Chuon Nath
Cambodian Buddhist monk (1883-1969)
Chuon Nath (Khmer: ជួន ណាត; 11 March 1883 – 25 September 1969) was a Cambodian monk and the late Gana Mahanikaya Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia. Amongst his achievements is his effort in conservation of the Khmer language in the form of the Khmer dictionary. His protection of Khmer identity and history in the form of patriotic songs "Bât Nôkôr Réach" and "Pongsavotar Khmer" were also among his contributions to the country. His ashes were interred at Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh. His full honorary title is Samdech Sangha Rāja Jhotañāno Chuon Nath (Khmer: សម្តេចព្រះសង្ឃរាជ ជួន ណាត ជោតញ្ញាណោ)
Early life and education
Nath was born in Kampong Speu Province to a family of farmers.
At age 12, Nath was brought to the temple to learn, as was typical for Khmer boys at the time. He became a novice monk in 1897 and was fully ordained in 1904 at the age of 21.
In 1913, Nath sat the Pali exam for monks, earning the highest score among the test-takers for that year. He passed the second exam two years later and was appointed professor at the Senior Pali High School (now the Preah Soramrith Buddhist High School) in Phnom Penh.
In 1922, he and another monk, Huot Tat, were invited by Louis Finot to study Sanskrit at the École française d’Extrême-Orient in Hanoi, French Indochina.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5116473. VIAF identifies the subject as 168909575. The Library of Congress control number is n92102260. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1883, 1969, 1897 and 1904.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chuon Nath” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.