Page 64 - A History of Siam

CHAPTER IV

FOUNDATION OF AYUT*IA REIGN OF KING RAMA T'lBODI I
As related in the was
already preceding chapter, Ayut'ia
founded by the Prince of Ut'ong (now called Sup'an)
in the
year 1350.
There are few mentioned in Siamese
persons history
around whose names there hangs a greater amount of
mystery than the founder of Ayut'ia. It has been sug-
that he came from from
gested Kamp'engp'et, Cambodia,
or from Sawank'alok. To discuss all the arguments
would be out of in a work of this kind. The best
place
authorities now hold that he was the ruler of
Ut'ong,
or Suwanp'umi, an ancient city standing near the site of
the modern town of and that the name which
Sup'an, by
is not
he is known in the Siamese annals, P'ya Ut'ong,
a personal name, but the name of his original domain.
In this same manner, the Chief of Chiengmai is called at
"
the present time Chao Chiengmai."
We do not, therefore, know the personal name of the
founder of
Ayut'ia.
It would appear that he was not the son, but the son-
in-law, of the preceding Prince of Ut'ong. He is
to have been a scion of the at
supposed family reigning
1
Most of the names of the Kings of Siam given in this book are titles rather
than real names. It was not customary to icfcr to a King by his name during
his lifetime, and in many cases the personal names of the Kings are not now
known. Even the titles are often doubtful. Each King had his full style and
title inscribed on a golden plate, but these were all lost when Ayut'ia was de-
stroyed by the Burmese in 1767. The names or titles used m this book are those
commonly used by Siamese historians.
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