Chen Li Fu

Chên Li Fu (Chinese: 真里富; lit. 'genuinely wealthy') or Suvarnapura was a political entity located on the north shore of the Gulf of Siam, west of Chenla. It centered at the ancient Mueang Uthong. The area encompassed the western Chao Phraya Basin and present-day Phetchaburi province of Thailand, bordering Po-Ssu-lan to the southeast and Tambralinga to the south. Chên Li Fu sent tribute to the Chinese court in 1200 and 1205. Later, it evolved to Suphannabhum and was then merged into the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 14th century.
Chên Li Fu was supposed to be one of the main polities under the Dvaravati civilization, together with the Lavo Kingdom in the eastern basin. Modern scholars believe Chen Li Fu was Siamese Suphannabhum.
O. W. Wolters suggests Chên Li Fu was potentially located on the east coast of the Gulf of Siam in Chanthabun area or in the Mae Klong Valley or both. For phonological reasons, Gerini stated emphatically that Chên Li Fu represented Candanapura or Chanthabun. Friedrich Hirth, W.W. Rockhill, and L.P. Briggs also accepted the identification, but George Cœdès cautiously describes it as being on the Gulf of Siam. Wolters contended this identification since the location of Chanthabun is sufficiently close to Angkor to make it unlikely that the Khmers lost control of it at that time.
Wolters proposes that its center was at Mueang Uthong. If that is so, according to the archaeological found in Mueang Uthong, the kingdom might have existed since 300–600 CE. Nevertheless, Paul Wheatley posited that the site in question was the city-state of Chin Lin, the kingdom King Fan Man of Funan endeavored to annex during the 4th century.
Mueang Uthong, which has been claimed to be the center of Chen Li Fu, was potentially the city-state of Chin Lin mentioned in the Chinese text Liáng Shū. It was also the state that King Fan Shih-man of Funan attempted to conquer in the 3rd century but failed due to his illness. After that there was no record about Chin Lin. Around the early 6th century, it was probably absorbed into Lang-ya-hsiu, the succeeding state of Tun Sun that was said to have expanded its territory to the present-day Chanthaburi, where it met Chenla. These polities, including Chin Lin, Lang-ya-hsiu, Lavo, Tanling, and Tou Yuan, later evolved into Dvaravati around the 6th century.
During the 10th–11th century, the lower Chao Phraya River basin faced several invasions by its surrounding neighbors, including the conqueror of Menam basin by Tambralinga from the south in 928, fall of Rāmaññadesa (country of the Mon) in 946, the invasion of the Angkor from the east in 1001, the annexation of Lavo by Haripuñjaya from the north in 1052, and the invasion of Pagan from the west in 1058 and 1087. These are potential reasons for the abandonment of Mueang Uthong. However, some hypothesized that this was due to the river's inability to be navigated, which was a result of its shallowness and drying up, as well as certain pandemics. The city was relocated to another location, possibly near Rai Rot Subdistrict [th] where the traces of a large ancient city was found, and then again to the present-day Suphan Buri.
According to the architectural styles, Mueang Uthong was probably built before the ancient Nakhon Pathom and Khu Bua. Archeological evidence indicates Mueang Uthong began to lose its prosperity around the 8th century. The center of power was then shifted to the ancient Nakhon Pathom. However, all of these cities were later destroyed by the troops of Pagan's Anawrahta during his Menam invasion campaign in the 11th century. This period was called "The Collapsing Era" (ยุคแห่งการล่มสลาย) by Thai scholars.
The city of "Balangka, an inland town" (บลังกา), mentioned in the Geographike Hyphegesis of Ptolemy in the 2nd century, has been assumed by Thai scholars to be Mueang Uthong. As well as Chia-mo-lang-chia or Kamalanka mentioned by the Chinese monk Xuanzang in the 7th century and was said to be located southeast to Sri Ksetra kingdom and west of Dvaravati, was also centered at Mueang Uthong. and was later shifted to the ancient Nakhon Pathom.
Chên Li Fu was mentioned in the Chinese text Sung Hui Yao Kao in 1200–1205. Its exact period of establishment is unclear. The Sung Hui Yao Kao says it is located in the southwestern corner, bordered by Po-Ssu-lan to the southeast and Teng-liu-mei (登流眉, Tambralinga) to the southwest. It is five days by sea travel to Po-Ssu-lan and takes another day to reach Chenla. It was the only trading center in the north of the gulf visited by Chinese ships at that time. The capital was situated inland and connected to the sea by the river. It takes 80 days of sea journey to reach Qingyuan of the Song.
In the early 13th century, the Chinese Sung court was no longer receiving envoys from Southeast Asian kingdoms and was discouraging them and their trading. Still, Chinese merchant ships were trading with Chên Li Fu during this period. On 23 September 1200, 20 years after his establishment of 立, the King of Chên Li Fu named Mo-lo-pa-kan-wu-ting-ên-ssŭ-li-fang-hui-chih (Kamrateng Sri Fang-hui-chih) sent senior palace officials to present a memorial for the Chinese court. The present included a gold-engraved scroll with the king's handwriting in black script, two elephants, and several local products. Due to the far distance, Chên Li Fu was informed by the Chinese emperor not to send any tribute.
According to the regnal name of its king who used the Khmer title of Kamrateng, Chên Li Fu was regarded as a vassal of Khmer before sending envoys to the Chinese court in 1200, which was the year Khmer fell under Champa. After that, Khmer declined in power, and the Menam Valley was dominated by Siamese people. Chên Li Fu then broke away. However, archaeological evidence indicates that Mueang Uthong was possibly abandoned around the 11th century, thus escaping from the Khmer influence that came to the most significant power in the 12th century during the reign of the Khmer king, Jayavarman VII. O. W. Wolters suggests Chên Li Fu was potentially an independent polity in the 13th century, which is consistent with the contemporary Pali chronicle Yonok [th] says Khmer influences have waned from the Menam Valley since 1052 when it lost control over Lavapura of the Lavo Kingdom to Suphannabhum princes from Haripuñjaya. Several Xiān polities, mentioned by the number of Chinese and Đại Việt texts, have emerged in the area, such as Ayodhya, which has existed since the 1080s. In 1205, another ruler, Mahīđharavarman, sent an embassy to China.
It is more likely that the political center of this era was near the Nong Chaeng village in Sra Krachom subdistrict (ตำบลสระกระโจม), Don Chedi, Suphan Buri province, as there are traces of a large ancient city surrounded by a rectangular moat, and was speculated to be Suvarnapura, a city mentioned in the Prasat Phra Khan inscription (จารึกปราสาทพระขรรค์). This is consistent with Jean Boisselier's assumption that the first Ayutthayan king, Ramathibodi I (Uthong V), came from the Rai Rot Subdistrict [th], near the Nong Chaeng where the traces of a large ancient city was found, and then ascended the throne of Ayutthaya.
After sending an embassy to China in 1205, there was no additional record about Chen Li Fu. During this period, Angkorian influences in the Menam Valley waned. However, there were several records of new polities that emerged in the area, such as Pi-ch'a-pu-li, which identified with Phetchaburi, led by Xian's king Gan-mu-ding, that sent an envoy to China in 1295 and Su-men-bang, which has been identified with Suphan Buri, led by Zhao Lu-qun Ying (Chao Nakhon In) who was also the crown prince of Xiān, that send anvoys to the Chinese court in 1377, 1396, and 1398.
The area was the vassals of Sukhothai Kingdom during the reign of Ramkhamhaeng (r. 1279 - 1298), then formed the city-state confederation with Lavo's Ayodhya, which led to the formation of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 14th century.
Chên Li Fu consisted of more than 60 settlements. Each has its administrator. The chief officials only use silver utensils and their tents are of flowered silk. The people tend to follow the law of the Buddha. When there is a dispute about grievances among them, (the parties) proceed to the Temple of the God of Potent Magic and drink the water of the Buddha in front of each other. He who remains at ease is considered to be telling the truth, while he who shows distress is considered to be lying.
Its resources are ivory, rhinoceros horn, local beeswax, lakawood, foreign oil, coarse perfumes, cardamons, and ebony wood. The people are fond of dark red ganze and pottery, which are commodities that Chinese ships bring to them for commerce. For trade dealings in clothing and food, they use pieces of lead.
There seems to be no evidence to indicate the ethnic identity of the population. There must have been many Mons in the area. In the 16th century Tomé Pires, writing about Ayutthaya, regarded the population of 'Siam' as similar to that of Pegu in the Hanthawaddy Kingdom:
The rulers of Chên Li Fu were called by the Chinese Zhǔ (主, lit. 'chief'), not Wáng (王; lit. 'king'). They lived in a palace resembling a Buddhist temple. All of the king's utensils are of gold. The tents are made of Chinese red floss silk. He wears white clothes as his privilege. His curtains are of white gauze interwoven with gold. When his officials come to court, they bow their heads and clasp their hands to salute him. The canopy over his curtains is 'dry' red. Beneath it is a madder-red one, a striped red one, and finally a green one. When (these people) use official documents they are bound together with black skin and the characters are written in white powder.
The copper plate dating from the 6th–mid 7th centuries found at U Thong also mentions King Harshavarman (หรรษวรมัน), who was assumed by Jean Boisselier to be one of the kings of Dvaravati, while George Cœdès considered the plate was brought from the Khmer Empire, and the name mentioned might be the Khmer king as well. However, the periods seem unrelated since King Harshavarman I of Khmer reigned from 910 to 923, 200 years after the inscription's date, and Harshavarman I's grandfather was Indravarman I, not Isanavarman as mentioned in the inscription.