Nakhon Nayok (นครนายก)

Thai. ‘First City’ or ‘Leading City’. Name of a province (map) and its provincial capital in Central Thailand, 106 kms Northeast of Bangkok. Nakhon means ‘city’ and the word nayok means ‘leader’. However, the word nayok can also be interpreted as a compound, made up of the words na and yok, which mean ‘field’ and ‘lift’ respectively, and the name Nakhon Nayok could then be translated as ‘Elevated Field City’, referring to the true fact that it is actually situated on a high ground. This claim could be substantiated by the fact that the city's former name is Ban Na (บ้านนา), meaning ‘Field Village’, also the name of a present-day provincial district of Nakhon Nayok. Though, yet other sources suggest that the name nayok is indeed a compound referring to ‘field’ and ‘lift’, but that it is derived from a historical event. During the Ayutthaya Period the area was densely overgrown with forest, where a little land could be cultivated and lot of malaria occurred, making most people reluctant to stay there, many seeking refuge in other places. Worried about this and to encourage the people to stay or return, the king decided to lift (yok) the taxes on all the commercial produce of the fields (na). The people hence returned and started calling the area Meuang Na-Yok (เมืองนา-ยก), meaning ‘Land of Fields-Lifted’, which over time became Meuang Nayok and eventually Nakhon Nayok, the ‘City of the Lifted Field [Taxes]’. The area presumably was part of the Dvaravati Kingdom, as there is evidence of a former city wall of which the outline can still be seen in the form of a ridge and a moat, in the tambon Dong Lakhon (ดงละคร). But evidence of the city of Nakhon Nayok only appears to date back to the Ayutthaya Period, during the reign of King U-Thong, when it was a garrison town of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, protecting its eastern boundary. In the North of this province there are several waterfalls. This small province has only four amphur. See also Nakhon Nayok data file. 回