Sage Kambu Swayambhuva

Who is Sage Kambu Swayambhuva?

Kambu Swayambhuva was a Hindu sage prince of Kamboja lineage who finds mention along with sage Agastya, Kaundinya Swayambhuva, king Rajendra Chola, king Ashoka Maurya and king Pushyamitra Shunga in Shloka-22 in Ekamata Stotra. The legend holds that Kambu Swayambhuva was a learned prince who had initially been an Indian king. He had ventured into the Far East and entered an area having jungles that was being ruled by a king of Naga lineage. Defeating the Naga king, prince Kambu married his daughter Mera and developed the land into a fertile and flourishing country. The combination of Kambu and Mera names is said to have given rise to the name Khmer according to George Coedes. Sage-prince Kambu of the Cambodian legends, to all probability, belonged to the Kamboja lineage and appears to have sailed from Indian subcontinent, probably from Saurashtra/Gujarat on the west coast of India and established a small Kamboja kingdom in Bassac around Vat-Ph'u hill in Mekong Basin. In ancient Chinese accounts, this kingdom is known as Chenla. The time frame for this event could be the later half of the 4th century AD. Sage prince Kambu was succeeded by his little son Shrutavarma Kambuja who ruled in 5th century AD. Shrutavarma was succeeded by his son Shreshthavarma Kambuja who was followed by king Viravarma Kambuja. Princess Kambujarajalakshmi, the queen of prince Bhavavarman I, was from the line of Kambu Swayambhuva and it was through her that Bhavavarman I inherited the royal lineage and became king of Kambuja. The Kamboja power established by sage prince Kambu in Indo-China, however, did see many ups and downs in the succeeding centuries before culminating into Angkorean fame. Around the 8th century AD, the kings of Shailendra dynasty seized control of Chenla but at the start of the 9th century, the Kambuja family reasserted itself under a capable Kamboja prince Jayavarman II, shook off the foreign yoke, unified the Land Chenla and Water Chenla and renamed the unified country as Kambuja after his family's lineage. Thus began the long line of Kambuja princes and also the famed Angkorean period in Cambodian history which was to reach to glorious heights in the succeeding centuries.