AYUTTHAYA HISTORICAL RESEARCH



KRAISON SIHARAT ROYAL RESIDENCE





The Kraison Siharat Hall, commonly known as Phra Thinang Yen or Phra Tamnak Thale Chup Son, is situated in the Thale Chup Son Sub-district of Lopburi. Around 1666 CE, after ten years on the throne, King Narai (reign 1656-1688 CE) began enlarging and improving Lopburi, building a palace and a forest lodge. [1].


The king ordered the construction of a residence on an island in the middle of Thale Chup Son as a royal retreat, particularly when he visited the surrounding forests and went hunting. The construction period is unknown, but it must certainly have been built before 1685 CE, when the first French embassy was welcomed there.


“At that time the Holy Feet of the Paramount Refuge, Paramount Reverence and Holy Buddha Lord Omnipotent proceeded in holy royal procession on up to the Municipality of Lopburi frequently and proceeded to tour the vicinity of Crystal Pool. Then a holy royal palace enclosure was ordered to be built at the Municipality of Lopburi and His Majesty resided, contented in His holy heart, in that place. Thereafter His Majesty proceeded in holy royal procession on a tour to view the spacious woods and forests and the summit areas, splendid with their varieties of vegetation, deliciously shady and soaring, solitary spots and forest files far afield, abundant with birds, with various winged things and with four-legged beasts to excite His holy heart with glee and ecstasy. … Then it was ordered that a holy royal residence be established in that place. And His Majesty went to tour that vicinity frequently and then His Majesty would accordingly return to the holy royal palace enclosure.” [2]


The location was carefully chosen. It was approximately three km from the old city of Lopburi. A large body of water surrounded it, and the landscape provided a cooler environment, offering a relatively secluded place for royal recreation and relaxation.


The building was a single-storey Thai-style building made of brick and mortar, with a cruciform (four-directional) plan. The layout has four front porches with extended, recessed corners, similar to the architectural style of the Suttha Sawan residential hall at Phra Narai Rachaniwet Palace. The building had three functional sections: a front audience or reception area, a private royal section, and accommodation for the women of the palace. The building had a projecting front porch with a central royal window. The windows and doors are accented in the Ruean Kaeo style, well known during King Narai's reign. Thai and Western architecture blend in the construction, but the Thai influence remains strongest. Today, only the hall's walls remain.





(Tamnak Kraison Siharat - June 2020 CE)



Within the compound, a group of small brick buildings with pointed arched doors and windows likely served as accommodation for the guards. In front of the area behind the hall, two types of mounting platforms stand, one on each side: one for the king to mount an elephant and another to access a sedan chair.

A wall surrounded the country retreat. Several iron chains were laid side by side, half a foot apart, spanning the width of the solid ground between the canal and the wall. They were armed with a double row of large iron spikes, a kind of caltrops. Every night, they tightened these chains around the retreat to defend and hinder approaches to the island. Along the outside wall was a 60- to 70-cm-wide path for the guards to patrol. [3]

“The King of Siam drinks water from a great Cistern made in the Fields, on which is kept a continual Watch. Besides that this Prince has a little house called Tlee Poussone, or Rich Sea, about a League from Louvo. It is seated on the brink of certain Low-lands, about two or three Leagues in extent, which receive the Rain-waters and preserve them. This little Sea is of an irregular figure, its Shores are neither handsom nor even but its Waters are wholesome, by reason they are deep and setled, and I have also heard that the King of Siam drinks thereof.” [4]




(Tamnak Kraison Siharat - June 2020 CE)



Thale Chup Son


In the past, Thale Chup Son was a large natural lowland basin, connected to the slightly higher-located Phrommat fields (1) in the west, that amassed rainwater. Especially in the rainy season, water flowed from the Khao Sam Yot mountain range and drained into this lowland, forming a shallow lake.


King Narai ordered the construction of a large embankment to divert the stream from Thale Chup Son, passing it through a baked-clay pipe to the Rachaniwet Palace in Lop Buri. A mound remains. The Khmer likely constructed the Thale Chup Son freshwater reservoir and its soil dike in the 13th century. Its name is associated with the legend of Rama dipping his sacred arrow into the water. The area is associated with white marl deposits (2) and the traditional production of ‘din so pong’ (ดินสอพอง), a type of white mineral powder. The reservoir is now dry.


The freshwater reservoir was completed in 1684 CE to provide a continuous supply of fresh water to the Rachaniwet Palace, located 4 km southwest along the Lopburi River. The sloping ground from the low range of hills to the east formed a natural depression and served as one side of the reservoir embankments. On the south and west, a heavy earthen embankment enclosed the reservoir, about 7 km long and around 4 meters high, while the area available for water storage was roughly 2.5 square kilometres. These embankments are now part of Roads No. 3013 and 3016. The probable depth of the water, when the tank was full, must have been around 3 meters, deeper in some places and less in others. [5]


At present Thale Chup Son is no more, and the area is occupied with residences and many ponds, the latter the last witnesses of the old reservoir. We can still see the steep slopes dropping from the two roads into the low-lying area, which was once the bottom of the reservoir.


Guy Tachard, a French Jesuit missionary, described the lake as follows:


“At a league from Louvo this Prince has built a very roomy Palace. It is surrounded by brick walls fairly high. The interior is made of wood only. The place is very pleasant on account of the natural situation. There is a large stretch of water which makes of it a peninsula, and on this water the King of Siam has built two frigates with six small pieces of cannon, on which this Prince takes pleasure in going about. Beyond this canal is a forest, 15-20 leagues in extent and full of Elephants, Rhinoceros, Tigers, Deer and Gazelles.” [6]





(A map of Lop Buri showing the location of King Narai's water reservoir and his “country retreat' in relation to his palace and Wat San Paulo. The blue dots mark the position of the 12-13 feet high earth embankment that was erected to stop run-off from the mountains to the east, thereby forming the water reservoir. The water reservoir is based on the cadastral map prepared by A.J. Irwin in the 1890s. - Source: W. Orchiston, D.L. Orchiston, M. George et al. (2019). The Role of Eclipses and European Observers in the Development of ‘Modern Astronomy’ in Thailand)



The Legends

Since ancient times, Thai people have believed that Rama's life story took place on Thai soil consequently, some cities, towns, villages, mountains, and lakes are popularly associated with the legend. In the Brahman mythology, Vishnu came to earth incarnated as Phra Rama. The waters of Thale Chup Son are considered sacred because Rama is believed to have immersed (chup) the head of his arrow (son) in this lake. Because the waters had touched the sacred arrow, the place became known as "Thale Chup Son", meaning roughly "the Sea where the Arrow was Dipped." Later Thai royal tradition regarded the site as a sacred body of water and suitable for ritual purposes. In 1854 CE, King Mongkut (Rama IV) sprinkled the lake's water on his weapons to strengthen them with Rama's power. [7]

The unusual white clay found around Lopburi is part of the Ramakien legend. After Rama defeated Totsakan (Ravana), he rewarded Hanuman by granting him the land of Lavo (Lopburi). Rama shot a divine arrow to mark the site of Hanuman's kingdom. When the arrow struck the ground at present-day Lopburi, it set the earth ablaze. Hanuman extinguished the fire with his tail, and the scorched ground became the region's famous white clay (din so phong). This also explains the city's association with monkeys, who were believed to be descendants of Hanuman's monkey army.



Water distribution


The King gave the highest priority to water supply for consumption. He thus granted a royal commission to construct a dam at Thale Chup Son to store water for use throughout the year.


Friar Thomas Valuguarnera (ca. 1595-1665) played a major role in constructing the waterworks system in the city of Lawo. Valuguarnera and his Italian crew surveyed the depth of Thale Chup Son and planned the water supply routes for the city’s use. Other French priests then completed the construction of the water supply pipes. It took until 1684 CE for the construction of the water supply pipes to be completed. Water was directed through a water gate known as Pak Jan (3).


The Pak Jan Gate was situated at the southwest corner of the Thale Chup Son freshwater reservoir. It served as the entry point to an open water canal called the Pak Chan Canal, which transported water from Thale Chup Son to a sedimentation pond called Sa Kaeo (Crystal Pond).





(Part of a diagram of the hypothetical simulation of the water supply system from the water source of Ang Chan Lek. Picture from the book 'Ang Kaew and the water supply of Lopburi City during the reign of King Narai the Great' by Lieutenant Colonel Boonyarit Chaisuwan)



Sa Kaeo, formerly a large rectangular pond beside the eastern outer city wall, of which remnants still exist, is situated north of Wat Sai, now renamed Wat Chi Pa Suntharam, in Tha Hin Sub-district of Lopburi District. Sa Kaeo was a sedimentation pond from which purified water was distributed to the Kaeo Basin (Ang Kaeo) at Ban Saphan It (4), via baked-clay water pipes (terracotta) with a diameter of 35 cm, protected by brick trenches. Remnants of the pipeline can be seen at the Lopburi Zoo (5).


From the Kaeo Basin, fresh water flowed to the Prang Khaek water storage tank (a two-storey masonry structure on the south side of the shrine complex at the junction of Wichayen and Sura Songkhram roads) and then via 20 cm diameter pipes to the water tank at the Rachaniwet Palace. The water pipes crossed the two defence moats on pipe support piers, single vertical intermediate support structures (columns or shafts) built up from the moat bed.





(The two-storey storage tank at Prang Khaek - February 2015 CE)



Nicolas Gervaise (1662/63-1729 CE), a French young-age volunteer for foreign missions, studied theology at the College General in Ayutthaya, wrote:

“On the left is a large reservoir for the supply of water to the whole Palace it is the work of a Frenchman and of an Italian more successful and more skillful in Hydraulics than several Foreigners who have worked there with the most expert Siamese for ten entire years without having succeeded in anything. The reward which they received from the King was in proportion to the service which they had rendered him, and to the earnest wish which the Prince had always entertained of having water in his Castle.” [8]





(View of the Pak Jan water gate - 20 November 2017 CE)



Astronomy


The Kraison Siharat residential hall is important in terms of astronomy because King Narai utilised this place for an observation of a lunar eclipse in the early morning of 11 December 1685 CE. The French King Louis XIV sent six Jesuit mathematicians and astronomers on a scientific expedition to the Indies and China with the first French Embassy of Chevalier Alexandre de Chaumont following a request by Ferdinand Verbiest. The Jesuits, led by Jean de Fontenay (1643–1710), included Joachim Bouvet (1656–1730), Louis le Comte (1655–1728), Jean-François Gerbillon (1654–1707), Guy Tachard (1648–1712), and Claude de Visdelou (1656–1737).


On 15 November, the six Jesuits were transported to Lopburi in three large boats: one for themselves with 24 rowers, and two others for their luggage and instruments. On 22 November 1985 CE, the French Jesuit astronomers had a short, private audience with King Narai in Lopburi. Because a total lunar eclipse was expected on the morning of 11 December 1685 CE, King Narai invited them to observe it from his country retreat in Thale Chup Son. Constantine Phaulkon (6) and the Jesuits made a reconnaissance to the Kraison Siharat on 9 December. They found the location well suited for observing the lunar eclipse, as they could easily see a panorama of the sky and had enough space to set up their instruments.


“A more convenient spot could not be selected. We saw the Heavens on all sides and we had all the space necessary for setting up our instruments. Having settled everything we returned to Louvo.” (Tachard, 1686).


On the 10th of December, around 1600 Hr, the Jesuits returned to the hall armed with three telescopes and a pendulum. Thereafter, they joined an Elephant hunt. At 2100 Hr, after visiting the illumination for the elephant hunt, the Jesuits arrived at a wide canal about 4 Km long leading to the Kraison Siharat, where a barge was waiting for them. They went to the observation site to adjust their instruments, and after an hour they re-embarked and went to Phaulkon's lodging, situated about 100 paces from the hall, arriving there at 2300 Hr to rest. At 0300 Hr they re-embarked to the observation site, situated on the western side of the Kraison Siharat residential hall on a terrace adjacent to the reservoir, and began preparing their instruments.





(The pavilion where King Narai resided during the eclipse observation - June 2017 CE)



They readied a 5-ft-long telescope in the window of a nearby lounge for the King. The king followed the observations for two hours, asked different questions, and even asked to look through Father de Fontenay's 12-ft-long telescope (7). The Jesuits made their last observations around 0600 Hr at Phaulkon's house.


“… went to the Gallery where the observation was to be made. It was then near Three of the Clock in the Morning... We prepared a very good Telescope for [His Majesty] five foot long, in a Window of a Room that looked into the Gallery where we were... The King expressed a particular Satisfaction, seeing all the Spots of the Moon in the Telescope... He put several Questions to us during the Eclipse. He had a mind to look in a Telescope twelve foot long... He suffered us to rise and stand in his Presence, and would look in the Telescope after us, for we must needs set it to its Point when we presented it to him...” (Tachard, 1688)


Engraving No. XXVI in Tachard's book (8) shows the lunar eclipse observation at Thale Chup Son. King Narai wears a cone-shaped headdress and witnesses the eclipse through a telescope placed on a tripod from a window. Phaulkon stands in the window next to the king. On one side of the water, mandarins crouch on a terrace, while on the other side the six Jesuit astronomers look through their telescopes, use a pendulum clock, and take notes. A mandarin presents six cassocks and as many coats of satin with flowers on a silver platter to the Jesuits. In the painting, we see the covered walkway on the east side leading to the main hall. The pavilion stands west of the walkway adjacent to the western water terrace.


The successful observation of the lunar eclipse increased King Narai's enthusiasm, as he was very interested. The king supported Phaulkon's idea of establishing major observatories in Ayutthaya and Lopburi, similar to those in Beijing and Paris. As such, construction of a four-storey tower observatory began in Lopburi in 1686 CE. King Narai also ordered his Siamese Embassy to France to demand twelve mathematicians from King Louis XIV to man these observatories. (Tachard, 239)





(The engraving No. XXVI in “A Relation of the Voyage to Siam, performed by Six Jesuits sent by the French King to the Indies and China in the Year 1685”)



“It can be said that the modern study of astronomy happened for the first time here in Thailand at this yen pavilion of Lopburi.” (9)


The in situ information board says the first astronomical study in Thailand occurred here at the Kraison Siharat residential hall. However, this honour actually goes to Jesuit Father Antoine Thomas (1644-1709 CE) from Namur (present-day Belgium), who arrived in Ayutthaya on 1 September 1681 CE hoping to reach Japan. Forced to stay in Ayutthaya, Thomas carried out solar observations from the Jesuit church San Paolo or the nearby Jesuit residence in the Portuguese settlement on 14 October and 30 December 1681 CE to determine Ayutthaya's latitude. He also observed the 22 February 1682 CE lunar eclipse with a simple pendulum and determined the city's longitude. Thomas left Ayutthaya soon after and arrived in Macau on 4 July 1682 on his way to Beijing. [9]





(National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand - NARIT commemoration plaque at Thale Chup Son - June 2020 CE)



Constantine Phaulkon


Thale Chup Son is also associated with a macabre event in Siamese history. In this area, Constantine Phaulkon, the Phraya Wichayen, was executed on 5 June 1688 CE. Phaulkon's death is described in a “History of M. Constance”, written by the Jesuit father Pierre-Joseph d'Orléans (1641-1698 CE).


“They made him mount an elephant and took him well guarded to the Tale-Poussoone. ·when they had arrived at the place of execution they made him descend to the ground and told him that he must die.”… “Then an executioner advanced and with a back handed stroke of the sword having cut him in two caused him to fall on his face, dying and heaving a deep sigh, which was the last of his life. Thus died in the flower of his years a famous man, at the age of 41 years.” [10]


Phaulkon was horribly tortured, declared guilty of lèse-majesté and high treason, and condemned to death by Petracha (10) the days before. He was transported to Thale Chup Son by an execution party under the command of Petracha’s son, Luang Sorasak (11), a ‘painted arm’ (12) struck him with the reverse of his sabre, which split him down the middle of his body. He fell dying on his face with a great sigh. To finish him off, his head was sliced with several blows and his remains thrown into a ditch on the spot. [11]


Seidenfaden noted that during his 1921 CE visit, just before reaching the Kraison Siharat residential hall, he observed four small wooden Chao Thi (spirit of the land) shrines erected on the embankment, called “San Chao Phraya Wichayen”. According to popular belief, Phaulkon died here, and people erected the spirit houses to appease his spirit. [12]


The Kraison Siharat Hall is at the geographical coordinates 14° 48' 43.59" N, 100° 38' 42.24" E.





(Phaulkon’s Residence or Wichayen’s House in Lopburi – February 2015 CE)



Footnotes:

(1) In ancient Sanskrit writings, Prommat (Th) or Brahmastra refers to a weapon created by Brahma. The Brahmastra is mentioned in the epics and Vedas as a weapon of last resort and was never to be used in combat. Several Puranas consider it a highly destructive weapon, while the Mahabharata describes it as a single projectile charged with the power of the universe.
(2) Thale Chup Son is an ancient lake basin and exactly the sort of environment where calcareous sediments and marl can accumulate over centuries or millennia.
(3) Giblin, on a survey of the area in 1908 CE, reported that near the south-west corner of the reservoir there were two water gates, which could still be seen. He saw another sluice gate to the north, but it is uncertain whether this was used merely as an overflow or as an opening into a channel leading to the city by another route. (Giblin, 1908)
(4) A local-history document from Thepsatri Rajabhat University identifies an ancient water feature, Ang Kaeo (Kaeo Basin), within Ban Saphan It. It states that the basin was associated with the old village.
(5) Originally called Sa Kaeo Zoo, the zoo was renamed Lopburi Zoo in 1996 CE by the zoo committee.
(6) Constantine Phaulkon (1647-1688 CE) was a Greek adventurer who worked as an interpreter with the English East India Company in the years 1670–78. He was introduced to the Siamese court and quickly rose to acting minister of finance and foreign affairs by 1685, as virtual prime minister, he led efforts to shape King Narai’s foreign policy. In collaboration with French Roman Catholic missionaries, Phaulkon schemed to establish French power in Thailand. He encouraged diplomatic exchanges between King Narai and King Louis XIV, and they drafted a treaty in December 1685. Louis XIV presented additional demands and, in 1687, sent an armed French expedition to Siam to secure acceptance of his terms, which included French garrisons at the strategic sites of Bangkok and Mergui. Narai ratified a final treaty, hoping closer relations with France would help balance the strong Dutch economic influence in Ayutthaya. In March 1688, King Narai became seriously ill. Phaulkon, isolated without the king’s support, was overthrown and executed by an anti-French faction at the Thai court led by Narai’s foster brother Phetracha. The French garrisons were expelled from the country. (Britannica)
(7) The 12-ft telescope was made by the Paris telescope maker Philippe Claude Lebas (1637-1677 CE), while the pendulum clock was made by the royal Paris clockmaker Isaac Thuret (ca 1630-1706 CE).
(8) The painting was drawn by Pierre-Paul Sevin and engraved in Paris by Cornelius-Martin Vermeulen. Neither was present in Siam. The accuracy of the painting is thus certainly not guaranteed. (Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h, in his catalogue of the exhibition Phra Narai, Roi de Siam, et Louis XIV held at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, in 1986 Smithies, Michael (2003) - "Eclipses in Siam 1685 and 1688, and their Representation". - The Journal of the Siam Society, vol. 91.
(9) Textual quote from the Fine Arts Department information board at the Kraison-Siharat Hall in Lopburi.
(10) Later King Phetracha (reign 1688-1703 CE). Ok-Phra Petracha was brought up with Narai. The latter placed him in charge of the royal elephants. With help from his son Sorosak, Petracha cleverly orchestrated events after King Narai fell ill in February 1688. He disposed of Narai's favourite Mom Pi and the king’s half-brothers Chao Fa Noi and Aphaithot arrested and murdered Phaulkon and finally added Narai's daughter, Queen Yotthathep, to the number of his wives. Ok-Phra Petracha's coup d' etat in Lopburi took place on 18 May 1688 CE. (Forbin, Count Claude (de) - The Siamese Memoirs of Count Claude de Forbin 1685–1688. Introduced and edited by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1996.)
(11) Later King Süa (reign 1703-1709 CE) (12) Called “Os Braços Pintados” by the Portuguese because they had their arms painted red. These people were the king's guards, gatekeepers, rowers, and executioners.



References:


[1] Van der Cruysse, Dirk (2002). Siam & the West, 1500-1700. Silkworm Books.
[2] Cushman, Richard D. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. The Siam Society, Bangkok. Narai’s Summer Palace at Lopburi. p. 302.
[3] Tachard, Guy (1981). A Relation of the Voyage to Siam, performed by Six Jesuits sent by the French King to the Indies and China in the Year 1685. [1688] Bangkok. White Orchid Press.
[4] De La Loubère, Simon (1693). A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam” (2 Tomes). London. Edited by John Villiers. White Lotus, Bangkok, 1986.
[5] Giblin, R.W. (1908). Lopburi Past and Present. The Journal of the Siam Society, vol. 5.3.
[6] Tachard, Guy (1981). A Relation of the Voyage to Siam, performed by Six Jesuits sent by the French King to the Indies and China in the Year 1685. [1688] Bangkok: White Orchid Press.
[7] Singaravelu, S. (1982). The Rama Story in the Thai Cultural Tradition. The Journal of the Siam Society, vol. 70, no. 1 & 2.
[8] Gervaise, Nicolas (1688). The Natural and Political History of the Kingdom of Siam. Paris. Translated and edited by John Villiers. White Lotus Press, Bangkok, 1998.
[9] Orchiston, Wayne George, Martin Soonthornthum, Boonrucksar (2016). Exploring the first scientific observations of lunar eclipses made in Siam. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 19(1), 25–45.
[10] Orléans (d'), Pierre-Joseph (1754). Histoire De M. Constance, Premier Ministre Du Roi De Siam : Et De La Dernière Révolution De Cet État. Duplain, Lyon.
[11] Le Blanc, Marcel (1692). Histoire de la révolution du Roiaume de Siam arrivée en l’année 1688. Horace Molin, Lyon.
[12] Seidenfaden, Erik (1922). An Excursion to Lophburi. The Journal of the Siam Society, vol. 15.2.



Selected PICTURES



Pictures taken February 2007 CE



Pictures taken February 2017 CE



Pictures taken July 2022 CE



When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.
(Alexis de Tocqueville)





HISTORY OF AYUTTHAYA



© 2009-2026
All rights reserved