Kamboja (name) - Cambysene

Cambysene

Bordering on the Caucasus mountains west of Armenia, there was an ancient region which Strabo attests as Kambysēnē. It comprised a rugged region through which a road connecting Caucasian Albania and Caucasian Iberia passed. The Greek form of the name i.e. Kambysēnē, must have been derived in the Hellenistic period from an indigenous name, corresponding to Armenian Kʿambēčan, with the common ending -ēnē. In Georgian it is written Kambečovani, in Arabic Qambīzān. In Sanskrit, it is believed to have been transliterated as Kamboja. Though not attested prior to Strabo, the region Cambysene and the rivers Cyrus and Cambyses are believed to have born these name since remote antiquity. The tribal people living around this region were also called by the same name. Strabo also attests two rivers viz: Cyrus (modern Kura) and Cambyses or Kambyses (modern Jori or Jora), the latter was a tributary of the former. These territorial and river names Kambysene and Cambyses which occurred north of Iran have been linked to ethno-geographical name Kambuja/Kamboja of Sanskrit tradition. According to Ernst Herzfeld, the names of Cyrus and Cambyses rivers, as well as the Achaemenid names Kurush and Kambujiya, were derived from two ethnics Kuru and Kamboja. The name Kambujiya occurs in Egypt as Kambuza, Kambatet (rather Kambuzia ) as well as Kambunza. Dr Chandra Chakravarty states that the hordes, who had participated in the ancient invasion of Iran along with Yautiyas were the Nordic Scythians (Kuru-Kambojas) from around the Kambysene region near Mt Caucasus. A branch of these Kambysene Scythians later mixed with the Xsatyatia Parsas (=Puru Khattis) thus giving birth to the well known Achaemenians. However, a section of them also settled on north-west of India. These Kambysene hordes later came to be known as Kambojas and their province as Kamboja in ancient Indian traditions.

In Zend Avestan, Kambyses or Kambujiya takes the form of Kavaus and in modern Persian as Kavus and Kaus. In modern times, the name appears as Kamoj in Kafiristan and Kamboj/Kamboh in Punjab. Spiegel regards the personal name Kambujiya as originally an adjective, meaning belonging to the Kambuja or Kamboja.