Mueang Uthong

Mueang Uthong () is an archaeological site located in the U Thong district, Suphan Buri province . It was inhabited from around the 10th century BC and became the state society in the third to sixth-century CE. Uthong was one of the largest known city-states that emerged around the plains of central Thailand in the first millennium but became abandoned around 1000 AD due to the endemic and lost in major trading cities status. It was resettled in the Ayutthaya period but was abandoned again after the fall of Ayutthaya in the 1760s.

Uthong is also considered the first city-state that practiced Brahmanism and Buddhism in present-day central Thailand. O. W. Wolters speculated that Mueang Uthong was the center of Chen Li Fu, an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Chinese text ''Sung Hui Yao Kao'' in 1200 and 1205, while Paul Wheatley posited that the site in question was the city-state of Chin Lin, the kingdom King Fan Man of Funan endeavored to annex during the 4th century.

The city of "''Balangka'', an inland town" (), mentioned in the ''Geographike Hyphegesis'' of Ptolemy in the 2nd century, has been assumed by Thai scholars to have been Mueang Uthong. As well as ''Chia-mo-lang-chia'' or ''Kamalanka'' mentioned by the Chinese monk ''Xuanzang'' in the 7th century and was said to be located southeast to Sri Ksetra kingdom and west of Dvaravati, was also centered at Mueang Uthong. However, some said it was instead at the ancient Nakhon Pathom.

History

Prehistory

The results of archaeological studies revealed that the area around U Thong has been inhabited by humans since around 10th BC between the Neolithic and Metal Ages. The evidence found was tools made of stone and metal, such as bronze spear blades, bronze axes, and earring molds made of stone.

Funan Kingdom: before 7th century

Higham states, Radiocarbon determinations from the sites of U-Thong suggest that the transition into complex state societies in the area took place between about 300-600 AD. A copper inscription from the mid-7th century states, "Sri Harshavarman, grandson of Ishanavarman, having expanded his sphere of glory, obtained the lion throne through regular succession," and mentions gifts to a linga. The site includes a moat, 1,690 by 840 m, and the Pra Paton caitya.Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd.,

According to the archaeological evidence found in the area, Jean Boisselier suggests that Uthong was probably the center or used to be a colony of the Funan Kingdom since the 1st century AD; however, when the Funan Kingdom had lost its power, Uthong therefore became an important trade city of the succeeding kingdom, Dvaravati, in the 7th-11th century AD.

Paul Wheatley suggests that the city-state of "Jinlin" which was mentioned in the Chinese archives of the Liang dynasty as the last state that was occupied by Fan Man, the Great King of Funan Kingdom, in the 4th century AD, might be located in the area of Uthong, since the word "Jinlin" means land of gold or Suvarnabhumi; as mentioned in the archive, it was a state located approximately 2,000 li (800 kilometers) west of the Funan Kingdom, which corresponded to the area of Uthong.

The city of Uthong was located on the bank of the Nam Chorakhe Suphan River (currently called Khlong Chorakhe Sam Phan). Because the boundary of the Palaeo-gulf extended more northward than the present-day shoreline, the trading ship easily navigated to the city by the Nam Chorakhe Suphan River, making Uthong play a role as an important port city in the area, along with the Funan's port city of Óc Eo in present-day southern Vietnam. The ancient city of Uthong also had trade contacts with the West, from the Indians to the Greeks and Romans in the Mediterranean Sea, that expanded the sea trade to countries in Southeast Asia and China. Evidence found in the area, including glazed Chinese ceramics from the Tang dynasty, beads and jewelry from India, Persian wares, and many other decorations from Greece, Rome, China, and the Middle East, proves the area was contacted by external territories. The trade also brought Brahmanism and Buddhism from India to U-Thong, making it the first settlement to practice such religions in the region.

Dvaravati Kingdom: 7th-11th century

During the 6th-7th centuries, Uthong was considered one of the centers of Dvaravati culture. Antiques were found scattered in the ancient ruins as well as along the banks of Khlong Chorakhe Sam Phan from Phanom Thuan District of Kanchanaburi Province to Don Chedi District and U Thong District of Suphan Buri Province.

According to the Thai Chronicles, the city of U Thong was resettled around the early 9th century by a royal lineage of Dvaravati, who fled to establish the new city of Suvarnabhumi in the present-day Ladya subdistrict, Kanchanaburi, after the old capital of Dvaravati was sacked by Chenla in the 8th-9th centuries.

Since the Nam Chorakhe Suphan River was dried up in places, shallow, and consequently not navigable, and also due to some pandemics, Uthong lost its influence as the port city and was abandoned around the 11th century, thus escaping from the Khmer influence that came to the most significant power in the 12th century during the reign of the great Khmer king, Jayavarman VII. As a result of the mentioned circumstances, the city was moved eastward, but the epidemic did not abate, causing the city to be relocated again to the east bank of Tha Chin River, which is known as Suphan Buri in the present-day.

Ayutthaya Kingdom: 14th-18th century

The area was re-settled during the Ayutthaya period since some chedis discovered by Damrong Rajanubhab appear to be of more recent origin and would appear to date from the time of Ayutthaya. No historical chronicle directly mentions Uthong in this period; the area was controlled by Suphan Buri. However, after Ayutthaya was sacked by troops of the Burmese Konbaung dynasty in 1767, both Suphan Buri as a frontier town and the surrounding settlements was destroyed and left abandoned.

U Thong also became the origin of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, as the first King of Ayutthaya, Ramathibodi, was the prince of U Thong when the city was struck by an epidemic, prompting him to relocate east and found Ayutthaya.

Rattakosin era: 1782–Present

In 1836, according to the , a poem written by a royal poet, Sunthorn Phu, Suphanburi as well as its surrounding area, which includes Uthong, was still wasteland; however, the area was resettled with limited numbers of villagers about four years later, around 1840. Later in 1895, during the reign of Chulalongkorn, due to the country's administration reform, the area was governed by a newly established district, Bueng Chorakhe Sam Phan (th:บึงจระเข้สามพัน), headed by the present-day . However, to conform with local history, the district government head office was relocated to the ancient city of Uthong, and the district was also renamed to such in 1939.

The ancient city of Uthong was officially excavated by Damrong Rajanubhab and George Cœdès in 1930.

Citations

General references

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{{Dvaravati Historical Sites

States and territories established in the 3rd century
3rd-century establishments in Thailand
1st millennium in Thailand