Bidyalongkorn

Prince Rajani Chamcharas, the Prince Bidyalongkorn (; ; 10 January 1876 – 23 July 1945) The complete title is His Royal Highness Prince Rajani Chamcharas. He was a prince of Thailand and a member of the Thai royal family, the 22nd child of Prince Wichaichan, the Viceroy of Siam during the reign of Rama V and the second of Khun Chom Manda Liam, He is one of the grandsons of King Pinklao. His many descendants use the royal surname Rajani (; ).

He was born in the Front Palace, Bangkok, and from 1886 to 1891 attended the recently founded Suankularb Wittayalai School. From 1896 to 1933 he served in a variety of governmental offices and royal advisory roles, including the Ministry of Finance, the Royal Mint, the Department of Inspection, the Department of Records, the Privy Council, the Department of Statistics and Prediction, the Department of Commerce, and the Royal Academy.

The Historical Dictionary of Thailand notes:

Tai linguist William J. Gedney called him "probably Thailand's most gifted man of letters of the twentieth century". James N. Mosel, discussing Thai poetry of the early and mid 20th century, notes that:

King Rama VI (Vajiravudh), himself an accomplished author and translator, formed a literary club to promote good writing in Thailand. Bidyalongkorn, a member of the club, formulated a series of rules encouraging correct and concise language, as well as strict observance of classic Thai verse structures. An innovator as well as a traditionalist, he was an influential adopter of novel meters of the chan verse type which, before 1913, had remained unchanged for centuries.

Honours National honours

Foreign honours

Selected works Vetala Tales (; ) (1918) — a Thai version of the Baital Pachisi, based chiefly on Richard Francis Burton's retelling

— Discussion and excerpts in English

Notes and references Explanatory notes

Footnotes