Jayasena

Jayasena (Thai: ชัยเสน) was a ruler of Xiān's Ayodhya from 1253 to 1289 in the reconstruction of early Siamese history drawn from Thai chronicle tradition. A prince of the northern polity of Phichai Chiang Mai [th], he came to the throne of Ayodhya by marriage to Rajadevi, the only daughter of Uthong II.

His reign spans the period in which Xiān first enters the records of the Yuan dynasty: a Chinese embassy despatched to Xiān was intercepted by Cham forces and its envoys killed,^{: 140 : 38–9} and Xiān sent its own first mission to the Chinese court in the following decade.

In 1289 he abdicated in favour of his adopted son Suvarnaraja and returned north to Phichai Chiang Mai, also called Kampoṭanagara (กัมโพชนคร), where he succeeded his father Sukhandhakhiri (สุคนธคีรี).^: 69

Origins and accession

According to the Northern Chronicle [th], Jayasena and his elder brother Jayadatta (ชัยทัต) were sons of Sukhandhakhiri.^: 66–7 The Northern Chronicle relates that Jayadatta entered into a secret affair with Uthong II's only daughter, Rajadevi, who became pregnant by him. Jayadatta died before the union could be regularised — the chronicle attributing his death to the king — and Jayasena was accordingly required to marry her. The marriage legitimised his position and allowed him to succeed at Ayodhya on Uthong II's death in 1253.^: 167 The child of the affair, Suvarnaraja, was raised as Jayasena's adopted son.^: 66–68

Relations with the Yuan court

Chinese records of the period do not name the ruler of Xiān, and the exchanges are dated to his reign rather than attributed to him personally. A Chinese naval embassy led by He Zizhi (何子志) was despatched to Xiān and intercepted by the Chams, its envoys killed, at a time when Kublai Khan was at war with Champa.^{: 140 : 38–39} Xiān appears again on the list of territories Kublai Khan intended to subdue after the completion of the Mongol conquest of China in 1279, alongside Lavo and polities of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, South India and Ceylon.^: 139 A first tribute from Xiān is recorded in 1292, three years after Jayasena's abdication.

Xiān also figures in the biography of Chen Yi-zhong in the Song shi. Chen was a minister of the defeated Southern Song who sought refuge in Champa; when the Yuan army attacked Champa in the nineteenth year of the Zhiyuan era (至元, 1282–83) he fled onward to Xiān and died there. His choice of destination has been taken to indicate that Xiān was a flourishing commercial port in the post-Srivijayan trade order, with a resident community of compatriots in which such a refugee could settle.^{: 38 : 70}

Abdication and later life

In 1289, Jayasena gave up the throne of Ayodhya to Suvarnaraja, the son of Jayadatta and Rajadevi, and moved north to Phichai Chiang Mai, where he succeeded his father.^: 69 Suvarnaraja reigned at Ayodhya until 1301.^: 69

The seat to which Jayasena returned bears on the Sukhothai foundation narrative. Phichai Chiang Mai is generally placed at Mueang Thung Yang [th] near modern Uttaradit, the same site that a number of scholars identify with Mueang Rad (เมืองราด), the seat of Sri Naw Nam Thum and his son Pha Mueang.^: 54–9 In the conventional account of 1238, Pha Mueang joined Si Inthrathit in taking Sukhothai from Khom Sabat Khlon Lamphong, conferred the city on Si Inthrathit, and returned to his own seat.^: 195–6 On the chronology followed here, Jayasena succeeded his father Sukhandhakhiri in the same territory in 1289, roughly fifty years after those events. What relationship, if any, connected the line of Pha Mueang with that of Sukhandhakhiri does not appear to have been examined.

See also

• Uthong II
• Suvarnaraja
• Xiān

Notes

References