Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke

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Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I)
King of Thailand

Reign	1782 – 1809
Born	March 20, 1737
	Ayutthaya
Predecessor	Taksin
Royal House	Chakri Dynasty

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke or Phutthayotfa, posthumously titled Rama I the Great, was King of Siam (now called Thailand) from 1782 to 1809, and the founder of the Chakri dynasty which rules Thailand to this day.

The future king was born on March 20, 1737 in Ayutthaya, his birth name was Thong Duang. He was born the son of Phra Aksorn Sundara Smiantra, a noble of the kingdom of Ayutthaya, who following the fall of Ayutthaya became Chao Phya Chakri at Pitsanuloke. After receiving his education in a Buddhist temple, his father sent him to become a squire for king Uthumphon, and it was at this moment that he met his friend Tak Sin, who would become King Taksin, Rama's future predecessor. After the fall of Ayutthaya, he rejoined the ranks of king Taksin under the name Chao Phraya Chakri. He was given the name Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke posthumously by king Rama III, Nangklao.

While serving as Taksin's general, Rama conquered Vientiane in 1778-79, putting the country under vassalage, and removing its Emerald Buddha and Phra Bang to Thonburi. In April 4, 1782, when Taksin was declared mad after a coup d'etat and was later executed, Rama assumed power, establishing the Chakri dynasty. He was crowned on April 6 as Rama I; the date is now Chakri Memorial Day, a public holiday in Thailand.

Statue of Rama I at the Phra Buddha Yodfa Memorial Bridge, Bangkok (1932)

In 1785, the last of the Nguyen Lords, Nguyen Anh convinced King Chulaloke to give him forces to attack Vietnam (which was now under the control of the Tay Son brothers). However, the joint Nguyen-Siam fleet is destroyed in the Battle of Rach Gam–Xoai Mut in the Mekong delta region. Seven years later, Nguyen Anh with more help from the Siamese, stages a series of attacks on Saigon.

King Rama I continued Taksin's task of saving the newly reunited country from attack by Burma, and repulsed several Burmese invasions. Culturally, Rama I also reestablished the traditions of the country by salvaging Buddhist texts lost in the chaos after the sacking of Ayutthaya by the Burmese in 1767. He also moved the capital from Taksin's capital of Thonburi and built the new capital Bangkok.In his palace, the Wat Phra Kaew, to house the Emerald Buddha, and created a new code of laws, the Book of three seals. He appointed the first Supreme Patriarch of Thai Buddhism. As literature was his passion, he also wrote a Thai version of the Ramayana epos called Ramakian.

On his death, he was succeeded by his son prince Isarasundorn, who assumed the throne name of King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai (now posthumously titled Rama II).