Sacred Kingship under King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656-88): Divinisation and Righteousness
This article analyses the system of sacred monarchy that maintained during the reign of King Narai of Ayutthaya (r. 1656-1688) in terms of a set of concepts designed to elucidate the relationship between religion and politics more generally in the pre-modern world. It argues that Ayutthayan kingship...
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Format: | Journal article |
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Siam Society
2019
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author | Strathern, A |
author_facet | Strathern, A |
author_sort | Strathern, A |
collection | OXFORD |
description | This article analyses the system of sacred monarchy that maintained during the reign of King Narai of Ayutthaya (r. 1656-1688) in terms of a set of concepts designed to elucidate the relationship between religion and politics more generally in the pre-modern world. It argues that Ayutthayan kingship was unusually intensively sacralised in terms of two quite different modes simultaneously, the divinised and the righteous. These modes, both in themselves and in conjunction, produced somewhat paradoxical effects as well as forms of authority. The article thereby adopts a global perspective on Ayutthaya kingship while also offering some thoughts as to how and why it developed in the way it did and how Narai strove to manage the consequences. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:25:09Z |
format | Journal article |
id | oxford-uuid:a556fea6-44c9-4693-882a-d8736d17af01 |
institution | University of Oxford |
last_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:25:09Z |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | Siam Society |
record_format | dspace |
spelling | oxford-uuid:a556fea6-44c9-4693-882a-d8736d17af012022-03-27T02:39:47ZSacred Kingship under King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656-88): Divinisation and RighteousnessJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:a556fea6-44c9-4693-882a-d8736d17af01Symplectic Elements at OxfordSiam Society2019Strathern, AThis article analyses the system of sacred monarchy that maintained during the reign of King Narai of Ayutthaya (r. 1656-1688) in terms of a set of concepts designed to elucidate the relationship between religion and politics more generally in the pre-modern world. It argues that Ayutthayan kingship was unusually intensively sacralised in terms of two quite different modes simultaneously, the divinised and the righteous. These modes, both in themselves and in conjunction, produced somewhat paradoxical effects as well as forms of authority. The article thereby adopts a global perspective on Ayutthaya kingship while also offering some thoughts as to how and why it developed in the way it did and how Narai strove to manage the consequences. |
spellingShingle | Strathern, A Sacred Kingship under King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656-88): Divinisation and Righteousness |
title | Sacred Kingship under King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656-88): Divinisation and Righteousness |
title_full | Sacred Kingship under King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656-88): Divinisation and Righteousness |
title_fullStr | Sacred Kingship under King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656-88): Divinisation and Righteousness |
title_full_unstemmed | Sacred Kingship under King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656-88): Divinisation and Righteousness |
title_short | Sacred Kingship under King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656-88): Divinisation and Righteousness |
title_sort | sacred kingship under king narai of ayutthaya 1656 88 divinisation and righteousness |
work_keys_str_mv | AT stratherna sacredkingshipunderkingnaraiofayutthaya165688divinisationandrighteousness |