Far East Kingdoms

Haripunjaya (Mons)
AD 679 / 750 - 1291 / 1292

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Modern Thailand occupies much of the Indochinese peninsula in South-East Asia. It is bordered by Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Burma. From the twelfth century onwards Thais expanded outwards, predominantly southwards into the Malay-Thai peninsula. State-building swiftly followed in Early Thailand to create a patchwork of kingdoms and minor principalities.

Haripunjaya was a Mon state in what is now northern Thailand, founded in the seventh century AD by Mon groups from Louvo (Lavo). Its name is alternatively shown as Haripuñjaya with the accented letter, or as Hariphunchai. The capital from which it takes its name is today's Lamphun, and that name is often used to refer to the state. The Chinese name for it was K'un-lun (Kunlun), while its geographic extent remains speculative.

Late Stone Age cave paintings have been found in the region which have been dated to about 2000 BC. Between about 1000-800 BC people lived mainly in the Ban Wang Hai suburb of modern Lamphun, according to archaeological discoveries which were made in 1987.

These agricultural inhabitants established a town which was known as Samantaraprate, located just to the south of modern Lamphun. They traded with India, southern China, the Dai Viet kingdom, and even the Roman world. The dead were frequently buried with implements to be used in the afterlife.

Haripunjaya by about AD 900 was bordered to the west by a number of other Mon states, and to the east and south by the Khmer empire. The surrounding states had changed significantly by about 1100, although Haripunjaya occupied approximately the same area. To its west was the large Pagan kingdom. To its north lay the Dali kingdom of Yunnan. To the east lay numerous Lao city states, and to the south was the greatly-reduced Khmer empire.

While the history of this state is relatively well-known, the many chronicles which document it contain a good deal of contradictory information which requires interpretation. One problem is that there are few contemporary documents or inscriptions with which to compare the chronicles.

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(Information by John De Cleene and the John De Cleene Archive, from A History of Thailand, Chris Baker & Pasuk Phongpaichit (2005), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Encyclopaedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations, Charles F W Higham (Facts on File, 2004), from Historical Atlas of the World, R R Palmer (Ed, Chicago, 1963), from The Times Atlas of World History, Geoffrey Barraclough (Ed) (Hammond, Inc, 1979), and from External Links: Ayutthaya Historical Research, and The Early Syām in Burma's History, G H Luce (Journal of the Siam Society, 1958, available via the Internet Archive (PDF)), and George Coedès Chronology of the Kingdom of Haripunjaya, Laurent Hennequin (thaiscience.info, PDF), and The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, George Coedès (Walter F Vella (Ed), Susan Brown Cowing (Trans), University of Hawaii Press, 1968, and available online via the Internet Archive), and Khmer Empire c.900 (World History Encyclopaedia), and Kingdom of Lan Na (ebsco.com), and Lamphun.go.th, and Myth, Legend and History in the Northern Thai Chronicles, Donald K Swearer (Journal of the Siam Society, 26 March 1973, PDF).)

AD 679 - 733

Legendary queen from Lavo, and first ruler (54 years).

679 / 750

According to legend, Camadevi or Cham Thewi is the daughter of the king of Lavo. She reaches Haripunjaya in 679 (or 750, the more preferable date), bringing with her a white crystal Buddha which was produced in her home of in Lavo.

While legend associates her with Buddha, Buddhism does not reach Haripunjaya until the reign of Ādityarāja in the twelfth century. One of her twin sons succeeds her in Haripunjaya while the other rules Lampang prior to her death.

The Phra Nang Chamathewi monument, Mueang Lamphun district in Thailand's Lamphun province, commemorates the legendary founder of Haripunjaya

AD 685 / 757 - ?

Son. Installed aged 7 as co-ruler.

fl 900s

Fled plague with his people & returned when it ended.

fl 1012 & 1050

Legendary? Overthrown by Ucch'itta of Lavo.

1012 - 1050

Chronicles from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand report an event which may be legendary but which helps to explain the expansion of the Khmer empire into the Menam basin (otherwise the Chao Phrya).

Atrāsataka, ruler of the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya in what is now northern Thailand, prepares to attack Ucch'itthachakkavatti of Lavo (Louvo).

Just as the two armies are preparing to fight a third king appears in the form of Sujita of Siridhammanagara, and the other two flee toward Haripunjaya. Ucch'itta gets there first and assumes control. He marries Atrāsataka's wife to solidify his position. Sujita turns south to become ruler of Lavo.

This relief from a wall at Angkor Wat depicts a Khmer battle scene, with temple wall decorations standing amongst the greatest expressions of Khmer artwork

Three years later, Sujita's son or successor, Kambojarāja, attacks Ucch'itta but is defeated. The Sujita in this story is considered to represent Suryavarman I, the Khmer ruler of 1002-1050, and the story itself is likely a depiction of Khmer expansion.

fl 1012 & 1050

Legendary? m Atrāsataka's wife. Reigned 3 years.

fl mid-1000s

Son of Suryavarman? Reigned 20 yrs, 7 months.

c.1050 - 1056

During Kambalaraja's reign a six-year-long cholera plague drives the inhabitants to Sudhammarnagara (Thaton, where the lking of Pagan so harasses them that they flee again to Pegu. They are able to return home when the epidemic subsides.

c.1150?

Prior to the accession of Ādityarāja around 1150 or before, a series of rulers control Haripunjaya whose names are unknown. In fact few, if any, of the city's rulers are known by name.

Tai-speaking people (of which Thais form a sub-group) first arrived in the region of today's Thailand around 600 BC, but heavy inwards migration only took place between the eighth to tenth centuries AD

fl c.1150

Very long reign.

c.1150s?

According to a potentially unreliable chronology, Ādityarāja attempts to conquer Lavo to oust the Khmer, but his attack is repulsed. The Khmer reverse his fortunes, pursuing his army right up to the walls of Haripunjaya. Two subsequent Khmer attacks fail to dislodge Ādityarāja.

fl c.1210s

Son. Faced Tai-speaking threat from the north.

1213? - 1250s

Reigned 45 years during the first half of the 1200s.

1213 - 1219

During his lengthy reign, Sabbādhisiddhi makes endowments to Buddhist monuments, in 1213, 1218, and 1219, and is generally considered to be a devout ruler.

Declining during the fourteenth century, around 1431 Angkor Wat was abandoned, leaving few clues to help modern historians understand how and why the city was left so completely to the jungle

1288? - 1291/92

Ruled at least from 1288. Driven out by Thais.

1288 - 1291/92

Mangrāi of Lan Na sends an ambassador to Haripunjaya. The ambassador wins over Yiba who makes him preceptor. In that role the ambassador is able to drain the resources of the inhabitants.

When he is satisfied that he has sufficiently weakened the state, he notifies Mangrāi who invades between 1291-1292 to drive out the Mon king. Yiba attempts to regain his state but fails. His son is killed and Yiba subsequently flees to Phitsanulok.

1296

Thais destroy the old city of Haripunjaya as an example of their growing power in the region during their southwards migration. Mangrāi founds as his new capital the city of Chiang Mai at some distance from the ruins. His new state often takes its name from the capital but is generally better known as Lan Na.

Mengrai, in the centre, was the founder of the kingdom of Lan Na at Chiang Mai in 1259, a late medieval rival to Sukhothai in what is now Thailand