Siddhijaya Brahmadeva
| Siddhijaya Brahmadeva | |
|---|---|
| King of Kamalanka | |
| King of Dvaravati's Kamalanka | |
| Reign | 590–616 |
| Predecessor | Kakabhadra |
| Successor | Kakabhadra |
| Born | Manohana |
Siddhijaya Brahmadeva (Thai: สิทธิไชยพรหมเทพ, RTGS: Sitthichai Phrommathep) is described in legend as a ruler of Nakhon Chai Si, which has been identified with the present-day Nakhon Pathom,[1]: 11–2 [2]: 3–4 functioning as the center of Kamalanka.[3]: 180 According to tradition, Siddhijaya consolidated authority in the region by suppressing a group of Brahmans, potentially led by Kakabhadra, who had exercised power over local settlements before Siddhijaya's arrival.[1]: 11–2
Founding of Nakhon Chai Si
Prior to the arrival of Siddhijaya Brahmadeva, the area corresponding to present-day Nakhon Pathom was under the authority of a group of Brahmanical leaders who established a settlement known as Doṇabrāhmaṇa (โทณะพราหมณ์). Within this community, a golden vessel known as the Tanan (ทะนาน, a type of measuring bowl, was enshrined in a stone structure for worship. This vessel was traditionally believed to have been used to calculate the relics of the Buddha, with its installation dated to 590 CE.[1]: 11–2
Following this event, Siddhijaya Brahmadeva, who is said to have relocated from the city of Manohan (มโนหัน) or Manohana (มโนหน) near Yassodhon (ยศโสธร, potentially Lopburi prior to the foundation of the Lavo Kingdom), established his seat at Doṇabrāhmaṇa and renamed it Nakhon Chai Si (นครชัยศรี).[1]: 11–2 Although legend and chronicles place the establishment of Nakhon Chai Si in 590 CE, archaeological evidence suggests that the region had already functioned as a major settlement since the 550s.[4]: 2 [5]
The Tanan and the mission from Lanka
The narrative also recounts that news of the Tanan reached the king of Lanka, who dispatched a monk named Kalayadishthira (กัลยาดิศเถระ) to obtain the vessel in exchange for relics of the Buddha. Siddhijaya Brahmadeva requested the Tanan from the Brahmanical leaders, but his petition was refused. This refusal led to conflict between Siddhijaya and the Brahmanical community, compelling him to relocate to a nearby site where he established a new city, referred to in the sources as Pawan (ปาวัน) or Panan (ปานัน). There he constructed a large stupa—speculated by later tradition to be Phra Pathommachedi—to enshrine the relics received from the Lankan king. Eventually, Siddhijaya seized the Tanan by force and presented it to Kalayadishthira, the emissary from Lanka.[2]: 4
Overlap with Kakabhadra
Chronological discrepancies within the sources place Siddhijaya's reign in apparent overlap with that of another monarch of Nakhon Chai Si, Kakabhadra. Some scholars have therefore sought to equate the two figures.[2]: 4 Nevertheless, the accounts provide grounds for distinguishing them: the legend records Siddhijaya as having come from Manohana and founded Nakhon Chai Si in 590 CE,[1]: 11–2 whereas the Northern Chronicle describes Kakabhadra as ruling Takkasila (another appellation for Nakhon Pathom) for 72 years before he died in 641; thus his reign was 569 to 641,[6]: 3 and his grandsons are said to have been descendants of King Doṇabrāhmaṇa.[2]: 4
Dvaravati and the Chinese court
It was during this period, approximately between 605 and 616, that Dvaravati is first recorded as having sent tribute to the Chinese court.[7]: 264 [a] No ruler is named in connection with these early embassies. The Chinese records that do name rulers of the polity they call Tou-he belong to the middle of the following century and are treated under Qizhangmo and Pu xie qi yao;[9]: 130–33 no identification has been proposed between Siddhijaya and either figure.
Foundation of Lavapura
During this period, it is recorded that Kalavarnadisharaja, the elder son of Kakabhadra, commissioned a group of Brahmans under his authority to construct the city of Lavapura in 629. The project was completed in 648. Having succeeded his father in 641, Kalavarnadisharaja subsequently relocated his seat to this newly established center and designated the polity as the Lavo Kingdom.[1]: 11–2 [2]: 4
Notes
- ↑ The tribute inventory of the Cefu Yuangui compiled by Lin Ying and Huang Jiaxin places the first embassy from a polity called Dvaravati in 638, under the Tang, and records no earlier one.[8]: 129, 132
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Saritpong Khumsong (2014). โบราณคดีเมืองนครปฐม: การศึกษาอดีตศูนย์กลางแห่งทวารวดี [Nakhon Pathom Archaeology: A Study of the Former Center of Dvaravati] (PDF) (in Thai). Bangkok: Papermet (Thailand). p. 230. ISBN 978-974-641-498-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 April 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Sukanya Sudchaya. "ตำนานพระประโทณ: ตำนานแบบพึทธศาสนาในสุวรรณภูมิ" [Legend of Phra Praton: Buddhist legend in Suvarnabhumi] (PDF) (in Thai). Archived from the original on 29 September 2025. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ Chand Chirayu Rajani. "Background to the Sri Vijaya Story – Part I" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2020.
- ↑ Wiyada Thongmit. "นครชัยศรี: เมืองลุ่มน้ำแห่งศรีทวารวดี" [Nakhon Chai Si: The city in the Sri Dvaravati river basin] (PDF). Archived from the original on 2025-09-29. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "จังหวัดนครปฐมมาจากไหน พระปฐมเจดีย์มีที่มาอย่างไร" [Where does Nakhon Pathom Province come from? What is the origin of Phra Pathom Chedi?]. www.silpa-mag.com (in Thai). 30 November 2024. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ Northern Chronicle
- ↑ Lawrence Palmer Briggs (1950). "The Khmer Empire and the Malay Peninsula". The Far Eastern Quarterly. 9 (3). Duke University Press: 256–305. doi:10.2307/2049556. JSTOR 2049556. Archived from the original on 28 August 2025. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ Anna Bennett; Hunter Watson, eds. (2019). Defining Dvāravatī: Essays from the U Thong International Workshop 2017 (PDF). Distributed by Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai. DASTA and BIA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2026.
- ↑ Saritpong Khunsong (November 2015). ทวารวดี: ประตูสู่การค้าบนเส้นทางสายไหมทางทะเล [Dvaravati: The Gateway to Trade on the Maritime Silk Road] (in Thai). Paper Met Co., Ltd. ISBN 978-974-641-577-4.