A Translation and Analysis of a Cambodian Literary Classic
By: Preah Botumthera Som
also known as Venerable Botumthera Som, Brah Padumatthera in French manuscripts (Khmer: ព្រះបទុមត្ថេរសោម, 1852–1932) Botumthera Som born in 1852 and died in 1932 when he was 80 years old
In 1935, three years after his death, another monk, Venerable Oum, copied Botumthera Som's Tum Teav manuscript on a new set of palm leaves. Oum's copy has two volumes and 187 pages.
Tum Teav (Khmer: ទុំទាវ) is a mid-19th century Cambodian romantic tragedy folk tale. It is originally based on a poem and is considered the "Cambodian Romeo and Juliet" and has been a compulsory part of the Cambodian secondary national curriculum since the 1950s.
Although its first translation in French had been made by Étienne Aymonier already in 1880, Tum Teav was popularized abroad when writer George Chigas translated the 1915 literary version by the venerable Buddhist monk Preah Botumthera Som or Padumatthera Som, known also as Som, one of the best writers in the Khmer language
