Kingdom of Ligor

Tambralinga kingdom was mentioned as a destination for Indian merchants in the 3rd century CE and developed into the Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom or Kingodm of Ligor in around the 13th century CE.

During the late the 13th Buddhist century trade was firmly established between Tambralinga and Southern India especially Ceylon. This resulted in an “inter marriage” between India merchants and locals.

At that time Tambralinga reached its peak in terms of economic and political powers; it was also called Nakhon Si Thammarat, or Ligor a name related to the dominant religion of the kingdom at the time, Theravada Buddhism. It was then annexed by the powerful kingdom of Ayutthaya (from the Chao Phraya River basin) in around the fifteenth century.

Ligor was an early Theravāda Buddhist stronghold based on Sinhalese Mahāvihāra teaching, and thus significantly influenced the political center in Sukhothai.

The province came under the Srivajayan Empire in the 8th century. Later, with the arrival of Buddhist monks from Ceylon, the name was changed to the Pali-Sanskrit Nagara Sri Dhammaraja (City of the Sacred Dhaima King) from which Thai phonetics created Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

In 1631 Raja Ungu of Patani Kingdom dispatched her Patani army to Ligor to liberate it from Siam control. In the aftermath of the battle, the Patani army captured two ships belonging to Siam including two Dutch traders.

Ligor was recaptured by Siamese forces. However, the two Dutch traders were still missing. This incident brought the Dutch, who were hitherto neutral observers, into the war on the side of Siam.

In the year 1765, Ayutthaya faced a grave threat like never before. The Burmese had invaded the kingdom, taking advantage of internal turmoil and division in the Siamese royal family.

In the aftermath of the war, the governor of Ligor declared his territory an independent kingdom. The new ruler of Ligor then marched his army and captured Chaiya, Chumphon, Ranong, Phuket and extended his reach as far south as Pattani and Satun.

In the absence of a higher power, the ruler of Ligor simply carved out his own kingdom in the south of Siam after the fall of Ayutthaya. At the end of the 19th century the kingdom was finally fully absorbed into Siam.
Kingdom of Ligor