Langkasuka on the Patani plain

Who rules

Title

Ruler of Langkasuka

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

No ruler after the sixth-century embassy of Bhagadatta (515) is named in any source. The Zhufan zhi (about 1225) calls the country Ling-ya-ssu-chia and a dependency of San-fo-ts'i.

Overlord

Not pinned; listed among San-fo-ts'i's dependencies about 1225.

What the realm holds

• The Yarang site and the Patani river mouth
• The Saiburi and Tak Bai landings
• The road inland by the Betong saddle toward the Perak headwaters
• Rice of the Patani plain

How it was acquired

Allies and rivals

Tambralinga to the north; Kelantan to the south; San-fo-ts'i.

The realm that morning

Not recorded; a working country by the Zhufan zhi's evidence, a generation later.

Wealth

Rice, forest goods, trade across the peninsula by the Kedah road.

Military

No figure.

Threats

• Tambralinga's growing reach
• Silting of the old Patani estuary

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.

1. about 1225Zhufan zhi describes Ling-ya-ssu-chia as a dependency of San-fo-ts'i.Depends on: Later hearsay only. Stopped by: Not applicable.
2. about 1365The Nagarakretagama lists Langkasuka among Javanese claims; the Pasai chronicle's claim that it was destroyed about 1370 is disputed.Depends on: Later sources. Stopped by: Not applicable.

Places of note

• Yarang site: Moated site with brick stupa mounds.
• Patani river mouth: Sheltered harbour behind a sand spit.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board (yarang-langkasuka, powers.txt) says Langkasuka is 'fading out of the sources' by 1200. The Zhufan zhi of about 1225 still describes it, so 'fading' is a modern impression, not a recorded decline.

Evidence: A site and a name; no ruler or event near the date.

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

On the map: Drawn on the modern provinces; the real extent in 1200 is unknown.

Primary sources for this realm

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 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.
• 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