The
Golden Age of Lan Na
The “Golden Age” of Lan Na, starting from Kue
Na’s reign (1355-1385), was characterized both by a
strong political power which enabled it to defeat the enemies,
particularly Sukhothai and Ayuthya, and by a spectacular cultural
development under the Ceylonese Buddhist influence.
In the course of the 11th century, a reformed sect of Theravada
Buddhism, named Mahavihara Fraternity appeared in Ceylon.
From 1075 the Pali texts of this sect reached Pagan, raising
a great interest among the Court and the people. In the following
century, the orthodoxy of the Mahavihara Fraternity was officially
recognized by the Sinhalese King Parakramabahu (1153-1186).
Impressed by its teachings, the monks from the Kingdom of
Pagan were the first Southeast Asian Bhikkhus to go and study
Buddhism in Ceylon and propagate it on the mainland in the
1180s and 1190s. We have seen that their apostolic action
reached Sip Song Panna and Dali. The new sect came to Sukhothai
and Chiang Mai respectively at the end of the 13th century
and in the second half of the 14th century.
There were two waves of Sinhalese Buddhism in Lan Na. The
first came with the Venerable Sumana, a monk from Sukhothai,
who received the Mahavihara teaching in Martaban. Invited
by King Kue Na (r. 1355-1385), he arrived in Lamphun in 1369
and in Chiang Mai in 1371. The new monastery of Wat Puppharam
(or Wat Suan Dok), which was built by King Kue Na about 1000
meters west of Chiang Mai, became a regional base for the
later Mahavihara’s development and an invaluable cultural
center, the influence of which lasted for several centuries
in and out of Lan Na. The building, but not completed, of
the Chedi Luang, by King Saen Muang Ma (1385-1401), in central
Chiang Mai, was to be placed in this period.
The second wave of Sinhalese Buddhism occurred in the reign
of King Sam Fang Kaen (1401-1441). It was the result of the
mission to Ceylon of 33 monks (including 8 from Cambodia)
in 1423. Upon their return in 1430, they introduced into Lan
Na the purest form of Sinhalese Buddhism, the chapter of Sihalabhikkhus.
Ascending the throne through a coup d’etat against his
father, Tilokaraj (1441-1487) was mainly confronted with Ayuthya
in political and military field. In religious field, he gave
his favour to the Sihalabhikkhus, for whom he built the Rattavana
Monastery or Wat Pa Daeng (Red Forest Monastery), about 2
kilometers west of Wat Puppharam. In addition, he invited
the Venarable Medhankara, one of the chiefs of mission to
Ceylon in 1423, to reside in Wat Rajamonthien as Supreme Patriarch
of the Sangkha (Phra MaHasami). In 1453 he built another monastery
called Bodharama Mahavihara (Wat Chet Yot). There, in 1475-7
the 8th International Buddhist Council was organized under
the royal patronage in order to standardize the Tripitaka;
it had a great effect on religious development in the region.
The following year, he enlarged the Chedi Luang and enshrined
the relics taken from Ceylon by his religious mission in 1430.
And in 1481 the Phra Kaeo Morakot statue (Emerald Buddha)
was brought from Wat Lampang Luang and placed in the eastern
niche of the monument.
The following reigns marked both a continuation of that of
Tilokaraj and a transition to the Lan Na’s decline.
After the short reign of Yot Chiang Rai (1487-1495), his son,
Phra Muang Kaeo (1495-1526) was able to maintain religious
and cultural role of his predecessors, which is, for instance,
substantiated by the writing of Jinakalamalini by the venerable
Ratanapanna, a member of the Sihalabhikkhus sect. But militarily,
Lan Na was already weak and could not match Sukhothai and
Ayuthya.
Thailand.chiangmai-news.com
