Sukhothai: Its History, Culture and Art (The Asia Collection) - Hardcover

Gosling, Betty

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195889843 ISBN 13: 9780195889840

Publisher: OUP Australia and New Zealand, 1996

Synopsis

Today the city of Sukhothai in northern Thailand lies in ruins and only a handful of inhabitants wander along the once-busy streets. But the ruins are extensive and impressive, and are testimony to a period from the mid-13th to the mid-15th centuries when the accomplishments of this independent city in the fields of architecture, sculpture, painting and ceramics were so great that today the Thai people consider Sukhothai to have been their first national capital. In the West, Sukhothai is referred to as "the cradle of Thai culture". Despite the historical importance ascribed to Sukhothai in laying the political, cultural and artistic foundations for the modern-day Thai state, the facts of its founding, growth and decline have been shrouded, until fairly recently, in mystery, being largely dependent on an unreliable oral tradition. 20th-century study of scores of abandoned stone inscriptions and archaeological research have, however, helped to illuminate Sukhothai's ancient past. In this study, the author draws together all available information to build up a picture of the political, religious and cultural life of the Sukhothai period.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Australia and New Zealand
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0195889843
• ISBN 13: 9780195889840
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 137