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KambojaKam-Desa
c. 700 BCE–c. 200 BCE
Kambojas and other Mahajanapadas in the Post-Vedic period.
Capital	Rajapura (Eastern branch) Kapisi (Western branch)
Common languages	Vedic Sanskrit (Eastern Branch) Eastern Iranian (Western Branch)
Religion	Historical Vedic religion (early) Hinduism (late) Zoroastrianism
Government	Republic (early) Monarchy (later)
Maharaja
Historical era	Iron Age
• Established	c. 700 BCE
• Disestablished	c. 200 BCE
Today part of	India Pakistan Afghanistan Tajikistan

Kamboja (Template:Lang-sa) was a kingdom of Iron Age India that spanned parts of South and Central Asia, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature. Eponymous with the kingdom name, the Kambojas according to the Mahabharata, were a people of the Kshatriya caste inhabiting the Kamboja Mahajanapada region, forming one of the sixteen nations that made up ancient India from the sixth BCE to the fourth centuries CE.

Earlier, during the late Vedic age, the Kambojas had emerged as an important part of the Indo-Aryan Vedic people with a prominent place among the Kshatriya tribes of the Mahabharata. They have been described as residing at the crossroads of ancient regions of the north-western Indian subcontinent and Central Asia such as Gandhara and Bactria, in the contemporary nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The separate but related Parama Kamboja Kingdom established in the latter area.

Etymology

The name Kamboja may derive from Kam and bhoj, or Kamma and boja, referring to the people of a country known as "Kum" or "Kam". The mountainous highlands where the Jaxartes and its confluents arise are called the highlands of the Komedes by Ptolemy. Ammianus Marcellinus also names these mountains as Komedas.

Geography

The historical boundaries detailing the confederation of the Kambojas is varied. All scholarly and literary accounts encompass a large area at a crossroads between South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia.

D. C. Sircar supposed the Kambojas to have lived in various settlements in the wide area lying between Punjab, Iran, to the south of Balkh.The Mahabharata locates the Kambojas on the near side of the Hindu Kush as neighbors to the Daradas and according to Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri their capital was located at Rajapura in modern day Jammu.

According to R.S. Sharma the Parama Kamboja Kingdom was "located in Central Asia in the Pamir area which largely covered modern Tajikistan. In Tajikistan, the remains of a horse, chariots and spoked wheels, cremation, and Svastika, which are associated with the Indo-aryan speakers dating to between 1500 and 1000 BC, have been found."

History

The earliest reference to the Kambojas is in the works of Pāṇini, around the 5th century BCE. Other pre-Common Era references appear in the Manusmriti (2nd century) and parts of the Mahabharata, both of which described the Kambojas as former kshatriyas (warrior caste). In section 10.43-10.44 the Manusmriti mentions the Kambojas in a list of Kshatriya tribes, who in consequence of omissions in performance of sacred rites and failure to see Brahmins, had gradually become Mleccha.

Kautiliya's Arthashastra and Ashoka's Edict No. XIII attest that the Kambojas followed a republican constitution. Pāṇini's Sutras tend to convey that the Kamboja of Pāṇini was a "Kshatriya monarchy", but "the special rule and the exceptional form of derivative" he gives to denote the ruler of the Kambojas implies that the king of Kamboja was a titular head (king consul) only.

The Aśvakas

The Kambojas were famous in ancient times for their excellent breed of horses and as remarkable horsemen. According to the Mahāvastu(ii, 185), it states that 'The superb horses of the Kambojas are praised' and according to the 'Sumangala-vilasena'(vol 1, p. 124) the Kambojas were described as the 'home of the horses'.

It was on account of their supreme position in horse (Ashva) culture that the ancient Kambojas were also popularly known as Ashvakas, i.e. horsemen. Their clans in the Kunar and Swat valleys have been referred to as Assakenoi and Aspasioi in classical writings, and Ashvakayanas and Ashvayanas in Paninis', Aṣṭādhyāyī.

We thus get another name for the Kambojas, Asvakas. The Kambojas were famous for their horses, and as cavalry-men, ‘ horsemen,’ was the term popularly applied to them... The Aśvakas inhabited Eastern Afghanistan, and were included within the more general term Kambojas.

— K.P. Jayaswal, Hindu polity, p. 121, 140

Elsewhere Kamboja is regularly mentioned as "the country of horses" (Asvanam ayatanam), and it was perhaps this well-established reputation that won for the horsebreeders of Bajaur and Swat the designation Aspasioi (from the Old Pali aspa) and assakenoi (from the Sanskrit asva "horse").

— Etienne Lamotte

Confronting the Macedonians

The Kambojas entered into conflict with Alexander the Great as he invaded Central Asia. The Macedonian conqueror made short shrift of the arrangements of Darius and after over-running the Achaemenid Empire he dashed into today's eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. There he encountered resistance from the Kamboja Aspasioi and Assakenoi tribes.

According to the historian J. W. McCrindle, the Kambojas gained a reputation for deploying their Women alongside their husbands during the conflicts with Alexander the Great at the battle of Nazaga, the capital of the Assekanois, which he describes from the extracts of Diodorus Siculus.

When many were thus wounded and not a few killed, the women, taking the arms of the fallen, fought side by side with the men, for the imminence of the danger and the great interests at stake, forced them to do violence to their nature and to take an active part in the defence.

— J.W. McCrindle, The invasion of Alexander the Great as described by Arrian, Q. Curtis, Diodorus, Plutarch and Justin, p. 270

Mauryan empire

According to the Mudrarakshasa when Chandragupta Maurya made his alliance with the Trigarta king, Parvatek, his military composed of men from the Kamboja republic among others which are mentioned in the list. Rock Edict XIII of Ashoka tells us that the Kambojas had enjoyed autonomy under the Mauryas, and according to Paul J. Kosmin the Kambojas and Ghandharans represented the Western border of the empire.The republics mentioned in Rock Edict V are the Yonas, Kambojas, Gandharas, Nabhakas and the Nabhapamkitas, they are designated as araja vishaya in Rock Edict XIII, which means that they were kingless, republican polities that formed a self-governing political unit under the Maurya emperors.Ashoka sent missionaries to the Kambojas to convert them to Buddhism, and recorded this fact in his Rock Edict V.

Invasion into India

During the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, clans of the Kambojas from Central Asia in alliance with the Sakas, Pahlavas and the Yavanas entered present-day India, spreading into Sindhu, Saurashtra, Malwa, Rajasthan, Punjab and Surasena, and set up independent principalities in western and south-western India. Later, a branch of the same people took Gauda and Varendra territories from the Palas and established the Kamboja-Pala Dynasty of Bengal in Eastern India.

There are references to the hordes of the Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, and Pahlavas in the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana. In these verses one may see glimpses of the struggles of the Hindus with the invading hordes from the north-west. The royal family of the Kamuias mentioned in the Mathura Lion Capital are believed to be linked to the royal house of Taxila in Gandhara. In the medieval era, the Kambojas are known to have seized north-west Bengal (Gauda and Radha) from the Palas of Bengal and established their own Kamboja-Pala Dynasty. Indian texts like Markandeya Purana, Vishnu Dharmottari Agni Purana,

Eastern Kambojas

A branch of Kambojas seems to have migrated eastwards towards Nepal and Tibet in the wake of Kushana (1st century) or else Huna (5th century) pressure and hence their notice in the chronicles of Tibet ("Kam-po-tsa, Kam-po-ce, Kam-po-ji") and Nepal (Kambojadesa). The 5th-century Brahma Purana mentions the Kambojas around Pragjyotisha and Tamralipta.

The Kambojas of ancient India are known to have been living in north-west, but in this period (9th century AD), they are known to have been living in the north-east India also, and very probably, it was meant Tibet.

The last Kambojas ruler of the Kamboja-Pala Dynasty Dharmapala was defeated by the south Indian Emperor Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty in the 11th century.

Rulers

Known Kamboja rulers are:

• Kamatha
• Chandravarma Kamboja
• Kamatha Kamboja
• Prapaksha Kamboja
• Sudakshina Kamboja
• Srindra Varmana Kamboj

See also

• Kamboj
• Mahajanapada
• Etymology of Kapisa
• History of India
• History of Afghanistan

References

1. ^ Dr Buddha Prakash maintains that, based on the evidence of Kalidasa's Raghuvamsha, Raghu defeated the Hunas on river Vamkshu (Raghu vamsha 4.68), and then he marched against the Kambojas (4.69-70). These Kambojas were of Iranian affinities who lived in Pamirs and Badakshan. Xuanzang calls this region Kiumito which is thought to be Komdei of Ptolemy and Kumadh or Kumedh of Muslim writers (See: Studies in Indian History and Civilization, Agra, p 351; India and the World, 1964, p 71, Dr Buddha Prakash; India and Central Asia, 1955, p 35, P. C. Bagch).
2. Numerous scholars have located the Kamboja realm on the southern side of the Hindu Kush ranges in the Kabul, Swat, and Kunar Valleys, and the Parama-Kambojas in the territories on the north side of the Hindu Kush in modern-day Pamir and Badakhshan region in Tajikistan. See: Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana Parva, 1945, p 11-13, Moti Chandra - India; Geographical Data in the Early Purāṇas: A Critical Study, 1972, p 165/66, M. R. Singh
3. Vedic Index I, p. 138, Macdonnel, Dr Keith.
4. Ethnology of Ancient Bhārata, 1970, p. 107, Dr Ram Chandra Jain.
5. The Journal of Asian Studies; 1956, p. 384, Association for Asian Studies, Far Eastern Association (U.S.).
6. "Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva". INDIAN CULTURE. p. 34. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
7. Pande, G. C.; Pande, Govind Chandra (1995). Foundations of Indian Culture. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 978-81-208-0712-9.
8. Indian Historical Quarterly, 1963, p 403; Central Asiatic provinces of the Maurya Empire, p403, H.C. Seth
9. History and Archaeology of India's Contacts with Other Countries, from Earliest Times to 300 B.C., 1976, p 152, Shashi Asthana; Mahabharata Myth and Reality, 1976, p 232, Swarajya Prakash Gupta, K. S. Ramachandran.
10. "The Town of Darwaz in Badakshan is still called Khum (Kum) or Kala-i-Khum. It stands for the valley of Basht. The name Khum or Kum conceals the relics of ancient Kamboja" (Journal of the Asiatic Society, 1956, p 256, Buddha Prakash ).
11. Sircar, D. C. (1971). Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India. p. 100. ISBN 9788120806900.
12. Bimala Charan Law. Some Ksatriya Tribes Of Ancient India. BRAOU, Digital Library Of India. University Of Calcutta. p. 236.
13. Sharma, R. S. (2006-09-18). India's Ancient Past. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-908786-0.
14. Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times, Parts I and II., 1955, p 52, Dr Kashi Prasad Jayaswal - Constitutional history; Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja - Kamboja (Pakistan).
15. "Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva". INDIAN CULTURE. p. 36. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
16. "Par ailleurs le Kamboja est régulièrement mentionné comme la "patrie des chevaux" (Asvanam ayatanam), et cette reputation bien etablie gagné peut-etre aux eleveurs de chevaux du Bajaur et du Swat l'appellation d'Aspasioi (du v.-p. aspa) et d'assakenoi (du skt asva "cheval")". E. Lamotte, Historie du Bouddhisme Indien, p. 110. (WP translation. Quotation should be taken from the published English translation: Lamotte 1988, p. 100)
17. Panjab Past and Present, pp 9-10; also see: History of Porus, pp 12, 38, Buddha Parkash
18. Proceedings, 1965, p 39, by Punjabi University. Dept. of Punjab Historical Studies - History.
19. "The invasion of India by Alexander the Great as described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch and Justin : being translations of such portions of the works of these and other classical authors as describe Alexander's campaigns in Afghanistan, the Punjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and Karmania / with an introduction containing a life of Alexander, copious notes, ilustrations, maps and indices by J.W. M'Crindle". Wellcome Collection. p. 270. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
20. Kumar, Raj (2008). History Of The Chamar Dynasty : (From 6Th Century A.D. To 12Th Century A.D.). Gyan Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-7835-635-8.
21. Thakur, Molu Ram (1997). Myths, Rituals, and Beliefs in Himachal Pradesh. Indus Publishing. ISBN 978-81-7387-071-2.
22. ^ "Political History of Ancient India", H. C. Raychaudhuri, B. N. Mukerjee, University of Calcutta, 1996.
23. H. C. Raychaudhury, B. N. Mukerjee; Asoka and His Inscriptions, 3d Ed, 1968, p 149, Beni Madhab Barua, Ishwar Nath Topa.
24. Kosmin, Paul J. (2014-06-23). The Land of the Elephant Kings: Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-72882-0.
25. Hindu Polity, A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times, 1978, p 117-121, K. P. Jayswal; Ancient India, 2003, pp 839-40, V. D. Mahajan; Northern India, p 42, Mehta Vasisitha Dev Mohan etc
26. Bimbisāra to Aśoka: With an Appendix on the Later Mauryas, 1977, p 123, Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya.
27. The North-west India of the Second Century B.C., 1974, p 40, Mehta Vasishtha Dev Mohan - India; Tribes in Ancient India, 1973, p 7
28. Yar-Shater 1983, p. 951
29. Geographical Data in the Early Purāṇas: A Critical Study, 1972, p 168, M. R. Singh - India.
30. History of Ceylon, 1959, p 91, Ceylon University, University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, Hem Chandra Ray, K. M. De Silva.
31. Pande (R.) 1984, p. 93
32. Shrava 1981, p. 12
33. Rishi, 1982, p. 100
34. See: Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol II, Part I, p xxxvi; see also p 36, Sten Konow; Indian Culture, 1934, p 193, Indian Research Institute; Cf: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1990, p 142, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland - Middle East.
35. Indian Historical Quarterly, 1963, p 127
36. Shastri and Choudhury 1982, p. 112
37. B. C. Sen, Some Historical Aspects of the Inscriptions of Bengal, p. 342, fn 1
38. M. R. Singh, A Critical Study of the Geographical Data in the Early Puranas, p. 168
39. Ganguly 1994, p. 72, fn 168
40. H. C. Ray, The Dynastic History of Northern India, I, p. 309
41. A. D. Pusalkar, R. C. Majumdar et al., History and Culture of Indian People, Imperial Kanauj, p. 323,
42. R. R. Diwarkar (ed.), Bihar Through the Ages, 1958, p. 312
43. Ancient Indian History and Civilization by Sailendra Nath Sen p.281
44. The Cambridge Shorter History of India p.145

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External links

• Kamboj Society - Ancient Kamboja Country

• Mahajanapadas
• Kambojas
• Historical Iranian peoples
• Kingdoms in the Mahabharata
• Ancient history of Afghanistan
• Ancient history of Pakistan