Buddhism and Constitutionalism in Precolonial Southeast Asia

The original text of the law is inscribed in “letters as big as a cow” on the boundary-wall of the universe, from which it is transcribed and transmitted to the human realm by [Manu], who magically retrieved the alien text during the reign of the first king Mahāsammata. In addition to its origins in outer space, accessible only to superhuman cosmonauts, dhamma-sattha texts are engaged in a complex relationship with Buddhist vinaya and sutra texts, which are frequently deployed, although sometimes with substantial changes…