Thaton (; ) is a town in Mon State, in southern Myanmar on the Tenasserim plains. Thaton lies along the National Highway 8 and is also connected by the National Road 85. It is southeast of Yangon and north of Mawlamyine. Thaton was the capital of Thaton Kingdom from at least the 4th century BC to the middle of the 11th century AD.
Etymology
Thaton is the Burmese name of Sathuim (သဓီု) in Mon, which in turn is from Sudhammapura () in Pali, after Sudharma, the moot hall of the gods. This name has Buddhist symbolism: according to the 4th-century Buddhavaṃsa, this was the name of the city where the Śobhita Buddha was born, as well as the name of his father, and "Sudhammavati" was also the name of the city where the Sujāta Buddha "held his first assembly of monks".<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 79 --> The name of Thaton probably originated as the formal Pali name "Sudhamma", which then became vernacular Mon form "Sadhuim", which is in turn pronounced "Thaton" in Burmese.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 80 -->
History
Thaton was the capital of the Thaton Kingdom, a Mon Kingdom which ruled present day Lower Burma between the 4th and 11th centuries. Like the Burmans and the Thais, some modern Mons have tried to identify their ethnicity and, specifically this kingdom at Thaton, with the semi-historical kingdom of Suwarnabhumi ("The Golden Land"); today, this claim is contested by many different ethnicities in south-east Asia, and contradicted by scholars.
In the kingdom of Dvaravati, Thaton was an important seaport on the Gulf of Martaban, for trade with India and Sri Lanka. Shin Arahan, also called Dhammadassi, a monk born in Thaton and raised and educated in Nakhon Pathom, an old capital of the Mon kingdom of Dvaravadi, now in Thailand, took Theravada Buddhism north to the Burmese kingdom of Bagan. In 1057, King Anawrahta of Bagan conquered Thaton.
However, Michael Aung-Thwin, has disputed the entire traditional narrative of a "Thaton Kingdom" and its conquest by Anawrahta.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 9 --> No contemporary inscriptions refer to Thaton or its conquest by Anawrahta,<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 83-4, 112 --> and the full version of the conquest story does not appear in later chronicles until U Kala's Mahayazawingyi, written in the early 1700s.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 136 --> Aung-Thwin also disputes the existence of Thaton itself during this time period, writing that "it is not even certain that the area... was not under the ocean" during the first millennium CE, since the shoreline likely would have been much farther inland at the time.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 304 -->
Contemporary epigraphy
The first undisputed mention of Thaton is in the 1479 Kalyani Inscriptions, which were written in the Middle Mon language and attributed to Dhammazedi.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 84 --> This inscription uses "Sudhuim",<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 84 --> which is the usual Mon form of the name.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 79 --> The inscriptions record the renovation of the stupas under Kyanzittha.<!-- Khin Myint Myint 2016, p. 6 -->
Archaeology
An urban site at Thaton was excavated between 1975 and 1977 under U Myint Aung.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 80, 82, 348 --> The site is small, with an area of about 1,500 square yards and "at most three major stupas".<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 217 --> A large structure that may have been a palace has partially been excavated, at the center of the site.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 81 --> Part of the city walls also remain.<!-- Aung-Thwin 2005, p. 81 -->
Another relief found at Thaton is a 1.2 m-tall depiction of Shiva sitting down, with his bull Nandi shown below his right leg and a "buffalo demon" below his left knee.<!-- Moore and San Win 2007, p. 222 --> Myathabeik Pagoda is perched on a hilltop east of the town. Thaton is home to the U Pho Thi Library, which houses an extensive collection of palm-leaf manuscripts, at the Saddhammajotikārāma Monastery.
Health care
- Thaton District Hospital
Education
Thaton is home to Computer University (Thaton), which offers five-year bachelor's degree programs in computer science and computer technology. It is also the home of Thaton Institute of Agriculture.