Page 61 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SUM 59

In the Prince of founded a new at
1350 Ut'ong city
and himself with the title of
Ayut'ia, proclaimed King,
Rama T'ibodi I. This was the commencement of the
present Kingdom of Siam.
The of Rama T'ibodi must be dealt with in
reign King
another but it will be convenient first to describe
chapter,
the events of the of Suk'ot'ai.
briefly concluding Kingdom
KingLoet'ai died in 1347 ; his son, Prince T'ammaraja
Liit'ai was compelled to fight for the throne against some
rebels or whom he overcame and executed.
conspirators,
He succeeded to a small the
very Kingdom, including only
towns of Suk'ot'ai, Sawank'alok, Kamp'engp'et, P'itsan-
ulok, P'ichit, and Nak'on Sawang, and some claim to
over Nan and 1
suzerainty P're, Luang P'rabang.
King T'ammaraja did not seek to recover the lost
Suk'ot'ai dominions, but devoted himself to religious
works, such as the building of pagodas and monasteries,
and sought in every way to promote the happiness and
welfare of his
subjects.
The King effected religious reformations with the aid
of Buddhist whom he caused to come from
priests Ceylon,
and had several of Buddha set at Suk'ot'ai.
large images up
One of these, cast in 1361, may be seen to-day in Wat
Sut'at at
Bangkok.
In the same Lut'ai
year (1361) King T'ammaraja
became a Buddhist an event which was considered
priest,
so remarkable that it was connected in the mind
public
with an and other which occurred at
earthquake portents
about the same time.
King T'ammaraja Liit'ai was a great builder of roads
and digger of canals. He made a road from Suk'ot'ai
to Sawank'alok, and other roads to connect his capital
with Kamp'engp'et and other smaller cities. It is
1
He appears to have been crowned as King or Viceroy of Sawank'alok in 1340.