Trials by Water and Fire: Theatre State and Competitions in the Seventeenth-Century Ayutthaya Kingdom
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Abstract
Previous studies on trial by ordeal in the Ayutthayan context portray the overall judicial process in cases of lacking proof; nonetheless, their analyses, not based on primary historical sources, tend to generalize that the divinity invited during trials effectively brings justice that the state expected. This research argues that several participants actively negotiated to determine trial results to serve their own interests. To assess credibility of sources in order to soundly understand perspectives of those who participated in trial by ordeal, pieces of evidence, written during the seventeenth century and other eras, are crosschecked. Travel writings, first-hand accounts, laws, and poems are crucial for selecting and integrating a theoretical framework. The concept of the theatre state (Geertz, 1980) helps understand power negotiations between participants who used trial by ordeal to eradicate political opponents and to integrate individuals of various strata into the state hierarchy of King Prasat Thong who was from a noble background. The concepts of the rite of passage and sport, proposed by Turner (1982) and Elias and Dunning (1986), are fruitful for illuminating how socio-economic and magical powers of defendants and complainants were temporarily withdrawn, so that they could fairly compete in ordeals. Thus, they could be purified and punished justly by gods. A consequence of the ordeal was the result of participants’ negotiations. Participants’ excitement and malevolence might be exploded, cleared up, or formed. The status of being guilty would lead to the collapse of a kinship or patron-client group, a punishment by law, a fear of being in hell, and a fright at future incarnation. It is necessary to consider each specific context in which each participant used the trial by ordeal as the state theatre for changing his and others’ statuses and utilized his physical skills to deal with water and fire in order to get his desirable trial result.
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