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Siamese Attacks on Angkor before 1430

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Lawrence Palmer Briggs
Lawrence Palmer Briggs
Affiliation:
Washington, D.C.
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Extract

It is a common statement of writers of Cambodian and Siamese history that the Siamese overran Cambodia and captured Angkor Thom on one or more occasions before the final sack of that capital in 1430–31. The dates on which this event is said to have occurred are variously given as 1350–53, 1372–73, 1384–85, 1388, 1393–94, 1408, 1420–21. As authority, these writers can cite almost any of the common versions of the Cambodian chronicle and some versions of the Annals of Ayuthia (Siam).

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , November 1948 , pp. 3 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1948

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References

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20 Ibid., 60.

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22 Pallegoix, 2:74–79.

23 Bowring, 1:43, 44, 45.

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44 He says Nipean-bat was the son of the king of the cucumber-garden legend common to all Southeast Asia, which in Indochina has been ascribed to Indravarman III, 1297–1307 (Ibid., 195).

45 The capture of Angkor, which on all three occasions he says took place after a siege of seven months, he extends here over a period of ten years (Ibid., 199–207, 211–15).

46 Ibid., 216–22.

47 The comparison of his dates with Moura's are shown in Table 3. This matter will be taken up later (see p. 31).

48 Coedès was secretary of the Royal Institute of Siam and director of the National Library, Bangkok, from 1918 to 1930.

49 , Coedès, “Etudes Cambodgiennes, XVI,” BEFEO, 18, no. 9 (1918), 15–28.Google ScholarIt was published in Siamese in 1915 under the title Phŏngsávădan Lavèk in vol. 4 of Pra: xǔm Phŏngsávădan (Bangkok: Poranagati, 1915).Google Scholar

50 The dates given in parentheses in the account to follow have been supplied by the author, based on the length of reigns.

51 This question will arise later, see p. 19.

52 This is possibly the source of the statements of Garnier (in his Voyage), Moura, and Leclère.

53 Coedès, , “Etude cambodgiennes, XVI,” 25, note 4.Google Scholar

54 Probably Malays, who from early times were associated with the Chams. At this time, both were Mohammedan.

55 It is probably significant that the new Tai capital, Ayuthia, was in the old Mon kingdom of Louvo. The defection of the ministers and bonzes of Angkor may be more readily understood when it is recalled that their conquerors were not the Thai of Sukhothai, but partly their kinsmen — Mons and probably even Khmers — of Ayuthia, who brought with them the consolation of the mild Singhalese sect of Hinayanist Buddhism to replace their old Brahmanism and Mahayanist Buddhism with their monuments which had become a burden to them.

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57 Ibid., 3–5.

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74 Damrong, Prince, “The foundation of Ayuthia,” Journal of the Siam Society, 11 (1914), 7–10;Google ScholarCoedès, , Histoire ancienne, 285–87;Google ScholarCoedès, , Ètats hindouisés, 364–70.Google Scholar

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77 Leclère, 214.

80 This seems to be the origin of the error that Siam captured Angkor on this date.

79 Wood says that, according to “Cambodian history” (whatever that means), this invasion took place in 1357, but that he placed it in 1393 on the authority of Prince Damrong (Wood, 76, note 3). This was a good idea so far as the date of the invasion is concerned, but he should have left the 90,000 at the earlier date to agree with other authorities.

80 Wood, 76.

81 See p. 18.

82 Rémusat, 97.

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84 This Gamkhat seems to have died in 1427–28 and his defeat of the Chams probably occurred not very long before that date. The Chams probably did not hold the delta for a very long time, for that would have halted the embassies to the Chinese court. No embassy is specifically mentioned after 1419, although they seem to have come with some regularity until 1426, when they became very irregular. It was probably about this date (1426) that the Chams made their last invasion of the delta, which led to their defeat at Catur Mukha.

85 See p. 13.

86 Moura, 2:39, note 1.