Some observations of Sephaphrarachaphongsawadarn as a piece of literature

Abstract

Sunthornphu's Sephaphrarachaphongsawadarn is a popular Thai literary text for historians to study. In fact, there have been no studies of this text as literature before. Therefore, this article aims to analyze Sephaphrarachaphongsawadarn as a piece of literature. It is found that this text is significant for Thai literary history because it represented the emergence of Phrarachaphongsawadarn literary genre. The theme of this text is the relationship between three kingdoms - Thai, Cambodia and Burma - in the Ayuddhaya era. A selection of historical events are used to make the plot and to represent the theme. In addition, the poet applied some Sepha's literary conventions to represent the kings of Thailand, Cambodia and Burma more clearly. The findings would prove that the mixture between Sepha and Phrarachphongsawadarn in poetry is not a failure of beautiful literature as it is always being criticized. In contrast, it is an innovation to represent and communicate the past to the public effectively.