Journal of the Siam Society; 57

Table of contents :
JSS_057_1a_Front
JSS_057_1b_Singaravelu_RelationshipOfKingRamaKhamhaengSukhodaytaScriptToGranthaScript
JSS_057_1c_GriswoldPrasert_AsokaramaInscription1399
JSS_057_1d_GriswoldPrasert_PactBetweenSukhodayaAndNan
JSS_057_1e_GriswoldPrasert_LawPromulgatedByKingOfAyudhya1397
JSS_057_1f_Bradley_AccessionOfKingMongkut
JSS_057_1g_RamayanaReliefAtPimai
JSS_057_1h_Reviews
JSS_057_1i_Back
JSS_057_2a_Front
JSS_057_2b_Flood_SukhothaiMongolRelations
JSS_057_2c_KochSiebenhuner_NewlyDiscoveredPrehistoricSitesInNorthernThailand
JSS_057_2d_Spielmann_LiteratureOnLahuShehlehAndLahuNa
JSS_057_2e_SmanVardhanabhuti_CeladonWareOfSukhothai
JSS_057_2f_Smith_SuanSemaTrendsInVegetableProduction
JSS_057_2g_Penth_ZumVerhaltnisSayamAtjehIm17Jahrhundert
JSS_057_2h_Reviews
JSS_057_2i_Contributors
JSS_057_2j_AnnualReport
JSS_057_2k_Members
JSS_057_2l_Obituary_FrereHilaire
JSS_057_2m_Back

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r I

The journal of the Siam Society Contents of Volume LVII Part I January 1969 Page

S. Singaravelu

A Note on the Possible Relationship of King Rama Khamhaeng's Sukhodaya Script of Thailand to the Grantha Script of South India

A.B. Griswold & Prasert ~a Nagara

The Asokarama Inscription of 7399 A.D. Epigraphic and Historical Studies, No. 2

29

The-·Pact Between Suk~odaya and Nan Epigraphic and Historical Studies, No. 3

51

A Law Promulgated by the King of Ayudhya in 1397 A.D. Epigraphic and Historical Studies, No. 4

109

William L. Bradley

r:he Accession of King Mongllut

149

J.J.

A Ramayat}a Relief from the Khmer Sanctuary at Pimai in North-East Thailand "

163

/votes Boeles

Reviews Hans E. Kauffmann

a

Bernot Lucien: Les Cak. Contribution l'Btude etlmographique d'une population de langue loi

179

Recent Siamese P11hlications Bicentenary publications of the works of King Rama II and others:396. lnao 397. Ramakien 398. Sar;kh Tov 399. Lakon Nok 400. A compendium of Boat Songs 401. Magazines and periodicals 402. History of Wat Arun 403. Memento of the celebration at Samud Sor;gram 404. Centenary of the death of King Mor;kut and accession of King Chulalongkorn 405. H.M. King Movkut: Compendium of Writings in Siamese, part 1 406. Three Cycles Birthday of H.M. tlze Queen

185 181 188 188 191 193 193 194

195 196 197

A NOTE ON THE POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP OF KING RAMA KHAMHAENG'S SUKHODAYA SCRIPT OF THAILAND TO THE GRANTHA SCRIPT OF SOUTH INDIA by

S. Singaravelu University of Malaya

The discussion in this paper is based entirely on materials that have already been published in one form or another (such as volumes of inscriptions, grammatical works, general historical works, and learned papers in journals concerning some aspects of South Indian scripts and the Thai scripts). I In other words, the evidence to be cited in this paper does not proceed from any new epigraphical document, whether of South India or of Southeast Asia, which might have remained unpublished or been unknown. Let me now outline briefly, by way of an introduction, some of the important facts concerning the Grantba script of South India of relevance to the subject-matter of this paper.

The Grantha Script of South India A.C. Burnell believed that the Grantha script of South India had its origin in the 'Chera Character', so called because it was first used in the Chera kingdom of South India in the early centuries A.D.; and he thought that the Chera character was a variety of 'cave character'. He was also of the opinion that the Grantha character in the early stages of its development was of two main varieties: one that 1)

The Select Bibliography, which is given at the end of this paper, is in three sections: In Section (a) are listed general works and papers which have reference to the matter under discussion; Section (b) includes books and papers which are of relevance to the scripts of South India and also scripts of South Indian origin found in inscriptions discovered in various parts of mainland Southeast Asia; Section (c) is made up of volumes of Khmer and Thai inscriptions together with some papers dealing with the alphabets and . scripts of the Indochinese peninsula.

2

S. Singaravelu

was in use in the Cbcra kingdom on the west coast of South India until the ninth century A.D.; and the other used in Tof)qaina.cit., p 44. 15) The va~te~.uttu went out of usage in the Tamil country by the fifteenth century, though it remained in general use in Malabar among the Hindus up to the end of the seventeenth century. Since, it was used in the form of a script !mown as kol-eluttu (script of rulers) until the nineteenth century by the Muslim Mappilas; then it was superseded by the modified Arabic characters. Sec Burnell, op.cit., pp 48-49. 16) The western variety, i.e. the Grantha script of the west coast of South India, is known to have been modified and become different from the Grantha script of the east coast in course of time. The Malayalam Grantha script of is noted to have preserved older forms which were modified in the Grantha script of later times. See Burnell, ojJ.cit., pp 41-42. 17) E!uttaccan is believed to have adopted or retained the earlier va~~e!uttu signs for /r/,/!J, and/!/ as part of the new script for Ma!ayalam. Burnell, op.cit., p 42.

'l'l!E SUKHODAYA ANll C:HANTHA SCHIP'I'S

5

Grantha and Arya-e!uttu The complete alphabet of the Arya-e!uttu was printed for the first time by the Printing Press of the Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide in Rome in 1772 in the work entitled Alphabetum GrandonicoMalabaricum Sive Samscrudonicum.I 8 This work is indeed a very valuable source from which we are able to learn a great deal about the Bralunanical Grantba script of that period, and it is more so in view of the rarity of old manuscripts written in the Brahmanical Grantha script.I 9 18) Burnell, op.cit., p 43 note 2. Another scholar who referred to Alphabetu·m Grandonico-Malabaricum Sive Samscrudonicum in 1936 was J.R. Firth in 'Alphabets and Phonology in India and Burma', Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies val 8, 1936 pp 517-46. 19) Alphabetum Grandonico-Malabaricum Sive Smnscrudonicum (Rome 1772) was one of the pioneer publications of Press of the Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide under the editorship of Iohanne Christophorus Amadutius (or Giovanni Cristofano Amaduzzi) who was the Head of the Typo-graphiae Sac rae Congregation is de Propaganda Fide ( 17 71), It is believed to have been largely the work of Clemens Peanius Alexandinus, a Discalced Carmelite of the Verapoly Mission in Cochin. The title was intended to distinguish the literary script from what the author calls Malean-Tamuza or Malabarico-Tamulicam. The work, written in Latin, consists of a Prologue and eleven chapters, in addition to a Preface of 28 pages. Chapter One deals with the vowels, and Chapter Two with consonants. Chapter Three describes the writing of vowel-consonant combinations; in Chapter Four further details are given on the use of pre-, post-, sub-, and super-scripts. Chapter Five deals with the doubling of consonants. Chapter Six, which is of special relevance to the subject matter of this paper, refers to the form and usage of some six characters used as finals. Chapter Seven is on Word Formation, and Chapter Eight on pronunciation vis-a-vis the equivalent Latin pronunciation. Chapter Nine discusses the problem of some characters that are lacking in the Grantha System, e.g. absence of script for sounds such as /f/,/q/,/x/ and /z/. Chapter Ten deals with the local expressions for the numerals; and Chapter Eleven spells out some of the important Christian religious expressions in the equivalent expressions in Malayalam, written in the Grantha script, before concluding with the Lord's Prayer in that language. Throughout the Latin text of the work Grantha script is used for local expressions, together with their Roman transliteration as well as translation in Latin. Apart from the Alphabetum Grandonico-Malabaricmn, the Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide had published the following: The Alphabetum Brammhanicum S'eu lndostanum Universitatis Kasi Rome 1771; AljJhabetum Ten gut anum Sive Tibetanum Rome 17 7 3; Illphabetum Dannanorum Seu R.egni Aveusis Rome, first published in 1776, revised edition in 1787.

S. Singat'avelu

6

Early Grantlm script in Southeast Asia Although the earliest known epigraphical documents of Indochina and Indonesia are silent about any formal or informal political connections of India with Southeast Asian states in the early centuries A.D., there is other evidence to indicate that trade relations and cultural contacts were already well under way. Apart from the general references to Sanskritized place-names of Southeast Asian countries in the early Indian literary works of both South India and North India and also the references in the Chinese chronicles to the existence of at least some newly founded kingdoms ruled by persons probably of Indian origin in Indochina in the early centuries A.D., there are also substructures of ancient edifices, sculptures and statues of the Amravati style of South India which have been discovered at such sites as Oc Eo, Prome, Phong Tuk, Phra Pathom, Si Thep, Kedah, Kuala Selinsing, Kutei, Palembang, Taruma and Celebes, and which attest to the intensity of cultural contacts between Peninsular India and Southeast Asian states. 20 More importantly, the earliest known inscriptions found in various regions of Southeast Asia, though composed in Sanskrit, were written in a script which has been found to be identical with the Grantba script used at that time in the Coromandel coastal regions of South India. 2 1

The inscriptions such as that of a Sri Mara of

probably the 3rd century A.D., discovered in Vo-C~nh 22 in Nha-trang 20) Coedt!s, G., The Indianized States of Southeast Asia Honolulu 196 8 pp 16-19. 21) Chhabra, B. Ch., E:x:j>ansiun of Indo-Aryan culture during Pallava Rule as evidenced by the inscrij>lions Delhi 1965 pp 72-73. 22) Coedes, G., 'The Date of the Sanskrit inscription of Vo-C~nh', Indicm Historical Quarterly voll6, 1940 pp 484-88; Nilakanta Sastri, K.A., South Indian Influences in the Far East Bombay 1949 p 26. See also Nilakanta, K.A., 'The origin of the alphabet of Champa', Journal of Oriental Research vol10, 1936 pp 191-200 & vol 11, 1937 pp 175-77; Majumdar, R.C., 'The origin or the alphabet of Champa', Journal of Oriental Resem·ch vol 11 no 1, 193 7 pp 51-54; Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, 'Precisions sur la paleographic de !'inscription dite de Vo-C{I.nh', ilrtibus Asiae vol 24 nos 3/4, 1961 pp 219-24.

THE SUKHOUAYA AND GRANTHA SCHIPTS

7

in South Vietnam; the inscriptions of Miilavarman 23 of the end of the fourth century or the beginning of the fifth century A.D. discovered in the region of Kutei in East Borneo; the 'ye-Dhamma' formula inscribed on the rectangular stone-bar of the fourth century A.D. discovered in Kedah in West Malaysia; 24 the inscription of Mahanavika Buddhagupta of the fifth century A.D. found in Province Wellesley;25 the inscription on the carnelian seal of the sixth century A.D. discovered in Kuala Selinsing, Perak, 26 Malaysia; the fragments of the Pali Buddhist scriptures inscribed on the gold plates of the fifth or the sixth century A.D. discovered at Maunggun village near Hma waza in the district of Prome in Burma; 2 7 the inscription of the fifth or sixth century found in Si Thep; 28 the inscriptions of the same period found in Wat Mahadbatu in Nakhorn Si Thammarat (Ligor); 29 the four Mon inscriptions, engraved on an octagonal stone pillar, of the sixth or seventh century found in Lopburi in Thailand; 30 the inscriptions of Pii.rqavarman (the king of niruma in West Java) of about 450 A.D.; 31 the inscription of Rambi-poedji near LocmadjangDjember in East Java belonging to the fifth century A.D.; 32 and the inscriptions of Mahendravarman of Cambodia, dated early seventh century A.D.33 --all these inscriptions of the early centuries A.D. furnish evidence of the wide and regular use of the South Indian Grantha script in various parts of Southeast Asia. It is also of interest to note that not a single inscription written in an earlier Indian script, neither of the Brahmi of the Mauryan period nor that of the Gupta period, has been found in Southeast Asia.34 What is more significant is that the Grantha script of South India and of Southeast Asian 23) 24) 25) 26) 27) 28) 29) 30) 31)

32) 33) 34)

Nilakanta Sastri, South lndirenlnflaences in the Far East, op.cit., pp 137-38. Ibid., p 84. Ibld., p 83. Ibid., p 81. Ibid., p 14. Ibid., p 70. Ibid., pp 95-96. lbid,pp76-77. Ibid., pp 105-11. Ibid., pp 111-12. Ibid., pp 36-37. Chhbra, op.cit., p 72.

8

S. Singaravelu

states as represented in the surviving inscriptions of the early period shows a more or less parallel development. 35 This has prompted one scholar to say that the characters used in the inscription of the

,

,

temple of Bayang bearing two dates Saka 526 (A.D. 604) and Saka 546 (A.D. 624), covering the period of the Cambodian rulers Bhavavarman, Mahendravarman and isanavarman, appear to be so unmistakably South Indian that if its provenance were not known no epigraphist could distinguish it from, say, a Pallava inscription of Mahendravarman of the seventh century. 36

It is of course true that that kind of parallel development soon came to be replaced by the independent development of scripts, especially in those states of Southeast Asia that were politically independent around the second half of the eighth century. 3 7 Nevertheless it would seem that the parallel development in the matter of the scripts used in epigraphy of South India and Southeast Asian states was mainly due to the constant contacts and regular communication by sea between the Coromandel coast and Southeast Asian states during the period 38 between circa A.D. 300 and 800. As for the subsequent period too, it is well known that the Sanskrit inscriptions of mainland and island Southeast Asian kingdoms continued to be written in the developed varieties of the Grantha script. With reference to this period, Coedes has noted that 'ancient forms of the alphabet continued to be used in the Hindu kingdoms of Indochina and Indonesia several decades and even several centuries after their disappearance in India'. 39 This continued use of the Grantha script in Southeast Asian inscriptions is also evident from the three rare but important Tamil inscriptions discovered in the Malay peninsula and in Sumatra, the 35) Ibid., p 73. 36) Nilakanta Sastri, South Indian Influences in the Fm· East, of>.cil., pp 40-41. 37) Chhbra, oj>.cit., p 73. For example, in Java the Dinaya inscription, dated in the Saka year 682 (A.D. 760), is said to be the earliest specimen of the Kawi character. 38) Nilakanta Sastri, South Indian Inflz1tlb'1..,'l.JH 11 ~l U't-1

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il found himself in an awkward position: to help his grandson would be to help their common enemy. Nan's alliance with Sukhodaya neccessarily lay dormant. Pha Kon died in 1386; and his son Ga1p Tan (Kam l)an, r'hi11), who succeeded him, might well hesitate to renew it. It is possible that the defeats of 1376 and 1378 had aroused mutual suspicions and recriminations. In any case Nan's geographical position gave a certain measure of protection against Ayudhyan attack. An isolationist policy might prove to be the most prudent. Now Mahadharmaraja II's fortunes began to revive. Paramaraja, whose endless intrigues sometimes ended badly for himself, was not content with reducing the Tai of Sukhodaya to vassalage; or perhaps he feared that his suzerainty over them would ---···-·-·----

7) This statement requires some qualification. In 13 72, according to AA/LP (sub anno 734) he took 'Bangii' (vf~~l), which is generally identified with Nagara Svarga. Even if formal proof of the identification is lacking, it is clear that he must have taken Nagara Svarga before 1373, when he made his first attack on Jiikanrav {Kamben Bejra, fl1Ul'WW'IIl), otherwise it is hard to see how he could have reached Jald(nriiv.

66

A.B. Griswold & Prasert 1,1a Nagara

not last long if there were any independent Tai nearby. He therefore began plotting to get a foothold in Uin Na. In 1385 Prince Mahabrahma of Chieng Rtli tried unsuccessfully to seize the throne of Uin Na from his nephew Sen Moan Ma (Sen Muang Mtl), then fled to Ayudhya to get help; Paramaraja invaded Lan Na at his request but failed to take the capital; he returned to Ayudhya taking Mahabrahma with him; but he soon grew exasperated with him and made an alliance with Sen Moan Ma instead. Meanwhile Katpbeti Bejra revolted and Paramaraja thought Sukhodaya was about to revolt. He and Sen Moan Ma planned to make a concerted attack on Sukhodaya from north and south; but Sen Moati Ma arrived first; and while he was waiting Mahadharmaraja II fell upon him and routed his army. Thus Mahadharmaraja II, without violating his oath of allegiance to Paramaraja, frustrated his plan by defeating his ally, to whom he himself was under no obligation whatever. In 1388 Paramaraja again attacked Kal)lbeit Bejra, but died on his way home. Within a week the throne of Ayudhya was seized by the ex-king Ramesvara. To him the house of Subarq.apuri had become by all odds the most dangerous enemy. Like his father, he was drawn by inclination as wetl as interest to the house of Sukhodaya; Mahadharmaraja, whose oath of allegiance had expired with Paramaruja's death, probably took a new one to Ramesvara; but so lightly did Ramesvara hold the reins of suzerainty that Sukhodaya was to all intents an independent kingdom again. It now became possible to think about ressuscitating the alliance with Win. Though neither Sukhodaya nor Nan had anything to fear from Ramesvara, the house of Subarqapuri was still dangerous. It remained strong, and a coup d'etat might restore it to the Ayudhyan throne at any moment. Gar;n Ta.n could not very well forget the assassination of his grandfather Kar Moan in 1361, or his father's defeat at Kal)lben Bejra in1376; nor could Mahadharmaraja II forget his own humiliation at the hands of Paramaraja in 1378. It was obviously to the interest of both to insure themselves against the possibility of the house of Subarq.apuri regaining supremacy at Ayudhya. Except perhaps for his own hesitation, there was nothing to prevent Gatp. Tan from allying himself with Sukhodaya, for he

THE PACT IlETWEEN SUKHODA YA AND Ni\N

67

was an independent monarch. But Mahadharmraja II was a vassal of Ayudhya, and therefore unable to make a treaty with a third power. However much Ramesvara might welcome any move aimed against the house of Subarqapuri he could not give it his open approval without uniting Ayudhya on the side of his enemies. Eventually a solution was found. A pact was concluded in 1393, with Garp. Tan himself acting on behalf of Nan, and Prince Sai pdaiya acting on behalf of Sukhodaya. Presumably Mabadharmara:ja II had temporarily retired from the throne and entered the monkhood, after appointing his son Sai ~idaiya, who was probably Upadija at Sajjana:laya, as Regent of the kingdom. In the pact the King of Nan is referred to asSai J;-idaiya's 'paternal grandfather' (~i.e. 11J, which of course cannot be taken literally as his paternal grandfather was :I;-idaiya himself. The only possible explanation is that the King of Nan was his paternal grand-uncle, i.e. that Mahadharmaraja II's mother-~idaiya's chief queen-was Pha Kon's daughter and Garp !an's sister. The agreement is recorded in two inscriptions, Nos. XLV and LXIV. The first, dated in 1393, was kept at Sukhodaya; the other, whose date bas disappeared, was kept at Nan. Unlike the copies which are normally retained nowadays by the parties to a contract, their contents are not identical. It is hard to say why. Perhaps both inscriptions bad 'annexes', e.g. in the form of inscribed gold sheets (suvarT).apatra), which were kept secret. Or perhaps there was one basic pact, followed later on by supplementary pacts, with both parties retaining identical copies of all of them, though the only ones that survive are Sukhodaya's copy of the basic pact, and Nan's copy of a supplement. No. XLV, with its unusually elaborate oath (Face 1), looks like the basic contract; but, so far as we can tell in its fragmenta~y state, its actual provisions (Face II) were not very important. No. LXIV, on the other hand, though its oath is shorter, specifies a very close alliance between the two states, almost amounting to a merger. Perhaps we should suppose that XLV, a first tentative step after a period of mutual suspicion, led to more intimate relations and eventually to the tight alliance recorded in LXIV, which would therefore be of later date. But it cannot have been later tban 1396, because Gatp Tan died in that year.

68

A.B. Griswold & Prasert '!a Nagara

2. Inscription XLV is engraved on a slab of stone 83 em. in height, 37 em. in width, and 18 em. in thickness, which is now in the Manuscript and Inscription Division of the National Library in Bangkok. (Figs. 3-5.) It was discovered in 1956 by the Department of Fine Arts in the precinct of Vat Mahadh~Hu at Sukhodaya, near the main vihara. It is not certain whether it originally stood in the vihara or in some building nearby (the ruins of a great many are still visible). In any case in order to give contracts of this sort a solemn and binding character it would be natural to install them in some building in the precinct of the Mahadhatu, which was the spiritual and magical center of the kingdom; most of the palladia of vassal princes, it seems, were kept in the same precinct. The text, which is in Siamese, written in the usual Sukhodayan script of the period, is engraved on the two broad faces and one of the edges of the slab of stone. A transcription by Maha Cbii!Jl Dohgaqwarl}a, together with a version in n;odern Siamese spelling and some glosses, is published in Prajum Silacal'llc, III, pp. 62. ff. We are much indebted to his reading, which we have followed except in a few places; here and there we differ from his interpretation; and we have changed his numbering of Faces II and III. The obverse, Face I, contains 37 Jines; the reverse, which we call Face II (Maha Chaq1's Face III), contains 19; and the text on the edge of the slab, which we call Face III (his Face II), contains 40. This inscription is of considerable historical importance. It contains the name of at least one hitherto unknown King ofSukhodaya, viz. Nvva Narp Tbatp (Ngua Nan Tom), probably a usurper who reigned briefly between LOdaiya and J;..idaiya (see Prasert 11a Nagara in Social Science Review, June 1966; Griswold, Towards a History of Sukhodaya Art, p. 29). It also contains a list of the rulers of Nan, which it is instructive to compare with the list given in NC. The inscription is no less interesting from the point of view of the study of religion, for it reveals three systems in simultaneous actionTheravada Buddhism, Saiva Brahminism, and Tai Animism. Apart from Rama Gall).het1's reference to Bra~ Khabiid in Inscription I, this is the first solid information we have on Animism at Sukhodaya and Nan. The spirits mentioned are of four kinds: ancestors, guardians of mountains, guardians of rivers and streams, and forest divinities.

Fig. 4. Inscription XLV, Face II.

'!'HE PACT BE'I'WF.EN SUKHODAYA ANlJ NAN

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Construction of the causeway by Kama's monkey army (Stutterheim's figure 63).

Figure 5. Cag9i Prambanan. Attempts at destruction of the causeway by fishes and seamonsters (Stutterheim's figure 64).

Figure 6. Vat Phra Jetubon; Bangkok. Bot. Building of the causeway. Marble relief carrying inscription number 89. (Marble quarried in Central Thailand).

Figure 7. Vat Phra Jetubon; Bangkok. Bot. inscription number 90.

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Building of the causeway. Marble relief carrying

Figure 8.

Vat Phra Jetubon; Bangkok. Bot, West. Hanuman and Suvarl)amaccha Marble relief (43x43 em.) carrying inscription number 92.

(Suvan~amatsya).

REVIEWS Bernot, Lucien: Les Cal~. Contribution a !'etude ethnographique d'une population de langue loi. Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1967. (Centre de Documentation sur l'Asie du Sud-Est, Atlas Ethno-Linguistique, 2eme Serie, Monographies I) 267 pages, 7 plates with 28 photographs, 36 figures, 3 sketch-maps. Having published his double volume on the Manna not long ago (cf.].S.S. vol56 pt 1, 1968 pp 113-18), this diligent research worker presents again some of the copious fruits of his studies in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, East Pakistan. This time he treats the very small group of the Cak (in literature also called Sak, Chak, Tsak, Thet, Thek, Thoek ... ) who live north of the valley of the river Naf in the extreme south, more or less intermingled with the Chakma. So it is by no means surprising that the two names, and with them the peoples also, have been mixed up by the administrators (first English, then Pakistani) as well as by some authors. But Bernat asserts that 'the actual culture of the Cak has no analogy whatsoever with the culture of the Cbakma ... but many traits in common with the Marma'. As a matter of fact, their material culture is close to that of the Marma: apart from weaving there is no other handicraft--no pottery, no iron- or woodwork. Their cultivation of water-rice, their economical and juridical organization and their Buddhist religion resemble closely that of the Marma. To the contrary, their language and family-organization are totally different. The first part of Les Cak is dedicated to material culture with an attempt to give the adherent vocabulary. Very useful is the exact description of the five types of billhook (coupe-coupe) and of their different use, an item easily overlooked nowadays by the majority of explorers. The Cak use only one kind of trap, a noose, for catching pigeon-sized birds, but generally only boys put them up and this custom is dying out. Hunting yields little, but they do a lot of fishing, mostly by barring or drying up the watercourses. Women, particularly, catch fish by means of the cast-net, but tbis method is more and more disused.

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As to domestic animals, it must be remembered that the milk of cows and goats is never used-in this they are as other mongoloid peoples. Fattened hogs may be castrated or not, but there is no castration of pigs at an early age as with the Naga and Thadou Kuki (cf. H.E. Kauffmann, 'Zticbtungsbiologische Beobachtungen in der Schweinezucht bei den Naga und Thadou-Kuki in Assam' Biologia Generalis vol 14, 1938 pp 284-92). They castrate buffaloes and bulls to be used for pulling the plough and the harrow without teeth. Else, there is no real rearing but only keeping of animals, the same as with the neighboring Marma. A very instructive chapter is given on Cak-agriculture, less on techniques, though they are mentioned, than on the plants grown in Of those collected in the forest or near the fields and gardens. river, the author mentions 28 species, a number of which are medicinal plants; a systematic research would have disclosed, as he says, quite a lot more. A short time ago a doctor asked me: 'Why don't you anthropologists inquire into medicinal plants used by the tribals? It might be very rewarding'. Yes, why don't we? Bernot has made a beginning in this direction and it is admirable how many botanical names he was able to provide. There are not less than 40 varieties of rice, of which 12 are sown on swiddens; nearly all have Marma or Bengali names. Notwithstanding that 'the whole vocabulary concerning water-rice planting is Burmese', Bernot refuses to believe that the Cak were ignorant of this kind of rice-growing and be maintains this opinion on the reason that three of the 28 water-rice varieties have Cak names. Unfortunately, he does not give any even tentative explanation wherefrom came the water-rice cultivation of the Cak. The technique of preparing rice, from the ear to cooking, is identical with that of most of their neighbors. The ears are treated out by oxen while children with winnowing fans and the like go on behind to catch droppings so that these will not soil the grain. The rice is twice pounded in a mortar and winnowed to get rid of chaff and bran. Some Cak use a mill instead, the upper stone of which is only moved to and fro by the means of handles, while similar devices

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of the Marma are provided with a crank that makes turn around the upper stone; about the same kind of mill exists in Burma, in the delta of Tongking, with the Muong in Tongking and there exists one in the Maeo village of Maeo Doi Pui behind Doi Suthep. Certainly this device is of old Chinese origin. Since modern times cloth is mostly bought at the bazaar but the women still weave their skirts and sometime.s even dye them with indigo. The whole process in described amply, still there are one or two minor omissions: before spinning, raw cotton must be flocked (presumably with a bow as it is done by all tribals in Indochina), neither is mentioned the back-strap around the weaver's lower back which, attached to the breast-beam, serves to keep the warp in tension. According to Fig. 9a and b the odd threads (l, 3, 5 ... ) are held by two heddle-loops or -leashes; as I have never seen in the Chittagong Hills or in other parts of Indochina anything but one loop only for every odd thread, I guess this to be an error. The same holds true for the absence in Fig. 10 of the rod conspicuous by its thickness in single-heddle looms, the so-called shed-stick, which is necessary to form the countershed (cf. Ling Roth Studies in primitive looms Halifax 1918). Having already written enough of material culture I want to pass over the details of the Cak-house, which is more solid, comfortable and spacious than the house of the Marma. From the second part on clans and relationships we learn that the people is divided into two exogamous moieties, the Bo and the Samek, the first comprising three and the other five patrilinear clans. On the relations between the two moieties all social life in a village is organized. Under fixed rules the house is positioned parallel to the river; the Bo must have the veranda pointing upstream, the Samek downsteam. On festive days the house can be entered only from the fateful veranda-side, while the exit is on the auspicious porch-side. So the way of constructing a house is of social and religious importance. Neither endogamy nor the exchange of presents is allowed within a moiety. Ideal is a cross-cousin marriage: the daughter of the maternal uncle or of the paternal aunt's husband, but this pres-

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cription is not kept strictly. More important .are the p~otective functions of a man towards his sister and her chtldren. Still, these relations are much more intricate than can be indicated here. Having felt this the author gives complete evidence on the familiar connections between all the houses of a Cak-village in the mouza (district) of Baishari. Then follows a long chapter on 'rites of passage'. A woman who has given birth lies alongside a fire- which appears similar to Thai custom (Phya Anuman Rajadhon: Life and ritual in Old Siam p. 134 sq.). A baby undergoes the rites of the cradle and of earpiercing; from the age of seven to nine years boys and girls must stay in their respective club-houses-an institution now in decay but strongly developed among northern Naga and Lushai; at the end of the stay in the club-house, at an age of 17, the putting of a turban on the head of a boy is celebrated in a ceremony. Marriages are of different types: from very simple to highly sophisticated ones with a succession of meals and exchange of gifts from the time of engagement till after cohabitation. The old habit of promising their children at a young age is fast disappearing as have so many other customs during the last half-century. In a long analysis of marriage Bernot discusses every point and especially the many rules on gift-exchanges of liquor, meat, clothes, etc. Generally, after marriage the older brothers leave the father's house, while the youngest son will stay and inherit it. The dead are cremated; with the exception of babies, people killed in an accident, and, possibly, still unmarried mature girls. The funeral of a woman is depicted extensively with the names and functions of all people participating; there is also a comment on the funeral of a boy or of a girl. This shows that a great cremation is held only for married people. Here the antagonism and rivalry but also the cooperation of the two moieties are clearly expressed. The former clan of a dead woman plays the principal part, and this clan always belongs to the moiety other than the husband's. As a matter of fact, I see little significance to the clan in Cak-societ because the moieties-in former times even separated in differe~;

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183

villages-regulate everything in social life. 'At his death a man leaves definitely the clan of his father and returns, in the arms of his maternal uncle, to the clan of his mother, while the woman, in the arms of her brother, leaves definitely the clan of her husband to return to that of her father ... The dead man and his dead wife will find themselves in the same moiety ... in the other world.' The question arises as to whether Cak-society is a dual one. Bernat denies this, because in some ceremonies the bipartition is neutralized by equal values of the opposed moieties. Still, I think it worthwhile for specialists in this field to investigate dual appearances, not only of the Cak but also of other tribal societies in Further India. The last chapter on 'The relations with the invisible world' does not quite satisfy the author who was not able to take down the minutes of more than two spirit-ceremonies out of at least seven; still these two are given to the last detail. It is true that the Cak are Buddhists who observe the rules as the Manna do, but much more fascinating are the very elaborate rites for the river-spririts and for the new rice. This excellent monograph of a small tribe is provided with appendices on the Cak language and a comparative Lei vocabulary, comprising words of the Cak, Kadu (in Burma), Andre and Sengmai (in Manipur). Prof. Robert Sbafer (Berkeley) in his outline of SinoTibetan languages of !955 has called this group 'luish', but Dr. L. G. Loffler (Heidelberg, letter of 28 Dec 67) prefers 'sakish', as Sak is the name used by the Cak and the Kadu, the Manipur groups do not call themselves Lui (Loi) and all Lui do not belong to the luish group. He hints also at some relationship of the Sak-group to the Kachin, but these questions must be left to further intense inquiry.

Hans E. Kau.flitlaml

RECENT SIAMESE PUBLICATIONS Bicentenary publications of the works of King Rama II and others:-

396.

lnao, court drama in 5 sexa. vols., Teachers' Association Press 2510, pp. 280-320-290-293-295

397.

Ramakien, court drama in 3 sexa. vols., Teachers' Association Press 2510, pp. 288-306-300.

398.

Savkh

Tov trans. into English by H.R.H. Prince Chula Chakra-

bongs, Watanapanij Press, Bangkok 1968, pp. 81.

399.

Lakon Nok, in 2 vols. of 5 dramas, Teachers' Association Press 2510, pp. 239-275.

400.

A Compendium of Boat Songs of the Ayudhya and Bangkok Periods, Teachers' Association Press 2510, ill., pp. 121.

401.

Magazines and periodicals specially issued for the bicentenary celebration (Candraksem, memento of Dhammasat University, Tourism, Vidyusiksa for February 2511).

402.

History of Wat Arun, by the Fine Arts Department, Sivaporn Press, Bangkok 2511, pp. 219.

403.

Memento of the celebration at Samud Sovgram, PrayuraWOlJS Press, Dhonburi 2510, ill., pp. 104.

The second centenary of our poet-king, Rama II, was celebrated jointly by the King, the government and Unesco early in the year. There were naturally religious services, and an unusually large number of social functions, for. the royal personage was a great dramatist and artist in almost every branch of the arts. What concerns us here in these columns was the publication of most of the King's works. The lnao (396) was perhaps the most widely appreciated of these works, for it has survived two centuries-the present edition being the eighth since 1921. It seems appropriate to survey the history of this drama, for besides the reviewer's notes in India anti qua ( 1948) there does not seem to exist any reliable material in a Western language dealin~ with this,

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The drama was written on 45 black-leaf folii in the second reign of Bangkok. The King based bis narrative on some old Ayudhya versions now no longer available. As was the custom in those days, the King, after writing his material, would have it read out to a circle of friends who were free to comment on it and, if accepted by its author, suggestions would be adopted and alterations made. The editor of the recension under review points out that besides its dramatic and literary merit lnao contains a wealth of information on manners and custom prevalent in the Court of those days-such as ceremonies marking stages of the life of a royal child, details of Court functions, a cremation, a marriage and a reception of foreign envoys. These are faithfully described in detail for the author was the arbiter of Court protocol himself. To these details mentioned by the editor one would like to add that notable features of the drama were its beauty of diction, its sharp repartee (which were at the same time always within bounds of politeness and decency) and its realistically beautiful portrayal of nature. Regarding the history of the drama itself, it has been handed down that the first edition in print did not take shape till Dr Smith of the Bal)kolem Press published it in B.E. 2417 using a manuscript belonging to the Regent, Somdec Caopraya Boroma Maba Srisuriyawo9s, better known in the foreign communities as 'The Kalahome'. Other editions soon followed. The editing was not too critical. [t was not till much later that praya Visudh, later Caopraya Prasadec, Minister of Education, undertook to make a critical concordance of texts for publication but the task was left unfinished at his death. The first critical edition was due to the efforts of the Vajiranan National Library under His late Royal Highness KromalualJ Damrong in 2463 and was sponsored by Her Majesty Queen Sukhuma1 as a memento of the celebration of the fifth cycle of her age.

The present edition, its eighth, consists of five sexagesimi volumes of an average of nearly 300 pages each. Unfortunately, tbe orthography is modern; it would have been more interesting to keep to the contemporary way of writing. However, there was no 'Kin~'s

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Siamese' in the second reign and even state papers in those days were often written with conflicting orthography. The Ramakien (397), version of the Second Reign, is not as voluminous. While the First Reign version of 1798 was a complete story, this Second Reign version, in 3 sexagesimi volumes of the same size, is made up of disconnected episodes. It has been surmised that the royal author wrote each episode for individual presentation, taking the opportunity to improve upon the original First Reign version by rewording, curtailing or otherwise altering it. The greater eloquence and suitability for presentation is obvious. This version was not dated though Prince Damrong was of opinion that it was not written until the latter part of the King's life. Oral tradition has it that contemporary poets shared the writing with His Majesty, such as Suntorn Bhii and Kromamun Cesdabodin, later Rama III. The narrative of the Second Reign version is much shorter than that of the First Reign version of 1797. It consists, firstly, of the war in Lol)ka told in detail with considerable variations, the most noticeable of which is the omission of the famous exhortations given by Tosakanth to his brother Piphek on the battlefield as he dies. The rapidity of the action naturally prompts this, for Tosakanth is fatally wounded and dies at once, leaving no time for the lengthy exborta. tions. The other section is the episode of Sida's banishment and the birth and exploits of the two children of Rama. It ends with the reconciliation between Rama and Sida effected in heaven in the presence of the Lord of the heavens, Siva. The omission here is to be noted of the tedious wars with the demons of Maliwan and other states and the peregrinations of Rama through lands with names of the countryside of our Lopburi. What remains of the general narrative is still popular and often comes on the stage both in the original version of 1797 and in the more eloquent Second Reign version which is admittedly more practical for stage presentation. The editing here, as in the case of the bzao, has not been perfect. Probably, as usual, the printing was too hurried.

188

HECENT SIAMESE PUULICATJONS

In contrast to the Lakon nai or Court dramas of the type of the Inao or Ramakien there are several dramas of a more plebeian style by a number of a~thors and permissible to be performed by the public and not reserved, as in the case of the Court dramas, to ladies of the Court. They are less pretentious in setting and in standard of writing, though King Rama II participated in this type of writing as well. His works were episodes of the full stories of the already existing lakon nok; and, according to oral tradition, he wrote them from an inclination to try his band at plebeian writing. These six dramas were published by His late Royal Highness Prince Damrong to mark the occasion of his attainment of the fifth cycle of his age in BE. 2465. They vary a great deal in style, taste and elegance. The most popular is perhaps the Sal)kh T6IJ, or Golden Conch, which having been published also a great deal, has been included in the present series only in an English version (398) by His late Royal Highness Prince Chula Chakrabongs. This is written in good English, though now and then faulty from the point of view of Thai linguistics. For example, the world ~lJn vimara, celestial abode, which has been derived from the classics and is written in Siamese 1m» viman, or wiman, both philologically and phonetically more correct than vimara. Turning again to the Golden Conch, its locale is placed in a royal court of King Samol, a rustic jovial fellow who could not have been meant to represent a personage of that supreme dignity one attributes to a king. It is tempting to imagine that Samol is not a personal name but a title that could be written Samont, signifying a tributary king. The drama owes its origin to one of the local Jataka tales known as the Pani'iasa Jataka. As has been pointed out it features the heroine seeing through the rough exterior of her suitor, the negroid forester, whom she regards as her golden hero. Of the other dramas (399), ]aiyajeth, is well-known though somewhat relegated in public opinion to a lower plane of appreciation. The King's writing commences in the middle of what seems to have been an old well-known story. The episode was in every likel'1.h 00 d chosen for its convenient presentation from a dramatic point of view. The hero, Jaiyajeth, is a young prince of Hemant, a name suggestive

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of the Himalaya in the north of the classic land of India. Though having a number of lesser wives he is not considered married. He is lured into the land of Sil) hol on the ocean-obviously Ceylon- where a demon king rules. He has a beautiful daughter, Suwinja, who falls in love with and marries the hero of the tale. Thus properly mated he returns to his native land and settles down. News was concocted by the jealous minor wives of a white elephant being seen for which the hero leaves to hunt. The princess, his consort, meantime gives birth to a child whom her co-consorts hide, inventing the story that she had given birth to a piece of log-a disgraceful result of their marriage. The Prince returns, and being duly informed, believes the story and banishes his consort. The latter bas a cat which is a semi-human animal with great intelligence. Together they leave the court of Hemant, find the hidden baby and go back home to her father in SiiJhol who is enraged at the insult and gives vent to his wrath over the stupidity of his son-in-law in believing the concocted tale. Meanwhile Jaiyajetb is desolate and goes forth in search of the banished consort. After 7 years be discovers his son at SiiJhol who leads him to the father-in-law and his mother and there is a general reconciliation. Kraii8~, the second piece, is quite different. It is in fact different from every other play of the series. It is founded on an old local tradition of Pii!it, located on the northern marshes of the Caopraya valley, where the abundance of crocodiles led the people to hold to a superstition that crocodiles were semi~human and possessed understanding of the human mind. The King's play commences, as is usual with this class of popular plays, where he deemed action most suitable for dramatic presentation. Krait6IJ, the hero, is a young hunter of crocodiles. His record is long and he is said to have penetrated down into the crocodiles• caves and to have killed the valiant Cbalawan, a ferocious crocodile who is in human form down below, and took his wife Wimala, also in the shape of a human-a bewitching girl. He lives with her in the sub-terranean cave till he begins to miss his human wives above. He therefore comes up from the cave. Wimala unable to live without him follows him and meets the human

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wives with whom she quarrels till the husband makes up his mind to send her back home into the waters. The bulk of the material is made up of dialogues of quarrels between the wives and in this way lacks the usual dramatic action. As a recitation-sebha-its smart repartee is probably effective. The language in which the dialogues are couched is good, though quite broad intentionally. The third story, Manifijai, also commences midway in the original tale. The male role is again without wit. He wins his bride in a romantic enough way and brings her home only to have her got rid of by his scheming mother, the Queen, through an absurd accusation that none but the hero could have believed. The bride, named Y6praklin, wanders about the forest and adopts the male disguise of a brahmin ascetic. The dramatic episode commences here with the acute illness of the Queen from snake-bite. No remedy can be found till, after a nationwide proclamation, Y6praklin disguised as a young brahmin essays a cure for which he demands a ransom in the form of the young prince bound over in slavery to him. At his interview with the patient the latter admits her guilt of cruelty to her daughter-in-law, which her husband, the King, overhears. In anger he banishes the Queen from court. The brahmin demands his ransom and leads the prince away to his forest dwelling. Between the prince and his debtor, the young brahmin in two disguises, there are flirtations which, one might imagine, are more in the fashion of northern than our mediaeval courtship, suggestive of the original locale of the story. According to a note of the editor, the story goes on after the episode of the drama of the King and 'proceeds endlessly'. The chief male role of this tale, one might observe, is similar to that of Jaiyajeth in character-easy-going, witless and very stupid but nevertheless attractive to the opposite sex. The second of the volumes on the lakon nok consists of the drama of Kawi and that of Savkh Silpjai. It is suggested in the preface to this volume that Kawi, which is much more finished in

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style than the rest of the series, might have been the last to be written; whereas the other is suspected to have been from the pen of another poet-possibly King Rama III. In the reviewer's opinion Ram a III wrote very little but that little was of a high standard that cannot be reconciled with this play. Parhaps it was the work of several poets and therefore not liable to a more artistic co-ordinated plan. Kawi has its origin in the local series of Jatakas. It concerns also a stupid old king who wanted to be rejuvenated and undertook to go through the process, whereupon he was burnt alive. The young lady he wanted to marry being already in love with the hero of the tale-this time not stupid- was thus free to marry her choice. The inevitable dialogue of quarrels between various parties here is given a prominent place. In the last story there is again a stupid old king, called the Sena:kut, whose seven sons go on an excursion. The elder sons being jealous of their youngest brother, SaiJSilp-jai, who is bright and clever, push him over a cliff and leave him for dead. The god Indra, as is usual in some of the other stories, comes to the rescue and later builds a new city for Savkh Silpjai, the hero. The latter, missing his father when he comes home, goes in search of him. Finding him he brings the stupid old father into the new city that Indra built for him. Senakut not recognising the new city is afraid of everything but is finally quietened. This story has the merit of not being burdened with excessive quarrels but is otherwise a bore. 400. A Compendium of Boat Songs of the Ayudhya and Bangkok Periods, Teachers' Association Press, Bangkok 2510, pp. 121. The nucleus of the Thai who have formed the modern Kingdom of Siam, now changed to Thailand, was centred around riparine land on either bank of the Caopraya river and its tributaries. It is only natural, therefore, that our lives have been intimately bound up with the river which at one time formed our communications and is still the main source of revenue of our agricultural state, though no longer marking our borders to the former extent. Our activities are also mainly along the rivers where the sport of boat-racing has taken place from time inunett~orial. Not only pleasure boats in the form of racing

192

.t "me men-of-war were river boats, often so craft but even the Old 1 heavy as to need vocal exhortations for commencement. He~ce arose from olden days vocal signals as 'Ola \vabe' and other vocal stunulants mostly calling upon one another of the paddlers who nrc addressed as 'pfl' rlt1 i.e. fellows.

From these arose songs sung in unison .!J J ~ Chi/ u a ongkorn. m~l1f111lU!!lVUH»~1\JffJJ11'1VJW!n!lulnmun~11Jill'1V!l'llfJWn~m!lmmn Pracandra Press, Bangkok 2511, pp. 210. I

•

•

•

The memento, published under royal sponsorship in dedication to His Majesty's forefathers, consists of material rather less than accessible to the general public. The first is a translation by H.S.H. Prince Subhadradis Diskul together with the original English of Dr. A.B. Griswold entitled King Mongkut of Siam, (JSS. XLV. 1). Ordinarily the translation would be sufficient for a Siamese public but the excellent understanding of Griswold of the personality and erudition of King Mo1Jkut is so eloquently worded that the original English cannot be left out. We see here how the young prince Mo1JkUt could not suppress his active mentality and daring experimentation in the practice of the monastic life which resulted in the immediate success of his monastic reform as evidenced by its support by the public and its development into a large community that spread beyond the bounds of Siam within half a century. The other article is a translation at short notice by H.S.H. Prince Wongsanuvat, the King's Private Secretary, of an article in Unesco's New Asia entitled Change and Tradition in Siam under King Chulalongkorn. Unesco evaluates that King in its preface, after review~ ing all his neighbours who succombed successively to the impact of western materialism, thusly: Siam holds a special position in the movement of modernisation: it was the traditional rulers themselves who were the primary agents of change. It was imposed by King Chulalongkorn, whose story is told by Prince Dhaninivat. Within the region, in the Malay peninsula, modernisation came tbrou~h the direct impact of the West .• ,

RECENT S!AMESr~ l'LIB!.II::\T!ON::\

196

The contents of the two articles speak for tllemselves. The~ have been chosen for publication as a tribute to tbc great personal!· ties whose centenary was celebrated.

405. '

J-I.M. King Mor;kut: Compendium of Writings in Simn~se, tart I ' 4 ~ ~~ sponsored by the Dhammayuttka School 1

Yil~ll'lllll'HllilllflliiW !ll'llnllll1ll' lllfl "

,

of the Holy Monastic Order and the King Mol)kut University, Umversity Press 2511, pp. 390. Among the works published in honour of the t..:cntenary of the death of King MoiJkut, this is especially notable, for alt huugh the public is well aware that as Prince MoiJkut the monk he was largely responsible for the great rational reform of the Holy Order, compara· tively few people took much notice of what he actually initiated beyond a general notion that he was able to regenerate an e01cient School of monks known as that of the Dhammayutika that bcc:ame popular with the educated classes of the Thai and has even led the conservative School of the Mahanikai to adopt many nf its nuionul ideas. As the Patriarch of the Kingdom points out in the preface, King Mo1Jkut had a life-story somewhat different from other sove· reigns in that prior to his accession to the throne he had been a monk for 27 years, living a life of strict discipline as did every other monk I of the Reform School and acquiring an intensive knowledge of the Buddha's teaching and philosophy as well as mastering for practical purposes the Pali and English languages and then Latin and some of the sciences such as mathematics and astronomy. All of this served him well in later years for they opened up for him a broad vislu of modern knowledge with which he was able to plan a modern scheme of administration liberal enough to withstand, in great mcasu re, the materialistic impact of western civilisation. While a monas Lic reformer the Prince's initiative spurred a wider interesst in and more rational understanding of the two thousand year-old philosophy among Buddhists. His great work was contiq.ued by his son, who became Supreme Patriarch and extended his educational reform, establishing the King Mo1Jkut University. In this work the latter was succeded by King Mol)kut's grandson, a recent Patriarch of the Church, KromaluaiJ Vajiranan Lord Abbot also of Wat Boworanives.

IU:CENT SIAMESE PUBLICATIONS

197

The bulk of the book consists of what may be called nowadays lectures on methods of observation of the Buddha's principles and especially the philosophy enunciated by the Lord more than two thousand years ago. These needed, no doubt, revised statement for modern ears. To be a good Buddhist, the Prince pointed out, did not end with showing respect to religion but required also a real understanding of its precepts and also attempts to act up to them. The Prince's plain words were remarkably unembellished. A second chapter dealt with popular misunderstanding of the Buddha's principles and the emphasis wrongly laid upon external manifestations of respect. Respect however was recommended as befitting civilised man; but some national or local standard was not to be insisted on. The mind is more important and different peoples should be tolerated to render respect in their own traditional ways. In parts of Ceylon, for instance, people had a way of paying the highest respect by lying flat on the stomach with forehead touching the ground; and in China, Japan and Europe they had their own ways of salutation which were not to be discouraged for after all mental respect dictated them. A long chapter on sila, or conduct, is quite illuminating of contemporary thinking. A series of treatises on philosophy enunciated by the Buddha which had been overlooked during the ages were now critically examined and re-explained from the Pali texts in simple language without, as far as possible, technical phraseology. Prefaced to these lectures is a sermon on the personality of t be reformer, King MoiJkut, delivered on the occasion of the centenary of the capital of Bangkok and succeeding other sermons on the predecessors on the throne. The one on King MoiJkut was based upon notes supplied by his son King ChulalOIJkorn.

406.

Three Cycles Birthday of H.M. the Queen

Lll~IJWWli111Ju~rl1U1'flJJ1!JU

-.·oJL~'IlYntllllJ'l.Jii1mn Collection of writings personally chosen by the Queen,

Pracandra Press, Bangkok 2511, ill., pp. 443. Ordinarily Her Majesty is an avid reader. In this volume she has picked for publication what specially appealed to her and added

RECENT SIAMESIO: PUBLICA'l'IONS

198

some of her own notes of travel to America and Europe on state visits in 1960.

The result is the interesting volume under review·

It consists of a Siamese version of the reviewer's lecture

delivered in English on behalf of the South East Asia Treaty Organisation at the Far Eastern University in Manila in 1960 under the title of The Reconstruction of Rama I of the Chakri Dynasty. Her Majesty has graciously condescended to refer to it as 'material she read with interest and appreciation', paying the compliment to its author as being 'one whom she respects and who is generally trusted by her royal consort'. The second contribution was written at short notice by Her Majesty's uncle, His Excellency MomlttalJ Dej Sanid wongs, Privy Councillor, under the title of King Rama /'s productive ~vorl~ irt the

national economy. The author is a well-known economist. The material is an intensive survey of the nation's economy in that period and includes also political and strategical factors which went to make up the course of Siamese history. The third article H.M.

Pra Comklao, King of Siam is signed

by

the initials 1),fl, Its original but sane presentation of the life nnd work of King Mo!Jkut has evoked much interest and approbation among the reading public; its fairness of attitude remarkable.

The

author remains still anonymous. Then follow (a) Princess Vibbavadi Rangsit's translation from the English of a part of the very informative diary of Prince Oscar of Sweden touching on the days of King Chulalongkorn, presented to the Queen as a birthday present; (b & c) the diaries of King Cbulalongkorn and the Crown Prince Maha Vajirunhis recording the identical period as in (a); all three corroborating events of the recorded period. The King's diary at this time was entered in his own hand and is very full of information; that of the young Prince, His present Majesty's uncle, was the beginning of a habit he was encouraged to adopt but on the whole contained more what one generally expects from a child of that age.

i\ECENT SJA!viin Mahaasurasi9hanaad who had commissioned Phra Wichien in 1807 to compile this work. PPCPH, (19 52), 6, and Frankfurter's English version : JSS. XI, ( 1914- 15), 3. In fact this Heir Apparent had died in 1803 and the Heir Apparent in 1807 was the future RamaH, named in the text. Cf. the reference work by "Sawwanid" (compiler) "tf!.. 1i: 'f. The standard dynastic history of the Sung, the Sung Shih ~ ;:,_ (completed in 1345) carries a biography of Ch'en which recounts his flight from the Kwangtung region to avoid the victorious Mongol armies (1277). Subsequently, the dispatch of Mongol forces to Champa in 1282-83 impelled Ch'en, an ex-prime minister under the Sung, to flee again, this time to Sukhothai (Hsien), probably in the company of a few other Sung loyalists. His biography notes that he later died in Sukhothai but it gives no date for this. The details on Ch'en's flight to Champa and then to Sukhothai around 1283 as carried in the Sung Shih (compiled by Mongol scholars 85) Briggs, (1951 ), 242, implies such hostility in asserting that "Ram a Khamheng refused to accept" the advice of Chinese emissaries sent to him in 129 3. He cites no authority for this statement. There are no grounds in Chinese or Thai records for it.

1.44

E. Thadeus Flood

under the last of the Mongol Emperors) indicate that the Mongols were aware of this Sung loyalist's presence in Sukhotbai. Tbe Mongols may have been especially interested in Sukbothai for this reason. 86 Turning now to passage No. 9 above, it should be noted that the repetition of the order to "summon and persuade" Sukhotbai (i.e., its "Kamaratel)) does not imply that the latter state had rejected or refused the earlier summons of 1293 (passage No.7 above). For any one of a number of reasons Sukhothai may not yet have been able to respond to the 1293 order-if it ever reached her, which, given the communications problems of the day is problematical. It may well be too that the order to ''summon and persuade" was reiterated because of the death of Shih Tsu (February 18, 1294) and the accession of the new Emperor, Ch'eng Tsung (May 10, 1294). 8 7 Cb'eng Tsung may simply have been affirming his own intent to carry on the forceful policies of his predecessor in regard to the regions of Southeast Asia. 86) For Ch'en I-chung's biography, including an account of the events noted in

the text, see ~ ;l Y'J 1~ Je,t 418, r;R. 1i: o/ 1~ folio 19, recto and verso. Ch'cn's flight to Sukhothaj (Hsien) and his death there are also noted in another Yuan Dynasty work of unknown date and authorship, the "San-ch'ao See 1iL _Ejt, 28~]1]-, .E.. )PIJ ll'f ;l folio 3, yeh-shih" .E. JPJl Pf :k... verso. There are a number of interesting problems connected with this source which cannot be dealt with here but two points should be mentioned. Firstly, the compound "Hsien-lo" ;l!_ .ll~ which occurs in this source is Secondly, since it obviously an anachronism, rendered by a later copyist. is an anachronism, it should not be used to establish the date of this source. The most suggestive point in this respect is the fact that the last date that occurs in this very short work is 12 8 2 (and not 12 79 as per Herbert Franke in Beasley and Pulleyblank, 1961, 125). It was probably compiled shortly thereafter. If this is true, the reference to Sukhoothaj in this worlc would be the earliest mention of that state in Chinese records that we now possess, possibly antedating the Chen-! a feng-t'u-chi of Chou Ta-lcuan.

-Ji- Akt

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8 7) On the death of Shih Tsu, see ;t ;l ,$..~C., ;:!l:- ill J;. 17, ( _f_ ;it 31 Jf- if_ Jl 1-;.. 1m'}, folio 23, verso (26859). Wood, (1933), 55, misdates his death; Hoontrakul (19 53), 10 3, incorrectly has Wu Tsung succeeding Shih Tsu,

SLJIan (London, 1961). BEFEO: Bulletin de I' Ecole Frauc·aise d'Extreme-Orient (Hanoi). Bowring, (1857): Sir John Bowring, The Kingdom and Peoj>le r!l Siam, (London, 1857), 2 vols. Briggs, (1949): L.P. Briggs, "The Appearance and Historical Usage of the Terms Tai, Thai, Siamese and Laos", Jounwl of tire American Oriental Society, LXIX, No. 2 (1949), 60-73. Briggs, (1951): The Ancient Khmer Empire, (Philandelphia, 1951). Buss, (1966): Claude Buss, sub verba "Sukhothai" in Em.·ydoJ>c·dia itunnica, XXI, (1966). Coedes, (1920): George Coedes, "Les Origines de Ia dynastie de Sukhodaya", .Journal Asiatique, XV, (April-June, 1920), 233-45. Coedes, (1968) : The Jndiani:zed States of Southeast Asia, (Honolulu, 196 8).

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Wenk, {1962): Klaus Wenk, "Prachum Phongsawadan: Ein Beitrag zur Bibliographie der thailandischen historischen Quellen," Orie11s Ext remus, Year 9, Part 2 (December 1962), 232-57. Wood, {1933): W.A.R. Wood, A History of Siam, Revised Edition, (Bangkok, 1933). Yuan Shih: 1937).

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