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Devaraja

Deified monarch in medieval Southeast Asia

  • 12 min read
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The devaraja concept of the divine status of kings was adopted by the Indianised Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of Southeast Asia through the Indian Brahmin scholars that were deployed in the courts there. It was first adopted by Javanese kings, and thereafter by various Malay kingdoms, the Khmer Empire, and the Thai monarchies.

Etymology and evolution

In Sanskrit the Hindu origin term deva-raja could have different meanings such as "god-king" or "king of the gods". In the Hindu and Vedic pantheons, the title of king of gods (devas) is held by the supreme God, Indra. Thus the mortal kingdom on earth mirrored the celestial kingdom of gods, the concept regarded the king as the living god on earth. It is also from influences in Hinduism and separate local traditions.

Indian origin religions (also called Dharmic or Indic religions) originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism.. Hinduism, Buddhism have many references regarding Southeast Asia such as Suvarnabhumi. As evidenced from the history of Indian influence on Southeast Asia, including Thailand, the Southeast Asian kingdoms adopted Indian Sanskrit terms and Hindu-Buddhist concepts through the process of Indianisation and adoption of Sanskrit language; the evolution and spread of the concept of Deveraja is one such example.

The Devaraja concept evolved from the earlier Indian concept of "Chakravarti". Chakravarti refers to an ideal universal ruler, especially in the sense of an imperial ruler of the entire Indian sub-continent (as in the case of the Maurya Empire). The first references to a Chakravala Chakravartin appear in monuments from the time of the early Maurya Empire, in the 4th to 3rd century BCE, in reference to Chandragupta Maurya and his grandson Ashoka. In Hinduism, the term generally denotes a powerful ruler whose dominion extended to the entire earth. In Buddhist kingship and Jainism, the term generally applies to temporal as well as spiritual kingship and leadership. In Buddhism, the Chakravarti came to be considered the counterpart of a Buddha.

Ashoka was an emperor of the Maurya empire, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BCE. For the spread of Buddhism, he sent Buddhist missions to 9 destinations, including Tibet and China, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Establishment of these early era links led to the ongoing transmission of Indian concepts to Southeast Asia.

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