สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Vol. 30 No. 2 Apr.-Jun. 2005 356 The Influence of Buddhism in Historical Thai Art in the first phase of the Thai Kingdom (in 1287 AD), the art of the Mon 2 and the Khmer 3 , both cultures of Hindu origin, were flourishing in the region. 4 Despite regional diversities, Buddhism dominated much of this area as the Thai Kingdom began to subjugate other tribal groups. Even at this stage, Thai art was integrated with Buddhism as the religion came to dominate the indigenous Thai cultures. Nevertheless, the relatively ephemeral existence of the kingdom of Sukhothai (compared with the other great Thai kingdoms of Ayutthaya and Lanna) represents a golden age that laid the foundations of a structured state capable of establishing Theravada Buddhism as its state religion and asserting its power and cultural identity by assimilating the heritage of its predecessors (Girad-Geslan, et al., 1998 : 100). In the early period, Thai art was genuinely an expression of the development of Buddhism in the Thai kingdom. As part of their drive to implant Theravada Buddhism, the rulers of the Sukhothai imported patterns of art as they emanated from the different populations subscribing to that form of Buddhism. Apparently distinguishing themselves as much as possible from their essentially Sinhalese, Mon, or, to a lesser extent, Pala models, the artist-monks of Sukhothai emerged from this ferment to develop a form of expression that met their religious preoccupations but was nevertheless unique, capable of imposing itself in turn as a model for the other Thai states (Girad- Geslan et al., 1998 : 100). There is good reason to believe that the first known Thai artists were Buddhist monks active during the Sukhothai Period. Consequently, it is appropriate to suggest that the early existence of Buddhism was a major contributor to the foundations of a truly Thai art form. The Buddhist art forms from Sukhothai and the historical frameworks of Thai art and culture within classical Thai art and Thai folk art are both forms that significantly revealed Buddhist influence. 5 Early Historical Thai Art As the establishment of the Thai Kingdom required the building of these structures, early Thai artistic forms have been found in palaces, Buddhist temples and monuments. The other sources are the Buddhist objects and manuscripts used for Figure 1 A historical park in Sukhothai province depicts the ruins of Sukhothai style architecture, thirteenth century AD; a statue of Buddha in the foreground was built in 1957 AD. 2 The Mon comprise a minority ethnic group in Thailand. Before the eleventh century AD, the Mon were the main ethnic group in what is the Thai Kingdom today. 3 The Khmer (Cambodians) were powerful during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries AD before the Thai Kingdom developed. The Khmer Kingdom had influenced the art and culture of Thailand in the past. 4 Refers to the Sukhothai Kingdom in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD. 5 See Phillips in The Integrative Art of modern Thailand, 1992, for more details of classical Thai art and Thai folk art.