Relations between India and Cambodia go back to ancient times. Indian traders made contact with south east Asia and vice versa as far back as before the common era. South east Asian civilizations such as the Khmers were speculated by scholars to have traveled as far as the Indus river delta. Modern scholars have proposed that early Khmer arts and buildings showed a south Indian as speculated by earlier scholars.[1] The Khmer language was heavily influenced by Cholan, Tami the writing system was derived from like most of other native south east Asian nations'. [2]
During the French colonial period, most South Asians in Cambodia were Tamils from French-ruled Pondicherry, with substantial minorities from Gujarat and Sindh as well as smaller communities from the provinces of Madras and Bombay. The number of South Asians in Cambodia was nearly six thousand before dropping due to the Japanese invasion of French Indochina during World War II to 1,310 in 1949 and less than a thousand in 1963. Many Indians owned clothing shops around Central Market, while others worked as civil servants or, for those from Chettiar communities, as traders and moneylenders. Relations between South Asians and ethnic Khmers were reportedly poor due to the former's common professions and business practices, which were perceived as exploitative, and a superiority complex based around Indic influence. After the 1970 Cambodian coup d'état, most of the Indian businessmen left. When the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975, many of the remaining Indians fled, either by plane to Bangkok or being trucked by the Khmer Rouge to the Thai border from the French embassy with other foreigners. Those who couldn't escape were persecuted and even killed by the regime, leading to the near-elimination of the Indian community by 1980. As the political and economic situation became more stable in the 1990s, Indians professionals started to reestablish themselves in Cambodia.[3][4]
Today, many Indians in Cambodia are involved in pharmaceuticals, the United Nations and businesses such as restaurants. The growing economy is also attracting more opportunity seekers from India. Unlike other Indian communities in Southeast Asia such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, the Indian population in Phnom Penh is too small to support a Little India quarter, but it remains an intimate and close-knit group that has integrated well into local society.
Indian culture is visible in Cambodia. Indian Hindu festivals like Diwali and Holi are celebrated by the Indian community. Thanks to satellite television, popular Hindi soap operas are shown daily while a small selection of Indian restaurants hosts weekly showings of the latest Bollywood Hindi films as well as cricket matches. Hindi film DVDs can be bought throughout the capital, and expatriates can peruse a number of Indian-based websites for the latest news and entertainment.
