Bhargavi Kesavan, if only the khmer people could see this post they will come and kill you(just kidding). History is so mixed up and diluted for us to name something like that.
Not just Khmer Varmas but All of South east asia and many other parts of world received culture, religion and civilisation from throughout India. But one exception with Khmer is that, yes it is possible that they had a royal lineage from tamilnadu possibly skantha sishya pallava's time or even before, from Pallava kingdom (who were the pioneers in seafaring).
We even have some mysterious details like the presence of Rajasimman in both pallava and kamboja and presence of magendavarman in both places(same time period) who built same kind of temples atop hillocks and whose inscription looks alike(could be same person? There are inscriptions saying that the pallava ruler ruled over the seas) Varman (though we call tamil kings were mostly patrons of sanskrit and pali nottamil) is a sanskrit word whichmeans kshatriya. Interesting details yes, but with all these, do we reallyknow for sure that thepallavas themselves weretamil?(that is entirely another long topic)
It is true that tamil beliefs like karaikalpei vazipaadu, thiruppavai, many tamil customs and languageand especially agathiyar vazipaadu spread in SEA from tamilnadu .
So yes, SEA is most influenced by Indian culturebut angkor wat was built by a tamil king? I don't think so. Tamil/Indian culture sow seeds all around and one hybrid seedling became a canopy tree.
As far as I have read, I think Suryavarmanwas a 'true to the core' khmer king (whoseancestors might have beenpallavas)who followedhindu(please don't read indian)religion/culture.
remember this sentence has a very profound and deep meaning- "யாதும் ஊரே, யாவரும் கேளிர்".
Thank you,
With heartful of warm thoughts Malarvizhi Baskaran
Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in any field, since the payment is pure love.