Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chinese door guards at Wat Sampeng, site of a royal execution.
At the end of Sampeng Lane is the temple that originally gave the thoroughfare its
name. Wat Pathum Khong was originally known as Wat Sampeng, and dates back to the
Ayutthaya era, although no one knows when it was originally built. There is a melancholy
history attached to this temple. Kroma Luang Rak Ronnaret, the fifteenth son of Rama
I
,
had risen to a very high position in the court of Rama
III
. He is said to have been a force-
ful man, highly versed in Buddhism, and when he was appointed supreme judge over the
priesthood he exerted a corrupting influence. he prince had been a close friend of Rama
III
before the king had ascended the throne, and when he did so, the king gave him great
powers that in some areas almost equalled his own. These he abused with dangerous en-
thusiasm. A lengthy account published in the
SingaporeFreePress&MercantileAdvert-
iser
at the time of the prince's downfall records that he was the prime mover in establish-
ing the legalised gambling establishments “which have caused so much misery in Siam”,
recommending gambling to the king as a proper business to be licensed for the purpose
of collecting revenue. He organised for himself a concession for the sale of strong spirits.
He imposed double labour and taxes on the Mons, and when they complained to the king,
the prince sent enforcers into the Mon villages. The king had at first treated Rak Ron-
naret with indulgence, but gradually the prince became a grave liability, the great power
he wielded at court putting him beyond mere dismissal. Serious irregularities in the royal
accounts appear to have been the final impetus for the king to take action, and in Novem-
ber of 1848 a detachment of the royal guard was sent to the prince's palace to arrest him.
Investigations appeared to reveal that the prince was plotting to dethrone the king. There
could only be one course of action in the light of those findings, whether they were true or
not, and on the morning of 12
th
December the prince was taken to Wat Sampeng, a royal
temple conveniently outside the city walls. There a velvet sack was placed over his head,
his head was laid upon the execution stone and he was beaten to death with a sandalwood
club. His body, the
SingaporeFreePress
reports, was thrown into the river. The Thaen Hin
Paraharn Kabot, the Rebel's Execution Stone, can today be found behind the
wiharn
of
this riverside temple.
