Kamalanka, variously recorded in Chinese sources as Chia-mo-lang-chia, elsewhere as Kolo (Gē Luó), in Ptolemy's Geographike Hyphegesis as Balangka or Kalonga, in the Tanjore Inscription as Mevilimbangam, and in the Bhavavarman II inscription as Sambuka, was a multicultural polity in the Northern Kra Isthmus during the Dvaravati period. Established in the late 1st or early 2nd century CE, it endured until 1058, when its capital at ancient Nakhon Pathom was likely destroyed by Anawrahta of Pagan during his invasion of the Lavo Kingdom. Regarded as the successor of Tun Sun, its first embassy to China in 515 CE claimed a foundation some four centuries earlier, and subsequent embassies were dispatched in 523 and 531. The polity remained known in later tradition, with 20th-century Chinese settlers still referring to the western Chao Phraya region, specifically the Meklong-Tha Chin Basins, as Lang-jia-jiu, while the Lan Na Yonok Chronicle recorded Ayodhya of the pre-Ayutthaya era as Guru Rath (; ), closely resembling the Chinese name Kolo.
Briggs held that the neighbouring Pan Pan took in Takola and the Takola-Bandon route and reached the northern end of the Kra Isthmus, where it bordered Tun Sun. Kamalanka's northern territories merged into the Dvaravati sphere alongside neighboring polities after the collapse of Funan. Though once identified with Langkasuka, Chinese geographic descriptions place Kamalanka in the lower central plains of Thailand. Piriya Krairiksh has argued that early Indianized Nakhon Pathom first served as Pan Pan's port at Mueang Uthong before the Mon shifted power to Nakhon Pathom, which was later recorded as Ge Luo She Fen in the Cefu Yuangui (1005) and as the Ge Luo Kingdom in the New Book of Tang (1044).
Kamalanka declined in the 12th and 13th centuries, with its center likely relocated to Sambukapattana in present-day Ban Pong district, Ratchaburi province. Concurrently, breakaway polities emerged, including Chen Li Fu in Suphanburi and Phrip Phri in Phetchaburi. Chen Li Fu developed into Suphannabhum, while Phrip Phri expanded northward in around the late 12th century, subsuming both Chen Li Fu and Kamalanka. All three were later consolidated into the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 14th century. Certain Thai traditions ascribe a far earlier origin, claiming that nobles of the Anuradhapura Kingdom of Lanka established Kamalanka in 216 BCE, with a related group founding Langkasuka in 217 BCE in present-day Pattani as its sister polity.
Records
Based on references in the book of I Ching and the seventh-century travel records of the Chinese monk Xuanzang, Kamalanka has been equated with Lang-ya-xiu or Lang-chia-shu. The Liáng Shū records that this polity measured thirty days’ journey from east to west and twenty days from north to south, situated 24,000 li from Guangzhou. The settlement of Balangka or Kalonga, mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographike Hyphegesis in the 2nd century CE, may also correspond to Kamalanka, being described therein as a “metropolis.”
Epigraphic evidence from Nakhon Pathom reinforces this association. A terracotta seal inscribed in Prakrit with Brahmi script, deciphered by Jiraphat Prapanwittaya and Varindra Vasishtha, refers to varapata(na), meaning “the glorious port city.” Saritpong Khumsong has proposed that during the Angkorian period (12th–13th centuries), Nakhon Pathom was possibly designated Sambuka or Sambukapattana, as attested in the Preah Khan inscription. Following hydrological changes, the principal settlement is believed to have shifted westward to Mueang Sa Kosi Narai () on the east bank of the Mae Klong River, while retaining its earlier appellation.
The designation Sambukapattana translates as “the port city of Sambuka.” One interpretation of Sambuka identifies it with the asura—a class of divine antagonists in Hindu mythology—while other meanings include a devotee named Shambuka or a generic reference to a conch or bivalve shell.
Lanka records The Tanjore Inscription, dating back to 1030, contains a list of the ports on the Kra Isthmus to the Malacca Strait that were raided by a fleet sent by King Rajendra Chola I. The following are the ports located on the Kra Isthmus; some cannot yet be precisely identified. Mevilimbangam – Kamalanka, has beautiful walls as defense. Mayirudingan – the Je-lo-ting of the Chinese, surrounded by the deep sea as by a moat, the exact location remains disputed. Some placed it at the Sathing Phra Peninsular in Songkhla, where the Chinese called Rìluótíng in the 13th–14th century. Some says Chaiya. Talaittakkolam – Takkola (Trang or Takua Pa) of Ptolemy and the Milinda Panha, praised by great men versed in the sciences. Madamalingam –Tambralinga, capable of strong action in dangerous battles.
Suchandra Ghosh, an Indian archeologist, and Samuel Beal, a British oriental scholar, placed Kamalanka, which identified as Mevilimbangam, in the Irrawaddy delta, to be specific, Pegu, while George Cœdès identified Pegu with Mäppappälam, the city raided by Rajendra Chola I in 1030 as mentions in the Tanjore Inscription.
As Ge Luo She Fen and Gē Luó
Thai scholar Piriya Krairiksh equates the kingdom of Ge Luo She Fen, recorded in the Cefu Yuangui, with the Gē Luó country (哥罗国) of the New Book of Tang, placing both in the same region as Kamalanka. The Tongdian of 801 refers to this polity as Gē Luó Fù Shā Luó (哥罗富沙罗/哥羅富沙羅), known to the Chinese since the Han dynasty, comprising 24 subordinate states without provincial divisions. Its military organization was notable for the use of elephants in battle, each bearing up to one hundred soldiers. Tribute was first recorded during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han (25–57 CE). Some scholars instead state Ge Luo She Fen is the corrupted term of Jiā Luó Shě Fú (迦逻舍佛; Canasapura) in Si Thep and the Phimai region, with the suffix fēn reflecting a variant of the Sanskrit pūra, denoting a town or city.
The Tongdian describes Gē Luó as a fortified city whose ruler bore the surname Shǐ Lì Pó Luó () and given name Mǐ Shī Bō Luó (). Its capital featured stone walls, towers, and guarded gates, while the palace was roofed with grass. The society was distinguished by unique marriage customs, musical traditions, and funerary rites, including cremation with ashes placed in golden vessels submerged at sea. Geographically, the Tongdian locates Gē Luó southeast of Pan Pan. Earlier scholars identified it with Kalah on the southwestern Malay Peninsula, while later theories placed it on the Kra Isthmus or at ancient Nakhon Pathom. Others associate it with Bandon Bay, specifically Chaiya, which by that period was integrated into Srivijaya and later Tambralinga.
The Cefu Yuangui further notes that Gē Luó Shě Fēn bordered Duò Hé Luó (堕和罗国; Dvaravati or Lavo) to the east and maintained an army of 20,000 elite soldiers. Its king is named Pú jiā yuè mó (). Along with Xiū Luó Fēn and Gān Bì, it sent tribute missions to the Tang court. These three polities shared similar institutions, though Xiū Luó Fēn possessed the largest military force, exceeding 30,000, while Gān Bì maintained only 5,000.New Book of Tang, Volume 222 The same passage names the king of Gān Bì as Candravarman () and places that polity in the southern sea with Huanwang () close to its east. A later Ming source, the , identifies the Malacca Sultanate as Gē Luó Fù Shā, also tracing its origins to the Han dynasty but noting its subsequent vassalization to Tun Sun.Imperially Commissioned Complete Collection of Ancient and Modern Books/Collection of Geographical Maps/Border and Ethnic Groups/Volume 096 (in Chinese) Retrieved 19 May 2025.
Three similar names appear in these records, and the sources place them at different points. Jiā Luó Shě Fú (, read as Canasapura) is given in the Jiu Tang Shu as lying to the north of Duò Hé Luó, whose other bounds are Pan Pan to the south, Zhenla to the east and the open sea to the west. Gē Luó Shě Fēn () is placed by the Cefu Yuangui in the southern part of the southern sea with Duò Hé Luó to its east, its territory adjoining it, under a king named Man Yue Jia Mo and with twenty thousand picked troops; the same passage places Xiū Luó Fēn in the northern part of that sea with Zhenla to its east. Gē Luó (), also written and Gē Luó Fù Shā Luó (), is placed by the Tongdian to the south-east of Pan Pan, under a king named Xi Mi Mi Luo Po Luo () of the Shi Li Po Luo line (), with stone walls and twenty-four districts. The two names appear in variant form as Mi Shi Bo Luo () and Shi Li Po Luo (), the characters of the first being transposed between the accounts.
Tatsuo Hoshino treated the first two as one polity and read the discrepancy as a territorial change over time rather than an error. Between the dates of the two reports, on his account, Dvaravati expanded north-eastward and gained the areas of modern Nakhon Ratchasima and Chaiyaphum, after which Canasapura relinquished the Nakhon Ratchasima area and its territory receded to what he calls its original core in the northern half of the Chao Phraya plain and the Sak valley, which would account for the same state appearing first north of Dvaravati and afterwards beside it. On that reading in Nakhon Ratchasima province was Canasapura's eastern centre. The third name is a separate case: Gē Luó is written with different characters and is placed far to the south, and is not necessarily the same polity.
In summary, two competing interpretations exist regarding the kingdom's location. One places it in the southern Malay Peninsula, linked with Gē Luó Fù Shā Luó () and later traditions of Malacca; the other situates Gē Luó Shě Fēn () in the northern peninsula, bordering Dvaravati, with possible centers at Nakhon Pathom, Mueang Uthong, and Si Thep.
Journey of Chang Chun In the journey of Chang Chun as a Chinese envoy to Chi Tu in 607, Kamalanka was referred to as Lang-ya-xiu. It was said to be on the north of Chi Tu, another indianized state in the Singora Inland Sea (present Songkhla province).
According to the location mentioned above, Thai scholar, Chand Chirayu Rajani, purposed Lang-ya-xiu was potentially located in the west Chao Phraya River basin, and strongly denied Paul Wheatley's assumption that equated Lang-ya-xiu with Langkasuka (; Ling-ya-si-jia/Long-ya-xi-jiao), which was located in modern-day deep south Thailand, and Wheatley's assumption has been continued by many scholars to the present day. Rajani additionally asserts that even Chinese people who settled in the west Chao Phraya River basin still called the area Lang-jia-jiu. There are also the islands named Lang-ya-jiew islands (birds' nest islands) in Chumphon province, which expected to be the southern border of Lang-ya-xiu.
Tang records The Old Book of Tang, dating 618 onwards, also indicates the location of Lang-ya-xiu, situated north of Pan Pan, aligning with Rajani's hypothesis. The text was translated by Paul Wheatley as follows.
As per the text provided, since Pan Pan was placed at the area along the Bandon Bay in Surat Thani province, Lang-ya-xiu should be on the plain in lower Central Thailand; however, Paul Wheatley positioned Lang-ya-xiu to the south of Pan Pan. The location of both Pan Pan and Lang-ya-xiu given in the New Book of Tang, also sustaintiated Rajani's hypothesis. The text was translated by Peter Bee of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, as follows.
I Ching and the Journey of Xuanzang
Attempts to identify Kamalanka with the Mon kingdom of Thaton, whose existence before the 13th century is questioned by Michael Aung-Thwin, remain disputed, particularly in light of Xuanzang's description of Kamalanka as hemmed in by mountains and rivers.