114
but the remaining strokes make most of the indistinct parts legible still. The Board of the Royal Library had the Royal Chronicle: Lūang Prasœ̄t Version published for the first time in 126 RE,[1] the year it was obtained. Later in this Year of the Ox, Year Five, 2456 BE,[2] the Royal Library obtained a two-volume manuscript containing the same royal chronicle as the Lūang Prasœ̄t Version, being a royal document of the King of Thonburī[3] written on Thai folding books in the Year of the Horse, Year Six, 2317 BE.[4] This brought delight to me as I was expecting to get the complete contents of this royal chronicle. But when the two versions were compared together, it appeared that the royal document of the King of Thonburī is a copy of this Lūang Prasœ̄t manuscript itself because in the end it stops short with the very same words as the Lūang Prasœ̄t Version. So it became known that this Royal Chronicle: Lūang Prasœ̄t Version had been like this since the time of Thonburī, ruining my hope to find further contents of its. Yet, the obtained manuscript of the King of Thonburī affords one benefit: it offers in full the parts which, in the Lūang Prasœ̄tʿaksǭnnit’s manuscript, have become indistinct.
Although the information stated in the Royal Chronicle: Lūang Prasœ̄t Version is in an abridged style, the chronicle contains a great many accounts not found in the other royal chronicles and, importantly, the dates and times in it are accurate and its chronology is more reliable than the other royal chronicles. Thus, the Royal Chronicle: Lūang Prasœ̄t Version serves as one of the main sources for verifying royal chronicles.
DR[5]
