Phrip Phri

Phrip Phri Kingdom อาณาจักรพริบพรี (Thai) Anachak Phrip Phri
1157/58 or 1188 – 1351
Phrip Phri Kingdom in 1196
Lower Menam Valley in the 13th century
Capital	Phetchaburi
Monarch
• 1188–1205 (first)	Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri
• 1342–1351 (last)	Uthong V
Historical era	Post-classical era
• Establishment	1157/58 or 1188
• Territorial dispute with Tambralinga	1196
• Annexed Chen Li Fu	1204
• Tributary of Sukhothai	1283–1298
• Sent tribute to China	1295
• Phetchaburi revived Tambralinga	1342
• Annexed to Ayutthaya	1351
Preceded by Succeeded by Lavo Chen Li Fu Kamalanka Ayutthaya Kingdom
Today part of	Thailand Myanmar

Phrip Phri (Thai: พริบพรี), later known as Phetchaburi, was a Xiān polity on the west coast of the Bay of Bangkok in lower central Thailand. The site had been a maritime-oriented port on the trade route between India and China in the Dvaravati period, and rulers of the Padumasuriyavaṃśa line are recorded there from the late 10th century before the seat was moved elsewhere. It was re-established in the 12th century by a ruler of the same line who came south from the Sukhothai–Nakhon Thai region.

Over roughly a century and a half the polity extended its reach north to Phraek Si Racha and south into Tambralinga, sent embassies to the Yuan dynasty, and passed by inheritance and marriage to Uthong V, under whom it was absorbed into the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351. Whether it was politically independent of Angkor in the interval is disputed, and the evidence pulls in both directions.

Name

The city appears under several names. Phrip Phri is the Thai form; the Sanskrit Srijayavajrapuri, from Jaya + Vajra + purī, is the name used in the Preah Khan inscription of Jayavarman VII. Chinese records of the 1290s call the place Pi-ch'a-pu-li.

Its founder is likewise known by several styles: Pprappanom Tteleiseri in the 1684 Instructions Given to the Siamese Envoys Sent to Portugal, Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri (พระพนมไชยศิริ) in Du Royaume de Siam, and Mahesvastidrādhirājakṣatriya in the Nakhon Si Thammarat Chronicle. The 1684 Instructions count only four kings for the whole of Phrip Phri's existence, which has been taken to indicate that these are one person.

History

Early settlements

Human settlement in Phetchaburi dates back to the prehistoric era, according to archaeological evidence found in caves and rock shelters such as Ban Nong Fab in the west of Tha Yang district and Tham Fa Tho in Mueang district. Several settlements dating to the Metal Age in the late prehistoric period have been found on the plains and along the coast. Prominent Iron Age sites include Ban Khok Phrik, established on a large hummock along the coastline in Khung Krathin sub-district, Mueang district, Ratchaburi, whose inhabitants performed burial rituals, maintained relationships with communities at important regional mineral sites, and traded by sea with distant partners.

No traces of Dvaravati-style communities have been found in the Phetchaburi River basin itself, but many sites and artefacts of the Dvaravati period, including Buddha statues and sculptures of the Wheel of Dhamma, are scattered across the area. In Ban Lat district, traces of buildings and stone statues were recovered at Ban Nong Phra, and earthenware, moulds for Buddha statues and glass beads at Noen Pho Yai; further traces were found near Khao Krajiew in Tha Yang district, and the ruins of a large religious building at Thung Setthi, Cha-am district. Trade with distant communities from the late Metal Age onwards contributed to the growth of larger settlements on the fertile alluvial plains, which were well suited to cultivation.

Foundation

The chronicle tradition credits Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri with founding the city in the 12th century, but the place is attested earlier. A ruler named Dhalemesvara (เทลเมศวร) is placed at Phetchaburi in the 9th century, contemporary with Phraya Kong of Nakhon Pathom, and the Legend of Phraya Kong – Phraya Pan records that Phraya Kong married a princess of his line. The Ayutthaya Testimonies then name Vijayaraja and his son Srisimha as rulers of Phetchaburi in the late 10th and 11th centuries, Vijayaraja being described as its refounder and Srisimha as having afterwards left it to rule from Phraek Si Racha; both are of the line that traced its descent from Padumasuriyavaṃśa, the same line from which Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri came. What the sources describe is therefore a seat moved between cities as circumstances required, rather than a single act of foundation.

The sources place the 12th-century re-establishment in two different years, and the events recorded in between belong to neither. The 1684 Instructions state that Phrip Phri was built in 1157/58 by a king who came from Soucouttae (Sukhothai), moving south with some 54,000 followers, whereas Du Royaume de Siam has the same figure, there ruling at Locontàï (Nakhon Thai), ascend the throne in 1188 and found the city then. Between those two dates the chronicle traditions record him and his brother taking a succession of towns down the valley: Uthong I came to the vacant throne of Suphannabhum in 1163, Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri succeeded a kinsman at Jayasimhapuri about 1169, and he regained Phraek Si Racha in 1180. A territorial dispute with Tambralinga followed in 1196.

The material evidence does not settle the year either. The base of the main stupa at Wat Maha That is of large bricks in the Dvaravati art style, the pagoda is in the Ayutthaya style, and several temples hold large red sandstone Buddha images in the pre-Ayutthayan U Thong Style; the town must therefore have been founded before the Ayutthaya period, possibly when Buddhism spread from Ceylon by way of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri ancestry has been contested on the same basis. Manit Vallipodom's interpretation of 1973 equated the Tertiary Era of the Legend of Singhanavati with the Chula Sakarat era, which placed the later monarchs of the Singhanavati dynasty — Chaiyasiri in particular — in the 10th century. Since the legend has Chaiyasiri move south into the Chao Phraya valley, earlier Thai scholars identified him with Phanom Thale Sri of the Phetchaburi line, and so made him the founder of Phrip Phri. That reading no longer holds: Phiset Chiachanphong argued that the Tertiary Era should instead be read as the Shaka era, which places Chaiyasiri in the 5th century, some seven centuries before the foundation of Phrip Phri.

The seat from which the founder's other line of descent is traced, Yassouttora Nacoora Louang or Tasoo Nacora Louang (ธาตุนครหลวง) in Du Royaume de Siam, is itself unidentified. Three candidates have been proposed: Yaśodharapura; Lavo's Lavapura; and, on phonetic grounds, the village of Tha Sao (บ้านท่าเสา) near modern Uttaradit, reading Tasoo as Tha Sao and Nacoora Louang as "royal city", an area in which several archaeological sites lie, most notably the ruins at Thung Yang.

The sequence of capitals given for the dynasty by the Instructions, Voyage de Siam of Guy Tachard and Du Royaume de Siam is set out below.

Capital	Years	Kings	Notes/Contemporary events
Tchai pappe Mahanacon (Phraek Si Racha)	756/57–890s? or 980s	Pra Poat honne Sourittep pennaratui sonanne bopitra	The first king
		Other 8–9 kings. Full list at Xiān
		Ipoia Sanne Thora Thesma Teperat	Fall of Rāmaññadesa (Si Thep/Ayojjhapura?) (946) Moved the capital to Yassouttora Nacoora Louang
Yassouttora Nacoora Louang/ Tasoo Nacora Louang (Lavo or Yaśodharapura or Tha Sao)	890s? or 980s?–1155		Foundation of Yaśodharapura (890s)
		Other 11–12 kings. Full list at Lavo Kingdom	Collapsing era of Dvaravati (10th–11th centuries)
		Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri/ Pprappanom Tteleiseri	The period of weak rule and feuding began in Yaśodharapura in 1150. Yaśodharapura fell under the Chinese King (1167–1177). Yaśodharapura fell under Champa (1178–1181). Lavo became independent. (1150s) P. Thele Seri ordered the people to move to Soucouttae/Locontàï (1155). Tai mueangs – Lavo rivalry over Sukhothai and Mueang Chaliang (1150s–1230s).. P. Thele Seri, accompanied by about 54,000 adherents, relocated south to establish Phrip Phri (1157 or 1188).
Soucouttae/Locontàï (Sukhothai/Nakhon Thai)	1155–1169
Phrip Phri (Phetchaburi)	1188–1205
	1205–1342	Other 2 kings	Phrip Phri – China royal intermarriages established.
	1342–1351	Uthong V	Traditional establishment of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (1351) Also King of Suphannabhum (r. 1341–1351)
Ayodhya (Ayutthaya)	1351–1369
	1369–1767	Other 32–34 kings

Expansion and relations with Tambralinga

The same chronicle describes the arrival itself. It relates that Phra Phanom Thale Si Mahesvastidhirajakshatriya came with 33,000 men, 500 elephants and 700 horses, followed by some 55,000 more, and established a royal residence at Phetchaburi with a forecourt and quarters for the palace women; that he set the people to making salt and had it presented to his grandparents; and that he opened 300 fields at Bang Taphan on the coast.

A Chinese junk is said to have called soon afterwards, and the king to have granted the sappanwood its crew requested until the vessel was full. In return the emperor is said to have given him Princess Chandradevi Sri Bat Rajaputri Sri Thong Samut, a granddaughter of a princess of Champa who had become an imperial consort, as his queen.

The Nakhon Si Thammarat chronicle records that King Mahesvastidrādhirājakṣatriya of Phrip Phri extended his territory northward to Phraek Si Racha, in present-day Chai Nat, dating around the late 12th century and sent his preceptor to govern it; the area he took in also covers the region proposed for Chen Li Fu. To the south, a territorial dispute with Tambralinga in 1196 was settled by negotiation rather than conquest, and produced a lasting dynastic tie. That tie bore fruit in the early 14th century, when Tambralinga was revived by princes of Phetchaburi after its collapse under the Singhasari invasion and an outbreak of plague.

Angkorian influence

Phrip Phri is named, as Srijayavajrapuri, among several cities of west-central Thailand in the Preah Khan inscription of Jayavarman VII, but the text records no exercise of political authority over them. Some Bayon-style architecture confined to Jayavarman VII's era is nonetheless present, notably the shrine at Wat Kamphaeng Laeng.

The titulature points the same way, and has been read in opposite senses. The ruler recorded by the Chinese bore the style Gan-mu-ding, a Khmer title, which has been taken to mean that Phrip Phri was not fully independent in this period. The same style appears at Chen Li Fu, and in an inscription of 1183 at Chaiya, where a ruler is named Kamrateng An Maharaja Sri Mat Trailokyaraja Mauli Bhusanavarmadeva; Chit Phumisak read it there as the designation of a dependent governor. The question is set out at Chen Li Fu § Relations with Angkor. Several chronicles and legends likewise show dynastic relations between Phrip Phri and Lavo's Ayodhya, ruled by the Lavo or Uthong dynasty, which was in closer contact with Angkor than other parts of Siam proper and may have taken up Angkorian norms of titling its local rulers. Against this, the Chinese texts themselves call the place chéng (城), "city" or "city-state", and not guó (國, "country"), and the same Khmer-derived style was borne in 1295, during a period of Angkorian weakness.

Relations with China

Phrip Phri traded with China from its foundation, and the trade was prosperous. Its king married Chandradevi (จันทรเทวีศรีบาทราชบุตรีศรีทองสมุทร), a daughter of the Chinese emperor by a Cham queen, according to the Nakhon Si Thammarat chronicle. The line continued to rule Ayodhya until its descendant Uthong V united the polities of the lower Chao Phraya River valley; Uthong V is himself said to have married a Chinese princess named Pacham Thong. In 1293 the Chinese court sent emissaries to press Xiān to submit, and was refused; in 1295 the ruler of Pi-ch'a-pu-li appeared at court in person with tribute and a golden plate. Chit Phumisak dated the embassy to July 1294 and read the envoy's name in the Chinese record as a transliteration of the Khmer rank kamrateng (กัมรเตงอัญ). He noted that the court summoned the kamrateng of Xiān separately a month later, treating the two as distinct rulers, and observed that Chinese usage classed Phrip Phri as a city (城) rather than a country (國).

Absorption into Ayutthaya

The Instructions, the Ayutthaya Chronicle of Jeremias van Vliet and Du Royaume de Siam agree that the first king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Uthong V, had earlier been king of Phrip Phri, which the same dynasty had held for four generations. While reigning there he married the only Suphannaphum princess, which made him king of Suphannaphum as well; when he was offered the throne of Lavo's Ayodhya in 1351, the four polities he then held — Suphannaphum, Phrip Phri, Lavo and Ayodhya — were de facto united, and that union is conventionally taken as the formation of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

Phrip Phri was thereafter dissolved and its towns placed directly under Ayutthaya. Phetchaburi and its sister city Ratchaburi both took on significant roles in the new kingdom: Ratchaburi as a frontier town against Burmese invasion, where artistic evidence such as the main sanctuary of Wat Mahathat Worawihan shows a relation to Ayutthaya art, and Phetchaburi as the link between the cities of the Chao Phraya basin and the coastal towns of the south, and as a port where merchant vessels lay at anchor before sailing on to the capital or to the major southern cities. Both retained these roles into the Rattanakosin period.

Genealogy

The chart below shows the connections between the Chinese imperial house and the local dynasties of the lower Chao Phraya valley, together with the two competing theories of the origin of Uthong II, king of Lavo's Ayodhya from 1205 to 1253.

Chronicles-based theory Alternative theory From Phraek Si Racha?/Lavo? Phrom King of Chiang Saen □ Si Satchanalai princess From Soucouttae/ Locontàï/ Si Satchanalai Kesariraja 9th King of Si Satchanalai King of Lavo's Lavapura Phra Chao Luang 2nd King of Lavo's Ayodhya □ Chinese Emperor Chandramouli Champa princess Chaiyasiri King of Nakhon Thai Sai Nam Peung 3rd King of Lavo's Ayodhya Dara Ratchathewi Ayodhya princess Pprappanom Tteleiseri King of Phrip Phri Chandradevi Chinese princess Soi La/Uthong I King of Suphannabhum Pprappanom Tteleiseri King of Phrip Phri Soi La/Uthong I King of Suphannabhum Dhammikaraja 4th King of Lavo's Ayodhya Uthong II 5th King of Lavo's Ayodhya □ Suphannabhum princess Phanom Wang King of Ligor □ Suphannabhum princess Uthong II 5th King of Lavo's Ayodhya Thonglanrach 2nd King of Phrip Phri Phanom Wang King of Ligor Ai King of Ligor Yi King of Tanintharyi Sam King of Phrip Phri Thonglanrach 2nd King of Phrip Phri Chaithat Prince of Phichai Chiangmai/ Mueang Rad? □ Princess Jayasena 6th King of Lavo's Ayodhya Ruler of Phichai Chiangmai/ Mueang Rad? Saen Pom Ruler of Suphannaphum □ Princess of Kamphaeng Phet Suvarnaraja 7th King of Lavo's Ayodhya Dhammatrilokthi 12th King of Si Satchanalai Uthong III King of Suphannabhum Kalaya Devi Dhammaraja 8th King of Lavo's Ayodhya Uthong IV King of Suphannabhum Sunantha Devi Baramaraja 9th King of Lavo's Ayodhya Pha Ngua King of Suphannabhum 3rd King of Ayutthaya □ Sukhothai princess □ Suphannabhum princess Uthong V 5th King of Phrip Phri King of Suphannabhum 1st King of Ayutthaya Pacham Thong Chinese princess Suphannabhum dynasty of Ayutthaya Lavo dynasty of Ayutthaya

Rulers

Rulers		Reign	Notes/Contemporary events
Romanized name	Thai name
Dhalemesvara	เทลเมศวร	9th century	Contemporary of Phraya Kong of Nakhon Pathom (r. 807–867), whose marriage to a princess of Dhalemesvara is recorded in the Legend of Phraya Kong – Phraya Pan
Menam Valley was conquered by Tambralinga in 927. Kamalanka was attacked by the Chola in 1030, and later destroyed by the Pagan in 1058. After that, several kingdoms emerged in the western valley, such as Chen Li Fu (12th century–1204), Suphannabhum (12th century–1438), Phrip Phri (1157/58 or 1188–1351). All of which later became parts of the Xiān's Ayutthaya Kingdom.
Vijayaraja	พิชัยราชา	987–1027	Founded Phra Nakhon Phichai Buri (พระนครพิชัยบุรี), generally identified with Phetchaburi, as his principal seat Succeeded his elder brother Visnuraja at Phitsanulok before moving his seat south
Srisimha	ศรีสิงห์	1027–1062	Son of the previous Later left the throne at Phetchaburi and back to rule from Phraek Si Racha.
No ruler recorded; the seat lay elsewhere		1062–1188
Pprappanom Tteleiseri Phanom Chaisiri Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri Mahesvastidrādhirājakṣatriya Phichaithep Chiang Saen	พนมทะเลศรี พิชัยเทพเชียงแสน พนมไชยศิริ	1188 – 1205	Refounder of Phetchaburi Also king of Sukhothai Legends say he was older brother of Soi La/U Thong I, King of Suphannabhum (r. 1163–1205) Possibly grandson of Lavo King. Father of King Uthong II of Lavo's Ayodhya. 1196 Territory disputed with Tambralinga. Regained Phraek Si Racha (Chen Li Fu) in 1180.
Thonglanrach	ทองลันราช	1205–?	Son of the previous. Older brother of Uthong II
Sam	เจ้าสาม	Before 1253–?	Son of Uthong II of Lavo's Ayodhya and nephew of the previous. Appointed to Phrip Phri by his father, whose reign ended in 1253.
Uthong V or Worachet	อู่ทอง/ วรเชษฐ์	1342–1351	Great–grandson of Jayasena. Also King of Suphannabhum Later King of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
After the traditional formation of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351, rulers of Phetchaburi were appointed by the King of Ayutthaya.

Further reading

• Simon de la Loubère. A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam (PDF). p. 292.
• Jean Rispaud (1937). "Les Noms à Éléments Numéraux des Principautés Taï" (PDF). Journal of the Siam Society (in French). 29 (2): 77–122. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2024.