Pu xie qi yao

Pu-xie-qi-yao () was a ruler of the kingdom of Tou-he (), recorded in the Chinese Tongdian. His polity has been commonly identified as Dvaravati, centred at Nakhon Pathom. He sent a tributary mission to the Chinese court in 649.

Context and identification

The Tongdian gives Pu-xie-qi-yao the surname Tou-he (), corresponding to the name of the polity, together with the personal name Pu-xie-qi-yao. The structure of the name has been interpreted differently. Saritpong Khunsong treats Tou-he-luo as a dynastic name, while Lin Ying and Huang Jiaxin translate Touheluo as the ruler's name and Puyeqiyao as his given name. The same Chinese text distinguishes him from his predecessor Qizhangmo, who is described without a surname.

The Cefu Yuangui records embassies from Tou-he-luo in 638, 640, 643, and 649. The last was sent by Pu xie qi yao and brought ivory and fire-beads, while requesting fine horses from China. No later embassy from Tou-he is recorded. The next tributary mission to China was sent under the name Gē Luó Shě Fēn. Hoshino interpreted the change in the name of the polity sending the mission under Pujiayuemo as evidence that Si Thep's authority had extended southward into the Nakhon Pathom region.

Around this period, the name Sambuka, commonly identified with Nakhon Pathom, appears in the Lopburi inscription K.577, dated to the mid-7th to mid-8th century. The inscription mentions an unnamed king of Sambuka as the father of Arushva, chief of the people of Tangura. However, no connection has been established between this unnamed king and the kings of Nakhon Pathom mentioned in local traditions and Chinese texts.

Tou-he in the Chinese records

The Tongdian describes Tou-he as a polity with six markets (port cities), where merchants used small silver coins resembling elm pods. The king exercised indirect authority over several cities, while the walled royal enclosure contained the palace and administrative offices. About ten thousand households lived outside the enclosure and supported themselves through agriculture and trade without paying taxes. The account also describes raised houses with tiled roofs and a king who wore a gold crown, earrings, and jewelled leather shoes. This contrasts with the grass-roofed houses described for the preceding reign of Qizhangmo.