Thammasat University students interested in Thailand, the history of art, world history, anthropology, comparative religion, history, economics, and related subjects may find a new book useful.

The Routledge Companion to Global Renaissance Art is an Open Access book available for free download at this link:

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003294986/

The TU Library collection includes a number of books about different aspects of the art of Renaissance.

The new book is edited by Stephen J. Campbell and Stephanie Porras.

Professor Stephen Campbell teaches art history at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, the United States of America (USA).

Professor Stephanie Porras teaches art history at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Their book is unusual as an art historical overview in that it contains chapters about different art objects rather than focusing on individual artists.

Also, the subject matter includes Asia, the Middle East, and Africa and does not exclusively discuss Western art.

Among the chapters for free download in this Open Access book of particular interest for TU students is one by Associate Professor Melody Rod-ari of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, USA:

Visualizing Faith: The Emerald Buddha in Fifteenth-Century Northern Thailand.

The chapter concludes:

Thailand in the fifteenth century lacked a centralized political structure, which allowed local rulers to govern somewhat autonomously. King Tilok was known to have visited certain favored towns in order to listen to Buddhist sermons, and to make donations to local monasteries in the form of land, materials, and Buddhist images. In doing so, he was able to demonstrate his support for local communities, and, conversely, his worthiness of their political support. Furthermore, his enshrinement of the Emerald Buddha was a testament of his religious merit, which allowed him to possess the icon that had eluded his father and other lesser rulers. Those who had knowledge of the Emerald Buddha and its narrative would have been impressed by the king’s great faith and merit, and therefore more open to aligning themselves with such a worthy individual. During the reign of King Tilok, Lanna’s empire grew in all directions and its influence reached beyond Northern Thailand. While one can argue that the correlation between the Emerald Buddha and the material and political benefits to Lanna monks and King Tilok were specific to the period in which the icon was produced, we know that its significance and perceived benefits continued well into the eighteenth century with Kings Taksin and Rama I, who both sought out the icon after coming into power.

• An Argument for a Northern Thai Renaissance

The  cultural  meaning  of  Renaissance  and  the  definition  of  renaissance  has  changed  over  time; however, both terms are most often used to describe a revival of ancient traditions that lead to periods of florescence. In his article, “A Global History of the ‘Multiple Renaissances,’” Pablo Ariel Blitstein examines the genealogy of the idea of the Renaissance as a culture or as a social type, as well as providing a historiography for the study of multiple re-naissances. Blitstein explains that before the nineteenth century, the Renaissance referred to a historical event or its period; specifically, the European/Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries.36 It was not until after the nineteenth century, with the writings of Arnold Toynbee, Hu Shi, Aurobindo Ghose, and Jack Goody—just to name a few scholars—that the term ‘renaissance’ became synonymous with the ideal type of a cultural form. As an ideal type rather than a specific event, the term ‘renaissance’ could be applied to different societies all over the world and over different time periods, acknowledging the existence of multiple renaissances. While much has been written on this topic, and for making the case for a Chinese Renaissance, an Indian Renaissance, a Bengal Renaissance, and an Islamic Renaissance, what I propose here is an argument for a Northern Thai Renaissance.

As this chapter has demonstrated, the fifteenth century in Northern Thailand was a period of revival that looked to ancient Buddhist traditions and texts. Recall that monks from Chiang  Mai  traveled  to  Sri  Lanka  in  order  to  be  re-ordained, because they believed  that Sinhalese monks’ ordination rites were unbroken from the time of the Buddha; thus, ensuring that they had the proper rites to continue their lineage, and to ordain new monks for generations. Monks also retrieved copies of the Buddhist canon (Tipitaka), believing that those in Sri Lanka were the most authentic and true to the Buddha’s teachings. Buddhist statuary  from  Sri  Lanka  were  also  brought  back  and  spawned  a  new  stylistic  type  (Thai Ping or Sinhalese) in Northern Thailand, of which the Emerald Buddha is an example. The result of these endeavors, the investigation and reinvigoration of Buddhist traditions, led to a burst of artistic and literary patronage and production. This cultural-revivalist efflorescence was driven not only by the fear of Buddhism’s decline and eventual disappearance but also by the ambitions of King Tilok, who sought to expand his territorial and political authority. However, it was also driven by a desire to situate Lanna as a center for Buddhist learning in the region.

Although this chapter focuses specifically on the Emerald Buddha icon and the Ratanabimbavam.sa as a case  study, this period also witnessed the birth of new genres of  Buddhist literature such as tamnan.  The  Emerald  Buddha  narrative  was  not  the  only  example of tamnan that emerged during this time, when the legends of the Sandalwood Buddha, the Sihing Buddha, and the Sikhi Buddha were written to extoll the importance, powers, and travels of these icons. The story of the Emerald Buddha associates it with the chakravartin, whereas the narrative of the Sandalwood Buddha suggests that it is the oldest image of the Buddha. The story of the Sihing icon recounts how it is based on the living like-ness of the Buddha and therefore is the most accurate, while the Sikhi Buddha is significant for being crafted from a stone that the Buddha sat upon. The purpose of these narratives was  to  demonstrate  the  coming  together  of  important  Buddhist  icons,  thereby  situating  Lanna as a center of Buddhist learning. While it is unclear whether the narratives of these Buddhist sculptures were written before or after the icons were crafted, what is known is that once both circulated in the region, temples and monuments were constructed to house them, and monasteries were built so that monks could oversee the necessary rites and ceremonies. One such example is Wat Chedi Luang, which was completed by King Tilok to enshrine the Emerald Buddha. At the time of its completion, the temple was considered the most resplendent example of Buddhist architecture in Chiang Mai. The impetus for the fifteenth-century Northern Thai Renaissance was the result of a fear of Buddhism’s impending death. This is quite unlike the traditional framing of the Euro-pean/Italian Renaissance, literally a rebirth, which sought to revive Classical learning after the “death” of the Roman Empire and the “darkness” of the Middle Ages. Instead, Northern Thai Buddhist monks and Buddhist worshippers sought ways to ensure the longevity of their religion and culture before its foretold decline and death. In this way, the inclusion of Northern Thailand allows for greater diversity in how we conceive, define, and teach a Global Renaissance.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)