396 Part V: Southeast Asia
since there was invariably a struggle over the succession, made worse by the
huge number of wives, and thus sons, a Thai king frequently had. Rama IV, the
famous King Mongkut, had over a hundred wives and several hundred chil-
dren. The royal funeral, along with the coronation of the new king, developed
as an elaborate ceremonial refocusing on the capital that helped to prevent
usurpation of the throne by ambitious princes or secession of vassals who
might choose the time of instability to go their own way. According to RichardBox 10.2 The Dead King: King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 2017The death of a king sets off a crisis for the
state of which he is head and which his own
body represents. It may also set off a succes-
sion crisis, frequently politically contested
among possible heirs but managed through
ritual. Mortuary rites are lengthy and com-
plex, in part to reunify and restabilize a
shaken nation in advance of the coronation
of the new monarch.
The much beloved king of Thailand, Bhu-
mibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), died on October
13, 2016. He was the longest reigning mon-
arch in the world, having reigned for almost
70 years. His death initiated rarely used royal
mortuary rites that follow a pattern common
throughout Southeast Asian societies, involv-
ing washing the body, placing it in a burial
urn for a lengthy period of time while the
body decays into dry bones and then cre-
mating it. This is known as “secondary
burial” or two-stage treatment of the corpse.
(King Bhumibol, however, was placed in a
coffin beside the urn.)
“We believe that the king is a god from
heaven,” said Tongthong Chandransu, a professor at Chulalongkorn University. “He is
totally a god, so when he passes away he has to get to heaven” to rejoin the main
Hindu gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (Mydans 2017). This is why a cremation
structure representing Mount Meru—in traditional Thai architectural style—had to be
constructed over a period of a year.
After a year of national mourning, the funeral was a five-day ceremony presided
over by a Brahman priest. The body of King Bhumibol Adulyadej was carried to the
ornate funeral pyre in a coffin carved with images of Garuda to take him to Heaven.
His son and future king, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, lighted the fire. Afterwards his
ashes were enshrined in the Grand Palace and in two royal temples as a bodhisattva
to continue to bring blessings to the Thai people. His son was proclaimed king on
December 1, 2017.King Bhumibol Adulyadej on becoming
king in 1950.