King Rama I and the Reconstruction of the Thai State (1782-1809)
The new king, Phraphutthayotfa Chulalok, or Rama I, was like King Taksin a great general. He was also an accomplished statesman, a lawmaker, a poet, and a devout Buddhist. His reign has been called a reconstruction" of the Thai state and Thai culture, using Ayutthaya as a model but at the same time not slavishly imitating all things Ayutthaya. He was the monarch who established Bangkok as the capital of Thailand and was also the founder of the Royal House of Chakri, of which the ruling monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is the ninth king. The significance of his reign in Thai history is therefore manifold.
King Rama I was intent on the firm reestablishment of the Buddhist monkhood, allying church to state and purifying the doctrine. The Tripitaka, or Buddhist scriptures, were re-edited in a definitive text by a grand council of learned men convened by the king in1788-9. This concern with codification and textual accuracy was also apparent in the collation and editing of laws both old and new which resulted in one of the major achievements of his reign: the "Three Seals Code" or Kotmai tra samduang. This too was the work of a panel of experts assembled by the king. King Rama I consistently explained all his reforms and actions in a rational way. This aspect of his reign has been interpreted as a major change in the intellectual outlook of the Thai elite, or a re-orientation of the Thai world-view. The organization of Thai society during the early Bangkok period was not fundamentally different from that of the late Ayutthaya period. Emphasis was still placed on manpower and on an extensive system of political and social patronage. The officials' main duty was still to provide the crown with corvee labor and to provide patronage to the commoners.
The Burmese remained a threat to the Thai kingdom during this reign and launched several attacks on Thai territory. King Rama I was ably assisted by his brother and other generals in defeating the Burmese in 1785 and 1786, when the Burmese tried to invade Siam. King Rama I not only drove out these invading armies but also launched a bold counter-attack as retaliation, invading Tavoy in Lower Burma. During this reign, Chiang Mai was added to the Thai kingdom, and the Malay states of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Trengganu all sent tribute to King Rama I. The recovery of the Thai state's place and prestige in the region was one of King Rama l's major achievements.
The most long-lasting creation of King Rama I was perhaps the city of Bangkok (Rattanakosin). Before 1782, it was just a small trading community, but the first king transformed it into a thriving, cosmopolitan city based on Ayutthaya's example. He had a canal dug to make it an island-city and it contained Mon, Lao, Chinese, and Thai communities similar to Ayutthaya. He also had several Ayutthaya-style monasteries built in and around the city.
King Rama I was indeed, a great builder-king He endeavored to model his new palace closely on the Royal Palace at Ayutthaya and in doing so helped create one of Bangkok's enduring glories: the Grand Palace with its resplendent royal chapel, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. King Rama I also completely rebuilt an old monastery, Wat Photharam, and had it renamed Wat Phra Chetuphon, which became not only an exemplar of classical Thai architecture but also a famous place of learning. The cosmopolitan outlook of the Thais during King Rama l's reign was also reflected in the arts of the period. Both painting and literature during the early Bangkok period showed a keen awareness of other cultures, though Thai traditional forms and conventions were adhered to, King Rama I's reconstruction of the Thai State and Thai culture was so comprehensive that it extended also to literature. The king and his court poets composed new versions of the Ramakian (the Thai version of the Indian Ramayana epic) and the Inao (based on the Javanese Panji story).
King Rama II and His Sons
King Rama I's son Phra Phutthaloetla Naphalai, or Rama II, acceded to the throne peacefully and was fortunate to have inherited the crown during a time of stability. His reign was especially remarkable for the heights attained by Thai poetry, particularly in the works of the King himself and of Sunthon Phu, one of the court poets. King Rama II was a man gifted with an all-round artistic talent: he had a hand in the carving of Wat Suthat's vihara door-panels, considered to be the supreme masterpiece of Thai woodcarving.
At the end of King Rama II's reign, two princes were in contention for the succession. Prince Chetsadabodin was lesser in rank than Prince Mongkut, but he was older, had greater experience of government, and had a wider power base. In a celebrated example of Thai crisis power management, Prince Mongkut (who had just entered the monkhood) remained monk for the whole of his brother's reign (1824-1851). The avoidance of an open struggle between the princes worked out well for both the country and for the Royal House. While King Rama III ruled firmly and with wisdom, his half-brother was accumulating experience that was to prove invaluable to him during his years as king. The priest-prince Mongkut was able to travel extensively, to see for himself how ordinary Thais lived, and to the lay the foundations for a reform of the Buddhist clergy. In the late 1830's he had set up what was to become the Thammayut sect or order (dhammayutika nikaya), an order of monks which became stronger under royal patronage. To this very day the royal family of Thailand is still closely associated with the Thammayut order.
The Growing Challenge of the West (1821-1868)
The major characteristic of Thai history during the 19th and 20th centuries may be summed up by the phrase "the challenge of the West." The reigns of King Rama II and his two sons, Rama III and Rama IV, marked the first stage in the Thai kingdom's dealings with the West during the Age of Imperialism.
During the Ayutthaya period, the Thais had more often than not chosen just how they wanted to deal with foreign countries, European states included. By the 19th century this freedom of choice became more and more constricted. The West had undergone a momentous change during the Industrial Revolution, and western technology and economy had begun to outstrip those of Asian and African nations. This fact was not readily apparent to the Asians of the early 19th century, but it became alarmingly obvious as the century wore on and several erstwhile proud kingdoms fell under the sway of the western powers. The early 19th century was a time when the Napoleonic Wars were preoccupying all the major European powers, but once the British had gained their victory in Europe, they resumed their quest for additional commerce and territory in Asia.
King Rama III may have been "conservative" in outlook, striving hard to uphold Buddhism (he built or repaired many monasteries), and refusing to acknowledge the claims of Western powers to increased shares in the Thai trade, but he was above all a shrewd ruler. He was justifiably wary of Western ambitions in Southeast Asia, but he was tolerant enough to come to an agreement with Burney, as well as to allow Christian missionaries to work in the kingdom. One of the men most intellectually stimulated by the Western missionaries was Prince Mongkut. The priest-prince had an inquiring mind, a philosophical nature, and a voracious appetite for new knowledge. He learnt Latin from the French Catholic bishop Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix and English from the American Protestant missionary Jesse Caswell. Prince Mongkut's intellectual interests were wide-ranging; not only did he study the Buddhist Pali scriptures but also Western astronomy, mathematics, science, geography, and culture. His wide knowledge of the West helped him to deal with Britain, France, and other powers when he reigned as King of Siam (1851-1868).
King Mongkut was the first Chakri king to embark seriously on reform based on Western models. This did not mean wholesale structural change, since King Mongkut did not wish to undermine his own status and power as a traditional and absolute ruler. He concentrated on the technological and organizational aspects of reform. During this reign, there were road building, canal digging, shipbuilding, a reorganization of the Thai army and administration, and the minting of money to meet the demands of a growing money economy. The King employed Western experts and advisers at the court and in the administration. One of his employees at court was the English governess Anna H. Leonowens, whose books on Siam have resulted in several misunderstandings concerning King Mongkut's character and reign. Far from being the strutting "noble savage" figure portrayed by Hollywood in the musical "The King and I." King Mongkut was a scholarly, conscientious, and humane monarch who ruled at a difficult time in Thai history.
The Reign and Reforms of King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910)
The reforms and foreign policy of King Mongkut were carried on by his son and successor, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), who came to the throne a frail youth of 16 and died one of Siam's most loved and revered kings, after a remarkable reign of 42 years. Indeed, modern Thailand may be said to be a product of the comprehensive and progressive reforms of his reign, for these touched almost every aspect of Thai life.
King Chulalongkorn faced the Western world with a positive, eager attitude: eager to learn about Western ideas and inventions, positively working towards Western-style "progress" while at the same time resisting Western rule. He was the first Thai king to travel abroad; he went to the Dutch and British colonial territories in Java, Malaya, Burma, and India, and also made two extended trips to Europe towards the end of his reign. He did not just travel as an observer