Place

Pursat

ពោធិ៍សាត់

Pursat (ពោធិ៍សាត់) is a province in western Cambodia, on the Tonle Sap (ទន្លេសាប) lake. It covers 12,692 square kilometers (4,900 square miles) and borders the provinces of Kampong Chhnang (កំពង់ឆ្នាំង), Kampong Speu (កំពង់ស្ពឺ), Koh Kong (កោះកុង) and Battambang (បាត់ដំបង).[1][2] The province is known for its marble (ថ្មកែវ) carving and for the shrine of Khleang Moeung (ឃ្លាំងមឿង), one of the best-known guardian spirits in Cambodia.[1][3]

Name

The name joins pou (ពោធិ៍), the bodhi tree, and sat, a short form of rorsat (រសាត់), "to drift". A legend tells of a young bodhi tree that drifted against the current. People took it from the water and planted it on a mound, and the place became known as Pou Rorsat, which over time became Pursat.[4] The provincial culture department cites the Chuon Nath dictionary and the book Kampuchea Soriya (2003) for the correct spelling ពោធិ៍សាត់. Its director, Lach Phengly, said the spelling ពោធិសាត់ is wrong and should be corrected, including on vehicle license plates.[1]

In the longer telling, villagers tried to tie the drifting tree with ropes, but it floated on until it reached the front of Prasat Preah Khan (ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន). Monks and villagers made offerings and tied it with seven sacred threads, and then it was pulled up the bank with ease. The villagers shouted "ban kar" ("it worked"), and the mound took the name Tuol Ban Kar (ទួលបានការ). It lies east of Wat Bakan (វត្តបាកាន) in Bakan (បាកាន) district.[1] Wat Bakan was first called Wat Pursat. A large bodhi tree there is believed locally to be about 1,000 years old, and its keeper told Thmey Thmey 25 that it is the tree that gave the province its name.[5]

Khleang Moeung (ឃ្លាំងមឿង)

The shrine of Khleang Moeung stands about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of Pursat town. Khleang Moeung is remembered as a 16th-century military leader who led the troops of King Ang Chan against the Siamese army. He is also venerated as a land guardian spirit (neak ta) whose domain covers the whole west of the Tonle Sap. The shrine was modest until the provincial culture department took charge of it after 1979, and it has since grown into a large site with gardens and statues. An annual ceremony is held there in the lunar month of Pisakh (April to May).[3] The anthropologist Anne Guillou, who has worked in Bakan district, notes that his name can be read as "the strong man of the country".[3]

Marble carving

Carvers in the villages of Banteay Dey and Bandos Sandek, in Kandieng district, shape marble into statues of the Buddha and figures of animals, a trade passed down in families. The stone comes from quarries in the Cardamom Mountains, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Pursat town. In 2004 it was brought out by tractor or buffalo cart. One carver recalled that elephants once carried it, a journey of three months.[6] Early in 2014 the provincial authorities set a large marble bowl in the middle of National Road 5 in Pursat town to show the province's carving. The culture department's director said its patterns stand for the carvers, the bowl for the Tonle Sap and the homes around it, and it also stands for the water that feeds the rice fields.[1]

Places

  • In November 2019 villagers found a carving of the reclining Buddha, about 6 meters (20 feet) long, on Kangva hill in Krakor district, near the border with Kampong Chhnang. It had long been spoken of in the village, but no one living had seen it.[7]
  • Kampong Prak (កំពង់ប្រាក់) is a floating village on the Tonle Sap in Krakor district, where most families have fished for generations. Its catch has fallen with the loss of fish habitat, illegal fishing gear and climate change.[8]
  • Wat Luong (Pursat) is a Wat in Pursat town.[9]

Pursat orange (ក្រូចពោធិ៍សាត់)

The Pursat orange is named for the province, where it was first grown. One account, given in Thmey Thmey 25, is that the French brought its seed from Africa during the protectorate.[4]

Population

The 2019 census counted 411,759 people in Pursat, up from 397,161 in 2008.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Koh Santepheap, The origin, location and name of Pursat province (July 5, 2020; in Khmer), from the provincial administration's records
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 National Institute of Statistics, Provisional Population Census 2019 (2019)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Anne Yvonne Guillou, Khmer Potent Places: Pāramī and the Localisation of Buddhism and Monarchy in Cambodia, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 18 (5), 2017
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Thmey Thmey 25, Why was the province named Pursat? (undated; in Khmer), citing the Chuon Nath dictionary
  5. ↑ Thmey Thmey 25, A great bodhi tree about 1,000 years old, known as the origin of the name of Pursat province (undated; in Khmer)
  6. ↑ The Cambodia Daily, Nhem Chea Bunly, Chiselling Out a Living (June 12, 2004)
  7. ↑ South China Morning Post, Lost treasures emerge in Cambodia's hunt for historic sites as locals dream of tourist dollars, in The Cambodia Daily (April 1, 2020)
  8. ↑ Thmey Thmey, Why is the Tonle Sap short of fish? (March 11, 2022; in Khmer and English)
  9. ↑ Fresh News, Kathin at Wat Luong (November 5, 2025; in Khmer)


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This page was last edited on 8 October 2026, at 13:21.