Sukhothai town of history

Flourishing between the 14thcentury and the 16thcentury AD, the Kingdom of Sukhothai spread across Moei, lower Yom, Ping, Nan and upper Pa Sak river valleys. Those areas of land lay between two great kingdoms, namely Pagan in the west and Khmer in the east.

Prior to the establishment of Sukhothai around the middle of the 13th century AD, there were people already settling in those areas. Stone implements found on Khao Khen and Khao Ka hills in Nakhon Thai District of Phitsanulok Province as well as human skeletons and stone implements at Ban Bung Ya in Khirimat District of Sukhothai Province all Sukhothai Province all bore evidence of prehistoric settlements in connection with those in Laos and Vietnam.

Those early settlements later developed into township. Since the 7thcentury AD, their inhabitants had relations with people in the central and northeastern areas which were under the influence of Dvaravati culture. To prove this supposition archaeological evidence of Dvaravati style such as beads, bronze implements, silver coins stamped with a schematic picture of the sun, potsherds and human skeletons were found at Wat Chom Chun in the old town of Si Satchanalai.

An ancient edifice, commonly known as Prang Pu Cha built in Khmer style on a small hill of Ban Na Choeng in Khirimat District, Sukhothai Province, significantly indicates the influence of the Khmer culture in this area. Based on the presumption that the Khmer culture diffused through the town of Si Thep in Phetchabun Province and the town of Dong Mae Nang Muang in Nakhon Sawan Province, the region which later became the Sukhothai Kingdom had possibly had contact with the Khmer Kingdom since the 12th century AD.

The continuous diffusion of the Khmer culture from the 12th century to the 13th century AD is evidently proved by such an ancient edifice as Ta Pha Daeng shrine in the ancient town of Sukhothai. Contemporary with Angkor Wat of the 12th century, the shrine indicates the first Khmer influence in situ of the ancient town, exemplified by Images of Hindu deities depicting Khmer art of Angor Wat style.

Around the 13th century AD, there was a great change in the Khmer Kingdom when King Jayavarman VII adopted Mahayana Buddhism as the main religion of the Kingdom. In Khmer sanctuaries, Buddha images were enshrined instead of images of Hindu gods and decorative art was created on the theme of Buddha story. Evidence of Khmer sanctuaries under Mahayana influence were found at Prang Sam Yot, the Prang of Wat Mahathat in Lop Buri Province and a Prang of Wat Phra Phai Luang in the north of the ancient town of Sukhothai.

Around the middle of the 13th century AD those communities having cultural relations with Khmer, liberated themselves and established the Kingdom of Sukhothai.