However, it is uncertain how far Old Siam was moved by the appeal. The king did not always calculate well in this respect, and when he tried to keep old Siam ideologically off-balance by appealing to traditional sources of authority, he faced a serious rebuff. When he attempted to secure the sangha's endorsement of the anti-prostration decree, thirty senior monks responded that they considered that the abolition of prostration would be incongruous (save in monasteries), and that the king should give more thought to what he was doing.