A Foreign Princess in the Siamese Court: Princess Dara Rasami, the Politics of Gender and Ethnic Difference in Nineteenth-Century

Siam by Leslie Ann Woodhouse B.A. (Mills College) 1990 M.A. (University of California, Berkeley) 2001 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Peter Zinoman, Chair Professor Andrew Barshay Professor Penelope Edwards Spring 2009

A Foreign Princess in the Siamese Court: Princess Dara Rasami, the Politics of Gender and Ethnic Identity in Nineteenth-Century Siam Copyright 2009 by Leslie Woodhouse

Abstract A Foreign Princess in the Siamese Court: Princess Dara Rasami, the Politics of Gender and Ethnic Identity in Nineteenth-Century Siam by Leslie Ann Woodhouse Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Peter Zinoman, Chair

The reign of Siams King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) is possibly the best-studied period in Thai history: a watershed era when Siam undertook its transformation from kingdom to nation-state within a context of intense European imperialist competition in Southeast Asia. Yet the roles played by women in this period particularly the women of the Siamese palace remain largely unexamined. The deployment of a patriarchal dynastic model in Thai historiography, as well as an Orientalist tendency to exoticize it as a harem, discount Siams all-female Inner Palace as a purely domestic space and thus outside the arena of legitimate political activity. This project aims to restore the domestic arena of Siams Inner Palace to our understanding of traditional Siamese power structures. It does so by focusing on the life of a woman who functions as the exception that proves the rule: a foreign consort named Chao (Princess) Dara Rasami, who came to the Siamese court from the neighboring kingdom of Lan Na in the mid-1880s. Using her nearly thirty-year career as a royal consort as a lens for looking into the lifeways of the Inner Palace, I examine the crucial political 1

and social roles played by consorts in the Siamese palace. As an ethnically different woman from a neighboring kingdom, Dara herself acted in two important capacities. Firstly, Dara Rasami functioned as both a hostage and a diplomat for her home kingdom in Chiang Mai, ultimately earning a somewhat higher status for her home region under Siamese rule. Secondly, as a representative of cultural difference within the palace, Daras performance of Chiang Mai identity was encouraged as part of Siams modern discourse of siwilai, or a hierarchy of civilizations of which Siamese culture was seen as the pinnacle. As such, Dara Rasamis story provides a fresh perspective on both the socio-political roles played by Siamese palace women, and Siams responses to the intense imperialist pressures it faced in the late nineteenth century.

Table of Contents Dedication....................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ iv Notes on Transliteration and Translation ........................................................................... viii Abbreviations Used for Archival Sources................................................................................ x Chapter 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................p. 1 1.1 Tracing Thai Historiography and Re-Orienting Thai History ..................................... 3 a. Women in the Historiography of Thailand ................................................................ 3 b. The Siamese Palace in Thai Literature and Historiography..................................... 9 c. Historiography of Lan Na and Thai History............................................................ 11 1.2 Materials, Methods and Approaches .............................................................................. 15 1.3 Chapter Themes and Arguments .................................................................................... 17 Appendix 1: Glossary of Frequently-Used Thai Terms.................................................... 22 Chapter 2. Constituting Lan Na: Environment, Culture and History.................................. 24 2.1 Environmental and Cultural Background of Lan Na................................................... 26 a. Founding Figures and Family Rule............................................................................ 29 2.2 Rebuilding Lan Nas Population and Economy: 1775-1850 ...................................... 33 a. Chao Chet Ton: Reviving Familial Alliance and Inventing the Khon Muang........ 37 b. The Structure of Lan Na Rulership in the Early Nineteenth Century................. 42 2.3 Shifting Economies, Shifting Allegiances: Mid-Nineteenth Century Lan Na.......... 47 a. Siamese Intervention Gone Wrong: The Chiang Tung Wars, 1848-51 ............... 52 b. The 1850s, Continued: Rumors of Lan Na Overtures to the Burmese............... 56 c. The 1873 Chiang Mai Treaty: Undermining Traditional Relationships ............... 58 d. What Went Wrong: Or, Siams Need for A Second Chiang Mai Treaty............. 64 2.4 Lan Nas Elite Women and Agency: Thipkraisorn and Ubonwanna........................ 67 2.5 Dara Rasami, Rumors and Realigning Allegiances....................................................... 73 Appendix 2: Kings of Lan Nas Chao Chet Ton Dynasty ......................................... 78 Illustrations ............................................................................................................................ 79 Chapter 3. Into the Palace: Space, Gender and Status in the Siamese Palace...................... 80 3.1 Binding the Kingdom Via the Circulation of Bodies, Male and Female................... 85 3.2 Space, Status and Circulation in the Siamese Palace.................................................... 93 a. Residence and Status in the Palace ............................................................................ 96 3.3 The Fundamentals of Life in the Inner Palace ........................................................... 100 a. Food and Supplies...................................................................................................... 100 b. Water and Hygiene..................................................................................................... 101 c. Sex and Reproduction................................................................................................ 103 i

d. Illness and Death........................................................................................................ 105 e. Death and the Disposition of Remains................................................................... 106 f. Entertainment and Amusements .............................................................................. 107 g. Male Bodies in the Inner Palace............................................................................... 108 3.4 The Palace as a Cultural Crucible ................................................................................. 110 3.5 Language, Loyalty and the Politics of the Personal in The Siamese Court ............ 120 3.6 Transgression and Punishment in the Inner Palace................................................... 130 3.7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 135 Appendix 3: Kings of Siams Chakri Dynasty ............................................................. 138 Illustrations ........................................................................................................................... 139 Chapter 4. Dara Rasami and Performing Lan Na Identity in the Siamese Court.............. 144 4.1 Royal Circulations: Moving the Siamese Court in the Early Twentieth Century... 146 4.2 Performing Ethnicity: Sartorial and Bodily Expressions (and Consumptions) ..... 151 a. Textile Traditions of Lan Na .................................................................................... 151 b. Siamese Court Textiles and Dress ........................................................................... 159 c. Dara Rasami and Ethnic Difference within the Siamese Court .......................... 165 d. Dara Rasami and Making Lan Na Dress Siwilai .................................................... 170 4.3 Drama and Performing Difference within Siamese Siwilai ....................................... 173 a. Siamese Dance-Drama during the Fifth Reign (1878-1910) ................................ 174 b. Dara Rasamis Musical and Dramatic Interests..................................................... 177 c. Domesticating Siams Peripheries through Lakhon Rong Drama......................... 184 4.4 Diplomatic Gestures: Deploying Dara Rasamis Ethnic Difference ...................... 187 a. Dara Rasami as a Colonial Proxy: The 1906 Visit of a Shan Princess................ 187 b. Deploying Northern-ness: Dara Washes the Kings Feet with Her Hair.......... 190 4.5 Dara Rasami: Self-Orientalizing or Strategically Essentializing?.......................... 196 Illustrations .......................................................................................................................... 199 Chapter 5. Dara Rasami Returns to Chiang Mai: An Outsider at Home............................ 231 5.1 Dara Rasamis Last Years at Suan Dusit and Return to Chiang Mai...................... 232 5.2 Dara Rasamis Later Life and Role in Chiang Mais Contemporary Memory....... 239 5.3 After Dara Rasami: The Decline and Fall of Palace Women in Siam.................... 242 5.4 Opportunities for Further Research............................................................................ 245 5.5 Concluding Remarks...................................................................................................... 246 Illustrations ........................................................................................................................... 248 Bibliography Archives Consulted ............................................................................................................... 254 English-Language Sources.................................................................................................... 255 Thai-Language Sources......................................................................................................... 269 ii

Dedication for David, with love and gratitude and for Warunee khien sanuk!

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Acknowledgments

Every dissertation is a product of years of research, thinking and writing which would not have been possible without the support of a host of people and institutions and this dissertation is no exception. If anything, I owe a nearly double debt to my supporters, as this project came together only after two years fruitless work on another topic before I stumbled upon Chao Dara Rasami. There are accordingly a few people to whom I owe special thanks for their academic and moral support over the years. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Peter Zinoman. Without his advice, feedback and support, I might never have successfully navigated the circuitous process that ultimately brought me to this topic. Peters support has been backed up by that of Berkeleys Department of History and Graduate Division, whose financial and moral support over the course of my graduate education have been invaluable (particularly their recent grants in support of my foreign travel and research). I also thank Mabel Lee, Graduate Assistant to the Department of History, for her professionalism and unflagging cheer in helping me clear innumerable administrative hurdles over the past several years. At Berkeley, a number of professors inside and outside the History department have aided in my progress. I must thank my first Ajaan at Berkeley, Susan Kepner, for first introducing me to Thai language and culture, and her generous feedback on my endeavors over the course of my Berkeley career. To Professors David Hollinger, Gene Irschick and Wen-Shin Yeh, I thank you for your kind counsel and periodic encouragement, even though I was not one of your advisees. Andrew Barshay has supported my endeavors since I began my graduate studies as a masters student in the Asian Studies program, and has long assisted me in thinking through the similarities and differences between the iv

modern monarchies of Thailand and Japan. A special thanks goes to Penny Edwards, who was a late addition to my dissertation committee. Penny went well above and beyond the call of duty expected of an outside committee member, acting as a sort of surrogate advisor to me while mine was abroad this past year. Her thoughtful comments and suggestions have greatly improved my chapters. Penny, I cant thank you enough for taking me on, and for taking your membership on my committee so seriously. A number of colleagues in the extended academic community have also assisted me in the development of my project. Thanks firstly to Ajaan Thongchai Winichakul, for referring me to Ajaan Warunee Osatharom, who later became my Thai mentor. My thanks also to Craig Reynolds, who provided feedback and encouragement on early drafts. I also thank Mike Montesano for applying his understanding of Thai culture and politics to a critical read of my chapters. Thanks also to Volker Grabowsky, who kindly referred me to his student Ratana (Jaeng) Pakdeekul in Chiang Mai. A number of Thai institutions and individuals also deserve credit for their assistance in my research. Miss Pannee Panyawtthanaporn and Yada Sommarat of the National Research Council of Thailand generously assisted me in gaining permission to use both the National Archives and the restricted-access archive of the Royal Secretariat. I appreciate the warm welcome given me at the Thai Khadi Institute by former director Ajaan Piriya Krailerk, and for the continuing consideration of Ajaan Anucha Thirakanont, the Institutes current director. The wonderful people at TUSEF Thailand helped me settle in during my Fulbright year (2004-05), especially Miss Siriporn, Miss Wanida, and director Ms. Pornthip Kanjaniyayot. At the Thai National Archives in Bangkok, Miss Butsyalek and Miss Phanawan provided excellent direction and advice, as did Miss Jantorn in the v

photographic collections office. Many thanks also to Mrs. Chumsri Wongwirachai, the head archivist of the Royal Secretariat, and her assistant, Miss Balima, for their assistance in accessing the Royal Archives materials related to Dara Rasami. Thanks also to Ajaan Tej Bunnag, for his kind efforts to expedite my permissions to the Royal Archive in the summer of 2007. My research assistant, Miss Daruni Somsri, gave invaluable help in translating handwritten Thai documents into readable form, and providing insights from her own research into Chiang Mais history. Last but not least, my deepest thanks to my Thai mentor, Ajaan Warunee Osatharom of the Thai Khadi Institute at Thammasat University. Though her intimate knowledge of the Thai archives make her a tremendous resource, her sense of humor and compassion that make her a great mentor whose friendship I treasure. In Chiang Mai, Ajaan Kreuk Akornchinaret and Ajaan Aroonrut Wichienkieeow both provided invaluable information and resources that opened up new perspectives on Dara Rasamis place in local history and memory. Ever since I was her student in the 2006 AST (Advanced Study of Thai) program, my ajaan thi brueksa, Miss Unchalee Sermsongsawad, has continued to give generously of her time and friendship every time I have visited Chiang Mai. I also thank Ajaan Ratanaporn Settrakul of Payap University for her support of my topic and her encyclopedic knowledge of northern history, and her introduction to the staff of Payap University librarys Northern Thai collections. I also thank Miss Tum, director of the Chiang Mai branch of the National Archives, who personally squired me around Chiang Mai to gather data on the history of Dara Academy. A special thanks to the aforementioned Ratana (Jaeng) Pakdeekul, who is herself a graduate student researching historical gender roles in Laos and Lan Na. In addition to vi

conducting a bit of oral history concerning Dara Rasamis links to her own family members, Jaeng also connected me with several key people in Chiang Mai, and gave generously of her own knowledge of local Chiang Mai culture. Jaeng, I hope your dissertation is progressing well, and that we will work together again soon. I must express my deep appreciation of my wonderful Thai friends and teachers, whose friendship and support have made all the difference. Special thanks go to my monkey sisters, Khun Phonthip (Fulbright), and Thitiwan (Pao) Lertphiya, who made me feel at home in Bangkok during my Fulbright year (2004-05). My SEASSI ajaan, Janpanit Surasin, has since also become a true friend with whom I have exchanged many new insights into both Thai and American culture. Lastly, I thank the friends and family members who have provided such tremendous emotional and moral support over the past few years. I especially recognize the friendship and support of Laurie Ross, Martina Nguyen, Marady Hill, and Lisa Tateosian, without whom these past two challenging years would have been a lot less bearable. Thanks to my father-in-law, Ray Lucas, for long chats about my topic and close reads of my chapters. I thank Sato for her quiet companionship and calming presence. Lastly, to my husband David, who also lent his computer skills to the creation of many of my maps and illustrations, goes my deepest appreciation for his love, support and seemingly limitless patience.

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Notes on Transliteration All translations from Thai sources are my own unless otherwise noted. I use a slightly modified version of the ALA-Library of Congress rules for the Romanization of Thai orthography into English, outlined in the table below. Within the body of the main text, I have transliterated all Thai terms. However, where Thai-language texts are cited in footnotes, I provide the first reference (and bibliographic entry) in Thai script, for the greater convenience of subsequent Thai scholars.
Vernacular character , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Romanization when initial or medial: k kh ng ch ch y d t th n b p ph f m r l w s oh h Romanization when final: k kh ng t t n t t t n p p p p m n n w t oh n/a

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Vowel

Romanization

Vowel

Romanization

, .................................................... a ........................................................ a .....................................................am , .................................................... ee , ....................................................ue , ................................................... oo , , .......................................... e , , ..................................... ae , , , , ..........................o , , ...................................oe , , .................................. ia, iya , ........................................uea , , .........................................ua

, , , , .....................ai , .........................................ao .................................................. ui , ....................................... oi ............................................... oei ............................................ueai ...............................................uai ................................................... iu , ........................................ eo .............................................aew .......................................... ieow ..................................................... ry ......................................................ly

Adapted from the American Library Association/Library of Congress Romanization Tables, 1997 Edition: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html

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ABBREVIATIONS USED FOR ARCHIVAL SOURCES: N.A.T. N.L.T. S.R.L. B.N.A. F.O. B.L. L/P.&S. National Archives of Thailand (), Bangkok National Library of Thailand (), Bangkok Archive of the Royal Secretariat (), Bangkok British National Archives, Kew, U.K. Foreign Office Records (subset of the B.N.A. or B.L.) British Library, London, U.K. Political & Secret Documents (subset of B.L./F.O. documents)

Woodhouse Chapter 1. Introduction A gender-oriented study should do more than put women into history. It should also throw light on the history male as well as female into which women are put O.W. Wolters1

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This dissertation concerns the life of an ethnically non-Siamese woman who became a consort of the Siamese king from the late nineteenth- to early-twentieth centuries. This topic is significant for several reasons. Firstly, there is little scholarship that acknowledges let alone focuses upon the polygynous system of marital alliance that formed a major part of Siams political landscape until 1925. Secondly, Dara Rasamis story demonstrates the centrality of the Siamese palace as an intersection of personal and regional politics in pre-modern Siam. As suggested by the Wolters quote above, this topic promises to shed new light upon an otherwise well-studied period of Siamese history, fleshing out the social contours of a heretofore two-dimensional historical picture composed solely of political and economic dimensions. The focus of this study is princess Dara Rasami, daughter of the king and queen of Lan Na, a tributary but sovereign kingdom ruled from Chiang Mai, today part of northern Thailand. From the mid-1880s to 1910, as the British moved into northern Burma, and the French into the upper Mekong region of Laos, Dara Rasami provided crucial political linkage between Siam and Lan Na. As such, her early career within Siams Inner Palace embodied the function of provincial consorts as both diplomats and hostages to the Siamese king. Later on, after political tensions between Siam and Lan Na

Wolters, Oliver W. History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives. Revised Edition. Ithaca, N.Y.: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1999, 229.
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had been settled through Siams implementation of a centralized administrative system, Dara Rasamis role in palace politics shifted from political hostage to cultural informant. Through her participation in palace dance-drama, Dara Rasami performed a significant role as an Other within as part of siwilai, or a Siamized hierarchy of civilizations, in the final years of the Fifth Reign in the early twentieth century. As such, Dara is a unique figure who provides an intimate window into the ways in which Siamese elites reconciled traditional political practices and family alliances with Western notions of modern statecraft and ethnic identity in the late nineteenth century. This study is not, strictly speaking, a biography. The details of Dara Rasamis life have already been well-documented in a handful of Thai-language sources.2 Rather, I propose to examine her life in the larger context of Siamese and Lan Na history, in order to illuminate new facets of the political and social history of Siams Fifth Reign era. Here, particular events from Dara Rasamis life and career will function as lenses through which to critically re-assess the intersection of several seemingly disparate historical strands. These include the history of gender in Siam and mainland Southeast Asia, and the roles of consorts both foreign and domestic in Siamese politics; the contingent political fortunes of Siam and its neighboring polities, and the European colonial aspirations in the region which threatened them; the shaping of modern notions of Siamese identity and ethnic difference; and also the relationship of changing attitudes about royal polygamy to the
See Nongyao Kachanacharis [Dara Rasami: Biography of Chao

Dara Rasami] (1990); Saengdao na Chiang Mais [Biography of Phra Rajajaya Chao Dara Rasami](1974); and Chao Gaew Nowarats [Phra Brawat Phra Rajajaya Chao Dara Rasami] (1934), the funerary volume published in conjunction with Dara Rasamis cremation. Though these sources present Dara Rasamis biography in copious detail, they do not offer critical assessment or interpretation of the events.

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political fortunes of Siamese women in contemporary Thai society. As the focal point of these intersections, Dara Rasamis life and career illuminate new aspects of these wellstudied but heretofore incomplete histories.

1.1 Tracing Thai Historiography and Re-Orienting Thai History 1.1a. Women in the Historiography of Thailand Modern Thai historiography was constructed by Siams royal elites on the model of nineteenth-century European histories which celebrated the nation-state. In this model of modern history, as Hong Lysa succinctly puts it: The male-associated activities of building and defending the country against hostile neighbors and colonial threats dominated the historical narrative, in which women hardly featured at all.3 Ironically, many of these narratives are attributed to the father of Siamese history, Prince Damrong Rajanuphab, who was himself both a product and a practitioner of polygyny4. Though Damrong himself wrote biographical accounts of several royal consorts, his familiarity with the Western distaste for polygyny led him to studiously avoid focusing upon the institution of royal polygyny in his historical accounts of Siam the nation. Western historians continued the elision of polygyny from Siams political history in twentieth century scholarship. The seminal English-language political histories of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Siam focused largely on the activities of its modernizing monarchs: King Mongkut (Rama IV), his son Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and
Hong Lysa. Palace Women At the Margins of Social Change: An Aspect of the Politics of Social History in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn. Journal of Southeast Asian History 30, no. 2 (1999): 310-24. 4 Prince Damrong was one of King Chulalongkorns many half-brothers, and maintained a total of eleven wives and consorts in his household, ultimately producing thirty-three children. See Finestone (2000), particularly Chapter 12 on Damrongs descendants, who share the surname Diskul.
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grandson Vajiravudh (Rama VI). These works include David Wyatts 1969 The Politics of Reform in Thailand: Education in The Reign of King Chulalongkorn, Walter Vellas Chaiyo! (1978), Tej Bunnags The Provincial Administration of Siam, 1892-1915: The Ministry of the Interior under Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (1977), Steven Greenes Absolute Dreams (1971, 1999), and Maurizio Peleggis Lords of Things (2002). Of these works, those that center on the reign of Chulalongkorn consider it as an era of modernization, examining it in terms of the systemic administrative changes undertaken by Chulalongkorn and his team of half-brother ministers. If royal women or consorts are mentioned in these works, it is in passing if at all. If, in the words of feminist historian Joan Scott [p]olitical history has been enacted on the field of gender,5 then these ostensibly political histories are missing a crucial element. Historians of this earlier generation may well have become suspicious of the topic of palace women by the lone precursor of such a history: Anna Leonowens. Her first book, The English Governess at the Siamese Court: Being Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace at Bangkok (1870), brought her literary fame in both England and the United States, even though whether she was indeed English or a governess has since been called into serious question.6 Leonowens continued to capitalize on her unique experience in exotic erotic Siam: The Romance of the Harem (1872). In these texts, Leonowens plays upon the contemporary hot button issue of slavery to align her portrayal of the women of the Inner Palace with those of the decadent harems of India and Ottoman Turkey already a

Scott, Joan Wallach. Gender and the Politics of History. Rev. ed. Gender and Culture, New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. 6 See Susan Morgans introduction to 1991 edition of The Romance of the Harem (ix xxxix) or Morgans recent biography of Anna Leonowens, Bombay Anna: The Real Story and Remarkable Adventures of the King and I Governess. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
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well-established and marketable genre by the 1870s.7 In Leonowenss Siamese harem, every woman was a slave, subject to the whims of a tyrannical and capricious king. The Thai objections to these works and their subsequent adaptations into film and musical forms8 have led to their outright ban in Thailand. Whether out of distaste for Annas naked selfpromotion, or for the alleged decadence and political illegitimacy of the Siamese harem, Western historians have avoided tracing Annas footsteps into Siams Inner Palace for more than a hundred years since her departure from Siam. When women finally began to become visible in scholarship on Thailand, it was typically outside the field of history. The feminist scholars who emerged in the later 1970s and 80s were more often anthropologists and sociologists focused on observing and evaluating Thai culture in the present, than historians examining the social constructions of the past. As was consistent with the Marxist-influenced thinking of the time, they tended to focus on non-elite women: rural and tribal women (Sulamith Heins-Potter, Family Life in a Northern Thai Village), spirit-mediums (Rosalind Morris, In Place of Origins: Modernity and its Mediums in Northern Thailand), factory workers (Sinith Sittirak, Daughters of Development), mothers and children (van Esterik, Women of Southeast Asia, 1982) or sex workers (Khin Thitsa, Providence and Prostitution: Image and Reality for Women in Buddhist Thailand; Cleo Odzer, Patpong Sisters). Ironically, elsewhere in Southeast Asian studies, historians have long recognized the value of examining gender in its historical social constructions. A shining example is Jean Gelman Taylors The Social World of Batavia (1983), which analyzed the
See Inderpal Grewals Home and Harem: Nation, Gender, Empire, and the Cultures of Travel. Durham, [N.C.]: Duke University Press, 1996. 8 The well-known musical The King and I was adapted from Margaret Landons 1944 Anna and the King of Siam, a novelization of Leonowenss English Governess text. Both the musical and all film versions have been banned in Thailand, including the 2000 film version starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yun Fat.
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social and economic linkages provided to Dutch traders through their Javanese wives, producing a hybrid society within the confines of the walled trading city at Batavia. This work still stands out as an exemplar of social and gender history, and continues to inspire my own work. Unfortunately, it has no counterpart in Thai studies. Though much ink has been spent considering the various contemporary social roles of non-elite Thai women, very little scholarship has focused on how and when these roles were constructed, much less the relationship of womens contemporary political currency to the Siamese past, or the correlation of class or status to gender roles. In the late 1990s, historians Craig Reynolds and Hong Lysa recognized this critical absence in Thai scholarship, and the rich opportunities for research on the subject of palace women. In a 1999 article, Reynolds noted that not even in the elitist historiography of the Thai elite has this, the most obvious topic in womens history, been tackled.9 As if in response to Reynoldss point, Lysas work in the late 1990s yielded two important articles on Siamese palace women.10 In Of Consorts and Harlots in Thai Popular History (1998) Lysa takes on contemporary Thai interpretations of the nature of prostitution and concubinage in the past. Here she identifies a pronounced gender bias in contemporary Thai popular historical treatments of concubines and prostitutes, who are alternately romanticized and demonized in ways that elide how gender roles of the past were constructed. In the 1999 article Palace Women at the Margins of Social Change: An Aspect of the Politics of Social History in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn, Lysa
Originally entitled Predicaments of Modem Thai History, South East Asia Research 2,1 (1994): 76, Reynolds essay was reprinted as Engendering Thai Historical Writing, in Seditious Histories: Contesting Thai and Southeast Asian Pasts (2006), 122-140. 10 Consorts and Harlots was published in Journal of Asian Studies 57, No. 2 (1998): 333-53; Palace Women at the Margins in the Journal of Southeast Asian History 30, no. 2 (1999): 310-24.
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presents the stories of several Inner Palace women, both elite and non-elite, through court cases and legal documents, clearly demonstrating the significance of their stories to Thai social history. Lysas work marked the pathway I have followed into the social history of Siamese palace women. Following these interventions, the topic of gender and women has been embraced by historians of Thailand in recent years. A 2000 essay by Koizumi Junko introduced an analysis of gender in Thai legal categories in an article entitled From A Water Buffalo to A Human Being: Women and The Family in Siamese History,11 a topic which was later developed by Tamara Loos (see below). More recently, Scot Barmes Woman, Man, Bangkok (2002) analyzes how gender roles were debated and constructed in 1920s and 30s Bangkok. Barmes narrative picks up where mine leaves off: just as the social acceptability of polygyny and palace women themselves are simultaneously disappearing from Siamese society. Perhaps the most important recent intervention in Thai historiography, however, is Tamara Loos Subject Siam: Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand (2006). Here, finally, is a history of Thailand which focuses directly on gender, and provides a clear analysis of how gender categories were constructed over time through legal proceedings. Loos analysis of court cases concerning interactions between men and women expands on Koizumis work to explore the evolution of legal categories as they related to gender and family in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Siam. Her seminal work provides the necessary opening for further work on gender in nineteenth-century Siamese history an opening without which my work might not exist.

See Andaya, Barbara Watson. Other Pasts: Women, Gender and History in Early Modern Southeast Asia. Honolulu: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai'i at Mnoa, 2000.
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Woodhouse The subject of this dissertation also contributes to the emergent genre of

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scholarship focusing on elite women. Not least of these are the texts working to reexamine Asian harems, such as Leslie Pierces work on women in Ottoman history, The Imperial Harem (1993), and more recently Ruby Lals Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World (2005). These and other histories have begun to tease out the social and political dynamics of these heretofore unseen and misunderstood feminine worlds, and their historical significance. This field is expanding to include cross-cultural considerations of palace women, such as the edited volume Servants of the Dynasty (2008), which includes essays on palace women from Asia, Europe, Central America and Africa. My work also adds to the growing body of historical scholarship specific to the arena of women and gender in Southeast Asia. This scholarship includes a few edited volumes of comparative work, such as Power & Difference: Gender in Island Southeast Asia (1990), Other Pasts: Women, Gender and History in Early Modern Southeast Asia (2000). Most recently, Barbara Andayas monograph The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia (2006), provides an amazingly broad comparative look at women across Southeast Asian cultures. In terms of country-specific works, there are still many opportunities for scholars to examine the palace women of Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. In the recent Lost Goddesses: The Denial of Female Power in Cambodian History (2008), Trudy Jacobsen performs a new intervention in Cambodian gender history by examining the roles of women in ancient Angkorean statecraft. These histories and my own are beginning to take seriously the task of restoring women to history, as well as illuminating new aspects of the global histories into which women figure.

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Woodhouse 1.1b. The Siamese Palace in Thai Literature and Historiography

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Life within the palace walls has been and continues to be a topic of popular fascination among contemporary Thais, and there is a correspondingly broad market in Thailand for accounts of the Inner Palace. The vast majority of these accounts focus on the Fifth Reign, which also captures the imagination of contemporary Thais as a sort of golden age of Thai history, where King Chulalongkorn figures as the hero of what is seen as an era of successful Siamese self-modernization. This era understandably provides the most fodder for this genre of popular history, as the Inner Palace grew to its largest nearly 150 consorts and wives during Chulalongkorns forty-two-year reign (1868-1910). Of these Thai-language works, the best-known are Chunlada Phakdiphumins Around the Palace (1992), Kittiphong Wirotthamakuns In the Crystal Palace (2002); Prayut Sitthipans Love in the Royal Court of the Fifth Reign (2000); and of course (former Thai prime minister) Kukrit Pramotes historical novel, Four Reigns (transl. 1998), which has also been made into a Thai television miniseries (most recently in 2004).12 For the most part, these popular works on life within the palace align with a highly conservative, gender-biased, and above all royalist celebration of the Chakri monarchs. Says Hong Lysa of the nature of a number of essays on palace women featured in the contemporary Thai popular history magazine Sinlapawatthanatham: What is understated is the power that. . .consorts had. The women are presented as models of virtue and exemplary behavior in their relationship with the king. 13 Thus, this popular genre

12

Kukrit Pramote. [Four Reigns]. VCD ,

, , 2005. 13 Hong Lysa (1998), ibid.

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recapitulates the dominant narrative of Siamese success in resisting colonization to emerge a modern nation-state, simultaneously eliding the agency and power of royal women, and reifying anachronistic gender stereotypes. Despite the sheer breadth of this category in Thailand, there are few accounts that assess the Inner Palace critically, or which make any attempt to analyze the social and/or political dynamics at work within the Inner Palace. A few Thai scholars have recently produced theses which are making a start in this direction: Phonsiri Bunranakhets 1997 thesis Nang Nai: Social Life and Roles in Thai Society of the Fifth Reign; Sara Miphongits 1999 thesis Siamese Court Ladies from the Reign of King Mongkut to King Vajiravudh, 1851 1925, and the 2006 publication of Wannaporn Bunyasathits earlier thesis, Royal Consorts and Wives of Siam. These works are commendable as the first scholarly attempts to assess the social and political roles of palace women critically. Thus the past decade has seen more critical analysis brought to bear on the subject of palace women, undermining the conservative, royalist/nationalist viewpoint which underpins most of the popular accounts of the era. However broad the popular appeal of this literature for Thais, the roles played by royal women still remain poorly understood in western scholarship. The tendency of nineteenth-century Western observers to exoticize and orientalize the Inner Palace was guaranteed to produce a sense of moral indignation and condescension. The aforementioned Anna Leonowens, that venerable employee of King Mongkut, assisted greatly in the perpetuation of the notion of Siamese palace women as members of a harem, enslaved and without agency. To Western scholars of the nineteenth century, the Inner Palace simply could not be regarded as a vector of genuine political power by virtue of its morally degenerate nature. These vague notions of the Siamese harem have persisted, Page 10

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allowing even twentieth-century historians to write about Siamese political history without considering the important linkages performed by the women within the Inner Palace. Thus, as Hong Lysa and Craig Reynolds have noted, a sustained critical analysis of the social and political roles of Siams palace women has not yet been attempted in Englishlanguage scholarship.14 A woman like Dara Rasami provides a convenient and unique window on the life and times of Siams last (and certainly largest) generation of palace women, and the changes they experienced over the course of the Fifth Reign. As a princess-consort coming from a neighboring tributary kingdom, Dara Rasamis life within the Inner Palace also illuminates for us the importance of the circulation of women in the political economy of Siam, and their unique role in linking Siams peripheries to its center. Her presence as an ethnic and cultural outsider in the palace additionally raises the question of how many other foreign consorts featured in the Inner Palace, throughout Siams history, and what these women signified in the context of the Siamese palace. My analysis will suggest that womens roles within the Inner Palace reveal how the circulation of women traditionally worked via bodies and how it shifted during the Fifth Reign to a new focus on discourse to bind together the Siamese polity. 1.1c. Historiography of Lan Na and Thai History To explore the history of Princess Dara Rasami and her homeland, Chiang Mai, is in a sense to re-open a significant aspect of Thai history, which in many respects is not Thai at all. By making such a claim I aim to undermine the hegemony of nationalist

14

Reynolds (1990); Lysa (1999).

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incorporating many parts of Siams formerly independent peripheral territories. In these histories, episodes of Lan Nas cooperation with the Siamese are co-opted as part of the teleology of Siams avoidance of European colonization, and its seamless selftransformation into a modern nation-state. Thus in many histories of Thailand as a nation, the former sovereignty and independence of Lan Na kings are largely erased, and the gap smoothed over. Dara Rasamis story reopens this gap, exposing the hidden differences of Thailands distinct regional histories. The region labeled northern Thailand today was in the past an ethnically and linguistically distinct polity known as Lan Na (which translates literally as a million rice fields) with a discrete history of its own one which included periodic conflicts with the Siamese. Although from the 1780s onward Siam regarded Lan Na as a largely independent northern tributary whose interests largely aligned with its own, the Lan Na kingdoms historical economic and cultural links anchor her within a broader constellation of interdependent mandala15 in a northern inland region of mainland Southeast Asia which stretched from Burma to southern China. The relationship of Lan Na to this constellation is a crucial factor in shaping its cultural and religious orientation and, ultimately, its history. Besides Wyatts classic text Thailand: A Short History (1984), which encompasses the history of Lan Na as part of that of Siam, few English-language works have devoted themselves exclusively to the history of the region until very recently, though Thai-

I use the term mandala here in its original sense, as coined by O.W. Wolters, to denote networks of relatively isolated but continuously occupied dwelling sites
15

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language scholarship on the region was first sparked in the mid-twentieth century.16 Arguably the first truly native scholar to provide modern scholarship on Lan Na history and culture was Kraisri Nimmanhaemin, a descendant of the Chiang Mai merchant family of the same name, a western-educated businessman whose work for the National Culture Council of Thailand and the Siam Society resulted in some of the first scholarly texts on the arts, languages and archaeology of the region beginning in the 1960s.17 His works, along with his personal relationships with a number of western scholars like A.B. Griswold, Hans Penth, Gehan Wijeyewardene, Richard Davis, Andrew Turton, Ronald Renard and others, contributed greatly to the creation and increasing visibility of Lan Na studies as an emerging field of study especially among anthropologists in the mid1980s. The above group of scholars produced a significant body of works focused on the culture, religion, and livelihoods of the upland and lowland peoples of Lan Na. The scholarly momentum of Lan Na studies has slowed since it first gained visibility during that seminal era. At the same time, however, interest in Lan Na history and culture has experienced something of a local resurgence in northern Thailand, with Chiang Mai University (CMU) and Rajaphat University (formerly Chiang Mai Teachers College) as focal sites. Among the Chiang Mai scholars still working on local history, government, and culture are such well-known figures as Thanet Charoenmuang (government and political

The first recension of Lan Na/northern Thai chronicles was published by a Siamese scholar-administrator, Phraya Phachakitkorachak [Chaem Bunnag], in 1898-99: The Yonok Chronicle. This text was the first used to teach northern Thai history when Chiang Mai University first began teaching the subject in 1964. (Saraswati 2005, p. 7) 17 Ajaan Kraisri, a successful businessman who earned an M.B.A. from Harvard, was responsible for the donation of his ancestral family home, the Khamthieng House, to the Siam Society in 1990. It is now a museum of northern culture on the grounds of the Siam Society in Bangkok. (See website: http://www.siamsociety.org/facilities/kamthieng.html) Ajaan Kraisri (b. 1912) passed away in 1992.
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science, CMU), Anan Ganjanapan (economic & environmental history, CMU), and historians Saraswati Ongsakun (history, CMU), Aroonrat Wichienkieow (history, Rajaphat University), and Ratanaporn Setrakun (history, Payap University), and Anchalee Singhanetra (geography/sociology, CMU). These and other scholars have contributed to a growing body of Thai- (and local-) language scholarship on Lan Na economic, political, and cultural history. Though there are an increasing number of Thai-language translations of northern chronicles, only the Chiang Mai and Nan chronicles are available in English. The translations of these chronicles, undertaken by David Wyatt and Aroonrat Wichienkieow in the 1990s, provide essential rescensions of Lan Na historical documents that begin to supplement (and complicate) the picture of Siamese history for western scholars. Nonetheless, they remain fragmentary in terms of informing our understanding of Lan Na regional history as a whole. Until recently, the most comprehensive work of history available which focused exclusively on Lan Na was Saraswati Ongsakuns 1986 Thailanguage work, entitled Brawatisat Lan Na (A History of Lan Na), which drew on her comparative analysis of several different chronicle manuscripts to provide the most comprehensive account of Lan Na history to date. After the initial print run of a thousand copies sold out, Saraswati embarked on a major revision and translation of the work, bringing out a more comprehensive, English-language version of the text in 2005.18 In addition, a handful of other western scholars also focus on the unique place of Lan Na in studies of the region. Independent scholar (and Chiang Mai resident) Ronald

18

Saraswati Ongsakun, A History of Lan Na, Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2005.

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Renard has published a number of articles focused on aspects of Lan Na culture and history since the 1970s. More recently, German historian Volker Grabowsky has also published a number of excellent articles in the Journal of the Siam Society and elsewhere, which continue to fill the lacunae in English-language historical scholarship on Lan Na. His recent collaboration with anthropologist Andrew Turton, an annotated version of The Gold and Silver Road of Trade and Friendship: The McLeod and Richardson Diplomatic Missions to Tai States in 1837, provides contemporary scholars with a rare western travelers snapshot of Chiang Mai and Lan Na culture in the early nineteenth century. The object of this dissertation is thus to draw upon the above works in combination with new archival research and analysis in order to present a new consideration of Lan Nas political relationship with Siam. I will also examine the role of marital alliance in shaping this relationship, and Dara Rasamis particular significance to this formulation in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 1.2 Materials, Methods and Approaches The absence of palace women in the scholarship is due in some part to the challenges which face the researcher attempting this task. The archival records of the Inner Palace are sparse, and the documents which do exist provide extremely limited data on a few isolated pockets of royal life (legal cases and medical care, in particular).19 The habit of keeping personal diaries and daily journals so common among Western royal figures in the same era was not practiced by Siamese royals. There are several possible reasons for this
While Hong Lysa and Tamara Loos have mined the documents on palace judicial cases fruitfully, the archival files on illness and death amongst palace women of the Fifth Reign could provide a scholar of the
19

history of medicine in Thailand with enough material for a fascinating thesis. See N.A.T. R5, , .5 .99, .

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absence: while illiteracy or inconvenience could be the culprit, I suspect that the cultural importance of being up-to-date results in the irrelevance of the past, and a consequent devaluation of the act of recording the minutiae of daily life. Given the high status of the inhabitants of the Inner Palace, however, such personal accounts could actually have been dangerous for palace women to keep, due to their royal subject matter. It simply may have been safer to keep ones secrets, critiques and complaints to oneself, rather than risk that written words fall into the wrong hands. This is where rumors become especially important: as anonymous reservoirs of memory which could circulate freely without consequence to their originators. To construct a comprehensive picture of the social world of the Fifth Reigns Inner Palace requires the scholar to draw data from a broader range of source materials, many of which reside outside the walls of the traditional archive. Many details of life within the Inner Palace can be found in memoirs of women who lived and worked there, or in the context of historical fiction (such as Kukrit Pramotes Four Reigns20). Cremation volumes, which are memorial volumes published in conjunction with an individuals funerary events, are another source of accounts of life inside the palace. Another important source is oral history: interviews with surviving palace ladies and other royal descendants, like Mom Chao Jong Jitra Thanom Diskul, a niece of King Chulalongkorn, who was interviewed by prominent Thai social critic Sulak Sivarak.21 Last but not least, museum collections, textiles, and photographs (of which there are many for the Fifth Reign)

Kukrit Pramoj, transl. Tulachandra. Four Reigns. Chiang Mai, [Thailand]: Silkworm Books, 1998. Sivarak, Sulak. Interview With Mom Chao Jongjitrathanom Diskul, By S. Sivarak - Includes an Appendix of Her and Her Father [Prince Damrong]. Bangkok: Khlet Thai Ltd., 1986.
20 21

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provide another tremendous resource for the cultural historian of this era. Thus the research for this dissertation has drawn from a wider sort of archive, bringing together written, oral and visual documents to construct a cultural history of the Fifth Reign. In keeping with my use of a broader cultural archive, I attempt to include as many visual images as possible to aid the reader in imagining the space and environment of the Siamese palace afresh. Thus each chapter is followed by an Appendix of maps and images which are referenced in the preceding chapter. 1.3 Chapter Themes and Arguments Following this introductory chapter, Chapter Two begins by familiarizing the reader with the geography and early history of Lan Na as part of a greater Inland Constellation of city-states between Burma and northern Vietnam. I utilize the notion of the Inland Constellation of city-states in order to escape from the Bangkok-centric notion of Chiang Mai (and its neighboring polities) as northern, as they are only so in relation to the (southern) Siamese capital. The background elucidated in this chapter is intended to demonstrate Lan Nas cultural, geographic and economic distinctiveness in contrast to that of Siam, and set the scene for the events of the mid- to late-nineteenth century. At that time, Lan Nas loyalties to Siam came into question as Britain consolidated its colonial presence in Burma, and Burmese loggers increasingly conflicted with Lan Nas rulers. The emergence of rumors that the Queen of England wanted to adopt the young Lan Na princess Dara Rasami prompted the Siamese king to make an offer of engagement to Daras family. The resulting marital alliance of Dara Rasami and King Chulalongkorn, intended to cement the political relationship between Lan Na and Siam, illustrates the contingency of the historical moment, and the anxiety caused by European colonial Page 17

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encroachment in the region surrounding Siam. The chapter closes with Dara Rasamis arrival in Bangkok and entrance to palace service in 1886. Chapter Three examines Dara Rasamis career in the world of Siams Inner Palace, the palace-within-the-palace where the kings wives and consorts lived. This female-only environment, which was off-limits to the male Westerners of the time, was assumed to be a harem in the same sense as those of Ottoman Turkey or Mughal India. Seen as an oriental odalisque, the real political power relationships created and expressed within Siams Inner Palace were largely invisible to Western eyes. In reality, the Inner Palace represented the physical expression of the kings political reach: a microcosm of the polity, in which the peripheries were represented quite literally by womens bodies. I utilize a metaphor based very loosely upon Marxs theory of money: the notion of the circulation of bodies, in which value accrues via circulation and movement (or the restriction thereof). I intend this notion to animate the idea that pre-modern Thai statecraft depended on a currency of human bodies particularly those of palace women as an important part of its political economy. This metaphor also speaks to Thongchais notion (from Siam Mapped) of the geo-body, and the mapping technologies by which Siams political landscape was re-shaped during the Fifth Reign.22 I problematize that characterization by showing that the bodies of palace women and Dara Rasami in particular continued to function as political currency throughout the Fifth Reign era. In Chapter Three, I explore the notions of circulation and social currency which governed the seclusion of elite women, and the idea that high status equated to invisibility in the

See Thongchai Winichakul. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. Thailand & Southeast Asian ed. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 1994.
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traditional Siamese worldview. As the highest stratum of Siamese elite society, the Inner Palace represented a cultural crucible within which Siamese culture was produced. Here I also consider Dara Rasamis social and political importance, particularly in terms of space and proximity to the king himself. I also consider the various ways in which her life (and that of the Lan Na ladies-in-waiting of her household) in the palace was shaped by the distinctly Siamese customs that informed the culture of the Inner Palace. Dara Rasamis early palace career reflects the politically central role played by such provincial consorts, and how her life in the palace as a hostage for her home kingdoms loyalty ultimately depended upon Siams king himself. Chapter Four explores the various ways in which Dara Rasami performed ethnic difference within the palace in her later career: in particular, through her hairstyle and dress, her participation in dance-drama productions, and through different gestural forms. Even as her own value as a political pawn declined towards the end of the nineteenth century, Daras experiences demonstrate that palace womens roles in elite culture took on new meaning in creating and expressing notions of siwilai, or the Siamese hierarchy of civilizations, in the early twentieth century. Through such cultural expressions as a Siamized Madame Butterfly, I posit that Dara Rasami performed the role of an Other within Siamese elite society, against which notions of cultural hierarchy could be formulated. As the Siamese worldview aspired to modern notions of the hierarchy of civilizations or siwilai Dara Rasami provided an immediately accessible elite nonSiamese Other. At the same time, she retained enough agency to write back against Siamese discourses of her Lao-ness. Here I utilize Spivaks notion of strategic

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essentialism to explain how Daras discourses ultimately improved her own status as well as popular Siamese perceptions of her homeland, Lan Na and its people. Strategic essentialism also assists in understanding the events of Daras later life, which are traced in Chapter Five. This chapter traces the final years of Dara Rasamis life at Suan Dusit palace following King Chulalongkorns death in 1910, and the nearly twenty years between her retirement to Chiang Mai in 1914 and her death in 1933. A brief look at Daras later life and activities in Chiang Mai reveals her ongoing interest in growing and maintaining elements of Lan Nas cultural and economic uniqueness, and the many activities she pursued to promote the cultural, educational and agricultural interests of Chiang Mais people. This chapter also deals with how Dara Rasami has figured in popular memory in Chiang Mai in the decades since her death. While one would imagine that Dara would be considered an insider figure as a member of Chiang Mais old royalty the many years she spent in Bangkok appear to have rendered her a cultural outsider after her return in 1914. This ambiguity has affected how her memory has been maintained (or not) in contemporary Chiang Mai. The political fortunes of Siams elite women were subject to a similarly ambiguous fate. Within a single generation after King Chulalongkorns death, polygyny had fallen out of vogue with Siams monarchs (beginning with King Prajatiphok, Rama VII, 1925-1935). After 1932, when Siam became a constitutional monarchy, the new political system provided no equivalent new spaces for women to participate. As the consorts of Daras generation lived out their days secluded in their residences, and no equivalent generation of consorts arose to follow them, palace women faded from Siams political scene. Thus, as Siamese politics became modern, and royal polygyny was phased out, elite Siamese women suffered a great loss of political if not social currency. Page 20

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Though their political cachet has declined, their social value has not: the surnames of their royal descendants continue to dominate the high-society pages of Bangkoks newspapers and magazines today. This analysis of Dara Rasamis political and cultural roles as a consort during Siams Fifth Reign aspires to do more than simply put a woman into history. Rather, this analysis of Dara Rasamis life and career provides fresh historical perspectives on the regional history of Southeast Asia, Siams political history, and the role of the Inner Palace as a crucial intersection of the two. Thus Dara Rasamis career illuminates anew the history of Southeast Asia and beyond into which women are put.23

23

Wolters, ibid.

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Woodhouse Appendix 1: Glossary of Frequently Used Thai Terms in this Text anachak Bunnag chao A territorial domain, or self-governing territory.

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Important family of Persian origin, with a long history of political and marital ties to Siams royal family. Honorific title; used universally for members of Lan Na royalty.

chao ba, chao bannok Literally forest person and person from outer village respectively. These terms were used to distinguish Siamese others from Bangkok elites within the framework of siwilai. chao chom chao chom manda chaofa chongkrabaen dit sanom fai na fai nai klone Kok Oh Official title of a Siamese consort (in the Inner Palace) with no children. Official title of a Siamese consort with one or more children. Title reserved for children of the king by a woman of royal blood (as opposed to phra ong chao, used for all other kings children). Name of a trouser-like, wrapped fabric garment worn by both men and women in nineteenth-century Siam. A form of punishment in the palace judicial system, similar to house arrest. Term denoting a male member of the Siamese administration or royal family, who lived/worked in the outer (or Front) palace. Term denoting either the female inhabitants or the physical area of the innermost level of the palace. A member of the all-female guard corps of the Inner Palace. Literally the Oh Group. This was the nickname for the four youngest Bunnag sisters Aab, Erb, Iem, and Uen who were consorts to King Chulalongkorn. They were so called because their names all began with the Siamese vowel (Oh aung). A traditional form of Siamese dance-drama. During the reign of King Chulalongkorn, this form was updated into lakhon rong (sung drama) and lakhon ram.

lakhon

Lan Chang (Lan Xang) Meaning A million elephants, this term denoted the northern Lao kingdoms of Viengchan and Luang Prabang, now Laos. Lan Na/Lanna Literally A million [rice] fields. This term denotes the area ruled by the Chao Chet Ton dynasty, whose capital was Chiang Mai. Lan Nas territory now constitutes the northern Thai provinces of Page 22

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Chapter 1 Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lamphang, Lamphun, Phrae, Phayao, Nan, and Mae Hong Son.

luntaya Mahat Lek

A wave-like weaving pattern used in Burmese and Lan Na textiles. Palace ministry of the Royal Pages Corps, who were responsible for communications and other clerical tasks in the Middle and Outer Palace. The Mahat Lek provided the major gateway to palace careers for males of noble and royal families. Ministry of the interior which informally became the ministry dealing with Siamese administration of the northern territories, including Chiang Mai and Laos. Coined by Oliver Wolters to describe the nature of Southeast Asian polities, and their typical orientation towards a city center, with power radiating outwards towards vaguely defined peripheries, sometimes overlapping with neighboring mandala. Used by the Lan Na and Thai people to describe a city or town and the neighboring villages it controlled. Relates to mandala, above. Denotes a skirt-like, wrap-around textile worn on the lower body, traditionally worn by women of the Lan Na territories. Title used for kings children born to non-royal consorts. Neighboring but sovereign kingdom paying tribute to Siam. A Thai-language adaptation of civilization, siwilai was a set of discourses through which Siamese elites re-ordered their worldview along the lines of European notions of a hierarchy of civilizations. Translating to Celestial Garden, Dusit was the new palace northeast of the old palace in the Rattanakosin district. Siamese term denoting palace residence. Lan Na term denoting the intricately woven textile making up the bottom third of the phasin skirt, worn by Lan Na women. Term used by both Siam and Lan Na for the rank second king. Term denoting a Siamese administrator in a provincial post. Literally Castle in the Clouds. Name of the large, multi-story house built of golden teakwood located in Dusit Palace grounds.

Mahat Thai

mandala

muang phasin phra ong chao prathet sarat siwilai

Suan Dusit tamnak teen-jok uparat yokkrabat Vimanmek

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At that time, all of Lan Na Chiang Mai was in chaos: villages and fields were deserted, all wild and overgrown. To the south there were tigers; to the north were elephants. The land was unstable, as there was no lord or ruler to take charge; there were but few leaders and few followers. The sovereign king of the great and glorious capital of Ayutthiya Dvaravati [Bangkok] issued a royal order granting full authority to a king to come and rule over Chiang Mai. Thenceforth, the king was endowed with great majesty. He was an expert in warfare, fearlessa veritable lion, valorous. He thought, My country is truly newly founded, and has few people. I should seize those domains which have not submitted and bring them into the orbit of my power Wyatt & Aroonrut1 This chapter will explore the historical and cultural context which gives meaning to Dara Rasamis later role as a political link between Siam and Lan Na. To understand the significance the history and culture of Lan Na requires the scholar to supplement and to some extent write back against the dominant narrative of Siamese/Thai history. To this end, this chapter will provide a brief historical sketch of the Lan Na kingdom, and recontextualize its regional role in relation to the waxing and waning of other regional polestar states, including Burma, China, and Siam. Beginning with a short survey of the regions geographical and ethnographical landscape, this chapter also aims to provide the reader with a basic understanding of Lan Nas cultural and political distinctiveness from Siam. The ways in which culture and kinship informed Lan Nas politics will be discussed, as well as the structure of Lan Nas ruling classes relative to the rest of its society.

Wyatt, David K. and Aroonrut Wichienkeeo. 1998. The Chiang Mai Chronicle. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books.
1

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This information will in turn serve as background to the chapters main focus: the significant historical events and changes in Lan Na over the course of the mid- to latenineteenth century, and how they led to increasing conflicts with Siam. Though the leaders of Lan Na traditionally embraced policies which bound the kingdom through family bonds, the nineteenth century brought increasing division among Lan Nas elites. The skyrocketing value of the teak trade with Burma, recently fallen under British rule, coupled with a series of disastrous mid-century military interventions by the Siamese, sorely challenged the loyalties of Lan Nas ruling elites to Siam. As European involvement in mainland Southeast Asia began to accelerate during this period, new tensions arose between Siam and several of its tributary vassal states, particularly Lan Na. To minimize Lan Nas exposure to Siamese retaliation, these tensions were often expressed in the form of rumor. Two examples of this will play important roles in this narrative: King Kawilorots rumored friendliness with Burma in the 1860s, and the rumors circulated in the mid-1870s regarding Queen Victorias interest in adopting princess Dara Rasami. Such rumors of defection and disloyalty had a dual effect: while they netted Lan Nas elites gains in status and promotions from the Siamese elites in Bangkok, they also prompted Siams efforts to bring Lan Na under tighter control in the latter decades of the nineteenth century. One important part of Siams efforts to formally reassert its suzerainty over Lan Na was the arrangement of a new marital alliance between Siams king, Chulalongkorn, and Lan Nas princess Dara Rasami. Several themes will recur in this chapter: 1) the difficulty of political consolidation and control in Lan Na, due to geographic and demographic factors; 2) the prevalence of multiple or graduated sovereignty among these inland polities; and 3) the use of familial

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connection, particularly via marital alliance, as the dominant means of establishing political alliances and loyalties amongst neighboring polities within the Inland Constellation, and 4) Lan Nas deployment of rumor as a means of exercising political influence in Siam. 2.1 Environmental and Cultural Background of Lan Na Since the dominant nationalist Thai historiography depicts the history of Lan Na only as part of the larger story of the construction of the Thai state, here I will attempt to write against the grain of Thai history, re-framing Lan Nas history and culture within the context of the surrounding inland region. This area has at one time or another included parts of what is today upper Burma, Sipsong Panna (or Xixuang Banna, from the Pinyin) in Chinas Yunnan province, northern Thailand, and northern Laos. As this region is northern only in terms of its spatial relationship to Bangkok, I propose a new label: the Inland Constellation, which denotes the polities inland location and landlocked status, and references Stanley J. Tambiahs notion of the galactic polity.2 This grouping is intended to provide a convenient shorthand for a shifting group of city-states, or mandala, whose peripheries often overlapped, fluctuating with the waxing and waning of the political strength of capital cities at their centers, and the pull of neighboring states. These mandala, and the satellite polities or muang 3 under their control were linked by commonalities of geography, economy and religion. Whether or not geography is destiny, the particular political and environmental challenges of this physical landscape produced a cohesive

Tambiah elaborates the concepts of the galactic polity, muang and mandala in his seminal text, World Conqueror and World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand Against a Historical Background. Cambridge [Eng.]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976. 3 I will follow Tambiahs usage of the term muang, which refers to centered or center-oriented space (as opposed to bounded space) and typically stands for a capital or town or settlement with the surrounding territory over which it exercised jurisdiction. (112)
2

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cultural environment highly distinct from (though sometimes influenced by) those of Burma, China and Siam. Lan Nas historical territory comprises the eight northernmost provinces of Thailand today: Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Phrae, Nan, and Mae Hong Son.4 The physical characteristics of the Inland Constellations terrain are markedly different from those of central Thailand. (See Illustration 2.1 for a historical map of the region.) Starting north of todays city of Sukhothai, the terrain rises sharply to high, thickly forested mountain ranges interspersed with narrow, flat river valleys. These north-south mountain ranges are extensions of the Yunnan mountain range of southern China and the eastern Himalayas. The snowmelt waters winding through these ranges flow into the Mekong River to the east, and a host of tributaries to the Chao Phraya River in the west, acting as vectors for trade, travel and communications in the region.5 The mountainous terrain provided rich resources for both hunter-gatherers and small-scale agriculturists. However, it also made overland travel difficult and slow-going, and even movement on the waterways was largely limited to the rainiest months of the year (typically July through December). These geographic factors made it essential for settlers to choose sites which could remain largely self-sufficient for much of the year. A city-positioning technology called chaiyaphum evolved to codify the ideal features of a new citys location, including: 1) proximity to a large river; 2) quality soil for cultivation; and 3) the presence of a mountain

4Saraswati

Ongsakun, transl, Dolina W Millar, and Sandy Barron, editors. History of Lan Na. Translated by Chitraporn Tanratanakul. ed. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 2005, 13. 5 These rivers include the Nan, Yom, Wang, and Ping River, which provides a continuous waterway between Chiang Mai and Bangkok (during the rainy season). The Ping River was used by the Chiang Mai nobles (and Jao Dara Rasami) in their semi-annual travels between Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

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to the west. 6 This city orientation, shared by Chiang Mai, Chiang Saen and Phayao, reflects the ideal Lan Na environment: one which supplied enough water for settled rice-agriculture on the valley floor, but also provided villagers with higher ground the safety of the nearby sacred mountain in the event of periodic floods. The kingdoms name, Lan Na, refers to the many rice-growing valleys claimed by the polity, translating to a million rice fields.7 The environment of these riverine highlands and valleys, while resource-rich, was sparsely populated in comparison to the flatlands of the Chao Phraya River basin further south surrounding the historical Siamese capitals of Ayutthaya and Bangkok. Despite the mountainous terrain separating them, Lan Nas small river valley communities were necessarily connected to each other via trade. As Katherine Bowie notes, the self-sufficient northern village was largely mythical.8 In reality, most Lan Na village economies depended on the exchange of local crops and goods with nearby towns, as well as seasonal visits by overland caravans traveling between Burma and China. Such trade facilitated a continual flow of cultural and religious elements among the towns of the Inland Constellation, from crafts and textiles to religious concepts and practices. Such flows oriented Lan Nas cultural and economic exchanges toward a markedly inland sphere, versus the markedly maritime orientation of the Siamese entrepot-kingdoms of Ayutthaya and Bangkok (which we could think of as part of a Maritime Constellation, a la Anthony Reids formulation9).

Saraswati, 17. The term Lan Na can be seen as a parallel to the name of the old Lao kingdom, Lan Xang (or Lan Chang), meaning land of a million elephants. Saraswati, 15. 8 See Bowie, Katherine. Unraveling the Myth of the Subsistence Economy: Textile Production in Nineteenth Century Thailand. Journal of Asian Studies, no. 4 November (1992): 797-823. 9 Reid, Anthony. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.
6

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The steep terrain of Lan Nas mountainous environment, coupled with its sparse population, allowed for considerable ethnic differentiation amongst its upland peoples. Among the groups historically found in the region are the familiar names of the Mon, Shan, Akha, and Karen, as well as a host of other lesser-known groups, such as the Khoen, Lue Yuan and Lawa.10 Though these (and other) distinct ethnic groups are still present in the area, for our purposes the most important category of Lan Na identity is that of khon muang (lit. people of the muang, a muang being a village, town or city). This supra-ethnic category emerged in the early nineteenth century as Lan Nas rulers, themselves ethnically Yuan, attempted to forge a coherent identity for an ethnically multifarious population recently resettled from the hinterlands.11 As a layered identity which allowed relocated highland peoples to retain elements of their ethnic distinctiveness, khon muang came to denote a shared identity amongst Lan Na lowland city and village dwellers over decades of intermarriage and exchange. Though resettled groups linguistic and ethnic heritage was never entirely erased, it was subsumed under the khon muang identity, which distinguished the residents of Lan Na cities from their upland counterparts. 2.1.a. Founding Figures and Family Rule Though the region has long been settled by the aforementioned groups, the first significant polity was the Buddhist city-state of Hariphunchai, which arose in the mid-

For more complete consideration of the qualitative cultural differences between these groups and their historical origins, please see Seidenfadens The Thai Peoples; Forbes & Henleys Khon Muang: People and Principalities of Northern Thailand; and most recently Hanks & Hankss Tribes of the North Thailand Frontier. Please note that the Hmong and Mien were later arrivals to the region, and thus outside the scope of a discussion of Lan Nas historical ethnicities. 11 The language of the Yuan ruling elite was also adopted by the multi-ethnic khon muang. Today it is known by local residents as phasaa muang (muang language), or kham muang (muang words), and it is still widely spoken, although central Thai has been the official language in the region since the 1930s.
10

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eighth century. Located on the site of what is today the town of Lamphun, Hariphunchai represented the northernmost point of the Mon empire of Lawo (or Lopburi).12 Even after the Lawo empires decline in the eleventh century, Hariphunchai remained a sacred mandala center whose religious significance endured for the Lan Na dynasties that followed. Though little contemporary evidence remains of its mythical founder, Queen Chamathewi,13 stories of her Buddhist piety and cleverness in dispatching undesired suitors/conquerors persist in local culture. The tale of how she arranged a marriage between her twin sons and the daughters of a neighboring rival king foreshadow the important role of marital alliance and familial rule in the later Lan Na kingdom. The founding of the first Lan Na empire arose within a web of relations between the three major political players in the region at the end of the thirteenth century: Burma, Angkor, and China.14 Between the weakening of the kingdom of Pagan in upper Burma by Mongol invasions, and the decline of Angkor, a power vacuum opened in the area stretching from northern Thailand to eastern Burma, allowing the king of Ngern Yang (a kingdom based at Chiang Saen) to expand southward. From there, Ngern Yangs king Mangrai (ca. 1239-1311) conquered the declining regional center of Hariphunchai and founded a new capital at Chiang Mai in 1292. He then proceeded to consolidate control

Lopburi was the site of early Mon/Dvaravati culture before the Khmer influences of the ninth to eleventh centuries; it is unclear whether Hariphunchai had direct links to Angkor. See entry for Lopburi (Lawo) on page 793 of Keat Gin Ooi, 2004: Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. 13 Since the earliest chronicle of the period, the Chamadevi Vamsa, was only written down in the late fourteenth century, it is impossible to determine whether Queen Chamadevi existed. See Donald Swearer and Sommai Premchit; Bodhiramsi. The Legend of Queen Cama: Bodhiramsi's Camadevivamsa, a Translation and Commentary. Vol. SUNY series in Buddhist studies, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998. Pages 19-22 give a full discussion of the questions surrounding this manuscripts production, and the debate as to the historicity of the person of the Queen. 14 Saraswati, p. 99.
12

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commanding tribute from the neighboring Thai Lue, eastern Shans, and the Lao at Luang Prabang. Thus emerged the first iteration of Lan Na empire. Mangrai could not have established much less expanded the new kingdom without an alliance with two nearby rulers: Ramkhamhaeng, the king of Sukothai, and Ngam Muang, king of Phayao. With their help, Mangrai was able to repel the Mongol invaders that had laid waste to southern China on their way to upper Burma. The reader may recognize the first as the eponymous author of the Ramkhamhaeng Inscription, and ruler of Sukhothai.15 A former Angkorean outpost whose Mon-Khmer population had melded with an influx of Tai settlers, Sukhothais capital city, Phitsanulok, was located midway between Lan Na and the growing Siamese polity of Ayutthaya.16 The mandala of king Ngam Muang, whose capital was Phayao, included the villages of the northerly Chiang Rai basin and later Nan. According to Lan Na chronicles, Ramkhamhaeng and Ngam Muang had known each other as youths educated in the monasteries of Lopburi, and were said to have shared a genial friendship.17 In 1287, Sukhothai and Phayao joined forces with Lan Na to defeat the invading Mongols.18 In the face of their vigorous resistance in upper Burma and Chiang Mai (and the inconveniently timed death of Kublai Khan in 1294) the Mongols withdrew, and

This inscription features the famous description of Sukhothai as a prosperous, peaceful kingdom with fish in the rivers/ and rice in the fields. See Piriya Krailerk, King Ramkhamhaeng's Inscription: A Historical Art Analysis, Bangkok: [n.p.], 2004, for a recent challenge to the authenticity of this inscription, and Piriyas theory as to its role in modern Thai nation-building. 16 Sukhothai and Ayutthaya were in growing competition and conflict over the course of the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 17 Saraswati, 29. 18 Ibid.
15

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Lan Na agreed to send tribute to China.19 Given the success of this alliance, and the many tributary relationships that Lan Na utilized, we can see early Lan Na as situated solidly within a system of multiple sovereignties(as described by Thongchai Winichakul):20 A state which commanded tribute from weaker polities, forged political and military alliances with its equals, and paid tribute to states it considered superior in the regional hierarchy. In addition to the abovementioned three kings alliance, Mangrais rule is known for promoting a style of rulership which depended on familial connection. In addition to arranging his own marriages to a number of local women to consolidate his local authority, Mangrai also arranged marital alliances between his sons and the daughters of neighboring kings, bringing the loyalties of the satellite city into alignment with his capital at the center.21 Though the royal families of each city retained local status and prestige, only the king at the center (Chiang Mai) could appoint the new rulers of satellite muang. By reserving this authority at Chiang Mai, the Lan Na king could maintain the loyalty of local rulers despite the geographical obstacles to quick communication and the movement of troops. Such family alliances, however, were difficult to maintain over generations. As muang evolved local interests that were at odds with those of the capital, and their old allies died off, alliances were re-configured from one generation to the next. Thus, the peripheries of the Lan Na mandala were always in flux, and ever vulnerable to the ambitions of

Saraswati, 58, 72. See Thongchai Winichakul. 1994. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of A Nation. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books. 21 This pattern of out-marriage of royal sons to the daughters of local nobles is consistent with Lan Nas cultural pattern of matrilocality, and would be utilized by later Lan Na rulers as well (which will be seen later in this chapter). Also see Gehan Wijeyewardene, 1984: Northern Thai Succession and the Search for Matriliny. Mankind Vol. 14, No. 4, 285 - 292.
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neighboring Shan, Lao or even Viet rulers. The three kingdoms alliance prospered at first, growing both in population and territorial reach over the following hundred years. Sukhothai, sandwiched between Lan Na and the growing Siamese capital of Ayutthaya, soon became vulnerable, and the alliance of the three kingdoms fell apart after a few generations.22 By the fifteenth century, Sukhothai had fallen to Ayutthayas greater military might, leaving Lan Na on its own in fending off increasingly irresistible challenges from the Burmese. As hostilities between the ascendant kingdoms of Ayutthaya and Ava (northern Burma) flared in the sixteenth century, Lan Na became desirable to the Burmese as a northern base for their incursions into central Siam. Finally, in the 1560s, the Burmese took advantage of political instability in Lan Na to colonize the region, which they continued to rule indirectly for the following 200 years.

2.2 Rebuilding Lan Nas Population and Economy: 1775 - 1850 The conquest of Chiang Mai in 1565 marked the start of a 200-year period in Lan Na history which is best understood as one of indirect colonial rule and cultural continuity. Under Burmese rule, the ruling elites of troublesome Lan Na cities were often deported wholesale to Burma. Whatever noble families remained in the various Lan Na cities were not permitted to intermarry. This policy effectively undermined the old networks of marital and kinship ties between the numerous muang, allowing the Burmese to divide and rule. With each local ruler cut off from the support of others in the network, no one muang could amass enough power to challenge Burmese suzerainty. Nonetheless, the hold of these

22

Saraswati, 105.

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colonials was strongest in Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen, with control very loose in the other outlying muang of Nan, Phrae, and Lampang. Though the Burmese overlordship of Lan Na was largely confined to the uppermost levels of rulership, their efforts to impose cultural changes upon the people of Lan Na were felt to be increasingly oppressive by the mid-eighteenth century. The growing unrest amongst Lan Nas people found expression in sporadic rebellions on the peripheries, but it was only when the Burmese faced Chinese invasions to their territory in 1771 that Lan Nas remaining nobles were able to oust the local Burmese official from Chiang Mai. With this opening, but a vastly depleted local population, Lan Nas leaders, Chao Kawila and Cha Ban of Lampang, approached the Siamese as their best option to successfully oust their Burmese overlords. The Siamese had themselves attempted to capture Chiang Mai in 1770, to preclude further Burmese attacks on Siam. Thus when Lan Nas Chao Kawila made overtures to Siams general Taksin, he rapidly sent troops to assist them in Chiang Mai and Lampang.23 Following their victories, Chao Kawila and his six brothers were promoted by Taksin to positions of official rulership, marking the start of the new Chao Chet Ton (Seven Lords) dynasty in Lan Na. In gratitude, Kawila gave his niece as a consort to general Taksin, and, around the same time, arranged for his sister, Sri Anocha, to marry the Siamese noble Chao Phraya Surasi (whose older brother later became the first Chakri king).24 After

The Siamese version of these events as written in Prince Damrongs Siams Wars with Burma (1977) 483485, ignores Kawilas role in the victories, instead crediting Phraya Chakris troops and leadership. Thus the re-establishment of Lan Na was co-opted to become part of the founding narrative of the Siamese nationstate. See Grabowsky (1994) for further discussion of this issue. 24 This alliance would serve to promote the reputation of Lan Na well, as Sri Anocha is credited with personally leading the suppression of the rebellion of Phraya San of Cambodia towards the end of the Thonburi period. Saraswati, 130.
23

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Phraya Chakri assumed the throne in 1782, Kawila and his brothers were further promoted by King Rama I, who made Kawila the king of Chiang Mai, and thus the king of all Lan Na. Having suffered decades of warfare and wholesale deportation of its populace, however, the capital inherited by Kawila was nearly desolate, and required several years of rebuilding before Kawila could take up residence there once again. With their decisive defeat of the Burmese, and the establishment of both a new capital and dynasty, Bangkok rose as a new polestar state in the region, shifting the orientation of the northern constellation once again. At the same time, as Wyatt puts it: In looking at Rama Is empire as a whole, one of its remarkable features is the large number of power centers that existed.25 The ongoing challenge for the fledgling Chakri dynasty would be to keep old enemies like Burma at bay, while maintaining control over the many tributary mandala at their peripheries (Lan Xang, Lan Na, Phnom Penh, etc.). The Siamese divided these mandala into four types, by working from the outer layers inward, that is, from the outermost of Siams peripheries to the center at Bangkok. In this scheme, Lan Na was ranked a third-circle polity, which Wyatt describes as being more like a principality of Siam, more closely integrated into the Siamese system than nominal tributaries like those in the Malay peninsula or the Lao kingdoms.26 From Lan Nas perspective, however, their status as an ascendant regional center in their own right had been regained, with a little help from the Siamese. Having managed to

Wyatt, David K. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press, 1984, 158. Ibid. These polities are described as still paying tribute to other states than Siam, as the Lao periodically did to China and Vietnam, while the sultanates of Kedah and Trengganu had paid tribute to Malacca and Johore and later, Great Britain. See Kenneth Landons 1944 article, Thailands Struggle for national Security, in The Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Nov., 1944), 5-26.
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rally the remaining northern nobility as well as Siamese military assistance to oust the Burmese after 200 years of colonial control, Kawila expressed his gratitude by marrying two of his close female relatives to Siamese royalty. 27 Though this relationship has frequently been characterized as unequal, with Chiang Mai pledging annual tribute as well as military support to Siam in time of war, the relationship was symbiotic: Siam depended upon Lan Na to guarantee the security of its northern frontiers. In terms of how earlier Lan Na rulers had responded to similar polestar states in the past, such as Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, and the Burmese kingdoms of Ava and Pegu, such a tributary relationship was hardly unusual, nor did it unseat local authority in favor of that of Siam. Siam left Kawila largely to his own devices in the re-population and governance of the core cities of Lan Na at the end of the late eighteenth century. I posit that Lan Nas tributary relationship to Siam was less unequal, and far more reciprocal, than the historiography of the Thai nation-state typically admits. As Wyatt describes it, By the end of the eighteenth century, even Siams tributary states seemed willing subordinates in a Bangkok-centered world.28 However, such a characterization elides the traditional constellation of relations in which such states had operated for centuries, anachronistically positing Siams strength as a nation, and ignoring the relative vulnerability of Bangkok as a fledgling mandala at that historical moment. Perhaps the telescope can be turned around, so to speak, to change our view to Chiang Mais perspective. In Kawilas eyes, his alliance with the Siamese likely echoed that

27 28

Wyatt (1984), ibid., 155. Ibid.

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of his Lan Na ancestor, King Mangrai, with the legendary kings of Sukhothai and Phayao in the thirteenth century: a joining of mutual political interests against a common enemy in which reciprocity was strength. Additionally, the re-founding of Chiang Mai provided an opportunity for Kawila to link his new dynasty directly to that of Mangrai. The ceremony marking the re-founding of the city in 1796 was timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Chiang Mais original founding.29 From the Siamese perspective, an alliance with the newly re-established Lan Na kingdom would provide a strong guarantee of security against future Burmese incursions from the north the value of which should not be underestimated in our historical assessment. 2.2a. Chao Chet Ton: Reviving Familial Alliance and Inventing the Khon Muang As king of Chiang Mai, and hence the leader of all other Lan Na kings, Kawila was determined to revive the north,30 whose cities and populations had been decimated by the ongoing warfare and deportations of the prior fifty years. At this point in the early nineteenth century, there are a few instructive parallels between the two new kingdoms of Lan Na and Siam. Following the destruction of Ayutthaya, Siam was rebuilding its capital and cultural base at Bangkok in the 1780s; at the same time, Lan Na was similarly busy rebuilding and re-populating its abandoned capital. While Bangkok re-established administrative control over its peripheries, Kawila and his brothers were working to rebuild and re-populate the core cities of Chiang Mai, Lamphun and Lampang, and to re-establish

29 30

Saraswati, 135-37. Ibid.

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Lan Nas administrative control over its more far-flung territories of Chiang Rai, Nan, and Phrae. Both kingdoms relied on the security of their alliance in these rebuilding efforts. Essential to rebuilding Lan Na was a process of repopulation and resettlement called putting people (or slaves) into cities as vegetables into baskets.31 Over the prior hundred years, the Burmese had drawn on the populace for use as soldiers in their attacks on Ayutthaya, and sometimes deported entire villages or cities to Burma (as occurred in the 1763 conquest of Chiang Mai). At Kawilas return, many of the core muang of Lan Na were practically depopulated, including Chiang Mai itself. According to contemporary chronicles: At that time Chiang Mai was depopulated and had become a jungle overgrown by climbing plants, it turned into a place where rhinoceroses, elephants, tigers and bears were living. There were few people [left], only enough for building houses to live in and roads to facilitate communication with each other. Thus, there were no opportunities for clearing [the jungle].32 Kawilas first step to re-populate the city was to persuade several groups who had fled the Burmese to return: some residents who had fled from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son in the 1760s, and some people who had fled from Tak and Lampang to Siam some twenty years before. Though this met with some success, the severe losses of population caused by war, famine, and epidemics could hardly be compensated for by voluntary migration. 33 Consequently, Kawila embarked on a series of resettlement campaigns to re-populate Lan Nas cities. These efforts occurred in three waves: the first

See Kraisri Nimanhaemin,Put Vegetables Into Baskets, and People Into Towns. In Ethnographic Notes on Northern Thailand, ed. Lucien M Hanks, Jane Richardson Hanks, and Lauriston Sharp. Ithaca, N.Y: Southeast Asia Program, Dept. of Asian Studies, Cornell University, 1965.
31 32 33

From the [Fifteen Kingdoms Chronicle], as cited and translated by Volker Grabowsky (1994). Grabowsky (1994), 59.

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from 1783-86, the second from 1798-1804, and the final wave lasting from 1808-13.34 Though some of these efforts began with the Chao Chet Ton rulers sending gifts to the local elites to entice them to relocate their villages, more often than not they ended with military forces rounding up people and forcibly moving them to Chiang Mai.35 To the east, Nan, which had also sworn allegiance to Siam but was unconnected with Chiang Mais ruling elites, also repopulated their villages with people from Sipsong Panna.36 These campaigns, coupled with the military campaigns against the remaining Burmese outposts in the region conducted by the Kawila and the next two kings of the Chao Chet Ton group, resulted in an ethnically diverse population, due to the relocation of various groups. These included the Lu of Sipsong Panna, the Khoen of the Chiang Tung area, and the Tai Yai from the muang of Sat, Pan, and Phu.37 According to Grabowsky, the resettled peoples were seen by the Yuan not at all as khon tang chat [foreigners], but were viewed as people belonging to a greater Lan Na cultural zone, since they spoke mutually intelligible dialects and utilized a similar writing system.38 There were also numbers of Karen, Lawa, and other hill-tribe peoples among the war captives. These groups were allocated land in the outlying areas surrounding the walled center of the capital city, and their populations scattered over multiple communities to prevent uprisings. A number of these settlements, located in and around contemporary Chiang Mai, still bear place names

See Saraswati and Grabowksy (1994) for slightly different periodizations of these waves. Saraswati, 133. 36 Nan and Phrae, who had closer ties to Luang Prabang in the east, had established their own ties with Bangkok, and would remain independent of Chiang Mai until later in the nineteenth century, See Grabowsky, Volker, Turton, Andrew. The Gold and Silver Road of Trade and Friendship : The Mcleod and Richardson Diplomatic Missions to Tai States in 1837. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 2003, pp. 7 -8. 37 Grabowsky (1994), 74. 38 Ibid.
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that reflect the origins of their original inhabitants, who often named them for their home village.39 The nobles of some of these communities appear to have maintained their status following their re-settlement. According to Saraswati, evidence indicates that the Chao Chet Ton clan treated the incoming groups respectfully, and even consulted with their nobles when promulgating new laws.40 Saraswati also notes, however, that these migrant noble groups appear to have gradually lost their roles through integration with the local people. Saraswati does not offer any explanation as to how this occurred; but I suggest that these nobles most likely intermarried and/or married their daughters to nobles of the Chao Chet Ton clan, which would have brought further ethnic diversity to the refounded Lan Na kingdom. Nonetheless, only Chao Chet Ton nobles were allowed to live within Chiang Mais city walls. This ruling group, like that of the earlier Mangrai dynasty of Lan Na, was ethnically Yuan, though they could not after so many generations of deportation and warfare claim a lineage link to Mangrai. Kawila and his brothers claimed lineage of a much more recent king of common origins. Thipchang (or Thipchak), sometimes called the Vagabond in the Chiang Mai Chronicle, was originally a hunter wise and clever at firing guns and arrows41 who came to power in Lampang after ousting the corrupt ruler there, and subsequently helping the city successfully fight off attacks from Lamphun in 1732. Kawila was one of Thipchangs seven sons (hence the dynastic name of chao chet ton,

Ibid., 76. Saraswati, 137. 41 Wyatt & Aroonrut, 143.

39 40

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or seven-part-rulers), who together ruled western Lan Na from the capital of Chiang Mai for more than a hundred years. The early kings of the Chao Chet Ton dynasty appear to have been well aware of the pitfalls of personal loyalty and factional rivalry that had contributed to the weakness of earlier Lan Na rulers. As the kingdom was re-established in 1789, Kawilas father, Chai Kaeo, gave his recommendations on rulership to the seven sons (and one daughter) entrusted with governing the kingdom: Thenceforth, all my children in [Lampang] and Chiang Mai should heed their fathers advice Dont fight among yourselves. All of you should love one another, and in all you do, act like one loving individual. Dont consider others as superior to your siblings, younger or elder. You should consider your royal possessions, your property and wealth, not as your own but rather as your common wealth. Whenever any of the eight of you attain status and happiness, share these. Dont fail to communicate with each other, The elder should help the younger and the younger the elder. Heed carefully your fathers advice and you will avert disaster. The past calamities of Lamphun, Chiang Mai, [Chiang] Tung, Muang Yong and Nan, all of them occurred because of discord among siblings and from failure to heed their parents good advice, and because they vied for the royal wealth of the country, and oppressed and harmed each other. Disaster then followed, and they could no longer be countries as in days of yore. Thus you should carefully consider and understand the fate of those domains. Hear this advice: the swan with a single body and seven heads will know only discord. Though you have the great good fortune to rule in various domains, you must consider them to be a single domain42 Thus early Chao Chet Ton rule was informed by a keen understanding of the frailties of familial rule, which were to be combated by a strong, shared sense of familial cooperation. With Kawila at the head of Lan Na governance as king of the capital city, rulership of the other central Lan Na cities of Lampang and Lamphun was cycled among

42

Ibid., 164-65.

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the other brothers, with a pattern of elder-to-younger-brother succession; several brothers who had at one point or another ruled one of the lesser cities of Lampang or Lamphun returned to Chiang Mai to advise the capitals court as well. Thus, between 1774 and 1825, Kawilas immediate family supplied three kings to Chiang Mai; another two to Lampang, and the other two ruled Lamphun. It wasnt until the 1820s that the next generation, comprised of Kawilas sons and nephews, came to power. 2.2.b. The Structure of Lan Na Rulership in the Early Nineteenth Century From the time of King Kawila until the provincial administrative reforms enacted by Siam in 1892, the political structure in the north remained consistent. There were five major states: Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Phrae and Nan. The kings of these cities were autocratic, ruling more or less independently of each other, keeping several minor states as dependencies. There were three levels in the bureaucratic structure in Lan Na. At the highest level, the five top officials were referred to as chao khan or chao khan ha bai (five-man ruling council).43 This group was made up of the chao luang (king), who was the supreme ruler, and four others: chao ho na (front palace king, also called chao uparat, as in Siam), chao ratchawong (royal lord), chao ratchabut (crown prince), and chao burirat (royal son). Together, they constituted the most influential members of the ruling family. Theoretically the chao luang, who was also called chao chiwit (Lord of Life) as in Siam, had absolute power.44

Prani Siritorn na Pattalung. [Gems of Lanna. Featuring the Life Stories of Important Individuals From the Golden Age of Lanna/Thai]. Vol. 1, Chiang Mai: Suriwong Printing, 1963, 97. 44 Ratanaporn Sethakul. Political, Social, and Economic Changes in the Northern States of Thailand Resulting From the Chiang Mai Treaties of 1874 and 1883. Doctoral dissertation, Northern Illinois University, 1989, 17.
43

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As such, the chao luang was the chief spokesman for his state in its dealing with other states. He acted as a broker between his local elites and the Bangkok suzerain, exercising decisive power in nominating the chao khan ha bai and other important offices to Bangkok for approval though it appears that the Siamese court almost always deferred to him. King Rama I, for example, consulted Kawila when he appointed the chao muang (rulers of muang) of the Lan Na cities of Tak and Thoen.45 Western explorer Holt Hallett, visiting Chiang Mai in the 1860s, observed the factors which counted for a nobles appointment to the rank of high king, the chao luang: The succession to the throne primarily depends upon the person chosen by the court and people being of princely descent all such are called chow or prince; secondly, upon his influence and wealth, the number of his serfs and slaves, business capacity, integrity, and his popularity with the serfs; lastly, and now chiefly, upon his interest at the Siamese court.46 Such candidates typically also shared the factor of family ties, with power divided between individuals who were either related by marriage and kinship ties, or who were given authority because of their leadership qualities.47 Just below the chao khan ha bai was a second level called the khao sanam luang (meaning those of the royal field, or State Council), made up of thirty-two men drawn from the lesser nobility. All decisions on matters of finance regarding state administration, no matter

See Tamnan Phun Muang Chiang Mai [Foundation Chronicle of Chiang Mai], 1971. Samnak Naiyok Press, Bangkok, 104, as cited in Ratanaporn 1989. 46 See Hallett, Holt S. A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States. Edinborough and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1890, 17. 47 Ratanaporn 1989, 21.
45

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how slight, were customarily made with the concurrence of the sanam.48 Hence Lan Na rulership possessed a fairly communal character but one accordingly vulnerable to the development of factions and clan rivalries among the branches of the noble families. Below this level were the village heads who were under the nominal authority of either the king himself or the State Council. These chiefs acted locally to supply the chao with manpower and supplies, and in some further-flung areas, to collect taxes and duties.49 These village-level headmen were also responsible for keeping order as well as judging minor disputes, and ensuring that more important disputes were referred up the chain of command to the chao in the muang. The most important difference between this system of rule and that of Siam, however, lay in the relationship of noble rank to control of lands. Though there was a hierarchy of command from the chao luang on down to the lowest rank, there was not the same strict gradation of rank or point system as was used in the Siamese sakdina system. The children of a Lan Na chao, like their elite Bangkok counterparts, could inherit the rank of chao. As in Bangkok, land rights could be granted only by the king, who granted rights over lands to his chao officials as compensation but in Lan Na, these rights applied only for the duration of the officials service, and could not be inherited. This distinct difference leads some scholars to call the system soft sakdina.50 With few gradations of rank amongst the northern chao, distinctions were recognized on the basis of ones official administrative position (described above). Higher ranking chao,

B.L., F.O. 628/10/157, Report of Captain Hildebrands Visit to Chiengmai, May 1875. Ratanaporn, 20. 50 Personal conversation with Ajaan Ratanaporn, Chiang Mai, Thailand, August 23, 2007.
48 49

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though, were classed as chao yai (literally big lord), chao khan or chao noi (little lord). The chao yai were mostly granted land rights over a certain territory and its residents, while chao noi might not have any lands of their own, much less authority over others.51 Thus, the chao yai controlled nearly every level of government, from the village to the royal palace but their continued social status and economic well-being depended on their hold on a restricted number of high administrative posts. Such official positions, however, were by no means guaranteed. Many of the wealthier chao became moneylenders because they felt a need to make as much money as possible while they were in a position to, 52 since after they left office their flow of income effectively stopped. Thus it was not unusual for them to charge rates as high as thirty-six percent per year on the money they lent.53 Given such opportunities to accumulate capital, these chao often became major players in local trade. With the regular flow of interstate traders and seasonal long-distance caravans between upper Burma and southern China, such noble traders could derive a healthy income. Consequently, the disruption of such trade flows was to be avoided when at all possible a factor which, as we will see later on in this chapter, becomes increasingly significant in the interactions between Lan Na and Siam in the 1850s. Whether by cause or effect, the number of slaves owned by a chao also tended to correlate to their level of wealth. As Hildebrand notes in 1875, a households slaves could

Calavan 1977, as cited in Bowie, Katherine. Unraveling the Myth of the Subsistence Economy: Textile Production in 19th Century Thailand. Journal of Asian Studies 4, no. November (1992): 797-823. 52 Ratanaporn, 28. 53 Bock, Carl. Temples and Elephants: The Narrative of A Journey of Exploration through Upper Siam and Laos. Bangkok: White Orchid Press, 1985, 159.
51

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produce a considerable amount of goods from which the chao could profit. Hence, a chaos investment of wealth in such indentured servants could be returned many times over through the profits made by the trade of their produce. A number of western observers provide accounts of the use of slaves and their labor in Lan Na.54 D.J. Edwards notes that the ruling lords had 300 slaves engaged in weaving alone.55 Colquhoun provides a detailed breakdown, showing that the chao luang (king) had 1,500 slaves; the chao hua naa (second king) had 1,000 slaves; the third-ranking lord had 800 slaves, and other lesser lords had 70-100 each. The lesser-ranking rural elite (phrayas) also had slaves, averaging 15-20 each.56 As most chao males practiced polygamy, there were always many more chao (particularly from the highest-ranking chao yai families) than official roles for them to assume. The ranks of Lan Nas nobility did not decline over time like those of the Siamese, so the number of Lan Na chao was continually expanding. Thus, many chao noi were forced to look to other means of supporting themselves. English explorer Carl Bock, who hired younger chao as local guides, wrote that male chao youths are so common a commodity in Lao that the authorities can afford to give them to me as guides, and so poor that they do not think it in poor dignity to undertake the duty for the sake of the small gratitudes attached to the office.57 Though sakdina was softer than in Siam, the relationship between landholder and peasant was largely the same, with chao landholders collecting land rents as well as tribute
Bowie 1992, ibid. B.L., F.O. 69/62/1875, as cited in Bowie 1992. 56 Colquhoun, Archibald Ross. Amongst the Shans. London: Field & Tuer, 1885, 257. 57 Bock, ibid., 155.
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and corvee labor from the peasants farming their land.58 Ratanaporn also explains that this patron-client system was reinforced through the special relationship of the ruling elites to ancestral guardian spirits. Belief in these spirits, who were thought to be capable of causing illness, drought, and other misfortunes, was pervasive in the region. According to one missionary, Spirit worship orthe fear of spirits is the curse of this land. Its influence is everywhere It has prescribed a ceremonial for every undertaking and every want in life.59 As Ratanaporn explains, these spirit cults could sometimes be manipulated so as to favor the groups in power. Hence, the ruling elites the only ones permitted to perform the ceremonies propitiating these ancestral guardian spirits maintained their legitimacy by serving the ritual function of mediating between60 the peasant communities and the spirits of the state. (An example of how such spiritual currency could be manipulated by Chiang Mais elites will be discussed later on in this chapter.) The ruling elites also provided protection from worldly dangers, such as bandits or warfare. Given the geographic isolation of many northern villages, it is not surprising that many people would desire the patronage of a chief or chao, as insurance against calamities both spiritual and worldly. As the Chao Chet Ton re-established political stability, the re-populated river plains surrounding Chiang Mai embarked on an era of economic and cultural resurgence. 2.3 Shifting Economies, Shifting Allegiances: Mid-Nineteenth Century Lan Na Just as Lan Na seemed to achieve political and economic equilibrium once again, the political landscape within and far beyond Chiang Mai continued to change. In Chiang Mai,
See Ratanaporn, 21 and also Hallett, 134-35. Payap University Archives, Letter from Wilson in Chiang Mai, Siam Letters III, 1865-74, 15 March 1875 (cited in Ratanaporn 1989). 60 Ratanaporn, 22.
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close to thirty years of cooperative rulership in Lan Na by the Chao Chet Ton princes came to an end after the death of only its second king, Thammalangka, in 1823. Though his younger brother, Kham Fan, was next in line for the Chiang Mai throne, his authority was challenged by a cousin, Suwannakham, and took the form of a religious building contest.61 Though the escalation of this competition for power was eventually settled by the intervention of the rulers of Lampang and Lamphun, the ascendancy of a rival branch of the royal family called the Pho Huen (lord of the house) was assured. On Kham Fans death in 1825, his son fled to Bangkok for protection, leaving the throne to the Pho Huen uparat (or second king), Phutthawong. The remaining Chao Chet Ton members of the fiveman chao khan ha bai (governing council), however, managed to maintain their positions. Following this brief dynastic conflict, Lan Na would enjoy twenty years of peace and increased prosperity, and Phuttawongs reign was later recalled as a golden age.62 However, the cooperative nature of Kawilas family rulership would never return to the peace it had known before. The world beyond Chiang Mai was beginning to experience several major changes as well changes which would drastically alter the balance of power among Lan Nas friends and enemies. In faraway England, the dispensations of the 1824 Treaty of London gave control of Ceylon, Malacca, Singapore and Penang to the British. In India, British rule over the still-independent territories east of Bengal Tripura, Manipur, and Assam resulted in

As the king was supposedly the greatest patron of the Buddhist sangha, his cousins efforts to exceed the kings donations constituted a challenge to the kings political fitness to reign. See Saraswati 2005 for more background on this issue. 62 See Grabowsky, Volker, Turton, Andrew. The Gold and Silver Road of Trade and Friendship : The Mcleod and Richardson Diplomatic Missions to Tai States in 1837. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 2003.
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conflict with the westward-pushing Burmese Konbaung dynasty, culminating in the first Anglo-Burmese War (1823-26). Though earlier diplomats had been unsuccessful in concluding trade treaties with Siam, Britain was able to conclude favorable terms of trade with Siam in 1826 following the heavy losses of the Burmese in the first Anglo-Burmese War.63 Lan Na and Siams old enemy, Burma, had fallen to a formidable new power: Great Britain. Following their victory, the British quickly established a presence in Burma, aided by the concession of both coastal and inland territories in the Treaty of Yandabo of 1825. In addition to the trade ports of Mergui, Moulmein, and Bassein, the British also gained control of the territory of Tenasserim, which shared a common boundary with Chiang Mai: the Salween River. For the first time, Lan Na and Siam were directly confronted with a Western colonial power as an immediate neighbor.64 At the same time, Siam was experiencing problems with its eastern neighbors as well. Perhaps influenced by news of the 1826 British conquest of Burma, and Burneys subsequent negotiations with Bangkok, the king of Vientiane, Chao Anu, launched a military offensive southward towards Bangkok. This offense has been interpreted variously by Siamese and Lao historians. Was it an attempt to re-establish the ancient kingdom of Lan Xang, an effort to liberate thousands of Lao who had been re-settled by the Siamese in Nakhon Ratchasima in the 1770s, or a pre-emptive strike against Thai aggression

63 64

This trade treaty was the Burney Treaty of 1826, concluded by Henry Burney. Grabowsky and Turton, 5.

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aiming to dismantle Lao independence entirely?65 In any case, Chao Anus campaign was treated as aggression by the Siamese, who responded harshly. Besides destroying the city, the Siamese deported the entire population of Vientiane (by conservative estimates, at least 100,000 people) from the east bank of the Mekong River westward, and into the interior of Siams Khorat Plateau. As for Chao Anu himself, he was captured in 1828 and taken to Bangkok, where he was imprisoned publicly in a large cage. After several days of direct exposure to the caustic forces of both the blistering sun and the derision of Bangkoks populace, Chao Anu died.66 Why did the Siamese treat a former vassal so brutally? Various reasons are suggested by historians. Firstly, Siam objected to losing a neighboring tributary state, but particularly a Buddhist one, which would directly damage the moral position of the [Siamese] king.67 Secondly, in an environment of increasing European pressure on both its eastern and western frontiers, such a response signaled that Bangkok would not tolerate internal challenges to its increasingly centralized power. For Lan Na, whose loyalties were somewhat divided over the episode,68 Siam communicated a clear message as to the fate awaiting any vassals who were foolish enough to display open disloyalty to Bangkok.

See Maha Sila Viravongs History of Laos (New York: Paragon Book Reprint Corp, 1964), for a persuasive argument that it was the Siamese preoccupation with a possible British intervention that encouraged Chao Anu to make his attempt; Mayoury and Pheuiphanh (1989, 1998) argue that there never was a Chao Anu rebellion, but only a war between Bangkok and the Lao. More recently, Grant Evans (2002) casts the episode as part of an ongoing competition for resources in the Mekong basin between Siam, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. 66 Grant Evans, A Short History of Laos: The Land in Between. Crows Nest NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2002, 28-29. 67 Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian, Thai-Malay Relations: Traditional Intra-Regional Relations from the Seventeenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1988, 56. 68 Though according to Saraswati, Chiang Mai had supplied troops to the Siamese in their battles against Chao Anu, there were still nobles in eastern Lan Na who sympathized with Chao Anu.
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At the same time, the dispersal of Vientianes population sent many Lao refugees into Lan Na territory. A few nobles of the Lan Xang royal family even found refuge with relatives living in the Shan township of muang Nai, where British officer Richardson recorded meeting them in 1837. The influx of new populations, coupled with the new presence of the British in Burma, would only enhance Lan Nas growing economic prosperity, however. During this period, land under wet-rice cultivation increased, and Lan Nas population expanded into areas which had hitherto been deserted frontier zones in the north.69 The British presence in the region did not appear to threaten the Lan Na rulership; in fact, the situation appears to have been quite the contrary. Upon the conclusion of the First Anglo-Burmese War, Lan Nas king sent a number of letters to the British at Moulmein, requesting formal contact, presumably to establish trade relations.70 Besides encouraging the already-established Chinese caravan trade, the renovation of Moulmein by the British as an inland trade center brought an increased flow of trade between Chiang Mai and Burma, and sparked trade in new items that would quickly become major revenue streams for the Lan Na nobility: cattle and teak. Teak logging by British merchants (and Burmese British subjects) began to make its way into Lan Na during this period, but until the 1870s (when the Burmese forests began to be depleted), cattle would dominate Lan Nas trade with Burma. From 1826, the British troops at the Moulmein garrison required a steady supply of beef, as it was not unusual for

See Grabowksy and Turton (2003), 10. Ibid., p. 8. The earliest letter, arriving in March of 1825, could have come from either the ailing Khamfan, or his successor, Phuttawong, who was known for his more conciliatory attitude towards Ava (see Brailey).
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soldiers to get a ration of a pound of fresh beef per day. When the garrison was smaller, the average demand was about 700 head of cattle per year; when it grew larger in the later 1830s the demand ran to between 2,500 3,000 head per year.71 The Shan bullocks, as they were called, were considered to be higher quality beef than either buffalo meat or that of the cows to be had from Madras or Bengal, and their worth was accordingly higher. In 1841, for example, around two hundred Moulmein traders were said to be waiting in Chiang Mai with 100,000 rupees to buy cattle, a sum that could purchase up to 5,000 head.72 Cattle would remain the most profitable export from Lan Na until the mid-1850s, when its export to Burma was forbidden by the anti-Burmese Lan Na king Mahotraphrathet. Thus the teak trades value in Lan Na only surpassed that of cattle in the 1860s, as the forests of upper Burma became overharvested.73 2.3.a. Siamese Intervention Gone Wrong: The Chiang Tung Wars, 1848-51 In the late 1840s, Siam had begun to feel uneasy about Lan Nas northernmost boundary with Burma, the muang of Chiang Tung (sometimes rendered Keng Tung). The Lan Na muang of Chiang Hung (or Chiang Rung) had requested assistance in quelling civil unrest sparked by a succession crisis. At various points in this crisis, some of Chiang Hungs nobles had fled to Chiang Tung, where they obtained Burmese support thus drawing Burma into the region anew.74 The Siamese chronicle of the time quotes Siams

Figures cited from British annual reports, in Grabowsky and Turton (2003). Ibid., 78. 73 See Charles Keetons King Thebaw and the Ecological Rape of Burma; the Political and Commercial Struggle Between British India and French Indo-China in Burma, 1878-1886. [1st ed ed. Delhi]: Manohar Book Service, 1974, for an in-depth exploration of this and the subsequent era in Burma, and the ecological exploitation of Burmese forests that also occurred under British Imperialism there. 74 See Saraswati, 157-159.
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king Rama III as stating, If we can subdue Chiang Tung, Chiang Rung will be ours.75 To this end, the Siamese king authorized Chiang Mai to conscript a total of 7,500 men to attack Chiang Tung, but the expedition was a failure due to a political rift between the two Lan Na princes commanding the troops.76 By the time Siams King Mongkut inherited this enterprise from Rama III in 1852, Chiang Rung had requested assistance once again, and this time, the Siamese kings ministers considered Siams reputation to be at stake. Additionally, the Siamese felt that Burmas involvement in war with the British provided a window of opportunity that was not to be missed: In fact, the situation we have to deal with in Chiang Tung is temporary because this year there is fighting in Burma as well as a revolt by the Chinesein the Ho territoryHowever, the Lao [meaning Lan Na ed.], both commoners and nobles, think they understand the situation of this distant territory and foolishly accept that Burma is powerful and probably will quickly chase off the English and protect Chiang Tung With regard to our side, there is war between Burma and England and our wish to be victorious over Chiang Tung. There is a narrow window of opportunity this year. What shall we do? If we remain inactive without making a success of it, we will lose prestige. Countries that know about past events will think that we are cowardly, have little power, and cannot make war. Therefore, we must act with determination to maintain our prestige.77

Chao Phraya Thipakorawong, [Chronicles of the Third Reign of the Rattanakosin Era] vol. 2, Bangkok: [n.d.], 140-143. 76 According to Saraswati, the conflict arose because the rajabuts troops reached the city first, and attacked immediately in a bid for glory; when this attempt failed, the uparat deliberately delayed sending reinforcements, due to his antagonism towards the rajabut. Lan Nas King Mahotraprathet even complained to Bangkok about the situation, which led to King Mongkuts 1856 participation in the appointment of the next Lan Na king to prevent such problems in the future. (Saraswati, 144-45) 77 From Vajirayan Library, Archives of the Fourth Reign, Lesser Era 1214, No. 76 (a), [King Mongkut] to Prince Wongsathirat, regarding troops in Chiang Tung, as cited in Intornchaisri, Royal Policy Regarding the Building of Internal Stability in the Tributary States, During the Reign of King Mongkut (B.E. 2394-2411), masters thesis, Department of History, Sri Nakkarin Wirot University (Bangkok, Thailand), 1978, 156.
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This time, the conscriptions from cities throughout Lan Na, plus troops sent from Bangkok, totaled 30,000.78 Though King Mongkut sent his own brother, Prince Wongsathirat, to head up the new offensive on Chiang Tung, the effort was plagued by both tactical and supply problems. The commanders chose an approach to the city that the Lan Na chroniclers described as low and disadvantageous, and there had been a bad harvest in Chiang Mai that year, so food supplies ran out.79 By the time the troops from Bangkok arrived to relieve the Lan Na forces, they heard that the Burmese were sending reinforcements, and withdrew, ending the attack. Meanwhile, in Burma, with Britains victory in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1853, its trade monopoly in Burmas rice-rich delta region was solidified, forcing Burmese king Mindon (r. 1853-1878) to seek out new sources of royal income. King Mindon was often positively described by Western observers as a forward-looking, modernizing monarch (much like his Siamese contemporary, King Mongkut, r. 1851-1868). In response to the situation, he endeavored to find ways to generate income surpluses within his base in upper Burmas dry zone, which had heretofore depended on the southern delta region for its rice supplies. Mindons response to the British seizure of these rice surpluses was twofold: He established industrial factories at Mandalay, and encouraged trade with southern China, the Shan States, Lower Burma, India, and European countries as well.80 Due to these efforts, the later 1850s saw a marked increase in the level of trade (and the number of Burmese traders) flowing from upper Burma to Chiang Tung and into southern China.

Saraswati, 163. Ibid. 80 Ibid., 7.

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Siams final attempt to take Chiang Tung in 1854 was also unsuccessful. Though Mongkut and his ministers wanted more badly than ever to take Chiang Tung once and for all, it proved impossible to gather the 30-40,000 additional soldiers that the Siamese estimated were needed. Many conscripts fled, leaving the commanders with fewer than 10,000 troops, and the timing of the new offensive coincided with the start of the rainy season, making overland travel difficult and ox-cart transportation of provisions all but impossible. By all accounts, the hearts of the Lan Na nobles and troops just werent in it: sources describe the lack of support by the nobility and abysmal troop morale as the main reasons why the effort was finally abandoned.81 In material terms, however, Siams losses were paltry compared to those endured by Lan Na. Not only had the Chiang Mai rulerships requests to delay the final attack been ignored, but their cities had been the ones to bear the cost of the manpower lost in the offensive. Siam, Lan Nas supposed protector, had failed them, and at a high cost. Additionally, Lan Na still had both family and economic links to Chiang Tung, which they could ill afford to cut off as it was growing rapidly as a trade center. Thus, the period following the Chiang Tung Wars of the early 1850s found Lan Na scrambling to recover from significant human losses it suffered through Siams failed attempts to prove its military strength, and to repair its relationship with an important trade partner in the region. As for Siam, they had lost face to both Burma and Lan Na, and gained nothing on their northern frontier. If anything, the necessity of King Mongkuts intervention in matters of

81

Ibid., 164.

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Lan Nas succession in 1855 only highlighted the insecurity of Lan Nas boundaries, and the increasing contingency of the situation with the British in Burma. 2.3.b. The 1850s, Continued: Rumors of Lan Na Overtures to the Burmese In the late 1850s, Burmese loggers, now nominally British legal subjects, made their way into Lan Nas forests in increasing numbers, cutting logs to send to Moulmein (Burma) for processing and sale. As in Burma, where the king himself held a monopoly on logging, the nobles of Lan Na were the holders of the rights to log Lan Na forests, which were traditionally viewed as a local resource, not a source of commercial income. At first, there were no fixed fees for cutting trees in Lan Na; individuals negotiated a per-tree price, which was collected by officials and divided three ways: between the forest owner, the collecting official, and finally the ruler himself.82 During the 1850s, however, the policy changed as the forest trade rapidly expanded. Under Chiang Mais King Mahotraprathet, the fees were revised and separated into three categories, depending on the size of the tree cut. For example, a tree measuring eight- to ten-hands breadth cost one rupee; eleven to thirteenhands cost two rupees, and fourteen to sixteen hands cost three rupees. These fees went up over time, presumably as the forests of Upper Burma ran out in the 1880s; by 1896 (when Siams Department of Forestry was established) the fee was up to twelve rupees per tree.83 The rising value of these teak forest leases led to a corresponding rise in the number of disputes with the nobles of Chiang Mai. King Kawilorot (the sixth Chiang Mai king and last son of Kawila to rule) was involved in a number of legal disputes with British-Burmese

N.A.T. R. 5, M. 16/10: Report of Phra Ong Pens Journey to Review Forestry, November R.S. 112 [A.D. 1893]. 83 Saraswati, 169.
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parties in Chiang Mai, for which he was summoned to Bangkok to defend himself in court. Though he ultimately won his case, the handling of the matter by the Siamese resulted in the northern chao leaving Bangkok resentful and with hurt pride.84 Absent any other means of controlling Kawilorot, Siams king, Mongkut, decided to adopt a policy of appeasement towards the northern ruler. In 1856, rumors begin to swirl about the loyalties of the Chiang Mai king. According to Brailey, Kawilorot found the anti-Western attitudes of the Burmese elite more satisfying than the conciliatory stance of the Thai.85 After a round of communications passed between Kawilorot and the Burmese king at Ava, King Kawilorot allegedly ordered the execution of his Burmese interpreter. Kawilorots subsequent gift of elephants to this Burmese king resulted in a return of gifts, and his activities were reported to Bangkok by two members of the chao khan ha bai belonging to a rival faction in the court. Unfortunately for them, when Kawilorot was called to make his case to Mongkut at the Bangkok court, he managed to convince Mongkut that his activities were innocent, and carried the day. The nobles of the rival faction, in turn, were held in Bangkok where their questionable loyalties could be more closely monitored.86 This episode showcases Kawilorots dissatisfaction with Lan Nas place in Siams tributary scheme, and his possible plan to re-align Lan Na with a powerful old neighbor who had had its own recent troubles with western interests. Ratanaporn claims that Kawilorot seems to have given up his thoughts about becoming a Burmese tributary

Ibid. Brailey, 141. 86 Ibid.

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because of several practical considerations. [I]t was not certain that the Burmese could shield Chiang Mai from Great Britain, [whose] forces had already twice defeated Burma.87 Thus even if Kawilorots original plan to align himself with Burmas northern king failed, his brilliant if duplicitous performance in Bangkok resulted in both his own vindication, and the elimination of his political rivals in Chiang Mai. This episode taught the Lan Na nobility new lessons in how to manage their role in the regions shifting political balance of power. Firstly, they learned the power of the rumor, by which threats could be made indirectly to the Siamese without foreclosing the possibility of denial. Secondly and perhaps more importantly Lan Na had learned the expediency of playing (British) Burma and Siam against each other in effecting Lan Nas interests. These important lessons were passed down to the next generation of rulership, as we will see later on in this chapter.

2.3.c. The 1873 Chiang Mai Treaty: Undermining Traditional Relationships The year of Princess Dara Rasamis birth, 1873, two other major political events occurred. Firstly, the young Siamese king, Chulalongkorn, had finally been crowned, having spent five years under a regent following the death of his father, Mongkut, in 1868. Secondly, in Lan Na, her father Inthanon officially succeeded the recently-deceased Kawilorot to the throne in Chiang Mai. On his annual visit to Bangkok that year, he received the title of chao luang (high king of Chiang Mai), and given the reign name of

Ratanaporn Settrakul, The International Court in the Northern Part of Thailand (1874-1937). Master's thesis, Department of History, Chulalongkorn University, 1981, 159.
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Inthawichyanon not receive the higher title he was hoping for (phra chao) on this occasion, but he was also saddled with fines from legal cases left over from the prior kings reign. These fines, totaling hundreds of thousands of rupees, were too much for the new king to pay at one time, so a seven-year period was granted for repayment. This annual payment was to be made in teak: one hundred logs per year, for seven years. This fine reflects the increased importance that the teak trade had earned in Lan Na but also the increasing concerns of the Siamese over the dealings of the Lan Na nobility in teak-related disputes with British-Burmese loggers. By 1851, the annual income to the Chiang Mai nobility from timber leases had spiraled to nearly 150,000 rupees, plus nearly as much in bribes and fees charged by nobles.88 British officer Thomas Lowndes, sent from upper Burma in 1871 to survey the situation in Chiang Mai, describes the frequent overlap of these tracts, and double-leasing on the part of nobles.89 Conflicts over these problematic timber leases, thefts, and many unresolved lawsuits resulted in the British desiring Siamese intervention. By 1873, the British government in India was actively campaigning for an agreement that would guarantee their subjects some protection in their timber dealings in Lan Na.

Brailey, 201. B.N.A., F.O. 69/55: Journal Kept by Captain Lowndes, Superintendent of Police, British Burma, Whilst on a Mission to the Zimme Court (Lowndes Journal), 27th March to 30th May 1871.
88

89

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The first Chiang Mai Treaty was concluded rather hastily in 1874, between the British Indian government in Calcutta and the Siamese in Bangkok.90 Though the British actually did request that the Chiang Mai king participate, the Siamese countered that the British should then build in at least four months of additional time, to send the request to Chiang Mai, and allow enough time for the kings journey down to Bangkok.91 Thus, Chiang Mai nobles were excluded from the drawing up of a treaty which affected their judicial practices, economy, and ultimately their sovereignty itself. There were several provisions of the 1874 Chiang Mai Treaty. Firstly, a system of dual government was established, with a full-time resident Siamese kha luang or commissioner stationed in Chiang Mai. The second provision established a permanent police force, with posts along the Salween River to prevent thefts and banditry on loggers traveling through the area. Thirdly, new regulations were put in place to control the leasing of teak forests. Lastly, a new system of taxes and monopolies was introduced. The kha luang was a high-level Siamese administrator appointed to investigate and judge all legal cases advanced by British subjects involving Lan Na or Thai subjects. 92 Criminals were to be tried in the Thai courts regardless of their nationality, and if a British subject was not happy with the Chiang Mai courts decision, the case would be sent to the British officer in Yoongzaleen (Burma) for review.93

While it is not within the scope of this chapter to explore these events fully, the interested reader may find a complete account of the British-Siamese diplomatic affairs surrounding the Chiang Mai Treaties in Braileys 1968 dissertation, and also that of Ratanaporn Settrakul (1989). 91 Brailey, 181. 92 Ratanaporn, p. 182. 93 Ratanaporn explains that the British Indian government had long considered Thailand as part of its sphere of interest particularly since problems there mostly concerned British subjects. [And since] they also
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The Siamese kha luang was also forbidden from interfering in local affairs. Under the Act of Provincial Commissioner Justices of 1874, the Siamese administrator was forbidden from levying corvee labor for his personal affairs, and instructed to refrain from taking bribes, engaging in business, and gambling. But the notion of non-interference was extended to prevent him from becoming entangled in local family politics as well: by forbidding the marriage of Siamese officials to local women.94 Thus the local Siamese administrator was to avoid becoming entangled in the familial structure of the peripheral state the traditional mode by which alliance was accomplished. Thus the circulation of male Siamese bodies from Bangkok to it peripheries served to insert a new element of central Siamese authority into the political landscape, while undermining the system of blood ties that had traditionally bound neighboring kingdoms. Some of the other measures introduced by the Treaty would ultimately undermine other aspects of Lan Nas economy and society. The new tax farms and monopolies in particular struck at the old order of Chiang Mais rulership.95 New Chinese immigrants, both from Bangkok and Yunnan, had been flowing into provincial Siam and Lan Na since the 1855 Bowring Treaty. The new tax farming system in Lan Na facilitated Chinese participation, as it required a substantial up-front investment, and the Chinese merchant class had the advantage of larger cash reserves than the common khon muang populace was typically able to gather. Thus in the auctions of the new monopolies, Chinese were nearly

frequently disagreed with [Bangkok consul] Knoxs actionsthe Calcutta officials responded delightedly to the opportunity to refer unresolved or contested legal cases from Chiang Mai to Burma. Ratanaporn (1989), 174. 94 This act was entitled Phra Ratchabanyat Samrap Kha Luang Chamra Khwam Hua Muang R. S. 92, as cited in Ratanaporn, 188. 95 Ratanaporn, 201.

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always the highest bidders. These monopolies, which included sticklac, betel nut, and cloth, were worth several thousand pounds annually, and were bought up mainly by Chinese taxfarmers hitherto unknown in the state.96 The Siamese commissioner added a few other monopolies of his own to this list, including guns and ammunition, tobacco, ivory, pork, and rice-whisky.97 Chinese traders were outsiders who were both exempt from the traditional patronage system, and able to travel freely (unlike local traders). By the later 1870s, these Chinese traders would become so numerous in Chiang Mai as to constitute a separate social class.98 As these Chinese traders and tax collectors were essentially outside the traditional systems of patronage and trade, however, their presence cost local elites their ability to mitigate the impact of tax collection on the phrai (peasants) in hard times. Due to their social and spatial distance from the local people, Chinese traders were not obliged to trade as fairly with local people as local traders were.99 Additionally, under the prior system, commoners paid their taxes with goods in kind, such as rice, cotton, tobacco, safflower, betel, or chilies. Between MacLeod & Richardsons reports of the 1830s and Lowndes report of 1871, not much had changed in this system but the amounts.100 With the institution of new taxes and monopolies, however, came a

Brailey, 215. B.N.A., F.O. 628/157, Memo on Taxes and Monopolies by Gould, 9th April 1885. As we saw earlier in this chapter, this rice-whisky monopoly was quickly rescinded through the efforts of Mae Chao Thipkesorn and her spirit-medium sister, Chao Ubonwanna. 98 Ratanaporn, 203. 99 Ratanaporn, 207. 100 Ibid.
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new group of collectors who would insist on cash payments, which were increasingly burdensome on the common populace of Lan Na. Most of the income derived from the new tax farms and monopolies, however, went into the pockets of the senior chao. Besides the income from teak, the monies brought in by monopolies on gambling and cloth brought the Chiang Mai kings income to roughly 280,000 rupees a year in the late 1870s.101 A comparison of two travelers accounts from before and after the institution of the new tax system is instructive here. In Captain Lowndes 1871 account, he mentions that the houses of the chao luang and chao ho na were merely substantial, but rather plain, wooden houses with tile roofing.102 By the time of Hildebrands visit in 1876, these houses had become edifices with so many gables atop them that they looked like small villages.103 The Siamese commissioner also benefited by arranging a number of tax farms and monopolies to benefit both himself and the Bangkok king. He also persuaded the Chiang Mai king to divide the new tax and monopoly incomes into three parts, with one-third to pay for the administrative expenses of the kha luang himself.104 Thus the Chiang Mai Treaty of 1874 had the effect of increasing the incomes going into the pockets of the ruling elites, through exploitive tax measures meted out upon the common people. Yet the new Chinese tax collectors were the ones who became identified with the exploitive taxes and monopolies. In this way, the chao were insulated from criticism by the common people, and became complacent in their alignment with the Bangkok
Ibid. B.N.A., F.O. 69/55, Lowndes Journal, 1871. 103 B.N.A., F.O. 628/10/157, Hildebrands Report, 1876. 104 Ratanaporn, 205.
101 102

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administration. By increasing the income they derived from the new tax system, which amounted to buying off the senior chao, the Bangkok government managed to keep the chao from being concerned with the loss of their political power and social status.105 Thus the Chiang Mai Treaty of 1874 set in motion a number of policies which began to undermine the traditional social and economic ties between the Lan Na nai (commoners) and phrai (nobles). It also marks the beginning of Lan Na's long transition to a cash economy. But its failure to enforce British claims in Lan Na forests eventually results in an even stronger, more intrusive policy in 1883: the Second Chiang Mai Treaty. 2.3.d. What Went Wrong: Or, Siams Need for A Second Chiang Mai Treaty Under the First Chiang Mai Treaty of 1874, the British were to periodically send an official from Burma to Chiang Mai to adjudicate cases which had not been satisfactorily settled in the Siamese court. The first British officer, Hildebrand, was deployed to Chiang Mai almost immediately upon the conclusion of the treaty to adjudicate legal cases in tandem with the new Siamese commissioner, Phra Narin, in early 1874. However, Hildebrand left after only three months in the city, with some frustration at his inability to get satisfactory responses from Phra Narin.106 Due primarily to indecision on the part of the British colonial offices at Calcutta as to how to best proceed, there was no new British official visit to Chiang Mai until 1879, which virtually spelt the epitaph of the 1874 Treaty arrangements.107

Ibid., 210. Brailey, 210-11. 107 Ibid., 212.

105 106

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Phra Narins mission in Chiang Mai had two main objectives from the Siamese point of view. The first was to settle Chiang Mais supposed border dispute with Chieng Tung; the second was to ensure the repayment of Chao Inthanons debt (the fines from various teak-logging lawsuits levied in 1874) to the Siamese treasury. On the first count, the Siamese still feared that the northern rulerships relationship with Chiang Tung and the Burmese was too close. Chiang Mais nobles had become friendly with the Shan who were settling in and around the deserted city of Chiang Saen. Not only had a number of amicably-worded letters passed between Chieng Tung and Nai on the one hand, and Intha[wichya]non on the other,108 but the Chiang Mai king had even sent a friendly mission to Mandalay in January of 1874.109 Chao Inthawichyanons debts also figure into Siams new presence in Chiang Mai. In the past, the only regular payment that Chiang Mai had made to Bangkok was a triennial tribute payment. It was part of Phra Narins responsibilities to ensure the collection of the loan repayment, which was in the form of one hundred teak logs per year for seven years. This payment plan completely altered the financial situation of the Chiang Mai nobility, who had come to depend on their leases of teak forests as a major source of income. As taxation had hardly changed since the 1830s (recalling Lowndes, MacLeod & Richardsons accounts), such a diversion of royal income had to be made up somewhere. Unsurprisingly,

Ibid., 213, citing Siam Repository, Vol. 6. (1874), pp. 461-2, and Edwardes report, 17th June 1875 in B.N.A., F.O. 69/62.
108

Ibid., citing [Collected Chronicles] Vol 3, 127-29; Brailey notes that Phra Narin made sure these envoys also reported to Bangkok on their return in January 1875.
109

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the Chiang Mai king was most agreeable to the Siamese kha luangs suggestion that he grant a host of new monopolies upon his return from Bangkok in 1873. But Phra Narin himself was not immune to the temptations of his high post. Local Christian missionary Dr. Cheek accused Phra Narin of systematically robbing this country and prostituting his office.110 Cheek estimated that the Siamese commissioner was making between 20- to 30,000 dollars annually on the side by 1879. Phra Narin also appeared susceptible to bribery when it came to lawsuits. The British consul at Bangkok, writing to his London superiors about a legal case sent to Chiang Mai in 1880, describes that after some subterfuges on the part of the above-mentioned Commissioner [Phra Narin], the Plaintiff was abruptly informed that the proceedings have been burnt and that consequently the case was at an end.111 Moreover, the commissioner was known to be an opium-smoker, and the keeper of a harem which grew to almost unmanageable proportions,112 despite the legal proscription forbidding Siamese officials to become involved with local women. Despite their optimism following the enactment of the 1874 Treaty, the British were still not satisfied with legal procedure in Chiang Mai, and lobbied the Siamese government anew for a revised treaty. The timing was right for a new treaty, as the British government finally found the money to station a vice-consul permanently in Chiang Mai in 1883.

Brailey, 216. Ibid., 220; cites B.N.A., F.O. 69/107, Palgrave to Lord Granville, 19th August 1880. Brailey notes that the case was finally dropped by the Indian Government in 1881. 112 Ibid., 216.
110 111

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Ultimately, the setup of the international court in 1883 under the Second Chiang Mai Treaty became the model for the Siamese modern court system.113 But the new Treaty and court system did not score points with the Chiang Mai nobility. The loss of timber-related legal cases directly impacted the coffers of Lan Nas nobility, and the Siamese were perceived as being to blame. As new tensions arose between King Inthawichyanon (r. 1871-1893) and less sympathetic Siamese commissioners, so did a renewed awareness of the potential benefits of playing the British/Burmese against the Siamese. 2.4 Lan Nas Elite Women and Agency: Thipkraisorn and Ubonwanna In this section, we will explore the roles and status of women in Lan Na, and the nature of womens role in royal succession practices. This is turn will provide a cultural and historical frame for the lives of Chao Thipkraisorn and Chao Ubonwanna, Chao Dara Rasamis mother and aunt, respectively, and a discussion of their possible ambitions for Dara Rasami in the political relationship between Lan Na and Bangkok. On Kawilorots death in 1871, the Lan Na throne passed not to his son, as Kawilorot had no male heirs; rather, it passed to the husband of his eldest daughter, Chao Thipkraisorn. Thus, succession passed from Kawilorot through his eldest daughter, to be held (at least nominally) by her husband. Although such a practice may seem unusual compared to European primogeniture, Inthawichyanons succession is consistent with practices in earlier Lan Na history. Perhaps the best example of these earlier practices is

Engel, David and Frank Reynolds, eds. Code and Custom in a Thai Provincial Court. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1978, 32.
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King Mangrai, founder of Lan Na, who married his sons out to the daughters of nobles in neighboring Lan Na towns in order to consolidate political control. Perhaps this historical mode of rule contributed to the unique pattern of royal succession which emerged during the latter part of the Chao Chet Ton dynasty. This pattern, identified by anthropologist Gehan Wijeyewardene as son-in-law succession, flowed from father-inlaw to son-in-law, through the prior rulers daughter.114 This pattern was practiced by both royal and common families within La Na, and traced its evolution over the first hundred years of the Chao Chet Ton kings.115 Though no solid marriage data is available until the fifth king of the Kawila dynasty (King Mahawong), the succession from that time onward adheres to the pattern of the successor marrying the prior kings daughter. For example, King Kawilorot married the daughter of his predecessor, King Mahawong; the pattern recurred again in the late 1860s with Kawilorots daughter, Thipkraisorn. According to both Brailey and Prani, Thipkraisorn was allowed by Kawilorot to choose her spouse and thus the next ruler of Chiang Mai.116 Though Inthanon (his name prior to taking the throne) was already married, Thipkraisorn forced him to give up his previously acquired wives. Wrote explorer Carl Bock in 1884: He looked as he had the reputation of being a kindly-disposed man, but weak. He was, it appeared, quite overruled by his wife [Thipkraisorn], who seemed to be quite a sufficiently strong-minded individual to make up for his weakness. She was his third wife, and when he married her she compelled him not only to enter the priesthood, but to put away all his concubines. He did not

Wijeyewardene, Gehan. Northern Thai Succession and the Search for Matriliny. Mankind Vol. 14, No. 4, (1984): 285 - 292. 115 Interestingly, under the Chao Chet Ton dynasty of Lan Na, there were no queens. From that perspective, Thipkraisorn given her choice of a weak spouse to take the Chiang Mai throne was the nearest example. 116 Brailey, 168.
114

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wear the yellow cloth long only seven days but that was considered long enough to cleanse him.117 Though Inthawichyanons lineage was traceable to another of Kawilas brothers, he was a relative minor among the royal ranks; his marriage to Thipkraisorn raised his status considerably. Thus the custom of male in-marriage to the chiefs daughter linked two branches of Chiang Mai nobility, in order to provide a male successor to the throne. From this perspective, Inthawichyanons marriage to the kings daughter, and subsequent assumption of the throne, was consistent with traditional Lan Na marital practices. In any event, it was no sacrifice of power for Mae Chao Thipkraisorn, as we will see. Lan Na women, both elite and common, benefited from cultural practices which entitled them to a high level of agency and status. Lan Na women retained rights over their property after marriage, and could inherit equally alongside their brothers though typically ownership of the familys domestic real estate fell to a familys youngest daughter.118 In Lan Na social practice, this correlated to a more general expectation that women remain in the place of their birth, while men may move.119 Late nineteenth-century western observers also noted that it was the normal Lao [sic] rule that a man altered his allegiance to the home state of his wife if it differed from his own.120 This in turn contributed to the largely matrilocal orientation of Lan Na villages. Upon marriage, the Lan Na groom typically moved into his wifes household for at least the first year following marriage.121

Bock, 226. Wijeyewardene, ibid. 119 Ibid., 288. 120 B.N.A, F.O. 30/33, E.B. Gould, the British Vice-consul in Chiang Mai, to E.M. Satow, May 2, 1884. 121 Wijeyewardene (1984), ibid., p. 263.
117 118

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Traditionally, Lan Nas communities were not strictly matrilineal, but were organized into matriclans, [where] muang matrilocal ideology is closely linked to a matrilineal mode of descent.122 These matriclans were organized around women who maintained the clans relationship with their ancestral spirits, particularly through their roles as spirit-mediums.123 This combination gave Lan Na women a higher level of agency than even their relatively high-status sisters in Siam. In terms of the high level of agency enjoyed by Lan Na women, perhaps no better exemplars can be found than Kawilorots daughters, Mae Chao (queen mother) Thipkraisorn and her sister, chao Ubonwanna, both women of great personal charisma and political and economic influence in Chiang Mai. According to Western observers, mae chao Thipkraisorn was the real power behind the throne in Chiang Mai. Writes one missionary: The present queen [Thipkraisorn] is the one who truly has ruling power in her hands. As for her husband, he is the king in name only.124 In addition, Ubonwanna was also a wealthy businesswoman in her own right, trading in timber and textiles produced by the sizable atelier of women weavers working at her residence. Within both Lan Na and Siam, there were those who recognized Thipkraisorns political ability. Brailey mentions that one faction in the Siamese court favored the uparat, her brother-in-law chao Bunthawong, while (Siamese) King Chulalongkorns circle favored

See Davis, Richard. Muang Matrifocality. Mankind Vol. 14, No. 4, (1984): p. 264. See Paul T, Cohen, Gehan Wijeyewardene. Introduction to Special Issue No. 3: Spirit Cults and the Position of Women in Northern Thailand. Mankind Vol. 14, No. 4, (1984): 249 - 262. 124 See Emilie McGilvarys letter of May 5, 1883 in Womans Work for Woman and Our Mission Field, Vol. XIII, 1883, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia.
122 123

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Thipkraisorn, who was receptive to the young kings pro-western stance.125 Some local observers saw Thipkraisorn as a check against chao Bunthawong, who missionary Daniel McGilvary called ambitious and less-principled than either Inthawichyanon or Thipkraisorn in 1880.126 Kawilorots second daughter, Ubonwanna, was also a powerful figure in local economic matters. Several visitors, including Hildebrand, Hallett, and Colquhoun, describe Ubonwannas friendliness to visiting westerners and their ideas, and her invitations to share meals and conversation at her home.127 According to some accounts, Ubonwannas capacity as the official royal spirit-medium provided her with unparalleled influence upon Chiang Mais political decisions. English explorer Hallett states: As an instance of her [Chao Ubonwannas] power, Wilson [an American missionary] stated that when called in to consult the spirits after the lateSecond King [uparat] was struck down with sickness, she boldly told him that the spirits were displeased at his oppression of the people, and advised him at once to abolish certain vexatious taxes, particularly the monopoly of arrack, or ricespirit.128 Carl Bock describes another incident in the same time period, in which it is not the uparat, or second king, who was ill, but rather Mae Chao Thipkraisorn.129 The message in both cases was the same: that the (Chinese-held) monopoly on rice whisky offended the spirits; according to both accounts, it was soon revoked. It would appear that in addition to causing offense to the spirits, such a monopoly would have negatively affected

Brailey, 167. McGilvary, 145. 127 See especially Halletts accounts of several conversations with Chao Ubonwanna in A Thousand Miles on An Elephant in the Shan States. London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1890. 128 Hallett, 105. 129 Bock, 340.
125 126

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Ubonwannas distillery business.130 Thus, the spiritual connections claimed by Ubonwanna appear also to have provided the sisters with a convenient vector of political control, giving these two royal sisters an unparalleled level of status and power in Chiang Mai over the course of the later nineteenth century. How was young Dara Rasami influenced by these two powerful women? We have no direct evidence of Daras thoughts or feelings on the subject; nonetheless, a certain strength of character and pride is evident in Chao Daras demeanor as an adult woman. (How this is reflected in photographs taken during her later life will be discussed in Chapter 4.) It is recorded that some time after Mae Chao Thipkraisorns death in 1884, the young Dara Rasami went to live for a time with her aunt Ubonwanna. Though it is suggested that she had to do so out of financial need,131 I contend that it is more likely in keeping with another Lan Na social practice: upon the death of the mother, children were typically sent to live with an aunt or other female relative.132 Certainly in the context of her immediate family, young Dara Rasamis early life was exceptional; but in terms of her exposure to Lan Na womens already comparatively high level of agency, her mother and aunt provided two powerful, high-status role models in her immediate family. Though there is little data that survives to tell us more of the story of these womens lives, it is hard to ignore the fact of their centrality in Dara Rasamis upbringing. Between them, these women appear to have prepared young Dara well for the immense

130 131

Ibid.

See Volker Grabowskys essay on Ubonwanna in Wongsak Na Chiang Mai, (ed.) [Pride of Lanna Women]. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Within Design, 2004, 268. 132 Prani, 12. This pattern will also be evidenced in Chapter 3, as Dara Rasami later took in the children of her deceased nieces and other kinswomen.

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personal and political challenges which awaited her in the Bangkok palace, as Dara Rasamis career trajectory in the palace eventually bears out.

2.5 Dara Rasami, Rumors and Realigning Allegiances It was around this time (1881-2) that the rumors of an offer of adoption from Queen Victoria to Dara Rasami originate. The best Thai-language source133 states that a British official from southern Burma approached King Inthawichyanon [of Chiang Mai] in 1881 to sound him out as to an offer of adoption. Several Thai authors note that no records of such an offer exist in the Thai archive; but what about the British side? A focused search of the records of the British Consuls at Bangkok and Chiang Mai, as well as Rangoon (Burma), the India Office at Calcutta, and the Foreign Office in London (including the Political and Secret records housed at the British Library) reveals that Dara Rasami herself registered only faintly on the consciousness of British diplomatic officers in Siam. One of the few mentions of her found in the British consular records of the period indicates, if anything, some disdain on the part of the British consular officials towards her. In an 1888 letter from the British consulate in Chiang Mai, William Archer, to Gould, the consul at Bangkok, The marriage of the daughter of the Chief of Chiengmai with the King [of Siam], about two years ago, was another important step [in the extension of Siamese control into the region], for she is, as you know, the only true heiress-apparent of Chiengmai though it may be said that here, even more than in Siam, the succession is by no means necessarily by descent. Still, the child, if any, of the Princess might justly be looked upon as the rightful

Saengdao na Chiang Mai. - [Biography of Phra Rajajaya Jao Dara Rasami, 26 August, 1873 - 9 December 1933]. Chiang Mai: [Central City], 1974.
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Nonetheless, the question of the adoption rumor persists. Nearly every Thai-language biography of Dara Rasami mentions it, as do local Chiang Mai sources (such as the museum created from Daras last home, located outside Chiang Mai in Mae Rim). If the British never even considered making such an offer, where did the rumor come from? Rather than undermining its significance, the fact of the rumors untruth makes it even more historically interesting, as it hints at other actors and motives. Why would such a rumor have been invented, and whose interests did it serve? The answer to these questions provides new insight into the imperialist pressures felt by both Lan Na and Siam in the latter nineteenth century. Though there is little data to support a definitive answer, one Thai account credits Dara Rasami herself as the source of the rumor.135 As Dara Rasami was only eight or nine years old when the adoption rumor began to circulate, it is doubtful that she herself could have invented and perpetuated such a story. However, there were others in Chiang Mai capable of concocting the story. Lowndes notes that Inthawichyanon had asked about the Queen, the war, and my own personal affairs during his 1871 journey to Chiang Mai, illustrating that the Chiang Mai nobility were cognizant of Englands Queen Victoria.136 With the numerous contacts between Chiang Mai nobles especially Thipkraisorn, Inthawichyanon, and Ubonwanna and western visitors over the prior decade, such cosmopolitan awareness is not

134 135 136

B.N.A., F.O. 69/117, November 12, 1888. Saengdao, ibid., . B.N.A., F.O. 69/55, Lowndes Journal (1871), 12.

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surprising.137 Most likely Dara Rasamis parents Mae Chao Thipkraisorn and Chao Luang Inthawichyanon invented the story as a means of improving their political currency with the Siamese, prompting Bangkok to upgrade the status of Chiang Mais rulership. Even if this wasnt the strategy, it nonetheless succeeded. Soon after this rumor reached royal ears in Bangkok in 1882, King Chulalongkorn ordered his half-brother (and new commissioner to Chiang Mai), Chao Phraya Phichit Prichagon, to act as his emissary to Inthawichyanon. The new commissioner brought diamond earrings and matching bracelet up to Chiang Mai as a gift for Dara Rasami, along with a letter from Chulalongkorn to her father soliciting her hand in marriage.138 Such an offer was highly unusual, as the accepted practice among Siamese noble families was to gift women to the king as consorts. According to Thai sources, this is the only instance in which King Chulalongkorn asked a family to send a consort to serve in the palace.139 The uniqueness of this offer necessitated that Chulalongkorn secured the promise of the Chiang Mai royal family to [keep] this a private matter.140 Certainly it would have been difficult to explain to the dozens of other noble families who had not themselves received such an offer.

Indeed, Holt Hallett notes the western utensils used at a dinner party thrown by Ubonwanna in 1886. Hallett, 125.
137 138

Lawaan Chotamra, [Crystal Flowers], [Bangkok : n.d.], cites the Nattakan Limsataphon, : [Queen Dara Rasami: Biography], pp. 124-

[Royal Daily Record], , (Late July-early August 1883), 332-34.

139

134, in Wongsak na Chiang Mai (ed.), [Pride of Lanna Women]. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Within Design, 2004. 140 Lawaan, ibid., 334-35.

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A few years later in 1886, thirteen-year-old Dara Rasami stepped aboard a houseboat to accompany her father, Inthawichyanon, down the river on his semi-annual visit to Bangkok. The purpose of this journey was to present Dara Rasami for service as a consort to King Chulalongkorn in the Inner Palace. The trip was timed to coincide with the events held to celebrate the appointment of Chulalongkorns son, Vajirunhit, to the rank of Crown Prince events in which Dara Rasamis father would play a special role. Dara Rasamis arrival in Bangkok, according to several Chiang Mai sources, was received with great fanfare.141 After her boat was received by King Chulalongkorn at Ayutthaya (about forty miles upstream from Bangkok), she was feted at the summer palace Bang Pa-In with a grand feast attended by a number of the Chakri nobility.142 Having safely delivered Dara Rasami to Bangkok, Inthawichyanon was allowed to ride in a prominent position (with the highest members of Siamese high royalty, the Kings own brothers and sisters) at the front of the procession of royalty celebrating Crown Prince Vajirunhits promotion through Bangkok in November of 1886.143 King Inthawichyanon also participated in the water blessing ceremony for the Crown Prince, marching seventeenth in the procession of royals. What is noteworthy here is that Inthawichyanon was the only ruler of a Siamese prathet sarat (tributary kingdom) to participate in these events. Two months later, in January of 1887, Chulalongkorn also presented King Inthawichyanon with

Prani, 9; Saengdao, ibid. Prani, 9-10. I must qualify this source as problematic, however, as it provides no source for this information, either documentary or oral (which is not inconsistent with many published historical works in Thailand as a whole). The work appears to be written from data culled from oral interviews of and apocryphal data related by various informants and/or their descendants in Chiang Mai. However, as this source is the only one of its kind in terms of local Chiang Mai history, it provides unique data which, while otherwise unverifiable, should not be discounted entirely. 143 See Saengdao, 68-72.
141 142

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the medal of the Order of Chula Chom Klao; he was the only ruler of any of Siams tributary kingdoms to receive this honor during Chulalongkorns reign.144 It appears that Inthawichyanon and Thipkraisorns gambit the circulation of rumors of Queen Victorias desire to adopt Dara Rasami had succeeded, much to the benefit of the Chiang Mai royal family. Whether these intrigues ultimately worked in favor the interests of their subjects (or the future sovereignty of Lan Na), however, is another matter entirely.145 This marriage offer demonstrates the increasing pressures on northern territories being felt by Chulalongkorn in the 1880s, and the continuance of Mongkuts policy of appeasement towards the northern rulership. The Kings offer of engagement to Dara Rasami, however, did not represent a tidy resolution to the situation. Once the young princess was presented to the Siamese monarch, the struggle between the kingdoms would continue to play out in the politics of the Siamese Inner Palace as well. In the next chapter, Dara Rasamis role in this struggle as both hostage and diplomat will serve as a window into the social and political functions of the royal women of the Siamese palace.

Ibid.; also Phonsiri, 150. He also requested the promotion of Dara Rasamis mother, Thipkraisorn, though she had been deceased since 1884. 145 Had Chiang Mais rulers exercised fewer, less exploitive taxes on their populace, and managed to avoid the numerous rebellions that broke out in response, they may have had a better chance at resisting Siams increasing involvement in the region. After Inthawichyanons reign, there were only two more local rulers of the Chiang Mai royal line, but the Siamese gradually reduced their rulership from that of kings to local governors, who ruled alongside the Siamese provincial administrator.
144

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Woodhouse Appendix 1. Chao Chet Ton Dynasty of Lan Na Name: 1. Kawila 2. Thammalangka 3. Khamfan 4. Phuttawong 5. Mahotraprathet 6. Kawilorot 7. Inthawichyanon 8. Intawarorot 9. Chao Kaeo Naowarat Reign Years: 1782-1796 1796-1813 1815-1821 1805-1823 1823-1825 1826-1846 1847-1854 1856-1870 1873-1896 1901-1909 1911-1939 City: Lampang, etc. Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Lamphun Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Chiang Mai

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Woodhouse Illustration 2.1 ~ Map of the Lan Na Region within Mainland Southeast Asia

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Source: Conway 2002.

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Woodhouse Chapter 3. Into the Palace: Binding Siam Via the Circulation of Bodies The [Siamese] grand palace and royal harem are situated on the right hand as you ascend the river. . . Not far from this is another semicircular space surrounded by a high wall . . . [H]ere stands the city of the Nang Harm, or Veiled Women. In this city live none but women and children. Here the houses of the royal princesses, the wives, concubines, and relatives of the king, with their numerous slaves and personal attendants, form regular streets and avenues, with small parks, artificial lakes, and groups of fine trees scattered over miniature lawns and beautiful flower-gardens. These are the residences of the princesses of Siam . . . This womans city is as self-supporting as any other in the world: it has its own laws, its judges, police, guards, prisons, and executioners, its markets, merchants, brokers, teachers, and mechanics of every kind and degree; and every function of every nature is exercised by women, and by them only. Anna Leonowens1

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Anna Leonowens, one of only a handful of Westerners ever granted access to the Siamese Inner Palace, above provides a vivid description of the nineteenth-century palace in Bangkok, the center of political power in Siam. As the home of the monarch, his ministers and officials, and his many consorts, the Royal Palace in Bangkok functioned as the sacral, political and social heart of the polity. Siams monarch ruled as a dharma-raja (righteous Buddhist king), exercising both political and spiritual authority over the state.2 From this center, the kings power was thought to radiate outward towards the peripheries of the kingdom.
Leonowens, Anna Harriette, and Susan Morgan. The Romance of the Harem. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991. 2 Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja. World Conqueror and World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand Against a Historical Background. Cambridge [Eng.]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
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Though many historical studies have focused on the social and administrative change enacted by Siams kings in the mid- to late-nineteenth century, our understanding of Siamese political power remains incomplete. The established canon of scholarship on nineteenth-century Siamese political history depicts an arena dominated by the male players of the Siamese Palace: the king, his advisors, officials and administrators.3 This scholarship, while providing important foundational literature on Siams politics and history, has ignored a crucial component of Siamese political power: the role and influence of Inner Palace women. Why are palace women absent from the picture of Siamese political history? Western historians traced dynastic histories patriarchally, without regard to the names or lineages of queens, princesses and consorts. In adopting this model of historiography in the late nineteenth century, Siams elite historians in turn minimized the roles of royal women in Siams political life. In addition, the Western notion of the backwardness of polygamy, which began with Anna Leonowens in the 1870s, dovetailed with the 1970s Marxist emphasis on history from below to effectively excise elite women from any legitimate role in Siams political or social history. At the same time, the field of gender studies has prompted scholars to ask where are women? in our historical analyses. From a feminist studies standpoint, the absence of women in histories of Siamese political activity points to a dichotomy described by Michelle Rosaldo as a universal opposition between domestic and public roles that is

See especially Bunnag (1977), Battye (1874), Brailey (1968), Terwiel (2003) and Wyatts works (1972, 1984) on nineteenth-century Thai history.
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necessarily asymmetrical. Women, confined to the domestic sphere, do not have access to the sorts of authority, prestige, and cultural value that are the prerogatives of men. She suggests further that, given this imbalance, the exercise of power by women is often seen as illegitimate, and the avenues by which women gain prestige and a sense of value are often shaped and limited by their association with the domestic world.4 However, applying Rosaldos notion of the opposition between public and domestic is highly problematic in the historical contexts of both Siam and Southeast Asia more broadly. In Other Pasts (2000), Barbara Watson Andaya argues that ideas of female seclusion in fact tapped deep cultural veins which had long drawn connections between innerness and being female. She suggests that inside/below is associated with the feminine in Southeast Asia, while the masculine is associated with outside/above, but without making one inferior to the other. Rather, she supports the assertions of Shelly Errington and Janet Hoskins that indigenous gender differentiation as expressed in Southeast Asia was dialectical, interdependent and relatively egalitarian rather than hierarchical.5 This understanding of inside/outside in Southeast Asian cultures helps to explain Siamese palace womens access to a level of authority, prestige, and cultural value as great or greater than that enjoyed by Siamese noblemen. Moreover, in nineteenthcentury Siam, the categories of public and domestic were much more fluid and flexible

Rosaldo, Michelle Zimbalist, Louise Lamphere, and Joan Bamberger. Woman, Culture, and Society. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1974. 5 Andaya, Barbara Watson. Other Pasts: Women, Gender and History in Early Modern Southeast Asia. Honolulu: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai'i at Mnoa, 2000, 235.
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if they signified at all than they have become in the intervening hundred years. To complete our historical picture of Siams pre-modern and early modern political world, we must complicate our understanding of what constitutes the public or private spheres, in order to restore palace womens considerable influence to the arena of legitimate political power. For generations Western and Thai historians alike have unconsciously reproduced the false dichotomy between public and private: Siamese history and politics were conflated with the activities of men in the public sphere, while the activities of royal women were rendered entirely within the realm of private domesticity. However, an investigation of the lives and roles of Inner Palace women demonstrates that Siamese political life was far more complex than such a dichotomy allows. Though scholars like Tamara Loos, Hong Lysa and Junko Koizumi have in the past decade begun the task of unpacking the political and legal significance of Siams elite women,6 the thrust of my project is very different. Rather than position this study to recover the public and therefore political aspects of Siams royal women, I intend instead to restore the private or domestic sphere of the Inner Palace to our concept of Siamese politics. Such a re-orientation legitimizes the kinship ties and personal relationships that bound the peripheries of the kingdom to its center not only via the circulation of male administrators outward to peripheral territories, but also the circulation of womens bodies to the center as consorts
These scholars have contributed several important articles and book chapters to the topic of Siams palace women. See particularly Loos 2006 article, Sex in the Inner City: The Fidelity Between Sex and Politics in Siam, Journal of Asian Studies 64, No. 4, 881-909; Junko Koizumis From A Water Buffalo to a Human Being: Women and the Family in Siamese History, in Other Pasts, Andaya, ed., 2000; and Hong Lysas 1998 article, Of Consorts and Harlots in Thai Popular History, Journal of Asian Studies 57, No. 2, 333-353.
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and queens. It is within this context that Princess Dara Rasamis role within the Siamese palace becomes visible, at the same time illuminating the socio-political relations at work in the Inner Palace. To provide this context, this chapter will examine the workings of life within the Inner Palace in order to attempt to understand the entwined issues of social capital and circulation in Siamese court culture. The first section will trace the establishment of Siams Royal Palace in the Rattanakosin Era, and the binding of the polity through both the collection of ethnically different consorts in the royal palace, and the circulation of ethnically Siamese male administrators into the peripheral territories. The next section will address the representation of rank and status in the space of the Inner Palace, the social coding of palace womens seclusion as eliteness, and Dara Rasamis role in the spatial representation of rank and status within the palace. Part three examines the function of the Siamese Royal Palace as a crucible of Siamese culture, and the opportunities it represented for both common and elite women to build careers and social capital within the Palace. The fourth section addresses the political function of those palace women (like Dara Rasami) sent from the kingdoms peripheries to ensure the loyalties of their home kingdoms, and how these political ties influenced their treatment in the palace. The fifth section will address the issue of transgression within the Inner Palace: how the bodies of elite women were constrained and policed, and how a palace woman could be punished for breaking the rules. Lastly, the chapter will conclude with thoughts on the significance of Chao Dara Rasamis political role as a link between the Lan Na kingdom and Siam in the late nineteenth century. Page 84

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By the Fifth Reign of the Chakri Dynasty in Bangkok (1868 1910), the Inner Palace contained a well-established system of social and political mobility that was rapidly reaching its apotheosis under King Chulalongkorn. But let us look back for a moment to consider the historical context of the Inner Palace in Bangkok. What was the role of the monarch and hence the palace in Siamese society? Where did the institution of the Inner Palace originate, and what was its role in this relationship? How did it evolve over time, and how did its shape reflect the political concerns of the Chakri monarchy? The chronic scarcity of humanpower in mainland Southeast Asia brought about notions of kingship in which control of populations was paramount. Siams model of traditional rulership adapted the concept of dharma raja7 from their Khmer neighbors. The dharma raja controlled humanpower mainly through the exercise of entourage and circle (a la Lucien Hanks), i.e., hierarchical networks of patron-client relationships.8 With the king as the ultimate patron of all Siamese subjects, the palace functioned as the innermost entourage in Siamese society, with each consort/royal woman anchoring her own entourage in turn. These entourages provided intersections of influence between the peripheries outside and the capital center inside, with outsiders looking to their Inner Palace connections as means of gaining currency with the King himself. Polygyny (which denotes a polygamous marriage in which a man has more than one wife) had been practiced by the monarchs of mainland Southeast Asian polities long
See Tambiah (1976). Hanks, Lucien M. Merit and Power in the Thai Social Order. American Anthropologist 64, No. 6 (1962): 1247-61.
7 8

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before the Rattanakosin (or Bangkok) era began.9 Like the monarchs of Lan Na seen in the last chapter, the Siamese royalty had also practiced polygyny throughout the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya eras. With the Burmese sack of Ayutthaya in 1767, Siams former capital was reduced to a smoldering ruin, its elite class and much of Siamese literature and high culture decimated. Over the next few years, General Taksin gathered the surviving Siamese nobility to establish a new capital at Thonburi. With the succession of the Chakri family to the throne in 1782, the capital was relocated to the east across the Chao Phraya River, and a new palace was built in the Rattanakosin district of what is now considered old Bangkok. Thus, Siamese palace life essentially re-started in the 1780s, as the Siamese built a new capital at Bangkok. Having recently experienced the total destruction of their former capital, the newly established Chakri rulers were intensely concerned with re-building and preserving the security of their new capital. (This concern prompted the Siamese to assist the Lan Na rulers in ousting the Burmese from the northern territories as well, as we saw in the last chapter.) The high priority of regional security shaped both the population of the Inner Palace and the fledgling Chakri dynastys external political practices in the early Bangkok Period. As the control of humanpower (or the lack thereof) had been a major problem in protecting the old capital at Ayutthaya, the Chakri nobility was concerned with consolidating their political loyalties in the region, which they proceeded to do in a number

Definition of polygyny from New Oxford American Dictionary, 2008.

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of new ways.10 Firstly, they changed the shape of provincial government, removing local princes from their administrative posts, and replacing them with officials sent from Bangkok. They also installed a legal official entitled yokkrabat in each provincial capital, to act as both local legal representative of the King and his de facto spy. A new law proclaimed that if the yokkrabat wished to travel to the capital (Bangkok), the [local] governor was expressly forbidden from preventing him.11 Secondly, the Chakri court centralized its administrative control over these new provincial administrators, creating separate chief ministers to oversee the provinces: the Mahat Thai minister supervising the north and the Kalahom supervising the southern provinces.12 At first, the Siamese administrators to the peripheries were allowed to marry into local ruling families, thus mirroring and reinforcing the pattern of familial connection established by the circulation of female bodies to Siams center. Though the Chakri kings had taken control of distant provinces out of the hands of local elites, such marriages between Bangkok administrators and local elite women risked replicating the dangerous conditions at the peripheries which had led to the fall of Ayutthaya. In 1873, King Chulalongkorn handed down the Act of Provincial Commissioner Justice forbidding Siamese administrators from marrying local noblewomen.13 This act was intended to prevent the Siamese administrator from becoming enmeshed in the interests of local elites.
Rabibhadana, Akin. The Organization of Thai Society in the Early Bangkok Period, 1782-1873. Vol. Number 74. Southeast Asia Program Series;, Ithaca, N.Y: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1969, p. 27. 11 Clause 139, Laksana Aya Luang (Crimes Against the Government), PK, vol. II, pp. 443-444 (as cited in Akin 1969). 12 The chief minister of the south was known as the Samuha Kalahom, while the chief minister of the northern region was the Samuha Nayok.
10 13

[Act of Provincial Commissioner Justice], 1873.

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Notably it did nothing to preclude extra-marital relationships, i.e., the keeping of consorts or concubines. Hence, the stories of Siamese administrators to Chiang Mai (and elsewhere) who kept large numbers of local women as consorts in their households, without official censure (as we saw in the last chapter).14 For provincial administrators and officials from Bangkok, these rules were not intended to curtail their sexual behavior; rather they served to prevent them from forming marital alliances with the provincial elites and compromising their loyalty to Bangkok. However, this act also functioned to undermine the older patterns of reciprocal exchange of bodies between the center and its peripheries: Siamese administrators were relegated to the role of perpetual outsider (and harem keeper), while the elite women of the peripheries became hostages (and sometime diplomats) sent to serve the needs of the Siamese king in distant Bangkok. By these means the new Bangkok rulership worked hard to prevent the problems of provincial control which had in the past proved too easily undermined when threatened by invaders, and rendered their capital vulnerable to Burmese attack. At the same time however, the Siamese need for external territorial security was counter-balanced by an intimately internal one: that of rebuilding the elite class and the institution of the palace itself. The makeup of the Inner Palace in the early Bangkok era was shaped by concerns for both external security and internal cultural rebuilding. The following cursory analysis of the Inner Palace population will provide a new perspective on the political role of palace women, who both shaped and reflected the Chakri dynastys political fortunes over time.
As mentioned in Chapter 2, one of the earliest Siamese administrators to Chiang Mai, Phra Narin, was noted for the number of women in his household. According to Brailey, One of the best bribes in a case to be tried before him was, reportedly, the offer of an addition to his harem which grew to almost unmanageable proportions. Brailey, 216.
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At the advent of the new capital at Bangkok, the first Chakri monarch had a total of seventeen consorts. 15 Of the consorts in this Inner Palace, four were the daughters of provincial rulers, two more came from the prathet sarat (tributary kingdoms) of Lan Na and Lan Xang; another seven women were the daughters of various nobility based in Bangkok; one woman was described as the daughter of wealthy Chinese, and three were of unknown origin.16 It is understandable given the recent destruction of the court at Ayutthaya that there were few women of royal blood available to serve as consorts during this reign. It appears that the nearest royal relative available was the granddaughter of an Ayutthayan consort. But what is most notable about the makeup of palace women during this reign is the preponderance of women from beyond Bangkok: fully thirty-five percent of the women serving in the Inner Palace in this Reign come from provincial or distant tributary regions. (Let us not forget the marital alliance between Lan Na King Kawilas sister and the brother of the first Chakri king in the 1780s, as well.) This practice clearly reflects the early Chakri courts need to re-establish its ties with neighboring regions. Here we can parallel Bangkoks practice of assigning governors to its provinces with the importation of provincial women into the palace via marital alliance. Here lies an interesting counterpoint: the circulation of male Siamese bodies outward from the center to govern the peripheries, with a simultaneous circulation of female bodies from the

King Phra Phutta Yotfa reigned 1782-1809. See Appendix 1 for a complete list of Chakri monarchs and their reign dates. 16 See Sara Miphonkit,
15

.. 2394-2468 [Siamese Court Ladies from the Reign of King Mongkut to King Vajiravudh A.D. 1851 1925]. Masters thesis, Department of History, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, 22.

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peripheries towards the center to ensure the loyalties of the outlying tributaries. These circulations indicate the centrality of bodies echoing Foucaults notion of blood ties to the traditional structure of Siamese political power. But in particular, this pattern of circulation reflects the inextricability of local elite womens bodies to the literal reproduction of the Siamese kingdom, which could only be accomplished satisfactorily in Bangkok, not out in the provinces. Once the new court found its footing, however, the makeup of the Inner Palace shifted from reign to reign. By the Second Reign, (King Phra Phutta Lert La, 1809-1824) the Inner Palace counted only three provincial consorts, while the number of daughters of Bangkok nobility rose to thirteen of eighteen royal consorts.17 By the Third Reign, the numbers skew even further towards local nobility, with twenty-two women from local families versus four from the provinces among the total number of twenty-eight. As Burma receded as Siams biggest security threat in the 1820s,18 Bangkok began to grow increasingly confident in the strength of its position in the region, which was in turn reflected in the makeup of the Inner Palace. The above accounts illustrate that as Siams position in the region grew increasingly secure, the extent of the Inner Palace grew as well. During the Fourth Reign, that of King Mongkut (1856-1868), the population of the Inner Palace surged to its greatest number to date, with a total of fifty-three consorts. In this reign, Siams security was reflected in the
Sara Miphongkit, Ibid. With the victory of the British over the Burmese in the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1825, Siam recognized the decreased military might of its former rival, at the same time Western imperialism began to impinge on Siams boundaries. See Ni Ni Myint (1983) and Furnivall (1939) for excellent accounts of British involvement in Burma in the nineteenth century.
17 18

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ever-shrinking percentage of women from its peripheries present in the Inner Palace. Only two were women of tributary kingdoms (Lan Na and Lan Xang); another was from Cambodia (which at that moment was still under nominal Siamese control), and another Malay (Lingga). But the vast majority of royal consorts were local women: women from either the royal family itself, or the noble families of Bangkok. King Mongkut, who ascended the Siamese throne in 1856 at the age of forty-seven, seemed eager to make up for the twenty-seven years he had spent as a Buddhist monk during his brothers reign, fathering sixty-five children by thirty-two of his consorts over the span of his seventeen-year reign.19 (He even complained that he was not given as many women as the uparat (second king), who was perceived as younger and more virile.20) Most notably, however, he had access to a sizable pool of royal-born women from which to choose consorts when he succeeded the throne. Having reached a sort of critical mass, this group was in need of further differentiation; it was at this point, in the Fourth Reign, that the various ranks of queen began to be utilized.21 Three of Mongkuts highest consorts granted the rank of high queen were daughters of the prior king; they were also the mothers of the next generations king and his high queens.22 Thus from the start of Mongkuts reign, the population of women particularly women of royal blood in the Inner Palace surged exponentially during a relatively short period of time. Though the

See Finestone, Jeffrey. A Royal Album, the Children and Grandchildren of King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Siam. Bangkok: Loma Holding Company, 2000, 18-40. 20 Seni Pramoj, Kukrit Pramoj, M. R, Mongkut. A King of Siam Speaks. Bangkok: Siam Society, 1987, 213. 21 Sara Miphongit, 54. 22 Mongkuts son by Queen Thepsirin was Chulalongkorn, who succeeded the throne to become Rama V. Mongkuts three daughters by Queen Phiyama Wadi were Saowapha Phongsri, Sawang Watthana, and Sunanta Kumarirat, who were Chulalongkorns three highest-status wives.
19

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Fourth Reign still demonstrated a long geographical reach, as reflected in the presence of consorts from Cambodian, Lao and Malay kingdoms,23 the makeup of the Inner Palace demonstrates that the locus of Siamese power rested solidly within the Bangkok nobility itself. This trend continued in the following reign, that of King Chulalongkorn. Chulalongkorns reign, frequently referred to as the Fifth Reign, was a very long one. Compared to his father Mongkut, who reigned seventeen years, Chulalongkorn (Rama V) reigned a long forty-one years (1868-1910). Chulalongkorns Inner Palace grew to 153 consorts, three of whom like Dara Rasami came from peripheral, tributary kingdoms.24 Though the number of such provincial consorts represented in the Siamese Royal Palace made up a mere four percent of the (exceptionally high) total population, their number is larger than at any time during the two prior reigns (since the 1830s). What does this indicate about the regional context surrounding Siam in the later nineteenth century? Though Siams political position in mainland Southeast Asia in the last quarter of the nineteenth century grew increasingly secure against its old enemies, a new and formidable threat had crept into the picture: European imperialism. As the English gradually moved into Burma to Siams west, the French moved into Cambodia on the east, slowly but surely replacing Siams traditional enemies with outposts under European imperial control. As I will discuss later on in this chapter, Dara Rasamis presence in the Inner Palace provided Siam with its own buffer state Lan Na against British encroachment.
Mongkut had two daughters by Princess Numan of Vieng Chan (Vientiane), Laos; neither became a consort of the next king (Chulalongkorn). See Finestone, Jeffrey. The Royal Family of Thailand: The Descendants of King Chulalongkorn. Bangkok: Phitsanulok Publishing Co., Ltd, 1989. 24 Finestone (2000), 64-72.
23

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In a royal culture informed by sakdi na rank and the dharma raja concept, physical space played a central role in the expression of royal power and social hierarchy. The next section will explore how the circulation of bodies within the space of the palace both expressed and reinforced differences in rank among Siams palace women.

3.2 Space, Status and Circulation in the Siamese Palace The walls of the Royal Palace in Bangkok delineated three discrete areas. (See Illustration 3.1.) The Wang Na (Outer Palace), contained the offices of administrative and military officials and staff; the Wang Klang (Middle Palace), contained the royal audience halls in which the business of the kingdom was conducted, as well as the kings residence.25 Lastly, and within a second set of walls, the Wang Nai (Inner Palace) housed the many royal women of the fai nai (Inner Group): consorts and their entourages, children, cooks, servants, guards, and go-betweens. With its own laws, its judges, police, guards, prisons, and executioners, its markets, merchants, brokers, teachers, and mechanics of every kind and degree...,26 as Leonowens described in the epigraph to this chapter, the Inner Palace was an autonomous female world. How do we make sense of gender within the hyper-female space of the Inner Palace? As mentioned earlier in this chapter, Barbara Watson Andaya argues in Other Pasts (2000) that ideas of female seclusion tapped deep cultural veins which had long drawn
In the past, the Front or Outer Palace was also the residence of the Uparat (Second King), but in the Fourth Reign a separate residence for the Uparat was built off the palace grounds nearby. These palace buildings, now adjacent to Thammasat University and Sanam Luang, now house the National Museum of Thailand. 26 Leonowens, Anna Harriette, and Susan Morgan. The Romance of the Harem. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991.
25

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Southeast Asia, inside/below is associated with the feminine, while the masculine is associated with outside/above, but without rendering one inferior to the other.27 For our purposes, the Siamese Inner Palace corresponds to broader Southeast Asian notions of femaleness and interiority. However, whereas womens movements beyond such interiors were permitted in other Southeast Asian contexts, elite female circulation outside the quarters of the Siamese Inner Palace was highly restricted. What drove these restrictions on womens physical circulation? I agree with Tamara Loos that [a]n individuals social status, rather than simply membership in a transclass gender category, determined gender norms and legal prohibitions for men and women in Siam.28 In other words, class trumped gender in the Siamese context. As the potential mothers of Siams next monarch, consorts bodies were not to circulate freely: their sexual circulation had to be restricted exclusively to the domain of the king. The high value of their social currency translated into limits on their physical circulation. During the Ayutthayan era (C.E. 1350 - 1766) Siamese royal women were not sequestered;29 elite women were restricted to the Inner Palace only beginning with the Rattanakosin Era (1782-present). Over the course of the Rattanakosin Era the sequestration of elite women became socially coded, and the near-invisibility of high27

Andaya, Barbara Watson. Other Pasts : Women, Gender and History in Early Modern Southeast Asia. Honolulu: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Mnoa, 2000, 235. 28 Loos, Tamara. Sex in the Inner City: The Fidelity Between Sex and Politics in Siam. Journal of Asian Studies 64, no. 4 (2005): 881-909. 29 Chakrabongse, Chula. Lords of Life: a History of the Kings of Thailand. Bangkok: DD Books, 1982.

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ranking palace women became synonymous with their eliteness. Considering the perpetual shortage of humanpower common to mainland Southeast Asia, coupled with the difficulty of the daily lives of many Siamese women laboring in the fields or marketplace, such limited circulation must have seemed a luxurious state to which most could only aspire. Additionally, an analysis of the social value of the Inside should not overlook the immense spiritual status accorded to those living in such close proximity to the sacred person of the dharma raja, the king himself. It follows that those who enjoyed the highest status in the Inner Palace were not able to circulate as freely as those of lesser status. Of the fai nai (Inner Group), those who had the greatest freedom of physical movement between the Inner Palace and the outside world were the lowest-ranking members of the royal households: guards, servants, cooks, and go-betweens. These women would have been free to enter and exit the palace gates as necessary to complete their assigned errands, giving them the greatest physical freedom of any of the women living within the palace. Some servant women excluded from being selected as a chao chom even had husbands and families living elsewhere in the city, outside the palace grounds. Indeed, for the highest-status royal consorts and queens, the very fact of their invisibility (and corresponding inaccessibility) to the outside world was a sign of their royal rank. Thai scholar Wannaporn Bunyasathit explains that Inner Palace women were limited to movement between the Inner and Middle Palaces, or, if outside the palace, to various

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Bangkok temples for important ceremonies or seasonal sermons.30 On these occasions, palace women would enter the temple grounds on walkways lined with screens or curtains, and their seating area would be similarly partitioned off, hiding them from the view of the populace and vice versa. A consorts movement outside the palace could only be achieved by royal permission, and in the company of an official chaperone (in addition to her customary entourage an elite woman would be highly unlikely to travel anywhere alone). Additionally, she had to obtain permission to exit the palace to see relatives visiting Bangkok, and she could host visits from only her immediate family members in her own residence within the Inner Palace.31 3.2a. Residence and Status in the Palace The physical layout of Siams Royal Palace has a direct bearing on our discussion of space and status among palace women. To make this data more easily understood, a full map of the Palace grounds layout is provided in Illustrations 3.1 and 3.3. As described above, palace space was divided into three distinct zones, oriented from north to south. The northernmost zone was the Outer (or Front) Palace; just to the south was the Middle Palace, which contained the kings residence; and the southernmost zone was that of the Inner Palace, which contained the residences of the many royal women and consorts. Both the Middle and Inner Palaces were enclosed by a second set of walls within that ringing the palace as a whole. These walls were punctuated by gates (see Illustration 3.1) connecting each zone to the outside, and each zone to each other. Looking at the palace map, the
Wannaporn Bunyasathit. . [Consorts & Wives of Siam]. Bangkok: Sangsan Books, Ltd, 2006, 35.
30 31

N.L.T., ..1247, .5 142, 4.

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position of one building in particular may strike the reader as unusual: that of the Chakri Maha Prasat Hall (Illustrations 3.2 and 3.3). This building, which contained the kings residence and other rooms, actually straddled the division between the Middle and Inner Palaces. As such, this building functioned to join the two zones of the palace together, and provided the focal point of palace life. Its history and spatial position bear further examination here. The Chakri Maha Prasat Palace replaced an earlier royal residence which Chulalongkorn had razed after he ascended the throne in 1868. Its architecture incorporated the Western elements of balustrades, galleries and towers hybridized with Thai proportions and elements. As is evident from the close-up map of the hall (Illustration 3.2), the Chakri Maha Prasat was comprised of three horizontal wings joined by a vertical central hall, with its more publicly accessible audience halls on the northern side and private residences on the southern side. The southernmost wing of this building, named the Ratcha Sathitya Holan Residence, was built to house Chulalongkorns highest queen (and half-sister) Saowapha Phongsri, her entourage, and several other royal female relatives.32 Women who had been his fathers favorite queens lived in this wing, and attended the king personally in high official roles.33 On the southern side of the building a

After the death of King Chulalongkorn in 1910, the Inner Zone of the old palace was abandoned. Many buildings fell into ruin and were razed in the 1950s after the current king (Rama IX) ascended the throne, and new structures were built on some of the sites, including where the old south wing used to be. See Naengnoi
32

Saksing, Mom Ratchawong. [Architecture of the Royal Palace], Office of the Royal Secretariat: Bangkok, 1988. 33 A few of Mongkuts wives went on to serve in the Inner Palace under Chulalongkorn, including Chao Chom Manda Piyam (mother of Saowapha, Sawang Wattana, and Sunanta), who was director of the Inner Palace until her death in 1904; and Chao Chom Manda Khien, who was head of the Inner Palace guards. Miphongit, 141-43.

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wide veranda and garden named Suan Sawaan (Heavenly Garden) opened onto the Inner Palace, facing the residences of the highest royal consorts. As the building which housed the king and much of his activity, the Chakri Maha Prasat Hall provided the focal site for Inner Palace affairs. In this building, the king slept, ate meals in the company of his wives and children, and conducted royal business. This hall was also where the women of the Inner Palace some of whom might otherwise rarely see him face to face appeared in daily audiences before the king (more on this later). Immediately adjacent to the Maha Chakri Prasat Hall were the residences of the highest-status women of the Inner Palace. (See Illustration 3.3) After Queen Sawang Wattana, the residence of the next highest Queen Sukhumala Marasri (Illus. 3.3, number 3) connected to the Chakri Maha Prasat via an arched walkway called the upper bridge.34 Dara Rasamis residence was located within this high-status quadrant, where it still stands today (more on this in a moment). As more consorts bore royal children and obtained their own residences,35 myriad new houses were constructed in this space over the course of the latter nineteenth century. The green spaces, ponds and fountains of the Inner Palace were sacrificed for these residences, ultimately resulting in an over-crowded situation. At the margins of the Inner Palace were the long buildings of the Tao Teng (Illus. 3.3, number 14), literally row houses for middle-status women entitled to own residences (higher than ladies-in-waiting, who lived in consorts residences), and the barracks of the female Inner Palace guards (Illus. 3.3, number 16). These residents functioned as de facto

34 35

Naengnoi, Vol 1., 95. King Chulalongkorn had a total of seventy-six children by thirty-six consorts. Chakrabongse, 222.

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secondary guards, surveilling the edges of the Inner Palace nearest the outermost walls and gates. These residences allowed women with official status a separate home of their own within the palace no small thing, in the increasingly crowded space of the Fifth Reign Inner Palace. Upon the birth of her daughter in October, 1889 Dara Rasami was granted her own separate residence within the Inner Palace. (See Illustration 3.3, number 6.) As previously mentioned, it was on the important occasion of a royal childs birth that a consorts rank was upgraded to that of chao chom manda, and she was usually granted her own residence. Though the parcel of land granted for Dara Rasamis residence was not as large as those granted to Chulalongkorns highest-ranking queens (see Illustration 3.3, nos. 1-5 for comparison), it was located in the same sector as their residences, facing the southern veranda of Chakri Maha Prasat Hall. Dara Rasamis new residence was constructed to maximize the prestige of the Chiang Mai royals. Using funds provided by her father, King Intawichyanon, her residence was an imposing structure designed to take up the entire lot. It was built in the latest Italianate-cum-Siamese style, and stood at three stories. Its large windows were flanked by shutters on all three floors, with elaborate detail framing the windows on each floor. The mansion was painted pink and green in the style popular at the time.36 (See Illustration 3.4 for a photo of the building as it stands today.)

36

Contemporary photographs of the interiors of this residence are featured in Nongyao Kanchanacharis

official biography, [Queen Dara Rasami: A Biography. With an Introduction by Princess Kalayani Wattana]. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 1990, 44-48.

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Though the new residence was intended to house not only Dara Rasami and her entourage, but also any visiting officials from Chiang Mai, its size reflects more than mere utility.37 As if in response to the mark of high status accorded Dara Rasami by virtue of its location, the residences imposing size and up-to-date architecture, as funded by Chiang Mai, can be seen as an architectural discourse which proclaims Chiang Mais continued strength as Siams most prominent prathet sarat (tributary kingdom), and demands the acknowledgment of the Siamese royalty. Though to describe this structure a discourse of resistance against the Siamese is undoubtedly going too far, the stature of this residence nonetheless makes clear the status Chiang Mai claimed for itself and its princess in Bangkok.

3.3 The Fundamentals of Life in the Inner Palace Within the myriad households of this highly constrained environment, how were the basic functions of daily life accomplished? In this section I will examine how palace women of all classes managed to obtain the basic necessities of food, water, health and hygiene inside the Inner Palace, and how sex and death were dealt with. 3.3a. Food and Supplies While the kings meals were prepared in the royal kitchens,38 the womens meals were prepared within their individual households, who purchased their own foodstuffs and supplies from the myriad small markets ringing the outer Palace walls. The flow of servants
Nongyao, ibid. The royal cook had the very important responsibility of overseeing the royal kitchens, and ensuring the safety of all dishes delivered to the king (by enclosing them in sealed canvas bags, etc). Smith (1982), p. 74.
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out of the Palace gates and into the local marketplaces must have been almost constant. The women who actually did the buying would have been the cooks and servants attached to the households of consorts (rather than the consorts themselves). As one of the rare venues in which palace women could be seen outside, these markets also became marriage markets where young men and their matchmakers could watch for palace women from good families with whom to contract marriages.39 In addition to cooking their own meals, many households also produced sweets and other edible treats for sale within the palace, sometimes from shops set up in the lower floors or rear entrances of the residences. Dara Rasamis residence was noted for its special snacks, called mieng,40 a northern treat allegedly adapted by the Princess to the ingredients available in Bangkok. Kukrit Pramote mentions these snacks specifically in relation to Daras residence in the palace: Chao Dara Rasamis residence was regarded as stranger than the others entirely, because the lady wore phasin (skirts) and long hair, [and] dressed as a Chiang Mai woman, spoke northern language throughout the house, and was the only one that always handed out tidbits wrapped in leaves41 3.3b. Water and Hygiene One might well wonder how, in an era before indoor plumbing and running water, the women of the Inner Palace dealt with the bodys natural functions and personal hygiene. Many sources have noted the Siamese attention to bodily cleanliness and

See Kukrit Pramoj, transl. Tulachandra. 1998. Four Reigns. Chiang Mai, [Thailand]: Silkworm Books. Mieng is a Lan Na delicacy made from a variety of fillings rolled up together with fermented tea leaves, making an hors douevre-like snack. Today a variant of this dish can be ordered in Bangkok restaurants. 41 Kukrit (1998), ibid.
39 40

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frequency of bathing.42 Within a noblewomans household, her toilette would be attended to by her ladies-in-waiting and servants, who would assist her in bathing, applying perfumed water and powders, and dressing, sometimes several times a day. According to Anna Leonowens, the ladies of the palace were also fond of swimming in the ponds and fountains of the Inner Palace grounds as a pastime to relieve the tropical heat and humidity.43 Though indoor plumbing was unknown in Siam prior to the early twentieth century, palace women did not have to leave the Inside in order to draw fresh water for cooking or bathing. A main pipeline ran under the palace from just south of Wat Phra Sri Rattana Sudaram (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and southwest through the Inner Palace grounds, supplying its gardens and fountains.44 Besides this, there was also the bathing pool known as Lady Orathais Pond, which was located south of the Tao Teng rowhouses. Here Inner Palace women could also obtain water for drinking, cooking and putting out fires.45 This water was drawn into vessels and transported back to each household for cooking and bathing. Human waste was dealt with by two main methods; which one depended on a womans status level. If a woman was a consort of chao chom status or higher, she could use a chamber pot within the comfort of her household, which was then emptied at the public toilets by her servants. If a woman was a lady-in-waiting or servant, she had to use these public toilets herself. These facilities were housed in a long, low brick building colloquially
See Engelbert Kaempfer, A Description of the Kingdom of Siam, 1690. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 1998; etc. See Leonowens The Romance of the Harem (1872). 44 See Naengnoi, 310. 45 Ibid., 311.
42 43

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known as the umong (cave) (see Illustration 3.3, number 15.) It appears that this building was one of the only (if not the only) one to be provided drainage out of the palace grounds, probably to the nearby river. As a site which probably experienced the greatest circulation of bodies within the Inner Palace, one can imagine that the umong was likely a major point of exchange for news and rumors from both inside and outside the palace.46 3.3c. Sex and Reproduction The terming of the Inner Palace as a harem by Western observers suggests that they imagined it to be a sort of sexual playground for the Siamese king. However, the reality of Inner Palace practices contrasts starkly with such a notion. In addition to the careful regulation of mens circulation into the Inner Palace, womens sexual behavior was highly restricted and controlled, mainly through the surveillance of other palace women (which will be explained in greater depth later on in this chapter). Though the king did indeed have access to the grounds and households of the Inner Palace, he spent little time there. In actuality, a consort had to be summoned to the kings bedchambers for sexual congress; sex between the King and a consort was typically by appointment only.47 (Once again, a womans circulation vis--vis her proximity to the King played a major role here.) Even so, there was little likelihood of total privacy between the King and consort: many servants attended the Kings bedchamber, with a senior woman whose duty it was to sleep beside his bed at night. Chulalongkorns highest queen, Saowapha Phongsri, resided in the Blue Room adjacent to those of the king. Such close proximity precluded any mystery as
The umong is described as having a long aisle running between two facing rows of seat-height brick stalls. It is unclear whether these stalls were partitioned or not, but it seems unlikely that there was very much privacy among the umongs users. Naengnoi, ibid. 47 Smith, 70.
46

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to who was sharing the kings bed on any given night. Thus, sex in the Inner Palace was a far less private, less spontaneous, and more quotidian affair than Western notions of harem suggest.48 The births of royal babies to royal consorts was also managed by palace women themselves, with royal midwives assisting consorts in giving birth within their residences. In an effort to improve medical knowledge of midwifery early in the twentieth century, Queen Saowapha herself sent several young Siamese women to England to be schooled in the subject.49 Though women of lower birth often worked as servants in the households of royal women and consorts, they were forbidden from entering the palace if they were pregnant. The prevailing belief was that if they should accidentally give birth, their blood would taint the palace, requiring that purification rituals be performed at the palace gates in all four cardinal directions.50 Like non-elite Siamese women, after giving birth royal consorts also went through a period of roasting by the fire, which was thought to protect them and their babies from the predations of evil spirits.51 Thus the women of the Inner Palace (plus, of course, the king himself) managed the business of sex and reproduction entirely.

According to Dr. Malcolm Smith, King Chulalongkorn had no more children after he reached the age of forty-one (1890), which is corroborated by the royal genealogy compiled by Jeffrey Finestone (1989). 49 But to no avail. Apparently, they were too young to be accepted to the English medical program to which they had been sent, and eventually returned to Siam empty-handed. (Smith, 1982) However, Saowwapha founded her own school for midwifery in Bangkok in 1897. (Chakrabongse, 1960). 50 See Naengnoi, p. 303. 51 For explanation of the Thai post-partum ritual of lying by the fire, see Charles Keyes, The Golden Peninsula: Culture and Adaptation in Mainland Southeast Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1995, 158-60.
48

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nineteenth century, illness among the consorts was an increasingly regular occurrence. (This ultimately motivated Chulalongkorn to build the new palace grounds in Dusit district at the turn of the century, which will be addressed in the next chapter.) What was the nature of medical care for palace women in this era? Though Western medicine had come to Siam in the form of Christian missionaries in the 1830s, the hospital was still a novel idea in late nineteenth century Siam. For women within the palace, traditional Siamese medicine was their first option, but it was often followed by Western medicine if the first course of treatment was unsuccessful. Archival records demonstrate that (unlike most other aspects of day-to-day life within the palace) a consorts medical care was tracked meticulously, with a consorts intake of food, water and medicine and her physical condition faithfully recorded, sometimes several times a day. In special cases, a woman could request to be sent elsewhere to recuperate; the palace upriver at Ayutthaya and the seaside retreat at Ang Sila (southeast of Bangkok) were frequent requests. Dara Rasami herself suffered from a lung ailment (no doubt exacerbated by her northern custom of smoking cheroots), and was sent to Ang Sila in 1906, the reasoning being that the clean ocean air would benefit her illness.52 (Nongyao notes that although there is no evidence that this was a chronic condition, it appears to be similar to the illness that led to her death in 1933.53)

52 53

Saengdao, 84-87. Nongyao, 62.

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Dara Rasamis Chiang Mai compatriot Chao Chom Manda Thipkesorn also suffered from illness in the Inner Palace from late 1901 to early 1902. Records indicate that when Siamese doctors were unable to cure her, a Western doctor was brought in to take over her care. Perhaps sensing the fatal trajectory of her condition, Thipkesorn requested to be sent north to visit family in Phitsanulok, but due to the northern rebellion going on at the time, her request was not granted.54 Instead, the kings ministers suggested she go to Ayutthaya to try to recover, However, her condition declined rapidly, and not long after she was declared hopeless, she died on January 26, 1902.55 3.3e. Death and the Disposition of Remains Palace customs and cosmology dictated that bodies could only be removed from the palace via the gate in the appropriate direction: the Prahom Sri Sawat gate in the west (see Illustration 3.1, gate D). The bodies of non-royal women were returned to their families, who likely cremated them in their hometown (for example, the women of the Bunnag family, whose remains are interred in Petchaburi, the Bunnag familys longtime provincial home). For royal women, another new practice began during the Fifth Reign: interment of their cremated remains in the royal womens cemetery at Wat Rajabophit.56 After the death of Queen Sunanta Kumarirat in 1878, this cemetery was created specifically

54

N.A.T. R5 (microfilm) .. /18 -

(symptoms/state of Chao Chom Manda Thipkesorn, Nov 28 - Jan 26, year R.S. 121 [1902-03]).
55
56

Ibid. For more information on the royal womens cemetery, see Ministry of Fine Arts, 2531. [History of Wat Rajabohphit Sathit Maha Simaran]. Bangkok: Ministry of Fine Arts. According to Hiram Woodward (1982), the remains of Siamese kings Rama I III and their chief consorts were interred in a columbarium inside the Ho Phrathat Montien, outside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in the Outer Palace. See Woodwards 1982 article in Crossroads Vol. 2, no. 2, Monastery, Palace, and City Plans: Ayutthaya and Bangkok, 23-60.

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for the remains of royal women and high consorts. Queen Saowaphas ashes are interred here, as are those of other non-royal consorts. Dara Rasamis funerary monument is also located here, containing half of her ashes and those of her daughter who died in infancy, Wimon Nakhonna Phisi.57 3.3f. Entertainment and Amusements Palace women engaged in a wide range of activities in their households to amuse themselves. Chao Hemawadi, daughter of Dara Rasamis contemporary Chao Chom Manda Hem, wrote that her mother and Dara were very close friends, and would often play cards at Daras residence.58 Though Dara Rasami was known for her love of cards, she was not a reckless gambler, and did not get into trouble with gambling debts (as did other palace women, as well see later on in this chapter). In fact, Prince Damrong (who was in charge of releasing the timber money sent from Chiang Mai to Daras household) praised Dara Rasamis money-handling skills.59 Dara Rasamis household also practiced the musical arts to amuse themselves. According to another memoir, Upstairs, [the Princess] had many musical instruments, including the jakay (a three-stringed musical instrument), saw (a fiddle), kluy (flute), glong (drum), tone (a shorter, smaller tom-tom drum); ramanah (one-sided, shallow drum), a piano and a mandolin. But they did not play the phipat (Thai orchestral instruments), because they were considered instruments for men only. There
The other half of Dara Rasamis ashes are interred in a funerary monument in the royal cemetery she built in Chiang Mai, at Wat Suan Dok (Flower Garden Temple). This cemetery will be discussed further in the next chapter. 58 Phonsiri, 105.
57 59

Mom Chao Phunphitsamai Diskul, , ..

[History of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, 1862 1943]. Bangkok: Phra Khrunaman Saman Ajaarn, 1943.

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was a stringed band and a mixed combo; the governor and family practiced energetically. The [Princess] would sing central Thai songs and was not shy in her merriment while singing. They said that those who came to stay at her residence, besides being beautiful and sweet-voiced already, looked like they had nearly equal talents in singing, dancing, and music.60 (Dara Rasamis involvement in palace arts will be discussed in greater depth in the next chapter.) Besides practicing the arts and playing games of chance, consorts of the Fifth Reign also enjoyed a new pastime: outings with the king to destinations outside the palace walls. The court had regularly made formal, extended visits upriver to the royal palace at Ayutthaya (where Dara Rasami and other favored consorts also had their own residences) and to the island of Koh Chang throughout the 1870s and 1880s. By the 1890s, these circulations expanded to include more pastoral locales, as palace women began to embark on shorter, less formal day-trips and outings with the King. Perhaps inspired by his European travels from 1897-98, Chulalongkorn became fond of taking consorts out for picnics and short journeys in and around Bangkok. Many photographs of these outings survive, many of which were taken by consorts themselves.61 3.3g. Male Bodies in the Inner Palace Though readers of Leonowens books might be left with the impression that no man besides the king of Siam himself was allowed into the Inner Palace, men did indeed

60
61

Phunphitasami Amatyakul, 2530, pp. 48-49 as cited in Phonsiri, 105. (Translation my own.) Some of the Fifth Reigns most prolific photographers were among Chulalongkorns younger consorts, particularly the Bunnag sisters Erb and Iem. (Lady Erb herself shot the now-famous image of King Chulalongkorn cooking a meal in a wok on the porch of one of his residences. (See Illustration 3.5) See Anek Nawikkamun, . [A History of Photography: The First Thai Era.] Bangkok: Sara Khadi Phap, 2005, 752.

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circulate into the spaces of the Inner Palace, though their movements were carefully monitored and regulated. One Western observer noted Men on special work of construction or repair were admitted, and the doctors when they came to visit the sick.62 However, no man could enter the Inner Palace unaccompanied. Female palace guards, called klone, were assigned to accompany all men who were admitted and to remain with them until they left63 Even the circulation of boys born and raised inside the palace was restricted once they had reached puberty.64 For male officials and royal pages visiting the Inner Palace, there were a host of rules designed to preclude casual contact with the women of The Inside. According to the official rules of the Mahat Lek, or Royal Pages Corps: Do not allow Mahat Lek to part the curtains to look into the Inner Palace. They are to seek out and speak to only the one person. When a page has received something from the Inside, or needs to send something into the Inside, he must call a go-between. It is forbidden to go raise or part the blinds or curtains that would allow them to look inside, and to speak/converse with those of the Inner Palace is forbidden In fact, the Pages government duty is to enter into the Inner palace at one time or another. [He should] exercise great caution and care in his deportment, i.e., he should come and go directly, not drop by to chat with one person or another. Those so charged should speak with only who is there, the matron, and see her only. Therefore, [the page] should speak only about government business. It is forbidden to have conversations, or make speeches, or associate with [those within], and when you enter the Inner

Smith, 56. Ibid. 64 In nineteenth-century Siam, a child was considered to have come of age at the onset of puberty, at which time the tuft of hair coiled on the crown of the head was cut in a special ceremony, the topknot-cutting. This usually occurred around the age of eleven or twelve. Following their tonsure, boys of royal birth who had lived in the Inner Palace had to move out, either into the household of a relative (i.e., princely uncle), or a household of their own outside the palace. According to H. G. Quaritch Wales, the tonsure of royal princes was carried out differently from those of noblemen and commoners. For more information, see Chapter X of Wales seminal work, Siamese State Ceremonies; Their History and Function. London, B. Quaritch, 1931:126-136.
62 63

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Palace, you must tell them that you have an audience Inside. It is forbidden for you to enter, and going alone is especially forbidden.65 Another male population allowed to enter the Inner Palace was that of royal monks. Since the highest-status royal women did not circulate regularly outside the palace walls, they were precluded from giving food to visiting Buddhist monks, a common daily practice of Siamese women for the purpose of making Buddhist merit. To restore this important merit-making opportunity to the fai nai, a group of monks were allowed to visit the Inner Palace daily, walking a limited route through the womens residences to collect daily alms.66 When these boundaries were crossed, serious consequences awaited both the male and female parties, as we will see later on in this chapter.

3.4 The Palace as a Cultural Crucible How do we understand the role of the Inner Palace in Siamese political and cultural life? Though Anna Leonowens herself viewed the Inner Palace as a prison, and every woman there as a slave without agency,67 I posit that the Inner Palace was perceived quite differently by the average Siamese woman. In contradiction to Leonowens complaint, I suggest that though the agency of royal women in particular was undoubtedly restricted, the circle of the Inner Palace offered Siamese women opportunities for social and economic advancement unparalleled elsewhere in Siamese society. (In contrast to the

This edict outlining acceptable practices for royal pages of the Mahatlek is reprinted in Ruang Mahatlek khong Krom Sinlapakorn, a cremation volume for Phon Ek Nai Worakhan Buncha (Kanbuncha Sutuntanon), Wat Thepsirin, 8 November 2517, 5, 46, & 80. (Translation my own.) 66 Naengnoi, 312. 67 Leonowens, Anna Harriette. The English Governess At the Siamese Court: Being Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace At Bangkok. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1988.
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roles of noblewomen in Lan Na we explored in the previous chapter, however, it is important to note that these opportunities were ultimately circumscribed by the agency of a single man: the Siamese king.) Though the Inner Palace brought together women of all stations of Siamese society, from indentured slave to noble-born ladies-in-waiting, the opportunities for social advancement were greatest for those of lower birth, as we will explore later in this section. Most women presented to the Siamese king entered the Inner Palace at the rank of chao chom (royal consort), though some entered as servants or dancers, to be later promoted to the rank of chao chom. Since families typically presented their daughters to serve in the Inner Palace early in their adolescence, they were first sent to serve in the household of an elder consort or princess as a sort of apprentice in palace customs and manners. For the noble families of Siam, such palace training was the equivalent of a university education in an era before any such institution existed in Siam. 68 Such elite education was not limited to the female children of noble families, however. While young girls like Dara Rasami were sent to begin their service in the household of a senior royal woman in the Inner Palace, boys were sent to serve in the Outer Palace as pages in the Mahat Lek, the Siamese Royal Pages Corps. The palace was where young Siamese elites began learning the myriad royal customs and manners which distinguished the phu dii (lit. good people) from their social inferiors. Through the girls of the minor nobility (like Phloi, the central character in

68

See Mom Chao Phun Phitsamai Diskul, ibid., 132-133.

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Kukrit Pramotes novelization of Siamese palace life, Four Reigns69) fresh blood was infused into the royal ranks, and elite culture circulated back into Siamese society. As the young men and (especially) women serving in the royal palace moved from service within the palace to married life in elite households outside the palace, they carried with them the manners, practices and arts they had learned within the Palace. The households of royal princes and other male nobility functioned as satellites of the Siamese royal palace, where former palace women reproduced Siamese elite culture both literally via their offspring and figuratively through their example to other elite women outside the palace. For the daughter of a non-elite family, being sent to serve in the palace even if not at the rank of a consort offered myriad opportunities to greatly improve her social status and marriage prospects.70 All newcomers to the Inner Palace were required to pass a series of tests to establish their proficiency in the use of polite language and gestures. Following this initial training, palace women took courses in traditional literary forms, from poetry and verse to composition.71 Those who demonstrated talent would be encouraged to pursue further training (which will be discussed later on in this chapter). Women were also trained in the arts of music and lakhon (Siamese dance-drama), for which

Kukrit, 1998. This novel draws upon Kukrits own childhood years living in the Inner Palace during the Fifth Reign, and provides a wealth of historical detail about Inner Palace life. 70 Again, see the example of Phloi in Four Reigns. Though fictional, Phlois career trajectory reflects the real-life opportunities for social advancement which opened to lower-status women of the Inner Palace. In Kukrits story, Phloi progresses from the daughter of a wealthy commoner to junior lady-in-waiting in the Inner Palace, to wife of a former royal page who becomes a prominent member of the Kings staff. This progression reflects the real-life opportunities for social advancement which palace service opened to lower-status women. 71 Phonsiri, 59.
69

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talented girls would be assigned to the household of the lakhon fai nai, where they could practice the demanding art form daily.72 Besides excelling in the above arts, there were a number of ways in which women of both common and noble birth could attain higher status indeed, build a career within the context of the Inner Palace. What was the nature of a womans agency within the context of the Inner Palace? How was her career trajectory constrained or not within the power structure of the inner Palace? The success of a womans palace career depended heavily on two factors: 1) the womans socio-economic background; 2) her personality and charisma. The first factor encompasses the issue of whether the woman was of royal, noble or common birth. Whether of noble or common birth, the major issue was the political-economic importance of her family and its circle.73 For Dara Rasami, this first factor was what guaranteed her position as a special-status chao chom on her entry to the Inner Palace. The second factor, a womans personal level of charisma, comprised not merely her physical appearance, but also her social competence and skill in handling her relationships with both the other consorts within the Inner Palace and the king himself. It was this factor which dictated the careers of the highest-ranking royal consorts, including Chao Dara Rasami herself (as we will see later on in this chapter). For royal-born women, rank depended first and foremost on their birth mothers family and her rank. For Dara Rasami, the rank of her parents as the chao luang (king) and
Ibid. Hanks, Lucien M. Merit and Power in the Thai Social Order. American Anthropologist 64, No. 6 (1962): 1247-61.
72 73

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mae chao (queen) of Chiang Mai accorded her special status on her entry to the palace. Having been feted on her arrival to Bangkok, Dara Rasami and her lady-in-waiting Bua Rawaan were ushered directly to the Hong Pakkard room of the Chakri Maha Prasat Hall (see Ilustration 3.2, number 2), where they took up service as junior ladies-in-waiting in the household of Queen Saowapha.74 For non-royal women, there were two ways to enter palace service: They could either enter the palace to serve in the entourage of a woman who was already a consort or royal relative, or be presented to the palace as a consort by their families. Once inside the palace, a woman could earn additional promotions for good service in the duties assigned her. Thus the Inner Palace provided career opportunities for enterprising and charismatic women of both noble and common birth. For women of royal birth, their entire lives might be circumscribed within the walls of the Inner Palace from birth to death. Though royal rank declined over generations, allowing royal granddaughters to marry out of the Inner Palace, women who were daughters, sisters or half-sisters of the king ranked too high to do so. In a sense, the value of their social currency was too high: there was no male counterpart outside the palace with status equal to theirs besides their own brothers.75 Thus the circulation of the highestborn royal women was particularly restricted, as they were effectively priced out of the elite marriage market. This restriction on royal womens circulation outside the palace conversely contributed to the popular notion of the Inside as an elite social space.

See Prani Siritorn na Pattalung, [Lan Na Gems]. Suriwong Printing, Chiang Mai, 1992: 10. Though consanguinous relationships were allowed between the king and women who were his sisters and half-sisters, they were not open to any other royal males (i.e., the kings brothers and half-brothers). Wales, p. 117.
74 75

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The Inner Palace contained a carefully self-regulating bureaucracy, in which senior women many of whom held official titles and duties carefully observed the behavior of junior women both in their own households and those of others. Based on their observations, they recommended official promotions for lower-ranking women on a semiannual basis. Such promotions carried economic rewards: each rank was associated with sakdi na entitlements which provided the holder with lifetime income.76 For chao chom and higher-born women, promotions in rank were subject to royal fiat; their promotions ultimately rested in the hands of the king himself. For most royal consorts, the most important factor in their promotions was personal compatibility and hence contact with the king himself.77 Accordingly, some of the highest positions in the Inner Palace bureaucracy were those with direct responsibility for the kings person: the keepers of the royal wardrobe and the director of the royal kitchens.78 The sole automatic means for a consort to improve her status was to give birth to the kings child, which resulted in the elevation of her title to that of chao chom manda (consort-mother). Dara Rasamis rank was elevated to this level upon the birth of her
Sakdi na, as defined by David Wyatt in his History of Thailand, is a system of law created under Sukhothais King Boromma Trailokanat (1448-88) which delineated an enormously complex hierarchical society in which the place and position of every individual was carefully specified. The laws assigned to everyone a number of units of sakdi na, literally field power. Although at first this may have at least symbolically represented actual measured rice fields, by the fifteenth century it did not carry this meaning, for even Buddhist monks, housewives, slaves, and Chinese merchants were assigned sakdi na. Ordinary peasant freemen were given a sakdi na of 25, slaves were ranked 5, craftsmen employed in government service 50, and petty officials, from 50 to 400. In the exhaustive laws of [this era], which read like a directory of the entire society, every possible position and status is ranked and assigned a designation of sakdi na, thus specifying everyones relative position. Wyatt 1982, 73. 77 A noble woman could be promoted even after her death; thus many other high-ranking women, both living and dead, were promoted again by later kings (as Queen Saowapha was by her son, Rama VI, King Vajiravudh). See Finestone (1989 and 2000) for genealogies which note many of these promotions. 78 During Chulalongkorns reign, the keeper of the royal wardrobe was Chao Chom Manda Waat, and Chao Chom Manda Hem (a close friend of Dara Rasami) was the keeper of royal perfumes. Phonsiri 62-63.
76

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daughter in 1889, and remained unchanged for more than twenty years. But how did Dara Rasamis experience compare to that of other consorts? A good test case for comparison is another consort from Chiang Mai, Chao Chom Manda Thipkesorn, who had served in the Inner Palace for several years before Dara Rasamis arrival, and borne the king a son.79 How did the experiences of these two foreign consorts compare? This comparison illustrates the differences in palace womens career trajectories depending on a womans personal relationship with the king. Chao Chom Manda Thipkesorn (not to be confused with Dara Rasamis mother, Queen Thipkraisorn) came from a less prominent branch of the northern royal family, providing the Siamese with yet another northern woman amongst the ranks of the Inner Palace consorts, additionally reflecting the political importance of Lan Na at the time. Lady Thipkesorn appears to have chosen a very different path from that of Dara Rasami in the Inner Palace. Thipkesorn served in the household of Chao Chom Manda Phae (Bunnag), who is sometimes described as Chulalongkorns first love, as they were married while he was still a prince.80 Due to her service in the entourage of an important Siamese noblewoman, Thipkesorn was required to cut her hair short in the style worn by Siamese women, and wear a chongkrabaen (a wrapped and tucked trouser-like garment) made of chintz, which was popular with Siamese noblewomen in contrast to the northern-style textile skirts worn by Dara Rasami and her entourage. Thipkesorns son, Thilok Nopparat (b. 1884), was born with the title Phra Ong Chao, which indicated his status as a son of the
Chao Chom Manda Thipkesorn entered service in the palace in 1883, in the household of Chao Khun Manda Phae (of the Bunnag family). Her son, Tilok Nopparat, was born the following year. Prani Vol. 1, 130-31. 80 Finestone (1989), 66.
79

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king by a non-royal mother. Surprisingly, there are no extant photos of Thipkesorn, though her royal son by Chulalongkorn was a significant individual: he became the first Siamese to earn a doctoral degree.81 Despite her sons abilities and achievement, Thipkesorn does not appear to have shared a close relationship with the king, and she was never promoted beyond the rank of chao chom manda.82 It also appears that she had few friends amongst the Inner Palace ladies. Following Thipkesorns death in 1907, King Chulalongkorn instructed the other ladies of the Inner Palace to attend her funeral, so that Dara Rasami would not be the only one there.83 Similarly, Dara Rasami held the status of chao chom manda for nearly twenty years of her palace career. Her daughter by the king, Wimon Nakhonna Phisi, received the title Phra Chao Luk Ther Phra Ong Chao at birth, a rank slightly higher than that of Thipkesorns son. Daras daughter shared this rank with several of the kings children by noble consorts but notably not the rank of chao fa. Though Dara Rasami as the daughter of Lan Nas royal family nominally held the same status as a woman of royal Chakri blood, her child was not automatically awarded the same birth rank as a child by a Chakri woman. However, the rank could have been granted at the kings discretion. After the little girls premature death on February 21, 1892, Chulalongkorn expressed his regret for not having done so when he
81

Prince Thilok Nopparat earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Tubinggen University in Germany in 1905. See

Wichitwong na Pompetch, : [Siams Economy: An Analysis of Prince Thilok Nopparat, Siams First Doctor of Economics from Germany]. Bangkok: Matichon, 2001. 82 Though she did not appear to suffer ill treatment. In one of the only archival sources where she appears, Thipkesorns illnesses were treated with extensive medical care. See N.A.T. R5 .. 99. 83 Her son, Tilok Nopparat, had recently returned from finishing his Ph.D. in economics from the University at Tubinggen, Germany, in 1906. Letter from Chulalongkorn to Noppaphon (undated), reprinted in Prani Siritorn na Pattalung, Vol. 1, 1963: 131.

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wrote to Prince Damrong: I made a mistake. She should have been a chaofa [status of a royal son by a Queen], but I forgot til she was already gone.84 What should we make of this mistake? It is perhaps understandable that the promotion in rank of this one daughter could get lost in the shuffle of the larger issues that Siam was dealing with at the moment. 1892 witnessed the Siamese reorganization of its internal administrative structure, as well as their surrender of the five contested Shan provinces to the British. Additionally, there were many rumors swirling about the French activities in both Cambodia and the Lao territories which culminated in the Paknam Crisis the following year.85 While such promotions of rank were at the kings discretion, they could be given posthumously (Chulalongkorn had, for example, promoted his young queen Sunanta Kumarirat after her accidental death by drowning in 188086). The most likely explanation is that the child had not yet had her topknot cut, and thus such a promotion was not considered cosmologically appropriate. It remains a mystery why Chulalongkorn did not promote Wimon Nakhonna Phisi after the fact, if indeed he felt he had made a mistake. This oversight was remedied, however, by subsequent kings Rama VI (Vajiravudh) and Rama VII (Prajadhiphok), both of whom elevated Wimon Nakhonna Phisi during their reigns.87

Quoted by Nattakhan Limsataphon in Khattiyani Sri Lanna, 131. The 1893 Paknam Crisis, in which the French blockaded the mouth of the Chao Phraya river and sailed gunboats upstream to Bangkok, resulted in Siam ceding their Lao and Cambodian territories east of the Mekong River to the French. According to Wyatt, it also resulted in King Chulalongkorn experiencing a breakdown in his health throughout the following year. Wyatt (1984), 204. 86 Finestone (1989), 64. 87 Finestone, ibid. This could be due to Dara Rasamis promotion to the rank of Phra Rajajaya in 1909, which would entail that her children would automatically have been born with chao fa status.
84 85

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In contrast to Thipkesorn, Dara Rasami was one of the dozen fortunate royal consorts to move to the new palace grounds Chulalongkorn built at Dusit (including Vimanmek Palace) early in the twentieth century. Ultimately, she was also promoted to the rank of Phra Raja Jaya, Chulalongkorns fifth-highest queen, a year before the kings death in 1910. It appears that Dara Rasamis personal charisma rather than her political significance within the palace was the factor which earned her place in the select group of Chulalongkorns favorites. (How these differences played out in terms of space will be discussed in the next section.) Apparently, Thipkesorns experience as a consort was far more typical than was Dara Rasamis. With more than 150 consorts resident within Chulalongkorns Inner Palace, there were many who never rose above the rank of consort-mother, if they managed to achieve even that. There were a number of consorts who were allegedly accepted by the palace out of politeness, in order not to cause their families shame. Such consorts probably served in the household entourages of higher-status women, and were rarely seen by the king himself; indeed, there were likely many of these women with whom the King never even had sexual relations. These women were referred to collectively as the women of the yellow room, in reference to the one time period they had access to the King during his daily public audience in the Hong Luang (Yellow Hall) of the middle palace (Illustration 3.2, number 4).88 Reflecting the proliferation of royals within the palace, the Fifth Reign saw an equal proliferation of new royal ranks. As King Mongkut had had thirty-three children by
88

Smith, ibid; also [Architecture of the Royal Palace], ibid.

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his fifty-three consorts, there were that many royal children to deal with at the start of the Fifth Reign, plus all the non-royal consorts who came after. King Chulalongkorn thus faced a real challenge in meting out appropriate ranks amongst not only his own halfbrothers and sisters, but also the royal ladies of the prior reign, and his numerous children. That he felt the need to write down the rationale used for the myriad ranks and titles and the corresponding sakdi na entitlements speaks to the delicacy of such a task.89 3.5 Language, Loyalty and the Politics of the Personal in The Siamese Court Despite Siamese efforts to formally address Dara Rasamis elevated status as a princess of a neighboring realm, the very fact of her ethnic difference markedly affected her treatment by the king himself as well as other women in the Siamese Inner Palace. This differential treatment would continue to plague her throughout her twenty-odd-year career in the Inner Palace. Perhaps the most telling reflection of Dara Rasamis difference in the context of the palace were the terms used by others to refer to her. As Chunlada Phakdiphumin writes of traditional Siamese society, there was a clear class distinction to be made between nai and phrai: nai being those of noble birth, and phrai being all others of common birth, including slaves.90 Among those of the generation of the Fifth Reign, nai included only nobles born directly to the Chakri royalty; all others, even those of mom luang or mom
Unlike in Lan Na, Siamese noble titles came with land entitlements which lasted the holders lifetime (termed sakdi na). See Chulalongkorn, Jones, Robert B. Thai Titles and Ranks. Including a Translation of Traditions of Royal Lineage in Siam By King Chulalongkorn. Ithaca, N.Y: Southeast Asia Program, Dept. of Asian Studies, Cornell University, 1971. [This is an English translation of Chulalongkorns original 1878 text.] 90 Chunlada Phakdiphumin, Sri Mahawaan (Mom Luang). [Around the Palace]. Vol. 1 & 2. Bangkok: Chotchai Thewet, 2535.
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rachawong rank, were considered phrai. Given Dara Rasamis royal northern lineage, we might assume that she would automatically qualify for nai status, but this was not the case. According to Chunlada, Dara Rasami was considered not nai, but phrai due primarily to the courts perception of her as a cultural foreigner, a Lao princess.91 This appears to be related to the manner in which King Chulalongkorn himself referred to Dara Rasami in a number of letters written about (but not to) her. Though Daras official title was Chao Chom Manda Dara Rasami from 1889-1909, she is referred to in these letters not as chao or chao chom Dara but as nang Dara nang being a nonroyal, term today denoting merely wife. The king did not reserve his use of this term exclusively for Dara Rasami, however. He also used nang for a few other consorts who were not part of the Chakri royal family (and who qualified as phrai, given the above conditions). These nang included several of his favorite consorts, namely Nang Sadup, Nang Erb [Bunnag], and Nang Choom. In contrast, the King called Chao Khun Chom Manda Phae, a member of the Chakri royal family, Khun Phae in similar communications.92 Other palace folk were not so kind, referring to Dara Rasami as Ai Dara, ai being a personal pronoun indicating low status which today is used as an insult.93 It appears that while Dara Rasamis northern royal blood had accorded her some special treatment on her entry into the palace, her ethnic difference neutralized that status in day-to-day palace life. In the
Though there is a historical and cultural distinction to be made between the Lan Na and Lan Xang kingdoms, the difference was not well understood by Bangkok Siamese, who tended to lump all northerners into the category of Lao. Thus whenever Dara Rasami and her entourage are referred to as Chao Lao, it should be read not as Lao Ladies, but rather as Lan Na ladies. 92 Chao Khun Manda Pae was called Chao Khun because she was a royal granddaughter, although her mother was not a member of the Chakri royal family. See Chunlada, Vol. 2, 148; Wannaporn, 299.
91

Definition of taken from (Thai-English) Lexitron Electronic Dictionary, a publication of the Thai National Dictionary Foundation, 2005.
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kings estimation, Dara Rasami shared the same status level as Siamese consorts of nonroyal blood; to others, she ranked little better than a common foreigner. This status differentiation materially impacted Dara Rasamis daily life in the Inner Palace. According to a number of accounts, she was routinely derided and ridiculed during her early years in the palace. One eyewitness, a daughter of Prince Damrong then serving as a lady-in-waiting in the Inner Palace, relates that: In the palace, [Dara Rasami] had no rank or authority, no importance at all; so she came by the name used for her by all the consorts: Chao Noi (little noble). Chao Noi didnt know anything; Chao Noi sat there, smiling happily to herself at nothing. Of all the consorts there, no one knew anything about her besides the words Chao Noi.94 Certainly as Dara Rasami entered the palace (as did many other girls) at the age of fourteen, such a nickname could have been as descriptive as it was derisive. However, over time it was Dara Rasamis visible ethnic difference that rendered her vulnerable to ridicule by other palace women. As the Chiang Mai princess continued to wear her northern hairstyle (long hair coiled and pinned up in a bun) and phasin skirts, her difference from her Siamese counterparts was immediately recognizable and apparently made her an easy target for teasing and practical jokes by other women, despite her status as Lan Na royalty. In another story Chao Chom Sae, a lady-in-waiting to one of the high queens, teased Dara Rasami about being flat-chested, causing Dara Rasami to withdraw in stunned silence, unable to respond.95 Privately, Dara Rasami complained to her intimates that these

Mom Chao Ying Phunpitsamai Diskul, quoted in Sansani Wirasingchai, [Royal Children and Wives]. Bangkok: Matichon, 1997, 309. 95 Prani Siritorn na Pattalung, Vol 1, 11.
94

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Bangkok ways would drive her back to Chiang Mai.96 When word of Dara Rasamis travails reached Chulalongkorns ears, however, the King instructed the Queen Mother Phiyama Wadi to warn the various chao chom and mom (royal grandchildren) to forbid their ladies [to tease her] [and] put a stop to the persecution and various pranks, which could affect Dara Rasamis feelings permanently.97 This intervention on the part of the King, especially given his own references to Nang Dara, may sound like unnecessary royal involvement in petty social conflicts within the palace. Yet it provides a clear reflection of the Inner Palace as the intersection of personal and regional politics in Siam. Alienating Dara Rasami could have spelled the ruin of cordial relations with her father, King Intawichyanon, putting Siams relations with Lan Na at very real risk. The King thus considered it important to soothe Dara Rasamis feelings, as she was a critical political emissary of Lan Na. Conversely, consorts from peripheral territories also served as hostages for the loyalty of their home kingdom. An episode concerning Dara Rasami and Chiang Mais rumored disloyalty to Siam illuminates this function of foreign consorts. This incident allegedly occurred while Dara Rasami was still a chao chom, indicating that the event in question occurred sometime between November of 1886 and October of 1889 (when Dara was between fourteen and sixteen years old).98 Its alleged that sometime within her first two years after entering palace service, Dara Rasami received a secret letter from her

Prani, ibid. Prani, ibid. 98 Her title chao chom indicates that this period was prior to the birth of her daughter, at which time Dara Rasamis title was elevated to that of chao chom manda.
96 97

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father, King Intawichyanon, in which it was rumored that he expressed the possibility of being disloyal to Bangkok. The story goes that: [When] Dara Rasami learned of this, she offered her fathers letter to King Chulalongkorn. He gave the vassal kings letter to [his brother] Khrommuen Phichit Phrichakorn [who had previously served as the Siamese administrator in Chiang Mai] to look over as well. After that King Chulalongkorn proceeded with a clever policy, giving Dara Rasami a royal letter in answer to her fathers letter, which said that if the King of Chiang Mai would allow Chiang Mai to become part of England, then he should prepare himself to come collect Chao Dara Rasamis corpse from Bangkok.99 The author adds that Dara Rasami actually feared that her life was in real danger, and that the episode was a dark emotional period for her.100 Evidence for these events is scant. However, documents from early 1889 demonstrate anxiety among British consuls in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai over a proposed matrimonial alliance between Chiang Mai and Keng [Chiang] Tung.101 Since in early 1889 the question of ownership of the Shan States had not yet been settled between the British and Siamese, such an offer from Chiang Tung to Chiang Mai could upset the already delicate political balance between the British, Siamese, and Lan Na kingdoms of the Northern Constellation. This offer, which specified a marital alliance between a prince of Chieng Tung and a maiden of Chiang Mai, could have cemented a

See Chunlada, and Nattakhan Limsataporns biographical chapter on Dara Rasami in Khattiyani Sri Lanna, 129. These sources are problematic, however, as they do not cite proper source material for this story, and no other supporting documents have yet been found to support or refute the story. 100 Khattiyani Sri Lan Na, Ibid. 101 See British Library, East India Company LP&S [Political & Secret] documents: 3/294, Home Correspondence with India, Feb-Mar 1889, (Vol 107), pp. 1625; 1635-44.
99

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relationship between the Shan and Lan Na kingdoms, at the expense of both Siamese and British interests in the region. By itself, such a proposal isnt necessarily enough evidence to convince us of an occurrence of disloyalty by Lan Nas king. However, there is another episode that suggests that King Intawichyanon could have had such a stratagem in mind. In the British records of the same time, it is reported that the headmen of four Shan States (Maung Ta, Maingtun, Mainghan, and Maingsut) came to Chiang Mai to profess their loyalty to King Inthawichyanon shortly before this proposed marital alliance came to light. The Siamese appear to have been as surprised by this event as the British, and delayed telling the British consul in Chiang Mai of the event until it was common knowledge. The British considered these activities suspicious: It appeared therefore, most probable that the Siamese were actively intriguing with the Burma Tributary Shans for the advancement of their own supposed interests without reference to, or consultation with, the authorities of the British Govt.102 But what the British interpret here as Siamese intrigue, I suggest here is Lan Na intrigue instead. The Siamese delay in reporting the Shan headmens activities was likely because they didnt know about it themselves. The gist of the communications between the Siamese commissioners at Chiang Mai and Bangkok during the period is that several headmen of villages in the Shan territory had come to pledge their loyalty to the king of Lan Na of their own accord, and this episode was not divulged to the Siamese authorities until long after the fact.

See B.L. LP&S document 3/294, Home Correspondence with India, Feb-Mar 1889, (Volume 107), 16311644; letter from Philip Wodehouse Currie to India Office (Calcutta), April 1, 1889.
102

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In these and many other instances, the British unquestioningly align Chiang Mai and its interests with Siam, assuming that everything going on in Chiang Mai is consistent with Bangkoks desires. Yet the nature of Siamese communication with and control over matters in Chiang Mai was anything but close and consistent. On the contrary: it took between six and twelve weeks to traverse the 450-mile distance103 overland between the two capitals, depending on whether it was dry or rainy season.104 With such a time lag in communications, the Siamese could not have deployed military forces to Chiang Mai with any speed. Such looseness had been the virtue of the prathet sarat relationship between Lan Na and Siam in the prior era, allowing the local rulership and his forces to respond to local needs in a more timely fashion than Bangkok could. But what if Lan Na decided the British, recently (1885) advanced into Rangoon, were a more profitable ally than Siam? Such Siamese fears found expression in the rumors about Dara Rasami and the secret letter, though these concerns were apparently invisible to the British. The letters between Siamese bureaucrats and British officials discussing the events in Chiang Mai have a non-committal tone, as the Siamese attempt to portray these events as representing a Shan desire for alignment with Siam. In this letter from Prince Devawongse to the British consul, dated February 5, 1889, he states: I have received your notein which you refer to a certain action taken by Chiengtung in proposing a marriage with one of the Chiengmai family and your suggestion as to the answer Siam ought to give in this matter, considering that the 4 Pho Muangs [Shan headmens] extraordinary visit to Chiengmai just on this occasion.

103 104

Holt Hallett, A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States, Bangkok: White Lotus, 2000 (1890), 444. Daniel McGilvary, A Half-Century Among the Siamese and Lao: An Autobiography, 2002 (1911), 71-76.

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Woodhouse In reply I beg to say that it would not be consistent with my Sovereigns policy to interfere with this domestic union, even if such a one be a political alliance between Chiengmai (a dependency rather than a feudatory of Siam) and Chiengtung and I do not think it would be detrimental to the interests of the neighbouring countries. If Chiengtung is your Protected State, I am convinced that your interference would be more effective, than that of any country to advise under the circumstances. It appears that soon after their [the 4 Pho Muangs] departure all the former, & newly appointed Pho Muangs came to Chiengmai again to implore His Majestys protection. This is a genuine proof that the people of these province are still loyal to my Sovereigns rule and being aware that Her British Majestys Govt have given due consideration to our feelings in this matter during the negotiation still going on in London I remain & etc, ~ Devawongse.105

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Here the Siamese place the responsibility for controlling Chiang Tung (and its offer of marital alliance) firmly back on the British, while dissembling their own interests in the situation. Indeed, such a marital alliance would not have benefited the Siamese; rather, it could have benefited Chiang Mai in a bid to consolidate its own power in the north, and provided an opportunity for them to form a new coalition with the Shan States or perhaps eventually with the British. Unfortunately, any local documents concerning this period in Chiang Mai history have been lost; the documents of the Mahat Thai (Siams Ministry of the Interior) which deal with the northern territories provide no references to these events. However, given other references in the British records to not-so-loyal comments made by King Intawichyanon which showcase his irritation at Siamese encroachment into Chiang Mai politics106 such a plan becomes thinkable.
105 B.L.,

L/P&S/3/294 = Home Correspondence with India, Feb-Mar 1889, (Volume 107), 1647: Letter fm Prince Devawongse to Mr. Gould, February 5, 1889. 106 See B.N.A. F.O. 881/4874, in which English surveyor McCarthy describes bumping into the King of Chiang Mai while surveying for the Siamese in 1883: I met the Chief of Chiung Mai at one of these rapids.

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Is it possible that the Chiang Tung marital alliance is the episode which the apocryphal secret letter references? If so, it would explain the threat of physical violence on Dara Rasami herself in King Chulalongkorns alleged response to her father, King Intawichyanon. Such an expression of Chiang Mais possible disloyalty would have threatened Siams hold on the northern territories which seemed ever more tenuous in the face of the British encroachments into the Shan States. If indeed Dara Rasamis father ever sent her a letter discussing the marital alliance with Chiang Tung, it would have been some time in the aforementioned period, between January and April of 1889. This timing coincides precisely with Dara Rasamis first pregnancy by King Chulalongkorn.107 The timetable here is significant, as a chao chom could only exit from palace service if she had not borne a child to the King; thus, Dara could have left the palace and returned to Chiang Mai had she not been pregnant with the kings child.108 This confluence of events renders understandable Dara Rasamis decision to turn over such a letter to King Chulalongkorn: her knowledge that such disloyalty on the part of her father could have dire consequences not only for herself, but also her unborn child.

He seated himself on one of the stones, and invited me to sit near him, under his umbrella: this I thankfully declined, and seated myself on another stone. He began at once, You have been sent about the boundary; no one spoke to me about it, and I heard form my own people that an Englishman (Khon Angkrit) was sent. I again said, I have nothing to do with the boundary, I only came to make a map, and if His Highness would send some Laosians, I would mark on the map what they showed to be the boundary. He replied, As soon as I heard you had left Bangkok I hastened men with letters to appoint officials to show you the boundary on the May Tyn Stop at Wang Loung. Then turning to one of the Siamese officials, he asked his name, and said I suppose you have come to ask questions for the Farang. His boats by this time had got over the rapids, and without noticing the Siamese, wished me a pleasant time and left. So! So! When in Bangkok, and asked about the boundary, he said wherever the King likes; there is no mistaking his positive and independent views on the question now. 107 As Dara Rasami gave birth in October of 1889, she would have become pregnant between early January and February of the same year. 108 See Seni Pramoj, Kukrit Pramoj, M. R, Mongkut. A King of Siam Speaks. Bangkok: Siam Society, 1987, 197.

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According to the accounts, her loyalty in turning over the letter did not necessarily spare Dara Rasami actual retribution by King Chulalongkorn if her father continued to threaten the Siamese. Dara Rasami was likely aware of a case against a royal woman which had arisen in the palace not long before her arrival in Bangkok. The Kings own sister had been caught in an illicit affair with a former monk, who had disguised himself as a woman in order to gain entry to her palace residence. In judging this matter (as only the palace court itself was allowed to do), King Chulalongkorn ordered the execution of the lover, and the imprisonment of his sister in the palace jail, where she purportedly died within the year. 109 As this incident had occurred in 1886, the harsh consequences for unwise actions were probably still very fresh in palace minds, including that of young Dara Rasami (who in 1889 was just sixteen). We may never be able to prove definitively whether or not the secret letter episode actually occurred, given the paucity of Thai archival data relating to the daily lives of palace women and Dara Rasami herself. If King Chulalongkorn did send such a menacing letter to King Intawichyanon, there is no guarantee that it would have been preserved in the Thai archive, as it reflects negatively on an important royal personage. Additionally, none of the written communications between Dara Rasami and her family in Chiang Mai are still extant.110 So what should we make of this story? Given that the absence of evidence is not necessarily equal to the evidence of absence, it is possible that such an event occurred. It
Phonsiri, 59. This fact according to the staff of the Chiang Mai branch of the National Archives of Thailand. Woodhouse research notes, August 2007.
109 110

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certainly makes for compelling biography: in the contemporary context, the rumors may well have been created for the express purpose of creating both drama in Dara Rasamis story, and enhancing Chiang Mais contemporary identification with its Lan Na heritage (a thread which runs through much of the local history produced there). In any case, the most significant aspect of the story is what is implied by the circulation of the rumor: the Siamese feared that Chiang Mais rulers would transfer their loyalties to the newest emerging superpower in the region, the British. The intensity of these fears is clearly reflected in the pervasive rumors that followed Dara Rasami until the end of her life.111 3.6 Transgression and Punishment in the Inner Palace We have seen the risks inherent in palace life for women who came from Siams peripheries to guarantee the loyalties of their home kingdoms. But Siamese consorts were not exempt from rules which could have serious consequences for both their palace careers and their families political fortunes. What were the rules for womens behavior within the Inner Palace, and what kinds of behavior constituted their violation? How could a palace womans behavior damage or set back her career? Who policed their behavior, and how was punishment meted out? On entering palace service, Dara Rasami like all other non-royal chao chom swore an oath of loyalty to the King during the ceremonies marking her entry into palace life. The chao choms oath, which was sworn to the person of the King himself, pledged the

In an interview conducted late in her life, Mom Chao Jong Jitra Thanom Diskul (daughter of Prince Damrong) claims to have asked Dara Rasami about whether the northernersever thought of being disloyal, to which Dara Rasami refused to answer, being not brave enough to deny it. Sulak, 72.
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consorts sexual loyalty to the king, to the exclusion of all others, both male and female. The oath also entailed that the consort would not tolerate the advances of other men, would not act as an accomplice to other consorts in their infidelity, and would not engage in other acts of disloyalty. These other acts included stealing from or assaulting other consorts or associating with fortune tellers and practitioners of magic love charms.112 Additionally, the oath was sworn before supernatural powers that are invited to torture the oath-taker in a variety of painful and long-term ways before causing death if the chao chom betrays her oath.113 As Loos mentions in her 2005 article, oaths were a common practice by which individuals both male and female had pledged their fidelity to Siamese monarchs since the Sukhothai period.114 The consorts oath can be seen as a parallel to the oaths of allegiance taken twice a year by male officials serving in the provincial administrative roles.115 Male Siamese officials, like the rulers of Siams prathet sarat (tributary kingdoms), took a waterdrinking oath, in which the blessed water was thought to turn to poison in the drinkers body if he later acted disloyally. The chao choms oath functioned similarly: as magical language which if contravened, would bring physical consequences directly upon the consort by supernatural means. In both forms of Siamese oath-taking, the oath functioned not as a mere verbal warning to be remind the oath-taker, but more like a vaccination which carried the potential for physical effects in the oath-takers own body should they act disloyally. Siamese oath-taking reaffirms the centrality of bodies to the polity.
Loos (2005), p. 886. Ibid. 114 Ibid., p. 884. 115 Wales, 193.
112 113

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The chao choms oath functioned via both self-regulation of her own behavior, and the informal surveillance of other womens behavior within the Inner Palace. Besides the transgressions listed above, several more offenses were officially proscribed during Chulalongkorns reign. Issued in 1885, the edict reads as follows: Have all chao chom living here behave according to the points of the royal decree as follows: It is forbidden for chao chom living here to drink except alone, or associate together... Carousing [is] the worst on ya dong (fermented medicine; medicinal spirits). If one takes ya dong, it is specifically for ones own health alone. If one induces one or more of ones friends to take it, that is absolutely forbidden. It is forbidden for royal ladies, mom chao (royal granddaughters), official workers who live both inside and outside the palace, wives of officials, and bad women in the palace to be love friends, or husbands who are women, and gamble together as if gold and silver were only words. Forbidden for royal ladies, mom chao of various palaces or within palaces, wives of officials in their houses. To eat or stay over at their own houses if they have relatives coming to stay at those homes, they must inform the tao nang (palace matron) with a bow; if they give their permission the [lady] may go to stay. If a person comes to stay in [a ladys] house, [only] parents or direct siblings may come to stay in the home of their relative, and do not need to report to the [palace matron]. But they must take care not to allow other situations; if there are too many other issues, they must report to the palace official that theyve made a mistake. They must have respect, fear and pay attention to the directions of the Palace Matron, high nobles, and chao chom with higher status, according to their rank. As to these orders, chao chom who do not obey them, whether they defy one or more, will receive royal penalties to be weighed out according to the crime. ~ Declared on day 3-12/10 night 12 of J.S. [Minor Era] year 1237. 116

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

This edict suggests a number of issues were causing problems among the women of the Inner Palace: drug abuse, lesbianism, and gambling among them. Of these

116

N.L.T., ..1247, .5 142, 4.

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problems, Dara Rasami experienced at least two of them personally over the course of her twenty-year career in the palace. The first issue was the recreational use of medicinal drugs, which Dara appears to have encountered during her time as a lady-in-waiting in the Queens household. According to Chiang Mai historical sources, Dara Rasami complained privately to her attendants that the royal women who ate jimsonweed [i.e., took hallucinogenic medicines] were crazy, and would drive her back to Chiang Mai yet.117 As medical care was readily available to the women of the Inner Palace, such drugs were not hard to come by. That the king felt the need to censure these drugs strongly suggests that many consorts and royal women of the Inner Palace remained unfulfilled by their palace lifestyle, however rarefied or luxurious it may have appeared to those outside its walls. Another issue addressed by Chulalongkorns edict was the phenomenon of len phuan (literally playing friends), a popular pastime of late nineteenth-century palace women which involved intense girl-to-girl friendships and crushes. This phenomenon touched Dara Rasamis household directly in 1906, when an affair was discovered between one of Daras ladies-in-waiting, Lady Yuang Gaew, and a mom rachawong (royal granddaughter) named Wongthep. The affair might have gone unnoticed if not for Wongtheps jealous former lover, a nang sao (Miss) Hoon. It was Hoon that spread the news that Yaung Gaew had given Wongthep a jeweled ring which had been a gift to her from her kinswoman and patron, Dara Rasami. Upon learning this news, Dara Rasami was enraged, violently criticizing Yuang Gaew verbally, and making her repeat everything the

117

See Prani, 11.

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princess said. Dara also expelled Yuang Gaew from her entourage, sending her home to Chiang Mai in shame, where Yuang Gaew allegedly attempted suicide.118 It remains unclear which of Yuang Gaews actions was the worse: engaging in len phuan with another palace woman, or gifting an item bestowed upon her by her patroness. Though her affair with a royal granddaughter does not appear to have called Dara Rasamis loyalties into question, the gifting of such a precious item hints at Lady Yuang Gaews high level of emotional involvement with Wongthep, and an accordingly inappropriate diversion of her loyalties away from her patrons household. In any event, the consequences were heavy for Yuang Gaew and her family, who would have borne a heavy burden of shame as a consequence of her ejection from Dara Rasamis household. It is unclear what if anything happened to mom rachawong Wongthep as a consequence of the affair. The above case is an example of the many petty crimes and misdemeanors within the Inner Palace committed by lower-status women. Most likely such cases rarely reached the ears of the King himself, nor were they formally recorded in palace records. Such transgressions were punished by the chao chom themselves within their own entourages, without recourse to formal proceedings.119 However, things were different for women of

Prani, 21. Anna Leonowens claimed palace slaves were frequently abused by royal women. Though her accounts veracity is questionable, a palace slave suffering abuse would have found it difficult to complain or find a new master, as doing so would put have been politically unwise to the new owner. Hong Lysa details one such case, that of Khun Wad, the director of the Inner Palace, in her article, Of Consorts and Harlots in Thai Popular History, Journal of Asian Studies 57, No. 2 (1998): 333-53. According to Lysa, Wad was so vigorous in punishing an escaped slave that she had the slave chained and whipped for over six months, until the woman died. Though Wad and two of her servants were found guilty of causing the womans death, King Chulalongkorn pardoned her on account of her high rank. (1998, 340).
118 119

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royal birth. Though they were not bound by the semi-annual loyalty oaths taken by nonroyal chao chom, royal women faced a different set of punishments for their transgressions within the Inner Palace. Transgressions of the royal space of the Inside were governed not only by palatine law, but by a royal council who reviewed each crime on a case-by-case basis, and ultimately deferred to the king himself. Though a royal woman could not be placed in irons like any commoner, royal punishments could range from probation down to reduction of the annual stipend. In some really egregious cases, there might be a confiscation of ones royal order and ones property, decorations, and punishment of dit sanom.120 Dit sanom was much like our contemporary idea of house arrest, in which the royal woman would be essentially confined to her residence; in addition, her participation in royal ceremonies was permitted, but only if she was led in golden irons behind the rest of the royal procession, a position of significant shame and loss of status.121 Nevertheless, it appears that even then, the royal woman did not lose her annual stipend and residence within the palace. Only in extreme cases, as in sexual transgressions of palace law, were palace women ever jailed (see the 1886 case of King Chulalongkorns sister, whose affair with a former monk smuggled into her palace residence netted her lover execution and landed her in jail122). 3.7 Conclusion In this chapter, I have attempted to sketch out a general background of the Siamese Royal Palace against which Dara Rasamis unique role and status can be
See Nawa Eksawat Jontani, Nithan Chao Rai, Vol. 4 Bangkok: Kurutsapha, 1966, 71. Ibid. 122 This case is cited in Loos (2005), 895.
120 121

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contextualized. This analysis traces the construction of Siams Royal Palace in the later Rattanakosin Era, and how the Siamese polity was bound together through the circulation of bodies: both the collection of foreign consorts in the royal palace, and the circulation of male administrators into peripheral territories. As Siams political need to ensure the loyalties of its peripheries waxed and waned, so did the representation of women from its tributaries within the Inner Palace. Secondly, I addressed the issues of circulation and space within the palace, showing that those of lowest status had the greatest physical freedom of circulation in and outside of the palace. I also showed how rank was represented spatially within the space of the Inner Palace, with a womans proximity to the king serving as the ultimate measure of her status. In surveying the built space of the Inner Palace, the relative prominence of Dara Rasamis residence is demonstrated by its size, style and location. This chapter also considered the function of the Siamese Royal Palace as a crucible of Siamese culture engaged in the work of maintaining and reproducing Siamese elite culture for distribution beyond the palace walls. Here I discussed the rare opportunities it represented particularly for common women to build careers and social capital within the Palace. Subsequently I examined the political function of palace women like Dara Rasami who were sent from the kingdoms peripheries to ensure the loyalties of their home kingdoms, and how Daras political importance influenced her treatment in the palace as compared to that of a lesser Chiang Mai consort, Thipkesorn. Lastly, this chapter addressed the issue of transgression within the Inner Palace: in particular, how the high social status conferred upon the royal relatives and consorts of the Inner Palace was Page 136

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tempered by correspondingly greater constraints on their agency and behavior. I posit that the limits of a womans circulation depended far more upon the relative value of her social currency than upon gender alone. Significant changes to the Siamese worldview occurred during the Fifth Reign which impacted Dara Rasami not the least of which was ethnic chauvinism, based on the adaptation of the Western notion of a hierarchy of civilizations and its translation into a concept called siwilai in the Siamese context. This hierarchization will be explored in the next chapter, which focuses on Dara Rasamis performance of ethnic difference within the Inner Palace via dress, food, music, and dance-drama.

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Woodhouse Appendix 3 ~ Reigns of Chakri Dynasty Kings Rama I Rama II Rama III Rama IV Rama V Rama VI Rama VII Rama VIII Rama IX Phra Phutta Yotfa Phra Phutta Lert La Phra Nangklao Mongkut Chulalongkorn Vajiravudh Prajatiphok Ananta Mahidol = = = = = = = = 1782 1809 1809 1824 1824 1851 1851 1868 1868 1910 1910 1925 1925 1935 (abdicated) 1935 1946 1946 present

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Phumiphon Adunyadet =

Adapted from Wyatt (1982), p. 313.

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Map Legend: Gates of the Inner, Middle and Outer Palaces A) Wiset Chaisri Gate B) Phiman Thewet Gate C) Suntorn Thitsa Gate D) Thewa Phirom E) Udom Sudarak F) Chong Kut G) Sri Sudawong H) Kalyawadi I) Phitak Boworn J) Anong Karak K) Wichit Banjong L) Sakdi Chaiyasit M) Ratcha Samran N) Thewa Phitak O) Watsadi Sopha P) Montri Nopparat Q) Rattana Phisan R) Sri Sunthon Thawan S) Phrahom Sri Sawat T) Ya Tra Kasatri U) Anongka Leela V) Phrahom Sopha W) Sanam Ratchakit X) Sri Satsada
Graphic by David Lucas, adapted from maps in Naengnoi, [Architecture of the Royal Palace], 1988.

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Woodhouse Illustration 3.2 ~ Map of Chakri Maha Prasat Hall

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Woodhouse lllustration 3.3 ~ Complete Palace Map

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Map Legend
1) Chakri Maha Prasat Hall (Residence of King Chulalongkorn and Queen Saowapha) 2) Residence of Krom Phraya Sudarat Rachaprayoon (Chulalongkorns wet nurse) 3) Res. of [Queen] Somdet Phra Pitucha Chao Sukumala Marasri 4) Res. of Phrachao Borommawongter Phra Ong Chao [Royal Sister] Uppuntari Picha 5) Res. of Somdet Phra [Queen] Sri Suarintira, Boromma Rachathewi Phraphun Wassa Ayikachao 6) Res. of Chao Chom Manda Dara Rasami 7) Res. of Phrachao Borommawongter [Royal Sister] Phra Ong Chao Atornthipya Nipha 8) Res. of Phrachao Borommawongter [Royal Sister] Phra Ong Chao Adisai Suriyapha 9) Res. of Phrachao Borommawongter [Royal Sister] Phra Ong Chao Phuang Soi Sa-Ang 10) Res. of Phrachao Borommawongter [Royal Sister] Phra Ong Chao Prawet Worasamai 11) Res. of Phrachao Borommawongter [Royal Sister] Phra Ong Chao Sussiphong Praphai 12) Res. of Phrachao Borommawongter [Royal Sister] Phra Ong Chao Hemawadi 13) Res. of Phrachao Borommawongter [Royal Sister] Phra Ong Chao Orathai Thepkanya 14) Tao Teng row housing for palace staff 15) Likely location of umong toilets 16) Barracks for klone guards/soldiers
Graphic by David Lucas, adapted from maps in Naengnoi, [Architecture of the Royal Palace], 1988.

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Source: Naengnoi Saksi and Freeman, Michael. 1996. Palaces of Bangkok: Royal Residences of the Chakri Dynasty. Bangkok, Thailand: Asia Books.

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Woodhouse Illustration 3.5 ~ Photo of Chulalongkorn, taken by Chao Chom Erb

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Source: Anek, [History of Early Photography in Thailand], plate 702, p. 752.

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Chapter 4: Dara Rasami and Performing Lan Na Identity in the Siamese Court

Ruang Khrua Fa [The Story of Khrua Fa] is the story of Madam Butterfly, which I mentioned in my [letters home from Europe in 1906] about Paris. The Japanese is changed to Lao, and farang to Thai, thats all. The reason he [Prince Narathip] composed the lyrics imitating farang opera in this way was because he had heard a Khmer prince singing it. ~ King Chulalongkorn to Dara Rasami1

Between the era which was the focus of the prior chapter and the early twentieth century, Siamese court life changed significantly in terms of both geographical space and the activities of the royal consorts. These changes reflect an important shift in the worldview of Siams royalty and elites, which in turn provides a new context within which Dara Rasamis ethnic difference gained significance within the Siamese palace: that of siwilai.2 Siwilai (a Thai-language adaptation of civilization) is described by Thongchai Winichakul as a set of discourses through which Siamese elites re-ordered their worldview along the lines of European notions of a hierarchy of civilizations. These discourses included geography, ethnography, exhibition and museum technologies which aimed to clearly delineate the distance and difference between the elites at Siams center and the others at its peripheries. Over the course of this chapter, I will pick up strands of Thongchais analysis of how ethnic categories were delineated and reinforced through

Letter from King Chulalongkorn to Dara Rasami, dated 24 April 1908.

[Letters from King Chulalongkorn to Prince Narathip Praphanpong]. [Bangkok: n.d.], 306. 2 Thongchai Winichakul. The Quest for Siwilai: A Geographical Discourse of Civilizational Thinking in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Siam. Journal of Asian Studies 59, No. 3, 2000, 528-549.

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various modes of discourse. However, while Thongchais consideration of siwilai focuses on scientific discourses written by male Siamese elites, it does not take into consideration the possibility of palace womens roles in the formulation of these new categories, nor does he consider cultural activities as discourses of ethnic difference. In addition to the aforementioned scientific modes, I suggest that cultural modes of discourse namely, dress, drama, and diplomatic gestures embodied the discourse of siwilai within the context of the Inner Palace, allowing Siams elite further opportunities to consume and commodify the peoples at their peripheries. I posit that Chao Dara Rasami played a significant role in the creation and communication of discourses relating to Siams view of Lan Na, and the re-positioning of Lan Na in the new hierarchy of civilizations. In the following section, I will look more closely at how siwilai affected the circulation of elite bodies into the new space(s) of the palace at Suan Dusit. In the second section, my analysis will focus on Princess Dara Rasamis sartorial difference within the palace and the dissonant discourses of dress from her home region versus those of the Siamese court. The third section concerns Dara Rasamis participation in the new forms of lakhon (dancedrama) which became popular with Bangkoks citizenry towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the ways in which popular entertainments provided vehicles for elite notions of ethnic difference. The last section focuses on diplomatic gestures both public and private, and what they reflect about Dara Rasamis role as an ethnic insider/outsider within the palace. In the chapter conclusion, I will explore the extent to which Dara Rasamis role in twentieth-century palace arts and diplomacy represent a strategic essentialism: an active (and effective) deployment of her ethnic difference against Siamese cultural hegemony. I intend to demonstrate Dara Rasamis central role in making Lan Na Page 145

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difference knowable to the innermost circle of Siamese elites, and thereby earning a higher status for her homeland in the hierarchical construct of Siamese siwilai. These conflicting discourses will, I argue, inform both the performance and consumption of Princess Dara Rasamis ethnic difference during the latter part of her career as a royal consort, from roughly 1898 until King Chulalongkorns death in 1910.

4.1 Royal Circulations: Moving the Siamese Court in the Early Twentieth Century Following his return from a tour of the European continent in late 1897, King Chulalongkorn undertook a project which made a major impact on the women of the Inner Palace. Newly impressed by the garden-like suburban residences of European monarchs and nobles, the king returned from his travels to find the Inner Palace unpleasantly overcrowded.3 In a letter to Prince Krommyn Retsuwanryt, Chulalongkorn expresses his belief that the environment of the Inner Palace is not merely stifling, but actually unhealthy: I think Ill build a house to get out and relax I notice that when I stay at Bang Pa-In [the summer palace at Ayutthaya], I feel well because I can walk every day. When I come back, though, no one feels well [here] every day.4 With funds from the royal Privy Purse, Chulalongkorn purchased several tracts located a few miles north of Rattanakosin Island, stretching east-to-west from the recently completed railway line (along todays Sawankhalok Road) to Samsen Road, and north-to-

[Dusit Palace. Royal Residential Halls; Satellites of Vimanmek.] Vols. 1 & 2, Bangkok, Thailand: Vimanmek Palace, Dusit Royal Palace, Office of the Royal Palace, 2002.
3 4

N.A.T., R5, .18.1/28, dated 19 February, 1898.

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south between Khlong [waterway] Phadung Krung Kasem and Khlong Samsen.5 (See Map, Illustration 4.1) This area, which he named Suan Dusit (Celestial Garden), consisted of former farmland and orchards, which were cleared of much of their existing vegetation. The area was re-landscaped completely, with lakes, khlongs, and streets of its own. The first structure built there was a simple, single-story wooden pavilion, which was intended only for occasional stays by the King, his consorts and children; it was inaugurated in March 1899. From that time on, Chulalongkorn brought his entourage including several of his favorite consorts on regular bicycle outings from the old Palace to Suan Dusit, sometimes spending the night there as well.6 Soon the rest of the grounds at Dusit were allocated to a variety of royal uses: throne halls, royal residences, and pavilions dotted the airy, garden-like landscape of the new royal park. A large section of these grounds, named Suan Sunanta,7 was set aside exclusively for the residences of a select group of royal women: consorts, royal relatives and children, less than two dozen in all. Here the king intended to build residences for his most favored consorts and royal relatives without male children, who otherwise might have nowhere to live following his death.8 Princess Dara Rasami was one of the handful of women included in this small group. The environment at the new, park-like palace, with its wide lawns, trees

Naengnoi, Saksi, Freeman, Michael. 1996. Palaces of Bangkok: Royal Residences of the Chakri Dynasty. Bangkok, Thailand: Asia Books. Naengnoi mentions that funds from the Privy Purse were used so as to render the land the personal property of the king, which he could leave to his children and consorts after his death. (195 & 230)
5

[Dusit Palace. Royal Residential Halls; Satellites of Vimanmek.] Vol. 1 & 2, Bangkok, Thailand: Vimanmek Palace, Dusit Royal Palace, Office of the Royal Palace, 2002, 17. 7 The new Inner Palace grounds at Dusit were named for one of Chulalongkorns favorite wives, Queen Sunanta Kumarikun, who had died in a boating accident early in his reign (1880). 8 Naengnoi and Freeman, ibid., 230. As Naengnoi reminds us, It will be recalled that consorts with sons could [go to] live with them in their own palaces after the kings death. Otherwise, a woman would have had to return to her parents home or live in straitened circumstances.
6

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and flowers, and wide, paved streets, was ideal for several activities which became popular with the royal ladies at Dusit: walks, picnics, games of croquet, and bicycling, which the King himself had enjoyed since his boyhood days.9 Suan Dusit was at first imagined less as a replacement than as an extension of the existing Royal Palace grounds described in the previous chapter. In the context of the new garden palace, the space of the womens residences was completely reimagined. Though the new palace grounds were securely walled off from the outside world as before, the consorts new quarters could not have been more different from those of the old Inner Palace. The orientation of the buildings still echoed the division of Outer Palace from Middle Palace from Inner Palace, but the areas were separated by canals and landscaping versus walls. (Illustration 4.2) The layout of Suan Sunanta likely puts contemporary viewers in mind of a suburban housing tract: individual houses were set along a winding road surrounding the central lake, with ample spaces between the residences planted with grass and trees. (See Illustration 4.3) A pastoral feeling was the explicit goal of this arrangement. In the new Middle Palace stood Vimanmek Mansion,10 around which clustered the residences of a select number of King Chulalongkorns female relatives and favorite consorts. The king himself resided primarily at Vimanmek, along with Queens Saowapha, Sawang Watthana, and Sukhumala Marasri, Chao Chom Erb and Chao Chom Uan (of the

[Dusit Palace. Royal Residential Halls; Satellites of Vimanmek], Bangkok: Office

of the Royal Palace, 17. 10 Vimanmek Mansion, made entirely from golden teak wood, was built from the uncompleted Mundhat Ratanarot Palace on Koh Si Chang Island, just off Siams coast in the Gulf of Thailand. After the French Crisis of 1893, the royal island residence was abandoned. After a brief visit to the island by the king in May 1901, the structure was disassembled and moved to Dusit Park, where it was rebuilt into Vimanmek Mansion, which opened nineteen months later in 1903. (Dusit Palace. Royal Residential Halls; Satellites of Vimanmek, ibid., 30.) Though it was largely abandoned after King Vajiravudhs death in 1925, Vimanmek Mansion still stands, has been restored to its former grandeur and is now open for guided tours.

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Bunnag family), and a handful of their daughters. The segregation of the consorts space from that of the king was no longer strict as it had been in the old palace, as their new residences abutted the tract surrounding Vimanmek. As we can see from the above stories of Chulalongkorns bike rides and picnics, consorts bodies began to circulate outside the palace in wholly new ways (at least in the company of the king) as well. The new residences at Suan Dusit were built only for a small subset of the inhabitants of the old Inner Palace: the kings favorite and highest-status consorts, including Princess Dara Rasami.11 Though her official status was still no higher than chao chom [consort-mother], and she had not borne the king another child since the death of her only daughter in 1892, Daras career within the palace continued to advance on an upward trajectory. As one of Chulalongkorns first generation of royal consorts, she received the Order of the Chula Chom Klao in 1893.12 (See Illustration 4.4) The fact of her membership amongst the select number of royal consorts brought to Dusit reflects her continued favor with the king and status at court. This is also reflected in Chulalongkorns letters to the planners of the new palace, in which he requested that Dara Rasamis new residence be situated next to the homes of two other consorts Hem and Mot with whom she was close friends.13 Though the layout and construction of the new palace at Suan Dusit were accomplished at the fiat of the Siamese absolute monarch, they nonetheless reflect the shift

See Illustration 4.3 for a map of Suan Dusit palace grounds circa 1902, after the new residences for royal consorts were completed there.
11 12

See Nattakhan Limsataphons essay, : [Queen Dara Rasami:

Biography], in [Pride of Lanna Women], 127. This high order was the same one which had been awarded to her father, King Inthawichyanon of Chiang Mai, on Daras entry into palace service in Siam in 1886. 13 Letter of Chulalongkorn to Dara Rasami dated 13 February 1909, quoted in Phonsiri, 106.

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in royal thinking about space under the growing of influence of European ideas of siwilai. This phenomenon is described by Thongchai Winichakul as a particularly geographical discourse through which Siamese elites re-ordered their worldview through a reassignment of spatial categories which emulated European ones. 14 Though Thongchais analyses focus upon how these ideas shaped Siams elites view of the national landscape, here I suggest that siwilai can also be applied to the micro-geography of the space of the palace. In contrast to the space of the old Royal Palace grounds, Suan Dusits characteristics clearly reflect an adoption of the garden palaces of European monarchs, and a corresponding suburbanization of royal life.15 In the next sections, I will pick up Thongchais analysis of how ethnic categories were delineated and reinforced through notions of siwilai: between a look to Europe for civilizational models, and a look to the periphery for examples of inferior other-ness. A significant aspect of siwilai which is missing from Thongchais analysis, however, relates to its application to elite bodies, their circulations and their coverings. While Thongchai examines the Siamese adaptation of colonial exhibitions and museums and the new ways in which they consume and commodify Siams peripheries, he misses several critical examples of the discourse of siwilai as it was applied within the Inner Palace. In the next section, I will look more closely at siwilai as it was applied to the elite bodies within the space(s) of the palace.

Thongchai (2000), 528-549. Peleggi, Maurizio. Lords of Things: The Fashioning of the Siamese Monarchy's Modern Image. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 90-93.
14 15

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4.2 Performing Ethnicity: Sartorial and Bodily Expression and Consumption While the expression of identity through dress has often been interpreted in terms of the wearers intentions, more recent scholarship on clothing and the body have problematized such interpretation as simplistic and reductive.16 Viewed as discourses to be read, the body becomes a multivalent site, potentially holding different meanings for the wearer than for the various audiences who perceive and consume them. Thus, the goal of this section will be to explore the distinctions between the discourse(s) of identity that Princess Dara Rasami herself may have intended to express through her dress and hairstyle, versus the perceptions of those sartorial expressions within the Siamese court. 4.2a. Textile Traditions of Lan Na To consider the ways in which Dara Rasamis clothing and textile choices signified within the palace, it is helpful to examine the context within which textiles were produced and exchanged in both Lan Na and Siam. For those interested in the textile traditions themselves, there are several excellent works by prominent textile experts which provide a much greater breadth and depth as to the regions clothing styles and textile patterns than I can go into here.17 In this section, I will focus on Lan Na womens roles in textile production and exchange, and the cultural/political function of textiles as markers of ethnic difference in Lan Na. In both kingdoms, and many of their neighboring polities within mainland Southeast Asia, textiles had been utilized as part of the tributary system for centuries. As textile expert

See Brydon, Anne, and S. A Niessen. 1998. Consuming Fashion : Adorning the Transnational Body. Oxford, UK; New York: Berg; and Roces, Mina and Edwards, Louise P. 2007. The Politics of Dress in Asia and the Americas. Brighton [England] ; Portland, Ore: Sussex Academic. 17 See Gittinger and Lefferts (1992); Cheesman (1988 and 2004); Conway (1992, 2002 and 2003), etc.
16

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Susan Conway notes, dress and textiles had long been part of tribute and gift exchange between the courts of Lan Na, the Shan States, Luang Prabang, Sipsong Pan Na, China, Burma and Siam.18 Silk clothing from Chiang Mai was sent to the Shan States as part of a peace settlement in the eighteenth century, while the Chiang Mai court accepted gifts of Siamese textiles in the nineteenth century.19 Textiles held particular importance as gift items in both political and religious ceremonies, and also made up the bulk of a Lan Na womans wedding dowry. At the village level, weaving held particular social significance for girls and women. The loom itself, typically located in the space beneath the traditional wooden stilt house, functioned as both a site of feminine labor and an important social site. In this space, the loom was both visible to the entire village, which monitored a young womans skill in weaving, and accessible to marriageable men, who were allowed to visit the young woman while she was weaving. The loom itself became such a potent object, so symbolically charged with womens creative and reproductive energies, that it was not to be touched by courting males.20 A young womans mastery of the most complex weaving patterns found in local textiles signaled her fitness for marriage, as she could then produce the household textiles needed to clothe and care for an entire family. Lefferts quotes a Lao saying that once a woman learned to weave the difficult, discontinuous-weft pattern known as teen jok, it was said she could weave anything.21 Though not every woman became a weaver, a womans skill at the loom made her more desirable as a marriage partner, as weaving competence
Conway, Susan. Silken Threads Lacquer Thrones: Lan Na Court Textiles. Chicago: Art Media Resources, 2002, 92. 19 Ibid., 94. 20 Gittinger and Lefferts, 69. 21 Ibid.
18

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also translated to higher commercial incomes for her household (as will be further discussed later on in this section). Textiles played a central role as markers of ethnic identity within the Lan Na region. According to Conway, The strongest expression of ethnic identity is represented in the female skirt (phasin). The phasin was valued as an expression of female creativity, stability and continuity.22 A Lan Na woman wore the textile pattern and garment styles of her hometown or village, even in the event that she married and relocated outside her village. This was done primarily as a means of acknowledging her matrilineal clan and placating its spirits. (Though Lan Na marital patterns tended to settle exogamous males into matrilocal households, women could marry out to other villages, though less frequently.) As various ethnic groups (particularly the Lawa, Tai Lue and Tai Khoen) were re-settled around Chiang Mai in the early nineteenth century, they began to adopt the elements of the dominant local group, the Tai Yuan, into their weaving patterns and clothing designs. This helps to explain the wide variety of designs utilized by the peoples of the Ping River valley, and the occasional trespass of one designs elements into those of another group, even while each groups textile tradition remained distinct. Womens roles as carriers of ethnic identity through textiles were central to Lan Na culture. Nonetheless, not every woman was a weaver despite some assertions to the contrary on the part of contemporary textile experts.23 In her 1992 article, Katherine Bowie ties this myth to that of the self-sufficient village which persists in idealized images of the

Conway (2002), ibid., 126. See particularly Songsak Prangwatthanakul and Patricia Cheesman 1987, 12: In the past every woman could weave.
22

23

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Thai past. Drawing data from both Chiang Mai archival sources and local oral histories, Bowie asserts that The component aspects of the production process were not performed in each individual household but rather were divided by household, village, and even region.24 Some villages produced cotton and silk both for local use and for commercial exchange among the mandala of the Inland Constellation, with some villages functioning as weaving centers, and others as markets for their finished goods. Thus, the distinctive textiles that women used to identify themselves with their ethnic group need not have been produced by them, or even in their town, as long as such textiles could be obtained through exchange with neighboring production centers. As Conway pointedly notes, Lan Na did not utilize the same sort of sumptuary regulation as Siam did in constraining the textiles (and even colors) that wealthy commoners could use in their dress. Conway notes that even [t]he wives and daughters of [northern] minor rulers and officials, of powerful village leaders in satellite domains, and of wealthy farmers, owned costumes made with expensive imported materials obtained from itinerant traders.25 However, even without sumptuary laws, the circulation of such materials and textiles in Lan Na still flowed largely along class lines. While village women wore a simple, horizontally-striped cotton phasin for their day-to-day activities, phasin skirts shot with metallic threads or trimmed with fancy teen jok borders were worn only on special occasions like weddings or monastic ordinations, if a woman could afford them at all (or weave them herself). For the abovementioned wives and daughters of local chiefs and

Bowie, Katherine. 1992. Unraveling the Myth of the Subsistence Economy: Textile Production in 19th Century Thailand. Journal of Asian Studies, no. 4 (November): 797-823. 25 Conway (2002), 94-95.
24

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wealthy farmers, such garments represented a statement of wealth and status. For Lan Nas noblewomen, such garments were worn more frequently at court, and royal centers kept extensive ateliers of weavers to produce them. It is very likely that Dara Rasamis mother Mae Chao Thipkraisorn knew how to weave, though there are no direct references to her weaving activities. As one Western observer noted, Even a wealthy princess is not exempt from the necessity for making the silken garments which are the symbol of her rank, any more than the poorer women can do without weaving their cotton clothes.26 For Daras aunt, Chao Ubonwanna, there is greater evidence of a personal involvement with weaving which indicates that she herself may have been a skilled weaver. In merchant-traveler Holt Halletts account of his visits to Chiang Mai in the early 1880s, he mentions that visitors to her house could usually see some of Ubonwannas servants weaving on her front veranda.27 Chao Ubonwanna also appeared to be an expert on local textiles, showing him several from her personal collection.28 Whether or not Ubonwanna did very much weaving personally, Chiang Mais royal women had no need to weave anything themselves: their wealth provided them access to the most highly skilled weavers as well as the best raw and finished materials. This was especially true of Ubonwanna, who was an experienced trader in Chiang Mai, and who was friendly with most Western visitors to the city. For example,

26Bock,

Carl. Temples and Elephants: The Narrative of A Journey of Exploration through Upper Siam and Laos. Bangkok: White Orchid Press, 1985, 322. 27 Hallett, Holt S. A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States. Edinborough and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1890. 28 Colquhoun also mentions the large number of slaves owned by Ubonwanna: 800, which ranked her just below Chiang Mais King and Uparat (Second King), who owned 1,500 and 1,000 slaves respectively. Colquhoun, Archibald Ross. Amongst the Shans. London: Field & Tuer, 1885, 257.

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through her connection with Hallett, she ordered some English lace she had been unable to obtain locally.29 Nonetheless, the textiles produced by Lan Nas elites royal or common reflected the dominant ethnic textile tradition of their locale. What is significant for our purposes is the role played by locally distinct textiles in the system of political alliances between Lan Na and its neighbors. When noblewomen of inland polities were sent as consorts to the rulers of neighboring states, they brought their textile traditions with them, continuing to dress in the style of their home culture even after they settled far away. Thus, elite female dress within Lan Na courts often represented a panoply of different textile traditions and patterns as a result of marital alliances between the inland mandala of Sipsong Panna, Luang Prabang and the Shan States. The Chiang Mai and Nan chronicles both record early nineteenth century alliances that brought women of Tai Yuan, Tai Lue, Tai Lao and Tai Khoen origin to live at the Lan Na courts.30 Within the context of the Inland Constellation, representations of sartorial difference within a rulers household indicated the power and reach of his influence into the surrounding territory. Thus, difference among the dress traditions of women in Lan Na courts was of great political value to Lan Nas rulers and was to be maintained, rather than homogenized. Following Lan Nas re-founding in the late eighteenth century, Chiang Mais ruling families belonged to the Tai Yuan ethnic group. This ethnic identification informed the style and patterns of textiles worn by Chiang Mais royal women. Their phasin (skirts)

This request was part of an exchange of textiles Hallett facilitated between Ubonwanna and his sister in England in the late 1880s. (Hallett, 386-387). 30 Conway (2002), 94.
29

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featured three main elements: 1) The head (hua sin) or waistband segment of cotton in red, white or black; this piece could be easily detached and replaced when worn or dirty. 2) A horizontally striped body (dtua sin) segment that reached from the waist to shin, striped in black and another color (usually yellow or green); fancier versions featured designs of metallic gold or silver thread. 3) The lowest segment, or hem (teen sin) portion of the skirt was usually a separate piece of fabric attached as a decorative border.31 (See Illustration 4.5) These three pieces were sewn together into a tube skirt, which the wearer then wrapped, rolled and tucked to fit at the waist. On fancier phasin like those worn by Dara Rasami, luntaya pattern could be used for the body segment, while a more intricately woven piece of fabric such as teen jok was used for the foot segment. (See examples in Illustration 4.6). For daily wear, a phasin made up of only the head and body pieces usually sufficed. On top, women wore a loosely draped shoulder cloth called a pha sabai chieng, under which the breasts were mostly exposed. (See mural painting detail, Illustration 4.7) Women at work sometimes wore a chest-wrap that covered the breasts, but often went without it, as evidenced in photographs from the early twentieth century. (See Illustration 4.8) By the late nineteenth century, Lan Nas royal women had adopted a slim-fitting, long-sleeved white blouse. Bock wrote of this innovation from Chiang Mai in 1882: A few Lao [Lan Na] women are beginning to wear tight fitting jackets cut to the shape of the figure, with equally tight fitting sleeves, something after the style of the ladies jerseys recently so fashionable in Paris and London, and involving no small amount of labour to get on and off, being not of elastic knitted work but of unyielding cotton or silk.32

Hua sin = translates literally as head of the skirt; dtua sin = body of the skirt; teen sin = skirt edge or hem. See Cheesman (1992), Appendix III (pp. 284-294): Transcription of Lao-Tai Words, for a full glossary of terms related to various weaving patterns and textiles. 32 Bock, 327.
31

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This jacket stopped just above the waist of the phasin, with the pha sabai chieng sometimes draped diagonally across the chest and over one shoulder. (See image of Thipkraisorn, Illustration 4.9) In addition to the photograph of Dara Rasamis mother referenced above, her aunt, Lady Ubonwanna, was also photographed on multiple occasions wearing a phasin with teen jok, in addition to earrings, bracelets and other jewelry indicating her wealth and high rank. (See Illustration 4.10) One element of dress seen in the photographs of both women is especially interesting, however: both wear a pleated, Siamese-style pha sabai together with their Lan Na-style phasin. What might such an adoption/adaptation of a Siamese element into their Lan Na attire signify? It could indicate a more pro-Bangkok orientation on the part of Thipkraisorn, particularly considering the possibility that she and her husband invented the rumor regarding Queen Victorias desire to adopt their daughter, Dara Rasami, in a bid to improve their status in Bangkoks eyes (see Chapter 2). Such a reorientation of Lan Nas sympathies towards Bangkok is suggested by sources that describe a rift between Thipkraisorn and her father, King Kawilorot, whose questionable loyalties had aroused King Mongkuts suspicions in the 1870s. Thipkraisorn and her sister, Ubonwanna, were both very friendly towards both the local Christian missionaries (in great contrast to King Kawilorot) and many of the Western merchants and explorers who came through Chiang Mai in the 1870s and 1880s.33 Perhaps this nod to Siamese style was a statement of Lan Na elites cosmopolitan currency with Bangkok.

See Ratanaporn (1989) for a description of King Kawilorots persecution of Christian missionaries, and his execution of several converts in 1869. In contrast, as I noted in Chapter Two, Kawilorots daughters, Thipkraisorn and Ubonwanna, were friendly with the missionaries and other Western visitors to Chiang Mai, including Carl Bock, Archibald Colquhoun, and Holt Hallett.
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As princess of Chiang Mais royal house, Dara Rasami was intimately familiar with these elements of Lan Na weaving, courtly textiles and dress traditions. In the following section, we will explore how she maintained some of the traditions with which she grew up in Lan Na, while adapting certain elements to her life within the Siamese palace. 4.2b. Siamese Court Textiles and Dress In comparison with the style of court dress worn by the Lan Na princes, and by the royalty of many of the inland states, the ceremonial dress of the Siamese court was lavish and hierarchical.34 As mentioned before, Siamese royalty utilized sumptuary codes which made the dress of elites immediately visually distinguishable from that of common folk. Not only were certain materials (e.g. silk) off-limits to people of less than noble birth, but particular textile patterns (called pha laiyang) were reserved exclusively for royalty. Since the Ayutthayan era, pha laiyang silks had been commissioned from Indian textile producers, and woven in royal workshops at court.35 (Illustration 4.11) In the mid-nineteenth century, Indian and English imports gained a new currency as cotton chintzes and other printed fabrics became popular with Siamese commoners. By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Siamese noblewomen were frequently photographed wearing examples of both types of textiles. More than twenty-five years before Dara Rasamis arrival in Bangkok in 1886, the dress of nobles and consorts at court had already begun to reflect an awareness of the

Conway (2002), 91. Ibid., 98. It is unclear whether the patterns originated in Siam and were copied by Indian weavers, or vice versa.
34 35

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sartorial conventions of the West. King Mongkut (1851-1868) himself evidenced an acute awareness of how ones clothing affected the perception of ones level of civilization: People who do not wear shirts are like naked people. Their bodies may show skin diseases or sweat, all of which are very dirty. In other countries, which are great countries, of all languages, they all wear shirts [upper garments], except the Lawa [Mon-Khmer], Lao, and Chao Pa [jungle people], who do not have clothes as they are lowly human beings. But Siam is a great country. We know many customs and traditions, we should not follow the ancient customs of the primitives of the past. Let all of you wear shirts when you come to the Royal Audience Hall, every one of you.36 From that time forward members of the Siamese royal family and royal officials were required to wear shirts (as opposed to a lower garment only) at court. In addition to the above sartorial accommodation to the West in the court, Siams elites embarked on a love affair with many other things Western. Some of these items influenced Siamese elite bodily practices, such as sweet-smelling soap and perfume, which became popular amongst palace folk in the 1860s. (As a boy, King Chulalongkorn gifted a set of perfumes and soaps along with a photograph of himself to his first consort, Phae.37) During this era, Mongkuts favorite consorts experimented with some curious elements of Western fashion. During a royal visit to changwat Saraburi in 1860, five of the kings highest-status consorts accompanied the king on horseback dressed as Scots guards complete with tams and multicolored plaid chongkrabaen called kilts.38 (See Illustration 4.12) Photographs show that these consorts had even grown out their hair, which was worn in a bun and tucked under Scottish tam-o-shanter hats. These

[Royal Chronicles of the Bangkok period, the Fourth Reign]. [Bangkok: n.d.], 377-78. 37 Prince Damrong, 18.
36 38

Lawaan Chotamra, [Crystal Flowers]. Bangkok: Phrae Phittaya, 114-115.

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conventions do not appear to have become popular among the remainder of Mongkuts consorts, however, and by the time of his death in 1868 Siamese womens court style appears to have reverted to what it was closer to the beginning of the reign. Such traditional Siamese court dress and hairstyle consisted of a set of several elements distinctly different from those of Lan Na womens dress. While in Lan Na women often wore the pha sabai chieng loosely draped around or across their shoulders, Siamese women more frequently went without any covering on their torso whatsoever (a fact which is assiduously catalogued in the photographs of many nineteenth-century Western male visitors to the region. See Illustration 4.13). Among Siamese women of noble or royal rank, a pha hom sabai wrapped around the breasts and torso, plus an accordionpleated wrap called a pha sabai chieng draped diagonally across the chest and over one shoulder, was standard costume in the 1860s. (King Mongkuts highest queen, Thepsirin, wears this style in the royal portrait of the couple taken in 1865. See Illustration 4.14) There is nothing similar to the fitted cotton or silk jacket worn by Lan Nas noblewomen in the 1870s to be seen in the dress of the Bangkok nobility. Another marked difference between Siamese and Lan Na womens dress lay in the style of garments worn on the lower body. While Lan Na women wore the aforementioned skirt-style phasin, Siamese women (and men) typically wore the phanung, a single length of fabric wrapped around the waist. Amongst noblewomen, the phanung was twisted up between the legs to form trouser-like chongkrabaen. (See Illustration 4.15 for a comparison of these styles.) Phanung as worn by the Siamese populace were typically made of homespun cotton, while the chongkrabaen worn at court utilized the aforementioned pha laiyang silks.

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In addition to different sartorial traditions, the women of Lan Na and Siam also practiced different modes of wearing their hair. In Lan Na, women grew their hair long, wearing it pulled up into a bun on the back of the head. In Siam, both women and men wore their hair in a brush-cut style, shaved on the sides and back of the head with an inch or two standing straight on the crown of the head. Not long after young King Chulalongkorn ascended the throne in 1870, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the oldfashioned brush-cut, and how it made Westerners perceive us as chaopa [barbarians].39 To combat this perception, King Chulalongkorn encouraged both the officials of the Mahat Thai and the women of the Inner Palace to grow out their hair on the flanks, or sides and back of the head. Though male officials were quick to do so, and to adopt the oiled and combed haircuts of their male Western counterparts, the ladies of the Inner Palace resisted the change at first. To motivate the royal consorts, it took the leadership of a senior woman: Chao Khun Phae, mother of Prince Damrong, who volunteered to grow her hair out first (having done so before as one of Mongkuts aforementioned high consorts).40 To contemporary eyes, the new hairstyle does not appear much different from the old one: where the sides of the head were shaved before, the new style grew out the hair on the sides, but not very long it rarely reached below the wearers earlobes. Over the subsequent decade before Dara Rasamis entry to the palace, the flank-style hairdo instituted at the start of Chulalongkorns reign had become the default style among Siams elite women.

39 40

Wannaphon, ibid., 133. Damrong, [King Chulalongkorn and His Favorite Consorts], ibid., 41-42.

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Although contemporary Western observers might mistake Daras upswept hairstyle for an adaptation to Victorian norms, in fact her hairstyle simply reflected her identification with Lan Na style which may well explain why this particular fashion did not catch on with more women of Siams Inner Palace.41 By the time of Dara Rasamis entry into the palace in 1886, incorporating elements of Western fashion in order to modernize Siamese dress was no longer new. Along with Western-style haircuts for male officials and nobles, Chulalongkorn had also in an explicit effort to conform to Western notions of siwilai changed official dress to utilize jackets in the Western military-style on top, worn with chongkrabaen, stockings and shoes on the bottom.42 Siamese womens court dress was also influenced: photographs demonstrate the adoption of the high-necked, puff-sleeved lace blouse made popular by Queen Victorias daughter, Princess Alexandra.43 As in the dress of male officials, the blouse was paired with chongkrabaen, stockings and shoes. Royal consorts also typically wore a colored silk pha hom sabai draped across the chest, in a color appropriate to the day of the week.44 The pha hom sabai was often adorned with jewels indicating a womans rank. Among Chulalongkorns high queens, custom-made brooches in the shape of a consorts initials became popular

Conway makes this claim in Silken Threads, Lacquer Thrones (2002: p. 155), but it is unsupported by either historical data or photographic evidence. Thai cultural historian Anucha Thirakanont was also adamant in his efforts to disabuse me of this notion. (Personal conversation with Anucha Thirakanont, Bangkok: July 2007.) 42 Wannaporn describes the formulation of this policy in relation to aryatham, or civilization, in
41

[Chom Nang Haeng Siam], ibid., 130-141. 43 Conway (2002), 152. 44 This system of colors was dictated by the Brahmin-Hindu notion that a different god governed each day of the week, and particular colors were thus auspicious on different days. Kukrit Pramote describes this practice in his historical novel of the era, Four Reigns (see following page). Anecdotal evidence indicates that some middle- to upper-class Thais still endeavor to wear the color of the day as a means of improving their popularity and prosperity.

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marks of favored status.45 For an excellent example of these conventions in dress, one need look no further than to photographs of Chulalongkorns highest queen, Saowapha Phongsri. (See Illustration 4.16, portrait of Saowapha.) In addition to these conventions, Siamese elites also observed a system which dictated the wearing of a different color (and complementary colors) on each day of the week. Thai noble Kukrit Pramote, himself a child of the Inner Palace in the latter nineteenth century, describes this system in great detail: On Mondays, the phanung color was soft yellow, with a wrap of light blue or [flower of Peru]. But if the nung was pigeon blue, you had to wear a wrap of reddish-yellow. Tuesday, nung of lime green or purple-plum would dictate a wrap of yellow-green. But if the nung was yellow-green or soft green then you had to have a wrap of soft purple. For Wednesday, the nung was brown, of course, or grey, with a yellow wrap. Thursday the nung was leaf green, and the wrap blood red, or a nung of reddish-yellow with wrap of soft green. Friday, the nung was light blue, with yellow wrap. Saturday the nung was purple-plum with wrap of yellow, or nung of striped background in purple and yellow-green. Sunday was the same as for Thursday, of course, or a nung of lychee color or blood red, with yellow-green wrap. When in mourning, one wore a striped nung of purple but a wrap of cream white.46 As we can see from the above, conventions of dress coupled with the strict sumptuary regulations demonstrate the central role played by dress in Siamese conceptions of elite status. These standards rendered ones rank and status immediately visually readable through ones dress: whether one could wear cotton or silk, homespun or imported materials, in the appropriate color for the day of the week. During the Fifth Reign, Chulalongkorn added yet another layer of meaning to this system: a desire to appear

45 46

Wannaphon, ibid. Kukrit Pramote, Four Reigns. Bangkok: p. 36.

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siwilai [civilized], in order to better represent Siams status within a framework of European expectations. Throughout his forty-year reign, the king continued to shape and refine the sartorial conventions for the most elite Siamese men and women.47 4.2c. Dara Rasami and Ethnic Difference within the Siamese Court How did Dara Rasamis convention of dressing in Lan Na style signify within these recently reconfigured sartorial boundaries? Prior to Dara Rasamis arrival in Bangkok in 1886, it appears that most foreign women that is, consorts sent from the tributary kingdoms at the peripheries of Siam had assimilated to the Siamese mode of dress (though there is little photographic evidence to go by before the 1860s). The other Siamese consort who came from Lan Na during the Fifth Reign, Princess Thipkesorn of Chiang Mai, cut her hair short, and wore pha laiyang, indicating that she had given up both her Lan Na hairstyle and textiles, adapting to Siamese customs.48 Princess Dara Rasami, in contrast, maintained the dress conventions of Lan Na after entering the Siamese palace. The chronology of the extant photographs of Dara Rasami demonstrate that, after an initial period of conformity to Siamese/Western fashion, Dara dressed in the Lan Na style consistently over the subsequent decades of her palace career. In her earliest palace portrait (Illustration 4.17), Princess Dara appears dressed in a somewhat jarring combination of Western and Lan Na dress: a Victorian-style beribboned plaid blouse paired with a phasin skirt featuring an elaborate teen jok border at the hem. In the companion piece to this

King Chulalongkorn directed that the various palace ministries wear jackets of different colors. The Mahat Thai (Interior Ministry) was to wear dark green, the Foreign Ministry was to wear dark blue, and Royal Pages
47

were to wear gray. See Ratthaphatri Janthawits [Ancient Chintz Fabrics in the National Museums], Bangkok: Krom Sinlapakorn, 2002: 65-66. 48 See Sulak, ibid., 75. Thipkesorn had arrived in Bangkok in 1880, several years before JDR to serve as a consort in the Siamese palace.

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portrait (Illustration 4.18), which appears to have been taken at the same time, Dara wears the same dress while posing with her infant daughter (b. 1889). The presence of Daras daughter is important to note, as motherhood had the effect of both automatically raising her status (to that of Chao Chom Manda) and entitling Dara to her own residence. Upon becoming mistress of her new residence around that time, Dara Rasami was allowed to gather her own entourage to attend her. These women, who came from Daras extended royal family in Chiang Mai and Lamphun, were also required by Dara to dress in Lan Na style, wearing the phasin and muan daily. (Illustration 4.19) As discussed earlier in this section, the wearing of local textiles was central to the expression of ethnic identity and continuity among Lan Na women. Dara Rasamis practice of wearing phasin that incorporated luntaya pattern or teen jok borders was also consistent with that of elite Lan Na women exchanged as consorts with neighboring rulers: that foreign women continued to wear the garb of their homeland, signaling the local kings power and political reach into the surrounding region. Though for Dara Rasami this practice connoted regional pride as well as political import, it did not favorably impress many of her Siamese counterparts. Even after the king officially forbade other ladies from teasing her (as described in Chapter 3), Daras Lao-ness continued to be problematic throughout her career in the palace and her dress was the first and most visible marker of her ethnic difference. In the ultra-status-conscious world of the Siamese Inner Palace, the households of the highest queens were all readily identifiable by their dress alone, and Daras house was no exception: [The] royal servants from [the household of] Somdet Tii Bon, or Somdet Phra Nang Chao Saowapha Phongsri, Phra Boromma Rachinin Naat, had the greatest pride. The dressed better than the royal servants of any other residence, very Page 166

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elegant and chic, and usually chose the best children of the elites. Their manners were very traditional. Their knowledge of ceremony was the best, because they believed that, if it was a place of study, it was a higher school than that of their friends The servants of this palace were usually very arrogant and conceited. In other words, they thought their flesh and body to be higher than anyone else, which was accordingly true. Because the women from this palace left to start their own families, at least the size of this group did not increase. There were mostly of Khun Ying or Than Phu Ying [status]. It's said that powder, dressing, hairstyling, hom sabai chieng and wearing betel leaf behind the ear, all were beautiful and gay. Moving on to another residence, the palace of Somdet Phra Nang Jao Sawang Watthana, Phra Boromma Ratchathewi, the servants of this household were very serious. They dressed like mature women, not flashy at all, with very terse manners, steady and resolute; very intelligent in matters of ceremony. When they went out they looked like the servants of [Saowapha's house], but more sober. Most often they showed evidence of money used frugally, not frittered away. The group from the household of Phra Nang Jao Sukhumala Marasri, Phra Ratchathewi, were called the servants of Phra Nangs household. These ladies were known as very gay, almost garishly flashy, but with sense. They spoke well, were bold and quick, always aware of their surroundings. When they left her household, it was usually as the wife of a military official. Moving on to the palace of Phra Akorn Chaiya, or the palace of Than Ong Lek [The little one], the ladies of this household were usually appointed as servants. They were good at cooking rice and snacks, managed a kitchen well, and were good with children. They had basic knowledge, but were not terribly brilliant. They dressed properly, were polite and modest, and were usually musically skilled. As for the household of Phra Rajajaya Jao Dara Rasami, this household was special because she was from the Northern royal family. Consequently, they were strange in that they put up their hair, and wore phasin rather than chongkrabaen or hom sabai like the other residences. No one from this palace showed off outside.49

Chunlada Phakdiphumin, Sri Mahawaan (Mom Luang). 2535. [Around the Palace]. Bangkok: Chotchai Thewet, 318-320.
49

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Prince Damrongs daughter Mom Chao Jong Jitrathanom Ditsakun, who served closely with Dara Rasami in the Inner Palace during the Fifth Reign, describes Daras treatment by the senior Siamese queens: Interviewer: Was Phra Rajajaya intimidated by the older women at all? Jong Jitra Thanom Ditsakun: Yes, she was afraid to leave her house; they would call her Ai. She was a little scared of them. Though she was regarded as phu yai, the high queens saw her as a young whippersnapper because they were older than she was by many years they were only a year or so younger than the king himself.50 Given the haughty attitude of Saowaphas women, and the clear social differentiation expressed through dress and manners, it comes as no surprise that neither Dara nor the women of her entourage showed off outside their household, nor that Dara herself keenly felt their disdain. 51 Though the cool treatment of the older queens-consort certainly affected Daras social currency within the palace, it did not dampen her relationship with King Chulalongkorn himself, nor with a number of other Siamese nobles and consorts. Among other Siamese elites with whom Dara Rasami had regular contact, however, her personality was considered charming and pleasant. Indeed, there appears to be a sort of generational break between the highest queens and those consorts with whom Dara Rasami established friendships: Chao Chom Manda Mote, Chao Chom Manda Hem, and Chao Chom Erb Bunnag. Despite her difficulties with the other members of the first generation of royal consorts, several younger consorts were friendly with Dara and her entourage, and

Sulak, ibid. That Queen Saowapha and other high consorts expressed jealousy and other hard feelings towards Dara is mentioned in Nongyaos biography of Dara Rasami, as well as several of the palace memoirs written by women like Phunphitsamai Ditsakun and her sister, Jongjitrathanom Ditsakun.
50 51

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sometimes appear to have treated her ethnic difference more with polite curiosity than contempt. Chao Chom Manda Hems daughter, Mom Chao Phunphit Amatyakun, recounts that her mother spent many evenings at Dara Rasamis residence playing cards, smoking, and gambling.52 (As mentioned in the prior section, Daras friendships with Chao Chom Manda Hem and Chao Chom Mot were close enough that King Chulalongkorn requested that their Dusit residences be built next to each other.) One of Daras next-generation friends was Chao Chom Erb Bunnag, a member of the Kok Oh group of five sister-consorts from the Bunnag family. Chao Chom Erb, a favorite consort of King Chulalongkorns, was also a skilled photographer. In addition to the many posed portraits and more casual shots taken of various figures around Suan Dusit, Erb also featured Dara Rasami in a curious series of photographs taken sometime between 1902 and 1910.53 In this series, Dara literally performs her ethnic difference for the camera. Dara appears in her customary striped phasin and lace blouse before a staged toilette table and two strategically-placed mirrors, before which she lets down her kneelength hair. (Illustrations 4.20 4.28) These photographs, like many Erb shot of scenes from within the palace, were not intended for publication.54 As with many of the amateur shots taken by Erb and other women and children of the Fai Nai, such images were circulated only among other Siamese royal and noble elites the biggest audience at that time for such photographs. But for what purpose? Primarily for their novelty value: the novelty of Daras ethnic distinction in an otherwise ethnically homogenous (Siamese)

52 53

Phunphit, ibid., 48-49.

Anek Nawikkamun, [History of Early Photography in Thailand]. Bangkok: Sara Khadi Phap, 2005. 54 Anek, Ibid.

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environment. In Erbs photographs, Daras most prominent markers of ethnic difference her phasin and long hair are performed for the novelty of their difference. Given the ultimate audience for these images, Daras difference was performed explicitly for consumption by other elites within the palace. These photographic representations thus render Dara knowable to the Siamese elite as a cultural Other within Siams center. However, Daras status as an outsider who was at the same time an elite insider serves to complicate where Lao or Lan Na ethnic identity should fall in the Siamese hierarchy of siwilai. Next, I will explore how specific elements of Daras dress represented her effort to adapt her Lan Na identity not to Siamese-ness, but rather to siwilai. 4.2d. Dara Rasami and Making Lan Na Dress Siwilai Though Dara maintained the custom of wearing of phasin on the bottom, the garments she wore above differed from those worn by her Lan Na kinswomen. Instead of the close-fitting jacket worn by her mother and aunt in Chiang Mai, Dara adopted the upper garments worn by her Siamese counterparts: the lacy Victorian blouse draped with silken sash and adorned with jewelry. Subsequent photographs of Dara Rasami show her and her entourage wearing this ensemble, particularly in photos taken at her new residence at Suan Dusit. (Illustration 4.29) The photographic evidence indicates that Dara probably did not utilize the lacy blouse in her informal everyday dress. However, the presence of the blouse along with Daras jewels and official decorations in her official portraits signals its role in representing Lao-ness in a particular way. Rather than merely marking an adaptation to Siamese style, I suggest Daras hybrid of dress styles signified an effort to adapt her ethnic difference to the notions of siwilai then current among Siams elites. As such, I suggest that Page 170

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this adaptation assisted in shaping the Siamese perception of Lao or Lan Na identity within the new hierarchy implied by siwilai. As Thongchai notes, Both chaopa and chaobannok were two categories of the Others of the more siwilai elite. The chaopa were the uncivilizable; the chaobannok were the loyal, backward subjects. The gazers were the educated elite in the city, the people and space of siwilai and charoen. It should be noted that there were peoples who were described in one way or the other between the two categories. The prime example was the Lao (people and regions). Writings about the Lao during the period we are discussing mostly described them in details like chaobannok. At times they were mentioned as non-chaopa, similar to Thais. Yet, Lao people were also mentioned as chaopa and some accounts dissected Lao customs and described them topically similar, to the description of chaopa (see Latthi thamniam tangtang, parts 1 and 18). For the Thai elite, the Lao were somewhere between the two kinds of Others. 55 Though (as mentioned at the opening of this chapter) palace women do not figure into Thongchais analysis of siwilai, I suggest that the Siamese confusion over these two kinds of Others has everything to do with Dara Rasamis presence among the Siamese elite. As a Lao woman within Siams most elite circle, Daras representation of civilized other-ness through hybrid dress problematized the discourse of siwilai as it applied to Siams northern periphery. The difficulty of locating the Lao/Lan Na people among the categories of chaopa, chaobannok, and siwilai related to the difficulty of reconciling Dara Rasamis hybrid identity (that of a siwilai Lao) with the Siamese at the apex of the siwilai hierarchy. While many palace memoirs and other accounts mention the distinctiveness of Dara Rasamis style of dress, observers rarely discuss its reception by other members of the

55

From Thongchai (2000): The Quest for Siwilai: A Geographical Discourse of Civilizational Thinking in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Siam. Journal of Asian Studies 59, No. 3, 528-549. The Latthi Thamniam Tang Tang article from which the quote is taken was originally published in the Siamese journal Wacbirayanwiset in 1896.

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Inner Palace. Without direct observations, how might we understand the significance of Dara Rasamis sartorial difference within the Siamese palace? In this context, I suggest we consider dress as discourse. As such, Daras dress signifies on two levels (which may well be too entangled to pull apart entirely): the personal and the political. As I demonstrated early on in this section, Daras native textile traditions invested the textiles and garment styles with particular meaning for Lan Na women, as an indication of a high level of weaving skill and readiness for marriage. Some types of Lan Na textiles also functioned as sumptuary items which were more easily produced or obtained by the elite class. Thus, as a personal discourse, Daras style of dress can be read as an indicator of both her life status and noble station. As political discourse, Daras dress carries an additional and potent set of meanings. In order to emphasize the political reach of a Lan Na ruler via the strength and breadth of his political alliances, Lan Nas political tradition entailed that elite women exchanged in marital alliances continue to practice their particular dress and textile traditions. Thus Daras use of Lan Na textiles and garment styles in the Bangkok palace might be read very straightforwardly as carrying on this tradition, even to the extent of extending it into the Siamese palace. But without the political sensitivity surrounding Lan Nas relationship to Siam in the 1870s and 80s, such a point would have been moot. Earlier (and less politically important) Lan Na migrs to the Bangkok palace had changed their dress and hairstyle to Siamese style, without any problem. And Daras obvious ethnic difference entailed difficult social consequences throughout her life in the palace. It appears that the visual discourse of Daras dress could also be read by the Siamese elite to reinforce

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notions of its own cultural superiority and dominance over the Others at its peripheries, no matter how intimate their relationship with the King. Daras dress functioned as a multivalent site, which appears to have held very different meanings for its wearer and the Siamese consorts around her. In the next section, I will explore other performative modes that provide further evidence of the Siamese understanding of Dara Rasamis hybrid identity within the discourse of siwilai: dramatic works and their performances. 4.3 Drama and Performing Difference within Siamese Siwilai During the Fifth Reign the Siamese elites had become intensely concerned with siwilai, especially as it related to ethnic difference. While Thongchai has discussed the scientific modes by which Siamese elites delineated these differences,56 here I will explore how ethnic differences were expressed through an entirely different mode of discourse: popular entertainment. Concurrently with their scientific construction of ethnic categories in the 1880s and 90s, Siamese elites began to communicate discourses of ethnic difference to the broader populace through lakhon rong and lakhon dukdamban, forms of Siamese dance-drama which became popular as mass entertainments in Bangkok in this era. Within this context, I contend that Dara Rasamis participation in a number of lakhon works played a major role in the Siamese categorization of the Lao, or Lan Na peoples of Daras homeland, in order to situate them as a more siwilai Other within Siams new hierarchy of civilizations.

56

Thongchai (2000), ibid.

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Siams traditional art of dance-drama, or lakhon ram, had begun to undergo significant changes during the reign of King Mongkut (or Rama IV, 1851-1868). In an 1855 decree, Mongkut dropped the restrictions on all-female lakhon troupes, which had been the exclusive province of the Palace up until that time. 57 At the same time, the king reserved a few classical dramatic texts for royal use. These two moves sparked a resurgence in both the writing and performance of new lakhon works outside the palace. The subsequent growth of commercial lakhon troupes led to another royal decree in 1861, in which Mongkut spelled out terms by which all types of performances would be taxed.58 Since many of the commercial lakhon troupes had found a profitable niche providing entertainment to the patrons of gambling halls, the new taxes did not much affect them at the beginning, since they could add it on to the admission charge for any performance.59 The new taxes began to generate a steady new stream of revenue for the Siamese government, reaching as high as 4,400 baht per year during Mongkuts reign.60 In the 1870s, dramatic texts began to circulate outside the palace in another new way: via print. According to Mattani, Protestant missionary Dr. Smith initiated the first publication of the Ramakien in serial instalments and sold them at 25 satang per copy,61 making it the first play introduced to the Siamese reading public by mass production.

57

See the [Royal decree on the subject of female dance-drama] as quoted in Prince

Damrong, [Story of the Lakhon Inao], Bangkok: [n.p.], 170-71. [Collected Royal Pronouncements of the Fourth Reign], Bangkok: [n.p.], 161-63. Mattani Rutnin, 1993. Dance, Drama, and Theatre in Thailand. The Process of Development and Modernization. Tokyo, Japan: The Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco: 83. 60 Damrong, ibid., 175 & 177. 61 Mattani, 105.
58 59

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Following the popularity and success of the Ramakien, Dr. Smith published Inao in 1874 (also for the first time). From then on other publishers followed suit. Although at the price of twenty-five satang such publications were still well beyond the reach of the average citizen, they succeeded in making dramatic texts available to a wider reading audience than ever before possible.62 Unlike his father Mongkut, King Chulalongkorn was not as interested in promoting the lakhon within the court. After training a select group of women to dance a special performance of Inao on the occasion of Bangkoks centennial (Sompot Phra Nakhon) in 1882, formal lakhon training for the women of the Inner Palace ended.63 Outside the palace, Chulalongkorns decrees ending slavery (1874) and gambling (1888) greatly impacted the popular performance of lakhon within gambling halls, driving many troupes out of business. The troupes that survived turned to the private patronage of noble houses, many of whom subsequently opened theatres of their own. The viability of lakhon productions in the commercial environment of the 1890s depended largely upon the ingenuity of the new productions. Under noble patronage, new modes of dance-drama evolved to appeal to a paying audience that drew upon both the elite and the populace. Three nobles two of whom were Chulalongkorns own half-brothers became the most prominent dramatists of the eras new forms: Prince Naret, Prince Narathip, and Chao Phraya Thewet. These nobles were largely responsible for creating and elaborating the two variants of lakhon that came to dominate the Bangkok theatre scene in the early twentieth century: lakhon dukdamban and lakhon phan thang (also known as lakhon rong). Prince Naret

62 63

Mattani, ibid. Damrong, ibid., 199.

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and Chao Phraya Thewet (the official Minister of Royal Performances) wrote dramas in the lakhon dukdamban (ancient-style) style, in which dancers sang and danced their own parts in condensed scenes from classical dance-dramas against minimalist background scenery, wearing traditional Siamese costumes. In contrast, the style practiced by Prince Narathip, lakhon rong, utilized a Western-style play structure, and dialogue was spoken between songs sung by the characters, who were usually dressed in a modern style appropriate to the setting of the play.64 Accordingly, lakhon dukdamban works consisted mainly of adaptations of classical dance-dramas, while lakhon rong with its focus on the plays most emotional moments, sometimes verging on the melodramatic became the vehicle for adapting exotic and foreign stories for the Siamese audience.65 Both forms were patronized by King Chualongkorn, who brought various visiting foreign dignitaries to see performances.66 Prince Narathips lakhon rong form, which at first focused its subject matter on current events and domestic issues, took time to find its footing with Bangkoks audiences. As Chulalongkorn himself remarked in a letter to Dara Rasami, The Lakhon Krom Nara seems to be gaining a little more success. Even so, there are still such small audiences that the elite rarely see it, because it is a new thing. They dont understand it. They have to do a lot of listening and watching, and cannot look the other way, as they wont be able to follow the story. Usually, people who go to see a play like to sit and talk with each other. Only to see the dancers moving about here and there, to

The best English-language source on the history of Thai dance-drama is Mattani Rutnins 1993 Dance, Drama, and Theatre in Thailand. The Process of Development and Modernization. Tokyo, Japan: The Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco. 65 Mattani, 103. 66 Mattani, 126-127. Here the author notes that in 1899 lakhon dukdamban performances were held to welcome Prince Phitsanulok home from a visit to Europe, and in honor of the royal visit of Prince Henry, brother of the King of Prussia (December 27), and that the king ordered a lakhon rong performance for the visit of the Duke of Brunswick in late 1909 (146).
64

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With a little experimentation, however, Prince Narathip struck upon a winning formula: one which married exotic subject matter (such as The Arabian Nights, Phra Law, Madame Butterfly) with melodrama. Soon his plays began to attract the largest paying audiences Bangkok had ever seen. In creating and adapting works for lakhon rong form, Narathip drew upon a special local resource to add authentic elements to its productions, particularly those of northern works: Dara Rasami, who provided consultation on both the texts and musical/dance elements of both Phra Law and Narathips later adaptation of Madame Butterfly, entitled Sao Khrua Fa. It was through these works that notions of the northern Other were expressed and communicated not only among Bangkoks elites, but also to the citys theatre-going public. In the following segment, I will discuss Dara Rasamis musical background and her relationship to Prince Narathips dramatic workshop. 4.3b. Dara Rasamis Musical and Dramatic Interests As mentioned briefly in the last chapter, Dara Rasami and her entourage were themselves practitioners of music and dance within Daras household. It appears that Dara had undergone some training in the arts of music and dance during her childhood in Chiang Mai, but the record is unclear as to the nature or extent of the training.68 Within the

67

[Samnao phra Ratchahattalekhaphra Ratchathan Krom Narathip Phraphanphong], ibid., 306-07, Letter from King Chulalongkorn to Dara Rasami, 24 April 1909. 68 Nongyao, ibid; Mattani also notes that a senior dancer of Mongkuts reign, Lady Sa-ngiam, was sent to teach dance in the court of Chiang Mais Chao Intawarorot, who reigned from 1897-1910. (Mattani, 102)

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Inner Palace, however, Dara and her ladies were well-known for their talents in singing, dancing, and playing various musical instruments: Upstairs, [Dara Rasami] had many musical instruments, including the jakay (a three-stringed musical instrument), saw (a fiddle), kluy (flute), glong (drum), tone (a shorter, smaller tom-tom drum); ramanah (one-sided, shallow drum), a piano and a mandolin; but they did not play the phipat (or Thai orchestral instruments), because they were instruments for a man. There was a stringed band and a mixed combo; the governor and family practiced energetically. [Dara Rasami] would sing central Thai songs and was not shy in her merriment while singing. They said that those who came to stay at her residence, besides being beautiful and sweet-voiced already, looked like they had nearly equal talents in singing, dancing, and music.69 Playing some kind of musical instrument at least a little was apparently a requirement for kinswomen who wanted to become part of Daras entourage.70 Daras musical interests encompassed the musical traditions of Lan Na and Siam, and embraced Western music as well. In addition to training an all-female orchestra in Siamese music, Dara incorporated several Western instruments including the violin, mandolin, piano and pedal organ into her ensembles repertoire.71 Dara Rasamis musical talents and interests reached well beyond the walls of the Inner Palace. One of Prince Narathips early dance-drama productions, Phra Law, was based on an old northern story, the dramatic poem Lilit Phra Law. Prince Narathips wife and musical director, Mom Luang Tuan, sought out Dara Rasami as a musical resource, learning Lan Na vocal styles and instruments from her to enhance the northern setting of

Nai Phunphit Amatyakun. [Ueng Ngern. A Volume in Honor of the Interment of the Remains of Chao Suntorn Na Chiang Mai.]. Bangkok, Thailand: Borisat Rak Silp, 1987, 48-49. 70 Prani, ibid., 33. 71 Phunphit, ibid., 67. Daras niece, Chao Bua Chum, exhibited so much talent that Dara sent her to take lessons from a European lady by the name of Maam Bella at her hotel in Bangkok. (Prani, ibid., 55-56.)
69

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the play. Chao Chom Manda Dara Rasami was pleased to have Mom Luang Tuan visit her often for instruction in Lao musical intonation. This resulted in the palace playing Lao songs more often.72 In addition, since part of the lakhon rong style was the incorporation of foreign elements to suit the story, it was only appropriate that Phra Laws dancers also dress in Lao-Thai costumes, dance and sing to Lao-type musical tunes, and speak with touches of Northern dialect.73 Through their relationship with a Lan Na Other residing within the palace Dara Rasami authentic Lan Na cultural elements were utilized in creating exotic appeal to a popular audience outside the Inner Palace. Dara Rasami was also involved in developing the texts of Narathips northern works. Chulalongkorn himself sent parts of Narathips script of Phra Law for her to review while visiting Chiang Mai in 1909.74 Later that year, King Chulalongkorn ordered a performance of Phra Law to celebrate the first fruit of Dusits recalcitrant lychee trees.75 For this occasion, a theatre was built in farang (Western) style, complete with an authentic stage, located in between Amphon Hall and Phanumat Hall. Prince Narathip arranged for the middle section of his adaptation of Phra Law to be performed in this celebration. His wife, Dara Rasamis friend Mom Luang Tuan, arranged the songs, music, and orchestra.76 In addition to Narathips success with this production, his expertise in creating audience-pleasing works based on exotic tales like Nithra Chakhrit (The Arabian Nights) and

Gaewgiriya, Romaniyachat, ed. [Dara Rasami: Tie of Love between Two Kingdoms]. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 1999: 88. 73 Mattani, 120. 74 From King Chulalongkorns personal letter to Dara Rasami dated 2 July 1909, collected in Prayut Sittiphan,
72

[Love in the Royal Palace of the Fifth Reign], 302. 75 Mattani, 221-222. 76 Samnao Phra Ratcha hatta lekha, ibid., 92.

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Khon Ba (Jungle Man) resulted in Chulalongkorns favor of lakhon rong over lakhon dukdamban. In 1907 Chulalongkorn granted Narathips theatre the status of royal company. This marked a new era in Siamese drama, as Chulalongkorn initiated the practice of going to see performances at private theatres outside the royal court. Having been impressed by Puccinis Madame Butterfly during his 1906 tour of Europe,77 Chulalongkorn assigned Narathip to create a Siamese adaptation of the work. In the Siamese version, the roles of the American soldier and Japanese woman are transposed in a uniquely Siamese way: the American soldier becomes a Siamese man, while his Japanese lover becomes a maiden from where else? Chiang Mai. True to the lakhon rong style, the cast were dressed in costumes appropriate to contemporary characters, with the heroine dressed in the same style as Dara Rasami herself: hair in a bun, lace blouse on top, phasin below, worn with stockings and shoes.78 This production, first staged in the summer of 1908, became a huge hit: In observing the preference of the people in these later dates, they seem to like Sao Khrua Fa more than any other play, to the point that there have been letters by mail asking for repeat performances at a particular wik79 (theatre) because it is a lakhon farang story. Another is because they think the king likes it since he mentioned it in the Nangsu Klai Baan [Letters Far from Home]. But the most important reason is Ee Nang Phrom, who plays the role of the heroine. When she came in to perform at the Wang Tha Palace, she was given as much as 100 baht at one time for cutting her throat [in the suicide scene]. Some people suggested that there should be a lakhon sompot [dance-drama for a special royal celebration] for three days when you return [from Chiang Mai]. I am afraid that we shall have to repeat the plays because you have missed

77

King Chulalongkorn wrote about Madame Butterfly in his letters home from Europe in 1906-07, which

were collected and published in the volume [Letters Far from Home]. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University European Studies Programme, 1997. 78 Mattani, 144. 79 Mattani helpfully notes that the term wik comes from the English week, which was the average length of most theatre showings; over time wik came to denote a shows run. (141, 269.)

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Many of the new works developed by Prince Narathip and others were often first performed privately for the King and members of the Inner Palace. Word that a particular lakhon had found favor with the king often resulted in huge interest among Bangkoks theatre-going public; if the king went to Narathips theatre to see a particular play, it would often sell out performances in the weeks following. In a subsequent letter to Dara Rasami, Chulalongkorn describes the growing popularity of Sao Khrua Fa: Talking about madness, the courtiers are now mad about Lakhon Krom Nara, every person, every name, from the masters to the servants. Since you left [for Chiang Mai], the men who did not see it are very frustrated. Its up to [Prince Narathip], whether he will perform the play again after having performed it in the royal court at the Pridalai Theatre. If he does, the audience will be large. In the past, I went to [his] theatre, and there were not more than 500 present. But since he has performed in the Royal Palace, there are not enough seats. This happens only to the plays which have been performed in the palace and are later performed outside. The money collected from outside performances is over 10,000 baht. Krom Nara exclaimed that it was due to the glorious virtue of the king.81 As the usual takings for a week-long performance run at a Bangkok theatre averaged around 1,000 baht at that time, we can see that Sao Khrua Fa was hugely popular with Bangkoks theatre-going populace.82 We might see this performance of Lan Na other-ness through dance-drama as domesticating Lan Na identity for Siamese consumption. As discussed in the prior section, discourses of Daras ethnic difference carried political value to Chulalongkorn,

Samnao Ratchahattalekha, ibid., 311, Letter to Dara Rasami from Chulalongkorn dated 29 June 1909. Ibid., 310-311, Letter to Dara Rasami dated July 2, 1909. 82 Mattani, 140.
80 81

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demonstrating the political dominance of Siams center over its peripheries (i.e., Lan Na). At the same time, through Dara Rasamis presence in Bangkok, Lan Na retained the agency to write back against this Siamese discourse to some extent. It appears that although Dara contributed elements of dress, music and dance to Sao Khrua Fa, her involvement with its writing was limited. Indeed, her responses to it indicate that she may not have agreed entirely with the message it communicated about the strength and agency of Lan Na women and perhaps by extension, Lan Na itself. In two of his letters to Dara in 1908, Chulalongkorn mentions her request that men be banned from the audiences of the royal performances of Sao Khrua Fa.83 Unfortunately, her reasons remain unknown: Daras original request was either made orally, or the written record lost, and Chulalongkorn does not mention it in his letters either. Did Dara object to the model of the Siamese soldier abandoning his Lan Na lover, and wish to discourage Siamese men from imitating his behavior? Did she not want her friends among the Siamese male nobles to identify her with the tragic heroine? Did she wish to raise Miss Butterfly as a cautionary example to a women-only audience? Or did she wish to provide a viewing environment in which women might freely express their sympathy for the heroine? We cannot know. In any case, Daras desire to restrict viewership of Sao Khrua Fa to only elite women applied only within the palace. Once its potential had been demonstrated in the popularity of its palace performances, Prince Narathip opened the public performances of Sao Khrua Fa to both men and women.

83

Samnao, ibid., Letters to Dara Rasami, dated 17 March and July 2, 1909.

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To further illuminate this issue, we might look to the play that Dara herself wrote, entitled Phra Loh Waen Kaeo, or Noi Chaiya. Though Dara wrote the original plot and characters herself, she commissioned Siamese noble Thao Suthon Photchanakit to compose the dialogue in verse.84 This (undated) work appears to have been written after Sao Khrua Fa, and it features a romantic heroine of a very different stripe. The story line involves a pair of star-crossed young Lan Na lovers, a Miss Waen Kaeo (Crystal Ring) and her lover, Noi Chaiya. Though Waen Kaeos parents arrange a match for her with an older and much wealthier man, she rejects him, and stays true to her (penniless) lover. The course of the love relationship here communicates a very different discourse regarding the emotional strength and loyalty of a Lan Na woman. Whereas in Sao Khrua Fa (as in Madame Butterfly) the heroine commits suicide on discovering her lovers abandonment, Waen Kaeo plays anything but a passive role in her love relationship, seizing control of her own destiny to remain with her chosen love.85 The elements of this story echo the experiences of Dara Rasamis aunt, Chao Ubonwanna, whose famously complicated love life Dara witnessed first-hand during her childhood in Chiang Mai.86 Though this play was produced by Dara herself for performances within the palace, it never garnered the same attention as did Sao Khrua Fa, and consequently it was never performed in public. Thus the discourse of Lan Na feminine agency and strength that Dara Rasami desired to communicate never traveled beyond the palace walls. The image of Sao Khrua Fas beautiful and tragic heroine became

84 85

Mattani, ibid. See Ratana Pakdeekuns essay,

in [Pride of Lan Na Women], 135-146. See Volker Grabowskys (Thai-language) article, also in [Pride of Lan Na Women], 268278, or Carl Bocks reference to Ubonwannas many lovers in Temples and Elephants, 364-65.
86

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dominant in the popular image of Lan Na women and by extension, Siams domination of Lan Na itself in the minds of Bangkoks populace.87 4.3c. Domesticating Siams Peripheries through Lakhon Rong Sao Khrua Fa and Phra Law became the most popular of Narathips lakhon rong. As such, they are emblematic of the new dramatic form, which utilized themes and elements adopted from foreign sources and incorporated elements (i.e., costume, music, dance) drawn from Siams peripheries. While Lan Na was amply represented in the body of works by Phra Law and Sao Khrua Fa, they were by no means the only works featuring exotic elements. Mattani describes lakhon rong utilized costumes, set designs, [and] dance movements accompanied by foreign orchestration from Burmese, Mon, Lao, Chinese, Indian, Cambodian, Malay, Javanese and Western cultures.88 However, in terms of lakhon rong that demonstrate ethnic representation as discourse, the exotic work most comparable to those representing Lan Na is that of Ngo Ba (Wild Man), written by Chulalongkorn himself in 1905. This play is based on the presence at court of another Other from Siams periphery: Khanung, a boy from the Semang tribe of the Malay peninsula. This child was adopted by Chulalongkorn during a state visit to Siams southern provinces in 1905 as his own personal experiment in civilizing a savage: That year, B.E. 2429 [1906] King Chulalongkorn had the desire to raise the [tribal] child that had lived in the jungle, in order to try and see whether this training could make a [jungle person] progress into a [regular

87

And there it remains to this day, thanks to repeated iterations of Sao Khrua Fa on film and television. See

the Thai Wikipedia entry for Sao Khrua Fa: http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/ (accessed Feb. 26, 2009.) 88 Mattani, 118.

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person] or not.89 Ngo Ba, written by Chulalongkorn himself during an eight-day illness, describes the Semangs physical appearance, way of life, religious beliefs, eating habits, merry-making, dressing, hunting, and courting. According to Mattani, this was the first time that Semang tribal songs, dances, and music were introduced in the history of the Thai lakhon ram. . .90 As Chulalongkorn himself explained, This book was written without the intention of its being performed as lakhon, and I did not think it was going to be good, because it is a story of the chao ba (jungle people), who are extremely deprived. It was like setting a table with only coconut shells, most of which had no stands or legs. It was therefore difficult to make it beautiful. But when it was finished, it looked quite pretty, more like blue, red, or purple colour chinaware. I have discarded all the high words and created a new story by my own imagination, while mixing in facts in some parts to make it more interesting.91 Mattani suggests that King Chulalongkorn succeeded in elevating the status of these jungle people to a level equal that of royal princes and princesses and kings and queens in traditional lakhon nai and lakhon nok.92 This seems very doubtful, particularly if one looks again at the language the king used to describe and refer to the tribal people: instead of the customary third-person pronoun khao, which translates to he/she, the pronoun used for Khanung and his people is instead mun, which translates to it. One typically sees mun used to refer to human beings only to indicate that the speaker feels they are of low status, or that they are very bad, unliked people.

Mom Chao Phunphitsamai Ditsakun, [Collected Writings]. Bangkok: Bamrung Banthit, 1986, 132. 90 Mattani, 115
89

From Chulalongkorns introduction to [The Play Ngo Ba, With Collected Verse Proverbs]. Bangkok: Khurutsupha, 1968, 1-2. (Translation by Mattani Rutnin.) 92 Mattani, 115.
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I would suggest that this play was not merely an exercise in Siamese exoticism and love of novelty; rather, like the use of northern elements in my earlier examples, this play can be seen as a means of knowing the tribal peoples upon whom it centers. Via this play, the people and territory of the periphery could be aesthetically domesticated at the center. At the same time, the language utilized in the work indicates the authors view of his subjects as somewhat less than human solidly within the racial category of chao ba that Khadikit delineated in his description of the hierarchy of siwilai.93 In contrast to Dara Rasamis part behind the scenes in the constructions of northern lakhon rong, Khanung was enlisted to perform in the palace production of Ngo Ba. Here, the palace informant on Semang culture was but a child, Khanung, whose ability to contest or augment the representation of his people was far more limited than that of Dara Rasami. The photographs of Khanung smiling, dancing, often dressed in elaborate costume clearly reflect his place as a chao ba near the bottom of the siwilai hierarchy. (See Illustrations 4.30 and 4.31) In Khanungs case, we can see that mere representation in palace drama did not guarantee that ones ethnic category would be improved. As Ngo Ba demonstrates, through a lakhons demonstration of siwilai or the lack thereof the Siamese hierarchy of ethnic categories was only further reinforced. Thus through the vehicles of these new dance-dramas, the Others within Siams peripheries northern and southern were also being made familiar (known) and thus domesticated to the Siamese power center. The literal adoption of a tribal boy to be raised in the palace serves as the most powerful example of the shift in the centrality of physical

93

Khun Pracha Khadikit. Waduai praphet khonpa ru kha fainua [On various jungle peoples or slaves in the north]. Published in Wachirayanwiset 1(9), 1885: 164-66. (As cited in Thongchai 2000)

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bodies (versus Thongchais geo-body) to the project of extending Siams reach into her peripheries.

4.4 Diplomatic Gestures: Deploying Dara Rasamis Ethnic Difference In this section, I will explore another mode in which Dara Rasamis ethnic difference was performed within the Siamese court: that of diplomatic gesture. Here, the category of diplomatic gesture is broadly defined to include official as well as less formal events where Dara Rasamis public interaction with foreign or Siamese officials (including the King himself) played a central role. As in the previous section, such performances of ethnic difference will be considered within the context of Siamese siwilai, where she found a role as an exotic Other inside Siams most elite circle. In this section, we will examine two episodes in particular: 1) Dara Rasamis central role in the reception of a visiting Shan princess at the Siamese court in 1906; and 2) her farewell gesture to King Chulalongkorn as she departed for her first visit home to Chiang Mai in 1908, and the major promotion of rank that she received afterwards. Though these examples, we will see how Dara Rasami found ways of deploying her ethnic difference through gestures that positively affected her relationship with King Chulalongkorn. These gestures which depended upon her northernness ultimately resulted in her advancement to high rank in the Siamese court. 4.4.a. Dara Rasami as a Colonial Proxy: The 1906 Visit of a Shan Princess In November 1906, a princess of the Shan States visited Bangkok, and a royal audience with King Chulalongkorn was arranged. In this audience, Dara Rasami was deployed as a sort of cultural attach, in the nominal interest of speaking for the Shan

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princess during the event.94 The visiting princess hailed from Chiang Tung, which had long ties with Chiang Mai within the historical Northern Constellation of mandala states (as described in Chapter 2). As the languages spoken by the two women were mutually intelligible, it seems appropriate that Dara Rasami participate in such an event. What is most interesting about Daras participation, however, is her starring role: In the staging of the event, Dara Rasami was seated in the center of the room, her chair facing directly opposite that of the Shan princess, with an audience box of ten select royal women on each side of the room. King Chulalongkorn himself was seated at the head of the room thus making the face-to-face encounter between the two foreign women the focus of the event. (See diagram of the seating arrangement in Illustration 4.32) In her status as a Lan Na princess and Siamese high consort, face-to-face with a princess from a kingdom recently fallen under the protection of the British, Dara Rasamis performance produced a critical moment of status differentiation. Such a meeting demonstrated Chulalongkorns (and thus Siams) pre-eminence and sovereign power over Lan Na, which had been the oldest and best-established muang in the Northern Constellation a fact which would not have been lost on a Shan princess of that era.95 In an important sense, however, Dara Rasami and the Shan princess can be seen as each others opposite numbers: subjects of a foreign colonial power which has subsumed the customary sovereignty of their homeland. One could read this diplomatic performance as Siams diplomatic discourse of parity with England as a colonial power: facing off two

Sulak, ibid., 76. This fact would not have been lost on the British, either. However, there is no evidence that they sent any officers to accompany the Shan princess, or that the British were in any way involved in this audience.
94 95

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foreign subjects against each other under the aegis of the opulent Siamese court. In the Siamese reading, their princess undoubtedly won the encounter: Chao Dara Rasami sat with her chair directly facing [the Shan princess]. King Chulalongkorn came out to sit on his chair very properly. The Shan princess walked in[to the room] then crawled over to sit paired up with [Dara Rasami]. Though she was much younger than [Dara Rasami] at the time, and prettier also she was not grander than [Dara]96 As a compliant foreign subject of the Siamese king, Dara Rasami performed a central role in this showcase of ethnic difference and colonial power. For this performance she was rewarded: later that day, King Chulalongkorn presented her with the Siamese shoulder sash of nine gems, and the royal women of the audience also presented her with gifts of luxury textiles.97 The success of her diplomatic performance appears to have increased the value Dara Rasamis political currency within the palace as well. According to Phonsiri, Receiving these visitors on this occasion would result in Chao Chom Manda Dara Rasami becoming more acknowledged and accepted.98 At the same time as Daras ethnicity gained cultural currency through Prince Narathips incorporation of northern elements in his popular lakhons, the diplomatic performance of her ethnicity signals an awareness among the Siamese elites that ethnic difference could be effectively deployed for political purposes as well. Thus the currency of Dara Rasamis ethnic difference attained greater value during the last decade of Chulalongkorns reign. That this new currency ultimately benefited Dara Rasami personally brings us to the next episode in this section, as Dara performs her own discourse(s) of northernness.

Mom Chao Jong Jitrathanom Ditskul, as quoted in Phonsiri, ibid., 151. Chunlada, ibid., 66-67. 98 Phonsiri, ibid, 151.
96 97

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4.3.b. Deploying Northernness: Dara Washes the Kings Feet with Her Hair During the annual visit of Daras half-brother, the governor of Chiang Mai, to Bangkok in January of 1908, Dara requested permission to make her first-ever visit to her hometown.99 This request granted, preparations got underway to safely transport the princess from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Since at that time the two cities were not yet connected by rail, the last part of the journey from Phitsanulok to Chiang Mai had to be made by riverboat. Accompanying Dara Rasami was a royal entourage that included doctors, guards, and attendants, numbering nearly thirty in all.100 On the days leading up to Dara Rasamis departure, there were several celebratory events, including a lakhon performance at Prince Narathips Pridalai Theatre.101 Returning to Amphorn Sathan hall at Suan Dusit, she said a formal farewell to King Chulalongkorn just before she went to board a northbound train at the Samsen railway station.102 At this moment, she deployed a gesture which quickly became well-known around Bangkok. Before the king and the assembled retinue, she let down her muan [bun] and wiped the kings feet [with her hair] in the northern custom, and burst into tears.103 The Siamese cultural proscription against touching the feet, much less with the hair on ones head, goes only part of the way towards explaining the significance of this gesture. Dara Rasamis farewell references a particular northern episode that had occurred just a few years earlier (1903), whose story is still well-known in Chiang Mai today: the tragic love

99

Nongyao, ibid., 32.

S.R.L., [Royal Daily Journal], Page 37, dated Feb. 6, 1909. Saengdao, ibid,, 88-92. 102 Ibid. 103 See Sulak, ibid., 73.
100 101

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affair between a Chiang Mai prince and a Burmese woman named Ma Mia. This story provides the additional context necessary for reading Dara Rasamis performance of this foot-washing gesture. The story of Ma Mia concerns Dara Rasamis nephew, the son of her half-brother Chao Gaew Nowarat, named Chao Noi Sukkasem. In 1899, Chao Noi Sukkasem was sent to study in Moulmein, Burma, without official approval from Siam. There he met a beautiful young Burmese girl with whom he fell in love: Ma Mia, who worked in the local marketplace. They were young lovers: she was but sixteen, and he twenty years old.104 Their troubles began when Chao Noi Sukkasem brought home his new bride to Chiang Mai in late 1902. Though Siam had been gradually increasing its administrative control over Lan Nas territories over the two prior decades, bandits and rebellions had continued to unsettle Siamese control, and the old question of Lan Nas loyalties had still not been settled. As recently as 1897, Dara Rasamis request to return to Chiang Mai for her fathers funeral had been refused.105 As a marital alliance between a Chiang Mai prince and a Burmese woman still bore the mark of disloyalty, Chao Noi Sukkasems family objected to the match. Finally, Chao Nois father insisted that the couple split up, and Ma Mia be sent back to Burma, rather than arouse Siamese suspicions any further. What followed has become the stuff of local legend. In April of 1903, a large caravan consisting of three strings of elephants and twenty porters was loaded up to

Prathipsen, Jirijun. 2004. - [Ma Mia. From That Day to This, 100 Years. 2446 - 2546.] Chiang Mai, Thailand: Thonaban. 105 Ibid., 94. Archival documents also suggest that timing was at least part of the issue here, since King Chulalongkorn was visiting Europe when Inthawichyanon died.
104

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carry Ma Mia and all her belongings back to Moulmein. Finally, the lovers were forced to say their final goodbyes at the citys western gate. As the local version colorfully explains: the populace of Chiang Mai assembled at the gate to watch the separation of the pair of lovers, who Chiang Mai people were interested in, passed judgment upon, and spread rumors about throughout the land. Many people wanted to see Ma Mias beautiful, young face; the Burmese who had won the heart of the young prince of Chiang Mai, but could not keep it. They talked interminably and indiscriminately about [her] complexion and threw themselvesinto it. Miss Ma Mia climbed up to sit behind an elephant howdah, but it sapped all her energy. She had to come down, and cried almost as if her tears were blood, and the situation hurt the hearts of the people of Chiang Mai too much. When Ma Mia fell down at the feet of Jao Noi Sukkasem and used her tangled hair to wipe his feet, it was an ancient expression of a young Burmese woman from the old days showing the highest loyalty. This event lived in the memory of the people of Chiang Mai for a very long time, until old people continued to tell the story into the next generation (era), even when everyone complained that it was too long ago. The procession of Ma Mia leaving from the Outer Gate created great suffering for Chao Noi Sukkasem.106 Following Ma Mias departure, Chao Noi Sukkasem suffered terrible heartbreak, from which it was said he never recovered, though he married again.107 This episode became quite famous at the time, and would have been known in Bangkok as well not least by Dara Rasami herself, as it concerned her own nephew. Ma Mias foot-washing farewell gesture was therefore known to Dara as well, as both a northern gesture and one of romantic love and loyalty. As such, her deployment of this grand gesture on departing Bangkok for Chiang Mai can be read as both personal and political discourse: it indicates

Arun Wetsuwaan, [Princess Dara Rasami, Culmination of the Northern Rulers.] Bangkok: Arun Witthaya, 2000, 85. (Italics mine.) 107 His wife was one of Dara Rasamis own kinswomen and ladies-in-waiting, Bua Chum. After Chao Nois death seven years later (1910), she was remarried to Chao Chai Worachat na Chiang Mai, the governor of amphur Sankhampheng. See Jirijun, ibid., 114-15.
106

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both her personal attachment to King Chulalongkorn, and serves as a reminder of the Ma Mia incident to point up her long-standing political loyalty as his consort. Whether or not Daras gesture was intended to improve her status in the palace, it nonetheless proved very effective in doing so. Not long after her departure for Chiang Mai, King Chulalongkorn created a new title for Dara Rasami, making her Phra Raja Jaya on April 8, 1908.108 This unique title had never been used before, and has not been used again since Chulalongkorns reign. The title of Phra Raja Jaya elevated Dara Rasami to the status of high queen, an elite group which, until that time, consisted only of his four halfsister queens.109 During Daras long absence from Bangkok, Chulalongkorn sent a number of gifts to her in Chiang Mai. In honor of her third-cycle (36th) birthday (August 20), he had a fancy gold betel-box made for her and specially inscribed with a personal message. As Phonsiri discusses, the betel-box was a fashionable accessory for high-status consorts in the palace in that era.110 Illustrations 4. 33 and 4.34 show Dara in formal portraits taken during her stay in Chiang Mai, in which the new betel box a marker of her royal favor sits prominently on the table next to her.111 Chulalongkorns genuine affection and regard for Dara were amply demonstrated during the eight months she was away from Bangkok. Whether in transit (the outgoing journey to Chiang Mai took nearly two months) or during her visit to Chiang Mai, Dara and King Chulalongkorn kept up a regular correspondence that included seventeen letters

See Finestone (1989), 66; Although the other queens did not have to krab [prostrate themselves] before Dara before her 1908 journey, they (and all other palace folk) had to do so upon her return. Sulak, ibid., 76. 110 Phonsiri, 59. 111 According to Saengdao, this photo was taken by Luang Anusarn Sunthon, a Siamese noble sent up along with Daras entourage for the journey. Saengdao, 178.
108 109

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and thirty-four telegrams.112 In these communications, Chulalongkorn takes a warm tone in catching Dara up to the local goings-on in the palace as well as Bangkoks theatre world, and often expresses his khwam kit-tung (yearning, missing someone) in opening or closing a letter. In addition to these personal expressions, Chulalongkorn also made gestures that supported Daras activities in Chiang Mai. In these activities, Dara Rasami focused her efforts mainly upon restoring local Buddhist monuments and temples, and building a cemetery for her ancestors. In support of the first, Chulalongkorn ordered the creation of metal plaques inscribed with the names of Daras father and mother for her to install at Doi Suthep (Chiang Mais mountain-top temple). In support of the second, Chulalongkorn sent funds to support the week-long celebration that attended the dedication of the new royal cemetery Dara built next to Wat Suan Dok, on the citys western outskirts: A large celebration of honor and joyous entertainmentbegan the 15th of October, and ran until the 30th of B.E. 2452 [C.E. 1908], altogether 15 days and 5 nights. [She] built pavilions for Officers [chao nai] and government officials to stay in, a ceremonial hall, movie hall, boxing field, orphanage, and a hospital; groups of guards, troops, and police guarded over all, and moved all the fresh markets of the city. Altogether, the cost was 100,000 baht. [A]ll the [Lan Na nobles] came to assist with the celebrations.113

The relationship of Dara Rasamis promotion to the timing of her visit to Chiang Mai is suggestive. Daras parting gesture washing the kings feet with her hair may well have played an emotional part in Chulalongkorns subsequent decision to give her a high promotion. Perhaps Chulalongkorn recognized the role that Dara had performed within the

Nongyao, 67. These letters and telegrams are collected and reprinted in full in Nongyaos biography of Dara Rasami, as well as Prayut (2000). 113 Prani, 4-5.
112

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palace, or the personal difficulty and pain it had brought her to be separated from her family and homeland for twenty years. I suggest another discourse within which Daras promotion makes sense: Lan Nas own custom of son-in-law succession. In this pattern, Lan Nas crown fell to the man who married the current kings daughter.114 Daras own mother, Thipkraisorn, chose her husband, Inthawichyanon, who became king after the death of Thipkraisorns father, King Kawilorot. As a royal daughter of Lan Na, Daras husband would have been entitled to become the next king of the realm. By promoting her to the status of a high queen upon the occasion of her return to Chiang Mai, Chulalongkorn essentially asserted Siamese sovereignty over Lan Na through his marital alliance with Dara Rasami. In effect, his promotion of Dara Rasami to the status of high queen was a brilliant move with regards to Siams public relations with Lan Na, which had been feeling Siamese administrative encroachment ever more keenly in the prior decade. During the two-weeklong celebrations held at the end of Daras visit, one Siamese administrator wrote: The best thing is that we [Siamese administrators] are greeted with sweet wais when we come to work Its given rise to a sense of purpose in almost everyone. This is the first time I can say that Ive seen such nam jai dii (kindheartedness) by the people; several thousand people with abundant pride. The local people, who flocked to the events, said that they had never seen anything as large as this.115 In many ways, Dara functioned as a modernizer during her visit, working to restore local wats and create a royal cemetery, in addition to building new public amenities

Wijeyewardene, Gehan. 1984. Northern Thai Succession and the Search for Matriliny. Mankind Vol. 14, No. 4, 285 - 292.
114 115

See S.R.L. , . .

[Report of the Mahat Thai re: Jao Dara Rasamis Visit to Chiang Mai], Letter from Surasri to Bangkok, dated Oct. 22, 1909.

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like hospitals, schools and movie theatres. To some, however, these activities were less welcome, appearing more like Siamization than modernization. Though there were no local newspapers in Chiang Mai at that time, a local monk noted his remarks on some of Daras activities in the back matter of a temple calendar of auspicious and inauspicious dates.116 Though most of these notes list only the activity and date, the author expresses dismay and upset in several entries (e.g. July 29: [Dara] moved bones from Ping River down Thapae Road and through city; out the Western Gate; this is a very bad thing.)When Daras halfbrother, then-governor Chao Inthawarorot, died on January 5, 1909 two months after her return to Bangkok the monk comments that this misfortune is a direct result of Daras actions especially her removal of Wat Chieng Muns Buddha image to take back to Bangkok with her.117 This text demonstrates that at least some of Dara Rasamis activities were perceived by some as threatening to local culture. As we will see in the following chapter, when Dara Rasami returned to live in Chiang Mai permanently fifteen years later, this suspicion resulted in making her an outsider in her own homeland.

4.5 Dara Rasami: Self-Orientalizing or Strategically Essentializing? Did Dara Rasamis role in twentieth-century palace arts and diplomacy represent a self-orientalization? That is, did Dara Rasami embrace the construct of her ethnic difference as less than that of the Siamese, internalizing the lower niche allotted to Lan Nas people in the siwilai hierarchy? Or might we see more agency and nuance in her
This manuscript is in the personal collection of Ajaarn Kreuk Akornchinaret, curator of the Huen Derm [Original House] manuscript library at Chiang Mai University. It comes from Wat Phra Phaeng (formerly Wat Chieng Mun), a temple in the Thammayut Nikai (Thervada Buddhist) tradition.The notes in question date from between July 29, 1908 January 5, 1909, and are located on the last pages of the 48-page manuscript. 117 Ibid., 47.
116

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expressions of ethnic difference, in what Gayatri Spivak might describe as the use of strategic essentialism? Through her dress, speech, and participation in both the writing and performance of lakhon, it is clear that Dara Rasami played a central role in making Lan Na difference knowable to the innermost circle of Siamese elites. Through her presence in the royal court, Dara Rasami also impacted Siamese notions of Lao or Lan Na ethnicity, earning higher status for her homeland in the hierarchical construct of Siamese siwilai than that of Others within like Khanung, the Semang tribal boy adopted by King Chulalongkorn who was also featured in royal lakhon performance and photographs. At several key moments Sao Khrua Fa and the audience with the Shan princess in particular Dara Rasami was deployed as a not-quite Siamese against which the Siamese position at the top of the siwilai hierarchy was reified. We might interpret her performance of northernness at other moments such as the washing the feet of the King with her hair as conscious deployments of her ethnic difference. Within culturally hegemonic environment of the palace, Daras performances particularly those between 1905 and 1910 can be read as successful examples of strategic essentialism. As an ethnic Other within palace culture, I posit that Dara Rasamis education in Siamese notions of siwilai ultimately allowed her to act as the agent of her own destiny, able to marshal and deploy novel and exotic elements of her ethnicity in ways that worked against Siamese cultural hegemony. Through deployments of dress, drama, and diplomatic gesture I suggest Dara Rasami acted to write back in various ways against the scientific discourses being adopted by Siamese elites of her era. By complicating Siamese understandings of Lao or Lan Na identity, Dara earned a place closer to the siwilai end of Siams civilizational spectrum for the people of her home region. Page 197

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It is important to remember, however, that this discourse did not alter the course of Siams plans to bring Lan Na under its administrative control. Although Daras efforts appear to have assisted in promoting Chiang Mai as Siams northern capital, one might wonder whether her appearance in Chiang Mai in 1908 was anything more than good public relations to mask ongoing Siamese domination. To my mind, however, Daras activities represent a different discourse: that of a very siwilai Lan Na woman, attempting to bring her homeland up-to-date in a way that was entirely consistent with her upbringing and culture, through the technologies available to her at the time. As I conclude the dissertation in the next chapter, I will relate a few of these activities, as well as their local reception, and explore how Dara Rasami was received in her homeland in the last phase of her life, between 1915 and 1933.

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Source: Naengnoi Saksi and Freeman, Michael. 1996. Palaces of Bangkok: Royal Residences of the Chakri Dynasty. Bangkok, Thailand: Asia Books.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.2 ~ Map of Suan Dusit Grounds

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Source: Naengnoi Saksi and Freeman, Michael. 1996. Palaces of Bangkok: Royal Residences of the Chakri Dynasty. Bangkok, Thailand: Asia Books.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.3 ~ Map of Suan Sunanta

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Source: Naengnoi Saksi and Freeman, Michael. 1996. Palaces of Bangkok: Royal Residences of the Chakri Dynasty. Bangkok, Thailand: Asia Books.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.4 ~ Chula Chom Klao Consorts of the First Generation, ca. 1893

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Note: Dara Rasami is seated in the back row, second from the right. In Nongyaos caption for this photo, she notes that Dara is the only one wearing a phasin, though it is difficult to tell here.

Source: Nongyao Kanchanachari, 1990, p. 63. [Phra Rajajaya Dara Rasami: A Royal Biography of Jao Dara Rasami. With remarks by Somdet Prachao Phi Nang Ter (Royal Sister) Chaofa Kalyani Watthana]. Bangkok: Tridi Publishing, Ltd.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.5 ~ Parts of the Lan Na Phasin

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= Head or waistband segment

= Body segment (typically utilizes horizontally striped fabric)

= Foot or hem segment (note teen jok border)

Source: Withi Panichaphun, 2000. [Thai Fabric and Weaving]. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.6 ~ Luntaya and Teen Jok Border Detail

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Detail of luntaya pattern

Detail of teen jok pattern

Source: Susan Conway, Silken Threads, Lacquer Thrones. Bangkok: River Books, 2002.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.7 ~ Lan Na Garments in Mural Painting

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Detail of mural at Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Source: Photo taken by Leslie Woodhouse, January 14, 2008.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.8 ~ Lan Na Womens Use of Upper Garments

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Source: Archival collection of Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.9 ~ Queen Thipkraisorn of Chiang Mai, Wearing pha sabai chieng

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Source: Wongsak na Chiang Mai, ed. 2004: [Pride of Lanna Women]. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Within Design.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.10 ~ Dress of Chao Ubonwanna, Dara Rasamis Aunt

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Source: Archival collection of Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford, U.K.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.11 ~ Examples of Pha Laiyang

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Pha laiyang on mannequin at National Museum of Thailand, Bangkok

Detail of pha laiyang print from collection of National Museum of Thailand, Bangkok.

Source: Withi Panichaphun, 2000. [Thai Fabric and Weaving]. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.12 ~ Mongkuts Consorts Wearing Kilts

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Source: Finestone, A Royal Album. The Children and Grandchildren of King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Siam, 2000.s

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.13 ~ Use of Upper Garments among Siamese Women

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Source: Archival Collection of Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, U.K.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.14 ~ Portrait of King Mongkut and Queen Thepsirin

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Source: Finestone, 2000: A Royal Album. The Children and Grandchildren of King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Siam.

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Illustration 4.15 ~ Mid-nineteenth Century Siamese and Lan Na Womens Dress

Source: Drawing by Leslie A. Woodhouse, copyright 2009.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.16 ~ Portrait of Queen Saowapha Phongsri

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Source: Finestone, 2000: A Royal Album. The Children and Grandchildren of King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Siam.

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Illustration 4.17 & 4.18 ~ Earliest Portraits of Dara Rasami and Daughter, ca. 1891 4.17 4.18

Sources: 4.17 comes from the collection of Chao Noi Kaew na Chiang Mai, and 4.18 from a private collection. Reprinted in Nongyao 1990.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.19 ~ Dress Style of Dara Rasamis Entourage

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Note the use of the Lan Na-style jacket here, rather than the lace blouse.

Source: Archival collection of National Archives of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.20 ~ #1 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Source: National Archives of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand, Negative series 61393-1880.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.21 ~ #2 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.22 ~ #3 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.23 ~ #4 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.24 ~ #5 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.25 ~ #6 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.26 ~ #7 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.27 ~ #8 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.28 ~ #9 in Series of Photographs Featuring Dara Rasami

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Note: Photographer, at left, is Chao Chom Erb. Dara Rasami enters from the right. Vimanmek Mansion is visible in the background.

Source: National Archives of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand. Negative 43143-1340.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.29 ~ Dara Rasami and Entourage at Dusit Residence

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Source: National Archives of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Woodhouse Illustrations 4.30 & 4.31 ~ Photographs of Khanung, Semang Tribal Child

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4.30 ~ Khanung

4.31 ~ Khanung as Ngo Ba

Source: Boonserm Rythaphirom, [Nai Khanung: A Semung from the Southern Region]. Bangkok: Bannakit Publishing, 1991.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.32 ~ Diagram of Audience with Shan Princess

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Legend: 1) Chao Chom Manda Wong (no surname) 2) Chao Chom Erb (Bunnag) 3) Chao Chom Nom (Chotisathien) 4) Chao Chom Uen (Bunnag) 5) Chao Chom Cheng (sister of Chuea, #8) 6) Chao Chom Liem (Bunnag) 7) Chao Chom Somboon (Munprasert) 8) Chao Chom Chuea (no surname) 9) Chao Chom Mom Ratchawong Ruay (Pramote) 10) Chao Chom Mom Ratchawong Sadup (Ladawan)

11) (no information) 12) Chao Chom Manda Jiu (Kapitta) 13) Chao Chom Aab (Bunnag) 14) Chao Chom Thanom (no surname) 15) Chao Chom Thanom (Lady Mae Kok) 16) Chao Chom Tuptim (Lady Phiphat) 17) Khun Thanom (Charoen) 18) Mom Ratchawong Thip (Sunitawong) 19) Khun Sri (princess from Nan) 20) Chao Chom Prayong (no surname)

A through E = Tao Wang, Female Officials of the Inner Palace

Adapted from diagram in Kaewgiriya, [Dara Rasami: Tie of Love Between Two Kingdoms], 91.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.33 ~ Portrait #1 of Dara Rasami in Chiang Mai, after Promotion

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Source: National Archives of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Woodhouse Illustration 4.34 ~ Portrait #2 of Dara Rasami in Chiang Mai after Promotion

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Source: National Archives of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand.

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I once asked some Westerners in the timber trade who had come from living in the north about how the northern rulers really were. They told me that the stupid rulers of Chiang Mai were really very smart. And the Queen of Chiang Mai was what they called [Dara Rasami]. ~ Mom Chao Jong Jitra Thanom Ditsakun1

Between 1883 and 1910, as Dara Rasamis career in the palace progressed, Siams political relations with Lan Na were completely re-formulated under the thetsaphiban monthon system.2 As Siam replaced provincial rulers with resident Siamese governors, Lan Nas sovereignty was gradually completely subverted, and the political marital alliances which had traditionally bound Siams center and its peripheries rendered unnecessary. Thus Dara Rasamis career as a royal consort over nearly thirty years spanned a unique period in Siams history, by the end of which her role and that of most other royal consorts was obsolete. During this period, Dara Rasami had played a role that could be described as that of Siams last political Princess. In the prior three chapters, I have outlined the cultural and historical contexts from which the figure of Dara Rasami emerges, and the new contexts in which her presence became significant. In Chapter Four, I discussed the ways in which Dara Rasamis performance of ethnic difference in the palace impacted the perception of Lan Na culture, and how Dara deployed Lao-ness in particular moments for her own ends. King

Sulak, ibid. I leave out these administrative reforms as they have been so well covered elsewhere. See David Wyatt (1968), Tej Bunnag (1977), etc.
1 2

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Chulalongkorns subsequent promotion of Dara Rasami to the rank of queen (Phra Raja Jaya) in 1908 contained a dual meaning: both as a recognition of Daras long service and loyalty to the Siamese king, and a reification of Siams domination of Lan Na via local succession customs. Upon her return from Chiang Mai, Dara Rasami was to receive the same treatment as Chulalngkorns four other high queens, who were of Chakri blood. In this chapter, I will conclude by touching on Daras last years in residence at the palace in Bangkok; her retirement to Chiang Mai in 1914 and the activities of her final years; her presence (and absence) in contemporary popular memory in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai; and lastly, how the subsequent end of royal polygamy in Siam spelled the end of womens prominence in Siams political world. In the first section, I will describe Daras last royal residence at Suan Dusit, where she lived until her retirement to Chiang Mai in 1914, her many cultural activities in Chiang Mai in the ensuing years, and local perceptions of her activities where possible. In the second section, I will discuss Dara Rasamis memory in contemporary Chiang Mai and its problematic nature, drawing on interviews with local historians as well as popular representations of Dara Rasami. Thirdly, I will discuss the decline and fall of palace women as a class in Siamese/Thai society in the twentieth century, and its implications for Thai political life. Before concluding my paper, I will discuss further opportunities suggested by this study. In closing, I will make a few concluding points about Dara Rasamis significance as a historical figure in nineteenth- to twentieth-century Siam. 5.1 Dara Rasamis Last Years at Suan Dusit and Her Return to Chiang Mai Upon returning from her first visit to her hometown of Chiang Mai in November 1908, Dara Rasami was feted in high royal style. King Chualongkorn and his advisors Page 232

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sailed upriver to Ayutthaya to meet her, with the King personally escorting her back to Bangkok alone on his boat.3 Her new residence, named Suan Farang Kangsai (after a popular chinaware pattern), had been completed on a lot next to Vimanmek Mansion a spatial reflection of Daras new status as a high queen.4 A musical concert was held at the new residence in her honor.5 In her absence, Chulalongkorn had had her belongings moved from her old residence to the new building, and commissioned new portraits of her mother and father to be hung in the new house, as well.6 Though the new structure was built with airy hallways and many windows that could be opened to keep air circulating inside the building, similar masonry buildings tend to heat up like ovens in Bangkoks climate. Two casual photographs taken of Dara Rasami and a few of her ladies spending time outside in the buildings shade indicate that this might have been the case with Daras new residence. (See Illustrations 5.1 and 5.2) The pleasant days Dara Rasami spent at Dusit as one of Chulalongkorns favorite queens were short-lived. After a brief illness, King Chulalongkorn passed away on October 23, 1910 at the age of 57. As in past reigns, the kings wives and consorts cleared out of Vimanmek Mansion to make way for the new king Rama VI, King Vajiravudh and his entourage. While Saowapha moved to the nearby Phyathai Palace, many of the other royal consorts either moved into the households of their princely sons or returned to residences

Sulak, ibid., 73. This building still stands today, and is publicly accessible as part of the Vimanmek Mansion park. The house was abandoned after 1932, and today contains exhibits of royal objects and regalia. 5 Sulak, ibid., 72.
3 4 6

N.A.T. . , , ,

.. [document no. 2450809, Letter from King Chulalongkorn to Chao Phraya Woraphong Phiphat, 9 November, 1909].

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in the old Inner Palace grounds. Dara Rasamis household was a fortunate exception to this exodus. After the kings death, she was allowed to stay on at Suan Farang Kangsai, which she opted to do until late 1914. At that time, she formally requested permission from King Vajiravudh to leave Bangkok and retire to her hometown of Chiang Mai permanently. In a gesture reminiscent of Chulalongkorns farewell to Dara Rasami in 1909, Vajiravudh saw Dara off on her journey at the Samsen train station.7 According to local sources, Dara Rasamis half-brother Chao Kaew Nowarat had built a new residence in anticipation of her return. The new house was located as were many of the elite residences in early-twentieth-century Chiang Mai on the riverbank east of the old walled city. But despite its modern architecture and prime location, it apparently held little appeal for Dara Rasami.8 Not long after her return, she began construction of a new residence in Mae Rim, a small town a few miles north of Chiang Mai. In contrast to her residences at Dusit, the new house called Dara Phirom Palace was built entirely of wood, in a hybrid European/Lan Na style of architecture. (See Illustration 5.3) This modest, single-bedroom house is built raised up off the ground by a dozen feet, and features wooden paneling and cut-out woodwork throughout. One charming element incorporated specifically to honor Phra Raja Jaya can be seen in the ventilation panels

As in 1909, Siams railway didnt yet run all the way to Chiang Mai, so Dara Rasami had to finish her journey by boat once again, probably from Huai Mae Ta or Ban Pin (the northernmost stations at that time). The northern rail line finally reached Chiang Mai in 1921. See Kakizaki Ichiro, Laying the Tracks: The Thai Economy and Its Railways, 1885-1935. Kyoto, Japan: Kyoto University Press; Melbourne, Vic.: Trans Pacific Press: 2005, 106. 8 After Dara Rasami moved to her new house in Mae Rim, her half-brother moved into the residence. Today, the original teak house is gone, but the compound still stands, and is home to the U.S. Consulate in Chiang Mai. See details at the consulates website: http://chiangmai.usconsulate.gov/history.html.
7

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circling the interior ceilings: fanciful star-shaped motifs that reflect the meaning of Daras name (dara means star in both Lan Na language and Thai). (See Illustration 5.4) Dara also built a house on the slopes of Doi Suthep, the local mountain sacred to Chiang Mai.9 In the cool, shady climate of the mountainside, she terraced the hillside below the house to plant varietal roses obtained through her (long-distance) membership in an English rose society. Among the hybrid varieties she created here was a strongly scented, thornless variety she named Chulalongkorn.10 (See Illustration 5.5) In addition to gardening for pleasure, Dara Rasami is also credited with bringing modern agriculture to Chiang Mai. The seventy rai11 of land surrounding the Dara Phirom residence, known as Suan Chao Sabai (Garden of the Princess Rest) served as a sort of laboratory for the promotion of new agricultural techniques and crops. Here, Dara Rasami adopted mixedcropping of both native and foreign species of both ornamental and fruiting trees, flowers, and crops. Even more importantly, Dara recognized the challenges faced by local farmers as the northern economy shifted more towards cash cropping. She used her garden to showcase fruits and vegetables which farmers could grow to sell.12 Using her royal connections, Dara Rasami was responsible for bringing several crops to Chiang Mai which became economically important. Having obtained foreign seeds from her southern friend Mom Chao Sitthipon Krytakon, Dara introduced cabbage to northern farmers, who were

The mountaintop Buddhist temple at Doi Suthep was built during the first Lan Na dynasty in the fifteenth century, and is still functional. Located just a few miles west of Chiang Mai, the sacred site is visited by thousands of Thai Buddhists and tourists each year.
9

See Kaewgiriya and Romaniyachat, eds., [Dara Rasami: Tie of Love between Two Kingdoms], ibid., 166-67. 11 A rai is equal to an area of 1600 square meters, making 70 rai equal to 27.675 acres.
10 12

See Narin Thongsiri, [Dara Rasami and Agriculture], in

[Pride of Lanna Women]. Chiang Mai [Thailand]: Within Design, 2004, 199-210.

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able to sell their produce profitably to Bangkok. Dara took a personal interest in these agricultural pursuits, as is evident in the account of a Chiang Mai relative whom she encouraged to grow cantaloupe melon: I planted the farang melon using the special-formula fertilizer of Chao Sitthipon [Krytakon], and the fruit looked very good. They were smaller than Thai melon, but sweeter. I took one to give to Dara, and she was very impressed by its sweetness. I sent one as an example to a hotel in Bangkok the Hotel Trocadero. Their manager answered me that if I had any more like the one Id sent, hed buy them all at thirty satang a pound around three pounds for a baht.13 Other sources credit her with the introduction of a new variety of lamyai tree to Chiang Mai, whose fruit became another important cash crop for the northern Thai produce market.14 These are but a few of the species both native and foreign that Dara grew in the fields of Suan Chao Sabai at Mae Rim. Though Dara liberally supported local Buddhist monuments and wats, she also supported the activities of local Christian missionaries a group with whom her mother and aunt had been friendly in the past. During her 1909 visit, Dara Rasami was approached by local Christian missionaries to lend her name to the all-girls school that they had set up as a counterpart to the all-boys school named for the Siamese Crown Prince.15 Following a brief exchange of telegrams with Chulalongkorn, she allowed the school to use her title as

Ibid., interview quoted on 206-207. Ibid., 205-206. 15 These schools are still functioning in Chiang Mai today. The boys school name has since been changed to Prince Royals College, while the girls school goes by Dara Academy. See website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dara_Academy; or in Thai: http://www.dara.ac.th/mains/index.php .
13 14

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part of the schools name: Phra Raja Jaya Wittyalai. 16 Upon her return to Chiang Mai in 1914 she became a patron of the school, donating funds for new buildings. In 1923, the school changed its name to Dara Wittyalai, or Dara Academy. Today, Dara Academy is well-known to both Thais and foreign residents of Thailand alike as a reputable institution. Dara Rasami was also a patron of the missionaries medical enterprises, donating funds for the construction of McCormick Hospital and the McKean Leper Colony.17 In addition to the above activities, Dara Rasami continued to promote Lan Na arts and culture through literature, music, dance, and textiles. Not only did Dara employ dance instructors at her house, but she also assisted in codifying and recording the various positions and gestures of both Lan Na and Bangkok dance styles. She opened music and dance training to local girls, several of whom later founded schools of their own. Daras love of dance-drama also found further expression after her retirement to Chiang Mai, as she created a new form that utilized northern instruments and melodies, called lakhon saw.18 Unsurprisingly, Dara also continued to promote Lan Nas distinct textiles, putting up looms underneath her house where local girls could learn traditional patterns. Anecdotal

16

See S.R.L., (14..-22.., ..128), .5 .6, 5

13, for telegrams between Dara Rasami and Chulalongkorn on this issue. At the time, the king recommended that Dara have the missionaries name the school something easy for foreigners to pronounce, although using her new title Phra Raja Jaya he thought problematic. The missionaries went ahead anyway, naming the school Phra Raja Jaya Wittyalai (lit. Queens College). 17 Nongyao, ibid. Both these institutions still exist today. The McKean facility, which once functioned as a haven for those disfigured by leprosy, is now named the McKean Rehabilitation Center, as leprosy is more frequently treated and cured in its early stages. Most patients now receive treatment while also training in handicrafts they can practice with missing digits or limbs before returning to their homes. 18 This style was named for its use of the northern musical instrument, the saw (fiddle). See Pakdeekuls essay in [Pride of Lan Na Women], ibid.

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evidence claims Dara was a skilled horsewoman, riding miles to visit the village of Mae Chaem, where the highest-quality teen jok borders could be found.19 In these activities, we can see Daras internalization of notions of both siwilai and strategic essentialism. In promoting modern technologies of agriculture and medicine, she embraced the Siamese model of the royal as modernizer. This role was made popular during Chulalongkorns reign by Siamese royals like Queen Saowapha, who donated funds to medical facilities in Bangkok. In contrast to the philanthropic activities of Bangkoks nobles, however, Daras projects particularly the farm at Suan Chao Sabai clearly reflect a concern for the welfare of Lan Nas common folk in rapidly changing economic times. At the same time, Daras Bangkok experience had undoubtedly taught her the strategic importance of maintaining Lan Nas cultural distinctiveness. As the above examples demonstrate, following her return to Chiang Mai Dara spent the last twenty years of her life vigorously encouraging Chiang Mais residents to embrace and maintain their culture. As a strategy for maintaining distinctiveness from southern or Bangkok culture, Daras activities were successful sometimes in wholly unintentional ways, however. Following the first-ever visit of the Siamese monarch (Rama VII, King Prajatiphok) to Chiang Mai in 1925, teen jok phasin became all the rage among elite Bangkok ladies for a brief period. According to British Resident Reginald LeMay in 1926, Nearly all Siamese ladies of good social position are adopting the sin [phasin] instead of the phanung for daily

Ajaan Aroonrut Wichienkieow says her mother used to tell her this story about Dara Rasami. (Woodhouse Research Notes from interview with Ajaan Aroonrut at Rajaphat University, Chiang Mai, Thailand, on January 17, 2008.) Incidentally, Mae Chaem is still well-known today for the quality of its intricate teen jok textiles, which frequently can be found at Chiang Mai markets and festivals.
19

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wear.20 (See Illustration 5.6) Daras strategic essentialism of Lan Nas uniqueness had come full circle. The royal visit, coupled with the recent completion of the railway line between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, gave the domestic Other of the North a new-found cachet among Siams first (elite) tourists, as an exotic locale within Siam, easily accessible from Bangkok.21

5.2 Dara Rasamis Later Life and Role in Chiang Mais Contemporary Memory Daras last years in Chiang Mai appear to have been relatively healthy and happy ones. She divided her time between her residences at Doi Suthep and Mae Rim, and by all accounts was kept very busy by her many interests and projects. She never lost her interest in children, as is evident in photographs taken of her with young grand-niece Chatrasudha Chatrchai (Illustration 5.7). Altogether, Dara spent nineteen years in retirement in Chiang Mai. In 1933, six months after her lung illness recurred, Dara Rasami died on December 9, at the age of sixty.22 Her funeral was attended by both members of the former Chiang Mai royal family (such as her half-brother Major General Kaew Nowarat), and Siamese administrators sent up to Chiang Mai from Bangkok to represent King Prajatiphok (Rama VII). From photographs of the event, it appears most of Chiang Mais population turned

LeMay, Reginald. An Asian Arcady: The Land and Peoples of Siam. London: Cambridge, 1926, 102. At least two Thai scholars have recently worked on the related topics of the construction of Chiang Mai as the rose of the North (see Daruni Somsris history M.A. thesis at Chulalongkorn University, 2006), and Chiang Mais women as exotic beauties of the north (see Ratana Pakdeekuls history M.A. thesis at Chiang Mai University, 2000).
20 21 22

See Natthakhan Limsattaphons essay in [Pride of Lanna Women], ibid., 133.

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out for the event.23 Her ashes are interred in two different locations: half are in Daras monument in the royal cemetery at Wat Suan Dok in Chiang Mai, while the other half are interred in her monument at the womens cemetery adjacent to Wat Rajabophit in Bangkok, where her daughters ashes were also interred. Since her death, Dara Rasami has figured in Chiang Mais local memory in unusual ways. At times, Daras image appears in tandem with her male relatives as part of the greater lineage of Chiang Mai royalty, as in the display located in the bot (main hall) at Wat Phra Singh. Tourists and locals know her through Dara Phirom Palace, the museum created from Daras residence at Suan Chao Sabai in Mae Rim. This house, which had fallen into disuse after her death, eventually became the property of Chulalongkorn University, which undertook a complete restoration of the house in the late 1980s. The prominent role played by the current Thai royalty (the kings sister, Princess Galyani Wattana, and daughter, Crown Princess Sirindhorn) in the grand re-opening of Daras house as a museum in 1990 additionally helped to fix Dara Rasamis role in local history. But the presence of the contemporary Thai royal family in this event additionally reified Daras (and hence Chiang Mais) connection to Bangkok royalty. The memory of Dara Rasami and her role as a connection between the Bangkok and Chiang Mai royal families has at times proved problematic. After Daras return to Chiang Mai in 1914, apocryphal stories attribute her move to Mae Rim to discomfort with the suspicion expressed towards her by local Chiang Mai residents, who felt she was a

Photographs of Daras funeral hang inside the Dara Phirom Palace Museum (her former house), where photography is forbidden. In one image, the street where Daras funeral procession passes through the city is filled with thousands of people. (Woodhouse research notes, August 25, 2007.)
23

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Bangkok outsider. This notion seems to have some traction, particularly in recent years as northern history, language, and cultural difference have experienced a renaissance in Chiang Mai. Although undoubtedly several local cultural forms benefited by Daras patronage, there is some debate as to whether they were too Siamized in the process. Chiang Mais local historians and proponents of Lan Na Studies also have some difficulty deciding which side Dara was on, exactly. One local scholar described Dara Rasami as the skeleton in the closet of the Chiang Mai nobility.24 As a Chiang Mai woman who served the Siamese king in Bangkok for nearly thirty years, Dara Rasamis status as an insider and outsider makes her difficult to claim as a genuine representative of authentic Lan Na culture or history. Yet Dara Rasamis status among regular Chiang Mai folk is not necessarily so difficult. Mention of Dara Rasami to local people in Chiang Mai often elicits stories of some family member with an old connection to her household.25 The annual celebration of Daras birthday, held at Dara Phirom Palace every August, includes Buddhist ceremonies with chanting monks as well as dance performances, and appears to be very well attended by local people.26 However, in comparison to Siamese royals, her visibility as a famous royal figure is clearly not the same. For example, while one can find several vendors selling amulets featuring the image of King Chulalongkorn at Chiang Mais local markets, there

Personal conversation with Ajaan Kreuk Akornchinaret, curator of the Huen Derm manuscript collection at Chiang Mai University. Woodhouse research notes, Jan. 12, 2008. 25 See prior citation of conversation with Ajaan Aroonrut Wichienkieeow in January 2008; Colleague Jaeng (Rattana) Pakdeekul, a fellow PhD student hailing from Chiang Mai, related that she discovered her grandfather had worked as an elephant mahout for Dara Rasami in the 1920s. (Woodhouse research notes, Jan. 12, 2008) 26 The last time I attended this celebration, on August 25, 2007, nearly every seat inside Dara Phirom Palace was filled approximately 75-80 people attended the ceremonies. I was one of only two non-Thais present.
24

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are no images of Dara Rasami for sale and sometimes the vendors themselves dont recognize her name when asked. Thus Dara Rasami remains a problematic figure, as an outsider to both Bangkoks elite and Chiang Mais local identity. At the same time, her status highlights the ongoing historical project of recovering Lan Na identity from Bangkoks political and cultural domination. 5.3 After Dara Rasami: The Decline and Fall of Palace Women in Siam In Thai popular literature, a significant part of King Chualongkorns perceived success as a king stems from his domestic success: his ability to manage the 150+ consorts of the Inner Palace. As Thai author Prayut Sitthiphan wrote in his account of Chulalongkorns relationships with several of his highest consorts (Dara included), his genius was in being the perfect lover, able to make each woman think herself the only one.27 Ironically, at the same era, Chulalongkorns institution of the thetsaphiban monthon system of centralized provincial control spelled the obsolescence of the political functions enacted by palace women. After Siams political relations with Lan Na had been reformulated under the monthon system (with a resident Siamese governor who supplanted the Lan Na royal power), the political marital alliances which had traditionally bound Siams center and its peripheries were rendered unnecessary. Thus Dara Rasamis career as a royal consort over nearly thirty years spanned a unique period in Siams history, by the end of which her role was obsolete. Dara Rasami had played a role that could be described as that of Siams last political Princess.

27

Prayut, ibid.

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Notions of siwilai similarly impacted the practice of polygyny among Siams next generations of royalty, who curtailed the number of royal wives out of a sense of polygynys backwardness and barbarism. Only a few years into the reign of King Chulalongkorns successor, Vajiravudh (1910-1925), Siamese nobles had begun to debate polygamys legal implications, and whether Western nations would consider Siam to be on a lower moral plane thanWestern nations.28 Though Vajiravudh himself was not philosophically adverse to polygamy, he was late to marry, and took four wives in an unsuccessful effort to produce a male heir.29 By the reign of King Prajatiphok (1926-1935), the king of Siam was married to only one woman, an arrangement which aligned much more comfortably with Western cultural norms. Siams 1932 change of government, which made Siam into a constitutional monarchy, further shifted Siams political sphere towards more modern forms of governance and social practice. Under the western constitutional system that was imported to Siam, the roles of palace women who had heretofore been so central to binding the Siamese polity to its peripheries were elided and collapsed under a new political narrative in which family lineage and social history were no longer (as) important. At the same time, with the increasing influx of Western capitalism, anxiety arose among Siamese elites as to how best to negotiate traditional practices with a new, Westerninformed modernity. The imported western goods and clothing styles available to all in the Siamese marketplace began to undermine the traditional sumptuary rules that had
N.A.T. R6, 41, as cited in Scot Barme. Woman, Man, Bangkok: Love, Sex, and Popular Culture in Thailand. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002, 161. 29 Barme (and others) have suggested that Vajiravudhs delay in marrying was due to his homosexuality. However, supported by most of his ministers, [he] expressed the view that the practice should continue. (Barme, ibid.)
28

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marked off the dress of royalty from that of commoners. Thus it became difficult for royals to find modern dress that could accommodate both their eliteness and being siwilai. Ultimately, these royals chose styles and materials which would distinguish them from mere cheap knockoffs. King Chulalongkorns brother, Prince Wachirayan, explicates this point in his autobiography: To have my clothes tailored at a Chinese shop would have been inappropriate for me, as they say. There was plenty of clothing, but I was ashamed to wear it. Tailoring at European stores cost more, so my first inclination was to go there In the European stores the goods they sold were well-made and one could display them with pride. One could identify these goods from their beauty, even if the Indian shops had similar goods.30 Despite the ways in which the influx of capitalist consumption elided Siamese sumptuary customs, the significance of royal blood has never waned in Siamese society. In contemporary Thai life, the high society pages of newspapers and magazines are still full of Krytakorns, Amatyakuns, and Na Ayutthayas familiar surnames which denote noble bloodlines. The social (and inherently political) significance of these family lineages persists in Thai society, in a manner somewhat analogous to the persistent prestige of the Kennedys, Rockefellers and DuPonts in American society. In contrast to these American examples, however, the level of prestige afforded these families by virtue of their links of royal blood with the Thai king himself has no strict analog in Western societies. Though capitalism has served to create new wealth, particularly among Chinese-Thai trading families, the interlocking circles of elite patrons and clients in Thai society continues to

Prince Wachirayan Warorot, Autobiography, trans., ed., intr. Craig J. Reynolds. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1979, 22-23 (as cited in Barme, 2002).
30

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persist, rendering contemporary Thai society in many ways nearly as hierarchical today as it was in the past. 5.4 Opportunities for Further Research As this study has focused on providing the context surrounding an individual elite woman in the Siamese palace, there are accordingly a number of opportunities for research which I have had to pass by. The first and perhaps greatest one is that of the other elite women of the Inner Palace, and their family lineages. It would be immensely valuable to Thailands political history to research the various non-Chakri noble families, and examine the family links between their daughters in the Inner Palace, and sons in the Outer Palace. With more time to devote to the subject, I would pursue more research on the other women surrounding Dara Rasami in the palace, to provide an even fuller picture of the Inner Palace. The subject of Dara Rasamis mother, Thipkraisorn and Aunt Ubonwanna also warrant further investigation, particularly since they were friendly with the local Christian missionaries, who left an extensive archive at Payap University in Chiang Mai. While I have touched on the space of the Inner, Middle and Outer Palaces, as well as Suan Dusit, the subject of the architecture of the Fifth Reign also warrants additional research and analysis. The opportunities for new cultural-historical scholarship on Siams Fifth Reign are still far from exhausted. The topic of palace women is also useful cross-culturally, and suggests that parallel studies could be undertaken for other Southeast Asian, Asian (and non-Asian) cultures. Certainly in terms of Southeast Asia alone, research remains to be done on ethnic difference in marital exchanges throughout both the mainland and island Southeast Asia. The royal women of Burmas Konbaung dynasty would make a particularly interesting Page 245

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study of the intersection of cosmology and gender in a palace context. Palace women and their functions could be explored elsewhere in Asia as well. While the elite women of Japans Tokugawa era have been well-studied, those of the Meiji era which was almost exactly contemporaneous with Thailands Fifth Reign era have not. As gender generally has been poorly historicized in Asia, these are but a few of the opportunities that await future scholarly examination and analysis.

5.5 Concluding Remarks By virtue of her ethnic difference and political uniqueness, Dara Rasami provides a convenient window on what we might think of as Siams greatest generation of palace women, and the origins of their decline after the apex of the Fifth Reign era. As a princessconsort from one of Siams most politically sensitive tributary kingdoms, Dara Rasamis life within the Inner Palace illuminates the centrality of the circulation of women in the political economy of Siam, and their unique role in linking Siams peripheries to its center. As a woman from a distinctly different ethnic group, Daras difference assisted the Siamese elites in their formulation of siwilai, providing them with an Other within against which to deploy Siamese superiority. Finally, Dara Rasamis promotion to the highest echelon of queenly status otherwise occupied only by women of Chakri blood illustrates the fact that only the monarch himself granted promotions to his consorts, thus each and every promotion depended largely upon a womans personal relationship with the king himself. Dara Rasamis promotion to the rank of Phra Rajajaya, occurring in 1909, came several years after Lan Nas political status had been cemented under Siams centralized thetsaphiban monthon system of administration. Thus Chulalongkorns promotion of Dara Page 246

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Rasami no longer had a direct political aim. Rather, it appears to have grown out of their close relationship over twenty-five years in the palace, and Chulalongkorns appreciation of Daras loyalty in her service to him over that time as Siams last political princess.

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Illustrations 5.1 and 5.2 ~ Casual snaps of Dara outside her Dusit residence (undated)

Source: National Archives of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Woodhouse Illustration 5.3 ~ Dara Rasamis Last Residence at Suan Chao Sabai, Mae Rim

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Source: Photo taken by Leslie Woodhouse August 24, 2006.

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Woodhouse Illustration 5.4 ~ Star motifs in woodwork at Dara Rasamis Mae Rim House

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Source: Photo taken by Leslie Woodhouse August 25, 2007.

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Illustration 5.5 ~ Phunphitsamai Diskul with Daras rose, Chulalongkorn, in Chiang Mai

(Mom Chao Phunphitsamai Diskul was one of Prince Damrongs daughters.)

Source: [Dara Rasami: Bond of Love Between Two Kingdoms], 2003. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press, 167.

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Note the generational difference in dress. Center is Chao Chom Manda Ohn, flanked by her daughters Phra Ong Chao Ying Adisai Suriyapha (L) and Phra Ong Chao Ying Orapraphan Ramphai (R), circa 1925.

Source: Anek Nawikkamun, [Thai Dress in the Rattanakosin Era]. Bangkok: Muang Boran Publishing, 2004, 146.

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Dara Rasami in garden of residence at Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai (undated).

Source: [Dara Rasami: Bond of Love Between Two Kingdoms], 2003. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press, 167.

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Bibliography
ARCHIVES CONSULTED: THAILAND 1) NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THAILAND (N.A.T.), BANGKOK Records of the Mahat Thai () during the Fifth Reign () Records of the Palace Ministry () 2) NATIONAL LIBRARY (N.L.T.), BANGKOK Records of Consorts and Queens of Siam, R. 3-5 3) ARCHIVES OF THE ROYAL SECRETARIAT (S.R.L.), BANGKOK Records of Chao Dara Rasamis travels to Chiang Mai in 1909 Records of Phra Rajajaya Dara Rasamis funeral arrangements in 1933
4) MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION OF THE HUEN DERM (ORIGINAL HOUSE), CHIANG MAI UNIVERSITY, THAILAND

ARCHIVES CONSULTED: UNITED KINGDOM 1) BRITISH NATIONAL ARCHIVES (B.N.A), KEW

Foreign Office Series 27, 69, 94, 422, 628, and 881

2) BRITISH LIBRARY (B.L.), LONDON:

Foreign Office, Political & Secret documents Series 18, 3/288, 3/295, 3/296

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