px), which literally means: preah- ("sacred", cognate of the Indian word Brahmin) -mâha- (from Sanskrit, meaning "great", cognate with "maha-" in maharaja) -ksat ("warrior, ruler", cognate of the Indian word Kshatriya). On the occasion of HM King Norodom Sihanouk's retirement in October 2004, the Cambodian National Assembly coined a new word for the retired king: preahmâhaviraksat (Khmer regular script:90px), where vira comes from Sanskrit , meaning "brave or eminent man, hero, chief", cognate of Latin vir, viris, English virile. Preahmâhaviraksat is translated into English as "King-Father" (French: Roi-Père), although the word "father" does not appear in the Khmer noun. As preahmâhaviraksat, Norodom Sihanouk retains many of the prerogatives he formerly held as preahmâhaksat and is a highly respected and listened-to figure. Thus, in effect, Cambodia can be described as a country with two heads of state: an official one, the preahmâhaksat Norodom Sihamoni, and an unofficial one, the preahmâhaviraksat Norodom Sihanouk. The legislature comprises a 61-member appointed Senate and a 123-member lower house, the National Assembly, elected under proportional representation by popular vote for 5 year terms. The judiciary is very weak, since only a handful of lawyers and judges were left alive, the rest being killed during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Hun Sen of the Cambodian People's Party, or CPP, ousted his former co-prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, son of Prince Sihanouk and brother of current King Sihamoni, in a short but bloody civil war between the two coalition partners in 1997. The CPP won the elections in 1998, and formed a coalition with FUNCINPEC, Ranariddh's royalist party, but with Hun Sen as sole prime minister. In the 2003 National Assembly elections, the CPP won 73 seats with 47% of the vote, the opposition-liberal Sam Rainsy Party won 24 seats (22%), and FUNCINPEC won 26 seats (21%). Eleven women were among those elected. Following a year long deadlock during which FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party united to oppose the CPP, and thus prevented it from forming a government, FUNCINPEC switched sides and joined with the CPP, allowing it to control the two thirds of the seats in the National Assembly needed to form a government. See also: List of political parties in Cambodia

Provinces

Main article: Provinces of Cambodia Provinces of Cambodia Cambodia is divided into 20 provinces (khett, singular and plural) and 4 municipalities
- (krong, singular and plural). It is also divided by District (srok), Communion (khum), Great districts (khett), and also Islands (kaoh). #Municipalities (Krong): #
- Phnom Penh #
- Preah Seihanu (Kampong Som or Sihanoukville) #
- Pailin #
- Keb #Province (Khett): #
- Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Speu, Kampong Thom, Kampot, Kandal, Kaoh Kong, Kratié, Mondul Kiri, Oddar Meancheay, Pursat, Preah Seihanu, Preah Vihear, Prey Veng, Ratanak Kiri, Siem Reap, Stung Treng, Svay Rieng and Takéo #Islands (Kaoh): #
- Kaoh Sess #
- Kaoh Polaway #
- Kaoh Rong #
- Kaoh Thass #
- Kaoh Treas #
- Kaoh Traolach #
- Koah Tral #
- Kaoh Tang

Geography

Main article: Geography of Cambodia Geography of Cambodia Cambodia has an area of about 181,040 square kilometers, sharing an 800-kilometer border with Thailand on the north and west, a 541-kilometer border with Laos on the northeast, and a 1,228-kilometer border with Vietnam on the east and southeast. It has 443 kilometers of coastline along the Gulf of Thailand. The most distinctive geographical feature is the lacustrine plain formed by the inundations of the Tonle Sap (Great Lake), measuring about 2,590 square kilometers during the dry season and expanding to about 24,605 square kilometers during the rainy season. This densely populated plain, which is devoted to wet rice cultivation, is the heartland of Cambodia. Most (about 75 percent) of the country lies at elevations of less than 100 meters above sea level, the exceptions being the Cardamom Mountains (highest elevation 1,813 meters) and their southeast extension the Dâmrei Mountains ("Elephant Mountains") (elevation range 500-1,000 meters), as well the steep escarpment of the Dângrêk Mountains (average elevation 500 meters) along the border with Thailand's Isan region. The highest elevation of Cambodia is Phnom Aoral, near Pouthisat in the center of the country, at 1,813 meters (5,948 feet) above sea-level. Temperatures range from 10°C to 38°C and Cambodia experiences tropical monsoons. Southwest monsoons blowing inland bring moisture-laden winds from the Gulf of Thailand and Indian Ocean from May to October, and the country experiences the heaviest precipitation from September to October. The northeast monsoon ushers in the dry season, which lasts from November to March, with the driest period from January to February.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Cambodia Despite the recent progress, the Cambodian economy continues to suffer from the effects of decades of civil war and internal strife. The per capita income, is rapidly increasing, but is low compared with other countries in the region. Most rural households depend on agriculture and its related sub-sectors. Rice, fish, timber, garments and rubber are Cambodia's major exports, and the United States, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia are its major export partners. The recovery of Cambodia's economy slowed dramatically in 1997-1998 due to the regional economic crisis, civil violence, and political infighting. Foreign investment and tourism also fell off drastically. Since then however, growth has been steady. In 1999, the first full year of peace in 30 years, progress was made on economic reforms and growth resumed at 5.0%. Despite severe flooding, GDP grew at 5.0% in 2000, 6.3% in 2001, and 5.2% in 2002. Tourism was Cambodia's fastest growing industry, with arrivals increasing from 219,000 in 1997 to 1,055,000 in 2004. During 2003 and 2004 the growth rate remained steady at 5.0%, while in 2004 inflation was at 1.7% and exports at $1.6 billion US dollars. As of 2004 GDP per Capita was $1900 USD, which ranked it 175th (out of 232) countries [http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html]. The population lacks education and productive skills, particularly in the poverty-ridden countryside, which suffers from an almost total lack of basic infrastructure. Fear of renewed political instability and corruption within the government discourage foreign investment and delay foreign aid. The government is addressing these issues with assistance from bilateral and multilateral donors.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Cambodia Demographics of Cambodia in thousands. Note the decrease during the Khmer Rouge years (1975-1979). FAO Data,Cambodia]] Cambodia is ethnically homogeneous, as more than 90% of its population is of Khmer origin and speaks the Khmer language, the country's official language. The remainder include Chinese, Vietnamese, Cham and Khmer Loeu. The Khmer language is a member of the Mon-Khmer subfamily of the Austroasiatic language group. French is spoken by many Cambodians as a second-language and is often the language of instruction in various schools and universities. Cambodian French is a dialect found in Cambodia. It is also frequently used in government. However, in recent decades, many younger Cambodians, as well as members of the business-classes, have favored learning English and it is gradually becoming the more widely-known. Theravada Buddhism, suppressed by Khmer Rouge but now revived, is the main religion, but Christianity is spreading in the country.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Cambodia Culture of Cambodia] Khmer culture, as developed and spread by the Khmer empire, has distinctive styles of dance, architecture and sculpture which have strongly influenced neighbouring Laos and Thailand. Notable recent artistic figures include the singers Sinn Sisamouth, who introduced new musical styles to the country, and later Meng Keo Pichenda. Bonn Om Teuk (Water Festival), the annual boat rowing contest, is the biggest Cambodian holiday. The festival is held at the end of the rainy season when the Mekong river begins to sink back to its normal levels. Approximately 10% of Cambodia's population attends this event each year. Popular games include kicking a sey, which is similar to a hacky sack, cockfighting and soccer. Rice, as in other South East Asian countries, is the staple grain, while fish from the Mekong and Tonle Sap also form an important part of the diet. The Cambodian per capita supply of fish and fish products for food and trade in 2000 was 20 kg of fish per year or 2 oz. per day per person. [http://earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/country_profiles/Coa_cou_116.pdf]. Some of the fish can be made into prahok (a Khmer delicacy) for longer storage. Overall, the cuisine of Cambodia is similar to that of its Southeast Asian neighbours. The cuisine is relatively unknown to the world compared to that of its neighbors Thailand and Vietnam, but has been described not as spicy as Thai cuisine and similar to other Southeast Asia cuisines. Customary Cambodian teachings include: that if a person does not wake up before sunrise he is lazy; you have to tell your parents or elders where you are going and what time you are coming back home; close doors gently, otherwise you have a bad temper; sit with your legs straight down and not crossed (crossing your legs shows that you are an impolite person); and always let other people talk more than you. Khmer culture is very hierarchical, in that the greater a person's age, the greater the level of respect that must be granted to them.

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in Cambodia Transportation in Cambodia The civil war severely damaged the transportation system, despite the provision of Soviet technical assistance and equipment. Cambodia has two rail lines, totaling about 612 kilometers of single, one-meter-gauge track. The lines run from the capital to Preah Seihanu on the southern coast, and from Phnom Penh to Sisophon (although trains often run only as far as Battambang). The nation's extensive inland waterways were important historically in domestic trade. The Mekong and the Tonle Sap River, their numerous tributaries, and the Tonle Sap provided avenues of considerable length, including 3,700 kilometers navigable all year by craft drawing 0.6 meters and another 282 kilometers navigable to craft drawing 1.8 meters. Cambodia has two major ports, Phnom Penh and Kampong Som, and five minor ones. Phnom Penh, located at the junction of the Basak, the Mekong, and the Tonle Sap rivers, is the only river port capable of receiving 8,000-ton ships during the wet season and 5,000-ton ships during the dry season. The country possesses six commercial airports: Pochentong International Airport near Phnom Penh is the largest, while the others are at Siemreap, Battambang, Mondul Kiri, Ratanak Kiri, and Stung Treng. The locals normally use automobiles, motorbikes and buses. Cycle rickshaws ("cyclos") are an additional option often used by visitors.

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Cambodia Cambodia has diplomatic relations with most countries and is a member of most major international organizations, including the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Cambodia is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) member, a member of ASEAN, and joined the WTO on 13 October 2004. The country has several border disputes with its neighbours, including disagreements over some offshore islands and sections of the boundary with Vietnam, and undefined maritime boundaries and border areas with Thailand. In January 2003, there were riots in Phnom Penh prompted by comments about Angkor Wat wrongly attributed by a Cambodian newspaper to a Thai actress: the Thai government sent military aircraft to evacuate Thai nationals and closed its border with Cambodia, while Thais demonstrated outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok. The border was re-opened on March 21, after the Cambodian government paid $6 million USD in compensation for the destruction of the Thai embassy and agreed to compensate individual Thai businesses for their losses. USD

Tourism

USD The tourism industry is the country's second-greatest source of hard currency after the textile industry [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2732.htm]. More than 60% of visitor arrivals are to Angkor, and most of the remainder to Phnom Penh [http://www.mot.gov.kh/statistic.asp]. Other tourist hotspots include Kompong Som (Cambodia's only port), which has a popular beach. The Angkor Wat temple complex is the best preserved example of Khmer architecture. Angkor means "city" and Wat "temple". Out of bounds to tourists during the civil war, it gained particular worldwide attention after featuring in the 2001 movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The Bayon, also at Angkor, is located at the center of Angkor Thom. It has 54 towers, each bearing four smiling faces. Many tourists also visit the Tuol Sleng Museum, the infamous prison of the Khmer Rouge, and Choeung Ek, one of the main Killing Fields; both display photographs, skulls and bones of victims of the autogenocide. Cambodia is also a major destination for sex tourism, and there is particular concern over child sex and forced prostitution [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/943446.stm].

Related topics

Main article: List of Cambodia-related topics

References


- [http://www.business-in-asia.com/airports_cambodia.html Business in Asia] report on airports. Accessed 13 November 2005.
- [http://www.parish-without-borders.net/cditt/cambodia/khculture.htm Cambodian Culture website] Accessed December 11 2004
- [http://www.classbrain.com/art_cr/publish/cambodia_economy.shtml Cambodian Economy Information] Accessed January 19 2005.
- CIA World Factbook U.S. Department of State website.
- [http://www.ifes.org/eguide/resultsum/cambodia_par03.htm IFES] Summary of 2003 legislative election results. Accessed January 27 2005.
- Kerlogue, Fiona. Arts of Southeast Asia. Thames and Hudson 2004. ISBN 050020381.
- [http://www.mot.gov.kh/statistic.asp Ministry of Tourism] statistics on tourism. Accessed January 27 2005.
- [http://www.ngoforum.org.kh/index.htm NGO Forum on Cambodia] report on 2003 legislative elections. Accessed January 27 2005.
- [http://www.dxing.info/articles/cambodia.dx Radio Broadcasting in Cambodia] Accessed January 23 2005.
- [http://www.tourismcambodia.com Tourism Cambodia] Accessed December 11 2004.

External links

(Listed in alphabetical order, unless otherwise noted)

Official


- [http://www.norodomsihamoni.net King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihamoni] Official Website of King Norodom Sihamoni
- [http://www.norodomsihanouk.info King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk] Official Website of former King Norodom Sihanouk
- [http://www.cambodia.gov.kh/unisql1/egov/english/home.frame.html Cambodia.gov.kh] Official Royal Government of Cambodia Website (English Version)
  - [http://www.cambodia.gov.kh/unisql2/egov/khmer/home.view.html Cambodia.gov.kh] (Khmer Version)
- [http://www.cdc-crdb.gov.kh CDC] Council for the Development of Cambodia
- [http://www.ccc.gov.kh/ Conseil Constitutionnel du Cambodge] Constitution council of Cambodia
- [http://www.maff.gov.kh/ Department of Fisheries]
- [http://www.foodsecurity.gov.kh/ Food Security and Nutrition Information System Cambodia]
- [http://www.moc.gov.kh/ Ministry of Commerce]
- [http://www.moi-coci.gov.kh/culture/ Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts]
- [http://www.mef.gov.kh/ Ministry of Economy and Finance]
- [http://www.moeys.gov.kh Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport]
- [http://www.camnet.com.kh/moe Ministry of Environment]
- [http://www.mptc.gov.kh/ Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications]
- [http://www.mpwt.gov.kh/ Ministry of Public Works and Transport]
- [http://www.mot.gov.kh Ministry of Tourism]
- [http://www.nida.gov.kh/ NiDA] National Information Communications Technology Development Authority
- [http://www.nis.gov.kh/ NIS] National Institute of Statistics of Cambodia

Other


- [http://www.arikah.net/TourismCambodia-TravelGuide/Cambodia-Welcome 2005 Cambodia Travel Guide]
- [http://www.artweise.de/kambodscha/index.htm Artweise.de] German website with photos from Cambodia.
- [http://www.BongThom.com BongThom.com] Website with information on the language, food, employment and culture.
- [http://www.uirc.net Cambodian IRC Network] Real time chatting with local Cambodian.
- [http://www.licadho.org/ Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights (LICADHO)]
- [http://www.camweb.org/ Camweb] Cambodia Web. Website of #cambodia on EFNet.
- [http://www.cambodiacic.org/ Community Information Web Portal Cambodia] Provide access for Cambodians nationwide, especially those in the provinces, to news and information on a wide range of development-related topics.
- [http://www.cambodiaforum.com/ Cambodia Forum] Forums for Cambodia news, Dating, Business and Travel Forum.
- [http://www.catholiccambodia.org/ Catholic Church Cambodia] The official website of the Catholic Church in Cambodia.
- [http://www.e-khmer.com/ E-KHMER] Cambodian Search Engine
- [http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/ From Sideshow to Genocide] - A history of the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge, including survivor stories.
- [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/dyn/globalvoices/wiki/index.php/Cambodia Global Voices - Cambodia] Comprehensive Cambodian weblogs listing, including Khmer, English and other languages.
- [http://www.iu.edu.kh/ International University] Cambodia's first private-non-profit higher education institution specializing in medical fields.
- [http://www.khmerblog.com KhmerBlog] Delivery Latest News and News in Khmer Unicode.
- [http://www.KhmerDoctor.com KhmerDoctor.com] - Health Information for the Cambodian Community.
- [http://www.khmeronlineradio.com Khmer Online Radio] Listen to Khmer radio.
- [http://www.khmer.org Khmer people online] Online Khmer community.
- [http://www.khmer.ws Khmer.ws] Khmer website directory.
- [http://www.khmerwebsite.com/ Khmerwebsite.com] Khmer Entertainment website (Formerly Somlon.com)
- [http://www.livingincambodia.com LivingInCambodia.com] Tips and tricks for living in Cambodia.
- [http://www.newyearbaby.net New Year Baby - PBS documentary about a Cambodian American family that survived the Khmer Rouge genocide.]
- [http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/04/privatizing-mass-grave-in-cambodia.html Privatizing a Mass Grave in Cambodia] from blog Critical Montages
- [http://www.mycambodianews.com Latest Cambodia News] Latest Cambodia News.
- [http://www.phic.org Plant Hope in Cambodia, Inc.]
- [http://pookaibooks.org/weblog/ Santepheap] A Cambodian weblog.
- [http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia.htm Tales of Asia] Private website about Cambodia.
- [http://www.tharum.blogspot.com/ ThaRum's Web] Weblog of a Cambodian Writer.
- [http://villagegirl.typepad.com/ Villagegirl's video blog] A video blog created by Eath Chhon, Cambodian_American.
- Wikitravel:Cambodia Travel guide on Cambodia.
- [http://jinja.apsara.org/blog Webbed Feet, Webbed Log] Art and life by expat living in Cambodia.
- [http://www.yellowpages-cambodia.com/ Yellow Pages Cambodia] Cambodian business directory. Also residential phone number search (white pages) and Cambodia related maps.
- [http://www.ianandwendy.com/OtherTrips/ChinaVietnamCambodia/Cambodia/?nosplash=true Cambodia Pictures] Pictures from a backpacker's trip to Cambodia.

Notes

#A figure of three million deaths between 1975 and 1979 was given by the Vietnamese-sponsored Phnom Penh regime, the PRK. Father Ponchaud suggested 2.3 million; the Yale [http://www.yale.edu/cgp/ Cambodian autogenocide Project] estimates 1.7 million; Amnesty International estimated 1.4 million ; and the United States Department of State, 1.2 million. Khieu Samphan and Pol Pot, who could be expected to give underestimations, cited figures of 1 million and 800,000, respectively. Category:Southeast Asian countries A Category:Monarchies Category:ASEAN member states zh-min-nan:Kampuchea ko:캄보디아 ms:Kemboja ja:カンボジア simple:Cambodia th:ประเทศกัมพูชา

Sanskrit

Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम्) is a classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It has a position in India and Southeast Asia similar to that of Latin and Greek in Medieval Europe, and is a central part of Hindu tradition. Sanskrit is one of the 22 official languages of India. Sanskrit is taught in schools and households throughout India, as a second language. Some Brahmins even identify it as their mother tongue. According to recent reports, it is being revived as a vernacular in the village of Mattur near Shimoga in Karnataka [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1199965,curpg-1.cms]. Sanskrit is mostly used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals in the forms of hymns and mantras. Its pre-classical form of Vedic Sanskrit, the liturgical language of the Vedic religion, is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family, its most archaic text being the Rigveda. The scope of this article is that of Classical Sanskrit as laid out in the grammar of Panini, roughly around 500 BC. Most Sanskrit texts available today were transmitted orally for several centuries before they were written down in medieval India.

History

500 BC script, Bihar or Nepal, 11th century.]] The word means "refined, consecrated, sanctified". The language referred to as "the refined language" has by definition always been a 'high' language, used for religious and scientific discourse and contrasted with the languages spoken by the people. The oldest surviving Sanskrit grammar is 's ("Eight-Chapter Grammar") dating to ca. the 5th century BC. It is essentially a prescriptive grammar, i. e. an authority that defines (rather than describes) correct Sanskrit, although it contains descriptive parts, mostly to account for Vedic forms that had already passed out of use in Panini's time. Almost every student of Sanskrit hears the traditional story that Sanskrit was created and then refined over many generations (traditionally more than a thousand years) until it was considered complete and perfect. When the term arose in India, "Sanskrit" was not thought of as a specific language set apart from other languages (the people of the time regarded languages more as dialects), but rather as a particularly refined manner of speaking, bearing a similar relation to common language that "Standard" English bears to dialects spoken in the United Kingdom or United States. Knowledge of Sanskrit was a marker of social class and educational attainment, and was taught through close analysis of Sanskrit grammarians such as Pāṇini. This form of the language evolved out of the earlier "Vedic" form, and scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit as separate languages. However, they are extremely similar in many ways and differ mostly in a few points of phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. But some think that in ancient India there were various dialects of Sanskrit, and Classical Sanskrit is one of these dialects, and Vedic is an earlier stage of another of these dialects; the Vedic dialect had more tendency to change Indo-European [l] into [r]; Vedic changed [d.] and [d.h] into [l.] and [l.h] (with retroflex l) between vowels. Vedic is the language of the Vedas, the earliest sacred texts of India and the base of the Hindu religion. The earliest of the Vedas, the Rigveda, was composed by many authors over hundreds, and probably thousands of years. Recent scholarship traces the composition of the Rigveda to the 3rd or even 4th millennium BCE at a period before the Saraswati River dried up. The Rigveda mentions the Saraswati as the mightiest of all rivers (RV 7.95.2). By 2,500 BCE it had disappeared. The Vedic form of Sanskrit survived until the middle of the first millennium BC. It is around this time that Sanskrit made the transition from a first language to a second language of religion and learning, marking the beginning of the Classical period. A form of Sanskrit called Epic Sanskrit is seen in the Mahabharata and other Hindu epics. This includes more "prakritisms" (borrowings from common speech) than Classical Sanskrit proper. There is also a language dubbed "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit" by scholars, which is actually a prakrit ornamented with Sanskritized elements, perhaps for purposes of ostentation (see also termination of spoken Sanskrit). There is a strong relationship between the various forms of Sanskrit and the Middle Indo-Aryan "Prakrits", or vernacular languages (in which, among other things, most early Jain and Buddhist texts are written), and the modern Indo-Aryan languages. The Prakrits are probably descended from Vedic, and there is mutual interchange between later forms of Sanskrit and various Prakrits. There has also been reciprocal influence between Sanskrit and the Dravidian languages. European scholarship in Sanskrit, begun by Heinrich Roth and Johann Ernst Hanxleden, led to the proposal of the Indo-European language family by Sir William Jones, and thus played an important role in the development of Western linguistics. Indeed, linguistics (along with phonology, etc.) first arose among Indian grammarians who were attempting to catalog and codify Sanskrit's rules. Modern linguistics owes a great deal to these grammarians, and to this day, key terms for compound analysis are taken from Sanskrit.

Phonology and writing system

See also Shiva Sutra. Classical Sanskrit has 48 phonemes (Vedic Sanskrit has 49). The sounds are described here in their traditional order: vowels, stops and nasals (starting in the back of the mouth and moving forward), and finally the liquids and sibilants. (Note: The long vowels are held about twice as long as their short counterparts. Also, there exists a third, extra-long length for most vowels, which is used in various cases, but particularly in the vocative.)

Simple vowels

Unlike in English, , , and are treated as vowels. Some grammarians mention ॡ , a longer version of , but this does not actually occur in Sanskrit and seems to have been created by analogy with the other vowels. Technically speaking, never occurs in the language at a purely phonetic level. It, however is seen in the genitive plural of vocalic-r stems (मातृ mātṛ mother; पितृ pitṛ father; gen.pl.मातॄणाम् and पितॄणाम् mātṝṇām and pitṝṇām etc.) and explains irregularities in the conjugation of verbs such as d "to tear", and k "to scatter".

Diphthongs (combinations of simple vowels)

Vowels can be nasalized.

Consonants

There is also the anusvāra (), which often appears as nasalization of the preceding vowel or as a nasal homorganic to the following consonant.

Pitch

Vedic Sanskrit is a pitch accent language. Native grammarians define three tones (svara): udātta = 'raised', anudātta = 'not raised', and svarita = 'sounded'. The udātta syllable corresponds to the original Indo-European stress. The svarita is usually the next syllable after an udātta. Probably when the Rigveda was written down, the pitch of speech rose through the udātta and came back down through the following svarita. A svarita which is not next after an udātta is called an "independent svarita". In transliteration udātta is marked with acute accent (´) and independent svarita with a grave accent (`). Independent svarita occurs only where its udātta was lost because of vowel sandhi. Classical Sanskrit is usually pronounced with a stress accent decided by the syllable length pattern of each word.

Sandhi

Sanskrit has an elaborate set of phonological rules called sandhi and which are expressed in writing (except in so-called pada texts). Sandhi refers to combination of words when they are spoken with each other without a gap. Since the word scheme is based on pronunciation, this is no exception. Sandhi rules define how the entire word or phrase sounds when two words are combined or merged. Almost always, the new word sounds like the two words spoken one after other except for euphonic changes at the point where the first word ends and the second one starts. This change depends on the sound with which the first word ends and the sound with which the second word starts. These sounds also form the basis of classification of sandhis. The effects of Sandhi have been carefully observed and described, leading to codified rules of combination. For example, when saying one word ending in i followed by another starting in u, these will be combined into yu. These sandhi rules are not always obeyed in the Vedas. is a combination of two or more words, or sometimes even a phrase, like 'newborn' is for 'newly born'. The meaning of a is normally clear from the itself, though some of the have a meaning very different from their constituent words. These are normally used to refer to some personality, deity or thing by one of its well known characteristics. are also categorized according to the kind of meaning they have and the constituent word that dominates the meaning. plays a key role in many cases, especially in certain expressions. does not have any distortion in the words, although sometimes prefixes and suffixes are used to impart a certain type of meanings to the words. A sandhi always consists of two meaningful words while all constituent words of a may not be meaningful individually. A sandhi may be difficult to understand for a person who is inexperienced in Sanskrit or has a poor vocabulary. It is same with , but they are much easier to understand as they are mostly used in some fixed formats and meanings. Sandhi and add beauty to the language and are extensively used by poets. When a sandhi can be broken in more than one way or a can be interpreted in more than one way, they can be used as puns. There are many examples of such uses in Sanskrit literature.

Script

Veda manuscript in the Sharada script (17th or 18th century)]] Sanskrit historically has had no single script associated with it. Ashoka used the Brahmi script for his pillar inscriptions (which were not in Sanskrit, but in Prakrit dialects and other languages). Roughly contemporary with the Brahmi, the Kharosthi script was used. Later (ca. 4th to 8th centuries AD) the Gupta script, derived from Brahmi, became prevalent. From ca. the 8th century, the Sharada script evolved out of the Gupta script, and was mostly displaced in its turn by Devanagari from ca. the 12th century, with intermediary stages such as the Siddham script. Other scripts used include Kannada in the South, Grantha in Tamil speaking regions, Bengali, and other North Indian scripts in other regions. From the late Middle Ages, and especially in modern times, the Devanagari (meaning "as used in the city of the Gods") script has become the most widely used and associated with Sanskrit. Occasionally, in regions of India where Devanagari is not the script of the vernacular (as it is with Hindi or Marathi) one will find texts still written in the local script. Writing was introduced relatively late to India, and it did not immediately become important since oral learning was the primary means of transmitting knowledge. Rhys Davids suggests that writing may have been introduced from the Middle East by traders, but Sanskrit, which had been used exclusively in sacred contexts, remained a purely oral language until well into India's classical age. It is interesting to note the importance that Sanskrit orthography and Vedic philosophy of sound play in Hindu symbolism, as the varnamala, or sound-garland/alphabet, of 51 letters is also seen to be represented by the 51 skulls of Kali. In the Upanishads, the transcendent-immanent nature of Brahman is represented by the half-matra, or sphota of sound that is inherent to a beat of sound in the Sanskrit system. Since the 19th century, Sanskrit has also been transliterated using the Latin alphabet. Most commonly used today is the IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration), which has been the academic standard since 1912. Other transliteration schemes have evolved due to difficulties representing Sanskrit characters in computer systems. These include Harvard-Kyoto that was used earlier, and ITRANS, a lossless transliteration scheme that is used widely on the Internet (especially Usenet). For scholarly work, Devanagari has generally been preferred for the transcription and reproduction of whole texts and lengthy excerpts; however, references to individual words and names in texts composed in European languages are usually represented using Roman transliteration.

Grammar

Grammatical tradition

Panini (scholar), Shiva Sutra, Astadhyayi, Dhatupatha, Patanjali, Varadaraja, Laghukaumudi.

Verbs

Classification of verbs

Sanskrit has ten classes of verbs divided into in two broad groups: athematic and thematic. The thematic verbs are so called because an a, called the theme vowel, is inserted between the stem and the ending. This serves to make the thematic verbs generally more regular. Exponents used in verb conjugation include prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and reduplication. Vowel gradation is also very common; every root has (not necessarily all distinct) zero, guṇa, and vṛddhi grades. If V is the vowel of the zero grade, the guṇa-grade vowel is traditionally thought of as a + V, and the vṛddhi-grade vowel as ā + V.

Tense systems

The verbs tenses (a very inexact application of the word, since more distinctions than simply tense are expressed) are organized into four 'systems' (as well as gerunds and infinitives, and such creatures as intensives/frequentatives, desideratives, causatives, and benedictives derived from more basic forms) based on the different stem forms (derived from verbal roots) used in conjugation. There are four tense systems:
- Present (Present, Imperfect, Imperative, Optative)
- Perfect
- Aorist
- Future (Future, Conditional)
Present system
The present system includes the present and imperfect tenses, the optative and imperative moods, as well as some of the remnant forms of the old subjunctive. The tense stem of the present system is formed in various ways. The numbers are the native grammarians' numbers for these classes. For athematic verbs, the present tense stem may be formed through:
- 2) No modification at all, for example ad from ad 'eat'.
- 3) Reduplication prefixed to the root, for example juhu from hu 'sacrifice'.
- 7) Infixion of na or n before the final root consonant (with appropriate sandhi changes), for example rundh or ruṇadh from rudh 'obstruct'.
- 5) Suffixation of nu (guṇa form no), for example sunu from su 'press out'.
- 8) Suffixation of u (guṇa form o), for example tanu from tan 'stretch'. For modern linguistic purposes it is better treated as a subclass of the 5th. tanu derives from tnnu, which is zero-grade for
- tannu, because in Indo-European [m] and [n] could be vowels, which in Sanskrit (and Greek) change to [a]. Most members of the 8th class arose this way; kar = "make", "do" was 5th class in Vedic (krnoti = "he makes"), but shifted to the 8th class in Classical Sanskrit (karoti = "he makes")
- 9) Suffixation of nā (zero-grade nī or n), for example krīṇa or krīṇī from krī 'buy'. For thematic verbs, the present tense stem may be formed through:
- 1) Suffixation of the thematic vowel a with guṇa strengthening, for example, bháva from bhū 'be'.
- 6) Suffixation of the thematic vowel a with a shift of accent to this vowel, for example tudá from tud 'thrust'.
- 4) Suffixation of ya, for example dī́vya from div 'play'. The tenth class described by native grammarians refers to a process which is derivational in nature, and thus not a true tense-stem formation.
Perfect system
The perfect system includes only the perfect tense. The stem is formed with reduplication as with the present system. The perfect system also produces separate "strong" and "weak" forms of the verb — the strong form is used with the singular active, and the weak form with the rest.
Aorist system
The aorist system includes aorist proper (with past indicative meaning, e.g. abhūḥ "you were") and some of the forms of the ancient injunctive (used almost exclusively with mā in prohibitions, e.g. mā bhūḥ "don't be"). The principal distinction of the two is presence/absence of an augment - a- prefixed to the stem. The aorist system stem actually has three different formations: the simple aorist, the reduplicating aorist (semantically related to the causative verb), and the sibilant aorist. The simple aorist is taken directly from the root stem (e.g. bhū-: a-bhū-t "he was"). The reduplicating aorist involves reduplication as well as vowel reduction of the stem. The sibilant aorist is formed with the suffixation of s to the stem.
Future system
The future system is formed with the suffixation of sya or iṣya and guṇa.

Verbs: Conjugation

Each verb has a grammatical voice, whether active, passive or middle. There is also an impersonal voice, which can be described as the passive voice of intransitive verbs. Sanskrit verbs have an indicative, an optative and an imperative mood. Older forms of the language had a subjunctive, though this had fallen out of use by the time of Classical Sanskrit.

Basic conjugational endings

Conjugational endings in Sanskrit convey person, number, and voice. Different forms of the endings are used depending on what tense stem and mood they are attached to. Verb stems or the endings themselves may be changed or obscured by sandhi. Primary endings are used with present indicative and future forms. Secondary endings are used with the imperfect, conditional, aorist, and optative. Perfect and imperative endings are used with the perfect and imperative respectively.

Present system conjugation

Conjugation of the present system deals with all forms of the verb utilizing the present tense stem (explained under Tense Stems above). This includes the present tense of all moods, as well as the imperfect indicative.
Athematic inflection
The present system differentiates strong and weak forms of the verb. The strong/weak opposition manifests itself differently depending on the class:
- The root and reduplicating classes (2 & 3) are not modified in the weak forms, and receive guṇa in the strong forms.
- The nasal class (7) is not modified in the weak form, extends the nasal to ná in the strong form.
- The nu-class (5) has nu in the weak form and nó in the strong form.
- The nā-class (9) has nī in the weak form and nā́ in the strong form. nī disappears before vocalic endings. The present indicative takes primary endings, and the imperfect indicative takes secondary endings. Singular active forms have the accent on the stem and take strong forms, while the other forms have the accent on the endings and take weak forms. The optative takes secondary endings. yā is added to the stem in the active, and ī in the passive. The imperative takes imperative endings. Accent is variable and affects vowel quality. Forms which are end-accented trigger guṇa strengthening, and those with stem accent do not have the vowel affected.

Nominal inflection

Sanskrit is a highly inflected language with three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and three numbers (singular, plural, dual). It has eight cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, and locative. The number of actual declensions is debatable. In this article they are divided into five declensions. Which declension a noun belongs to is determined largely by form.

a-stems

A-stems comprise the largest class of nominals. As a rule nouns belonging to this class, ending in short-A, are either masculine or neuter. Nouns ending in long-A tend to be feminine. A-stem adjectives take the masculine and neuter in short-A, and feminine in long-A.

i- and u-stems

Long Vowel-stems

ṛ-stems

ṛ-stems are predominantly agental derivatives like dātṛ 'giver', though also include kinship terms like pitṛ́ 'father', mātṛ́ 'mother', and svásṛ 'sister'. See also Devi inflection, Vrkis inflection.

Personal Pronouns and Determiners

The first and second person pronouns are declined for the most part alike, having by analogy assimilated themselves with one another. Note: Where two forms are given, the second is enclitic and an alternative form. Ablatives in singular and plural may be extended by the syllable -tas; thus mat or mattas, asmat or asmattas. The demonstrative ta, declined below, also functions as the third person pronoun.

Compounds

One other notable feature of the nominal system is the very common use of nominal compounds, which may be huge (10+ words) as in some modern languages such as German. Nominal compounds occur with various structures, however morphologically speaking they are essentially the same. Each noun (or adjective) is in its (weak) stem form, with only the final element receiving case inflection. Some examples of nominal compounds include: 1. (co-ordinative) ::These consist of two or more noun stems, connected in sense with 'and', e.g. matara-pitara 'Mother and Father'. Due to these compounds having more than one noun in them, they must be in the dual or plural. 2. (possessive) ::Bahuvrīhi, or "much-rice", denotes a rich person—one who has much rice. Bahuvrīhi compounds refer (by example) to a compound noun with no head -- a compound noun that refers to a thing which is itself not part of the compound. For example, "low-life" and "block-head" are bahuvrihi compounds, since a low-life is not a kind of life, and a block-head is not a kind of head. (And a much-rice is not a kind of rice.) Compare with more common, headed, compound nouns like "fly-ball" (a kind of ball) or "alley cat" (a kind of cat). Bahurvrīhis can often be translated by "possessing..." or "-ed"; for example, "possessing much rice", or "much riced". 3. (determinative) ::There are many tatpuruas (one for each of the nominal cases, and a few others besides); in a tatpurua, the first component is in a case relationship with another. For example, a doghouse is a dative compound, a house for a dog. It would be called a "caturtitatpurua" (caturti refers to the fourth case—that is, the dative). Incidentally, "tatpurua" is a tatpurua ("this man"—meaning someone's agent), while "caturtitatpurua" is a karmadhārya, being both dative, and a tatpurua. An easy way to understand it is to look at English examples of tatpuruas: "battlefield", where there is a genitive relationship between "field" and "battle", "a field of battle"; other examples include instrumental relationships ("thunderstruck") and locative relationships ("towndwelling"). 4. (descriptive) ::The relation of the first member to the last is appositional, attributive or adverbial, e. g. uluka-yatu (owl+demon) is a demon in the shape of an owl. 5. (iterative) ::Repetition of a word expresses repetitiveness, e. g. dive-dive 'day by day', 'daily'.

Syntax

Word order is free with tendency toward SOV.

Numerals

The numbers from one to ten are: The numbers one through four are declined. Éka is declined like a pronomial adjective, though the dual form does not occur. Dvá appears only in the dual. Trí and catúr are declined irregularly:

Influences

Modern-day India

Sanskrit's greatest influence, presumably, is that which it exerted on languages that grew from its vocabulary and grammatical base. Especially among elite circles in India, Sanskrit is prized as a storehouse of scripture and the language of prayers in Hinduism. Like Latin's influence on European languages, Sanskrit has influenced most Indian languages. While vernacular prayer is common, Sanskrit mantras are recited by millions of Hindus and most temple functions are conducted entirely in Sanskrit, often Vedic in form. Most higher forms of Indian vernacular languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu and Hindi, often called 'shuddha' (pure, higher) are much more heavily Sanskritized. Of modern day Indian languages, while Hindi tends to be, in spoken form, more heavily weighted with Arabic and Persian influence, Bengali and Marathi still retain a largely Sanskrit vocabulary base. The national anthem, Jana Gana Mana is higher form of Bengali, so Sanskritized as to be archaic in modern usages. The national song of India Vande Mataram which is originally a poem - composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and taken from his book called 'Aanandmath', is in pure Sanskrit. Malayalam, which is spoken in the Kerala state of India, also combines a great deal of Sanskrit vocabulary with Tamil (Dravidian) grammatical structure. Kannada, another South Indian language, also contains Sanskrit vocabulary. But as a medium of spiritual instruction for Hindus in India, Sanskrit is still prized and widespread. Sanskrit words are found in many other present-day non-Indian languages. For instance, the Thai language contains many loan words from Sanskrit. For example, in Thai, the Rāvana - the emperor of Sri Lanka is called 'Thoskonth' which is clearly a derivation of his Sanskrit name 'Dashakanth' (of ten necks). And ranged as far as the Philippines, e.g., Tagalog 'gurò' from 'Guru', or 'teacher', with the Hindu seafarers who traded there.

Attempts at revival

Of late, there have been attempts to revive the speaking of this ancient tongue among people, so that vast literature available in Sanskrit can be made easily available to everyone. The CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) in India has made Sanskrit a third language in the schools it governs. In such schools, learning Sanskrit is an option for grades 5 to 8. An option between Sanskrit and Hindi (or many other local languages) as a second language exists for grades 9 and 10. Many organizations like the Samskrta Bharati are conducting Speak Sanskrit workshops to popularize the language. About four million people are claimed to have acquired the ability to speak Sanskrit. Sanskrit is claimed to be spoken natively by the population in Mattur, a village in central Karnataka. Inhabitants, of all castes, learn Sanskrit starting in childhood and converse in the language. Even the local Muslims speak and converse in Sanskrit. Historically, the village was given by king Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire to Vedic scholars and their families. People in his kingdom spoke Kannada and Tuluva.

Interactions with Sino-Tibetan languages

Sanskrit and related languages have also influenced their Sino-Tibetan-speaking neighbors to the north through the spread of Buddhist texts in translation. Buddhism was spread to China by Mahayanist missionaries mostly through translations of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit and classical Sanskrit texts, and many terms were transliterated directly and added to the Chinese vocabulary. (Although Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit is not Sanskrit, properly speaking, its vocabulary is substantially the same, both because of genetic relationship, and because of conscious imitation on the part of composers. Buddhist texts composed in Sanskrit proper were primarily found in philosophical schools like the Madhyamaka.)

Western vogue for Sanskrit

At the end of the introduction to The World as Will and Representation, Arthur Schopenhauer claimed that the rediscovery of the ancient Indian tradition would be one of the great events in the history of the West. Goethe borrowed from Kalidasa for the Vorspiel auf dem Theater in Faust. Goethe and Schopenhauer were riding a crest of scholarly discovery, most notably the work done by Sir William Jones. (Goethe likely read Kalidasa's The Recognition of Sakuntala in Jones' translation.) However, the discovery of the world of Sanskrit literature moved beyond German and British scholars and intellectuals — Henry David Thoreau was a sympathetic reader of the Bhagavad Gita — and even beyond the humanities. In the early days of the Periodic Table, scientists referred to as yet undiscovered elements with the use of Sanskrit prefixes (see Mendeleev's predicted elements). The nineteenth century was a golden age of Western Sanskrit scholarship, and many of the giants of the field (Whitney, Macdonnell, Monier-Williams, Grassmann) knew each other personally. Perhaps the most commonly known example of Sanskrit in the West was also the last gasp of its vogue. T.S. Eliot, a student of Indian Philosophy and Lanham's, ended The Waste Land with Sanskrit: "Shantih Shantih Shantih".

Computational linguistics

There have been suggestions to use Sanskrit as a metalanguage for knowledge representation in e.g. machine translation, and other areas of natural language processing because of its highly regular structure ([http://www.gosai.com/science/sanskrit-nasa.html The AI Magazine, Spring, 1985 #39]). This is due to Classical Sanskrit being a regularized, prescriptivist form abstracted from the much more irregular and richer Vedic Sanskrit. This levelling of the grammar of Classical Sanskrit occurred during the Brahmana phase, after the language had fallen out of popular use, arguably qualifying Classical Sanskrit as an early engineered language.

See also


- Akshara
- Devanagari
- Sanskrit literature
- Vrddhi
- Languages of India
- List of national languages of India
- List of Indian languages by total speakers

References


- The Sanskrit Language - T. Burrow - ISBN 8120817672
- Sanskrit Grammar - William D. Whitney - ISBN 8185557594
- Sanskrit Pronunciation - Bruce Cameron - ISBN 1557000212
- "Teach Yourself Sanskrit" - Prof. M. Coulson - ISBN 0340859903
- "A Sanskrit Grammar for Students" - A.A. Macdonell - ISBN 8124600945

External links


- [http://sanskrit.farfromreal.com Discover Sanskrit] A concise study of the Sanskrit language
- [http://bhagavata.org/glossary/ Lexicon] of Names, Essential terms and Sanskrit Words to the S'rîmad Bhâgavatam and the Bhagavad Gîtâ
- [http://bhagavata.org/downloads/SanskritDictionary.html Sanskrit-English dictionary] list of 13.000 basic-terms
- [http://webapps.uni-koeln.de/tamil/ Sanskrit, Tamil and Pahlavi Dictionaries] Monier-Williams dictionary online
- [http://bhagavata.org/downloads/sanskritgrammar.pdf Harivenu Dâsa - An Introductory Course based on S'rîla Jîva Gosvâmî's Grammar] a vaishnava version of Pânini's grammar: (pdf-file)
- [http://www.alkhemy.com/sanskrit/dict/dictall.txt Online Sanskrit Dictionary]
- [http://www.warnemyr.com/skrgram/ An Analytical Cross Referenced Sanskrit Grammar] By Lennart Warnemyr. Phonology, morphology and syntax, written in a semiformal style with full paradigms.
- [http://www.swargarohan.org/Glossary.htm Spiritual Sanskrit-English Dictionary]
- [http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?showforum=51 Sanskrit Discussion Forum]
- [http://sanskrit.gde.to/ Sanskrit Documents] Documents in ITX format of Upanishads, Stotras etc. and a metasite with links to translations, dictionaries, tutorials, tools and other Sanskrit resources.
- [http://www.balendu.com Free Sanskrit Word Processor: Madhyam] developed by Balendu Sharma Dadhich
- [http://www.sanskritweb.net Sanskritweb] Freely downloadable Sanskrit fonts and Sanskrit texts
- [http://www.geocities.com/giirvaani/ GiirvaaNi - Sanskrit Classical Literature with translation]
- [http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/xha71/pow2.htm The earliest dated illustrated Sanskrit manuscript in the world]
- [http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/cgi-bin/agrep-lindict?query=Sanskr.&category=full&boo=no&ignore=on&substr=on&order=all A list of Chinese words originated from Sanskrit]
- [http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/indologie/tamil/mwd_search.html Monier-Williams Dictionary - Searchable]
- [http://indica-et-buddhica.org/?q=node/8 Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary: DICT & HTML Downloadable Versions]
- [http://indica-et-buddhica.org/dict/lexica Indica-et-Buddhica.org Lexica (searchable Monier-Williams included)]
- [http://www.thekrishnastore.com/Detail.bok?no=2295&bar= Monier-Williams Dictionary - Searchable Digital Facsimile Edition] Freeware CD
- [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0000/ Monier-Williams Dictionary - Printable]
- [http://www.samskrita-bharati.org/ Samskrita Bharati]
- [http://sanskritlinks.blogspot.com Sanskrit Studies, Links and Information]
- [http://www.ece.lsu.edu/kak/bhate.pdf pAnini’s Grammar and Computer Science]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=san Ethnologue's Sanskrit report]
- [http://www.americansanskrit.com/ American Sanskrit Institute]
- [http://www.atmajyoti.org/sw_glossary.asp A brief Sanskrit Glossary] Lists commonly used words in spiritual writings
- [http://www.iit.edu/~laksvij/language/hindi.html Tranliterator] Transliterates from romanized to Unicode Sanskrit transliterator.
- [http://www.proz.com/sanskrit-to-english-translation-services Sanskrit Translations]
- [http://www.sanskrit-lamp.org/ A Sanskrit Tutor]
- [http://www.sanskrit-sanscrito.com.ar/ Sanskrit & Sánscrito] Sanskrit language, Yoga, Indian philosophies, blog, names, names of hatha yoga postures, Directory of Free Sanskrit Links, translations and much more (English-Spanish).
- [http://www.atma.ca/] Sanskrit web site, called ATMA (french) Category:Classical languages Category:Languages of India Category:Ancient languages
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Kamboja

Kamboja was the ancient name of a country, and the Indo-Iranian warrior tribe, the Kambojas, settled therein. The country is listed as one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas or great nations in ancient Buddhist texts, and was located in the Uttarapatha in extreme north-west of the Indian sub-continent, contiguous to the kingdom of Gandhara. It initially included the Pamirs, Badakshan, and territories as far as the Zeravshan valley in the doab of Oxus/Jaxartes. It approximated what is known today as the Galcha speaking region of Central Asia. Later, some sections of the trans-Hindu Kush Kambojas moved to southern side of the Hindukush and planted colonies in Kunar/Swat and as far as Rajauri in Kashmir. The Kambojas are attested to have had Indian as well as Iranian affinities (Macdonnel, Keith, W. K. Fraser, M. C. Gillet, etc).

Related Uses


- Camboja is the Portuguese name for Cambodia.
- Kamboja is also the Indonesian name for Cambodia.
- Kamboja also refers to: # The prince of the Kamboja Nation or Tribe (Panini, IV.1.168-175). # A descendant of the Kamboja Kshatriyas (Panini, IV.1.168-175). # A horse raised and bred in ancient Kamboja (also Kambojaka, Kamboji) (See: Halayudh Kosha). # An elephant native to, or coming from, Kamboja (also Kambu) (See: Nanaratha.manjari-421). # Silver or gold native to, or coming from Kamboja (also Kambu). # Name of a conch or shell native to Kamboja (also Kambu). # Name of Supari or Punnag (Rottleria tinctoria) native to or coming from Kamboja (See: Shabd.rattan.samanyavakosha). # Name of Somavalak or Karanj native to or coming from Kamboja (See: Shabd.rattan.samanyavakosha). # Name of Ayurvedic herbal medicine Mashaparni and Hingparni, imported from Kamboja (also called Kamboji) (See: Shabd.rattan.samanyavakosha). # Name of an ancient Raaga/Raagini (musical mode) originated in Kamboja country (also called Kamboji, Kambhoji & Kambodi). # A gold or silver bracelet, or bracelet in general (also Kambu). # Name of a mountain located in ancient Kamboja (Afghanistan), famous for its Kambu or Kambuka silver (Kautiliya Arthashastra, 02.13.10). Silver mines of Anderab, Wakhan and other locations in Badakshan were noted during Arabic rule (Geographical and Economical Studies in the Mahabharata, Upayana Parava, Journal of U.P. Historical Research Society, Vol XVI, Part II, p 46, Dr. Moti Chandra). Therefore, Kambu appears to be the name of a range of the Hindukush mountains in south-east Badakshan. # Kamboji: the language of the ancient Kambojas.

Some Time/Space Variants of "Kamboja"


- Kaamboja (In the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Vedic literature etc., hence Kaamboj).
- Kambhoja (Southern Indian texts, as in Kautiliya's Arthashastra, hence Kambhoj).
- Kaambhoja (In Southern Indian versions of ancient Sanskrit texts, hence Kaambhoj).
- Kumbhoja (Same as Kambhoja; name of an ancient town in Maharashtra; also, the name of an ancient Kamboja sage referenced in some recensions of the Ramayana).
- Camboja (Common variant spelings).
- Kambuja (as in dakshinatah Kambujaa.naam Vasisthaa.naam: See Paraskara Grhya-Sutram (2.1.23)).
- Kambuj (one from Kambuja, like a Kamboj is from Kamboja).
- Kaanboja (a variant of Kamboja; See Triya Chritra 217/verse 14 of Chritropakhyana of Dasam Granth; Hence Kaanboj). See also pages 21-23 of [http://www.gobindsadan.org/institute/dasam/pdf/v5_1.pdf].
- Kanboj (variant of Kamboj).
- Kanbuj (as in a coin: Kharal-putras Kanbuj Raspag: See Bharat ke Prachin Mudrank, by Swami Om Nand ji Sarasvati, 1973, Rohtak. Apparently Kanbuj is a variant of Kambuj/Kambuja, since m easily becomes n in Indo-Aryan languages, e.g Kambujiya = 'Kanbujiya).
- Kabuj (See Triya Chritra 217/verse 14 of the Charitropakhyana of Dasam Granth Sahib. Dasam Granth attests the term Kabuj as well as Kaanboj).
- Cambuja (Variant spellings of Kambuja).
- Kamboza (As in the name of the Kamboza-thadi Palace of Bayintnaung, Myanmar).
- Kamodza, (as in Kamodza-radza referenced in the tenth century Sanskrit-Tibetan Formulary [Ed J. Hacklin, Formulair sanskrit-tibetain du xe siecle, 59, 1.16; See also Ancient Kamboja in Iran and Islam, p 66, Dr H. W. Bailey])
- Kamoz, Caumoje, Camoje (Pushtu names for a clan of the Siah-Posh Kafirs of the Hindukush).
- Kamtoz (Another Pushtu name for a Katir clan of the Siah-Posh Kafirs of the Hindukush. Said to be a variant of Kamboz).
- Kambu (As in the name of an Asura clan, in conflict with Vedic Aryans, as referenced in (Markendeya Purana (8.1-6), Devi Mahatam (5.28.1-12)).
- Kaaboja (See Luders' Inscriptions No 176, 472. It references a Kamboja Buddhist Bhikshu from Nandinagar of ancient Kamboja).
- Kabojha or Kabojhiya or Kabhojika (In ancient Sinhalese cave inscriptions).
- Khamboja or Khaamboja ((Sometimes) Southern Indian spellings of Kamboja).
- Khamboj (from Khamboja).
- Kamboda, Kambhoda (alternative name for Kamboja or Kambhoja Raga; also Kambodi or Kambhodi).
- Kambojaka or Kambojika (Buddhist texts).
- Kamboika, Kamboi (name of a "landlocked port" town in Gujarat. Tenth century Grant records of Chalukya rulers show it as Kamboika (See Indian Antiquary VI, 1877, pp 191-92). The name is said to be a corruption of Pali Kambojika or Kambojaka.
- Kapisha (equivalent to Kamboja, as in the Ramayanamanjri by Pt Kshmendra of Kashmir.)
- Kau-fu (equivalent to Kambu; the Kamboja of Hiuen Tsiang: Dr. R. K. Mukerjee, Dr. Law).
- Kieu-feou (name of Kamboja in the Chinese recension of Tathagata Grhya-Sutra (Ratnakutsangraha).
- Kam-po-ce or Kam-po-ji (name of Kamboja in the Tibetan recension of Tathagata Grhya-Sutra (Ratnakutsangraha).
- Kan-po-chih (as in the writings of Chinese traveller Chou Ta-kuan (1296 A.D.))
- Kampu-chih (ancient Burmese name for Kamboja.)
- Kamuia, Kamuio (See Inscriptions A2, A3, E1/E' of Mathura Lion Capital; See also: [http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/etext.php?cki=CKI0048].)
- Kambocha (as in Ashoka's Rock Edicts of Bhubneshwar, Orissa).
- Kambosh (as in the Chidambram inscriptions of Tamil-Nadu.)
- Kabusha (as in the Buddhist text Mahamayuri; see also Indian Antiquaries, 52, part 2, 1923, S Levi)
- Kalbhoj (as in the name of prince Kalbhoj, eighth ruler of the Guhilot Dynasty and founder of the Mewar Dynasty of Rajasthan. Probably a variant of Kambhoj, since in Indo-Aryan languages, the consonant M can easily interchange with N and then L.)
- Komdei (a Ptolemian name for Komuda (?) or Komdesh/Kamdesh?; from Kambodesh(?), probably "Kambojdesh".)
- Kamboya or Kamboy (modern Kamboh; Shahbazgarhi Edicts of king Ashoka; also in Jain canon Uttaradhyana-Sutra 11/16.)
- Kamboi & Kamoi (as in some ancient Sikh writings, like those of Giani Gian Singh. cf Kamboy of Ashoka's Shabaazgarhi Edicts).
- Kamboh or Kanboh (as in medieval Muslim writings)
- Kambuh or Kanbuh (variants of Kamboh/Kanboh. In medieval Muslim writings).
- Kambho (obviously from Kambhoj).
- Kumbho (same as Kambho, obviously from Kumbhoj).
- Kumboh (as in The Martial Races of India, p 251, Sir George Fletcher MacMunn. Same as Kamboh).
- Kamo ("Ultra-prakrit/vulgate" form of Kamboj, used in the illiterate circles of Panjab).
- Komoi (a Ptolemian name for a tribe north of Bactria/Badakshan in Central Asia. Perhaps from Kamboi, which may be an alternative of Kamboika / Kamboyika /Kambojika).
- Tambyzoi (a Ptolemian name for a region on the Oxus/Badakshan, north of Hindukush, said to be a poor transliteration of Sanskrit Kamboja (Dr. S Levi).)
- Ambautai (from Kambautai, Ptolemian transliteration for Kamboja, a people/region in Paropamisadae, south of Hindukush (Dr. M. Witzel).
- Kambojan (adjectival use of Kamboja)
- Sanskrit Kamboja appears as K.b.u.ji.i.y, Kabujiya or perhaps Kabaujiya/Kaboujiya and Kambujiya or perhaps Kambaujiya ( OR with -n- in place of -m- as Kanbujiya or Kanbaujiya) of Old Persian inscriptions, and Cambyses of Greek writings. The same name appears as C-n-b-n-z-y in Aramaic, Kambuzia in Assyrian, Kambythet in Egyptian, Kam-bu-zi-ya or Ka-am-bu-zi-ya in Akkadian, Kan-bu-zi-ia or Kan-bu-si-ya in Elamite, and Kanpuziya in Susian language (cf: Ancient Kamboja in Iran and Islam, p 69, Dr H. W. Bailey). It appears to have been quite a popular name among the ancient Iranians, of whom the ancient Kambojas are said to have formed a clan. Category:Iranian peoples Category:Ancient peoples Category:Indo-European Category:Mahajanapadas

Indo-Iranian

Indo-Iranian can refer to:
- The Indo-Iranian languages
- The prehistoric Indo-Iranians (see also Aryan)

Kamboj


- Kamboj is frequently used as surname or last name by many Kambojs, currently living in India. Their Muslim counter-parts living in Pakistan mostly use Kamboh instead. The Kambojs/Kambohs are the modern reprentatives of ancient Kambojas, a well known Kshatriya clan of Indo-Iranian Aryans, stated to have had both Indian as well as Iranian affinities (Dr Keith , Dr Macdonnel, Vedic Index). See:
- Kambojas

- Kamboja


Kamboh

Kamboh is frequently used as surname or last name by Muslim Kambojs, currently living in Pakistan. See:
- Kamboj


India

The Republic of India is a country in South Asia which comprises of the majority of the Indian subcontinent. India has a coastline which stretches over seven thousand kilometres, and shares its borders with Pakistan to the west, the People's Republic of China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, and Bangladesh and Myanmar on the east. On the Indian Ocean, it is adjacent to the island nations of the Maldives on the southwest, Sri Lanka on the south, and Indonesia on the southeast. India also claims a border with Afghanistan to the northwest. India is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. It is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of over one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical