Siam Confederation (Xiān)

Early perception

Prince Damrong, who constructed a unilinear system of Thai history that was previously generally acknowledged in school textbooks, proposed in 1914 that the history of Thais in Siam proper began with establishing the Sukhothai Kingdom in 1238. This first Siamese kingdom was succeeded by Ayutthaya, Thonburi, and Rattanakosin.^[24]: 222 His works were eventually translated and edited in 1924 by Cœdès, who made this theory proliferated through his influential writings, such as The Indianized States of Southeast Asia.^[25]: 191 However, the equation that Xian was long-believed Sukhothai was contested in 1989 by Tatsuro Yamamoto, who proposes that the term "Xian 暹" found in Dade Nanhai-zhi during the era of the Yuan Dynasty (1297–1307) was probably another polity politically superior to Sukhothai.^{[26][27]: 110} Several modern studies also declined the theory that Sukhothai was the first independent Siam polity.^{[1]: 37 [5]}

Khmer, Cham, Pagan records and others

The term Siam, whose origin remains disputed, first occurs as syam in Funan–Chenla inscriptions of the 7th century. It is probably a toponym referring to some location in the lower Chao Phraya Basin.^[21]: 69 In surviving inscriptions of this period, syam occurs four times to designate female slaves ("ku syam", Inscriptions K557 (dated 611 CE), K127 (683 CE), K154 (685 CE),^{[28]: 21, 89, 123} and K904 (713 CE)^[29]: 54) and once to identify a landlord-official ("pon syam"), who donates rice fields to a temple (K79 639 CE).^[28]: 69 In one case syam occurs in a list where the preceding entry has the word vrau in the same sentence position (K127).^[28]: 89 The term vrau has been considered the name of an ethnolinguistic minority group, possibly ancestors of the modem Bru or Brau people.^[30]: 297 Therefore, syam may have similarly functioned at that time, perhaps as a toponym that could also be used to refer to people of the area.^[21]: 69

Siam later occurs in slave lists on inscriptions of the Champa and Khmer kingdoms, dated in the 11th and 12th centuries.^{[25]: 140 [3]: 124 [31]: 62} From about the same period there is also a well-known bas relief panel of Angkor Wat showing mercenaries of the Khmer army, who are identified as syam-kuk, perhaps "of the land of Siam." One cannot be certain what ethnolinguistic group these mercenaries belonged to, but many scholars have thought them to be Siam people.^[21]: 70 At about the same time (from 1120 CE onwards) in Pagan to the west syam occurs over twenty times in Old Mon and Burmese inscriptions. One syam reference is to Saṁbyaṅ an Old Mon title for a high government official, but the term mainly occurs in lists of temple slaves, both male and female.^[3]: 124 Some Syaṁ are identified by occupation, such as dancers, weavers, or carpenters.^[21]: 70

There was a record of Siamese led by Passara, son of the king of Siam, settled in Java and established the city of Passaraan in 800 CE after they failed to sail to Makassar on Sulawesi due to the storm.^[32]: xvi Finally, it is noteworthy that several toponyms attested in 6th-century Dvaravati-period inscriptions discovered at Nakhon Pathom—most notably Śrīyānaṁdimiriṅga and Śrīyānaṁdimiriṅgapratipura—have been observed to bear a phonetic resemblance to "syam".^[33]: 281

Chinese records

Đại Việt records

During the 1334–1336 Trần dynasty invasion of Ai Lao [zh], Xiān and other countries paid tribute to Đại Việt, as mentioned in the Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục Volume 9.^[38] In another Vietnamese chronicle, Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Xiān is also mentioned during the Lý dynasty and Trần dynasty periods, as follows:

Note

People

Xian or Siam people are described as maritime-oriented groups as said in the Chinese Daoyi Zhilüe,^[1]: 39 which conforms to the record of a Chinese Ma Huan who visited Ayutthaya in 1421/22 that says the people of Ayutthya like to practise fighting on water, and their king constantly despatches his commanders to subject neighbouring countries.^[14]: 49

Its people are aggressive. Whenever they see another country in a state of disorder, they immediately dispatch as many as one hundred ships full of sago to invade it. Recently more than seventy ships invaded Dān mǎ xī (單馬錫, identified as far as Tumasik, or Singapore), and Xī lǐ (昔里)^{[1]: 39 [14]: 48–9}

When someone dies, mercury will be injected into the body to preserve. The people, both men and women, dress in the same way as the Lavo (tire hair in a bun, wrap it with a cotton turban, and wear a long shirt) and use shell coins as currency.^[43]: 62

At the end of the 13th century, an emerging Xian seems to have started a southward advance to the cost of the Malay peninsular. The well-known Chinese imperial admonition issued in the year 1295 well reflects such a move, reading "do not harm Ma-li-yü-êrh (Melayu).^{[1]: 39 [3]: 140} The maritime Xian also attacked Samudera Pasai Sultanate on Sumatra probably between 1299–1310, but failed. The troops might have been launched by the southernmost Xian of Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom with either Takua Thalang or Trang or Syburi/Kedah as the navy bases.^[2] Xian also raided Champa in 1313.^{[40]:line 148}

In The Customs of Cambodia written by Zhou Daguan, who visited Zhenla as part of an official diplomatic delegation during 1296–1297, also referred to Siam people as:^[20][44]

In recent years people from Siam have come to live in Cambodia, and unlike the locals, they engage in silk production. The mulberry trees they grow and the silkworms they raise all come from Siam. (They have no ramie, either, only hemp.) They themselves weave the silk into clothes made of a black, patterned satiny silk. Siamese women do know how to stitch and darn, so when local people have torn or damaged clothing they ask them to do the mending.

The people in the early Xian proper—based on inscriptions dated to the Dvaravati period, found in the area together with the existing Dvaravati evidence—were probably the Buddhist Mon.^{[45]: 21 [46]} The migration of the Tai-speaking people from the north to the Chao Phraya River basin happened around the 9th century.^[47] It was speculated that the trade interaction between the polities as well as the intermarriage caused a language assimilation among the people in this area.^[48]

Xian of Phraek Si Racha

Xian of Ayodhya