The Eulogy of King Prasat Thong
Abstract
The Eulogy of King Prasat Thong is a remarkable, but lesser known, example of the Thai tradition of royal panegyrics. Only one samut thai accordion book survives, probably a fragment of a longer original. This text records that the poem was written during the king’s reign by Phra Maharatchakhru Mahethon, a leading court Brahmin, and that this copy was made in 1737/8. The poem was discovered and published for the first time only in 1988. It states that King Prasat Thong was a bodhisatta, reincarnated from the Palelai elephant, and destined to become the tenth in a line of future Buddhas following Gotama. This claim appears in no other source. Prasat Thong may have been inspired by the religious experience of Phya Lithai (Mahathammaratcha) as recorded in the Sukhothai inscriptions. The main events in the eulogy are: the building and renaming of the Jakkawat Phaichaiyon audience hall; erasing the era at CS 1000; a large almsgiving; and a military parade and festival. The claim about Prasat Thong’s spiritual status, his projects of religious construction, his ritual practice, and the composition of this eulogy were all building blocks of a new royal absolutism.
References
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Buntuean Siworaphot. Khamchan sansoen phrakiat somdet phraphutthajaoluang prasat thong [Eulogy of King Prasat Thong]. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 2000.
Cowell, E.B., ed. The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. 6 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907.
Cushman, Richard D., trans. The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: Siam Society, 2000.
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Nidhi Eoseewong. Kanmueang thai samai phrajao krung thonburi [Thai politics in the time of the King of Thonburi]. 2nd ed., Bangkok: Sinlapa Watthanatham, 1993 [1986].
Pallegoix, Jean-Baptiste. Dictionarium linguae thai sive siamensis interpretatione latina, gallica et anglica illustratum. Paris, 1854.
Pharn Wong-Uan. “Khamphi anakhotwong uthet thi 1-10: Kan truat chamra lae sueksa choeng wikhro” [Anāgatavaṃsa chapters I-X: An edition and a critical study]. MA dissertation, Chulalongkorn University, 1979. http://cuir.car.chula.ac.th/handle/123456789/21107
Phimphan Phaibunwangjaroen. “Kan lop sakarat nai samai somdet phrajao prasat thong” [Erasing the era in the time of King Prasat Thong]. Presentation at seminar on 100 years of Dr. Prasert na Nagara, National Library of Thailand, 23 March 2018. https://th-th.facebook.com/FineArtsDept/videos/1732773686812809/
Phimphan Phaibunwangjaroen. “Kan lop sakarat nai samai somdet phrajao prasat thong” [Erasing the era in the reign of King Prasat Thong]. Presentation, National Museum, Bangkok, 8 September 2018. www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1732773686812809&ref=watch_permalink
Phraratchaphongsawadan nuea [Northern chronicles]. Printed for the cremation of Chaophraya Siphiphatrattanarat Kosathibodi (MRW Mun Darakon), Wat Thepsirin, 10 August 2501. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 2501/1958.
Phraratchaphongsawadan krung si ayutthaya chabap phan janthanumat [Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya, Phan Janthanumat edition]. Bangkok: Sipanya, 2000.
Pitchaya Soomjinda. Somdet phrajao prasat thong: ratthaprahan, khwam choptham, phithikam, sinlapa [King Prasat Thong: coup, legitimacy, ceremonies, art]. Bangkok: Piriya Krairiksh Foundation, January 2020.
Praphat Surasen, trans. Phrakhamphi anakhotwong [Anāgatavaṃsa]. Printed by the monks and novices of Wat Trithotsathep on the occasion of the cremation of Phrathepratchathammaphon (Suraphong Nganwaro), Wat Thepsirin, 26 March 2540/1997. Bangkok: Surawat Printing, 1997.
Prasert na Nagara. “Phrajao prasat thong song lop sakarat” [King Prasat Thong erases the era]. Silpakorn, 35, 6 (August 1993): 100–1. Reprinted in Prasert na Nagara, Prawatisat betset, Bangkok: Matichon, 2006, 154–155.
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Saddhatissa, H., trans. and ed. The Birth-Stories of the Ten Bodhisattas and the Dasabodhisattuppattikathā. London and Boston: Pali Text Society, 1975.
Saranukrom watthanatham thai [Thai cultural encyclopaedia]. Bangkok: Siam Commercial Bank, 1994.
Smithies, Michael and Dhiravat na Pombejra. “Instructions Given to the Siamese Envoys Sent to Portugal, 1684.” JSS, 90 (2002): 125–135.
Stuart-Fox, Martin. The Lao Kingdom of Lān Xāng: Rise and Decline, Bangkok: White Lotus, 1998.
Tamra chang chabap ratchakan thi 1 [Manual of elephants, first reign edition]. 2002. Committee for Memorial Books and Records for Celebration of the King’s Age Equaling that of King Rama I in 2000. Bangkok: Ruansin.
Trongjai Hutangkura, ed. Pramuan jaruek samai phraya lithai [Review of the inscriptions of King Lithai]. Bangkok: Sirindhorn Anthropological Centre, 2015.
Udaya Meddegama, trans., and John Clifford Holt, ed. Anāgatavaṃsa Desanā: The Sermon of the Chronicle-To-Be. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993.
Wannakam samai ayutthaya [Literature of the Ayutthaya era], 3 vols. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 1998.
Wisandarunakon, Luang (An Sarikabut). Khamphi horasat thai matrathan chabap sombun [Treatise on standard Thai astrology: complete edition]. Bangkok: Silapasan, 1965.
Woodward, Hiram, “The Buddha Images of Ayutthaya.” In McGill and Pattaratorn, The Kingdom of Siam, 47–60.
Appleton, Naomi and Sarah Shaw. The Ten Great Birth Stories of the Buddha: The Mahānipāta of the Jātakatthavaṇṇahā. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2016.
Arthid Sheravanichkul. “Self-Sacrifice of the Bodhisatta in the Paññāsa Jātaka.” Religion Compass 2, 5 (2008): 769–87.
Baker, Chris and Pasuk Phongpaichit, trans. and ed. From the Fifty Jātaka: Selections from the Thai Paññāsa Jātaka. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2019.
Baker, Chris and Pasuk Phongpaichit, trans. and ed. Yuan Phai, Defeat of Lanna: A Fifteenth-century Thai Epic Poem. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2016.
Baker, Chris and Pasuk Phongpaichit. A History of Ayutthaya: Siam in the Early Modern World. Cambridge: Cambridge Univrsity Press, 2017.
Baker, Chris and Pasuk Phongpaichit. The Ayutthaya Palace Law and the Thammasat: Law and Kingship in Siam. Ithaca, NY: Cornell SEAP, 2016.
Baker, Chris, Dhiravat na Pombejra, Alfons van der Kraan, and David K. Wyatt, eds. Van Vliet’s Siam. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2005.
Bhawan Ruangsilp. Dutch East India Company Merchants at the Court of Ayutthaya: Dutch Perceptions of the Thai Kingdom, c. 1604–1765. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Boonsomying Pholamuangdee. “Somdet phrajao prasat thong: prawatisat kap mumming thang khadichonwithaya” [King Prasat Thong: History with folkloristic overview]. Ph.D. thesis, Naresuan University, 2009
Boonsomying Pholamuangdee. “Itthiphon khong silajaruek wat pa mamuang khong phra maha-thammaratcha thi 1 to naew phraratchadamri rueang phraphotisat khong somdetphrajao prasat thong” [The Influence of King Maha Dhammaraja I’s Stone Inscriptions at Wat Pa Mamuang on the Bodhisattva Ideal of King Prasat Thong]. Warasan manusyasat mahawitthayalai naresuan [Anthropology Journal of Naresuan University], 6, 2 (2009): 25–39.
Buntuean Siworaphot. Khamchan sansoen phrakiat somdet phraphutthajaoluang prasat thong [Eulogy of King Prasat Thong]. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 2000.
Cowell, E.B., ed. The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. 6 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907.
Cushman, Richard D., trans. The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: Siam Society, 2000.
Damrong Rajanubhab, Prince. Our Wars with the Burmese. Bangkok: White Lotus, 2001.
Dhiravat na Pombejra. “A Political History of Siam Under the Prasatthong Dynasty: 1629–1688.” PhD thesis, SOAS, University of London, 1984.
Dhiravat na Pombejra. “The Eulogy of King Narai,” JSS, 107, 2 (2019): 1–16.
Diller, Anthony and Preecha Juntanamalaga. 1995. “Thai Time.” Revised version of keynote speech, International Conference on Tai Languages and Cultures, Thammasat University, 7-8 December 1995; at https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/41890/3/thai_time.html
Eade, J.C. The Calendrical Systems of Mainland South-east Asia. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995.
Fine Arts Department. Tamra phichai songkhram chabap ratchakan thi 1 [Manual of victorious warfare, first reign editions]. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 2002.
Griswold, A.B. and Prasert na Nagara. “The Epigraphy of Mahādharmarāja of Sukhodaya and his Contemporaries: Epigraphic and Historical Studies, no. 11, Part 1.” JSS, 61, 1 (1973): 71–179.
Griswold, A.B. and Prasert na Nagara. “The Epigraphy of Mahādharmarāja of Sukhodaya and his Contemporaries: Epigraphic and Historical Studies, no. 11, Part 2.” JSS, 61, 2 (1973): 91–128.
Horawet. “Rueang jakkara phayuha” [On jakra phayuha]. http://www.horawej.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=396899&Ntype=3
Jayawickrama, N.A. The Story of Gotama Buddha: The Nidāna-kathā of the Jātakaṭṭhakathā. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 2002.
Kotmai tra sam duang [Three Seals Code], 5 vols. Bangkok: Khurusapha, 1994.
Maneepin Phromsuthirak. “Chak nak duek damban lae phraratcha phithi intharaphisek” [Churning of the sea of milk and the Intharaphisek royal ceremony]. In Srichamaiyajan, ed. Winai Pongsripian et al. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 1997.
Martini, François. “Dasa-bodhisatta-uddesa. Texte pâli, publié avec une traduction et un index grammatical.” Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient, 36 (1936): 287-413
McGill, Forrest. “The Art and Architecture of the Reign of King Prasatthong of Ayutthaya (1629–1656).” PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, 1977.
McGill, Forrest and ML Pattaratorn Chirapravati, eds., The Kingdom of Siam: The Art of Central Thailand, 1350-1800. Ghent: Snoeck and Chicago: Art Media Resources, 2005.
Muang Boran. Wat Pradu Song Tham. Bangkok: Muang Boran, 1985.
Nawaphan Phatramun. “Jaruek phaen thongdaeng wat chai watthanaram” [Copper sheet inscription of Wat Chai Watthanaram]. Silpakorn 35 (1992): 6–103.
Nidhi Eoseewong. Kanmueang thai samai phrajao krung thonburi [Thai politics in the time of the King of Thonburi]. 2nd ed., Bangkok: Sinlapa Watthanatham, 1993 [1986].
Pallegoix, Jean-Baptiste. Dictionarium linguae thai sive siamensis interpretatione latina, gallica et anglica illustratum. Paris, 1854.
Pharn Wong-Uan. “Khamphi anakhotwong uthet thi 1-10: Kan truat chamra lae sueksa choeng wikhro” [Anāgatavaṃsa chapters I-X: An edition and a critical study]. MA dissertation, Chulalongkorn University, 1979. http://cuir.car.chula.ac.th/handle/123456789/21107
Phimphan Phaibunwangjaroen. “Kan lop sakarat nai samai somdet phrajao prasat thong” [Erasing the era in the time of King Prasat Thong]. Presentation at seminar on 100 years of Dr. Prasert na Nagara, National Library of Thailand, 23 March 2018. https://th-th.facebook.com/FineArtsDept/videos/1732773686812809/
Phimphan Phaibunwangjaroen. “Kan lop sakarat nai samai somdet phrajao prasat thong” [Erasing the era in the reign of King Prasat Thong]. Presentation, National Museum, Bangkok, 8 September 2018. www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1732773686812809&ref=watch_permalink
Phraratchaphongsawadan nuea [Northern chronicles]. Printed for the cremation of Chaophraya Siphiphatrattanarat Kosathibodi (MRW Mun Darakon), Wat Thepsirin, 10 August 2501. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 2501/1958.
Phraratchaphongsawadan krung si ayutthaya chabap phan janthanumat [Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya, Phan Janthanumat edition]. Bangkok: Sipanya, 2000.
Pitchaya Soomjinda. Somdet phrajao prasat thong: ratthaprahan, khwam choptham, phithikam, sinlapa [King Prasat Thong: coup, legitimacy, ceremonies, art]. Bangkok: Piriya Krairiksh Foundation, January 2020.
Praphat Surasen, trans. Phrakhamphi anakhotwong [Anāgatavaṃsa]. Printed by the monks and novices of Wat Trithotsathep on the occasion of the cremation of Phrathepratchathammaphon (Suraphong Nganwaro), Wat Thepsirin, 26 March 2540/1997. Bangkok: Surawat Printing, 1997.
Prasert na Nagara. “Phrajao prasat thong song lop sakarat” [King Prasat Thong erases the era]. Silpakorn, 35, 6 (August 1993): 100–1. Reprinted in Prasert na Nagara, Prawatisat betset, Bangkok: Matichon, 2006, 154–155.
Revire, Nicolas. “Buddhas of the Past and of the Future: Southeast Asia.” Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. II, ed. Jonathan A. Silk et al., Brill: Leiden, 2019, 109–120.
Reynolds, Frank E. and Mani B. Reynolds. Three Worlds According to King Ruang: A Thai Buddhist Cosmology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982.
Saddhatissa, H., trans. and ed. The Birth-Stories of the Ten Bodhisattas and the Dasabodhisattuppattikathā. London and Boston: Pali Text Society, 1975.
Saranukrom watthanatham thai [Thai cultural encyclopaedia]. Bangkok: Siam Commercial Bank, 1994.
Smithies, Michael and Dhiravat na Pombejra. “Instructions Given to the Siamese Envoys Sent to Portugal, 1684.” JSS, 90 (2002): 125–135.
Stuart-Fox, Martin. The Lao Kingdom of Lān Xāng: Rise and Decline, Bangkok: White Lotus, 1998.
Tamra chang chabap ratchakan thi 1 [Manual of elephants, first reign edition]. 2002. Committee for Memorial Books and Records for Celebration of the King’s Age Equaling that of King Rama I in 2000. Bangkok: Ruansin.
Trongjai Hutangkura, ed. Pramuan jaruek samai phraya lithai [Review of the inscriptions of King Lithai]. Bangkok: Sirindhorn Anthropological Centre, 2015.
Udaya Meddegama, trans., and John Clifford Holt, ed. Anāgatavaṃsa Desanā: The Sermon of the Chronicle-To-Be. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993.
Wannakam samai ayutthaya [Literature of the Ayutthaya era], 3 vols. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 1998.
Wisandarunakon, Luang (An Sarikabut). Khamphi horasat thai matrathan chabap sombun [Treatise on standard Thai astrology: complete edition]. Bangkok: Silapasan, 1965.
Woodward, Hiram, “The Buddha Images of Ayutthaya.” In McGill and Pattaratorn, The Kingdom of Siam, 47–60.
