Chuon Nath

Samdech Preah Sangharaja Chuon Nath was born on March 11, 1883, in Kampong Speu province. Ordained as a Buddhist monk at Wat Bodhi Preuk, Chuon Nath became a polyglot scholar mastering Pali, Sanskrit, French, Thai, Lao, and Vietnamese, studying under Louis Finot at the École française d'Extrême-Orient.

Appointed Supreme Patriarch of the Maha Nikaya order in 1948, Chuon Nath led the cultural renaissance that resisted French linguistic assimilation. Between 1915 and 1967, he published the definitive Khmer Dictionary (Vachanukrom Khmer), standardizing modern Khmer orthography and vocabulary. In 1941, he composed the lyrics of Cambodia's National Anthem, Nokor Reach. His statue stands proudly near the Independence Monument in Phnom Penh.