In the history of Thailand, there were four dynasties, one of which only existed for fifteen years and had only one king, but it changed the historical trend of Thailand and had the "Thailand" we see now. This dynasty is the Thonburi Dynasty, and the king who established this dynasty is the head of the five great emperors in Thai history, "Thonburi the Great" Zheng Xin.
After the destruction of the Ayutthaya dynasty, Zheng Xin led the Thai people to resist the Burmese army, expelled the Burmese army, and reunited the divided Thailand, and is the greatest "national hero" in Thai history.
However, when you look at the history of Thailand, you will find that Zhengxin has two very different evaluations in history.
Before Rama IV, Zheng Xin's deeds were full of mystery, he was described as an omnipotent "god-king" and, in his later reign, as a failed ruler. The real formation of the current mainstream impression of "national hero" is after Rama IV, there is a more detailed record of Zheng Xin's deeds of resisting Myanmar to save the country and unifying Thailand, and also redefining Zheng Xin's historical status.
Later, with the germination of Thai nationalist ideas and the guidance of the government, Zheng Xin's historical evaluation developed in a positive direction, and the impression of national heroes was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and finally he was named the title of "The Great" and admired by the world.
Why does Zheng Xin's historical evaluation have such a trend? We might as well look to the history of Thai thought.
Under traditional Buddhist political thought, the omnipotent "god king" Zheng Xin
In 1238, the Lao revolt broke away from the Angkor dynasty and established the first dynasty in Thai history, the Sukhothai dynasty.
In order to gain better recognition and support from the people, King Sukko Thailand vigorously promoted Buddhism in China and compiled the first book of Thai Buddhism, "The Three Realms Theory".
The Three Realms preaches that the king is the core of all political rights, and that the king becomes a king not because of the blood orthodoxy of the mortal flesh, but because he has accumulated countless merits in previous lives, which is sacred and inviolable.
This idea of deifying the king formed the early worldview of the Thai people, who regardless of dynastic changes or international wars, as long as they were the victorious side and became king, then he was the embodiment of justice, the reincarnation of the bodhisattva of immeasurable merit, and the new king would surely lead the kingdom to glory again.
Under the guidance of this idea, the official also deliberately ignored the facts and recorded historical events from the perspective of "miracles".
In the History of the (Zheng) Panjantannuma Dynasty, there is not much record of how Zheng Xin led troops to fight, and how, after the fall of the Ayutthaya dynasty, he raised troops against Burma and reunified Thailand. Instead, he praises Zheng Xin's great merit of "being enlightened by the Buddha", safeguarding the sincerity of the Buddhist heart, and moving heaven.
All his military operations were blessed by the heavenly gods, for example, when he encountered a strong wind and could not march, it was Zheng Xin who personally raised the altar, and with his supreme merit and divine power, in exchange for calm winds and waves, the army could continue to advance; The Burmese army withdrew because the Burmese army could not stop Zheng Xin's immeasurable exercises, and could only retreat as birds and beasts.
In general, Zheng Xin is described as an all-powerful divine king, and his throne is not because of his heroic deeds to save the country and restore the country, but because of the merits he accumulated in previous lifetimes, which led him to repel the Burmese army, recover the country, and finally become the king of kings, and the people gladly accepted the new king.
In the late Thonburi dynasty, Zheng Xin was killed by Rama I due to spiritual reasons and tyranny. Rama I then established the Bangkok Dynasty, and out of consideration for the legitimacy of his rule, the description of Zheng Xin in the history books gradually shifted from the omnipotent "god king" to the failed ruler.
In 1795, Rama I ordered the court poets to revise the History of the (Zheng) Panjantanuma Dynasty, which focused on the failure of Zheng Xin's later reign, but the description remained unchanged from the traditional Buddhist portrayal. For example, Zheng Xin's rule did not conform to the "Ten Kings of Buddhism", causing Buddhism to decline, like the end times. Zheng Xin, who had "lost all his merits", ceased to be a god-king and was replaced by Rama I, who had more complete merits.
The historical evaluation of Zhengxin at this stage is all based on the traditional concepts of Buddhist thought, guided by political factors, whether it is the "god king" with mysterious power in the early stage or the "failed ruler" after the renovation.
This traditional Buddhist political concept continued until Rama IV. Under Rama IV, Thailand was threatened by colonization by Western powers, nationalist ideas and modern ideas of the state began to germinate, and Zheng Xin's historical evaluation was also transformed by the intentional promotion of the state.
Under the impact of Western thought, Thai nationalist ideas sprouted, and the "god king" stepped down from the altar and became a "national hero"
In 1893, the "Lusso 112 Crisis" broke out in Siam, and the French army occupied the Siamese Palace. In the end, the Siamese royal family exchanged the suzerainty of Cambodia and Laos for the independence of its own national sovereignty.
This event had a great impact on Rama IV and also contributed to the emergence of the modern concept of the state. The original Buddhist concept of "unlimited territory" was replaced by the concept of national territory, and the idea of nationalism also germinated.
With the germination of nationalist ideas, the history of the country began to be taken seriously, and Rama IV and Rama V sought the basis for the legitimacy of the national territory from the history of the Sukhothai dynasty to the present, and in the face of aggression by Western powers, they used verifiable historical evidence to prove the national territory and suzerainty over the vassal state.
During his internal rule, Rama IV also hoped to use history to awaken the Thai people's national pride and determination to love and defend the country. In the history of Thailand, only Zhengxin is a heroic figure who expelled foreign invaders, established a dynasty, and reunified the country, so the historical deeds and historical evaluation of Zhengxin have changed.
The new historical evaluation affirmed Zheng Xin's great deeds of saving the country and safeguarding national sovereignty, and the concept of "national hero" began to form among the people. However, because the Bangkok dynasty was established on the basis of the murder of Zheng Xin, for the sake of the reasonable legitimacy of its own rule, the description of Zheng Xin's late uncultivated benevolence did not change much, but still focused on the failure of his rule, and the people's life was difficult, which eventually led to Zheng Xin's killing and the collapse of the dynasty.
The awakening of ideas is always accompanied by historical events that promote the progress of ideas. In 1932, a coup d'état took place in Siam. A group of intellectuals seized the opportunity for Rama VII to escape the summer in Hua Hin, under the command of Colonel Phaya Phong and stormed the royal palace and arrested the royal family, while all the ministers and officials in the capital were also controlled by the coup army and taken hostage along with all the royal family. It also controlled important bases such as radio stations and railway bureaus.
Under these circumstances, King Rama VII had to make a compromise, ending Thailand's more than 600-year-old feudal monarchy and declaring his acceptance of a constitutional form of government.
The new government needed new spiritual beliefs, and at a time when the government was vigorously promoting nationalism, Zheng Xin, who was born as a commoner, had a more positive portrayal. Zheng Xin's great deeds of saving the country and restoring the country were greatly exaggerated, and the concept of national heroes was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, which also provided a historical basis for the rule of the new government.
It is not difficult to find that the intellectual history of Thailand developed step by step with the dynasty's "establishment, breaking, and re-establishment", and Zheng Xin's deeds just happened to promote the development of new ideas and was in a key position of starting and turning, so two different voices appeared in his historical evaluation.
Zheng Xin's deeds were restored
Zheng Xin's father, Zheng Yong, was a first-generation Chinese in Thailand, who accumulated amazing wealth through business and made many powerful friends. After Zheng Yong's death, he gave the Zheng Trust to the powerful minister Poyejieki. Under the recommendation of Poyejieki, Zheng Xin entered the court as a bodyguard, and quickly rose from the bodyguard to the lord of Dacheng, and was made a marquis.
When the Burmese army attacked the royal city of Ayutthaya, Zheng Xin was within the royal city. He led his soldiers to resist the enemy several times and worked hard to support the situation. But the interior of the dynasty has long been decayed, and weapons, food and grass cannot be received. Zheng Xin alone could not turn the tide, so he led 500 soldiers to break through the siege.
Soon after, the royal city of Ayutthaya was overrun by the Burmese army, and the dynasty collapsed. After the Burmese army entered the city, they burned, looted, and did everything evil, which aroused strong resistance from the Thai people.
Because of his experience in leading troops to fight the Burmese army, Zheng Xin successfully broke through the siege and established a base in the city of Rayong, allowing him to quickly gather an army of tens of thousands of people, and many resistance forces also joined.
In October 1767, when the Burmese army returned to the north and retreated, Zheng Xin seized the opportunity to lead hundreds of warships to counterattack from the waterway, successfully recovering the royal city of Ayutthaya and expelling the Burmese army.
Zheng Xin was thus promoted as the new king. However, the royal city of Ayutthaya has been burned to the ground by the Burmese army and left in ruins. Eventually, Zheng Xin established the Thonburi Dynasty, and he became the first and only king of the Thonburi Dynasty.
During Zheng Xin's 15 years of reign, he not only completed the unification of the country, but also made Cambodia and Laos vassals of Thailand, laying the territory of modern Thailand.
epilogue
After Zheng Xin established the Thonburi Dynasty, in order to establish and beautify his monarchy, he followed traditional Buddhist political concepts and described himself as a reincarnated bodhisattva with complete merit, sacred and inviolable.
In order to justify his killing of Zheng Xin, Rama I emphasized the tyranny and cruelty of Zheng Xin's rule in the history books, describing him as a "failed ruler", and also used this to obscure the fact of usurpation.
With the invasion of Western powers and the awakening of nationalist ideas, Thailand no longer needs an omnipotent "god king", but a heroic figure who can awaken the people's sense of national honor and family and country. Therefore, Zheng Xin, who expelled foreign invaders and saved the country and restored the country, appeared in Thailand's historical evaluation with the great image of a "national hero".
Throughout Zheng Xin's historical evaluation changes, it is nothing more than serving the ruling class, and the ruling class is also promoting ideological change. The development of human civilization is inseparable from the awakening of ideological progress, and Zheng Xin eventually became Thailand's "national hero", based on his great deeds of expelling the Burmese army and recovering the land and completing reunification.
Resources:
History of Thailand, General History of Thailand