Nakhon Si Thammarat province (Thai/, , ) is a province (changwat) of Thailand, on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. , it was the most populous province of Southern Thailand, with a population of approximately 1.5 million. Neighboring provinces are (from south clockwise) Songkhla, Phatthalung, Trang, Krabi and Surat Thani.
The provincial town is one of the oldest in Thailand. Sanskrit inscriptions and hill sites in the province reach back to the seventh century, and from the thirteenth the Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom held a group of twelve tributary towns running from Chumphon south to Pahang. Wat Phra Mahathat, built in that period, remains the principal Buddhist monument of southern Thailand.
Toponymy Nakhon Si Thammarat is the Thai form of Sanskrit Nagara Sri Dharmaraja, meaning 'City of the Sacred Dharma King'.Cummings, Joe (1992). Thailand : A Travel Survival Kit. (5th ed). Hawthorn, Vic., Australia; Berkeley, CA : Lonely Planet Publications. pp. 64, 548. p. 64. "Thus Nakhon Si Thammarat, if transliterated literally, becomes 'Nagara Sri phammaraja'. If you tried to pronounce it using this Pali transcription, very few Thais would be able to understand you." p. 548. "Later, when Ceylonese-ordained Buddhist monks established a cloister at the city, the name was changed to the Pali-Sanskrit Nagara Sri Dhammaraja (City of the Sacred Dharma-King), rendered in Thai phonetics as Nakhon Si Thammarat." The name is sometimes abbreviated to Nakhon Si () or simply, Nakhon (). The province is also colloquially called Mueang Khon () and its people Khon Khon ().
History
Nakhon Si Thammarat is one of the oldest cities in Thailand.
Early settlement The Wat Maheyong inscription (K. 407) is said to come from Nakhon Si Thammarat. It is in Sanskrit and datable to about the seventh or eighth century, and is probably the earliest evidence in Thailand for Brahmins and Buddhists taking part in the same ritual. Its provenance is disputed. Lucien Fournereau reported the stone from a Wat Mahyeng at Nagara Jaya Çrī, which he placed in what is now Nakhon Pathom province. Earlier material has been recorded on the hills of the province. A miniature gold shivalinga of the 6th or 7th century comes from Khao Phli Mueang in Sichon district. Phanuwat Ueasaman links it by a land route of 103 km to the Khao Chong Khoi rock inscription, the two together being read as early Shaiva Pashupata practice on the authority of Amara Srisuchat. Locally made fine-grain pots from Khao Kha carry a motif shared with pottery from Khao Si Wichai and from Yarang. He takes this as a link between the upper and lower peninsula in the late 6th and 7th centuries.
The earliest settlement in the vicinity of the city was Tha Rua, about ten kilometers south of the modern city, where ceramics from the Song dynasty were found dated to the twelfth century. In ancient times Nakhon Si Thammarat was under the rule of Srivijaya. Its king is said to have established a foothold on the Malay Peninsula at Ligor by 775, and to have built there a sanctuary dedicated to the Buddha and to the bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani. The stela that records the foundation, the Ligor inscription, is attributed either to Nakhon Si Thammarat or to Chaiya in Surat Thani province, and which of the two is unsettled. Its face A was issued by a Śrīvijayan king in 775, and a Śailendra king left a record on face B of the same stone, most likely somewhat later. Arlo Griffiths reads the stela as implying some presence of representatives of archipelago polities that far north.
Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom
The Chronicles of Nakhon Si Thammarat, composed in the seventeenth century, attributed the foundation of current city of Nakhon Si Thammarat to King Sri Thammasok in the thirteenth century. An inscription found at Chaiya stated that King Sri Thammasok ruled Tambralinga in 1231. King Sri Thammasok constructed Wat Phra Mahathat and introduced Singhalese Theravada Buddhism. The city's chronicle assigns the care of the relic stupa to four monastic orders, Ka Kaeo, Ka Chat, Ka Doem and Ka Ram, each keeping one side. The Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom held authorities over "twelve cities" that extended from Chumphon to the north and Pahang to the south. The Ramkamhaeng Stele of Sukhothai first mentioned "Nakhon Si Thammarat" in 1292, which means "The City of King Sri Thammasok" or "The City of the Virtuous king".
The same chronicle tells of a border war with King Uthong at Bang Saphan, settled by agreement, after which Sri Thammasok placed his kin and his realm under Uthong's care. The Nakhon Si Thammarat kingdom ended and the city perished in the fourteenth century. The ruler of Phetchaburi known as Phra Phanom Thale sent his son Phra Phanom Wang to re-establish the city and rule. Nakhon Si Thammarat then came under the influence of Central Siamese Kingdom of Ayutthaya under the mandala system.
Ayutthaya period Nakhon Si Thammarat was further incorporated into Ayutthaya, who appointed governors to the city, through centralization under King Trailokanat in the fifteenth century. Nakhon Si Thammarat served as the main seat of Siamese authority over Southern Thailand and the Malay Peninsula, becoming Muang Ek or first-level city. Yamada Nagamasa, the Japanese adventurer, was appointed as the governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat in 1629.
After the Siamese revolution of 1688, the governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat rebelled against the new King Phetracha. King Phetracha sent troops to put down rebels in Nakhon Si Thammarat in 1692.
Thonburi period After the Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, Phra Palat Nu the vice-governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat established himself as the local warlord and ruler over Southern Thailand. King Taksin of Thonburi marched south to subjugate Phra Palat Nu or Chao Phraya Nakhon Nu in 1769. Chao Phraya Nakhon Nu was taken to Thonburi but King Taksin re-installed Nakhon Nu as a tributary ruler of Nakhon Si Thammarat in 1776.
Rattanakosin period After Chaophraya Nakhon (Noi), his son and grandson became respective governors of Nakhon Si Thammarat. During the reforms of King Chulalongkorn, the traditional governorship of Nakhon Si Thammarat was abolished and the city was incorporated into the Monthon Nakhon Si Thammarat in 1896.
When the monthon system was abolished in 1932, Nakhon Si Thammarat then became a province until the present.
Symbols The provincial seal shows the Phra Baromathat chedi of Wat Phra Mahathat Voramahavihan, one of the most important historical sites in southern Thailand. According to the city chronicle it was already built in 311, but archaeology dates it to the 13th century. The chedi was built by the ruler of Malay Buddha Kingdom of Tambralinga, named Chandrabhanu Sridhamaraja of The Patama Vamsa (Lotus Dynasty). The chedi is surrounded by the animals of the Chinese zodiac in the seal. The twelve animals represent the twelve Naksat cities or city-states which were tributary to the Nakhon Si Thammarat kingdom. They are the Rat of Saiburi; the Ox of Pattani; the Tiger of Kelantan; the Rabbit of Pahang (actually a city in Pahang which is said to be submerged by a lake now); the Dragon of Kedah; the Snake of Phatthalung; the Horse of Trang; the Goat of Chumphon; the Monkey of Bantaysamer (might be Chaiya, or a town in Krabi province); the Rooster of Sa-ulau (unidentified city, might be Songkhla, Kanchanadit or Pla Tha); the Dog of Takua Pa and a Pig of Kraburi.
The provincial flower is the Golden Shower Tree (Cassia fistula), and the provincial tree is Millettia atropurpurea. The provincial aquatic life is the climbing perch (Anabas testudineus).
The provincial slogan is เมืองประวัติศาสตร์ พระธาตุทองคำ ชื่นฉ่ำธรรมชาติ แร่ธาตุอุดม เครื่องถมสามกษัตริย์ มากวัดมากศิลป์ ครบสิ้นกุ้งปู, which translates to "A historical town, the golden Phra That, plentiful minerals, three-metal nielloware, numerous temples, abundant shellfish."
Geography The province is on the Gulf of Thailand on the east side of the Malay Peninsula. The terrain is mostly rugged hilly forest. The province is home to south Thailand's highest peak, Khao Luang, at .The total forest area is or 18.4 percent of provincial area.
National parks There are six national parks in the province. Five of them belong to region 5 of Thailand's protected areas, together with fifteen parks elsewhere. Khao Pu–Khao Ya falls in region 6. (Visitors in fiscal year 2024). Khao Pu–Khao Ya National Park (87,155) Khao Luang National Park (83,309) Khao Nan National Park (11,259) Hat Khanom–Mu Ko Thale Tai National Park (35,585) Namtok Yong National Park (87,369) Namtok Si Khit National Park (14,293)
Wildlife sanctuary There are four wildlife sanctuaries in region 5 (Nakhon Si Thammarat), of which one is in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.
Kathun Wildlife Sanctuary
Location protected areas of Nakhon Si Thammarat National park 1 Hat Khanom-Mu Ko Thale Tai 2 Khao Luang 3 Khao Nan 4 Khao Pu-Khao Ya 5 Namtok Si Khit 6 Namtok Yong Wildlife sanctuary 7 Kathun
Environment Forested peat swamp forests cover more than 9,900 hectares on the borders of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, and Songkhla provinces. About 800 hectares of the peat swamp were destroyed by 88 fires in the first half of 2019. The Royal Forest Department says that most of the fires in the Khuan Khreng peat swamp forest were man-made. Criminals clear the forest for the illegal expansion of rubber and oil palm plantations. Honey collectors and fishermen were also complicit as they burn grass to catch fish or to collect wild honey. Khuan Khreng peat swamp was hit by drought in what is normally the rainy season making it susceptible to arson. The forest is surrounded by oil palm plantations and surface water in the forest has been drained out to feed the plantations.
Religion Nakhon Si Thammarat people Most believe in Buddhism, approximately 92.08%, followed by Islam which is approximately 7.03%, Christianity in addition to other religions at approximately 0.89% (population data: 1,516,499 people in 2009).
Economy Tourism has become a first-tier tourist province, as defined by the central government, joining 22 other first-tier provinces. In 2019, it is projected to receive four million tourists, 80 per cent of them domestic, largely attracted by religious sites. They contributed more than 11 billion baht to the provincial economy. The Airports Department plans to expand Nakhon Si Thammarat airport runways and terminal by 2022 to deal with an anticipated increase in international flights to support foreign visitor arrivals. The province has 320 hotels with 8,800 rooms, up from 310 hotels and 7,000 rooms in 2018.
Administrative divisions
Provincial government Nakhon Si Thammarat is divided into 23 districts (amphoes). The districts are further divided into 165 subdistricts (tambons) and 1428 villages (mubans). Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat Phrom Khiri Lan Saka Chawang Phipun Chian Yai Cha-uat Tha Sala Thung Song Na Bon Thung Yai Pak Phanang Ron Phibun Sichon Khanom Hua Sai Bang Khan Tham Phannara Chulabhorn Phra Phrom Nopphitam Chang Klang <li> Chaloem Phra Kiat
Local government As of 26 November 2019, there are: one Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Administration Organisation () and 54 municipal (thesaban) areas in the province. Nakhon Si Thammarat has (thesaban nakhon) status. Pak Phun, Thung Song, Pak Panang and Tha Sala have town (thesaban mueang) status. Further 50 subdistrict municipalities (thesaban tambon). The non-municipal areas are administered by 130 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations - SAO (ongkan borihan suan tambon).
Transport Nakhon Si Thammarat is served by Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport and the Nakhon Si Thammarat Railway Station.
Health Maharaj Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital is the main hospital of the province, operated by the Ministry of Public Health.
Education Universities Public universities Walailak University Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University