Introduction

Ramkhamhaeng is renowned as one of the greatest of all Thai kings and the state he created at Sukothai has become known as the cradle of Siamese civilisation. He was a mighty and bold warrior who conquered a wide swathe of land through his personal exploits; however, his descendants could not maintain his level of achievement and Sukothai was in the space of a few decades supplanted by Ayutthaya as the leading Thai polity.

In the middle of the thirteenth century CE, the balance of power in mainland southeast Asia was changing as a result of two factors: first, the Mon-Khmer peoples who had dominated the central part of the region had weakened as the Angkorian empire shrivelled through over-extension; second, the Mongol destruction of Nanchao and victory in Burma both destroyed important states and stimulated further flows of migrants across the region. Tais, who had been migrating to and around the area over the course of the preceding centuries, finally had the opportunity to establish comparatively large-scale polities of their own. They did so both by establishing new centres and by taking over existing centres that had previously been controlled by the Khmers, whose hierarchical regimes seem to have been shrugged off by the indigenous peoples they had ruled with some rejoicing.

In the 1240s, the Tai Prince Bang Klang Hao, who headed a small princedom in the region of Sukothai, allied with another Tai prince, Pha Muang and, together, they attacked and overthrew the Khmer Governor of Sukothai. Bang Klang Hao took control of Sukothai and he was given the royal title of Sri Indraditya by Pha Muang. On his death, Sukothai passed to Sri Indraditya’s first son Ban Muang who, in 1279, in turn died and so the succession passed to Ramkhamhaeng, who was the second son of Sri Indraditya. It was under Ramkhamhaeng that the city became the vibrant and glorious centre it was later to be.

Ramkhamhaeng's Life and Career

"There was another king, named King Ruang [Ramkhamhaeng], who was the king of Sukothai. This King Ruang was the son of a fierce ogress named Kangli. The lady beheld a fisherman who was beauteous of form, and took him as her husband; and they had a son, who became King Ruang." (Chiang Mai Chronicle, p.24)

Ramkhamhaeng is accorded in the Chiang Mai chronicle the type of supernatural birth suitable for one of his great stature and renown. He is also said to be skilled at magical arts and capable, for example, of transforming himself into various types of animals and objects. It might be noted that his skill at magic is held to be quite commensurate with his claim to be a devout Buddhist. Nevertheless, he was not apparently free from impropriety as the following relates:

"King Ruang and King Ngam Muang were great friends, and relied upon and trusted each other. King Ruang often went to wash his hair in the Mekong and brought elephants there with him passing by the domain of Phayao, along the route along which Ngam Muang brought his troops and elephants and horses. People later were to call it the Mae Rong Chang, down to the present day.

There was a lady consort of Kin Ngam Muang called Lady Ua [of] Chiang Saen who was very beautiful. That lady harboured a grudge against King Ngam Muang for this reason: One day, at a soul-tying ceremony for Ngam Muang, Lady Ua Chiang Saen quarrelled with King Ngam Muang, who told the lady that the beef stew she had made for the ceremony was delicious but a bit too watery. The lady was upset and feared that the king was speaking from bias against her and would no longer seek out her company.

King Ngam Muang went off to the city of Chiang Sum. The lady was happy, for she had a desire for King Ruang, who was wont to come past [there] and wash his hair. She waited outside the city. King Ruang knew that Lady Ua Chiang Saen had a hankering for him, so he quietly seduced her many times." (Chiang Mai Chronicle, pp.24-5)

As a result of a domestic squabble, therefore, one of the minor wives of the King of Phayao gave herself to Ramkhamhaeng who was on his way to wash his hair in the company of his elephants and soldiers. We may assume that this was a ritual observance that may have been undertaken at the time of Songkran (Thai New Year and Water Sprinkling Ceremony). Ngam Muang would have had a case for calling for the death of Ramkhamhaeng but instead appealed to Mang Rai, later to become the founder of Chiang Mai and the King of Lan Na and, even then, the senior Tai chief in northern Thailand. Mang Rai realised the importance of unity among the Tais and the opportunities for them if they could avoid internecine warfare; he also appreciated the dangers of antagonizing Ramkhamhaeng's royal relatives, who included the rulers of Ayutthaya and Nakhon Si Thammarat (Wyatt, 1984, pp.46-7). As a result, he ruled that Mang Rai should pay an indemnity of 990,000 cowrie shells. This number is mystical in nature since nine is three times three and three is itself a sacred number in Buddhism, representing the Buddha, his teachings and the monkhood. The cowrie shells themselves, which acted as the currency of the time, would have been blessed and involved in religious rites to make them suitable for recompense.

The three kings were subsequently able to swear an oath of friendship:

"With a knife, each of the rulers then cut his own hand, and the blood was mixed and each drank it from a cup, sealing the close bond between the three." (Chiang Mai Chronicle, p.28).

Peace and stability give the three kings the opportunity to expand their own realms, which Ramkhamhaeng took by conquering lands as far East as Vientiane and Luang Prabang in the east, the coast of Burma in the west and as far south as the Malay peninsula. The list of people bearing him tribute is lengthy and impressive. However, it should be noted that rulership of remote locations was in many cases largely ceremonial and consisted of tribute more or less voluntarily supplied. Kings who wished to enforce real command over other cities would have needed to take armies there to demonstrate their power.

Ramkhamhaeng of Thailand His Military Career

Introduction and Background
Ramkhamhaeng Rule
Ramkhamhaeng Army