During my visit to Ayutthaya, I was surprised to see Buddha statues where head was chopped off. What surprised me was not only religion but Burmese and Ayutthaya people followed the same Theravada school of thought. So why did the Burmese destroyed Buddha statues which were precisely there God as well. What made soldiers believe such orders from King and what could be the reason for Burmese King to give such orders which in reality would have resulted in eroding his acceptance and legitimacy to rule over the land of not only Ayutthaya but back home in Burma as well as in East Asia Kings generally rule in the name of God and derive divine power to rule in the name of God.
I am an Indian and would like to share about what happened to temples during wars. India was predominantly Hindu before the Muslim invasion occurred via Afghanistan starting from 11th Century. Muslims destroyed most of the Hindu temples in North India and many Hindus where forcibly converted. Destruction of temple was symbolic to show victory of Islam over Hindu. Also, Muslim soldiers found the orders legitimate to destroy temples of other religion in order to establish supremacy of Islam. However, situation down in South India was completely different. Invaders were not able to reach there. And whenever two Hindu kings fought, temples where never destroyed since both had the God of same religion. They always added to the existing temple to make it more grand. As a result difference between oldest and latest structure/part of temple is many times more than 500 years.
So my interest to know is why were Buddha statues and temples in Ayutthaya ruined by Burmese when in fact both had the same religion and how was King able to defend his act in front of his own people.
