Entrance to temple tower, Ayutthaya, Thailand
Ayutthaya was founded in 1351 when the royal family of Lop Buri established it as their new capitol. It's name is the Thai rendering of Ayodaiya, the holy city in India that served as the setting of the Hindu epic Ramayana. At the time it was a vassal to Sukhotai, but the royal family soon declared independence and went on to become the capitol of all of Thailand. It's kings, while Buddhist, went on to rule as Hindu-style god-kings, and they claimed to be incarnations of Shiva. In 1432 they conquered Angkor, the capitol of Cambodia, and went on to incorporate a good deal of Cambodian royal culture into Ayutthaya. The King's Thai, for example, which uses a number of Khmer (Cambodian) words, became the language of the royal court. The Cambodian influence on architecture is also clear, especially on temples and palaces (most of the city was made from wood, so only temples and palaces survive today). The towers, which represent Mt. Mehru, the axis of the world that rose from the primordial ocean at the creation of the word, were clearly borrowed from Cambodian architecture, though they were blended with Thai styles as well.
In 1556 the 2nd Burmese empire invaded and took the city with the help of the royal family of Phitsanulok, which had been the royal family of Sukhotai before that city was abandoned in favor of the new location. The Burmese intended to keep Thailand as a vassal and put the Phitsanulok royal family on the throne, but the new king tricked the Burmese into allowing him to raise an army to fight an imaginary threat from Cambodia. He then used the new army to fight off the Burmese. The new royal family largely reestablished Buddhist-style kingship, though they retained a number of Hindu god-king elements as well, many of which remain today. (In fact, the symbol of the current dynast is a trident and a disk, which represent the trident of Shiva and the disk carried by Vishnu.)
Under king Narai in the early 1600s, Ayutthaya established trade and diplomatic contacts around the old world. Narai established ties with European nations, especially Greece and France, and other nations, especially Iran, which was in it's golden age under the Safivid dynasty. Ayutthaya and the kingdom as a whole grew wealthy trading with partners around the world. Several European travelers and diplomats described Ayutthaya as one of the most illustrious cities in the world. At one point it reached a population of over 1 million, which was rare in those days.
By the late 1700s European imperial powers were flexing their muscles. The Dutch blocked the port of Siam in order to force the signing of a favorable trade treaty, and other European powers were eyeing Thailand as a potential colony (Thailand was, however, never colonized.) In 1767 the 3rd Burmese empire invaded and destroyed all of Ayutthaya. A prince and general named Taksin who was in Cambodia at the time fought off the Burmese, but it was too late for Ayutthaya. Taksin moved the capitol to Tonburi, and after he went insane and was ousted the capitol was moved to Bangkok where the Chakri dynasty was established. Bangkok remains the capitol and the Chakri dynasty remains the constitutional monarchy of today.
Comments and faves
Swami Stream (44 months ago | reply)
Thanks for the histroy , I am linking this page from my flickr photo so people get the history of these chedis .
Check this out www.flickr.com/photos/araswami/2929255794/
rumtum11 (41 months ago | reply)
Ayuthaya founder was a Chinese named Uthong. He asked the Chinese Emperor the Ming to help him fighting against the Khmer Empire so he can take over the Khmer Empire place.
The Khmer King did not prepare war for over 100 years since Khmers defeated the Chams. With the Chinese modern war equipment and the Chinese modern war weapons such as canons and the metal dress army that attack without warning, Uthong can invade the Khmer City Angkor easily.
But the Khmer King Pohnea Yat came back, kicked the Siam King out of Angkor and crushed the Siam army and named a battle place as a Khmer province "Siem Reap" means the Khmer crushed the Siam like bugs under the Khmer feet.
In 1548-1592, the first Burmese attack Ayuthaya and occupied Ayuthaya for almost 50 years, the Siam King begged the Khmer King for help fighting against the Burmese. With the Khmer army help that kicked the Burmese out of Ayuthaya for the first time. The Siam King never respected the Khmer King, every time the Siam King thinks he got better, he attacked the Khmer King.
In 1760-1767, the second Burmese attack and the Burmese destroyed Ayuthaya completely.
With the Khmer army help again fighting against the Burmese to liberate Ayuthaya from the Burmese occupation. In the Mahamuni temple in Myanmar today, the Burmese described how powerful the Khmer warrior statues.
In WWII, Thailand allied the Japanese invading its neighbors such as Cambodia, Malaysia and Burma. The British and its allied defeated the Japanese and Thailand. Thailand was a British colony for one year but with the US help Thailand can avoid of being the British colony. Thailand became a foreign cemetery colony permanently as many foreign soldier graves buried at the Kanchanaburi cemetery in Thailand today.