AYUTTHAYA HISTORICAL RESEARCH



THE CHULARATCHAMONTRI CEMETERY





The tomb of the 4th Chula Ratchamontri, named "Chen", is located off the city island in the southern area, at Tambon Samphao Lom (the capsized junk Sub-district), on an ancient Muslim graveyard called Chao Kun Khu Cham. The cemetery lies on the west bank of the Khu Cham canal in an area largely populated by Muslims. Chen, a Persian Muslim, was the Phraya Chula Ratchamontri during the reign of King Suriyamarin (1758-1767 CE). He was the last Chula Ratchamontri (1) of the Ayutthaya era.


His father, Jai, a royal page under King Narai (reign 1656-1688 CE), was raised to the rank of Chao Phraya Phet Pichai during the reign of King Borommakot (1733-1758 CE) and served as Commander of the Cham Volunteers (2) and the Japanese Volunteer Forces. He converted to Buddhism during King Borommakot's pilgrimage to the Phra Phutthabat in Saraburi in 1750 CE. His younger brother, Sen, became Chao Phraya Maha Sena, or Head of the Ministry of Defence, during the reign of King Suriyamarin. (3) [1]


The youngest brother, Nu, was a director of the royal pages, holding the title of Chao Meuan Wai Woranat, at the time the Burmese sacked Ayutthaya in 1767 CE (4). [2]


Chen remained faithful to Shi’ism. He was married to Konthong, and they had a son, Konkaew (5). Their family home stood at the mouth of the Khu Cham Canal. Chen first obtained the rank of Phraya Wichit Narong and was later promoted to Phraya Chula Rtachamontri. The Shi’ite Muslim family, belonging to the Sheikh Ahmad family branch, were thus quite powerful in the Siamese administration of that time and monopolised the Department of Western Maritime Affairs. [3]


Chen was also given charge of the Royal Treasury, but was apparently not given the title of Chao Phraya Phra Khlang, which usually came with this position. [4]





(The Chula Ratchamontri cemetery - Picture taken February 2010 CE)



The Chula Ratchamontri, or Sheikh'ul Islam, controlled the Department of Western Maritime Affairs, known in Siam as the Krom Tha Khwa, meaning the "Ministry of the Harbour of the Right", from the 17th century onwards. It was one of the four ministries (6) reorganised during the 1610s, with the assistance of two prominent Muslim merchants, Sheikh Ahmad and Muhammad Said, from Persia, who the Ayutthayan Kings employed to maintain Ayutthaya's status as a profitable centre for trade.


The new structural division grouped all areas of primary concern to Muslim traders into a single department, covering all the ports along the northern and eastern rims of the Indian Ocean, as well as the Muslim trading centres. The Krom Tha Khwa was traditionally led by a Muslim minister and served as the Kingdom’s means of engaging profitably with the Muslim trade networks throughout Asia. [5]


The Krom Tha Khwa was a commerce and foreign communications section within the Krom Phra Khlang (the Department of Trade and Treasury), responsible for commerce, the merchant marine, and foreign affairs. [6]


The Chula Ratchamontri, established during the reign of King Songtham (1610/1611-1628 CE), served as the leader of the Muslim community, an adviser to the King on Muslim matters, and an arbiter of disputes among non-Chinese foreigners. [7]





(The mausoleum of the 4th Chula Ratchamontri - Picture taken August 2009 CE)



After the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 CE and the establishment of the new capital at Thonburi under King Taksin, Chen returned to his family home at the mouth of Khlong Khu Cham here in Ayutthaya. He died of old age. Chen, the 4th Chula Ratchamontri and the last of the Ayutthaya period, has his mausoleum in the ancient Chao Kun Khu Cham Muslim cemetery, the burial ground of many Muslims of the Ayutthaya era.


Locals stated that the Muslim cemetery was built on the ruins of a Buddhist monastery called Wat Thong. (7) Some shattered brickwork is found in situ around the burials (the site could indeed be a brick mound), but it is impossible to determine at first sight that those bricks belonged to the said temple. Phraya Boran Ratchathanin indicated a monastery named Wat Thong on his 1926 CE map of this area, but he placed the structure at the mouth of the Khu Cham canal on the east bank.





(The tomb of the 4th Chula Ratchamontri - Picture taken February 2010 CE)



Footnotes:


(1) Thipakorawong states that the Chula Ratchamontri compound derives from the Arabic word "shura", meaning an Islamic council, and the Sanskrit word "montri", meaning a King’s counsellor, so that Chula Ratcha Montri means the King’s Muslim counsellor. He was the head of Muslims in Thailand as Sheikh'ul Islam. (Thipakorawong, 1979)

(2) The Krom Asa Cham (Cham Volunteer Corps) was a division of the Ministry of Defence, with the Phraya Ratchawangsan as the division chief (Chao Krom), responsible for the Cham volunteers, who were Muslims of Cham and Malay descent. (Chularatana, 2008)

(3) Chularatana states that Sen also became a Buddhist. Buddhism was used during the Ban Phlu Luang period, beginning with King Petracha (reign 1688-1703 CE), to foster a sense of identity and unity within the Siamese kingdom. Some of Sheikh Ahmad’s descendants in the Siamese bureaucracy probably worried about their instability (as non-core group members) and sought to escape by converting to Buddhism. After Phraya Phetphichai (Jai) became a Buddhist, he and his family succeeded in re-establishing their power and roles in the Siamese administration. Sen's son (with his second wife), Bunnag, became the progenitor of the Bunnag family and played a vital role in administering the Siamese kingdom from the early Rattanakosin period until the 1880s. (Aphornsuvan, 2003)

(4) In the royal pages, there were four directors (jang wang) directly under the department head, who was invariably a royal relative. These four held the title of Chao Muean, with a Sakdina of 1000, and were colloquially addressed as Phra Nai. The four were: Sanphet Phakdi, Si Sorarak, Samu Jairat, and Wai Woranat. (Ref: Baker, Chris & Phongpaichit, Pasuk (2012). The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen: Siam’s Great Folk Epic of Love and War.)

(5) His son, Konkaew, was appointed by King Rama I to the position of Phraya Chula, the first Chula Ratchamontri in the Rattanakosin period. (Chularatana, 2008)

(6) The other three were the Department of General Administration, Appeals and Records, the Department of Royal Warehouses and the Department of Eastern Maritime Affairs and Crown Junks. (Ref: Hourdequin, Peter (2007). Muslim Influences in Seventeenth-Century Ayutthaya: A Review Essay.)

(7) In this case, the cemetery should date from the post-Ayutthaya period. The Burmese probably used Wat Thong as a war position and were thus abandoned by the Buddhist clergy. The monastery must have been seriously damaged either during the sieges of 1760 or 1766-1767 CE.


References:


[1] Chularatana, Julispong (2008). The Shi’ite Muslims in Thailand from Ayutthaya Period to the Present. Chulalongkorn University. Manusya: Journal of Humanities.

[2] www.bunnag.in.th retrieved on 19 February 2010.

[3] Chularatana, Julispong (2008). The Shi’ite Muslims in Thailand from Ayutthaya Period to the Present. Chulalongkorn University. Manusya: Journal of Humanities.

[4] Aphornsuvan, Thanet (2003). History and Politics of the Muslims in Thailand. Thammasat University.

[5] Thipakorawong, Chao Phraya (1979). Book of Multifarious Duties (หนังสือแสดง กิจจานุกิจ). Bangkok: Khurusapha.

[6] Chularatana, Julispong (2008). The Shi’ite Muslims in Thailand from Ayutthaya Period to the Present. Chulalongkorn University. Manusya: Journal of Humanities.

[7] Aphornsuvan, Thanet (2003). History and Politics of the Muslims in Thailand. Thammasat University.



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Pictures taken February 2009 CE



Pictures taken February 2010 CE



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