Sukhothai History

Like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, until comparatively recently Sukhothai was a ‘lost city in the jungle’. It was only in 1833 that the future King Mongkut discovered the famous Inscription No 1 and not until 1985 that the French scholar Lucien Fourmereau published an incomplete description of the site. The key date, though, is 1907 when crown Prince Maha Vijiravudh made an eight-day visit to Sukhothai; It was his account that laid the foundations of the Sukhothai ‘myth’: a proud, glorious and civilized past for a country which was on the verge of being submerged by an alien culture. What is remarkable is that Prince Vijiravudh’s account, based on a cursory visit, was accepted for so long and by so many. It has only been since the mid-1980s that people have begun to question the conventional history.

Sukhothai became the first capital of Siam and the following 200 years (until the early 15^th century) are considered the pinnacle of Thai civilization. There were nine kings during the Sukhothai Dynasty, the most famous being Ramkhamhaeng, whose reign is believed to have been 127501317. He was the first ruler to leave accounts of the state inscribed in stone *now displayed in the National Museum in Bangkok). These provide a wealth of information on conquests, taxation and political philosophy. Ramkhamhaeng created the Thai script, derived the Mon and Khmer, and the Inscription No 1 of 1292 is regarded by many as the first work of Thai literature.

At its peak Ramkhamhaeng’s kingdom encompassed much of present-day Thailand, south down the Malay Peninsula and west into Lower Burma, though the northern kingdom of Lanna Thai, Lopburi and the Khorat Plateau were still controlled by the waning Khmer Empire.

Ramkhamhaeng was an absolute monarch, but one who governed his people with justice and magnanimity. If anyone wanted to lodge a complaint, he or she would ring a bell at the gate and the king would grant them an audience. King Ramkhamhaeng was responsible for the introduction of Theravada Buddhism, when he brought Ceylonese monks to his kingdom – partly intended to displace the influence of the Khmers. He displayed considerable diplomatic powers and cultivated Khmers. In addition, he opened relations with China, establishing both economic and cultural links. The fine pottery produced at Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai is thought by some scholars to have developed only after the arrival of expert Chinese potters, with their knowledge of advanced glazing techniques.

The Sukhothai period was a glowering not just of ceramic arts, but of art in general. The Buddha images are regarded as the most beautiful and original to have ever been created in Thailand, with the walking Buddha image being the first free-standing Buddha the country produced.

King Ramkhamhaeng’s son, Lo Thai (1327-1346), was an ineffectual leader, overshadowed even in death by his father, and much of the territory gained by the previous reign was lost. By the sixth reign of the Sukhothai Dynasty, the kingdom was in declined, and by the seventh, Sukhothai paid homage to Ayutthaya. In 1438 Ayutthaya officially incorporated Sukhothai into its realm; the first Thai kingdom had succumbed to its younger and more vigorous neighbor.