What is "kamboja"

Kamboja may refer to:

• Kamboja (name)
• Kambojas, an ancient tribe of Transoxiana and the Paropamisus in Iron Age India
• Kamboja-Pala Dynasty of Bengal
• Kamboj, a clan of South Asia, believed to be modern representatives of the ancient Kambojas

" Kamboja" or "Kambuja" is the name of an ancient Indo-Iranian kingdom. They are believed to have been located originally in Pamirs and Badakshan in Central Asia.

The name has a long history of attestation, both in the Iranian and the Indo-Aryan spheres.

• In Sanskrit literature, it appears from the middle Vedic period ( Iron Age). While not reflected in the Vedic samhitas, it is attested in the later Brahmana stage (ca. 7th century BCE) in the Vamsa Brahmana, as well as in Yaska's Nirukta. Kamboja becomes tangible as a Mahajanapada kingdom in the Hindukush from the Epic Sanskrit stage. Kambojas enter India proper with the Indo-Scythian invasion and the name becomes established as the dynastic name of a number of ancient and medieval kingdoms of Bengal, Tibet, South India, Sri Lanka and Indochina
• In Iranian, Kambuj is reflected in the name of Cambyses of Anshan in the early 6th century BCE. The name appears in Old Persian as C-n-b-n-z-y in Aramaic, Kambuzia in Assyrian, Kambythet in Egyptian, Kam-bu-zi-ia in Assyrian, Kan-bu-zi-ia in Elamite, Kanpuziya.

The etymology of Kamboja (or Kambuja, Kambujiya) is unclear. There are several suggestions, most scholars favouring Iranian origin (visible in the de-aspiration of the b, from an Indo-Iranian bhuj). Inspired by the proper name Cambyses, Michael Witzel proposes that the name may originate as a title given to the Persian crown prince.