Eulogy of King Prasat Thong

Eulogy of King Prasat Thong is a long poem in Thai, composed during the king’s reign (1629–1956) by a senior noble. It is the first Thai poem which is specifically a royal panegyric and titled as such. It recounts the main events of the reign, including the building and renaming of the Chakkawat Phaichaiyon audience hall, adjustment of the calendar, a grand almsgiving, and a military parade and festival, all also described in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. It also states that King Prasat Thong is a bodhisatta, destined to become the tenth in a sequence of ten future Buddhas beginning with Metteyya. This claim is currently found in no other document. The sole manuscript, which was discovered in the 1980s, was copied in 1747/8 and is clearly incomplete. An annotated edition, including a

Eulogy of King Prasat Thong

Eulogy of King Prasat Thong is a long poem in Thai, composed during the king’s reign (1629–1956) by a senior noble. It is the first Thai poem which is specifically a royal panegyric and titled as such. It recounts the main events of the reign, including the building and renaming of the Chakkawat Phaichaiyon audience hall, adjustment of the calendar, a grand almsgiving, and a military parade and festival, all also described in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. It also states that King Prasat Thong is a bodhisatta, destined to become the tenth in a sequence of ten future Buddhas beginning with Metteyya. This claim is currently found in no other document. The sole manuscript, which was discovered in the 1980s, was copied in 1747/8 and is clearly incomplete. An annotated edition, including a