The great reliquary stupa of the isthmus, the religious centre that gives Tambralinga its standing among Buddhist kingdoms and the reason Lanka is a place its kings think about (board).
The standing bell-shaped tower is later work over an older foundation, so the site is certain and the fabric of 1200 is not. A Pallava-script Sanskrit inscription found at the temple, which the English Wikipedia article on Tambralinga dates to the fifth century, names the Siva of Tambralinga, so the ground was a Shaiva site before it was a Buddhist one. Chandrabhanu's inscription of 1230 is at Wat Sema Mueang in the town.
The ties to the Sinhalese order are the campaign board's inference for 1200; the community, its estates and its patron's name are not recorded.
Who holds it
- Title
- The monastic community of the Mahathat, not named
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source names an abbot, priest or headman of this house for any date near 1 January 1200.
Overlord
The king of Tambralinga, not known.
What it holds
- The shrine or temple and what the campaign board and the remains show of its endowment
How things stand that morning
Standing; the community and its lands are not recorded.
Where the sources disagree
- The Nakhon chronicle that credits the founding to Indian missionaries and a king in 1278 is legend and is not used.
Evidence: Fair for the site and the old inscription; nothing for 1200's community or fabric.
On the map: A point only: no land of its own is recorded.
Primary sources for Tambralinga
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.
- 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
- The Leiden grants of Rajaraja I and Kulottunga I concerning the Srivijaya vihara at Nagapattinam, The Chola chancery (Rajaraja I, Rajendra I, Kulottunga I) (the Larger plates about 1005 to 1014 (completed under Rajendra I); the Smaller plates 1090). Background documents for the relations between the Cholas and the Malay world. Read online
- The Grahi (Chaiya) Buddha inscription and the Tambralinga records, Various (the officers of Grahi and the kings of Tambralinga), edited by George Coedes (the Chaiya bronze Buddha inscription 1183; the Nakhon Si Thammarat records 13th century; edited 1929, revised 1961). The peninsula in 1200 has one near-contemporary dated text: the Old Khmer inscription on the base of a bronze Buddha from Wat Hua Wiang at Chaiya, dated 1183, which records the image's casting by order of the mahasenapati Galanai, governor of Grahi, under the king Srimat Trailokyaraja Maulibhusanavarmadeva, a name that is argued to be either a Malayu (Srivijaya) overlord or a local king.
- 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
- A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
- Description of the Foreign Peoples (Chau Ju-kua), Zhao Rukuo (趙汝适) (about 1225, while superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou). The Song customs officer's survey of the overseas world, compiled from merchants and from Zhou Qufei, a generation after 1200 but describing trade routes that were the same in 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia (English): Tambralinga
- OMNIA board note (a lead only, checked against the sources above)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.