6 - Repulsion from Siam: The Revolt of 1688

Summary

Chapter 6 elucidates the forces that lay behind the coup of 1688, which brought Phetracha to the throne through a popular rejection of Christian and French influence. As Narai fell ill, Phaulkon schemed to keep the game of religious diplomacy going, even as French intentions took on a more colonial guise. But, in order to arrive at the throne, Phetracha played a more skilful game still, side-lining Phaulkon, Narai, his favoured successor and the French troops now based in Bangkok. He did this, in good part, by using the sangha as the means by which to arouse popular opposition to the prospect of a Christian king: Crowds carried the Sangkharat of Lopburi to the palace door. The chapter considers the role of anti-French feeling among officials but argues that the role of Buddhism was fundamental, uncovering an intellectual mobilisation against Christianity underway from the 1660s and centred on the anti-Buddhist figure of Devadatta, showing how ‘the people’ acquired a political voice, perhaps for the first time in Thai history, and analysing the meaning of the brief persecution of Christian groups. Features typical of transcendentalism had played a role in ejecting Christianity and entrenching the hegemonic role of Buddhism in Ayutthaya.