The Organization of Thai Society in the Early Bangkok Period, 1782-1873 the Cornell University Southeast Asia Program
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THE ORGANIZATION OF THAI SOCIETY IN THE EARLY BANGKOK PERIOD, 1782-1873 THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAM The Southeast Asia Program was organized at Cornell University in the Department of Far Eastern Studies in 1950. It is a teaching and research program of interdisci plinary studies in the humanities, social sciences and some natural sciences. It deals with Southeast Asia as a region, and with the individual countries of the area: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The activities of the Program are carried on both at Cor nell and in Southeast Asia. They include an undergraduate and graduate curriculum at Cornell which provides instruct ion by specialists in Southeast Asian cultural history and present-day affairs and offers intensive training in each of the major languages of the area. The Program sponsors group research projects on Thailand, on Indonesia, on the Philippines, and on the area• s relations with China. At the same time, individual staff and students of the Pro gram have done field research in every Southeast Asian country. A 1 ist of publications relating to Southeast Asia which may b e obtained on prepaid order directly from the Program is given at the end of this volume. Information on Program staff, fellowships, requirements f o r degrees, and current course offerings will be found in the Announce ment o f the Department of Asian Studies, obtainable from the Director, Southeast Asia Program, Franklin Hall, Cor nell University, Ithaca, New York, 14850. THE ORGANIZATION OF THAI SOCIETY IN THE EARLY BANGKOK PERIOD, 1782-1873 by Akin Rabibhadana Data Paper: Number 74 Southeast Asia Program Department of Asian Studies Cornell University, Ithaca, New York July, 1969 Price: $3. 00 0 Cornell Southeast Asia Program 1969 FOREWORD Within the still limited circle of scholars working in the field of Thai studies, the focus of interest is in the main on recent changes, con temporary trends, or future de velopments,for here the problems are pressing and the data, or some of them, at least, seem to be at hand. The anthro pologist disappears over the horizon to see what is happen ing in peripheral villages in rural regions where history, he thinks, may be forgotten. For the economist a11d political scientist, concerned with11 central institutions, the history of a "developing" or "new -1:iation is primarily a matter of understanding just those new national structures which may make of a society a "new state". These procedures are at fault, for apart from sup porting dangerously static dichotomies--" traditional and modern", "folk and urban", and the like--they fail to tell us just how new the new structures are and how they came into being, and we are left without a picture of process, without a model of the whole society and the continuities and discontinuities involved in making it what it is today. In his thesis on the development of education under Rama v, David Wyatt says, "Thailand's response to the west was a creative one,for it flowed quite painfully but naturally out of Thai history, society and culture to transform the old Kingdom of Siam into the new and modern Thai nation". And by helping us understand the II old Kingdom" and what was involved in the transformation process ,he helps us appreciate the building of the new. Many have talked about the need for an understanding of older Thai social organization, but very few have done anything about it. In the west for years the studies of a few foreign specialists ,notably Lingat and Quaritch Wales, have been the chief sources for our meager information on the structural and processual characteristics of Thai soci ety, national and local, before 1850. Lack of data has not stopped us from speculation regarding the ordering of the Thai society and polity and individual mobility within them; or from addressing ourselves to such a non-problem as whether they are "loosely structured" or not. But now a new generation of Thai and western scholars is turning V again to the sources and finding much that their predeces sors missed or did not have time to search for. Khun Kach- 9n Sukkaphanit has recently published a valuable study on the status of the common man, Thanadon Phrai (1962). The theses of David Wyatt and Constance Wilson tell us much that is new about the internal organization of an older Thai society. And in this presentcareful eth no history and analysis by a Thai cultural anthropologist, M.R. Akin Rabibhadana of Thammasat University, we find a confirmation and expansion of the exciting new work on old Thailand which is now going forward there and abroad. By helping us understand the patterns of the past, these young scholars help us see just how ·new the new Siam is,and they put all disciplines concerned with Thailand and new nations in their debt. Lauriston Sharp Director, Cornell Thailand Project Ithaca, New York August 1969 Vl ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work is basically the thesis which was presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Cornell University. The author wishes to exoress his deepest gratitude and appreciation to Pro fessor Lauriston Sharp, chairman of his Special Committee without whose guidance, helo and encouragement the thesis could not have been comoleted, and to the other members of his committee, Professor 0. W. Wolters, who has given special guidance since the earliest draft, and Professor :Bernd Lambert . A soecial debt of gratitude is due to Professor David K. Wyatt, who read both the thesis and this revision and gave much valuable advice and assistance, and to Professor R. B. Jones for valuable discussions of the subject and for assistance and encouragement in preparing this work tor publication. Very special thanks are due Mrs. Judith Reynolds for her patient, careful and competent assistance in improv ing the language both of the thesis and this revision. Grateful acknowledgment is also made to the Rockefeller Foundation for generous support-of my studies at Cornell University. • • Vll TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I . SCOPE, METHOD, AND SOURCES. .. .. .. .. 1 II. GENERAL BACKGROUND AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT..... 9 i. Kinship System.. ........•••. •. ••. •••••. .•••••.. 14 ii. Historical Development of Thai Social and Political Organization.. ••. ...•. •. •••••. •. •••. .• 15 III. KINGSHIP. 40 IV. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION, EARLY BANGKOK PERI OD. • . • . • . 54 • ' I 1.. Pr 1.nces Krom.•� •••••••••••••. ..•...•.••••.•. .•.. 54 ii. Central Administration.. .•.. .. .. .... •..••...... .. 66 iii. Provinicial Administration .•. ..•. •.••••••. .•••. .. 69 iv. Relationship between the Central Administration and the Provincial Administration.. .....•.......e. 75 V. THE ORGANIZATION OF THAI SOCIETY, EARLY BANGKOK PERIOD. 77 i. Relationship between Nai and Phrai ..... .......... 79 ii. Relationship between Direct Superior and Direct Subo', rdinates. .. • . .. • • •. •. •. 89 iii. Relationship between Phu Yai (The Superior) and Phu N<yi (The Inf erior) . .. •. .. .. • •. .. 91 iv. Client and Patron Relationship in the Formal Organization .•••••••.•.•.••. _ ... .. .. 93 VI. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION. .. .. •. .. • • •• •. •. • .. 97 i. Legal categories, Chao, Khunnang, Phrai, That.... 98 ii. Social Classes.•••••••••.••.e••••.•.e•••...••..e... 113 lX CHAPTER Page iii. The Sangha (Monkhood) .••••...................... 122 VII. PROCESS OF CHANGE WITHIN THE EARLY BANGKOK PERIOD (1782-1873) .....................•........ 125 i. Informal Client and Patron Relationship bet�!leen Phrai and Nai... .. .. .. .. .. •. ... • .. .. .. 133 ii. Client and Patron Relationship between Chinese Immigrants and Members of the class of Nai ...... 135 iii. Relationship between Formal and Informal Clientships.o....o............o.........o........o... 136 VIII. SOCIAL MOBILITY....................•........... 155 IX. CONCLUSION. • . 171 APPENDICES. 185 ABBREVIATIONS USED IN BIBLIOGRAPHY ................... 235 B I BL IOG RA.PHY' • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 3 7 X LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page I. Reign Periods of Thai Kings. ••• . • . .. •• . 7 I I. Sakdina of Princes. •. .. •• . ... •• . • • .. 101 III. Rank System of Nobles ...•...e•.•.••. ••.•...e.... 103 IV. The Ranking System, Yot, Legal Category, and Sakdina. 113 V. Ministers, 1782-1868...•. ••. ..•.•...•.... •...... 154 V VI. Chao Phraya, .1782-1868.• ••••..•...... ........... 160 • • Xl I. SCOPE, METHOD AND SOURCES This is a study of the organization of Thai society between 1782-1873, with special attention being given to social stratification and mobility. The Early Bangkok period covered here begins with the ascension of Rama I to the throne and ends in 1873 when King Chulalongkorn came of age. Thai society of this period was in the last stage of its indigenous development before the organization of social classes and statuses had been influenced to any sig nificant extent by Western ideas and standards. Evidence of the framework of the Thai system of stratification appeared first in the "Laws of the Civil and Military II Provincial Hierarchies durinr the :reign of King B9romma Trailokkanat, ·A.D. 1448-1488, but since that time much change and development have inevitably occurred. The trend seems to have been modification and adaptation in the relationship between the classes rather than funda mental change of the status structure. During the reign of King Chulalongkorn (A.D. 1868-1910), however, major changes occurred. Slavery