Editing Ayutthaya Kingdom (section)

===Social classes===
{{See also|Thai nobility|Thai royal ranks and titles}}
[[File:Siamese (Thai) State Officials Envoys 1759.jpg|thumb|150px|Portrait of Siamese State Officials, one of portrait paintings collection in [[Portraits of Periodical Offering|The Portraits of Periodical Offering of Imperial Qing by Xie Sui]], 18th century painting in the [[National Palace Museum]], Taipei.]]
The [[Borommatrailokkanat#Reforms|reforms of King Borommatrailokkanat]] (r. 1448–1488) placed the king of Ayutthaya at the centre of a highly stratified social and political hierarchy that extended throughout the [[realm]]. Despite a lack of evidence, it is believed that in the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the basic unit of social organization was the village community composed of extended family households. Title to land resided with the headman, who held it in the name of the community, although peasant proprietors enjoyed the use of land as long as they cultivated it.<ref name="apex">{{cite web|url=http://www.mahidol.ac.th/thailand/ayutthaya.html |title=Ayutthaya |date=1 November 2002 |website=Mahidol University |access-date=1 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223050933/http://www.mahidol.ac.th/thailand/ayutthaya.html |archive-date=23 February 2010 |df=dmy }}</ref> The lords gradually became [[courtier]]s ({{linktext|อำ|มา|ตย์}}) and [[tribute|tributary rulers]] of minor cities. The king ultimately came to be recognized as the earthly [[incarnation]] of Shiva or Vishnu and became the sacred object of politico-religious [[Cult (religious practice)|cult practices]] officiated over by royal court Brahmans, part of the Buddhist court retinue. In the Buddhist context, the ''devaraja'' (divine king) was a bodhisattva. The belief in divine kingship prevailed into the 18th century, although by that time its religious implications had limited impact.