Chaophraya Nakhon (Nu)

In 1769, King Taksin of Thonburi initiated his campaign to subjugate the Southern Siamese regime of Ligor as a part of his reunification of Siam. He sent his commander Chaophraya Chakri Mut to lead the Thonburi armies down south to attack Ligor. Nakhon Nu sent Ligorian forces to face the Thonburi forces at Thamak (around modern Sichon District to the north of Nakhon Si Thammarat), leading to the Battle of Thamak in 1769. The Ligorian forces prevailed. Chaophraya Chakri Mut and his Thonburi armies were defeated and retreated back to Chaiya.

After his initial defeat, King Taksin decided to personally command the armies. Taksin led the royal Thonburi fleet down south with 10,000 men[3] in August 1769. The royal forces defeated the Ligorians at Thamak and proceeded to lay siege on Nakhon Si Thammarat. Chao Nakhon Nu assigned his heir Chan to defend the city. It is said that King Taksin sent his agent to secretly meet with Chan, urging him to defect and switch side.[4] The battle occurred at Tha Pho in the northern outskirts of Ligor, in which Chan was defeated and captured. Nakhon Si Thammarat fell to King Taksin on September 21, 1769. Nakhon Nu took his family, including his daughters and his son-in-law Prince Phat, to seek refuge at Songkhla.

King Taksin ordered Chaophraya Chakri Mut and Chaophraya Phichairacha to pursue Nakhon Nu. Nakhon Nu, along with Luang Songkhla Vithien and Phra Phimol of Phatthalung, fled to Pattani under the protection of Sultan Muhammad of Pattani. The pursuing Thonburi forces urged the sultan to surrender the three governors. Sultan Muhammad was in no position to protect these fugitives and decided to hand over them to Taksin.[5] Nakhon Nu and his family were captured and brought back to King Taksin at Ligor. Officials proposed to execute Nakhon Nu but Taksin chose to spare his life, citing that Nakhon Nu, like Taksin himself, became the leader out of necessities and should be credited with the defense of Southern Siamese frontiers. King Taksin made his nephew Prince Nara Suriyawong the new ruler of Ligor. Nakhon Nu and his family was taken to Thonburi in March 1770.

Chaophraya Nakhon Nu spent seven years of exile in Thonburi.[6] His daughter Chim became a consort of King Taksin and bore him sons. Nakhon Nu and his family were initially placed under house arrest inside the Thonburi city wall. After two years, Nakhon Nu was allowed to establish his own residential compounds at Ban Kruay.[6]

In 1776, Prince Nara Suriyawong of Ligor died. King Taksin elevated Consort Chim, Nakhon Nu's daughter, to the position and title of Queen Krom Boricha Phakdi Si Sudarak (Thai: กรมบริจาภักดีศรีสุดารักษ์). Lady Prang, another daughter of Nakhon Nu, also soon became a consort of the king. Taksin decreed on October 1, 1776[7] to reinstate Nakhon Nu as an autonomous tributary ruler of Nakhon Si Thammarat with the regnal name of Phra Chao Khattiya Ratchanikhom (Thai: พระเจ้าขัตติยราชนิคม). His wife Lady Thongnio also became the Queen of Ligor. Nakhon Nu made his son-in-law Prince Phat as his Uparat or heir this time. Nakhon Nu, as the 'King of Nakhon Si Thammarat', wielded a great autonomous power, was allowed to maintain his own 'court' and even Chatusadom ministers. In 1777, Nakhon Nu proposed to King Taksin to conduct a campaign to subjugate the Northern Malay Sultanates.[8] Taksin refused, however, saying that the defense of borders from Burmese incursions was more important.

Nakhon Nu maintained male court dancers, which would later evolve to become the Menora dance of modern Southern Thailand. In 1780, King Taksin acquired the Emerald Buddha from Vientiane. Taksin ordered Nakhon Nu to bring his traditional male dancer troupe from Nakhon Si Thammarat to perform at Thonburi in the celebration of Emerald Buddha[9] in competition with Taksin's female court performers.

The Thonburi kingdom ended in 1782 and was replaced by the new regime of Rattanakosin kingdom. The new king Rama I found the autonomous power of Ligorian ruler to be excessive so he curbed the power of Ligor by demoting the position of the ruler of Ligor to be a 'governor' as it had used to be.[10] Chaophraya Nakhon Nu did not cooperate with the new Bangkok government in the Sak Lek or the conscription of Southern Siamese people.[7] Rama I also repeatedly summoned Nakhon Nu to Bangkok to ensure loyalty but Nakhon Nu defied and refused to go. Uparat Phat, Nakhon Nu's heir, filed a case against Nakhon Nu to Bangkok, accusing his father-in-law of incompetency and disorientation.[2] Nakhon Nu was finally sacked from his position as the governor of Ligor in 1784[3] and was taken to custody in Bangkok. King Rama I made Uparat Phat Chaophraya Nakhon the new governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat.[3]

Nakhon Nu presumably lived last years of his life in custody in his residence in Ban Kruay in Bangkok. Nakhon Nu and his wife Thongnio died at Bangkok[2] in unspecified years. Their ashes were brought by Nakhon Phat to Nakhon Si Thammarat to be interred at Wat Chang.