Holy Things: The Genealogy of the Sacred in Thai Religion

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Transliteration, Transcription, and Translation
	Vowels and Diphthongs
	Consonants
1 Introduction
	Asking for Boons: Making and Fulfilling Vows
	“Holy Things” and the Limits of Religious Taxonomy
	Moving Beyond Syncretism
	Buddhist Inclusivism
	The Genealogy of Saksit
Part I Contextualizing Holy Things
	2 Buddhism as Implicit Theology
		Implicit Theologies
		The Implicit Theology of Devas in Vedic India
		Buddhism’s Intervention in Implicitly Theological Discourse in Ancient India
		Modern Disenchantment and Buddhism’s Theological Project
		The Cosmological Agency of Buddhist Implicit Theology
	3 Situating Siam in History
		The Sanskrit Cosmopolis and the Śaiva World
		The Collapse of the Sanskrit Cosmopolis and the Rise of Persianate and Arabic Cosmopoleis
		The Ripple Effects of the Persianate Cosmopolis and the Rise of the Pali Cosmopolis
		The Historical Origins of Siam
		Continuities Between the Sanskrit and Pali Cosmopoleis
	4 The Genealogy of the Sacred
		How Saksit Became “Holy”
		The Literary Corpus for This Study
		Saksit in Siamese Literature
		The Saiyasāt Context of Saksit
		Saiyasāt, Magic, and Religion
		Summary
Part II Deconstructing the Syncretism of Holy Things
	5 Spirits
		The Chinese Roots of Tai “Spirits”
		Historicizing “Indigenous” Tai Spirits
		“Local Spirits” in Thailand Today
		The Modern Discourse of Religion and the Construction of “Local Religion”
	6 Gods
		Saiyasāt and Extra-Pali Discourses in Sukhōthai and Ayutthayā
		The Bangkok Restoration and Interest in Hinduism in Prerevolutionary Siam
		The Ērāwan Shrine and Rise of Brahmā Worship in Thailand
		Hindu Enthusiasm in Contemporary Thailand
		Saiyasāt, the Gods, and the Work of World Religions
	7 Buddha Images
		Early Evidence for the Propitiation of Buddha Images in Siam
		The Culture of Buddha Images and Their Miraculous Power in Lānnā
		Explaining Miraculous Buddha Relics Within the Pali Imaginaire
		Luang Phǭ Sōthǭn and the Origins of Modern Kānbonbānsānklāo
		The Changing Meaning of Saksit and Modern Kānbonbānsānklāo
	8 Conclusion
Appendix A Explicit Theology From Plato to the Abrahamic Traditions
Appendix B Corpus of Siamese Literary Works Consulted
	Corpus of Sukhōthai Inscriptions Consulted
	Works of Siamese Literature Consulted
Notes
	Acknowledgments
	Chapter 1
	Chapter 2
	Chapter 3
	Chapter 4
	Chapter 5
	Chapter 6
	Chapter 7
	Chapter 8
	Appendix A
	Appendix B
Bibliography
Index