The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s4.54

v4.c23.s4.54

The city starved. Shan states tributary to Siam sent an army which came down from the north and tried to raise the siege; they were swept away. The king and princes tried to cut their way out and escape; they were driven back. They asked what they had done to merit these horrors and were curtly told they were rebels and traitors and deserved all they were going to get. The commander-in-chief Mahanawrahta died; and by royal decree was buried with extraordinary honours; he deserved them. Thihapate had to finish the siege alone. The end was now near. At four in the afternoon on 28 March, 1767, the French guns opened for the last time. The wall had been mined; by nightfall the breach was practicable and the stormers effected an entry. The slaughter was indiscriminate. The king's body was identified next day among a heap of slain near the west gate. The houses, the temples, the great palace itself, went up in flames; the wall was razed to the ground; the city was never restored as a capital. The princes, the harem, the clergy, foreigners including a French Catholic bishop, and thousands of the population were carried away into captivity, so that many a private could boast of four slaves. There was gold, silver and jewels in abundance, for the royal treasure was immense. This is the secret of these continued Burmese attacks on Ayuthia: it was at once a thriving seaport and a king's palace, one of the wealthiest cities in Indo-China, so that its treasures were a standing temptation to the Burmese hordes.