Page:Prachum Phongsawadan (01) 2457.djvu/143



Phra Pariyattithammathādā (Phǣ Parīan), whilst still being Lūang Prasœ̄tʿaksǭnnit, discovered a manuscript containing this royal chronicle at the house of a private citizen. He then asked for it to be given to the Wachirayān Royal Library on 19 June 2450 BE. Finding it was a royal chronicle distinguished from the other existing versions, the Board of the Royal Library named it the Royal Chronicle: Lūang Prasœ̄t Version to honour the person who discovered it and brought it to the Royal Library.

This royal chronicle contains a preamble declaring that it is a royal document which King Nārāi the Great ordered to be composed on Wednesday, the twelfth waxing-moon day of the fifth month of the Year of the Monkey, Year Two, 1042 LE. Its contents commence with the construction of a Buddha statue, Lord Phanan Chœ̄ng, in the year 686 LE. It is not known at which point of time the contents should end because the manuscript obtained by the Royal Library only consists of a single volume which stops short in the Year of the Dragon, Year Six, 866 LE, during the reign of King Narēsūan, when an army was prepared for attacking the city of ʿAngwa. My speculation is that there might be one more volume, being the second volume, of which the contents would end in the reign of King Prāsātthǭng at most.

The manuscript obtained was written in gamboge ink on a blackened book with the Old Kingdom penmanship. There are traces of rain drops which damped and blurred the writing in many places, 8