Tambralinga

2nd–13th centuries Indianised kingdom
Tambralinga first sent an embassy to China under the Song dynasty in 1001. In the 12th century it may or may not have been under the suzerainty of the Burmese Pagan Kingdom and a kingdom of Sri Lanka. At its height in the mid 13th century, under King Chandrabhanu, Tambralinga was independent, regrouping and consolidating its power and even invading Sri Lanka. By the end of the 13th century, Tambralinga was recorded in Siamese history as Nakhon Si Thammarat, under the suzerainty of the Tai Sukhothai Kingdom.

Present peninsular Thailand has long been considered an important area in social interaction as the gateway between the South China Sea and the India Ocean since the protohistoric period (c. 500 BCE–500 CE). by adopting Indic ideologies to extent the power as well as institutionalizing god king statuses and dynamic traditions. Tambralinga was one of the significant centralized polities in the area that was mentioned in the India literature in the 2nd century CE. Previous scholars assume that Tambralingawas situated near modern Nakhon Si Thammarat or Ligor, based on text given in the inscription No. 28 found in Phra Maha That temple at the center of modern Nakhon Si Thammarat, engraved with Pallava scripts in Sanskrit language dated to the 5th century CE.

During the 10th–11th centuries, after gaining independence from Srivijaya by the liberation of King Sujita, sinologist Roderich Ptak proposes instead to locate it in the Tembeling region of Pahang. In contrast, the Sung shih gives an account of Tambralinga under the name of Tan mei liu, and says Tambralinga seems to have been a dependency of the Khmer Empire during all the reigns of Jayavarman VII (r.1181–1218). An indigenous source of Tambralinga history is an inscription dating to 1183, written in Old Khmer, engraved on the base of a bronze Buddha statue found at Wat Hua Wiang in Chaiya District, Surat Thani Province. It gives an impression of the political situation of Tambralinga in the late twelfth century. Another important source is a Sanskrit inscription ascribed to King Chandrabhanu of Tambralinga, dated 1230. It gives the king the epithet "Śrī Dharmarāja", which is an evidence for the identification of Tambralinga with Nakhon Si Thammarat (Nagara Śrī Dharmarāja in Sanskrit). The relationships between Tambralinga and the Tai leaders in the north of the Kra Isthmus was speculated to have begun during the reign of Chandrabhanu, Due to losing Lavo, both Mon's kings rallied up north to occupy Haripuñjaya, but King Rathasatkara eventually lost the city to Lavo's king. After failing to retake Haripuñjaya, King Rathasatkara moved south to settle in Phraek Si Racha (present day in Sankhaburi district). The battle was also mentioned in several chronicles such as the Jinakalamali and Cāmadevivaṃsa. He then attempted to seize another northern city, Nakaburi (นาคบุรี), but also failed. Several battles between Haripuñjaya and Lavo happened since then. Kampoch was married to a Khmer princess who had fled an Angkorian dynastic bloodbath. who also shared a political relation with Tambralinga kingdom. Kampoch possibly fled to the Ankor, then back to sack Lavapür in 1002, and eventually merged Lavo into the Ankorian Empire in 1022 after claiming the Angkor and enthroned as Suryavarman I. He began to reign in 1230, he had the Phra Borommathat (chedi in Nakhon Si Thammarat, from Sanskrit dhatu element, component, or relic + garbha storehouse or repository) reparation and celebration in the same year. Chandrabhanu Sridhamaraja brought Tambralinga to the pinnacle of its power in the mid 13th century. From the Sri Lankan and Tamil materials, records, and sources, Chandrabhanu was a Savakan king from Tambralinga who had invaded Sri Lanka in 1247. His navy launched an assault on the southern part of the island but was defeated by the Sri Lankan king. However Chandrabhanu was able to establish an independent regime in the north of the island over the Jaffna kingdom, but in 1258 he was attacked and subjugated by the Tamil Emperor Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan. In the Palatinate Law of King Trailok dated 1468, Nakhon Si Thammarat was listed as one of eight great cities (Phraya maha nakhon) belonging to the Ayutthaya Kingdom. During the reign of King Naresuan (r. 1590–1605) it became a first class province (Mueang Ek). Restorations were recorded at the time of King Ramesuan (1388–1395), as well as King Narai (1656–1688) of Ayutthaya. The latter one was supported by the French engineer M. de la Mare. The walls of the town spread 456 meters from east to west, and 2,238 meters north to south, thus enclosing an area of about one square kilometre. The northern wall had only one gate, called Pratu Chai Nuea or Pratu Chai Sak, while the southern wall also had only one gate. To the east there were three gates, which connected the town with the sea. To the west were five gates. Today only the northern gate still exists, together with a short stretch of the northern city wall.