Research & Article

This article aims to study the development of Indian Theism in Thai society and its effects on Thai society. It shows that the belief in Gods in India emerged in pre-historical period. The native people believed in ghosts, similar to the native of the south-east Asia. Then came along the Aryan to Indian soil, whose myth incorporated those native ghosts. Later on, those ghosts became gods and eventually Gods. However, the native ghosts still exist in Shaktism and Tantra. When Hinduism spread from India to south-east Asia and Siam in the fifth- eighth BE, it mingled with the local beliefs easily since they were similar to the background beliefs in India. In regards of the relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism, Hindu Gods are included and blended into Buddhist theology. Their status are reduced to gods, which are below Lord Buddha. In terms of relationship between the Hindu Gods and Thai native ghosts, the Siamese blended Hindu Gods to their local ghosts, which elevated the status of their local ghosts. The second coming of Hinduism in the 25th and 26th BE had led to the division of the local Brahmanism and Indian Hinduism. The second coming of Hinduism caused a paradigm shift in the status of Hindu Gods, which used to be below Lord Buddha to become even. Hindu gods changed their status and became Gods again. Hinduism in Thailand has become a new space for animists  and women, which their spaces were reduced by the reformation policy of King Rama IV. Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, also known as Maha Uma Devi Temple or Wat Khaek Silom, has become a place for those animists by using Hindu symbols and rituals in a more complex way.