A Mahasammata State: Relations between the King and Aristocrats in Traditional Siamese Ideal State in legal Aspect, a Case Study of Pra-thammasat in Three Seals Code
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Abstract
Background and Objectives: Originally, Pra-thammasat in Three Seals Code was described as a principle that controls power executing by rule of law. This aspect had visibly influenced the study on Thai customary law, focusing on textual analysis or an adjustment of legal texts as social values which that exist or change relating to forces and factors in society. However, this approach has limitations in that it has not yet examined the interconnections between Pra-Thammasat and the concept of the Siamese traditional state through kingship, as expressed in the notion of royal incarnation as the Mahasammata Bodhisattva, and the Mahasammata state as articulated in Pra-Thammasat. In this framework, part of the merit accumulated by the Mahasammata is understood to depend upon the support of officials and ministers, a concept illustrated through the Manosarjan story in the Three Seals Code, compiled during the reign of King Rama I. Therefore, this research article aims to analyze and interpret Pra-thammasat as a traditional Siamese ideal state that posits the importance of law both to the Siamese leader and to its bureaucracy that largely depends on the aristocrats in its governance.
Methods: This research article is qualitative research that employs a historical method and textual analysis through the Pra-thammasat document. It focuses particularly on sections concerning the creation of earth, the notion of the Mahasammata kingship, and the story of manosajarn. The study also examines other historical evidence, including the royal legislations from the reign of King Rama I of Rattanakosin and the royal chronicle that was written in his reign, such as the British Museum version. Some sections of this version illustrate legal procedures that was differ from other versions refined in the same era, such as the Phanchanthanumat (Choem) version. Furthermore, the only differences in both versions are “the war with Burma during King Naresuan’s reign and history of Ban Phuluang Dynasty” (Aeusrivongse, 2000 : 26). Therefore, within the scope of examining royal administrative offices related to law, the two versions do not differ; either version may be used interchangeably.
Results: Pra-thammasat in Three Seals Code proposes a concept of the legal ruler through the Mahasammata ideal as part of the Bodhisattva and a concept of leadership that would come altogether with a decadence that accompanies a creation of the world and the human being. A ruler such as Mahasammata needs, thus, to rule a human world, because serenity of the human world is a merit that upholds the king to achieve his destiny as a future Buddha. However, that achievement requires aid from the state’s aristocrats, which reflected on Manosarjan’s wish that Mahasammata could be the perfect leader. Pra-thammasat from the universe wall, is therefore, a guide to help the Bodhisattva king rule the Siamese kingdom with aristocrats’s harmonious cooperation. Therefore, Pra-thammasat had given the king the opportunity to determine legal precedent to be consistent with his officials and social context. The governing pattern had arguably been reflected in the “royal tradition” which dictated a sequence of the royal conduct at particular times of the day. Under the determination of royal preference toward legal-administrative conventions—such as revisiting legal traditions of the past and defining the hierarchical ranking of officials in state service—Pra-Thammasat functioned to support the monarch’s governance of society through law, within a legal bureaucratic framework shaped by royal discretion.
Application of this study: This research article could be useful for those who are interested in customary law to develop a historical study about Pra-thammasat that appeared in various regions of Thailand.
Conclusions: Pra-thammasat was not a principle that prohibited the king from changing law, but it proposed traditional ideals about a Mahasammata-State. Contendingly, this type of state can be interpreted as the Mahasammata’ accumulation of perfection by the use of law in ruling human community. Royal discretion is thus indispensable to bring the human community to peace and prosperity by legal precedents, such as the revision of laws inherited from the past and the recognition of aristocrats as key agents in the enforcement of law.
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