, 1860s. According to scholars, one can contend that the Khmer
chong kben corresponds to the Indian
dhoti. The back of the
sompot chong kben is in reference to the tail of Hanuman. Different styles of
chong kben are apparent on Ankorian bas-reliefs. The end panels can present as follows: rolled together into a bunch then through the legs and secured in the back waistband or a belt; for deities and kings we see a style that entails pulling one end from the front to the back as the other end drapes the front with the tip secured in the waist-area, creating a pocketfold; knotting the
chong kben at the waist with one end hanging front and center whereas the other end goes front-to-back through the legs then slid under the fabric in back permitting the end to hang in the center, and a minimal
chong kben resembling a loincloth, carved onto “austerely-garbed Brahman priests,” laborers, soldiers, slaves from the mountains, and prisoners of war in bas-reliefs. An exuberant version is called called “flared”
chong kben, shown on protagonists of the Mahabharata-epic bas-reliefs, as well as high-ranking soldiers and warrior kings. By the 17th century, the royal court of Siam had also adopted the
sampot chong kben. In 1856, Siamese
King Mongkut gifted US President
Franklin Pierce four Khmer silk garments. Three were woven silk
sampot chong kben in
hol pattern, a textile achieved from the distinct, sophisticated Khmer uneven twill groundweave. ==Gallery==