Journal of the Siam Society; 59

Table of contents :
JSS_059_1a_Front
JSS_059_1a_Front_001
JSS_059_1b_JaneBunnag_LooseStructureFactOrFancy
JSS_059_1c_Sodemann_SocialCriticismInModernThaiNarrativeFiction
JSS_059_1d_Smithies_LikayOriginFormAndFutureOfSiameseFolkOpera
JSS_059_1e_Fippinger_KinshipTermsOfBlackTai
JSS_059_1f_Court_MokenSeaGypsiesInSouthernThailand
JSS_059_1g_SharomAhmat_KedahSiamRelations
JSS_059_1h_ChobKachaananda_AkhaSwingingCeremony
JSS_059_1i_Kauffmann_StoneMemorialsOfLawa
JSS_059_1j_GriswoldPrasert_InscriptionInOldMonFromWiengManoChiengMai
JSS_059_1k_GriswoldPrasert_InscriptionOfVatTrabanJanPhoak
JSS_059_1l_GriswoldPrasert_InscriptionOfVatJanLom
JSS_059_1m_Penth_NoteOnPun
JSS_059_1n_SanguanChotisukharat_SupernaturalBeliefsAndPracticesInChiengmai
JSS_059_1o_Reviews
JSS_059_1p_Contributors
JSS_059_1q_Back
JSS_059_2a_Front
JSS_059_2b_Unger_Dedication
JSS_059_2c_Stifel_RubberAndEconomyOfSouthernSiam
JSS_059_2d_Breazeale_TransitionInHistoricalWritingWorksOfDamrongRachanuphap
JSS_059_2e_Oblas_VerySmallPartOfWorldAffairsSiamAndParisPeaceConference
JSS_059_2f_Owen_RiceIndustryOfMainlandSoutheastAsia
JSS_059_2g_Cunha_1820LandConcessionToPortuguese
JSS_059_2h_Chandler_EighteenthCenturyInscriptionFromAngkorWat
JSS_059_2i_Ishii_SeventeenthCenturyJapaneseDocumentsAboutSiam
JSS_059_2j_Penth_StoneInscriptionFromWatDongBunnak
JSS_059_2k_GriswoldPrasert_InscriptionOfKingRamaGamhenOfSukhodaya1292
JSS_059_2l_Wijeyewardene_PatronsAndPauLiang
JSS_059_2m_Reviews
JSS_059_2n_Contributors
JSS_059_2o_AnnualReport
JSS_059_2p_ListOfMembers
JSS_059_2q_Dvivon_Thwalyasakdi
JSS_059_2r_ObituaryPrayaViduradharmabinet
JSS_059_2s_Back

Citation preview

Till': SIAM SOCIETY p,\TIH

):">j

\'I< 'E-1'.\'l'IH >;-o;s

II():-;. \'H'E-I'Ht-:Hllll·:.''i'l'l-1

!Iis l\fa)Csty the King !Icr Maje~!y the urj

\'I< 'E-1'.\'l'IH >;-o;s

II():-;. \'H'E-I'Ht-:Hllll·:.''i'l'l-1

!Iis l\fa)Csty the King !Icr Maje~!y the ur However, there is not this parallel development in the terms for their younger siblings~ where each has a distinct term : 3) The research for this paper was done in Nhatrang, South Vietnam, between May, 1969, and March, 1970. The principle Black Tai informant was a 72 year old woman, Bac Thi Pieng, formerly from Muong Sai, North Vietnam, now residing in Tung Nghia, South Vietnam. Other help was received from 1) her husband, Bac Cam Quyen, aged 68, formerly from Thuan Chau district, Son La province, North Vietnam, now residing in Tung Nghia, South Vietnam; 2) their daughter, Bac Thi Hoa, now residing in Nhatrang, South Vietnam; 3) her husband, Cam Due Hanh, aged 33, formerly from Muong Muok, North Vietnam, now residing in Nhatrang; and 4) Lo Van Muon, aged 37, formerly from Muong Sop Cop, North Vietnam, now residing in Nhatrang. I also wish to acknowledge the help of Marilyn Bergman Gregerson and Dorothy M. Thomas in the writing of this paper. The symbols used here to represent Black Tai speech are the phonemic symbols used by the author and her husband in their "Black Tai Phonemes, with Reference to White Tai''. (Anthropological Linguistics, March, 1970) These are t.he voiceless stops /p, t, c, k, kw,? I, voiced stops /b, d/, aspirated stop /th/, fricatives /f, s, x, xw, h/, nasals /m, n, ii, 1), l)W/, liquids /v, w, y, 1/, simple vowels /a, aa, i, e, e, f, o, u, o, o;, and vowel glides /io, fo, uo;. Since there is no contrast between initial glottal and zero, the initial glottal has been omitted here for simplification. 4) em 4 o6 has also been offered for PaElBrWi (parent's elder brother's wife) \ls a ~eographic variant representin~ Muon~ Pien~ and Muon? Muoy.

KINSllll' TERMS OF '!'HE IJLACK TAl l'EOPLg

67

younger brother: Patri: aay3 aawt Matri: aay3 naa 9 younger sister's husband: aawt xf:)yl naa6 xf;)yl younger sister: em4 aal em4 naa6 younger brother's wife: em4 lua4 naa6pl)w6 In each of the parental sibling terms, aay 3 and em4 may be used for both reference and address. Alternate forms which may be used for reference only are p:1 5 'male' and me 5 'female' respectively. They, however, cannot be used as alternates for 'father' and 'mother'. 5 > The terms for stepmother em4 naa6 and stepfather aay3 naa6 are identical with those for mother's younger sister and mother's younger brother respectively. However, the referential alternates may not be used for step-parents. 1.2 Second Ascending Ge11eration.

(See Diagram 2)

Here there is more difference between the patrilateral and matrilateral sides as there is no carry-over from father's parent's terms to mother's parent's terms. 6 > On each side the grandparent term also refers to the siblings of the same sex. The third word in each sibling term is optional, denoting the specific relationship. Note that these optional terms are identical with the second word of the sibling terms in the first ascending generation. The grandmothers each have two terms, use of which is governed by geographic dialect. The sister terms are shown in Diagram 2 with only yaas and thaw3, but in the areas where grandmother is called u3 or naay4, the sisters would also be called u3 or naay4. Both terms for paternal grandmother are also used for husband's mother (sec. 4.2); whereas, only em4 naay4 is used for wife's mother (sec. 4.1). 1.3 1'/lird Ascendiug Geueratio11.

(See Diagram

3)

5) P' 5 aai and me 5 em 4 may be used for 'father' and 'mother' respectively only when mourning the death of the parent and crying for his return. 6) In contrast with this, Hickey states "Terminologically, there is no bifurcation of kin in the third and second ascending generation", but no examples are given. Lebar, Hickey, and Musgrave, p. 222.

Dorothy Crawford Fippinger

68

Tbis generation shows outstanding evidence of patrilateral influence. 7)

Here father's father's father (FaFaFa) is given a term

very distinct from father's father (FaFa) while the other seven great~ grand parental terms are formed from the grand parental terms.

Each

adds c±a6 to the grandparent term, matching sex and pattern of ascent. Thus, father's mother's father (FaMaFa) is aay 3 pu 2 'paternal grand~ father' plus cfa6, and both father's father's mother (FaFaMo) and father's mother's mother (FaMoMo) are em4 yaas 'paternal mother' plus

da 6 •8>

grand~

The two sets of matrilateral great~grand~

parents have identical terms.

1.4 Fourth Ascending Generation. (See Diagram 4)

Only the term for father's father's father's father (FaFaFaFa) was given firmly for this generation. with hesitation, once with

yaa 5

The term for his wife was given

(by Hanh) and once without (by Hoa).

To date, no other terms have been found on this generation level.

:to Ego's Generation. 2.1 Nudeal' Family. (See Diagram 5)

7) See footnote number 6. 8) Two variants were given for FaFaMo (father's fath , th er s mo er by Hoa, and em 4 yaa 5 pau} by Hanh. · c

)

. em4 pa·u} •

1\ lNSHll' TEHMti OF THE llLAl!K TAl PEOPLE

69

Here we note that Ego divides his siblings first by age in regard to himself and then by sex. In general conversation, one frequently hears only the first part, pi 5 'older sibling' or 1P!JJ6 'younger sibling' without the sex modifier. The four sex/relational modifiers are of particular interest because they will be used with other base terms on this and descending generations. The definitions here can be applied to all other uses: caay 4 'consanquineal male', niv4 'consanquineal female', x!Jyl 'affinal male', and paw 6 'affinal female'. The latter two were also used in the first ascending generation. Both of the older siblings have alternate terms. The older brother may also be called aay 4 or aay 3 luavt, and the older sister j2 or pi5±ay3. The first of each pair is used only when addressing or calling the person so named. According to Hoa, the second of each pair is used in Muong Pieng and Muong Muoy in place of the terms shown on Diagram 5. 2.1 Cousius.

(See Diagram

6)

The children, and their spouses, of Ego's parent's siblings are all called laant. To this base term may be added the four sex/relational modifiers described above in section 2.1: caay4, niy4, xfayt and paw6• Thus, mother's sister's son (MoSiSo) is la(mt caay4 and his wife is laant paw 6 • These laanl may also be divided into the children of father's siblings, laant pu2 or laanl yaas, and the children of mother's siblings, /aanl taal or laant naay4. 3.0 Descending Generations. (See Diagram 7)

3.1 First Descending Ge11eration.

There are three base terms used for the first descending generation. Lu?s is Ego's child; laanl is Ego's sibling's child; and lent is Ego's parent's sibling's child's child (that is, a child of the laant

70

Dorothy Crawford Fippinger

presented in Ego's generation). All three are used for both consanquineal relatives and their spouses. Each of these terms may be modified by one of the four sex/relational modifiers: caay4, ni

":>::

piS

paa

3

...q

>

.A=O

""0 t'l

mi~ 4

Ego

"0 t""

~

6=0 6

naa6

x!~yr

6.=0 6

6 \ naa naa6 p:>w6

nniJ

D:)IJ

naa6

6. laan 1 Diagram 8.

rr

,,~

~

Wife's family.

"' , , ,

00 ~,

~>'

·~

"

,.~,·

00 tJ

6

0

em4

aayl pu2

u3

0

I

/:::,.=0 piS piS luiJ 4 paa 3

piS lur_r4

I

I

fu.,t

Er-

'
1)

lu~ 4

A FI~EETING ENCOUNTER WITH THE MOKEN CTHE SEA GYPSIES) IN SOUTHERN THAILAND: SOME LINGUISTIC AND GENERAL NOTES by

Christopher Court

During a short trip (3-5 April 1970) to the islands of King Amphoe Khuraburi (formerly Koh Kho Khao) in Phang-nga Province in Southern Thailand, my curiosity was aroused by frequent references in conversation with local inhabitants to a group of very primitive people (they were likened to the Spirits of the Yellow Leaves) whose entire life was spent nomadically on small boats. It was obvious that this must be the Moken described by White ( 1922) and Bernatzik (1939, and Bernatzik and Bernatzik 1958: 13-60). By a stroke of good fortune a boat belonging to this group happened to come into the beach at Ban Pak Chok on the island of Koh Phrah Thong, where I was spending the afternoon. When I went to inspect the craft and its occupants it turned out that there were only women and children on board, the one man among the occupants having gone ashore on some errand. The women were extremely shy. Because of this, and the failing light, and the fact that I was short of film, I took only two photographs, and then left the people in peace. Later, when the man returned, I interviewed him briefly elsewhere (see f. n. 2) collecting a few items of vocabulary. From this interview and from conversations with the local residents, particularly Mr. Prapa Inphanthang, a trader who has many dealings with the Moken, I pieced together something of the life and language of these people. The latter aspect was of particular interest to me as a linguist. This paper is in no way a finished piece of scientific research, either ethnological or linguistic, but I offer it for two reasons. Firstly, no-one seems to have studied the Moken of Thai territorial waters, and secondly we seem to have here, as late as 1970 and long after indications of its imminent demise (see, e.g., Le Bar et al. 1964: 264) a substantial survival of their indigenous culture.

g.:~

Christopher Court

I was able to subject the boat to only a cursory and unpractised examination. The most striking thing about it was the "bite" out of the bow and stern of the boat, which "serves for front-steps and back-steps to the house'' (White 1922: 42: this feature appears very clearly in the illustrations there and in Bernatzik and Bernatzik 1938). Also immediately evident was the fact that the sides of the boat were made not of planks but of slender shafts of wood. These, it was explained to me, were shafts of the zalacca palm (mai rakam). The roofing was of palm fronds sewn together. Amidships there was a charcoal stove of the cement bucket type common in Thailand. The vessel was fitted with an outboard motor. But for the motor and the fact that it had a "modern" stove and not a stone hearth, the boat seems to correspond exactly with the description by White (1922: 41-47) and Bernatzik (Bernatzik and Bernatzik 1958 : 28). Thus the basis of the craft was a hollowed tree trunk with built-up sides (boats of similar construction were found in the region by the Bishop of Beritus in 1662 [Hutchinson 1933], and they are not exclusive to the Moken [Kerr 1933) ]. The floating household consisted of a man, his wife and his sister, three children and a dog. The Moken are called Chao Lay/cha:w le:/'sea people' (Southern Thai= Standard Thai chao thalayjcba: w thale :; ) by the local Thai population. I did not hear the name Chao Nam reported by Seidenfaden ( 1967 : 113 ).1 They consist of two groups known to the Thais as Chao Koh Thae/ (/cha: w k6? the: I 'llnltm:un 'real islanders') and Thai Mai (/thaj maj/hv1,.n.l 'new Thais'). 2 Only the 1) "These people call themselves Moken or Mawken, and are known to the Burmese as Selung, Selong or Selon" (LeBar et at. 1964: 263). I did not collect their own name for themselves. Related groups on the Johore coast and Singapore Island are known as Orang Laut or Ra'yat Laut by the Malays. The Chao Koh Thae man (see below) gave the word for water as [ wi:n ]. This agrees with the form of the word in White's Lbi (1922: 158) dialect spoken around Victoria Point and on St. Matthew's Island. The other form of the word which I collected, viz. [ e:n], is not mentioned by White. 2) The Chao Koh Thae man, whose name I did not collect, was interviewed at the home of Mr. Prapa Inphanthang of Tambol Ban Pak Chok on the island of Koh Prah Thong, Amphoe Khuraburi, on the afternoon of Saturday 4 April. The Thai Mai were interviewed in their village of Thung Nang Dam, Tambol Amphoe Khurabud, on the_following Sunday morning.

A FLBBTINt: ENL:OUNTBI\ WITH TilE MOKEN

85

former group now leads a nomadic existence, the Thai Mai having settled in one or two coastal villages, and adopted a Thai surname (see below). The Chao Koh Thae man informed me that his was the only boat to come across from Koh Surin, an island about 30 miles to the west in the Indian Ocean. He said that there were another twelve or thirteen boats moored at Koh Surin. Allowing for two or three boats elsewhere in these waters, this would give a total of about fifteen or sixteen boats. With six or seven people on each boat, we could estimate the population of this nomadic community to be in the range of 70-110.3 As for the population of the Thai Mai, the figure of 300 was given to me by the Palat Amphoe in charge of King-Ampboe Khuraburi, Mr. Boonyock Sanguan-Asana, who conducted a survey among these people in 1969. The Chao Lay are more daring navigators than the local Thais (venturing out into the ocean) and this fact is reflected in the surname adopted by the Thai Mai (see below). A Chao Koh Tbae boat will typically contain a man and his wife and children, and if they have a married daughter she and her husband may also live in the same boat. 4 They take drinking water from the land and keep it in jars, but they bathe in sea water. They are said not to wash the hair on their heads, so that their hair is malodorous. Women frequently expose their breasts. In the rainy season the Chao Koh Thae come ashore, build temporary dwellings with palm thatch roofs, and renew the rakam wood in their boats, or build new boats. The Chao Lay are said by the Thais to have "no religion" but to believe in spirits.s They do however have wedding ceremonies 3) In the census of Burma of 1911, White's method of computing the numbers of the elusive Moken was to "multiply the number [of boats] seen [fleeing] or reported to be [fleeing] anywhere, by five. Seven might be a truer average" (1922 : 195). 4) This information from Mr. Prapa Inphanthang of Tambol Ban Pak Chok on the island of Koh Prah Thong. It conflicts with White's statement (1922: 203-04) that young people live with the groom's parents until they strike out for themselves by building their own boat. 5) This accords with Bernatzilc and Bernatzik 19 3 8 : 3 6, 19 58 : 30 and Bernatzik 1954: 248.

86

Christopher Court

with dancing, and it is said that they have ritual fire dances ("like Africans") in the twelfth lunar month, to bring them good fishing in the coming year. The Thai Mai represent a somewhat assimilated version of tbe Chao Koh Thae. Living ashore permanently they bathe in fresh water, build smaller boats and attend Chao Koh Tbae fire dances as spectators rather than participants, although some might join in after a few drinks. Some of them send their children to school. They have all taken the surname Klaa-Thalay "brave the sea" ( nnwJtLll ), which consists of Thai words but so far as I know was an invention of their own. Some first names may still be unassimilated and Chao Koh Thae (see below). The language of the Chao Lay is clearly a member of the Indonesian language family. 6 White (1922) mentions various dialects, and in fact the Chao Koh Thae and the Thai Mai whom I interviewed represented two different dialects: (see f.n. 1 above and word list below). The language has a strong tendency to rnonosyllabism through optional omission of the first syllable of disyllabic words (a tendency also present in colloquial Malay and many Indonesian dialects). Some of its monosyllabic words may not be of Indonesian origin since they appear to have a fixed tone (see below). My linguistic interviews were very brief, scrappy and unstructured. I bad about half an hour with the Chao Koh Tbae at Pak Chok, and about an hour with some Thai Mai at Ban Thung Nang Dam. Some of the words collected from the Chao Koh Thae differed from the corresponding words of the Thai Mai (see list below). Unless otherwise noted, forms cited were collected from Thai Mai informants. Those collected from the Chao Koh Thae are marked (CK). The words are in rough "field-note phonetic" transcription, and I will first give a chart of the contoids, vocoids and pitches which I noted. 7 6) It is placed in the "faro ily tree" under the name of "Selung" in Schema 1 of Haudricourt 1962. 7) IPA symbol conventions are followed for vocoids and contoids, except that a raised "h" is used to denote aspiration, and "j'' and "w" are used to denote the second, non-syllabic part of diphthongs. If pitch is not noted it means that is was not recorded in my field notes. Pitch marks have the following values: "-" medilLm level; "/" high; "-......" low;" A" falling; "V" rising.

A l•'LEE'l'lNG ENCOUNTIU\ Wl'l'!l THE MOKEN

87

Contoids noted: p ph b m

t th d n

c ch

k kh

j

J1

1)

s w

?

h

j

Vocoids and vocoid glides noted: i, e,

aj

i: e: a, ua

f

l": a:

u, o, 0

ow

u: o:

o: 1aw

Pitch levels and contours noted:

----------------------·----

The above charts of contoids, vocoids and pitch elements may not be exhaustive. Suspiciously similar sounds such as [e] and [ re] cannot from my material be demonstrated to be phonemically distinct from one another. Syllable pitch seems to depend largely on the position of a word in an utterance. Thus most words were said with a falling pitch when given as single-word answers to a question. This is a common feature in non-tonal languages such as, for example, English. One or two words, however, seemed to be quite fixed in their pitch patterns under all circumstances, e.g., [bah] the negative particle, and [lualJ] '(?)' in [ni?Ctn lilaiJ] 'young coconut' and the personal names [khiaw (loj (CK) wa15j (TM) cbawaj (CK) sawaj (TM) cb(a) p6h (CK) pl6h (TM) (cf. Mal. sa-puloh) chap6b cet ( CK) ploh c~: t ( TM) cbap6b thua? (CK) ploh wa? (TM) wa? p16h (TM) (cf. Mal. dua-puloh) kl:Jj ploh (TM) (cf. Land Dayak taruh-puru?)

pa: t ploh (TM) (cf. Mal. empat-puloh) rna? ploh (T M) ( cf. Mal. linza-puloh) nam ploh ( cf. Mal. 'imam-puloh)

-~--------

8) "Not a few times have I had to correct my rough dictionary through having accepted, without sufficient testing, the pronunciation of a word. For example, chi ['I, me, my'] has almost superseded the full word clw.i . .• The first consonant of a word is often slurred and even dropped, so that ba is made lo do service for mba ['bring']." 1922 : (163). This is very common field experience.

~~' ~

A FI.J.:F.TTNL t•:Nt:tll'NJ'Io:H 1\'l'l'll TIIJ.:

seventy eighty ninety a hundred a hundred and one

~101\P.N

89

ju? ploh (cf. Mal. tujoh-puloh) waloj ploh sawaj ploh ana: t6h {cf. Mal. sa-raius) ana: toh ce: t ( cf. Mal. sa-ratus satu)

Other vocabulary: afternoon we:la: {cf. Thai/we:la:/'time') ?ren wi : n (CK) n re: n (TM) bathe ?rem be in a place da? big kicflm (TM) bird kaba: 1J ( W. lwbang) boat buffalo k1: baw (cf. Mal. herbau) miaw (cf. Thai/me: w, miw/) cat IJUP (cf. Mal. tanglwp) catch n. cit., pp. 245-46. 39) Prior to this, the Siamese provinces and dependencies were under the control of three Ministries, Ministry of War, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior.

112

Sharom Ahmnt

context of administrative centralization, the Siamese government also began an extensive programme of railway construction connecting Bangkok with her provinces in the north, east and south-west. It was believed that, in addition to centralizing political control, improved communications would also bring economic benefits. By the same reasoning, the Siamese were also eager to push railway connections with her provinces and dependencies in the Malay Peninsula. This was made the more imperative as the only means of reaching these areas was by sea, which made them even more distant and therefore less valuable to Siam economically and politically. 40 With particular reference to Kedah, the Siamese had been unhappy with the state of affairs there for some time. As H.G. Scott, tbe Director of the Siamese Department of Mines observed, the condition prevailing in Kedab, whereby the nature of the Sultan's status in relation to the Siamese and the British remained loose and m1defined, could not go on without leading to serious difficulties. 41 He was thinking particularly of the position regarding the granting of land concessions as an area which could easily develop political complications which Siam would not be able to avoid. For although the Sultan had to refer all important issues to Bangkok, there was nothing to stop him granting tentative concessions, and this could put Siam in a delicate position should she choose not to sanction such a concession. In addition to this problem Kedah was at this time getting deeper and deeper into debt, and since Kedah's creditors were largely foreign nationals and companies, Siam was worried about the possible political implications of this economic mess. For a long time Siam was reluctant to take any action for fear that it would bring abou~ a reaction from the British. In this sense, 1902 proved to be a major turning point in Siamese policy. This was mainly due to a change in British policy towards the northern Malay states. The Anglo-French Declaration of 1896 had satisfied 40) It took about four to five days to reach Kelantan and Trengganu from Bangkok by sea~ In the case of Kedah the journey took twice as long as one had to go via Singapore and Penang. 41) C0273/303 Beckett to C.O. 29 October 1904.

KEilAI!-SIA~I

HI·:LATIONS,

182!-1905

11 3

the British that France would not be a threat to British interests in the Malay Peninsula. This was further enhanced by the AngloSiamese Secret Convention of 1897. All this culminated in the Anglo-Siamese Agreement of 1902 relating to Kelantan and Trengganu. These developments also brought Siamese fear of British intentions in her Malay dependencies to a new height. There was fear, for instance, that the next British target would be Kedah, and so before the British could act, Siam decided to step in first. In October 1904, H.G. Scott 42 raised the question of the status of the Sultan of Kedah with Beckett, the British Minister in Bangkok. According to Scott, the situation in Kedah had become acute; the Sultan was half-mad, the state was heavily in debt, and instead of the revenues of the state showing any balance as they should, they were being mortgaged away. At the same time the Sultan was beset by concession hunters. As Siam did not interfere with Kedah's administration, she had no means of knowing what was being done there, and hence feared complications not only in connection with concessions, but also that the Straits government might persuade the Sultan to take some action which might be prejudicial to Siamese interests. Consequently, Scott indicated that the Siamese government was interested in proposing the appointment of a Resident or Adviser in Kedah with similar duties to that held by the Adviser to the Sultan of Kelantan. 43 The reaction of local British officials to the Siamese proposal was one of apprehension. Barnes, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs in the Straits Settlements, suggested to Sir John Anderson that the British should quickly appoint an Adviser to the Sultan of Kedah and · also to advance a loan to him.44 The loudest opposition came from Anderson himself. Writing to Mr. Lytt1eton of the Colonial Office, the Governor argued that Siam was determined to encroach on the independence of Kedah for fear that the British would extend their influence into the state. Furthermore, Anderson claimed that Siam 42) Scott was on very close terms with Prince Damrong, the Minister of Interior, who constantly consulted him on a variety of political questions. In view of this, Scott's views were indicative of official Siamese policy. 43) F0422/58 Beckett to F.O. 29 October 1904. 44) F0422/5 9 Barnes to Anderson 21 January 1905.

Sharom Ahmat

114

was fully aware of the tremendous progress achieved in the Federated Malay States, while states like K.edab were in a deplorable condition under the Siamese, and fearful of their encroachment. Thus he believed that the appointment a Siamese official of British nationality in Kedah would be disastrous not only to the state, but also to British interests in the Peninsula.4 5 The Foreign Office, however, viewed the situation differently. As they saw it, although the Siamese government had hitherto refrained from interfering in the internal affairs of Kedab, this did not retract the fact that Kedah was a dependency of Siam, and this was recognized by Britain. Lord Landsdowne therefore felt that if the Siamese wanted to send an Adviser to Kedah it would be very difficult for the British to oppose it successfully. 46 As a Foreign Office minute put it, "This country (Britain) holds towards Kelantan and Trengganu under the terms of the 1826 Treaty a position which she cannot claim to hold towards the other Siamese Malay states. Therefore, the British government can hardly deny to Siam in Kedah rights which had been conceded to her in states enjoying a far greater measure of independence".47 This view was also held by Ralph Paget, the British Minister in Bangkok, who in commenting on Anderson's objections pointed out that, in the case of Kedah, the Siamese could well have proceeded without consulting the British at all. In any case, he could not see how the British government could effectively object to a proposal which was intended for the improvement of the administration of a part of their own dominion. Any objection would be the more ridiculous since the · British had insisted on the appointment of an Adviser in Kelantan. 4 8 The Colonial Office alone took the view that no sufficient reason had been shown to justify any interference in Kedah. And since King Chulalongkorn himself had considered in 1901 that Kedah was exceptionally well governed, perhaps the British government should discourage the appointment of an Adviser.49 45) 46) 47) 48) 49)

C0273/303 C0273/303 C02 73/3l4 C0273/314 C027 3/303

Anderson to C.O. 30 November 1904. F.O. Memoranda 27 December 1904. F.O. Minute on Siamese Adviser in Kedah, 12 April 1905. Paget to F.O. 25 January 1905, 8 March 1905. C.O. Memoranda 30 November 1904,

KE!JAI!-::HAM HELATIONS/1821-1905

115

The situation took a new turn in March 1905 when Raja Muda, Tengku Abdul Aziz, went to Bangkok with a letter from the Sultan together with other documents relating to the critical financial position of Kedah. Tengku Abdul Aziz saw Prince Damrong, through whom he sought a loan and the appointment of a Financial Adviser. In addition, because of the Sultan's ill-health, it was also suggested that a Council of Four should be created to administer the country. 50 As a result of this new development, even Governor Anderson had 50) A great deal of doubt exists regarding the spontaneity of the Raja Muda's mission to Bangkok. For one thing the Sultan's letter which was brought along by the Raja Muda asking for a loan, a Financial Adviser, and a State Council was unsigned. Considering the jealousy with which Kedah had always valued her independence, it was not likely that their rulers would have taken the initiative on such a radical measure. An indication of Siamese pressure in this matter was seen when Mr. Williamson, the Siamese Financial Adviser, in advising the appointment of a Financial Commissioner to Kedah, explained that this would be "a bitter pill for the Sultan to swallow". He also believed that as the financial situation of the state gradually improved, the Sultan and other members of the ruling family would grow reconciled to the partial diminution of authority which the proposal entailed. Even clearer evidence of this was manifested in two memoranda written by Williamson on the Financial Affairs of Kedah in April 190 5. In these reports Williamson warned Prince Damrong that, in view of the financial mess which Kedah had got into, the Siamese government should not agree to any loan unless an arrangement could be made whereby the absolute control of the finances of the state be bestowed on an officer appointed by Siam. This according to Williamson was necessary in order to ensure a definite guarantee that the finances of the state would be properly looked after in the future, and that no fresh debts would be incurred without the prior knowledge and consent of the Siamese government. In the second memorandam, it was clear that Prince Damrong had told Williamson that the conditions of the loan would be the appointment of a European Financial Adviser, as well as the creation of a Council of not more than five members, whose duty it was to control the revenue and expenditure of Kcdah. Furthermore, this had been explained to the Raja Muda by Prince Damrong. Although the Raja Muda thought that the Sultan would object to such arrangements, he promised to persuade him to accept them. Thus, the real position seemed to have been that Siamese apprehension of British opposition to their scheme made them fear that the Straits government would press for the absorption of the Siamese Malay states. Hence, they decided to act first, and in this they were invaluably helped by Kedah's impending bankruptcy. Sec, F0422/59 Williamson's Mcmorandas Respecting Kedah's Financial Affairs, 6 1905, 19 April1905. C0273/314 Paget to F.O. 31 March 1905. F0422/59 Paget to F.O. 20 July 1905.

116

Sharom Ahmat

to admit that if the Sultan of Kedah was a party to the application, then the Siamese proposal could not be opposed. However, be insisted that the British government should see the terms of any agreement between the Siamese and Kedah. In particular he wanted the British to obtain assurances on three points; firstly that the government of Kedah be left in the hands of the local authorities; secondly, that the Adviser would be removed once the debt was repaid; and, finally, that the Adviser and his assistant must be of British nationality whose appointment and removal should be subject to British approval. 51 The Siamese accepted the first two demands but were rightly indignant at the third. As the.y explained, there was no need for such an assurance because the appointment bad no political significance, but was merely a business precaution adopted to secure the Siamese government against loss in making the loan. The Foreign Office itself felt that Anderson's last demand was unreasonable, and that as long as the Adviser was of British nationality and the Siamese government consulted the British Minister in Bangkok, unofficially, in the case of each appointment, the British could ask for no more. 52 These guarantees were readily acceptable to the Siamese. Paget further assured the Foreign Office that he did not think the Siamese government would wish to impose undue interference in Kedah. On the contrary the Siamese General Adviser, Strobel, had informed him that Prince Damrong himself did not favour too much interference as he still wanted to keep Kedah as a buffer between Siamese and British influence in the Malay Peninsula,53 It was finally in June 16, 1905 that the Kedah Loan Agreement was signed. By this agreement, Siam undertook to lend Kedah a loan of $2.6 million at 6% interest per annum. In return for this, Kedah was to accept, until the loan had been entirely repaid, the services of an Adviser to be appointed by tbe Siamese government who would 51) F0422/59 Anderson to C.O. 29 March 1905. 52) F0422/59 Landsdowne to Paget 7 July 1905. 53) F0422/59 Paget to F.O. 21 June 1905.

KIWAII-SJ.\~1

111\I.ATIONS, 1821-1905

117

assist in the financial administration of the state. 54 With the signing of this Agreement ended also the phase of Kedah history which began in 1842 when she had conducted her own affairs very much in her own fashion. In particular, this marked also the end of the absolute control of the Sultan over the affairs of his state.

54) The British, in order to counter-balance this increase of Siamese influence, urgently revived the old idea of appointing a British Consul in Kedah in order to watch over British interests. So in December 1905, Mr. Meadows Frost, who had served itl the Federated Malay States since 1898, was appointed the first British Consul in Kedab.

THE AKHA SWINGING CEREMONY by

Chob Kacha-ananda

Among the six major tribal groups included within the research program of the Tribal Research Centre located in Chiang Mai, the Akha are classified among Tibeto-Burman linguistic group. Their language is closely related to Lahu and Lisu. These last languages form a branch of Lolo. The original settlements of the Akha were in Yunnan Province and from there, in South China, they have migrated into Burma and Thailand. This migration began about 50 or 60 years ago. Formerly, Akha villages in Thailand were scattered only through an area west of the Paholyothin Highway in the Districts of Mae Chan and Mae Sai in Chiang Rai Province, and north of the Mae Kok River which flows eastwards out of Burma, through the town of Chiang Rai, and on into the Mekong River. Now, however, because of a continued southward movement, Akba villages are also found in the Districts of Chiang Saen and Mae Sruai of Chiang Rai Province, and one village is located in King Amphoe Mae Ai in Chiang Mai Province. Gordon Young (1961: 85) estimated that there were 25,200 Akha in Thailand. In 1968 a United Nations team conducted a survey of opium cultivation in the mountains of northern Thailand. Incidental to this information they collected demographic data and estimated that there were 6,442 Akha in Thailand. This number is 2.3 percent of all those people living above the altitude of 600 meters. Hanks and Sharp (1964: Appendix II), surveying this entire area, which they named the "Mae Kok River Region", found a population of 6,288 Akha. The Akba are like other tribal groups in northern Thailand with regard to their religious and ceremonial aspects. They are both animists and worshippers of their ancestors. We are concerned here with one important ceremony, the "Swinging Ceremony", which is as sisnificant as the rites associated with their New Year festival.

120

Chob Kac!Ja-ananda

In 1967 the Swinging Ceremony observed in Saen Chai village in Mae Chan District of Chiang Rai Province began on 22 August and ended on 25 August. Usually this ceremony lasts for four days. The time at which a Swinging Ceremony is held in each of the Akha villages in northern Thailand varies, and this time varies according to the most auspicious day of each village's headman. (See below). However, this ceremony is always held during August, the tenth lunar month of the Akha calendar. Few people can remember the history of this ceremony, but the chief spiritualist of the village explained that this ceremony is held to celebrate the maturation of planted rice. The story associated with the ceremony is given below. When the god 1 Apremiere created the world, the gods Umsa and Umyae were also created. Both of the created gods are still able to control rain and, through direct contact, to make the sun · shine. These created gods were made as man and wife. They bad one son and one daughter named Umsabyee and Umsahyeh. The New Year ceremony is believed to have been started by Umsahyee; the Swinging Ceremony is believed to have been started by Umsahyeh-in order to honor their god-parents and to assure plentiful and timely rain, sunshine, and a good harvest of rice. The Akha people regard Umsahyeh as their first female ancestor. From her to Akba now living there are 60 generations. Because the ceremony is in honor of a female god, the ceremony is performed by Akha women. For the ceremony the Akha women of all ages put on their very best, most beautiful and most elaborate clothes and come together at the swing which, in all villages, must be located near the spirit gate and which, in tbe village of Saen Chai, was also located next to the courting plaza. There are three types of swing. When one enters this Akha village, passing through the Spirit Gate and past the courting plaza, one will see two swings. One is the swing which was started by 1) The writer has used the word 'gods' because the Akha insisted that those named beings for whom this ceremony was conducted were not spirits and were not human beings; they have been created and had lived in the world with no _parents.

Till': 1\KHA SW!Nl:INt; CEHJ\MONY

121

U msahyeh. It consists of four posts made of thin tree trunks shorn of all branches except for those at the very top. These four posts are fixed in the ground at points which form a square, and the tops are joined together by a rope with a loop at the end which hangs down. Another type of swing has only two upright posts made of more sturdy tree trunks. On their tops these two posts are notched and placed in these notches is the swing wheel axle. Attached to the axle there are four arms or spokes made of two adjacent tree branches at the ends of which swings are attached. This type of swing looks like a water-wheel or a ferris wheel. The Akha at Saen Chai village said that only married women may swing with the swing of the first type, and the men and the unmarried women with the second type. 2 There is another type of swing in front of every house. These are the swings for the children. Like the first swing described above, they are constructed with four small saplings squarely imbedded in the ground, tied together at the tops, from which point a cradle is hung. This Swinging Ceremony is a village ceremony, not a household ceremony. Therefore each Akha in every household takes part in building the swings and in the ceremony proper. As indicated above, the Akha perform this ceremony on the auspicious day of the village headrnan.J There are five weeks in an Akha month.4 In each week there is one day which is the auspicious The writer was told that the four-post swing was for married women and the water-wheel-like swing was for men and unmarried women. He was also informed lately that both men and women could swing with both swings. 3) Saen Chai village's headman is a Jeuma. He is Saen Chai's younger brother. Saen Chai regards himself as a Khama, which is a head of all Akha villages in Thailand. 4) The Akha think in terms of a 12 year cycle. A year has 12 months and a month has thirty days but there are five varying weekly time periods of five days or six days or seven days in a month. The symbols of the twelve years are the same as those used for the twelve days. These are: 1. the day of the ant, 2. the day of the buffalo, 3. the day of the tiger, 4. the day or the horse, 5. the day of the rabbit, 6. the day of the termite, 7. the day of the mule, 8. the day of the giraff, 9. the day of the monkey, 10. the day of the chicken, 11. the day of the dog, and 12. the day of the pig. 2)

Chob Kacha-ananda

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THE AKHA SWINGING CEREMONY

123

day of the headman (the auspicious day of the Saen Chai village headman that year was the day of the buffalo). This ceremony may be performed during any week of the proper month. Each year the old men in the village have a meeting at the headman's house and consider the day for the Swinging Ceremony. Since in Saen Cbai village in 1967 the auspicious day of the headman, or Jeuma, was the day of the buffalo, the Akha in that village began building the swings on that auspicious day. Because the ceremony covers a period of four days, the first part of it was begun one day prior to the auspicious day. These days then were the days of the ant, the buffalo, the tiger and the horse. On the day of the ant, the day of the first part of the ceremony, the Akha slaughtered chickens and offered them to their ancestors. On the second day, or the day of the buffalo, they built the swings. On the third day, or the day of the tiger, they slaughtered pigs and one ox. The first day was to honor the ancestors; the second day was for constructing the swings; the third day was for feasting. On the fourth day they swang. On the first day of the ceremony, the Akha in each house slaughtered one chicken, cooked it and offered it to their ancestors. The wife of the household bead, and not the village spiritualist, performed this ceremony of offering. When the ceremony ended, the ancestors, having attended, were invited to return to the spirit world.

.

The Akha have a specific method for slaughtering chickens when offering them to ancestors. It is not the same method as that usually employed. They have a specific place within the house, a special hammer and a separate chopping block. The ~ammer and the chopping block cannot be used every day .. These p1eces of bousehold equipment are kept in a specially reserved place and are brought out only for slaughtering chickens for the ancestors. A glass of water, a glass of rice whiskey and a chicken are br.oug~t .out to a ritually designated place for the offering and ceremomal ktlhng.

124

Chob Kacha-ananda

The water used is this ceremony must be taken from the stream used as a daily water source by the headman's house. carried to the village in bamboo tubes.

This water is

Water from the other streams

also used by village households as their daily water source cannot be used.

When bringing the water from the stream, if those Akha

bringing it see a snake, that supply of water must be thrown away and a new supply must be fetched.

Water contained in the tubes,

not used for the ceremony, cannot be drunk until the ceremony of slaughtering the chicken bas been completed. To kill the chicken, they hit the chicken's head with the hammer (never cutting the chicken's throat and never using the blood for cooking). While killing the chicken, the Akha close the house door so that the dogs will not enter. After killing the chicken, they pour water on it three times from a ceremonial water glass; and then they cut off the legs and the wings. The two legs and the two wings a~e placed on the shelf reserved for the ancestors which can be found in every Akha house. It is said that the legs of chickens are used by spirits as walking canes and that the wings are used by the spirits as fans. When the legs and wings have been cut off, the chicken is placed on the open hearth fire to singe its feathers. The chicken is then cooked and placed on a low, round table. This table is also a specific table used only for offering things to the ancestors. This table is always kept in a special box. After preparing the table for the ceremonial meal, the bousewife invites all ancestors, including Umsahyeb. On the first day gongs and cymbals are beaten. These two percussion instruments are played only during those ceremonies associated with the ancestors. On the second day of the ceremony (the day of the buffalo, which at the time this study was made was August 23, 1967) the Akha built the swings. Saen Chai said that each year new swings have to be built at the old locations because the old swings have rotted and cannot be used.

THE AKHA SWINGING CEREMONY

125

The building of the new swings was started when an Akha from each household had arrived at the bouse of the headman. This occurred at approximately ten o'clock in the morning. The headman who performed the ceremony was dressed in his usual clothes; his bead was wrapped in a pink satin turban and on top of this be wore a conical rattan hat. He also carried a rectangular hand-woven cloth bag. From the headman's house the procession went to the swinging place. The headman, or Jeuma, was the last one in this procession. The procession was divided into many groups. One of the groups went out to cut the trees for the posts for the main swing. Another group searched for the liana to make the rope. And the remainder of the people, including the headman, helped each other in demolishing the old main swing, and making a clearing for the new swing, which involved the digging of four new holes. The main swing was constructed on the side of a slope. Two holes were located on the high part of the slope's ridge and the other two were on the lower part. That hole of the two which were on the high part of the ridge and was closest to the village was the ''key" bole or the most important hole. This hole is never moved, but the location of the other three holes may be changed. The headman of the village is the first man who cleans the loose dirt from this old key hole and then the villagers help in completing the digging of all the holes until they have reached about one meter in depth. When the new trunks for the new swing have been cut and trimmed to points and are ready to be put into the holes, the headman places husked rice, a fresh chicken egg, water and a piece of silver into the key hole and inserts the post. Before all the posts are put into the holes, four liana ropes are loosely attached to their tops. When all the posts have been placed into the newly dug holes, four men climb to the tops of the posts where the ropes will be tightened. They pull the ropes and make two posts bend together and then, again with the ropes, they tie them into pairs. The two pairs of tied posts are joined by a one meter piece of carved wood and then firmly tied together at the top.

126

Chob Kacha-ananda

A rope made of the liana with a loop at one end is hung from the top attached to the one meter piece of carved wood. The bottom of the loop extends down to one meter above the ground. The headman puts three bunches of grass and three pieces of stone on the loop and shoves the loop so that it swings to and fro three times. This is believed to be the swinging of Umsahyeh. Then the headman gets up onto the loop and swings three times. After this the others swing. When using this loop for swinging, the men put one foot into the loop, but the women use a small stick which is put through the loop and on which they can then sit. Men swing standing; women swing sitting. Attached to the swing rope and over the swinger's bead is a pull rope about two to three meters long used by the people below to help make the swinging better. The second swing, the one which looks like a water wheel, is built with no ceremony and is not utilized as a formal part of the swinging ceremony. The old posts of this swing may still be used if strong enough. Only the axle and the spokes are changed. While the first two types of swing are being built, the swings for the children, in front of every house, are being built, too. While the men build the swings, the women prepare their clothes for the ceremony. No one goes to the fields during the time of this ceremony. In the evening the women come together at the swings for swinging. At night they make music by beating drums, gongs, cymbals and sections of bamboo. These bamboo sections are those which serve as water containers as well as musical instruments and they produce sound by being pounded down vertically on the ground. During this ceremony at Saen Chai village, three young and beautiful girls pounded the bamboo tubes in front of the headman's house and in front of Saen Chai's house. At the same time, other young Akha boys and girls enjoyed themselves at the courting plaza. Some girls and young women sang songs and danced. The young men chose their partners and, at the courting plaza, flirted and petted.

THE AKHA SWINGING CEREMONY

127

On the third day of the ceremony (the day of the tiger, August 24, 1967), and in the early morning, another chicken was killed by each household and was offered to the ancestors. Then one pig and one ox were killed. The pig which was killed could have come from any house and the donor depended on the considerations of the old men at the meeting that was held to decide when to initiate the ceremony. At the ceremony performed in 1967, the ox was the ox of Saen Chai. These two animals were cooked and then served to the old men. Saen Chai also said that part of the meat of these two animals could be sold or bartered within the village. After the morning feast on the third day, music was played in front of Saen Cbai's house. Men danced and three pretty girls with bamboo sections provided the rhythm by pounding the bambo9s on the ground. Saen Chai's son explained that this was for the enjoyment of the old men. At about three o'clock in the afternoon the swinging was begun. The children swang all day. On the fourth day, or the last day of the ceremony, the day of the horse, August 25, 1967, the swinging was held from three or four o'clock in the afternoon until six o'clock in the evening. The Akha said that this day was the most enjoyable day. At six o'clock the headman swang for the last time. Then he tied the swing rope to one of the four posts. The ceremony was ended. No one is allowed to cut or chip the posts; if they do, they will be punished and the punishment would be a fine of one pig paid to the headman. Every ceremony and every festival performed in the village has much meaning for the Akha girls. The explanation for this is that, when a girl reaches 15 years of age, regarded by the Akha as the beginning of womanhood, her dress will be gradually changed from that worn by a child to that worn by a woman. All pieces of dress associated with becoming a woman may not be put on at the same time. One piece is put on after one ceremony. It can be said that a girl, in order to become a woman, has to pass four steps. involving four ceremonies. When she is a girl, she puts on a hat wtth no red

128

Chob Kacha-ananda

and white beads, but when she reaches 15 years old, the hat will be decorated with such beads. She wears a brassiere for the second step, and a belt that serves as well as a loin girder for the third step. The high-shaped headgear with its beautiful decoration comes at the fourth step. Girls who have already passed these four steps are mature women. The days of the Swinging Ceremony are times of enjoyment. It is the time for children to play and for the young people to enjoy themselves courting. Nobody works the fields. When this ceremony ends, the small swings for children are pulled down. Only the village's graceful main swings, which are symbols for Akba villages, remain.

The swing, symbol of an Akha village.

The water-wheel-like swing.

The village headman or Jeuma presiding over the Swinging Ceremony. The other Akha man is chipping the swing post.

The swing for children.

An Akha man swinging.

Four men on the four swing posts help each other in tying the four posts together.

The water-wheel-like swing being constructed.

STONE MEMORIALS OF THE LAWA (Northwest Thailand) by

H.E. Kauffmann l. Earlier statements on the Lawii megalithic complex

After the very first anthropological expedition to the Lawa of Umpbail led by M.C. Sanidh Rangsit in 1938/39, Steinmann and Rangsit (1939) have written: "In most of the settlements of the Umpbai region two carved wooden posts, 3-4 m high, the so-called sagang, are put up on the village square at some distance from the assembly house; to these posts are tethered the cattle and buffaloes to be sacrificed (1939, fig. 2). They are exclusively meant for the sacrifice of bovidae and represent the highest village spirit, Pi-Sapait, who is asked to protect the village, its inhabitants, the domestic animals, and the fields. At intervals of several years, a buffalo is sacrificed to the Pi-Sapait" (1939, 167). The skulls of the buffaloes slaughtered at these big village feasts are laid on boards running the length of the assembly houses, yu (1939, 168). It must be remarked here expressly that for a buffalo sacrifice to the great village spirit Pi-Sapait

"every family of the village has to pay its share of the price of the sacrificial animal" (1939, 171 ). These double sagang-posts in the Umphai group of villages remind us conspicuously of the numerous forked posts put up by bill tribes of Assam and Burma as memorials of their buffalo and cattle sacrifices (1939, 169). 1) More correctly designated: ompbai, lllJvntJ. Different spellings of place names have been unified throughout.

H.E. Kauffmann

130

"The Lawa custom might be similar to that of some Naga tribes, where instead of forked posts often only two trunks or crossed planks are stuck into the earth. Remarkable also are the teeth along the edges of the carved upper part of the sagarzg, reminiscent of the zigzags, teeth and prongs so often found on posts, mostly forked, extending from Further India to the Pacific islands, and called the 'motif of enemy's teeth'. In their lower uncarved part, the high sagang posts show strange markings in the form of three rings or notches cut at regular distances from each other but their significance could not be found out" (1939, 170). The central posts of the assembly houses, yu, mostly are carved showing the same motifs known from megalithic art all over Eastern Asia. As examples, the authors cite similar carvings of more or less megalithic peoples: Khasi, Garo, Kachari, Naga in Assam, Batak, Toradja, Nias-and Sumba-islanders in Indonesia. ''The same carvings: lizards in back-view, human figures, and the rosette motif we will find among the ornaments of the central posts in th"e assembly houses, as well as on the upper part of the high sagang posts on the village square'' (1939, 168, and figs. 4,5). "The Lawa, at least nowadays, have no feasts of merit, as are held in Assam and Western Burma, when the wooden forked posts to which the sacrificial buffalo has been tethered will remain standing as a symbol of the offering brought there. They use, it is true, sacrificial posts for their buffalo offerings, but there is no connexion whatsoever between these posts and tile feasts of merit, though perhaps this might have been lost" (1939, 171). "As to the spirit belief of the Umphai Lawa, these spirits could at least partially be ancestor spirits. At any rate, the origin a village spirit called T a-Yuang-lit. village grandfather-has been hinted at in this direction: it is certainly an ancestor, perhaps even a former village founder. As is well

or

STONE MEMORIALS OF THE LAWA

131

known, the cult of the village founder with distinct prayers and ceremonies has spread far in the megalithic complex of Southeast Asia and is especially characteristic of it" (1939, 165). "As with ... other tribes, in the course of death ceremo~ nies for adult men, buffaloes and cattle are also sacrificedi however these buffaloes are ... not killed at the sagang-posts on tbe village square but near the corpse on the day of burial" (1939, 171). "The horns of buffaloes slaughtered at a death ceremony are later deposited on the grave, together with other offerings and the belongings of the deceased person. This proves that the Lawa share the conception held far and wide in Southeast Asia that life in the other world is a direct continuation of the life on earth" ( 1939, 172). ''Among the paraphernalia used at a death ceremony and put up together with the coffin in front of the assembly house is also a so-called nam 2, a small wooden memorial post, about 1 m in length, which, after burial, is erected near the grave yard {1939, 172). Everybody gets after death such a nam post.... Furthermore, there are wooden posts, up to 2 m long, the so~called mbueang, which stand separated from the others in a close group .... These mbueang posts are exclusively put up for the male members of those chieftain families who descend from the Lawa prince Milankha of olden times (in which families the chieftainship is hereditary, footnote 1); therefore they are only to be met with in villages where such families live, and this is the case in Umpbai, the most important village of all (fig. 7). Both. kinds of posts are undecorated apart from rings cut around them at certain intervals, as with the sagang posts on the village square" (1939, 173 ). "There is reason to suppose that these wooden memorial posts for the dead are put up instead of stone monuments previously used, a practice often found in neighbouring regions 2) For nam read mbueang and vice versa (see below).

H.E. Kauffmann

132

where wooden posts may substitute for stone monuments. Nowadays no more megaliths are erected by the Lawa, but it seems that they existed in earlier times. Indeed, near a deserted Lawa settlement in the proximity of the iron-ore mines of Mae Tho (u~tn) old stone monuments have been found. One of them is a stone worked on four sides and tapering on top to a gabled edge (1939, 173, fig. 8); its height is about 1 m 3 • According to Lawa people such stone monuments are said to

If so, they would be predecessors of the long wooden posts used nowadays; these latter then might be looked at as replacements of the earlier stone monuments" (1939, 174).

have been erected for the descendants of chiefs.

In connexion with this, the authors mention the then recent discovery of three groups of monoliths near an ancient Lawa settlement on the Huai Urn Pat, south of H5d, as published by Hutchinson (1939 a). They add that "presumably they indicated graves or were memorials to the dead, put up in quite a determined and deliberate direction to each other" ( 1939, 174). In another paper for which he got information by courtesy of M.C. Sanidb Rangsit, Hutchinson ( 1939 b, 179) writes of the same group of four or five menhirs near a deserted Lawa village, 2 km from the iron-ore mines of Mae Tho on the road from Bn Luang (Ampboe H5d) to Umphai (Amphoe Mae Sariang), which Steinmann/Rangsit had already mentioned; he also reproduces the same picture as shown by Steinmann/ Rangsit (1939, 173, fig. 8). Hutchinson begins his short but important note by correcting, certainly on the advice of M.C. Sanidh Rangsit, the minor error of confusing the two kinds of memorial posts in Steinmann/Rangsit (1939, 172/73); be writes: 3) Hutchinson 1939 b, 179: 1.20 m.

STONE MEMORIALS 011 THE LA WA

133

"The Lawa call the burial posts nam, and say that in the past their aristocracy, Khun,4 were honoured by the erection of nam in stone to distinguish them from the common people for whom wooden posts sufficed, as is now tbe case for tbe whole population. The group of nam in stone near Ban Mae Tho ... therefore marks the site of a burial ground of highly placed Lawa of earlier days. The megaliths appear to have been roughly hewn by band. Many are either recumbent or out of tbe perpendicular, because the Karen neighbours of the Law a, who know the Lawa custom of burying a dead person's personal possessions with him, such as spear, etc., often explore the neighbourhood of these megaliths in the hope of finding hidden treasure, and thus cause the surrounding soil to subside, and the megaliths to lean or fall. Since however the graves are invariably some distance from the stones, the labour of the Karen desecrators is in vain. This information throws an interesting light upon the groups of stones at Me Saleeuril 5 and leaves little doubt but that they are nam posts erected in days gone by to the memory of the more important inhabitants of the former Lawa settlement said to have existed in their neighbourhood" (1939 b, 179/80). M.C. Sanidh Rangsit has published a second paper, at the end of which he summarized the megalithic aspects of the Lawa ( 1945, 496) : ''The Lawa have the custom of erecting memorials of simply carved wooden posts at a place near the burial ground specially meant for this purpose; these posts stand there in groups. Wood, more easily procured in forested regions, has here taken the place of stone. That this is only secondary however, is proved by the discovery of stone monuments in 4) Khun ( 'llu) a Thai word, the Law a designation is Samang. 5) Mae Saiiam (llJII'tl~ulJ) described in Hutchinson 1939 a.

134

H.E. kauffinahii

old, deserted Lawa settlements. When a wealthy man died his relatives used to sacrifice a bull or a buffalo in his honour, the horns of which were put on the grave. Certainly it is no error to assume that this custom was a part of the .... feast of mel'it. If we see in most of the Lawa villages in front of the assembly house two wooden posts standing closely together, which are looked on by the native people as the residence of the highest village spirits, we might ask if their original meaning is not to be found somewhere else, as they are very much reminiscent of the forked posts of some Assamese hill tribes ... In fact, at certain times great cattle and buffalo sacrifices are held, during which the sacrificial animals are tethered to these posts and killed with spears. All of these facts are criteria belonging without doubt to the megalithic complex." As we are quite sure that the Lawa and kindred folks spread in the old pre-Mon and pre-Thai times over all the country, which is now northern and northeastern Thailand, and also into what is now Laos and the Shan States of Burma, we must have a look at more literature on megalithic things in this region. Erik Seidenfaden (1939, 37 /38) and Hutchinson have found a large quadrangular pool constructed from blocks of laterite and parts of buildings at Wieng Chet Lin at the base of Doi Suthep near Chiangmai. One is reminded that with some Naga tribes the giver of a series of feasts of merit, having reached the highest degree, may dig a big water tank, as water is identified with fertility (Kauffmann, 1953). The two researchers guessed that perhaps they. might have found the ruins of Kbun Luang Wilangka's residence, who, as a great Lawa leader, fought the Mon of Haripunjaya in the 8th century. To this day the Thai yuan of Chiangmai every year perform the sacrifice of a buffalo before planting out their rice, a custom which, according to Kraisri Nimmanhaeroinda (1967, 197), they have taken over from the Lawa;

STON~; MEMORIALS OF THE LAW,ii.

135

In 1959 a commission from the Fine Arts Department in Bangkok found two oval cromlechs at Ban Hin Tang (unn1ui~. villagestone-erect), Ampboe Sungnoen, Changwat Nakhon Rajasima. The northern group consisted of three menhirs and two lying stones; the highest menhir measured 2 m, the lowest 1.30 m (Chin Yoo-di, 1959, 28). Later on, Manit Vallibhotama (1962, 12/13) writes of a double hin tang at Mueang Serna, north of Lam Takhong, Amphoe Sungnoen. He relates that there are many hin tang or menhirs, often in pairs, in the northeast of Thailand. Sometimes they are arranged in circles, sometimes in straight lines, similar to the stone groups near the Huai Urn Pat (s. above) of which one is an oval and another one a straight line. Finally Wilhelm G. Solheim II and Chester F. Gorman (1966, 158/59), who executed an archaeological salvage program, have found in Amphoe Kumphawapi, Changwat Udonthani, two types of standing stones, three of which have a motif of lotus flowers around their base (plate XV a-b and d). Near Bang Nong Mak Kha, Amphoe Sahadsakhan, Changwat Iltob,

Chapter VI (p. 85 ff. of the 1909 edition).

TilE INSCRIPTION 0[1 VAT J:HABAt\1

Jiit\1 PHliAK

159

date: ff'nm1 .. .,a" ~'llu, 'sakari:ija 1296, year of the tiger'; the designation of the month was illegible; then came a ~,, 'ninth day'; then a lacuna; then ll'llliJ11l~l11JIJ ••••••••••••..• lf!'~~(1"lllmau1 um1\ ' ............ . raja Mahadharrma .................. died.' Farther on there was a name, 111-lWhl~u, 'Hnail Garp, the wife', but her husband's name was illegible. Lower down there was a reference to 1~m1umil, 'Vat Hnail Gal.Jl'. They concluded that Vat Hnail Garp. was the old name of Vat Tra~bail Jan Pboak, and that it had been founded by that lady. They also noted that the date sakaraja 1296 (= 1374/5 A.D.) was just 13 years after Mahadharmaraja invited the Mabathera Mabasami to to come from Ramai'ii'iadesa to settle at the Mango Grove Monastery at Sukhodaya 3 • They concluded, further, that the text describing the Footprint must have been copied from some old book, but the copyist, not being a learned man, copied it blindly and made several mistakes. He was perhaps a Man, or else someone who bad studied under Mon teachers, because at that time (i.e. since the arrival of the Mahathera Mahasamf) the Moo monks, who had learned to imitate the practices of Sinhalese orthodoxy, were held in great respect at Sukhodaya. Apart from these conclusions, Prince Vajiravudb believed that the inscription was of little or no historical value. Nevertheless he must have sent it to Bangkok, just as he did with other inscriptions discovered in the course of the same trip; for there can be no possible doubt that it is the same stone which now stands in the grotto of the artificial bill in the grounds of the Royal Palace. The dimensions of the latter are practically identical to those given by Prince Vajiravudh; and just as he says, the face written in'Khom' script is in good condition, whil() that in Siamese is badly mutilated. Evidently the stone suffered some further fracture, either in transit to Bangkok or after its arrival, for the date at the beginning has vanished except for the words (1Y1)mHlmih (I/4), 'in the third [month], on the ninth day of the waxing moon', corresponding to the illegible designation of the month, followed by d ~,, 'ninth day', in Prince Vajiravudh's account; and the statement about the death of 3) For the Mahasiimh arrival at Sukhodaya, and other events of 1361, see Griswold, Towards a llist07)' of Suklwdaya Art (Bangkok, 1967), pp. 3 5.37,

160

A.B. Griswold and Prasert Qa Nagara

'Mahadharrma ........ 'has vanished too. mtwiu~v. 'Hnan Garp, the wife,' is a false reading of tlnm~1tilu, 'the Aunt Princess Garp did' at I/8 (in the Sukhodayan script, t11 can easily be confused with ,, and lJ with u). In the portions of the stone that now survive, there is nothing that looks like 'Vat Hnail Gal]l'; but perhaps there was once a reference to 'i'91tl1lm~,, 'Monastery of the Aunt Princess Garp', now lost. As we shall see, the Princess was not the founder of the monastery, but its restorer. We are indebted to the kindness of Mr Roger Billard of the Ecole Fran respectively). [ 38] cakka. A wheel or discus (one of the principal treasures of the cakravartin). U Mya, no. 41, cakkavudha~ , ~Yl~Lt'1~1Lfl1 h~J.Jrl'IJ111i1VI11t11

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Translation

[I/ 1-3.] Good fortune l Homage to the Buddha! May the success, honor, glory and austerities of the Buddha, the Dharrma and the Sangha be a charm to relieve us of all danger!

[ I/3-10.]

In the year one thousand nine hundred twenty-seven

since the Lord entered Nirvaqa 7 , a year of the rat, on Wednesday, the full-moon day of the sixth month, the Foster-Father Sai Tat:n. who [is about to] discuss moral virtue, energy and wisdom,s set his mind upon faith and joy in the immense benevolence of the Sakyan,9 because of his desire to cross beyond the round of transmigrations and attain the goal of Nirvaqa.

[ I/10-20.]

When the Mabasangharaja ... to came to teach the Satptec Mahadbarrrnaraja, the latter, full of devotion to the religion and his faith in the purity of the Three Refugestt, gave up his tbronet2, removed his royal attire, and, sweeping way all difficulties, wentl3 to be ordained as a bhik~u at the Mango Grove. * The dense earth quivered, rumbled, and rocked uncertainly. *The Foster-Father was overjoyed at the sight. Filled with the boundless delight of faith and immense benevolence, he went rejoicing and worshiping to be ordained as a bhik~u in Mahadbarrmaraja's community.t4 7) Written nyarbiina. The date corresponds to May 4, 1384 A.D. (Julian);.see above, p. 190. 8) ~nwtm.h111!Jl (I/9-1 0); i.e. sita, viriyii, panna; the three qualities required to attain Buddhahood. Probably the Foster-Father means his own sila, viriyii and panna, though he might be referring to these qualities in a more general way. 9) The Buddha. 10) The word we have omitted appears to be itml, sukalum, the meaning of which is unknown to us. If it were a mona;ti~ name, ../ie should expect it to be in Pali. Query: Sukhuma? (= subtle. exquisite). 11) !faisoraJ.!niitha, for tisarapaniitha. 12) riij as am patti. 13) We have omitted from our translation the word fll11U (1/ 15), which signifies a change of condition (in this case, from king to monk); cf. JSS LVU/1, p. 130, note 18. 14) The word ff1ttn, which now means a dwelling-place, office, etc., can also mean a place where some particular doctri11e is taught. Depending on the context, it could be either a monastery or else an ashram, hermitage or seminary. For want of a better term, we translate it as 'community'. In the present context it of course refers to the Monastery of the Mango Grove.

203

Tim INSCRIPTION OF VAT Ji\N LOM (1384 A.D.)

[ I/20-26.] When Sal]ltec Mahadharrmara:ja was separated from him by death, the Foster-Father went to be ordained in the community of the Mahathera Buddhasagorl 5 , where there was a great assemblage of theras and anutheras, and he distributed the merit to his father and mother, his brothers and sisters, and all his relatives of royal lineage who have gone to the other world. [ I/26-28.] Then the Mahadevi died too. * The Foster-Father went to be ordained in the community of the Mahathera Anuradha, who came here from Sinhala. [ I/28-32.) Brana Sri Debahiiraja took him out [of the monkhood] to help build up the kingdom. He did so in order that the populacel 6 should not be distressed, that their sufferings 17 should be brought to an end, and their desires fulfilled.I 8 [ I/32-42.] The Foster-Father reflected on what might be meritorious, useful, and beneficial to others as well as himself, and to (the living] as well as the dead, in order that they might not be lost in this Buddha's sarlsara.1 9 The Foster-Father, having reflected in his heart, converted his home into a monastery in the year of the serpent, in the fifth month, and then founded a statue of the Buddha. He summoned a group of persons skilled in designing pictures, to come and compose paintings of devatas and asiiras and of an ordination together with a throng of monks, beautiful in every detail.2°

*

*

*

*

*

15) Buddhasagara; see above, p. 192. 16) The expression whil'Ulf11HHI\'I~~Hmv (I/20-21 ), i.e. 'lwiVf,.;,fl\IVH1J~umv seems to designate different classes of the population. 17) l1t (1/31 ), probably for 1111~, dukkba, 'sufferings'. 18) Restoring .. 111'11 (1/32) a~ ~UI'll, 'as desired'; cf. cintiima~i, 'wish-fulfilling gem.' 19) That portion of the round of transmigration (sa1psiira) that will occur between the present day and the year 5000 of the Buddhist Era, in other words while the teachings of 'this Buddha' (Gotama) are still extant, at least in part. 20) .The syntax of the passage I/38-40 is obscure, but the general meaning must be close to what we have given. .We assume that mwv (I/28) stands for mw, which in Siamese means 'pictures' (rather than the usual senses of bhiiva or bhivya in Sanskrit). At I/28-29, 1~111 is Pali racita, the past participle of racayati, 'to arrange', 'to compose', 'to prepare'; L1~lll may be Pali racani, 'arrangement', 'composition', or else a mistake for Pali raj ana, 'coloring' (in either case, with A altered to E before a palatal sound, as it sometimes is in the Sukhodayan inscriptions, e.g. Sejanalai, for Sajjanalaya). At I/ 39 ~11 is the classifier for monks, rather than the word for pictures. The ordination mentioned at T/39-40 seems to be part of the painting, since the reference to it is followed by the words tnlU~llJihuuu~, for which we have hazarded the translation 'beautiful in every detail'.

204

A.B. Griswold and Prasert J>a Nagara

*He also erected ku!is for monks. Then he had a hall built for the Pitakadharrma21, concentrating his mind on the worship of the Abbidharrma, and also had [II/1-12] a Chinese cloth picture of the BuddbaZ2 brought and installed; he planted a bodhi tree to be a great source of merit and a great source of good fortune; he raised up ... cloth picture of the Buddha to a height of 14 cubits; and he transferred the merit [from all these works] to Saq1tec Mahadharrmaraja. He made a stone statue of the Buddha, transferring the merit to Mabadevi. *Then he saw the holy precious relics, which were [enshrined in a cetiya] built by SaQJtec Mahadbarrmaraja23, perform a miracle passing over24 his own house 25 , appearing like silver wire as big as a mat2 6 in the middle of the sky, crystalline and exceedingly beautiful. [The Foster-Father], with heart full of faith, coiled his hair into a ....... 2 7 and gave it as an offering. Then he took a gold necklace and beat it [into gold leaf] to gild the statue of the Buddba.2 8 [ II/12-19.] Brafia Sri Debahuraja .... sent him to tbe Court of the Maharaja. He saw the holy precious relics perform a miracle at Rabun, darting out like balls of fire 2 9 the size of persimmons3o and 21) i.e. a library for the Tipi~aka (Scriptures). 22) We assume that lntUI'l (I/42-Il/1) is vmulJ (bra\1 pata), a painting of the Buddha on cloth, 23) Srlrattanadhatu (II/ 6} means holy precious relics (of the Buddha) and also the cetiya in which they were enshrined. 24) Restoring IJ, .. m!J OI/7-8) as IJ1fllllU (for m1u). 25) The Foster-Father's own house, which has now become part of the monastery. 26) lYI1lN11ff11'1 (II/8); presumably the silver wire was thought of as a kind of mesh. 27) We cannot say how 1ff .•.••. should be restored. The sense seems to be that he is preparing to cut off his hair in token of forsaking the layman's life, just as Gotama did after leaving his palace in order to become an ascetic. 28) lll'aJ, for !011J, modern ff11J, 'to coat'; wan, 'to cover in layers.' The usual method of gilding an image is to coat it first with adhesive lacquer and then with gold leaf. 29) Literally 'like someone playing with fireworks'; W\Hl~ (II/ 15) is an expanded form of l'i~· 30) WUUllUU (11/15) is the expanded .form of wn"u; either diosjJyros e1J1bryopteris or diospyros kalli.

THE INSCHIPTION UF VAT

iAN

LOM (1384 A.D.)

205

1

buddharalhasiP fruits, clear and beautiful like crystals, with blue32 gems in the middle like cloth which has been soaked in indigo. When he saw that, his heart was tilled with abounding faith. [ll/19-31.] After taking the gold necklace and beating it [into gold leaf] to gild the statue of the Buddha33, he made a notice34. Then he sewed cloth to lay over the base [of the image] together with a fan for reciting the Dharrma 3 s, he provided a seat for the 36 Lord , *a leather rnat 37 , *a mattress,* a pillow,* an ivory cover, 38 a jar for lime , * a bath-bowl, * lamps, candle-holders, * incense sticks, bells, and earthen vases to put flowers in. He assigned a family of people to cook food for the monks. *He provided a pair of xylophones, giving two families of servants to play them in homage to the Buddha,* two gongs and three drums,* conch trumpets and buffalo horns, he placed there as an offering to the Buddho. * Then he caused his wives to be ordained, his children to be ordained, * his grandchildren to be ordained, and his servants to be ordained.*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

[U/31-37.} When a wife and a servant fell in love, he gave them to each other and set them free to let tbem 3 9 take care of the 31) Perhaps buddharathas1i (lf/16) is put for buddharaksii (canna sp.). 'lltl1 (fl/ 17), modern t~u1. The word now means 'green', but in the Sukhodayan inscriptions it is used indifferently for green or blue. Here we translate it as 'blue', since the color is compared to indigo-dyed cloth. 3 3) Except for the omission of lt1'7lJ, the passage at II/ 19 is a verbatim repelition of that at 11/11-12. 34) Hf11l'l (IJ/20) looks like an equivalent to t.larmt, 'a notice'; and ~e have so translated it. If that is right, the Foster-Father must mean a notice regarding the acts of merit he is about to perform. But a tempting alternative is to regard N!1lf1' as a contraction of Hlmt'l'ltl (w\ c!oth;.P~Ii, kiisliya,, 'dyed with yellow or orange cloth', as for a monk's robes; thts mterpretat10n, though linguistically questionable, yields better sense: sc. he ma~e some yellow cloth, and after cutting it into strips in the orthodox fashton, sewed the strips together into a monastic garment to lay over the base of the statue. 35) i.e. he presented the statue with a talapiitra,, ~ monk's ceremonial 'fan' (really an eye-screen) such as is used when reclttng the Dhamma. 36) i.e, a pedestal for the statue. 37) 1JnlJ'liU\I (II/22), for cammakha~9a. 38) i.e. the lime paste with which areca nuts and betel leaves are chewed. 39) 'll1, here used as a pronoun of the third person plural.

32)

A.B. Griswold and Prasert

206

~a

Nagara

man's motber4°. Furthermore the Foster-Father helped the spirit of his mother and the spirit of his father; he helped the spirit of his wife, the Foster-Mother Det, [and the spirits of those] who were of his mother's rank; he helped the spirit of his eldest brother and the spirit of his second brather; he helped the spirit of his eldest sister; he helped the spirits of the children and grandchildren of his own ancestors; and the spirits of his relatives by marriage he helped too.41

*

*

[II/37-43.] Of gold, be gave ten tarphn4 2 ; *of silver, one

*

thousand three hundred4 3 ; * monastic robes, thirteen; slings for almsbowls, twenty; * almsbowls, two hundred; cloths for saluting the Buddha44, a hundred and ninety; a cup for sweets ... ; a mirror; -$ two painted dishes45; six .. 4 6 small dishes; *ten bowls for drinking water; * five .. 47 bowls with pedestals. Of cowries, he gave one million four hundred and forty thousand. * [Ill/1-ll.) As for the group of special artists4s, he gave them a whole ta111llti of gold, a

*

*

*

40) The passage at II/31-37 is a digression which, like the one at II/12- 19, seems to have been introduced because the preceding sentence reminded the Foster-Father of a remarkable incident in his life, Having just said that he caused his wives, children, grandchildren and servants to be ordained, he recalls that once, when one of his wives fell in love with a servant, he set them both free so that they might marry and look after the man's mother CII/31-33). Normally, it may be guessed, they would both have been punished severely, so the Poster-Father's generous action would be conspicuously meritorious. By a natural transition he then goes on to enumerate acts of merit he performed for the benefit of other relatives (11/33-37). Finally, at II/37, the digression comes to an end, and he goes on listing his benefactions to the monastery. 41) The word we have translated as 'helped' is I)J, i.e. un, 'to raise up'. The Poster-Father means that all these deceased persons will have their status in future incarnations improved by receiving shares of the merit he has earned. 42) About 600 grams. A t'al]llll'l. is a weight equal to 4 ticals; one tical is now standardized at 15 grams. 43) About 1. 77 kilograms. 44) Or for saluting the monks? 45) Cf. the painted wares from the kilns at Sukhodaya and Sajjanaiaya (Griswold, Towards a History of Sukhopaya Art, pp. 13-14). 46) The number, which is truncated, was perhaps more likely sixty. 47) Or perhaps fifty .. 48) Those mentioned atl/38 ff.

·i'Jj~~

INSGRIP'f!ON OF VAT JAN LOM (13S 4 A.D.)

piece of silver, a pair of cows

* and a

207

full cartload of rice.

made gifts to three monks, to one of them one tat;nl1n of gold, one he gave two ticals,* to one a little over a tical.

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bronze statue of the Buddha *and also banners and small flags, giving the merit to Cau Bram . Jai49 .

*

is

49) Who was this Prince Braq1 Jai? Regularizing the spelling the name B.rahma~aya; and the only person o_f that name known to us in Sukhodayan htstory IS one to whom Jinakiilamili devotes a single sentence. See Coedes, Documents ...• , BEFEO XXV, pp. 47 and 100. No date is given, but it can easily be estimated if Jinakiilamiill gives the right sequence of events The passage immediately preceding the sentence in question runs as follows; 'Upon the death of King Ramiidhipati, ruler of Kalllboja and Ayojjiipura, Vattitejo left Suvaq~abhtimi and conquered the kingdom of Kamboja, Then Dhnmmaraja having died at Jayanadapura, Vattitejo left Ayojj[pura, took Jayanadapura, and removed the statue of Siha!a to Ayojjiipura, where he continued to worship it.' In this passage Katp.boja must mean Labpuri; Ayojjapura is of course Ayudllya; Suva~pbhtimi is SubarJJapuri; and Jayanudapura is Bis,Quloka (for the last identification, see Griswold, 'l'owm·cls a lllstory of Sukhodaya Ar·t, p. 37 note 1 02); Ramiidhipati is the founder of Ayudhya; Vattitejo is his brother-in-law Paramarajii, Prince of Subaroapuri (afterward Paramaraja I of Ayudhya)i Dhammaraja is Mahadharrnariija I of Sukhodaya. Rlimadhipati died in 1369. Paramarajli seized the throne of Ayudhyii in 1370, and took possession of Bi~!J-uloka in 1375. That would mean that Mahiidharmaraja I died some time between 1370 and 137 5, and that the action attributed to Brahmajaya occurred after that. Here is the sentence describing it: brahmajeyyo ca mahamacco sukhodaya!Il gal]hi, 'the Chief Minister Brahmajaya took Sukhodaya.' Supposing that this mysterious person who 'took Sukhodaya' is the same as the Cau Bram Jai of our inscription, which is plausible enough but not certain," he must have been a Sukhodayan patriot, for otherwise the Foster-Father would not have offered him a share of merit. Though we do not know what really happened, it is quite possible that Paramarlija, after seizing Bisnuloka in 1375, organized a coup d'etat to seize Sukhodaya, but that Brah~ajaya foiled it by quick action. If so, the Foster-Father would have good reason to remember him with gratitude for saving the throne for Mahiidharmaraja II. Alternatively Brahmajaya's action may have occurred later, resulting in a restoration of de facto sovereignty for Mabiidharmariijii II some time after he had been forced to submit to Ayudhya in 1378.

:268

A.B. Griswold and Prasert J.la Nagata

[ III/12-35.] In this inscription the Foster-Father Sai Tarp [who was] the husband of the Foster-Mother Det, [and who now, as] Abbot of the monastery 5 o, is named Thera Debamoli, entrusts all his d~scendants 5 1 to this monasterys2 and this chapter of monks 53 • Whatever kings who have stored up merit from past deeds * shall succeed to the throne of this [land of] Sukhodaya, may they reign for a long tirneH, sharing the benefits of the merit which the FosterFather has stored up in abundance! May they l10t differ from the dynasty of upright men who ruled [the kingdom] in the past and gained the devoted loyalty [of their subjects]! Of all noble persons like this, may none ever have cause to be vexed or angry with the FosterFather's family or descendants l

*

----·----------·--·-----·---

l'lm\l (tl/13-14), for vl~vhu or 1h~'ll1\l 'Abbot'. Apparently when the monastery was dedicated the Foster-Father became its Abbot, with the monastic · appef!ation Thera bebamoli (Devamcili). 51) lhtLI'IniJJ11ll'H:>

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;5 """

KEY: I.

Hongkong and China. There is evidence of some transshipment from Hongkong to Japan and the Philippines, but most exports to Hongkong are assumed to be consumed locally or in China. II. Burma: Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States. Siam: Singapore only. Cochinchina: Straits Settlements only. III. Other major Asian importers (A-D) A. India and Ceylon B. Netherlands East Indies C. Philippine Islands D. Japan IV. Other (E-G) E. Colonial metropolitan country. Siam not applicable. (Burma: UK) (Cochinchina: France) F. Other Europe (principally Germany, Holland, Italy) G. All others. Predominantly Latin America and Africa (including some to Port Said for presumed transshipment to Europe). Small amounts to Australia, Russian Asia, Oceania, etc. X:

Negligible amount or percentage (less than Unknown amount or percentage

t%)

"";;:: > z

> z

e

u;

0

c:: ..., t:C

~ ~

> 00

;;: 00·

.....

v.. 0

\0

""" \0 ._,,

BURMA 1872-81

I

II

III

75

128

B

A

-

8%

D

E

IV

F

Total

G

0

0

574

0

19

14%

-

-

100% 64%

-

00

110

78%

14%

\0

907

703 128

%of total

c

2%

12%

SIAM

1875, 79 1872-81 (prorated) %of total

{128)

(87)

(0)

96

65

0

0

48%

33%

(265)

(50) 37 0

0

0

198 12

-

25

19%

0

100% {6%)

z

....0

g

I»

1:>

(13%)

Q

0

COCHINCHINA 1872-81

%of total

TOTAL 1872-81

~

(!

9 0

58

136

164 0

%of total

9%

57

56

23

21%

646 81

33

50

25% 9%

9%

3%

100% 13%

5%

8%

653x

72x

TOTAL 1892-!901

595

509

670

1089 484

%of total

21%

18%

60

56

67

23%

2863 301

38% 17%

* The same base period,

z0 ..., a

2%

2%

2%

100% 1096

23x%

3x96

1900-04, has been used in computing both the 1892-1901 and 1902-1911 percentages; thus little change is reflected and no comparison is valid.

::;;:

::>

BURMA 1902-11

13

%of total

t%

II

III

307

957

13%

A

B

c

D

680

84

7

190

IV

F

E

G

1134

2411 170

716

248

47%

39t% 28%

3t%

-

Total

100% 7%

8%

30%

i_=;]

10%

::::

SIAM 1900-04,07 1902-11 (prorated) %of total*

(410) 503

(283) 347

(4) 5

(81) 99 X

53%

36%

X

X

(778) 954

-

X

X

X

lOt%

t%

100% c(9%)

COCHINCHINA 216 1902-10**

36

320

%of total

27%

TOTAL 1902-11

732

4t%

690

17t%

159

12%

20%

27

54

28%

100% 17%

8!%

4%

180

166 4%

6%

310

743x

100% 7t%

18X%

;; >-

~

302x 7x%

* The same base period, 1900-04, has been used in computing both the 1892-1901 and 1902-1911 percentages; thus little change is reflected and no comparison is valid. ** Addition of the figures for 1911 would, in all likelihood, not alter the percentages but increase the raw number averages 1-2%. The decline in exports to China may be accounted for by an assumed increase in the exports of Tonkin in this period.

SOURCES: Cheng, 201-217 Ingram, "Rice," 107 Coquere1, Appendix (Tables VI & VII} Ingram, ECT, 42-3

~ > z 0

4158

35% 16t% 4t%

§:

§

257

31%

>
.

\0

0

Norman G. Owen

102

TABLE 11-B COCHINCHINA: ANNUAL RICE EXPORTS, BY DESTINATION, 1866-1910 Figures are expressed in thousands of short tons. Exports in small Chinese junks and "annamite barks" are omitted, as no statistics are available; Coquerel estimates their total metric tonnage at 10-25,000 (1860-80), 3-5000 (1880-90), falling to a few hundred tons (1890-1910). (Coquerel, 204n.) Tenths are given for values under 1.0, halves for values 1.0-10.0. Values under 100 tons are indicated by a dash(-). KEY:

I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII.

Hongkong/China Japan Straits Settlement Netherlands East Indies Philippine Islands Tonkin & Annam Other Asia (predominantly India 1873, 74, 77; otherwise Russian Asia or unspecified) VIII. France XI. Other Europe (including "Ports d'ordre franc;ais et etrangers") X. Other. Largest area specified by abbreviation: APR-Africa, LAM-Latin America, ADS-Australia. Africa includes Port Said, shipments often intended for transshipment to Europe. Year

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

0 0 0 0.2

0 0 0.8 0

0 7-J;; 0 10 0.3 4-J;; 0.6 1

0 2t 1 1

0 12 39 31

2 13 24 25

11 14 13

0 0.3

St

0.4 0.3 7

0 0 0

36 35 33 20 24 20 53

62 7{87 50 22 6 42

9

9t 2 0 17 7 34

0 5 0 47 0 0 0 0 0 St 0.9 0 6t 0.3

III

0 4t 2t 68

14 24 20 20

137 33 0

161/17

0

72/-

It

1866 124/3 67 139/11 68 49/4 69 23/9 1870 82/2 71 263/3 72 218/6 1873 74 75 76 77 78 79

v

II

236/4 274/15 235/23 202/1 187/8

0 0 0 0

IV

H 5 6

2 0 0 2t 3 0.8 3

lt It 3t

7t 2{0 3 20

4t 2t 0.7 0

55

Total

AFR AFR AFR AFR

151 217 146 179

9 AFR 253 6 AFR 330 3 LAM 259 11

11 7t 8 13 2t

11

LAM LAM LAM AFR LAM LAM LAM

308 206 375 379 340 241 402

'i'l4f: Year

HICE INUlJSTRY OF MAlNLANfl SOUTHEAST ASlA 1850-1914

II

III

IV

0 0 0 0 0

34 37 27 66 68 27 2 19 53 45

93 59 27 79 42 25 0 0 0 6 0 It 4t 48 68 18 38 55 48 50

1880 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

154/3 167/2 328/9 362/12 218/9 378/4 488/2 407/10 346/11 184/2

0 0 0 0

1890 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

376!7 273/247/339/36 313/9 457/3 372/8 116/274/3 358/16

53 3t 0.2 2 18 13 0 52 136 0

29 51 107 82 64 35 47 123 25 40

11 0

38 18

57 189

8t 5t 15 0.7 15 52 80 90 55

1900 226/9 01 85/10 1902 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

1

215/17 28 123/83 173/5 85 52/64 164/60 474/121 96 175/8 121 160/40

1910 202{56

30

v

VI

VII

8t

0

0.2

1t 4t 0.3 5t

3~

12 49 107 23 29 57 49 58

0.6 3t 0.6 1 2 17 28 0.1

-

70 76 57

7 0.6 0 7 0 0.1 10 1-}

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

0.3

VIII

IX

X

19 0.9 0

1t LAM 0.7 LAM 0.7 AUS 0.1 4 AFR 9t AFR

0

111 0.3 27 0 3 6t H 33 0.7 8

13

0.1 0.1 0.4

103 Total

315 276 406 577 573 501 0 528 16 LAM 535 37 AFR 566 12 AFR 318

4

7t 25 48 66 69 64 42 75 0 129 lt 88

14 0 86 22 8 0 0 64 20 69

125 162

0.1 0.5

0 0

127 101

41 24

54 AFR 688 120 AFR 710

130 17 45 42 77 75 137 145

245 224 .194 153

4

0 0

161

17

71

0

28

0

195 101 4 139 4 128 0 101 7t 160

24 40 30 61

73 4 45 15 29 73 112 87

199

152

0.8

4

202

40

36

41 16 18 1 4 97

110

110 116 124

6t

0.1

0.1 It 5 0.5 0

2-~

7~

17 AFR AFR 65 AFR 44 AFR 15 AFR 17 AFR 17 AFR 95 AFR 32 AFR 41 AFR 11

AFR AFR AFR AFR AFR AFR AFR AFR

582 443 615 687 605 624 553 587 678 767

900 528 785 451 629 1176 883 800

31 AFR 996

SOURCE: Coquerel, Appendix (Tables VI, VII), and 204. Tbe total listed here may not always be the sum of the parts, as two different conversions (from piculs and from metric tons) are involved, and fractions are rounded off for all amounts over 10,000 tons.

Norman G. Owen

104

TABLE III-A RANGOON RICE PRICES, 1855-1914 Wholesale price paddy, in rupees per 100 baskets (approximately 4600 lbs., 2091 kg.). 1855-1900 are selected years, 1900-1914 five year averages. The exchange rate is that obtained by the Secretary of State in Bills drawn on India. Index: 1870=100. All rates of exchange are five year averages.

Sterling Index

Year

Price

Tndex

1855

45

64

c.24

1080

67

60

64

c.24

1080

67

65

45 50

71

23.7

1235

76

70

70

100

23.1

1615

100

75

65

94

22.3

1450

90

80

85

121

20.1

1710

106

85

95

136

18.8

1795

111

90

95

1605

95

136 136

16.9

95*

1335*

1900*

95

136

14.1 * 15.9*

99 83*

1510*

93*

142

16.0

1585

98

1905-09

99 120

171

16.0

1920

119

1910-14

130

185

16.1

2085

130

1900-04

Sterling Price Exchange (Pence) (Pence/ rupee)

* The

mints of India were closed to the free coinage of silver in 189 3, which was supposed to stabilize the rate of exchange at 16d./rupee. This semi-official rate would have made the sterling price of rice 1520 in 1895 and 1900, and the sterling index 94 for both years. From 1899 to 1914, the rate of exchange stayed in the range 15.97 to 16.08.

SOURCES: Cheng, 73.

Statistical Abstract Relating to British India, LONDON, passim.

nm

RICE INIJUSTRY OF MAINLAND SOUTJ!gAST ASIA

TABLE

1850-1914

105

III-B

BANGKOK RICE PRICES, 1865-1914 Export prices, all rice, in baht per picul (60-60.7 kg.).

Five year

averages, except where indicated. "Commodity price" is the number of kilograms of "white shirting" that could be exchanged at market rates for a picul of rice (Ingram calculations). Years

1865-67*

Price

Index

3.1

115

Index: 1870-74= 100.

Commodity Price Commodity Index (Kg shirting/picul rice)

1.85*

63

1870-74

2.7

100

2.95

100

1875-79

2.9

107

3.47

118

1880-84

2.7

100

3.08

104

1885-86

2.8

104

3.04'1£ment uf SouthIloobo

During the course of this trip he collected at least two Sukhodayan inscriptions. One of them is Inscription No. VIII (R.ecueil, p. 123; cf. ibid., p. 6); for the other, see Griswold and Prasert in JSS LIX/ 1, pp. 157 ff. Inscriptions 1 (Rama Gal}lhen's), III and IV (for III and IV, see J~ecueil, pp. 77 18) ff., 91 ff. ). This pamphlet was reprinted in th:::~l.JW~RnYin nlfll'l .,, Bangkok, 19 14; second edition, Bangkok, 19 6 3. 19) JSS VI/1, p. 4.

THE INSCHIPTION 011 KIN!; BA~IA CA!)'IHI•:N OF SUKHODA\'A (1292 A.D.)

189

Bradley's own article on the inscription, which appeared the following year, marks what we might call several large strides forward, but with a surprising step backward here and there. He possessed formidable qualifications for the task: he had a kind of dogged pertinacity, rare in Siam at that time, in searching out the exact meaning of every word and phrase, including those that might not seem very important; and few Westerners of his day could match his knowledge of Siamese syntax. The passage at 1/6 f., 1vhi.Jnnil11Hi,n~ Ylu, for instance, had generally been understood to mean that Rama Garphen's father took flight; Bradley realized it was the father's followers who took flight, not the father himself. In many other places, where Bastian and Schmitt had been all at sea, Bradley got the sense right, or nearly so (cf. Appendix); but in one passage (Ill/1 0-27), the general sense of which Schmitt had gotten well enough, Bradley went seriously wrong. Schmitt knew that 'Manarii1~ilapatra' (though he did not read the word quite right) was the name of a throne; but Bradley thought it was the name of the inscription itself (cf. Appendix, pp. 225-7). As a result he completely overlooked the formal purpose of the text to which his paper is devoted. Purpose of the inscription.-Southeast Asian inscriptions are never mere lyrical effusion, eulogy, or narrative. They may contain plenty of all these things, and others besides; but no matter how much supplementary information they may give, every one of them has a definite formal purpose. 'Not a single one of them was engraved except in connection with some particular event,' writes Coedes, who has probably studied more of them than anyone else in our time. 'In all the ancient epigraphy of Southeast Asia I do not think it possible to cite a single prasasti (eulogy) composed solely to perpetuate in stone the virtues or the high accomplishments of a monarch; and in fact all the known inscriptions in Thai commemorate some religious foundation or some particular ceremony .' 20

The inscriptions of Sukhodaya, whatever their formal object, often give a lot of information on both political and religious affairs, the state of the kingdom at the time they were composed, the ancestry and biography of the ruler, and historical events. Sometimes, indeed, there is so much incidental matter that it takes a little searching to find the formal purpose; 20) JSS XII/1, p. 21 (our translation).

I 190

A.B. Griswold & Prasert pa Nagara

but, unless the statement has been broken off or obliterated, it is always there somewhere; and most often it is intimately connected with the exact place where the inscription stood.

When the inscription commem-

orated a donation to religion, such as the consecration of a monastery, a monument or a statue, it was usually set up beside the building or engraved on the base of the image; when it recorded the consecration of a throne it would naturally be set up beside the throne itself. Schmitt thought the purpose of Rama Gat;nhen's inscription was to record the administrative and religious Constitution of the kingdom. Rama Gaq~hen, he says, 'a fait graver sur cette pierre la loi qui n§git son royaume, pour que le peuple en prit connaissance.

Les usages civils et

religieux indiques sur cette inscription sont encore aujourd'hui mis en pratique, dans le pays de Siam, sans changement notable. Cette inscription est res tee la base fondamentale de leur vie civile et religieuse.' 2 1 In fact Schmitt was not wholly wrong; certainly a part of its purpose was more or less what he says; and while he failed to identify its formal purpose, he at least had the good sense to see that it had one. Bradley will have none of this.

'The inscription,' he writes, 'has

repeatedly been published, with transliterations, translations, and essays upon it . . . In spite of all these editors have done,-1 am not sure but I should have said, in consequence of what they have done,- the real nature and intent of this perfectly direct and simple-hearted utterance seems at many points misapprehended. One editor finds in it--apparently for no other reason than that it is now the thing to do-a complete code of civil law. Another finds in it a complete ritual or religious observance and ceremony .. .'22 Bradley's own view of Rama Gaq~heli.'s purpose seems to be as follows: 'The inscription commemorates his reign .... the things he deems most memorable in all his reign :-the invention of writing; the solemn reverence paid by him and his people to the sacred relics ... ; and the consecration and setting up of the inscribed stones which were to record in Siamese words the achievement of a united Siam.•23 21) MissionPavie,II,p.l77. 22) JSS Vl/l, pp. 5-6. 23) Abridged from JSS VI/1, pp. 22-24.

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(DUtil ro t!tts 23 J CD UCD61 0 CJe tnCJ U (!)6) CDW:J !1£! () 4l CD GIC!U ml 8 UUUU 11lrC! {rt.JtJZ liJS:J ~r.t rJ!J (J) U!J11?! Cl __5 n ..g. :faJ IDtJTJt:~WJ~USJT.JfJCftnDC2J1~8~([);f~;r:{:(UJerlff3:1fS can ~CDUcdJ;un aiJon:J:V!EWS

273

ed. Sch weinfurth} ahrhuch des Sud asien-lnstituts der Universitat Heidelberg Band III- Yearbook of the South Asia Institute Heidelberg University 1968/69 (Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden) 1969 pp. 138 The papers assembled in this volume, the third in a series, come under the general heading of "Problems of Land Use in Southeast Asia". The 13 papers presented, in addition to the preface, represent Interdisciplinary Seminars held in Heidelberg during the year 1968/69. Some papers are in English, others are in German. Those in German have brief summaries in English. The subjects involved in the individual papers cover a wide range. The articles, for purposes of this review, may be divided into the following categories: 1) four short reports on activities of some of the staff members in the field, 2) six papers covering a range of subject matter ranging from the usefulness of aerial surveys, the influence of man on the distribution of forested areas in Afghanistan, the effects of human population on the forests of the Indian Sub-Continent, the climate and crops in the highlands of Ceylon, agricultural colonization in Kapatangan Basin, Mindanao and pyrethrum cultivation attempts in eastern New Guinea and 3) a group of three papers dealing with shifting cultivation; one with East Pakistan Chittagong Hill Tracts and two papers concerning shifting cultivation in Thailand. H. Th. Verstappen in his paper, the first of the six on assorted subjects, calls attention to the great advantages available to rural development studies to be found in aerial surveys. Erosion studies, land use, irrigation plans and crop rotation studies are cited, among others, as problems whose understanding and solution could be markedly enhanced by such aerial survey techniques. In the paper on the distribution of forests, xeromorphous woodlands and the tree communities in Afghanistan, Carl Rathjens describes studies of economic utilization and portrays rather graphically with transects and photographs the reduction in area of these woodlands. From his studies of the distribution of coniferous forests and semi-arid tree communities, the author concludes that if the present trend continues Afghanistan will become a region of steppes and deserts even as it is often described and understood to be today.

~

. .1 \

274

HEVIEWS

Calling on more than 50 years of observation and work in India, Sir Harry G. Champion describes with considerable pessimism the effects of human population on the forests of the Indian subcontinent. Observations over the years of the important forests at low elevations in the drainage area of the Ganges Basin composed predominantly of a single tree species, Dipterocarp Shorea robusta (sal) provide evidence that many of the substantial area tracts of sal forests survived as forests because of mosquitoes. The heavy prevalence of malaria served to forestall major felling until the later half of the last century when the demand for construction timbers became great. Natural regeneration of sal has proved to be a difficult problem and is not yet solved after ::;orne forty years of endeavor. Other sections of Champion's paper include comments on the grasslands of India, the western area and the Montane forests. He feels that even though man has progressed from being purely destructive to his present conservative policies of protection and controlled use, there is a continuing hazard to the forested areas resulting from the drastic changes being made in the name of desirable development. In the discussion of the influence of climate on plantation crops in the southeast parts of the highlands of Ceylon, Manfred Domros reports an extensive study of the effect of rainfall and temperature on the distribution of important crops. The crops considered include tea, rubber, coconut, cocoa and coffee with investigations based on field work as well as on monthly, seasonal and annual rainfall and temperature data. His studies indicate the limiting influence of the dry period on the distribution of plantation crops. The general summary presents a rough idea of the difficult conditions for cultivation of plantation crops in areas where the natural conditions are not the best. The limiting effects of the dry period as well as the boundary of the temperature zones and their effects on the distribution of plantation crops provide strong evidence to show the inadequacy of annual rainfall data and the greater importance in favor of year-round available moisture data. Frequently the one or two or three months dry periods even in area of adequate annual rainfall mean the difference between successful and unsuccessful plantations.

REVIEWS

275

Students of problems of developing areas will find much of interest in the discussion of agricultural colonization in the Kapatagan Basin of Mindanao, Philippines. Here, Klaus I-Iausherr lms assembled statistics of land use, population data and maps of farm holdings to portray graphically the vexing problems of lack of land titles, widespread schistosomiasis, religious differences between Christians and Muslims and lack of financial credit as examples of factors that contribute to failure to achieve satisfactory agricultural production. Government encourage~ ment of settlement of the area resulted in increasing the number of Christians from 24 in 1918 to approximately 8,000 by 1939. By 1960 it is estimated 100,000 people of whom 7,000 were Muslims had found new homes in the Kapatagan Basin. Although some roads have been built and governmental units have been established, the economy of the Basin remains at a low level. The paper by Ulrich Schweinfurth on the rationale as well as the trials and tribulations of attempting the establishment of a new crop, pyrethrum, in the Central Cordillera of Eastern New Guinea is an interesting review of the many economic, geographic and social problems encountered. Considering that only as recent us 1933 the first "Outsider" appeared in the Upper Wahgi Valley, this paper serves to identify some of the problems of "assisting the people in the remote mountain areas of New Guinea to find their way into the future". One is tempted to hope that man's efforts to nssist such people to find their way into the future will continue to be done with greatest sensitivity. Studies of the shifting cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, East Pakistan, by S.L. Pardo and Lorenz G. Loffier describe with considerable detail cultivation activities carried out by hill tribesmen over the course of the year. The paper might be said to contain 18 statements in English by a headman of one of the tribes and a text in German to explain and expand upon the comments made. The paper by Karl E. Weber entitled Shijtiug Cultivation Among Thai Peasants-Some Working Hypotheses could easily be the most provocative or controversial paper in the collection of Seminar reports. Dr. Weber, who was a member of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Expedition of 1964/65,

216

HEVIEWS

made his observations in Thailand in the year 1967/68. The author proposes several hypotheses or what he calls "statements of principle" resulting from his impressions. Some attention is given to attempts to clarify the differences between what he identifies as intrgral and partial system of shifting cultivation and the complementary as well as the opportunistic. The author makes the contention that at least a fourth of the agriculturally used land of the country is under shifting type cultivation as he defines the term. Although his definitions seem somewhat complex and of questionable applicability, his approach points out the great diversity in land use patterns in Thai agric;ulture especially in areas other than the central plains. In another section he deals with what he ascribes the practice of ignoring the dualism in agriculture between wet and dry cultivation methods. One of the sections of his paper deals with the hypothesis "Shifting cultivation is causing waste of forestry wealth, degradation of vegetation, soil erosion, and unbalance of water household". It is observed that "tbe degradation or vegetation is no self destroying reaction consecutive to shifting cultivation". It usually starts when the population pressures in certain regions enforce a more intensified land use. While degradation of forest vegetation in Thailand from forest to bush vegetation has taken place, it is an open question as to when and over what period of time that might have happened. It is pointed out that according to Pendleton, "the more that soil is eroded the more the productivity under shifting cultivation would increase, and the earlier would it become feasible to change from the shifting to a permanent system of agriculture". The discussion also touches on the decrease in productivity and the lower average water supply following the installation and utilization of some of the large dams in the central plains of Thailand. Other sections deals with the hypothesis "Any carrying capacity of shifting cultivation is unknown: yet it is assumed that it is not exhausted"; "Shifting cultivation could promote the development of agriculture; however, the probable contribution remains uncertain as long as neither its complex is known nor its importance is appreciated"; and "Shifting cultivation is regarded as a primitive land use pattern".

HEVIF.WS

277

1n general the author takes the view that shifting cultivation is regarded as a primitive land use pattern because it has remained rather unknown. He emphasises "the economic and social importance of shifting cultivation is being underestimated whereas its political importance is being overestimated". The author feels that instead of regarding the shifting cultivators as a traditionally inclined, almost nomadic and hence unreliable peasantry of the subsistence economy type, "shifting" farmers should be described as a population group composed of expert peasantry with rather diH'erent social attitudes and of relatively diversified economy types. Friedheim Scholz provides, among other observations, brief descriptions of activities and customs throughout a typical year and over an eight-year period population details for each of thirty families comprising the Akha Village Alum, Mae Chan District, Chiengrai Province in Northern Thailand. Details are presented showing ages, sex and "working force" of each family in 1968. Observations include the size of llclds usually cleared and cultivated, the crops grown, and the agricultural practices during the year. The village did not practice a full s ubsistance economy and small amounts of chile and sesame are sold as well as rice to provide funds for certain items of clothing, petroleum, ornaments, flash lights, lipstick and face powder for young women and, in the instance of three families, transistor radios. While poppy cultivation had been abandoned in recent years, much-needed funds were used in some cases to purchase opium. Twenty-two members of the village, distributed in 16 households and consisting of 16 men and 6 women, were opium smokers. As would be expected, the papers presented in the volume are varied in content, in extent of details presented and in the methods of approach. The three papers on shifting cultivators comprise important contributions to the knowledge of this incompletely-understood culture and agriculture. Students of Southeast Asia in specialized fields will find much of interest in a perusal of this collection of papers.

James 1!. Iemen

278

HEVIF.Wti

S.J. Tambiah Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in Northeast Thailand. (Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology 2: C.U.P) 1970 pp. 388 £5.25 Dr. Tambiah's book is perhaps the first really solid anthropological study of any aspect of Thai society which has yet been produced, and as such is of major importance, not only to those students directly concerned with Thailand, but also to social anthropologists whose main interest lies elsewhere in Asia, or in other parts of the world. Although the unit of study, the village of Baan Phraan Muan, is only 'one tiny spot in the backwoods of Thailand' the data obtained therefrom provides the basis for generalization to a much wider social arena. The main focus of the study is an analysis of the relationship between four ritual complexes which are enacted in the village, namely between 'rites performed by Buddhist monks and therefore labelled 'Buddhist' :sukhwan ritual, concerned with recalling the escaped essence of persons and performed by village elders; the cult of the guardian spirits or deities of the village, which has its own officiants ........... . and rites addressed to malevolent spirits that cause individual illnesses, of which spirit possession is the most dramatic'. The author shows that Buddhist myth and ritual is dynamically related to the myths and rituals of the spirit cults, forming the organic and cohercn t pattern which is village religion. He demonstrates that there is no simple correspondence between myths and their associated rituals, but that taken together the complex of words and actions serves to portray the complexities and ambiguities in man's approach to central problems, and their solution. Dr. Tambiah considers however that the religion of Baan Phraan Muan cannot properly be understood without reference to, and knowledge of, the great Buddhist literate tradition. He analyzes the connectionsthe continuities and transformations- by discussing, in juxtaposition, Buddhist cosmology as it is related in the Pali scriptures, and the village interpretation of such key concepts as merit and demerit on the one hand, and on the other by outlining the historical development of the Sangha (Buddhist Monkhood) prior to describing in detail the community in the village wat and its relations with local lay society. It is clear from the material presented that there exist, even within the village, individuals with different degrees of understanding and knowledge of the texts-as indeed there are many different levels and developments within the vast

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~or pus or litcn~tur~- but for the average villager the efficacy of the Pali formulae used tn rttual derives from the fact that they are believed to be the Words of the Buddha, and are intoned under certain prescribed t:t~ndit iom, by. m:mbers of the Sangha, the religious elite; the translatability ul the words ts urelevant, in view of their source.

Another major contribution made by this book is that the author shows how the system of religious categories is woven into the institutional context and social structure ofBaan Phraan Muan. One aspect of this is the author's analysis or the relationship between monk and layman in terms of the reciprocity, ritual and otherwise, existing between them. The youths of the village, prior to marriage, temporarily assume the ascetic role of the monk, which in turn enables them to confer spiritual henents on their seniors in the form of merit. In return the elders provide material support and certain of them act as lay ritual leaders, performing a particularly vi talrolc in the life-affirming khwan rites as paahm or mau khwan, non-Buddhist specialists who normally acquire the necessary literacy in the wat, and tend to combine their new ritual role with lay leadership or the Buddhist congregation after disrobing. One criticism of the author's presentation of this interesting material is that he has not used one of the many recognised systems of transliteration in dealing with the Thai terms (an omission which he disarmingly confesses in his preface), nor is he consistent in his own idiosyncratic usage. This may seem to some to be a relatively minor point, but such conventions should be observed, in the interests of anthropology's reputation as an academic discipline, if for no other reason. This is by no means a book for the layman, nor for the student who expects his anthropological intake in an exotic form. As the author of th~ first scholarly work in the field of Thai anthropology Dr. Tambiah's task has been a very exacting one in that it not only involved his presenting a coherent analysis of spec~fic problems but also ~is providing a great deal of primary data not avatlable elsewhere. Thts. study n~t only breaks new ground in Thai anthropology but als~, m that 1t discusses such issues as the relationship between myth and ntual, between Great and Little Tradition and so on, sheds new light on old anthropological problems of more general concern. Jane Bmmag

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J.A. Niels Mulder Monks, Merit and Motivation: An Exploratory Study of

the Social Functions of Buddhism in Thailand in Processes of Guided Social Change (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois), 1969 pp. 43. Schools, wells, roads and latrine-pits are, in the government's eyes, symbols of rural development: they must automatically promote 'social welfare' and contribute to 'national integration'. But the government finds difficulty in arousing local enthusiasm for co-operation on the projects. Professor Mulder's report, the first in a Special Report Series l'or publishing results of preliminary research, discusses the efficiency and wisdom of attempting to use the concept of merit or the members of the monkhood to canvas support. In a total 14 months of research in the Bangkok/Thonburi area and unspecified villages in the Central Plain, Professor Mulder has attempted to examine the points of view of upper and lower ranks in the Sangha, the feelings of the villagers, and the position of Abbot, Headman and Headmaster as middlemen between government ambition and village action. Unfortunately, in a 'preliminary' paper of 34 pages (without the Appendices) the wide angle of observation has precluded any detailed focus. One third of Monks, Merit and Motivation is devoted to merit: can merit, 'the central motivational and cognitive of element Theravada Buddhism', as it is understood at both 'national level' (by those at the top of the Sangha hierarchy) and village level be manipulated to 'bring about social and economic change in the Thai countryside'-or more specifically, to implement government building programmes? At the top level, Professor Mulder found a division in opinions: younger monks saw their duties in traditional terms of living the holy life and striving towards Nirvana, while many salaried Sangha officials were ready to find 'nation-building' and modernization meritorious. Professor Mulder comments on the 'close integration of religious and political institutions' and 'the close supervision' of the Sangha by the secular government, but refrains from exploring further. Even at the village level, Professor Mulder finds merit-making increasingly linked with gaining prestige and becoming 'more businesslike'but this is not evident from the six examples he gives of people's attitude

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to merit-making. Collective merit-making festivals he sees as "counterpoints" 'to an otherwise dreary and frugal existence'. (This townsman's assumption amuses me: I have found village life in Thailand to be far less dreary than village life in the blacked-out drabness of Western telly-land). Professor Mulder concludes that since 'there seems to be a general decline in the vitality of Thai Buddhism, and in this process the Wat seems to be changing from a religious and social focal point to an exclusively social centre of the communities', a manipulation of the concept of merit would not in itself provide strong enough motivation to villagers to divert their Wat building energies to road building. If people do co-operate to build feeder roads, it is because, he says, 'people have recognised their interest in better communication with the outside world'. The middle part of Monks, Merit and Motivation, exploring the leadership potential of monks, focuses on relationships between the Sangha and the government at the national level and Sangha and Wat at village level. Monks have prestige-but is it the kind that can be used to support the politics of counter-insurgency? As Mulder points out: '(the government) community development programme seems to have been instigated by more than an active concern for the welfare of the villagers, however. It appears that the main reasons for its implementation are political and are part of a larger scheme of counterinsurgency measures designed to fight unrest and political dissent .... ' At the national level, Mulder finds that the political involvement of the Sangha is 'revitalised and acquiring new dimensions' and 'is stimulated towards a new professionalism and has already accepted an active role in programs of national development'. At the village level, he notes that the Wat is the centre of communal life, and its Abbot is in a better position to influence villagers than the Headman or Headmaster. 'The abbot is the person who wields the greatest motivational power.' Even so, Professor Mulder explains why monks would be inefficient agents for implementing the programmes (i.e. the 'processes of guided social change' ofhis paper's subtitle.) The government could undermine the prestige of the monks should they become overtly politically involved, and 'there exists a real danger that current efforts of the central government .. :. may very well weaken 'the whole institution of Buddhism in Thai Society. •

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Professor Mulder concludes with 'recommendations'; but how he arrives at them or how they should be implemented is not quite clear. Government programmes 'will have to sincerely aim (sic) at improving the welfare of villagers as the primary goal' (but where is the politician who would admit otherwise?); secular programmes should be pushed through secular officials, therefore it would be desirable to bolster the position of the Headman (Phuyaiban). (But how? He suggests the Sangha could help the government, but earlier he commented on local tensions between Abbot and Phuyaiban); most difficult of all to effect, he recommends that 'A change in attitudes and behaviour on the part of the civil servants seem(s) to be necessary.... Respect should be shown to villagers and headmen alike.' (The respect system is one of the few really effective integrating factors in Thai national life: how should that be changed to order without provoking charges of 'communism'?) There are hints of interesting fields for further enquiry in Professor Mulder's paper, and he gives a useful chart, in an appendix, of the relationships between the Sangha and the government heirarchies-but I wonder whether a Special Report Series, such as this one coordinated by M. Ladd Thomas, is a good idea for anthropology? It encourages publication of unfinished work-with results much like newspaper reports shorn of news-value and accurate details of names, times and places. Anthropologists and sociologists have the advantage over newspaper reporters in their background of comparative information and many years of training in analysis. A reporter is 'l'Uled by an immediate dead-linebut it takes time to use the tools of sociology. Asking an anthropologist to present a preliminary report, for publication, is like asking a sculptor to unveil his chosen piece of stone to the public before he begins cutting. Given the time to finish his study, and the incentive of a dateline for publication of the completed work, Professor Mulder could no doubt have made the analyses he proposed in his Preface: 'to investigate the motivational qualities of Buddhism in rural Thailand' and to 'contribute to the understanding of Buddhism as a social force in Thai Society.' He says in the same Preface that there is a need for research on the place of Buddhism in Thai society. The fact that 'very little real progress has been made in the interpretation of Thai social dynamics,' he says, is not, in some cases because of a lack of data, 'but rather a lack of sociological analysis in depth.' A preliminary report cannot be an analysis "in depth".

()iqna Lancaster

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Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha-A Chinese version by Sanghabhadra of Samantapasadika; translated into English by Prof. P.V. Bapat in collaboration with Prof. A. Hirakawa; (Bhandakar Oriental Series No. 10, published by Bhandakar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, 1970); pp. LXIIlt588; Rs. 75, £4, $10 us. This work is a very useful addition to the literature on Vinaya, the code of laws, prohibitions and allowances for Buddhist monks. In English translation at present we have only the basic rules of the Patimokkha (available from Mabamakut Press in Bangkok), and the whole Vinaya Pitaka under the title "The Book of the Discipline" (Pali Text Society, London), but no Vinaya commentaries until the time of H.R.H. the late Sanghar8:ja Vajirailiil}avarorasa's commentary written in the second decade of this century and which is now being published. in English translation by Mahamakut. This work (in translation "The Entrance to the Vinaya") is based on an earlier Thai composition the Pubbasikkhavaqqana and this in turn upon the Pali commentary Samanta-pasadika and its sub-commentaries. So far, no one has tried his hand at translating the Samantapasadika into English*, a formidable task as the text in roman script goes through seven books. For this reason, those who are not familiar with Pali and yet would learn something of the commentarial tradition explaining Vinaya Pi~aka, have much to thank Professor Bapat for. Indeed his has been a great labour in produCing this book and with his Japanese colleague he has added to our knowledge another work contained in the Chinese Tripi~aka (Taisho. 1462). The Samantapasadika which was edited to its present text by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa in the 5th century C. E., is the second layer of commentarial tradition on the Vinaya, the first being incorporated in the Vinaya Pi~aka itself as the old word-commentary of the Vibhanga together with its elaboration upon offences. The Samantapasadika goes further in its explanation of difficult points of Vinaya although it is not clear in all matters and suffers in some places from over-scholastic elaboration, and in others from lack of any explanation. It is still very valuable for understanding the Vinaya.

* Except the Introduction: Text Society.

"The Inception of the Discipline", SBB vol. XXI, Pali

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No doubt this was the reason for translating it into Chinese. The translator's name was Sanghabhadra, a bhiksu ordained in the Dharmagupta tradition. This fact explains the changes which he has made in translating from Pali to Chinese, and perhaps, the new name given to the work in Chinese, corresponding to the Sanskrit: Sudarsanavibha~a. Very few other works were translated from Pali into Chinese (the other notable one being the Vimuttimagga, published in English translation from Ceylon as "The Path of Freedom"), and nothing else at all from the Pali Vinaya. As this commentary was meant to help Chinese bhiksus understand the Vinaya used in China, which was mostly from the Sarvastivada and Dharmagupta traditions, it had to be free of contradiction with the texts generally studied. So the translator has removed some of the minor differences between Theravada and other traditions during his translation thus bringing it more in line with the Vinaya works already in Chinese. Another feature of his translation is the condensing or omission of several subjects, especially towards the end of his work. While the translator has also added some material, the net result is to shorten the Samantapasadika a great deal. The comments on the last chapters of the Vinaya, containing specialized treatises on various subjects, have in most cases been translated only in precis form, while some have been omitted. The commentary on the Parivara, an early summary on Vinaya matters which has been included in the Vinaya Pitaka in Theravada tradition, is limited to one set of verses (Chapter 19). This suggests that the translation had to be hurried towards its end and so was shortened, or else, as Professor Bapat suggests, the Pali text used by. Sai1ghabhadra may have been defective. The end of the work is abrupt as though broken off and has no concluding remarks by the translator, such as are usually found in the Chinese Tripiraka. Perhaps the end of Sanghabhadra's translation, made in C. E. 489, was lost in the days before woodblock printing. Now what variations do we find in this translation when compared to the Pali Samantapasadika ~ A few names .are missing from the list of Vinaya-teachers who took the Discipline to Ceylon. Also, the calendar which is given according to the Saka system in the P3li original is changed to the Chinese system- with some confusion. The enumeration of some technical terms is different, following the Sanskrit traditions with

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twelve austere practices (instead of ~hirteen as in Pali), and so on. In numbers the Chinese translation is moderate, while the Samantapasadika inclines to exaggeration. In Chinese, the Thera Mahinda with one thousand bhikkhus sat down at ThUparama in Ceylon, but the original in Pali says that there were sixty thousand. Various words are explained according to the Sanskrit tradition as opposed to the Pali, while various pairs of bhikkhus frequently named together in Pali and comprising the infamous Group of Six, are taken as one person. Again, some of the variations in the Chinese translation are simply due to the translator's misunderstanding of the Pali original, as when he renders nava by 'nine' when it should mean in its context 'new'; satta is also mistranslated as 'being' (Skt. sativa when it means in context, 'seven'. There are numbers of such misunderstandings. The fact that Sailghabhadra followed the Dharmagupta tradition has also led to changes in the Chinese version, the principal one being the insertion of 24 Sekhiyas or rules of training, though the translator remarks that they did not exist in the original Indian text as the stiipas and images of Buddha referred to were not in existence in the Buddhatime. The translator also adheres to the Sanskrit tradition, using for the second most serious class of offence, Smighavasesa though he has tried to explain this according to the Pali Sahghadisesa =the Sangha (meeting) at the beginning and at the end. Professor Bapat writes (p. XI in his lengthy and comprehensive introduction): "The life of Bhikkhus, at the time of the composition of the original Vinaya, was a life of plain simplicity without any expectation of luxuries as is proved by the Four Reliances (nissayarag-robes, almsfood, tree-root dwelling and fermented urine) . . . . . "The life that is projected in commentaries like Samantapasadika has not remained so simple. We have a picture here of Buddhist Bhikkhus living in rich monasteries endowed with parks, fields, tanks, fisheries and temples with the images of the Buddha." Now this is a little confusing. Lord Buddha taught the Dhamma-Vinaya for forty-five years and while there is no doubt at all at the beginning of that period that the life of bhihkhus was very austere with only the four reliances (or supports), it is clear from the Vinaya itself that very soon numbers of rich people became his

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ardent supporters, and the equally devoted supporters of the Arahant Theras. This meant that parks were given, and these quickly turned into monasteries even during the Buddha's time. With monasteries established and the rapid spread of the Dhamma throughout all levels of Indian society, there were soon allowances made for the possession by bhikkhus and the sangha of many other things. Even so, there were bhikkhus then, just as there are now, who preferred to live by the ancient ascetic standards. So it is not that the Vinaya portrayed the "plain simplicity" while the Atthakatbas or commentaries show "rich monasteries". Rather there was a continuous development, checked by the prohibitions issued by Lord Buddha and perhaps by those extra minor prohibitions occurring in the commen.taries, but allowed when in accord with what was suitable as laid down in the Vinaya. Still, there is no doubt that in India, (and in other countries), this drift towards "rich monasteries" became a cause for the downfall of the Buddhasasana. Riches attract the greedy while the patched robes and iron bowl of a wandering bhikkhu attract no robbers, as Lord Buddha pointed out in the Jataka. Some of the accounts of the well-endowed Buddhist monasteries of India and Ceylon, as reported by the various Chinese pilgrim bhiksus, are certainly far from Lord Buddha's intentions. This master-work of Professors Bapat and Hirakawa has been printed out of a grant generously given by a Japanese Buddhist organization, the Reiyukai Kyodan. It has been well printed considering the difficulties of incorporating many Chinese types into the translation and its notes. And though a good effort has been made to correct errors in printing, there are still large numbers which are not mentioned in the Corrections and Additions (p. 586f). This work is rounded off with an Index of Chinese Words, followed by a general Consolidated Index. The binding is strong and serviceable as befits a book which will be much used by all those interested in the Vinaya. Plzra Klzalltip'ii/o

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John Blofeld The Way of Power-A Practical Guide to the Tantric Mysticism of Tibet (George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London) 1970 pp. 255. £ 2.25. In The Way of Power the author sets out to describe and explain in a non-technical way the character of Tibetan Buddhist practice. It is an introductory work intended for the reader whose only qualification is an interest in the subject. It is not, however, a book for the lazy. Part I is on Background and Theory. After an initial chapter on the meaning of mysticism, its occurrence in the Vajrayana of Tibet, and its possible application in the modern Western world, there follows a first class chapter on the principles of Buddhism in the Mahayana setting. Then there are two chapters on the essence and symbolism of the Tantric method. (In passing it should be noted that the Buddha-.figures depicted in Diagram 3B do not correspond to the arrangements in Diagrams 3A, 3C, and 3D) Part II is on Practice. It is filled with much detail and contains such topics as the initiation, the grand prostrations, the generation of Bodhicitta, the Yidam (a symbolic deity required for meditation), special rites, and so on. The climax of the book is a chapter on the Sadhanas, and one of them is outlined in detail. It consists of a highly complex system of recitations, visualizations, and other manipulations of the mind. According to the author such meditations are potentially dangerous for anyone who attempts them without a skilled teacher. Therefore, in conformity with the usual practice in Tibet, his teacher charged him not to reveal the details. The result is that in this chapter we have merely a descriptive account without any explanation. The author's main purpose is to remove certain false beliefs about the sadhanas that have been published by other writers. A final chapter gives brief accounts of special advanced practices such as the six yogas (psychic heat, and so on), and prajnaparamita. Readers who want more details of these topics are referred to the standard works. As usual in John Blofeld's writing the style is imaginative and readable. The quality of the work is assured by the author's obvious sincerity of purpose and his first-hand experience of the meditations. Although this book is written so as to be accessible to the non-specialist, the serious scholar will find here a unique account of the principles of the Vajrayana techniques. Tibetant Buddhism is Buddhism in its most elaborate form (the opposite pole to Zen). The author shows clearly how the underlying essence of the Vajrayana is the same as that of other for111s of Buqdhis:m,

Robert Exefl

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ed. Sulak Sivaraksa V JSAKHA PU] A 2513 (The Buddhist Association of Thailand, Bangkok) 1970. pp. 110. VJSAKHA PU] A, theannualpublicationoflhe Buddhist Association of Thailand, continues to keep its high standard under the same editor who has been producing the informative English manual on Thai Buddhism for over seven years. The present issue opens with a Pali verse expoundding the significance of Magha Puja, an important Buddhist ceremony, revived in Siam by the learned King Mongkut. It is followed by the translations of discourses and stanzas on the Dhama in Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan A discourse entitled "The bhikshu's predilection" is of special interest, a timely reminder of the true meaning of monkhood in this age of rapid change. Readers will learn much about the religious scholarship of King Rama IV from his Pali verses in the article combined with a biographical note written by the late Supreme Patriarch Pavaresvariyalongkorn. An anonymous short paper on Prince Vajiraiiat)avarorasa offers a good clue to those who wish to know about the great reorganizer of the Thai Sangha in modern period. V JSAKHA PU] A 2513 contains several articles on the Dhamma, both objective and subjective. Included in the former category is Dr. Jane Bunnag's interesting article on the relationship between monks and laymen in a Buddhist society of the central Thailand. Donald K. Swearer sympathetically observes three possibilities for change in Thai Buddhism. viz, the Buddhist Universities with their reformed curricula, the monks' participation in the community development programs and Buddhadasa Bhikkhu's reformist movement in his forest hermitage in southern Thailand. Phra Maha Chai Apakaro convincingly points out the existing discrepancy between tradition-bound Pali scholars and young student monks in the present-day ecclesiastical educational system. Phra Maha Sathien Thiranana's report on the seminar on "Buddhism and Thai Society" held at the Siam Society in 1969 relevantly summarizes the discussion at that important gathering. In this connection, the readers with a knowledge of Thai are recommended to follow the details of the meeting in the report of the proceedings published by the Society under the title of \'jl1Dfllfflll ti'u ;~fiuhwtr~~uuu. Among the diversified views on the Dhamma expressed by both Thai and foreign adherents of Buddha's teachings, inention must be made of Ven, Buddhadasa's speech, "Exchanging Dhamma while fighting." His Dhamma=God=Nature doctrine may embarrass some orthodox Theravadins in the country for its uniqueness. It is significant to note, however, that the modern forest dweller is undoubtedly the most popular and prolific expounder of the Buddhist faith in Thailand. The book is lavishly illustrated with well-selected photographs which give to the readers the real feeling of living Buddhism.

Yoneo Ishii

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Recent Siamese Publications 438. Phuttarajaraksa, Luau: Suwannaho:;s f!mom~~ an old reader in use in monasteries for boys and apprentices; edited and published by the Ven. Pra Pisal-dhammaralJsi of PataluiJ, 2512 pp. 454 This old southern Thai romance is said to have been written for young people of some 'five generations ago' by a certain LualJ Puttharajaraksa, a citizen of tambol Lampam in the province of Patalury. The reckoning may not have been very accurate though it may be calculated to have come down roughly some two centuries. Unfortunately the copying and printing has undergone some modernisation and is no longer possible to verify the date by orthographic means. The venerable author is generally referred to by present generations as comftut in common parlance and is said to be unexcelled by other writers in the south in those days. The saga about the hero SuwannahOlJS, i.e. the 'Golden Swan' doing a remarkable tight-rope walk of some ISO leagues to reach the closely guarded quarters of the King's palace where the heroine, Kes SuriyolJs, lives. This is a well known Thai folklore, but the story has been retold by Comput, our antique poet, to read as though instead of doing the marvellous walk on a kite string our hero employed his supernatural powers to reach the palace by air. The modification, though suggestive of a mode of travel which was then quite unknown, is interesting in that it is presuggestive, if we may term it, of air travel, and our writers of the south make much of it. The 'plane' in fact is represented as a 'golden halJsa'. It is characteristic of our southern neighbour's humour and as such it is to be commended. The saga is not anything more than a fantastic piece of imaginative humour but as such it has been cleverly and willingly told though it would be nearly impossible for any modern literary critic to go through the whole work. The Ven. Pra Dharmakosacarya; Vessantara jataka !.li'mlff~nnff'wll' ~111n A critical study (Soemwit Library, Bangkok,) 2512 pp. 532.

439.

We do not pretend to know what 1Ji'nm1~ (paritas) means. Etymologically it corresponds to the Sanskrit Paridarsana, which, we presume, has been adopted in Thai as an equivalent for a critical study. The Jataka

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itself is widely popular in this country and in other Buddhist lands of Southeast Asia. It is the last and best known work of the Ceylonese tipitaka adopted here from time immemorial. The occasion of its recitation is fixed at harvest time when the serious work in the monastery regarding monastic education comes to an end for the season and the people are ready to enjoy a festival as a holiday. The Siamese version, of which several exist, is now prescribed as a literary text in schools; it is, in fact, one of the two literary pieces that have come in from India from remote times and have become so acclimatised that the average countryfolk would feel hurt to be told that it is an Indian immigrant rather than the real Thai product. To be correct of course what we see of it is Thai, for, though the Pali verses are acknowledged as the original texts, that language has become so familiar to us that it has acclimatised itself. The Thai oldest version on this topic is said to date from the days of Ayudhya. There have come into existence besides other Thai versions, some bearing the title of 'royal versions' from the fact that they were written under royal patronage at different periods. All this is in explanation of the status of classic and has no connection with the poem under review. The venerable writer of the critical review which is the topic of our study observes very correctly that the primary aim of the work was to illustrate the virtue of charity as pictured in the person of the chief character of Vessantara. He acknowledges that many criticise this as being overdone; whilst others hold up the character as an unsurpassed ideal of charity and self-sacrifice. The poem is divided into 13 cantos. The method of criticism adopted by the venerable gentleman is to take them singly; his valuation of the old poem is worthy of a scholar though now and then his very modern application causes some hesitations on the reader's part. In the first canto, the 'TEN BOONS' requested by the celestial maiden prior to ending her life in heaven are, as the writer says, natural request for a woman. His discussion of the boons is full and the average reader may be inclined to feel that they are hardly necessary. His comparison between the forester guarding the domains of Ceta and the rishi Acuta living almost on the borders of the WolJkot mountain, whom the venerable gentleman

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seems inclined to suspect of having been stationed to guard the safety of the royal exiles from Sibi, is ingenious. His evaluation of the three characters, the forester, the rishi Acuta and the beggar Jujok, is certainly clever and readable. His geography of the classical lands where all this Sibi, for instance, takes place may not be up to date but it is excusable. is 'in the northern country at the foot the Himalaya' according to his version which has been taken from the Ceylonese tradition; though the locality of that name does exist in Pakistan, no historian cares to try and identify it in view of its great age, the absence of relics and other means wherewith to locate its historical status. In short this critical study is a pioneer work in Siamese and as such should be given an honoured place in the history of romantic writing in our literature.

Records of the ceremony of Water Consec1'ation of an Heir to the Throne "~ ~ • 'I " " 'illlll11Jlmmpntl1'11Vl1Hl~ll'Hll'IJ1m1~1Vllmm'l1~!1111ff fftlllJIJ~~,,'II~IJ,, comp1'1 ed f rom con t emporary sources by His late Royal Highness Prince Bha)luraiJsi (Pracaksh Press, Bangkok,) 2513, ill. pp. 444. · The publication is a fitting memorial to the late Police General· Pra Pinic Jonkadi who made his name in the police service and also in the banking business. The origin of the ceremony of immersion of the King's heir as a measure of consecration was probably a: confirmation of the young prince's legal right to the Throne, no longer necessary now owing to the Palatine Law which has been acknowledged by the Constitution. It has been remarked that in the almost 200 years of the present regime of the Cakri dynasty in Bangkok, two such ceremonies have been celebrated, though the rite had been known before these two occasions having been fairly fully described in the Ramakien of 1897 from the pen of King Rama the Great. The ceremony as practiced in the reign of King ChulaloiJkorn is It consisted of three days of reproduced from firsthand sources. benedictory services and a final rite of immersion in the waters of the Caopraya river in front of the landing of the Grand Palace in full ceremonx, followed by further benedictions in Brahmin rites in the form of passing the Holy Agni around the young prince and presentation of riches by the royal parents and relatives and the Court. A noticeable feature of the benediction was the participation by representatives of the provinces or their deputies. 440.

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HEVIEWS

441. Phalajivin, S: The Rfmzayana of Brahmarishi Valmiki mJlum 'llll~1Hl~n a metrical translation into Siamese (Pracandra Press, Bangkok) 2514 pp. 275. The translator presented the work to His Majesty as a birthday present last December. His Majesty then decided to have this classic published on account of its being the pioneer work by a Siamese to make known to the public a Sanskrit classic of world renown. An opportunity occurred when in view of the imminent cremation of the remains of the late Mom DvivOIJS, His Majesty's Grand Chamberlain ranking practically with a Minister of State, a fitting tribute was being sought to commemorate the occasion. Hence the publication under review. The saga of Rama is well known all over Southeast Asia. The classic Ramayana of Valmiki is however not the Siamese Ramakien. The Ramakien is comparatively late, though it was inspired by a Rama saga known long before which might have emigrated perhaps orally at first from south India to the Empire of Srivijaya, whence it carne into this country long before the Ramakien was written by King Rama the Great of Thailand. The narrative in a majestic kluv (ifHl~~~~) metre, reminiscent of the

Yuanpai of Ayudhya days, has been well written, as the classic deserves, though in places it is not strictly in keeping with the metrical terseness of the Yuanpai. The epilogue acknowledges making use of the English precis of Drs V.S. Sastri and P.P.S. as well as the Sources of the Ramakien from the pen of His late Majesty King Rama VI, to whose memory the translator modestly apologises in the regular Thai fashion. The story follows the well-known theme of the classical Riimayana with the beginning and ending that transformed the narrative into sacred lore. 442. The Coronation ... of King Bhumibol with a summary of the account of King Prajadhipok's Coronation mtll'll~rimJJmnnLllnll'mrr, ullJ11'11lfiL:flmLt be accompanied by a short biographical n• •tt: a b,•ul t ht·