สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 126  Vessantara Jataka from Pali into Thai by the name of Mahachat Kham Luang , the fi rst religious literature of the Ayutthaya Period in the reign of King Borommatrailokkanat (1448-1488). Sam Kok (The Three Kingdoms) was translated from Chinese into Thai in the reign of King Rama I (1782-1809), founder of the Royal House of Chakri, in the Early Rattanakosin Period. In the reign of King Rama III (1824-1850) the coming of missionaries to disseminate Christianity in Thailand gave rise to English-Thai translations. More Thai people were interested in learning English in the reign of King Mongkut (King Rama IV, 1850-1868) and during the transitional period between the reigns of King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V, 1868-1910) and his son, King Vajiravudh (King Rama VI, 1910-1925). The Oxford-educated King Vajiravudh, whose reign was called the Golden Age of Thai Literature, rendered a beautiful Thai translation of three of William Shakespeare’s works: As You Like It , Romeo and Juliet, and The Merchant of Venice . The king also translated the play Les Sauterelles by Émile Fabre into English entitled The Locusts . From that time on there were increasing numbers of translation works from English into Thai. This has been the trend up to the present. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX, 1946-), the current monarch, translated William Stevenson’s book, A Man Called Intrepid , and Tito , a biography of Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia by Phyllis Auty, into Thai and translated Mahajanaka , the story of one of the lives of Buddha, from the Thai text into English. He wrote Thongdaeng , a story about his pet dog in Thai and then translated it into English. The literary works of a country reflect its people’s linguistic ability, art and science, customs and traditions, myths, religious beliefs, historical, social and political developments. In the past, geographic and linguistic barriers made it dif fi cult for communication among nations. Thus, there were accounts of fabulous lands and exotic peoples and animals related by travelers of yore. These accounts were for the most part exaggerated and tended to be misleading. Westerners who thought of themselves as being sophisticated looked down on peoples in Asia or Africa as primitive and uneducated, whereas Eastern nations with a long history of civilization thought of Westerners as vulgar and uncultured. Before the age of Information Technology it was through translation works that one could learn and understand more about people in other countries. The teachings of great religious and philosophical Translations of National Literature: Existing Translation Works as Means to Promote Better Understanding among Nations