Mongkut, the King of Siam / / Abbot Low Moffat.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Moffat, Abbot Low,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2019]; ©1961
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (272 p.) :; 1 illustration, 1 frontispiec

This is an engaging, real-life portrait of one of the great Asian rulers of the nineteenth century, who set the course that preserved his country's independence and enabled it to remain the only country in Southeast Asia never to fall under European domination. It is not a conventional biography of King Mongkut or a history of his reign; rather, the author sketches the man in his many facets, furnishing a factual outline, but applying the color from the King's own writings—through which his personality and character shine so clearly—and from other contemporary sources. Many of these appear in English for the first time.As ruler and diplomat, as philosopher and scientist, as monk and head of a large family, Mongkut showed powers of mind and spirit extraordinary in any age. As here presented, he is even more remarkable than the caricature of him depicted in some recent popular accounts.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- Illustrations -- 1. “High Prince of the Crown” -- 2. In the Buddhist Priesthood -- 3. His Majesty's Gracious Advices -- 4. Agreement with England -- 5. The Americans -- 6. The Whale and the Crocodile -- 7. White Elephants -- 8. The Inner Palace -- 9. "'However Differently Perceived and Worshipped"' -- 10. "Thus Have I Followed the Teaching of Buddha" -- Appendixes -- I. Exchanges of Presents -- II. The Band of the "'San Jacinto"' -- III. “An account of the most lamentable illness and death of Her young and amiable Majesty” -- IV. Anna as Historian -- Source Notes -- Bibliography -- Index