Taksin

or Phraya Taksin

born April 17, 1734, Ayutthaya

died April 6, 1782, Thon Buri

Thai general and later king (1767–82) who reunited Siam (Thailand) after its defeat by Myanmar (Burma).

While Taksin was a provincial governor, his troops were among those besieged by the forces of Myanmar in 1766–67, but he escaped and raised new troops. He drove out the invaders and defeated other contenders for the throne, then extended his power into neighbouring states. A better conqueror than ruler, he was deposed and probably executed in 1782.

* * *

▪ king of Siam

also called Phraya Taksin, or Phya Tak

born April 17, 1734, Ayutthaya [Thailand]

died April 6, 1782, Thon Buri, Thailand

      Thai general, conqueror, and later king (1767–82) who reunited Thailand, or Siam, after its defeat at the hands of the Myanmar (Burmese) in 1767.

      Of Chinese-Thai parentage, Taksin became the protégé of a Thai nobleman who enrolled him in the royal service. In 1764 he gained the rank of phraya as the governor of the province of Tak, and to distinguish him from previous governors he was called Phraya Taksin. He and his provincial troops were among the forces besieged in Ayutthaya by the Myanmar in 1766–67, but before the city fell he fled the capital and made his way to the southeast of the kingdom. There he raised new troops, with which he regained the lower Chao Phraya River valley. Moving his capital to Thon Buri, opposite Bangkok, he repelled new Myanmar attacks and defeated other contenders for the throne by 1770. By 1776 he had driven the Myanmar from Chiang Mai and the north, and he soon extended his power into Laos, Cambodia, and the Malay states.

      Taksin was a better conqueror than a politician. His rule grew arbitrary, and he convinced himself that he was well advanced toward buddhahood. His attempts to force the Buddhist monkhood and his subjects to accept his religious pretensions led to a rebellion organized by minor officials near the capital. After deposing and executing him, they invited the chief among his generals, then campaigning in Cambodia, to succeed him, as Rama I. Some historians believe that Taksin was secretly spirited away from Thon Buri in 1782 and lived in a mountain retreat in southern Thailand until 1825.

* * *