Chaiya (, ) is a former capital district ('' Amphoe mueang'') of Surat Thani province,

Southern Thailand Southern Thailand (formerly Southern Siam and Tambralinga) is the southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bo ...

. The main town is Talat Chaiya.

Geography

Neighboring districts are (from the south clockwise): Tha Chang and Kapoe of Ranong province; Phato of

Chumphon province Chumphon (, ) is a southern Provinces of Thailand, province (''changwat'') of Thailand on the Gulf of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are Prachuap Khiri Khan province, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani province, Surat Thani, and Ranong province, ...

, and Tha Chana in Surat Thani. To the east is the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...

, with Cape Sui marking the northern end of the

Bandon Bay Bandon Bay (, , ) is a bay in the Gulf of Thailand in Surat Thani Province, extending from the Sui cape in Chaiya District in the northwest to Kanchanadit District to the east. The total coastline is about 100 km. The bay is dominated by ...

. The eastern part of the district consists of mostly flat low coastal areas, while to the west are the mountains of the Phuket mountain range, including Kaeng Krung National Park.

History

Laem Pho Beach in the district is thought to have been a Srivijaya Kingdom seaport in the 7th to 13th centuries. Srivijaya was a Malay city-state that grew to become an influential maritime power in what is now

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

(7th–10th centuries) ceramics have been found in the area as well as pottery from India and glassware from

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Similar finds have been made in Ban Thung Tuek, Takua Pa district, Phang Nga province on the other side of the

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

, 200 km distant, indicating that there may have been an overland route connecting the Gulf of Thailand with the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

coast. This route would have enabled traders to avoid piracy in the narrow

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

. The name ''Chaiya'' might be derived from its original Malay name ''cahaya'', meaning 'light', 'gleam', or 'glow'. Some scholars identify Chai-ya as coming from Sri-vi- ''ja-ya''. Wat Phra Borommathat is centered on a reconstructed

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

in Srivijaya-style. The nearby branch of the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

has several relics of that time on display. Two more former stupas nearby are now only brick mounds. Inscription 23, as it was labeled by Prince Damrong in his ''Collected Inscriptions of Siam'', is now attributed to Wat Hua Wiang in Chaiya. Dated to the year 697 of the Mahasakkarat era (i.e., 775 CE), the inscription on a Bai Sema shaped stone tells about the King of Srivijaya having erected three stupas at that site and possibly the one at Wat Phra Borom That. Another important temple near Chaiya is Wat Suan Mohkha Phalaram (also known by the short name Suan Mok, or Wat Than Nam Lai 'Monastery of Flowing Water'), a forest temple. The temple was founded in 1932 by Phra Buddhadasa (19061993), a revered Buddhist teacher. In 1959 the temple was relocated to the present site. These

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

are believed to have been used to store rice in large quantities, due to the invading Japanese. These large Buddhist rice temples are rare in the region and only one has been officially labeled as a rice storage temple. Although, the capital district (''Amphoe mueang'') of Surat Thani province is Bandon district, the local Surat Thani people generally refer to this district as the capital district and refer to Bandon district as little China of the province.

Transport

Chaiya is on the southern railway line, Chaiya Railway Station is the main railway station of the district. Asian highway AH2 ( Thailand Route 41) also passes the city.

Administration

Chaiya district is divided into nine sub-districts (''

tambon ''Tambon'' (, ) is a local governmental unit in Thailand. Below district (''amphoe'') and province ('' changwat''), they form the third administrative subdivision level. there were 7,255 tambons, not including the 180 ''khwaeng'' of Bangkok, whi ...

s''). These are further divided into 54 villages (''

muban Muban (; , ) is the lowest Administrative divisions of Thailand, administrative sub-division of Thailand. Usually translated as 'village' and sometimes as 'hamlet (place), hamlet', they are a subdivision of a tambon (subdistrict). , there were 74 ...

s''). There are three sub-district municipalities (''

thesaban tambon Thesaban (, , , Pali, Pali: desapāla (protector of region) are the municipalities of Thailand. There are three levels of municipalities: city, town, and sub-district. Bangkok and Pattaya are special municipal entities not included in the ''thesa ...

s''): Talat Chaiya includes most of ''tambon'' Talat Chaiya and parts of Lamet; Phumriang the entire ''tambon'' Phumriang; Wiang the entire ''tambon'' of Wiang. The other six sub-districts each have a tambon administrative organization as their local government.

References

External links

Chaiya National MuseumSuan Mokkh - The garden of liberationChaiya City WebsiteChaiya Witthaya School
{{Authority control Chaiya