were
making
these
decisions
or
whether
their mothers'
were involved ;whether the girls may have seen the court as an exciting educational, economic and political opportunity;
and whether kings were only as powerful as the support given them by the women of the court and their respective links with women in the villages. Because Thai villagers practice matrilocal marriage, the key bonds in villages are sustained through female kingroups.Even today. as any candidate for parliament will confirm, the political networks of candidates wives often cruclal for their campaigns and no canvassers would ignore the village housewives' associations