The Ayutthaya Administration
 

Ayutthaya City used to be the Sukhothai dominion. At the end of the Ramkamhaeng the Great era, the Sukhothai Kingdom declined and Vietnamese provincial towns that used to be part of the Sukhothai dominions started uprisings which Sukhothai failed to quell. Seeing the weakening of Sukhothai, King Utong declared Ayutthaya's independence and changed administration system to a Cambodian-like one, a Divine Rights System more appropriate to the situation. Three distinguishing characteristics of the Divine Rights system were:

1. States come into existence by God's will.
2. God chooses the rulers of the states.
3. The rulers are responsible only to God.

Divine Rights system came from Hindu and Cambodian influence. It separated the rulers and the people. Kings were worshipped as semi-gods like Vishnu or Siva. The Divine Rights administration differentiated the ruling class from others and gave rulers privileges as divinities according to Hindu beliefs. People were completely under the control of rulers. Absolute monarchy, the master-servant relationship, slavery and feudalism developed from this system.

The way Cambodian Kings governed their people was similar to an autocratic government. Thai administration, on the other hand, considered kings as the father of the people and used characteristics of family relationships as a model. This system respected fathers as the head of the family.

In the reign of King Utong, the administration system was reorganized, having the King as the director of the administration. The new system was called a provincial administration system. It divided the Kingdom into the capital and Muang Phya Mahanakorn. The capital was reduced to a smaller size to make communications between inner provincial towns and the capital more convenient. The outer provincial towns which were Muang Phya Moha Nakorn were further away from the capital area. During the time of undeveloped communication systems, it was difficult for the outer provinces to keep in contact with the capital. Without close supervision by the central administration of the outer provinces, the Muang Phya Mahanakorn were almost independent. The rulers, once appointed as the governors, represented the king and exercised ruling power on his behalf both for political and juridical aspects. They were almost autonomous without having to listen to a command from the capital. For this reason, when a king was strong enough, he was able to maintain the integrity of the Kingdom; but if a king was weak, the rulers of outer provincial towns might start an uprising, thereby putting the Kingdom's integrity at risk. This situation was generated from the tenuous relationship between the central and provincial administration.

In the reign of King Boromtrailokanat, a new administrative system was set up, separating the military from the civil administration. Civil administration was responsible for affairs of the capital, the palace, finance and cultivation led by the Samuhanayok (Co-Prime Minister for Civil Affairs). Military and defense affairs which included elephant troops, cavalry and infantry was led by the Samuhakalahom (Co-prime Minister for Military Affairs). This reorganization of the system was very important to the future formulation of the country's administrative system. The administration fully supported absolute monarchy because Bhrama and members of royalty of the Cambodians who came to stay in Ayutthaya possessed better knowledge of the administration system. The notions about the status of the King and monarchy must have been more rigid than before. That is, the full form of the Divine Rights System was applied. As for the adjustment of provincial administration, part of the boundary of the capital and inner provincial towns were expanded to decentralize the governing power and to enable the central administration to have better control over the provincial administration. Inner provincial towns were classified as fourth-class towns, part of the capital boundary and governed by the king who was assisted by his ministers. The rank of those who governed inner provincial towns or fourth-class towns was acting governor not governor and the term of this position was three years. Departments and Divisions were under direct control of ministers in the capital. Moreover, according to the Palace Law or Kot Montien Ban and the feudal provincial town directory, 4 satellite towns of the capital were terminated and considered as fourth-class towns. The capital's boundary was expanded after this major reform. The outer provincial towns remained as Meung Phya Mahanakorn but were divided into first, second and third classes. These were later called outer border towns because they were far from the capital and located near the borders. Like capitals, each of them had their own dominions. Outer border towns were ruled by high-ranking royals or noblemen whom the king appointed as Regent. The administration bodies resembled those of the capital. Further away from these towns, dominions on the border of the Kingdom which had people of different cultures and languages were ruled by indigenous royals according to their own traditions. Those dominions were to present Thai Kings with silver and golden trees as well as other royal gifts every 3 years.

In the Ayutthaya period, evidence clearly suggests that there was organized sub provincial administration inside both inner and outer provincial towns which was called local administration, dividing towns in to municipal districts, subdistricts and villages respectively. Municipal districts consisted of subdistricts which consisted of villages formed out of many households without limiting the number of houses or the population This local administration was not so different from the present. Local administration Law formulated afterwards was based on the early administration system and was modified only a little.

If we consider the impact of the Divine Rights System on administration, we can see that during that by the time the foundation of country was stabilized, the disadvantages of the Divine Rights System began to appear. Kings and the ruling class were separated so far from their people that the latter became another class. This was different from paternalism. Secondary ruling classes such as noblemen had ways to overexploit their authority, causing oppression, terrorization and corruption. Moreover, the godlike overwhelming power and privileges of the King attracted many people. As a result, during the long period under the Divine Rights System, infighting occurred continuously and sometimes led to the weakness, and twice to the loss of independence. Ayutthaya's history confirmed this fact. These events did not happen to the Sukhothai Kingdom which used paternalism because Sukhothai's Kings were considered as head of the family, and were not so privileged and powerful as in the Divine Rights System. When a king passed away, the next most senior person would succeed the throne.

Another weakness of the Divine Rights system which became an inheritance of today's administration was that it created the habit of respecting individuals more than principles which greatly obstructed the path to democracy. It led to the people's behavior of choosing the rulers by personal affection and respect rather than by principles and ideology.