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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand

Volume XVI-2024 (Special Issue)

cooked sweet and savory dishes for her prince. It was therefore appropriate that the prince

expressed his sentiments of love and desperate longing for the princess through the
unforgettable taste of many dishes that still lingered in his memory.

2. The unity of all five chapters in Kap He Chom Khrueang Khao Wan.
This poem consists of five chapters: He Chom Khrueang Khao (lamentation through

savory dishes), He Chom Phonlamai (lamentation through fruits), He Chom Khrueang Wan
(lamentation through desserts), He Khruan (lamentation through traditional holidays in a year),

and He Bot Chao Sen (relieving poet’s inner pain in the style of a melodramatic Zen disciple in
the outpouring of grief ritual for the murder of Husen, a Muslim leader).

Most readers misunderstood that Prince Itsarasunthon had created this Kap He to admire
the incomparable skill on court cuisines of Princess Bunrot by ignoring the poet’s expression of

sorrow inserted in this work.
Moreover, they thought that the two last chapters, He Khruan and He Bot Chao Sen,

dealing with the poet’s longing for his beloved and his sufferings through the twelve months
were not related to the three preceding chapters sharing the same topic on the culinary expertise

at court cuisines of Princess Bunrot.
From the study of Prince Itsarasunthon’s life and love history and from a close

reading of all five chapters in Kap He Chom Khrueang Khao Wan, the theme of this work could be
deciphered. The poet aimed at expressing his passionate love towards Princess Bunrot. He also

intended to express his lamentation while she was separated from him through various names
of court cuisines prepared by her and through the important events in the traditional holidays

in the twelve months of the year. Thus, the unity of the work was found. The poet lamented
over savory dishes, fruits and desserts meaning that he thought of Princess Bunrot at every meal

and every day. His longing for her endured from days to months starting from the third month
of the year to the next year completing a cycle of an entire year with the second month which

is the month that Muslims held the ritual to commemorate Husen who was brutally slain by
his enemies. In this ritual, Muslims beat on their chest to express their sadness. Upon seeing

this action, the poet desired to relieve the grief that filled his heart, he tried to beat his chest,
but in vain due to intense lamentation for twelve months he was exhausted and had no strength

left to beat his chest. The best he could do was raising his hand to rub on his chest back and
forth. This method of literary composing Kap He poetry was an innovative literary technique

in Thai poetry that effectively and cleverly communicated the poet’s sorrow from the level of
least to most.

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