Rayong Gov. Senee
Jittakasem leads the remembrance and merit-making ceremony at Sunthorn’s
statue in Klaeng District, the birthplace of the poet’s father.
Patcharapol Panrak
Rayong officials commemorated the birth and life of
the 18th century commoner who became Thailand’s most-heralded poet as
the area celebrated Sunthorn Phu Day.
Commonly known as National Thai Language Day, the
June 26 holiday is remembered especially fondly in Rayong, home to the
father of the author of epic poem “Phra Aphrai Mani.”
Rayong Gov. Senee Jittakasem led the remembrance and
merit-making ceremony at Sunthorn’s statue in Klaeng District, the
birthplace of the poet’s father. Rayong MP Bunyat Jaetjan, district
heads, and representatives from the Rayong Red Cross, Klaeng Ladies
Development Group and Rayong Education Office also attended, joined by
students and residents.
The ceremony capped three days of celebration,
featuring poetry readings, historical and cultural stage performances
and food booths. Rayong Wittayakhom School student Kaiwansiri Kraiwan
won the Sunthorn Phu poetry contest for the Matthayom level and
Nanthayan Thumying from the same school won the Matthayom senior level
prize.
Like his poems, Sunthorn’s life was a tale of sorrow
and success. A child of divorced parents, he first lived with his father
in Bangrum Temple, where his father was a monk and his mother a wet
nurse to a princess. But the young man fell in love with Jun, a family
member of King Rama I and he was arrested and jailed for the improper
relationship.
When the King died, he was pardoned and went to live
with his father in Rayong where he wrote “Nirat Muang Grang,” one of his
most famous poems, which was about his love for Jun. He then returned to
the palace and married her, had a son and was named court poet. Success,
however, turned sour when Suthorn became an alcoholic, had an affair,
got divorced, and was jailed after getting in a fight.
However, he remained court poet even after Rama II’s
death. But, during a poem reading by Rama III, the poet publically
corrected the monarch and was stripped of his title and banished from
the palace. He briefly became a monk, then a merchant, but, after Rama
IV’s daughter read the first parts of his unfinished serialized poem
“Phra Aphai Mani,” he was invited to return to the palace to complete
the poem, which was written in installments over 20 years and describes
the romantic adventures of the title character throughout ancient
Thailand. He died in 1855.
