Editing Vajiravudh (section)

===Vajiravudh as a writer===
[[File:Maha Vajiravudh.jpg|thumb|250px|King Vajiravudh inspecting a Sukhothai-era Buddha in 1907 (Ror Yor 126), with a [[Nāga|naga]] and a lotus finial. The caption, in the King's hand, classified the Buddha. He signed the photo on top right.]]
{{main|Works of Vajiravudh}}
King Vajiravudh was one of Thailand's most highly renowned artists, writing modern novels, short stories, newspaper articles, poems, plays, and journals. He translated many works of [[English literature|English]] and [[French literature]] into Thai, Among his works were translations of three [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] plays: ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', ''[[As You Like It]]'', and ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. He wrote many other pieces promoting Thai [[nationalism]], one of his nationalistic works is "{{ill|The Honour of Tiger Soldier|th|เกียรติศักดิ์ทหารเสือ}}" ({{langx|th|เกียรติศักดิ์ทหารเสือ}}) based on ancient French chivalric rhyme "Mon âme à Dieu, Ma vie au Roi, Mon cœur aux Dames, L'honneur pour moi", and might also be influenced by [[Alexandre Dumas]]'s ''[[The Three Musketeers]]''. King Vajiravudh also composed nonfiction such as “The War of Polish Succession”, which he wrote while he was Crown Prince<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/warofpolishsucce00vajirich | title=Internet Archive: The War of Polish Succession | access-date=October 6, 2019}}</ref> (see also external links below).

The king was among those writers who introduced mysteries and detective stories to the Thai reading public. He translated [[Agatha Christie]]'s [[Hercule Poirot]] novels into Thai, and created the character "[[Nai Thong-Inhttps://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/pub_jss/article/view/274812/183281|Nai Thong-In]]" ({{langx|th|นักสืบนายทองอิน}}) as a Siamese consulting detective, using [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s [[Sherlock Holmes]] and [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s [[Dupin]] as an archetypes.<ref>"Elementary, My Dear Wat:" influence and imitation in the early crime fiction of 'Late-Victorian' Siam by Rachel Harrison, in ''Chewing Over the Pest: Occidental Narrative in Non-Western Readings'', Rachel Harrison ed.</ref><ref>https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/pub_jss/article/view/274812/183281 Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 112, Pt. 1, June 2024 by Tony Waters, pp. 191–</ref> He translated [[Sax Rohmer]]'s ''The Golden Scorpion''.

The king was well-versed in [[Sanskrit]] and [[Hindu]] literature, including the [[Ramayana]] and the [[Mahabharata]] epics. He translated many stories from the two epics into Thai and also wrote plays inspired by Hindu literature. He was influenced by [[Rama]], the incarnation of Lord [[Vishnu]] and hero of the Ramayana epic, to the extent that he systemized and promoted the use of the name ''Rama'' as the (English) reign names of all Thai kings of the Bangkok (Rattanakosin) era. His own reign was dubbed as "Rama VI". (See [[Rama (Kings of Thailand)]])

As a homage to his great, great, great-grandfather, Tao Sên-pom, King Vajiravudh published a fictional play in Thai, based on the Prince and designed for performance with musical accompaniment in 1913.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Vajiravudh|first=H M King|title=The story of Tao Sên-pom|year=1913|location=Cragside House, Rothbury, England|language=Thai}}</ref> Prince Sên-pom was the father of Chao Praya Chakri, [[Rama I]]. The drama centres on a tale of Siamese courtly romance. It is absorbing fun and well-written. A copy of the play was given as a present to the Armstrong family in [[Cragside]] House, [[Rothbury]], where it remains in the library. On a trip to the English [[Lake District]], Vajiravudh directed the performance of a play at the Stonehenge-like setting of [[Castlerigg stone circle|Castlerigg Stone Circle]], in the mountains near [[Keswick, Cumbria|Keswick]].

In 1914 King Vajiravudh published in a Thai newspaper an article titled "Jews of the Orient" ({{langx|th|ยิวแห่งบูรพาทิศ}}).Vajiravudh explicitly adopted Western antisemitic tropes and applied them to Chinese in Siam.<ref name=":Han">{{Cite book |last=Han |first=Enze |title=The Ripple Effect: China's Complex Presence in Southeast Asia |date=2024 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-769659-0 |location=New York, NY |pages=127}}</ref> The essay was written in the context of a recent strike by Chinese merchants and workers which had paralyzed Bangkok, and may also have been the product of Vajiravudh's exposure to European [[anti-Semitism]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chaloemtiarana |first1=Thak |title=Are We Them? Textual and Literary Representations of the Chinese in Twentieth-Century Thailand |journal=Southeast Asian Studies |date=25 December 2014 |volume=3 |issue=3 |url=https://englishkyoto-seas.org/2014/12/vol-3-no-3-thak-chaloemtiarana/ |access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref> The article described [[Thai Chinese|Chinese immigrants in Thailand]] as having excessive "racial loyalty and astuteness in financial matters." The king wrote, "Money is their God. Life itself is of little value compared with the leanest bank account."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zenner |first=Walter P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FljGSzbhr4oC |title=Minorities in the Middle: A Cross-Cultural Analysis |date=1991-01-01 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-0642-7 |language=en}}</ref>