Sangha and Monarchy at the Beginning of the Ratanakosin Dynasty, Based upon Seven Kot Phrasong in the Kotmai Tra Sam Duang or the Law of the Three Seals

In the Corpus of 18Q5 known as Kotmai Tra Sam l)uang are seven royal decrees on the Buddhist church issued during the first two years of the present Thai ruling dynasty ． In this short note I attempt to clarify the background of the stringen し policy pursued by King Rama I against the then corrupted Buddhist clergy ， thereby defin - ing the decrees within the framework of a Bud - dhist polity defined earlier