Chuon Nath

Samdech Sangha Rāja Jhotañāno Chuon Nath សម្តេចព្រះសង្ឃរាជ ជួន ណាត ជោតញ្ញាណោ (13 March 1883 [BE 2426], Kong Pisei, Kampong Speu Province, French Cambodia — 25 Sep 1969, Phnom Penh, Cambodia) was a Cambodian monk, Gana Mahanikaya [Supreme Patriarch] of Cambodia’s Mahanikaya Sangha, an educator and a linguist who vastly contributed to the politics of Khmerization after Cambodia gained its independence from France.

A son of farmers, Nath was ordained bhikkhu in 1904, later pursuing his studies in Pali language. Close to the independentist circles, he started to devise new words in Khmer language from Pali and Sanskrit languages, instead of adapting them from French. In 1922 and 1923, at the EFEO office in Hanoi, he had received training in Sanskrit and epigraphy from Louis Finot, then EFEO director. With him was another bhikkhu, Huot Tat, who was to become the head of the Sangha after Venerable Chuon Nath passed away.

This work culminated in the publication of the Chuon Nath Dictionary in 1967, two years before his passing away. It was also the result of a long process towards a modern Khmer dictionary initiated by a 1915 Royal decree.

His contribution in the development of a modernist movement in the Khmer Buddhist Sangha (community) also made him a great figure of 20th century Cambodia. He oversaw the preparation and edition of Preah Traibedak ព្រះត្រៃបិដក , Khmer translation of the Tipitaka (Pali canon).

1) **Chuon Nath** (left) in the 1920s. 2) **Prince Norodom Sihanouk** (right) helping the **Supreme Patriarch** (center) at an official event in Phnom Penh, 18 Feb. 1968. [*Sangkum Reastr Niyum photo archive*].