Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
Both were attacked by and ultimately succumbed to the same
enemies.
The Brahmanism of Camboja, as we know it from the inscriptions, was so
largely concerned with the worship of this "Royal God" that it might
almost be considered a department of the court. It seems to have been
thought essential to the dignity of a Sovereign who aspired to be more
than a local prince, that his Chaplain or preceptor should have a
pontifical position. A curious parallel to this is shown by those
mediæval princes of eastern Europe who claimed for their chief bishops
the title of patriarch as a complement to their own imperial
pretensions. In its ultimate form the Cambojan hierarchy was the work
of Jayavarman II, who, it will be remembered, reestablished the
kingdom after an obscure but apparently disastrous interregnum. He
made the priesthood of the Royal God hereditary in the family of
Śivakaivalya and the sacerdotal dynasty thus founded enjoyed during
some centuries a power inferior only to that of the kings.
In the inscriptions of Sdok Kâk Thom[284] the history of this family is
traced from the reign of Jayavarman II to 1052. The beginning of the
story as related in both the Sanskrit and Khmer texts is interesting but
obscure. It is to the effect that Jayavarman, anxious to assure his
position as an Emperor (Cakravartin) independent of Javâ[285], summoned
from Janapada a Brahman called Hiranyadâma, learned in magic
(siddhividyâ), who arranged the rules (viddhi) for the worship of the
Royal God and taught the king's Chaplain, Śivakaivalya, four treatises
called Vrah Vinâśikha, Nayottara, Sammoha and Śiraścheda. These works
are not otherwise known[286]. The king made a solemn compact that "only
the members of his (Śivakaivalya's) maternal[287] family, men and women,
should be Yâjakas (sacrificers or officiants) to the exclusion of all
others." The restriction refers no doubt only to the cult of the Royal
God and the office of court chaplain, called Purohita, Guru or Hotri, of
whom there were at least two.
The outline of this narrative, that a learned Brahman was imported and
charged with the instruction of the royal chaplain, is simple and
probable but the details are perplexing. The Sanskrit treatises
mentioned are unknown and the names singular. Janapada as the name of
a definite locality is also strange[288], but it is conceivable that
the word may have been used in Khmer as a designation of India or a
part of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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