This thesis purposes to study the origin of beliefs of Phra Attharasa which have been found in Buddhism. The study analyzed how beliefs of Phra Attharasa affected Thai Buddhist art and influenced Thai societies.
The study used a qualitative research method which based on Buddhist sculpture, architecture, and art objects gathered from primary and secondary sources and fieldwork study. They were analyzed to seek for relations among beliefs of Phra Attharasa, their creation, and influences to Thai societies.
The study found that beliefs of Phra Attharasa appeared in the Commentary on the Buddhavamsa [History of the Buddhas], known as the Madhurattha-vilasini, no later than the 5th century. Buddhavamsa was the fourteenth book of the Khuddaka Nikaya [the minor collection] in the Sutta Pitaka which contains five nikayas [collections] of suttas. The commentary was widespread in Sri Lanka during Polonnaruwa Period in the 12th to 13th centuries which this period found Buddha statues having the size of the living Buddha. Sukhothai also had similar Buddha statues known as Phra Attharasa referring to Gautama Buddha with the height of eighteen soks [a sok is equivalent to 50 centimetres] according to the size of the Buddha wrote in the commentary. |
