Thailand was originally called Siam, “The land of the White Elephant” or The country of Muang Thai (Land of the Free).
The Thais have their own culture (including literature, drama, architecture, music, painting, sculpture, folk dances, and many handicrafts), their own language, their own cuisine, their own martial arts, and their own beliefs, with influences from China and India.
After the short-lived kingdom of Sukhothai founded in 1238, a unified Thai kingdom (Ayutthaya) was established in the mid-14th century; it was known as Siam until 1939.
Thailand is the only southeast Asian country never have been taken over by a European power.
Thailand lies at the converging point of the empires of China, India, Burma, the Khmers and Vietnam.
The traditional founding date for Thailand is 1238.
Thais and Burmese have traditionally been enemies.
Unlike other nations in Southeast Asia, Thailand was never colonized.
Little is known of the earliest inhabitants of what is now Thailand, but 5,000-year-old archaeological sites in the northeastern part of the country are believed to contain the oldest evidence of rice cultivation and bronze casting in Asia and perhaps in the world.
In early historical times, a succession of tribal groups controlled what is now Thailand.
The Mon and Khmer peoples established powerful kingdoms that included large areas of the country.
They absorbed from contact with South Asian peoples religious, social, political, and cultural ideas and institutions that later influenced the development of Thailand’s culture and national identity.
The Tai, a people who originally lived in southwestern China, migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of many centuries.
The first mention of their existence in the region is a twelfth-century A.D. inscription at the Khmer temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which refers to syam, or “dark brown” people (the origin of the term Siam) as vassals of the Khmer monarch.
In 1238 a Tai chieftain declared his independence from the Khmer and established a kingdom at Sukhothai in the broad valley of the Mae Nam (river) Chao Phraya, at the center of modern Thailand.
Sukhothai was succeeded in the fourteenth century by the kingdom of Ayutthaya.
The Burmese invaded Ayutthaya and in 1767 destroyed the capital, but two national heroes, Taksin and Chakkri, soon expelled the invaders and reunified the country under the Chakkri Dynasty.
Over the centuries Thai national identity evolved around a common language and religion and the institution of the monarchy.
Although the inhabitants of Thailand are a mixture of Tai, Mon, Khmer, and other ethnic groups, most speak a language of the Tai family.
A Tai language alphabet, based on Indian and Khmer scripts, developed early in the fourteenth century.
Later in the century a famous monarch, Ramathibodi, made Theravada Buddhism the official religion of his kingdom, and Buddhism continued into the twentieth century as a dominant factor in the nation’s social, cultural, and political life.
Finally, the monarchy, buttressed ideologically by Hindu and Buddhist mythology, was a focus for popular loyalties for more than seven centuries.
In the late twentieth century the monarchy remained central to national unity.
During the nineteenth century, European expansionism, rather than Thailand’s traditional enemies, posed the greatest threat to the kingdom’s survival.
Thai success in preserving the country’s independence (it was the only Southeast Asian country to do so) was in part a result of the desire of Britain and France for a stable buffer state separating their dominions in Burma, Malaya, and Indochina.
More important, however, was the willingness of Thailand’s monarchs, Mongkut (Rama IV, 1851-68) and Chulalongkorn (Rama V, 1868-1910), to negotiate openly with the European powers and to adopt European-style reforms that modernized the country and won it sovereign status among the world’s nations.
Thailand (then known as Siam) paid a high price for its independence, however: loss of total control over Cambodia and Laos to France and cession of the northern states of the Malay Peninsula to Britain.
By 1910 the area under Thai control was a fraction of what it had been a century earlier.
In the early decades of the twentieth century, Thailand’s political system, armed forces, schools, and economy underwent drastic changes.
Many Thai studied overseas, and a small, Western-educated elite with less traditional ideas emerged.
In 1932 a bloodless coup d’etat by military officers and civil servants ended the absolute monarchy and inaugurated Thailand’s constitutional era.
Progress toward a stable, democratic political system since that time, however, has been erratic.
Politics has been dominated by rival military-bureaucratic cliques headed by powerful generals.
These cliques have initiated repeated coups d’etat and have imposed prolonged periods of martial law.
Parliamentary institutions, as defined by Thailand’s fourteen constitutions between 1932 and 1987, and competition among civilian politicians have generally been facades for military governments.
A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy.
In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US ally following the conflict.
The Snake That Turned into Rock
According to legend, the snake was cürsed!!!
Phu Langka National Park in Thailand is famous for the Naka Cave where a big snake-like rock quietly sits.
Closely resembling a serpent, the snake rock is shrouded in mystery as many local folks believe that it was once a real giant snake.
The Naka Cave itself is reportedly home to several myths and legends, many of them imagined due to a part of the cave that looks strangely like a serpent.
There is a specific stone slab that resembles a python’s head, while giant rocks with scaly texture look as if they’re the snake’s coiling body.
In Buddhist lore, the giant snake rock takes after the mythological snake called “Naga.”
A naga is said to be half-human and half-snake, dwelling in the netherworld (land of the dead) and occasionally taking the form of a human.
Legend has it that the Mekong River in northeastern Thailand and Laos was actually created by two Naga kings, slithering in the area that’s now part of the Phu Langka National Park.
If we’re to stay faithful to the legends of yore, then just maybe, the snake rock might have been one of the Naga kings resigned to a long slumber.
Another theoretical folklore that attempts to explain the giant snake rock is less cultural but a bit more daring.
Some tourists actually speculate that the giant rock was once a Titanoboa, petrified due to volcanic eruptions.
A Titanoboa is considered to be the largest snake ever to roam the earth before its extinction.
Given the size of the snake rock, this theory isn’t hard to imagine.
But alas, there is a scientific explanation for everything.
According to Phu Langka National Park officials, the giant snake rock is actually made up of sun-cracked rocks that are more than 100,000 years old.
The sharp temperature differences between day and night caused the rock to expand, contract, and eventually crack.
Matched with water erosion, the scale-like pattern of the giant snake rock was eventually formed.
The Esoteric Story of The Cursed King Ulu
The events of this ancient story happened at Khong Long, close to the lake at Bueng Khong Long District of Thailand (Thailand falls).
At that time the name of the place was Rattapa Nakhon.
The ruling king was called Ulu (Ue-Lue).
King Ulu’s wife’s name was Gaewganlaya and daughter’s name was Kukam.
Kukam was later married to Sampanta.
They had a son called Fahung.
Fahung was a very intelligent and beautiful young man.
Once Fahung met a very beautiful girl Nakkarintrani.
Seeing this, Fahung fell in love with her.
Over time, the two continued to meet.
Fahung proposed marriage to Nakrantarani and asked to stay in the palace.
Nakrantarani was very happy that Fahung loved her very much, but she was worried about one thing, that when Fahung came to know that Nakrantarani was not a woman, Fahung would leave her.
In reality, Nakrantarani was a woman of snake, who is called Naka in their language.
It was Nakrantarani who first saw Fuhang and took the form of a beautiful woman to attract him.
Now to avoid this dilemma, Nakrantarani went to Naglok and told her love affair with her father, who was also the king of Naglok.
Nakrantarani wanted to marry a human being and the king of Nagaloka was very upset because the humans and serpents were never suppose to marry.
Therefore, he did not want to allow the marriage between his daughter and the human being.
The king of Nagaloka loved his daughter very much and had to give in to her stubbornness.
A ceremony was performed for Nakrantarani and Fahung’s wedding which lasted for 7 days.
In Rattapa Nakhon, no one knew that Nakrantarani was a Nagakanya (Snake) and for 3 years everything went well, but Nakrantarani and Fahung had no rest and this concern was worrying Mana Nakrantarani who feared the truth will one day come out.
Due to anxiety in her human vagina, she started getting very sick due to which she decided to enter the vagina of a snake to calm her unrest.
Just then a Nokrani saw Nakrantarani changing from human into a snake.
The Nokrani was horrified to see all this and ran away.
And the talk of Nakrantarani turning into a snake spread throughout the entire state like a wild bush fire.
The People in the empire were very sad to know this.
Nakrantarani was having difficulty in her transformation due to her ill state.
Gradually, Nakrantarani went out of people’s minds.
King Ulu wrote a letter to the king of Nagaloka and said that he should come take his daughter .
Fahung was very sad to see all this because he was not able to help Nakrantarani.
The king of Nagaloka loved his daughter very much and when he came to meet her, he was very angry with his daughter’s condition.
He took his daughter with him in great anger and declared that he would come back with his army and eradicate Rattapa Nakhein.
The same night he returned with his entire army and killed all the people of Rattapa Nakhen and Rattapa Nakhen was completely submerged.
Which today is presently known as khong long lake.
Naaglok Naresh made King Ulu a serpent and cursed that he could not be freed until Rattapa Nakhen becomes a city again!
