Sampot


A sampot, a traditional dress in Cambodia. The traditional dress is similar to the dhoti of Southern Asia. It is also worn in the neighboring countries of Laos and Thailand where it is known as pha nung.

Etymology

Sampot is a modern Khmer term that refers to "cloth", "woman's skirt", and "a piece of cloth used as a lower garment, specifically the Khmer sarong." It is derived from several terms, including "saṃbata, sambata, saṃbūta, saṃmbuta, sambattha, and sabvata," which can be found in groups of the Inscription Modern Angkor Wat from the 16th and 17th centuries CE, during the middle Khmer period. The root of the word sampot is ba't and ba'ta, which mean "to encircle, surround." The terms *sbat and 'sba'ta are derived from this root and mean "to gird, wrap, or envelop."
Indian scholar Ramanlal Nagarji Mehta suggests that the Khmer word sampat-hol for textiles may date back to the Sanskrit word sam-patola, meaning "like a Patola." It is highly likely that the fabric and technique were brought by Hindu immigrants in the 3rd or 4th centuries CE, if the Khmer word is derived from Sanskrit.
The term "Sampot" also entered the Thai court as sompak and song pak. According to historical records, "An official letter from the Dutch East India Company in Ayutthaya to an official in Surat", dated 2 December 1662, during the 16th and 17th centuries of the Ayutthaya period, the Siam court ordered textiles from India and Cambodia known as "pha poom, sompak poom, and sompak lai." 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.

Origins

The sampot dates back to the Funan era when a Cambodian king ordered the people of his kingdom to wear the sampot at the request of Chinese envoys. It is similar to the lungi and dhoti worn in the Indian subcontinent, the longyi worn in Burma, and the sarong worn in maritime Southeast Asia. Silk weaving was an important part of Cambodia's cultural past. People from Takéo Province have woven silk since the Funan era and records, bas-reliefs, and Zhou Daguan's report have shown that looms were used to weave sompots since ancient times.
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.
However, little is known about the Old Khmer vocabulary for these fabrics, and if the sampot today was simply changed over time from the original Angkorian textiles. The ancient bas-reliefs however provide a complete look at what fabrics were like, down to patterns and pleats. Silk woven cloths are used in weddings and funerals and for decoration of temples.
In 1858–1860, Henri Mouhot, a French naturalist and explorer, embarked on a journey to mainland Southeast Asia where he had the opportunity to meet the king of the Khmer court. In his diary, Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China, Cambodia, and Laos, during the years 1858, 1859, and 1860, Mouhot described the attire of the Cambodian king during his encounter:
In George Groslier's Recherches sur les Cambodgiens , a French director of Cambodia Arts during the French protectorate of Cambodia, observed the sampot:
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:
In Angkor Empire by George Benjamin Walker, recorded the origin of the modern sampot, which was compiled from these historian authorities: R. C. Majumdar, Reginald Le May, Kalidas Nag, Horace Geoffrey Quaritch Wales, George Charles Brodrick, Lawrence Palmer Briggs, Cedric Dover, and French scholars of the French School of the Far East:
In her 2003 book Traditional Textiles of Cambodia, art historian Gillian Green relays that in 1856, Siamese King Mongkut gifted US President Franklin Pierce three woven pairs of silk sampot chong kben in hol pattern, in addition to “a similarly-patterned silk shoulder cloth.” She notes the “sophistication” of hol 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 day Cambodia.
In the run-up to the 1993 Cambodian general election, Khmer leader Son 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 the áo dài.

Textiles

There are three important silk textiles in Cambodia. They include the ikat silks, or hol, the twill-patterned silks and the weft ikat textiles. Patterns are made by tying natural and synthetic fibers on the weft threads and then it is dyed. It is repeated for different colors until the patterns firm and cloth is woven.
Traditionally, five colors are used, predominantly red, yellow, green, blue and black. 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.

Variations

There are many variations of the sampot; each is worn according to class. The typical regular sampot, known also as the sarong is typically worn by men and women of lower class. It measures approximately one and a half meters and both ends are sewn together. It is tied to secure it on the waist.
  • The Sampot Phamuong សំពត់ផាមួង /sɑmpʊət pʰaa muəŋ/ 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 most valued silk used to create the Phamuong is Cambodian yellow silk, known for its fine quality in the region. New designs draw inspiration from ancient patterns on old silk.
  • The Sampot Hol សំពត់ហូល /sɑmpʊət hool/ 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.

In daily life

The sampot is deeply rooted in Cambodian culture. Despite the French bringing a degree of westernisation to the country, Cambodians continued to wear the sampot. Royalty and government officials wore the sampot chang kben with a formal 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.
The material used by poor and rural Cambodians is not hand-woven silk but printed batik-patterned cloth imported from Indonesia. It is still popular with both men and women alike and is regarded by the people of Cambodia as their national garment.