Mongkut

Mongkut
King Rama IV
King of Siam
Reign	1 April 1851 – 1 October 1868 (&000000000000001700000017 years, &0000000000000183000000183 days)
Coronation	2 April 1851
Predecessor	Jessadabodindra (Rama III)
Successor	Chulalongkorn (Rama V)
Second King	Pinklao
Spouse	Queen Somanas Vadhanavadi (1851) Queen Debsirindra (1851-1861) Princess Pannarai (1861 - death)
Issue
82 sons and daughters with various consorts
House	Chakri Dynasty
Father	Buddha Loetla Nabhalai
Mother	Srisuriyendra
Born	18 October 1804(1804-10-18) Bangkok, Siam
Died	1 October 1868(1868-10-01) (aged 63) Bangkok, Siam
Signature
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramenthramaha Mongkut Phra Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua (Thai: พระบาทสมเด็จพระปรเมนทรมหามงกุฎฯ พระจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว), or Rama IV, known in foreign countries as King Mongkut (18 October 1804 – 1 October 1868), was the fourth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, ruling from 1851-1868. He was one of the most revered monarchs of the country.

Outside of Thailand he is best-known as the King in the 1951 play and 1956 film The King and I, based on the 1946 film Anna and the King of Siam - in turn based on the 1944 book of Anna Leonowens about her years at his court (1862-1867). ^{[1][2] [3] [4][5]}

In his reign, the pressure of Western expansionism was felt for the first time in Siam. Mongkut embraced Western innovations and initiated the modernisation of Siam, both in technology and culture—earning him the epithet "The Father of Science and Technology" in Siam.

Mongkut was also known for his appointment of his brother, Prince Chutamani, as vice-king. Prince Chutamani was crowned in 1851 as King Pinklao. Mongkut himself assured that Pinklao should be respected with equal honor to himself. Mongkut's reign was also the time when the power of the House of Bunnak reached the zenith and became the most powerful noble family of Siam.

Early life

Mongkut was born to Prince Isarasundhorn, son of Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke the first Chakri king of Siam, and Princess Bunreod in 1804 as their second child at the Old (Thonburi) Palace. He was later joined by his brother Prince Chutamani, who was born in 1808. In 1809, his father Prince Isarasundhorn was crowned as Buddha Loetla Nabhalai. The prince himself was nine at the time and they all moved to the Grand Palace.

Monastic Life and Thammayut sect

In 1824, at age 20, Mongkut became a Buddhist monk, according to Siamese tradition (that men aged 20 should become monks), with the ordination name of Vajirañāṇo. However, the same year, his father Buddha Loetla Nabhalai died. According to succession traditions, Mongkut was to be crowned the next king. However, the nobility instead put the influential Prince Jessadabodindra, his half-brother, on the throne. Perceiving that the throne was irredeemable, Mongkut chose to stay in his monastic status to avoid political intrigues.

Mongkut became one of the members of royal family who devoted his life to the religion. He travelled all around the country as a monk and saw the relaxation of the rules of Pali Canon among the Siamese monks he met - which he considered inappropriate. In 1829, at Phetchaburi, he met a monk named Buddhawangso who strictly followed the canon. Vajirayan admired Buddhawangso for his obedience to the canon, and this inspired him to pursue his religious reforms.

The monk Vajirayan then established the Thammayut Nikaya or Thammayut sect in 1833. The new sect reinforced the canon law. The Thammayut sect gained royal recognition in 1902 by Mongkut's son Chulalongkorn (through Ecclesiastical Polity Act) and became one of the two major Buddhist denominations in modern Thailand. (see Buddhism in Thailand) In 1836, he became the first abbot of Wat Bowonniwet, which is sponsored by the royal family to this day. During his time as a monk, Bhikkhu Vajirañāṇo discovered Western knowledge, studying Latin, English, and astronomy with missionaries and sailors.

King Mongkut would later be noted for his excellent command of English, although it is said that his younger brother, Vice-King Pinklao, could speak it even better.

Reign as King

Reliefs of King Mongkut's Privy seal and signature

Accounts vary about the intentions of Jessadabodindra regarding the succession. It is recorded that Jessadabodindra verbally dismissed the royal princes from succession for various reasons; Prince Mongkut was dismissed for encouraging monks to dress in the Mon style.

Some said that, however, Jessadabodindra wished his throne to be passed to his son, Prince Annop, and that he gave his bracelet which had been passed down from Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke to the prince. However, Dis Bunnak switched the bracelet for a forged one, thus preventing the throne from being inherited by the prince Annop.

Prince Mongkut was indeed supported by a pro-British, Dis Bunnak, the Samuha Kalahom, or Armed Force Department's president, the most powerful noble of the late reign of Rama III. Bunnak sent his men to perform the leaving-from-monk-status ceremony for Prince Mongkut even before Jessadabodindra's death. With the support of powerful nobility, Mongkut's ascension to the throne was ensured.

After his twenty-seven years of pilgrimage, King Mongkut ascended the throne in 1851, aged 47. He took the name Phra Chom Klao, although foreigners continued to call him King Mongkut. The king was well-known among the foreigners particularly some British officers, as a pro-British. Sir James Brooke, a British delegation, even praised him 'our own king', and showed his support of him as a new king of Siam.^[6]

His awareness of the threat from the British and French imperial powers, led him to many innovative activities. He ordered the nobility to wear shirts while attending his court; this was to show that Siam was no longer barbaric from the Western point of view.^[7]

However, Mongkut's own astrological calculations pointed out that his brother, Prince Isaret, was as well favored as himself to be the monarch. So, Mongkut then crowned his brother as King Pinklao, the second king. As a prince, Pinklao was known for his abilities in foreign languages and relations. Mongkut also raised his supporter Dis Bunnak to Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Prayurawongse - Somdet Chao Phraya was the highest rank of nobility equaled to the royalty - and made him his regent kingdom-wide. Mongkut also appointed Dis Bunnak's brother, Tat, as Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Pichaiyat, as his regent in Bangkok. As the result, the administrative power of Siam laid greatly in the hands of the two Bunnaks, Dis and Tat.

Upon coronation, Mongkut married his first wife, Queen Somanat. However, Queen Somanat then died in the same year. He then married his half-grandniece, Mom Chao Rampoei Siriwongse, later Queen Debsirindra.

Shan campaigns

Chakri Monarchs

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke

Buddha Loetla Nabhalai

Jessadabodindra

Mongkut

Chulalongkorn

Vajiravudh

Prajadhipok

Ananda Mahidol

Bhumibol Adulyadej

In 1849, there were upheavals in the Shan state of Kengtung and Chiang Hung kingdom in response to weakened Burmese influence. However, the two states then fought each other and Chiang Hung sought Siamese support. Jessadabodindra saw this as an opportunity to gain control over Shan states but he died in 1851. In 1852 Chiang Hung submitted the request again. Mongkut sent Siamese troops northwards but the armies found difficulties climbing mountainous highlands. In 1855 the Siamese marched again and reached Kengtung - though with even greater difficulty. They laid siege on Kengtung for 21 days.^[8] However, the resources of the Siamese army ran out and the army had to retreat.

Cultural Reforms

1852 saw the large influx of English and American missionaries into Siam as Mongkut hired them to teach the English language to the princes. He also hired Western mercenaries to train Siamese troops in Western style. In Bangkok, American Dan Beach Bradley had already reformed the printing and then resumed the publishing of Siam's first newspaper, the Bangkok Recorder. However, the missionaries were not as successful when it came to making religious conversions. Reportedly, King Mongkut once remarked to a Christian missionary friend: "What you teach us to do is admirable, but what you teach us to believe is foolish".^[9]

However, Mongkut didn't abandon the traditional culture of Siam. In 1852, he ordered the nobles of the court to wear upper garments. Previously, Siamese nobles were forbidden to wear any shirts to prevent them from hiding any weapons in it and met the king bare-chested. The practice was criticized by Westerners and so Mongkut ended it.

For Buddhism, Mongkut pioneered the rehabilitation of various temples. He also began the Magha Puja (มาฆบูชา) festival in the full moon of the third lunar month, to celebrate Buddha's announcement of his main principles. And he instigated the Recompilation of Tripitaka in Siam according to Theravada traditions. He also formally established the Thammayut sect as a rightful branch of Theravada.

Mongkut also improved women's rights in Siam. He released a large number of royal concubines to find their own husbands. This is a marked contrast to how his story has been dramatized. He banned forced marriages of all kinds and the selling of one's wife to pay off a debt.

In contrast to the previous king, Jessadabodindra, Mongkut didn't see the importance of sending envoys to the Qing dynasty court. The last mission was sent in 1853 and Mongkut eventually ceased it because the mission symbolised Siam's subjection to the Qing emperors and because the Qing dynasty was then not so powerful as it had once been, as it was itself threatened by Western powers.

The Bowring Treaty

John Bowring, British Governor of Hong Kong, was known in Siam for his Bowring Treaty

In 1854, John Bowring the Governor of Hong Kong, in the name of Victoria of United Kingdom, came to Siam for a treaty. For the first time Siam had to deal seriously with international laws. Prayurawongse negotiated on the behalf of the Siamese. The result was the Bowring Treaty, which was regarded as an unequal treaty imposed by British Empire. The main principle of the treaty was to abolish the Royal Storage (พระคลังสินค้า), which since Ayutthaya times owned the monopoly of foreign trade. The Royal Storage had been the source of Ayutthaya's prosperity as it collected immense taxation on foreign traders - including the taxation according to the width of the galleon and the tithe. Western products had to go through series of tax barriers to reach Siamese people.

The Europeans, of course, had been attempting to undo this monopoly for a long time but no serious measures had been taken. For Siamese people, trading some kinds of goods with foreigners subjected them to severe punishment. The taxation was partially reduced in the Burney Treaty. However, in the world of liberalism of the nineteenth century, such unequal and government-interfered trade would barely exist.

The abolition of such trade barriers replaced the Siamese commerce with the free trade. Import taxation was reduced to 3% and could only be collected once. This, of course, was a blow on the national revenue. However, this led to the dramatic growth of commercial sectors as common people then gained access to foreign trade. Never before in Siam was agriculture for sale and exports rather than subsistence farming (Before Bowring, those who traded rice with foreigners would be executed for treason). People rushed to acquire vast, previously empty fields to grow rice and the competition eventually resulted in the lands ending up in the hands of nobility.

The Bowring Treaty also had a legal impact. Due to the horror of the Nakorn Bala methods of torture in judicial proceedings, the British chose not to be tried under the Siamese system, securing a grant of extraterritoriality; the British in Siam were therefore subject only to British law, while the Siamese in Britain enjoyed no reciprocal privilege.

More treaties were then made with other powers, further undermining national revenue and legal rights. The Bowring treaty was, of course, the economic and social revolution of Siam. Mongkut's reign saw immense commercial activities in Siam for the first time, which led to the introduction of coinage in 1860. The first industries in Siam were rice milling and sugar production. The infrastructure was improved e.g. paving of roads and canal digging - for transport and water reservoirs for plantations.

Anna Leonowens

The King with his heir: Prince Chulalongkorn, both in Naval uniforms.

In 1862, on recommendation by Tan Kim Ching in Singapore, an English woman named Anna Leonowens, whose influence was later the subject of great Thai controversy, was hired. It is still debated how much this affected the worldview of one of his sons, Prince Chulalongkorn, who succeeded to the throne. Her story would become the inspiration for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, as well as the Hollywood movies of the same title, which, because of their incorrect historical references and supposedly disrespectful treatment of King Mongkut's character, were for some time banned in Thailand as the Thai government and people considered them to be lèse majesté (an illegal insult to the king or monarchy). To correct the record, well-known Thai intellectuals Seni and Kukrit Pramoj in 1948 wrote The King of Siam Speaks (ISBN 974-8298-12-4). The Pramoj brothers sent their manuscript to the American politician and diplomat Abbot Low Moffat (1901–1996), who drew on it for his 1961 biography, Mongkut the King of Siam ISBN 0-8014-9069-3. Moffat donated the Pramoj manuscript to the United States Library of Congress in 1961. (Southeast Asian Collection, Asian Division, Library of Congress)

Anna claimed that her conversations with Prince Chulalongkorn about human freedom, and her relating to him the story of Uncle Tom's Cabin, became the inspiration for his abolition of slavery almost 40 years later. It should be noted, however, that the slavery system in Siam was very different from that in the United States. Slavery in Thailand was often voluntary and due to economic condition. One could be punished for torturing slaves in Siam and some slaves could buy their freedom. Western scholars and observers have commented that Siamese slaves were treated better than European servants.^[10]

Death and legacy

Astronomy was always Mongkut's interest. In 1868, when he invited Sir Harry Ord, the British Governor of Straits Settlements from Singapore, as well as a party of French astronomers and scientists, to watch the total solar eclipse of 18 August^[11], which King Mongkut himself had calculated two years earlier, at (in his own words) "East Greenwich longitude 99 degrees 42' and latitude North 11 degrees 39'." The spot was at Wakor village in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, south of Bangkok. King Mongkut's calculations proved accurate, but during the expedition King Mongkut and Prince Chulalongkorn were infected with malaria. The king died six weeks later in the capital, and was succeeded by his son, who survived the malaria.

In 1868, the foreigners again came to Siam. However, they came with the new colonialism. Mongkut had initiated the reforms and modernization of traditional Siam, as Siam gained acceptance and became a rightful nation in world diplomacy. The Western threats would be immense in the reign of his son Chulalongkorn.

Contrary to popular and false belief, King Mongkut did not offer a herd of war elephants to President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War for use against the Confederacy. He did, however, offer to send some domesticated elephants to President James Buchanan, to use as beasts of burden and means of transportation. The royal letter of February 14, 1861, which was written even before the Civil War started, took some time to arrive in Washington DC, and by the time it reached its destination President Buchanan was not in office any longer. (Text of the royal letter here [2]. Although the Smithsonian Institution describes it as the "translation" in fact it was written by the King himself in his "self-educated" English.) Lincoln, who succeeded Buchanan as the US President, is said to have been asked what the elephants could be used for, and in reply he said that he did not know, unless "they were used to stamp out the rebellion."[3] However, in his replying letter dated February 3, 1862 [4] Lincoln did not mention anything about the Civil War. The President merely politely declined to accept King Mongkut's proposal, explaining to the King that the American climate might not be suitable for elephants and that American steam engines could also be used as beasts of burden and means of transportation. [5][6]

A century later, during his state visit to the US, King Bhumibol of Thailand, who is Mongkut's great-grandson, referred to this event in his address before the US Congress on June 29, 1960. He said, "my great-grandfather offered to send the President and Congress elephants to be turned loose in the uncultivated land of America for breeding purposes. That offer was made with no other objective than to provide a friend with what he lacks, in the same spirit in which the American aid program is likewise offered." [7]

Titles and styles

• 1804-1824: Somdet Phra Lukya Ther Chaofa Mongkut Sommuthiwongse Pong Isuarn Kasastriya Katiya Rajakumarn
• 1824 -1851: Vajirañāṇo (as a monk)
• 1851 -1868: Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramenthramaha Mongkut Phra Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua

Notes

References

• Abbot Low Moffat, 'Mongkhut, the King of Siam', Cornell U. P. 1961
• Constance Maralyn Wison, 'State and Society in the Reign of King Mongkut, 1851-1868: Thailand on the Eve of Modernization', Ph. D. thesis, Cornell 1970, University Microfilms.
• B. J. Terwiel, 'A History of Modern Thailand 1767-1942', University of Queensland Press, Australia 1983. This contains some anecdotes not included in the other references.
• Stephen White, 'John Thomson: A Windows to the Orient', University of New Mexico Press, United States. Thomson was a photographer and this book contains his pictures some of which provided the basis for the engravings (sometimes mis-identified) in Anna Leonowens' books. There is reference to Mongkut in the introductory text.
• Charles Bukowski, "Women"

External links

• The King's Thai: Entry to Thai Historical Data - Mongkut's Edicts maintained by Doug Cooper of Center for Research in Computational Linguistics, Bangkok; accessed 2008-07-11.