Sukhothai Kingdom: Founding of the First Thai State

The Sukhothai Kingdom was a Tai state in north-central Thailand founded around 1238, when local chiefs threw off the rule of the Khmer empire. Under kings such as Ram Khamhaeng and Li Thai it became a centre of Theravada Buddhism, art and early Thai writing. Thai tradition has long celebrated it as the first Thai kingdom, and its ruined capital is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Background: Tai peoples and the Khmer empire

The Tai-speaking peoples had gradually moved south from what is now southern China and northern Vietnam into the river valleys of mainland Southeast Asia during the first millennium AD and after. By the twelfth century Tai communities lived across the region of modern Thailand and Laos, alongside Mon and Khmer populations.

The central plain of Thailand was then on the edge of the Khmer empire centred at Angkor. Under Jayavarman VII, builder of Angkor Thom and the Bayon, Khmer influence reached its height in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Sukhothai was a Khmer outpost, with temples such as Wat Si Sawai and Wat Phra Phai Luang built in Khmer style.

After Jayavarman VII’s death around 1218, Khmer control over distant provinces weakened. This gave local Tai leaders the opportunity to assert their independence.

The founding of Sukhothai

The main source for the founding is the Wat Si Chum inscription, written in the fourteenth century. It tells how two Tai chiefs, Pho Khun Bang Klang Hao and Pho Khun Pha Mueang, joined forces against a Khmer commander who held Sukhothai. After driving him out, Pha Mueang installed his ally as ruler and gave him the title Si Inthrathit (Sri Indraditya).

The date of about 1238 is a modern estimate, as the inscription does not give a precise year. Some historians prefer the 1240s. What is clear is that by the mid-thirteenth century Sukhothai was an independent Tai principality.

Si Inthrathit was succeeded by his son Ban Mueang and then by another son, Ram Khamhaeng.

Ram Khamhaeng and the golden age

Ram Khamhaeng ruled from about 1279 to about 1298. According to tradition he earned his name, meaning “Rama the Bold”, by defeating an enemy chief in single combat on elephant-back as a young man.

He extended Sukhothai’s influence through warfare and alliances, claiming authority over territories stretching to the Mekong and down the Malay Peninsula, though much of this was loose overlordship rather than direct rule. He maintained good relations with the neighbouring Tai rulers Mangrai of Lan Na and Ngam Mueang of Phayao, and Sukhothai sent missions to Yuan (Mongol) China.

The famous Ram Khamhaeng Inscription, a four-sided stone pillar dated 1292, describes his reign. It portrays a prosperous land where there were fish in the water and rice in the fields, where trade was free of tolls and where any subject could ring a bell at the palace gate to ask the king for justice. It also states that in 1283 the king created the Thai script.

The stele was discovered in 1833 by Prince Mongkut, the future King Rama IV, then a Buddhist monk. In the late 1980s some scholars argued that it had been composed in the nineteenth century. After intense debate, most historians accept it as genuine, and it was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2003.

Religion and culture

Sukhothai’s kings were patrons of Theravada Buddhism, the school of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka. Monks of the Sri Lankan tradition came from Nakhon Si Thammarat in the south, and the Sri Lankan style of bell-shaped stupa influenced local building.

Sukhothai artists developed one of the most admired styles in Buddhist art. Their bronze Buddha images have smooth, flowing forms, oval faces and flame-like finials on the head. They also created the “walking Buddha”, a rare image showing the Buddha in motion.

Under King Li Thai, also called Maha Thammaracha I (ruled 1347 to about 1368), Buddhism flourished further. He is traditionally credited with the Traiphum Phra Ruang, the “Three Worlds”, a treatise on Buddhist cosmology and one of the oldest works of Thai literature.

The kingdom was also known for its ceramics. Kilns at Si Satchanalai and Sukhothai produced glazed stoneware, known as Sawankhalok ware, which was exported across Southeast Asia and as far as the Philippines and Indonesia.

The monuments of Sukhothai

The old city of Sukhothai was laid out as a rough rectangle, enclosed by earthen ramparts and moats, a little under 2 km across. Its centre was Wat Mahathat, the royal temple, with a main chedi topped by a characteristic lotus-bud spire, surrounded by smaller stupas, pillars and Buddha images.

Other important temples include Wat Si Chum, with its huge seated Buddha in a tall brick shrine; Wat Sa Si, set on an island in a lake; and Wat Si Sawai, with three Khmer-style towers. A system of reservoirs and channels collected water for the city.

Decline and absorption by Ayutthaya

After Ram Khamhaeng’s death, many vassals broke away, and Sukhothai’s power shrank. In 1351 a new Tai kingdom, Ayutthaya, was founded farther south on the Chao Phraya river. It grew rapidly and became the main power in the central plain.

In 1378 King Borommaracha I of Ayutthaya forced Sukhothai to accept vassal status. Sukhothai’s rulers continued as subordinate kings, but by about 1438 the kingdom had been absorbed into Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya itself would later contribute to the fall of Angkor, completing the shift of power from the Khmer to the Tai.

Rediscovery and the historical park

After its absorption by Ayutthaya, Sukhothai declined into a provincial town, and in later centuries the old city was largely abandoned. A new town, now the provincial capital, grew up about 12 km to the east.

Interest in the ruins revived in the nineteenth century, when King Mongkut’s discovery of the inscriptions and his interest in early Thai history drew attention to the site. His grandson Vajiravudh, the future King Rama VI, visited in 1907 as crown prince and wrote about the ruins, helping to make Sukhothai a symbol of the nation’s past.

Large-scale restoration by the Thai Fine Arts Department, with support from UNESCO, began in the 1970s. The Sukhothai Historical Park was officially opened in 1988, and in 1991 it was inscribed, together with Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet, as the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated Historic Towns”.

Myths and facts

“The first Thai kingdom”. Twentieth-century Thai historians presented Sukhothai as the birthplace of the Thai nation. Modern scholars stress that it was one of several Tai states of the period, including Lan Na and Phayao.

Loy Krathong. A popular tradition says the festival of floating offerings began at Sukhothai with a court lady named Nang Nopphamat. The story comes from a text usually dated to the nineteenth century, and the festival’s origins are uncertain, though Sukhothai is today a major centre of the celebration.

Timeline

• c. 1218: Death of Jayavarman VII; Khmer control of the provinces weakens.
• c. 1238: Si Inthrathit becomes the first king of Sukhothai.
• c. 1279: Ram Khamhaeng comes to the throne.
• 1283: Creation of the Thai script, according to the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription.
• 1292: Date of the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription.
• 1347: Li Thai becomes king.
• 1351: The kingdom of Ayutthaya is founded.
• 1378: Sukhothai becomes a vassal of Ayutthaya.
• c. 1438: Sukhothai is absorbed into Ayutthaya.
• 1991: Sukhothai and associated towns are inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Why it matters

Sukhothai marks the emergence of Tai political power in the heart of mainland Southeast Asia after centuries of Khmer dominance. Its Buddhist art, script and ideals of kingship became central to Thai identity, and its ruins remain one of the most important historic sites in Thailand.