The Weird and Not-So Weird Treasures of Ayutthaya

King Naresuan

I'll be focusing on what I found interesting about Ayutthaya, alongside basic facts I found about it.

I asked few of my Thai friends about lifestyles in current Thailand, and questioning them if they had any facts about Ayutthaya itself.

1. Ayutthaya was a capital of Siam (old name for Thailand)
2. Their structures were covered in gold, until Burma invaded the capital.
3. They took the gold and burned them.
4. Everybody fled, and never returned

It was very interesting to hear these facts from a Thai person themselves, and I wonder why Burma invaded the capital? Why did they burn the gold? Was it because they were jealous of the resources?

Turns out, through further research and inspection, there was a Burmese-Siamese war that happened in 1765-1767 - that means Burma didn't randomly just steal the gold and leave! 

The Siamese (Ayutthaya's side) put up a rather good fight and won, though it's stated that despite the intensive preparations, Siamese commanders were proven uncoordinated. They supposedly relied too much on the defenses of Ayutthaya, confident that the other side wouldn't get to them and fail beyond the dry season.

People fled to Burma after the Burmese set Ayutthaya on fire, digging, mining and bombing their protective walls. Images of Buddha were coated in gold, and the Burmese hacked them off to get them. But I have to ask, why were the images of Buddha coated in gold in the first place?

Music's Impact on Ayutthaya

The Siamese adored music, and they played a lot of instruments, alongside being good poets back in the day. In one encounter, King Ramathibodi, the first king of Ayutthaya, and Khmer Queen Veasna alongside king's other hand Sheik Sa-id, invited a troop of Persian musicians into their palace.

It is said that Chinese and Khmer music supposedly was played a lot in their palace. 

The king and queen were both amazed by the Persian music. The musicians showed them their instruments, and the king and queen wanted them. The musicians even instructed them how their music was played, at the king's request.

There was an open-mindedness of  developing and exchanging new forms of music, alongside learning more and receiving new instruments from other places. It also helped improved relationships with people from other places as well. It was like trade.

They not only traded instruments but other products such as rhino horns, ivory, and coconut wine to other countries, establishing their places and creating new friendships. Ayutthaya was strategically placed, surrounding three rivers, connecting to the city to the seas.

Foreign trade was engaged by Siamese kings to generate commercial wealth. Ayutthaya was turned into a transit hub to trade goods and got imported Chinese and Japanese goods to sell, which says much about their relations with others.

Although, nowadays.. Thai people are not that focused music-wise.

Why is that? Well, I asked another Thai friend of mine about this situation. She personally said to me that people in Thailand generally prioritize studies of being a lawyer/dentist rather than letting their children focusing on the arts industry. 

I'd also think maybe it's 'cause young people in Thailand have to study more in that case and they have no time for casual music playing. Life would be naturally more chaotic and full of worries.

There's definitely a stigma of studying arts.

Another interesting thing regarding music I found was that there's actually an Ayutthaya theme in a game called Overwatch.

A King Naresuan amulet

King Naresuan's Father was an Elephant

Well, not literally! But it was a rather weird time.

King Naresuan was upset his elephant had died, and said to everyone it was like his father that had passed away. They proceeded to worship said dead elephant on their knees.

King Naresuan called upon four priests. They removed the dead animal's intestines and rubbed it with ointment and placed flowers, especially roses, on top of the elephant. 

And.. well, their sole purpose of removing its' intestines was to insert golden poles in the elephant to keep it's stomach open. Priests sat inside its' stomach and the ritual went on for about eight days straight, all day all night. Imagine the stench.

Dances and 'infernal' music could be heard throughout the days.

This definitely reminds me of the religious things in Singapore. Especially those of Taoist beliefs. People believing that they're gods themselves, impaling selves with metal poles, needles and pins in their mouth and such in order to speak with said gods.

Anyway, wealth in Ayutthaya was not determined by money, but in terms of manpower.. or the number of animals such as cows and cattle a person owned.

Maybe that's why the king felt that the elephant was like his father. He felt that one source of his manpower was lost. It could be defined as him losing his power and such, and he felt.. maybe insecure about it? I think it's fair to say through this, if it's true that he thought of his elephant as a source of losing his power, he had a big ego!

The treasures were not places, they were not buildings, but they're information I find interesting and rather amusing, and that's what I found was treasure to me. 

Through learning information like this makes me feel like I wanna explore and learn more about Ayutthaya. To more interesting exposures :)

- Jacelyn Teo Shi Yin.





Sources

-My 2 Thai friends :)
-The Kings of Ayutthaya: A Creative Retelling of Siamese History by Robert Smith
-http://www.asienreisender.de/depictionofsiam.html
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese%E2%80%93Siamese_War_(1765%E2%80%9367)