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Mongkut (18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama IV. He reigned from 1851 until his death in 1868.
The reign of Mongkut was marked by significant modernization initiatives and diplomatic engagements, which played pivotal roles in shaping Siam's trajectory towards progress and international relations. It was during his reign that Siam first felt the pressure of Colonialism. Mongkut embraced Western innovations and initiated reforms in technology, science, and culture, earning him the posthumous title "the Father of Science and Technology" in Siam. His accurate prediction of the total solar eclipse of 18 August 1868 — later dubbed "the King of Siam's eclipse" — demonstrated his scientific acumen and became a symbol of Siam's engagement with modern science.
Mongkut was also known for appointing his younger brother, Pinklao, as Second King, crowned in 1851 as King Pinklao. Mongkut told the country that Pinklao should be respected with equal honor to himself (as King Naresuan had done with his brother Ekathotsarot in 1583). During Mongkut's reign, the power of the House of Bunnag reached its zenith: It became the most powerful noble family of Siam.
Mongkut is known in the West primarily through the lens of the 1951 musical The King and I and its 1956 film adaptation, in which he was portrayed by Yul Brynner. Brynner's performance as King Mongkut earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 29th Academy Awards in 1957.
Vajirayan became one of the few members of the royal family who devoted his life to religion. He travelled around the country as a monk and saw the relaxation of the rules of the 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 monastic rules of discipline, the vinaya. Vajirayan admired Buddhawangso for his obedience to the vinaya, and was inspired to pursue religious reforms.
In 1835, he began a reform movement reinforcing the vinaya law that evolved into the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, or Dhammayut sect. A strong theme in Mongkut's movement was that, "…true Buddhism was supposed to refrain from worldly matters and confine itself to spiritual and moral affairs". Mongkut eventually came to power in 1851, as did his colleagues who had the same progressive mission. From that point on, Siam more quickly embraced modernization.Winichakul 1997, p. 40 Vajirayan initiated two major revolutionary changes. Firstly, he embraced modern geography, among other sciences considered "Western". Secondly, he sought reform in Buddhism and, as a result, a new sect was created in Siamese Theravada Buddhism. Both revolutions challenged the purity and validity of the Buddhist order as it was practiced in Siam at the time.Winichakul 1997, p. 39
In 1836, Vajirayan arrived at Wat Bowonniwet in what is now Bangkok's central district, but was then the city proper, and became the wat's first abbot (เจ้าอาวาส). During this time, he pursued a Western education, studying Latin, English, and astronomy with missionary and sailors. Vicar Pallegoix of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bangkok lived nearby; the two became close friends, and Vajirayan invited Pallegoix to preach Christian in the wat. Vajirayan admired Christian morals and achievements as presented by the vicar, but could make nothing of Christian doctrine. It was then that he made the comment later attributed to him as king: "What you teach people to do is admirable, but what you teach them to believe is foolish."
King Mongkut would later be noted for his excellent command of English, although it is said that his younger brother, Viceroy Pinklao, could speak it even better. Mongkut's first son and heir, Chulalongkorn, granted the Thammayut sect royal recognition in 1902 through the Ecclesiastical Polity Act; it became one of the two major Buddhist denominations in modern Thailand.
Chulalongkorn also persuaded his father's 47th child, Vajirañana, to enter the order and he rose to become the 10th Supreme Patriarch of Thailand from 1910 to 1921.
Prince Mongkut was supported by the pro-British Prayurawongse who was the Chatusadom, or Armed Force Department's president, and the most powerful noble during the reign of Rama III. He also had the support of British merchants who feared the growing anti-Western sentiment of the previous monarch and saw the 'prince monk' Mongkut as the 'champion' of European influence among the royal elite.
Bunnag, with the supporting promise of British agents, sent his men to the leaving-from-monk-status ceremony for Prince Mongkut even before Nangklao's death. With the support of powerful nobility and Britain, Mongkut's ascension to the throne was ensured. After his twenty-seven years of monastic life, King Mongkut voluntarily defrocked and 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 pro-British. Sir James Brooke, a British delegate, even praised him as "our own king", and showed his support of him as a new king of Siam.Tarling, Nicholas. The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia vol. 1 part 1, 1999. p. 44. Having been celibate for 27 years, he now set about building the biggest royal family of the Chakri dynasty. Inside the palace there was a large number of women—reports say three thousand or more. They were mostly servants, guards, officials, maids and so on, but Mongkut acquired 32 wives, and by the time he died, aged 64, he had 82 children. His awareness of possibility of an outbreak of war with the European powers led him to institute many innovative activities. He ordered the nobility to wear shirts while attending his court; this was to show that Siam was a "modern" nation from the Western point of view.
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 Dit Bunnag to Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Prayurawongse ( Somdet Chao Phraya was the highest rank of nobility on a par with royalty) and made him his regent kingdom-wide. Mongkut also appointed Dit Bunnag's brother, Tat Bunnag, as Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Pichaiyat, as his regent in Bangkok. As a result, the administrative power of Siam rested largely in the hands of the two Bunnags, Dit and Tat.
Upon his coronation, Mongkut married his first wife, Queen Somanass. However, Queen Somanass died in the same year. He then married his half-grandniece, Mom Chao Rampoei Siriwongse, later Queen Debsirindra.
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.
However, Mongkut did not abandon the traditional culture of Siam. 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. 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 Concubinage to find their own husbands, in 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, Nangklao, Mongkut did not see the importance of sending envoys to the Qing dynasty court, as 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 Europeans had been attempting to undo this monopoly for a long time but no serious measures had been taken. For Siamese people, trading with foreigners subjected them to severe punishment by the government. The taxation was partially reduced in the Burney Treaty. However, in the world of nineteenth-century liberalism, government control over trade was swiftly disappearing.
The abolition of such trade barriers replaced the previous system of Siamese commerce with free trade. Import taxation was reduced to 3% and could only be collected once. This was a blow to national revenue. However, this led to dramatic growth of commercial sectors as common people gained access to foreign trade. 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 requested not to be tried under the Siamese system, securing a grant of extraterritoriality; British subjects 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 proved to be 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 Currency in 1860. The first industries in Siam were rice Gristmill and sugar production. Infrastructure was improved; there was a great deal of paving of roads and canal diggingfor transport and water reservoirs for plantations.
Her story would become the inspiration for the Hollywood movies Anna and the King of Siam and Anna and the King as well as the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I and its subsequent film adaptation, which, because of their fictionalized historical references and perceived disrespectful treatment of King Mongkut, were initially banned in Thailand as the Thai government and people considered them to be lèse majesté. To clarify the historical record, well-known Thai intellectuals Seni Pramoj and Kukrit Pramoj in 1948 wrote The King of Siam Speaks. The Pramoj brothers sent their manuscript to the American politician and diplomat Abbot Low Moffat Abbot Low Moffat (1901–1996), who drew on it for his 1961 biography, Mongkut the King of Siam. 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. Slavery in Thailand was sometimes a voluntary alternative for individuals to be rid of social and financial obligations. One could be punished for torturing slaves in Siam, and some slaves could buy their freedom. Some western scholars and observers have expressed the opinion that Siamese slaves were treated better than English servants.
In 1868, he invited high-ranking European and Siamese officials to accompany him to Wakor village in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, south of Hua Hin, (2025). 9789811336447 ISBN 9789811336447 where the solar eclipse that was to occur on 18 August could be best viewed as a total eclipse.Winichakul 1997, p. 46 Sir Harry Ord, the British governor of the Straits Settlements from Singapore, was among those who were invited. King Mongkut predicted the solar eclipse, at (in his own words) "East Greenwich longitude 99 degrees 42' and latitude North 11 degrees 39'." King Mongkut's calculations proved accurate. When he made calculations on the Wakor solar eclipse that was to occur, he used the Thai system of measuring time ("mong" and "baht"), but he implemented the Western method of longitude and latitude when he determined where on Earth the eclipse would best be viewed.Winichakul 1997, p. 45 Upon returning from his journey to Wakor, he condemned the court astrologers "for their...stupid statements because of their negligence of his detailed prediction and their inattention to measurement and calculation by modern instruments."Winichakul 1997, p. 47
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 malaria.
It has been argued that the assimilation of Western geography and astronomy into 19th-century Siam "proved that Siam equalled the West in terms of knowledge, and therefore the Imperialism' claim that Siam was uncivilized and had to be colonized was unreasonable."Winichakul 1997, p. 57 This suggests that the Western form of these sciences may have saved Siam from actually being colonized by Western powers.
A century later, during his state visit to the US, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who was Mongkut's great-grandson, referred to this event in his address before the US Congress on 29 June 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."
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