Abstract
Throughout the critical period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries when Buddhism in the neighbouring countries were more or less threatened by colonial regimes, Thai Buddhist Order flourished under the unchanging patronage given by pious kings who remained as "a Defender of the Faith." It was the expansion rather than the deprivation or reduction of royal support that concerned with the Siamese Sangha which claimed its traditional autonomy. Political and administrative reforms enabled the kings to exert his powers effectively all over the kingdom, when they sought to extend their control beyond a handful of royal monasteries in and around the capital. Thousands of provincial temples were to be mobilized to help developing the national scheme of education. The promulgation of the Sangha Law of 1902,geared originally to serve the mundane purpose, gave a tremendous impact upon Thai Buddhism and eventually created a situation in which no sectarian movement could find its place and only "extra ecclesiam nulla salus" prevailed.
