8 . The first university
Oct 09, 2004
With Western nations exerting increasingly strong influence on
oriental affairs, Siam's 19th-century leaders reacted by receiving
the foreigners in one of two ways: with enthusiasm or with caution.
King Rama III was among those who chose the latter path.
A chronicle by Chaophraya Thipakornworawongse reported that, on
his deathbed, Rama III warned his men, particularly Phraya Si Suriyawong
(Chuang Bunnag), to be wary of the West.
“There will be no more wars with Vietnam and Burma," the monarch
intoned. "We will have wars only with the West. Take care,
and do not lose any opportunities to them. Anything they propose
should be held up to close scrutiny before accepting it: Do not
blindly trust them.”
It is believed that Rama III actually had the old, Ayutthaya-style
Wat Pho (Chetuphon Wimonmanklaram) rebuilt and ordered texts to
be inscribed on stone slabs around it, in order to invoke the broad,
historic knowledge of the Siamese for all to see.
The inscribed texts at the temple reflected the Kingdom's wisdom
of Buddhist dhamma, military strategy, medicine and pharmacology,
astrology, botany, geography and even poetry in all its styles.
Everyone, from the most common of labourers, suddenly was no longer
denied access to the education available in temples. They were permitted
to read the texts and learn the supreme knowledge of Siam at that
time.
As a result, Wat Poh came to be regarded as Siam's first university.
In a 1986 article, academic BJ Terwiel noted that when the first
American missionary, John Taylor Jones, visited Siam, the abbot
of Wat Prayoonrawongsawat tried to convince him of the superiority
of Siam's teachings regarding the earth and the universe compared
to Western theories.
The American physician-missionary Dan Beach Bradley wrote in his
book, “Siam Then”, that King Rama III had barred him and another
foreign doctor from treating his brother, Prince Mongkut. The monarch
preferred native doctors and herbal remedies.
Rama III accepted new technology and knowledge from the West, but
at the same time insisted that Siamese culture remained preferable.
An inscribed stone slab at the time listed only 32 nations of the
world. Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was ranked first as "a land of pure
Buddhism", followed by Siam, while the Netherlands was fifth,
Italy sixth and France seventh. Mighty Russia was 16th.
Even more intriguing, Great Britain -- about which Siam's leaders
had the most trepidation -- was not even on the list.
Although King Rama III withheld overt support from the visiting
missionaries, he did not prohibit high-ranking Siamese from studying
with them. Among these was Prince Mongkut, his brother by a different
mother who would become Rama IV, Mongkut's brother Prince Chudamani,
Krommuen Wongsasanit, Kromkhun Dejadisorn, Chaophraya Phra Khlang
(Dis Bunnag) and his sons Chuang and Kham Bunnag.
Prince Mongkut was interested most in the natural sciences, astronomy
and the history of Europe and America. By late 1835 he could devise
astronomical map. When he lived at Wat Boworn after being ordained,
his small dwelling was full of books, including the Bible, Webster's
dictionary, hydrographic texts, star maps, charts on coming eclipses
and, of course, an atlas of the world.
He designed his own printing press, which could function in Thai
and Pali, and later ordered one from Britain, the first Asian to
do so.
Prince Chudamani (Pinklao, the Second King in the reign of Rama
IV) was another high personage who was keen on Western knowledge.
A keen boat-builder and engineer, he was the first Thai who could
speak fluent English, and practised Western manners, even dining
in the European style. In his palace were new inventions he ordered
from America and Britain.
Chudamani was also the first Siamese to let an American missionary
attend to ailing members of his family. His daughters were inoculated
with smallpox vaccine, another first for the Kingdom.
And, remarkably for the time, he supported the unprecedented right
of Siamese women to give birth by modern means.
Nithinand Yorsaengrat
The Nation
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