Can someone on here break down what the folk story is on the creation of the Khmer people? Just roughly or point me to a good resource please. I am a plugging something a little more like this kind of story all traceable back to mitochondrial Eve. I was really surprised to alert an educated Khmer buddy about the whole Out of Africa I and II ideas but he was very staid about these Khmer creation stories, I just couldn't get the picture from his telling.

Like this?
https://pjcoggan.wordpress.com/tag/khmer-origin-myth/

(This is one version of the Khmer foundation-legend; what they all have in common is the idea that the Khmer people spring from the union of a prince from India and a native naga princess).

Thank you Sir, this is exactly what is needed.

cheers

bossho wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 5:25 pm Thank you Sir, this is exactly what is needed.

cheers

If you find anything else, please post. Am quite interested.

bossho wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:24 pm Can someone on here break down what the folk story is on the creation of the Khmer people? ....

some folk tales may have been co-opted by Buddhists.
Angkor Wat may depict a creation myth on one of the wall freezes.
One essential element of Buddhist myth is Mount Meru, so in any Buddhist country a Mount Meru would have to be identified.
not exactly what you wanted but might be a part of the story.
there is a free online course from MIT about the history of architecture offered by coursera. it has a section on khmer.

Yes, if I can swing the courses... it s interesting to me that you go into some details but you name Buddhist influence vs Hindu influences. Unless of course you are just including Cambodia as Buddhist as this has been the official religion since abt. 1200 CE and then you are just including all things Buddhist as part of Hinduism as some modern scholars do.
.....................................................................................pausing.........................................................pausing..................................................................................................................pausing............................................................................................................................................................................................it seems necessary, that I get into provocative discussions with others so that I can remember what I know and sharpen my tools.

Thank you.

bossho wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:27 pm Yes, if I can swing the courses... it s interesting to me that you go into some details but you name Buddhist influence vs Hindu influences. Unless of course you are just including Cambodia as Buddhist as this has been the official religion since abt. 1200 CE ....

both religions have had a presence in southeast asia.
cambodia may have been part of the hindu davarvati/srivijaya culture in the first century, as thailand was. until buddhism muscled in.
in any case these two religions share some mythology

Anyone hear tell of a Kon Khmer creation myth? As in a BCE era, animistic, paleo people, story of creation? Got to be something out there.

@Multipox Before I thought you were using The Buddhist label out of convenience and using it under the larger grouping that is Hinduism.
Now, I see we are from divergent schools of thought and I'm wanting to ask a bit more from you to flesh out the new ideas for me.

I throw a word like Hinduism around and all I really intend is to say, "Of India".

Just to wind this up I'll go to the well and ask the trite and brutally overused question s about your thoughts on the Angkor period's most famous building:

What religions or epics are depicted on the Central Temple of Angkor ?
Does answering this compel a sense of re ordering required to maintain your Total View?

It seems that people move from India to the Indonesian area and then to Cambodia.
Some clues like similar words in both Indonesian & Khmer language (although different alphabet) like the word "kapal"which means "boat", and some fruits names as far as i know.
Also great similarities beetween Javanese temples and sculptures and the Khmer ones.
I have a pic of a book cover about that somewhere, but i think i already posted it on some thread down here.

Ah, found it


Prambanan temple, for example

Looks familiar ?

I visited those places multiple times with great pleasure consecutively to having watched slightly too much of Indiana Jones and the temple of doom in my teens i guess.
Jungle Book might be guilty too. Damn painted backgrounds, they got me long time


I really need to go see Myanmar and India some time...hopefully one day...one lifetime isn't enough for all those endless temples