THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART-61

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KING VAJIRAVUDH (RAMA-VI) AS A WRITER

King VAJIRAVUDH ( RAMA-VI ) was one of the most highly renowned writers . He was equally a nice artist . He wrote many modern novels , short stories , poems , plays and journals . He translated many ENGLISH and FRENCH Literatures into THAI . He translated SHAKESPEARE’S plays like : THE MERCHANT OF VENICE ; 2. AS YOU LIKE IT ; and 3. ROMEO AND JULIET into THAI . He wrote many pieces promoting THAI nationalism and one of then is ‘ THE HONOUR OF TIGER SOLDIER ‘ based on an ancient FRENCH chivalric rhyme ‘Mon ame a Dieu , Ma vie au Roi …….’. Some scholars are of the opinion that it might be influenced by ALEXANDRE DUMAS’S ‘ THE THREE MUSKETEERS ‘. While still a crown Prince , he wrote non-fiction like ‘ THE WAR OF POLISH SECESSION ‘. So far as his interests in detective stories and mysteries ate concerned , it compelled him to translate AGATHA CHRISTIE’S novel HERCULE POIROT into THAI . He also created an imaginary character ‘ NAI THONG-IN ‘ as a SIAMESE consultative detective perhaps being influenced by SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE’S SHERLOCK HOLMES and EDGAR ALLAN POE’S DUPIN as a archetypes . Moreover , King RAMA-VI had also translated GOLDEN SCORPION written by SAX ROHMER . All these literary works by him shows that how committed he was to the causes of creative writings .

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King RAMA-VI was well versed in the INDIAN Classical Literatures . He had already read two SANSKRIT EPICS like the RAMAYANA and the MAHABHARATA . He had translated many stories from these two EPICS into THAI . He also wrote many plays inspired by the HINDU Literatures . He was personally inspired by the character of RAMA , the hero of the RAMAYANA and the incarnation of LORD VISHNU . So , he promoted the use of the name RAMA as the reign names of all THAI kings of the RATTANAKOSIN ( BANGKOK ) era . As a playwright , RAMA-VI’S frictional play in THAI on TAO SEN-POM , the father of King RAMA-I and his great , great , great grandfather designed for performance with musical accomplishment became quite famous not only in THAILAND but even outside of it . It was well written and full of fun . The drama was centered around a tale of SIAMESE courtly romance . He presented a copy of this play to ARMSTRONG family in CRAGSIDE HOUSE , ROTHBURY . WILLIAM ARMSTRONG was an industrial magnet , scientist , philanthropist and inventor of hydraulic cranes and ARMSTRONG gun and used to live in GRAGSIDE HOUSE located near the town of ROTHBURY in NORTHUMBERLAND , ENGLAND . RAMA-VI also directed the performance of a play in the ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT while he was in ENGLAND . In 1914 , King RAMA-VI wrote an article titled as ‘ JEWS OF THE ORIENT ‘ in a THAI newspaper . It was written in the context of recent CHINESE merchants and workers which had paralyzed BANGKOK . He considered the CHINESE immigrants in SIAM AD JEWS having access to racial loyalty only and astutely inclined towards matters of finance as such . So, as per WALTER P. ZENNER , RAMA-VI wrote about CHINESE , ‘ Money is their God . Life itself is of little value compared with the leanest bank account . ‘

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WAS KING RAMA-VI A HOMOSEXUAL ?

BENEDICT ANDERSON , an ANGLO-IRISH political scientist and historian who taught in the CORNELL UNIVERSITY , the UNITED STATES , in his famous book IMAGINED COMMUNITIES , published from NEW YORK & LONDON , VERSO BOOKS , (1991) , P-21 , has speculated that the King RAMA-VI was a homosexual and that this would prevent him from accession if the law of succession was not reformed . He was the first modern writer who emphasized on King RAMA-VI’S personal preferences as such . I personally think it is all based on only assumptions and on his marriage patterns . It was because of perhaps the fact that King RAMA-VI had remained without queen for about ten years . In 1920 , as a theaterist when he met Princess VARNVIMOL at his theater at PHAYATHAI PALACE , they were engaged and the Princess VARNVIMOL was elevated to HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS VALLABHADEVI . But this engagement remained for only four months and King RAMA-VI nullified the engagement in 1921 . Then he engaged with Princess LAKSHMILAVAN , marriage of which never held and both were separated . And Princess VALLABHADEVI was house-arrested from then onwards . Then there followed a series of marriages of King RAMA-VI . In 1921 , he married with PRUEANG SUCHARITAKUL . Then with her sister PRABAI SUCHARITAKUL with the title of LADY INDRANI who in 1922 was elevated to Queen INDRASAKDISACHI . But the Queen suffered two miscarriages . Then in 1924 , he married to KRUEAKAEW ABHAIWONGSE , later known as Queen SUVADHANA and Queen INDRASAKDISACHI was demoted to Princess consort in 1925 as such . As we all know that King RAMA-VI had only one issue , a daughter from his wife Queen SUVADHANA and she was known as Princess BEJARATANA RAJASUDA . Thus , BENEDICT ANDERSON’S view that King RAMA-VI was a homosexual couldn’t be substantiated as it was simply based on assumption without having any historical facts . From view point of history no substance could be fully accepted without having any historical evidence/record as such . However , it was the fact that King RAMA-VI preferred to stay more with males than females .

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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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