Page 245 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM 229
bloodshed in the He tried to alter the order of
past.
succession, and to pass over the claims of his brother,
the Maha in favour of his own eldest
Uparat, son,
Prince Naren. This Prince, who was very fond of
his uncle, declined to to what he as
agree regarded
an act of and not after retired into a
injustice, long
monastery.
The King, however, was determined that his brother
should not succeed him. He fell ill not
long afterwards,
and that his end was he as his
feeling near, proclaimed
successor his second son, Prince Ap'ai. The Uparat
to his claim to the crown in
protested, offering forgo
favour of his eldest nephew, but not for Prince Ap'ai,
who had no reasonable to become Uncle
right King,
and nephew began to collect their adherents, with a
view to contesting the matter by force of arms. In the
midst of these warlike preparations King T'ai Sra died,
in January 1733, aged fifty-four.
King T'ai Sra is spoken of by Siamese historians as a
it would on the
cruel and sinful man, mainly, seem,
ground that he was extremely fond of hunting and
He does to have been
fishing. not, however, appear
hard or unmerciful to his subjects, and he cannot be
regarded as a bad or unsuccessful ruler. The worst
error of his life was made when he was for his
dying,
unjust attempt to alter the succession was the cause of
much bloodshed and misery.
During his reign (in 1717) important events took
in A Lao named raised
place Chiengmai. T'ep Singh
a rebellion against the Burmese, many of whom were
the Burmese
massacred, including Prince, Min Renra,
a cousin of the King of Burma, T'ep Singh only ruled
Chiengmai for a short time. He was in his turn ousted by
a Luang P'rabang Prince, Ong K'am, who routed a