In Cambodia folk tales and epic poems were transmitted by oral tradition in earlier days. Certain ethnic communities are still there that maintain this spontaneous literature. These communities are settled in the north east and north side of the country. The earliest can be found in the Angkorian era i.e. in the 9th-13th centuries. This was written in the Sanskrit verses decorated on palm leaf manuscripts. By 11th century Jataka and Buddhist writings were being created on a regular basis.
In Khmer the oldest work written is the Reamker. This was actually the Cambodian version of the ancient epic Ramayana. This eventually appears on bas-reliefs and also paintings at temples and some pagodas throughout the Kingdom. For different centuries the Reamker has provided the material for some of the great traditional performance genres. In today’s date it is taught in high schools in Cambodia. The manuscripts of the Reamker are believed to originate in the early Angkorian era.
In the 17th century and onwards poems known as chbap i.e. ‘codes of conduct’ were written by some of the Buddhist monks. This was actually done to teach beginners about morality. These poems were written in the precise metre. But very soon it demanded of Khmer poetry that too with colorful compounds rhyme patterns. Subsequently these became set texts in Wat schools as well. In the same period the satra lbaeng i.e. ‘works for pleasure’ appeared. This was a lengthy verse-novels recounted the olden Jataka tales.
In the year 1990, the National Library funded for the cleaning and making microfilm on these palm-leaf manuscripts. Many well-liked folktales were not officially recorded. But all of these are remembered and also re-told. The moral, animal tales as for example traditional riddles, jungle rabbit and sayings are also included. Some of these from 1950-1970 were collected and published by the Buddhist Institute. Recently some NGOs have produced some illustrated interpretations of the old narratives for children.
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