A ''busabok'' ( th, บุษบก, ) is a small open structure used in

Thai culture Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode bloc ...

as a throne for the monarch or for the enshrinement of Buddha images or other sacred objects. It is square-based and open-sided, usually with twelve indented corners, with four posts supporting a roughly pyramidal multi-tiered roof culminating in a pointed spire, and usually richly decorated. The structure of the multi-tiered roof is very similar, but much smaller in size, to the ''

mondop The ''mondop'' ( th, มณฑป, from Pali/Sanskrit ) is a building form in traditional Thai religious architecture featuring a square or cruciform building with a usually pointed roof. In the narrow sense, it refers to an enclosed square buildin ...

'' architectural form. The term is derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

word , a reference to the Pushpaka Vimana, a flying chariot from the Hindu epic ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...

'' (and the Thai version ''

Ramakien The ( th, รามเกียรติ์, , ; ; sometimes also spelled ) is one of Thailand's national epics, derived from the Buddhist Dasaratha Jataka. Fundamentally, it is a Thai version of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Ramakien is an importa ...

''). ''Busabok'' are used for royal thrones, including the Busabok Mala Throne in the Amarin Winitchai Throne Hall of the

Grand Palace The Grand Palace ( th, พระบรมมหาราชวัง, Royal Institute of Thailand. (2011). ''How to read and how to write.'' (20th Edition). Bangkok: Royal Institute of Thailand. .) is a complex of buildings at the heart of Ba ...

, as well as the thrones used ceremonially in

royal barge procession Thailand's Royal Barge Procession ( th, กระบวนพยุหยาตราชลมารค; RTGS: ''krabuan phayuhayattra chonlamak'') is a ceremony of both religious and royal significance which has taken place for nearly 700 years ...

s. Smaller ''busabok'' are used to house objects associated with the king—an early documented example was used to carry the royal letter of King

Narai King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the P ...

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

in the 1686 Siamese embassy to France. ''Busabok'' are also used as shrines housing Buddha images, notably the

Emerald Buddha The Emerald Buddha ( th, พระแก้วมรกต , or ) is an image of the meditating Gautama Buddha seated in a meditative posture, made of a semi-precious green stone (jasper rather than emerald or jade), clothed in gold. and about ...

Wat Phra Kaew Wat Phra Kaew ( th, วัดพระแก้ว, , ), commonly known in English as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and officially as Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram, is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. The complex c ...

and Phra Phuttha Sihing at the Bangkok National Museum. Very large versions have formed the design of the temporary crematoria used for royal funerals of previous kings. The ''busabok'' was also the basis for a style of Buddhist pulpit known as ''thammat yot'' or ''busabok thammat''.

Gallery

File:Gran Palacio, Bangkok, Tailandia, 2013-08-22, DD 57 (Cropped).jpg, Busabok Mala Throne (rear-left) File:Anantanagaraj.jpg, Royal Barge Anantanakkharat File:Royal missive carriage, Paris, 1686-09-01.jpg, French engraving of the 1686 embassy File:พระราชวังบวรสถานมงคล เขตพระนคร กรุงเทพมหานคร (24).jpg, Phra Phuttha Sihing File:Royal crematorium of King Rama IX - Day.jpg, Royal crematorium of King Bhumibol Adulyadej File:พระราชพิธี เจ้าฟ้าเพชร 1.jpg, Royal funeral carriage Maha Phichai Ratcharot

References

{{reflist Thai art Thai monarchy Thai Buddhist art and architecture

Gallery

See also

References