Chin Lin
1st–6th century political entities
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Chin Lin or Kim Lin (Chinese: 金鄰/金邻; Thai: จินหลิน/กิมหลิน; lit. 'golden/wealthy neighbor') was an ancient political entities in modern lower central Thailand existed from the 9 CE to the 3rd century.[1]: 27
Chin Lin/Kim Lin (金鄰/金邻国) (จินหลิน/กิมหลิน) | |||||||||||||||
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| 9 CE–c. 6th century CE | |||||||||||||||
Proposed locations of ancient kingdoms in Menam and Mekong Valleys in the 7th century based on the details provided in the Chinese leishu, Cefu Yuangui, and others. | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Mueang Uthong? | ||||||||||||||
| Religion |
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| Historical era | 9 CE – 6th centuries CE | ||||||||||||||
• Established | 9 CE | ||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 6th century CE | ||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||||||
In the 3rd century CE, after defeating Tun Sun to control the trans-Kra Isthmus trade route and encircle Chin Lin,[1]: 20, 25 [2]: 258 king Fan Man of Funan attempted to seize Chin Lin,[1]: 20 but failed due to his illness.[3]: 258 [2]: 269
The city "Balangka, an inland town" (บลังกา), mentioned in the Geographike Hyphegesis of Ptolemy in the 2nd century, has been assumed by Thai scholars to have been Mueang Uthong, the center of Chin Lin.[4]: 94 [5]: 39, 98 However, some identified Balangka with the ancient Nakhon Pathom.
Location
The location of Chin Lin remains unclear. It was first mentioned around 9 – 22 CE during the late Western Han period, a Chinese emperor Wang Mang sent an embassy to visit Chin-lin. Later in the 3rd century, Chin Lin was again mentioned in the account of Funan king Fan Shih-man's conquests in the Chinese text Liáng Shū, which states that Chin Lin was located 3,000 li north of the kingdoms of Ta-k'un (Ch'ü-tu-k'un) and Chü-li (Chiu-chih),[2]: 258 speculated to be Kou-chih of Kole polis in present-day near Kuantan of Malaysia.[1]: 26–27 Palmer Briggs proposes that Chin-lin and its southern neighbor, Tun Sun, was the Mon countries. The boundary between this two entities was ill-defined, but probably not far above the present-Mergui-Tanintharyi Region.[2]: 259
Rulers
The copper plate dating from the 6th–mid 7th centuries found at U Thong mentions King Harshavarman (หรรษวรมัน), who was assumed by Jean Boisselier to be one of the kings of Dvaravati, while George Cœdès considered the plate was brought from the Angkor, and the name mentioned might be the Khmer king as well.[6] Nonetheless, the timeframes appear disconnected, as King Harshavarman I of Khmer ruled from 910 to 923, two centuries after the date of the inscription,[7][8] and Harshavarman I's grandfather was Indravarman I,[9][10][11] not Isanavarman as the inscription mentioned.[6]
| Ruler | Reign | Notes/Contemporary events | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rulers before Isanavarman remain unknown. | ||||
| Isanavarman[6] | 5th–6th c. | |||
| Unknown[6] | 5th–6th c. | Son of the previous | ||
| Harshavarman[6] | mid-6th c. | Son of the previous. | ||
| Due to the rise of the Sri Vijaya maritime trade route, Nakhon Pathom of Kamalanka became more prosperous,[5]: 39–40 and the political center of the region was then shifted to this new polity in the 6th–7th century.[12][13]: 55 The period is considered the beginning of the Dvaravati civilization. | ||||
| Rulers after Harshavarman remain unknown. | ||||
| Maratha?[14]: 12 [15]: 97 | late 9th c. | |||
