Vignettes of the World
Thailand is known for its food. Not just Thai cuisine, but any type of cuisine to which its chefs dedicate themselves. Since we were staying at the Grand Hyatt, we had quite a few meals at the restaurants in the hotel. Top that up with …
Thailand is known for its food. Not just Thai cuisine, but any type of cuisine to which its chefs dedicate themselves. Chef Pom Phatchara has been the rising star in Bangkok’s dining scene. Although she hasn’t yet earned the Michelin Star, she has run such …
Military and monarchic groups, often relying on each other’s capability and ideological strength, have intervened frequently to subvert the democratic rule of law. Those who have tried to build democracy meanwhile remain much less well known. In a region where state-enforced historical amnesia is rife, Thailand has turned it into an art form.
~ Arjun Subrahmanyan at 2
The year 1932 would prove to be a pivotal year for Thailand. A “bloodless revolution” resulted in Rama VII agreeing to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. When negotiations about the limits of monarchial powers broke down, Rama VII abdicated his throne. He was the only Chakri dynasty king that had ever done so.
But that pivotal moment in history was not in any real sense a bright, unobstructed path to democracy. After the birth of a constitutional monarchy, Thailand came under six decades of unstable governance that wavered between military rule and a fragile democracy. As it turned out, the People’s Party that sought to overthrow Thailand’s absolute monarchy was itself anything but democratic.
In a wonderfully informative book, author Arjun Subrahmanya explains Thailand’s struggle in its path to democracy in an intellectual fluency that was at once welcoming to novice readers of Thai politics and challenging to the student of world history.
At the time of the bloodless revolution, Thailand was the only remaining absolutist monarchy in the world. A quick and perfectly executed ambush by the promoters of the People’s Party took the royalty by surprise in June 1932. The key royal strongholds of Bangkok were besieged, along with a few members of the royalty and nobility.
King Rama VII had a few options, and he decided to return to Bangkok and negotiate for a preservation of royal power and standing in Thailand. He accepted constitutional monarchy. The People’s Party then proposed the establishment of the Constitution and the National Assembly.
Between 1933 and 1938, in the nascent but tumultuous years of Thailand’s constitutional monarchy, the institutional features that usually defined a viable democracy had failed to develop. Some public intellectuals had attempted to set up an opposing party but failed. The National Assembly also failed to function as envisioned.
The politics of this critical first post-revolution decade consisted of much chaos, with the People’s Party struggling against the royalist forces that sought to restore the monarchy. There were a lot of back and forth between the royalists and the People’s Party in 1932, but the Bowondet rebellion of 1933 was a critical event that resulted in the brutal smothering of all critical dissents in the Thai society against the People’s Party.
As a matter of history, the events of this era have, first and foremost, resulted in the rise of military rule as a common feature in Thai politics and government. The successful crackdown of the Bowondet rebellion was credited to Plaek Phibunsongkhram, who would seal his status and power as the prime minister in 1938. He was the one that would navigate much of Thailand’s positioning during WWII.
The way with which Plaek Phibunsongkhram cracked down on dissents following the Bowondet rebellion was a harbinger of the fragility of Thai democracy that would come and continue well into the 21st century. 19 military coups would follow in Thailand’s history after 1932, although the recent two coup d’états were bloodless. Despite its initial idealism, the People’s Party had to consolidate its power in ways that clearly went against the spirit of democracy. The freedom of speech was mute soon, and there would be no opposing political party in proper governance for years to come.
As of 2025, Thailand has had the second civilian prime minister since the military coup of 2014 by General Prayut Chan-o-cha. The current prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, of the Pheu Thai party, was elected after the Constitutional Court removed the previous civilian prime minister Srettha Thavisin for ethics violation in 2024. Paetongtarn Shinawatra is the youngest daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, who served as the 23rd prime minister of Thailand. She is the second woman in Thailand’s history that served as the prime minister, after her own aunt Yingluck Shinawatra.
General Prayuth Chan-ocha, as the last military ruler of Thailand, served as the prime minister of Thailand between 2014 and 2023. During his tenure, a controversy arose that he had way exceeded the term limit of eight years for the premiership as provided for in the Constitution. Although he “won” the issue with the Constitutional Court, he announced the decision to step down after failing the bid in extending his rule via a general election in 2023.
Surely, the frequency with which the military takes over the government in Thailand probably tops the world, but that is not to say that the military seizes power without popular support. The people of Thailand have a practical eye to the way that a democratic government worked in their country. Where it fails to deliver its end of the bargain, the people do come around to a military rule that will subject itself to elections and openness.
Finally, a word of conclusion on this brief study of Thailand’s history. What I had not managed to do in this series is a thorough and proper study of the role of religion in Thai society. I do think that this is as important as understanding standard history and politics in Thailand. There will be such opportunity, however. In the future, I would like to visit northern Thailand for a longer period of time. There are plenty of cultural heritage and significant temples in that area.
Even a cursory stay in Bangkok showed me how the Thai people embrace religion in every aspect of their daily lives. Needless to say, the monks of Thailand had their clout and influence historically. There are also contending schools within the same umbrella faith of Theravada Buddhism. In due course, that study will come.
Arjun Subrahmanyan, Amnesia: A History of Democratic Idealism in Modern Thailand (2021).
The Wikipedia on Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
The Wikipedia on Prayut Chan-o-Cha.
Lipikar Narayaem Lindman, Military Coups in Thailand: The Strategic Arguments to Justifiy a Democratic Setback, Uppsala Universitet, available here.
In the last entry on Thailand in the modern era, I have discussed why Siam maintained its independence against the threats of colonialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. One question remained for me in this brief study of Thailand’s history. How did Thailand fare …
“Whatever it is that you do in Thailand, just do not criticize the Thai king in any way,” my uncle said to us, “I know the people that will get you out even for a murder, but if you offend the Thai king, nobody can …
It is said that Thailand was the only Southeast Asian country that survived the onslaught of western colonialism, which swept the world between the 15th and 19th centuries. That itself is a provocative food for thought.
Thailand also emerged relatively unscathed from World War II, as it immediately pledged alliance with Japan after coming under a five-day invasion by Japan in 1941.
There had to be a way that Thailand was unique as a nation in surviving the disastrous currents of history. With these two points in mind, I learned something about Thailand’s history.
In times beyond immemorial, there were early settlement in this area of Southeast Asia by the prehistoric humans. The fossils of the Lampang man dated to one million to 500,000 years ago, suggesting that the early Homo erectus have found it home here.
Perhaps as early as 2000 B.C., what were akin to civilizations showed their traces in the excavated artefacts consisting of skilled metallurgy, such as complex bronze instruments. This historical fact suggests that the Bronze Age had a flourishing presence in this part of the world as well.
Modern day Thailand is a large mass of land in the north with a southern coast, and a panhandle in the southwest that would extend to the Malaysian Peninsula. Its long southern coastline enables the maritime trade that was a lifeline for multiple kingdoms in its history.
At this part of the world, Thailand falls within the center of a melting pot, where the sweeping influences of various ancient religions and cultures slowly bound themselves together and resulted in myriad expressions of norms, practices and faiths of the modern Thai’s. Between 2000 B.C. and 1000 A.D., Thailand was part of the maritime jade trade for three thousand years. The traveling merchants from India was the great driving force that introduced Hinduism and Buddhism to Southeast Asia.
The first known kingdom in Thailand’s history was Funan, existing as early as 1st century B.C. (or even earlier, in 4th century B.C.). There was little known of Funan that is definitive, but the Indianization of this kingdom that spanned parts of modern-day Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia is beyond contest. Scholars have found evidence that the Funan kingdom engaged in heavy maritime trade, with control of part of an established sea route that went from India to China via the Gulf of Siam. Furthermore, it had a sophisticated bureaucracy that hired Brahmin clerks for administration, and the language of the court was Sanskrit. This kingdom had fallen by 6th century A.D.
The Mon people would be the first in Southeast Asia to adopt Buddhism. Between 6th and 11th centuries, the Mon kingdoms were known to be Dvarati and they contended for influence in this part of the world against the Srivijaya Empire, which was based in Sumatra and had vast influence in the southern part of modern day Thailand and the Malay peninsula. Maritime trade was also critical for Srivijaya.
The modern country of Thailand began with the migration of Tai people, who are the ancestors of the Thai people today. There are contesting theories about where the Tai people originated. The older generation of historians believed that the Tai people moved from southwestern China into this land mass by the ocean. The scholars now believe that the Tai people came from northern Vietnam, in the Dien Bien Phu area. Whatever the origin was, the Tai people’s migration would go on between the 8th and 10th centuries.
Between the 9th and 13th centuries, the Khmer kingdom rose to dominance. The Khmer kingdom had a territory that extended about half of modern-day Thailand. As opposed to the Mon people, who were predominantly Buddhists, the Khmers were heavily influenced by Hinduism, as the world-famous Angkor Wat attests. The Tai people then began to borrow these ideas of the Khmers, from royal etiquettes to literature and dance.
As the Khmer empire declined and fell during the 13th to 14th centuries, there followed a period of various states in the area, known as the Tai, Mon, Khmer and Malay Kingdoms. The Tai kingdom would eventually prevail. The first unified Thai kingdom that would lay the foundation for the development of the country that would be known as Siam was established in the mid 14th century.
The Sukhothai kingdom existed between 1238 and 1438 following the Tai people’s revolt against the Khmer kingdom. Sukhothai was the capital of this kingdom. The era is known for the development of art, architecture and governance, with particular emphasis on the embrace of Theravada Buddhism (as opposed to Mahayana Buddhism) from Ceylon. Theravada Buddhism was established as the official state religion at this time. Most Thai people today still abide by Theravada Buddhism.
The Ayutthaya kingdom was established in 1351 and ushered in an age of glory for this part of Southeast Asia. With territorial expansion centered along Menam, the Ayuthaya kingdom would eventually overtake the influence of the Sukhothai kingdom. In 1431, the rising kingdom invaded Angkor, resulting in the Khmer abandoning it. The kingdom instituted a system of governance that balanced central authority with local autonomy, maintaining the room for growth in its regions.
Ayutthaya would prove itself to be a thriving center for trade in Asia with the network of riverways within its ever-expanding territory. This would be the opening by which European involvement began in this part of the world.
Soon enough, Siam would be known to the European powers as it caught on with the world relations that would necessitate significant modernization in Asia. The Chakri dynasty of Siam followed the heels of the fall of the Ayutthaya kingdom.
Britannica on the History of Thailand.
Thailandembassy.org on Thailand History.
www.thethailandlife.com on A Brief History of Thailand.
The Wikipedia on History of Thailand
The Wikipedia on Bronze Age.
The Wikipedia on Funan.
This was not the first time in Thailand for me, but surely my first time visiting Bangkok. My last trip to Thailand was more than a decade ago in Phuket. I was quite excited about this trip because it was organized by my uncle with …
The Eikando-ji Temple of Kyoto is a Heian period temple practicing the Jodo school of Buddhism. A view of its beautiful temple grounds in the evening was an amazing experience.
During the very crowded fall foliage season, the temples of Kyoto are illuminated for visitors to admire the night scene there. Eikando-ji Temple was a good choice for me, as I was quite familiar with that area, having visited the Nanzen-ji Temple the previous day.
Eikando-ji Temple acquired its name from the very popular head priest Yokan, who was commonly known as Eikan. Eikando means “Eikan Hall’ in Japanese. Formerly the Zenrin-ji Temple, the Eikando-ji Temple lent its former name to the very inception of Nanzen-ji Temple’s Buddhist beginning.
Zenrin-ji Temple, meaning “temple in a clam grove,” lies on the foothill of Higashiyama mountain surrounded by lush green trees that turn crimson in autumn. A noble of the Heian period donned the grounds of Eikando-ji Temple to the priest Shinjo. Thus began the Eikando-ji Temple as the first temple was established in 853 A.D. by Shinjo. Emperor Seiwa gave the temple its original name, Zenrin-ji, in 863 A.D.
This head priest was a disciple of the Shingon Sect of Buddhism. At that point in the temple’s history, it belonged to the Shingon Sect, which was the Buddhism being practiced there for 220 years.
Came the next 140 years and the Eikando-ji Temple practiced the teachings of Shingon Sect and Pure Land of Sanron Sect, which was one of the six sects of Nara Buddhism. Between 1166 A.D. to 1224 A.D., this age of the temple was named after its head priests Yokan to Johen.
Beginning in 1224 A.D., the head priest Johen led the temple’s religious lineage into the teachings of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Honen, the founder of the Jodo sect, was then appointed as the 11th nominal priest of Eikando-ji Temple. Under the leadership of Joon, the Eikando-ji Temple officially converted from the Shingon sect to the Seizan branch of the Jodo sect.
One special feature of the Eikando-ji Temple was the unique pose of its Buddha statue. Amida, the resident Buddha at Eikando-ji Temple, has the posture of “looking back.” This came about when Yokan (Eikan) was walking around the altar as he chanted his Nembutsu. The Amida came down from the altar and led him. The priest stopped walking, as he was surprised. Amida then looked back over his left should and said, “Yokan, you are slow.” This was the story that inspired the Mikaeri-Amida statue looking back, as a reminder to followers of the Buddha’s mercy.
Like so many other temples in Kyoto, the very old structures that originated from their inception were destroyed by fires that were mostly the results of civil wars.
The ten-year Onin War (1467A.D.-1477A.D.) razed the Eikando-ji Temple to the ground. It took generations of priests to restore the temple by the 16th century. The temple then fell into ruins again in the early modern times. As the state policy of the Meiji period was to elevate the native faith of Japan, Shinto, as distinguished from Buddhism, a great number of Japanese Buddhist temples were destroyed in the early modern era as well.
In a previous entry, I discussed the lowdown on how to handle the crowds for night Momiji viewing at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. The two temples both present fantastic views at night, and the crowds are certainly no less at the Eikando-ji Temple.
Momiji is the Japanese word for foliage viewing in autumn. In this time of the year, Kyoto meets an exceptional spike of tourist presence. In fact, in those five days that I stayed in Kyoto, I sensed the crowd gaining numbers by the day, from hotel check-in, to sightseeing, to restaurant dining.
The Eikando-ji Temple was the last temple that I visited in Kyoto, and surely, all of the world’s tourists caught up with me then. Therefore, expect long queues, not just at the entrance, but throughout your walk at the temple. There is a section of the bridge where tourists must not take photographs. So crowds gather right at the point that they could take photographs to snap some beautiful shots of the pond.
The temple features beautiful structures, gardens and a pond. The illuminations are well done there. I highly recommend a night visit at the Eikando-ji Temple.
The study of temples in Kyoto would not be complete without a realistic consideration of the implications of Buddhism in Japanese history. The temples of Kyoto presented a kaleidoscopic view of Buddhism’s role as a prominent religion. The priests of these temples dedicated their whole lives to a serious study of Buddhism. Schools of Buddhist sects blossomed in the Heian period. The relationship between different schools of Buddhism was not just academic. They were contentious with political ramifications, as proper Buddhism was a province of the imperial court.
As a matter of politics, Buddhism had a significant role in the power struggles in premodern Japan. The Buddhist monks were not just priests that sat in the temple grounds chanting their nenbutsu. They had wide influence in the politics of the day because of the imperial patronage of Buddhism. And that part of Japan’s history of Buddhism awaits further exploration on my part.
There were also temples that stood for the emotional refuge that religion offered in one’s personal life. The Gio-ji Temple of Arashiyama attests to the faith’s power in restoring women’s spirits from heartbreaks and rejections.
To conclude my journey in Kyoto, there were a few things that I would have really liked to see. That includes the Gingkaku-ji Temple, the Path of Philosophy (Tetsugaku no Michi), the Daigo-ji Temple, the Fushimi Inari Shrine and the Blue Bottle café that is in a heritage building in Kyoto. It was also a pity that I did not manage to hike from Mount Takao to Arashiyama. But travelling in Kyoto entails a whole lot of walking, and surely that affected my energy level in Nara. I was honestly tired by the time I made it there.
Thinking back, I could have done one full week in Kyoto, but I can certainly save those key sites for a next trip. So, I bid farewell to Kyoto. Nara was next up.
The history of Eikando-ji Temple from this entry was taken from the official website of the Eikando-ji Temple.
The fantastic tour at the Samurai Museum presents visitors with a brief history lesson of feudal Japan. The young and knowledgeable tour guides shed light on the hierarchy of Japan’s ruling power during the Shogunate period, which lasted for roughly 7 centuries between 1192 and …
