Family connections

1
Family connections

• The leading noble families of the late Ayutthaya
  period
• The Persian Bunnags,
• The Brahman
• The Chinese, i.e., Krairuks,

2
The Chakri

• By 1775, the Chakri (Thong Duang) and
  brother(Bunma) were related to all three.
• The Chakris chief wife was closely related to
  the Bunnags
• Through his elder sisters husband he was related
  to the Brahman line through one of his
  concubines, he was connected to the Chinese line.

3
Wars and conquest

• 1775 conquest of Lan Na
• 1778 conquest of Vientiane
• Took the Emerald Buddha and Phrabang back to
  Thonburi.
• Suzerainty over Champassak and Vientiene and
  cowed Luang Prabang unequal alliance with Siam.

4
Crisis and revolt in Thonburi

• 1779 Taksin devoted to religious excesses.
• Provoking schism in Buddhism, required the monks
  to recognize him as a sotapanna, or
  stream-winner
• The loss of merit and right, by merit, to rule.
• paranoid behavior because he was an outsider
  his roots were shallow.

5

• Taksin had alienated the old power structure of
  the capital, the monks, old families, officials,
  and the merchants.
• Power remained in the hands of local ruling
  families, the noble families, forming many
  cliques and factions and control of manpower.

6

• By the end of 1781 some consensus within the
  elite that Taksin had to be replacedfor the good
  of all, for the fate of Buddhism, for the future
  of Siam.
• Sent Chakri and Surasi to pacify Cambodia.
• A revolt in the capital and call for the Chakri
  to be king. Marched back on April 6, 1782.

7
Royal execution

• According to the Palatine Law
• Taksin is said to have met his end tied up in a
  velvet sack and struck on the back of the neck
  with a sandalwood club, later to be secretly
  buried in the outskirts of Thonburi.
• Folk tradition was that he was taken away to
  Nakhon si Thammarat.

8
The Bangkok Kingdom

• new Siamese vision
• 1The new self perception.
• humanism in Buddhism, rationalism, .
  Paticcasamuppada, the doctrine of dependent
  co-arising
• 2 The New Order
• a new moral orderThe new Ecclesiastical laws
  (Kotmai phra song) 1782-1801.
• Rewrite Traiphum-1783 Tipitaka in 1788.

9

• Rethinking interpretation of the canon text.
• reminds monks of the rules
• reverse the order of man and the world in
  Traiphum
• Old Traiphum--less virtue up to the highest
• New Traiphum--man first, then lower
  orders--higher orders. Man in the middle of the
  order.
• world of men and kings. Themeking is the
  leader
• The Three Seals Laws. 1805
• relate all law to a single absolute standard of
  justice

10

• 3 The New World
• Recognized the world and its calamities
• Translation of foreign literature and texts
• Ramayana.(1796-7). Rachathirat
• Dalang and Inao from Java from Persia
• Unarut, from Mahabharata
• Mahavamsa and Jinakalamali from Pali
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms-Chinese
• Mainly from Mon, Chinese and Persian literatures
• Universalization of values.

11
The Rewriting of History

• . Explaining the cause of the fall of Ayudhya.
  Baan Plu Luang(1688-1767).gt The royal chronicle
  of Ayudhya
• New hybrid of Bangkok style of art and
  architecture. Early Bangkok pro Chinese, by the
  middle period pro Western style.
• change in focus that brought rational man
  clearly to the center of the stage of history.

12
The New Empire

• Large number of power centers existed
• First circle of semi-independent rulersKedah,
  Trengganu, Kelantan, Cambodia, and Luang Prabang.
• A second tier of principalities, provided
  manpower, tribute, married in and interfered
  Chiangmai, Vientiane, Champassak, and Patani.

13

• The next layer consisted of large regional
  centers around Siams periphery, ruled by
  chaophraya, as quasi-independent provinces.
  Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Battambong-Siem
  Reap, and Nakhon Ratchasima.
• A fourth tier was in Khorat Plateau.