Nakhon Pathom
The only indication that the city of Nakhon Pathom, about 50 km (31 mi.) west of Bangkok, once stood on the Gulf of Thailand is the evidence in history books. In fact the rivers of the central plain accumulated so much silt and sand that the
sea retreated those thirty odd miles, but despite its changed geographical setting Nakhon Pathom continues as a thriving trading city. It also holds within its walls the greatest Buddhist monument in Thailand and beyond, the Phra Pathom Chedi.
By car: Highway 4 (Petchkasem Highway) from Bangkok (56 km (35 mi.)).
By rail: an hour from Bangkok-Hualampong.
By bus: from Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal every 30 minutes from 5am. Tour operators offer day excursions, often linked with a visit to the floating market at Damnoen Saduak and the Rose Garden.
Although the earliest origins of Nakhon Pathom are shrouded in legend, the city is certainly one of the oldest on Thai soil. In the 3rd c. bc King Ashoka (273-231 bc), who ruled over a great Indian empire, sent missionary monks to where the city stands today to preach the new doctrine of (Theravada) Buddhism. This must have been when the first chedi was built on the Phra Pathom site, but nothing is known of what it looked like.
Nakhon Pathom certainly existed after ad 675, when it was the center of the city state of King Chaisiri (also Chaisi or Sirichai). Most of the population were Mon descendants, their culture very much influenced by the Indo-Buddhist Gupta style (as is borne out by finds of stone wheels of the law, Buddha figures, etc. from this period).
Nakhon Pathom followed U Thong as capital of the mighty Dvaravati kingdom. The wealth of the city is attested to by its entitlement to its own coinage; 7th/8th c. silver coins have the symbol of wealth on one side - a cow and calf, or a vase of flowers - and an inscription in Sanskrit on the other, reading "Sridvaravati Svarapunya" (credit of the Dvaravati King). Whether the Dvaravati Kingdom and its capital of Nakhon Pathom were conquered by the Burmese under King Annarudha is uncertain; historians tend to suppose it was destroyed either by King Suryavarman I (1002-50) or Jayavarman VII (1181-1218). The city then faded into oblivion, and most of its occupants left to found the new city of Nakhon Chaisi on the right bank of the Ta Chin river, where it still is today. The Phra Pathom Chedi was gradually swallowed up by the jungle. Its importance was not recognized again until Rama IV, King Mongkut, made a pilgrimage to the chedi during his time as a monk. When he came to the throne in 1851 he ordered its restoration. Since the old temple was in ruins he built a new chedi over the original Khmer dome-shaped shrine. This was actually finished by his successor, King Chulalongkorn, since part of the building collapsed during a storm.
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