Editing Ayutthaya Kingdom (section)

====Nobility and Buddhism====
[[File:118 King Rajasingha makes Ven Saranankara Sangharaja (19820173144).jpg|thumb|180px|Painting of King [[Kirti Sri Rajasinha]] of [[Kandy]] (r. 1747–82) and [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] monk [[Weliwita Sri Saranankara Thero]]]]
[[File:001 Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit (9197756441).jpg|thumb|Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bopit, one of King [[Borommakot]]'s major construction projects that drastically transformed the 18th century Ayutthaya skyline]]
The 150 years of prosperity brought significant fortunes to the Ayutthaya elite. The Ayutthaya elite created theatre tropes and held elaborate celebrations, funeral ceremonies, and were awarded royal titles, all of which was previously privilege only to royalty.

Kings and nobles now contested with one another for control of the decreasing pool of labor. Repeated Ayutthaya laws on improving the controls of labor highlighted the increasing failures of the elite to control the people.

The turmoil which resulted from increasing wealth resulted in the Ayutthaya nobility turning towards the reformation of Buddhism as a new source of societal order. This was symbolized with the reign of King Borommakot (1733–1758), who was championed as a pious king for having all the characteristics of a virtuous and pious [[Bodhisattva]]: building and restoring new temples and dramatically transforming the Ayutthaya skyline during his reign.<ref name="A History of Ayutthaya"/> In 1753, following the request made by a delegation of Sri Lankan monks who traveled to Ayutthaya, Borommakot sent two Siamese monks to reform [[Theravada Buddhism]] in [[Sri Lanka]].

It will however take until the early Rattanakosin period for the surviving Ayutthaya nobility (under the future King [[Rama I]] of the Rattanakosin Kingdom) to successfully reform Buddhism in their image and form a near unbroken bond between the Siamese monarchy and Buddhism lasting until the present in modern Thailand.<ref name="A History of Ayutthaya"/>