Sudarsana () was a monarch of about 9th century in Thai historiography, principally attested in the and the Legend of Mueang Phaya Re (). In the Northern Chronicle he is born into a wealthy family at Aroccakāma, is enthroned there, and renames the settlement Indaprasthanagara. It gives no details of his children, and the next ruler it names is his grandson Phraya Kreak, who moves the seat eastward.
The sources disagree about where that polity lay and who refounded it. The Legend of Mueang Phaya Re makes Sudarsana its refounder in 757 and places it in eastern Thailand, while several central and Lan Na texts place it in the central Menam valleys. The Ayutthaya Testimonies give the refoundation of that year to Padumasūriyavaṃśa instead.
Chronicle accounts Family and succession In the oldest available recension of the , published in 1869, Sudarsana is described as having been born into a wealthy family in a settlement named Aroccakāma (), although the chronicle provides no details about his parents. His family is described as having been accompanied by about 500 wealthy followers. Sudarsana was subsequently enthroned as ruler of the settlement and renamed the polity Indaprasthanagara.
The chronicle states that Sudarsana had offspring but provides no individual details about them until its account of Phraya Kreak, who is identified as his grandson. Phraya Kreak is described as the ruler of Indaprasthanagara and as having moved the seat eastward, a journey said to have taken 15 days. The new seat retained the name Indaprasthanagara, and the chronicle places it 15 days' journey north of Ayodhya.
Location and refoundation The local legend of the eastern region, the Legend of Mueang Phaya Re, instead identifies Sudarsana as the refounder of Indaprasthanagara in 757 and places the polity in eastern Thailand. Central and Lan Na texts, such as the Northern Chronicle, the Ayutthaya Testimonies, the Legend of Singhanavati, and the , place it in the central Menam valleys. The Ayutthaya Testimonies attribute the refoundation of the same year to the first Siamese monarch Padumasūriyavaṃśa.
Notes
References