Code of Old Sayings

Didactic poetry is the foundation of Middle Khmer literature. Prior to the twentieth century, the first texts young students learned to read were cpap (pronounced today as "chbap"): short, aphoristic poems aimed at moral edification. This influential example of the genre, attributed to a sixteenth- or seventeenth-century monk styled Brah Sugandh, strings concrete images and pithy instructions into a garland of memorable verse. tw