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

274 REVIEW ARTICLES
Krabi, Kraburi and Mueng Pahang
The word Krabi has two meanings; one, a monkey and two, a
sword. In the days of old, the emblem of the city was a Rhesus (Naksat
City), but in the modern period, when the provincial city ball was being
built, an old sword was dug up, and the emblem of the city was changed
to Crossed Swords. In this way the Naksat Monkey disappeared into
legend.
Krabi, or Korbie as Colonel Gerini called the place, bas produced as
old artifacts as any place found in the South, which is saying a Jot. At
Klang Thorn for one, and at Khao Javabrab for another, Mediterraneantype
beads have been found in such profusion that some people think
they were manufactured there. In the normal course of events one
would have thought that beads were used by civilized merchants to barter
for valuable local products gathered by ignorant natives, but in this case
it seems the aborigines of Krabi turned the table on the citizens of
Mediterranean lands. But all this is by the way.
In 1225, Chau-ju-kua gave a list of the fifteen city-states (depedencies)
of San-Fo-Shih. In the list were Kienpi and Kia-lo-hi which
should have been Krabi and Kraburi. I did not make positive identifications
because I could get the names mixed up and be accused of playing
the Chinese. wordgame without ever having set foot on the Chinese
mainland. Also Kienpi has been identified as Jambi in Sumatra. It was
better to wait for my guardian angel to send new evidence.
Kia-lo-hi is thought to have been Grabi, a name that appears on
the base of a Buddha image found at Chaiya dated 1183. Professor
Coedes thought Grahi was Chaiya where the image was found, though
this is contrary to the sense of the inscription itself. Kraburi is the
northernmost of the Naksat