Page:ประชุมพงศาวดาร (ภาค ๑) - ๒๔๕๗.pdf/134

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

113

Preface
to the Royal Chronicle: Luang Prasoet Version

Phra Pariyattithammathada (Phae Parian),^[1] whilst still being Luang Prasoet-aksonnit,^[2] discovered the manuscript containing this royal chronicle at the house of a private citizen. He then asked for it and gave it to the Wachirayan Royal Library on 19 June 2450 BE.^[3] Finding it being a royal chronicle distinguished from the other existing versions, the Board of the Royal Library named it the Royal Chronicle: Luang Prasoet Version to honour the person who discovered it and brought it to the Royal Library.

The present royal chronicle contains a preamble declaring that it is a royal document composed by virtue of a decree given by King Narai the Great on Wednesday, the 12th waxing-moon day of the 5th month of the Year of the Monkey, Year 2, 1042 LE.^[4] Its contents start in 686 LE when the Buddha statue Lord Phanan Choeng was built. It is not known at which point of time the contents should end because the manuscript obtained by the Royal Library only consists of a single volume which stops short at the Year of the Dragon, Year 6, 866 LE, during the reign of King Naresuan, when an army was being prepared for launching an attack upon the town of Angwa. My speculation is that there might be one more volume, being the second volume, of which the contents would end in the reign of King Prasatthong at most.

The manuscript obtained was written in gamboge ink on a blackened book with the Old Kingdom^[5] penmanship. There are traces of rain drops which damped and blurred the writing in many places,

8

↑ Siamese nobleman and Ministry of Public Instruction official (1862–1926 CE), Phra Pariyattithammathada being his noble title during his tenure as chief of the Right Department of Royal Scholars, Phae being his given name, Parian being an honorary title he obtained upon passing the fourth level of the Buddhist pariyatti examination (Teachers' Council, 1958, pp. 1–2).
↑ A noble title he held during his tenure as deputy chief of the Department of Education, Ministry of Public Instruction (Teachers' Council, 1958, p. 1).
↑ 1907 CE.
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named decree
↑ Ayutthaya Kingdom.

[1] Siamese nobleman and Ministry of Public Instruction official (1862–1926 CE), Phra Pariyattithammathada being his noble title during his tenure as chief of the Right Department of Royal Scholars, Phae being his given name, Parian being an honorary title he obtained upon passing the fourth level of the Buddhist pariyatti examination (Teachers' Council, 1958, pp. 1–2).

[2] A noble title he held during his tenure as deputy chief of the Department of Education, Ministry of Public Instruction (Teachers' Council, 1958, p. 1).

[3] 1907 CE.

[decree-4] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named decree

[5] Ayutthaya Kingdom.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]