Page 74 - A History of Siam

CHAPTER V

REIGNS OF KING RAMBSUEN, RING BOROMORAJA I, KING
LAN, KING RAM RAJA, AND KING INT*ARAJA I

KING RAMA T'IBODI left the throne to his son, Prince
Ramesuen, the Governor of Lopburi. The new King
was unpopular, probably owing to the incompetence he
had shown as a General in the Cambodian war. A
year after his accession disturbances broke out which he
was unable to and he was his Ministers
quell, urged by
to abdicate in favour of his uncle, Prince Boromoraja
the Governor of The matter was
(P'angoa), Sup'an.
Prince became
amicably arranged. Boromoraja King,
and King Ramesuen reverted to his former position as
Governor of
Lopburi (1370).
King Boromoraja I was the fifth son of the former
Prince of and was the brother-in-law
Ut'ong (Sup'an)
of King Rama T'ibodi I. His name, P'angoa, is an
archaic form of the word ngoa y meaning five. At that
time it was very common to call children by numbers,
even in noble or families. be com-
princely Ngoa may
to the Roman name 1
pared Quintus.
after
Shortly ascending the throne, King Boromoraja
sent an embassy to the Emperor of China. The power
of the Mongol rulers of China had just succumbed to a
series of blows dealt by the virtuous and illustrious
I i, Ai 2. Yi
This system of nomenclature was as follows : ; ; 3, Sam ; 4,
6, Lok 7, Chet 8, Pet 9, Chao These same
Sai ; 5, Ngoa ; ; ; ; ; xo, Chong.
names are in use among the Shans at the present day, though most of them have
There was a ftirnilar system for naming girls*