to the foundation of
Ayuthia and are admitted even by the Siamese to be mostly fabulous, and
the later annals in 40 volumes which were rearranged after the sack of
Ayuthia in 1767 but claim to begin with the foundation of the city.
Various opinions have been expressed as to their trustworthiness,[194]
but it is allowed by all that they must be used with caution. More
authoritative but not very early are the inscriptions set up by various
kings, of which a considerable number have been published and
translated.[195]

The early history of Sukhothai and its kings is not yet beyond dispute
but a monarch called Ramaraja or Rama Khomheng played a considerable
part in it. His identity with Phaya Ruang, who is said to have
founded the dynasty and city, has been both affirmed and denied.
Sukhothai, at least as the designation of a kingdom, seems to be much
older than his reign.[196] It was undoubtedly understood as the
equivalent of the Sanskrit Sukhodaya, but like Syama it may be an
adaptation of some native word. In an important inscription found at
Sukhothai and now preserved at Bangkok,[197] which was probably
composed about 1300 A.D., Rama Khomheng gives an account of his
kingdom. On the east it extended to the banks of the Mekhong and
beyond it to Chava (perhaps a name of Luang-Prabang): on the south to
the sea, as far as Sri Dharmaraja or Ligor: on the west to
Hamsavati or Pegu. This last statement is important for it enables
us to understand how at this period, and no doubt considerably
earlier, the Siamese were acquainted with Pali Buddhism. The king
states that hitherto his people had no alphabet but that he invented
one.[198] This script subsequently developed into the modern
Siamese writing which, though it presents many difficulties, is an
ingenious attempt to express a language with tones in an alphabet. The
vocabulary of Siamese is not homogeneous: it comprises (_a_) a
foundation of Thai, (_b_) a considerable admixture of Khmer words,
(_c_) an element borrowed from Malay and other languages, (_d_)
numerous ecclesiastical and learned terms taken from Pali and
Sanskrit. There are five tones which must be distinguished, if either
written or spoken speech is to be intelligible. This is done partly by
accents and partly by dividing the forty-four consonants (many of
which are superfluous for other purposes) into three groups, the high,
middle and deep.

The king also speaks of religion. The court and the inhabitant