Part I: 1. Introduction: Reconstructing a Journey; 2. From Rajadharma (the King's "Whole Duty") to Dharmaraja (the "Righteous Ruler"); 3. The Brahmanical Theory of Society and Kingship; 4. The Early Buddhist Conception of World Process, Dharma, and Kingship; 5. Asoka Maurya: The Paradigm; 6. Thai Kingship and Polity in Historical Perspective 7. The Galactic Polity; 8. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya: Design and Process; 9. Asokan and Sinhalese Traditions Concerning the Purification of the Sangha; 10. The Sangha and the Polity: From Ayutthaya to Bangkok; 11. The Nineteenth-Century Achievements of Religion and Sangha; Appendix to Chapter 11: The Symbolization of Monarchy in the Nineteenth Century; 12. The Sangha Acts of 1902, 1941, and 1963; Part II: 13. The Composition and Distribution of Religious Personnel: What the Figures Say; 14. Monkhood as an Avenue of Social Mobility; 15. Monastic Careers and Monastic Network; Appendix to Chapter 15: Monastic Networks in Christian Europe and Thailand; 16. Patronage of the Sangha and the Legitimation of the Polity; 17. Reformism and Ideological Transformation Based on Tradition; 18. Missionary Monks (Thammathud) and National Development; Appendix to Chapter 18: The Monks' Universities; 19. The Politics of National Development and the Symbols c Legitimacy; 20. Dialectical Tensions, Continuities, Transformations, and the Uses of the Past