Chronicle
Three Worlds According to King Ruang
ไตรภูมิพระร่วง
Phya Lithai · 1345
Synopsis
A teaching devoted to the three worlds in which beings are reborn according to their actions: the world of desire, with its hells, its animals, its humans and its heavens, then the world of form and the formless world. Drawn from the Pali canon, its commentaries and local legends, the text charts the heavens and hells, describes the falls and the consequences of karma, and makes room for the universal king, whose right to rule rests on his righteousness.
Context
The king is said to have composed it around 1345, before coming to the throne, in Old Thai and in Khmer script, under the title Sermon on the Three Worlds. After the fall of Ayutthaya, the kings of Thonburi and Bangkok had it copied and circulated, and its visions adorn the walls of temples; its influence reached Laos and Cambodia. George Cœdès translated it into French in 1973, Frank and Mani Reynolds into English in 1982.
Who it is for
A religious and descriptive treatise rather than a narrative; to be read in the translation by the École française d'Extrême-Orient, with its notes.
Prizes and reception
Sulak Sivaraksa reads in it a strong political significance, in particular in its treatment of karma and kingship.
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