Page 253 - Proceedings book

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completely separated from these affairs. There is at least one instance of a king giving

an order directing that legal suits be referred for decision to a monk whose judgment
he held in high esteem. The monk who mentions this incident records it with obvious

approval. Max Weber spoke of the value of Buddhism for kings as a means of
"domesticating the masses." A rephrasing of the statement may be necessary in

speaking of the development witnessed in Sri Lanka. The impact of the state appears

to have been one of domesticating the monk in the sense of compelling him to
shoulder the burdens he had intended to shed by directing his attention toward a

settled life and greater involvement in the affairs of the economy and the polity.
(Weber, 1958)

However, as we shall see, Weber's statement is not so irrelevant to the problem we
have been discussing. If the sangha benefited from the patronage of the king, on the

other hand, they contributed to strengthening the position of the king. The king was
the foremost devotee, the first upasaka in the kingdom, and he played the leading role

among laymen in several important rituals. (Weber, 1958) The monks were mediators
in political disputes and ambassadors sent by the king to foreign courts. As

chroniclers and authors, monks gave publicity to the role of kings as the patron of

Buddhism. The kings were clearly aware of the legitimizing functions of Buddhism.
They were careful to give publicity to their acts of patronage by having records

prominently inscribed in stone. The large Buddhist monuments they set up were as
much symbols of their generosity as they were monuments to the glory of Buddhism.

They were probably aware of the unifying role that Buddhism could play in Sri

Lankan society. For they made an unmistakable attempt to elevate their capital into a
center of ritual, a sacred place which would attract pilgrims from all parts of the island.

Not only were some of the most imposing shrines located at the capital, but also there
were annual religious festivals, such as that of the Tooth relic, which turned the

political center into a prominent, perhaps the most prominent, sacred city.

Just as much as the relationship between the king and the sangha had an impact on the

life of the sangha, it could also be said that there was a corresponding effect on the
nature of kingship. If, as Dumont believed, the functions of kingship had been

secularized in ancient India, in Sri Lanka one can trace a subsequent tendency toward
Desecularization, to bring kingship into an increasingly closer association with

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