Chaophraya Phra Khlang (Hon)

Chaophraya Phra Khlang (Hon) (Thai: เจ้าพระยาพระคลัง (หน), died 1805) was a Thai court official who served under King Rama I and is known as one of the great poets of the early Rattanakosin period.

Hon was born into a noble family of the late Ayutthaya period, and joined the noble ranks during the reign of King Taksin of Thonburi, receiving the title Luang Sorawichit (หลวงสรวิชิต). During the unrest at the end of Taksin's reign, he supported the Chaophraya Chakri, who took the throne and became King Rama I in 1782. He subsequently rose through the ranks of the royal court, ultimately taking the office of Phra Khlang, the minister of the treasury, with the rank of chaophraya.

Today, the minister is primarily known as a poet, and is best known for works such as the poems Kaki Kham Klon (a retelling of the story of Kaki, based on the Buddhist text Kakati Jataka) and two rai yao chapters ("Kan Kuman" and "Kan Matsi") of the Vessantara Jataka, and the translated prose works Sam Kok (from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms) and Rachathirat (the Mon chronicle known in Burmese as Razadarit Ayedawbon).^[1][2]

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