Chiang Mai’s Princess Dara Rasmi

Posted by Arda on June 24th, 2007 filed in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, Thai Fine Art, Thai Culture, Thailand travel

By Andrew Bond

This is the story of a beautiful Northern Princess who won the heart of a great Siamese King. A story of the Lanna Kingdom facing an identity crisis in the last decades of its independence, saved in part by the efforts of a remarkable women. And this is the story of an understated museum and temple that were all but forgotten until the story of their generous benefactor was revived at the end of the twentieth century.  Each of these stories are woven together by the grace and simple dedication of one women who would become one of the most celebrated royals in recent history of Chiang Mai, and her name is associated with many of today’s landmarks from McCormick Hospital to Wat Suan Dawk.

Born simply as Chao Dara Rasmi on the 26th of August 1873, the princess was the 11th daughter of Chao Inthawichayanon, one of the last rulers of Chiang Mai and the Lanna king from whom Doi Inthanon (Thailand’s highest mountain) was named. At the time Chiang Mai was still re-populating and rebuilding itself after being all but deserted following two centuries of Burmese rule. In addition a necessary alliance with the Ratanakosin-Chakri rulers of Siam spelt the beginning of the end of independence of this once great Northern Kingdom. A year after her birth, in 1874, the first Siam governor arrived from Bangkok to assert their rule. This little child could not have dreamed that the present King, twenty-year-old Rama V, would one day take her as one of his consorts. He would also go on to become one of Siam’s greatest kings and play a hand in saving Northern Thailand from annexation by the French or English.

Chao Dara Rasmi had little time to enjoy her peaceful childhood in the sleepy relic that Chiang Mai city was at the time. On her 13th birthday her father escorted her to Bangkok where, by arrangement with the Royal Commissioner, she joined the Royal household after a topknot cutting ceremony befitting of the king’s own children. Such arrangements are common throughout history as a means of securing or demonstrating the loyalty of a lesser kingdom paying servitude to a larger dynasty. At that time Siam, under King Chulalongkorn the Great, encompassed one the largest geographical areas of control in its history; including Laos, Cambodia, the Northern states of Malaysia and all of the provinces within the present map of Thailand.

Three years after entering the court of this great kingdom, Chao Dara Rasmi gave birth to a baby girl by the king and was elevated to full consort status. Unfortunately the child was to die of tuberculosis before its fourth birthday, but it did not diminish the king’s interest in his ‘Northern’ consort. She was considered very beautiful, displaying distinct Northern features with her deep set eyes, and would soon become one the King’s favourites. This allowed her the indulgence of promoting Northern culture within the Royal court, including Northern music, language and arts. As a result, understanding between the two royal courts was greatly boosted and it helped gain respect for the ‘Northerners’ among the people of Siam. But it was to be a full twenty two years before the princess had a chance to return to her homeland.

Meanwhile, all was not well in Chiang Mai, as it begun to feel increasing pressure from its neighbours, and was effectively powerless to retaliate. By 1883 Burma, which had created such profound influences on the art and culture of the North, fell completely to the colonial ambitions of the British who annexed the Northern Burma territories two years later. It wasn’t long before they were disputing the jurisdiction of the Shan states that made up the northwest flank of Lanna. Disagreements over the Salween river border area were frequent, and were not helped by local Karenni tribes who paid little attention to either side.

The British consuls of the era, particularly Knox and Gould, were rather zealous about law enforcement in the region and it lead to some humiliating stand downs for the Lanna court, on instructions from Bangkok who were desperately trying to be diplomatic with the English. Perhaps, with his Northern consort’s influence, King Chulalongkorn would be compelled to act more forcefully, as Chiang Mai had become an important territorial buffer between two hostile nations both vying for his ally. But, in Bangkok King Chulalongkorn has his own headaches from the European powers to deal with. The French were moving in from the east, expanding their territory in Indochina. During his reign huge amounts of Siam were ceded to both great rival powers in a bid to save the sovereignty of Siam itself, and today this king is largely revered by all Thais for charting a shrewd course of diplomacy between them. Once again, the king would be glad for the co-operation of his Northern ally that he had cleverly cultivated through Chao Dara Rasmi.

The French claimed suzerainty over the Lao people, which included the Siamese territory that lay to the east of the Mekhong river. But the historic alliance of Northern states, which included Chiang Saen on the upper Mekhong helped him draw boundaries and eventually a pact, sealed in Europe, which kept Siamese territory firmly between the Salween and Mekhong – saving Northern Thailand from colonisation.

There is a temple in Chiang Mai that was developed almost exactly hundred years later – long after the demise of the Northern Thai Kingdom, yet displays typical Lanna architecture. It came about as a result of continuing efforts initiated by Chao Dara Rasmi to preserve the culture of this once important civilisation that pre-dates both Sukhothai, Ayuthaya and Bangkok. Known as Wat Phra Dara Phirom, it was developed on land donated by one of her descendents (see following article)

In 1910 King Chulalongkorn passed away. Two years earlier he had received the then ruler of Lanna, Chao Indavaroros Suriyawong, in his Royal court by arrangement of the princess. This was to be a very significant meeting at a time when the future of Northern Thailand seemed so uncertain and the princess was later rewarded for her efforts by being elevated to the esteemed Northern title of Phra Raja Jaya.

At the same time, King Chulalongkorn bestowed on her the newly introduced Chula Kiao Royal decoration which further cemented her importance. Upon his death, the fate of Phra Raja Jaya became an important issue, for the Northern court feared succession and she was forced to remain in Bangkok. Four years later, with the permission of the new Siam King, Rama VI, and ruling Lanna king, she was permitted to return to Chiang Mai and live out her days among her own people.

Not far from the Wat Phra Dara Phirom, is the Dara Phirom museum, one of the least visited but most rewarding of the several private museums in Chiang Mai. It was also the house where the Phra Raja Jaya lived before her death in 1933, cultivating rare English roses, developing new agricultural techniques and introducing hitherto unknown fruits such as the longan which now forms the backbone of Chiang Mai province’s fruit industry. The house was built for her by her half brother, Chao Kaew Nawarat - ninth and final ruler of Chiang Mai - and is a classic, though humble, teak mansion of the era. It incorporates classic Thai methods to keep it cool, with the living quarters on the elevated level, shuttered windows and polished teak floors. But it also displays distinctly Western conveniences of the time with its seated toilet, dressing table, posted double bed, baby grand piano and grammaphone.

The museum serves as a reminder to this great women, displaying personalised tableware and crockery embossed with her royal initials ‘Or Dor’ , antiques loaned by collectors, as well as  plenty of photographs demonstrating her good work. A statue of the Phra Raja Jaya stands outside the house and it was opened as a museum in 1999 following its restoration by Chulalongkorn University, who now own the land. But perhaps the largest legacy she left was her efforts to restore and preserve Northern culture during her last decades. Testament to this is found in several informative story boards in the museum, including her teaching of specific Northern classical dance such as the Fon Leb (nail dance), Fon Heun (candle dance) and Fon Man May, adapted from Burmese culture.

According to her own description, Northern dance is ‘more gentle, stepping lightly with ample arm movement and slow rhythm’. This are now performed at the many Khantoke Dinner displays offered to tourists as part of a Northern culture revival. Another skill she promoted was the Bai Sri formations made from banana leaves and the distinctive paper arrangements made for this important Northern ceremony. She also loved knitting, and on the occasion of her 60th birthday supervised the production of 60 utility bags for local monks.

Perhaps the Phra Raja Jaya’s crowning moment was the impressive royal reception she personally organised in 1926 for the arrival of the first ever Siamese king to visit Northern Thailand. King Phrachadipok (Rama VII) was treated to a procession the likes of which had never been seen before in the city, featuring a train of 80 elephants and fanfare that went on for days. Even the foreign dignitaries of the time admitted they had never seen something so impressive.

Her tireless efforts to her land of birth extended to donations for the restoration of Wat Phra That Doi Suithep, construction of chedis at Wat Suan Dawk to enshrine the ashes of the royal family, and granting of land and resources to establish Chiang Mai’s first modern hospital, McCormick, as well as two of the city’s most prestigious schools. She was also known to have loaned her car, one of the few in the city at the time, to be used occasionally as an ambulance.

By the end of the nineteen twenties the winds of democratic change were sweeping through Thailand and in 1932, a year before her death, a bloodless revolution created a constitutional monarchy and Siam’s name was changed to Thailand. By then the railway line had reached Chiang Mai and it was no longer isolated from the rest of the country. Quietly the Lanna Kingdom became part of the new nation and its name confined to history and guide books, while its culture was preserved in museums dedicated to the likes of the Phra Raja Jaya – a remarkable Lanna princess.

Thailand history
Cultural articles on Chiang Mai