ABSTRACT
Jacques de Couture, a Flemish gem trader, visiting Ayutthaya in the late sixteenth century, gives an extraordinarily vivid account of King Naresuan's elephants. Royal elephant hunts in the Ayutthaya period lasted several days, involved thousands of people and animals, and covered large expanses of ground. Narai, however, was not unaware of the commercial benefits that could be gained from the captured elephants. Court intrigues were sometimes reflected in the Ayutthaya chronicles accounts of royal elephant hunts, or the capture of auspicious elephants. By sending envoys to Ayutthaya bearing fine gifts, the Indians hoped for royal permission to export large numbers of elephants from Siam. Diplomatic activities between India and Ayutthaya had revived in the early 1660s. In 1663 Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah of Golconda sent an embassy bearing letters, gifts, and a large cargo of textiles to King Narai's court. The exchange of embassies between Ayutthaya and the courts of India was connected with various historical developments in Siam.
