The influence of Indian Brahmanical texts on Cambodian Buddhist scriptures unfolded less as a simple borrowing and more as a layered synthesis. Cambodian Buddhist literature and inscriptional culture drew upon Brahmanical cosmology, especially the elaborate vision of a universe structured around Mount Meru, multiple heavens and hells, and cyclical patterns of time. Narratives and mythic motifs from Purāṇic and epic traditions were woven into Buddhist frameworks, so that stories of cosmic cycles, divine realms, and heroic ideals could serve Buddhist ethical and soteriological aims. In this way, the Brahmanical universe was not rejected but reinterpreted, becoming a vast stage upon which Buddhist teachings on karma, rebirth, and liberation could be dramatized.

A similar pattern appears in the realm of kingship and social order. Brahmanical Dharmaśāstra and epic notions of rāja‑dharma and divine kingship deeply informed Khmer ideas of the righteous ruler, who was expected to uphold both cosmic and social harmony. Cambodian Buddhist texts and inscriptions present the monarch as a dharmic king, protector of the Saṅgha and guarantor of justice, echoing Brahmanical models while grounding royal legitimacy in the support of the Buddha’s teaching. Legal and ethical discourse likewise shows this blending: categories of sin, merit, duty, and punishment familiar from Brahmanical law were retained, yet they were interpreted through a Buddhist lens that emphasized karmic consequence rather than Vedic sacrifice.

The pantheon itself bears the marks of this encounter. Deities such as Śiva, Viṣṇu, Brahmā, and Indra, prominent in Brahmanical scripture, appear within Cambodian Buddhist materials not as rivals to the Buddha but as powerful devas who safeguard the Dharma and lend their prestige to Buddhist ritual life. This hierarchical reordering allowed Cambodian Buddhism to honor inherited divine figures while clearly affirming the Buddha’s spiritual supremacy. At the same time, Sanskritic ritual vocabulary and patterns—mantra, pūjā, and the formal syntax of ceremonial acts—shaped court and temple rites, from coronations and consecrations to protective ceremonies, all redirected toward Buddhist purposes of merit‑making and spiritual protection.

Language and literary form further reveal the depth of this synthesis. Sanskrit, the classical medium of Brahmanical learning, supplied much of the high religious and political vocabulary in Khmer Buddhist texts and inscriptions, even as specifically Buddhist idioms took root. Scholastic habits associated with Brahmanical śāstra—careful definition, systematic classification, and cross‑referencing of authorities—reinforced the development of a refined Buddhist exegesis in Cambodia. Through this long process, Cambodian Buddhist scriptures came to embody a distinctive equilibrium: Brahmanical cosmology, kingship, ritual, and divine imagery were preserved as cultural and symbolic capital, yet they were steadily reoriented so that their ultimate reference point became the Buddha, the Dharma, and the path to liberation.