Page 95 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM
93
either very young or were not born of mothers of high
rank. Among the Laos, it was, and is (for the title is
still in use in northern unusual to a son
Siam), appoint
of the or Prince to be The
reigning King Uparat.
choice almost fell on a brother. 1
invariably
The Maha Uparat was, in fact, the Crown Prince.
It is not clear Trailok Prince
why King appointed
his to be Maha but it seems
Jett'a, younger son, Uparat,
probable that he intended Prince Boromoraja, who was
already Regent of Ayut'ia, to become King there, and
that Prince Jett'a was Uparat for the northern dominion
of P'itsanulok If this was Trailok's
only. King plan,
namely to dismember his Kingdom, it was a very unwise
one. it was not carried into effect after
Fortunately,
his death.
In 1486 war broke out once more with Chiengmai.
This was due to Maharaja Tilok's action in having all
the members of a Siamese embassy massacred. He
remembered the incident of the
probably magic pots,
and was very suspicious of visitors from the south.
The Siamese invaded Chiengmai territory, but no
took and in the
important engagements place, following
Tilok died. He was
year (1487) Maharaja seventy-eight
of and had for He
years age, reigned forty-four years.
was in every way a most remarkable man. A bad son,
a to his
a harsh and unnatural father, tyrant people,
and a relentless foe to the Siamese, he to
yet appears
have been a man of A
strong religious principles.
Buddhist Council was held at Chiengmai in his reign,
and he did much in every way to foster religion. It
was during his tenure of power that the famous emerald

1 Several European writers, e.g. van Vliet, have asserted that the legal heir to
the throne of Siam was always a brother of the King. This is a mistake, caused
by the fact that the Uparat living at the time when the statement was made
happened to be a brother of the reigning King.