The Persian embassy to Siam (1685) was a diplomatic mission sent by the Safavid Empire under Suleiman I to the Ayutthaya Kingdom under the rule of Narai in the year 1685. The details of this mission can be found in the book Safine-ye Solaymani, which was written by one of the members of the delegation named Mohammad Rabi ibn Mohammad Ebrahim.
The mission reflected the period of political, commercial and cultural influences of the Shia Muslim Persians over Siam during the reign of King Narai (r. 1656–1688), who had earlier ascended the throne through a pivotal military support from the Persians in Ayutthaya. King Narai first sent a diplomatic mission that reached Persia in 1669. More than a decade later, King Narai sent another mission under the Persian nobleman under Siamese service Ḥājjī Salīm Māzandarānī, who reached Isfahan in 1683 and had audiences with Shah Suleiman I. The Safavid court reciprocated by sending a Persian diplomatic mission under Ḥusayn Beg as the chief envoy with Muḥammad Rabī, the author of Safīnah-yi Sulaymānī or "Ship of Sulaimān", as the secretary of the mission. The mission departed from Bandar Abbas in June 1685. Even though the chief envoy Ḥusayn Beg died at Tenasserim, the mission reached Ayutthaya in early 1686. However, by the time of arrival of the mission, the Persian influences on Siam had declined in favor of the French so King Narai received this Persian mission rather anticlimactically. The Persian mission left Siam in January 1687 without achieving any fruitful results, returning to Persia, reaching Bandar Abbas in May 1688.
Background
Arrival of the Persians in Siam
In the early seventeenth century, the Persians, most of whom were secondary migrants from the Persianized Deccan sultanates of Southern India, called Indo-Iranians, began to arrive in Siam. According to Chronicle of the Bunnag family, a Shia Persian man named "Shaykh Aḥmad Qomi" (Persian: شیخ احمد قمی) or "Shaykh Aḥmad Kuni" or "Sheikh Ahmad", along with his younger brother Muḥammad Sa'īd, arrived in Ayutthaya around early seventeenth century as traders. This Sheikh Ahmad and his brother Muḥammad Sa'īd entered the royal services under King Songtham (r. 1611–1628), during which they supervised the Krom Tha Khwa or Department of the Right Pier, in which Muslims were employed under Siamese bureaucracy to oversee trades with the Muslims. Sheikh Ahmad also became a friend of Okya Si Worawong, a powerful Siamese mandarin during the last years of the reign of Songtham.
After the death of King Songtham in 1628, Okya Si Worawong seized the throne from Songtham's son Chetthathirat in 1629 and took the throne as King Prasat Thong of Ayutthaya, founding the Prasat Thong dynasty that would rule Siam only for about sixty years until 1688. The new king Prasat Thong appointed Sheikh Ahmad as Okphra Chula Ratchamontri the head of the Krom Tha Khwa Right Pier Department, also as Shaykh al-Islām or the head of Islamic communities in Siam. Sheikh Ahmad's brother, Muḥammad Sa'īd, left Siam to return to India at some point. King Prasat Thong had a younger brother, Si Suthammaracha, whom he appointed as Uparaja or heir presumptive. Prasat Thong's eldest son Prince Chai was born to his original wife before Prasat Thong's ascension. Prasat Thong also forcibly took a number of daughters of the late King Songtham as his consorts, one of them bore Prince Narai in 1632.
According to The Ship of Sulaimān, Prince Narai, in his youth, became acquinted with the Persian communities in Ayutthaya. At his death in August 1656, Prasat Thong had not clearly named an heir, resulting in another Ayutthayan dynastic conflict between three contenders; Prasat Thong's younger brother Si Suthammaracha, Prasat Thong's eldest son Prince Chai and the second son Prince Narai. Prince Chai managed to seize the royal palace and claim the throne for himself but the two other contenders, Narai and his uncle Suthammaracha, allied with each other to successfully overthrow and execute Chai shortly after. Narai allowed his uncle Si Suthammaracha to ascend the throne as the new King of Siam, who also appointed Narai as Uparaja or heir presumptive but alliance soon fell apart.
Political tension between Narai and his uncle King Si Suthammaracha became inevitable. According to Persian account, Narai acted defiantly against his uncle the king without giving any respects. Thai chronicles give the breaking point as when King Suthammaracha stooped to take a younger sister of Narai as his consort, the scheme that she only escaped by hiding in a book chest to be carried out of the palace. Narai became enraged and decided to take the final act. Narai asked for armed support from the Persians, who promised to help Narai gain the throne. On the Āshūrā Day, in October 1656, during which the Persians in Ayutthaya performed the mystery play or Taziyat for the Mourning of Muḥarram. Death of the Imam Ḥusayn ibn Alī in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE was reenacted with armies carrying weapons into the streets of Ayutthaya to perform.
Prince Narai sneakily had his agent set fire to the King Suthammaracha's royal guard headquarters. While the king's royal guards were busy putting out the fires, Narai led the Persian men, who were performing the Muḥarram, already with guns and cannons, to attack and seize control of the Siamese royal palace. Narai shouted "Oh Alī!" to encourage the Persians. Among Narai's supporters during the assault on the royal palace were the whole troupe of Krom Tha Khwa officials including Okphra Chula Ratchamontri, two Persians with approximate Thai renditions of names Mirza and Mawla. Other foreigners including the Portuguese, the Malays and the Japanese also supported Narai. King Si Suthammaracha could only jump into the river, where he was soon captured and executed by beating with sandalwood club. According to The Ship of Sulaimān, King Narai ascended the throne of Ayutthaya on the 8th of Muḥarramu l-Ḥarām 1068 AH (16 October 1657).
Rise of the Persians in Siam At his ascension during 1656–1657, the new king Narai appointed his supporters, among them the Persians, to positions in the Siamese government. According to The Ship of Sulaimān, after his ascension, Narai allocated his personal money to annually sponsor the Taziyat processions of the Muḥarram in Ayutthaya. At ascension of King Narai, the Persians in Ayutthaya numbered to about one hundred individuals. A Persian man from Gilan named 'Abdu'r-Razzāq (Persian: عبدالرزاق) was appointed as Okya Phichit, a trade official under the Phrakhlang ministry. 'Abdu'r-Razzāq became a close confidant of King Narai. Also after his ascension, King Narai sought to bypass the imposition of Dutch monopoly on Siamese export, previously agreed by his father King Prasat Thong, by sending out Chinese merchants to trade at Nagasaki on his behalf.
In 1660, the Qing dynasty forces invaded Burma in search for the Southern Ming pretender Yongli Emperor. The King of Chiang Mai, whose kingdom had been under Burmese suzerainty, fearing Chinese attacks, asked for protection from King Narai of Ayutthaya. King Narai then had to leave Ayutthaya with large armies and a large number of officials to embark on his Northern Campaign in 1661, leaving his regents in Ayutthaya. Okya Phichit 'Abdu'r-Razzāq was put in charge of all Ayutthaya's trade and foreign affairs during Narai's absence. 'Abdu'r-Razzāq, however, mishandled the affair. When the Dutch, who had been dissatisfied with Siamese diplomatic overtures with Koxinga, seized a Siamese trading junk near Hainan in 1661, 'Abdu'r-Razzāq responded by revoking all of the Dutch trading monopoly and privileges in Siam and sent Koxinga's Chinese supporters to attack the Dutch factory in Ayutthaya. When King Narai returned from his Northern Campaign in 1663, Narai was angry at 'Abdu'r-Razzāq's handling of the Dutch affair. 'Abdu'r-Razzāq was imprisoned and soon died.
Even though 'Abdu'r-Razzāq had been punished, the Dutch–Siamese relations had reached the breaking point and the Dutch decided that this conflict would be settled by force. Joan Maetsuycker the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies sent three Dutch warships to impose naval blockade on Ayutthaya in October 1663. King Narai eventually capitulated and was forced to sign the Dutch–Siamese Treaty of August 1664, in which Siam gave commercial concessions to the Dutch East India Company. After the blockade, King Narai sought to counter-balance the Dutch influence.
After the downfall of 'Abdu'r-Razzāq, another Persian man Āqā Muḥammad from Astarābād, also called Āqā Muḥammad Astarābādī (Persian: آقا محمد استرآبادی), was appointed by King Narai as Okphra Si Naowarat (Thai: ออกพระศรีเนาวรัตน์) as the leader of the Persian communities in Siam. Āqā Muḥammad was said to be a son of Muḥammad Sa'īd who had returned to India. Muḥammad Sa'īd was the younger brother of Sheikh Ahmad, who died in Siam before Narai's ascension to the throne. Despite his father returning to India, Āqā Muḥammad came to Siam around the 1640s and had known Narai before his ascension to the throne.
It was during the time of this Āqā Muḥammad Astarābādī that King Narai and the Siamese court underwent "Iranian Revolution" and gravitated Siam towards the Persian world. Rise and presence of Āqā Muḥammad in Siamese royal court marked the apogee of Persian influences in Siam. It was also during this apex of Persian influences that Siam began to make diplomatic overtures to the Persianate world. During the Dutch blockade of Ayutthaya, King Narai sent a diplomatic mission across the Bay of Bengal to establish relations with the Sultanate of Golconda, whose rulers were Persianate, in 1664.
Mohammad Rabi, in his The Ship of Sulaimān, portrayed the Siamese king Narai as an extreme Iranophile. Narai reportedly ate Persian food, wore Persian clothes and hired Persian guards. Narai also tucked an Iranian-style dagger at his waist but refused to wear turban because it was too heavy. Mohammad Rabi gave account of and praised Āqā Muḥammad as follows;
Under dominance of Āqā Muḥammad Astarābādī, many Persians rose to high positions in the Siamese royal court. Āqā Muḥammad encouraged immigration of his fellow Persians from Southern India to be employed in Siam. These Persians were secondary migrants, being originally from Astarābād and Māzandāran on the shores of Caspian Sea. In this period, Āqā Muḥammad recruited about two hundred Persians from India to Ayutthaya. The Siamese called the Persians Khaek Ma-ngon, with Khaek being the Thai ethnic term for Muslims or Indians and Ma-ngon being from "Mughal" (Persian: moġol مغول "Mongol") as most of the Persians had come from India. The Persians were also called Khaek Chao Sen, with Chao Sen being the Imam Hussein, denoting the unique Muḥarram religious practice of the Persians.
First Siamese diplomatic mission to Persia (1668–1669)