Social Traits of Ayutthaya consisted of 6 classes from top to bottom, namely
The King possessed absolute power in governing the country in every aspect. Politically, he was lord of life and head of the Kingdom and had power over the life of everyone in the Kingdom. Socially, he was the leader of society and patron of the Buddhist institutions. His status differed from in the Sukhothai Era. Since Ayutthaya was a large kingdom, it needed a stronger monarchy which all the people would worship with respect. Therefore, it welcomed the Divine Rights Systems that respected Kings as reincarnated gods.
consisted of princes, princesses and other members of the Royal family who assisted the King in governing the kingdom at the king's command. The Ranks of the royalty could be divided into 2 types:
Rank by birth was the rank each royal received at birth.
Nobility rank was the rank received for serving the King.
They were aristocrats who served the king and were a minority group of society that had the chance to work as government officials. The society was closed in that most nobility was hereditary. The source of their power came from a number of permanent retainers (Prai Luang) in their charge.
Monks were people who ordained and who served Buddhism, acting as mediators between the ruling class and the common people. There were two groups of monks, temporary and permanent. All classes were able to enter the monkshood.
Commoners were free men who had to give labor service to the government. The government and noblemen who controlled these commoners were called "masters". Commoners made up the majority of the population, approximately 80-90% of Ayutthaya's whole population.
Slaves were a minority in the society, prisoners of war or commoners who sold themselves because of poverty. Ayutthaya's slaves could be divided into 2 subgroups:
Even though moving up the social ladders in the Ayutthaya Era was allowed, unlike in India, practically it was difficult because noblemen did not support their retainers and sometimes even prevented them from becoming government officials. This was because power, privileges and honors that noblemen received from government service ended as soon as they retired and they did not want people other than their own children and relatives to be government officials.
Social changes
After the political reforms there were two major social changes. One was the rise of noblemen. The other was Western knowledge. As for the rise to power of noblemen, as mentioned earlier, the administration system King Borontrailokanat reformed used nobility as an administrative device. After the reforms, the noble class gained more political power. Until the end of the Ayutthaya Era (1569) although the political power of noblemen increased, it never reached its peak. In the reign of Naresuan the Great (2133-2148 B.E.) there was further administrative reform. He ended the system of sending royalty to govern outer provincial towns such as Phitsanulok, letting them stay in the capital and sent the noblemen to govern all the provincial towns instead. This reform reduced the power of the royals even further while the power of the nobility which had been increasing after the reforms reached its peak as one nobleman was able to seize the throne from young King Atityawong of Sukhothai Dynasty in 1629, making himself King Prasattong (1629-1656 B.E.) It can be said that during the 400 years of the Ayutthaya kingdom, the ongoing political problem was the balance of power between nobility and royalty. To balance the power between these two classes in order to protect the throne was difficult. During the early Ayutthaya period before the reforms, the royalty who ruled the satellite towns of the capital possessed overwhelming powers and often tried to seize the throne if there was any chance. When this problem was solved by reducing the power of the royalty power and increasing the power of the nobility without any controlling mechanism, it opened the opportunity for noblemen to seize the throne as well.
The Receipt of Western knowledge
After the administration reform, in the reign of Ramatibodi II, the Portuguese came to Ayutthaya to conduct a treaty of commerce and friendship in 1511. Intercourse with Western countries made Ayutthaya gain modern knowledge of warfare from Portugal such as black ammunition casting and western-style fortification building. There was also employment of Portuguese soldiers to serve as volunteers in Ayutthaya's army. It should be noted that Ayutthaya was interested in Western knowledge merely in terms of warfare, not in other fields such as astronomy that taught about the round shape of Earth or the solar system, or geographical knowledge, etc.
Possession of modern weapons enhanced Ayutthaya's military power and prepared it for the expansion of political power to distant lands by force such as the attack of Marid and Tanoasri in Vietnamese territory on the west and Malacca in Malaya peninsula on the south.