Page:Foundation of Ayuthia - Damrong - 1904.pdf/4

 elder brother of the Queen Consort, remained in his old residence, where, in having to look after his own interest, he was appointed Phra Paramaraja to administer the old city.

Müang Suvarnapurī may have been established at the same time as Ayuthia. Phra Ramesuen the King's son was made Governor of Lopburi, in the north, which is near to the dependent States, to look after them. All this seems to speak for the statement that Phra Chao U Thong came from Suvarnabhūmi and not from Devanagara.

I have only one more word to add. If the theory which I have put forward with regard to the establishment of Ayuthia as a capital is correct, it does not in any way militate against the well established fact that the Thai race came from the North.

The ancestors of Phra Chao U Thong had certainly once established their capital at the city of Tritung or Pèp, a little below Kampheng Phet on the western bank of the river, and perhaps they established another city known as Devanagara, the position of which is said to be a little lower down on the eastern bank. But instead of immigrating direct to Ayuthia, there are reasons, as I have explained, to assume that they have come down to Suphan or even more south and remained there for generations before the capital was established at Ayuthia.