the Sanskrit Sukhodaya, but like Syama it may be an adaptation of some native word.  In an important inscription found at Sukhothai and now preserved at Bangkok,[197] which was probably composed about 1300 A.D., Rama Khomheng gives an account of his kingdom.  On the east it extended to the banks of the Mekhong and beyond it to Chava (perhaps a name of Luang-Prabang):  on the south to the sea, as far as Sri Dharmaraja or Ligor:  on the west to Hamsavati or Pegu.  This last statement is important for it enables us to understand how at this period, and no doubt considerably earlier, the Siamese were acquainted with Pali Buddhism.  The king states that hitherto his people had no alphabet but that he invented one.[198] This script subsequently developed into the modern Siamese writing which, though it presents many difficulties, is an ingenious attempt to express a language with tones in an alphabet.  The vocabulary of Siamese is not homogeneous:  it comprises (a) a foundation of Thai, (b) a considerable admixture of Khmer words, (c) an element borrowed from Malay and other languages, (d) numerous ecclesiastical and learned terms taken from Pali and Sanskrit.  There are five tones which must be distinguished, if either written or spoken speech is to be intelligible.  This is done partly by accents and partly by dividing the forty-four consonants (many of which are superfluous for other purposes) into three groups, the high, middle and deep.

The king also speaks of religion.  The court and the inhabitants of Sukhothai were devout Buddhists:  they observed the season of Vassa and celebrated the festival of Kathina with processions, concerts and reading of the scriptures.  In the city were to be seen statues of the Buddha and scenes carved in relief, as well as large monasteries.  To the west of the city was the Forest Monastery, presented to a distinguished elder who came from Sri Dharmaraja and had studied the whole Tripitaka.  The mention of this official and others suggests that there was a regular hierarchy and the king relates how he exhumed certain sacred relics and built a pagoda over them.  Though there is no direct allusion to Brahmanism, stress is laid on the worship of spirits and devas on which the prosperity of the kingdom depends.

The form of Buddhism described seems to have differed little from the Hinayanism found in Siam to-day.  Whence did the Siamese obtain it?  For some centuries before they were known as a nation, they probably professed some form of Indian religion.  They came from the border lands, if not from the actual territory of China, and must have been acquainted with Chinese Buddhism.  Also Burmese influence probably reached Yunnan in the eighth century,[199] but it is not easy to say what form of religion it brought with it.  Still when the Thai entered what is now Siam, it is likely that their religion was some form of Buddhism.  While they were subject to Camboja they must have felt the influence of Sivaism and possibly of Mahayanist Sanskrit Buddhism but no Pali Buddhism can have come from this quarter.[200]