[5][6] Langkasuka flourished from the 200s to the 1500s as the oldest kingdom in the Malay Peninsula, believed to have been established by descendants of Ashoka the Great.

According to Liangshu, "Lang-ya-xiu" or Langkasuka was 30 days' journey from east to west, and 20 from north to south, 24,000 li in distance from Guangzhou.

It mentions that Aloeswood (Aquilaria) and camphor were abundant in the kingdom, and its capital was described as being surrounded by walls to form a city with double gates, towers and pavilions.

[15] A Song dynasty work Zhu fan zhi (published in 1225) gives a description of the country of Ling-ya-si-jia (凌牙斯加).

It mentions that its people cut their hair and wrapped themselves in a piece of cloth, its products included elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, types of wood and camphor, and their merchants traded in wine, rice, silk and porcelain.

[21] Daoyi Zhilüe mentions that the natives of Langkasuka made salt from seawater and ferment rice wine, and produced hornbill casques, lakawood, honey and gharuwood.

[23] "Langkasuka" was mentioned in the Malay text Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, and it was referred to as "Lengkasuka" in the Javanese poem Nagarakretagama.

The only contradictory information comes from a later Malay text Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa which placed it on the west coast as the predecessor of modern Kedah, although its sovereign had some association with Pattani.

The Javanese poem Nagarakretagama placed it north of Saiburi, however it appears to imply that it was originally located on the west coast but was transferred later to the east.

[12] In 1961, taking account of the various sources, the geographer and historian Paul Wheatley concluded that Langkasuka should be located near the modern town of Pattani.

[29] French archaeologist and historian Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h concurred, and proposed the former estuary of the Pattani River near Yarang as the likely location of Langkasuka.

[21] Modern archaeological explorations have uncovered ruins near Yarang, a village fifteen kilometers south of Pattani, which may be of the city described in Liangshu.

[30] The majority of the ruins were clustered in the vicinity of a hamlet called Ban Wat, and may have formed the nucleus of the city.

Many Chinese and Arab coins made of bronze have been found in the region, an indication of the commercial activity of the kingdom.