Chapter 10 Mainland and Insular Southeast Asia 395southward with each successive kingdom, first in Chiang Mai during the reign
of Tilokaraja, then to Sukhothai, then to Ayutthaya, then to a period in Laos,
and finally in 1778 to Bangkok, where it may be seen today high on a moun-
tain-like structure in the chapel of the Grand Palace. It protects and is vener-
ated by the Chakri dynasty; four times a year, King Bhumibol ceremoniously
climbed up a great ladder to wash the Emerald Buddha and change its robes
according to the seasons. Though kings come and go, the Emerald Buddha is
the eternal monarch of the Thai kingdoms, as seen in the fact that oaths of loy-
alty to the reigning monarch are sworn before it.
Many rulers had Buddha images that protected the princes and their capi-
tal and symbolized the polity; if a king was dethroned, his Buddha image was
taken to the conqueror’s capital as a kind of hostage—after he had taken an
oath of vassalage before it—and kept it in a subordinate though respectful posi-
tion near the ruler’s own Buddha image.
The relationship between the state and Buddhism underwent a shift in
Thailand from the pattern of god-kings of Hinduized Angkor. When Jaya-
varman was crowned chakravartin of Angkor he was proclaimed a devaraja, a
god-king, an incarnation of Shiva here on earth. But in Sri Lanka, as the
Jinakalamali tells it, the chakravartin put on the sacred crown at the request of
the Buddhist priesthood in order to look after the Buddhist religion. The differ-
ence can be seen in the conduct of King Ram Kamheng of Sukhothai. It is said
he invented a script for the Thai language; he was also a dharmaraja in the style
of Ashoka. He transacted affairs of state on a stone throne, but on special days
of cleansing the mind (uposatha) still observed today, he invited monks to come
to the palace to teach the dhamma, a custom said to have been started by
Ashoka. At the end of each year’s rainy season retreat, he took ordination as a
monk himself, donning the yellow robe and pronouncing his resolve to attain
Buddhahood. Between times, of course, he had to lead military campaigns and
transact other affairs likely to impede his full enlightenment (Tambiah 1976).
The Grand Palace in Bangkok is a living example of the conjunction of
symbols of royal and cosmic authority that every Southeast Asian nagara
attempted to produce. The Emerald Buddha reposes there, high in its splendid,
gem-studded chapel, protecting and representing the Chakri dynasty. There is
also the Great Chedi, or stupa, housing relics of the Buddha. To be in the pres-
ence of sacred relics of such power confers merit on the visitor and sanctifies
the capital and the kingdom. A third source of power is the relics of dead kings
of the Chakri dynasty enshrined in urns high up on narrow lotus towers. Royal
funerals became part of the institution of sacred kingship, converting a living
king to a bodhisattva, something more than the exemplary Ashoka ever
claimed for himself. (See box 10.2.)
The death of a king plunges a country into crisis, not only in Thailand, but
everywhere a king represents the state. For when the king dies, what happens
to the state? The symbolism of the decaying body of the dead king is potentially
politically dangerous. The crisis in Thailand was not only symbolic but literal,