Page 275 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM
259
Early in 1770 the Priest-King of Fang sent a band
of marauders to the town of and
plunder Jainat, King
Taksin realised that the time had come to the
bring
false prophet to book. Three armies, totalling over
20,000 men, were employed on this expedition, and they
made very short work of the northern forces. P'itsanulok
was soon taken, and after a brief delay there the army of
the future that time the title of
Wangna (at bearing P'ya
Yomarat) invested the capital of the Priest-King,
Sawangburi. This was only a small town, surrounded
by a wooden stockade. The prophet soon lost heart,
and when a young white elephant was born in his city,
he took it as an omen of coming disaster to himself, and
fled away to the north. He was never captured, and his
ultimate fate is unknown.
The capture of Sawangburi meant the re-establishment
of the old territorial limits of Siam, and thenceforth
King Taksin ruled over practically the same territory
as the later Kings of Ayut'ia, with the exception of
Tavoy and Tenasserim.
The King was, as might be expected, greatly disgusted

by the excesses and immoralities of the false prophet
and his myrmidons. He held that every priest in northern
Siam under the of a in
lay suspicion being participator
the crimes that had been committed, and compelled
numbers of them to the ordeal water.
large undergo by
Those who could not withstand this test were
expelled
from the priesthood and punished. A thorough reforma-
tion of the Church in the northern provinces was then
undertaken sent from the south.
by priests up
It may here be mentioned that King Taksin was
to the of trial whether
unusually partial system by ordeal,
by fire or water, and constantly made use of it in doubtful
cases. This was in accordance with his character,
quite