THE STUDY OF ROYAL CEREMONIES ANNOUNCEMENT AS A SOURCE OF THAI HISTORY (KING RAMA I - KING RAMA VI)

Abstract

The article aims to study the background of the royal ceremony announcements and analyze their structure, content, and historical importance. In addition, the Thai elites' world view during the Rattanakosin period (King Rama I - King Rama VI) which was seen from the announcements, was one of the objectives of the study. The results show that the structure of royal ceremony announcements consisted of 4 parts : firstly, a preface of the announcement to invite gods and sanctities to attend the ceremony; secondly, a foreword to introduce the ceremony; thirdly, to offer dedication royal merit and oblation, and fourthly, to ask for blessing and auspicious new. Every part of the announcement composed of Thai verse and prose. The study found that some parts of the royal ceremony announcements could be used as historical Thai evidence. Moreover, some were historical main points that had an influence on historiography and historical evidence which were written ex post facto. Last but not least, the contents analysis of the royal ceremony announcements reflect the world view of Thai elites during the Rattanakosin period (King Rama l - King Rama VI).