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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Main Author: Strathern, A
Format: Journal article
Published: Siam Society 2019
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author Strathern, A
author_facet Strathern, A
author_sort Strathern, A
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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.
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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