Page:Origins of Sukhodaya dynasty - Coedes - 1921.pdf/6

 to Phō Khun Phā Mu'ang. Afterwards Phō Khun Phā Mu'ang brought his army. At the time when Mu'ang Rāt was flourishing … … … Śrī Sajjanālai Sukhodaya, the bold Khōm (named) Khloñ Lāmphong fought … … …" (ll.20 to 23)

Here then, after a passage unfortunately incomplete, in which it can, however, be discerned that there was a question of the movements of troops directed by Phō Khun Phā Mu'ang, a new actor enters on the scene: Khloñ Lāmphong, the bold Khōm ขอมสมาดโขลญลำพง. His name is very significant: we have to do with a Cambodian military leader. "Khōm" is to-day in Siamese an equivalent of "khamen" — "khmer". The etymology of Khōm is not clear, and we should even be justified in suspecting its translation by "Cambodian", if the inscription now under consideration did not remove all doubts in this respect: in speaking of a monument erected by the efforts of the Mahāthera Śrī Sradhārājacūlāmūnīṇī [sic], the texts says that this monument, named Phra Mahādhātu Luang is called "Praḥ Thom" พระธํ by the Khōm. "PrahPraḥ [sic] Thom" is pure Cambodian and there can be no doubt, therefore, that in this inscription Khōm is a synonym of Khmer. Moreover, the title of Khloñ borne by the personage who is coming to attack Mu'ang Rāt is well known through Khmer epigraphy, in which it denotes an official, generally military, of inferior rank.

Khloñ Lāmphong, the bold Khōm, was thus undoubtedly a representative of Cambodia, and, if we here see him attacking Mu'ang Rāt, it must apparently have been because the movements of the two Thai leaders were beginning to cause anxiety to the Khmer kingdom. Here is what the text reveals to us afterwards of this struggle between Thai and Khmers:

"Then Phō Khun Bāng Klāng Thāo went … … … the army of Phō Khun Phā Mu'ang, Chief of Mu'ang Rāt … … … caused the army to be assembled. Phō Khun Bāng Klāng Thāo and Phō Khun Phā Mu'ang mounted on elephants … … … the Phyas assembled … … … to mount together on the head of the elephant. Once the situation had been examined, Phō Khun Bāng Klāng Thāo and the bold Khōm Khloñ Lāmphong