Pattaya officials, police and business leaders marked the 254th anniversary of the coronation of King Taksin the Great, who was adopted by the city as its honorary founding father.
Chonburi Gov. Thawatchai Srithong and Pattaya Mayor Poramet Ngampichet led the Dec. 26 commemoration ceremonies on Pattaya Beach at Central Road where volunteers from both the public and private sectors participated in the Big Cleaning Day in honor of the great king. Pavements were repainted, overhanging cables were tidied up, streets were swept, cluttered sign boards removed, garbage collected from the streets and beaches and waterways were dredged and cleared of water hyacinth.
Somdet Phrachao Taksin Maharaj was born April 17, 1734 and became the only king of the Thonburi Kingdom, taking the throne Dec. 28, 1768 and reigning until his death – and the start of the current Chakri Dynasty in 1782. He is greatly revered by Thais for leadership in liberating Siam from Burmese occupation after the second fall of capital Ayutthaya in 1767, and the subsequent unification of Siam after it fell under various warlords.
He established the city of Thonburi, across the Chao Phraya River from the current Bangkok, as the new capital, as Ayutthaya has been almost completely destroyed by invaders.
Upon coronation at age 34, he assumed the official name of Boromraja IV, but is known in Thai history as King Taksin, a combination of his popular name, Phya Tak, and his first name, Sin, or the King of Thonburi.
Taksin’s ties to the Pattaya area stem from 1767, when he somehow battled his way out of a besieged Ayutthaya and fled to Chonburi and Rayong to raise an army of 500 to return to free the capital.
In 1981, the Cabinet passed a resolution to bestow on King Taksin the honorary title of “the Great”. The date of his coronation, Dec. 28, is the official day of homage to the king, although it is not designated as a public holiday.
 |
 |
 |
