powers, thus showing the broad and liberal spirit in which he regarded politics, though a better acquaintance with the ways of Europeans might have made him refuse them extraterritorial privileges.  He abolished the custom which obliged everyone to keep indoors when the king went out and he publicly received petitions on every Uposatha day.  He legislated against slavery,[211] gambling, drinking spirits and smoking opium and considerably improved the status of women.  He also published edicts ordering the laity to inform the ecclesiastical authorities if they noticed any abuses in the monasteries.  He caused the annals of Siam to be edited and issued numerous orders on archaeological and literary questions, in which, though a good Pali scholar, he deprecated the affected use of Pali words and enjoined the use of a terse and simple Siamese style, which he certainly wrote himself.  He appears to have died of scientific zeal for he caught a fatal fever on a trip which he took to witness a total eclipse of the sun.

He was succeeded by his son Chulalongkorn[212] (1868-1911), a liberal and enlightened ruler, who had the misfortune to lose much territory to the French on one side and the English on the other.  For religion, his chief interest is that he published an edition of the Tipitaka.  The volumes are of European style and printed in Siamese type, whereas Cambojan characters were previously employed for religious works.

2

As I have already observed, there is not much difference between Buddhism in Burma and Siam.  In mediaeval times a mixed form of religion prevailed in both countries and Siam was influenced by the Brahmanism and Mahayanism of Camboja.  Both seem to have derived a purer form of the faith from Pegu, which was conquered by Anawrata in the eleventh century and was the neighbour of Sukhothai so long as that kingdom lasted.  Both had relations with Ceylon and while venerating her as the metropolis of the faith also sent monks to her in the days of her spiritual decadence.  But even in externals some differences are visible.  The gold and vermilion of Burma are replaced in Siam by more sober but artistic tints—­olive, dull purple and dark orange—­and the change in the colour scheme is accompanied by other changes in the buildings.

A religious establishment in Siam consists of several edifices and is generally known as Wat,[213] followed by some special designation such as Wat Chang.  Bangkok is full of such establishments mostly constructed on the banks of the river or canals.  The entrance is usually guarded by gigantic and grotesque figures which are often lions, but at the Wat Pho in Bangkok the tutelary demons are represented by curious caricatures of Europeans wearing tall hats.  The gate leads into several courts opening out of one another and not arranged on any fixed plan.  The first is sometimes surrounded by a colonnade in which are set a long line of the Buddha’s eighty disciples.