The Prince Somdetch Chowfa Chulalonkorn [Footnote: The present Supreme
King.] was about ten years old when I was appointed to teach him. Being
the eldest son of the queen consort, he held the first rank among the
children of the king, as heir-apparent to the throne. For a Siamese, he
was a handsome lad; of stature neither noticeably tall nor short; figure
symmetrical and compact, and dark complexion. He was, moreover, modest
and affectionate, eager to learn, and easy to influence.
His mother dying when he was about nine years old, he, with his younger
brothers, the Princes Chowfa Chaturont Rasmi and Chowfa Bhangurangsi
Swang Wongse, and their lovely young sister, the Princess Somdetch
Chowfa Chandrmondol ("Fâ-ying"), were left to the care of a grand-aunt,
Somdetch Ying Noie, a princess by the father's side. This was a
tranquil, cheerful old soul, attracted toward everything that was bright
and pretty, and ever busy among flowers, poetry, and those darlings of
her loving life, her niece's children. Of these the little Fâ-ying
(whose sudden death by cholera I have described) was her favorite; and
after her death the faithful creature turned her dimmed eyes and
chastened pride to the young prince Chulalonkorn. Many an earnest talk
had the venerable duchess and I, in which she did not hesitate to
implore me to instil into the minds of her youthful wards--and
especially this king that was to be--the purest principles of Christian
faith and precept. Yet with all the freshness of the religious habit of
her childhood she was most scrupulous in her attendance and devotions at
the temple. Her grief for the death of her darling was deep and lasting,
and by the simple force of her love she exerted a potent influence over
the mind of the royal lad.
[Illustration: THE HEIR-APPARENT.]
A very stern thing is life to the children of royalty in Siam. To watch
and be silent, when it has most need of confidence and freedom,--a
horrible necessity for a child! The very babe in the cradle is taught
mysterious and terrible things by the mother that bore it,--infantile
experiences of distrust and terror, out of which a few come up noble,
the many infamous. Here are baby heroes and heroines who do great deeds
before our happier Western children have begun to think. There were
actual, though unnoticed and unconscious, intrepidity and fortitude in
the manuvres and the stands with which those little ones, on their own
ground, flanked or checked that fatal enemy, their father. Angelic
indeed were the spiritual triumphs that no eye noted, nor any smile
rewarded, save the anxious eye and the prayerful smile of that sleepless
maternity that misery had bound with them. But even misery becomes
tolerable by first becoming familiar, and out of the depths these royal
children laughed and prattled and frolicked and were glad. As for the
old duchess, she loved too well and too wisely not to be timid and
troubled all her life long, first for the mother, then for the children.
Such was the early training of the young prince, and for a time it
availed to direct his thoughts to noble aspirations. From his studies,
both in English and Pali, he derived an exalted ideal of life, and
precocious and inexpressible yearnings. Once he said to me he envied the
death of the venerable priest, his uncle; he would rather be poor, he
said, and have to earn his living, than be a king.
"'Tis true, a poor man must work hard for his daily bread; but then he
is free. And his food is all he has to lose or win. He can possess all
things in possessing Him who pervades all things,--earth, and sky, and
stars, and flowers, and children. I can understand that I am great in
that I am a part of the Infinite, and in that alone; and that all I see
is mine, and I am in it and of it. How much of content and happiness
should I not gain if I could but be a poor boy!"
He was attentive to his studies, serene, and gentle, invariably
affectionate to his old aunt and his younger brothers, and for the poor
ever sympathetic, with a warm, generous heart. He pursued his studies
assiduously, and seemed to overcome the difficulties and obstacles he
encountered in the course of them with a resolution that gained strength
as his mind gained ideas. As often as he effectually accomplished
something, he indulged in ecstasies of rejoicing over the new thought,
that was an inspiring discovery to him of his actual poverty of
knowledge, his possibilities of intellectual opulence. But it was clear
to me--and I saw it with sorrow--that for his ardent nature this was
but a transitory condition, and that soon the shock must come, against
the inevitable destiny in store for him, that would either confirm or
crush all that seemed so fair in the promise of the royal boy.
When the time came for the ceremony of hair-cutting, customary for young
Siamese princes, the lad was gradually withdrawn, more and more, from my
influence. The king had determined to celebrate the heir's majority with
displays of unusual magnificence. To this end he explored the annals and
records of Siam and Cambodia, and compiled from them a detailed
description of a very curious procession that attended a certain prince
of Siam centuries ago, on the occasion of his hair-cutting; and
forthwith projected a similar show for his son, but on a more elaborate
and costly scale. The programme, including the procession, provided for
the representation of a sort of drama, borrowed partly from the
Ramayana, and partly from the ancient observances of the kings of
Cambodia.
The whole royal establishment was set in motion. About nine thousand
young women, among them the most beautiful of the concubines, were cast
for parts in the mammoth play. Boys and girls were invited or hired from
all quarters of the kingdom to "assist" in the performance. Every nation
under the sun was represented in the grand procession. In our school the
regular studies were abandoned, and in their place we had rehearsals of
singing, dancing, recitation, and pantomime.
An artificial hill, of great height, called Khoa-Kra-Lâât, was raised in
the centre of the palace gardens. On its summit was erected a golden
temple or pagoda of exquisite beauty, richly hung with tapestries,
displaying on the east the rising sun, on the west a moon of silver. The
cardinal points of the hill were guarded by the white elephant, the
sacred ox, the horse, and the lion. These figures were so contrived that
they could be brought close together and turned on a pivot; and thus the
sacred waters, brought for that purpose from the Brahmapootra, were to
be showered on the prince, after the solemn hair-cutting, and received
in a noble basin of marble.
The name given to the ceremony of hair-cutting varies according to the
rank of the child. For commoners it is called "Khone Chook"; for the
nobility and royalty, "Soh-Khan," probably from the Sanskrit _Sôh Sâhtha
Kam_, "finding safe and sound." The custom is said to be extremely
ancient, and to have originated with a certain Brahmin, whose only
child, being sick unto death, was given over by the physicians as in the
power of evil spirits. In his heart's trouble the father consulted a
holy man, who had been among the earliest converts to Buddhism, if aught
might yet be done to save his darling from torment and perdition. The
venerable saint directed him to pray, and to have prayers offered, for
the lad, and to cause that part of his hair which had never been touched
with razor or shears since his birth to be shaved quite off. The result
was a joyful rescue for the child; others pursued the same treatment in
like cases with the same effect, and hence the custom of hair-cutting.
The children of princes are forbidden to have the top-knot cut at all,
until the time when they are about to pass into manhood or womanhood.
Then valuable presents are made to them by all who are related to their
families by blood, marriage, or friendship.
When all the preparations necessary to the successful presentation of
the dramatic entertainment were completed, the king, having taken
counsel of his astrologers, sent heralds to the governors of all the
provinces of Siam, to notify those dignitaries of the time appointed for
the jubilee, and request their presence and co-operation. A similar
summons was sent to all the priests of the kingdom, who, in bands or
companies, were to serve alternately, on the several days of the
festival.
Early in the forenoon of the auspicious day the prince was borne in
state, in a gorgeous chair of gold, to the Maha Phrasat, the order of
the procession being as follows:--
First came the bearers of the gold umbrellas, fans, and great golden
sunshades.
Next, twelve gentlemen, superbly attired, selected from the first rank
of the nobility, six on either side of the golden chair, as a body-guard
to the prince.
Then, four hundred Amazons arrayed in green and gold, and gleaming
armor.
These were followed by twelve maidens, attired in cloth of gold, with
fantastic head-gear adorned with precious stones, who danced before the
prince to the gentle monotonous movement of the _bandos_. In the centre
of this group moved three lovely girls, of whom one held a superb
peacock's tail, and the two others branches of gold and silver,
sparkling with leaves and rare flowers. These damsels were guarded by
two duennas on either side.
After these stalked a stately body of Brahmins, bearing golden vases
filled with _Khoa tôk_, or roasted rice, which they scattered on either
side, as an emblem of plenty.
Another troop of Brahmins with bandos, which they rattled as they moved
along.
Two young nobles, splendidly robed, who also bore gold vases,
lotos-shaped, in which nestled the bird of paradise called Nok
Kurraweèk, the sweetness of whose song is supposed to entrance even
beasts of prey.
A troop of lads, the rising nobility of Siam, fairly covered with gold
collars and necklaces.
The king's Japanese body-guard.
Another line of boys, representing natives of Hindostan in costume.
Malayan lads in costume.
Chinese lads in costume.
Siamese boys in English costume.
The king's infantry, headed by pioneers, in European costume.
Outside of this line marched about five thousand men in long
rose-colored robes, with tall tapering caps. These represented
guardian-angels attending on the different nations.
Then came bands of musicians dressed in scarlet, imitating the cries of
birds, the sound of falling fruit, and the murmur of distant waters, in
the imaginary forest they were supposed to traverse on their way to the
Sacred Mount.
The order of the procession behind the golden sedan in which the prince
was borne, was nearly as follows:--
Next after the chair of state came four young damsels of the highest
rank, bearing the prince's betel-box, spittoon, fan, and swords. Then
followed seventy other maidens, carrying reverently in both hands the
vessels of pure gold, and all the insignia of rank and office proper to
a prince of the blood royal; and yet more, holding over their right
shoulders golden fans.
In the train of these tripped troops of children, daughters of the
nobility, dressed and decorated with fantastic splendor.
Then the maids of honor, personal attendants, and concubines of the
king, chastely dressed, though crowned with gold, and decorated with
massive gold chains and rings of great price and beauty.
A crowd of Siamese women, painted and rouged, in European costume.
Troops of children in corresponding attire.
Ladies in Chinese costume.
Japanese ladies in rich robes.
Malay women in their national dress.
Women of Hindostan.
Then the Kariens.
And, last of all, the female slaves and dependants of the prince.
At the foot of the hill a most extraordinary spectacle was presented.
On the east appeared a number of hideous monsters, riding on gigantic
eagles. These nondescripts, whose heads reached almost to their knees,
and whose hands grasped indescribable weapons, are called Yâks. They are
appointed to guard the Sacred Mount from all vulgar approach.
A little farther on, around a pair of stuffed peacocks, were a number of
youthful warriors, representing kings, governors, and chiefs of the
several dependencies of Siam.
Desirous of witnessing the sublime ceremony of hair-cutting, they
cautiously approach the Yâks, performing a sort of war dance, and
chanting in chorus:--
_Orah Pho, cha pai Kra Lâât_. "Let us go to the Sacred Mount!"
Whereupon the Yâks, or evil angels, point their wonderful weapons at
them, chanting in the same strain:--
_Orah Pho, salope thâng pooang_. "Let us slay them all!"
They then make a show of striking and thrusting, and princes, rajahs,
and governors drop as if wounded.
The principal parts in the drama were assumed by his Majesty, and their
excellencies the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The
king was dressed for the character of P'hra Inn Suen, the Hindoo Indra,
or Lord of the Sky, who has also the attributes of the Roman Genius; but
most of his epithets in Sanskrit are identical with those of the
Olympian Jove. He was attended by the Prime Minister, personating the
Sanskrit Saché, but called in Siamese "Vis Summo Kâm," and the Minister
of Foreign Affairs as his charioteer, Ma Talee. His imperial elephant,
called Aisarat, caparisoned in velvet and gold, and bearing the
supernatural weapons,--_Vagra_, the thunderbolts,--was led by
allegorical personages, representing winds and showers, lightning and
thunder. The hill, Khoa Kra Lâât, is the Sanskrit Meru, described as a
mountain of gold and gems.
His Majesty received the prince from the hands of his nobles, set him on
his right hand, and presented him to the people, who offered homage.
Afterward, two ladies of the court led him down the flight of marble
steps, where two maidens washed his feet with pure water in a gold
basin, and wiped them with fine linen.
On his way to the Maha Phrasat he was met by a group of girls in
charming attire, who held before him tufts of palm and branches of gold
and silver. Thus he was conducted to an inner chamber of the temple, and
seated on a costly carpet heavily fringed with gold, before an altar on
which were lighted tapers and offerings of all descriptions. In his hand
was placed a strip of palmyra leaf, on which were inscribed these mystic
words: "Even I was, even from the first, and not any other thing: that
which existed unperceived, supreme. Afterwards, I am that which is, and
He that was, and He who must remain am I."
"Know that except Me, who am the First Cause, nothing that appears or
does not appear in the mind can be trusted; it is the mind's Maya or
delusion,--as Light is to Darkness."