Manpower Control in Mid-Nineteenth Century Nakhon Ratchasima

Abstract

This article examines the manpower control administration in Nakhon Ratchasima, an important first-class township located at the entrance to Northeast Siam, in the middle of the nineteenth century.A census taken in the 1850's suggests that more than 28, 000 adult-males both commoners and minor officials, were registered in Nakhon Ratchasima. They were classified under several categories: 14, 575 were registered with the chaomuang of Nakhon Ratchasima and its local officials; 6, 851 were registered with a dozen of its dependent townships; 1, 706 under kong nok of Nakhon Ratchasima paying suai (the head capitation tax) in kind; 1, 025 under kong nok raising cattle and elephants for the crown; almost 1, 000 registered with different nobles and officials in Bangkok; and 2, 192 under the Front Palace. There were also 1, 094 adult-males on the list who were registered with other townships, but were recorded as residing in Nakhon Ratchasima.Besides these adult-males on the registration list, ‘slaves’ are also found serving local elites perhaps as both a domestic and agricultural labor force. We also find several hundred of Chinese in Nakhon Ratchasima and its dependent townships paying the phuk-pi tax every three years.To consider the pattern of distinction in terms of duties owed by the various groups registered in Nakhon Ratchasima, a rather distorted picture emerges. It was those who were registered with eight particular dependent townships and under kong nok, whether phrai luang or phrai som, that regularly paid suai to the crown. They were also subject to conscription in the war with Vietnam during the third reign, with suai exemptions for their period of military service granted. On the other hand, commoners registered under the chaomuang and township officials of Nakhon Ratchasima, who are thought to be a township version of phrai luang, were not obliged to render any regular services to the crown. They were just occasionally conscripted during the war with Vietnam and sent at times to the construction works at Lop Buri and Phraphutthabat during the fourth reign.The division of interests between the crown and the local authorities over manpower resources in this township was extremely uneven. Since the number of adult-males who were placed under the local officials, and were thus not obliged to pay any regular services to the crown, preponderated, the king could control only a small part of the population there, i, e., those in kong nok and several dependent townships, through the suai imposition. The portion of the commoners who were obliged to send suai to the royal coffers was curtailed to one-third of the total registrees of each kong nok, since exemption was generously given for such reasons as being disabled or being a minor official.The control over manpower exercised by the crown in Nakhon Ratchasima remained peripheral. As indicated by the word ‘nok’ meaning “outside” “outer”, kong nok was a unit of manpower control established outside of the administrative body of the township. Its leaders stood outside of the main administrative hierarchy of the township officials. Very few among them, and among the chaomuang of the dependent townships subject to suai tax, were close relatives of the chaomuang of Nakhon Ratchasima.