kings helped settle san ̇gha disputes. Accounts from the
Thai Pali chronicles, the Jinakalamallpakarana(Sheaf
of Garlands of the Epochs of the Conquerors) and the
Camadevlvamsa (Legend of Queen Cama), link the
spread of Buddhism and the legitimation of royal
power with the veneration of magical BUDDHA IMAGES
and relics, in particular the palladial Emerald Buddha
now enshrined on the grounds of the grand palace in
Bangkok.
In the Trai Phum Phra Ruang(Three Worlds Ac-
cording to King Ruang), King Lithai of Sukhothai
(1346/47–1368/74?) constructed a cosmological legit-
imation of Buddhist KINGSHIPand the state that in the
Ayutthaya period (1569–1767) became a “galactic
polity” through which the Ayutthayana monarchs
dominated tributary states (Tambiah). It was certainly
not a coincidence that when King Rama I (r.
1782–1809) took over the reins of power at the new
Thai capital in Thonburi/Bangkok after the Burmese
sacked Ayutthaya in 1767, he sponsored a san ̇gha
council that included among its activities the produc-
tion of a new edition of Lithai’s Trai Phum Phra Ru-
ang.
In the early modern period, King Mongkut (r.
1851–1868) fully personified the close relationship be-
tween Buddhism and the state. Ordained a monk for
twenty-seven years before he became king (Rama IV),
he founded a new monastic order, the Thammayut
(“adhering strictly to the dhamma”), in 1829. In 1836
Mongkut was appointed abbot of Wat Bowoniwet
monastery in Bangkok, which was to become the head-
quarters of the Thammayut order and the home of its
monastic university, Mahamakut, founded in 1893.
Mahachulalongkorn was established as the university
for the larger Mahanikai (great congregation) order at
its Bangkok headquarters, Wat Mahathat. Both insti-
tutions figured prominently in the development of ad-
vanced monastic education during the twentieth
century.
Buddhism as a civil religion was promoted by King
Wachirawut (Rama VI, r. 1910–1925) through the pro-
mulgation of the slogan, “nation, religion [Buddhism],
king,” symbolized by the country’s tricolor national
flag. During the regimes of the military strongmen
Sarit Thanarat and Thanom Kittikachorn, who served
as prime ministers from 1959 to 1973, new govern-
ment programs, the Thammacarik (Dhamma Travel-
ers) and Thammathut (Dhamma Emissaries) were
created to enlist san ̇gha participation in the govern-
ment’s efforts to promote rural development, integrate
the northern hill tribes into the Thai nation state, and
encourage national loyalty in the face of perceived
communist threats in sensitive border areas.
The symbiotic relationship between Buddhism and
the state has not been without its tensions. Although
royal patronage benefited the san ̇gha, the power of the
state restricted its freedom and authority; hence, on
occasion, monks have challenged the state. In the
1930s the northern Thai monk, KhrubaSwichai, was
disciplined by the national san ̇gha headquartered in
Bangkok for following traditional northern Thai Bud-
dhist practices that contravened the 1902 national
san ̇gha law. In the late nineteenth century, Achan Sao
Kantaslo and Achan Man Bhuridatto founded the
modern forest WILDERNESS MONKS tradition. Al-
though they remained Thammayut monks, the move-
ment offered monks an avenue to pursue a spiritual
practice freed from many of the constraints imposed
by the national san ̇gha. In the 1970s volatile political
events saw an unprecedented left and right politiciza-
tion of the san ̇gha, and in what became the cause
célèbre of the 1990s: Phra Bodhirak, who founded the
Santi Asoka movement in the early 1970s, was de-
frocked because he ordained monks in defiance of
government regulations.
Despite such tensions, state Buddhism has been an
overriding feature of Thai history since the founding
of Sukhothai and Chiang Mai. The prosperity of the
san ̇gha, the national system of monastic study and lay
Buddhist education through both monastery and gov-
ernment schools, and the important place Buddhism
holds in Thai culture and society has come about
through the encouragement and patronage of the state.
Thailand has a national san ̇gha organization first en-
acted in 1902 during the reign of Rama V. Its current
form, set into law by the 1962 san ̇gha ordinance, places
a san ̇gharaja(san ̇gha king) and an appointed council
at the head of a hierarchical structure organized into
regions, provinces, districts, and subdistricts.
A standardized monastic curriculum was developed
by Supreme Patriarch Wachirayan, an accomplished
Pali scholar in his own right and author of numerous
books still in use throughout the nearly thirty thou-
sand monasteries nationwide. The curriculum is di-
vided into general Buddhist studies (naktham) and
training in Pali language. The three levels of Buddhist
study include Buddhist doctrine, Buddhist history, the
life of the Buddha and his most famous disciples,
monastic discipline (VINAYA), and Buddhist rituals
and ceremonies. The formal study of Pali in ThailandTHAILAND