The old Buddhist houses of the Mon country stand on the western plain under a Mahayana king: the great stupa and monasteries of Phra Pathom at Nakhon Pathom, the town of U Thong, Khu Bua, and the old monasteries of Lavo.
The campaign board calls Phra Pathom the mother house of Theravada Buddhism in the basin, a stupa and monasteries that pilgrims still visit, in a city that decayed when the river shifted. English Wikipedia gives the stupa a Dvaravati origin and no dated rebuilding until 1831; the dates of the monastery houses in 1200 are not known. The Mon Theravada tradition is attested in the 11th century by the Burmese side: the Taling monks of the Dvaravati and Thaton country sent the Pali learning to Pagan (from memory, not re-read), and the same tradition is the root from which the Sinhalese order spreads.
In 1200 these houses are an old learned Buddhist community in a Khmer-ruled countryside: respected, not powerful. They matter to the campaign for two things: the pilgrim roads and the Pali texts.
Who holds it
- Title
- Abbots of the old Mon houses (not named)
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Phra Pathommachedi): a Dvaravati stupa with a legend of a Bago king building a Khmer-style stupa over it, no date for any rebuilding before 1831, when Prince Mongkut found it in ruins. English Wikipedia (Dvaravati): the Mon principalities of the western plains lasted into the early 12th century and came briefly under Angkorian influence under Jayavarman VII; Piriya Krairiksh's argument is that Nakhon Pathom and U Thong were Buddhist centres. English Wikipedia (Buddhism in Cambodia): Sinhalese Theravada was first propagated in Southeast Asia by Taling (Mon) monks in the 11th century.
Overlord
The Khmer lords of the western plain (see the Suvarnapura and Jayarajapuri records); no abbot answers to any named overlord.
What it holds
- The stupa and monasteries of Phra Pathom
- The monasteries of U Thong, Khu Bua and Lavo (not located)
How things stand that morning
Old houses in use; the Dvaravati cities around them are shrunken.
Places of note
- Phra Pathom (Nakhon Pathom): The great stupa of the Dvaravati country.
- U Thong: Old Mon town (board placement).
- Khu Bua: Old Mon town below Ratchaburi (board placement).
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry nakhon-pathom: 'the mother house of Theravada Buddhism in the basin'. English Wikipedia gives no 11th to 13th century history for the stupa; the claim is the campaign board's.
Evidence: Monuments and the campaign board; no document names a house or abbot of 1200.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Three discs for the known houses; other Mon houses are not placed.
Primary sources for Khmer empire
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
- The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
- The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
- The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
- The Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia and Champa (ISCC), Various (Khmer and Cham kings), edited by Auguste Barth and Abel Bergaigne (inscriptions of the 7th to 12th centuries; edited 1885 to 1893). The founding edition of Khmer and Cham Sanskrit epigraphy, public domain and online, which Coedes's later corpus supersedes but does not replace. Read online
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Phra Pathommachedi
- English Wikipedia, Dvaravati
- English Wikipedia, Buddhism in Cambodia
- OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.