Page 26 - A History of Siam

26 INTRODUCTION

also 90 far as it Prasoet's
supports, goes, Luang
version.
For these reasons I have, whenever possible, followed
Luang Prasoet's dates, and have, moreover, accepted
his statement of facts whenever this does not coincide
with the account given in later editions of the
P* ongsawadan.
As for the Siamese Kingdom of Suk'ot'ai, no written
of if such ever has been
history it, existed, preserved,
but many facts connected with it can be gleaned from
the histories of Burma and of Chiengmai, as well as
from various carved which have been
inscriptions
the celebrated stone of Ram-
discovered, notably King
the earliest known of Tai
k'amheng, specimen writing.
This stone may be seen in the National Library at
and a translation of it was made Professor
Bangkok, by
and in the the Siam
Bradley, published Journal of Society^
vol. vi., part i.
The of and of the Lao States
history Chiengmai,
generally, is given in the P'ongsawadan Tonok, compiled,
from various documents, by the late and
P'ya Prajakit,
at in It is a most
published Bangkok 1907. interesting
book, and throws a great deal of light upon the history
of Siam.
There is also a book called the written
Jinakalamalini^
in the Pali language at Chiengmai in 1516 by a priest
named Rat'ana It deals with
Panyayana. mainly
but contains details about the
religious subjects, many
early Kings of Chiengmai. 1
The above are the books of Siamese
principal origin
on which I have relied in the volume.
compiling present
I have also studied Siamese versions of the histories of
*
A French translation of the Jinakalamahm, by Professor G. Coedes, appeared
in the Bulletin dc VEcole Franynse d'Extreme Orient, vol. xxv. 1925, No. i.