Sakdiphonlasep

Who was Sakdiphonlasep?

Somdet Phra Bawonratchao Maha Sakdiphonlasep was the Front Palace appointed by Nangklao as the titular heir to the throne as he was the uncle to the king.

Prince Arunotai was the son of King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai and his concubine Nuiyai. He was later appointed the Kromma Muen Sakdiphonlasep and became acquitted with his half-nephew Kromma Muen Jessadabodin during the wars with Burma. Kromma Muen Chetsadabodin was crowned as King Nangklao in 1824 and, consequently, Sakdiphonlasep was made the "Second King". He led the Siamese armies into Isan to fight with King Anouvong of Vientiene in 1825.

Sakdiphonlasep ordered the construction of the Bowonniwet Temple - the seat of the Sangharaja today and where Prince Mongkut became an abbot. In 1829, he ordered the Buddha Chinnasri - a 900-year old Sukhothai Buddha statue from Pitsanulok - to be floated along the river and placed at the Bowonniwet Temple.

His funeral procession was held 2 April 1833, with cremation set for seven days later. The king, through the Phraklang, invited US diplomat Edmund Roberts and party to witness the procession, which Roberts describes in journal. Roberts notes that one of the sons of the wang-na watches at the temple, near the funeral pile, night and day, till the body is consumed; the ashes of the consumed body are then thrown into the river with many ceremonies; and the unconsumed bones are then delivered to the priests, and made into household gods [sic].