An Attempted Laudatory Suicide in the SakonNakhon Chronicle: a query

Abstract

This question is what might have inspired Chao Phraya Suwanna-phingkhara to behead himself in honour of the Lord Buddha. It arose when translating the SakonNakhon Chronicle, which was complied about 80 years ago by some of SakonNakhon’s leading citizens (Phraya Prahantaprathetthani et al., 1997). Part One  of the chronicle is composed of extracts from Urangkha-nithan (The Legends of the Breastbone Relic), also khonwn as TamnanPhra That Phanom (The Legends of the That Phanom Shrine). This is a traditional Buddhist History (tamnan) of the middle Mekong basin, and it begins with events leading up to the installation of a relic of the Lord Buddha’s breastbone at the region’s most sacred shrine, That Phanom, about 65kms southeast of SakonNakhon. A version of this work has been translated into English by Pruess (1976)