Prasat Thong
Prasat Thong ปราสาททอง | |
---|---|
King of Ayutthaya | |
Prasat Thong dynasty | |
Father | Okya Sithammathirat |
Prasat Thong
Origin
Accounts vary on the origin of Prasat Thong. While traditional Thai historians hold that he was an illegitimate son of King Ekathotsarot, Jeremias van Vliet's account states that he was the maternal cousin of King Songtham – his father was Okya Sithammathirat (Thai: ออกญาศรีธรรมาธิราช), elder brother of the mother of King Songtham. He was born during the reign of King Naresuan around 1599 and was known to have caused mischief in the royal court. He ruined the palace Agricultural Initiation Ceremony, a royal ceremony of ploughing, and was threatened with imprisonment; only pleas from the queen of King Naresuan, Chao Khruamanichan, won a reduction of the punishment to five months imprisonment. He was later pardoned and given the title of Okya Siworawong (Thai: ออกญาศรีวรวงศ์), or Phraya Siworawong – a high-ranking title of royal page.[6]: 209–210
Rise to power
The rise of Prasat Thong to power was documented in van Vliet's The Historical Account of the war of Succession following the death of King Pra Interajatsia (1650). As the king's maternal cousin, he held great influence. It is said that he was an ambitious prince and wanted to become a king. King Songtham had had his brother Phra Phanpi Sisin or Phra Sisin (Siamese chronicles states that Phra Sisin was one of the King Songtham's three sons[6]) as the Front Palace, technically his successor, but a palace faction including Prasat Thong persuaded the king to give the throne instead to his son Prince Chetthathirat. When King Songtham died in 1628, Chetthathirat ascended the throne and a great purge of the mandarins who had supported Phra Sisin was instigated, including the Samuha Kalahom or Defence Minister. Prasat Thong then replaced him as the defence minister with the new title of Okya Suriyawong (Thai: ออกญากลาโหมสุริยวงศ์).
The king maker
During the King Chetthathirat’s reign, Prasat Thong had
With the Phra Sisin gone, Prasat Thong was in full power. In 1629, his father died. A grand funeral was held and his father's ashes were cremated twice – a practice reserved for royalty. On that day King Chetthathirat called for an audience with all the nobles but all of them had gone to the funeral – much to the king's great displeasure. The king threatened to punish Prasat Thong but Okya Phraklang (the Minister of Trade who was Prasatthong's ally) managed to calm the king and convince him of Prasat Thong's innocence. The king was unprepared when Prasat Thong led armies into the palace. The king fled but was captured and executed. Prasat Thong installed the king’s brother – the eleven-year-old Prince Athittayawong – as the new puppet king with Prasat Thong as the regent who crowned himself as the second king.
Coup and rebellion
Prasat Thong strived to eliminate his allies-turned-rivals – the Okya Kamhaeng who contested for the throne and Yamada Nagamasa who objected to the takeover of the throne by Prasat Thong. He quickly condemned Okya Kamhaeng for treason and execution followed. And he sent Yamada Nagamasa to the south as the governor of
Prasat Thong had acted as "king-maker" before assuming the throne, by performing the double regicide of King Songtham's sons. Yamada, Okya Seniphimok, heard of the coup at Ayutthaya and rebelled. Prasat Thong had him poisoned and then expelled the remaining Japanese.[7]: 55
Reign and succession
As a powerful and decisive leader, he promulgated many criminal laws and sometimes, according to Van Vliet, even executed prisoners by himself.
Siam was a major trading center attracting Europeans merchants. Prasat Thong was interested in controlling the towns in the southern peninsula, perhaps because of profits from overseas trade. Ayutthaya lost its northern subjugated principalities such as Chiang Mai.
Under Prasat Thong, Cambodia became subject to Siam again. He then built the capital city using Nakhon Thom as a model and built "places of temporary rest on the way to the footprint of the
Upon King Prasatthong’s death in 1655,
Legacy
Prasat Thong built the monastery Chumphon Nikayaram where his mother resided and a rest palace,
The Eulogy of King Prasat Thong, probably composed early in the reign of King Narai is a major example of the Thai tradition of royal panegyrics. It states that King Prasat Thong is a bodhisatta, invited by Indra to be reborn as the king of Ayutthaya, and destined to become the tenth in a sequence of ten future Buddhas beginning with Metteyya. It recounts the major events of the reign including religious constructions, amending the calendar, almsgivings, and festivals.
References
- ISBN 978-1-316-64113-2.
- ISBN 974957544X.
- ^ a b "The Eulogy of King Prasat Thong". so06.tci-thaijo.org. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
- ^ M.L. Manich Jumsai (เขียน) ธิติมา พิทักษ์ไพรวัน (แปล). สมเด็จพระนารายณ์ และโกษาปาน. กรุงเทพฯ:คุรุสภาลาดพร้าว, 2531, หน้า 17 (in Thai)
- ^ The Royal Institute. List of monarchs Ayutthaya Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine. (in Thai)[dead link]
- ^ ISBN 9747534584
- ^ Chakrabongse, C., 1960, Lords of Life, London: Alvin Redman Limited
- ^ "History of Ayutthaya - Royal Residences - Prasat Nakhon Luang". www.ayutthaya-history.com. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ "Prasat Nakhon Luang, Nakhon Luang, Thailand". Asian Architecture. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ "Wat Chaiwatthanaram". www.tourismthailand.org. Retrieved 2 December 2021.