Within Cambodian religious life, the dominant Theravāda Buddhist vision does not accept the Hindu caste system as a religious truth or spiritual necessity. Cambodian Buddhists understand a person’s worth primarily through the lenses of karma, present conduct, and individual effort, rather than through birth or inherited status. The Buddha’s rejection of caste as a determinant of spiritual potential is taken seriously, so caste categories have no role in liberation or in defining who may progress on the path. Where the Hindu caste system is known, it tends to be regarded as a feature of Indian history and culture, not as a pattern to be reproduced in Cambodian society. This framework supports the conviction that all beings share a universal capacity for awakening, regardless of social origin.

At the same time, Cambodian religiosity is deeply syncretic, and Brahmanical elements have long been woven into Buddhist practice. From the Angkor period onward, Hindu deities such as Śiva, Viṣṇu, and Brahmā, along with Brahmanical rituals, especially those linked to kingship, astrology, and major ceremonies, were integrated into the religious landscape. Brahmin ritual specialists are respected for their knowledge and ceremonial functions, particularly in royal and temple contexts, yet they are not treated as a superior caste governing the whole social order. Their status is tied to specialized religious expertise rather than to a divinely sanctioned hereditary hierarchy.

Cambodian society does, of course, recognize hierarchy, but this is not framed as a rigid caste system. Distinctions of age, wealth, education, royal lineage, and accumulated merit shape social relations, yet these are viewed as conventional and karmically conditioned, not as fixed varṇa or jāti ordained by a creator deity. Because status is seen as changeable through ethical conduct, education, and the making of merit, there is no doctrinal space for notions such as untouchability. The monastic community, open in principle to individuals from all social backgrounds, embodies this rejection of birth-based spiritual privilege.

From this perspective, Hindu caste ideology and Cambodian Buddhism stand in clear tension. Cambodian Buddhists have been willing to adopt Hindu gods, cosmological motifs, and ritual forms, but not the underlying logic of caste as a permanent social and spiritual stratification. The Hindu caste system is thus received as an external, historically conditioned arrangement, ultimately incompatible with the Buddhist emphasis on universal suffering, compassion, and the possibility of liberation for all.