The Thai poet Phra Sunthorn Vohara
Sunthorn Phu – Suriya Desatit / Shutterstock.com
In the village Ban Kruhm in Kluang District, Rayong, there is a statue in memory of Phra Sunthorn Vohara, better known as Sunthorn Phu.
Who is that? Well, I didn't know either, so go and find some more information about this man.
Sunthorn Phu is the most famous poet, who Thailand has known. A comparison with our Joost van den Vondel is necessary, but apart from the fact that they were both poets, they don't really have much in common. In the first place they lived in a different era, Vondel had been dead for over 100 years when Sunthorn was born in 1786. Sunthorn was also a poet at the court of Siam, first during the period of Rama II and later in the service of Rama II. The way of life of the two poets was also completely different, because Sunthorn was a womanizer, but also lived as a monk for a long time.
The house Sunthorn Phu was born in was behind the King's Palace. His mother worked as a nurse in the Palace, where Phu also got a job. There he fell in love with a lady named Jun, who belonged to the royal family. Both were arrested and punished because their relationship was against the traditional social order. When they were released from prison, Phu traveled to Rayong, where his – divorced – father was born and now lived as a monk in the Bangrum temple. About that long one travel to Rayong, Phu wrote one of his most famous poems “Nirat Muang Grang”, which he dedicated to his fiancée Jun.
Phra Sunthorn Vohara
He returned to the palace in Bangkok, married Jun, who bore him a son Pat. During this period Phu was appointed court poet by King Rama II. The marriage did not last long as Phu had an affair with another woman. Many affairs and marriages followed, but Phu always claimed that you had only loved Jun. Phu became an alcoholic and imprisoned around 1821 after a brawl.
While in prison, he began "Phra Aphai Mani", an epic poem, which he published in many volumes over the next 20 years. King Rama II was so pleased with Phu's poetry that he awarded him the title of "Khun". During the reign of King Rama III, however, Phu made the grave mistake of publicly correcting poems written by the king himself, stripping him of that title. After this disgrace, he resigned, became a Buddhist monk at first, but later became a merchant.
A daughter of King Rama IV read the unfinished work Phra Aphai Mani and asked the poet to complete it. King Rama IV appointed Phu as Director of Royal Scribes, and bestowed upon him the title of "Phra". He spent the rest of his life in peace until his death in 1855.
Phu left a legacy of poems that have become famous for describing Thai history. I already mentioned his epic poem Phra Aphai Mani, a 30.000-line tale about the romantic adventures of a prince in ancient Siam. Also known are his Nirat Phukaothong (a collection of poems about a fantasy journey to the Golden Mountain) and Nirat Suphan (about a journey to Suphanburi province) In 1986, the 200th anniversary of his birth, Phu was honored by Unesco as a great world poet .
About this blogger
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Bert Gringhuis (1945), born and raised in Almelo in the beautiful Twente. Later lived for many years in Amsterdam and Alkmaar, working in export for various companies. I first came to Thailand in 1980 and immediately fell in love with the country. Been back many times since then and moved to Thailand after my (early) retirement as a widower. I have been living there for 22 years now with my somewhat younger Thai lady Poopae.
My first experiences in Thailand as a kind of newsletter sent to family, friends and acquaintances, which later appeared under the name Gringo on Thailandblog. Many, many articles followed those first stories and that has grown into an almost daily hobby.
In the Netherlands still an avid footballer and football referee, but the years are starting to tell and in Thailand still avid, but the pool billiards is really of inferior quality, ha ha!
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Most poets at that time were courtiers, related to the royal family. Sunthorn Phu was a commoner. He wrote from his heart and not from his head, they said.
This is perhaps his most famous poem:
We may be drunk
But we are also intoxicated by love.
I cannot resist my heart.
And though we are drunk,
Tomorrow the sun will shine,
And that drunkenness will have passed
But when night falls, the intoxication of love will return.
This poet is touched upon briefly in “Pattaya with Trips to the East Coast”.
His "Phra Aphai Mani" describes a fantasy world, where people of different races and religions can live together in good harmony. Several films (The Adventure of Sudsakorn 1979) and songs have been released on this theme.
His birthday (June 26) is celebrated in Thailand as the Sunthorn Phu day.
Sincerely,
Lodewijk