Parade Pays Tribute to Samdech Chuon Nath
Reach Bo Pagoda held its 13th ceremony on March 3 to pay tribute to Samdech Chuon Nath, the Supreme Patriarch of the Cambodian Mahanikaya Buddhist order, and to other members of the Khmer tripitaka discussion group in Siem Reap province. Photo: Zul Rorvy
- By Zul Rorvy
- April 3, 2024 9:10 PM
SIEM REAP – Reach Bo Pagoda held its 13th ceremony on March 3 to pay tribute to Samdech Chuon Nath, the Supreme Patriarch of the Cambodian Mahanikaya Buddhist order, and to other members of the Khmer tripitaka discussion group in Siem Reap province.
Monks, officials, students, elders and other Buddhists took part. Participants carried a statue of Samdech Chuon Nath, Buddhism tripitakas and other discussion group mementos.
Samdech Chuon Nath was born in Korng Pisey district of Kampong Speu province in 1883 and was ordained as a monk in 1904. He was the head of a reformist movement in the Khmer Buddhist Sangha, which cultivated a strong Khmer language identity and culture. He composed the national anthem and died in 1969.
His contribution gave the rise to the notion of Cambodian nationalism while Cambodia was part of French Indochina. He was also a member of the original committee granted a royal order to compile a Khmer dictionary in 1915 and was credited as the founder of the dictionary that is commonly used today.
