Tak is where the Ping road out of the north meets the road west over the Moei to the Mon coast: the hinge between Haripunjaya's world and the Khmer orbit below it.
The old town (Ban Tak, which the gazetteer puts at 17.04 N, 99.08 E) stands on the Ping, about twenty kilometres from the modern provincial town. Which power held it in 1200 is not known. The northern chronicles (the Camadevivamsa makes Camadevi found Ban Tak about 663, which is legend) and the later Sukhothai tradition (Ban Tak the main fortress on Sukhothai's western front) both claim it, in different centuries.
No dated source of 1200 places a lord, a garrison or a tax-collector there.
Who he is
- Title
- Lord or headman of Tak, if there was one
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- No source we could reach names a lord of Tak before the Sukhothai period.
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Tak province, Sukhothai Kingdom).
Overlord
not pinned: claimed by the campaign board for Haripunjaya; claimed by later Sukhothai texts
What it holds
- The Ping crossing at Ban Tak and Tak
- The foot of the road west to the Moei and Mae Sot
- Tolls on the Ping road, if anyone took them
Allies and rivals
Haripunjaya (north, by the campaign board and the chronicle), the Khmer-orbit towns at Kamphaeng Phet and Chaliang (south), the Karen of the Moei (west).
How things stand that morning
A march without an attested lord. Drawn as contested, not as Haripunjaya's or the Khmer's.
Wealth
The river and the road; the westward trade to the Mon coast.
Threats
- A Sukhothai push up the Ping (after 1238 or about 1243)
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1238, or about 1243Sukhothai arises under Si Inthrathit; Tak becomes in later tradition a fortress of its western front.Depends on: The Tai capture of Sukhothai from its Khmer-titled commander. Stopped by: A strong Khmer response.
Places of note
- Ban Tak (old Tak): the old town on the Ping
- Tak: modern provincial town
Where the sources disagree
- Board (tak-muang-tak): "contested", with the note that the northern chronicles and the later Sukhothai inscriptions claim it. Kept. The brief's trap 4 applies: no Khmer governor of the north-west is attested.
- English Wikipedia (Tak province) says Tak was a kingdom "over 2,000 years ago" with a peak "around the 1st century", unsourced; not used.
Evidence: Legend and later tradition only.
On the map: A contested drawing: the evidence does not say who held the ground.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Tak province
- Wikipedia, Sukhothai Kingdom (pre-1238 and the Khmer question)
- Wikipedia, Camadevi (legend of the Lavo queen; Baker and Pasuk on the archaeology)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.