Langkasuka

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Langkasuka
1st century–15th century
Buddhist
GovernmentMonarchy
Raja 
History 
• Established
1st century
• Disestablished
15th century
 Succeeded by
Pattani Kingdom
Today part ofMalaysia
Thailand
Myanmar

Langkasuka was an ancient Hindu-Buddhist kingdom located in the

Yarang near Pattani, Thailand suggest a probable location. The kingdom is proposed to have been established in the 1st century, perhaps between 80 and 100 AD.[3]

According to the legend given in the

Mauryan Hindu warrior king who eventually became a pacifist after embracing the ideals espoused in Buddhism, and that the early Indian colonizers of the Malayic Isthmus named the kingdom Langkasuka in his honour.[4] Chinese historical sources provided some information on the kingdom and recorded a king Bhagadatta
who sent envoys to the Chinese court.

Historical records

The earliest and most detailed description of the kingdom comes from the Chinese

Aloeswood (Aquilaria) and camphor were abundant in the kingdom, and its capital was described as being surrounded by walls to form a city with double gates, towers and pavilions. Both men and women in Langkasuka wore sarongs with their torsos bare and their hair loose, although the king and senior officials covered their shoulders with cloth and wore gold earrings and belts of gold cord. Women of high status wrapped themselves in cloth and wore jeweled girdles.[5]
It gives further information on some of its kings and also relates a story on a succession:

Liang Dynasty
painting dated to 526–539.

When the king goes forth he rides upon an elephant. He is accompanied by banners, fly-whisks, flags and drums and he is shaded with a white parasol. The soldiers of his guard are well-appointed. The inhabitants of the country say that their state was founded more than four hundred years ago. Subsequently the descendants became weaker, but in the king's household there was a man of virtue to whom the populace turned. When the king heard of this he imprisoned this man, but his chains snapped unaccountably. The king took him for a supernatural being and, not daring to injure him, exiled him from the country, whereupon he fled to India. The king of India gave him his eldest daughter in marriage. Not long afterwards, when the king of Lang-ya died, the chief ministers welcomed back the exile and made him king.

— Liangshu, translation by Paul Wheatley[6][7]

This king then ruled for more than 20 years. He was succeeded by his son, King Bhagadatta, who sent the first ambassadorial mission to China in 515.[8][9] Further emissaries were sent in 523, 531, and 568.[10]

The

Yi Jing mentioned encountering three Chinese monks who lived in a place named Lang-jia-shu (郎伽戍).[8]

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Chi Tu 100 BCE–642 CE
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A

Sanfoqi, which is usually interpreted to be Srivijaya.[11][12]

Langkasuka was known as "Long-ya-xi-jiao" (龍牙犀角) in Daoyi Zhilüe from the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368);[13] and "Lang-xi-jia" (狼西加) during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), as marked in Admiral Zheng He's 1621 Mao Kun map.[14] Daoyi Zhilüe mentions that the natives of Langkasuka made salt from seawater and ferment rice wine, and produced hornbill casques, lakawood, honey and gharuwood.[15] The people wore cotton from the Philippines and printed cloth from India and local sources.[16]

"Langkasuka" was mentioned in the

Naksat cities under the influence of Nakhon Si Thammarat in Thai chronicles.[17]

Outline of Langkasuka's history

A brief outline of the history of Langkasuka can be determined from the limited historical records available. The kingdom is thought to have been founded some time early in the 2nd century AD. It then underwent a period of decline due to the expansion of

campaign against Srivijaya
. In the 12th century, Langkasuka was a tributary to Srivijaya. The kingdom declined and how it ended is unclear with several theories being put up.

The late 13th-century Pasai Annals, mentioned that Langkasuka was destroyed in 1370. However, other sources mentioned that Langkasuka remained under the control and influence of the

Majapahit Empire. Langkasuka was probably conquered by Pattani as it ceased to exist by the 15th-century. Several historians contest this and believe that Langkasuka survived up to the 1470s. The areas of the kingdom that were not under the direct rule of Pattani is thought to have embraced Islam along with Kedah in 1474.[19]

Location

Trengganu
to the left).

Chinese and Arab sources placed the ancient kingdom on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. The

Saiburi, however it appears to imply that it was originally located on the west coast but was transferred later to the east.[5]

In 1961, taking account of the various sources, the geographer and historian Paul Wheatley concluded that Langkasuka should be located near the modern town of Pattani.[22] French archaeologist and historian Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h concurred, and proposed the former estuary of the Pattani River near Yarang as the likely location of Langkasuka. He also suggested that whole area between Pattani, Saiburi and Yala may have been part of Langkasuka.[14] Modern archaeological explorations have uncovered ruins near Yarang, a village fifteen kilometers south of Pattani, which may be of the city described in Liangshu.[23] The city was located inland 10 miles from the coast and connected to the rivers leading to the sea via canals.[18] Silting of the waterways may have led to its decline.

Archaeology

Langkasuka among polities in ancient Malay realm.

Several archaeological expeditions were conducted in the 1960s to locate Langkasuka following Paul Wheatley's suggestion of its likely location. In 1963,

Stewart Wavell led a Cambridge expedition to locate Langkasuka and Tambralinga
, the details of this expedition are described in The Naga King's Daughter.

An archaeological investigation of the Yarang area began in 1989 by the Fine Arts Department of Thailand.[23] The majority of the ruins were clustered in the vicinity of a hamlet called Ban Wat, and may have formed the nucleus of the city. Others were scattered further to the North at Ban Jalæ, and a couple more at Ban Prawæ. The excavations found various Buddhist structures and objects including votive tablets and sculptures, indicating a strong Buddhist presence in the kingdom. Objects related to Hindu worship were also found.

Many Chinese and Arab coins made of bronze have been found in the region, an indication of the commercial activity of the kingdom. Two silver

Sassanid coins have also been found.[24]

Popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0300204377
    .
  2. ISBN 978-80-88085-05-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link
    )
  3. ISBN 978-3-447-03608-5
    .
  4. JSTOR 41560480
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1576077702
    .
  6. OCLC 504030596
    .
  7. ^ 梁書/卷54 Liangshu, Chapter 54. Original text of the entry on Langkasuka in Liangshu: 狼牙脩國，在南海中。其界東西三十日行，南北二十日行，去廣州二萬四千里。土氣物產與扶南略同，偏多𥴈沉婆律香等。其俗男女皆袒而被髮，以吉貝爲干縵。其王及貴臣乃加雲霞布覆胛，以金繩爲絡帶，金鐶貫耳。女子則被布，以瓔珞繞身。其國累磚爲城，重門樓閣。王出乘象，有幡毦旗鼓，罩白蓋，兵衛甚設。國人說，立國以來四百餘年，後嗣衰弱，王族有賢者，國人歸之。王聞知，乃加囚執，其鏁無故自斷，王以爲神，因不敢害，乃斥逐出境，遂奔天竺，天竺妻以長女。俄而狼牙王死，大臣迎還爲王。二十餘年死，子婆伽達多立。天監十四年，遣使阿撤多奉表曰：「大吉天子足下：離淫怒癡，哀愍衆生，慈心無量。端嚴相好，身光明朗，如水中月，普照十方。眉間白毫，其白如雪，其色照曜，亦如月光。諸天善神之所供養，以垂正法寶，梵行衆增，莊嚴都邑。城閣高峻，如乾陁山。樓觀羅列，道途平正。人民熾盛，快樂安穩。著種種衣，猶如天服。於一切國，爲極尊勝。天王愍念羣生，民人安樂，慈心深廣，律儀清淨，正法化治，供養三寶，名稱宣揚，佈滿世界，百姓樂見，如月初生。譬如梵王，世界之主，人天一切，莫不歸依。敬禮大吉天子足下，猶如現前，忝承先業，慶嘉無量。今遣使問訊大意。欲自往，復畏大海風波不達。今奉薄獻，願大家曲垂領納。」
  8. ^
    ISBN 9789004119734
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0-8248-0368-1
    .
  10. ISBN 9781317279044
    .
  11. ISBN 978-9971696351
    .
  12. ^ "《諸蕃志卷上》". Original text: 凌牙斯國，自單馬令風帆六晝夜可到，亦有陸程。地主纏縵跣足；國人剪發，亦纏縵。地產象牙、犀角、速暫番、生香、腦子。番商興販，用酒、米、荷池、纈絹、甆器等為貨；各先以此等物准金銀，然後打博。如酒一墱，准銀一兩、准金二錢；米二墱准銀一兩，十墱准金一兩之類。歲貢三佛齊國。
  13. ^ "島夷誌略". Original text: 峯頂內平而外聳，民環居之，如蟻附坡。厥田下等。氣候半熱。俗厚。男女椎髻，齒白，繫麻逸布。俗以結親為重。親戚之長者一日不見面，必携酒持物以問勞之。為長夜之飮，不見其醉。民煮海為鹽，釀秫為酒。有酋長。地產沈香，冠於諸番。次鶴頂、降眞、蜜糖、黃熟香頭。貿易之貸，用土印布、八都刺布、靑白花碗之屬。
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-9971696351
    .
  15. OCLC 504030596
    .
  16. ISBN 978-9971695743
    .
  17. ^ M.C. Chand Chirayu Rajani. "Background To The Sri Vijaya Story-Part I" (PDF).
  18. ^
    ISBN 978-0759102798
    .
  19. ^ Kamalakaran, Ajay (2022-03-12). "The mystery of an ancient Hindu-Buddhist kingdom in Malay Peninsula". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
  20. ISBN 9789004119734
    .
  21. ^ "Langkasuka". Sejarah Melayu.
  22. ^ Paul Wheatley (1961). The Golden Khersonese. Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before AD 1500. University of Malaya Press.
  23. ^
    ISBN 9789004119734
    .
  24. ISBN 9789004119734
    .

External links
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