Dua orang Raja terakhir Ayutthaya yg tak dapat dilupakan oleh seluruh orang Thai tak lain tak bukan Uthumphorn dan Aekhathast. (Aekhathast ini bukan bermaksud Aku Taat sebagaimana didakwa oleh Melayu yang tau cakap Siam sikit-sikit tu) Orang Thai menganggap kedua orang raja ini bertanggungjawab penuh atas pecahnya kota Sri Ayutthaya kepada Burma. Mereka berdua dikedudukan yg sepatutnya menjaga kesejahteraan dan keselamatan negara telah kehilangan dan kemusnahan kota Ayutthaya.
Menurut "phongsawadal" (sejarah lama), Chao Bhoromokot melihat Aekhathast tidak mempunyai potensi utk mewarisi tahta lalu Aekhathast di hantar ke Watt Krak Chom menjadi sami dan memberi peluang kepada Uthumphorn yang lebih berkebolehan mewarisi tahta.
Namun, apabila Bhoromokot mangkat dan Uthumphorn menaiki tahta hanya beberapa hari, Aekhathast keluar dari sami dan kembali ke istana menuntut haknya sebagai pewaris yang lebih berhak. Bagi mengelak persenketaan, Uthumphorn menyerahkan tahta dengan baik dan membawa diri menjadi sami di Watt Prak Dusrongdham.
Aekhathast menjadi raja selama 9 tahun. Pada jangkamasa ini keadaan pemerintahannya aman makmur dengan para peniaga Cina, Khaek, Arab, Inggeris datang berniaga seperti pada masa pemerintahan sebelumnya juga. Namun menurut catatan seorang mubaligh Kristian dari Perancis, menyatakan bahawa Aekhathast adalah seorang raja yangtidak berkebolehan dalam mentadbir negara dan juga kurang mahir dalam peperangan dan sudah tentu tidak mampu menghindar bencana atau mara bahaya yang bakal melanda.
Bala mula menimpa Ayutthaya bila angkatan Burma melanggar Ayutthaya pada 2302-03 (1759-60). Aekhathast merasakan tidak mampu berhadapan dengan angkatan Alaungpaya lalu pergi merayu Uthumphorn di Watt supaya tinggalkan dunia sami dan berperang menghadapi Alaungpaya. Uthumphorn menurut kata Aekhathast dan berperang melawan Alaungpaya. Dalam peperangan ini Alaungpaya cedera terkena bedilan meriam pihak Siam dan mati ketika berundur dari kota Ayutthaya. Maka terselamatlah Ayutthaya pada kali ini.
Namun Aekhathast tak pernah sedar diri, bila Burma kalah, dia seperti biasa naik duduk tahta dengan megahnya, tak ada niat langsung nak menghargai pertolongan Uthumphorn. Uthumphorn kembali semula menjadi sami di Watt sehingga di gelar Khun Luang Ha Watt.
Tiba kali kedua Burma menyerang, Uthumphorn tidak mau terlibat lagi maka Aekhatahast menghadapinya bersendirian. Dan berakhirlah di sini kerajaan Aytthaya bersama kemusnahan kota Ayutthaya yang di bantai oleh Burma.
Menurut Phongsawadal, Aekhathast dapat melarikan diri dari kota Ayutthaya namun pelariannya berakhir dengan kematian akibat kebuluran. Manakala dalam History of the Kingdom of Siam tulisan M. Turpin pula menyatakan Aekhathast mati terbunuh di hadapan istana sebelum sempat lari. Mungkin Phongsawadal Siam atau M. Turpin tersilap kerana sumber marang perapu dari Kedah menyatakan Ekataat lari sampai ke Kebun 500 atau Tualang dan bersemenda semendi dengan Perempuan Melayu Terakhir sehingga melahirkan keturunan Nai Long. Wallahualam. Bila kita ketahui sikap Ekataat yang begitu, logik juga Praya Thaksin memburu dia sampai ke Kedah dan membunuhnya. Bunuh bukan kerana Ekataat sudah jadi "masuk Melayu", tapi kerana bimbang Ekataat akan melompat naik semula tahta Siam sebagaimana yang lepas-lepas. Ini mungkin boleh difikirkan. Walau bagaimana pun, tentu Ekataat menghadapi perjalanan sukar dlm usaha "Hijrah" nya itu kerana untuk sampai ke Kedah, dia terpaksa melalui negeri-negeri bawah naungannya yg mula membebaskan diri satu demi satu. Berapa orang pengikut yang turut hijrah bersama Aekhathast tidak pula diketahui.
Berlainan pula dengan Uthumphorn, walaupun dalam sami, dia telah ditangkap dan dibawa ke Burma bersama dengan kira-kira 30,000 rakyat Ayutthaya. Salah seorang daripadanya ialah nai Khanom Tom, seorang jaguh tinju Siam yang namanya dikenang sampai hari ini.
Di Burma itulah, Uthumphorn telah menulis sejarah Ayutthaya, tulisan ini diberi nama "Catatan Khun Luang Ha Watt".
Berkaitan rakyat Ayutthaya yang dibawa ke Burma, cucu cicit mereka masih ada sampai hari ini. Orang Thailand pun tidak pernah menganggap mereka sebagai bangsa Burma sebaliknya mereka di gelar "Thai Yai" (Thai Besar) oleh orang-orang Thai. Merujuk Thai Yai ini, PENNAPA HONGTHONG menulis:
..Thais consider the final fall of Ayutthaya one of the country's most humiliating defeats. Many would rather not even think about it, while others continue to hate the Burmese for the invasion that wiped out what was once one of the most prosperous and beautiful cities in Asia. Ask Thammasat University historian Kwandee Attawavutichai about it, however, and you'll definitely hear a different version of the story. For the past year, Kwandee has been searching for descendants of the 30,000 Thais (or, as they were then known, Siamese) who were taken back to Burma as prisoners of war 233 years ago. The second to last king of Ayutthaya was thought to be among them. King Uthumporn was ordained as a monk but was taken back to Burma nonetheless.
The first group she met reside in Mandalay. They dress like Burmese and none of them speak Thai. Asked what struck her the most about these people, Kwandee mentioned their facial composition, which is distinct from that of other Burmese; the fact that they still tell their offspring that their ancestors came from Ayutthaya and that they're proud of it; and the way the women tie up their hair, which she described as quite unique. Some traditional rituals, such as making sand stupa, are still practised. These rituals are conducted during Visakha Puja Days and not Songkran, as in Thailand today. Residents also recall the name of a village named Reuhaing, which may be a corrupt pronunciation of Rahaeng, a village in Tak province. Many residents are still goldsmiths, a profession widely known and practised in the Ayutthaya period.
Kwandee said she's certain of their origin from their gold patterns and motifs, which are definitely not Burmese. What's more, some of them even call themselves Yodhaya people, meaning Ayutthayan in Burmese. Kwandee also discovered what might be the ruin of a brick stupa marking the death of a member of the Ayutthaya royal family. The stupa and its inscription are too ornate and beautiful to be a lay person's, she said. Others suggest it might be a stupa to commemorate the bicentennial of those who were taken from Ayutthaya. Some villagers volunteered to draw a sketch of how the stupa once looked, and to Kwandee it resembled a royal coffin, with its reversed vertical cone shape.
Kwandee later said it was not King Uthumporn's tomb because he died while he was a practising monk and the Burmese practice is to cremate monks rather than bury them as they do lay people. Who this seemingly royal tomb was dedicated too remains a mystery. An elderly woman in an area called Yodayaweng told Kwandee that her ancestor was a classical dancer for the court of Ayutthaya and played the role of Hanuman, or monkey king, in the Ramayana epic. In that community, a small shrine with four Siamese classical puppet masks were found.
There's also another community called Mindasu, which can be translated as the abode of princes and princesses. Kwandee suspects this is a place where descendants of the Ayutthaya royals live. Other Burmese call them ajintor, which means "my noble friends". Some said their great-grandparents were princes of Ayutthaya but didn't know which ones. They still practise dance and keep some lyrics which are quite Siamese. "The Yodhaya blood still runs vigorously in all my veins and arteries," said a doctor by the name of Thinh Hmong....
The first group she met reside in Mandalay. They dress like Burmese and none of them speak Thai. Asked what struck her the most about these people, Kwandee mentioned their facial composition, which is distinct from that of other Burmese; the fact that they still tell their offspring that their ancestors came from Ayutthaya and that they're proud of it; and the way the women tie up their hair, which she described as quite unique. Some traditional rituals, such as making sand stupa, are still practised. These rituals are conducted during Visakha Puja Days and not Songkran, as in Thailand today. Residents also recall the name of a village named Reuhaing, which may be a corrupt pronunciation of Rahaeng, a village in Tak province. Many residents are still goldsmiths, a profession widely known and practised in the Ayutthaya period.
Kwandee said she's certain of their origin from their gold patterns and motifs, which are definitely not Burmese. What's more, some of them even call themselves Yodhaya people, meaning Ayutthayan in Burmese. Kwandee also discovered what might be the ruin of a brick stupa marking the death of a member of the Ayutthaya royal family. The stupa and its inscription are too ornate and beautiful to be a lay person's, she said. Others suggest it might be a stupa to commemorate the bicentennial of those who were taken from Ayutthaya. Some villagers volunteered to draw a sketch of how the stupa once looked, and to Kwandee it resembled a royal coffin, with its reversed vertical cone shape.
Kwandee later said it was not King Uthumporn's tomb because he died while he was a practising monk and the Burmese practice is to cremate monks rather than bury them as they do lay people. Who this seemingly royal tomb was dedicated too remains a mystery. An elderly woman in an area called Yodayaweng told Kwandee that her ancestor was a classical dancer for the court of Ayutthaya and played the role of Hanuman, or monkey king, in the Ramayana epic. In that community, a small shrine with four Siamese classical puppet masks were found.
There's also another community called Mindasu, which can be translated as the abode of princes and princesses. Kwandee suspects this is a place where descendants of the Ayutthaya royals live. Other Burmese call them ajintor, which means "my noble friends". Some said their great-grandparents were princes of Ayutthaya but didn't know which ones. They still practise dance and keep some lyrics which are quite Siamese. "The Yodhaya blood still runs vigorously in all my veins and arteries," said a doctor by the name of Thinh Hmong....
Ini sebahagian bukti yang menafikan dakwaan sesetengah orang bahawa dinasti Ayutthaya adalah Islam. Tapi kalau Ekataat lari ke Kedah dan masuk Melayu, itu di luar pengetahuan para pengkaji sejarah kerana biasanya orang yang sedang lari tak suka disejarahkan kejadian larinya.
Wallahualam Bissawab.
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