ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to define the functional value of the Siamese custom of appointing “Temporary Kings” on certain occasions. The sociological value of the institution of the Temporary King was that it gave the king and the people the required confidence to enable them to carry out very important State Ceremonies in the belief that all danger of evil was thereby averted. The underlying idea seems to be that the magical or divine functions of a king are a source of danger to him, and in countries where the welfare of the State depends so much on the welfare of the monarch; it would be natural to make use of every precaution to protect him against danger. King Rama V hazards a guess in his book to the effect that “The people of Ayudhya wanted to make the ceremony efficacious by making the deputy seem to be the king himself come to plough.”
