THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART- 53

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RE-UNIFICATION OF THAILAND We have already read in our earlier blog as to how the city of AYUTTHAYA was ransacked and its last king was compelled to fled away who was later on starved to death . Despite that SIAM made a rapid recovery . And this was done by a noble of CHINESE descent called TAKSIN . His base previously was at CHANTHABURI in the southeast of SIAM . But within a year he defeated the BURMESE occupation army . And by now the process of re-unification of THAILAND started with its capital at THONBURY located at the west Bank of CHAO PHRAYA . TAKSIN , the great was declared as the crown king of SIAM in 1767 AD . Here we must know that the name THAILAND was brought into currency by the PORTUGUESE for SIAM . With firmly establishing his power at THONBURY , TAKSIN started reunification of the old Kingdom crushing regional rivalry . He concentrated , now , on the defeat of the weakest one first . As a result , Prince TEPPIPIT of PHIMAI was quelled and executed in 1768 AD and CHAO NARASURIYAWONGSE was made Governor of PHIMAI . Prince SAWANGBURI of PHITSANULOK was the last against whom king TAKSIN himself led an expedition , but the prince disappeared and couldn’t be found again at all . Dealing with the imprisoned prince NAKHON SI THAMMARAT he pardon him first and then favored him with a residence at the capital, THONBURY . This period of history is called the THONBURY period of history of THAILAND . The greatest feature of the period was that it saw the beginning of the mass immigration of the CHINESE population in SIAM . Due to the mass availability of the CHINESE workers , trade , agriculture and craft-making flourished in SIAM . The period also saw the first CHINESE Rebellion . But it was suppressed . But due to many such factors including mental stress , King TAKSIN became mad . Later in a Coup d’etre by his General CHAKRI ( LATER KNOWN AS RAMA-1 ) , TAKSIN was sentenced to death on 10th April 1782 AD .

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RATTANAKOSIN PERIOD OF THAILAND

The period between 1767 AD to 1851 AD is known as RATTANAKOSIN PERIOD in the history of THAILAND which developed around RATTANAKOSIN Island . A noble of MON descent , RAMA-I , the first king of CHAKRI Dynasty , succeeded TAKSIN in 1782 AD . At the same time he founded a city called BANGKOK across the river called CHAO PHRAYA River . BURMA was defeated in the 1790s and finally driven out of SIAM . LAN NA also became free of the BURMESE occupation but was reduced to the Kingdom of CHIANG MAI . The new Dynasty moved the capital of THONBURY to RATTANAKOSIN now called BANGKOK . New palaces and temples were built there . The EMERALD BUDDHA and WAT PHRA KAEO were founded . The aim was to establish the old glory of AYUTTHAYA in the newly founded capital city . He ( RAMA-I ) was crowned there in a splendid ceremony in 1785 AD . But the biggest threat was still from BURMA as the new king of BURMA , BODAWPAYA ordered the nine BURMESE armies to attack SIAM surprisingly . The BURMESE armies invaded the THREE PAGODA PASS . It was a pass in the TENASSERIM HILLS on the boarder between THAILAND and BURMA at the elevation of about 282 meters . But again SIAM remained victorious in the what is called NINE ARMIES WARS . Moreover , under RAMA-I , CAMBODIA was an administered province of SIAM . And he had practically no significant relationship with the the then EUROPEAN colonial powers .

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If we look at the achievements during the period of RAM-I , the most important of them was the codification of all the country’s laws . They were compiled into 1700 pages in 1805 AD and called the THRE SEALS LAWS . The most of texts were the laws from the AYUTTHAYA era which were survived despite the destruction of AYUTTHAYA in 1767 AD . It remained the working law with some modification till early 20th century . Moreover , the BUDDHIST CANONS ( PALI CANONS ) were also collected and reformulated within the framework of a grand council . Apart from that new palaces and temples were constructed in the new capital city . The development in the fields of art and culture were at peak during the period . Literature and theater also thrived . The 3000 pages RAMAKIEN ( literary meaning , the glory of RAMA ) was compiled mostly from the BUDDHIST DASARATHA JATAK and was considered as one of THAILAND’S NATIONAL EPICS . Moreover , important literary works from the CHINESE , INDIAN , JAPANESE and MON languages were translated into THAI language . Thus , RAMA-I was the first king of the CHAKRI Dynasty who continued the tradition and culture developed by the AYUTTHAYA regime in many respects . However , the regime was more centralized than its predecessors . But more emphasis was given on rationality in the relationship between the king and the subjects as such .

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NOTE : THE SOURCES OF THE BLOG ARE TEXT BOOKS AND OTHER WRITTEN MATERIALS ON THE SUBJECT .

TO BE CONTINUED ……………………

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