In the King’s Trail, an 18th Century Dutch Journey to the Buddha’s Footprint


Remco Raben, Dhiravat na Pombejra

Published by: The Royal Netherlands Embassy, Bangkok, hardcover with dustjacket, illustrated
some handwritten text on endpaper from last owner.

In March 1737 King Borommakot of Siam invited the chief of the Dutch United East India Company's office in Ayutthaya, Theodorus Jacobus Van den Heuvel, to accompany him on his annual pilgrimage to the shrine of the Buddha' s Footprint (Phra Phutthabat). The Dutchman recorded his experiences and impressions in his journal or "daily register", here translated into English, annotated, and published for the first time.

This Dutch document gives an insight into the history of Ayutthaya in its twilight years, and is an example of what a European merchant understood, or occasionally misunderstood, about the court, culture, and society of eighteenth century Siam.

To put the document in its proper historica perspective, there are essays on King Borommakot, his court, and their world, by David K. Wyatt; and on King Borommakot and the Dutch East India Company, by Remco Raben and Dhiravat na Pombejra.

Register ook in ned. tekst (blz 43 tm 50)