Subject: syāṃ kuk mercenary warrior

Culture: Tai

Setting: Indochina, 12-13thC

Evolution:

Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)

* Quaritch-Wales 1952 p79

"The T'ai were probably no more than marginal to either Indian or Chinese civilization when they entered the Indochinese peninsula. On the Angkor Wat reliefs, showing the royal procession, we see the T'ai as a contingent of vassal troops, the Syam Ivuk, wearing a bizarre garb, armed with a curious type of spear, except for the leader on his elephant who has a bow. All arc [SIC] lacking the helmet and cuirass which was still worn by most of the Khmer soldiers on such ceremonial occasions. But, despite their peculiarities, we cannot doubt that the Siamese were already undergoing Khmer acculturation, at least as regards their military training, in the middle of the twelfth century. ... [I]t would seem that it was mostly idealistic warfare that they were learning. There is reason to believe that it was by the direct methods of frontal attack that, about A.D. 1220, the Siamese captured Sukot'ai from its Khmer governor, and founded the first independent kingdom of Siam."

Costume

* Jacq-Hergoualc'h 2007 p98-100