As previously commented on the former posts here on the blog, the focus upon eastern monarchies continue and with it, the difficulties in finding a character to examine upon. Motivated by the knowledge that, thankfully, internet has provided us, we have come across with this intriguing character named Narai, king of Ayutthaya, a region that is located in what we know today as Thailand. He too earned the nickname of being 'the Great' of his kingdom, but it appears that, even though it is debatable the means which led him to become sovereign of Ayutthaya, his deeds are quietly turned into footnotes in History, or rather mentioned as diplomatic relations as it was the case when Narai corresponded with Louis XIV of France himself. In order to attempt to change that or at least be responsible for instigating a broad discussion about this king, we are here to bring to the public eye further information based on the consulted bibliography listed in the end of this post.
So who was this 'Narai the Great' of Thailand? What were his deeds? Why most of them were so remarkable? How can we perceive the conception of kingship amongst his accomplishments? With the intention in responding these answers, mostly motivated by them, we begin this post with.
What we know of Narai is that he was likely born on 16 February 1633. His parents were King Prasatthong, allegedly the first king of the Prasatthong Dynasty who appears to have usurped the throne from a previous dynasty, and Queen Phra Rajya Devi. Narai also had a brother, Prince Chai, a sister named Si Suphan, and an uncle known as Prince Si Suthammaracha. It appears that Narai received this name upon his birth because:
"The Royal Chronicle of Ayuttaya Royal Recension Version recorded that 'in that year [1633] the princess consort gave birth to a son. When the royal family glanced at the infant, they saw the baby had four arms before having two arms as normal. Upon learning this, the king thought it was a miracle. He therefore named his son Narai'. The name Narai is from Sanskrit Narayana, a name of Hindu god Vishnu who has four arms."
Whether this story is true or not, what is important to tell next is the education he received, whose results would be seen in his reign. As "The Great Kings Of Siam", author unknown, tells us:
"King Prasatthong graciously had the topknot cutting off (Sokan) ceremony organized for his son and made him ordained as a novice at Wat Phra Sri Sanphet for him to study the technical knowledges and liberal arts in different fields until he was 16 years old. He then left the priesthood and served under the crown of his father as he was appointed to be “Phra Narai” in the position of the King's son or principality and made him stay at Wang Nok. Surrounded by the royal pages and highly knowledgeable and able court officials, he became an expert in Phra Tripitaka, liberal arts and literature, including the war strategy, elephant and horse activities and political science and more."
It appears, as told by Wikipedia, that Narai's ascension was a result of the dispute over the crown of Ayutthaya, nearly causing a Civil War, as it is stated below:
"Prince Sutharmmaracha plotted with his nephew, Prince Narai, to bring Sanpet VI [Narai's elder brother] down. After nine months of ascension, Sanpet VI was executed following a coup. Narai and his uncle marched into the palace and Si Suthammaracha crowned himself king [and] [...] appointed Narai as the Uparaja, or the Front Palace. However, Narai was also an ambitious prince and had requested Dutch support against his uncle. [...] On the Day of Ashura, the Persians, Japanese and Dutch stormed the palace. The prince engaged in single combat with his uncle, until the king fled to the Rear Palace. Si Suthammaracha was captured and was executed at Wat Khok Phraya on 26 October 1656."
On the other hand, "The Great Kings Of Siam" simply mentions that when:
"King Prasatthong was dead in 1656 and all the King's counsellors and high ranking officials invited Phra Narai to succeed the throne as the fourth king of the Prasatthong Dynasty when he was 25 years old"
In spite of how Narai's reign actually began, it is important to point an observation of his reign as a whole. It had a profund link between astrology and history, as we will see in the next paragraphs; for how precise were the astrologues' calculations to determine certain inner events of the realm such as, for example, the king's coronation. Narai's reign was also notable for the diplomatic relations he held with Western's country to the benefit of Thailand, to the point that it made Ayutthaya a cosmopolitan city in modern concept. What is quite absorbing, however, is that he too was modern from the moment he decided to break with old traditions, something he would do until the end of his life.
"When Narai was crowned in 1656 he inherited a large and powerful kingdom in the centre of mainland South-East Asia. His realm reached south to the kingdoms of Pattani, Ligor, Phattalung and Songkhla; in the east Cambodia had ackowledged Ayutthaya's suzerainty, and in the west the port of Tenasserim on the Bay of Bengal was under Thai control. Narai's Ayutthaya was a cosmopolitan city frequented by foreigners from as far afield as northern Europe, the Islamic sultanates of west Asia, the Indonesian archipelago, India and north Asia. Some were directly employed by Narai or lived in the kingdom as missionaries and merchants. Other visitors; traders and diplomats, formed a more transient foreign population that occasionally came into contact with the royal court (leosiwong 1980: 29-36).
Aged in his mid-twenties when he became king, Narai immediately challenged tradition by refusing to move into the king's palace after his coronation. He also took the unorthodox step of spending a large part of each year in Lopburi, fifty kilometres to Ayutthaya's north, removing himself from the royal capital that was the symbolic centre of his power." (HODGES 1999: 4)
In addition,
"Administration and the laws for better development and more up to date. No royalties were sent to rule the chiet cities but instead, they were ordered to rule the departments in the capital city. It had become the tradition inherited from then until the Rattanakosin Period. For the military and war aspects, King Narai graciously established the new department in the Capital City which was considered as his wise policy, allowing him to have more of his own troops for protecting the city without waiting for the troops from the Chief cities He also adopted the military knowledge obtained from the European countries that came in to contact with Ayutthaya to apply for use in the fighting forces, making the Thai forces become more progressive in armaments and combatants which consisted of foreign soldiers such as Portuguese and Japanese." ("The Great Kings Of Siam")
By adopting a modern concept of kingship for his days, and here it must not be mistaken with the idea of adopting Western ideals which is not in discussion nor to be applied, Narai was responsible for developing arts, music and poetry within his realm, a result that is not only consequence of his studies but that of his personal tastes. As we will see in the next paragraphs, Narai was a literate man who was passionated about literature, poems, and mostly astronomy:
"In the reign of King Narai, it was considered as the "golden era of the Thai literatures”. It was because he was a King who had remarkable ability and wisdom in the field of art and literature and his royal court consisted of many important scholars and poets who had their fames and many master pieces of their works inherited since then until present. He graciously ordered the history of the City of Ayutthaya to be collected in 1680 which later was known as “the Royal Historical Record of the Old City of Luang Prasert Aksorn Niti”. It is the only historical record that was collected in the Ayutthaya period and has been inherited until now."
In other words,
"His life-long interest in learning, for example, provided the intellectual atmosphere [...]. Narai received an education typical of that provided to the children of Ayutthaya's elite in the seventeenth century. European visitors reported that it was common practice for Siamese boys to obtain their education in Buddhist temples, the centre of all learning. Students were taught art, law and philosophy by Buddhist monks while other subjects including astrology, mathematics and medicine were taught by lay experts (Wyatt 1969: 9, Yupho 1979: 11 ). The more gifted beneficiaries of this specialist education were then recruited by the royal court. One such person was Narai's teacher [...], the Phra Horathibodi, who came to Ayutthaya from Phichit to complete his studies before rising to the position of Chief Royal Astrologer (Schouten 1636: 15, Wyatt 1969: I 0, 17). His intelligence enabled Narai to profit from his privileged education. He made his palace a haven for poets and writers who gathered to compose works and participate in literary competitions, and he provided prominent members of Ayutthaya's literati, including the Phra Horathibodi, with food and lodgings. He became an accomplished poet himself and is recognised as one of the three authors of the Samut Khat Khamchan. Narai's reign was a time of significant literary achievement and the authors of some of the better known works of this period were his teachers."(Hodges 1999: 5)
Those intern reformations would also turn Ayutthaya a capital that attracted different foreigners, an accomplishment that came correspondingly with his curiosity in adopting technologies in vogue during those days, thus adapting them to his realm. As seen here:
"In his reign there were several European people serving under his crown such as the Portuguese, Hollanders, English and French, giving Thailand opportunity to obtain the military and engineering assistance from those countries. [...]
King Narai was very interested in the western countries’ modern technical knowledges. He ordered to have the gun turrets built and the intercity canals excavated. He also paid attention to the marine science and equipment such as compass's, clock's and map's showing the geographic conditions, continents, the sea levels, etc., including the learning of modern medicine. He graciously ordered to have an observatory built at the Chankasem Palace in Ayutthaya and in Lop Buri City as he saw that astronomy was very important for the marine navigation. In addition, the French priest presented him with the calendar invented for use in the City of Ayutthaya in place of the old one that caused the difficulties in making the agreement with the westerners. Other technical knowledges he was interested in were the ore smelting, work's of art, architecture and construction in western style as well as water supplies and many more."
As Ayutthaya, a profit example to be used for illustration of the scenario we've been presenting this far, was well developed according to the king's expectations where technologies and society (not only their morals, but also regarding their culture, which can seen subtly through Narai's deeds to improve it), welcoming the presence of many foreigners as Dutch, Portuguese, Frenchmen and others from Western and Eastern's countries, relationship with the Dutch began to deteriorate as Narai and Louis XIV of France started to correspond. In other words: in those days, in the 17th century, the Dutch and the French were not in the best terms, not to say they had been even at war. To have a better comprehension of it, here's what can be said of this political background:
"As for foreign relations, King Narai became the most renowned Thai monarch since he adopted a friendly policy towards foreigners, especially the Europeans. Ayutthaya was a metropolis where peoples from many lands congregated, including the Dutch, the British, the French, the Portuguese and the Arab. The French, who first arrived in 1662, sent missionaries and merchants to the capital. During the 1680's, splendid embassies were exchanged between King Narai and King Louis XIV. Later on, the conflict broke out when the French tried to convert King Narai to Christiniaty and also attempted to gain a foothold in the Thai kingdom by sending troops to garrison Bangkok and Mergui in 1687. However, an anti-French official seized power in 1688, drove out the French garrisons, and executed King Narai's Greek favorite Constantine Faulcon, who had been championing the French cause. After 1688, Ayutthaya had less contact with western nations."
In addition, Ian Hodges remarks that:
"Within a few years of Narai's becoming king, however, relations had soured to the point where he feared a Dutch attack on Siam. To counter the threat, he sought to establish stronger relations with other European powers. His approaches to the English having met with little success, Narai turned to the French who, hoping to both convert the Thai to Catholicism and establish Ayutthaya as a regional trading base, seized the opportunity to establish a presence in Siam. (Love 1999: 19)." (Hodges 1999: 4)
That his kingship was proeminent for the boost of astronomy and astrology, intern reforms regarding the improve of his society, the break of ancient traditions, always looking up to welcome better relations in international diplomacy, we perceive in his doings. Where astronomy and astrology were concerned, we understand that such were their impacts in implicating the foundation of cities, in propitiating times to wage war, in looking upon building the history of the realm, aside of civil functions as funerals, etc. As author Ian Hodges explains:
"Every important ceremonial or civil function, including the casting of calendars, the founding of cities, coronations, funerals and the launching of military expeditions had to begin at the most auspicious moment as determined by the astrologers. For Siam's royal court, astrology, in essence a scientifically based system of calculating the rotations of the sun, the moon and the planets, provided a means to interpret the universe (Winnichakull994: 58). (Hodges, 1999: 6)"
Those scientific methods, however our modern thoughts about them might be (specially in regard to astrology), would not be possible to be stimulated, for instance, had it the king not been an avid reader and eager to acquire knowledge. For he genuinely believed that by promoting the use of astronomy and astrology would also make it possible to comprehend the world he was part of, and to even improve the social relations he was inserted.
On that aspect, Hodges corroborates with our argument when he says that:
Therefore, to emphasize all that has been said:
"La Loubere also made note ofNarai's love of reading, describing him as "curious to the highest degree." (de La Loubere 1969: 99) Here we see a king with a love of literature and art who encouraged those gifted in these areas and it is easy to imagine why one of this group was assigned the task of writing the Kingdom's history." (Hodges, 1999: 5)And he also states a curious event as we read the following quote below:
"Nicolas Gervaise wrote that after 4.00 pm each day the King's personal reader was called to duty. This uneviable task was described thus: 'There is no employment in the royal palace more exhausting than that of the reader. He must often spend three or four hours reading prostrate on the ground and leaning on his elbows, hardly daring to breathe and unable to adopt a more comfortable position.' (Gervaise 1989, 209)". (Hodges, 1999: 5)A learning man and a pacific king, perhaps that is how we can describe Narai in general. His brightness as a stadist is very clear once he:
"Like his predecessors, Narai realised the value of cultivating ties with foreigners for the trade they could bring to the kingdom. He increased the Crown's participation in the maritime trade with China and Japan as well as the Indian Ocean region, and continued Thai involvement with the Indonesian archipelago. Not content to simply maintain previously established commercial relations with the Dutch and Portuguese, Narai sought also to establish trading links with other European powers (Na Pombejra 1984: 41)." (Hodges, 1999: 4)It is impressive how he managed to conduct peaceful relations for a good while, living 56 years, rulling 32 as king of Thailand. Even more impressive is to observe his inheritance in his efforts by giving to his subjects better condictions, stimulating education for all, respecting religiosity in spite of the jesuists pressure for Narai's conversion and by extent of his realm. He managed to hold Thailand intact against possible Europeans' invasions. And also innovated intern technology which made Ayutthaya, as already mentioned here, as a cosmopolitan city.
Therefore, to emphasize all that has been said:
"Whatever its implications for Siam's foreign policy and internal political situation, Narai's contact with foreigners also contributed to his education. His reign coincided with European advances in the sciences associated with navigation, astronomy and astrology. He lived in an age when humans were first beginning to grasp the nature and extent of the cosmos and his exulted position afforded him access to both news of scientific discoveries in Europe and to some of the most modern scientific and astronomical instruments then available." (Hodges, 1999: 4)Finally,
"King Narai had been on the throne for 32 years before he passed away on the eleventh day of July 1688 as his lite had lasted for a total of 56 years. His period was regarded as a significant time in history for the diplomatic field, the development of the friendly relations with other countries as well as his royal activities in relation with the polities, administration, arts and literature, religion, education and modern technical knowledge." ("The Great Kings Of Siam")
Bibliography:
HODGES, Ian. "TIME IN TRANSITION:
KING NARAI AND THE LUANG PRASOET CHRONICLE OF
AYUTTHAYA" Journal of the Siam Society 87.1 & 2. 1999
-http://www.thailaws.com/download/thailand/thegreatkingsofsiam.pdf
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narai
-https://www.thaimain.com/eng/monarchy/ayutthaya/narai.html
-https://sejarah-nusantara.anri.go.id/hartakarun/item/23/
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