Discovering old cannons at the museum in the Grand Palace.

During my recent visit to the Grand Palace, I discovered a small meseum full of old canons tugged away in a little corner by the exit way of the Palace. This must have been a recent addition during the lockdown. The renovation and construction around the Grand Palace had unearthed more than three hundreds marble statues of Europeans in their period costumes, around eighteenth century. No one knew who impoterd them into Siam and why they were buried deep under the Palace. These statues were displayed around the Palace; lots of visitors have arrived to take their selfies.

But these old cannons, probably imported from Germany almost three hundred years ago. It was very difficult finding any detailed information about the history of these canons. Canons and firearms were brought into South East Asia by the Portugese, Spanish and Dutch merchants. These foreigners sold these powerful canons and firearms to both the Burmese and Siamese. So, the war we raged against each other became very fierce and bloody. The Siamese even had Portugese mercenaries as private body guards to the king. All Siamese kings has to become sharp shooters. Prince Nares was incredibly lucky with his single shot at the Burmese troop commander across the river.

The Siamese was evacuating their villagers and troops across the river on long bamboo rafts. The Burmese found out about the escape plan organised by Prince Nares, so the order was to stop and kill them all. The Siamese couldn’t destroy the bamboo rafts until everyone had crossed over the river safely. This was a very big and sturdy rafts over which horses could gallop. The special firearm looked like a rifle with much longer gun barrel which needed a supporting rod to steady the gun (simular to the Siege Gun at the museum in Rajastan which was supposed to fire target as far as 2 kms). We had no record of which country was the long gun imported.

But there was record of the Dutch and Portuguese cannons which arrived in Ayuttaya over four hundred years ago. The surprising discovery was that Siamese in Ayuttaya knew how to produce good quality cannons and gun powder. The Japanese emperor sent a request for two Siamese cannons, gun powder and sandalwood. The production of cannons continued till the Reign of King Rama V.

Something happened to stop all the wars among Burmese, Thais and others. The production of cannons had stopped for almost a hundred years. Then I realised that our neighbouring countries were being colonised after the Portuguese and Spanish were defeated during the Armada during the time of Elizabeth I. Siamese Kings had to work very hard and sacrifice personal wealth and sovereignty over land on the left side of Khong River. Siam lost most of Laos and Cambodia to the French while land in the south and several cities were taken over by the British. These sacrifices made it possible to placate further aggressive demands by the colonisers.

Siam had started to make cannons again during the Reign of King Rams III, with the help of Chinese cannon maker. The previous know-how seemed to have disappeared after many years of peaceful phase with our neighbouring countries. In 1921 a survey was conducted on the number of cannons in Siam. Seventy-one canons were listed at that time, but only forty cannons could be found nowadays. Some cannons had been used to decorate governmental’s buildings.

It’s a shame that modern Thai people were not aware of cannons in our history. Siamese cannons from early Ayuttaya period was very famous. King Narai sent two cannons as gifts to King Louise IV. These two cannons were used to blast the gate of Bastille during the French Revolution in 1789. These cannons could be found at the army museum in Paris. King Rama I commissioned a cannon called Narai-sanharn which could reach surprisingly long distance targets. This cannon blasted the camping Burmese troops who were about to stage an invasion.

But no amount of cannons and gun powder could placate hundreds of foreigners’ war ships blocking the river in Bangkok; some with guns and cannons pointing towards important targets. Humble Asian people wouldn’t stand a chance against well disciplined foreign troops with modern weapons and warships. It took many years for the heroic Vietnamese leader to inspire his countrymen to rise up against the French colonial power. The British Empire had to deal with the rise of Gandhi and his movements. Previous Kings of old days could never have imagined how the world and its geographical politics and modern warfare would have transformed all lives and countries in less than a hundred years.

I was rather disappointed that this small museum didn’t give any details or history about these old cannons. So, I couldn’t find out which cannons were involved in which conflicts with the Burmese or others. Our teachers never knew how to teach history with real appreciation of what older generations had sacrificed for their motherland and future generations. That’s probably why most Thai people knew very little about their own past ancestors. I myself often failed my history exams as I couldn’t bother to memorise all the long names and dates. Learning history at school was very boring to me.

Only when I had visited old ruins of Ayuttaya that I grasped what had occurred long time ago. These cannons had stirred up images of intense fighting in the past, with all the sounds, smokes and commotion of fierce confrontation. I knew I has been a warrior in my past lives and old weapons often reminded me of my faint memories of yesteryear. I was glad I didn’t have to be involved with any fightjng or conflicts. It’s all very karmic, if we don’t stop the killing, there’ll be more revenge killing and it would never stop. So, I have become a pacifist and a Buddhist who has to practice the five precepts as best as I could.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#wednesdaywalk hosted by @tattoodjay.