AYUTTHAYA, THONBURI, AND RATTANAKOSIN

Thai History:

Map of Thailand

Ayutthaya Kingdom(1350-1767) Had been the capital of Thailand for

417 years with 33 kings of 5 dynasties (U-thong, Suphanburi, Sukhothai, Prasart-Thong, Ban Phlu-Luang) ruling the successive kingdom.

Founded by King U-Thong (Ramathibodi I) in A.D.1350. It was unclear where King U-Thong came from. Some said he was a Chinese Prince but others belief he was indigenous.

Geographical Advantage

The city is surrounded with 3 major rivers, the Lopburi on the north, the Pasak on the east and the Chao Phya on the south and the west. Thus Ayutthaya is very accessible, easy to connect with other areas and to trade with other Asian and European countries.

In warfare, the rivers also functioned as defending wall to protect the capital.

Ayutthaya Map by Johannes Vingboons, 1665

Political Administration

Ayutthaya was ruled by the king as absolute monarchy system.

Feudalism played important role through the whole period of the kingdom.

The king, with the most powerful in hand, empowered his relatives and high ranked aristocrats to look after the provincial towns far off the city such as Sukhothai, Angkor, Phitsanulok, Nakorn Si Thammarat.

Feudalism (sakdina)

King and monarch (chao) Noble (khunnang) Commoners (phrai) Slave (dasa/dasi)

Religion: Brahamanism

Brahmanism played significant role in royal rituals and practices i.e. Ploughing ceremony in May

It came from Brahmins from India and royal rituals from Khmers.

Brahmanism believes in “Deva Raja” or divine king. King is a reincarnation of God Vishnu or Narayan (Narai).

God Vishnu & Garuda(sacred bird)

Garuda: Symbol of Thai Govt.

Buddhism Buddhism believes in individual’s

karma/deed rather than class or origin of birth.

It created “Dhamma Raja” or virtuous king, came from Buddhist monks.

Ordination has been functioned not only for spiritual practice, but also as a melting pot for people from all classes.

Sometimes it was a shelter for royal family who wanted to avoid political conflict or escape from threat i.e. King Mongkut.

King Buddha, Wat Na Phra Mane

Deva Raja VS Dhamma Raja

The integration of these concepts enabled people in Ayutthaya believed that king can be anyone who’s qualified. The origin of birth doesn’t matter as much as individual competence.

Therefore, there are many fights for the throne during Ayutthaya period from 5 dynasties resulting 33 kings within 417 years.

Atharva Veda(IV): Magic Power

Both white and black magic was popular during Ayutthaya period in forms of ritual, yantra, tattoo, etc.

Buddhism merged this belief by saying people who possessed these sacred objects should be virtuous and observe five precepts i.e. no killing, no stealing, etc.

Chanting for Longevity

Sacred Yantra

Protective Tattoo: Running Tiger

Animism

Has been popular among commoners until present. You may see Thais worship local spirits, big tree, certain kinds of being i.e. mystical serpent (Naga), or unusual trees/animals.

Worshipping the Local Spirit

Mystical Serpent

Unusual root of a Raintree

Trade

Ayutthaya was an international port attracting traders from the Far East: Malay/Indonesia, India, China, Persia, etc.

Ayutthaya’s major commodities were “forest produce”: woods, benzoin, gumlac, deerhide, elephant teeth, rhinoceros horn including rice, dried fish and minerals(esp.tin).

Had a steady and profitable trade with Ming and Manchu China during 14-1800s.

Warfare There were many wars between

Ayutthaya and neighboring kingdoms i.e. Cambodia, Lanna (Chiang Mai), Pattani, and most importanly, Burma (Hongsawadi).

Ayutthaya and Hongsawadi had taken turns to overcome the other several times. Whenever Burma was in an expansionist phase, Ayutthaya suffered, and vice versa.

1st Lost Independence (1569) During the reign of King

Mahindrathirat, Ayutthaya was beaten by the Burmese and it lost its independence for 15 years.

The kingdom was free again in 1584, during the reign of King Naresuan the great when he could drive the Burmese away from the kingdom.

King Naresuan the Great(1590-1605) When he was 9, he had been taken off

to Burma as a hostage to make sure that his father – King Maha Thammaraja would be subject to Burma.

When he was 16, he returned to Ayutthaya with exchanging his sister Princess Suphankalaya to go to King Bayinnaung.

The most renowned victory of him was at Nong Sarai when he killed Burmese crown prince in combat on elephant.

Battle on Elephants

King Naresuan declared independence in 1584

King Narai the Great(1656-1688) In the reign of King Na Rai the great,

diplomatic and commercial connection policy with western countries was started.

Ayutthaya learnt more about new advanced technology from western countries such as architectural design and new technique of building construction. These can be seen on ancient ruins found both in Ayutthaya and Lopburi.

King Narai welcomed Westerners

King Narai and Missionary

In 1680s, splendid embassies were exhange between King Narai and King Louis XIV. He also allowed the missionaries to set up in Ayutthaya, but he made it clear that Siam was a Buddhist country.

Due to rulers’ manner and religion, there were many foreign communities located in Ayutthaya i.e. Hollanda (Dutch), Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese.

2nd Lost Independence King Suriyat-Amarin or King Eakatat

[1488 - 1767] was inefficient and became the last king of Ayutthaya enabled the second lost of Ayutthaya independence in 1767.

In 1765, Burmese invaded Ayutthaya and destroyed the whole kingdom: temples, manuscripts, and religious sculptures. They also took lots of gold that coated on Buddha statues back to Burma. Some Thais believe the gold is at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon

Ayutthaya was left until in the reign of King Rama V, its deterioration and cultural ruins was renovated. It was the first time to realize the important of cultural ruins in Ayutthaya as ancient monument of the nation until today.

Ayutthaya Ruins

World Heritage

Ayutthaya was placed in the World Heritage List on December 13, 1991 at Carthage, Tunisia. Besides the Thai Government had approved the Master Plan for conservation and development the historic city in 1993 and the project was started in 1994.

Ayutthaya Remains

VDOs Historic City of Ayutthaya

Hidden Temples of Ayutthaya

Flooding in Ayutthaya 2011

Wat Chai Wattanaram

Thonburi Kingdom (1767-1782) Founded by King Taksin the Great

who originally named Sinn, a Chinese-Thai general. He was a governor of Tak province when Burmese troop invaded Ayutthaya in 1767.

He set up a strong army by gathering soldiers and commoners outside Ayutthaya and went back to expel Burmese out of the country.

After King Taksin had taken liberty back from Burmese, he established the new capital city of Thailand in Thonburi, which was on the west bank of the Chao Phya River and he asked the people from Ayutthaya including from the other places to settle down in Thonburi.

Location of Thonburi&Bangkok

King Taksin was also a devout Buddhist. He purified Buddhism, restored rituals and practices.

The chronicle said he practiced meditation and got insane thus was executed.

New evidences found that he left the throne for reasons and went down to Nakorn Si Thammarat to be ordained as a monk and died in 1825.

Rattanakosin/Bangkok (since 1782)

When King Buddha Yod Fa Chulaloke, or King Rama I succeeded to the throne of Chakri dynasty, he and his younger brother started to establish Rattanakosin city or Bangkok in 1692. When the city was nearly completely found, most people both in Thonburi and Ayutthaya integrated to settle down in the new capital city of Thailand while very few were still there.

9 Kings of Chakri Dynasty