Kosa Pan

Kosa Pan (ปาน; 1633 – 15 November 1699) was a Siamese diplomat and minister who led the second Siamese embassy to France sent by King Narai in 1686. He was preceded to France by the first Siamese embassy to France, which had been composed of two Siamese ambassadors and Father Bénigne Vachet, who had left Siam for France on January 5, 1684.

Family
Through his father, Pan was allegedly a descendant of Phraya Kiarti, a Mon noble who sided with Naresuan during the fourth Burmese-Siamese War, as well as being either a grandnephew or a grandson of King Ekathotsarot. Pan was a great-great-grandfather of King Rama I, the founder of the Chakri dynasty. His older brother, Lek (เหล็ก), held the post of foreign minister before him.

Early life
Pan was born to a Siamese woman Chao Mae Wat Dusit in Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1633. Chao was then a wet nurse for Phetracha in 1632, and later for Prince Narai. Pan was a kind of foster brother to them. Chao's connection, if any, with the then-reigning Sukhothai dynasty of the Ayutthaya Kingdom is unclear, with some speculating her to be a daughter or niece of King Ekathotsarot.

Names
Pan (ปาน; ) was his given name. As foreign minister, he was styled Chaophraya Kosathibodi (เจ้าพระยาโกษาธิบดี; ). He is colloquially called Kosa Pan (โกษาปาน; ).

He is also known by his former style as a first-class diplomat: Ok-phra Wisut Sunthon (ออกพระวิสุทธสุนทร; ). Contemporary French documents recorded his name as Ooc, Pravisoutsonthoon Raatchathoud (ออกพระวิสุทธสุนทร ราชทูต).

His success in diplomatic negotiations earned him the epithet golden-tongued diplomat (ราชทูตลิ้นทอง or นักการทูตลิ้นทอง).

Embassy to France (1686)
To accompany the return of the 1685 French embassy to Siam of Chevalier de Chaumont and François-Timoléon de Choisy, Pan was selected by Constantine Phaulkon, the Prime Counsellor to King Narai, to lead an embassy to France. Pan set out for France in 1686 on two French ships with two other Siamese ambassadors, Ok-luang Kanlaya Ratchamaitri and Ok-khun Si Wisan Wacha, and by the Jesuit Father Guy Tachard.

The embassy was bringing a proposal for an eternal alliance between France and Siam. Pan's embassy was met with a rapturous reception and caused a sensation in the courts and society of Europe. The mission landed at Brest, France and journeyed to Versailles, constantly surrounded by crowds of curious onlookers. The embassy stayed in France from June 1686 to March 1687.

1688 Siamese revolution


Upon his return to Siam, Pan was pressured to become a supporter of Phetracha's anti-French faction of dissatisfied nobles, who resented the power that the French held in Siam. The following revolution toppled Narai and ousted the French forces. Pan was sent to negotiate with their officials. He was appointed by Phetracha as his Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Pan was met in Siam in 1690 by the German naturalist Engelbert Kaempfer. The naturalist noted "pictures of the Royal family of France and European maps" hanging "in the hall of his [Pan's] house": ""He is a more comely Person, and of better aspect, than I ever met amongst this black race of mankind... He is also quick of understanding and lively action, for which reasons he was a few years ago sent Ambassador to France, of which Country, its Government, Fortresses and the like, he would often entertain us in his discourses; and the hall of his House, where we had a private audience of him, was hung with the pictures of the Royal Family of France, and European Maps, the rest of his furniture being nothing but Dust and Cobwebs."

- Engelbert Kaempfer (1727/1987:38).

In 1699, Pan and Phetracha received a visit from the Jesuit Father Guy Tachard. The meeting was formal and did not produce any closer relations.

Death
Pan was later accused of having affinity to the French and loyalty to his former King, Narai. He was disgraced, and King Phetracha ordered his nose cut off. He reportedly committed suicide on 15 November 1699, according to the Dutch. His duties were taken over by Okya Maha Amath, one of the King's favorites. Pan is said to be the direct ancestor of King Rama I, founder of the present ruling dynasty of Thailand.