Trâsâk Ph'aem

Trâsâk Ph'aem was the first Khmer sovereign known only from the Cambodian Royal Chronicles, whose legendary line follows the end of temple inscriptions after Jayavarman IX around 1340. The chronicles call him Chay, a gardener whose sweet cucumbers earned him the title Neay Trasac Paem.

Entrusted with the king's spear to guard his crops, he mortally wounded the monarch during a nightly test of his vigilance. The dying king absolved him, and a white elephant chose the gardener as successor. Taking the royal name Ang Chey, he married the late king's daughter Candravati and withdrew to Banteay Samré after purging hostile lords.

His sons Nippean Bat, who ruled from 1340 to 1346, and Sithean Reachea succeeded him; under Nippean Bat the Thai vassals revolted and broke away. The chronicles present this house as the root of all later Cambodian royalty.