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Sun, February ,4 2007 |
The myth of naresuan
Enjoy the film, but be wary of spin doctors
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By Subhatra Bhumiprabhas
The Nation
MC
Chatrichalerm Yukol has
freely admitted that “The Legend of King Naresuan” –
which he directed and co-wrote with historian Sunait Chutintaranond – is a blend of history, plausibility and
imagination. Where he found history silent, he turned to invention.
The Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities and the
Toyota Thailand Foundation hosted an academic debate recently to try and sort
out the fact from the fantasy.
No one could fault the necessity of the discussion. Teachers have been taking
students to see the film and the Army brass has praised it as a boost for
nationalism. The movie premiered on January 18 – Army Day.
It is, acknowledged historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, another extension of the “great man theory”,
which has often emerged since
In Naresuan’s case, he said, the more time passes,
the more the legend grows.
It was Rama V – Chulalongkorn
– who initiated “The Royal Chronicle: Poems and Paintings” in 1887, which first
bolstered Naresuan’s image, Charnvit
said, and that image has been further burnished several times since.
King Chulalongkorn asked members of his family and
aristocrats to write poems inspired by the
The
public saw the artwork at the Royal Funeral Ground.
In 1910 Naresuan’s story was brought to life in plays
written by King Rama VI, and from these, in 1931,
King Rama VII ordered Phraya
Anusart Jittakorn to create
murals for the vihara at Wat
Suwandararam in Ayutthaya.
The largest mural, above the entrance, depicts Naresuan’s
famous elephant battle with Burmese Crown Prince Phra
Maha-Uparacha.
In others, Prince Naresuan engages in cockfighting –
a fanciful scene never known to have happened – and as the king declares
The murals have been reproduced over and over – including in school textbooks –
and in 1932 gave Prince Damrong Rachanubharp
the basis for his “Biography of King Naresuan the
Great”.
The Father of Thai History, as he is known, wrote the book while in exile in Penang following
“The story of King Naresuan in the book was the same
as it was told in the murals,” said Charnvit.
Prince Damrong, a son of King Mongkut
(Rama IV), was a self-taught historian and
influential intellectual.
He also wrote “Our Wars with the Burmese: Thai-Burmese Conflict 1539-
Prince Damrong’s biography was distributed at Rama VIII’s funeral in 1950 and
became the foundation of later official writings about
But the story of Naresuan as retold by the murals and
in Prince Damrong’s biography evolved as part of the
process of building the nation state, Charnvit said.
Today the story includes that of his elder sister, Princess Suphankalaya,
who was taken with him to Hanthawaddy as a royal
captive.
In the new film, the princess sacrifices herself to be a consort of
It’s a dramatic scene, Sunait says, but the Princess
appears nowhere in the
Naresuan first appears in the Ayutthaya
Chronicle that Luang Prasert
Aksorn-niti wrote when he became the ruler of Phitsanulok in 1572.
Retellings of the tale – in different versions – are found in the Burmese
chronicles and documents written by contemporary Western visitors to
Not all are flattering views, as seen in the boxed excerpt.
'Militant and severe'
The following is an excerpt from "A
Short History of the King of Siam", written in 1638 by Dutch merchant Jeramias Van Vliet, who came to Ayutthaya 28 years after Naresuan
died.
Phra Naret [Naresuan] gained that great victory when he was about 20
years old. He was held in esteem and honour by
everyone. This prince was a war-loving leader and gladly followed up the
victory over the Peguan, restoring the Siamese
kingdom to its former freedom and reputation.
Phra Naret Rachathirat
was called “Raja Api” [Fire King] by the Malays and
the “Black King” by the Siamese. His reign was the most militant and severe of
any that was ever known in
Sometimes
at night and at odd hours he would go with a small parahu
and row up and down the river. He also went at odd hours with a small company
along the streets to hear which rumours were about
and to learn whether something would be advantageous or disadvantageous to him.
He was
the first to make the mandarins come creeping before the king and lie
continually with their faces downward, a practice which is still in existence
today.
However,
he did not want this humility from strangers or foreigners. He was fond of
foreigners, especially the Dutch. Whenever he held audience for foreign envoys,
he did not want them to alter their national customs and follow the slavishness
of the Siamese.