Khmer women in Khmersampot charobab with Khmersbai atAngkor Wat.
Sampot (Khmer:សំពត់,romanized: saṃba't) is a modern Khmer term[4] that refers to "cloth",[5][6][4] "woman's skirt",[5] and "a piece of cloth used as a lower garment, specifically the Khmer sarong."[6][4] It is derived from several terms, including "saṃbata,sambata,saṃbūta,saṃmbuta,sambattha, andsabvata,"[6] which can be found in groups of the Inscription Modern Angkor Wat (IMA) from the 16th and 17th centuries CE, during the middle Khmer period.[6] The root of the wordsampot isba't[6] andba'ta,[4] which mean "to encircle, surround."[6][4] The terms*sbat[6] and 'sba'ta[4] are derived from this root and mean "to gird, wrap, or envelop (the body)."[4]
Indian scholar Ramanlal Nagarji Mehta suggests that the Khmer wordsampat-hol for textiles may date back to the Sanskrit wordsam-patola[7] (Sanskrit:सम्-पटोल), meaning "like aPatola."[7] It is highly likely that the fabric and technique were brought byHindu immigrants in the 3rd or 4th centuries CE, if the Khmer word is derived from Sanskrit.[7]
The term "Sampot" also entered the Thai court assompak[8] (Thai:สมปัก) andsong pak.[9] (Thai:สองปัก) According to historical records, "An official letter from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Ayutthaya to an official inSurat", dated 2 December 1662,[10] during the 16th and 17th centuries of theAyutthaya period, the Siam court ordered textiles fromIndia andCambodia known as "pha poom, sompak poom (pha sompak puum), and sompak lai."[11][8] These textiles were later narrowed down by the Siamese court as the traditional attire worn by Siamese nobles that was bestowed upon Siamese nobles by the King of Siam.[8]
The sampot dates back to theFunan era when a Cambodian king ordered the people of his kingdom to wear the sampot at the request of Chinese envoys.[12] It is similar to thelungi anddhoti worn in theIndian subcontinent.[13] Male and female deities in the pre-Angkor era are depicted in short and longer free-hanging "skirt cloth"sampots, respectively, that are knotted at the waist.[14]Silk weaving was an important part of Cambodia's cultural past. People fromTakéo Province have woven silk since the Funan era. Inscriptions, bas-reliefs, andZhou Daguan's report have shown that backstrap looms were used to weave since ancient times.[15]Complex methods and intricate patterns have been developed to make the cloth, one of which is the hol method which involves dyeing patterns on silk before weaving. What remains unique to Cambodian weavers is the uneven twill technique. The reason they adopted such an unusual method remains unclear.[16]
However, little is known about theOld Khmer vocabulary for these fabrics, and if the sampot today was simply changed over time from the original Angkorian textiles.[citation needed] The ancientbas-reliefs however provide a complete look at what fabrics were like, down to patterns and pleats. Silk woven cloths are used inweddings andfunerals and for decoration of temples.[17]
1860s Khmer ballerina Neang Sok (or "Mi Soc") in Khmersbai andsampot, byÉmile Gsell.
In 1858–1860,Henri Mouhot, a French naturalist and explorer, embarked on a journey tomainland Southeast Asia (Indochinese Peninsula) where he had the opportunity to meet the king of the Khmer court. In his diary,Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos, during the years 1858, 1859, and 1860, Mouhot described the attire of the Cambodian king during his encounter:
Like his subjects, he generally wears nothing but the langouti, the native dress. His was composed of yellow silk, confined at the waist by a magnificent belt of gold studded with precious stones.[18]
— Henri Mouhot, Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos… (1858–60).
The wordsampot must be a very old word, as old as the garment because it means: "cloth" and not a special part of the Khmer costume. Originally, it was a fabric tunic like this horizontal strip of cloth in Chinese texts, and therefore a garment tunic. From cotton, it became silk, and was decorated with polychrome designs as we studied at the beginning of this chapter. At first glance, it is nothing other than the widened belt and is draped much like it. Until the 12th century it seems narrower than the currentsampot and is only worn by men and certain sacred dancers (?). Women wear asarong and we know that the fashion for thesampot common to both sexes is modern and probably a Siamese innovation.[19][note 1]
— George Groslier, Recherches sur les Cambodgiens (1921).
The George Groslier's original work describes: "Thesampot is the Siamese national costume, long adopted by the Cambodians. It is a rectangular piece of fabric, rolled around the waist and tucked from the front to the back between the legs."[20]Lord Vishnu depicted in Khmersampot chong kben, 6th century.
In 1936, Harriet Winifred Ponder, a British traveller who journeyed through Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, documented her experiences in Cambodia. In her writings,Cambodian Glory, she described the traditional Cambodian attire:
The true national dress of Cambodia was the 'langouti', a sort of skirt, like the Javanese sarong, worn by both men and women. The 'sampot', a similar garment, but with one end pulled through between the legs to give the effect of a baggy pair of knickers, is a fashion imported from Siam.[21]
Her dress is thesampot. Authorities say it is fromSiam. Why, no one can guess. Authorities tell us all sorts of curious things on the strength of their knowledge of the ancient texts and the historians' histories. It requires no knowledge of mediaeval Siamese history to see plentiful evidence of thesampot in the bas-reliefs, which preceded Siamese influences by centuries. Thesampot is like the Indianlungi or the Malayansarong; a length of cloth, often gaily coloured, tied around the waist and hanging down like a skirt. Sometimes it is caught up between the legs and fixed behind like adhoti, in the fashion of the women ofMaharashtra.[22]
— George B. Walker, ANGKOR EMPIRE (1955).
In her 2003 bookTraditional Textiles of Cambodia, art historian Gillian Green relays that in 1856, SiameseKing Mongkut gifted US PresidentFranklin Pierce three woven pairs of silksampot chong kben inhol pattern, in addition to “a similarly-patternedsilkshoulder cloth.” She notes the “sophistication” ofhol and its uneven twill, pointing out its not only specific to Khmers, which “strongly asserts the origin of the weavers," but has continued among Khmer weavers into present dayCambodia.[23]
In the run-up to the1993 Cambodian general election, Khmer leaderSon Sann in a heated debate called for a sampot test to be used to establish whether or not women could vote or not in the election; walking a few yards in a tight sampot would be a sign of true Khmer identity, in contrast with the Vietnamese women who would usually wear pants under theáo dài.[24]
PerformingRabam Apsara wearing Khmersampot tep apsara.
There are three important silk textiles in Cambodia. They include the ikat silks (chong kiet in Khmer), or hol, the twill-patterned silks and the weft ikat textiles.[citation needed] Patterns are made by tying natural andsynthetic fibers on the weft threads and then it is dyed. It is repeated for different colors until the patterns firm and cloth is woven.[citation needed]
Traditionally, five colors are used, predominantly red, yellow, green, blue and black.[citation needed] The Sompot Hol is used as a lower garment and as the sompot chang kben. The Pidan Hol is used as a ceremonial hanging used for religious purposes.
There are many variations of the sampot; each is worn according to class. The typical regular sampot, known also as thesarong is typically worn by men and women oflower class. It measures approximately one and a half meters and both ends are sewn together. It is tied to secure it on the waist.[citation needed]
TheSampot Phamuong សំពត់ផាមួង /sɑmpʊət pʰaa muəŋ/[25] are many different variations of traditional Khmer textiles. They are single colored and twill woven. There are currently 52 colors used in Sampot Phamuong. The Phamuong Chorabap is a luxurious fabric using up to 22 needles to create. Phamuong variation are rabak, chorcung, anlounh, kaneiv and bantok. It usually uses floral and geometric motifs. The mostvalued silk used to create the Phamuong is Cambodian yellowsilk, known for its fine quality in the region. Newdesigns draw inspiration from ancient patterns on old silk.
TheSampot Hol សំពត់ហូល /sɑmpʊət hool/[26] is a typical traditional textile. There are two kinds of Sampot Hol, one is a wrapping skirt that uses a technique called chang kiet and twill weave. Influenced by the Indian patola, it developed patterns and techniques over the centuries to become a genuine Khmer art style. The sampot hol has over 200 patterns combined with three to five colors, yellow, red, brown, blue, and green. There are four variations, sampot hol, sompot hol por, sampot hol kben, and sampot hol ktong. Patterns are usually geometric motifs, animals, and flower motifs.
The sampot is deeply rooted in Cambodian culture. Despite the French bringing a degree ofwesternisation to the country, Cambodians continued to wear the sampot.Royalty andgovernment officials wore thesampot chang kben with aformal jacket. Cambodians still wear the sompot chong kben and sompot phamuong on special occasions today, and rural and poor Khmers still prefer them to western-style clothing for their comfort.[27]
The material used by poor and rural Cambodians is not hand-woven silk but printedbatik-patterned cloth imported fromIndonesia. It is still popular with both men and women alike and is regarded by the people of Cambodia as theirnational garment.[28]
^In French: Le mot sampot doit être un bien vieux mot» aussi vieux que le vêtement car il signifie : « étoffe » et non pas une partie spéciale du costume khmer. A l’origine, il était Tunique étoffe comme cette bande de toile horizontale des textes chinois, et donc Tunique vêtement. De coton, il est devenu de soie, s’est orné de dessins polychromes ainsi que nous Tarons étudié au début de ce chapitre. Au prime abord, il n’est pas autre chose que la ceinture élargie et se drape à peu près comme elle. Jusqu’au xue siècle il semble plus étroit que le sampot actuel et n’est porté que par les hommes et certaines danseuses sacrées (?). La femme, elle, se vêt du sarong et nous savons que la mode du sampot commun aux deux sexes est moderne et probablement innovation siamoise.[19]
p. 197. "The word sampot is used in modern Khmer vocabulary to mean ' a piece of cloth ' as well as ' woman's skirt'."
p. 214. "Huffman (1978: 110, 537). The root of the word of sampot is ‘ba'ta’ pronounced /put/ meaning ‘to encircle, surround! The word ‘sba'ta’, pronounced /sput/ is constructed employing this root. It means ‘to gird, wrap, envelop (the body): From this root samba'ta /samput/ is derived. It is glossed as ‘the sampot or Khmer sarong (sic); (by extension) length of cloth; cloth; material’ (Jenner 1982:1 87, 8)."
^abcdefgJenner, Philip Norman; Cooper, Doug (2011).A Dictionary of Middle Khmer. Canberra, A.C.T.: The Australian National University, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies Pacific Linguistics. p. 352.ISBN9780858836396
^abcMehta, Ramanlal Nagarji. "Patolas," in Baroda State Museum and Picture Gallery (India) (1949).Bulletin of the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery, Vol. 7 (Parts 1–2). Baroda: Museum and picture gallery Baroda. p. 67. "In Cambodia the word for textiles in Patola technique is Sampat-hol, which may go back to a Sanskrit equivalent like Sam-Patola, i.e. "like a Patola". If the Cambodian word may be of Sanskrit origin, it is very likely that also the fabric and its technique might have been brought from there by the Hindu immigrants in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D."
^abcChandracharoen, Thirabhand (2019).Phaa khien thong: Phra phuu saa borom raa chaa phi sek phra ma haa ka saat sayam [Gold patterned textile: The Royal Coronation Attire of the Kings of Siam]ผ้าเขียนทอง: พระภูษาบรมราชาภิเษกพระมหากษัตริย์สยาม (in Thai). Bangkok: Matichon. p. 41.ISBN9789740216513 "เครื่องแบบขุนนาง เรียกว่า "สมปักลาย" ซึ่งคำว่า สมปัก ดังปรากฏในเอกสารโบราณเหล่านั้นเป็นคำเขมรหมายถึงผ้านุ่ง แต่สยามนำคำนี้มาใช้โดยกำหนดความหมายให้แคบลง มิได้หมายถึงผ้านุ่งทุกประเภทสำหรับชนทุกชั้นดังความหมายเดิมในภาษาเขมร แต่หมายถึงผ้านุ่งที่ขุนนางได้รับพระราชทานจากพระมหากษัตริย์เป็นเครื่องแบบมีลวดลายตามลำดับชั้นยศในทำเนียบศักดินา มีสีสัน ตามสังกัดและหน้าที่การใช้สอย" [The traditinal attire worn by Siamese nobles was known as "Sompak Lai". This term "Sompak," derived from Khmer, means "lower garment." However, the meaning of this word was later narrowed down by the Siamese court. Unlike its original meaning in Khmer, it did not refer to all types of lower garments worn by Siamese nobles of different social classes. Instead, it specifically referred to the lower garment that was bestowed upon Siamese nobles by the King of Siam. These garments were adorned with patterns that denoted their rank in the feudal system, and were also distinguished by colors that represented their affiliation and role.]
^Lisuwan, Wibun (2007).Saranukrom pha khruang thaktho [Encyclopedia of woven textiles and weaving machines of Thailand]สารานุกรมผ้า เครื่องถักทอ (in Thai). Bangkok: Muang Boran. p. 139.ISBN9789747385083OCLC144781024 "ผ้าปูมเขมร ผ้ามัดหมี่ของเขมรที่ราชสำนักสยามสั่งซื้อเข้ามาเป็นผ้านุ่งของขุนนาง เป็นผ้าขนาดใหญ่กว้างยาวมาก มักมีเชิงคล้ายผ้าปาโตลาของอินเดีย เรียกผ้าปูมเขมร บางทีเรียกสมปักหรือสองปัก" [Pha poom khamen" is a type of Khmer silk fabric that was traditionally worn by nobles in the Siamese royal court. This cloth is known for its large size, wide width, and long length, often featuring a border similar to that of Indian patola cloth. It is also referred to as "sompak" or "songpak."]
^Chirapravati, Pattaratorn (M. L.); Kim-Ju, Greg Morae. "Refashioning the Identity of Siamese Monarchs: Hybridized Siamese and Indian Dress Styles," in Ghosh, Lipi (2017).India-Thailand Cultural Interactions: Glimpses from the past to present. Singapore: Springer. p. 94.ISBN9789811038549doi:10.1007/978-981-10-3854-9_5
^Cheesman (Naenna), Patricia (2004).Lao-Tai Textiles: The Textiles of Xam Nuea and Muang Phuan. Chiang Mai: Studio Naenna. p. 155.ISBN9789742729158OCLC56846004
^Schliesinger, Joachim (2011).Ethnic groups of Cambodia. Bangkok, Thailand: White Lotus Press.ISBN978-9744801777.
^Textiles of the Highland Peoples of Burma, Vol. 2: The Northern Mon-Khmer, Rawang, Upland Burmish, Lolo, Karen, Tai, and Hmong-Mien-Speaking Groups, 2005. Michael C. Howard. White Lotus Co Ltd.,ISBN978-9744800749
^Joachim Schliesinger. Ethnic Groups of Cambodia Vol 2: Profile of Austro-Asiatic-Speaking Peoples. 312 pag.ISBN163-3232379,ISBN978-1633232372
