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A Consideration on Queen Seondeok's Cakra-varti-rājan Aspect

  • The Review of Korean History
  • 2009, (93), pp.1-48
  • Publisher : The Historical Society Of Korea
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

염중섭 1

1성균관대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Queen Seondeok is a noteworthy person in that she was the first female monarch in the Korean history and the evaluation on her was radically opposite between Busik Kim and Ilyeon. Busik Kim saw Queen Seondeok and her ruling negatively in the male-centered and Confucian view point. On the other hand, Ilyeon recorded that Queen Seondeok was a very extraordinary monarch with marvelous characters. Furthermore, interestingly enough, he understood her in relation with the Buddhist ideal monarch Cakra-varti-rājan. These opposite recognitions on the same person are closely related with the recognition background of the historians. In this paper, on the basis of this Ilyeon's recognition, it is investigated how Queen Seondeok can be understood in the aspect of Cakra-varti-rājan. For this, in chapter II of this paper, the recognitions of Busik Kim and Ilyeon are reviewed first, and then it was searched in what aspect Ilyeon could understand Queen Seondeok as Cakra-varti-rājan. In chapter III, the records on Cakra-varti-rājan in the Buddhist documents were arranged and then their interrelation with the record of Queen Seondeok was sought to deepen the recognition of Queen Seondeok as Cakra-varti-rājan. Finally, in chapter IV, it was searched how Queen Seondeok's Cakra-varti-rājan aspect lies on the extension with King Jinheung, and how the Nine-story Wooden Pagoda of Hwangnyong Temple can be interpreted as cakra-ratna the symbol of Cakra-varti-rājan. As a result of this consideration, we can find out that Ilyeon's record on Queen Seondeok with strong marvelous features is symbolizing Cakra-varti-rājan in general. The approach to King Jinheung in the light of Buddhist ideal monarch Cakra-varti-rājan has been made from early in diverse researches including the degree dissertations. But, the Cakra-varti-rājan aspect has never been noticed in relation with Queen Seondeok. It was because Ilyeon's record on Queen Seondeok was filled with such a mysterious symbolism that it was hard to understand its meaning. Therefore, this paper can be said to have sufficient adequacy in that it tries to understand Queen Seondeok on the value line of Cakra-varti-rājan.

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