Suriyenthrathibodi

King Suriyenthrathibodi or Luang Sorasak —was originally named Duea or Maduea (, มะเดื่อ), and King Chulalongkorn later issued a royal judgement identifying his regnal name as Sanphet VIII . He was the 29th monarch of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and the second king of the Ban Phlu Luang dynasty, the last dynasty of Ayutthaya.

People in his reign often referred to him as Phra Chao Suea ( "Tiger King"), likening him to a tiger for his fierce and cruel temperament. Today, the Ministry of Culture designates 6 February—corresponding to the date of his accession attested in historical evidence—as National Muay Thai Day.

In addition, he trained his royal sons—Thai Sa and Borommakot—to be skilled in Muay Thai, Krabi-Krabong, and wrestling.

Origins and parentage Thai chronicle traditions disagree on King Suea's parentage. The Phan Chantanumat (Choem) Chronicle states that he was a somdet phra chao luk ya thoe ("royal son") of Phetracha. By contrast, the Somdet Phra Phonnarat, Wat Phra Chetuphon manuscript chronicle claims that he was a secret son of Narai and a royal consort who was the daughter of Phraya Saen Luang, ruler of Chiang Mai.

Related testimony literature also preserves varying details about the mother. The Testimony of Khun Luang Ha Wat gives her name as Phra Ratchachaya Devi or Chao Chom Sombun, while the Testimony of the Inhabitants of the Old Capital calls her Nang Kusawadi.

These accounts broadly agree that she had been Narai's secret consort and was later given to Phetracha when he held office as chao krom chang (head of the Elephant Department), differing mainly in her name and in the explanation for why the child was raised under Phetracha's household.

Names and birth traditions The Somdet Phra Phonnarat Chronicle records his original name as Maduea . In Pathomwong by K.S.R. Kulap, he is instead called Dok Duea , explained as a reference to his birth beneath a fig tree in the Phichit area while his mother was accompanying Ok Phra Phetracha on a royal journey with Narai to worship the Phra Phuttha Chinnarat and Phra Phuttha Chinnasi at Phitsanulok.

Birth year A key clue for his birth year appears in the writings of the German physician Engelbert Kaempfer, attached to a Dutch East India Company mission to Siam in 1690. Kaempfer states that Phra Sorasak (Peja Surusak), the uparat (viceroy), was 20 years old in 1690. This would place his birth around 1670. "Stories abound of his appalling private life and his acts of cruelty." The Chronicle of Ayutthaya, Phan Chanthanumat (Choem)'s Edition, described his behaviour as follows:

"At that time, the king was of vulgar mind, uncivil behaviour, savage conduct, cruel habit. He was never interested in charitable activities, but only in the activities which breached the royal traditions. Also, he lacked inhibition, but was consumed by unholy sin. Eternal were anger and ignorance in his mind. And the king habitually drank liquor and pleased himself by having intercourse with female children not yet attaining the age of menstruation. In this respect, if any female was able to endure him, that female would be granted a great amount of rewards, money, gold, silks and other cloth. Should any female be incapable of bearing with him, he would be enraged and strike a sword at her heart, putting her to death. The caskets were every day seen to be called into the palace to contain the female dead bodies and to be brought out of the palace through a royal gate at the end of the royal confinement mansion. That gate thereby gained the name the 'Gate of Ghosts' until now."

Suriyenthrathibodi and Phan Thai Norasing There was a folktale that Suriyenthrathibodi's desire to save the life of his wheelsman Phan Thai Norasing showed his compassionate side. There is no historical proof for this story.

Death The Chronicle of Ayutthaya, Phra Chakraphatdiphong (Chat) Version described Suriyenthrathibodi to have died in 1708, after contracting an incapacitating and fatal illness during his pilgrimage to Phra Phutthabat Temple at Saraburi. It should be considered that the wilderness surrounding the temple complex was infamous for causing steep fatality rates amongst its local officials, as a result of malaria which is referred traditionally by Thais as “Forest disease” (ไข้ป่า).

Issue Consort and Concubines Children 1. Phra Phanwasa (meaning Queen mother) Prince Phet (Thai Sa)Prince Phon (Borommakot)Princess Unnamed 2. Others Princess KaeoPrincess Thapthim

Ancestry