Other religious houses · The Khmer empire of Jayavarman VII · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Sukhothai and Chaliang shrines

The stone evidence that this country was inside the Angkor orbit.

At Sukhothai: Wat Phra Phai Luang (late 12th century), Wat Si Sawai (late 12th or early 13th century, founded for Vishnu) and the Ta Pha Daeng shrine. At Chaliang, up the Yom: Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat, a Mahayana temple of the late 12th century with a prang in what is believed to be the Bayon style. What they prove is that Khmer builders and a Khmer taste reached the Yom valley.

They do not prove that Angkor governed it: Baker and Pasuk find no administrative trace of Angkorian authority west of the Khmer country (as the English page reports them), and the old story of a Khmer outpost freed by a Tai rising in 1238 is now doubted. Chaliang is named as a polity of its own, Cheng Liang, in the Song Shi for 1001. There is no Siam on this morning.

No monk, abbot or shrine-keeper is named for any of the shrines.

Who holds it

Title
Priests and monks of the Khmer-style shrines (not named)
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
not known
Confidence
low

English Wikipedia (Sukhothai Historical Park): Wat Phra Phai Luang built in the late 12th century in the reign of Jayavarman VII (Gosling argues a Theravada foundation; little studied); Wat Si Sawai founded in the late 12th or early 13th century as a Hindu shrine for Vishnu, lower parts apparently Khmer; the Ta Pha Daeng shrine undated. English Wikipedia (Si Satchanalai Historical Park): Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat at Chaliang built as a Mahayana Buddhist temple in the late 12th century in the reign of Jayavarman VII, its prang believed originally Bayon in style.

Overlord

No governor is attested (see the Sukhothai record); Khom Sabat of the Lavo orbit is the figure the chronicle sources name.

What it holds

  • Wat Phra Phai Luang, Wat Si Sawai and the Ta Pha Daeng shrine at Sukhothai
  • Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat at Chaliang
  • Endowments (not known)

How things stand that morning

Standing or in the last stage of building; dates are 'late 12th century' and cannot be pinned tighter.

Places of note

  • Wat Phra Phai Luang: Khmer-style towers north of the old city (position uncertain by about 1 km).
  • Wat Si Sawai: Three prangs inside the old city (placed at the town).
  • Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat, Chaliang: Prang on the Yom bend (board placement).

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board entry sukhothai-sukhodaya: 'a Khmer governor over it'. No Khmer governor is attested; the English Wikipedia page for the Sukhothai park says how far Angkorian authority reached is disputed.
  • The Chaliang point (17.397, 99.805) is the campaign board's; the English Wikipedia coordinates for the Si Satchanalai park (17.5239, 99.7865) are for the Tai town 15 km to the north.

Evidence: Monuments dated by style on English Wikipedia; their patronage and the control of the towns are argued.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Two discs; the hold of the Khmer orbit over these towns is argued, not shown.

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

5 more in the sources library for Mainland Southeast Asia.

Sources and studies

  1. English Wikipedia, Sukhothai Historical Park
  2. English Wikipedia, Si Satchanalai Historical Park
  3. Baker and Pasuk, A History of Thailand
  4. 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.