As soon as his Majesty had recovered from his genuine convulsion of
grief for the death of his sweet little princess, Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying,
he proceeded, habited in white, with all his family, to visit the
chamber of mourning. The grand-aunt of the dead child, who seemed the
most profoundly afflicted of all that numerous household, still lay
prostrate at the feet of her pale cold darling, and would not be
comforted. As his Majesty entered, silently ushered, she moved, and
mutely laid her head upon his feet, moaning, _Poot-tho! Poot-tho!_
There were tears and sighs and heart-wrung sobs around. Speechless, but
with trembling lips, the royal father took gently in his arms the little
corpse, and bathed it in the Siamese manner, by pouring cold water upon
it. In this he was followed by other members of the royal family, the
more distant relatives, and such ladies of the harem as chanced to be in
waiting,--each advancing in the order of rank, and pouring pure cold
water from a silver bowl over the slender body. Two sisters of the king
then shrouded the corpse in a sitting posture, overlaid it with perfumes
and odoriferous gums, frankincense and myrrh, and, lastly, swaddled it
in a fine winding-sheet. Finally it was deposited in a golden urn, and
this again in an-other of finer gold, richly adorned with precious
stones. The inner urn has an iron grating in the bottom, and the outer
an orifice at its most pendent point, through which by means of a tap or
stop-cock, the fluids are drawn off daily, until the _cadavre_ has
become quite dry.
This double rim was borne on a gilt sedan, under a royal gilt umbrella,
to the temple of the Maha Phrasat, where it was mounted on a graduated
platform about six feet high. During this part of the ceremony, and
while the trumpeters and the blowers of conch-shells performed their
lugubrious parts, his Majesty sat apart, his face buried in his hands,
confessing a keener anguish than had ever before cut his selfish heart.
The urn being thus elevated, all the insignia pertaining to the rank of
the little princess were disposed in formal order below it, as though at
her feet. Then the musicians struck up a passionate passage, ending in a
plaintive and truly solemn dirge; after which his Majesty and all the
princely company retired, leaving the poor clod to await, in its pagan
gauds and mockery, the last offices of friendship. But not always alone;
for thrice daily--at early dawn, and noon, and gloaming--the musicians
came to perform a requiem for the soul of the dead,--"that it may soar
on high, from the naming, fragrant pyre for which it is reserved, and
return to its foster parents, Ocean, Earth, Air, Sky." With these is
joined a concert of mourning women, who bewail the early dead, extolling
her beauty, graces, virtues; while in the intervals, four priests (who
are relieved every fourth hour) chant the praises of Buddha, bidding the
gentle spirit "Pass on! Pass on!" and boldly speed through the labyrinth
before it, "through high, deep, and famous things, through good and evil
things, through truth and error, through wisdom and folly, through
sorrow, suffering, hope, life, joy, love, death, through endless
mutability, into immutability!"
These services are performed with religious care daily for six months;
[Footnote: Twelve months for a king.] that is, until the time appointed
for cremation. Meanwhile, in the obsequies of the Princess Fâ-ying,
arrangements were made for the erection of the customary
_P'hra-mène_,--a temporary structure of great splendor, where the body
lies in state for several days, on a throne dazzling with gold and
silver ornaments and precious stones.
For the funeral honors of royalty it is imperative that the P'hra-mène
be constructed of virgin timber. Trunks of teak, from two hundred to two
hundred and fifty feet in length, and of proportionate girth, are felled
in the forests of Myolonghee, and brought down the Meinam in rafts.
These trunks, planted thirty feet deep, one at each corner of a square,
serve as pillars, not less than a hundred and seventy feet high, to
support a sixty-foot spire, an octagonal pyramid, covered with gold
leaf. Attached to this pyramid are four wings, forty feet long, with
handsome porches looking to the cardinal points of the compass; here
also are four colossal figures of heroic myths, each with a lion
couchant at its feet.
On one side of the square reserved for the P'hra-mène, a vast hall is
erected to accommodate the Supreme King and his family while attending
the funeral ceremonies. The several roofs of this temporary edifice have
peculiar horn-like projections at the ends, and are covered with crimson
cloth, while golden draperies are suspended from the ceiling. The entire
space around the P'hra-mène is matted with bamboo wicker-work, and
decorated with innumerable standards peculiar to Siam. Here and there
may be seen grotesque cartoons of the wars of gods and giants, and rude
landscapes supposed to represent the Buddhist's heaven, with lakes and
groves and gardens. Beyond these are playhouses for theatrical displays,
puppet-shows, masquerades, posturing, somersaulting, leaping, wrestling,
balancing on ropes and wires, and the tricks of professional buffoons.
Here also are restaurants, or cook-shops, for all classes of people
above the degree of boors; and these are open day and night during the
period devoted to the funeral rites.
The grand lodge erected for the Second King and his household, at the
cremation of his little niece, resembled that of his brother, the
Supreme King, in the regal style of its decorations.
The centre of the P'hra-mène is a lofty octagon; and directly under the
great spire is a gorgeous eight-sided pyramid, diminishing by
right-angled gradations to a truncated top, its base being fifty or
sixty feet in circumference, and higher by twenty feet than the
surrounding buildings. On this pyramid stood the urn of gold containing
the remains of the royal child. Above the urn a golden canopy hung from
the lofty ceiling, and far above this again a circular white awning was
spread, representing the firmament studded with silver stars. Under the
canopy, and just over little Fâ-ying's urn, the whitest and most
fragrant flowers, gathered and arranged by those who loved her best in
life, formed a bright odoriferous bower. The pyramid itself was
decorated with rare and beautiful gifts, of glass, porcelain, alabaster,
silver, gold, and artificial flowers, with images of birds, beasts, men,
women, children, and angels. Splendid chandeliers suspended from the
ceiling, and lesser lights on the angles of the pyramid, illuminated the
funeral hall.
These showy preparations completed, the royal mourners only waited for
the appointed time when the remains must be laid in state upon the
consecrated pyre. At dawn of that day, all the princes, nobles,
governors, and superior priests of the kingdom, with throngs of baser
men, women, and children, in their holiday attire, came to grace the
"fiery consummation" of little Fâ-ying. A royal barge conveyed me, with
my boy, to the palace, whence we followed on foot.
The gold urn, in an ivory chariot of antique fashion, richly gilt, was
drawn by a pair of milk-white horses, and followed and attended by
hundreds of men clad in pure white. It was preceded by two other
chariots; in the first sat the high-priest, reading short, pithy
aphorisms and precepts from the sacred books; in the other followed the
full brothers of the deceased. A strip of silver cloth, six inches wide,
attached to the urn, was loosely extended to the seats of the royal
mourners in this second chariot, and thence to the chariot of the high-
priest, on whose lap the ends were laid, symbolizing the mystic union
between death, life, and the Buddha.
Next after the urn came a chariot laden with the sacred sandal-wood, the
aromatic gums, and the wax tapers. The wood was profusely carved with
emblems of the indestructibility of matter; for though the fire
apparently consumes the pile, and with it the body, the priests are
careful to interpret the process as that by which both are endued with
new vitality; thus everything consecrated to the religious observances
of Buddhism is made to typify some latent truth.
Then came a long procession of mythological figures, nondescripts drawn
on small wooden wheels, and covered with offerings for the priests.
These were followed by crowds of both sexes and all ages, bearing in
their hands the mystic triform flower, emblematic of the sacred circle,
_Om_, or Aum. To hold this mystic flower above the head, and describe
with it endless circles in the air, is regarded as a performance of
peculiar virtue and "merit," and one of the most signal acts of devotion
possible to a Buddhist. And yet, as the symbol of One great Central
Spirit, whose name it is profanation to utter, the symbol is strangely
at variance with the doctrines of Buddhism.
The moment the strange concourse, human and mythological, began to move,
the conch-shells, horns, trumpets, sackbuts, pipes, dulcimers, flutes,
and harps rent the air with wild wailing; but above the din rose the
deep, booming, measured beat of the death-drums. Very subtile, and
indescribably stirring is this ancient music, with its various weird and
prolonged cadences, and that solemn thundering boom enhancing the
peculiar sweetness of the dirge as it rises and falls.
Under the spell of such sounds as these the procession moved slowly to
the P'hra-mène. Here the urn was lifted by means of pulleys, and
enthroned on the splendid pedestal prepared for it. The silver cloth
from the chariot of the high-priest was laid upon it, the ends drooping
on the eastern and western sides to the rich carpet of the floor. A
hundred priests, fifty on either hand, rehearsed in concert, seated on
the floor, long hymns in Pali from the sacred books, principally
embodying melancholy reflections on the brevity and uncertainty of human
life. After which, holding the silver cloth between the thumb and
forefinger, they joined in silent prayer, thereby, as they suppose,
communicating a saving virtue to the cloth, which conveys it to the dead
within the urn. They continued thus engaged for about an hour, and then
withdrew to give place to another hundred, and so on, until thousands of
priests had taken part in the solemn exercises. Meanwhile the four
already mentioned still prayed, day and night, at the Maha Phrasat. A
service was likewise performed for the royal family twice a day, in an
adjacent temporary chapel, where all the court attended,--including the
noble ladies of the harem, who occupy private oratories, hung with
golden draperies, behind which they can see and hear without being seen.
As long as these funeral ceremonies last, the numerous concourse of
priests is sumptuously entertained.
At nightfall the P'hra-mène is brilliantly illuminated, within and
without, and the people are entertained with dramatic spectacles derived
from the Chinese, Hindoo, Malayan, and Persian classics. Effigies of the
fabulous Hydra, or dragon with seven heads, illuminated, and animated by
men concealed within, are seen endeavoring to swallow the moon,
represented by a globe of fire. Another monster, probably the Chimæra,
with the head and breast of a lion and the body of a goat, vomits flame
and smoke. There are also figures of Echidna and Cerberus, the former
represented as a beautiful nymph, but terminating below the waist in the
coils of a dragon or python; and the latter as a triple-headed dog,
evidently the canine bugaboo that is supposed to have guarded Pluto's
dreadful gates.
About nine o'clock fireworks were ignited by the king's own hand,--a
very beautiful display, representing, among other graceful forms, a
variety of shrubbery, which gradually blossomed with roses, dahlias,
oleanders, and other flowers.
The flinging of money and trinkets to the rabble is usually the most
exciting of the pranks which diversify the funeral ceremonies of Siamese
royalty; in this _mal à propos_ pastime his Majesty took a lively part.
The personal effects of the deceased are divided into two or more equal
portions, one of which is bestowed on the poor, another on the priests;
memorials and complimentary tokens are presented to the princes and
nobles, and the friends of the royal family. The more costly articles
are ticketed and distributed by lottery; and smaller objects, such as
rings and gold and silver coins, are put into lemons, which his Majesty,
standing on the piazza of his temporary palace, flings among the sea of
heads below. There is also at each of the four corners of the
P'hra-mène, an artificial tree, bearing gold and silver fruit, which is
plucked by officers of the court, and tossed to the poor on every side.
Each throw is hailed by a wild shout from the multitude, and followed by
a mad scramble.
In this connection the following "notification" from the king's hand
will be intelligible to the reader.
"THE NOTIFICATION
"In regard to the mourning distribution and donation in funeral service
or ceremony of cremation of the remains of Her late Royal Highness
celestial Princess Somdetch Chowfa Chandrmondol Sobhon Bhagiawati,
[Footnote: Fâ-ying.] whose death took place on the 12th May, Anno
Christi 1863.
"This Part consisting of a glasscoverbox enclosing a idol of Chinese
fabulousquadruped called 'sai' or Lion, covered with goldleaf ornamented
with coined pieces of silver & rings a black bag of funeral balls
enclosing some pieces of gold and silver coins &c., in funeral service
of Her late Royal Highness the forenamed princess, the ninth daughter or
sixteenth offspring of His Majesty the reigning Supreme King of Siam,
which took place in ceremony continued from 16th to 21st day of February
Anno Christi 1864. prepared ex-property of Her late lamented Royal
Highness the deceased, and assistant funds from certain members of the
Royal Family, designed from his Gracious Majesty Somdetch P'hra
Paramendr Maha Mongkut, Her late Royal Highness' bereaved Royal father.
Their Royal Highnesses celestial princes Somdetch Chowfa Chulalonkorn
the full elder brother, Chowfa Chaturont Rasmi, and Chowfa Bhangurangsi
Swang-wongse, the two younger full brothers, and His Royal Highness
Prince Nobhawongs Krommun Maha-suarsivivalas the eldest half brother.
Their Royal Highnesses twenty-five princes, Krita-bhinihar, Gaganang
Yugol &c. the younger half-brothers, and their Royal Highnesses seven
princesses, Yingyawlacks, Dacksinja, and Somawati, &c., the elder
sisters, 18 princesses, Srinagswasti, &c., the younger half-sisters of
Her late Royal Highness the deceased, for friendly acceptance of--who is
one of His present Siamese Majesty's friends who either have ever been
acquainted in person or through means of correspondence &c. certain of
whom have ever seen Her late Royal Highness, and some have been
acquainted with certain of her late Royal Highness the deceased's elder
or younger brothers and sisters.
"His Siamese Majesty, with his 29 sons, and 25 daughters above partly
named, trusts that this part will be acceptable to every one of His
Gracious Majesty's and their Royal Highnesses' friends who ever have
been acquainted with his present Majesty, and certain of Their Royal
Highnesses or Her late Royal Highness the deceased, either in person or
by correspondence, or only by name through cards &c. for a token of
remembrance of Her late Royal Highness the deceased and for feeling of
Emotion that this path ought to be followed by every one of human beings
after long or short time, as the lights of lives of all living beings
are like flames of candles lighted in opening air without covering and
Protecting on every side, so it shall be considered with great emotion
by the readers.
"Dated ROYAL FUNERAL PLACE. BANGKOK, 20th February, Anno Christi 1864."
Thus twelve days were passed in feasting, drinking, praying, preaching,
sporting, gambling and scrambling. On the thirteenth, the double urn,
with its melancholy moral, was removed from the pyramid, and the inner
one, with the grating, was laid on a bed of fragrant sandalwood, and
aromatic gums, connected with a train of gunpowder, which the king
ignited with a match from the sacred fire that burns continually in the
temple Watt P'hra Këau. The Second King then lighted his candles from
the same torch, and laid them on the pyre; and so on, in the order of
rank, down to the meanest slave, until many hundreds of wax candles and
boxes of precious spices and fragrant gums were cast into the flames.
The funeral orchestra then played a wailing dirge, and the mourning
women broke into a concerted and prolonged keen, of the most
ear-piercing and heart-rending description.
When the fire had quite burned itself out, all that remained of the
bones, charred and blackened, was carefully gathered, deposited in a
third and smaller urn of gold, and again conveyed in great state to the
Maha Phrasat. The ashes were also collected with scrupulous pains in a
pure cloth of white muslin, and laid in a gold dish; afterward, attended
by all the mourning women and musicians, and escorted by a procession of
barges, it was floated some miles down the river, and there committed to
the waters.
Nothing left of our lovely darling but a few charred bits of rubbish!
But in memory I still catch glimpses of the sylph-like form, half veiled
in the shroud of flame that wrapped her last, but with the innocent,
questioning eyes still turned to me; and as I look back into their
depths of purity and love, again and again I mourn, as at first, for
that which made me feel, more and more by its sympathy, the peculiar
desolation of my life in the palace.
Immediately on the death of a Supreme King an order is issued for the
universal shaving of the bristly tuft from the heads of all male
subjects. Only those princes who are older than their deceased sovereign
are exempt from the operation of this law.
Upon his successor devolves the duty of providing for the erection of
the royal P'hra-mène--as to the proportions and adornment of which he is
supposed to be guided by regard for the august rank of the deceased, and
the public estimation in which his name and fame are held. Royal
despatches are forthwith sent to the governors of four different
provinces in the extreme north, where the noblest timber abounds,
commanding each of them to furnish one of the great pillars for the
P'hra-mène. These must be of the finest wood, perfectly straight, from
two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet long, and not less than twelve
feet in circumference.
At the same time twelve pillars, somewhat smaller, are required from the
governors of twelve other provinces; besides much timber in other forms
necessary to the construction of the grand funeral hall and its numerous
supplementary buildings. As sacred custom will not tolerate the presence
of pillars that have already been used for any purpose whatever, it is
indispensable that fresh ones, "virgin trunks," be procured for every
new occasion of the obsequies of royalty. These four great trunks are
hard to find, and can be floated down the Meinam to the capital only at
the seasons when that stream and its tributaries are high. This is
perhaps the natural cause of the long interval that elapses--twelve
months--between the death and the cremation of a Siamese king.
The "giant boles" are dragged in primitive fashion to the banks of the
stream by elephants and buffaloes, and shipped in rafts. Arrived at
Bangkok, they are hauled on rollers inch by inch, by men working with a
rude windlass and levers, to the site of the P'hra-mène.
The following description of the cremation, at Bejrepuri, of a man "in
the middle walks of life," is taken from the _Bangkok Recorder_ of May
24, 1866:--"The corpse was first to be offered to the vultures, a
hundred or more. Before the coffin was opened the filthy and horrible
gang had assembled, 'for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the
eagles (vultures) be gathered together.' They were perched on the ridges
of the temple, and even on small trees and bushes, within a few feet of
the body; and so greedy were they that the sexton and his assistants had
to beat them off many times before the coffin could be opened. They
seemed to know that there would be but a mouthful for each, if divided
among them all, and the pack of greedy dogs besides, that waited for
their share. The body was taken from the coffin and laid on a pile of
wood that had been prepared on a small temporary altar. Then the birds
were allowed to descend upon the corpse and tear it as they liked. For a
while it was quite hidden in the rush. But each bird, grabbing its part
with bill and claws, spread its wings and mounted to some quiet place to
eat. The sexton seemed to think that he too was 'making merit' by
cutting off parts of the body and throwing them to the hungry dogs, as
the dying man had done in bequeathing his body to those carrion-feeders.
The birds, not satisfied with what they got from the altar, came down
and quarrelled with the curs for their share.
"While this was going on, the mourners stood waiting, with wax candles
and incense sticks, to pay their last tribute of respect to the deceased
by assisting in the burning of the bones after the vultures and dogs had
stripped them. The sexton, with the assistance of another, gathered up
the skeleton and put it back into the coffin, which was lifted by four
men and carried around the funeral pile three times. It was then laid on
the pile of wood, and a few sticks were put into the coffin to aid in
burning the bones. Then a lighted torch was applied to the pile, and the
relatives and other mourners advanced, and laid each a wax candle by the
torch. Others brought incense and cast it on the pile.
"The vultures, having had but a scanty breakfast, lingered around the
place until the fire had left nothing more for them, when they shook
their ugly heads, and hopping a few steps, to get up a momentum, flapped
their harpy wings and flew away."