Sukhothai (, ) was the capital of the

Sukhothai Kingdom The Sukhothai Kingdom was a post-classical Siamese kingdom (Mandala (political model), ''maṇḍala'') in Mainland Southeast Asia surrounding the ancient capital city of Sukhothai Historical Park, Sukhothai in present-day north-central Thaila ...

(also known as the Kingdom of Siam). Sukhothai is 12 km west of the modern city of Sukhothai Thani.

History

Sukhothai is from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

sukha ''Sukha'' (Pali and ) means happiness, pleasure, ease, joy or bliss. Among the early scriptures, 'sukha' is set up as a contrast to 'preya' (प्रेय) meaning a transient pleasure, whereas the pleasure of 'sukha' has an authentic state o ...

'' (सुख "happiness") + ''udaya'' (उदय "rise, emergence"), meaning "dawn of happiness". Founded in 1238, it is about 427 km north of

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

. Sukhothai was the capital of the Thai Empire for approximately 140 years. As of 2014, 193 temples have been excavated and partly reconstructed. The

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

Ram Khamhaeng Ramkhamhaeng (, ) or commonly known as Pho Khun Ramkhamhaeng Maharat (, ) was the third king of the Phra Ruang Dynasty, ruling the Sukhothai Kingdom (a historical kingdom of Thailand) from 1279 to 1298, during its most prosperous era. He is c ...

states the city had a triple wall and four gates. At its center was a pond, a "marvelous pond of clear and delicious water like the water of the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

in the dry season." The Aranyika monastery was west of the city, a great lake to the east, a market to the north, and the Khao Luang hill to the south. Old Sukhothai is a small town with nearly no hotels. Most visitors stay in New Sukhothai. Sukhothai occupies an area of 6,596 km². The historic town of Sukhothai and related areas were designated a

UNESCO World Heritage site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 1991.

References

External links

* Geography of Sukhothai province Cities and towns in Thailand Capitals of former nations {{Sukhothai-geo-stub