Sai Nam Peung

Sai Nam Peung (Thai: สายน้ำผึ้ง), the third sovereign of Xiān at Ayodhya,^[1] was a commoner elevated to the throne following a brief interregnum precipitated by the death of the preceding monarch, Phra Chao Luang, who died without a male heir.^{[1][2]: 43–4} His reign, extending from 1111 to 1165 CE,^[1] was marked by the consolidation of political authority,^{[3]: 35–6} the establishment of economic structures, and the cultivation of diplomatic relations with China^{[2]: 43–4} and Đại Việt.^[4] However, the Ayutthaya Testimonies identifies Sai Nam Peung and his son not as rulers of Ayutthaya but as monarchs of Phraek Si Racha,^{[3]: 35–7} reigning from 905 to 935 and from 935 to 937, respectively.^[a]

The Northern Chronicle and the KLHW Khamhaikan Khun Luang Ha Wat (lit. 'Testimony of the king who entered a wat') enumerate Sai Nam Peung as Ayodhya's 12th sovereign within a dynastic sequence of nineteen monarchs, concluding with Uthong V as the final ruler.^[8] Wat Phanan Choeng and Wat Mongkhon Bophit is believed to have been constructed during his reign.^[1][9]

Sai Nam Peung was succeeded by his son, Dhammikaraja, whose reign included the establishment of a northern frontier at Phitsanulok and the delegation of authority over Phitsanulok and Mueang Phreak to the Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri lineage. Prince Uthong II, a member of this lineage, subsequently succeeded Dhammikaraja as monarch of Ayodhya in 1205 CE.^[1]

Following a brief interregnum subsequent to the death of Phra Chao Luang, who left no male heir, the royal court conferred the throne upon a commoner, who subsequently assumed the regnal title Sai Nam Peung.^{[1][2]: 43–4}

The Ayutthaya Testimonies, which identify Sai Nam Peung as the sovereign of Mueang Phreak, record that he had one queen consort, Dararajadevi (ดาราราชเทวี),^[3]: 36 possibly of Mon descent,^[b] and fathered a son, Sudhammaraja (สุธรรมราชา),^[3]: 36 who succeeded him in 1165 CE.^[1] The Northern Chronicle further notes that Sai Nam Peung married an adopted princess of the Chinese emperor, Soi Dok Mak, though the union produced no offspring.^[2]: 44 The legend recounting the tragic love story between Sai Nam Peung and Soi Dok Mak, preserved in both the Northern Chronicle and the Khamhaikan Khun Luang Ha Wat, has formally been recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2024.^[10] This narrative is also associated with the foundation of Wat Phanan Choeng.^[9]

The Northern Chronicle places the episode concerning Sai Nam Peung and his son, Dhammikaraja, immediately after that relating to Narai I and Phra Chao Luang of Ayodhya.^{[2]: 42–7} On this basis, Thai historians have traditionally identified the pair as monarchs of Ayodhya, assigning their reigns to 1111–1165 and 1165–1205, respectively.^[1] This interpretation, however, becomes difficult to sustain when compared with other historical sources that describe events occurring before the relocation of Uthong II from the Kingdom of Phrip Phri to a new settlement—later known as Ayodhya—in 1205.^[2]: 64

According to the same chronicle, before this relocation—which was reportedly prompted by an outbreak of plague—Ayodhya had been ruled by Phraya Kraek (r. 937–996; ruled from Phraek Si Racha) and subsequently by three other local rulers.^{[2]: 64 [c]} The final ruler of this line is described as having died without a male heir. In the resulting interregnum, two influential mercantile families, led by Chodakaśreṣṭhin (โชดกเศรษฐี) and Kālaśreṣṭhin (กาลเศรษฐี), assumed a decisive political role. They are credited with arranging the marriage between Uthong II—identified in this narrative as the son of Chodakaśreṣṭhin—and the daughter of the last indigenous ruler, thereby enabling his elevation to kingship.^[2]: 64

Other traditions, however, offer a conflicting genealogy. The Ayutthaya Testimonies and the Chronicle of Nakhon Si Thammarat portray Uthong II as the son of a Xian ruler named Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri, who is said to have accumulated wealth through maritime trade with China.^{[3]: 47 [11]: 14–15} Within this alternative framework, Chodakaśreṣṭhin may plausibly correspond to Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri, suggesting that later historiography may have merged mercantile and dynastic identities.

The Ayutthaya Testimonies further clarifies the position of Sai Nam Peung's dynasty. Rather than being ruling clan of Ayodhya, Sai Nam Peung and his son Dhammikarāja (also recorded in some versions as Sudhammarāja) are described as governing Phra Nakhon Sawan Buri^{[3]: 35–7} (พระนครสวรรค์บุรี), identified with modern Sankhaburi in the Phraek Si Racha historical region.^[12] Dhammikaraja is said to have subsequently moved north to rule at Phitsanulok,^{[3]: 36–7} where he was succeeded by Visnuraja, a descendant of the Padumasūriyavaṃśa.^{[3]: 37–8} A retrospective chronological reconstruction places Sai Nam Peung's reign at Phraek Si Racha between 905 and 935, followed by that of his son from 935 to 970.^[a] If this chronological reconstruction is accepted, the references to Xian in contemporaneous Đại Việt sources dated 1149 and 1182 may plausibly be understood as allusions to the Xian polity centered at Xiū Luó Fēn. These references would correspond to the period of its final ruler, Anuraja (r. 1145–1180), who was the father of Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri.

If the text preserved in the Ayutthaya Testimonies and the Northern Chronicle are accepted as correct, Ayodhya, following the reign of Phra Chao Luang, was likely reintegrated into the Lavo Kingdom during the reign of a Tai–Mon monarch, Kesariraja (r. 1106–1110s), as argued by Borihan Thepthani.^{[13]: 103–4} Chatchai Sukrakarn further proposes that the region subsequently came under the authority of the Si Thamma Sokarat dynasty, whose territorial domain encompassed Lavo and extended northward to the area of present-day Nakhon Sawan Province.^[14]: 40 Lavo itself, however, appears to have been intermittently restored to Angkorian control under Sri Jayasinghavarman (Suryavarman II, r. ca. 1117–1150) and Jayavarman VII (r. 1181–1218). It has therefore been suggested that the Si Thamma Sokarat dynasty came under increasing political pressure from Angkor and consequently retreated southward, where they consolidated their authority at Tambralinga.^{[14]: 38–39} This political configuration seems to have remained in place until 1205,^[1] when Uthong II, the son of Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri, contracted a dynastic marriage with a princess of a local ruling lineage and subsequently established Ayodhya as his principal seat of power.^[2]: 64

Following the death of Sindhob Amarin (สินธพอำมรินทร์), who held dual authority over Mueang Phreak and Mueang Wat Doem (later Ayodhya) in 996 CE,^[d] extant sources provide no further information concerning the rulers of these polities until the relocation of the Ayodhya royal seat under Narai I in the subsequent century. According to the Ayutthaya Testimonies, the name of Sai Nam Peung emerged as the new sovereign of Mueang Phreak, although the precise date of his enthronement is not specified. The text merely indicates that he ruled after King Bharattakabba (ภะรัตกับ), identified by scholars as Sindhob Amarin, as recorded in the Northern Chronicle.^{[3]: 35–6} This succession indicates that Mueang Phreak came under Xiān authority during the era of Sai Nam Peung. His political influence over the city is estimated to have commenced around 1135 CE, as the Ayutthaya Testimonies note that he ruled there for thirty years until his death.^[3]: 36

During this period, the intermediate polity of Singburi, bordered Lavapura of Angkor approximately 25 kilometers to the southeast, met Mueang Phreak of Ayodhya 31 kilometers to the northwest, and adjoined Ayodhya 60 kilometers to the south, was governed by a line of the Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri, a Siamese dynasty that subsequently played a significant role in the consolidation of Siamese polities in the following century.

The reigns of Sai Nam Peung and his son Dhammikaraja are characterized in the Ayutthaya Testimonies as a period of relative peace, with no recorded internal conflicts. Their royal lineage and extended family were drawn primarily from various noble houses.^{[3]: 36–7} The principal external threat from Angkor, located to the east, was undergoing a phase of recovery from internal rebellions and political turbulence that had persisted roughly between the 1050s and the 1080s.^{[15]: 138–139 [16]: 104}

According to the Northern Chronicle, the area south of Ayutthaya, corresponding to present-day Pathum Thani province, was potentially a tidal flat affected by seawater. The text recounts that Sai Nam Peung attempted to establish a new settlement in the present-day Bang Toei area (บางเตย) of Sam Khok District, 30 kilometers south of the royal palace, but the project was abandoned due to excessively saline soils, which rendered the land unsuitable for cultivation.^[2]: 45

Sai Nam Peung solidified diplomatic and political relations with the imperial court of China through his matrimonial alliance with Soi Dok Mak, an adopted daughter of the Chinese emperor. Her arrival in Ayodhya was accompanied by a retinue of 500 Chinese settlers.^{[2]: 44–5} This initial foreign enclave was established in the vicinity of Pak Nam Mae Bia (ปากน้ำแม่เบี้ย), situated approximately 500 meters south of the royal palace, and subsequently developed into a principal commercial settlement during the period of economic prosperity of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.^[17]

In 1149 CE, extant records document the arrival of Xiān maritime merchants in Đại Việt, who petitioned for authorization to conduct trade and to establish a commercial emporium at Yún tún (chữ Hán: 海東), thereby facilitating early Sino-Siam mercantile networks.^[4]