The essence of Ramkhamhaeng's greatness, in addition to his military prowess, resides in the comparatively liberal and egalitarian nature of his reign. This is summarized by the famous Ramkhamhaeng Inscriptions, which were discovered by no less a person than King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) in 1834, while he enjoyed a spell in the monkhood. In this inscription, the King portrays himself as a paternalistic ruler who nevertheless maintains a liberal regime compared to the departed Khmers and one who pays considerable attention to economic issues. Part of the inscription is as follows:

"In the time of King Ram Khamhaeng this land of Sukothai is thriving. There is fish in the water and rice in the fields. The lord of the realm does not levy toll on his subjects for travelling the roads; they lead their cattle to trade or ride their horses to sell; whoever wants to trade in elephants, does so; whoever wants to trade in horses, does so; whoever wants to trade in silver or gold, does so. When any commoner or man of rank dies, his estate - his elephants, wives, children, granaries, rice, retainers, and groves of areca and betel - is left in its entirety to his children. When commoners or men of rank differ and disagree, [the King] examines the case to get at the truth and then settles it justly for them. He does not connive with thieves or favor concealers [of stolen goods]. When he sees someone's rice he does not covet it; when he sees someone's wealth he does not get angry. If anyone riding an elephant comes to see him to put his own country under his protection, he helps him, treats him generously, and takes care of him; if [someone comes to him] with no elephants, no horses, no young men or women of rank, no silver or gold, he gives him some, and helps him until he can establish a state [of his own]. When he captures enemy warriors, he does not kill them or beat them. He has hung a bell in the opening of the gate over there: if any commoner in the land has a grievance which sickens his belly and gripes his heart, and which he wants to make known to his ruler and lord, it is easy: he goes and strikes the bell which the King has hung there; King Ram Khamhaeng, the ruler of the kingdom, hears the call; he goes and questions the man, examines the case, and decides it justly for him." (in Wyatt, 1994, pp.48-58).

A great deal of information is available from this inscription about life in Sukothai and, since it is clear that Ramkhamhaeng wishes it to be understood that he has instituted a new form of leadership, about life under the Khmers as well. It appears, therefore, that the Khmers ruled capriciously, taking whatever they wanted from their subjects without hindrance and treating the enemy with disdain if not cruelty. Crucially, Ramkhamhaeng promises a light hand with respect to taxation and regulation of trade; it is clear that he wishes to develop the economic strength of his realm by inviting migrants to live and work there and so promises them a life without interference. This accords with his policy of maintaining peaceful relations with China and encouraging Chinese ceramic workers to come to Sawankhalok near Sukothai where they established a thriving pottery industry.

It is also clear that he would provide resources for those adventurous souls who wished to establish new settlements under his protection. This was the recognized way to create new sub-states and to help fill up the countryside (Dhida Saraya, 1993). It might also be noted that the purpose of warfare in mainland Southeast Asia was most commonly undertaken to gain access to manpower and other resources. Territory was of much lower value while it remained so sparsely populated and therefore about to provide little revenue. When battles took place, therefore, they customarily happened near towns and similar built-up areas.

Ramkhamhaeng used the Thai language for the first time in his inscriptions: it is a modified and cursive form of the Khmer script with marks for three tones. The King's intention was to create a new language that would be suitable for all of his subjects, no matter what their ethnicity or origin. Sukothai itself was a diverse, multi-ethnic community with a mixture of Thais, Lawa, Mons and others from further afield. Thais had been settling in the Chao Phraya region for centuries and intermarrying with the indigenous people in some cases and displacing them in others. As the inscription notes:

"All the Ma, the Kao, the Lao, the Tai of the land under the vault of heaven and the Tai who live along the U and long come and do obeisance to King Sri Indraditya's son King Ram Khamhaeng, who is lord of the kingdom of Sri Sajjanalai and Sukothai." (Wyatt, 1994, pp.48-58).

It is in the sense of togetherness and personal freedom that the distinctive nature of Siam-ness was created and which was to prove an inspiration to other polities to create a country that followed this inspiration. Nevertheless, while it was necessary to maintain ethnic harmony, that does not mean that there were not important forms of transactions between different ethnic groups. The indigenous Lawa peoples, for example, may well have retained their cultural identities to a later and more important extent than has been realized. Their upland communities communicated with the lowland Tais through trade and this helped create new sub-states in the spaces between the larger polities:

"Trade played an important part in state formation and was a major dimension of ethnic relations between Lawa highlanders and Tai lowlanders. Trade was a catalyst for the origin of a number of sub-states. Some new townships emerged where markets were held.” (Choltira, 1997)

Despite the apparently great geographical extent of Ramkhamhaeng's conquests, it is important to remember that many of the states who gave tribute would not have formally been part of an empire. It was much more common for states in mainland Southeast Asia to accept the overlordship of another more powerful state but to retain nearly all the benefits of independence. For example, Tenasserim and Mergui, apparently within the sphere of Ramkhamhaeng's control, were not fully controlled by a central power until many hundreds of years later; they were too far distant, too remote and relatively little less powerful than the supposed overlords. As Sunait observes of Tenasserim and Mergui in the Ayutthaya period:

"Even if the early kings of Ayutthaya exercised some influence over Tenasserim, perhaps in the form of a token acknowledgement of vassalage, it seems unlikely that they were able to begin incorporating Tenasserim into the administrative hierarchy at any time prior to the fifteenth century. Tenasserim was far away, across the mountains to the west, and for more than half a century after the founding, Ayutthaya's leaders were preoccupied with struggles for power between the house of Uthong, whose political base was at Lopburi, and the house of Suphanburi." (Sunait, 1999)

It should also be remembered that much of the mainland Southeast Asian region is notable for the numerous forms of micro-environment which coexist in close proximity. In Burma, as well as Thailand and Laos, different peoples occupied different environmental niches and negotiated relations among themselves in what could be long-lived and sustainable ecological systems. These systems have continued until recently (Pornpilai, 2003). As a result, peoples of quite different cultures and economic systems could live quite close to each other but only interact through markets or other intermediary areas.

It is because of Ramkhamhaeng's very reputation and the rapidity of his campaigns that his conquests spread so far and so fast - and the same reason explains why his son and grandson were unable to hold onto them, even if both were not more interested in religious studies than more pragmatic forms of kingship. Their devout Buddhism was also a relic of Ramkhamhaeng's innovations for he had used Theravada Buddhism as another vehicle for unifying the people of Sukothai, superseding, it was intended, the various forms of petty animism that acted to divide rather than unite people because of the multitude of different beliefs, rituals and taboos.

The Prince of U Thong had achieved sovereignty over Sukothai in 1350 while he was establishing his power base at Ayutthaya (Rogers, 1996, p.145).

The Alliance against the Mongols

The Mongol destruction of the Nanchao and victory in Burma, together with major campaigns against Dai Viet, Champa and Java are all comparatively well-known historical events; much less well-known are the Mongol attacks against Mangrai and his Tai allies.

The Chinese caused the submission of Chiang Hung in 1290 and it may be that its youthful ruler, the 23-year old Thao Ai, who was a second cousin of Mangrai, appealed for help. In any case, Chiang Hung rebelled and the Chinese sent a force to capture it in 1292 only for it to be retaken by Mangrai in 1296. The Chinese did not respond until 1301 when a force of twenty thousand infantry, ten thousand horses and supporting Mongol archers was despatched with the aim of a campaign of conquest against the Tais. Alas for the Chinese, this campaign ended in disaster and the only result was for troops from Chiang Mai and Chiang Hung to act together to raid Chinese territory until 1311, when the Chinese resorted to diplomacy to end the fighting and accepted tribute from Chiang Mai in six missions from 1315-1347. Chiang Hung, meanwhile, continued raiding until 1325 (Wyatt, 1984, pp.48-9). Tai states in the very south of China continued to resist Chinese domination for hundreds of years.

Ramkhamhaeng of Thailand His Military Career

Introduction and Background
Ramkhamhaeng Rule
Ramkhamhaeng Army