|
Thailand Thai Kingship
Thai rulers were absolute monarchs whose office was partly
religious in nature. They derived their authority from the ideal
qualities they were believed to possess. The king was the moral
model, who personified the virtue of his people, and his country
lived at peace and prospered because of his meritorious actions.
At Sukhothai, where Ramkhamhaeng was said to hear the petition of
any subject who rang the bell at the palace gate to summon him,
the king was revered as a father by his people. But the paternal
aspects of kingship disappeared at Ayutthaya, where, under Khmer
influence, the monarchy withdrew behind a wall of taboos and
rituals. The king was considered chakkraphat, the
Sanskrit-Pali term for the "wheel-rolling" universal prince who
through his adherence to the law made all the world revolve
around him. As the Hindu god Shiva was "lord of the universe,"
the Thai king also became by analogy "lord of the land,"
distinguished in his appearance and bearing from his subjects.
According to the elaborate court etiquette, even a special
language, Phasa Ratchasap, was used to communicate with or about
royalty.
As devaraja (Sanskrit for "divine king"), the king
ultimately came to be recognized as the earthly incarnation of
Shiva and became the object of a politico-religious cult
officiated over by a corps of royal Brahmans who were part of the
Buddhist court retinue. In the Buddhist context, the
devaraja was a bodhisattva (an enlightened being who, out
of compassion, foregoes nirvana in order to aid others). The
belief in divine kingship prevailed into the eighteenth century,
although by that time its religious implications had limited
impact.
One of the numerous institutional innovations of King Trailok
(1448-88) was to create the position of uparaja, or heir
apparent, usually held by the king's senior son or full brother,
in an attempt to regularize the succession to the throne--a
particularly difficult feat for a polygamous dynasty. In
practice, there was inherent conflict between king and
uparaja and frequent disputed successions.
Data as of September 1987
|
