สำนักงานราชบัณฑิตยสภา

มารดาของสุนทรภู่ชื่อบัว 186 The Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand Volume 40 Number 1 January-March 2015 Abstract Mother’s name of Sunthorn Phu is บัว Thosaporn Wongratana Fellow of the Academy of Science, The Royal Society, Thailand In writing verses Sunthorn Phu usually made travelling by boat. Station by station he observed and described scenes for making verses in connection with what he had in mind, especially his departed lovers, or any woman. He did like this repeatedly in the same work and later. Therefore any of his life stories and his connections with others can be detected from various sources of his works. The author’s hypothesis is that Sunthorn Phu must mention somewhere also the name of his mother. There are several indications that her name is บัว. In this paper all the verses concerning with water-lilies and lotuses or any kind of บัว in Thai by Sunthorn Phu are gathered and shown chronologically, with discussion. Historically, while Sunthorn Phu was one of the consultants of King Rama II, there was evidence that he could not stand if บัว is mentioned improperly. And till the death of his mother in 2384 B.E., บัว in the “Tale of Phra Apai-manee”, section 45 pages 902, was described as “เกษรร่วงโรยรายขจายจร” and exactly a year later in “นิราศพระประธม” as “บ้างร่วงโรยโปรยปรายกระจายจร”. Which somehow corresponds with “ปทุมเกสร” a character likely implies to his mother from the beginning of the tale and “บัว” in “โคบุตร” as well. Eventually when he composed “โครงนิราศสุพรรณ”, a village บางบัว is described as a synonym, actually of the name of his mother. Keywords : Sunthorn Phu’s mother, her name, บัว