Kambojas
Kambojas are a very ancient people of north-western parts of ancient Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan , frequently mentioned in ancient texts, although not in the Rig Veda. They are known to belong to the ancient branch of the Iranian peoples of the speakers of Indo-European languages.
The Kambojas still live as Kamboj and Kamboh in the greater Panjab, and as Kams/Kamoz and Katirs/Kamtoz of the Siyaposh tribe in the Nuristan province of Afghanistan. Their numbers have greatly dwindled, and the total population still known by these forms of their ancient name is currently estimated to be about 1.5 million.
Ethnicity & Language of Kambojas
- Main article: Ethnicity of
Kambojas
Numerous classical sources indicate that ancient Kamboja was a center of Iranian civilization
[1]. This is
evident from the Mazdean religious customs of the
ancient Kambojas [2], as well as
from the Avestan language they spoke.[3]
It is now widely accepted among scholars that the Kambojas were an
Avestan-speaking group of East Iranians, and were located mainly
in north-eastern Afghanistan and parts of Tajikstan [4]. Some
scholars also believe that the Zoroastrian religion
originated in eastern Iran in the land of the Kambojas
[5].
The tribal name Kamboja has been traced to
the royal name Kambujiya of the Old Persian
Inscriptions (known as Cambyses to the Greeks).
[6] [7][8]
Kambujiya or Kambaujiya was the name of several great Persian kings of the
Achaemenid line. This name
also appears written as C-n-b-n-z-y in Aramaic, Kambuzia in Assyrian,
Kambythet in Egyptian,
Kam-bu-zi-ia in Akkadian,
Kan-bu-zi-ia in Elamite, and Kanpuziya in
Susian language. The
Khmer of Angkor believed their mythical
ancestors to be the people of "Kamboja" and traced their lineage to Kambujiya,
hence the modern name of Cambodia, "Kampuchea".
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