Vajirananavarorasa - Childhood and Early Education

Childhood and Early Education

Vajirañana was born in the Grand Palace as the 4th child of Phae, one of King Mongkut's concubines. She died after giving birth to her fifth child, a daughter, when he was one year old. He was then fostered by a maternal relative (Princess Varaseṭhasutā, "Putrī", daughter of King Rama III) and her mother (a royal concubine named Samaśakti or "Ueng").

In the palace he learned the Siamese alphabet by a woman ("Nok Panakngan"). A nobleman (Phraya Pariyatidharrmadhātā, "Piam", then called Luang Rājābhirama), deputy head of the Royal Pundits Department, came to the Palace to teach the seven or eight year old Vajirañana (and other princes) the Khmer script used to inscribe religious texts (in Pali). With a teacher who was official at the Outer Court, Vajirañana studied Padamālā (i.e. Pali grammar), the Dhammapada commentary etc. until 1868. When his elder brother, Prince Brahmavarānurakṣa, ordained as a novice, Vajirañana was allowed to live with him in Wat Pavaraniveśa for some while. There he occasionally studied Pali scripture with Phra Pariyatidharrmadhātā ("Chang", then Luang Śrīvaravohāra), one of the four section chiefs in the Royal Pundits Department, who taught monks and novices at the monastery.

After his father had died in 1868 and his elder half brother Chulalongkorn had come to the throne, Vajirañana was back at the palace, receiving more education from his foster aunt, Princess Varaseṭhasutā. With her he practised reading and writing Siamese, and he was taught verse forms, Siamese arithmetic, and astrology.

King Chulalongkorn founded an English medium school on the palace ground and hired the Englishman Francis George Patterson for providing Western education. When the school first opened in 1872, Vajirañana began to study there. Patterson instructed the brothers of the king in the morning and the boys from the Royal Pages' Bodyguard Regiment in the afternoon. Patterson could not speak Siamese, and he used European textbooks, teaching English and French (reading, writing and speaking), mathematics and also some European history and geography. Vajirañana and Prince Damrong Rajanubhab were the most diligent of Patterson's students. Vajirañana continued the education with Patterson until 1875.

With 13 years Vajirañana ordained as a novice for 78 days (on 7 August 1873), with Prince Pavareś (สมเด็จพระมหาสมณเจ้า กรมพระยาปวเรศวริยาลงกรณ์, "Prince Roek" ฤกษ์, 1809–1892) as his preceptor. As a novice, he lived in Wat Pavaraniveśa, in a small residence known as the printshop: His father, King Mongkut, once had lived there as a monk and had printed his Ariyaka script there.

After having disrobed from his novicehood, Vajirañana got his first bigger amount of money to spend and discovered the world of consume. But in 1876, he met the young (between 25 and 30) Scottish physician Dr. Peter Gowan. Dr. Gowan taught him English here and then and a little about medicine, and he had a big influence on Vajirañana's life conduct (stop smoking, drinking and some prodigal or even dissolute habits). Getting more and more attracted to the monastery, Vajirañana went to visit his uncle, the then Supreme Patriarch Prince Pavareś. By him, Vajirañana was given instruction in poetry, astrology, and Buddhist scripture in 1876. He learned some additional astrology (i.e. how to do calendars) from two other teachers, Khun Debyākaraṇa ("That") and "Pia" (Phrakrupalat Suvaḍhanasutaguṇa at Wat Rājapratiṣṭha). Under the guidance of Prince Pavareś, Vajirañana also took up the study of Dhamma. He also invited one of his former Pali teachers, Phra Pariyatidharrmadhātā ("Chang"), to come to the monastery to instruct him in Pali again.

Vajirañana has always been very critical about the methods by which students learned Pali and would later rewrite the texts for Pali studies.

Although Vajirañana frequented the monastery, he could not yet decide himself to become a monk. From 12 July 1877, he also worked as a legal secretary for King Chulalongkorn for two years. King Chulalongkorn needed a reliable person such as Vajirañana in the Sangha, and he tried to persuade him to remain in the monkhood after he would have ordained as a monk according to the custom. Vajirañana was not yet sure, but he promised that if he were to disrobe he would do so at the end of the first Rains. If he lasted beyond that he would not disrobe. King Chulalongkorn then promised him to confer on him a princely rank and title if he remained in the monkhood for three Rains. (The King kept his promise by doing so in 1882.)