Sompot chong kben
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Sompot chong kben (Khmer: សំពត់ចងក្បិន, sâmpót châng kbĕn [sɑmputcɑːŋkɓən]) is a unisex lower-body wraparound garment. It originated in ancient Cambodia and was later adopted in neighbouring countries including Laos and Thailand, where it is known as pha hang (ຜ້າຫາງ [pʰȁːhǎːŋ]) and chong kraben (โจงกระเบน [tɕōːŋkrābēːn]). It is most commonly worn by women, particularly those of middle to high socio-economic status.
Etymology
Sompot chong kben (សំពត់ចងក្បិន) combines three Khmer words: សំពត់ (/sɑmpʊət/, sampot), a long, rectangular cloth worn around the lower body; ចង (/cɑɑŋ/, chang), to wrap around; and ក្បិន (/kbən/, kben), referring to the lower body cloth that is wrapped around the waist then pulled back between the legs and tucked in at the back. The name of this cloth, kben or chong kben, literally means "to wrap or to wear the kben" in Khmer. Chong kraben (โจงกระเบน) is used among Thai people and derived from these Khmer words.
History
According to scholars, one can contend that the Khmer chong kben corresponds to the Indian dhoti. The back of the sompot chong kben is in reference to the tail of Hanuman.
Different styles of chong kben are apparent on Ankorian bas-reliefs. The end panels can present as follows: rolled together into a bunch then through the legs and secured in the back waistband or a belt; for deities and kings we see a style that entails pulling one end from the front to the back as the other end drapes the front with the tip secured in the waist-area, creating a pocketfold; knotting the chong kben at the waist with one end hanging front and center whereas the other end goes front-to-back through the legs then slid under the fabric in back permitting the end to hang in the center, and a minimal chong kben resembling a loincloth, carved onto “austerely-garbed Brahman priests,” laborers, soldiers, slaves from the mountains, and prisoners of war in bas-reliefs. An exuberant version is called called “flared” chong kben, shown on protagonists of the Mahabharata-epic bas-reliefs, as well as high-ranking soldiers and warrior kings.
By the 17th century, the royal court of Siam had also adopted the sampot chong kben. In 1856, Siamese King Mongkut gifted US President Franklin Pierce four Khmer silk garments. Three were woven silk sampot chong kben in hol pattern, a textile achieved from the distinct, sophisticated Khmer uneven twill groundweave.
Gallery
- 6th century Khmer depiction of Balarama wearing sompot chong kben from Phnom Da temple, Angkor Borei, Takeo, Cambodia. Now exhibits in National Museum of Cambodia.
- Envoy of Funan to the Liang dynasty wearing a sampot chong kben by painter Gu Deqian of the Southern Tang dynasty (937–976 CE).
- Murder of the Cambodian King and his son in 1642, from a Dutch engraving.
- Photograph of Prince Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and his two younger brothers wearing chong kraben in 1851
- Photograph of a 19th-century Siamese boatman, photographed by John Thomson
- Photograph of Queen Saovabha Phongsri, principal consort to King Chulalongkorn
- Khmer royal ladies wearing sompot chong kben and sbai in the mid-1800s.
- Khmer woman wearing sompot chong kben
- Mannequins wearing sompot chong kben at the Royal Palace of Cambodia
- A Khmer traditional dancer in sompot chong kben