French colonial rule reshaped Cambodian Brahmanism by narrowing its sphere of influence while paradoxically helping to preserve its ritual core. The monarchy, long the primary locus of Brahmanical practice, saw its political authority curtailed as colonial administrators created new secular hierarchies that bypassed traditional religious authorities. As a result, the role of court Brahmans in governance and statecraft diminished, and many royal ceremonies were simplified or lost some of their former weight. Yet the monarchy was retained as a symbolic institution, and with it the essential Brahmanical rites of coronation, royal oaths, and major calendrical rituals continued, though increasingly as ceremonial rather than political instruments.

At the same time, colonial policy favored Theravāda Buddhism as the primary religious expression of the Cambodian people. Buddhist institutions received more systematic support and reform, while Brahmanism, lacking a broad lay base or separate institutional framework, remained marginal in official terms. Brahmanical elements persisted most visibly in the royal court and, more diffusely, within popular religious life—astrology, ritual specialists, and Hindu deities woven into Buddhist and village practices. These elements were not systematically suppressed, but they were overshadowed by the prominence given to Buddhism and by the spread of secular education that weakened traditional Sanskrit-based learning.

A further layer of complexity arose from the scholarly and antiquarian interest of colonial administrators and orientalists. Royal rituals, liturgies, and Brahmanical ceremonies were documented, transcribed, and analyzed, effectively fixing certain ritual forms that had previously depended more on oral transmission and flexible practice. This preserved important aspects of Cambodian Brahmanism, but often as a kind of cultural heritage, treated as an ancient stratum rather than a fully living religious path. By the end of the colonial period, the result was a tradition that remained deeply interwoven with Buddhism and royal symbolism, yet with a reduced institutional presence and a more limited role in the public life of the state.