The Author Of This
Inscription Was A Prince Of Thai (Or Siamese) Race, Styled Phra Rama
Kamheng ("The Valiant") [Son Of Sri Indratiya], Who Reigned In Sukkothai,
Whilst His Dominions Extended From Vieng-Chan On The Mekong River (Lat.
18 Deg.), To Pechabur, And Sri-Thammarat (I.E. Ligor, In Lat.
8 deg.
18"),
on the coast of the Gulf of Siam. [This inscription gives three
dates - 1205, 1209, and 1214 s'aka = A.D. 1283, 1287 and 1292. One passage
says: "Formerly the Thais had no writing; it is in 1205 s'aka, year of the
goat = A.D. 1283, that King Rama Kamheng sent for a teacher who invented
the Thai writing. It is to him that we are indebted for it to-day." (Cf.
Fournereau, Siam ancien, p. 225; Schmitt, Exc. et Recon., 1885;
Aymonier, Cambodge, II. p. 72.) - H.C.] The conquests of this prince are
stated to have extended eastward to the "Royal Lake", apparently the Great
Lake of Kamboja; and we may conclude with certainty that he was the leader
of the Siamese, who had invaded Kamboja shortly before it was visited (in
1296) by that envoy of Kublai's successor, whose valuable account of the
country has been translated by Remusat.[3]
Now this prince Rama Kamheng of Sukkothai was probably (as Lieutenant
Garnier supposes) of the Thai-nyai, Great Thai, or Laotian branch of the
race. Hence the application of the name Lo-kok to his kingdom can be
accounted for.
It was another branch of the Thai, known as Thai-noi, or Little Thai,
which in 1351, under another Phra Rama, founded Ayuthia and the Siamese
monarchy, which still exists.
The explanation now given seems more satisfactory than the suggestions
formerly made of the connection of the name Locac, either with Lophaburi
(or Lavo, Louvo), a very ancient capital near Ayuthia, or with Lawek,
i.e. Kamboja. Kamboja had at an earlier date possessed the lower valley
of the Menam, but, we see, did so no longer.[4]
The name Lawek or Lovek is applied by writers of the 16th and 17th
centuries to the capital of what is still Kamboja, the ruins of which
exist near Udong. Laweik is mentioned along with the other Siamese or
Laotian countries of Yuthia, Tennasserim, Sukkothai, Pichalok, Lagong,
Lanchang (or Luang Prabang), Zimme (or Kiang-mai), and Kiang-Tung, in the
vast list of states claimed by the Burmese Chronicle as tributary to Pagan
before its fall. We find in the Ain-i-Akbari a kind of aloes-wood called
Lawaki, no doubt because it came from this region.
The G.T. indeed makes the course from Sondur to Locac sceloc or S.E.;
but Pauthier's text seems purposely to correct this, calling it, "v. c.
milles oultre Sandur." This would bring us to the Peninsula somewhere
about what is now the Siamese province of Ligor,[5] and this is the only
position accurately consistent with the next indication of the route, viz.
a run of 500 miles south to the Straits of Singapore. Let us keep in
mind also Ramusio's specific statement that Locac was on terra firma.
As regards the products named: (1) gold is mined in the northern part of
the Peninsula and is a staple export of Kalantan, Tringano, and Pahang,
further down. Barbosa says gold was so abundant in Malacca that it was
reckoned by Bahars of 4 cwt. Though Mr. Logan has estimated the present
produce of the whole Peninsula at only 20,000 ounces, Hamilton, at the
beginning of last century, says Pahang alone in some years exported above
8 cwt. (2) Brazil-wood, now generally known by the Malay term Sappan, is
abundant on the coast. Ritter speaks of three small towns on it as
entirely surrounded by trees of this kind. And higher up, in the latitude
of Tavoy, the forests of sappan-wood find a prominent place in some maps
of Siam. In mediaeval intercourse between the courts of Siam and China we
find Brazil-wood to form the bulk of the Siamese present. ["Ma Huan fully
bears out Polo's statement in this matter, for he says: This Brazil (of
which Marco speaks) is as plentiful as firewood. On Ch'eng-ho's chart
Brazil and other fragrant woods are marked as products of Siam. Polo's
statement of the use of porcelain shells as small change is also
corroborated by Ma Huan." (G. Phillips, Jour. China B.R.A.S., XXI.,
1886, p. 37.) - H.C.] (3) Elephants are abundant. (4) Cowries, according
to Marsden and Crawford, are found in those seas largely only on the Sulu
Islands; but Bishop Pallegoix says distinctly that they are found in
abundance on the sand-banks of the Gulf of Siam. And I see Dr. Fryer, in
1673, says that cowries were brought to Surat "from Siam and the
Philippine Islands."
For some centuries after this time Siam was generally known to traders by
the Persian name of Shahr-i-nao, or New City. This seems to be the name
generally applied to it in the Shijarat Malayu (or Malay Chronicle), and
it is used also by Abdurrazzak. It appears among the early navigators of
the 16th century, as Da Gama, Varthema, Giovanni d'Empoli and Mendez
Pinto, in the shape of Sornau, Xarnau. Whether this name was applied to
the new city of Ayuthia, or was a translation of that of the older
Lophaburi (which appears to be the Sansk. or Pali Nava pura =
New-City) I do not know.
[Reinaud (Int. Abulfeda, p. CDXVI.) writes that, according to the
Christian monk of Nadjran, who crossed the Malayan Seas, about the year
980, at this time, the King of Lukyn had just invaded the kingdom of Sanf
and taken possession of it. According to Ibn Khordadhbeh (De Goeje, p.
49) Lukyn is the first port of China, 100 parasangs distant from Sanf by
land or sea; Chinese stone, Chinese silk, porcelain of excellent quality,
and rice are to be found at Lukyn.
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