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50 แสงพระธรรม กรกฎาคม 2564 ถึง มิถุนายน 2565

LIGHT OF SIAM

Monuments of the Buddha in Siam(#1)

Prince Damrong Rajanubhab
Translated to English : Sulak Sivaraksa and A.B. Griswold

Part One made in India for worship before images
Buddhism in Siam of the Buddha came into existence, and

How long ago was Buddhism intro- the language of the religious inscriptions
duced into Siam? Some believe it was is Pali. There are also traces of other re-
introduced when the Emperor Asoka sent ligious practices which preceded the in-
1
missionaries to various country ; others troduction of images of the Buddha, such
believe it was introduced much later. as making copied of the Buddha’s throne
From archaeological remains and and of his Footprints as objects of wor-
historical evidence it is clear that Bud- ship. All these show that the Buddhism
dhism was established in Siam when the which was first established in Siam was
Lao (or Lawa) had their capital at Nagara of the Theravada school, not unlike that
Pathama, which was then known as which was propagated in various country
2
Dvaravati , Buddhist monument such as by command of the Emperor Asoka. We
the Pathamacetiya are the main evidence may conclude that Buddhism was intro-
for this, while the monuments of various duced into Siam before 500 B.E. and has
4
styles elsewhere in Siam show that dif- flourished here ever since.
ferent schools of Buddhism were intro- Later on when the Indians began making
duced later. Four periods may be con- images of the Buddha they introduced
sidered. their style of images into Siam. Some of
the earliest types of image found in this
First period: the Theravada school of country, such as those of the Buddha
the Hinayana 3 seated in the ‘European’ fashion, are
The Buddhism was established in modeled after those made in Magadha
Siam when Nagara Pathama was the in Northern India around 900 B.E. (about
capital may be deduced from the ar- 450 A.D.) when the Gupta dynasty was at
chaeological remains found at the its height, which is further evidence that
Pathamacetiya there. These include the Indians who first preached Buddhism
stone Wheels of the doctrine of the sort in Siam came from Magadha. At that time