Page:Prachum Phongsawadan (01) 2457.djvu/13

 This document was first printed in the Year of the Goat, Year 9, 1269 LE, 2450 BE, but that edition was defective. Later in 2455 BE, a royal manuscript of the King of Thon Buri was obtained, against which the indistinct parts in the former manuscript were checked to obtain a complete text, which is herein printed.

This Royal Chronicle: Luang Prasoet's Version differs from the Royal Chronicle: Two-Volume Printed Edition and the Royal Chronicle: Royally Handwritten Version in many parts, in terms of both the events and the dates. Having examined it with foreign chronicles, I found the events and dates contained in the Luang Prasoet's Version to be very accurate. I believe that the dates stated in the Luang Prasoet's Version are in line with the truth.

These stories were originally inscribed upon three stelai during the time the city of Sukhothai served as the capital of the Siamese Country. The first stele contains an inscription in which King Khun Ramkhamhaeng told of his Phra Ruang dynasty and of the kingdom of Sukhothai during his reign. It is the best inscription regarding the history of the Thais. This stele, now being at Sala Rai of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, was written with the Thai script that was invented by King Khun Ramkhamhaeng in the Year of the Goat, Year 5, 645 LE, 1826 BE. This script had been indecipherable for centuries until His Majesty King Chomklao, during his monkhood, made a pilgrimage to the town of Sukhothai and found it together