Ligor: Linking the Malay satelites in a Thai solar system

. . . it starts with confused Malay traditions of the great empires of Byzantine and China, of Sri Rama and Hanuman and Lankapuri लङ्कापुरी from the Ramayana . . . as a Muslim, the author drags in the Prophet Solomon, king of the animal world and so lord of the Garuda . . .

Richard Winstedt (1938)
The Kedah Annals, JMBRAS 16(2), p. 31

Before Bangkok’s full consolidation of the south, Ligor was the primus inter pares among the southern mueang. It had long served as the southern gate of the Siamese world, a tributary overlord to the smaller Malay states, Trang, Patthalung, Salang, Krabi, Patani, Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, etc.

These Malay planets tended to orbit around Ligor, which functioned as the regional mandala-center mediating between Bangkok and the Malay world. This Ligor-centered arrangement was, however, semi-feudal and decentralized, giving the Buddhist state enormous leverage.

When the Chakri kings sought to centralize the Siamese polity, they recognized that Ligor’s preeminence gave it dangerous autonomy, since the Malay states under its shadow might identify more with the Ligor mandala than with Bangkok. When the British expansion from Penang and Perak made Bangkok uncomfortable, the Siamese decided to deliberately cultivate Singora as a counterweight, a second mandala-center, in the deep south.

Traditionally, Ligor (modern Nakhon Si Thammarat, or Negara Sri Dharmaraja) acted as the intermediary through which Siam exerted military pressure on the smaller Malay states. With no trace of politeness, Tregonning (1964) even described Ligor as Siam’s lackey. These small Malay states were proudly represented on the flag of Ligor, each identified with a zodiacal animal modeled after the Chinese system. Between 1767 and 1820, the Malay state with the ordinal number of five, and represented by a giant serpent or naga (Marong 龍, 子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥) on was largely spared interference from its Siamese overlord. This reprieve was not due to goodwill, but rather because the attention and resources of Siam were consumed by protracted wars with Burma and internal dynastic strife. Unfortunately for the Malay state celebrated in the Hikayat Marong Mahawamsa, this period of relative peace came to an end in 1821 when Ligor was commanded to launch a military campaign against Kedah. The attack forced the Sultan of Kedah and the members of his royal family to flee. Fortunately for Kedah, Sultan Ahmad Taj al-Din was able to seek asylum in Penang, thanks to an earlier agreement (1786) by his father that allowed the British to build a strong fort on the island. The event is also recorded in the Qingshi Gao 清史稿, which states: 道光元年，暹羅遠征馬來半島開泰州，懸軍深入，破沙魯他軍，南下服派拉克，進與色蘭格耳國戰，以軍疲，由新格拉而還 In the first year of the Daoguang reign (1821), Siam dispatched an expedition to the Malay Peninsula, commencing their campaign at Kedah 開泰. Advancing deep into enemy territory, they defeated the forces of Sharuta, then pressed south to subdue Perak 派拉克. Continuing forward, they engaged Selangor 色蘭格耳 in battle. However, due to the exhaustion of their troops, they eventually withdrew via Singora 新格拉.

From the following description on the Palace of the Kingdom of Chi Tu 赤土 or Tanah Merah (taken from the History of Sui 隋書 · 卷八十二列傳第四十七 · 南蠻 · 赤土, edited by Wei Zheng 魏徵, b. 580, d. 643): . . . 王宮諸屋悉是重閤，北户北面而坐。坐三重之榻，衣朝霞布，冠金花冠，垂雜寳瓔珞。四女子立侍左右，兵衛百餘人。 王榻後作一龕，以金銀五香木雜鈿之。龕後懸一金光熖。夾榻又樹二金鏡，鏡前首陳金甕，甕前各有金香爐。當前置一金伏牛，牛前樹一寳盖，盖左右皆有寳扇。婆羅門等𢿙百人，東西重行相向而坐 . . . All the buildings within the royal palace were multiple-storied. The northern doors faced north, and the king sat accordingly. He sat upon a three-tiered lion-throne, robed in a warm orange-red cloth, wearing a golden-flower crown, and hung with strings of mixed jeweled ornaments. Four women stood in attendance at his sides, and over a hundred armed guards were stationed nearby . . . Behind the royal throne was constructed a shrine, inlaid with gold, silver, and fragrant five-wood marquetry. Behind the shrine hung a golden flaming light. On either side of the throne stood two golden mirrors; before the mirrors were placed golden jars, and before each jar stood a golden censer. In front of these was set a golden crouching ox; before the ox rose a jeweled canopy, and on both sides of the canopy were jeweled fans. About a hundred Brahmans sat in two opposing rows to the east and west . . . It is evident that the culture of Chi Tu skillfully fused Hindu and Buddhist elements, an amalgamation that remains fossilized in the traditions of the Thai royal court.

King Mongkut in his official attire, made from warm orange-red brocade 朝霞布. Mongkut was the son of Rama II (whose emblem is a Garuda holding two marongs or nagas) and the half-brother of Rama III. In the Draft History of Qing, Rama II, Rama III, and Rama IV are known as 鄭佛, 鄭福, 鄭明, respectively: . . . 咸豐元年，鄭福卒，弟蒙格克托繼立，中國稱曰鄭明者是也。明奉孝和睿皇后、宣宗成皇帝遺詔，遺使進香並齎遞表文、方物，慶賀登極。又因例貢屆期，請將貢物一併呈進。文宗命兩廣總督徐廣縉傳知臣毋庸來京，儀物、方物悉令齎回。至應進例貢，現當國制，二十七月之內不受朝賀，並停止筵宴，俟嗣王請封時再行呈遞。二年，徐廣縉奏：「暹羅國王遣使補進例貢，並請敕封，現已行抵粵東。」帝命於封印前伴送來京；應給嗣王誥命，俟貢使抵都發給齎回。靠粵匪亂熾，貢使竟不能至，入貢中國亦於此止。此後暹羅遂為自主之國矣。鄭明通佛學，善英語，用歐人改制度，行新政，國治日隆，稱皇帝。復與英、法諸國訂約，遣使分駐各國 . . . In 1851, King Mongkut dispatched an embassy to the Qing court to offer incense, present a memorial and tribute items, and to congratulate Emperor Xianfeng on his accession to the throne. In a way, the Chinese court functioned as the gravitational center of the political cosmos, much like the center of the Milky Way to which the Siamese court orbited. Yet, this tributary relationship came to an abrupt halt, rather comically, in 1852. As reported by Xu Guangjin 徐廣縉: . . . the King of Siam has sent envoys to make up the regular tribute and to request imperial investiture; they have already arrived in eastern Guangdong. The Emperor instructed that, before the investiture seal was affixed, the envoys were to be escorted to the capital, and that the patent of investiture for the heir king would be issued once they arrived and then taken back. However, due to the widespread rebellion and unrest in Guangdong, the Siamese envoys were unable to reach Beijing. With that, Siam’s tributary missions to China ceased altogether. From then on, Siam emerged as a self-governing and independent kingdom. Mongkut was well-versed in Buddhism and proficient in English. He used Europeans to reform institutions and implement new policies, and the governance of the state prospered day by day, leading him to be titled emperor. He also concluded treaties with Britain, France, and other countries, and sent envoys to reside in each of these nations. . . .

. . . Raja duduk di atas simhasana सिंहासन bertingkat tiga, menghadap ke utara dan berpakaian kain berwarna merah jambu, dengan kalungan bunga emas serta rantai permata yang pelbagai. Empat dayang melayani baginda di sebelah kanan dan kiri. Di belakang simhasana raja terdapat sebuah altar kayu yang dihiasi dengan emas, perak, dan lima jenis kayu wangi. Di belakang altar itu tergantung sebuah lampu emas. Di sini simhasana terdapat dua cermin logam. Di hadapannya diletakkan kendi logam, masing-masing dengan pembakar kemaian emas di hadapan. Di hadapan semua ini terdapat seekor lembu emas yang berbaring, di atasnya tergantung kanopi berhias permata dengan kipas berharga di kedua-dua sisi. Beberapa ratus orang Brahman duduk dalam barisan saling berhadapan di sisi timur dan barat . . .

When Prince Damrong (b. 1862, d. 1943) initiated the Thesaphiban experiments in 1893, the traditional mueang were reorganized into monthon (mandala or political sphere). Ligor ليݢور became Monthon Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Singora سڠڬورا became Monthon Songkhla, both directly answerable to Bangkok, not to each other. The creation of Monthon Songkhla effectively broke Ligor's monopoly and allowed Bangkok to supervise the Malay principalities directly (e.g. Patani, Yala, Narathiwat). This was a classic divide-and-centralize move, disentangling Malay dependencies from Ligor’s orbit and attaching them instead to Bangkok’s gravitational field through Songkhla.

1. Geography and demography made Singora ideal since it is closer to Patani and Kedah, the frontier Malay provinces and it had a mixed Thai-Malay population, more open to direct Bangkok administration. Since its rulers (the Na Songkhla family) were ethnic Chinese-Thai, personally loyal to the Chakri court, it could serve as a Bangkok-loyal bridge between the Thai core and the Malay periphery, unlike Ligor’s ancient aristocracy.
   
   
2. During the period of Anglo–Siamese tension over the northern Malay states, the British sought to clarify whether Kedah owed allegiance to Siam or could rightfully claim independent sovereignty. An EIC officer named James Low (b. 1791, d. 1852) was tasked with gathering political and cultural evidence to assess Kedah’s position since he was proficient in both Malay and Thai.
   
   When Low met the Sultan of Kedah and his court officials in Penang, he requested proof that Kedah had historically been an independent Malay kingdom rather than a vassal of Siam. Instead of treaties or inscriptions, the palace presented him with their dynastic chronicle, the Hikayat Marong Mahavamsa. In Malay political culture, such hikayat were not mere literary works but charter myths, texts that legitimize royal descent and sanctify sovereignty through cosmic genealogy. The Hikayat recounts that the progenitor, the Byzantine prince Marong Mahavamsa (sometimes linked to Dhu al-Karnain), founded the ancient kingdom of Kedah or Lankasukha. His descendants later established Siam, Patani, and Perak, brother realms born of the same divine lineage.
   
   
   
   
   In this cosmological framework, Kedah was not subordinate to Siam; both were siblings within a shared planetary system Yet in the larger political cosmos, the Malay polities revolved around regional centers of gravity, with Ligor serving as their traditional sun, even as Bangkok’s expanding power began to exert the stronger gravitational pull. Within that shifting orbit, the Hikayat offered Kedah’s claim to equality: in the Malay universe, shared descent meant shared sovereignty.
   
   
   
3. The Patani-Kelantan gold coin exemplifies a sophisticated fusion of Islamic (العادل, al-Adil) and Indic motifs, most notably the sacred bull (given that the Naksat นักษัตร zodiac sign for Patani is an ox, 子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥). Linehan (1934) initially identified the animal depicted on the coin as a barking deer, or kijang. However, given the northern Malay states’s assimilation of Indic elements, the figure is more plausibly a sacred bull from India, as Rentse (1939) first suggested. Additionally, the coin was likely modeled on those issued by the Vijayanagara kingdom, which originally bore the image of a wild boar, a moon, a sun, and a Vijayanagara katar (which is likely the source element for the ‘salivary flow' described by Rentse (1939) and Singh (1986)).
   
   
   
   
   See A. Rentse (1939) Gold coins of the North-eastern Malay States, Journal of the Malayan Branch of Royal Asiatic Society 17(1), pp. 88 - 97, Saran Singh (1986) The Encyclopedia of the coins of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei 1400 - 1967, Malaysia Numismatic Society, Kuala Lumpur, p. 233.
   
   
   The seal of the Kakatiya king Prataparudra, which features Vahana the boar, Nandi the sacred bull, the moon, the sun, and a royal sword.
   
   
   
   
4. In the Naksat system, Kelantan is represented by a tiger 子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥. The old Kelantan flag actually features a calligraphic tiger. The image appears in the article “The Flags of the Malay Peninsula”, Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 75 (April 1917), pp. 3 - 4.
   
   The author notes: . . . as far as can be ascertained, the flag of Kelantan was plain white up to the time when the State came under British Protection. Being white, it would not be distinctive as regards Terengganu. After the State had come under protection (i.e. in 1909, and thus the flag is a twentieth- rather than a nineteenth-century flag), a figure of a tiger was added at the centre of the flag, coloured dark blue for the State flag and yellow for His Highness the Sultan’s personal flag, while the ground remained white as before . . .
   
   
   
   The inscription on the flag, written in Arabic script, reads Kerajaan Kelantan كراجأن کلنتن followed by the Quranic verse نَصْرٌ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَفَتْحٌۭ قَرِيبٌۭ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ — nasrun mina Allāhi wa fatḥun qarībun wa bashshir al-Mukminīn (Help from Allah and a near victory; give good tidings to the believers, Al-Saff 61:13). The tiger depicted on the flag was likely inspired by the popular Ottoman calligraphic motif known as the Lion of Ali, a stylized zoomorphic design embodying both calligraphy and symbolism.
   
   See also P. G. Riddell (2017) Malay court religion, culture and language: Interpreting the Quran in 17th century Aceh, Brill, Leiden and Boston.