KHON AND POLITICAL SITUATION DURING THE REIGN OF KING RAMA III

Abstract

Based on the historical framework, this article aimed to investigate the reasons for King Rama III’s cancellation of the royal patronage to KHON performance. Historically, the public were still skeptical if the cancellation was due to the fact that King Rama III was much more interested in Buddhism than KHON performance, leading to the decline in popularity of KHON performance in the Royal Court. The study indicated that during the reign of King Rama III, the country’s political situation was unstable, and the threats to the throne can be twofold: the seizure of power in the royal court and the western colonization attacking the Kingdom of Siam. One of the protection strategies against the threats to the Royal Court was to educate Thai people through public domain by Buddhist monks in the temples. Cancellation of the royal patronage to KHON performance was another protection strategy adopted during that time. In so doing, assemble of men in the royal court aiming for the coup against the throne could be prevented. Besides this, the knowledge from the royal court could be transferred to the public domain.