Duō Miè Kingdom
Duō Miè Kingdom | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early 7th century–661 | |||||||||
Proposed locations of ancient kingdoms in Menam and Mekong Valleys in the 7th century based on the details provided in the Chinese leishu, Cefu Yuangui, and others. | |||||||||
| Capital | Āśe | ||||||||
| Religion | Buddhism | ||||||||
| Government | Kingdom | ||||||||
• Early 7th century | Māgha Shili | ||||||||
• c. 661 | Mórú Shīlì | ||||||||
| Historical era | Post-classical era | ||||||||
• Decline of Chin Lin | 6th century | ||||||||
• Established | 7th century | ||||||||
• First tribute to China | Early 7th century | ||||||||
• Annexed by Lavo | c. 661 | ||||||||
• Independent as Xiū Luó Fēn | c. 700 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Thailand | ||||||||
Duō Miè Kingdom or Míng Miè (多蔑国), shortly called Miè (蔑), was an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Chinese leishu, Cefu Yuangui, compiled during the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE),[1]: 18 and in the Tang Huiyao.[2] It was located on the coast of the South Sea.[3] Its territory can be traveled around for a month. It met the sea to the south and adjoined Dvaravati's vassal, Tou Yuan, to the east. Bordered the kingdom of Jù Yóu or Dàn Yóu (俱游国/但游国) to the west and the kingdom of Bō Cì or Bō Là (波刺国/波剌國) to the north.[1]: 20
Duō Miè was not subject to other states, and despite not being an enormous kingdom, it had a large population. There were 30 states (cities) under its rule. It has state walls, palaces, towers, and fortresses, all made of tiles and wood.[1]: 20 There are 4,000 guards. Although they have bows, arrows, swords, shields, and armor, they do not have battle formations. There are criminal law documents and marriage ceremonies. Religion worships Buddha and other gods. Their king wears clothes made of morning glory fiber and linen. The king's surname is Māgha (摩伽; Mó-jiā), his given name is Shili (失利; Shī-lì), and his royal title is Sī-duō-tí (斯多题).[2] Duō Miè established relations with China during the Zhenguan period (627–649 CE) of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and later sent tribute to the Chinese court again by King Mórú Shīlì (摩如失利) in 661 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong.[4]
Its products include gold, silver, copper, iron, ivory, rhinoceros horn, morning glory clothes, and others. Its animals include rhinoceros, elephants, horses, and cattle, and its fruits include betel nuts. Its peaches, dates, melons, plums, and vegetables and grains are similar to those in China. Gold and silver are used for transactions, and the people pay a twentieth tax.[2] The residents are short in stature, and brothers marry one wife. Women always make horns out of their hair to identify the number of their husbands.[5]
Interpretation
No additional evidence about Duō Miè has been found, and its identification remains disputed. However, since it bordered west of Tou Yuan, if Tou Yuan was on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bangkok as cited by Lawrence P. Briggs;[6]: 267 particularly Lopburi as said by Tatsuo Hoshino,[7]: 54 or Si Mahosot by Piriya Krairiksh,[8] Duō Miè should be situated on the western Menam Valley in central Thailand. On the other hand, if Tou Yuan was in the upper Tanintharyi Coast,[6]: 267 Duō Miè should be somewhere in the Irrawaddy Delta.
If Duō Miè was situated in the western Menam Valley, particularly in the vicinity of Phraek Si Racha,[a] it is plausible that the polity came under the hegemony of Lavo during the reign of Kalavarnadisharaja (r. 648–700). This monarch is traditionally credited with the annexation of Tou Yuan and the establishment of the Lavo Kingdom in 648. According to the Northern Chronicle, the territorial domain of Lavo during his reign extended to Kosambi in the northwest, Sukhothai in the north, and Sawangkaburi in the northeast.[10]: 25 Notably, these three polities were situated upstream from the Phraek Si Racha region, reinforcing the plausibility of Lavo’s political dominance over the area.
Earlier scholarship posited that Duō Miè was a minor coastal polity located south of Línyì, an interpretation based primarily on the geographical information found in the Cefu Yuangui. However, this source also places Tamna—another polity that dispatched tribute to the Chinese court in the same year as Duō Miè in 661—to the south of Línyì, a location now demonstrably erroneous. The misplacement of Tamna thus undermines the reliability of Cefu Yuangui’s description in this context.[11] Other researchers have alternatively argued that Duō Miè may have been situated in southern India.[12]
During the decline of Dvaravati, which began in the 8th century, an autonomous state known as Xiū Luó Fēn, likely situated in the Phraek Si Racha region, emerged and sent a tributary mission to the Chinese court. It reportedly maintained close ties with Qiān Zhī Fú of Si Thep, which is believed to have expanded westward into the Menam Valley, where the enlarged realm was referred to by the Chinese as Gē Luó Shě Fēn.
Note
- ^ According to the cartographic reconstruction of Dvaravati polities proposed by K. M. Mudar,[9]: 4 Nakhon Pathom region corresponded to Dvaravati's Kamalanka or later Ge Luo She Fen; the Lopburi and Prachinburi regions constituted Tou Yuan, the polity that subsequently evolved into the Lavo Kingdom; the Uthong–Suphanburi region was identified with Chin Lin, which later transformed into She Ba Ruo (舍跋若),[7]: 30 and the Si Thep region was associated with Qiān Zhī Fú.[7]: 30 Within this interpretive framework, Duō Miè was therefore most plausibly situated in the sole remaining area that both contained a substantial concentration of ancient Dvaravati settlements and possessed access to the southern maritime routes—namely, the Phraek Si Racha or Chai Nat region.
References
- ^ a b c "钦定四库全书: 册府元龟卷九百五十七宋王钦若等撰". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (in Chinese). Retrieved 14 May 2025.
- ^ a b c Tang Huiyao, Volume 100
- ^ 钦定古今图书集成，方舆汇编，边裔典，第102卷 [The Complete Works of Ancient and Modern Books, Collection of Geographical Maps, Border and Ethnic Groups, Volume 102] (in Chinese) Text: 按杜氏《通典》，名蔑国，大唐贞观中通焉。在南海边界， 周回可一月行。Retrieved 16 May 2025.
- ^ Cefu Yuangui, Volume 970, Foreign Ministers Department Tribute Chapter 3
- ^ New Book of Tang, Volume 222, Biography 147
- ^ a b 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 26 April 2024.
- ^ a b c Hoshino, T (2002). "Wen Dan and its neighbors: the central Mekong Valley in the seventh and eighth centuries.". In M. Ngaosrivathana; K. Breazeale (eds.). Breaking New Ground in Lao History: Essays on the Seventh to Twentieth Centuries. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books. pp. 25–72.
- ^ "พิริยะ ฟันธง 'ศรีเทพ' ศูนย์กลางทวารวดี ไม่ใช่นครปฐม ไทยเบฟฯหนุนพิมพ์เล่มใหม่โชว์โลก" [Piriya asserts that 'Sri Thep' was the center of the Dvaravati period, not Nakhon Pathom. ThaiBev supports the publication of a new book to showcase it to the world.]. Matichon (in Thai). 15 November 2025. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Karen M. Mudar (1999). "How Many Dvaravati Kingdoms? Locational Analysis of First Millennium A.D. Moated Settlements in Central Thailand" (PDF). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 18 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1006/jaar.1998.0329.
- ^ Northern Chronicle
- ^ Zhou Weizhou (18 May 2022). "唐朝与南海诸国通贡关系研究" [A Study on the Tributary Relations between the Tang Dynasty and the South China Sea Countries]. 中国史研究 (in Chinese). 3. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ 吕思勉 (22 April 2020). 隋唐五代史 [History of the Five Dynasties of the Sui and Tang Dynasty] (in Chinese). 上海古籍出版社. ASIN B08YR69XKR.