Phra Sunthorn Vohara, born Phu and known as Sunthorn Phu, was a famous royal poet honoured as the Shakespeare of Thailand.

Born in 1786, four years after the birth of the Rattanakosin Kingdom, in what was then Thonburi and today Bangkok, his family home was behind the royal palace. Sometime after his parents divorced, his father ordaining as a monk and his mother becoming a wet nurse to the royal family, Phu worked as a servant in the palace with his mother. There, he and a palace lady named Jan fell in love. The couple were imprisoned for violating the social order and angering Prince Anurak Devesh, however pardoned on the prince's death in 1806. After his release, he went to visit his father where he was ordained in Klaeng, Rayong. On this trip, he composed the famous work "Nirat Mueang Klaeng" (นิราศเมืองแกลง) dedicated to Jan. They then married and had a son called Nu Phat before an eventual divorce. He married twice more to Nim and Muang, fathering three more children.

First appointed as a court poet by King Rama II, he went on to serve two more kings before his death in 1855 at the age of sixty-nine. Throughout his career, he was honoured with the titles Khun Sunthorn Vohara, Luang Sunthorn Vohara and eventually Phra Sunthorn Vohara. Briefly imprisoned over an accusation of a drunken attack, he was later acquitted. He also spent a long time as a monk during his lifetime.

In 1986, the 200th anniversary of his birth, Sunthorn Phu was honoured as a great world poet by UNESCO. In 1955, the 100th anniversary of his death, the foundation stone for what would become the Sunthorn Phu Memorial was laid by Prime Minister Plaek Pibulsongkram. The completed monument was unveiled on May 25, 1970. There is a Sunthorn Phu museum in Wat Thepthidaram where he is believed to have cloistered. Sunthorn Phu Day is celebrated on June 26 every year.

(Source: kisskh) Edit Biography