Phya Thaksin

(reigned c. 1767–1782), liberator of Siam. After the Burmese devastation of Ayutthaya in April 1767, it was the half-Chinese General Phya Taksin, the governor of Tak province and later king of Siam (present-day Thailand), who restored the pride of Siam. He, along with five hundred soldiers, left the doomed capital and reached the safe sanctuary of the eastern shore of the Gulf of Siam. With an expanded army of five thousand, he established himself as king of Siam in the town of Thonburi, which became the new capital. The Chinese from his paternal home, Chaozhu, supplied the labor force and building material he used to build his new capital.

Taksin endeavored to rally the Siamese people. He brought central and border provinces under Thonburi. His army repelled Burmese attacks in 1773 and 1776. Vietnamese influence over Cambodia diminished temporarily and was replaced by Siamese influence over the country after Taksin installed his puppet Ang Nhon as ruler of Cambodia in 1771. The kingdom of Luang Prabang became an ally to Siam in 1774, throwing off the Burmese domination established with the help of the kingdom of Vientiane in 1771. In turn Vientiane, whose ruler defied Taksin by maintaining an alliance with Siam's enemy Burma, was occupied by Siam in 1778. The famous Emerald Buddha, in Vientiane's possession since 1564, was brought to Bangkok at that time.

A patron of arts and literature, Taksin was also a devout Buddhist. Toward the end of his life he claimed mystical powers and sainthood and was accused of insanity. The hostility of Buddhist monks toward Taksin's demand of obeisance led to his downfall and imprisonment. His bravery as the liberator of Thailand earned him the epithet "the Great."

Hall, D. G. E. (1968) A History of South-East Asia. London: Macmillan.

Tarling, Nicholas, ed. (1992) The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia. Vol. 1. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.