The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

REVIEW ARTICLE 337
The establishment of the cula era in part 2 is closely involved with
the narrative which is carried on from part 1. As the story goes, there
was at that time a great country (nagara) to the southeast with 1000
royal cities (rajadhani) in which the royal dynasties bad died out and
rulers could not be found. The most important were ii(avi (India) culaQi,
candapuri (Vientiane), kosambi (India and Shan States), hmisJivati (Pegu),
ka/ingar'aj (India), and s'd,ikafa (India). There was also a ruler named
anuruddha dharrmaraja in the Mon (:.m) cotntry who was greater than
all the others. In the whole of jambitdvipa there were 8400 large mo'ah.
lndra then asked Anuruddba to cut the era and establish a new
one. All kings were present for the occasion, but since the 1000 Thai­
Yuon mo'an bad no kings, they could send no representatives. Therefore
Jndra sent down from heaven 1000 devapu£ra to be born as kings, and
among them was laval)cunkaraja devapu{ra who came down to vian
pru'k~ii, jian saen. All the other of the 1000 mo'an received rulers at this
time except haribhunjaiy and sukhod'ay. In Chiang Saen itself a new city
was built and named vian heraiianagara no'n yah jian saen because,
according to the story, Lavahcankaraja descended from heaven on a
golden (herana) stairway.
The reign of Lavahcailkaraja is filled with stories of relics and
temples and folk etymologies on the names of localities in the Chiang
Saen area. He dies after a reign of 120 years. His son then reigns for
62 years and is given credit for establishing several Buddha relics. He
is followed by nine empty reigns which take the story up to a date
corresponding to A.D. 1023. Then after sevaral episodes of partly
supernatural folklore involving Chiang Saen and its neighbors we reach
the story of khun cu'o'n at a date around A.D. 1108.
Since Kbun Cu'o'n is an important folk hero for several northern
peoples it is well to take note of the story recorded here. It begins with
an invasion of Chiang Saen by vassal states of which the most important
were kosambi, kalingar'aj, savi:itthi (Sravasti), hah{avati, ayodhaya (Ayutthaya)
in order to obtain two beautiful girls who had been born there.
The ruler ofcandapuri and his elder brother bra by a kaev hluon (Vietnam?)
also invaded for the same purpose. Khun Cu'o'n defeated the invaders,
got both girls and the throne of Chiang Saen, and was given the title
bra~ya cu'o'h fa dharrrnikaraja in the year A.D. 1120,