 previous article in this issue | next article in this issue  |
Preview first page |
Document Details : Title: Politico-Religious Beliefs of Khruba Srivichai, the Saint of Northern Thailand Subtitle: Interrogating the Evidence Author(s): BOWIE, Katherine Journal: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume: 48 Date: 2025 Pages: 33-79 DOI: 10.2143/JIABS.48.0.3295422 Abstract : Khruba Srivichai (1878-1939) is the most famous monk of northern Thailand. Srivichai was arrested multiple times during his life; he was sent to Bangkok for investigation in 1920 and 1935-1936, under charges that included treason. Today his worshippers are portraying him as a forest monk engaged in solitary meditation to reach enlightenment and downplaying the conflicts involved in the historical process of nation-state formation. Srivichai’s arrests are being dismissed as the misunderstanding of a simple, uneducated village monk who was ignorant of new government regulations. However during his interrogation in 1935, Srivichai himself avowed that he was following the teachings of the Buddha. Rather than adjudge Srivichai’s arrests as a misunderstanding, this essay seeks to reconstruct the religious beliefs of Srivichai by considering the popular texts shaping the Lanna Buddhist imaginaire during his lifetime and analyzing the surviving hints of his religious praxis, including the religious texts most closely associated with him, his rejection of apotropaic practices, and his numerous temple restorations and construction projects. Drawing on over 200 oral histories, textual sources and secondary accounts, an interrogation of the historical evidence suggests that Srivichai believed in the importance of ethical action in building moral communities. This essay concludes that Srivichai was not ignorant, but rather an educated monk whose religious beliefs committed him to socially-engaged Buddhism and non-violent resistance to injustice. |
 |
