Buddhist kingship

Buddhist kingship refers to the beliefs and practices with regard to kings and queens in traditional Buddhist societies, as informed by Buddhist teachings. This is expressed and developed in Pāli and Sanskrit literature, early, later, as well as vernacular, and evidenced in epigraphic findings. Forms of kingship that could be described as Buddhist kingship existed at least from the time of Emperor Aśoka the Great (Pali: Asoka) and Kanishka.^[1] Important concepts that were used with regard to Buddhist kingship are merit (Sanskrit: puṇya; Pali: puñña), pāramī (Sanskrit: pāramitā; Thai: บารมี), 'person of merit' (Thai: ผู้มีบุญ) 'wheel-turning monarch' (Pali: Cakkavatti; Sanskrit: Cakravartin), and Bodhisatta (Sanskrit: Bodhisattva). Many of these beliefs and practices continue to inspire and inform current kingship in contemporary Buddhist countries. Since the 2000s, studies have also began to focus on the role of Buddhist queens in Asian history.