Every culture has a story that explains its origins and sets it apart as unique. Narratives concerning the origin of the Khmer may be traced to literary and historical records from China and Cambodia, as well as to traditional, oral folklore. The tale of Kaundinya and Soma recounts the genesis of the Khmer people and the founding of their ancient kingdom. This theme is of special importance to the Khmer diaspora, who look to their folklore to remind themselves of who they are through an understanding of their legendary ancestors, especially in the diverse melting pot of American culture. This Cambodian origin-myth hearkens back to a legendary past in the first few centuries of the Common Era when Hindu immigrants established political and cultural toeholds throughout Southeast Asia, and has parallels with a number of stories from other places in that region.
The story begins long, long ago when a Brahman prince had a dream of a beautiful kingdom on the shores of a great lake. The prince searched for the location in his vision, and when he reached what is now Cambodia, he was attacked by a serpent princess, the daughter of the Naga king in those parts. Shooting an enchanted arrow from his magic bow into her boat, Prince Kaundinya subdued Princess Soma. Having roughly wooed her, he became determined to take her as his wife. Kaundinya dressed Soma as a proper princess, and in return Soma’s father gave his new son-in-law a great gift: he drained the submerged land under the waters until a fertile new country emerged. This became the first kingdom of the Khmer, and Kaundinya and Soma became its first king and queen, as well as the progenitors of the ensuing Khmer dynasty.
In a way this folktale tells the story of its own composition, in that it conflates Khmer and Indian narrative elements in its own account of the origins of Cambodia’s first kingdom. In such dynastic folklore, it is not unusual to find a story of a conquering warrior prince who establishes his right to rule by mating with a female sovereignty spirit, a being who represents the people falling under the dominion of that new prince. In this tale we see this concept extended to emphasize the dual origins of the people in question. Indeed, the centrality of the naga, a fusion of the Indian serpent demon with the water spirits of indigenous Khmer tradition, is a telling detail. In this tale the native Khmer princess, clearly a supernatural being, is imbued with Indian mythic elements and characteristics that emphasize this conflation.
Furthermore, in addition to offering a quasi-historical explanation for connections between the Indian and Khmer cultures, the notion of dual origins is a recurrent theme in the story of Kaundinya and Soma: the ancestral father and mother of the Khmer come together in a union that binds together the lineage and traditions of an invading priestly Indian prince with those of an indigenous magical serpent princess. The Khmer are the fruit of this union, and thus rightly share in the heritage of both of these ancestors. Moreover, even the physical landscape of the legendary foundational kingdom of the Khmer is wrought of the land beneath the lake, and thus belongs to the worlds of both water and earth. Given the geographical and historical significance to Cambodia of the Mekong River and its tributaries, in addition to the Tonle Sap Lake, this duality of soil and water seems every bit as significant as the ethnic and cultural oppositions outlined in this tale. Thus this story of the ancient origins of the Khmer people also offers a distinct perspective of the ancestral homeland to contemporary Cambodian Americans.
Tum Teav, Star-Crossed Cambodian Lovers
Known as the Cambodian Romeo and Juliet, Tum Teav is a pillar of Cambodian literature and permeates Khmer culture; it is therefore a fundamental touchstone of ethnic identity among Cambodian Americans. The star-crossed lovers of this Cambodian love tragedy are the Buddhist monk Tum and Teav, a teenage girl. While the young lovers have declared their commitment to each other, the girl’s mother wants Teav to marry the king, and tricks her into it. Tum is killed after an abortive attempt to stop the ceremony during which he publicly kisses Teav. Heartbroken, Teav commits suicide to join her beloved Tum in death. The subject of folktales as well as literary texts, Tum Teav has been reimagined recently in diverse media including in comic format and on film. Purported to be based on historical personages, Tum Teav also might suggest insight into the Buddhist influences upon Cambodian culture.
C. Fee
C. Fee
See also Folklore and Folktales; Founding Myths
Further Reading
Gaudes, Rüdiger. 1993. “Kaundinya, Preah Thaong, and the ‘Na¯gı¯ Soma¯’: Some Aspects of a Cambodian Legend.” Asian Folklore Studies 52 (2): 333–358.
Monod, G. H. 2013. Women’s Wiles: Cambodian Legends. Translated by Solang Uk. Holmes Beach, FL: DatAsia.
Thakur, Upendra. 1986. Some Aspects of Asian History and Culture. New Delhi: Abhinav.