Friday, September 30, 2011

Indian Saptaprakriti and Sattarattana Concepts in Ancient Cambodia

            The Indian concepts of Saptaprakriti of Rastra or seven elements of a State and Sattarattana of Cakravartina or seven precious elements of a Universal Monarch were found out their existences in Cambodia since at least during sixth century according to inscription evidences and Chinese records. These concepts were very important for model formation of a government body and uniform elements of a universal ruler. Angkor and Post-Angkor inscriptions provide these terms clearly but the detail scriptures about these concepts have not been found. So there is still some doubt whether these concepts were realized in political domain of ancient Cambodia or not. However, I have recently discovered a manuscript on the concept of Saptaprakriti in a Royal Scientific Code or Rajanitisastra. This paper intends to discuss the continuity of these conceptual realizations in Cambodia before the administrative reformation of French power. 

This paper will present to the conference on Asian Encounters: Network of Cultural Interaction that will be held at the University of New Delhi on November 1st-4th, 2011. I have been invited to the conference by the organizers through Indian Embassy in Cambodia

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