The Legend of Queen Cama: Bodhiramsi's Camadevivamsa, a Translation and Commentary (SUNY Series in Buddhist Studies)

An English translation and a commentary on the chronicle of Queen Cama, an important but neglected female monarch who founded a dynasty in Northern Thailand. The Legend of Queen Cama (Camadevivamsa), an early fifteenth-century Pali chronicle written by Mahathera Bodhiramsi, recounts the story of the founding of the kingdom of Haripunjaya in the Chiang Mai valley of Northern Thailand in the seventh century C.E. Similar to other Theravada Pali chronicles, the legend integrates religious and political stories, namely, Queen Cama's founding of a dynastic lineage and the fortunes of Buddhism within it. The Legend of Queen Cama offers revealing insights into the nature of Buddhism as a living tradition during one of the greatest periods in the history of Thai Buddhism. These insights include the symbolic structure of Buddhist cosmology, the close association of Buddhism and the founding of city states, the interrelationship of popular Buddhist ethical teachings and devotional religion, and the inherently syncretic nature of Buddhism as presented in a text indebted to the folkloric traditions of Northern Thailand. One of the most striking features of the book is the parallelism between the text's dominant narratives--the Buddha's journey to Northern Thailand and his prediction of the discovery of a Buddha relic by King Adittaraja (eleventh century C.E.), and the founding by Queen Cama of a lineage destined to govern Haripunjaya for five hundred years. The Buddha and Queen Cama are equal partners in this creative, cosmically significant act. Both plant the seeds that mature into a Mon Buddhist politico-cultural center that predates the advent of Thai suzerainty in Northern Thailand by five hundred years.

The Legend of Queen Cama: Bodhiramsi's Camadevivamsa, a Translation and Commentary (Suny Series in Buddhist Studies) (English and Pali Edition)

Politics & Social Sciences

Swearer, Donald K.

Premchit, Sommai

Bodhiransi

Social Sciences

State Univ of New York Pr

The mountains of northern Thailand constitute part of northern Thai identity. They inspire fear and awe, respect and love, curiosity and creative imagination. They define both the physical and mental landscape of northern Thailand.Drawing on the legendary histories of three mountains in the region―Doi Ang Salung Chiang Dao, Doi Suthep, and Doi Kham―coauthor Donald Swearer explores the various ways that mountains in northern Thailand are seen as sacred space, and therefore as an environment to be respected rather than exploited.The volume presents, in English translation, the stories associated with these sacred sites as recorded in the legendary chronicles, or tamnan, of the story of the Chiang Dao mountain and cave, the account of the enshrining of the Buddha relic on Doi Suthep, and the interwoven legends of the hermit Wasuthep, the demons Pu Sae and Ya Sae, the chief Wilangkha, and the queen Chamathewi.In preserving the fascinating folklore of these sacred mountains, the authors contribute to the preservation of the mountains themselves.

Sacred Mountains of Northern Thailand: And Their Legends

History

Dokbuakaew, Phaithoon

Asia

Silkworm Books

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