In Thailand, there is another Ayodhya, known locally as Ayutthaya. It is a ruin now, full of tall pagodas and temples made of brick and stucco, and hundreds of images of the Buddha, many headless. This was the capital of Thai kings for four centuries, before it was sacked by the Burmese in the 18th century.

The Ram of this Ayodhya was the king, addressed as Ramathibodhi (Overlord Rama), as the royal name is not to be spoken. We realise the impact of the Ramayana in Thai society even today when we learn that there are strict laws preventing people from criticising the royal family. It was public gossip after all that forced Ram to abandon his wife Sita, in the Treta Yuga.

The word ‘Thai’ means free. Originally the Thai people were the ‘Tai’ people who migrated from Southern China to Southeast Asia, around a thousand years ago. Incidentally, another group of Tai people migrated to Assam, in India, and were the ancestors of the Ahom kings.

Tai saw their king as a semi-divine figure, like Chinese emperors, connecting heaven and earth. They introduced their very peculiar model of taxation — through labour, working on royal projects, such as building canals and temples and palaces. This is how the great temple........

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