Thailand’s Royalty

Thais revere royalty. Besides nation and religion, the monarchy is very highly regarded – negative comment about the king or any member of the royal family is a social as well as a legal taboo. We were surprised that our Thai friend would fold his hand before every banner depicting the Thai king Bhumibol as though he was the lord Buddha himself. The royal family is the Chakri clan. Phaya Chakri, one of the generals of King Thaksin, came to power after the brief misadventure of Takshin. After taking over in 1782, the first Chakri king moved the capital once more, from Thonburi across the river, to a smaller settlement known as Bang Makok or olive plum riverbank, named for the trees growing there in plentiful. Bang Makok later became known as Bangkok. Phaya Chakri himself took the name of Rama I after the hero of the Indian epic Ramayana. The break with Ayuthaya was geographical as well as ideological. As Chakri shared no bloodline with any earlier royalty, he granted loyalty by modeling himself as a Dhammaraja (Dharma King) supporting Buddhist law rather than Devaraja (God King) linked to the divine and who supported Brahmaism (Brahma is still worshipped today in Thailand). Ayuthaya’s control of Laos and Cambodia was transferred to Bangkok and thousands of slave labour worked as coolies alongside common Thais who could not pay taxes. The Chakri clan went about establishing the waterways of Bangkok building canals and temples at a rapid pace until the reign of Rama III (King Nang Klao 1824-51).

Visitors to Bangkok should not miss Wat Arun, or the Temple of Dawn (Aruna). It was built by King Takshin as a temple that glorified Vishnu atop the vehicle of Eravan, the elephant, still resplendent on the 82 metre prang (spire) of the temple, built in Khmer style. This was built by Rama II and is adorned by millions of pieces of glazed porcelain, common temple adornment when Chinese ships calling at Bangkok used broken porcelain as ballast. It was the seat of the Emerald Buddha which is like a talisman of the Thai kingdom. It now resides in Wat Phra Kaew, part of the royal houses and temples in Bangkok.

No one knows who sculpted it or when, but history has it that it first appeared in Chaing Rai in northern Thailand in 1434. Legend says it might have been sculpted in India and brought to Thailand from Ceylon. In the 15th century the Buddha was covered in plaster with gold leaf covering, a common way of masking Buddha images to deter pilferers. Over time its identity was forgotten until after a fall, the original brilliant green colour revealed itself (Emerald Buddha is carved from nephrite, a form of jade, found in Burma predominantly). During clashes with Laos, the Emerald Buddha was taken to Luang Prabang in Laos where it remained for over 200 years until the Bangkok based army recovered it and placed it first in Thonburi and then in Bangkok. The Laotians still claim that the Thais stole their emerald Buddha. It now resides in the Royal Palace complex which consists of various buildings, which is usually a must for all visitors.

Finally, about 60 kms outside Bangkok is the summer palace of Bang Pa In, where the royalty moved to avoid the intense rains of summer. It is a potpourri of various architechtural styles and reflects either the ecelectic taste of Rama IV (King Mongkut) and his son Rama V (King Chulalongkorn), or a tendency to display European styles to the Thai people. It has a Thai, Chinese and Swiss chalet style mansion (the preferred residence). There is a wonderful lookout tower and an American style garden house, also called gingerbread architechture. There are Italian style garden but the overall impression is one of chaos and architechtural gluttony. I loved the Chinese mansion with its intricate carving and miniature decorations. Tomorrow we fly off to Siem Reap in Cambodia, a place I’ve wanted to see since childhood – that dream of an edifice – the Angkor Wat.