How an Indian Merchant Became Cambodia's First King: a Story of Indianization

Yep, you read that right. Cambodia’s first king (Kaundinya) was an Indian merchant!

But Kaundinya is more than just a man. He symbolizes over 1000 years of Indian influence in the region, a connection that would change the face of Southeast Asia forever.

In this video, I'll introduce you to the Kaundinya-Soma love story, but I'll also introduce you to many other Indians and Southeast Asians whose experiences reveal a lot about the Indianization process.

In fact, we'll even explore a "reverse" story: that of Nandi Varman II, a SE Asian prince who claims the Pallava Dynasty throne and becomes the greatest of the Pallava kings.

Enjoy!

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Further reading:
"Ocean of Churn," by Sanjeev Sanyal
"The Indianized States of Southeast Asia," by George Coedes

[bearuehara]

My grandma came from a royal family in India "Singha" who married into the laotian royal family. My mum always told us stories about how we're descendants of Nagas. How the Naga king came for my great grandfather and asked him to return to their realm. This video is interesting.

[summersong]

Hoping to see a video of India's influence to my country, Phillippines before the Abrahamic religions reached our shores. It always baffles me that Hinduism is the first major world religion that reached our islands and their impact is not well studied enough. Im pretty sure that our pre-Spanish history, The land we now call Philippines today belong to Indo-sphere of influence rather than the Sino-sphere just like most SEA nations as shown in this video.

[quiet]

Love to our Indonesian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Balinese cousins - from India.

[stefanoriva]

As an European (Italian) I had not idea of all of this! It's really beautiful to know some bits of history from a not eurocentric perspective!

[pradyutdas]

You are showing those important parts of Indian history and beyond which were not taught to us well or which no one cared about in India. Stories of once significant but now neglected Kalinga are badly needed to be discussed more. Appreciate your research and presentation brother.

[harshitrajsingh]

That was actually the beauty of India. They influenced the culture and reformed the societies of southeast Asia without any Violence or threats or any conquests as it is mentioned in this video as well. Mind you that India was strong enough to conquer Southeast Asia but they took the peaceful route. Rich cultural heritage of India!!! 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

[yusrikh]

I've recently learned about the first Khmer kingdom after a lecture given by my teachers. So it is quite nice to learn more about the funan kingdom.

[naadanparinda]

Wow wow wow.
I feel ashamed of myself that despite being an Indian I never got to learn these fascinating stories in our History Books, just had read 1-2 pages on Pallavas back in school.
Thanks, Old Compass.

[Mrityormokshiya]

Extremely well researched video. As a Hindu, I'm really happy to see content which explain history which is rare to find on youtube

[byronbryan]

Love this channel to bits🙌🏼. One of the few that covers non western-european history. All my life I've been taught Romans, Vikings, Normams, Galileo, L. da vinci, Shakespeares, Napoleon, Hitler etc. but was ignorant of history from other civilisations and didn't really process the fact that time also passes in other parts of the world

[danialroslan]

Loving the new illustrations! More of SEAsia please!

[NoRiceToEat]

As and Artist and history enthusiast I enjoyed this video immensely!
The Indo-southeastasian history is so fascinating and the art is just a cherry on top.

[dasoham]

It is pure culture of our dear odisha state . Thanks for spread it . We proud on our sadhava pua .

[adityaguru]

I am in love with South East Asia. Love from India ❤️

[zxcytdfxy]

Much love from India to all our allies. Keep striving for greatness.

[shreyashukla]

We are one giant family who looks like we're separate but we're not. We are one. ❤️

[AmilaD]

I’m not an Indian, but I truly appreciate the contributions of Indians to the world. They’re just incredible. Thanks for sharing this!

But what’s with those eyes? Indians have the most beautiful eyes I’ve seen, nothing like what’s depicted.

[mohanramanujam]

Remarkable detailing of a complex connection. Being of SEA and Indian upbringing and a student of couture and history, this is so well articulated with many details I did not know about

[loney]

I am from Odisha (former Kalinga) and heard similar stories from my parents & it has some mentions in regional history texts. Glad to see that this is being covered by an international channel.

Although the "Sadhaba" community do not exist any more but from the history books & religious stories they seemed to be the most prosperous community in the ancient times, their decline started around 1200 AD when Vedic Brahmins arrived from other parts of India who would soon slowly replace them as the elites. May be the patronage of the royals shifted. Alas their past glory is still revered in annual festivals - "Bali Yatra", "Boita Bandana" & "Khudurkuni Osha"

The exotic beautiful red insect - Red Velvet Mite or Trombidiidae is named as "Sadhaba Bohu" (Newly wed Sadhaba girl) in Odisha.

[kesiyak.s.]

Thanks for the video... I had doubts about how the South East Asian cultures were so similar to my South Indian culture and now I know