Journal of the Siam Society; 71

Table of contents :
JSS_071_0a_Front
JSS_071_0a_Front_001
JSS_071_0b_BunjueaOngprasit_NiratKashmir
JSS_071_0b_BunjueaOngprasit_NiratKashmir_001
JSS_071_0c_OConnor_EarlySivaLingasInNakhonSiThammarat
JSS_071_0c_OConnor_EarlySivaLingasInNakhonSiThammarat_001
JSS_071_0d_PitsamaiIntarachat_SouthernThaiKhlokEtymologicalSpeculation
JSS_071_0d_PitsamaiIntarachat_SouthernThaiKhlokEtymologicalSpeculation_001
JSS_071_0e_Cohen_EnergyTransitiononIslandInSouthernThailand
JSS_071_0e_Cohen_EnergyTransitiononIslandInSouthernThailand_001
JSS_071_0f_Muecke_ThaiConjugalRelationshipsAndHsuHypothesis
JSS_071_0f_Muecke_ThaiConjugalRelationshipsAndHsuHypothesis_001
JSS_071_0g_Terwiel_AhomAndStudyOfEarlyTaiSociety
JSS_071_0g_Terwiel_AhomAndStudyOfEarlyTaiSociety_001
JSS_071_0h_Durrenberger_ShanRocketFestival
JSS_071_0h_Durrenberger_ShanRocketFestival_001
JSS_071_0i_Hinuber_PaliManuscriptsOfCanonicalTextsFromNThailand
JSS_071_0i_Hinuber_PaliManuscriptsOfCanonicalTextsFromNThailand_001
JSS_071_0j_Gosling_RedefiningSanghaRoleInNThailand
JSS_071_0j_Gosling_RedefiningSanghaRoleInNThailand_001
JSS_071_0k_Lando_SpiritsArentSoPowerfulAnyMoreIrrigationInNThailand
JSS_071_0k_Lando_SpiritsArentSoPowerfulAnyMoreIrrigationInNThailand_001
JSS_071_0l_Walker_LahuNyiRitesForEstablishingNewVillage
JSS_071_0l_Walker_LahuNyiRitesForEstablishingNewVillage_001
JSS_071_0m_SulakSivaraksa_NotesOnAngkorWat
JSS_071_0m_SulakSivaraksa_NotesOnAngkorWat_001
JSS_071_0n_Reviews
JSS_071_0n_Reviews_001
JSS_071_0o_Obituary
JSS_071_0o_Obituary_001
JSS_071_0p_AnnualReportListOfMembers
JSS_071_0p_AnnualReportListOfMembers_001
JSS_071_0q_Back
JSS_071_0q_Back_001

Citation preview

JOURNAL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY

JANUARY-JULY 1983 volume 71 parts 1+2

THE SIAM SOCIETY PATRON

His Majesty the King

VICE-PATRO NS

Her Majesty the Queen Her Majesty Queen Rambai Barni Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother Her Royal Highness Pr incess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn The Ven. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu The Ven. Phra Rajavaramuni (Payu!to) M.R. Debriddhi Devakul Mr. Fua Haripitak Dr. Mary R. Haas Dr. Puey Ungphakorn Soedjatmoko Dr. Sood Saengvichien Mr. Alexander B. Griswold Mom Kobkaew Abhakara Na Ayudhya

I-I ON. MEMB ER S

I-I O N. VICE -PRES I DE N'l'S

C O UNCIL O F THlil S IAM S O CIETY FO R 1983 /Sd.

President

M.R. Patanachai Jayant

Vice-President Vi ce-P.resident nnd L e nde r , Natural History Section

Mr.

Vice-President Honorary Treasurer

Mr. Sirichai Narumit Mrs. Ka therine B. Buri Mrs. Nongyao Narumit Dr. Tej Bunnag Mrs. Chitra Pranich Mr. James Stent Mrs. Virginia M. Di Crocco Mrs. Bonnie Davis Mr. Wilhelm Mayer Dr. Svasti Srisukh Dr. Pornchai Suchitta Miss A .B. Lambert Mr. Rolf E. Von Bueren Dr. Rich ard Engelhardt Dr. Thawatchai Santisuk

Vivadh

na Pombejra

Dr. Tern Smitinand

Honorary Secretary Honorary Editor Honorary Librarian Assistant Honorary Treasurer Assistant Honorary Secretary Assistant Honorary Librarian Mr. Dacre F.A. Raikes Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa Mr. H enri Pagau-Clarac Dr. Piriya Krairiksh Dr. Warren Y. Brockelman H.E. Mr. W.F.M. Schmidt Mr. H artmut W. Schneider

Khun Varun Yupha Snidvongs

JOURNAL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY

JANUARY-JULY 1983 · volume 71 parts 1+2

THE SIAM SOCIETY 1983 Honorary Editor : Dr. Tej Bunnag

Contributed manuscripts should be typed double-spaced on quarto paper (approximately 8 x 11 inches), with generous margins. The top copy should be submitted. All notes and references should be similarly typed double-spaced. References should include name of author(s), title, name and volume of periodical or relevant publication se~ies (where applicable), date and place of publication (or nature of reference, if unpublished), and pagination (where appropriate). Page-proofs of Articles and Review Articles are normally sent to authors; proofs of Notes, Reviews and other contributions will be sent to authors on request only. Originals of illustrations will be returned on request. Authors of published contributions receive 30 offprints free of charge. copies will be supplied at cost price, but must be paid for in advance.

Additional

The Siam Society encourages readers to communicate to the Honorary Editor any differing opinion on, or corrections to, material which appears in JSS. Suitably documented correspondence will be published as a Communication, bearing the writer's name.

Manuscripts, books for review, and all correspondence should be sent to the Honorary Editor, Journal of the Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok, Thailand. Subscription and membership enquiries, and publications orders, should be addressed to the Administrative Secretary, ,Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok, Thailand. Exchange copies of periodicals should be sent to the Honorary Librarian, Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok, Thailand.

fllU

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tn~U~1Uli~ll1llllHIJillUJUl ViJJ

Centenary of Prince Sithiporn Kridakara Father of Modern Thai Agriculture Honorary Member of The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage

JOURNAL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY Contents of Volnme 71 1983 A

A

~

1.l111fLI.fi'IIUitl1 (lam

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Articles STANLEY J. O'CONNOR

PITSAMAI INTARACHAT ERIK COHEN

MARJORIE A. MUECKE BAREND JAN TERWIEL E. PAUL DURRENBERGER

OSKAR VON H!NUBER

DAVID L. GOSLING

RICHARD P. LANDO

ANTHONY R. WALKER

Some Early Siva Lingas in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Peninsular Thailand 1 Southern Thai /khlok/ : an Etymological Speculation 6 The "Energy Transition" in a Market Township and its Environs on an Island in Southern Thailand 10 Thai Conjugal Family Relationships and the Hsu Hypothesis 25 Ahom and the Study of Early Thai Society 42 The Shan Rocket Festival: Buddhist and Non-Buddhist Aspects of Shan Religion 63 Pali Manuscripts of Canonical Texts from North Thailand- A Preliminary Report· 75 Redefining-theSangha•s Role in Northern Thailand : An Investigation of Monastic Careers at Five Chiang Mai Wats 89 "The Spirits Aren't So Powerful Any More" Spirit Belief and Irrigation Organization in North Thailand 121 Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu) Rites for Establishing a New Village 149

Notes S. SIVARAKSA

Notes on Angkor Wat

208

Reviews BILL CADWALLADER

JEFFREY SNG KUSUMA RAKSAMANI

Asian Action Newsletter of the Asian Cultural Forum on Development (ACFOD) 210 Douglas R. Webster, ed. The Southeast 212 Asian Environment Satya Vrat Shastri, Thaidesavil'iisam 215 fl.,.. vAl~

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KARUNA KUSALASAYA

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(Notes on Miscellaneous Knowledge Written by H.R.H. Prince Narisranuvadtiwongse to Phya Anuman Rajdbon) 217 M.C. Subhadradis Diskul,- ed., The Art of Srivijaya Carol Stratton and Miriam McNair Scott, The Art of Sukhothai: Thailand's 220 Golden Age

S. SIVARAKSA

'W$JOU1"Un1&~ lil.Utl11'1fuman9lournou -w.fl. mrllacf

WILLIAM J. KLAUSNER

(Thai Dictionary, The Royal Institute 1982) Ruth Inge-Heinze, Tham Khwan

•

224 227

PHRA PRACHA PASANNADHAMMO 1l1'W'W'f11i1.h:::11J 1t~na.:~OU'Wflm (Painted Sculp

•ture on

•

the Life of. the Buddha Folk Art at Wat Thongnopakun)

UTHAI DULYAKASEM

WISIT WANGWINYOO

DAVID L. GOSLING

229

Phra Rajavaramuni (Prayudh), Social Dimension of Buddhism in Contemporary Thailand 231 Bantorn Ondam and Stephen Teo, eds., Organizing Experience from Thailand 234 Sulak Sivaraksa, A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society: Collected Articles by a Concerned Thai Intellectual 236

JULIENNE WILLIAMS

MICHAEL SMITHIES NICHOLAS TAPP

RUTH K.CADWALLADER VIRGINIA M. DI CROCCO

MICHAEL SMITHIES MICHAEL SMITHIES

Vichitvongs N. Pombhejra, Pridi Banomyong And the Making of Thailand Modern History 240 Joe . Cummings, Thailand, a Travel 241 Survival Kit · Martin Stuart-Fox, ed., Contemporary Laos: Studies in the Politics and Society of the Lao People's 243 Democratic Republic Phia Sing, Traditional Ret;ipes of Laos 245 U Bo Kay, Pagan Thuteithana Lanhyunt (The Pagan Research Guide) 246 Mohammad Hatta, Memoirs

Ind~nesian

Patriot,

Pramoedya Ananta Toer, This Earth of Mankind

248 251

MICHAEL SMITHIES

I Made Bandem and Frederik Eugene deBoer, Kaja and Kelod: Balinese Dance in Transition 255

SERI PHONGPHIT

Koson Srisang, ed., Perspectives on Political Ethics, an Ecumenical Inquiry 258

Obituary BRUNO BARON-RENAULT

Hommage a l'inspirateur de la Thailande moderne, Pridi Banomyong

Annual Reports ·• The Honorary Auditor's Financial Report December 31, 1982 and 1981 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, 25 March 1982 Annual Reports List of Paid-up Members, 1983 List of Institutional Subscribers Institutions Exchanging Publications with the Siam Society, 1983

262

264 267 270 288 305 308

The microfilming of rare books, Journals of the Siam Society and Bangkok Time Newspaper is a contlnuing project of the Library of the Siam Society.. The following volumes of JSS and Bangkok Time have been microfilmed and copies are available for sale : Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 1-68. Bangkok Time Newspaper. We~kly

Mail . Daily .Mail Please send enquiries to the Librarian, The Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok, Thailand

Vol. 1938-1939 Vol. 1896-1902

JOURNAL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY

JANUARY-JULY 1983 volume 71 parts 1+2

THE SIAM SOCIETY PATRON

His Majesty the King

VICE-PATRO NS

Her Majesty the Queen Her Majesty Queen Rambai Barni Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother Her Royal Highness Pr incess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn The Ven. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu The Ven. Phra Rajavaramuni (Payu!to) M.R. Debriddhi Devakul Mr. Fua Haripitak Dr. Mary R. Haas Dr. Puey Ungphakorn Soedjatmoko Dr. Sood Saengvichien Mr. Alexander B. Griswold Mom Kobkaew Abhakara Na Ayudhya

I-I ON. MEMB ER S

I-I O N. VICE -PRES I DE N'l'S

C O UNCIL O F THlil S IAM S O CIETY FO R 1983 /Sd.

President

M.R. Patanachai Jayant

Vice-President Vi ce-P.resident nnd L e nde r , Natural History Section

Mr.

Vice-President Honorary Treasurer

Mr. Sirichai Narumit Mrs. Ka therine B. Buri Mrs. Nongyao Narumit Dr. Tej Bunnag Mrs. Chitra Pranich Mr. James Stent Mrs. Virginia M. Di Crocco Mrs. Bonnie Davis Mr. Wilhelm Mayer Dr. Svasti Srisukh Dr. Pornchai Suchitta Miss A .B. Lambert Mr. Rolf E. Von Bueren Dr. Rich ard Engelhardt Dr. Thawatchai Santisuk

Vivadh

na Pombejra

Dr. Tern Smitinand

Honorary Secretary Honorary Editor Honorary Librarian Assistant Honorary Treasurer Assistant Honorary Secretary Assistant Honorary Librarian Mr. Dacre F.A. Raikes Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa Mr. H enri Pagau-Clarac Dr. Piriya Krairiksh Dr. Warren Y. Brockelman H.E. Mr. W.F.M. Schmidt Mr. H artmut W. Schneider

Khun Varun Yupha Snidvongs

JOURNAL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY

JANUARY-JULY 1983 · volume 71 parts 1+2

THE SIAM SOCIETY 1983 Honorary Editor : Dr. Tej Bunnag

Contributed manuscripts should be typed double-spaced on quarto paper (approximately 8 x 11 inches), with generous margins. The top copy should be submitted. All notes and references should be similarly typed double-spaced. References should include name of author(s), title, name and volume of periodical or relevant publication se~ies (where applicable), date and place of publication (or nature of reference, if unpublished), and pagination (where appropriate). Page-proofs of Articles and Review Articles are normally sent to authors; proofs of Notes, Reviews and other contributions will be sent to authors on request only. Originals of illustrations will be returned on request. Authors of published contributions receive 30 offprints free of charge. copies will be supplied at cost price, but must be paid for in advance.

Additional

The Siam Society encourages readers to communicate to the Honorary Editor any differing opinion on, or corrections to, material which appears in JSS. Suitably documented correspondence will be published as a Communication, bearing the writer's name.

Manuscripts, books for review, and all correspondence should be sent to the Honorary Editor, Journal of the Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok, Thailand. Subscription and membership enquiries, and publications orders, should be addressed to the Administrative Secretary, ,Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok, Thailand. Exchange copies of periodicals should be sent to the Honorary Librarian, Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok, Thailand.

fllU

l9JDD

U lUJ'Utiltl1ftl'1Htn

lll]~1lll

tn~U~1Uli~ll1llllHIJillUJUl ViJJ

Centenary of Prince Sithiporn Kridakara Father of Modern Thai Agriculture Honorary Member of The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage

JOURNAL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY Contents of Volnme 71 1983 A

A

~

1.l111fLI.fi'IIUitl1 (lam

~a1.l1t11.l

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'o n1n£J1fi3J mcfmcl)

$

Articles STANLEY J. O'CONNOR

PITSAMAI INTARACHAT ERIK COHEN

MARJORIE A. MUECKE BAREND JAN TERWIEL E. PAUL DURRENBERGER

OSKAR VON H!NUBER

DAVID L. GOSLING

RICHARD P. LANDO

ANTHONY R. WALKER

Some Early Siva Lingas in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Peninsular Thailand 1 Southern Thai /khlok/ : an Etymological Speculation 6 The "Energy Transition" in a Market Township and its Environs on an Island in Southern Thailand 10 Thai Conjugal Family Relationships and the Hsu Hypothesis 25 Ahom and the Study of Early Thai Society 42 The Shan Rocket Festival: Buddhist and Non-Buddhist Aspects of Shan Religion 63 Pali Manuscripts of Canonical Texts from North Thailand- A Preliminary Report· 75 Redefining-theSangha•s Role in Northern Thailand : An Investigation of Monastic Careers at Five Chiang Mai Wats 89 "The Spirits Aren't So Powerful Any More" Spirit Belief and Irrigation Organization in North Thailand 121 Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu) Rites for Establishing a New Village 149

Notes S. SIVARAKSA

Notes on Angkor Wat

208

Reviews BILL CADWALLADER

JEFFREY SNG KUSUMA RAKSAMANI

Asian Action Newsletter of the Asian Cultural Forum on Development (ACFOD) 210 Douglas R. Webster, ed. The Southeast 212 Asian Environment Satya Vrat Shastri, Thaidesavil'iisam 215 fl.,.. vAl~

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KARUNA KUSALASAYA

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BETTY GOSLING

(Notes on Miscellaneous Knowledge Written by H.R.H. Prince Narisranuvadtiwongse to Phya Anuman Rajdbon) 217 M.C. Subhadradis Diskul,- ed., The Art of Srivijaya Carol Stratton and Miriam McNair Scott, The Art of Sukhothai: Thailand's 220 Golden Age

S. SIVARAKSA

'W$JOU1"Un1&~ lil.Utl11'1fuman9lournou -w.fl. mrllacf

WILLIAM J. KLAUSNER

(Thai Dictionary, The Royal Institute 1982) Ruth Inge-Heinze, Tham Khwan

•

224 227

PHRA PRACHA PASANNADHAMMO 1l1'W'W'f11i1.h:::11J 1t~na.:~OU'Wflm (Painted Sculp

•ture on

•

the Life of. the Buddha Folk Art at Wat Thongnopakun)

UTHAI DULYAKASEM

WISIT WANGWINYOO

DAVID L. GOSLING

229

Phra Rajavaramuni (Prayudh), Social Dimension of Buddhism in Contemporary Thailand 231 Bantorn Ondam and Stephen Teo, eds., Organizing Experience from Thailand 234 Sulak Sivaraksa, A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society: Collected Articles by a Concerned Thai Intellectual 236

JULIENNE WILLIAMS

MICHAEL SMITHIES NICHOLAS TAPP

RUTH K.CADWALLADER VIRGINIA M. DI CROCCO

MICHAEL SMITHIES MICHAEL SMITHIES

Vichitvongs N. Pombhejra, Pridi Banomyong And the Making of Thailand Modern History 240 Joe . Cummings, Thailand, a Travel 241 Survival Kit · Martin Stuart-Fox, ed., Contemporary Laos: Studies in the Politics and Society of the Lao People's 243 Democratic Republic Phia Sing, Traditional Ret;ipes of Laos 245 U Bo Kay, Pagan Thuteithana Lanhyunt (The Pagan Research Guide) 246 Mohammad Hatta, Memoirs

Ind~nesian

Patriot,

Pramoedya Ananta Toer, This Earth of Mankind

248 251

MICHAEL SMITHIES

I Made Bandem and Frederik Eugene deBoer, Kaja and Kelod: Balinese Dance in Transition 255

SERI PHONGPHIT

Koson Srisang, ed., Perspectives on Political Ethics, an Ecumenical Inquiry 258

Obituary BRUNO BARON-RENAULT

Hommage a l'inspirateur de la Thailande moderne, Pridi Banomyong

Annual Reports ·• The Honorary Auditor's Financial Report December 31, 1982 and 1981 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, 25 March 1982 Annual Reports List of Paid-up Members, 1983 List of Institutional Subscribers Institutions Exchanging Publications with the Siam Society, 1983

262

264 267 270 288 305 308

The microfilming of rare books, Journals of the Siam Society and Bangkok Time Newspaper is a contlnuing project of the Library of the Siam Society.. The following volumes of JSS and Bangkok Time have been microfilmed and copies are available for sale : Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 1-68. Bangkok Time Newspaper. We~kly

Mail . Daily .Mail Please send enquiries to the Librarian, The Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok, Thailand

Vol. 1938-1939 Vol. 1896-1902

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Fig. 5 Linga. Stone. Broken. Remaining portion, 18" high. Ho Pra Narai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.

Fig. 7

Lihga. Ekamukhali!iga . Stone. Discovered at Chaiya. Entire Linga 42" high. National Museum, Bangkok.

SOME EARLY SIVA LINGAS IN NAI{HON SI THAMMARAT

5

for dating. Finally. (fig. 6) is clearly so conventionalized, so far removed from the realism of the other lingas, that it must be a considerably later type but I am not able to assign a date to it. What this canvass of these neglected objects may usefully add to our knowledge of the past is scarcely an unshakeable conviction that we have got the dates fixed precisely right but simply that Siva woisJVp played a prominent role in the cultural life of the isthmus at what appears now to be a very early date. There is nothing in this that would sit uncomfortably with intelligence gathered by Chinese envoys and travellers in the accounts of isthmian states like P'an-p'an and Tan-tan that leave their press in records of the early centuries A.D.ll But the present town of Nakhon Si Thammarat does not itself apparently date from that period. In fact it may have been established only in the lltb century so the lingas must have been brought there from more ancient sites presumably in the vicinity.l2 The /ingas thus add the weight of their testimony to the very early Hindu sculptures of Vi~~u found in the vicinity of Nakhon Si Thammarat to suggest that an important early site remains to be discovered.

11. Chinese accounts of the historical geography of the isthmus in the early centuries of the Christian era are reviewed and analyzed in Paul Wheatley, The Golden Khersonese (Kuala Lumpur, 1961), especially Chapter V. 12. H.G. Quaritch Wales, The Malay Peninsula in Hindu Times (London, 1976), p. 154 and Nikhom Suthiragsa, ..The Archaeological Story of Phra Wieng City," Silpakon Vol. 15, No. 4 (1971). See also, David Wyatt, The Crystal Sands, The Chronicles of Nagara Sri Dharrmaraja, Data Paper: No. 98. Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University (Ithaca, 1975).

SOME EARLY SIVA LING AS IN NAKHON SI THAMMARAT, PENINSULAR THAILAND STANLEY J. O'CONNOR*

The linga is the aniconic representation of the Hindu God Siva. It is the most frequently encountered symbol of Siva. It seems to have drawn its form from the phallus since, initially at least, the lihga was rather faithfully modelled on its natural prototype. Its meanil;tg, however, is polyvalent, the radiant sign of divine presence. In Saiva temples, the lihga is the central focus of devotion, the primal and undifferentiated representation of the God and even those images of Siva in anthropomorphic form are frequently relegated to a position in the temple that is subsidiary to the linga.l Despite its centrality to Saivite cult practice, art historians writing about ancient Hindu sculpture have tended to focus on anthropomorphic representations of that deity. The reasons are obvious given the difficulty of drawing stylistic, or even typological, inference from such a relatively undifferentiated column of stone. It might be expected that the monolithic character of the lihga would, combined with the conservatism of religious sy_mbols, make it especially resistant to developmental change with the result that assigning dates to lingas is scarcely an exact science. One of the immediate consequences of relegating lingas to a kind of cult furniture at the margins of art historical attention is that the worship of Vi~~u and other Hindu gods tends to assume disproportionate attention in· discussions of ancient sculpture. If, for example, the actual number of extant lihgas found in Peninsular Thailand were totaled, it would be seen that devotion to Siva was a powerful force in the early city-states that flourished in the first millenium A.D. Not only would this rectify an imbalance in the religious history of the region, but it would also tend to enrich our mental image of its cultural and economic vitality. This is because almost all the lihgas available for study are monumental in scale and were not intended for domestic altars but were usually housed in a temple. Thus the presence of a linga almost necessarily entails an architectural enframement with all that is implied in the way of resource allocation, specialized craft skill, and the general level of economic development.

*

Professor of Art History and Asian Studies, Cornell University. This article is dedicated to Alexander B. Griswold as a tribute to his important contributions to knowledge and in gratitude for his friendship. 1. Frederick Asher, "Paiicayatana Siva Litigas: Sources and Meanings" in Joanna Williams, Kaladarsana (New Delhi, 1981), p. 3.

1

2

Stanley J. O'Connor

Radiating from a linga, when set in the field of its dynamic relationships, were the religious specialists who presided over the daily and seasonal calendar of religious practices, and the villagers whose duty it was to maintain and support the temple. We should see too the intricate web of well-worn foot paths leading to the temple hub from remote hamlets, neighboring villages, and adjacent towns for the daily honoring of the linga. Each of the ancient carved stones was daily wreathed with incense and flowers. They were fitfully and mysteriously lit by light from oil lamps waved by priestly attendants. They were worn smooth by lavings of water and milk and the innumerable touches of loving hands. Add to this the flux, commotion and social contagion of crowded festival days with music, bells, entertainments and gorgeous costumes and we have some echo, however faint, of the vibrant religious enthusiasm which a linga once focussed.2 An example of the relative neglect of the linga as an important resource for study is the fact that there are severallingas in the Ho Pra Narai in Nakhon Si Thammarat that have not been made available for study in adequate photographs in the eighty years since they were first described by M.L. de Lajonquiere in 1912.3 When he visited the shrine there were five lingas. One, described as standing outside the remains of an ancient brick shrine sheltered by the new hall, was in three sections carved of rough granite and standing 0.75 meter in height. This is almost certainly our figure # 1 which fits the description quite easily since it is granite and its measurements are roughly similar. The other lingas, as Lajonquiere found them, were inside the shrine. Three of them were of the same form as the previously described linga. One (fig. 2) was made of granite, the other (fig. 3) was carved from a schistose stone. The third linga was broken. There are presently two broken lihgas in the shrine, but since the clear implication of Lajonquiere's text is that it was similar in form to the previously described emblems, that is with a cubic base, an octagonal mid-section and a rounded top, it must be the linga illustrated in (fig. 4). Although badly damaged, it retains indications of an octagonal mid-section as well as a cylindrical top with gland and frenum clearly outlined as in all of the preceding lingas. The other broken linga now in the shrine (fig. 5) is too crude to be considered similar in form to the lihgas illustrated in figs. 1-4. 2. For a discussion of Hindu devotional practice see Diana L. Eck, Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 1981). 3. M.L. de Lajonquiere, "Essai d'inventaire archeologique du Siam", Bulletin de Ia Commission Archeologique de I' Indo-Chine (1912-1913). pp. 159-161, figs. 37 and 38. Illustrations of one of the /ingas has already been published, see: A. Lamb, "Kedah and Takuapa", Federation Museums Journal, Vol. VI (1961) pp. 113, and S.J. O'Connor, Hindu Gods of Peninsular Siam, (Ascona, 1972), fig. 5.

SOME EARLY SIVA LINGAS IN NAKHON SI THAMMARAT

3

Finally, Lajonquiere gave a sketch in his text (fig. 38) of a linga which he described as a simple cylinder with a rounded head carved from the same block as its square basin. This is, of course, our fig. 6. Lajonquiere apparently had no information on the provenance of these lingas. Some eighty years later there seems little likelihood that their find-sites will be recovered. One has had the impression that such objects tended to stay close to the places where they once embedded in local life. For example, in 1966 there were five lingas at Na Khom Village, Amphoe Si Chon, som.e 38 miles north of Nakhon Sri Thammarat.4 There apparently was no disposition locally to transfer them to Nakhon Si Thammarat. However, the force of this argument is diminislled by the fact that one of the Wat Nakhom lingas has recently been transported to Pak Pahnang, near Nakhon Si Thammarat where its cylindrical top and frenum have been painted a vivid red.S Dating the lihgas is obviously fraught with difficulty, but Professor Piriya Krairiksh has recently provided an advance in our knowledge that will prove helpful here. He restudied the linga with a single face which was found at Nongwai station, Chaiya district, Surat Thani Province (fig. 7). It had previously been recognized that it was clearly related to Indian mukhalingas of the Gupta period.6 He was able, however, to draw precise analogies with an Indian linga of the 6th century and he makes a convincing case for dating the Chaiya emblem to that century instead of the 7th or 8th as I had proposed in an earlier study. 7 I think he is probably right and, if he is, it should lead to some greater precision in dating lingas. Previously, dating was based on analogy with Cambodian and Cham examples and, or, relative degrees of naturalism or abstraction, the presumption being that those phallic emblems closest in anatomical fidelity to the natural prototype were earliest. In the earliest lihgas the rounded head section is given especial emphasis, its proportions being greater than those of the shaft and the base, or, in some cases, one of the lower sections may be suppressed entirely. A number of lingas of this type have been found in the Transbassac region of what is now southern Vietnam where the early state of Funan is thought to have been centered. These realistic lingas have been dated by L. Malleret to the last period of Funanese art from the end of the fifth to the beginning of the sixth centuries. 7 4. S.J. O"Connor, "Si Chon: An Early Settlement in Peninsular Thailand," Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. LVI, Pt. 1 (January 1968), pp. 12-14 and figs. 6 and 7. I understand that the small glass linga illustrated in fig. 8 is no longer in Si Chon and its present location is unknown. S. Piriya Kririksh, Art in Peninsular Thailand Prior to the Fourteenth Century A.D. (Fine Arts Department, Bangkok, 1981), p. 30 and Plate IV. 6. Ibid. p. 29 and Plate 14. 7. L. Malleret, L'Archeologie du delta du Mekong, Vol. 1 (Paris, 1959), pp. 379-80. For examples of the earliest type see plates 80a and d. Also H. Parmentier, "Releve Archeologique de la Province de Tay Ninh (Cochin-china), Bulletin de Ia Commission Archeo/ogique de /'Indo-Chine, 1910-11 p. 71, fig. 2L.

4

Stanley J. O'Connor

In the same general area there are several l;hgas whose realism, although still quite marked, is somewhat attenuated. There is a general proportional similarity between the base, shaft and head. In Malleret's phrase these are "conventional emblems." Several of them are ekamukhalingas. One is from Oc-Eo.a The other is from Vat Sak Sampou,9 They are notable for the fact that the faces are very small in proportion to the overall scale of the linga. In this they differ both from the Chaiya emblem and those examples of Indian lingas of the Gupta period with which I am familiar. In fact the presentation is at striking odds with the search for a formal unity that characterizes classical Gupta art. In the case of the ekamukhalihga, this led to a reconciliation of the form of the face with the overall form of the linga.lO The examples from Vietnam are also considerably more realistic than the Chaiya example because they exhibit an accentuated gland and frenum on a swelling, distended ovoid top. They are in general configuration quite similar, however, to our Nakhon Si ~hammarat example (fig. 1). Both the Oc-Eo and the Vat Sak Sampou lingas were thought to date to the end of Funanese art or the beginning of the art of Chen-la in the late sixth or early seventh century but this date would appear too late if we accept a sixth .century date for the Chaiya ekamukhalinga. Perhaps a date in . the Sth century or earlier wo~ld now be in order. It follows that our (fig. 1) would date also from the Sth century or earlier, while the [;;zgas illustrated in (figs., 2 and 3) could, because of their diminished degree of realism, be assigned dates in the late Sth or early 6th centuries. The Unga with the traces of an octagonal section below the cylindrical tops (fig. 4) is so fragmentary that it resists dating. Its frenum is presented in high relief so it might very well be an early example. Similarly (fig. 5) is too damaged to allow 8. Illustrated in Malleret, op. cit. p. 383, no. 107, pl. 81.

9. Illustr~ted in H. Parmentier, "L'Art presume du Fou-nan, Bulletin de /'Ecole Francaise d' Extreme-Orient, Vol. 32, Pt. 1 (1932) plate 14A. 10. See, for example. the linga from Khoh dated ca. 500 A.D. for a mature Gupta example. It is plate 171 in J G. Williams, The Art of Gupta India, (Princeton, 1982). Note especially her remarks, pp. ·114-115 on the differences between this example and an earlier linga from Udayagiri Cave 4. The latter is illustrated as plate 113. Another ekamukhaliilga that is closely similar to the Udayagiri example is in the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. It is illustrated in plate 6 in P. Pal. The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and Its Influence (New :York, 1978). Note the proportional dissimilarity between the cylindrical top and the two lower sections. For another ekamukhalinga that would appear to be an early Gupta example see P. Pal, The Divine Presence (Los Angeles, 1978), plate 8.

Fig. 1 Linga. Granite. 23" high. Ho Pra Narai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.

Fig. 2

Linga. Granite. 37" high. Ho Pra Narai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.

Fig. 3 Linga. Schistose Stone.

21" high. Ho Pra Narai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.

'Tj

q'Q" .;>.

t--o

;:;;

""

~

en

0

1:1

? .,to 0

I';'

?"' ~

8"' 5"

I"

s·

(JQ

'0 0

:::.

o·

1:1

: p-

~ ::t: 0

.,>-t;J I"

z

., ~

~-

z I"

I';'

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pI"

8 8~

.,

~ >-l

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.:

Fig. 5 Linga. Stone. Broken. Remaining portion, 18" high. Ho Pra Narai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.

Fig. 7

Lihga. Ekamukhali!iga . Stone. Discovered at Chaiya. Entire Linga 42" high. National Museum, Bangkok.

SOME EARLY SIVA LINGAS IN NAI{HON SI THAMMARAT

5

for dating. Finally. (fig. 6) is clearly so conventionalized, so far removed from the realism of the other lingas, that it must be a considerably later type but I am not able to assign a date to it. What this canvass of these neglected objects may usefully add to our knowledge of the past is scarcely an unshakeable conviction that we have got the dates fixed precisely right but simply that Siva woisJVp played a prominent role in the cultural life of the isthmus at what appears now to be a very early date. There is nothing in this that would sit uncomfortably with intelligence gathered by Chinese envoys and travellers in the accounts of isthmian states like P'an-p'an and Tan-tan that leave their press in records of the early centuries A.D.ll But the present town of Nakhon Si Thammarat does not itself apparently date from that period. In fact it may have been established only in the lltb century so the lingas must have been brought there from more ancient sites presumably in the vicinity.l2 The /ingas thus add the weight of their testimony to the very early Hindu sculptures of Vi~~u found in the vicinity of Nakhon Si Thammarat to suggest that an important early site remains to be discovered.

11. Chinese accounts of the historical geography of the isthmus in the early centuries of the Christian era are reviewed and analyzed in Paul Wheatley, The Golden Khersonese (Kuala Lumpur, 1961), especially Chapter V. 12. H.G. Quaritch Wales, The Malay Peninsula in Hindu Times (London, 1976), p. 154 and Nikhom Suthiragsa, ..The Archaeological Story of Phra Wieng City," Silpakon Vol. 15, No. 4 (1971). See also, David Wyatt, The Crystal Sands, The Chronicles of Nagara Sri Dharrmaraja, Data Paper: No. 98. Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University (Ithaca, 1975).

SOUTHERN THAI /KHLOK/ : AN ETYMOLOGICAL SPECULATION PITSAMAI INTARACHAT"'

Introduction In Southern Thai dialects, there is a word which iS alternatively pronounced as [khlok]I or [khl~k]. Its meaning d given in a Southern Thai Dialect Dictionary2 is 'a type of weapon which has a sheath.' A Malay Dictionary (Kamus Dewan) reveals a similar word whose meaning is given as 'a type of) short sword with a curving blade'. Another citation given in the same dictionary indicates that the word is also found in Jakarta, having the meaning 'a type of short sword.'3 A Thai article written by a Buddhist monk in Southern Thailand 4 states that a short sword known as /khlok/s, although difficult to find (in Thailand) nowadays, still exists in a museum in Pathalung Province, at Wat Phuphaphimuk. The sword was described as having a crescent shape. Thus it is speculated in this paper that this short sword is the same item; i.e. the weapon mentioned in the Southern Thai Dictionary for the meaning of the word /khlok/, and that this word and the Malay word go/ok refer to the same thing. This word /khlok/ does not occur in Standard Thai and is not in the Royal Thai Academy Dictionary. It is believed in this paper that this word is borrowed from the Malay word go/ok; i.e./golo?f in Standard Malay, with /g/ transformed into a Thai /kh/ 6 , and combined with the /1/ of the second syllable of /golo?f to form an initial consonant

* Assistant Professor, Institute of Language and Culture,

Mahidol University. 1. See Intarachat, Pitsamai. 'Unsur-Unsur Bahasa Melayu dalam Bahasa Thai Selatan,' in Dewan Bahasa, jilid 24, Ogos, 1980, for the earlier appearances of this word. 2. Potchanaanukrom Paasaa Thin Tai, Withayalai Khruu Songkhlaa, 1971. 3. Kamus Umum Bahasa Indonesia has the same word with the same explanation given for the second meaning in Kamus Dewan, thus revealing the existence of this item in Indonesia also. 4. Thaan Chaokhun Phra Thep Sarn Suthi, Thephasarn Ban Haa, Wat Phuphaphimuk, 1970. S. For convenience, the phonemic representation /khlok/ is used to represent the two possible phonetic realizations: [khlok] and [khlok]. The vowel/of is chosen as the base due to the Thai conventional writing, where the vowel sound of this word in Thai writing (fll:lfl) corresponds to /o/ rather than fof. 6. The voiced velar stop /g/ is not one of the phonemes in Thai, although for some Southern Thai (normally Malay-Thai bilinguals in Southern Thailand), [g] does occur in words borrowed from Malay. The reader might note that a district on the Thailand side of the Malaysia-Thailand border in Narathiwat Province in Southern Thailand named /SUIJai koJok/ (from Malay sungai golok), retains its Malay name. However, the Malay golok is written in standard Thai as lfll:lfl /kolok/, since to Thai ears the /g/ corresponds rougly to the voiceless unaspirated velar stop /k/ of their language. · .6

SOUTHERN THAI /KHLOK/ : AN ETYMOLOGICAL SPECULATION

cluster /khl-/, and the Malay final glottal stop f?f is replaced by a Thai /kf1. the Malay golok becomes a monosyllabic Southern Thai word /khlok/.

7

Thus

The Different Meanings of /kblok/ /khlok/ has three different meanings in Southern Thai: a sword, cashew nut, and the male sexual organ. The development of the meanings is speculated to be as follows: 1. The primary meaning, from which other meanings are derived, is a type of sword, formerly used in Southern Thailand, This type of sword is called /miit khlok/, where /miit/ = knife. 7a There is some evidence to suggest that this type of sword can be traced as far back as the Srivichai Dynasty in Thailand8, following archaeological findings which reveal a type of cabalistic design (usually written on a piece of cloth) 9 • This type of cabalistic design is written in ancient Khom scripts, and it has a finished design resembling a /khlok/ sword and, accordingly, is known as /jan na?mo daam khlok/ (=a /khlok/ cabalistic design). Thus, it is believed that this kind of sword had already existed in the Srivichai period, since the scripts used were the Khom scripts,lO already in popular use at a time when Srivichai was at its height. 2. A further extended meaning of the word /khlok/ is for the cashew fruit which is plentiful in Southern Thailand, India and elsewhere. The top of the cashew fruit has a /khlok/ shaped pod which contains a nut inside. It is found that there are at least three different names for this kind of fruit in Southern Thai dialects, namely : a) /hiia khlok/, where /hua/ =head; /khlok/ is the word whose original meaning is a type of sword-like weapon. b) /jaa ruag/, where fjaa/ is a shortened form for the word /phra?jaa/ = an honourable title; and /ruar:J/ = the former name of King Ramkhamhaeng. c) ;ma'>muag hfmma?phaan/, where ;ma?muar:J/ = mango;ll ;hfmma?pbflan/ = another name for the Himalaya Mountains. 7. This is probably due to being an archaic loan; that is. the final /k/ in archaic Malay becomes f?f in modern Malay (cf. Dempwolff 1937: 17 whose idea is restated in Collins, James T. 1981). I would like to thank Dr. David Thomas for reminding me of this possibility. 7a. Unless specified, all the pronunciations given are Southern Thai. 8. Srivichai was formerly believed to have had its spheres of influence in Palembang in Sumatra and Central Java. Later archeological and historical evidence indicate that its influence spread also to where it is now known as Chaiya, in Surat Thani Province in Thailand. It was believed that here was a centre of Buddhist studies, a place of artistic and cultural heritage (Musikakhama, 1972). 9. Thaan Chaokhun Phra Thep Sam Suthi, 1970: 4. 10. Ibid. 11. Notice that the top of this fruit also has the shape of a mango.

8

Pitsamai Intarachat

It should be noted that the first and the second names for the cashew fruit are used exclusively in Southern Thai dialects; the third name is also used in standard language.l 2 So it is speculated that the adoption of the names for this fruit has come in three stages. The term /hua khlok/ gained its name first as an exte~ded use of the original meaning of /khlok/. The second name, JjaaruarJ/, is presumed to have gained its use later in the time of King Ramkhamhaeng. Tradition has it that during the years 1273-1293 when King Ramkhamhaeng was spreading his influence from the north of his territory to the South, he stopped his military troops at what is now known as Pathalung Province during the season when the cashew fruit ripened. The king enquired from his southern subjects about the name of this fruit, which was not found in Sukhothai, the capital of Thailand in those days. His southern subjects, with the intention of pleasing the King, answered that the name of the fruit was Jjaarua'CJJ.1 3 The third name is not ·considered a dialectical term, since it is a common term from Standard Thai, a word of Sanskrit origin. The reason for the adoption of this name is not clear, since cashew trees are also grown in Southern Thailand, therefore, the name for the cashew need not have any connection with the Himalaya Mountains. However, it is stated in Thepsarn Ban Haa that this name is believed to have come about at a time when Indian epics were being popularized in Thailand,14 and that the introduction of this word was designed to avoid the association with the existing vernacular use of the word /khlok/ for the male sexual organ {see further discussion on the third meaning of /khlok/). This opinion is still disputable since the name JjaariiarJ/ should have already been in existence before the name Jhfmma?phaan/ came about. However, it should be noted that this phenomenon is common in Thai where there are certain names of fruits and vegetables that may have suggestive vulgar meanings in the vernacular terminologies, which are later replaced by acceptable names, mostly sacred names, or names from Hindu epics, to counter the alleged offensive connotations of the former terms. On the Malay side, a finding from my Malay room cleaner in the University of MaJaya,ts Kuala Lumpur, and a few Malay fruit sellers in Kuala Lumpur reveals that the fruit is known asjanggus.16 An entry from Kamus Dewan on the wordjanggus indicates that the fruit is also known as jambu go/ok, jambu monyet, kajus, and also 12. 13. 14. 15.

The word is pronounced /ma?mlla'J himmi?phaan/ in Standard Thai. My speculation is that Jjaarual)/,probably gained its use after the spread of the story. And this was after King Ramkhamhaeng's reign. I was doing my Malay Linguistics doctorate degree in Malaysia under an ASEAN fellowship at the time. 16. In fact, the answers obtained ranged from /jagus/, /jakus/, to JjaiJgus/, and some gave /kajus/ and /gajus/, the last two of which are believed to have been influenced by the English 'cashew'.

SOUTHERN THAI /KHLOK/ : AN ETYMOLOGICAL SPECULATION

gajus.11

9

From this, it can be deduced that the name /hiia khlok/, used to refer to a

type of fruit, is also loaned from the extended use of the Malay word golok (i.e. jambu golok). It also supports the earlier speculation that the Southern Thai name /hOa khlok/ for the fruit existed prior to the other two names : JjaarOaiJ/ and thus also /ma?muaiJ hfmma?phaan/. 3. The Southern Thai /khlok/ is also used dialectically and jocularly for the male sexual organ. It is interesting to note that in Southern Thailand there is a character in the shadow plays featured as a man carrying the /khlok/ weapon.1 8 His appearance always provokes laughter from the audience, who probably grasp the double meaning automatically. And this double meaning is also found in the Malay word golok. Summary

The etymological speculation of the Southern Thai /khlok/ can be summarized as follows: fkhlok/ is a loan-word from Malay, having the basic meaning 'a type of sword'. Two extended uses of the word follow: for a type of fruit and as a vernacular term for the male sexual organ. The finding from the Malay side on the usages of golok indicates that the two extended meanings of /khlok/ in Southern Thai are also loans.

REFERENCES Collins, James T., 'Kajian Dialek Daerah dan Rekonstruksi Bahasa Purba', Simposium Dialek, Bangi, UKM, December, 1981. Intarachat, Pitsamai, 'Unsur-Unsur Melayu dalam Bahasa Thai Selatan' in Dewan Bahasa, Jilid 24, Ogos, 1980. Kamus Dewan, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 1970. Musikakhama, Nikhom, Paendin Thai Nai Adeet, Prae Pithaya, Bangkok, 1972. Potchanaanukrom Paasaa Thin Tal, Withayalai Khruu Songkhla, 1971. Thaan Chaokhun Phra Thep Sarn Suthi, Thephasarn Ban Haa, Wat Phuphaphimuk, Phathalung, 1970.

17. Kamus Dewan does not give these equivalents in the entry for the word 'golok'. 18. This character also occurs in the Indonesian and Malay shadow plays or Wayang Kulit.

SOUTHERN THAI /KHLOK/ : AN ETYMOLOGICAL SPECULATION PITSAMAI INTARACHAT"'

Introduction In Southern Thai dialects, there is a word which iS alternatively pronounced as [khlok]I or [khl~k]. Its meaning d given in a Southern Thai Dialect Dictionary2 is 'a type of weapon which has a sheath.' A Malay Dictionary (Kamus Dewan) reveals a similar word whose meaning is given as 'a type of) short sword with a curving blade'. Another citation given in the same dictionary indicates that the word is also found in Jakarta, having the meaning 'a type of short sword.'3 A Thai article written by a Buddhist monk in Southern Thailand 4 states that a short sword known as /khlok/s, although difficult to find (in Thailand) nowadays, still exists in a museum in Pathalung Province, at Wat Phuphaphimuk. The sword was described as having a crescent shape. Thus it is speculated in this paper that this short sword is the same item; i.e. the weapon mentioned in the Southern Thai Dictionary for the meaning of the word /khlok/, and that this word and the Malay word go/ok refer to the same thing. This word /khlok/ does not occur in Standard Thai and is not in the Royal Thai Academy Dictionary. It is believed in this paper that this word is borrowed from the Malay word go/ok; i.e./golo?f in Standard Malay, with /g/ transformed into a Thai /kh/ 6 , and combined with the /1/ of the second syllable of /golo?f to form an initial consonant

* Assistant Professor, Institute of Language and Culture,

Mahidol University. 1. See Intarachat, Pitsamai. 'Unsur-Unsur Bahasa Melayu dalam Bahasa Thai Selatan,' in Dewan Bahasa, jilid 24, Ogos, 1980, for the earlier appearances of this word. 2. Potchanaanukrom Paasaa Thin Tai, Withayalai Khruu Songkhlaa, 1971. 3. Kamus Umum Bahasa Indonesia has the same word with the same explanation given for the second meaning in Kamus Dewan, thus revealing the existence of this item in Indonesia also. 4. Thaan Chaokhun Phra Thep Sarn Suthi, Thephasarn Ban Haa, Wat Phuphaphimuk, 1970. S. For convenience, the phonemic representation /khlok/ is used to represent the two possible phonetic realizations: [khlok] and [khlok]. The vowel/of is chosen as the base due to the Thai conventional writing, where the vowel sound of this word in Thai writing (fll:lfl) corresponds to /o/ rather than fof. 6. The voiced velar stop /g/ is not one of the phonemes in Thai, although for some Southern Thai (normally Malay-Thai bilinguals in Southern Thailand), [g] does occur in words borrowed from Malay. The reader might note that a district on the Thailand side of the Malaysia-Thailand border in Narathiwat Province in Southern Thailand named /SUIJai koJok/ (from Malay sungai golok), retains its Malay name. However, the Malay golok is written in standard Thai as lfll:lfl /kolok/, since to Thai ears the /g/ corresponds rougly to the voiceless unaspirated velar stop /k/ of their language. · .6

SOUTHERN THAI /KHLOK/ : AN ETYMOLOGICAL SPECULATION

cluster /khl-/, and the Malay final glottal stop f?f is replaced by a Thai /kf1. the Malay golok becomes a monosyllabic Southern Thai word /khlok/.

7

Thus

The Different Meanings of /kblok/ /khlok/ has three different meanings in Southern Thai: a sword, cashew nut, and the male sexual organ. The development of the meanings is speculated to be as follows: 1. The primary meaning, from which other meanings are derived, is a type of sword, formerly used in Southern Thailand, This type of sword is called /miit khlok/, where /miit/ = knife. 7a There is some evidence to suggest that this type of sword can be traced as far back as the Srivichai Dynasty in Thailand8, following archaeological findings which reveal a type of cabalistic design (usually written on a piece of cloth) 9 • This type of cabalistic design is written in ancient Khom scripts, and it has a finished design resembling a /khlok/ sword and, accordingly, is known as /jan na?mo daam khlok/ (=a /khlok/ cabalistic design). Thus, it is believed that this kind of sword had already existed in the Srivichai period, since the scripts used were the Khom scripts,lO already in popular use at a time when Srivichai was at its height. 2. A further extended meaning of the word /khlok/ is for the cashew fruit which is plentiful in Southern Thailand, India and elsewhere. The top of the cashew fruit has a /khlok/ shaped pod which contains a nut inside. It is found that there are at least three different names for this kind of fruit in Southern Thai dialects, namely : a) /hiia khlok/, where /hua/ =head; /khlok/ is the word whose original meaning is a type of sword-like weapon. b) /jaa ruag/, where fjaa/ is a shortened form for the word /phra?jaa/ = an honourable title; and /ruar:J/ = the former name of King Ramkhamhaeng. c) ;ma'>muag hfmma?phaan/, where ;ma?muar:J/ = mango;ll ;hfmma?pbflan/ = another name for the Himalaya Mountains. 7. This is probably due to being an archaic loan; that is. the final /k/ in archaic Malay becomes f?f in modern Malay (cf. Dempwolff 1937: 17 whose idea is restated in Collins, James T. 1981). I would like to thank Dr. David Thomas for reminding me of this possibility. 7a. Unless specified, all the pronunciations given are Southern Thai. 8. Srivichai was formerly believed to have had its spheres of influence in Palembang in Sumatra and Central Java. Later archeological and historical evidence indicate that its influence spread also to where it is now known as Chaiya, in Surat Thani Province in Thailand. It was believed that here was a centre of Buddhist studies, a place of artistic and cultural heritage (Musikakhama, 1972). 9. Thaan Chaokhun Phra Thep Sam Suthi, 1970: 4. 10. Ibid. 11. Notice that the top of this fruit also has the shape of a mango.

8

Pitsamai Intarachat

It should be noted that the first and the second names for the cashew fruit are used exclusively in Southern Thai dialects; the third name is also used in standard language.l 2 So it is speculated that the adoption of the names for this fruit has come in three stages. The term /hua khlok/ gained its name first as an exte~ded use of the original meaning of /khlok/. The second name, JjaaruarJ/, is presumed to have gained its use later in the time of King Ramkhamhaeng. Tradition has it that during the years 1273-1293 when King Ramkhamhaeng was spreading his influence from the north of his territory to the South, he stopped his military troops at what is now known as Pathalung Province during the season when the cashew fruit ripened. The king enquired from his southern subjects about the name of this fruit, which was not found in Sukhothai, the capital of Thailand in those days. His southern subjects, with the intention of pleasing the King, answered that the name of the fruit was Jjaarua'CJJ.1 3 The third name is not ·considered a dialectical term, since it is a common term from Standard Thai, a word of Sanskrit origin. The reason for the adoption of this name is not clear, since cashew trees are also grown in Southern Thailand, therefore, the name for the cashew need not have any connection with the Himalaya Mountains. However, it is stated in Thepsarn Ban Haa that this name is believed to have come about at a time when Indian epics were being popularized in Thailand,14 and that the introduction of this word was designed to avoid the association with the existing vernacular use of the word /khlok/ for the male sexual organ {see further discussion on the third meaning of /khlok/). This opinion is still disputable since the name JjaariiarJ/ should have already been in existence before the name Jhfmma?phaan/ came about. However, it should be noted that this phenomenon is common in Thai where there are certain names of fruits and vegetables that may have suggestive vulgar meanings in the vernacular terminologies, which are later replaced by acceptable names, mostly sacred names, or names from Hindu epics, to counter the alleged offensive connotations of the former terms. On the Malay side, a finding from my Malay room cleaner in the University of MaJaya,ts Kuala Lumpur, and a few Malay fruit sellers in Kuala Lumpur reveals that the fruit is known asjanggus.16 An entry from Kamus Dewan on the wordjanggus indicates that the fruit is also known as jambu go/ok, jambu monyet, kajus, and also 12. 13. 14. 15.

The word is pronounced /ma?mlla'J himmi?phaan/ in Standard Thai. My speculation is that Jjaarual)/,probably gained its use after the spread of the story. And this was after King Ramkhamhaeng's reign. I was doing my Malay Linguistics doctorate degree in Malaysia under an ASEAN fellowship at the time. 16. In fact, the answers obtained ranged from /jagus/, /jakus/, to JjaiJgus/, and some gave /kajus/ and /gajus/, the last two of which are believed to have been influenced by the English 'cashew'.

SOUTHERN THAI /KHLOK/ : AN ETYMOLOGICAL SPECULATION

gajus.11

9

From this, it can be deduced that the name /hiia khlok/, used to refer to a

type of fruit, is also loaned from the extended use of the Malay word golok (i.e. jambu golok). It also supports the earlier speculation that the Southern Thai name /hOa khlok/ for the fruit existed prior to the other two names : JjaarOaiJ/ and thus also /ma?muaiJ hfmma?phaan/. 3. The Southern Thai /khlok/ is also used dialectically and jocularly for the male sexual organ. It is interesting to note that in Southern Thailand there is a character in the shadow plays featured as a man carrying the /khlok/ weapon.1 8 His appearance always provokes laughter from the audience, who probably grasp the double meaning automatically. And this double meaning is also found in the Malay word golok. Summary

The etymological speculation of the Southern Thai /khlok/ can be summarized as follows: fkhlok/ is a loan-word from Malay, having the basic meaning 'a type of sword'. Two extended uses of the word follow: for a type of fruit and as a vernacular term for the male sexual organ. The finding from the Malay side on the usages of golok indicates that the two extended meanings of /khlok/ in Southern Thai are also loans.

REFERENCES Collins, James T., 'Kajian Dialek Daerah dan Rekonstruksi Bahasa Purba', Simposium Dialek, Bangi, UKM, December, 1981. Intarachat, Pitsamai, 'Unsur-Unsur Melayu dalam Bahasa Thai Selatan' in Dewan Bahasa, Jilid 24, Ogos, 1980. Kamus Dewan, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 1970. Musikakhama, Nikhom, Paendin Thai Nai Adeet, Prae Pithaya, Bangkok, 1972. Potchanaanukrom Paasaa Thin Tal, Withayalai Khruu Songkhla, 1971. Thaan Chaokhun Phra Thep Sarn Suthi, Thephasarn Ban Haa, Wat Phuphaphimuk, Phathalung, 1970.

17. Kamus Dewan does not give these equivalents in the entry for the word 'golok'. 18. This character also occurs in the Indonesian and Malay shadow plays or Wayang Kulit.

THE "ENERGY TRANSITION" IN A MARKET TOWNSHIP AND ITS ENVIRONS ON AN ISLAND IN SOUTHERN THAILAND 1 ERIK COHEN*

Introduction The broad outline of the evolution of the sources and uses of energy in human society is by now well documented: it could be characterised by five basic traits: 1) From a low to a high per capita use of energy (Brown, 1976 : 1-5, Cook, 1976 : 165-7)- or, what Cottrell (1955) in his pioneering work called a transition from low-energy to high-energy societies. 2) From ethno-energetic to extra-somatic auxiliary sources of energy (Ruyle, 1977), i.e. from the use of human muscle-power to the use of sources of energy external to the human organism. 3) Within the category of auxiliary energy systems-from low-intensity to highintensity sources of energy, e.g. from wood, charcoal and water or wind power, to coal, gas, oil and electricity, and eventually atomic power (Schurr & Netschert, 1968: 45). 4) From renewable energy sources, such as wood and other vegetable materials, water and wind power, to non-renewable, sources, such as coal, gas and oil. 5) From local energy sources to sources which originate from outside the local economic system- in the national, regional and eventually even global energy system (Haefele & Sassin, 1979). This evolutionary process is a universal one, repeated in its general outline everywhere on the globe; it is presently most intense in the so-called developing countries. However, the process is not everywhere exactly the same. Bennett's (1976 : 123) words concerning human ecological evolution are equally valid when applied to the evolution of human energy systems :

* Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1. This paper summarises part of the findings of a longitudinal study of an island community in southern Thailand, the first stages of which were conducted in the summers of 1981 and 1982; it is to be continued. Thanks are due to Mr. Damrong Danayadol, for his assistance in the field, and to the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for financial support.

10

"ENERGY TRANSITION" ON AN ISLAND IN SOUTHERN THAILAND

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"The process is characterised by both broad unidirectional evolutionary trends and by evolutions or histories of specific human populations that may or may not exemplify the sequences demonstrated by the evolutionary pattern" (Bennett, 1976: 123) Following Bennett, I suggest to term the general evolutionary trend "energy transition". But contrary to the tendency in the literature, I suggest to focus, rather than on the general trend, on its specific variations found, under different circumstances, in concrete local situations. Such an approach will not only yield information on specific forces accelerating or impeding the general trend, but also make it possible to distinguish specific types of processes within this general trend. A search of the literature revealed few studies of the energy system of local communities in Third World countries; only a handful of these deal explicitly with the energy transition or with specific aspects of it. It was this scarcity of studies which induced me to write this paper, even though I am not an expert in energetics and lacked the facilities and technical knowledge to collect data on energy flows and caloric inputs and outputs while in the field. Detailed studies of local energy systems were undertaken primarily in communities not yet seriously affected by the penetration of modem energy sources. The best known among these is probably Rappaport's (1971) work on the Tsembaga of New Guinea. Revelle's (1976: 969) statement, relating to rural India summarises well the nature of the energy system of such communities : From an energy standpoint, rural India can be thought of as a partially closed ecosystem in which energy derived by people and animals from the photosynthetic products of plants is used to grow and prepare human food, which in turn provides an essential energy input to grow more food, and so on in an endless cycle." (Revelle, 1976 : 969) The opening up of local energy systems has been discussed from two essentially complementary perspectives: pressures put upon 'traditional' energy sources, in particular firewood and other organic material (Fleuret & Fleuret, 1972; Briscoe, 1979); and the local impact of the introduction of new sources of energy, such as fuel and conserved foods (Kemp, 1971) or electricity (Hayes and Bello, 1979, Mihalyi, 1977); another variant of such studies focusses on the consequences of infrastructural innovations, such as the construction of new roads, which facilitate the penetration or dissemination of new energy sources in the community (e.g. Hong and Lee, 1977, Chatty, 1980).

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Erik Cohen

Whatever their specific contribution, however, none of these studies puts the problem of the energy transition into a broad comparative and theoretical framework. Rather, they limit themselves to a careful analysis of the changes occurring under particular circumstances. With a view to create such a framework, I formulated four general problems concerning the "energy transition" on the local level : 1) The pattern of introduction of new energy sources and of phasing out of the old ones : what is the time span of the transition, which ecological and socio-economic groups are first affected by it and which last, what accelerates or impedes the process, to what extent do new and old resources co-exist, creating an "energy dualism"? 2) In which order and in what intensity do the new sources penetrate the major sectors of the local economic system-production, transport, household, consumption, etc.? 3) what are the principal mechanisms through which the new sources of energy are introduced and disseminated in the community : are they introduced spontaneously by local inhabitants or is their introduction and dissemination sponsored from the outside? To what extent is the introduction of new sources a reaction to the depletion of old ones, or the consequence of initiatives to improve and modernize the local economy or life style? 4) What are the actual-vs. the expected-ecological, economic, social and cultural consequences of the introduction of new sources of energy in the community? How did it affect the local opportunity structure of the various groups in the community (Cohen, 1977, and forthcoming), and how did they respond to the changes? These problems will be examined on the basis of data collected in the course of an anthropological survey of social change in a single community-the market township of Talat Maphrao and its environs in southern Thailand.2)

Talat Maphrao and its Environs Talat Maphrao is located on Ko Lek, an island of 247 km2 and a population of about 32,500 (1977). Its economy is based on small-holder coconut plantations, a few other branches of agriculture and, in recent years, tourism (Cohen, 1982, 1983). Coconuts are the major, and were until recently the only, cash-crop of the island. The Island's traditional economy is in the grip of a crisis, owing to the physical and economic decline of its coconut production (Cohen, forthcoming). At the same time, however, the national government is taking steps to develop the island's infrastructure : it constructed a modern round-island road in 1980/81, and is presently expanding the 2. For a fuller description of the community and its environs, see Cohen (forthcoming). All the names of localities are pseudonyms.

"ENERGY TRANSITION" ON AN ISLAND IN SOUTHERN THAILAND

13

central electric power supply network on the island. Concomitantly, rapid ferry transportation, introduced in 1982, accelerated and improved communications with the mainland. A local air-field, intended to provide a link with the mainland, is planned. Talat Maphrao, essentially a marketing township, is located close to the shore on the southwestern region of the island, about 17 km from Golden Bowl Town, the small island capit~l. Talat Maphrao encompasses less than a hundred households, but it is essentially an urban, rather than rural settlement; it is surrounded by nine Thai coconut growing villages and Ban Malayu, a Malay fishing settlement. The total population of the township and its environs is about 3,000, living in 440 households (1981). The township served for most of this century as the market and service center of the southern region of the island. The local inhabitants were primarily Chinese traders, but as many of these gradually migrated to the mainland, Thai villagers moved into it; the township is at present a mixed Chinese-Thai community. With the recent decline of the coconut trade, much of its traditional regional importance has been lost, but it still features a few dozen stores, and various services such as coffeeshops, restaurants, clinics, an elementary school and a cinema. Save for two small wood-mills there is no local-industry. Most inhabitants own coconut and other plantations in addition to their urban occupations and a minority lives exclusively off agriculture. A recently developed tourist beach, with about a dozen locally-owned and operated small bungalow resorts (Cohen, 1982, 1983) is located nearby. The surrounding Thai villages are pure agricultural settlements, and except an occasional small store, possess no local services. Ban Malayu has three small stores and one or two coffee-shops, but virtually all the population lives of fishing. The local population, Chinese, Thai and Malay, is permeated by a sense of decline, owing to the crisis in the coconut market, the gradual destruction of other branches of agriculture, such as chicken-growing and fishing (Johnson, 1981, Bangkok Post, 1982), and the worsening of the terms-of-trade of local products in comparison to the goods imported to the island. The steps taken by the authorities to develop the local infrastructure did not brighten the outlook of most inhabitants.

The Energy Transition in Talat Maphrao-A Historical Review The traditional life style of the inhabitants of Talat Maphrao and its environs was energy extensive and based primarily on renewable local energy sources. If we take as our point of departure the energy system of the island at the beginning of this century, we find that it was based primarily on human and animal muscle, organic fuels and wind power.

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Erik Cohen

The coconut plantations were worked by human labor and their product transported to Talat Maphrao either on the backs of the laborers or on buffalo-drawn carts. Buffaloes were also employed for work in the rice fields. Coconut-shell charcoaP) served as the principal cooking fuel. Until World War I, sailing ships transported coconuts and other goods to the mainland or Singapore and brought in products consumed by the local population. Sailing boats also served for fishing. Only the illumination of dwellings was based on an imported mineral fuel, kerosene, but the quantities used were miniscule. This traditional energy system began changing after the First World War. The energy transition started in the transport sector, and particularly in the field of maritime transportation. The first to go were the sailing ships and sailing boats which before the First World War plied the routes to the island and frequented Talat Maphrao's small harbor. After the War, they were gradually substituted for by steamers. This change took maritime transport completely out of the hands of the locals : while some local merchants owned sailing ships or sailing boats, all the steamers were owned by outsiders to the locality and probably also, to ~e island. Steamers, in turn, lost their place to combustion-engine ships after the Second World War. As the size of ships grew, the small harbor of Talat Maphrao proved insufficient to service them. With the construction of a new, long pier in the harbor of Golden Bowl Town in 1970, the local harbor of Talat Maphrao fell into disuse. The township ceased to be a link between overland and maritime transport. All mainland-bound traffic was now deflected to the harbor in Golden Bow Town, which thereby became the undisputed apex of the island's settlement hierarchy. With the 1980's, the island's communications with the mainland were again revolutionized by the construction of a n~w harbor, outside Golden Bowl Town. The harbor serves the new rapid ferry line to the mainland, which not only cuts the time of the trip by half, but also transports cars and lorries and thus has a major, indirect impact on land-transport on the island. Communications with the ·mainland will be further revolutionized once the long envisaged airstrip, intended to connect the island with the airport in the provincial capital on the mainland, is completed. The sphere of land-transportation began to experience the energy transition soon after maritime transportation. The first motorcar reached the island about forty years ago, beginning a slow revolution in land-transportation, which is only now, with the cOnstruction of the new concrete road, coming to its conclusion. 3. Coconut shell charcoal is produced from the inner, thin and hard, shell of the coconut; the thick, fibrous outer shell cannot be made into -charcoal.

"ENERGY TRANSITION" ON AN ISLAND IN SOUTHERN THAILAND

15

The first car on the island seems to have been a luxurious private motorcar, brought in as an item of conspicuous consumption by one of the leading families in the island capital. The first cars to arrive in Talat Maphrao and its environs, however, about thirty years ago, were small but heavy lorries, used for the collection and trans. port of coconuts from the plantations to the traders' stores in the township. These trucks gradually took over from the buffalo-drawn carts, so that for about 15 years now buffaloes are not used any more in coconut prod~ction, though they are still the main source of power in rice cultivation. No substantial changes occurred in the transportation of coconuts from plantation to storage since those early days of motorization: vintage Second World War trucks are still found on many farms. While in the past, however, the coconut or copra were further dispatched by ship from Talat Maphrao's little harbor, they are now transported by pickup vehicles to Golden Bowl Town, whence they are shipped to the mainland. The pickups ( silors), introduced to the island after the trucks, are sturdy iapanese vehicles which for years served as the only means of public transportation, as well as the primary means of transport for goods on the island's rugged roads. They provided a frequent but, until recently, slow connection to Golden Bowl Town. The new road significantly reduced the time of travel to the island capital, and apparently increased the volume of traffic. However, the road is too recent an infrastructural innovation for its impact on transportation to be as yet fully unfolded~ But it already much facilitated the movement around the island of heavy trucks, which began to arrive with the recent introduction of the ferry service, and which will in all probability eventually take over from the local pickups part of the transport ofgoods on the island. Buses, as yet virtually absent on the island, may soon begin to take over public transportation. The principal means of private transportation on Ko Lek are still bicycles and motorcycles. For some time in the past, the latter were taking over from the former, but in the 1970's the bicycle experienced a slight comeback with the steep rise in gasoline prices. Recently, however, as the new road neared completion there was again a sharp increase in the use of motorcycles, whose number rose from several hundred to several thousand in a few years. While motorcycles are still selling briskly, the major recent innovations are private pick-up trucks : in Talat Maphrao several such trucks were recently acquired by the inhabitants for personal or business use. Private cars are also encouraged by the new road, and while none are yet owned by the inhabitants of Talat Maphrao, they can be sighted on its main street, coming either from Golden Bowl Town or, by ferry, from the mainland.

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Erik Cohen

The second main sector in which the energy transition made a significant impact was household consump~ion, even though here the impact came later and was less pervasive than in the transport sector. The traditional cooking fuel in Talat Maphrao and its environs was coconutshell charcoal, for which raw material was plentiful since the shells of the coconut are discarded in the production of copra. Most Thai and Chinese households used to prepare their own charcoal in simple ovens in their backyards and some still do. It is also available in the local stores, but is presently relatively expensive- one kilogram costs 5 Baht (US $ 0.25), a price which compares unfavorably with that of the newly introduced sources of household energy- gas or even electricity. The main transition in the field of cooking fuels was to cooking gas it started about ten years ago. Gas was quickly adopted as a more convenient and--if one does not prepare charcoal oneself--cheaper fuel for cooking. In the last 2-3 years, gas spread rapidly into most households in Talat Maphrao itself, and is presently beginning to penetrate the surrounding Thai villages; only the Malay fishermen in Ban Malayu. are unable to afford it. The introduction of electricity to the island went through several steps, which can be well illustrated on the example of Talat Maphrao. About 25 years ago, a wealthy Chinese merchant was impressed by the use of electricity in Bangkok, and brought to the township a small llOV generator for his personal use. Like the introduction of the private car, it was an act of conspicuous consumption. However. the merchant was soon approached by his neighbors and asked to sell them electric power; he expanded his generating capacity and eventually supplied 130 households with electricity--virtually all the houses in Talat Maphrao. Electricity was primarily used for illumination, but also for a few electric appliances such as irons and fans. The supply was apparently feeble and not very reliable, and limited to only a few hours a day, so people were reluctant to acquire more sophisticated appliances. Ten years ago, the central government electricity agency took over the supply of power, installing three 210V generators. Five years later, the network was extended to Ban Malayu, where it eventually reached all households, but was used exclusively for illumination. The surrounding villages however are still . without electricity. Supply of power remained limited to evening (18.00 to 23.00) and early morning (4.00-6.00) hours (during the latter period it is used for the cooking of rice). During the day there is virtually no demand for electricity since there exists no power driven machinery or water pumping equipment in the township. With a stronger and more reliable source of power, more electric household appliances were introduced in Talat Maphrao, particularly electric rice cookers (which are quite wide-spread), refrigerators (of which there were about 10 in 1981) and

"ENERGY TRANSITION" ON AN ISLAND IN SOUTHERN THAILAND

17

televisions sets (only 3 or 4 sets in the whole settlement). The number and variety of appliances increased significantly during the last year, in anticipation of the pending connection of the town and the surrounding villages to the island-wide electric network, which will supply reliable power round-the-clock. The township of Talat Maphrao and, to an increasing extent, its rural environs are thus in the grip of an intensified energy transition. The locals relate to this process of transition with mixed feelings; while some see in the construction of the road and the future arrival of centrally distributed electricity a sign of progress and the coming of civilization, many reject the innovations and are suspicious of the motives of the developers. These people deny that the road is of much benefit to the locals, and claim that it was built mainly to further tourism, from which most inhabitants do not much benefit. One person argued that the principal local impact of the road consists of a drastic increase in traffic accidents (cf. Hong and Lee, 1977: 227). Even the imminent arrival of electricity is not greeted with much enthusiasm by the villagers, even though, unlike the inhabitants of Talat Maphrao, they have at present no electricity at all. While such lukewarm or hostile attitudes may well be a result of the incongruence between rapid infrastructural developments and a generally stagnating situation, they are also a symptom of the general suspicion and animosity of the islanders to the interference of outsiders in their lives, which has also been observed in· other areas, and, especially, tourism (Cohen, 1982, 1983).

The Energy Transition in Talat Maphrao-A Topical Analysis I shall analyse the data in terms of the four major problem areas outlined above:

(I) The Pattern of Introduction of New Energy Sources into the Community and the Phasing Out of Old Ones In general terms, Talat Maphrao and its environs experienced the general pattern of evolution of energy sources described in the introduction : from local, renewable sources of low intensity to external, non-renewable sources of high intensity. The time span of the transition was about 60 years, but it is not yet completed. The transition is most advanced in the market township, from which most of the old sources of energy almost disappeared- with the exception of coconut charcoal which is still produced and used by a few households. It is least advanced in the Thai villages, where, except in the field of land-transport, no significant changes in energy sources have yet taken place- coconut charcoal still serves as the principal cooking fuel and there is as yet no electricity and no gas. Both these new sources are, however, in the process of introduction, and a rapid energy transition in village household consumption should be expected in the near future.

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Erik Cohen

Unlike in rural areas on the Indian sub-continent (Revelle, 1976: 972; Briscoe, 1979; 633}, or Africa (Fleuret & Fleuret, 1972, Briscoe, 1979 : 633}, in Talat Maphrao and its environs there is no real "firewood crisis" : though the forests on the mountains in the interior are, like in the rest of rural Thailand, (Vanishing Forest, 1981) being rapidly exterminated, they are cut to free land for plantations, rather than for wood. Other organic material, such as the outer shells of the coconuts, which is discarded and left to rot, is easily available- indeed, the Malays of Ban Malayu, the poorest element in the population (Cohen, forthcoming) use them for fuel, as coconut charcoal becomes expensive. The rise in the price of the latter, indeed, indicates that this specific traditional fuel is becoming scarce; however, whether the recent rise in its price announces a future trend, or is merely a reflection of the acute decline in coconut production in the last few years, due to repeated draughts, cannot yet be established. A crisis in "traditional" fuels cannot, thus, be seen as a major factor accelerating the energy transition in Talat Maphrao. Rather, two factors were primarily responsible for the recent acceleration: the government's efforts to develop the infrastructure- the road and the electric network- for reasons which had less to do with the inhabitants and more, apparently, with the demands of the army and the plans for the future development of tourism; and the demonstration effect produced in the past by the introduction of new energy sources and uses by local individuals and more recently, by the intensified contact with the mainland, through improved communications and migration (Cohen, forthcoming). There exist, however, some important impediments to the rapid diffusion of the new energy sources, particularly in the villages: the crisis in local agriculture (ibid.) reduced significantly the current income of the inhabitants, putting serious constraints on their ability to pay for new implements and installations. Moreover, neither the road, nor electricity serve directly the productive sector of the _ village economy; there is hence little "felt need" for these innovations in the villagesfor example, villagers expressed very little interest and desire to have electricity installed in their houses, once the central power-network reaches their settlements. Co-existence of old and new sources of energy can be found primarily in one sector of the local economy- household consumption. This occasionally exists within . households. Some households use both old and new sources of cooking fuel-i.e. coconut shell charcoal and gas or electricity. The principal form of dualism, however, is between households of different ecological groups: the households in the township of Talat Maphrao, in the main, have already made the transition to new energy sources; those in the villages still use predominantly the old sources of energy.

(2) The Order of Penetration of New Energy Sources into the Main Economic ·Sectors. The sector which was first, and most intensely penetrated by the new sources of energy was transport - first at sea and then on land; here the transition was also most

"ENERGY TRANSITION" ON AN ISLAND IN SOUTHERN THAILAND

19

thorough, eventuating in the virtual disappearance of the traditional local means of transport. Household consumption was the next to be penetrated, but has not yet been completed : it ts the only sector showing marked internal dualism. The most important finding, however, is that no energy transition has taken place in the productive sector, which remains energy-extensive and based primarily on human muscle power and animal strength- bufalloes for ploughing the fields and monkeys for plucking the coconuts from the taller trees. There is no mechanization of production, there are no motor-driven water-pumps for irrigation and only a very limited use of chemical fertilizers; no industrial enterprises or mechanical workshops, save one or two small wood-mills, were established in the community. This difference between the sectors reflects the general imbalance in local development discussed elsewhere (Cohen, forthcoming) and highlights the difficulties which local inhabitants experience as they modernize their consumption and transportation, while their production stagnates and even declines.

(3) Mechanisms of Introduction and Dissemination of New Energy Sources While the concrete mechanisms by which different kinds of energy sources were introduced for particular purposes varied from case to case, a broad dynamic pattern can be discerned : the transition was frequently initiated spontaneously by an individual, who either for reasons of efficiency or conspicuous consumption introduced the new use, even in the complete absence of a suitable infrastructure; he was then copied by other individuals, and the new source was disseminated on a small scale. The authorities enter the picture only at a much later stage, sponsoring the large-scale dissemination of the energy source by significant infrastructural developments. This process is most clearly observable in the sphere of electricity: the introduction of electric power was pioneered by a private individual for personal use, without any encouragement or control on the part of the authorities; only some time after he had begun selling power to other households in the community did.the authorities take control, but the scale of production increased only moderately; only with the future introduction of centrally distributed power will sponsored, large-scale dissemination of electricity, particularly into the villages, take place. A similar process occurred in the sphere of motorised vehicles: local individuals introduced such vehicles for personal use, without, or with only a minimal infrastructure: petrol had to be brought in in containers, since there was no gas station; roads were few and in bad repair; only with the completion of the concrete round-island road have conditions for a rapid growth in motorised traffic been created. It thus appears that while the locals spontaneously initiated and controlled the early stages of the introduction of a new energy source, its use was limited to a: small scale; its large scale dissemination had to be sponsored by the authorities, since

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Erik Cohen

it necessitated considerable infrastructural investments; once this stage is reached, however, the locals lost effective control over both the timing and the direction of further dissemination- e.g. when and where electricity will be introduced or when and where new roads will be constructed- which now passed into the hands of the central authorities. ·

(4) The Consequences of the Energy Transition. Since the community is still in the grip of the intensive phase of the energy transition-the new road has just been completed, and round-the-clock, centrally distributed electricity is only pending-no fast conclusions concerning its consequences can yet be drawn. This question indeed will be one of the principal foci of future stages of the study. Some emergent consequences, however, can already be discerned. Before turning to these, however, a word should be said about the effects of the very process of the introduction of new sources of energy on the consciousness of the inhabitants, The island has until recently had little direct acquaintance with powerful modem technologies. The construction of the road was by far the biggest project ever undertaken on the island: dozens of bulldozers, heavy trucks and other machinery ceaselessly rumbled through Talat Maphrao and other settlements; a special landing quay for ships bringing in equipment and raw materials was constructed on Sawadee Beach. Sand and gravel were quarried on the island. Hundreds of workers, many of whom had heed specially brought in from the mainland, were employed in construction work. All this must have had a considerable demonstration effect on the local population, showing them vividly both the constructive and the destructive powers of modem technology.

The pending electrification process will probably have similar, though less

drastic effects. On the whole, the consequences of the energy transition on Talat Maphrao and its environs were largely paradoxical, owing to the uneven development of the various sectors of the local economy. The motorization of both sea and land transport has progressively marginalized Talat Maphrao as its harbor fell into disuse, while improved land-communications radically improved the connections and shortened travelling time to the island capital. The once important regional market township lost most of its traditional functions. Improved communications, in a context of an agricultural crisis and a growing taste for "modern" life styles induced by the mass media and the demonstration effect of innovations, encouraged accelerated out-migration; this syphoned off most of the younger generation of the Chinese and has a growing impact

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on the younger generation of the Thais. These phenomena have been extensively discussed elsewhere (Cohen, forthcoming) and will not be elaborated upon here. The introduction of new sources of energy held forth an opportunity to the locals to increase the energy intensity of the different sectors of their economy. This opportunity has, as yet, not been exploited in the productive sector by any local group; some groups among the locals, however, grasped the opportunity to modernise, at least partially, their life styles. The Chinese, who were traditionally the wealthiest elements in the population, and to some extent the Thais in the township, made use of the innovations, acquiring motor vehicles and switching gradually to "modem" household appliances and cooking facilities run on gas or electricity. However, they were not under pressure to do so, since most of them had continued access to the main traditional source of household energy, coconut shell charcoal. The Malays, however, found themselves in an energy squeeze, similar to that described for other weak populations elsewhere (e.g. Briscoe, 1979: 633) : with no access to raw coconut shells, and the rising price of coconut shell charcoal .they might have been induced to acquire "modern" cooking facilities, run on gas or electricity; however, they lack the means for such household capital investments, owing to the serious crisis in fishing, which affected them as it did other fishermen in southern Thailand (Johnson, 1981), and which is aggravated by the high costs of fuel for their motorised boats, under circumstances of small and uncertain catches. Hence they are largely reduced to the use of the fibrous outer coconut shell for fuel, which is highly inconvenient and unhealthy owing to the dense smoke produced by its burning, which forces its users to cook their food on open outdoor fires. No Malay household has as yet introduced gas or any electric household appliances. Though Ban Malayu is connected to the local power network, the use of electricity is minimal and consists mostly of a single light bulb hung in the middle of the habitation. It is important to emphasise, however, that, while no such blatant squeeze is observable among the Chinese and the Thais in the township, the squeeze there is a more subtle one : energy "modernization" of consumption and transport, without any significant change in production, puts an additional burden on the household budget, and indirectly contributes to the worsening of their economic situation, particularly under conditions of rapidly rising costs of modern energy sources; it thus reinforces the push to out-migration. The rural Thais, however, have not yet experienced the full brunt of the energy transition, except in the transport sector; this will only be felt with the electrification of the villages and the dissemiaation of cooking gas.

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The new sources of energy and the provision of the infrastructure for their dissemination, creates the conditions for a future large scale development of tourism. This could conceivably lead to a retention of part of the labor force which would otherwise leave the island. However, as my earlier study showed (Cohen, 1982, 1983), tourism, at least in its present small-scale form, had an only infinitessimal impact on employment in the area of Talat Maphrao. If and when large-scale tourism enterprises establish themselves, they might provide some additional employment- but at the price of new social and cultural problems.

Conclusions ,, What can be learned from our admittedly limited data on the energy transition in Talat Maphrao and its environs, on the comparative problem of variations within the general evolutionary trend in the field of energy, presented in the introduction? The evolutionary trend has been ful:y replicated, in its general outline; but an important point should be noted: in the core industrial countries, such as Britain and the U.S., the energy transition impinged first and foremost in the production sector, with the other sectors following suit (Cook, 1976: 185-6); in, Talat Maphrao, which is by all accounts an extremely peripheral community, the productive sector was the least affected by the transition. While this may be a consequence of specific local factors, it still raises an interesting hypothesis, well worth of further examination: namely, that, as the energy transition spreads out from core to peripheral areas of the contemporary world, its primary impact is deflected from production to transport and household consumption. The rationale for such a hypothesis is that the original energy transition in the core areas has been self-generated or auto-centric. In peripheral areas, however, it is normally exo-centric- i.e. sponsored from the outside, and in particular by the regional and national authorities. The locals do not have to pay for the infrastructure for the new sources of energy, and their introduction thus does not presuppose a revolutionary growth in local production. Moreover, the locals find it easy to adopt the "modern" life styles, the dissemination of which is made possible by the new sources of energy; but they find it much more difficult- owing to the absence of capital resources, know-how or initiative- to adopt new methods or new branches of production. Paradoxically, then, they voluntarily take on an additional economic burden, which puts a squeeze on their resources and increases their dependence upon external factors, without much improvement in the structure of their local economic opportunities. This at least partly explains the often ambivalent, and sometimes hostile, attitude of the inhabitants to the infrastructural innovations.

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The consequences of the energy transition in Talat Maphrao and its environment put into question the benefit and indeed, the reasonableness of the rapid; sponsored introduction of modern, external sources of energy into marginal communities and point to the necessity for Third World countries to pay more attention to alternative, small-scale, locally available sources of energy to supply their rural energy needs. In this study, at least, not the slightest cue has been discovered that anybody pays any attention to these sources or proposes alternative policies to resolve the emergent energy problems of Ko Lek or other marginal areas in Thailand.

REFERENCES Bangkok Post, 1982 : Surat Fishermen Suffer as Catches Fall Alarmingly, Bangkok Post, 16.9.1982. Bennett, J.W., 1976 : The Ecological Transition, Cultural Anthropology and Human Adaptation, New York: Pergamon Pr. Briscoe, Y., 1979 : Energy Use and Social Structure in a Bangladesh Village, Population and Development Review, 5 (4): 615-641. Brown, H., 1976 : Energy in Our Future, Annual Review of Energy, 1 : 1-36. Chatty, D., 1980 : The Pastoral Family and the Truck, in Ph.C. Salzman (ed): When Nomads Settle, [New York]: Praeger, pp. 80-93. Cohen, E., 1977 : "Recent Anthropological Studies of Middle Eastern Communities and Ethnic Groups", Annual Review of Anthropology, 6: 315-347. Cohen, E., 1982 : Marginal Paradises: Bungalow Tourism on the Islands of Southern Thailand, Annals of Tourism Research, 9 (2): 189-228. Cohen, E., 1983 : Insiders and Outsiders; The Dynamics of Bungalow Tourism on Two Beaches on the Islands of Southern Thailand, Human Organisation. Cohen, E. (forthcoming) : Talat Maphrao-The Social Transformation of a Market Township and Its Environs on an Island of Southern Thailand. Pacific Viewpoint. Cook, E., 1976 : Man, Energy, Society, San Francisco : W.H. Freeman & Co. Cottrell, F., 1955 : Energy and Society, New York: McGraw-Hill. Fleuret, P.C. & A.K. Fleuret, 1972 : Fuelwood Use in a Peasant Community: A Tanzanian Case Study, Journal of Developing Areas, 12: 315-322. Haefele, W. & W. Sassin, 1979 : The Global Energy System, Behavioral Science, 24 (3): 169-189. Hayes, P., W. Bello. 1979 : The Power of Power, Pacific Research, 10 (1) : 14-24. Hong S.-Ch.• B.-S. Lee, 1977 : The Expressway and the Process of Change in Rural Villages, in: K.W. Deutsch (ed.): Ecosocial Systems and Ecopolitics, [Paris]: UNESCO, pp. 205-231.

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Johnson, P., 1981 : Small Fishermen Feel the Pinch, Bangkok Post, 23.8.1981; 6. Kemp, W.B., 1971 : The Flow of Energy in a Hunting Society, Scientific American, 224 (3): 109-115. Myhalyi, L.J., 1977 : Electricity and Electrification for Zambia, Geographical Review, 67: 63-70. Rappaport, R.A .. 1977 : The Flow of Energy in an Agricultural Society, Scientific American, 224 (3): 116-133. Revelle, R., 1976 : Energy Use in Rural India, Science, 192: 969-975. Ruyle, E.E. 1977 : Energy and Culture, in: B. Bernardi (ed.): The Concept and Dynamics of Culture, The Hague : Monton, pp. 208-238. Schurr, S.H., B.C. Netschert, 1960 : Energy In the American Economy, 1850-1975, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Pr. Vanishing Forest, 1981 : The Vanishing Forest; Approaching the Last Tree 1 Business Review [Bangkok] 9 (7): 17-21.

THE "ENERGY TRANSITION" IN A MARKET TOWNSHIP AND ITS ENVIRONS ON AN ISLAND IN SOUTHERN THAILAND 1 ERIK COHEN*

Introduction The broad outline of the evolution of the sources and uses of energy in human society is by now well documented: it could be characterised by five basic traits: 1) From a low to a high per capita use of energy (Brown, 1976 : 1-5, Cook, 1976 : 165-7)- or, what Cottrell (1955) in his pioneering work called a transition from low-energy to high-energy societies. 2) From ethno-energetic to extra-somatic auxiliary sources of energy (Ruyle, 1977), i.e. from the use of human muscle-power to the use of sources of energy external to the human organism. 3) Within the category of auxiliary energy systems-from low-intensity to highintensity sources of energy, e.g. from wood, charcoal and water or wind power, to coal, gas, oil and electricity, and eventually atomic power (Schurr & Netschert, 1968: 45). 4) From renewable energy sources, such as wood and other vegetable materials, water and wind power, to non-renewable, sources, such as coal, gas and oil. 5) From local energy sources to sources which originate from outside the local economic system- in the national, regional and eventually even global energy system (Haefele & Sassin, 1979). This evolutionary process is a universal one, repeated in its general outline everywhere on the globe; it is presently most intense in the so-called developing countries. However, the process is not everywhere exactly the same. Bennett's (1976 : 123) words concerning human ecological evolution are equally valid when applied to the evolution of human energy systems :

* Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1. This paper summarises part of the findings of a longitudinal study of an island community in southern Thailand, the first stages of which were conducted in the summers of 1981 and 1982; it is to be continued. Thanks are due to Mr. Damrong Danayadol, for his assistance in the field, and to the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for financial support.

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"The process is characterised by both broad unidirectional evolutionary trends and by evolutions or histories of specific human populations that may or may not exemplify the sequences demonstrated by the evolutionary pattern" (Bennett, 1976: 123) Following Bennett, I suggest to term the general evolutionary trend "energy transition". But contrary to the tendency in the literature, I suggest to focus, rather than on the general trend, on its specific variations found, under different circumstances, in concrete local situations. Such an approach will not only yield information on specific forces accelerating or impeding the general trend, but also make it possible to distinguish specific types of processes within this general trend. A search of the literature revealed few studies of the energy system of local communities in Third World countries; only a handful of these deal explicitly with the energy transition or with specific aspects of it. It was this scarcity of studies which induced me to write this paper, even though I am not an expert in energetics and lacked the facilities and technical knowledge to collect data on energy flows and caloric inputs and outputs while in the field. Detailed studies of local energy systems were undertaken primarily in communities not yet seriously affected by the penetration of modem energy sources. The best known among these is probably Rappaport's (1971) work on the Tsembaga of New Guinea. Revelle's (1976: 969) statement, relating to rural India summarises well the nature of the energy system of such communities : From an energy standpoint, rural India can be thought of as a partially closed ecosystem in which energy derived by people and animals from the photosynthetic products of plants is used to grow and prepare human food, which in turn provides an essential energy input to grow more food, and so on in an endless cycle." (Revelle, 1976 : 969) The opening up of local energy systems has been discussed from two essentially complementary perspectives: pressures put upon 'traditional' energy sources, in particular firewood and other organic material (Fleuret & Fleuret, 1972; Briscoe, 1979); and the local impact of the introduction of new sources of energy, such as fuel and conserved foods (Kemp, 1971) or electricity (Hayes and Bello, 1979, Mihalyi, 1977); another variant of such studies focusses on the consequences of infrastructural innovations, such as the construction of new roads, which facilitate the penetration or dissemination of new energy sources in the community (e.g. Hong and Lee, 1977, Chatty, 1980).

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Whatever their specific contribution, however, none of these studies puts the problem of the energy transition into a broad comparative and theoretical framework. Rather, they limit themselves to a careful analysis of the changes occurring under particular circumstances. With a view to create such a framework, I formulated four general problems concerning the "energy transition" on the local level : 1) The pattern of introduction of new energy sources and of phasing out of the old ones : what is the time span of the transition, which ecological and socio-economic groups are first affected by it and which last, what accelerates or impedes the process, to what extent do new and old resources co-exist, creating an "energy dualism"? 2) In which order and in what intensity do the new sources penetrate the major sectors of the local economic system-production, transport, household, consumption, etc.? 3) what are the principal mechanisms through which the new sources of energy are introduced and disseminated in the community : are they introduced spontaneously by local inhabitants or is their introduction and dissemination sponsored from the outside? To what extent is the introduction of new sources a reaction to the depletion of old ones, or the consequence of initiatives to improve and modernize the local economy or life style? 4) What are the actual-vs. the expected-ecological, economic, social and cultural consequences of the introduction of new sources of energy in the community? How did it affect the local opportunity structure of the various groups in the community (Cohen, 1977, and forthcoming), and how did they respond to the changes? These problems will be examined on the basis of data collected in the course of an anthropological survey of social change in a single community-the market township of Talat Maphrao and its environs in southern Thailand.2)

Talat Maphrao and its Environs Talat Maphrao is located on Ko Lek, an island of 247 km2 and a population of about 32,500 (1977). Its economy is based on small-holder coconut plantations, a few other branches of agriculture and, in recent years, tourism (Cohen, 1982, 1983). Coconuts are the major, and were until recently the only, cash-crop of the island. The Island's traditional economy is in the grip of a crisis, owing to the physical and economic decline of its coconut production (Cohen, forthcoming). At the same time, however, the national government is taking steps to develop the island's infrastructure : it constructed a modern round-island road in 1980/81, and is presently expanding the 2. For a fuller description of the community and its environs, see Cohen (forthcoming). All the names of localities are pseudonyms.

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central electric power supply network on the island. Concomitantly, rapid ferry transportation, introduced in 1982, accelerated and improved communications with the mainland. A local air-field, intended to provide a link with the mainland, is planned. Talat Maphrao, essentially a marketing township, is located close to the shore on the southwestern region of the island, about 17 km from Golden Bowl Town, the small island capit~l. Talat Maphrao encompasses less than a hundred households, but it is essentially an urban, rather than rural settlement; it is surrounded by nine Thai coconut growing villages and Ban Malayu, a Malay fishing settlement. The total population of the township and its environs is about 3,000, living in 440 households (1981). The township served for most of this century as the market and service center of the southern region of the island. The local inhabitants were primarily Chinese traders, but as many of these gradually migrated to the mainland, Thai villagers moved into it; the township is at present a mixed Chinese-Thai community. With the recent decline of the coconut trade, much of its traditional regional importance has been lost, but it still features a few dozen stores, and various services such as coffeeshops, restaurants, clinics, an elementary school and a cinema. Save for two small wood-mills there is no local-industry. Most inhabitants own coconut and other plantations in addition to their urban occupations and a minority lives exclusively off agriculture. A recently developed tourist beach, with about a dozen locally-owned and operated small bungalow resorts (Cohen, 1982, 1983) is located nearby. The surrounding Thai villages are pure agricultural settlements, and except an occasional small store, possess no local services. Ban Malayu has three small stores and one or two coffee-shops, but virtually all the population lives of fishing. The local population, Chinese, Thai and Malay, is permeated by a sense of decline, owing to the crisis in the coconut market, the gradual destruction of other branches of agriculture, such as chicken-growing and fishing (Johnson, 1981, Bangkok Post, 1982), and the worsening of the terms-of-trade of local products in comparison to the goods imported to the island. The steps taken by the authorities to develop the local infrastructure did not brighten the outlook of most inhabitants.

The Energy Transition in Talat Maphrao-A Historical Review The traditional life style of the inhabitants of Talat Maphrao and its environs was energy extensive and based primarily on renewable local energy sources. If we take as our point of departure the energy system of the island at the beginning of this century, we find that it was based primarily on human and animal muscle, organic fuels and wind power.

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The coconut plantations were worked by human labor and their product transported to Talat Maphrao either on the backs of the laborers or on buffalo-drawn carts. Buffaloes were also employed for work in the rice fields. Coconut-shell charcoaP) served as the principal cooking fuel. Until World War I, sailing ships transported coconuts and other goods to the mainland or Singapore and brought in products consumed by the local population. Sailing boats also served for fishing. Only the illumination of dwellings was based on an imported mineral fuel, kerosene, but the quantities used were miniscule. This traditional energy system began changing after the First World War. The energy transition started in the transport sector, and particularly in the field of maritime transportation. The first to go were the sailing ships and sailing boats which before the First World War plied the routes to the island and frequented Talat Maphrao's small harbor. After the War, they were gradually substituted for by steamers. This change took maritime transport completely out of the hands of the locals : while some local merchants owned sailing ships or sailing boats, all the steamers were owned by outsiders to the locality and probably also, to ~e island. Steamers, in turn, lost their place to combustion-engine ships after the Second World War. As the size of ships grew, the small harbor of Talat Maphrao proved insufficient to service them. With the construction of a new, long pier in the harbor of Golden Bowl Town in 1970, the local harbor of Talat Maphrao fell into disuse. The township ceased to be a link between overland and maritime transport. All mainland-bound traffic was now deflected to the harbor in Golden Bow Town, which thereby became the undisputed apex of the island's settlement hierarchy. With the 1980's, the island's communications with the mainland were again revolutionized by the construction of a n~w harbor, outside Golden Bowl Town. The harbor serves the new rapid ferry line to the mainland, which not only cuts the time of the trip by half, but also transports cars and lorries and thus has a major, indirect impact on land-transport on the island. Communications with the ·mainland will be further revolutionized once the long envisaged airstrip, intended to connect the island with the airport in the provincial capital on the mainland, is completed. The sphere of land-transportation began to experience the energy transition soon after maritime transportation. The first motorcar reached the island about forty years ago, beginning a slow revolution in land-transportation, which is only now, with the cOnstruction of the new concrete road, coming to its conclusion. 3. Coconut shell charcoal is produced from the inner, thin and hard, shell of the coconut; the thick, fibrous outer shell cannot be made into -charcoal.

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The first car on the island seems to have been a luxurious private motorcar, brought in as an item of conspicuous consumption by one of the leading families in the island capital. The first cars to arrive in Talat Maphrao and its environs, however, about thirty years ago, were small but heavy lorries, used for the collection and trans. port of coconuts from the plantations to the traders' stores in the township. These trucks gradually took over from the buffalo-drawn carts, so that for about 15 years now buffaloes are not used any more in coconut prod~ction, though they are still the main source of power in rice cultivation. No substantial changes occurred in the transportation of coconuts from plantation to storage since those early days of motorization: vintage Second World War trucks are still found on many farms. While in the past, however, the coconut or copra were further dispatched by ship from Talat Maphrao's little harbor, they are now transported by pickup vehicles to Golden Bowl Town, whence they are shipped to the mainland. The pickups ( silors), introduced to the island after the trucks, are sturdy iapanese vehicles which for years served as the only means of public transportation, as well as the primary means of transport for goods on the island's rugged roads. They provided a frequent but, until recently, slow connection to Golden Bowl Town. The new road significantly reduced the time of travel to the island capital, and apparently increased the volume of traffic. However, the road is too recent an infrastructural innovation for its impact on transportation to be as yet fully unfolded~ But it already much facilitated the movement around the island of heavy trucks, which began to arrive with the recent introduction of the ferry service, and which will in all probability eventually take over from the local pickups part of the transport ofgoods on the island. Buses, as yet virtually absent on the island, may soon begin to take over public transportation. The principal means of private transportation on Ko Lek are still bicycles and motorcycles. For some time in the past, the latter were taking over from the former, but in the 1970's the bicycle experienced a slight comeback with the steep rise in gasoline prices. Recently, however, as the new road neared completion there was again a sharp increase in the use of motorcycles, whose number rose from several hundred to several thousand in a few years. While motorcycles are still selling briskly, the major recent innovations are private pick-up trucks : in Talat Maphrao several such trucks were recently acquired by the inhabitants for personal or business use. Private cars are also encouraged by the new road, and while none are yet owned by the inhabitants of Talat Maphrao, they can be sighted on its main street, coming either from Golden Bowl Town or, by ferry, from the mainland.

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The second main sector in which the energy transition made a significant impact was household consump~ion, even though here the impact came later and was less pervasive than in the transport sector. The traditional cooking fuel in Talat Maphrao and its environs was coconutshell charcoal, for which raw material was plentiful since the shells of the coconut are discarded in the production of copra. Most Thai and Chinese households used to prepare their own charcoal in simple ovens in their backyards and some still do. It is also available in the local stores, but is presently relatively expensive- one kilogram costs 5 Baht (US $ 0.25), a price which compares unfavorably with that of the newly introduced sources of household energy- gas or even electricity. The main transition in the field of cooking fuels was to cooking gas it started about ten years ago. Gas was quickly adopted as a more convenient and--if one does not prepare charcoal oneself--cheaper fuel for cooking. In the last 2-3 years, gas spread rapidly into most households in Talat Maphrao itself, and is presently beginning to penetrate the surrounding Thai villages; only the Malay fishermen in Ban Malayu. are unable to afford it. The introduction of electricity to the island went through several steps, which can be well illustrated on the example of Talat Maphrao. About 25 years ago, a wealthy Chinese merchant was impressed by the use of electricity in Bangkok, and brought to the township a small llOV generator for his personal use. Like the introduction of the private car, it was an act of conspicuous consumption. However. the merchant was soon approached by his neighbors and asked to sell them electric power; he expanded his generating capacity and eventually supplied 130 households with electricity--virtually all the houses in Talat Maphrao. Electricity was primarily used for illumination, but also for a few electric appliances such as irons and fans. The supply was apparently feeble and not very reliable, and limited to only a few hours a day, so people were reluctant to acquire more sophisticated appliances. Ten years ago, the central government electricity agency took over the supply of power, installing three 210V generators. Five years later, the network was extended to Ban Malayu, where it eventually reached all households, but was used exclusively for illumination. The surrounding villages however are still . without electricity. Supply of power remained limited to evening (18.00 to 23.00) and early morning (4.00-6.00) hours (during the latter period it is used for the cooking of rice). During the day there is virtually no demand for electricity since there exists no power driven machinery or water pumping equipment in the township. With a stronger and more reliable source of power, more electric household appliances were introduced in Talat Maphrao, particularly electric rice cookers (which are quite wide-spread), refrigerators (of which there were about 10 in 1981) and

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televisions sets (only 3 or 4 sets in the whole settlement). The number and variety of appliances increased significantly during the last year, in anticipation of the pending connection of the town and the surrounding villages to the island-wide electric network, which will supply reliable power round-the-clock. The township of Talat Maphrao and, to an increasing extent, its rural environs are thus in the grip of an intensified energy transition. The locals relate to this process of transition with mixed feelings; while some see in the construction of the road and the future arrival of centrally distributed electricity a sign of progress and the coming of civilization, many reject the innovations and are suspicious of the motives of the developers. These people deny that the road is of much benefit to the locals, and claim that it was built mainly to further tourism, from which most inhabitants do not much benefit. One person argued that the principal local impact of the road consists of a drastic increase in traffic accidents (cf. Hong and Lee, 1977: 227). Even the imminent arrival of electricity is not greeted with much enthusiasm by the villagers, even though, unlike the inhabitants of Talat Maphrao, they have at present no electricity at all. While such lukewarm or hostile attitudes may well be a result of the incongruence between rapid infrastructural developments and a generally stagnating situation, they are also a symptom of the general suspicion and animosity of the islanders to the interference of outsiders in their lives, which has also been observed in· other areas, and, especially, tourism (Cohen, 1982, 1983).

The Energy Transition in Talat Maphrao-A Topical Analysis I shall analyse the data in terms of the four major problem areas outlined above:

(I) The Pattern of Introduction of New Energy Sources into the Community and the Phasing Out of Old Ones In general terms, Talat Maphrao and its environs experienced the general pattern of evolution of energy sources described in the introduction : from local, renewable sources of low intensity to external, non-renewable sources of high intensity. The time span of the transition was about 60 years, but it is not yet completed. The transition is most advanced in the market township, from which most of the old sources of energy almost disappeared- with the exception of coconut charcoal which is still produced and used by a few households. It is least advanced in the Thai villages, where, except in the field of land-transport, no significant changes in energy sources have yet taken place- coconut charcoal still serves as the principal cooking fuel and there is as yet no electricity and no gas. Both these new sources are, however, in the process of introduction, and a rapid energy transition in village household consumption should be expected in the near future.

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Unlike in rural areas on the Indian sub-continent (Revelle, 1976: 972; Briscoe, 1979; 633}, or Africa (Fleuret & Fleuret, 1972, Briscoe, 1979 : 633}, in Talat Maphrao and its environs there is no real "firewood crisis" : though the forests on the mountains in the interior are, like in the rest of rural Thailand, (Vanishing Forest, 1981) being rapidly exterminated, they are cut to free land for plantations, rather than for wood. Other organic material, such as the outer shells of the coconuts, which is discarded and left to rot, is easily available- indeed, the Malays of Ban Malayu, the poorest element in the population (Cohen, forthcoming) use them for fuel, as coconut charcoal becomes expensive. The rise in the price of the latter, indeed, indicates that this specific traditional fuel is becoming scarce; however, whether the recent rise in its price announces a future trend, or is merely a reflection of the acute decline in coconut production in the last few years, due to repeated draughts, cannot yet be established. A crisis in "traditional" fuels cannot, thus, be seen as a major factor accelerating the energy transition in Talat Maphrao. Rather, two factors were primarily responsible for the recent acceleration: the government's efforts to develop the infrastructure- the road and the electric network- for reasons which had less to do with the inhabitants and more, apparently, with the demands of the army and the plans for the future development of tourism; and the demonstration effect produced in the past by the introduction of new energy sources and uses by local individuals and more recently, by the intensified contact with the mainland, through improved communications and migration (Cohen, forthcoming). There exist, however, some important impediments to the rapid diffusion of the new energy sources, particularly in the villages: the crisis in local agriculture (ibid.) reduced significantly the current income of the inhabitants, putting serious constraints on their ability to pay for new implements and installations. Moreover, neither the road, nor electricity serve directly the productive sector of the _ village economy; there is hence little "felt need" for these innovations in the villagesfor example, villagers expressed very little interest and desire to have electricity installed in their houses, once the central power-network reaches their settlements. Co-existence of old and new sources of energy can be found primarily in one sector of the local economy- household consumption. This occasionally exists within . households. Some households use both old and new sources of cooking fuel-i.e. coconut shell charcoal and gas or electricity. The principal form of dualism, however, is between households of different ecological groups: the households in the township of Talat Maphrao, in the main, have already made the transition to new energy sources; those in the villages still use predominantly the old sources of energy.

(2) The Order of Penetration of New Energy Sources into the Main Economic ·Sectors. The sector which was first, and most intensely penetrated by the new sources of energy was transport - first at sea and then on land; here the transition was also most

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thorough, eventuating in the virtual disappearance of the traditional local means of transport. Household consumption was the next to be penetrated, but has not yet been completed : it ts the only sector showing marked internal dualism. The most important finding, however, is that no energy transition has taken place in the productive sector, which remains energy-extensive and based primarily on human muscle power and animal strength- bufalloes for ploughing the fields and monkeys for plucking the coconuts from the taller trees. There is no mechanization of production, there are no motor-driven water-pumps for irrigation and only a very limited use of chemical fertilizers; no industrial enterprises or mechanical workshops, save one or two small wood-mills, were established in the community. This difference between the sectors reflects the general imbalance in local development discussed elsewhere (Cohen, forthcoming) and highlights the difficulties which local inhabitants experience as they modernize their consumption and transportation, while their production stagnates and even declines.

(3) Mechanisms of Introduction and Dissemination of New Energy Sources While the concrete mechanisms by which different kinds of energy sources were introduced for particular purposes varied from case to case, a broad dynamic pattern can be discerned : the transition was frequently initiated spontaneously by an individual, who either for reasons of efficiency or conspicuous consumption introduced the new use, even in the complete absence of a suitable infrastructure; he was then copied by other individuals, and the new source was disseminated on a small scale. The authorities enter the picture only at a much later stage, sponsoring the large-scale dissemination of the energy source by significant infrastructural developments. This process is most clearly observable in the sphere of electricity: the introduction of electric power was pioneered by a private individual for personal use, without any encouragement or control on the part of the authorities; only some time after he had begun selling power to other households in the community did.the authorities take control, but the scale of production increased only moderately; only with the future introduction of centrally distributed power will sponsored, large-scale dissemination of electricity, particularly into the villages, take place. A similar process occurred in the sphere of motorised vehicles: local individuals introduced such vehicles for personal use, without, or with only a minimal infrastructure: petrol had to be brought in in containers, since there was no gas station; roads were few and in bad repair; only with the completion of the concrete round-island road have conditions for a rapid growth in motorised traffic been created. It thus appears that while the locals spontaneously initiated and controlled the early stages of the introduction of a new energy source, its use was limited to a: small scale; its large scale dissemination had to be sponsored by the authorities, since

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it necessitated considerable infrastructural investments; once this stage is reached, however, the locals lost effective control over both the timing and the direction of further dissemination- e.g. when and where electricity will be introduced or when and where new roads will be constructed- which now passed into the hands of the central authorities. ·

(4) The Consequences of the Energy Transition. Since the community is still in the grip of the intensive phase of the energy transition-the new road has just been completed, and round-the-clock, centrally distributed electricity is only pending-no fast conclusions concerning its consequences can yet be drawn. This question indeed will be one of the principal foci of future stages of the study. Some emergent consequences, however, can already be discerned. Before turning to these, however, a word should be said about the effects of the very process of the introduction of new sources of energy on the consciousness of the inhabitants, The island has until recently had little direct acquaintance with powerful modem technologies. The construction of the road was by far the biggest project ever undertaken on the island: dozens of bulldozers, heavy trucks and other machinery ceaselessly rumbled through Talat Maphrao and other settlements; a special landing quay for ships bringing in equipment and raw materials was constructed on Sawadee Beach. Sand and gravel were quarried on the island. Hundreds of workers, many of whom had heed specially brought in from the mainland, were employed in construction work. All this must have had a considerable demonstration effect on the local population, showing them vividly both the constructive and the destructive powers of modem technology.

The pending electrification process will probably have similar, though less

drastic effects. On the whole, the consequences of the energy transition on Talat Maphrao and its environs were largely paradoxical, owing to the uneven development of the various sectors of the local economy. The motorization of both sea and land transport has progressively marginalized Talat Maphrao as its harbor fell into disuse, while improved land-communications radically improved the connections and shortened travelling time to the island capital. The once important regional market township lost most of its traditional functions. Improved communications, in a context of an agricultural crisis and a growing taste for "modern" life styles induced by the mass media and the demonstration effect of innovations, encouraged accelerated out-migration; this syphoned off most of the younger generation of the Chinese and has a growing impact

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on the younger generation of the Thais. These phenomena have been extensively discussed elsewhere (Cohen, forthcoming) and will not be elaborated upon here. The introduction of new sources of energy held forth an opportunity to the locals to increase the energy intensity of the different sectors of their economy. This opportunity has, as yet, not been exploited in the productive sector by any local group; some groups among the locals, however, grasped the opportunity to modernise, at least partially, their life styles. The Chinese, who were traditionally the wealthiest elements in the population, and to some extent the Thais in the township, made use of the innovations, acquiring motor vehicles and switching gradually to "modem" household appliances and cooking facilities run on gas or electricity. However, they were not under pressure to do so, since most of them had continued access to the main traditional source of household energy, coconut shell charcoal. The Malays, however, found themselves in an energy squeeze, similar to that described for other weak populations elsewhere (e.g. Briscoe, 1979: 633) : with no access to raw coconut shells, and the rising price of coconut shell charcoal .they might have been induced to acquire "modern" cooking facilities, run on gas or electricity; however, they lack the means for such household capital investments, owing to the serious crisis in fishing, which affected them as it did other fishermen in southern Thailand (Johnson, 1981), and which is aggravated by the high costs of fuel for their motorised boats, under circumstances of small and uncertain catches. Hence they are largely reduced to the use of the fibrous outer coconut shell for fuel, which is highly inconvenient and unhealthy owing to the dense smoke produced by its burning, which forces its users to cook their food on open outdoor fires. No Malay household has as yet introduced gas or any electric household appliances. Though Ban Malayu is connected to the local power network, the use of electricity is minimal and consists mostly of a single light bulb hung in the middle of the habitation. It is important to emphasise, however, that, while no such blatant squeeze is observable among the Chinese and the Thais in the township, the squeeze there is a more subtle one : energy "modernization" of consumption and transport, without any significant change in production, puts an additional burden on the household budget, and indirectly contributes to the worsening of their economic situation, particularly under conditions of rapidly rising costs of modern energy sources; it thus reinforces the push to out-migration. The rural Thais, however, have not yet experienced the full brunt of the energy transition, except in the transport sector; this will only be felt with the electrification of the villages and the dissemiaation of cooking gas.

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The new sources of energy and the provision of the infrastructure for their dissemination, creates the conditions for a future large scale development of tourism. This could conceivably lead to a retention of part of the labor force which would otherwise leave the island. However, as my earlier study showed (Cohen, 1982, 1983), tourism, at least in its present small-scale form, had an only infinitessimal impact on employment in the area of Talat Maphrao. If and when large-scale tourism enterprises establish themselves, they might provide some additional employment- but at the price of new social and cultural problems.

Conclusions ,, What can be learned from our admittedly limited data on the energy transition in Talat Maphrao and its environs, on the comparative problem of variations within the general evolutionary trend in the field of energy, presented in the introduction? The evolutionary trend has been ful:y replicated, in its general outline; but an important point should be noted: in the core industrial countries, such as Britain and the U.S., the energy transition impinged first and foremost in the production sector, with the other sectors following suit (Cook, 1976: 185-6); in, Talat Maphrao, which is by all accounts an extremely peripheral community, the productive sector was the least affected by the transition. While this may be a consequence of specific local factors, it still raises an interesting hypothesis, well worth of further examination: namely, that, as the energy transition spreads out from core to peripheral areas of the contemporary world, its primary impact is deflected from production to transport and household consumption. The rationale for such a hypothesis is that the original energy transition in the core areas has been self-generated or auto-centric. In peripheral areas, however, it is normally exo-centric- i.e. sponsored from the outside, and in particular by the regional and national authorities. The locals do not have to pay for the infrastructure for the new sources of energy, and their introduction thus does not presuppose a revolutionary growth in local production. Moreover, the locals find it easy to adopt the "modern" life styles, the dissemination of which is made possible by the new sources of energy; but they find it much more difficult- owing to the absence of capital resources, know-how or initiative- to adopt new methods or new branches of production. Paradoxically, then, they voluntarily take on an additional economic burden, which puts a squeeze on their resources and increases their dependence upon external factors, without much improvement in the structure of their local economic opportunities. This at least partly explains the often ambivalent, and sometimes hostile, attitude of the inhabitants to the infrastructural innovations.

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The consequences of the energy transition in Talat Maphrao and its environment put into question the benefit and indeed, the reasonableness of the rapid; sponsored introduction of modern, external sources of energy into marginal communities and point to the necessity for Third World countries to pay more attention to alternative, small-scale, locally available sources of energy to supply their rural energy needs. In this study, at least, not the slightest cue has been discovered that anybody pays any attention to these sources or proposes alternative policies to resolve the emergent energy problems of Ko Lek or other marginal areas in Thailand.

REFERENCES Bangkok Post, 1982 : Surat Fishermen Suffer as Catches Fall Alarmingly, Bangkok Post, 16.9.1982. Bennett, J.W., 1976 : The Ecological Transition, Cultural Anthropology and Human Adaptation, New York: Pergamon Pr. Briscoe, Y., 1979 : Energy Use and Social Structure in a Bangladesh Village, Population and Development Review, 5 (4): 615-641. Brown, H., 1976 : Energy in Our Future, Annual Review of Energy, 1 : 1-36. Chatty, D., 1980 : The Pastoral Family and the Truck, in Ph.C. Salzman (ed): When Nomads Settle, [New York]: Praeger, pp. 80-93. Cohen, E., 1977 : "Recent Anthropological Studies of Middle Eastern Communities and Ethnic Groups", Annual Review of Anthropology, 6: 315-347. Cohen, E., 1982 : Marginal Paradises: Bungalow Tourism on the Islands of Southern Thailand, Annals of Tourism Research, 9 (2): 189-228. Cohen, E., 1983 : Insiders and Outsiders; The Dynamics of Bungalow Tourism on Two Beaches on the Islands of Southern Thailand, Human Organisation. Cohen, E. (forthcoming) : Talat Maphrao-The Social Transformation of a Market Township and Its Environs on an Island of Southern Thailand. Pacific Viewpoint. Cook, E., 1976 : Man, Energy, Society, San Francisco : W.H. Freeman & Co. Cottrell, F., 1955 : Energy and Society, New York: McGraw-Hill. Fleuret, P.C. & A.K. Fleuret, 1972 : Fuelwood Use in a Peasant Community: A Tanzanian Case Study, Journal of Developing Areas, 12: 315-322. Haefele, W. & W. Sassin, 1979 : The Global Energy System, Behavioral Science, 24 (3): 169-189. Hayes, P., W. Bello. 1979 : The Power of Power, Pacific Research, 10 (1) : 14-24. Hong S.-Ch.• B.-S. Lee, 1977 : The Expressway and the Process of Change in Rural Villages, in: K.W. Deutsch (ed.): Ecosocial Systems and Ecopolitics, [Paris]: UNESCO, pp. 205-231.

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Johnson, P., 1981 : Small Fishermen Feel the Pinch, Bangkok Post, 23.8.1981; 6. Kemp, W.B., 1971 : The Flow of Energy in a Hunting Society, Scientific American, 224 (3): 109-115. Myhalyi, L.J., 1977 : Electricity and Electrification for Zambia, Geographical Review, 67: 63-70. Rappaport, R.A .. 1977 : The Flow of Energy in an Agricultural Society, Scientific American, 224 (3): 116-133. Revelle, R., 1976 : Energy Use in Rural India, Science, 192: 969-975. Ruyle, E.E. 1977 : Energy and Culture, in: B. Bernardi (ed.): The Concept and Dynamics of Culture, The Hague : Monton, pp. 208-238. Schurr, S.H., B.C. Netschert, 1960 : Energy In the American Economy, 1850-1975, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Pr. Vanishing Forest, 1981 : The Vanishing Forest; Approaching the Last Tree 1 Business Review [Bangkok] 9 (7): 17-21.

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AND THE HSU HYPOTHESIS MARJORIE A. MUECKE*

Introduction The Problem : Does the Hsu Hypothesis Fit the Thai Case ? Based upon his study of four societies, Francis L.K. Hsu hypothesized in 1971 that the structure of a "dominant" kin tie in a society shapes the structure of social relations in that society.l The hypothesis is interesting for its apparent simplicity, and for its promise for advance in crosscultural comparative work. It reads: The dominant attributes of the dominant dyad in a given kinship system tend to determine the attitudes and action patterns that the individual in such a system develops toward other dyads in this system as well as towards his relationships outside of the system. (1971a: 10) Here, "dyad" refers to any of the eight pairs of persons linked together in the elementary conjugal family, covering two generations, viz., husband : wife, father : son, father: daughter, monher: son, mother: daughter, brother: brother, brother: sister, and sister : sister. Noting that everyone is born into a kinship web, Hsu argued that kin relationships extend to and provide models for the larger social system, and that the dyadic kin relationship that does so more than any other is the "dominant" kin pair (197la: 6-7). Some critics have noted a lack of empirical fit in Hsu's hypothesis (Bohannan, Fernandez, Levy 1971). This paper treats an empirical problem posed by patterns of social relationship in Buddhist Thai society. Among these patterns, the older : younger sibling relationship (phil: n~qng)2 is intensively and extensively reiterated, yet the Hsu

* R.N.,

Ph.D., M.A., Department of Community Health Care Systems, University of Washington By utilizing the notion of "dominance," Hsu elaborated upon Radcliffe-Brown's assertion of the primacy of kin ties over non-kin ties. Hsu attributed his formulation of the hypothesis to his study of Chinese, Hindu, and Alllerican life-ways in his 1963 work Clan, Caste and Club. He found the father : son dyad "dominant" among the Chinese, the mother: son dyad "dominant" among the Hindu, and the husband : wife dyad "dominant" among Americans. He reasoned that the brother : brother dyad is "dominant" among patrilocal African societies (1971 a). 2. Andrew Turton writes "The fundamental categorical distinction between people in Northern Thai culture is between older and younger, with the distinction between older and younger members of the same generation as important as that between senior and junior generations" (1972: 238). Transliterations in the text are for Standard Thai unless otherwise stated.

1.

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hypothesis does not allow for it. Could the older : younger dyad be appended to Hsu's hypothesis? Or, is the Thai case incompatible with Hsu's hypothesis? What then does the older : younger relationship mean in Thai society ?

Critique of Hso's Hypothesis Preliminary attempts to fit the Thai example to Hsu's hypothesis uncovered several difficulties in the hypothesis itself. First, Hsu's assertion that kinship is primary, modelling non-kin relationships in society, appears teleological. Sometimes, at very least, non-kin relationships are primary, as in peer group socialization. Thus, borrowing Geertzian phraseology, kinship may be either a model of key non-kin social relationships, or a model for such relationships. . Second, the meaning of Hsu's term "dominance" is unclear. Hsu leaves the problem of definition essentially unresolved with the broad assertion that a dominant dyad carries social values or maintains the sociocultural system or socializes the young more than any other dyad in a given society (197lb: 490). Levy argues cogently that when the sociopolitical domain is at issue, dominance resides almost everywhere in the father: son dyad (1971 : 37-39). Accepting Levy's argument, however, precludes cultural variation--and cultural variation is the very phenomenon which Hsu attempts to explain by his hypothesis. Fernandez proposes a functional definition of a dominant dyad that is attractive because it can be operationalized, viz., That axial relationship is most dominant which is most difficult to break in circumstances in which a choice has to be made between various axes (1971 : 357). That is, given forced choices in various situations, the answers to the question, "Which dyad partner (s) do informants of different ages and sexes most readily, consistently or frequently select?" would identify certain dyads as "dominant." Third, Hsu's insistence that only one kin dyad is "dominant" in a given society seems unrealistic. Given the complexity of human living, it is likely that different dyads come into focus as more influential at different stages and in different contexts of a person's or domestic unit's life. Fourth, Hsu does not offer a systematic way of determining just which "attributes" (typical modes of behavior and attitude) are dominant. Thus, although his identification of dominant dyads in the cases he cites seems to reflect sensitivity and keen insight, his method is too subjective for systematic generalization. Nevertheless, Hsu's hypothesis can contribute to the interpretation of Thai kinship. In this paper, the hypothesis is used as a heuristic tool for delineating prototypic dyadic kin relationships among Buddhist Thai, in order to help explicate kinship in lowland Thai society.

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Purpose and Method The search for cultural meaning involves making the implicit system explicit. It assumes that the implicit is so fundamental that it might easily be overlooked or denied by members of the culture themselves. This is also the sense in which Bohannan views dominance : It is part of what Durkheim and Freud, each in his own way, called the collective unconscious. The principles are more compelling for being unstated and the sanctions more powerful for being collective (1971 : 61). The explicit and implicit might reinforce or conflict with each other. For example, little girls in urban North Thailand (Chiang Mai) 3 knew and reported the social behaviors prescribed for them at marriage : Every girl must get married. After marriage, in order to be a good woman, you have to indulge your husband and not be unfaithful to him, always be pure and honest to him, smile cheerfully and brightly all the time (11 year old informant}, ... even when he is drunk (13 year old). But this explicit social role sometimes opposes personal preferences. The tension between social and personal attitudes toward marriage seems to have been resolved in a cultural way by Chiang Mai females, as in the following statement by an 11 year old: Every female loves her parents more than anyone else. You have to love your grandparents and all of your relatives, and, if you're married, you should love your husband, too. That is, we'll marry our men, but our parents (and children) are more important to us. These attitudes were also expressed by married female informants, suggesting that this aspect of female socialization starts young and is sustained in adulthood. In the remainder of the paper, some implicit aspects of conjugal family dyadic relationships among Buddhist Thai are made explicit by examining them in terms of four aspects of bonding between dyadic partners, 4 viz., social distance and spatial distance between the dyad partners, durability of the dyadic relationship, and degree of diffusion in social space to non-kin relationships. The first two aspects were derived 3. The ethnographic material was obtained in Chiang Mai city. The data are more representative of the majority population sector than of the cosmopolitan elite, and are not generalizable to minority ethnic groups. 4. My purposes, thus, are both more limited and more operational than those of Dr. Hsu.

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inductively from field observation and ethongraphies of Thai society : durability was suggested by F~rnandez (1971); and diffusion, by Hsu himself (1971a). The older: younger relationship is considered first because it describes social relationships among both kin and non-kin in Thai society, and because it was not dealt with in Hsu's work.

Analysis of Kin Dyads in Lowland Thai Society The Older : Younger Relationship Between Siblings and Between Spouses The standard Thai term for older: younger, phil : n9f?ng, is a term of reference denoting classificatory siblingship. It is used without sex specifications as a collective for siblings, and for individual or group members of ego's generation to denote a vertical, superior versus inferior social relationship. For purposes of direct address and self-reference, the collective is separated into older versus younger. By using the sibling term older (ph{i) for husbands and younger (n~t;ng) for wife6 the Thai terminologically stress male dominance in the conjugal relationship and deemphasize sexual relationship as a raison d'etre for marriage. The chief characteristics of the older : younger relationship are asymmetry and reciprocity between two partners of either sex. To this extent, the older : younger relationship is a form of Foster's "dyadic contract" between patron and client (Hanks 1962: 1258; Phillips 1965: 93-4). Benefits accruing to older are the respect, obedience and services of younger; in return, younger gains protection and privileges fron older. The strength of bond in the older : younger relationship is often short-lived and its termination appears to be more readily sanctioned than that of other dyads. Although there is the expected "sense of love, obligation and respect that is derived from the simple fact of kinship" among Thai siblings, Phillips found that, in contrast to parent : child relationships, "maintenance of the older : younger relationship is always dependent upon what the participants can gain from it, i.e., from the other person" (1965: 32, 86). For kin-group compounds, this explains Wijeyewardene's finding that : 5. The rural North Thai husband refers to himself and is addressed by his wife as aay, "older

6.

brother," instead of the Standard Thai phil or its unaspirated Northern form, pit. which is used by urban couples. This difference refitcts the current demise of the Northern Thai dialect in urban areas, brought about by ever-increasing contact between the Northern and Central Regions. Turton identifies a marriage rule implicitly observed among the Northern Thai that "for a man no woman who can be assimilated to the category of phU (older) is marriageable" (1972 : 239). However, there is a rule for breaking this rule, which is, if female is older, she establishes her " whereupon she becomes n~f!ng (younger) marriageability by addressing her suitor as phii, to him.

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Once the households are linked by sibling ties rather than by parent : child ties, economic and cooperative obligations lose much of their force, both emotional and jural-economic. Cooperation between siblings is much more voluntary in character ... (1966: 17). Other evidence for easy termination of the older : younger bond is the ease of practicing both child fosterage (whicn changes siblingship; Kaufman 1960: 23; Keyes 1977) and early serial monogamy (which changes spouses; Wijeyewardene n.d.: 41-45). Although the older : younger sibling relationship is explicitly institutionalized with linguistic differentiation and precedence rules, 7 it is relatively weak in its durability. While the older : younger relationship can be terminated, it is also easily estabilished. It may occur diffusely in social space wherever one partner has age seniority or status superiority over the other.. Every individual has both olders and youngers in his or her social space, and is simultaneously older to certain younger persons and younger to certain older persons--even twins are explicitly differentiated in social status on the basis of birth order. The vertical, inter-generation axis permeates the horizontal, intra-generation axis, classifying each generation into two parts, older versus younger, or superior versus inferior. Thus, an inter-generation relationship seems structurally a more appropriate prototype for Thai social relationships than any same-generation relationship.

The Father : Child Relationship, as Distinct from the Mother : Child Relationship Of the four basic parent : child dyads, the ones headed by father seem dominant because fathers (married men with children) hold general jura-political power in low land Thai society. They are identified as the legal and customary head of household (although of course this is not always demographically possible), and (along with widowed, postmenopausal mothers) as the candidates for village and district headmanship or high Government positions-- ''A childless person is not elected as head man : his sterility might infect the whole community" (Pederson 1968 : 129). Men also appear superior to women in the religious domain of Buddhism. Only adult men are eligible for the supreme social status acquired by taking the yellow robe of monkb.ood.s While fatherhood is set aside during monkhood because a monk must For example, the collectives for "grandparents" and "aunts and uncles" rank the relatives by sequential order higher to lower age and social status, with the order FaFa-FaMo-MoFa-MoMo (puu-ya"a-taa-yaay) for grandparents, and PaOBr-PaOSi-MoYSib-FaYSib (lung-paa-mia-'aa) for aunts and uncles. 8. Women may enter monastic life as mae chii, but they are not ordained, and function chiefly in monastery housekeeping, cleaning and cooking, with little time for study and meditation. See Thitsa 1980 : 16-18.

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be celibate and unencumbered with worldly affairs, previous experience as a monk is the Thai ideal of male preparation for marriage and fatherhood.. Although when a married man is ordained, he carries no responsibilities as husband or father, his "former'' wife must continue to comport herself as a married woman, and is not free to marry anyone else; she thus maintains the bond between the monk and his children.

Fatherhood is a widespread symbol of highly respected social power. Monkhood, as expressed in fatherhood is wise, protective, and quasi-sacred. From the lay viewpoint, a good monk counsels well, behaves as a model of virtue, .and fearlessly dispels evil; the older he is, the more likely he is to be revered with the honorific luang phoo, phoo, ,, or "great one who is like a father." The term . ,, "father," is also used to indicate great success--and respect for the power and knowledge that go with success. Examples include the above term luang phqq for a venerated older monk, and the term pht/'9 liang, literally "father who nourishes or feeds," for an employer or for a man of wealth or worldly success who is expected to act as a patron (Wijeyewardene 1971). Teachers, be they male or female, are accorded the loyalty and respect of an ideal father; and the student : teacher bond is commonly life-long, with pupils of the same teacher often expressing a sibling-like association with each other. Child informants in urban Chiang Mai viewed fathers in the ideal, at least, as strong and protective: Father's kindness in raising us children can be compared to a bodi tree that gives ample shade to all those under it (12 year old male informant). Even after a great man has died, people still respect and bow to him (13 year old male informant). The manarchy symbolizes the supreme secular power of the father, with the King being in relation to country as father is to family.9 The corresponding term mae, for mother, is also extended in meaning, but rarely to the juro-political sphere or to convey the power of moral virtue. Common extensions of the term mae associate "mother" with the domestic sphere or earthly places: for example they signify 1) female gender, as in maekhrua for "female cook," or maekai for "hen"; 2) fertile source, as in mcfenaam for "major river"; 3) a tool for support or security, as in ma"eraeng for "jack" and ma"ekunjae for "padlock"; 4) a place by name, as in rnaesariang and maehongs~'9n provinces; 5) earthly (lowly) for water goddess or maethooranii for earth goddess. goddesses as in md'ekhongkhaa ~ ·' , The use of fatherhood as a linguistic metaphor for supportive power is so common among the Thai that we may ask why it is. The father role is diffuse in social space--i.e., there are many models of fatherhood, including genitor and pater, 9. See Turton (1972: 252-5) for an insightful analysis of the father figure in Northern Thai myth, legend, spirit cults and the explicit socio-political order.

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patron, king, even the unmarried monk who has forsaken family obligations. This is in sharp contrast to the mother role which is rarely extended beyond the models of genetrix and mater. Furthermore, whereas the father role is vague in definition, being essentially benign protection and support, the mother role is defined with explicit duties and obligations. The vagueness of father-role performance possibilities in the family is paralleled by socially diffuse father-role models. This vagueness of definition allows flexible application of the father metaphor beyond the domestic sphere. In contrast, the specificity of the mother role may prevent its broad extension to larger society. The social power that is culturally vested in Thai fatherhood implies a power differential between father and child. This power differential is generally greater than the social distance between mother and child. Children are .expected to fear and respect both parents, but usually fear their fathers more than their mothers, even though fathers punish less often than do mothers. Disobedient urban teenagers run away from home for days or weeks after committing an infraction in order to escape a father's potential wrath, whereas they say they feel sad and disappointed with themselves for having pained their mothers by being absent from home. The potential power of father over child exists until child has a house of his or her own, which is often after marriage and childbirth. The social distance between father and child may be supported by the widespread assumption that the women in the family will never forsake the children, allowing fathers the option of voluntary and intermittent, rather than necessary and sustained, responsibility for the children, A father (and older sons) may be absent from the home at night for what are perceived as legitimate reasons--pleasure-seeking (pai th1aw; pai 'ew, Northern Thai) or work-whereas a mother is almost never absent overnight, and by evening would be so only if her children were with her and they were all near home, for example, at a local monastery fair. The greater spatio-temporal distance between father and children than between mother and children is also evident in common sleeping patterns wherein (except in the first month after childbirth), when the parents do not sleep together, mother sleeps with children and father sleeps alone or with older sons. The father : child bond may be as durable as the mother : child bond, but is less consistently so. A father's temporary, intermittent or permanent absence from home is sanctioned through the institutions of the military and of the Buddhist Sangha or monkhood, whereas a mother has no similarly sanctioned absence from home. Contemporary social change, with the increasing need for wage-earning, might cause temporary or even long-lasting absence of the father from home as a migrant worker or permanent urban employee. But the father : child bond can also be permanent, as

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when a daughter raises her children in her parents' home. There are also non-kin lifelasting bonds that structurally and culturally parallel the father : child bond, such as the esteemed teacher : loyal student bond. To summarixe, bonding in father : child relationships generally has the following characteristics : 1. social distance is maintained by father's superiority over child in the domestic, political and Buddhist domains (as also found in the social superiority of older over younger person); 2. spatial distance between father and child may be nil for the coresident married daughter, or large for the father who is in the military or monkhood;

3. durability of the bond may be temporary, as for the young son who leaves . home to establish another family, or permanent, as for the daughter who stays nt home and will inherit her parents' house; and, 4. diffusion in social space of the fatherhood metaphor to non-kin relationships is broad, for example to teacher : pupil and monk : lay person relationships, but it is not as diffuse as that of the older: younger relationship. Of course the values of all four aspects vary depending at least on the sex of the children, the respective stages in the life cycle of the dyad partners, the ages and birth orders of the relationship partners, and their socio-economic statuses. For example, the characteristics of the father: son and father: daughter relationships are similar until late adolescence, whereupon the values of social distance, spatial distance and. durability may change radically because son moves away from home or daughter brings a husband home. For another example, low birth-order daughters probably do not experience relationships with their mothers that are as durable or spatially close as those of last-order daughters or younger sons with no sisters, both of whom tend to live with parents after marriage and .inherit their house. And, durability and spatial closeness of bond would be less for the landless poor, whose children usually must set up neolocal residence at marriage.

The Mother : Child Relationship and its Interaction with the Husband : Wife Relationship Elementary school boys and girls in Chiang Mai were unequivocal in their assertions that the person they loved the most was mother, citing the self-sacrifice a Thai mother puts herself through for the sake of her children, and asserting that mother will support child through thick and thin more than any other person. bond.

In Thai society, neither marriage nor death need terminate the mother: child It is thus extremely durable. Even after their own marriage, children continue

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to pay respect to their mothers' ancestral spirits (phli puu ytla),l 0 maintaining the mother : child bond. When a mother dies, her young children are usually raised by her sister, who provides the closest substitute mother: child bond possible. If she dies in childbed, nothing is done to save the infant (except when modern medical doctors are in attendance), thereby precluding a potential breaking of the mother: child dyad dyad because both die at once. If a child dies but the mother lives, the bereaved parents usually expect the child's spirit to reappear in their next-born child; this expectation can be interpreted as an attempt to maintain the mother : child bond. A mother's remarriage is the greatest threat to the mother : child bond : when living virilocally, the second husband's mother may exercise the power of her greater age to prevent her son's new wife from bringing her children of a former marriage into the family. But here a mother : child bond in the subordinate junior generation is sacrificed to the maintenance of a mother : son dyad in the senior generations. Although the head of a Thai household is generally said to be male, this is true in name more than fact (Kaufman 1968: 22). The housewife-mother operates behind the scenes in implicit control of the household and of the kin relationships within it, and in direct control of the household economy and spirits. She makes the Thai family "matrifocal" in Raymond Smith's sense of the term that kin relationships focus upon the mother (1973: 124-125). In reviewing the literature, Smith labels as matrifocal just those societies which, like the Thai, combine an expectation of strong male dominance in the marital relationship and as head of the household ... with a reality in which mother : child relations are strongly solidary ... (1973: 129) Crucial to Smith's matrifocal family is a conjugal relationship that is relatively weak in solidarity and affectual intensity, ranking below other primary kinship ties, as found above for Thailand (1973: 5-6). Marriage has many forms in Thailand but is memorable only if a child is born of the union. The rural and lower-class ceremony is secular and private, with only a simple presentation of offerings to parents and house spirits being required. Childlessness is both a legal cause (Adul 1968) and the most common cause of divorce. For some it implies that the woman has accumulated bad karma, or "fate," in her previous lives. Thus, childbearing, much more than marriage, has traditionally conferred .social status, extended kinship, and proven morality. These facts favor solidarity of the mother : child bond over the husband : wife bond. 10. The phil puu ya"a cult is dying out in urban areas. Upon or after marriage in the North, a man may purchase membership in his wife's family's phU puu ya''a, but often does not, rather continuing to identify himself with those of his own mother. It is unheard of for a woman to change her phil puu yd'a because of marriage. See Davis 1973 : 61 footnote and Turton 1972: 221.

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Local definitions of marriage are very flexible in the North, but the event of live childbirth is taken retrospectively as proof of a marriage. In the author's 1973 study of low economic status of families in Chiang Mai city, three-quarters of the adults had not registered their first marriages (11.4% of 259 females, and 72.1% of 204 males), and about one-fifth reported having had no religious ceremony in observance of their first marriage (17.7% of 288 females, 24.8%of250 males). However, all of the informants said they had been married and had had at least one live child. The social importance of childbearing for women is again demonstrated in the tendency of women to figure out their ages at first marriage by the age or birth of their first live-bam child. Men, in contrast, usually first reported the approximate age of their current marriages, and had difficulty recalling their age at first marriage (Muecke 1976: 109-113). Fertility surveys in modern Thailand have consistently found comparatively small proportions of childless couples. For 1960, only five and a half percent of all married women were estimated to be childless (Ohara 1968). The 1964 Potharam Study in rural Central Thailand found only one percent of 1,017 couples with wife aged 20 to 45 childless (Chulalongkorn University 1971: 18). A 1969 survey in the rural North found only four and one-half percent of married women ages 15 to 50 childless (Jones and Rachapaetayakom 1970 : 17). In comparison, Whelpton et a/. report a much higher prevalence--twelve percent--of childlessness among married women of the United States (Whelpton 1966 : 164-165). These percentages again suggest that marriage is very important to the Thai as a means of childbearing, as well as a goal in itself. Most of the women interviewed accepted a husband's "need" to seek out prostitutes as likely. They generally tolerated his sexual interests in and outside the home in order to provide an attractive atmosphere for him to come home to. However, the women were keenly aware and anxious that by tolerating their husbands' sexual independence outside the home, they were allowing their husbands opportunity to find other wives. This ever-present possibility posed a great threat to the women, as desertion would make the economics of their everyday lives more difficult, and lower their and their children's social status as well.

The Mother : Daughter Relationship and Child Socialization Hsu excluded the mother : daughter dyad from possible dominance on the basis that there are no matriarchal societies. Nevertheless, certain lowland Thai behavioral patterns suggest special importance of the mother : daughter relationship in that society. Briefly the salient evidence for a strong mot~er : daughter bond is as follows : 1. Daughters are raised to be mother role-substitutes, being kept at mother's side longer after birth than sons, and closer to home (at least until marriage) in order

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

35

to share child-rearing and household maintenance responsibilities with mother, and to protect daughter's morality from outside influences. 2. Daughters much more often than sons share annual propitiative offerings to family and clan spirits with their mothers. They also inherit from their mothers the responsibility to nourish family spirits,l 0, 11 Furthermore, in space and time, a daughter is generally much more closely bound to her parents than is a son: at marriage, uxorilocal residence is generally preferred to virilocal residence; and, although land is generally inherited in equal parts by all siblings, in the ideal case the youngest daughter and her spouse inherit her parents' house. The mother : daughter bond, far more than the father : son bond, is analagous to a mirror image, reflecting parallel, identical and mutually dependent figures. The mother : daughter bond is made of a repetition of likenesses, with each partner being in a different stage of the same life cycle pattern. Thus, mother depends upon daughter for help in raising daughter's younger siblings, and, by role reversal in mother's old age, for daughter to care for her when she can no longer care for herself. Daughter depends upon mother for instruction in the mother-role, for help in carrying out postpartal practices, and sometimes for rearing daughter's own children. These interdependencies and role exchanges between mother and daughter sometimes make a mother of a grandmother, or of a sister. Because. of the preference for uxorilocal residence at marriage, the closest male parallel to this role replication and interdependence is the father : daughter's husband dyad rather than the father : son dyad. Outside the family context, gender interchangeability of roles has been the traditional pattern of rural and peasant labor; today it is reflected in unskilled and semi-skilled occupations, as well as in professional and managerial positions. That is, whereas there is little sex role differentiation in the economic subsistence sphere, there is sex role differentiation in the domestic, religious and political domains. The mother : daughter relationship, as characterized by high interchangeability of roles, is more durable than any other relationship thus far examined, even though it is limited behaviorally to the domestic and economic domains. 11. See Turton (1972) and Davis (1973) for indepth analyses of domestic spirit cults in Northern Thailand. Davis finds "a complementarity between male and female powers, one [male] deriving from the arcane knowledge of ritual texts and the other [female] from the tutelage of domestic spirits." Jane Hanks has astutely observed that "since a man's power is threatened by female-associated objects, female power is ultimately ascendent over male." (1963; 79).

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Marjorie A. Muecke

The Mother : Son Relationship and Sex-Role Modelling A husband diffuses his energies in all directions, not only toward his wife, but also toward his mother, other women, and his sundry patrons and clients. A wife, in contrast, focuses her energies primarily on her children. This sex-based difference in character of social bonds made by adults is paralleled by sex-linked childhood experiences. A North Thai woman is bound close to home by social dictates that began at her birth. Her mother decided how long to observe the postpartal ritual kaan yuu yen ("to stay cool") on the basis of her sex : the ritual is observed several days longer for daughters than for sons on the belief that this practice will make the daughter always stay close to home, and make the son more adventuresome outside the home (Muecke 19768). Daughters, as noted above, are raised to substitute for mothers. Sons, in contrast, are raised to complement their mothers. This sex differential in childrearing . goals creates higher tension in the mother : son relationship than in the mother: daughter relationship. A son can make religious merit for his mother, by being ordained as a novice or monk, that she is in no way capable of making for herself. A son passes on the family name, providing mother with a means to social immortality that she cannot achieve without him. Thus, a son can provide his mother with moral and social status that neither she nor her husband can. On the other hand, a son learns a key behavior from his mother that is prerequisite.for his success in adult society: her protection of him vis-a-vis wider society models for him the role of mediator that he will have to play as an adult in juggling his patron-client relationships. Thus, while Thai Buddhist society appears explicitly paternalistic at the socio-political level, implicitly it appears that the prototype for both males and females is set by the mother. Whereas a girl is reared to be like mother in her adulthood, a boy is reared to be like a mother's son in his adulthood. In other words, girls are raised to be self-dependent and nurturing, and boys are raised to be diffusely dependent.l2 12. After formulating the above interpretation, I had the honor of meeting Ms. Sumalee Viravaidya, while she was a foremost Bangkok journalist, and discovered that she had arrived at an interpretation of Thai family relationships as essentially domJDated by the mother : son bond. She has written: While fidelity, obedience, and loyalty to husband is [sic] emphasized in the upbringing of girls, those virtues in boys are directed toward their mother. Very little is said about how they should treat their wives . . • The wife is expected to give all and the husband to take all • • • Why ? I would like to suggest that it is because the mother is jealous of her son. She cannot bear the thought of his loving another woman. In order to keep his love, she indulges her son and keeps him a child as long as she possibly can. He remains tied emotionally to his mother all his life. Marriage is a physical and biological necessity, not an emotional one. The Thai man must put his mother before his wife ••• What can the mother do to keep her son loyal and devoted to her but at the same time not destroy her daughter? The answer is to mould her daughter to be so strong and self-sufficient that she will not break. The girl is taught never to expect her husband to give her the emotional warmth and security that "rightly'' belongs to his mother. But everyone needs emotional warmth and security and since a wife cannot expect it from her husband she proceeds to breed it in her son •.• " (Sumalee 1973 : 13).

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

37

Early in the paper it was suggested that the religious domain of Buddhism contains behavior like that of the father : child relationship (page 30). Having since looked at other conjugal family dyads, the similarity between monk : layperson and father : child bonds can now be examined in relation to the other dyad pairs. Of the two types of father: child dyad, father: son and father: daughter, the father: daughter seems the ~ore similar to the monk : layperson relationship because daughter nurtures father in his incapacities of old age, just as the Buddhist female nurtures the male monk in his earthly passivity, providing him his daily sustenance. Furthermore. the ideal comportment of the proper Thai unmarried girl matches that expected of the ideal male qua monk in many striking ways : both images demand quiet inobtrusiveness, sexual avoidance, complete modesty and an affect of contentment-- a role model of perfection --from the person in the role. But nurturing is probably universally a behavior and responsibility carried out more by mother than by daughter, and receiving nurturance is more characteristic of the son than, the father. Therefore, it appears that a mother: son metaphor parallels the father : daughter analogy at a more implicit, cultural level of analysis. Thai boys are expected to be naughty and intrusive, and laymen, to "follow their instincts"; but while ordained, both are expected to behave like the ideal female described above.

Resembling the female are the quiet, well-behaved elementary school

age boys who are readily referred to as kathoey, "transvestites." Despite the social non-acceptance of adult transvestites by many individuals, their existence is well-known (through city street comer hangouts, restaurants, annual kathoey beauty contests in Bangkok, etc.). Female transvestites, even "tom boys," are, by comparison, very rare: this suggests that female socialization follows a female model almost exclusively, whereas male socialization ambiguously follows both male and female models. When possessed by spirits, however, women do adopt what are locally viewed as "male" behavioral patterns, such as male dress, drinking whiskey, seductive dancing, and exercise of moral authority.

Spirit mediums are traditionally female and are

usually possessed by spirits of ~enerated religious or political male figures from legend or history. This conforms to

ou~

previous finding of explicit male superiority in Tpai

politics and Buddhism : i.e., the only acceptable way for a female to enter these domains is to present herself as a male, and as a male of high social status, as a monk or nobleman who was a predecessor to the current politico-religious order.

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Marjorie A. Muecke

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Conjugal family relationships among the lowland North Thai have been examined with the heuristic of the' "Hsu hypothesis." At the outset it was posited that the extension of kinship to non-kin domains is a misleading hypothesis, at least for complex societies, because the direction of influence can also be the reverse, as in peer group socialization.

After suggesting that Hsu's concept for "dyadic dominance" is

too simplistic for describing the intricacies of living out social relationships, an inductive approach to the concept of dominance was adopted to look for characteristics that distinguish conjugal family dyads among the urban North Thai low socio-economic status research informants. Taking the lead from the pattern of Thai terminological usage, the "older : younger" relationship was examined first. This dyadic type includes four of Hsu's "basic dyads," viz., the husband :wife, brother: brother, brother : sister and sister: sister pairs. All four pairs are same-generation relationships in which the partners· are distinguished on the basis of birth order and social status. It was concluded that intergenerational relationships are structurally primary to intragenerational relationships in Thai society. Therefore the remainder of the discussion focused upon the intergenerational parent : child relationships. What has emerged from this analysis is a complex process of variation, rather than a neat proxy variable, "dominance." Brief description of the most obvious complexities will show that "dyad dominance" in Hsu's sense of the term is exceedingly difficult to operationalize; and also will help make explicit certain implicit aspects of Thai conjugal family relationships. Analysis of the social space in which the different conjugal family dyads are particularly active suggests a boundary between the domestic and nqn-domestic social spheres. For example, the mother : daughter relationship is concentrated in the domestic sphere; the father : son relationship operates throughout the non-domestic sphere, but only in part of the domestic sphere; and the oldt:r : younger relationship is very active in both the domestic and the non-domestic spheres. However, the degree to which a dyad is active in either sphere depends upon the type of social life being observed. For instance, in the non-domestic sphere religious roles refer primarily to Buddhism and to men as monks, but in the domestic sphere, they refer more to spirit cults and to women. The range of kin dyad activity in social space can be graphically summarized as follows :

39

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

DIFFUSION OF THAI FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN SOCIAL SPACE SOCIAL SPACE RELATIONSHIP

DOMESTIC

NON-DOMESTIC

Older : Younger ~-································································~

Husband : Wife Brother : Brother Brother : Sister Sister : Sister Father : Son

~-······················································-········:..........................4

~---------------------------~

Father : Daughter

~--------------------------~

Mother : Son Mother : Daughter

~-------------------------~ ~--------------------------~

Within the ranges of action specified in the diagram, the dyadic relationships vary at least in the three dimensions,--social distance, spatial distance and durability-that were defined in the text (page 27). And, the variation is dependent at least upon • the sex, age, birth order, life-cycle stage and socio-economic status of each relationship partner. Therefore, these characteristics may be defined as independent variables. That is, within the range of activity in social space depicted above for each relationship, the following variables can be defined : Independent Variables (characteristics of relationship partner)

Dependent Variables (characteristics of ·dyadic relationship)

age birth order sex life cycle stage socio-economic status

social distance spatial distance durability

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Marjorie A. Muecke

The above analysis suggests that Thai girls are raised with the intention of becoming mothers and staying in the domestic sphere, and boys, with the expectation of becoming political or religious power figures. Were sons and daughters socialized primarily for conjugal family roles in adulthood, the mother : child bonds could be expected to involve greater social distance, and the husband : wife bond, less social distance than has been found. That is, husband : wife roles would gain in cultural significance what co-parent roles would lose. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful no the National Research Council of Thailand, Fulbright-Hays, and the National Institute of Mental Health for supporting the field research 19721974 which generated the perceptions presented in this paper. The paper was originally presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Mexico City, November 1974, under a difierent title. It has since been revised.

REFERENCES CITED ADUL Wichiencharoen and Luang Chamroon Netisastra, 1968 "Some Main Features of Modernization of Ancient Family Law in Thailand." IN David C. Buxbaum, ed., Family Law and Customary Law in Asia. The Hague: Martinus Nijhofl', 89-106. BOHANNAN, Paul J., 1971 "Dyad Dominance and Household Maintenance," IN Francis L.K. Hsu. ed., Kinship and Culture. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 42-65. CHULALONGKORN University, 1971 "The Potharam Study." Bangkok : Institute of Population Studies, Research Report No. 4. DAVIS. Richard, 1973 "Muang Matrifocality." Journal of the Siam Society 61: 2: 53-62, July. DHARA, Sudhawachana, 1968 "Infertility in Thailand." IN Proceedings of the Third Population Seminar in Thailand. Bangkok: The National Research Council, 241-254 (Thai, with English summary). FERNANDEZ, James W., 1971 "Bantu Brotherhood : Symmetry, Socialization, and Ultimate Choice in Two Bantu Cultures." IN Francis L.K. Hsu, ed., Kinship and Culture. Chicago : Aldine Publishing Co., 339-366. HANKS, Jane R., 1963 MaternitY_ and Its Rituals in BangChan. Data Paper No. 51, Southeast Asia Program. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University. HANKS, Lucien M., Jr., 1962 "Merit and Power in the Thai Social Order." American Anthropologist 64 .: 6 : 1247-1261, December. HSU, Francis L.K., 1971 a "A Hypothesis on Kinship and Culture." Kinship and Culture. Chicago : Aldine Publishing Co., 3-29. _____ 1971b "Kinship, Society, and Culture." Kinship and Culture. Chicago : Aldine Publishing Co., 479-491.

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1972 "Kinship and Ways of Life: An Exploration." Psychological Anthropology. Cambridge Mass. : Schenkman Publishing Co., 509-567. JONES, Gavin and Jawalaksana Rachapaetayakom, 1970 "Fertility and Contraception in the Rural North of Thailand." Bangkok : National Economic Development Board. KAUFMAN, Howard K., 1960 Bangkuad: A Community Study in Thailand. Locust Valley, New York: J.J. Augustin, Inc. EEYES, Charles F., 1977 "Kin Groups in a Thai-Lao Community." IN The Anthropology of East Asia and the Pacific : Essays in Honor of Lauriston Sharp. G.W. Skinner and A.T. Kirsch, eds. New York : Cornell University Press. LEVY, Marion J., Jr., 1971 "Notes on the Hsu Hypothesis." IN Francis L.K. Hsu, ed. Kinship and Culture. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 33-41. MUECKE, Marjorie A., 1976A "Reproductive Success" Among the Urban Poor: A Micro-level Study of Infant Survival and Child Growth in Northern Thailand. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle. _____ 1976B "Health Care Systems as Socializing Agents: Childbearing the North Thai and Western Ways." Social Science and Madicine 10: 377-383. PEDERSON, Lise Rishoj, 1968 "Aspects of Woman's Life in Rural Thailand." Folk (Copenhagen) Volume 10. PmLLIPS, Herbert P., 1965 Thai Peasant Personality. Los Angeles: University of California Press. SMITH, Raymond T., 1973 "The Matrifocal Family." IN Jack Goody, ed. The Character of Kinship. New York: Cambridge University Press, 121-144. SUMALEE, Viravaidya, 1973 "It's a Man's World," Bangkok Post Sunday Magazine. 13 May, p. 13. THITSA, Khin, 1980 Providence and Prostitution: Image and Reality for Women in Buddhist Thailand. London : Change. TURTON, Andrew, 1972 "Matrilineal Descent Groups and Spirit Cults of the Thai-Yuan in Northern Thailand." The Journal of the Siam Society 60 : 2 : 217-256. WHELPTON, Pascal K., Arthur J. Campbell and John E. Patterson, 1966 Fertility and Family Planning in the United States. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press. WIJEYEWARNENE, Gehan, 1966 A Preliminary Report on Kinship and Land Tenure in a North Thai Village. Presented to the National Research Council of Thailand. Unpublished mass. _____ In Press "South Village : No So Much a Village, More a Way of Life." IN Clark E. Cunningham, ed., Villages of Thailand. 1971 "A Note on Patrons and Paw Liang." The Journal of the Siam Society 59: 2: 229-233. '

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AND THE HSU HYPOTHESIS MARJORIE A. MUECKE*

Introduction The Problem : Does the Hsu Hypothesis Fit the Thai Case ? Based upon his study of four societies, Francis L.K. Hsu hypothesized in 1971 that the structure of a "dominant" kin tie in a society shapes the structure of social relations in that society.l The hypothesis is interesting for its apparent simplicity, and for its promise for advance in crosscultural comparative work. It reads: The dominant attributes of the dominant dyad in a given kinship system tend to determine the attitudes and action patterns that the individual in such a system develops toward other dyads in this system as well as towards his relationships outside of the system. (1971a: 10) Here, "dyad" refers to any of the eight pairs of persons linked together in the elementary conjugal family, covering two generations, viz., husband : wife, father : son, father: daughter, monher: son, mother: daughter, brother: brother, brother: sister, and sister : sister. Noting that everyone is born into a kinship web, Hsu argued that kin relationships extend to and provide models for the larger social system, and that the dyadic kin relationship that does so more than any other is the "dominant" kin pair (197la: 6-7). Some critics have noted a lack of empirical fit in Hsu's hypothesis (Bohannan, Fernandez, Levy 1971). This paper treats an empirical problem posed by patterns of social relationship in Buddhist Thai society. Among these patterns, the older : younger sibling relationship (phil: n~qng)2 is intensively and extensively reiterated, yet the Hsu

* R.N.,

Ph.D., M.A., Department of Community Health Care Systems, University of Washington By utilizing the notion of "dominance," Hsu elaborated upon Radcliffe-Brown's assertion of the primacy of kin ties over non-kin ties. Hsu attributed his formulation of the hypothesis to his study of Chinese, Hindu, and Alllerican life-ways in his 1963 work Clan, Caste and Club. He found the father : son dyad "dominant" among the Chinese, the mother: son dyad "dominant" among the Hindu, and the husband : wife dyad "dominant" among Americans. He reasoned that the brother : brother dyad is "dominant" among patrilocal African societies (1971 a). 2. Andrew Turton writes "The fundamental categorical distinction between people in Northern Thai culture is between older and younger, with the distinction between older and younger members of the same generation as important as that between senior and junior generations" (1972: 238). Transliterations in the text are for Standard Thai unless otherwise stated.

1.

25

26

Marjorie A. Muecke

hypothesis does not allow for it. Could the older : younger dyad be appended to Hsu's hypothesis? Or, is the Thai case incompatible with Hsu's hypothesis? What then does the older : younger relationship mean in Thai society ?

Critique of Hso's Hypothesis Preliminary attempts to fit the Thai example to Hsu's hypothesis uncovered several difficulties in the hypothesis itself. First, Hsu's assertion that kinship is primary, modelling non-kin relationships in society, appears teleological. Sometimes, at very least, non-kin relationships are primary, as in peer group socialization. Thus, borrowing Geertzian phraseology, kinship may be either a model of key non-kin social relationships, or a model for such relationships. . Second, the meaning of Hsu's term "dominance" is unclear. Hsu leaves the problem of definition essentially unresolved with the broad assertion that a dominant dyad carries social values or maintains the sociocultural system or socializes the young more than any other dyad in a given society (197lb: 490). Levy argues cogently that when the sociopolitical domain is at issue, dominance resides almost everywhere in the father: son dyad (1971 : 37-39). Accepting Levy's argument, however, precludes cultural variation--and cultural variation is the very phenomenon which Hsu attempts to explain by his hypothesis. Fernandez proposes a functional definition of a dominant dyad that is attractive because it can be operationalized, viz., That axial relationship is most dominant which is most difficult to break in circumstances in which a choice has to be made between various axes (1971 : 357). That is, given forced choices in various situations, the answers to the question, "Which dyad partner (s) do informants of different ages and sexes most readily, consistently or frequently select?" would identify certain dyads as "dominant." Third, Hsu's insistence that only one kin dyad is "dominant" in a given society seems unrealistic. Given the complexity of human living, it is likely that different dyads come into focus as more influential at different stages and in different contexts of a person's or domestic unit's life. Fourth, Hsu does not offer a systematic way of determining just which "attributes" (typical modes of behavior and attitude) are dominant. Thus, although his identification of dominant dyads in the cases he cites seems to reflect sensitivity and keen insight, his method is too subjective for systematic generalization. Nevertheless, Hsu's hypothesis can contribute to the interpretation of Thai kinship. In this paper, the hypothesis is used as a heuristic tool for delineating prototypic dyadic kin relationships among Buddhist Thai, in order to help explicate kinship in lowland Thai society.

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

27

Purpose and Method The search for cultural meaning involves making the implicit system explicit. It assumes that the implicit is so fundamental that it might easily be overlooked or denied by members of the culture themselves. This is also the sense in which Bohannan views dominance : It is part of what Durkheim and Freud, each in his own way, called the collective unconscious. The principles are more compelling for being unstated and the sanctions more powerful for being collective (1971 : 61). The explicit and implicit might reinforce or conflict with each other. For example, little girls in urban North Thailand (Chiang Mai) 3 knew and reported the social behaviors prescribed for them at marriage : Every girl must get married. After marriage, in order to be a good woman, you have to indulge your husband and not be unfaithful to him, always be pure and honest to him, smile cheerfully and brightly all the time (11 year old informant}, ... even when he is drunk (13 year old). But this explicit social role sometimes opposes personal preferences. The tension between social and personal attitudes toward marriage seems to have been resolved in a cultural way by Chiang Mai females, as in the following statement by an 11 year old: Every female loves her parents more than anyone else. You have to love your grandparents and all of your relatives, and, if you're married, you should love your husband, too. That is, we'll marry our men, but our parents (and children) are more important to us. These attitudes were also expressed by married female informants, suggesting that this aspect of female socialization starts young and is sustained in adulthood. In the remainder of the paper, some implicit aspects of conjugal family dyadic relationships among Buddhist Thai are made explicit by examining them in terms of four aspects of bonding between dyadic partners, 4 viz., social distance and spatial distance between the dyad partners, durability of the dyadic relationship, and degree of diffusion in social space to non-kin relationships. The first two aspects were derived 3. The ethnographic material was obtained in Chiang Mai city. The data are more representative of the majority population sector than of the cosmopolitan elite, and are not generalizable to minority ethnic groups. 4. My purposes, thus, are both more limited and more operational than those of Dr. Hsu.

28

Marjorie A. Muecke

inductively from field observation and ethongraphies of Thai society : durability was suggested by F~rnandez (1971); and diffusion, by Hsu himself (1971a). The older: younger relationship is considered first because it describes social relationships among both kin and non-kin in Thai society, and because it was not dealt with in Hsu's work.

Analysis of Kin Dyads in Lowland Thai Society The Older : Younger Relationship Between Siblings and Between Spouses The standard Thai term for older: younger, phil : n9f?ng, is a term of reference denoting classificatory siblingship. It is used without sex specifications as a collective for siblings, and for individual or group members of ego's generation to denote a vertical, superior versus inferior social relationship. For purposes of direct address and self-reference, the collective is separated into older versus younger. By using the sibling term older (ph{i) for husbands and younger (n~t;ng) for wife6 the Thai terminologically stress male dominance in the conjugal relationship and deemphasize sexual relationship as a raison d'etre for marriage. The chief characteristics of the older : younger relationship are asymmetry and reciprocity between two partners of either sex. To this extent, the older : younger relationship is a form of Foster's "dyadic contract" between patron and client (Hanks 1962: 1258; Phillips 1965: 93-4). Benefits accruing to older are the respect, obedience and services of younger; in return, younger gains protection and privileges fron older. The strength of bond in the older : younger relationship is often short-lived and its termination appears to be more readily sanctioned than that of other dyads. Although there is the expected "sense of love, obligation and respect that is derived from the simple fact of kinship" among Thai siblings, Phillips found that, in contrast to parent : child relationships, "maintenance of the older : younger relationship is always dependent upon what the participants can gain from it, i.e., from the other person" (1965: 32, 86). For kin-group compounds, this explains Wijeyewardene's finding that : 5. The rural North Thai husband refers to himself and is addressed by his wife as aay, "older

6.

brother," instead of the Standard Thai phil or its unaspirated Northern form, pit. which is used by urban couples. This difference refitcts the current demise of the Northern Thai dialect in urban areas, brought about by ever-increasing contact between the Northern and Central Regions. Turton identifies a marriage rule implicitly observed among the Northern Thai that "for a man no woman who can be assimilated to the category of phU (older) is marriageable" (1972 : 239). However, there is a rule for breaking this rule, which is, if female is older, she establishes her " whereupon she becomes n~f!ng (younger) marriageability by addressing her suitor as phii, to him.

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

29

Once the households are linked by sibling ties rather than by parent : child ties, economic and cooperative obligations lose much of their force, both emotional and jural-economic. Cooperation between siblings is much more voluntary in character ... (1966: 17). Other evidence for easy termination of the older : younger bond is the ease of practicing both child fosterage (whicn changes siblingship; Kaufman 1960: 23; Keyes 1977) and early serial monogamy (which changes spouses; Wijeyewardene n.d.: 41-45). Although the older : younger sibling relationship is explicitly institutionalized with linguistic differentiation and precedence rules, 7 it is relatively weak in its durability. While the older : younger relationship can be terminated, it is also easily estabilished. It may occur diffusely in social space wherever one partner has age seniority or status superiority over the other.. Every individual has both olders and youngers in his or her social space, and is simultaneously older to certain younger persons and younger to certain older persons--even twins are explicitly differentiated in social status on the basis of birth order. The vertical, inter-generation axis permeates the horizontal, intra-generation axis, classifying each generation into two parts, older versus younger, or superior versus inferior. Thus, an inter-generation relationship seems structurally a more appropriate prototype for Thai social relationships than any same-generation relationship.

The Father : Child Relationship, as Distinct from the Mother : Child Relationship Of the four basic parent : child dyads, the ones headed by father seem dominant because fathers (married men with children) hold general jura-political power in low land Thai society. They are identified as the legal and customary head of household (although of course this is not always demographically possible), and (along with widowed, postmenopausal mothers) as the candidates for village and district headmanship or high Government positions-- ''A childless person is not elected as head man : his sterility might infect the whole community" (Pederson 1968 : 129). Men also appear superior to women in the religious domain of Buddhism. Only adult men are eligible for the supreme social status acquired by taking the yellow robe of monkb.ood.s While fatherhood is set aside during monkhood because a monk must For example, the collectives for "grandparents" and "aunts and uncles" rank the relatives by sequential order higher to lower age and social status, with the order FaFa-FaMo-MoFa-MoMo (puu-ya"a-taa-yaay) for grandparents, and PaOBr-PaOSi-MoYSib-FaYSib (lung-paa-mia-'aa) for aunts and uncles. 8. Women may enter monastic life as mae chii, but they are not ordained, and function chiefly in monastery housekeeping, cleaning and cooking, with little time for study and meditation. See Thitsa 1980 : 16-18.

1.

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Marjorie A. Muecke

be celibate and unencumbered with worldly affairs, previous experience as a monk is the Thai ideal of male preparation for marriage and fatherhood.. Although when a married man is ordained, he carries no responsibilities as husband or father, his "former'' wife must continue to comport herself as a married woman, and is not free to marry anyone else; she thus maintains the bond between the monk and his children.

Fatherhood is a widespread symbol of highly respected social power. Monkhood, as expressed in fatherhood is wise, protective, and quasi-sacred. From the lay viewpoint, a good monk counsels well, behaves as a model of virtue, .and fearlessly dispels evil; the older he is, the more likely he is to be revered with the honorific luang phoo, phoo, ,, or "great one who is like a father." The term . ,, "father," is also used to indicate great success--and respect for the power and knowledge that go with success. Examples include the above term luang phqq for a venerated older monk, and the term pht/'9 liang, literally "father who nourishes or feeds," for an employer or for a man of wealth or worldly success who is expected to act as a patron (Wijeyewardene 1971). Teachers, be they male or female, are accorded the loyalty and respect of an ideal father; and the student : teacher bond is commonly life-long, with pupils of the same teacher often expressing a sibling-like association with each other. Child informants in urban Chiang Mai viewed fathers in the ideal, at least, as strong and protective: Father's kindness in raising us children can be compared to a bodi tree that gives ample shade to all those under it (12 year old male informant). Even after a great man has died, people still respect and bow to him (13 year old male informant). The manarchy symbolizes the supreme secular power of the father, with the King being in relation to country as father is to family.9 The corresponding term mae, for mother, is also extended in meaning, but rarely to the juro-political sphere or to convey the power of moral virtue. Common extensions of the term mae associate "mother" with the domestic sphere or earthly places: for example they signify 1) female gender, as in maekhrua for "female cook," or maekai for "hen"; 2) fertile source, as in mcfenaam for "major river"; 3) a tool for support or security, as in ma"eraeng for "jack" and ma"ekunjae for "padlock"; 4) a place by name, as in rnaesariang and maehongs~'9n provinces; 5) earthly (lowly) for water goddess or maethooranii for earth goddess. goddesses as in md'ekhongkhaa ~ ·' , The use of fatherhood as a linguistic metaphor for supportive power is so common among the Thai that we may ask why it is. The father role is diffuse in social space--i.e., there are many models of fatherhood, including genitor and pater, 9. See Turton (1972: 252-5) for an insightful analysis of the father figure in Northern Thai myth, legend, spirit cults and the explicit socio-political order.

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

31

patron, king, even the unmarried monk who has forsaken family obligations. This is in sharp contrast to the mother role which is rarely extended beyond the models of genetrix and mater. Furthermore, whereas the father role is vague in definition, being essentially benign protection and support, the mother role is defined with explicit duties and obligations. The vagueness of father-role performance possibilities in the family is paralleled by socially diffuse father-role models. This vagueness of definition allows flexible application of the father metaphor beyond the domestic sphere. In contrast, the specificity of the mother role may prevent its broad extension to larger society. The social power that is culturally vested in Thai fatherhood implies a power differential between father and child. This power differential is generally greater than the social distance between mother and child. Children are .expected to fear and respect both parents, but usually fear their fathers more than their mothers, even though fathers punish less often than do mothers. Disobedient urban teenagers run away from home for days or weeks after committing an infraction in order to escape a father's potential wrath, whereas they say they feel sad and disappointed with themselves for having pained their mothers by being absent from home. The potential power of father over child exists until child has a house of his or her own, which is often after marriage and childbirth. The social distance between father and child may be supported by the widespread assumption that the women in the family will never forsake the children, allowing fathers the option of voluntary and intermittent, rather than necessary and sustained, responsibility for the children, A father (and older sons) may be absent from the home at night for what are perceived as legitimate reasons--pleasure-seeking (pai th1aw; pai 'ew, Northern Thai) or work-whereas a mother is almost never absent overnight, and by evening would be so only if her children were with her and they were all near home, for example, at a local monastery fair. The greater spatio-temporal distance between father and children than between mother and children is also evident in common sleeping patterns wherein (except in the first month after childbirth), when the parents do not sleep together, mother sleeps with children and father sleeps alone or with older sons. The father : child bond may be as durable as the mother : child bond, but is less consistently so. A father's temporary, intermittent or permanent absence from home is sanctioned through the institutions of the military and of the Buddhist Sangha or monkhood, whereas a mother has no similarly sanctioned absence from home. Contemporary social change, with the increasing need for wage-earning, might cause temporary or even long-lasting absence of the father from home as a migrant worker or permanent urban employee. But the father : child bond can also be permanent, as

32

Marjorie A. Muecke

when a daughter raises her children in her parents' home. There are also non-kin lifelasting bonds that structurally and culturally parallel the father : child bond, such as the esteemed teacher : loyal student bond. To summarixe, bonding in father : child relationships generally has the following characteristics : 1. social distance is maintained by father's superiority over child in the domestic, political and Buddhist domains (as also found in the social superiority of older over younger person); 2. spatial distance between father and child may be nil for the coresident married daughter, or large for the father who is in the military or monkhood;

3. durability of the bond may be temporary, as for the young son who leaves . home to establish another family, or permanent, as for the daughter who stays nt home and will inherit her parents' house; and, 4. diffusion in social space of the fatherhood metaphor to non-kin relationships is broad, for example to teacher : pupil and monk : lay person relationships, but it is not as diffuse as that of the older: younger relationship. Of course the values of all four aspects vary depending at least on the sex of the children, the respective stages in the life cycle of the dyad partners, the ages and birth orders of the relationship partners, and their socio-economic statuses. For example, the characteristics of the father: son and father: daughter relationships are similar until late adolescence, whereupon the values of social distance, spatial distance and. durability may change radically because son moves away from home or daughter brings a husband home. For another example, low birth-order daughters probably do not experience relationships with their mothers that are as durable or spatially close as those of last-order daughters or younger sons with no sisters, both of whom tend to live with parents after marriage and .inherit their house. And, durability and spatial closeness of bond would be less for the landless poor, whose children usually must set up neolocal residence at marriage.

The Mother : Child Relationship and its Interaction with the Husband : Wife Relationship Elementary school boys and girls in Chiang Mai were unequivocal in their assertions that the person they loved the most was mother, citing the self-sacrifice a Thai mother puts herself through for the sake of her children, and asserting that mother will support child through thick and thin more than any other person. bond.

In Thai society, neither marriage nor death need terminate the mother: child It is thus extremely durable. Even after their own marriage, children continue

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSffiPS

33

to pay respect to their mothers' ancestral spirits (phli puu ytla),l 0 maintaining the mother : child bond. When a mother dies, her young children are usually raised by her sister, who provides the closest substitute mother: child bond possible. If she dies in childbed, nothing is done to save the infant (except when modern medical doctors are in attendance), thereby precluding a potential breaking of the mother: child dyad dyad because both die at once. If a child dies but the mother lives, the bereaved parents usually expect the child's spirit to reappear in their next-born child; this expectation can be interpreted as an attempt to maintain the mother : child bond. A mother's remarriage is the greatest threat to the mother : child bond : when living virilocally, the second husband's mother may exercise the power of her greater age to prevent her son's new wife from bringing her children of a former marriage into the family. But here a mother : child bond in the subordinate junior generation is sacrificed to the maintenance of a mother : son dyad in the senior generations. Although the head of a Thai household is generally said to be male, this is true in name more than fact (Kaufman 1968: 22). The housewife-mother operates behind the scenes in implicit control of the household and of the kin relationships within it, and in direct control of the household economy and spirits. She makes the Thai family "matrifocal" in Raymond Smith's sense of the term that kin relationships focus upon the mother (1973: 124-125). In reviewing the literature, Smith labels as matrifocal just those societies which, like the Thai, combine an expectation of strong male dominance in the marital relationship and as head of the household ... with a reality in which mother : child relations are strongly solidary ... (1973: 129) Crucial to Smith's matrifocal family is a conjugal relationship that is relatively weak in solidarity and affectual intensity, ranking below other primary kinship ties, as found above for Thailand (1973: 5-6). Marriage has many forms in Thailand but is memorable only if a child is born of the union. The rural and lower-class ceremony is secular and private, with only a simple presentation of offerings to parents and house spirits being required. Childlessness is both a legal cause (Adul 1968) and the most common cause of divorce. For some it implies that the woman has accumulated bad karma, or "fate," in her previous lives. Thus, childbearing, much more than marriage, has traditionally conferred .social status, extended kinship, and proven morality. These facts favor solidarity of the mother : child bond over the husband : wife bond. 10. The phil puu ya"a cult is dying out in urban areas. Upon or after marriage in the North, a man may purchase membership in his wife's family's phU puu ya''a, but often does not, rather continuing to identify himself with those of his own mother. It is unheard of for a woman to change her phil puu yd'a because of marriage. See Davis 1973 : 61 footnote and Turton 1972: 221.

34

Marjorie A. Muecke

Local definitions of marriage are very flexible in the North, but the event of live childbirth is taken retrospectively as proof of a marriage. In the author's 1973 study of low economic status of families in Chiang Mai city, three-quarters of the adults had not registered their first marriages (11.4% of 259 females, and 72.1% of 204 males), and about one-fifth reported having had no religious ceremony in observance of their first marriage (17.7% of 288 females, 24.8%of250 males). However, all of the informants said they had been married and had had at least one live child. The social importance of childbearing for women is again demonstrated in the tendency of women to figure out their ages at first marriage by the age or birth of their first live-bam child. Men, in contrast, usually first reported the approximate age of their current marriages, and had difficulty recalling their age at first marriage (Muecke 1976: 109-113). Fertility surveys in modern Thailand have consistently found comparatively small proportions of childless couples. For 1960, only five and a half percent of all married women were estimated to be childless (Ohara 1968). The 1964 Potharam Study in rural Central Thailand found only one percent of 1,017 couples with wife aged 20 to 45 childless (Chulalongkorn University 1971: 18). A 1969 survey in the rural North found only four and one-half percent of married women ages 15 to 50 childless (Jones and Rachapaetayakom 1970 : 17). In comparison, Whelpton et a/. report a much higher prevalence--twelve percent--of childlessness among married women of the United States (Whelpton 1966 : 164-165). These percentages again suggest that marriage is very important to the Thai as a means of childbearing, as well as a goal in itself. Most of the women interviewed accepted a husband's "need" to seek out prostitutes as likely. They generally tolerated his sexual interests in and outside the home in order to provide an attractive atmosphere for him to come home to. However, the women were keenly aware and anxious that by tolerating their husbands' sexual independence outside the home, they were allowing their husbands opportunity to find other wives. This ever-present possibility posed a great threat to the women, as desertion would make the economics of their everyday lives more difficult, and lower their and their children's social status as well.

The Mother : Daughter Relationship and Child Socialization Hsu excluded the mother : daughter dyad from possible dominance on the basis that there are no matriarchal societies. Nevertheless, certain lowland Thai behavioral patterns suggest special importance of the mother : daughter relationship in that society. Briefly the salient evidence for a strong mot~er : daughter bond is as follows : 1. Daughters are raised to be mother role-substitutes, being kept at mother's side longer after birth than sons, and closer to home (at least until marriage) in order

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

35

to share child-rearing and household maintenance responsibilities with mother, and to protect daughter's morality from outside influences. 2. Daughters much more often than sons share annual propitiative offerings to family and clan spirits with their mothers. They also inherit from their mothers the responsibility to nourish family spirits,l 0, 11 Furthermore, in space and time, a daughter is generally much more closely bound to her parents than is a son: at marriage, uxorilocal residence is generally preferred to virilocal residence; and, although land is generally inherited in equal parts by all siblings, in the ideal case the youngest daughter and her spouse inherit her parents' house. The mother : daughter bond, far more than the father : son bond, is analagous to a mirror image, reflecting parallel, identical and mutually dependent figures. The mother : daughter bond is made of a repetition of likenesses, with each partner being in a different stage of the same life cycle pattern. Thus, mother depends upon daughter for help in raising daughter's younger siblings, and, by role reversal in mother's old age, for daughter to care for her when she can no longer care for herself. Daughter depends upon mother for instruction in the mother-role, for help in carrying out postpartal practices, and sometimes for rearing daughter's own children. These interdependencies and role exchanges between mother and daughter sometimes make a mother of a grandmother, or of a sister. Because. of the preference for uxorilocal residence at marriage, the closest male parallel to this role replication and interdependence is the father : daughter's husband dyad rather than the father : son dyad. Outside the family context, gender interchangeability of roles has been the traditional pattern of rural and peasant labor; today it is reflected in unskilled and semi-skilled occupations, as well as in professional and managerial positions. That is, whereas there is little sex role differentiation in the economic subsistence sphere, there is sex role differentiation in the domestic, religious and political domains. The mother : daughter relationship, as characterized by high interchangeability of roles, is more durable than any other relationship thus far examined, even though it is limited behaviorally to the domestic and economic domains. 11. See Turton (1972) and Davis (1973) for indepth analyses of domestic spirit cults in Northern Thailand. Davis finds "a complementarity between male and female powers, one [male] deriving from the arcane knowledge of ritual texts and the other [female] from the tutelage of domestic spirits." Jane Hanks has astutely observed that "since a man's power is threatened by female-associated objects, female power is ultimately ascendent over male." (1963; 79).

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Marjorie A. Muecke

The Mother : Son Relationship and Sex-Role Modelling A husband diffuses his energies in all directions, not only toward his wife, but also toward his mother, other women, and his sundry patrons and clients. A wife, in contrast, focuses her energies primarily on her children. This sex-based difference in character of social bonds made by adults is paralleled by sex-linked childhood experiences. A North Thai woman is bound close to home by social dictates that began at her birth. Her mother decided how long to observe the postpartal ritual kaan yuu yen ("to stay cool") on the basis of her sex : the ritual is observed several days longer for daughters than for sons on the belief that this practice will make the daughter always stay close to home, and make the son more adventuresome outside the home (Muecke 19768). Daughters, as noted above, are raised to substitute for mothers. Sons, in contrast, are raised to complement their mothers. This sex differential in childrearing . goals creates higher tension in the mother : son relationship than in the mother: daughter relationship. A son can make religious merit for his mother, by being ordained as a novice or monk, that she is in no way capable of making for herself. A son passes on the family name, providing mother with a means to social immortality that she cannot achieve without him. Thus, a son can provide his mother with moral and social status that neither she nor her husband can. On the other hand, a son learns a key behavior from his mother that is prerequisite.for his success in adult society: her protection of him vis-a-vis wider society models for him the role of mediator that he will have to play as an adult in juggling his patron-client relationships. Thus, while Thai Buddhist society appears explicitly paternalistic at the socio-political level, implicitly it appears that the prototype for both males and females is set by the mother. Whereas a girl is reared to be like mother in her adulthood, a boy is reared to be like a mother's son in his adulthood. In other words, girls are raised to be self-dependent and nurturing, and boys are raised to be diffusely dependent.l2 12. After formulating the above interpretation, I had the honor of meeting Ms. Sumalee Viravaidya, while she was a foremost Bangkok journalist, and discovered that she had arrived at an interpretation of Thai family relationships as essentially domJDated by the mother : son bond. She has written: While fidelity, obedience, and loyalty to husband is [sic] emphasized in the upbringing of girls, those virtues in boys are directed toward their mother. Very little is said about how they should treat their wives . . • The wife is expected to give all and the husband to take all • • • Why ? I would like to suggest that it is because the mother is jealous of her son. She cannot bear the thought of his loving another woman. In order to keep his love, she indulges her son and keeps him a child as long as she possibly can. He remains tied emotionally to his mother all his life. Marriage is a physical and biological necessity, not an emotional one. The Thai man must put his mother before his wife ••• What can the mother do to keep her son loyal and devoted to her but at the same time not destroy her daughter? The answer is to mould her daughter to be so strong and self-sufficient that she will not break. The girl is taught never to expect her husband to give her the emotional warmth and security that "rightly'' belongs to his mother. But everyone needs emotional warmth and security and since a wife cannot expect it from her husband she proceeds to breed it in her son •.• " (Sumalee 1973 : 13).

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

37

Early in the paper it was suggested that the religious domain of Buddhism contains behavior like that of the father : child relationship (page 30). Having since looked at other conjugal family dyads, the similarity between monk : layperson and father : child bonds can now be examined in relation to the other dyad pairs. Of the two types of father: child dyad, father: son and father: daughter, the father: daughter seems the ~ore similar to the monk : layperson relationship because daughter nurtures father in his incapacities of old age, just as the Buddhist female nurtures the male monk in his earthly passivity, providing him his daily sustenance. Furthermore. the ideal comportment of the proper Thai unmarried girl matches that expected of the ideal male qua monk in many striking ways : both images demand quiet inobtrusiveness, sexual avoidance, complete modesty and an affect of contentment-- a role model of perfection --from the person in the role. But nurturing is probably universally a behavior and responsibility carried out more by mother than by daughter, and receiving nurturance is more characteristic of the son than, the father. Therefore, it appears that a mother: son metaphor parallels the father : daughter analogy at a more implicit, cultural level of analysis. Thai boys are expected to be naughty and intrusive, and laymen, to "follow their instincts"; but while ordained, both are expected to behave like the ideal female described above.

Resembling the female are the quiet, well-behaved elementary school

age boys who are readily referred to as kathoey, "transvestites." Despite the social non-acceptance of adult transvestites by many individuals, their existence is well-known (through city street comer hangouts, restaurants, annual kathoey beauty contests in Bangkok, etc.). Female transvestites, even "tom boys," are, by comparison, very rare: this suggests that female socialization follows a female model almost exclusively, whereas male socialization ambiguously follows both male and female models. When possessed by spirits, however, women do adopt what are locally viewed as "male" behavioral patterns, such as male dress, drinking whiskey, seductive dancing, and exercise of moral authority.

Spirit mediums are traditionally female and are

usually possessed by spirits of ~enerated religious or political male figures from legend or history. This conforms to

ou~

previous finding of explicit male superiority in Tpai

politics and Buddhism : i.e., the only acceptable way for a female to enter these domains is to present herself as a male, and as a male of high social status, as a monk or nobleman who was a predecessor to the current politico-religious order.

38

Marjorie A. Muecke

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Conjugal family relationships among the lowland North Thai have been examined with the heuristic of the' "Hsu hypothesis." At the outset it was posited that the extension of kinship to non-kin domains is a misleading hypothesis, at least for complex societies, because the direction of influence can also be the reverse, as in peer group socialization.

After suggesting that Hsu's concept for "dyadic dominance" is

too simplistic for describing the intricacies of living out social relationships, an inductive approach to the concept of dominance was adopted to look for characteristics that distinguish conjugal family dyads among the urban North Thai low socio-economic status research informants. Taking the lead from the pattern of Thai terminological usage, the "older : younger" relationship was examined first. This dyadic type includes four of Hsu's "basic dyads," viz., the husband :wife, brother: brother, brother : sister and sister: sister pairs. All four pairs are same-generation relationships in which the partners· are distinguished on the basis of birth order and social status. It was concluded that intergenerational relationships are structurally primary to intragenerational relationships in Thai society. Therefore the remainder of the discussion focused upon the intergenerational parent : child relationships. What has emerged from this analysis is a complex process of variation, rather than a neat proxy variable, "dominance." Brief description of the most obvious complexities will show that "dyad dominance" in Hsu's sense of the term is exceedingly difficult to operationalize; and also will help make explicit certain implicit aspects of Thai conjugal family relationships. Analysis of the social space in which the different conjugal family dyads are particularly active suggests a boundary between the domestic and nqn-domestic social spheres. For example, the mother : daughter relationship is concentrated in the domestic sphere; the father : son relationship operates throughout the non-domestic sphere, but only in part of the domestic sphere; and the oldt:r : younger relationship is very active in both the domestic and the non-domestic spheres. However, the degree to which a dyad is active in either sphere depends upon the type of social life being observed. For instance, in the non-domestic sphere religious roles refer primarily to Buddhism and to men as monks, but in the domestic sphere, they refer more to spirit cults and to women. The range of kin dyad activity in social space can be graphically summarized as follows :

39

THAI CONJUGAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

DIFFUSION OF THAI FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN SOCIAL SPACE SOCIAL SPACE RELATIONSHIP

DOMESTIC

NON-DOMESTIC

Older : Younger ~-································································~

Husband : Wife Brother : Brother Brother : Sister Sister : Sister Father : Son

~-······················································-········:..........................4

~---------------------------~

Father : Daughter

~--------------------------~

Mother : Son Mother : Daughter

~-------------------------~ ~--------------------------~

Within the ranges of action specified in the diagram, the dyadic relationships vary at least in the three dimensions,--social distance, spatial distance and durability-that were defined in the text (page 27). And, the variation is dependent at least upon • the sex, age, birth order, life-cycle stage and socio-economic status of each relationship partner. Therefore, these characteristics may be defined as independent variables. That is, within the range of activity in social space depicted above for each relationship, the following variables can be defined : Independent Variables (characteristics of relationship partner)

Dependent Variables (characteristics of ·dyadic relationship)

age birth order sex life cycle stage socio-economic status

social distance spatial distance durability

40

Marjorie A. Muecke

The above analysis suggests that Thai girls are raised with the intention of becoming mothers and staying in the domestic sphere, and boys, with the expectation of becoming political or religious power figures. Were sons and daughters socialized primarily for conjugal family roles in adulthood, the mother : child bonds could be expected to involve greater social distance, and the husband : wife bond, less social distance than has been found. That is, husband : wife roles would gain in cultural significance what co-parent roles would lose. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful no the National Research Council of Thailand, Fulbright-Hays, and the National Institute of Mental Health for supporting the field research 19721974 which generated the perceptions presented in this paper. The paper was originally presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Mexico City, November 1974, under a difierent title. It has since been revised.

REFERENCES CITED ADUL Wichiencharoen and Luang Chamroon Netisastra, 1968 "Some Main Features of Modernization of Ancient Family Law in Thailand." IN David C. Buxbaum, ed., Family Law and Customary Law in Asia. The Hague: Martinus Nijhofl', 89-106. BOHANNAN, Paul J., 1971 "Dyad Dominance and Household Maintenance," IN Francis L.K. Hsu. ed., Kinship and Culture. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 42-65. CHULALONGKORN University, 1971 "The Potharam Study." Bangkok : Institute of Population Studies, Research Report No. 4. DAVIS. Richard, 1973 "Muang Matrifocality." Journal of the Siam Society 61: 2: 53-62, July. DHARA, Sudhawachana, 1968 "Infertility in Thailand." IN Proceedings of the Third Population Seminar in Thailand. Bangkok: The National Research Council, 241-254 (Thai, with English summary). FERNANDEZ, James W., 1971 "Bantu Brotherhood : Symmetry, Socialization, and Ultimate Choice in Two Bantu Cultures." IN Francis L.K. Hsu, ed., Kinship and Culture. Chicago : Aldine Publishing Co., 339-366. HANKS, Jane R., 1963 MaternitY_ and Its Rituals in BangChan. Data Paper No. 51, Southeast Asia Program. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University. HANKS, Lucien M., Jr., 1962 "Merit and Power in the Thai Social Order." American Anthropologist 64 .: 6 : 1247-1261, December. HSU, Francis L.K., 1971 a "A Hypothesis on Kinship and Culture." Kinship and Culture. Chicago : Aldine Publishing Co., 3-29. _____ 1971b "Kinship, Society, and Culture." Kinship and Culture. Chicago : Aldine Publishing Co., 479-491.

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1972 "Kinship and Ways of Life: An Exploration." Psychological Anthropology. Cambridge Mass. : Schenkman Publishing Co., 509-567. JONES, Gavin and Jawalaksana Rachapaetayakom, 1970 "Fertility and Contraception in the Rural North of Thailand." Bangkok : National Economic Development Board. KAUFMAN, Howard K., 1960 Bangkuad: A Community Study in Thailand. Locust Valley, New York: J.J. Augustin, Inc. EEYES, Charles F., 1977 "Kin Groups in a Thai-Lao Community." IN The Anthropology of East Asia and the Pacific : Essays in Honor of Lauriston Sharp. G.W. Skinner and A.T. Kirsch, eds. New York : Cornell University Press. LEVY, Marion J., Jr., 1971 "Notes on the Hsu Hypothesis." IN Francis L.K. Hsu, ed. Kinship and Culture. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 33-41. MUECKE, Marjorie A., 1976A "Reproductive Success" Among the Urban Poor: A Micro-level Study of Infant Survival and Child Growth in Northern Thailand. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle. _____ 1976B "Health Care Systems as Socializing Agents: Childbearing the North Thai and Western Ways." Social Science and Madicine 10: 377-383. PEDERSON, Lise Rishoj, 1968 "Aspects of Woman's Life in Rural Thailand." Folk (Copenhagen) Volume 10. PmLLIPS, Herbert P., 1965 Thai Peasant Personality. Los Angeles: University of California Press. SMITH, Raymond T., 1973 "The Matrifocal Family." IN Jack Goody, ed. The Character of Kinship. New York: Cambridge University Press, 121-144. SUMALEE, Viravaidya, 1973 "It's a Man's World," Bangkok Post Sunday Magazine. 13 May, p. 13. THITSA, Khin, 1980 Providence and Prostitution: Image and Reality for Women in Buddhist Thailand. London : Change. TURTON, Andrew, 1972 "Matrilineal Descent Groups and Spirit Cults of the Thai-Yuan in Northern Thailand." The Journal of the Siam Society 60 : 2 : 217-256. WHELPTON, Pascal K., Arthur J. Campbell and John E. Patterson, 1966 Fertility and Family Planning in the United States. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press. WIJEYEWARNENE, Gehan, 1966 A Preliminary Report on Kinship and Land Tenure in a North Thai Village. Presented to the National Research Council of Thailand. Unpublished mass. _____ In Press "South Village : No So Much a Village, More a Way of Life." IN Clark E. Cunningham, ed., Villages of Thailand. 1971 "A Note on Patrons and Paw Liang." The Journal of the Siam Society 59: 2: 229-233. '

AHOM AND THE STUDY OF EARLY TAl SOCIETY* BARBND JAN TERWIBL**

Tai-speaking peoples are widely distributed in southern China, mainland Southeast Asia and the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam. For ethnographic and linguistic purposes many subdivisions are recognized, the most important of which are the Chuang in southern China, the Tho, Red Tai, Black Tai and White Tai of northern Vietnam, the Lao, the Siamese or Thai, the Shan of northern Burma, and the Ahom of Assam. The latter are somewhat exceptional in that their Tai speech is virtually extinct. The Tai-:-speakers are relative newcomers. in most of the regions they presently occupy; it is generally assumed that they spread between the tenth and the thirteenth century from a homeland in what is now southeastern China and northern Vietnam over the region now covered by Laos, northern Burma, Thailand and the Brahmaputra Valley. The Tai peoples were characteristically valley-dwellers and as they conquered new regions they imposed their language and much of their culture upon the local peoples they encountered, such as the Khmu, Mon and Lawa, at the same time themselves gradually absorbing features of these old-established cultures. Some Tai groups had to cross difficult, mountainous terrain in order to reach new fertile lands. In doing so they sometimes lost contact with Tai peoples to whom they were originally related. Thus, broadly speaking, the Tai of northern Vietnam could not maintain regular contact with the Siamese, whilst the Siamese were not even aware of Tai-speakers in Assam. The spreading of Tai peoples over and beyond· mainland Southeast Asia in a region which was heavily interspersed with mountain ridges contributed to the diversification of Tai groups. The comparison of one Tai group with another, especially when they may be assumed to have been separated for at least seven or eight centuries, has therefore attracted many scholars. In the field of linguistics especially, the variations in Tai forms of speech have triggered off a lively debate. The comparative study of various Tai groups has also received attention from some ethnologists and historians, but generally speaking, up until now many of these studies have been conducted somewhat haphazardly and the results have not been as impressive as could be hoped. With the

* Paper submitted to the Second Thai-European Research Seminar, June 14-18, 1982, Saarbruecken, Federal Republic of Germany.

*" Faculty of Asian Studies, the Australian National University, Canberra. 42

AHOM AND THE STUDY OF EARLY TAl SOCffiTY

43

forthcoming studies of legendary and historical accounts of various eastern and central Tai groups, undertaken largely by French researchers, a new stimulus may· be given to . the study of Tai culture in its various forms.

In this paper attention is drawn to the fact that the westernmost Tai, the Ahom, may also prove to have valuable sources and ought to be included in future comparative studies. I intend to demonstrate that Ahom sources are much more closely linked to Tai traditions than the best-known literature would lead us believe. In order to show the value of Ahom studies, by way of example, some Ahom terms related to rank and social class will be isolated and commented upon in a comparative framework. The Ahom occupy a rather exceptional position amongst the Tai peoples. In the first place, they have remained relatively isolated from other Tai speakers, their contact with Shan and Khamti groups of northwestern Burma being via long, difficult and hazardous trails, and apparently interrupted for centuries at a time. Secondly, when the Ahom conquered a small corner of the Brahmaputra Valley at the beginning of the thirteenth century, they probably brought with them their own script, apparently based upon a Mon example.' They maintained historical records throughout the centuries, various versions of which have been preserved until today. Thirdly, although it is possible that the Ahom may have taken note of the Buddhist traditions which were adhered to in some of the regions they must have crossed on their way to Assam, there is little or no evidence that they had been influenced by Buddhism when they entered Assam. Recent research suggests instead that they brought with them their own ~di­ genous sacrificial religion, traces of which can still be found in the modern Hindu Ahom culture of today (Terwiel, 1981). Fourthly, and for this paper most interestingly, the Ahom people found themselves in a different situation from most Tai in that they had discovered a valley of immense size, further to the west of which were mighty kingdoms and elaborate political organizations. Gradually, step by step, the Ahom extended their grip over the easternmost part of the Brahmaputra Valley, especially at the beginning of the sixteenth century when they conquered the Kachari and Chutiya. Later in that century, and during the seventeenth century, the Ahom kings further extended their influence and gradually became masters over the whole of the Assamese valley. This was the time when the gradual Hinduization of the Ahom upper classes accelerated. The unified country under Ahom rule was soundly defeated by Muslim invaders in 1662, but a few years later the foreign yoke was thrown off and a new, invigorated Ahom rule was 1. Although it is possible that the script was introduced at some time between the thirteenth and fifteenth century, the available evidence suggests that the Ahom adopted their script just prior to the thirteenth century.

44

Barelid Jan Terwiel

established, ready to try new methods of administration, with the intellectual elite taking Bengal culture as the ideal model. From this time onward the Ahom were firmly set on the path towards full assimilation of Assamese Hindu culture, and the Ahom tongue became obsolete. Assamese script took over from the old Ahom characters. Only in a few isolated pockets were the old traditions still remembered; amongst the traditional Ahom priestly families the ability to read the old books and the observance of Tai religious ceremonies were perpetuated. This sketch of the Ahom intrusion into the Brahmaputra Valley suffices to establish the point that historical Ahom documents may be of great value for the study of Tai peoples in general. For centuries the Ahom extended and elaborated upon a basically Tai substratum in order to cope with a kingdom which grew to a great size. The Ahom developed sophisticated communication systems and organizational hierarchies; they maintained a large army and secured a state income. Generally they succeeded in keeping a tight hold over a large populace of great diversity. The only other case of Tai-speaking peoples having to deal with such a complex large-scale society was that of the Siamese, whose power spread rapidly during the thirteenth century over much of the Chaophraya Delta and southwards in the Malay Peninsula, much faster than the Ahom had spread in Assam. The extraordinary speed of Tai dominance can be partly attributed to a temporary weakness amongst the Cambodians who traditionally had played the dominant political role in the region. The Siamese seem to have coped with their rapid expansion of influence basically by extending and repeating their valley-political system, whereby a Tai family would rule an important town and place friends and relatives in minor towns and settlements. Loose alliances were kept which were activated in case of outside threat. The Sukho- 1 thai kingdom may appear to some to be a magnified version of the traditional system whereby various sQtTounding towns were subject to a chief one, with others, often further away, tied to it by alliance. It was only later, during Ayutthayan times, that the Siamese developed a more complex and effective administration system suitable for governing such a large territory. The Ahom and Siamese societies therefore seem eminently comparable. They share a similar substratum of small-scale Tai administration; they used closely related languages; they have preserved written sources which provide historical data as far back as the thirteenth contury and further back into legendary periods. They formed the two cases who had to face the most extreme challenge of expansion of territory and manpower, and in both cases they emerged politically successful from many dangers and traumatic situations. It would seem that a comparison of Ahom and Siamese sources should lead to a deeper insight into early Tai history. It should be of value to

45

AHOM AND THE STUDY OF EARLY TAl SOCIETY

determine for each of these two societies just what may have constituted a Tai feature, and what was adopted from local peoples who were absorbed over time. The fact that each of these two developed without knowledge of the other is of great assistance in determining early Tai features. In this paper there will be an attempt to juxtapose Siamese and Ahom titles, ranks and names indicative of social classes. It was decided to select for both Siamese and Ahom the very early period before the administrative systems had evolved to any great extent.

The Siamese evidence, 13th-14th century The basis for the compilation of words and expressions in Table 1 has been the corpus of early inscriptions dating from the late-thirteenth to the end of the fourteenth century. Although the official texts as issued in Prachum Silar;haru'k have been consulted, the more recent studies by Griswold and Prasert na Nagara, under the general title Epigraphic and Historical Studies (hereafter EHS), have been studied more closely. It was decided, however, not to follow EHS's transcription system, which appears wellsuited for Sanskrit and Pali words, but which does little justice to words of apparent Tai origin. The transliteration system chosen here is basically that of the American Library of Congress, applied to a reconstruction of the words in modern Thai spelling; Most of the words in Table 1 have thus been taken from inscriptions, but a few concepts from old written material were added. Care has been taken to include only evidence from accounts which deal with pre-fifteenth-century Tai culture, evidence which contains no apparent anachronisms, and for which some reinforcement exists in inscriptions. Therefore the oldest parts of the Mangraisat (EHS, No. 17) were included. Table 1 contains by no means all references to titles, ranks and classes. Many terms were omitted simply for the reason that they were undoubtedly of Sanskrit or Piili origin and could not possibly have formed part of the old Tai substratum. Other words easily found in Cambodian pre-thirteenth-century inscriptions were also left out as obvious borrowings. A few cases where some doubt as to the origin of a term. may exist, such as phra and phraya, were included in Table 1 in the hope that the Ahom evidence might provide a new angle on the possible origin of these words. In general the search was kept fairly wide, taking care to include terms of Tai origin which applied to more than one person and involved some type of inherent classification of people. The results are a list of fifty expressions, tabulated below. Table 1 : Terms indicating rank, title or class from early Siamese sources khun : ruler of a fortified town and its surrounding villages, together called a mu'ang. In older sources the prefix ph'9 ("father") is sometimes used as well.

•

46 ~hao

Barend Jan Terwiel

: "chief, master". This term is used by itself for independent rulers, but also in compounds, such as ~hao phaen din ("lord of the earth", "king"), ~hao mu'ang ("chief of a town"), ~hao ban ("village chief") and ~hao kha ("master

over servants or slaves"). phraya : exalted title, used both for independent and allied rulers. The combination ~hao phraya seems an honorary elaboration of the same term. thaw: "lord", often used where phraya would also apply. Its synonymous position is clear in expressions such as thaw phraya and pen thaw pen phraya. phraya phang : a term only occurring in Inscription XXXVIII, when Sukhothai was coming under Ayutthayan sway. Probably it means "vassal ruler" (EHS, No. 4, p. 120 and p. 129, fn. 15). phra : a general title indicating value and importance, also used to indicate the honourable status of names of mountains and rivers. khun yi: probably a descriptive term used for "nobles" (EHS, No. 10, p. 91 and p. 109). khun nang : a general term for the class of nobles. /Uk ~hao : literally "the offspring of chiefs", a term used to indicate the noble class in general, often in combination with the term luk khun. liik khun: a term indicating officials in general. It has been suggested (EHS, No. 9, p. 206, fn. 26) that there may have been a distinction between liik ~hao and luk khun. As I read the evidence, such a distinction might have been relevant during Ayutthayan times, but in Sukhothai times the terms appear to be equivalent. ~hao saen : literally "lord of a hundred thousand", apparently a very high official, probably with military duties. The title is part of a system including the class of lam officials and using various numerals. Reference to this system is made in EHS, No. 3, but the more complete list occurs in the early part of EHS, No. 17. ~hao mu'n : "lord of ten thousand", a class of officers directly below ~hao saen. lam : "intermediary", title of an official. Often a numeral was attached to indicate the level of lam, see below. lam mu'n: officer attached to a ~hao mu'n. ~hao phan : "lord of a thousand"' officer below ~hao mu'n and probably also below

lam mu'n. lam phan : official assisting the ~hao phan. lam phan n7ji : "smaller, lesser lam phan", apparently a rank just below lam phan. nai: "master", term also used in various compounds such as nai mu'ang, "town's master"; see also entries below.

AHOM AND THE STUDY OF EARLY TAl SOCIETY

47

mun nar : officials appointed to supervise territorial units. From the system described in EHS, No. 17, it appears that the mun nai were all below the rank of lam phan nqi (See also EHS, No. 20, p. 67, fn. 4). mun tawan : This expression occurs only once, and Griswold and Prasert surmise it to be a synonym of mun nai, whilst speculating that the word is a Malay loan word from tuan, "master". It is worth considering, however, that tawan might have been a Mon loan, from the word twan, "village" (Shorto, 1971, p. 178). Mon loan words are more likely than Malay ones, given the political situation in Sukhothai times. nai rqi: "master over a hundred", an officer apparently just below the rank of lam phan n"9i. lam bao: by inference this officer was below a nai r"9i (of articles 1, 2 and 3 of EHS, No. 17). nai ha sip: "master of fifty", probably a rank below lam bao. nai sip : "master of ten". khom kwan : probably "village elder", literally "weight upon house, village", or "village elder" (EHS, No. 17, p. 147, fn. 12). r;ha : probably a fairly minor official; it occurs only once in the compound r;ha kha in inscription XXXVIII. r;ha kha : officer supervising slaves. phu yai: literally "big man", an official. phii ram : an expression occurring in inscription XL in combination with phu yai. At that point the text is damaged and it is by no means certain whether ram is the complete word, or whether some expanded expression was intended. pua : a word designating a male; possibly in Sukhothai times it had connotations of rank and ~ay have meant something like "Mister" (EHS, No. 9, p. 205, fn. 19). nang : "lady"; it seems that originally the term indicated a lady of high rank, but that with the passage of time the term was used to include women of a less exalted class. r;hao ban : "village chief". chao : "people", "tribe", "inhabitant", apparently a word of Chinese derivation (McFarland, 1954, p. 294). chao mae chao r;hao: an expression translated in EHS, No. 21, as "princesses and princes". However, the word chao does not usually carry any connotation of high rank. In the context it comes at the end of an enumeration which may have been meant to indicate a descending hierarchy. Therefore I would prefer to read this term as "people, both men and women".

48

Barend Jan Terwiel

khon : neutral word, designating a person, see compounds below; it is often synonymous with phu. phu : "person' •. khon taeng hung : "cooks" (EHS, No. 8, p. 199). khon thai : a legal category; when used in contrast with kha ("slave") it means "free person". r;hao kha : used as a legal term, "slaves' master", or "servants' master". r;hao thai: used in a legal document in the sense of "slave-master" or "free person". chang : "craftsman, skilled worker" phrai: "subject", "member of the general populace". phrt,~i thai : "the populace••, "free people", presumably identical to phrai fo. phraifa: "commoners", all people lower than nobles and above kha. The use of the word fa {"sky") is probably derived from the expressions below. phrai fa na sai : literally "commoner-sky-face-open". which has been translated sometimes as "bright-face commoners" (as opposed to the "covered-face commoners" mentioned below). See EHS, No.9, and Ishii, 1972, p. 131. This translation is purely speculative, there is nothing to suggest that some people in Sukhothai had their faces covered or uncovered. It appears more likely that the word for "sky" was used in that period in expressions related to the weather. Thus fa is used in the sense of "rain" in the later inscriptiOn dealt with in EHS, No. 14, and similar expressions are found in the Mailgr'iisat. Taking this into account, the category phrai fa na sai could mean "commonersweather-uncovered", and when na is read not in its meaning of "face" but in its meaning of "season", the two categories seem to indicate phrai of the opensky (dry) season, and phrai of the covered-sky (wet) season. Taking. this alternative translation a step further, it would appear that there might have been some system of corvee in Sukhothai times, and that the populace was divided for that purpose into two groups. phrai fii na pok : see the entry under phrai fa na sai. phrai fa kha thai : apparently a category encompassing freemen and servants or slaves. kha : · "servant", or "slave?•, used both as a legal category and as a descriptive term to indicate the lowest class of people.

The Ahom evideo,ce The compilation of a list of concepts related to rank, title and class for early Ahom times comparable to that of Table 1 above, is not an easy matter. Unfortunately there are no early Ahom inscriptions equivalent to the ones scrutinized for the thirteenth

AHOM AND THE STUDY OF EARLY TAl SOCI)l:TY

49

and fourteenth-century Sukhothai period. The oldest stone pillar inscription using Ahom characters dates at the earliest from the sixteenth century, and even that one is not very informative for our purposes (Dikshit, 1927). There are a number of historical studies which mention the development of Ahom administration and aspects of social class. The best-known amongst these are Bhuyan (1963), Robinson (1975), Gait (1963) and Acharyya (1966), whilst less-easily accessible works on the topic are Puri (1968), Basu (1970), Deka (1977) and Baruah (1977; 1978). All these sources agree in broad outline in their description of the hierarchical system. Under the king were the great gohains, in some important outer provinces were subordinate gohains, while rajkhowas ruled other outer provinces. Officers of medium rank were various phukans, assisted by baruas. In descriptions of the military organization all authors agree that there were hazarikas commanding 1,000 men, saikias commanding 100 men and boras commanding 20 men. Ordinary men were called paiks, w~ile there were a multitude of names for slaves and bondsmen. Many of these titles and ranks have been described in further detail and dozens of names and professions are scattered about in the works mentioned above. All this information is of ~ttle value to the student wishing to compare early Siamese and Ahom material. In the first place, these descriptions reflect largely the time when the Ahom administrative system had already expanded over the whole valley and developed into its most complex phase. When these sources are checked specifically for pre-fifteenth-century material, little more emerges than the fact that originally there were only two great gohains, the bar gohain and the burha gohain, who assisted the Ahom kings, and one of them would sometimes rule during an interregnum. In the second place, the great majority of these names and ranks are given in Assamese, the language which only in relatively recent times overtook the Tai speech. Assamese is basically a language quite unrelated to Tai; its grammar and vocabulary rank it, together with Bengali and Oriya, amongst the Eastern lndic languages. For our purpose it is essential to find out which of the ranks, titles and words indicating social class were used in relatively early times, and what were the Ahom names for them. The first Assamese scholars to look behind the Assamese terms and to draw attention to. the Tai substratum were Gogoi (1968) and Phukan (1970/1) and their publications have paved the way for a more meaningful comparison. However, much of the information they provide is obviously late-Ahom. It was decided to make an independent search through the collection of Ahomscript historical sources which were published under the title Ahom Buranji (Barua, 1930, hereafter AB). The sections apparently referring to pre-fifteenth-century material were picked out with the aim of noting all terms which might throw some light upon

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Barend Jan Terwiel

the early hierarchy and social classes. The AB collection appeared all the more attractive since it provides the text in Ahom script as well as a parallel translation in English. However, what appeared at first to be a simple and straightforward task proved to be quite difficult and time-consuming. For the benefit of those who want to use this unique publication or similar sources for comparative purposes, some of the difficulties and their solutions are as follows. In the first place, the Ahom printed text contains a large number of puzzling features : many words appear to be spelt in various forms, many suspected printing errors mar the text, wrong consonants have been printed, and the reader meets combinations of vowels wholly outside the Ahom repertoire. Secondly, the translator has found it necessary to introduce paragraphing, a practice not usually found in old Ahom manuscripts. The choice of where to break off the text and begin a new paragraph seems rather arbitrary and occasionally rather infelicitous. Thirdly, and more seriously, the parallel English text advertised on the title page as a "translation", may not be regarded as such. Whilst there are clear correspondences between the Ahom and the English, the English text contains many sentences which appear to be the result of intelligent guess-work, intermingled with doubtful readings and many obvious mistakes. With respect to the study of ranks and titles, the "translation" fails altogether in that often titles are not recognised and in the few places where they are, an Assamese equivalent is given. It was therefore decided largely to ignore the English parallel text and analyze the relevant Ahom sections of the book, these being the chief primary source. In addition, fragments of early portions of hitherto unpublished Abom manuscripts were used, together with the Assamese translation by Shri Damboru Phukan Deodbai, one of the few people alive truly at ease reading Ahom texts. The next problem arising was that of identifying the appropriate words and meaning in the texts. The standard dictionary available, Ahom Lexicons (1964) proved another obstacle. It is based upon a late-eighteenth-century Ahom-Assamese word list, compiled at a time when Ahom was probably still a spoken language for much of the Ahom population (Grierson, 1966, p. 63, fn. 1), the original purpose of which seems to have been to give Assamese-speakers an idea of how to pronounce certain Ahom words and of what meanings to assign to each of these. Since Ahom script does not distinguish between different tones, sometimes a great variety of different meanings would be given for one Ahom rendering. Students of Tai languages can easily determine the fact that tonal distinctions must have formed an integral part of Ahom, just as they do in other Tai languages. This Ahom-Assamese word list grew into the first Ahom-AssameseEnglish dictionary simply by the translation of all the Assamese entries into English.

51

AHOM AND THE STUDY OF EARLY TAl SOCIETY

This dictionary was the basis for Ahom Lexicons. The chief drawback of Ahom Lexicons is the fact that all Ahom information first passes through Assamese before it reaches English, causing considerable distortion both in the attempt to indicate how · Ahom may have sounded as well as in the manner in which certain consonants are spelt. A single example ought to suffice to indicate the extent of the possible distortion. The Ahom word -w.~ which means amongst other things "elbow", is given in Assamese as ~ and in the neighbouring column this is transliterated as ''chak". Anybody familiar with Assamese will note, however, that the "ch" in this case is always pronounced "s", and that the vowel comes close to that in the English word "fall", so that a less misleading transliteration of the Ahom word for most English-speakers who are not familiar with Assamese would have been something like "s~k". When it is considered that, for example, the Siamese word for "elbow" is flan, pronounced sok, it becomes clear that all comparative-linguistic studies which rely upon Ahom Lexicons or its fore-runner, the Ahom-Assamese-English dictionary, have allowed a factor to creep in which may have obscured possible similarities between Ahom and other Tai languages.

.

For our purposes it was therefore necessary to. adjust the transliteration of Ahom words, so as to eliminate the Assamese "colouring". It proved insufficient simply to transpose the "a" and "rom" and the "ch" and "s". Upon close examination it became clear that many Ahom vowels, and especially diphthongs which are clearly distinguished in Ahom script, had been rendered into various Assamese approximations, and often several distinct Ahom vowels were glossed under one Assamese sound. Two different types of sources were used to set up a more satisfactory scheme of transliteration. The first was the taped rendering of Ahom by Shri Damboru Phukan Deodhai, who is possibly the chief custodian of what remains of the Ahom religion. Since his mother-tongue is Assamese, his pronunciation may well be at variance with Ahom as it was once spoken, but at the same time it is unlikely that any person still alive will come closer to what Ahom may have sounded like. Apart from this informant's vocal rendition, several early non-Assamese studies of Ahom have been taken into account (Jenkins, 1835; Brown, 1837; Grierson, 1904 and 1966). The present author has made a conscious attempt not to be influenced by his previous knowledge of Siamese, and has not imposed a preconceived Tai stamp upon the Ahom material. The results of comparing tapes and early studies are enumerated in Table 2. The Ahom signs in Table 2 differ in some instances from the printed version in AB, notably in the presentation of the vowels "u" and "ii", and the consonants "t" and "r". In all these cases I have been guided by the Ahom as it was actually written in old manuscripts and tree-bark books.

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Barend Jan Terwiel

Table 2:

A system of transliterating Ahom

Part I. Vowels and diphthongs

Sign

Syllable

Vowel

~
turita. This development also allows exceptions : svara > sara (no *sura noted). Thus sunate may be old, and -n- > -1]-, if not purely orthographic [J. de Lanerolle: The uses of n, I} and I,! in Sinhalese orthography. Colombo 1934) could be influenced by SUTJati (?). As the new Indo-Aryan languages and also Prakrit have san as e.g. Hindi [R.L. Turner: A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages. London 1966 no. 13 901 svana-], which, however, as Turner suggests, may be onomatopoetic and might have favoured the disappearance of sal}ate in Ceylon. In South Bast Asia, on the other hand, and in South India (?), no such pressure from living languages surrounding Pili could be exercised. In any case, C and L have saved the testimony of an old tradition. In the sentences : ahaf!Z avuso navo acirapabbajito adhunagato ima'!' dhammavinayaf!Z. na khvahaf!Z sakkomi vittharena acikkhituf!Z, SN I 9, 19-21, C and L have na vo'ham and Be 1939, Be, B na t'aham for na khvaham. In the repetition SN I 11, 5 L joins BB : na t'aham, while C reads naham. The form khvaham, which contradicts the phonetic pattern of Pali again owes its existence to the Sanskritising redaction of Pili. The starting point of all variants should be na khaham, na vo' ham, na t'ahaf!l or even nahaf!Z. Without any means to explain these variations palaeographically, it should therefore have arisen from a change in the shape of the text introduced consciously by scribes or redactors. As it is possible to imagine different developments, it is not easy to infer the original wording. The combination na kho corresponding to Vedic na kha/u is currently used in Pali. Therefore an underlying text na vahaf!Z could be changed easily into the more common na khaham, while the way from na khahaf!Z to na vahaf!Z seems to be less obvious, though by no means impossible. This na vahaf!l was interpreted in South East Asia as na vo (i.e. va~)'ham, perhaps even correctly, if vahaf!Z is not to be derived from na ve ahaf!Z, in case na ve < na vai should exist. If so, vo would have emerged from the not uncommon confusion between vai > ve and va~ vo, Eastern Prakrit ve, which is attested frequently, e.g. in kalaf!Z vo'haf!Z, SN I 9, 1*, where vo is considered correctly as a particle: vo nipatamattam, Spk-p~ Be 1961 I 83, 19 [cf. H. Lueders: Beobachtungen iiber die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons. Berlin 1954, 22-24]. The Burmese tradition on the other hand replacing v- by t- made it clear that a personal pronoun was understood : na te ahaf!Z. Thus the South East Asian traditition is united as far as the opinion about the pronoun in this passage is concerned, but it is not uniform. It is remarkable that L knows both na vo 'haf!Z and na t'aha'f'l in the same way as it has sannisinna and sannisiva as pointed out above. Traces of Burmese influence in L are found in other passages too. It is rather tempting to ascribe this influence felt in a manuscript written near Lanipang to the geographical vicinity of Burma.

>

PALl MANUSCRIPTS OF CANONICAL TEXT!) FROM NORTH THAILAND

85

Although a closer and more extensive examination of C and L will bring to light almost certainly more evidence of this kind, the passages discussed above may suffice for the time being to demonstrate the independence of these two manuscripts from other local traditions. There are, however, instances where both C an L or at least one of them share the Sinhalese tradition: bhagavantaf!l garhaya ajjhabhasi, S I 3, 13f. in SS, C against: bhagavaro santike gatham abhasi in BB with L in the middle between both traditions : bhagavato santi (!) gathaya ajjhabhasi. This is the first occurrence of this formula having gathaya etc. Therefore L simply perseveres the accusative used earlier as the Burmese manuscripts do. The text -sangatigo, SN I 3, 16*. 18* of BB and Lis confirmed by the prat1ka in Spk I 24, 12, where the pa{ha -sangatiko (misprinted in Be as -sankatigo) is referred to, which is the actual text found in SS and C. This somewhat strange situation can only be explained by a long separate tradition of text and commentary [0. v. Hiniiber: On the tradition...., as above p. 56]. The Sinhalese reading: sambuddha sammad-aiiiiaya, SN I 4, 14* shared by C and L is confirmed by the commentary (Spk I 25, 33) in Ee, whereas Be has sammadaiiiia, v. 1. -aya in 'si, sya' in accordance with the text: te sambuddha_ sammad-aiiiia in BB. Further there are two gaps shared by the Sinhalese manuscripts with C and L. In the verse: deva manussa idha va hura'!' va saggesu va sabbanivesanesu, SN I 12, 14* = 23, 9° f. the manuscripts SS, C, L omit saggesu vain both passages, which is found in BB and Se too. Similarly: yena na'!' vajja na tassa atthi, SN I 11, 25*, Where na tassa atthi is lacking in SS, C, L, but again these words are attested in BB and Se. In both places the commentaries do not support BB and Se. SS, C, L, and Se are united in reading najjhagamu'!' against BB na ca ajjhagamuf!1, SN 12, 13*, aqd C, Land Se have the correct aga (SS aja is faulty), SN I 12. 10* against ajjhaga in BB [on this verse : 0. v. Hiniiber: Zum Perfekt im Pili. Zeitschrift fiir Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft (KZ) 96.198213.30-32,]. Further instances attaching C and L to the Sinhalese tradition are : mahesakkhahi, SN I 9, 26 = 11, 12, which is repeated inC and S 1• 2 while BB, Land Se write this word only once. The correct wording puccha bhikkhu ayam aha'!' anupatra, SN I 11, 18 "ask, monk, here I (a devata) am" is preserved inC and L; SS have the correct ayaf!l (cf. ayam aham asmi, SN IV 203, 20) besides the faulty anupatto. The Burmese tradition and Se read yam for ayam. One of the most distinctive features of the Sinhalese and the Burmese traditions is the use of jhatva or chetva respectively. This has been observed long ago by L. Peer, who unfortunately preferred the Burmese chetva in his text to replace jhatva in the following verses:

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kif!ZSU jhatva sukhaf!l seti kif!Zsu jhatva na socati kodhal[l jhatva sukhaf!Z seti kodhaf!Z jhatva na socati, SN I 41, 16* ff. [jhatva ti vadhitva, Spk I 97, 2; vadhitva ti hantva vinasetva, Spk-pt Be 1961 I 135, 14]=47, 8* ff. = 161, 3* ff. = 237, 9* ff.; quoted Nett 145, 19* ff., and: dadanti eke visame nivi{!ha jhatva vadhitva atha socayitva, SN I 19, 23* f. [chetva ti pothetva, Spk I 60, 9; chetva ti pi{etva. ta'!' pana pi{ana'fl pothanan ti dassento pothetva ti aha, Spk-pt Be 1961 I 103, 16f.] = Ja IV 67 6* [ct.: kilametva], and: tan ca jhatvana gacchati, Ja IV 57, 8* [ct.: hatva] Everywhere chetva eliminates jhatva in the Burmese tradition, as has been discussed in the PTS Pili English Dictionary and again by J. Brough: Gindhiri Dharmapada p. 265 on the verses 288, 289. As the GDhp has ]atva in the verses corresponding to kirrzsu jhatva .• ., there cannot be any sensible doubt about jhatva as original, although its etymological explanation poses some difficulties. In Pali, a connection with jhayari "to burn" seems to probable [cf. H. Smith: Saddaniti Index, s.v. jhattaJ. In the North West of India there may have been a different though homonymous word ]atva by coincidence especially in the light of ]atva, GDhp 12 corresponding to hantva, Dhp 294, which would be equivalent to hatva etymologically in the Niiristin languages [Turner: Comparative Dictihnary, as above no. 13 969 and G. Buddruss: Nochmals zur Stellung der Niiristin Sprachen des afghanischen Hindukusch. Muenchner Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 36. 1977. 23], However, this etymological question has no relevance for the discussion of the interrelationship of the manuscripts. Manuscript L covering the whole of the Sagatha-:vagga always has jjhatva. C, on the hand, originally had iiiiatva, SN I 41 corrected into jhatva by a different probably more modern hand as some kind of ink has been used, and as the shape of the aksara jha differs from the one found otherwise in C. In SN I 237, the manuscript en is extant and has iiiiatva throughout without and correction. Therefore en might have been copied from C before this manuscript was corrected(?). A possible origin of iinatva is not easy to imagine unless one thinks of the confusion of the somewhat similar Sinhalese ligatures iiiia and jjha at least in handwriting in a rare word. At SN I 19, C probably has kharitva, where the interpretation as kha is not quite certain, although the aks,ara is legible without difficulty. Anyway neither C nor L ever has chetva as in the Burmese tradition where it seemed to be rooted since quite some time even before C and L were written, for the Saddanlti quotes: kif!lSU chetva sukhaf!l seti, Sadd 280, 26 illustrating the use of ki'flSU. This means that chetva is not explicitly supported by the context, although there does not seem to be any trace of the manuscript tradition influencing the Saddaniti. Many examples rather point to the opposite direction.

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Thus iiizatv'ii and jjhazv'ii found in C and L respectively are a particular strong proof for an old non-Burmese tradition prevailing in North Thailand. This is also felt in Se, which for the better part replaces jhatvli by ghatva following the Burmese chetv'ii only occasionally. The wqrd ghatv'ii evidently points to an underlying jhatva. Whenever chetva is found, this indicates a certain degree of contamination of the Thai and the Burmese traditions in Se. Even if these examples show that the Pili manuscript tradition in North Thailand is rather independent of Burma, the situation is not that simple that C and L are some kind of a doublet to the Sinhalese manuscripts. Besides the passages quoted above where C and L prove to be close to SS or even nearer to the original wording than SS, they also join Burmese readings in some places. This seems to be the case mostly in those passages where the text has been reshaped in Ceylon, while the unaltered old wording is preserved in Burma. The most evident case is sukkhapayamano, SN I 8, 20. 101 6, where C and L have pubbapayamano also found in the commentary: pubba· payamano ti gattani pubbasadis(mi vodakani kurumano, Spk I 39, 11 ± Ps II 167, 27 on MN I 161, 10, where sukkhapayamano occurs in one Burmese manuscript only. The situation is the same again at AN V 196, 6, where one Burmese and one Sinhalese manuscript out of five manuscripts and Se used by the editor have sukkhapayam'iino, of which there is no trace in the commentary, Mp V 65, 20; similarly AN III 345, 12 with Mp III 368, 16. One commentary explains pubbapayamano as: sukkapayamano ti attho, Ps II 167, 27, which makes sense only, if pubbapayamano correctly preferred by most editors and H. Smith, Saddanlti, Index p. 1619 s. v. really is the original reading. Therefore pubbapayamano at SN I 8, 20 = 10, 6 cannot be considered as typically Burmese and as such shared by C and L. It is the original text preserved in South East Asia but changed into a lectio facilior sukkhapayamano in Ceylon. Correspondingly nivaraye, SN I 7, 15* u-u- in the cadence of a Sloka preserved in Sl, printed in Be 1939, Be and in the pratika Spk I 36, 20 and shared by C and L against Be nivareyya (metre!) is an original old reading and not typical for the Burmese tradition. \

One peculiar feature of C and L separates these manuscripts from the Sinhalese tradition, that is the widely spread use of and predilection for krubbati, SN I 19, 3*. 4* and elsewhere, here against Be 1939, Be, Se, Be all reading kubbati. The form krubbati, the possible origin of which is discussed in my article "Notes on the Pili Tradition in Burma", seemed to be found in Burmese manuscripts only, and that much more frequently than this can be deduced from the PTS editions. The manuscripts C and L now show that krubbati is not confined to Burma, but that it spread over a much wider area in South East Asia than one could assume earlier. Whether or not SN I 19 shows that krubbati once was used much more often, but was pushed back in course of

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time under Sinhalese influence is difficult to ascertain for the moment. For a full evaluation of the difference between BB on one and C and Lon the other hand at SN I 19, a more detailed and comprehensive study of C and L seems to be necessary. Lastly, there are some minor points of agreement between C, Land the Burmese tradition such as: dadanti heke, SN I 19, 23* against Sl, 2 dadanti eke, S3 dadanti ceke; or; hitva agaral'fl pabbaji1a, SN I 15, 25* against SS pabbajitva, which almost certainly is a mistake. There are, however, no decisive readings common to C, L and BB, as far as this can be inferred from about the first twenty pages of the printed edition. If Burmese influence is absent, C and L have many features in common with SS or show characteristics of their own pointing to an old and good tradition. Thus it might not be too far fetched to think that we really can find traces of the Chiang Mai Council in the Thai tradition, even if it is too early to consider this as proved after inspecting only two manuscripts and these in part only as done in this preliminary study. However, the hope is growing and seems to be well-founded now that more material still hidden in Wat libraries in North Thailand, when brought to light, will help to re-establish an old and truly Thai Pili tradition, the value of which for establishing better critical text editions and for the history of Pili can hardly be rated too high.

Abbreviations : AN BBFEO IIJ JRAS MN Mp Nett PEFEO Ps Sn Spk Spk-~

ZDMG

Anguttaranikiya, Bulletin de l'Bcole FranQaise d'Bxtreme-Orient Indo-Iranian Journal Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Majjhimanikiya Manorathapiira~I (commentary on AN) Nettippakara~a

Publications de l'Ecole FranQaise d'Bxtreme-Orient Papaiicasiidanl (commentary on MN) Suttanipita Siratthappakisinl (commentary on SN) (subcommentary on Spk) Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlii.ndischen Gesellschaft

PALl MANUSCRIPTS OF CANONICAL TEXTS FROM NORTH THAILAND-A PRELIMINARY REPORT OSKAR VON HINUBER*

The arrival of Pali in the area that is now Thailand dates back to a remote past even before the Thai peoples started to move into this territorry. As it seems, Theravada Buddhism, the vehicle of which is the language now called Pali, was embraced first by the Mon [P. Dupont: La version mane du Narada-Jataka. PEFEO XXXVI. Saigon 1954. p. 9 ff.]. Although very little, rather next to nothing, is known about the early history of the Mon canon in Pili, its origin appears to have been South Indian rather than Ceylonese, which would account for the canonical quotations cited by Aggavarpsa in his Saddaniti composed 1154 in a wording deviating sometimes considerably from the text as transmitted in Ceylon [O.v. Hiniiber : Notes on the Pili Tradition in Burma, Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Gottingen. I. Philologisch-Historische Klasse. Jahrgang 1983, Nr. 3. Gottingen 1983]. When Theravada finally took firm roots among the Thai people, they also became engaged in the transmission of canonical Pali writings. Besides they translated the canon into Thai or composed text in Pili [G. Coedes: Note sur les ouvrages palis composes en pays thai. BEFEO 15. 1915. 39-46], about which very little is known yet, at least as long as the eagerly awaited thesis on Pali literature in Thailand by Dr. Likhit Likhitanand (University of Chiang Mai), a complement since a long time overdue to M. Bode: The Pali Literature of Burma. London 1909 [repr. London 1966, cf. J. W. Bollee, IIJ 11. 1969. 311-318] and G .P. Malalasekera : The Pali Literature of Ceylon. London .1928 [repr. Colombo 1958] remains unpublished. As is well known, the broad stream of literary activities in Thai as well as in Pali suffered a most unfortunate setback by the devastation of Ayudhya in 1767, when an unknown but very high number of manuscripts perished and many texts were lost once for all. Shortly before this disaster, in about 1750, many Pali texts had been sent to Ceylon at the request of king Kirtisiddhi [Dupont as above, p. 14]. Afterwards it took nearly a century to reassemble and reestablish the Pali canon in Thailand by the help of the Sinhalese and the Burmese traditions, and it was only during the Fifth Reign in 2436 [1893] that the first printed edition of the canon could appear, which has been reset and completed for the second print in 2470 (1927), and which was reprinted recently as "syamara(!hassa tepi(akam" in 2523 [1980).

* Prof. Dr. Oskar von Hiniiber, Orientalisches Seminar-Indologie, Universitat Freiburg, West Germany. 75

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As far as the text is concerned, it holds an intermediate position somewhere between the Sinhalese and the Burmese text traditions [A. Taylor: Pa~isambhidamagga.· Vol. I London 1905 (repr. 1979). Preface p. VII and P.R. Hamm: Zu einigen neueren Ausgaben des Pali-Tipi~aka. ZDMG 112. 1962, 353-378]. Being used by European scholars working in the field of Pali at the beginning of this century, it has been superseded gradually either by the critical editions of the Pili Texts Society, and, as far as oriental editions are concerned, which are still being used to control the not always reliable PTS editions, the Simon Hewavitarne Bequest Series, Colombo 1917 ff. among other prints prints represents the Sinhalese, and the excellent Cha~~hasa~gayana Edition, Rangoon 1957 ff. the Burmese branch of the Pali tradition. Both series also include the a(thakatha and the !ika texts. Here this Burmese edition marked as Be following the system of abbreviations as laid down by Helmer Smith in the Epilegomena to Vol. I of V. Trenckner: A Critical Piili Dictionary (CPD). Copenhagen. I (19241948); II. 1-12 (1960-1982) has been used besides the print of SN by the Harp.savati Press, Rangoon 1939 referred to as Be 1939. B is used for the Burmese manuscript used by L. Peer in his edition of the Satpyuttanikaya (SN), London 1884 (repr. 1960), SS for his Sinhalese manuscripts, and finally BB marks those instances where the whole Burmese tradition agrees. As far as further printed editions are concerned, Se stands for the Siamese, and Ee for the English, i.e. PTS editions, respectively. As the Thai edition (Se) printed under King Chulalongkorn is mostly but by no means entirely dependent upon the Ceylonese and Burmese traditions, it was frequently, and not altogether without justification, regarded as secondary to those local traditions, and consequently rarely made use of when establishing a critical text, for the superimposed imported readings from Ceylon and Burma did not allow the formation of a clear and distinct picture of the truely indigenous Thai Pali tradition. Manuscripts, on the other hand, which would have allowed a better insight into Pali as preserved in Thailand, were not readily accessible. Moreover, in Central Thailand, not many Pali manuscripts older than 1767 seem to have survived, as far as one can estimate, if the palm leaf books kept in the National Library, Bangkok, are any standard. Only about a dozen manuscripts predating the destruction of Ayudhya are found in the Library today as far as Pali is concerned. This figure, which is as impressive as it is depressing, shows the enormous loss of material given the number and size of monasteries in the old capital. Most fortunately, this rather gloomy picture, showing a situation very much uninviting to the Pali scholar, brightens considerably when turning towards North Thailand. First hints to a surprisingly good and evidently old tradition of Pali from this region can be gathered from the Critical Piili Dictionary. The manuscript Lk not

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found in G. Coedes : Catalogue des manuscrits en Pili, Laotien et Siamois provenant de Thailand, Copenhagen 1966 (Catalogue of of Oriental Manuscripts, Xylographs etc. in Danish Collections. Vol. II. 2), and therefore probably acquired in Laos, has been used when referring to the Jataka by the CPO and by Helmer Smith in his edition : Saddaniti. La grammaire Pali d'Aggava111sa. Lund 1928-1966 (Sadd). For instance, the manuscript Lk reads a correct slokapada in : tatth' assaf!Z mahesi piya, Ja VI 483, 6* against tattha assaf!l mahesiya found in all manuscripts used by Ee and quoted in this wording in the Saddaniti. Although mahesiya seems to be a correct reading at a first glance at least, it actually destroys the cadence of the verse, for, as L. Alsdorf: Les etudes jaina. Paris 1965. p. 59, has shown, mahesi scans-in old Pali. Further instances, at which the Thai tradition may have preserved a text better than other local traditions are listed in the CPD s.vv. ajjha (at the end) and atha under "Rem." from Lk. Under appabhita quoted from Se Majjhimanikaya (MN), Majjhimapat]-q.iisa Vol. 13, 77, 2* corresponding to Ee appahina, MN I 326, 25•, the the CPO suspects a Siamese conjecture. However, the Sanskrit parallel edited recently by E. Waldschmidt from Central Asian fragments found at Turfan has aprabhita, which proves Se to be correct against the rest of the tradition [0. v. Hiniiber: Upiili's verses in the Majjhimanikaya and in the Madhyamagama. In: Indological and Buddhist Studies. Volume in Honour of Prof. J.W. de Jong. Canberra 1982. 243-251]. Long ago, W. Stede, JRAS 1927. p. 886 pointed out the superiority of pa{ipuccha, vinanta MN III 19, 20 in Se against pa{icca vinita found in Ee (cf. SN III 104, 1). A further example from Se, upakkita, may be found in the CPO s.v. 1apacinati, These instances collected more or less at random draw the attention to the possibility of finding valuable text material in Thailand. The manuscript Lk may rather point to the north because of its Laotian origin, as the whole historical situation does: this area suffered much less during the' political upheaval in the second half of the 18th century. Moreover, there has been a council held at Chiang Mai under King Tilaka during 1475-1477 [Ratanapaiifia Thera: Jinakalamalipakarat]-a, trsl. by N.A. Jayawickrama. London 1968 p. 164 note 5] with the explicit purpose to establish and edit the text of the canon. Thus the presupposition to detect traces of an old tradition in the Chiang Mai area does not seem to be altogether unfounded. To confirm this idea, it is not possible to start with any text casually selected from the Tipitaka, To find out on which side of the tradition, either Sinhalese or Burmese, a Thai manuscript stands, it is necessary to choose a text transmitted with local traditions clearly distinct from each other. At the present state of our knowledge, not many texts are found to fulfil this condition. Only rarely we can find a pure Sinhalese tradition. In many cases, the basis of the text is rather Burmese and mostly both traditions are contaminated to a degree that does not allow any conclusions as to which

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local tradition a text or manuscript can be assigned with any confidence [O.v. Hiniiber: Notes on the Pali tradition in Burma, note 4j. A rare exception and consequently a highly suitable text is the Sa(\lyuttanikaya, in which the readings of the Sinhalese and Burmese manuscripts are wide apart from each other as stated by L. Peer (1884) in the introduction to the PTS edition [see also: O.v. Hiniiber: On the Tradition of Pali Texts in India, Ceylon and Burma. In: Buddhism in Ceylon and Studies on Religious Syncretism in Buddhist Countries ed. by H. Bechert. Goettingen 1978. 48-57, esp. 55f.j. At the beginning, the search for a certain text, in this particular case the Sarpyuttanikiya, in monastery libraries in North Thailand seemed to pose a serious and rather complicated problem. A series of unforeseeable lucky coincidences, however, greatly facilitated this task. First of all, quite a few scholars and colleagues in Chiang Mai took the trouble upon themselves to extend every help to me whenever necessary and possible. In the first place, I have the pleasure to thank Dr. Hans Penth, Chiang Mai, who not only introduced me to the Institute of Social Research, University of Chiang Mai, but who also drew my attention to the unpublished mimeographed survey of manuscripts : A Catalogue of Palm Leaf Texts in Wat Libraries in Chiang Mai (Thailand). Part I-IV. 1974-1975 by Sommai Premchit in collaboration with Puangkam Tuikeo, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiengmai University. This important list proved to be a highly useful tool when trying to get a first impression about the texts available and where to find them, for, although this catalogue had been planned primarily as a guide for collecting Lanna literature to preserve it by microfilming, the authors most fortunately made the highly reasonable decision also to include Pili texts whenever they came across old and rare manuscripts. Fortunately, a Sarpyuttanikiya manuscript preserved in Wat Phra Singh (Chiang Mai) has beeen listed as no. 3/93 in Vol. I. The date given on the cover leaf of this manuscript, Ciilasakaraj 964 corresponding to AD 1602 is quite considerable for a Pali manuscript, if one bears in mind the fact that most of the surviving manuscript material is hardly older than the late 18th century. As far as the Sarpyuttanikiya is concerned, the Catalogue of Palm Leaf Manuscripts in the Library of the Colombo Museum by W.A. de Silva, Volume I, Colombo, 1938, registers as no. 70 an extremely old manuscript dated as early as AD 1412. If this date is correct, this would be the oldest dated Pali manuscript known so far. The manuscript found in Wat Phra Singh marked here as C was examined by myself in October 1981 thanks to the extraordinary liberality of the Venerable Abbot of the monastery n1'1m"'1mln'i1l:11'1l'ftrlli1'il11!h-mh, who readily • granted access to the treasures of his library, and due to the help of Mr. Puangkam (1hni1

ti'rJLiu1) in tracing the manuscript in that library .

•

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Although the catalogue by Sommai and Puangkam lists eight fasciculi of the SalJlyuttanikaya, Sagathavagga, only five have been found so far in the library, viz. nos. l, 5, 6, 8a, 8b (the number 8 occurs twice). Again out of these five only three actually belong to the old Sarpyutta-nikaya manuscript C copied in Chiang Saen, viz. nos. l, 5, 8a. No. 8b comprising 38 leaves with five lines of writing and measuring 5,1 by 53 em, also belongs to the Sagathavagga corresponding to SN I 198, 12-240, 25. Written fairly carelessly in a band clearly different and more modern than C and showing quite a lot of mistakes, it is consequently of rather limited value. Here it will be referred to as C 0 • Fasciculus no. 6 contains passages from the Vinayapitaka, Bhesajja- and Ka!hina-Vaggas of the Mahivagga corresponding to Vinaya I 244, 35-259, 5. It comprises 18 leaves measuring 5,1 by 56,5 em with 5 lines of writing. Thus unfortunately only fasciculi nos. 1, 5. 8 (a) measuring 5 by 52,5 em of this highly valuable manuscript are available. Fasc. no. 1 comprises 25 leaves corresponding to SN I 1, 1-43, 12; fasc. no. 8 (!) bas 20 leaves corresponding to SN I 73, 33-96, 5; fasc. 5 (!) has 24leaves corresponding to SN I 98, 12-124, 12. If this manuscript is compared to the printed edition it becomes clear at once that the numbering of fasciculi is wrong probably because the front leaves have been misplaced. The gap of 30 printed pages between fasc. nos. 1 and 8 shows that no. 8 should be corrected to 3, fasc. no. 2 is lost and no. 5 should be no. 4. On the other band there are no indications that these three fasciculi should be attributed to three different manuscripts. A first examination of C on the spot at once revealed its high value not only because of its age, but also on account of its quality. Carefully written and sometimes corrected by the same and then again by a later band, it offers quite a few new and interesting variants as will be shown below. However, the time at my disposal in Chiang Mai was not sufficient for the time-consuming thorough collation of the whole manuscript. Therefore I gladly accepted an offer by Acharn Balee Buddharak~a of the Social Research Institute to provide a microfilm, which proved to be of excellent quality. At the invitation forwarded by Professor Kasem Burakasikorn, Head of the Social Research Institute, I got the opportunity to work at the Institute and to go through the index cards of the microfilms prepared formerly under the supervision of Acharn Sommai Premcbit, now under Acharn Balee. It is a most agreeable duty to thank all these gentlemen for their kind cooperation. When checking the index cards, a second old manuscript of the Saf!1yuttanikaya was traced dated Ciilasakarij 911 corresponding to AD 1549 written at Wat Lai Hin (l1111iit~) near Lampang. This manuscript, however, was not altogether unknown to me at that time by the kind help of Dr. Harald Hundius, University of Kiel/West Germany, who bad microfilmed Lanna manuscripts some years ago in collaboration with the lamented late ~cbarn Sinkba Wannasai. While concentrating on Lanna

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literature, Dr. Hundius also included rare and old Pili manuscripts in his collection. Luckily, the fasciculi of this manuscript marked here as L filmed by Acham Balee and by Dr. Hundius respectively supplement each other so that the whole Sagathavagga is available. There are fasc. nos. 3, 4 in the Hundius collection and nos. 1, 6, 8, 10 plus two fasc. without number marked as A and B in the Social Research Institute. The somewhat confused sequence of leaves and fasciculi has to be rearranged as follows: Fasc. no. 8 : 7 leaves=SN I 1, 1-9, 19; fasc. no. 1: leave 7-25 = SN I 9, 20-33, 20; fasc. no. 2: 25 leaves=SN I 33, 20-63, 28; fasc. no. 3 (Hundius collection) : 24 leaves=SN I 63, 28-87, 13; fasc. 1: leaves 1-6=SN I 87, 13-92, 26; fasc. no. 4 (Hundius collection): 18 leaves=SN I 92, 26-113, 2; fasc. A (corresponding to fasc. no 5) : 24 leaves=SN I 113, 3-141, 16; fasc. no 8 (correctly no. 6): 25leaves=SN I 141, 16-170, 25; fasc. no. 10 (correctly no. 7): 25 leaves=SN I 170, 25-200, 3; fasc. B (corresponding to fasc. no. 8): 34leaves=SN I 200, 3-240, 5. Evidently, the cover leaf of fasc. no 8 should be placed on fasc. B, and the seven leaves of fasc. no. 8 should be united with fasc. no. 1. The first six leaves of fasc. no. 1 should be placed at the beginning of fasc. no. 4 (Hundius collection) thus adding up to 24 leaves, the standard number of leaves in one fasciculus (Nn). Why and how fasc. no. 8 (correctly no. 6) and no. 10 (correctly no. 7) got their wrong numbers is difficult to guess. Anyway, the total amount of leaves filmed covers the complete Sagathavagga corresponding to the first volume of the PTS edition. This is particularly fortunate as L written 1549 is still older by half a century than C copied in 1602.

..

Both manuscripts, C and L, are akin to each other though C is not dependent on L directly. As they are near in time but written at a considerable distance from each other, L in Lampang and C in Chiang Saen respectively, they can be used to form an idea about the Pali tradition covering a relatively large area. Thus any results reached at may be used with much more confidence than those deducted from manuscripts coming from a single town or worse from a single Wat only. Before using C and L to establish a new critical text of the Sagathavagga, it is essential to determine the exact relation of these manuscripts to the Sinhalese and the Burmese traditions, and, as far as possible, to investigate their mutual interrelation. This can be achieved with the help of the methods of classical textual criticism looking for common omissions and commissions as well as for additions [0. v. Hiniiber: Remarks on the problems of textual criticism in editing anonymous Sanskrit literature. In: Proceedings of the first symposium of Nepali and German Sanskritists 1978. Kathmandu 1980. 28-40]. Here, a few passages selected as examples will be sufficient to clarify the position of C and L. A more detailed study of text-critical problems in the Sarpyuttanikiya making full use of C and L is planned for the future.

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To assess the value of C and L it is of first and foremost importance to prove, if possible, that neither of these manuscripts is directly dependent on the Burmese tradition, for that would mean that no new information could be gathered from them beyond what is known already from Burmese manuscripts or printed editions. Although the well known connections between Burma and North Thailand and the geographical vicinity as well as the frequent cultural exchange between both countries, rather more in Lampang where L was writtten than in far off Chiang Saen, at once raises the suspicion to find just another copy of the Burmese branch of the Pali tradition. Even at a first glance, however, it is evident that C and L belong to a tradition separate from the Burmese one and that they have much in common in spite of occasional differences. Of all known manuscripts, only C and L insert the following verses after: ..•. uparujjhatiti, SN I 15, 18*: ghara nanihamanassa ghara nabhaTJato musa ghara nadinnadarvJassa paresaf!Z anikrubbato evafl'l chiddaf!l durabhibhavaf!Z to gharaf[l patipajjati

Thus L; C writes by mistake : nahinihamanassa, padesanJ, ahinikrubbato, bho corrected to ko (?), -dif!!Ja-. This verse, the translation of which is not entirely certain, occurs again once only in the Vacchanakhajiitaka, Ja II 233, I *-3*: "There are no houses for one, who does not exert himself, . there are no houses for one, who does not lie, there are no houses for one, who does not punish (na adinna-, ct. : na adinnadaf!!fassapi agahitadaf!rfassa, thus Ee following ms. BP, but read with cks na adinnna-), who does not deceive others. Who (read : ko)would enter a house so difficult to rule and full of defects?" No trace of this verse is found elsewhere in BB, Be, Se, neither in Spk nor Spk-h nor in the uddana referring to this passage. At the same time the uddana shows that these verses can be linked to the preceding ones only, if one checks the catch words given there always referring to the first word of a verse. This again does not make much sense, whereas a connection with the following verses might be possible, if only by a rather forced interpretation. As an obvious reason for inserting these verses here seems to be lacking, they unite C any L so much more so.

The verse: dukkaraf!l duttitikkhan ca avyattena ca samannf!l, SN I 7, 13* is printed with this wording in Ee, Be 1939, Be, Se with some minor variants. From Lon the other hand an older and evidently better reading emerges : aviyattena siimaiiiiaf!l "difficult and hard to endure is ascetism for the untrained". The second ca is uncalled for and consequently replaced by hi in Be following B (Be 1939, Be have ca). Moreover aviyatta is a form expected within the phonetic pattern of Piili, where clusters such as -vy- or -by- seem to be due to a resanskritisation of Pili, as I have tried to show

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elsewhere. Although avyatla is by no means a rare word in Pili, the only metrical passage, where it occurs according to the CPD and the Pili Tipitaka Concordance (PTC), is this verse from the Saqtyuttanik&ya. Therefore, the reading of L is of special interest as the only instance where the historical Pali form has been preserved due to metrics. At the same time L seems to be older-or at least preserving a tradition older than the redaction eliminating aviyatta. The date of this redaction or its influence on the North Thai tradition of Pili might have. been the late 16th century. For C has avibyattena, a blending of the old and the modern forms. Similarly: kilfl sabbaf!Z adanvabhavi, SN I 39, 2* (slokapada a) is transmitted thus in L only, while C agrees with Be: ki1[1SU sabba1[1 addhabhavi. For the obscure word addhabhavi, discussed in the CPD s.v. addhabhavoti, anvabhavi is a young though widely spread Sinhalese variant (cf. Spk I 95 note 3, 4 and the note in Be on SN·I 39, 2*), which, however, does not seem to occur in the Sinhalese manuscripts used by L. Peer, from which he quotes a{thabhavi. This may rather be a misread addha- due to the similarity of the ligatures !{ha and ddha in Sinhalese script (?). Thus adanvabhavi found in L looks like a blending of two different forms again. The details of the interchange of -ndh-, -nv- and -ddh- in Pili are far from transparent. The CPD explains the form -nandha- for -naddha- under the headings apifayhati and upanandhati linguistically as analogous to different forms of derivatives from the root badh, which sounds rather convincing at first. However, taking into account further material collected in the CPD under addh~bhavati and andhabhuta, further nandi, naddhi, nandhi developed from Sanskrit naddhri [Saddaniti, Index s.v. -nandhati; J. Brough: The Gindhiri Dharmapada. London 1962 on verse 42], and finally addhagu for anvagu, SN I 39, 3* etc. in Be 1939, it does not seem altogether improbable that additional confusion was created by scribes copying Sinhalese manuscripts and mixing up -:-ddh- and -ndh-, whereas in South Bast Asian scripts such as Burmese or Lanna va and dha change easily by mistake [K.R. Norman : Four etymologies from the Sabhiyasutta. In: Budhhist Studies in Honour of WaJpola Rahula. London 1980. p. 175 note 11 and: The Elders' Verses II. London 1971 p. 57 on verse 7; further : varika/dharika, Ja V 302 note 3, 303 note 6J. The word addhagu just mentioned above occurs as anvagu, SN I 39, 3*, 5*. 8*. 10*. 13*. 15* without any varians noted in Be. Be also has anvagu, but refers to addhagu in 'ka' here evidently signifying older prints such as Be 1939. The Thai manuscripts C and L both have annagu throughout. This is indeed the form to be expected in Pili, where -nva- regularly develops into -nna-, cf. samanniigata < samanvagata. The preservation of the historical correct reading annagu once again proves the high value of the manuscripts united in this passage against the rest of the

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published tradition. It is all the more remarkable that C and L retain annagu in spite of the fact that the Saddaniti already in the 12th century accepts anvagaf!t in a passage where the excellent Sinhalese .Tataka manuscript ck has annagii (CPD s.v. anugacchati), In the same way as Ck, C and L have also not been affected by modernisation. Similarly Be 1939, Be and B have duranvayo, SN I 19, 4* against durannayo inC, Land Be following SS here. The valuation of a further passage, where C and L seem to have preserved an old reading, is rather complicated because the interpretation of the following verse is not without problems:

thite majjhantike kale sannisinnesu pakkhisu saT}at' eva maharaiiiiaf!t, SN I 7, 2*-3*=203, 28*-29*=JaVI 507, 15*-16* "even at midday when the birds are settled down together, the great jungle is full of noise" (Cone). The rather numerous variants of this verse need not concern us here: majjhanhike by conjecture in Be (approved the CPO s.v. antika ?) for the strange majjhantike; braharaiiiia'!" in Ja and in SS ofSN; sannisivesu in BB supported by Sadd 385, 1; 623, 25 and by the quotation of this verse Sadd 858, 17* is also found in L at SN I 7, 2*, but not at SN I 203, 28* nor in C, Cn in either passage. The more interesting word in this verse is Sal]ate (or Sal]ati) explained as sal]ati viya, Spk I 34, 25. This rare word reoccurs in canonical Pali only twice at Sn 720, 721 said of the noise of a small but quickly flowing river. At Sn 720 the Burmese manuscript Bm has SUJ]anta concurring with SUI]ate, SN I 7, 6* in L (this line is omitted in C). The reading SUI]ate reoccurs SN I 203, 29* in en, where C is not extant and L has sal]ate. In the Sa~yuttaoikaya Suf!ate/sa!]ate has been replaced by palate in Se, while this edition has su!]ate without variant in the Jataka, a reading noted neither in Be nor Be here. However, it seems to be firmly rooted in the Thai Jataka tradition. For the Mahiivessantaravivara~a, a commentary on the Vessantara-Jataka written in Ciilasakaraja 1107 =AD 1745 in Khmer script, which I was able to inspect due to the kind permission given by the National Library, Bangkok, where it is kept today, confirms

SUlfate: bhoti maddi pakkhisu sannisinne [su] rukkhasakhanam antare sannipatitesu kale divakale majjhantike suriyassa majjha ['!"] tike (hite braharaiiiia1f1 mahanta1f1 araiiiiaf!t SU'f!ate vinadasadda'flJ karoti viya tva'!' ki1f1 icchasi gantu ['!'] tattha tamhi evariipe bhyanake (!) araiine. The text of the verse itself is not quoted in full in this commentary. Thus su'!ate is of a fairly frequent occurrence, by far too frequent to be diregarded as a simple writing mistake. This statement at once provokes the question as to the origin of SUI]ate besides salJ.ate or saf}ati which is accepted by Sadd 358, 21. If one starts from Sanskrit svanati/svanate the form SUT]ate could well be expected in Pali. For, as H. Berger : Zwei Probleme der mittelindischen Lautlehre. Miinchen

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1955 p. 61 points out, -va- after consonant develops into -u- in an open syllable, e.g. tvarita > turita. This development also allows exceptions : svara > sara (no *sura noted). Thus sunate may be old, and -n- > -1]-, if not purely orthographic [J. de Lanerolle: The uses of n, I} and I,! in Sinhalese orthography. Colombo 1934) could be influenced by SUTJati (?). As the new Indo-Aryan languages and also Prakrit have san as e.g. Hindi [R.L. Turner: A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages. London 1966 no. 13 901 svana-], which, however, as Turner suggests, may be onomatopoetic and might have favoured the disappearance of sal}ate in Ceylon. In South Bast Asia, on the other hand, and in South India (?), no such pressure from living languages surrounding Pili could be exercised. In any case, C and L have saved the testimony of an old tradition. In the sentences : ahaf!Z avuso navo acirapabbajito adhunagato ima'!' dhammavinayaf!Z. na khvahaf!Z sakkomi vittharena acikkhituf!Z, SN I 9, 19-21, C and L have na vo'ham and Be 1939, Be, B na t'aham for na khvaham. In the repetition SN I 11, 5 L joins BB : na t'aham, while C reads naham. The form khvaham, which contradicts the phonetic pattern of Pali again owes its existence to the Sanskritising redaction of Pili. The starting point of all variants should be na khaham, na vo' ham, na t'ahaf!l or even nahaf!Z. Without any means to explain these variations palaeographically, it should therefore have arisen from a change in the shape of the text introduced consciously by scribes or redactors. As it is possible to imagine different developments, it is not easy to infer the original wording. The combination na kho corresponding to Vedic na kha/u is currently used in Pali. Therefore an underlying text na vahaf!Z could be changed easily into the more common na khaham, while the way from na khahaf!Z to na vahaf!Z seems to be less obvious, though by no means impossible. This na vahaf!l was interpreted in South East Asia as na vo (i.e. va~)'ham, perhaps even correctly, if vahaf!Z is not to be derived from na ve ahaf!Z, in case na ve < na vai should exist. If so, vo would have emerged from the not uncommon confusion between vai > ve and va~ vo, Eastern Prakrit ve, which is attested frequently, e.g. in kalaf!Z vo'haf!Z, SN I 9, 1*, where vo is considered correctly as a particle: vo nipatamattam, Spk-p~ Be 1961 I 83, 19 [cf. H. Lueders: Beobachtungen iiber die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons. Berlin 1954, 22-24]. The Burmese tradition on the other hand replacing v- by t- made it clear that a personal pronoun was understood : na te ahaf!Z. Thus the South East Asian traditition is united as far as the opinion about the pronoun in this passage is concerned, but it is not uniform. It is remarkable that L knows both na vo 'haf!Z and na t'aha'f'l in the same way as it has sannisinna and sannisiva as pointed out above. Traces of Burmese influence in L are found in other passages too. It is rather tempting to ascribe this influence felt in a manuscript written near Lanipang to the geographical vicinity of Burma.

>

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Although a closer and more extensive examination of C and L will bring to light almost certainly more evidence of this kind, the passages discussed above may suffice for the time being to demonstrate the independence of these two manuscripts from other local traditions. There are, however, instances where both C an L or at least one of them share the Sinhalese tradition: bhagavantaf!l garhaya ajjhabhasi, S I 3, 13f. in SS, C against: bhagavaro santike gatham abhasi in BB with L in the middle between both traditions : bhagavato santi (!) gathaya ajjhabhasi. This is the first occurrence of this formula having gathaya etc. Therefore L simply perseveres the accusative used earlier as the Burmese manuscripts do. The text -sangatigo, SN I 3, 16*. 18* of BB and Lis confirmed by the prat1ka in Spk I 24, 12, where the pa{ha -sangatiko (misprinted in Be as -sankatigo) is referred to, which is the actual text found in SS and C. This somewhat strange situation can only be explained by a long separate tradition of text and commentary [0. v. Hiniiber: On the tradition...., as above p. 56]. The Sinhalese reading: sambuddha sammad-aiiiiaya, SN I 4, 14* shared by C and L is confirmed by the commentary (Spk I 25, 33) in Ee, whereas Be has sammadaiiiia, v. 1. -aya in 'si, sya' in accordance with the text: te sambuddha_ sammad-aiiiia in BB. Further there are two gaps shared by the Sinhalese manuscripts with C and L. In the verse: deva manussa idha va hura'!' va saggesu va sabbanivesanesu, SN I 12, 14* = 23, 9° f. the manuscripts SS, C, L omit saggesu vain both passages, which is found in BB and Se too. Similarly: yena na'!' vajja na tassa atthi, SN I 11, 25*, Where na tassa atthi is lacking in SS, C, L, but again these words are attested in BB and Se. In both places the commentaries do not support BB and Se. SS, C, L, and Se are united in reading najjhagamu'!' against BB na ca ajjhagamuf!1, SN 12, 13*, aqd C, Land Se have the correct aga (SS aja is faulty), SN I 12. 10* against ajjhaga in BB [on this verse : 0. v. Hiniiber: Zum Perfekt im Pili. Zeitschrift fiir Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft (KZ) 96.198213.30-32,]. Further instances attaching C and L to the Sinhalese tradition are : mahesakkhahi, SN I 9, 26 = 11, 12, which is repeated inC and S 1• 2 while BB, Land Se write this word only once. The correct wording puccha bhikkhu ayam aha'!' anupatra, SN I 11, 18 "ask, monk, here I (a devata) am" is preserved inC and L; SS have the correct ayaf!l (cf. ayam aham asmi, SN IV 203, 20) besides the faulty anupatto. The Burmese tradition and Se read yam for ayam. One of the most distinctive features of the Sinhalese and the Burmese traditions is the use of jhatva or chetva respectively. This has been observed long ago by L. Peer, who unfortunately preferred the Burmese chetva in his text to replace jhatva in the following verses:

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kif!ZSU jhatva sukhaf!l seti kif!Zsu jhatva na socati kodhal[l jhatva sukhaf!Z seti kodhaf!Z jhatva na socati, SN I 41, 16* ff. [jhatva ti vadhitva, Spk I 97, 2; vadhitva ti hantva vinasetva, Spk-pt Be 1961 I 135, 14]=47, 8* ff. = 161, 3* ff. = 237, 9* ff.; quoted Nett 145, 19* ff., and: dadanti eke visame nivi{!ha jhatva vadhitva atha socayitva, SN I 19, 23* f. [chetva ti pothetva, Spk I 60, 9; chetva ti pi{etva. ta'!' pana pi{ana'fl pothanan ti dassento pothetva ti aha, Spk-pt Be 1961 I 103, 16f.] = Ja IV 67 6* [ct.: kilametva], and: tan ca jhatvana gacchati, Ja IV 57, 8* [ct.: hatva] Everywhere chetva eliminates jhatva in the Burmese tradition, as has been discussed in the PTS Pili English Dictionary and again by J. Brough: Gindhiri Dharmapada p. 265 on the verses 288, 289. As the GDhp has ]atva in the verses corresponding to kirrzsu jhatva .• ., there cannot be any sensible doubt about jhatva as original, although its etymological explanation poses some difficulties. In Pali, a connection with jhayari "to burn" seems to probable [cf. H. Smith: Saddaniti Index, s.v. jhattaJ. In the North West of India there may have been a different though homonymous word ]atva by coincidence especially in the light of ]atva, GDhp 12 corresponding to hantva, Dhp 294, which would be equivalent to hatva etymologically in the Niiristin languages [Turner: Comparative Dictihnary, as above no. 13 969 and G. Buddruss: Nochmals zur Stellung der Niiristin Sprachen des afghanischen Hindukusch. Muenchner Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 36. 1977. 23], However, this etymological question has no relevance for the discussion of the interrelationship of the manuscripts. Manuscript L covering the whole of the Sagatha-:vagga always has jjhatva. C, on the hand, originally had iiiiatva, SN I 41 corrected into jhatva by a different probably more modern hand as some kind of ink has been used, and as the shape of the aksara jha differs from the one found otherwise in C. In SN I 237, the manuscript en is extant and has iiiiatva throughout without and correction. Therefore en might have been copied from C before this manuscript was corrected(?). A possible origin of iinatva is not easy to imagine unless one thinks of the confusion of the somewhat similar Sinhalese ligatures iiiia and jjha at least in handwriting in a rare word. At SN I 19, C probably has kharitva, where the interpretation as kha is not quite certain, although the aks,ara is legible without difficulty. Anyway neither C nor L ever has chetva as in the Burmese tradition where it seemed to be rooted since quite some time even before C and L were written, for the Saddanlti quotes: kif!lSU chetva sukhaf!l seti, Sadd 280, 26 illustrating the use of ki'flSU. This means that chetva is not explicitly supported by the context, although there does not seem to be any trace of the manuscript tradition influencing the Saddaniti. Many examples rather point to the opposite direction.

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Thus iiizatv'ii and jjhazv'ii found in C and L respectively are a particular strong proof for an old non-Burmese tradition prevailing in North Thailand. This is also felt in Se, which for the better part replaces jhatvli by ghatva following the Burmese chetv'ii only occasionally. The wqrd ghatv'ii evidently points to an underlying jhatva. Whenever chetva is found, this indicates a certain degree of contamination of the Thai and the Burmese traditions in Se. Even if these examples show that the Pili manuscript tradition in North Thailand is rather independent of Burma, the situation is not that simple that C and L are some kind of a doublet to the Sinhalese manuscripts. Besides the passages quoted above where C and L prove to be close to SS or even nearer to the original wording than SS, they also join Burmese readings in some places. This seems to be the case mostly in those passages where the text has been reshaped in Ceylon, while the unaltered old wording is preserved in Burma. The most evident case is sukkhapayamano, SN I 8, 20. 101 6, where C and L have pubbapayamano also found in the commentary: pubba· payamano ti gattani pubbasadis(mi vodakani kurumano, Spk I 39, 11 ± Ps II 167, 27 on MN I 161, 10, where sukkhapayamano occurs in one Burmese manuscript only. The situation is the same again at AN V 196, 6, where one Burmese and one Sinhalese manuscript out of five manuscripts and Se used by the editor have sukkhapayam'iino, of which there is no trace in the commentary, Mp V 65, 20; similarly AN III 345, 12 with Mp III 368, 16. One commentary explains pubbapayamano as: sukkapayamano ti attho, Ps II 167, 27, which makes sense only, if pubbapayamano correctly preferred by most editors and H. Smith, Saddanlti, Index p. 1619 s. v. really is the original reading. Therefore pubbapayamano at SN I 8, 20 = 10, 6 cannot be considered as typically Burmese and as such shared by C and L. It is the original text preserved in South East Asia but changed into a lectio facilior sukkhapayamano in Ceylon. Correspondingly nivaraye, SN I 7, 15* u-u- in the cadence of a Sloka preserved in Sl, printed in Be 1939, Be and in the pratika Spk I 36, 20 and shared by C and L against Be nivareyya (metre!) is an original old reading and not typical for the Burmese tradition. \

One peculiar feature of C and L separates these manuscripts from the Sinhalese tradition, that is the widely spread use of and predilection for krubbati, SN I 19, 3*. 4* and elsewhere, here against Be 1939, Be, Se, Be all reading kubbati. The form krubbati, the possible origin of which is discussed in my article "Notes on the Pili Tradition in Burma", seemed to be found in Burmese manuscripts only, and that much more frequently than this can be deduced from the PTS editions. The manuscripts C and L now show that krubbati is not confined to Burma, but that it spread over a much wider area in South East Asia than one could assume earlier. Whether or not SN I 19 shows that krubbati once was used much more often, but was pushed back in course of

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time under Sinhalese influence is difficult to ascertain for the moment. For a full evaluation of the difference between BB on one and C and Lon the other hand at SN I 19, a more detailed and comprehensive study of C and L seems to be necessary. Lastly, there are some minor points of agreement between C, Land the Burmese tradition such as: dadanti heke, SN I 19, 23* against Sl, 2 dadanti eke, S3 dadanti ceke; or; hitva agaral'fl pabbaji1a, SN I 15, 25* against SS pabbajitva, which almost certainly is a mistake. There are, however, no decisive readings common to C, L and BB, as far as this can be inferred from about the first twenty pages of the printed edition. If Burmese influence is absent, C and L have many features in common with SS or show characteristics of their own pointing to an old and good tradition. Thus it might not be too far fetched to think that we really can find traces of the Chiang Mai Council in the Thai tradition, even if it is too early to consider this as proved after inspecting only two manuscripts and these in part only as done in this preliminary study. However, the hope is growing and seems to be well-founded now that more material still hidden in Wat libraries in North Thailand, when brought to light, will help to re-establish an old and truly Thai Pili tradition, the value of which for establishing better critical text editions and for the history of Pili can hardly be rated too high.

Abbreviations : AN BBFEO IIJ JRAS MN Mp Nett PEFEO Ps Sn Spk Spk-~

ZDMG

Anguttaranikiya, Bulletin de l'Bcole FranQaise d'Bxtreme-Orient Indo-Iranian Journal Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Majjhimanikiya Manorathapiira~I (commentary on AN) Nettippakara~a

Publications de l'Ecole FranQaise d'Bxtreme-Orient Papaiicasiidanl (commentary on MN) Suttanipita Siratthappakisinl (commentary on SN) (subcommentary on Spk) Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlii.ndischen Gesellschaft

REDEFINING THE SANGHA'S ROLE IN NORTHERN THAILAND : AN INVESTIGATION OF .MONASTIC CAREERS AT FIVE CHIANG MAl WATS DAVID L. GOSLING*

During the period July 1980 to April1981 an investigation was conducted into the involvement of Thai monks in the Chiang Mai area of northern Thailand in rural development. It .was concluded that the monks' role is undergoing significant transformations along the lines indicated in previous work and by other researchers, and that there are important educatio~al factors which undergird the manner in which they are attempting to redefine their role. In particular, many monks are increasingly opting for Adult Education courses in preference to the traditional pariyattitham studies. These courses cover a wide range of secular subjects which enable the monks to f!llfil a more development-orientated role than would otherwise be possible. They also equip them with the kind of skills which will increase their prospects of finding gainful secular employment if and when they disrobe. . Previous work on development-orientated programmes by Thai monks has been conducted by Tambiah, Suksamran, Klausner, and others.(l) Research by this author has been carried out at the two Buddhist Universities in Bangkok, where much of the monks' training takes place, and a descriptive account of the main features of.some of the development projects mentioned in this article has recently been published in the Southeast Asian Journal. of Social Science.(2) Financial support for these investigations has been provided. by the British Academy and the Nuffield Foundation, whose generosity and confidence in the face of increasing political opposition to the social sciences by the U.K. Government, is much appreciated. I Chiang Mai's "Secular" Buddhism Chiang Mai Province, occupying an area of just under 23, 000 sq. km., had a population of 1,100,000 in 1976.(3) Its capital, the city of Chiang Mai, serves as a

* Department of Theology and Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hull. 1. S.J. Tambiah, World Conqueror and World Renouncer, Cambridge University Press, 1976; Somboon Suksatnran, Political Buddhism in Southeast Asia, St. Martin's Press, 1976; W.J. Klausner, Reflections in a Log Pond, Suksit Siam, 1972. See also articles in Visakha Puja and elsewhere by Sulak Sivaraksa, Charles F. Keyes, P.rawase Wasi, and Ruth-lnge Heinze. 2. D.L. GoSling, "Thai Monks in·Rural Development" in the Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science, Vol. 9, Nos. 1-2. 3. The Official C~nsus figures for the popuiation of Chiang Mai Province in 1960, 1970, and 1976 were 800,000; 1,000,000 and 1,100,000 respectively. Chiang Mai is the largest of the . ~ixteen provinces of northern Th.ailand. .

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market and financial center for a wide range of light industry (eg. furniture and bricks), commercial agricultural products (tobacco and tea), and handicrafts (silk, woodcar,ving, and silver work). The city is also the fo~al pohit of contact between Thai economic and political officialdom and the chao khao or hill tribes· (to use a term which effectively challenges the conventional notion of distinct ethnic tribal groups.< 4 )) According to the 1970 Census 94% ofthe 84, 000 inhabitants of Chiang Mai municipality declare themselves to be Buddhist. There are approximately 70 wats within the municipality, of which about 35 are located inside the walls of the old city. According to a survey conducted by Charles Keyes between 1972 arid 1974 an average wat in the Chiang Mai municipality (thetsaban) contains five monks and 12 novices. Average congregation sizes vary from about 50 at the weekly wan phra (Sunday) services during Lent to 70 at major holy day festivals (eg., Songkran, Og Phansa, Khao Phansa). Keyes maintains that "not more than ten per cent of the "Buddhist" population ·or Chiang Mai city are members of the "supporting congregation" of any wat", and that "secular influences have strongly challenged the role which the wat traditionally filled". The Wat Chetupon was included in the investigation because it seems to be a typi~al Chiang Mai wat possessing none of the distinctive features of the ones that have been mentioned so far, and also because there is an Adult Education school attended by the monks in the wat compound. Its Abbot, Phra Khru Wickron Kanapirakhsa, is Chao Kana Ampur of Chiengdow District. He is much respected as a meditation teacher and is renowned for his kindness. There are ten monks and 74 novices normally in residence at the Wat, but many of them were away at the time of the visit. Seventeen novices ~nd two monks completed questionnaires.. Both monks and all but four of the novices were attending Adult Education classes.

II General Characteristics of the Respondents A translation of the Thai questionnaire is appended as an ·Annex. It was designed basically to p_robe respondents' social and educational backgrounds, the extent 12. According to the Chulasakarat System there is a cycle of twelve years, each bearing the name of an animal, beginning with the rat followed by the ox. tiger,rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, · goat, monkey, cock, dog and pig. King Prasattong. caused some confusion in the Thai calendar by changing the order. The modern Thai calend!!.r W@S intro4~ce~ o~ 111nuarr 1st, . J941 (~uddhist.Bra ~4?4 1 o~ ~~e rear of t~e snake),

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of their involvement in development work, a0:d their ·attitudes to speci;fic developmentorientated roles some of which might be regarded as controversial from the point of view of th~ Vinaya or Patimokkha. The rationale behind different parts of the questionnaire will be discussed together with th~ responses. Attention wiil be directed primarily to respondents at the five wats which were described in the previous section. But questionnaires were also completed by sample · groups of students at Chiang Mai and Ramkhamba~ng Universities, by monks, novices and luksits at the Wat Bovornives in Bangkok, and by a small group of monks at Mabachulalongkorn Buddhist University. . · Two hundred ~d eighty seven completed questionu.aires were ·obtained in the course !lf the investigation, ancl many of the respondents were interviewed. The responses were transl~ted into E~glish,' coded, and analysed using a standard SPSS programme on the _University of Hull's I.C.L.-19048 Computer. Values of Chi Square were obtained, and it may be assumed that figures given in Tables I and II are statistically significant. . {i) Social Background . Thirty two_per ce~t of the Chiang Mai respondents were monks, the remainder

novices, Eighty-six per cent had been born in the northern region; of the remainder 10% came from the northeast. Fifty-five per cent had been born in Chiang Mai province. The 45% of the respondents not born in Chiang Mai province specified birthplaces primarily ip. the northern and northeastern regions, with less than· 3% from other parts of the country (mostly from the south). From an inspection of die questionnaires it was apparent that respondents had moved according to well-established· patterns · · which co~ected particular h~me p:rovinces with ,particular ·Chiang Mai wats. These 'aetworks were closely related to the type of wat, ie. whether Dhammayut or Maha Nikai. (Seventeen per cent of the respondents were Dhammayut, the remainder Maha Nikai). Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son provinces in northern Thailand_. were the major suppliers of residents at the fo1,1r Maha Nikai wats (after Chiang M;ai province itself), whereas a large proportion of Dhammayut. monks at the Wat Chedi Luang were originally from Lampang. Maha Nikai respondents also came froin Kamphaeng Phet, Lampang, Lamphun, Nan, Petchabun, Phrae and Tak in the north, and Maha Sarakham, Nakhon Ratcliasima, and Surin in the northeast. Dhammayut respondents not born in either Chiang Mai or Lampailg came from Chiang Rai, Lamphun, N'akhon Sawan, Petch~bpn, and Tak in the north, and Loei, Roi Et,. Sakon N!ikhon· ~ T,JdQn Th!lui

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in the northeast. There were no respondents belonging to either Nikai from Pichit, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Uthai Thani or Uttaradit in the north or approximately half the provinces in the northeast. The fath~rs of 86% of the Chiang Mai monks and novices were farmers and none were involved in Government service. The remaining 14% were predominantly hired labourers or small traders. By contrast 30% of the Chiang Mai University students who completed questionnnaires had fathers in Government service; and none were farmers. A respondent at the Wat Bovomives wrote "My father belongs to the rotten backbone of the country that profits landowners and civil servants". Parental occupations at the Wat Bovornives were distributed fairly evenly between Governmental, agricultural and "other" (es. 'trade, commerce) responses. But the Wat Bovornives sample included /uksits and quite a number of navaga or temporary monks, who tend to be drawn from the cQmmercial and professional segments of Thai society.03) A few navaga were resident at the five wats which constituted the main focus of the investigation. Fifty-seven per cent of the Chiang Mai monks and novices had not had an occupation prior to ordination, which meant that they had been too young to have· one. Thirty-eight per cent had been farmers. This contrasted sharply with the Wat Bovornives, where 67% stated that they had been in some form of Government service prior to ordination. The majority of the Chiang Mai respondents had· between two and seven ·brothers and sisters:...characteristically specified as older or younger. The average number of brothers and sisters was 4.6 + 0.2, making an average family ·size of 6.6. This is somewh.at larger than any of the regional averages quoted 'in the 1970 census. According to the 1970 national popul_ation census the average household size for the whole country is 5. 79; for the northern region itis 5.46 and for the northeast it rises to a regional maximum o£'6.12. The most obvious explanation is that the families of monks.really are larger than average, and that this is a factor which induces parents to encourage one or more sons to ordain. (ii) Monastic Careers The role of wats in provincial capitals such as Chiang Mai in relation to the movements 9f rural youths from their native villages to the Capital has already been referred to, and is-described in detail by Tambiah.attern in that they both recruit luksits and novices direct from the hill tribes, thus bypassing what for the majority is an intermediate stage at a rural wat in Chiang Mai province but often: outside the municipality. · · . Thus~ .to. revert to Tainbiah's ge~erai thesis, it appears that wats in the. provinciai"'c~pita1 of Chiang Mai occupy an intermediate position between the rural wats which admit yo~ng .men ~s luksits or novi~es_ ap.d the w~ts in Bangkok/Thonburi. It is· ~ignificant (tbou~h the actual numbers involved are small) that the 10% or so of the 15. S.J. Tambiah, Ibid., p. 281,

1UtDEFIN1NG tHE SANGHA1S ROtE

iN

NORTHERN 1'HA1tAND

respondents born outside the northern region moved .first into the "radial" orbit of Chiang Mai municipality from ·which some might ultimately migrate into the ~galactic" orbit of the metropolis. It is also significant that none of the respondents at any of the five Chiang Mai wats had been born in central Thailand 'where presumably the majority ·of .monastic· careers fall within the "radial" sphere of Sukhothai. , .

.

.

There was no evidence of a distinctive northern pattern of temporary ordination to the noviciate. The use of the Yuan script in the education of luksits and novices at the wats was noted, though it was not 1possible to forrn an estimate of the ext~nt of its use. According to Charles Keyes the Yuan script, which is traditional in the north of Thailand, has been relegated to.a strictly religious f'-!nctioh since World War II and is declining in importance.(l6> Luksits and' novices originally froin hill tribes at the and.Si Soda were much mor.e Wats Chedi Luang . . concerned with. improving their Thai. Respondents at the five Chiang Mai wats were invited to state their reasons for ordination. The following fairly typical reasons were given by two monks and two novices at .the Wat Bupparam: I ordained as a debt of gratitude to my parents, to study Dhamma, and to keep Buddhism alive. I became a monk out of faith in Buddhism, to propagate the . Noble Truths, and to advance myself in the secular world. I ordained to study. My family's economic background is not good. As a monk time is more readily available (for study), and the cost is less. · i ordained· to study Dhamma and to keep Buddhism alive. My formal education was very minimal and this is also why I ordained. Several respondents ordained partly at least in order to helP disadvantaged sections of society. According to a monk at the Wat Chedi-Luang·:· . l·ordained to study-Buddhism in depth, to·please the family, and to contribute something to the community. According to two monks at the Wat Bupparam : I became a monk to be educated so as to help the poor. They. ca.nnot help themseives; so I will t.ell them how to do so . . · I ordained to study the Lord Buddha's teaching so that it . could reach people iti rembte ~reas ~nabling. them to. understand Bud- . . dhism and cul.ture for their own benefit. Two novices and. a. monk at the Wat Si Soda gave reasons. for ordination consistent wit~ their tribal backgrounds : · ;

16. Charles F. Keyes, Op. cit. (S), p. 62.

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David L Gosllng

I got ordained through faith in Buddhism a·nd to study both religion and .secular subjects including every single part of the Thai language. · I became a monk to spread Buddhism to far away places. · I ordained to understand Buddhism and to learn the Thai language because I come from a hill tribe. A monk at the Wat Phra Singh, who had tended buffaloes prior to his ordin!ltion, painted a gl!)omy picture of educational standards in his home area (Mae Jam) : Ordination was the intention of my parents for me to have a better education because the family is poor. In our countryside there are many children who even after obtaining Grade 4 of primary education cannot read at all . . A novice at the Wat Chetupon from a mercl!.ant family in Chiang Rai ordained as a npvaga, but decided to remain in orders·~' . My aunt passed away and I wanted to extend merit to her . . After studying the Dhamma and attending classes I felt very good· so I decided to stay on. A monk in his mid-twenties at the Wat Chedi Luang was extremely articulate about his reasons for ordaining·: I ordained because I was.convinced by the Lord.Buddha's teaching which is rational and up-to-date. The Buddha does not force anyone to believe, but leaves people to believe for themselves. His teaching is of the highest philosophical quality and is very scientific. (iii) Education Since the time of the Ayutthaya era and possibly prior to it, education has been an integral part of the Thai monastic system.. It is therefore incorrect to view those who advance themselves educationally via the Sangha as ~ving an ulterior motive in relation to their Buddhist beliefs. Nation, monarchy and religion are so closely ·entwined that it is virtually impossible to analyse any one in isolation from the others. To be Thai is to be a Buddhist and·a.toyal subject of the King. To be an educated Thai is to be· a more mature and effective member of society, and it is tliere.: fore· both natural· and appropriate for the Sangh~ to play a major -ro~e in the education of the Nation's youth. And it is equally natural-as happene,d in the latter part of the last century and the 'early part of the present-for the Monarchy to attempt to mobilize the Sangha in order to promote more effective educational programmes.

But the ensuing educational matrix with its parallel avenues of religious and secular social mobility is extremely complex. Before describing it in detail a number of general points will be made. ·

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101

Historically the Thai Sangha has always laid a high premium on education which was traditionally centred on the local wat. Wat education was primarily based on Pali studies and essential Buddhist teaching, but ~lso included instruction in medicine, law, astrology, and even construction and the art of self defence !Cl 7 > Furthermore Thai custom has always recognised the right of individual monks and novices to disrobe and resume lay status without loss of respect or merit. Consequently there is a long and venerable tradition of monks who have attained great scholastic eminence within the Sangha and who then disrobe and take up civil positions of considerable power and influence. King Mongkut, who ruled from 1851-1 868, did precisely this himself, but seems to have had subsequent misgivings about the impetus he had thereby given to the secular ambitions of some members of the Sangha. At any rate he appears to have been the first monarch to recognise the possible dangers of such openended avenues for social advancement. In passing several royal decrees to stem the tide, he seems to have started a competitive dialogue between secular and ecclesiastical educational systems which continues to this day !· In 1892 King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) established a Ministry of Education and thus initiated a secular counterpart to the ecclesiastical institutions which had traditionally assumed responsibility for all levels of education. But it was not until 1921 that Rama VI promulgated a Primary Education Act requiring all children between seven and 14 to attend school. In 1933 these age limits were changed from eight to 15. The first four years of prim~ry education were originally geared to four prathom grades followed by six secondary matayom grades. In the early 1960s primary educawas extended until eventually seven prathom grades were in existence. In the mid-1970s children aged between seven and 14 would attempt primary prathom 1-7 followed by secondary matayom 1-5, which took them from 14 to 18, when they would be eligible to go to University. In 1978!79 the prathom grades were reduced to six, starting at the age of six and finishing at 12, and the secondary maw saw grades were divided into two groups, maw 1-3 and maw 4-6. These were designed for the 12 to 18 age group, so that maw 6 is now the recognised entry qualification for a secular university (eg. Chulalongkorn · or Ramkhamhaeng-not to be confused with Mahachulalongkorn or Mahamakut Buddhist Universities, which are for monks only). Not only have the secular primary and secondary systems changed twice in the last decade, but there are regional variations, 17 . S. Chongkol, "An Historical Sketch of Thai Education Administration. Evolution _of the Administrative Organization" . in Education in Thailand, a Century of Experience. A Revised Version of the Third Acade mic Conference, 1969, Bangkok. The references to "traditional medicin e, construction·, astrology, magic a nd the art of self defence" relate specifically to northern wats.

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.

.David. L. GosliDg._

102

and many people in Chian~ -Mar did. not seem to know that maw saw 5 had been renamed and changed. Ecclesiastical grades are no less complex. Tlie lowest naktizam ("student of dhanima") grade. is naktham thri, followed by naktham tho and ek. This elementary religious instruction is fairly basic and does. not require any knowledge of Pali. .The Pali pariyattitham. studies are ·designed to offer detailed analysis of the Pali. langUage and Tripitaka texts. The parian examinations, as they are known, enable ~he monks and novices who sit them to obtain prayog grades ranging from one. to nine. Prayog 9 is extremely· difficult, and very few monks. attain it. In practice, and for reasons often to do with the establishment of alternative routes to advancement such as Adult .Education ~nd the Buddhist Universities, few· monks now go beyond · prayog 4. A monk or novice who has obtained naktham ek and prayog 4 is eligible for admission to either of the two Buddhist Universities in Bangkok and may move there without proceeding further with the parian examinations. Traditional Pali studies in the provincial capitals such as Chiang Mai have suffered as a result, and Adult Education courses ate now having an even more deleterious .effect on them. I

An account of the education offered ·by the Buddhist Universities has been given elsewhere. OS) The syllabi have recently been changed so as· to include more secular subjects and instruction in practical skills which enable tbe scholar-monks to part in develO"pment programmes. The overall effect of the Buddhist Universities. is to take more able ·monks from the "radial" ambit of the provincial capitals into the "galactic" sphere of influence of the Metropolis-to use Tambiah's expressive phraseology~

Adult Education courses, like those at the Bangkok-based Universities,· also include a large amount of instruction in practical subjects, and are proving increasingly popular with monks a~d novices in the provincial capitals. Although designed primarily for laymen who wish to enhanee their j'?b prospeets, they are very often h~ld in wat compounds at times of the day when it is convenient and "appropriate" for monks to be present. It is not appropriate, of course, for members of the Sangha to attend local .secon~ary schools because this would be. incompatible with their monastic dut~es and would .bring them into an inappropriate amount of contact with 'members of the opposite .sex. But they are usually allowed to sit examinations in th~ same buildings as local children. Hence some novices and monks have·used Adult Education classes at their wats to learn enough to enable them .to pass maw saw examinations. . . 18. D.L. Gosling, "O'p. cit. (7), p. 413.

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103

From the time of King Mongkut until the present day both civil and ecclesiastical adm~nistrative authorities have viewed the secular aspirations of monks with a certain amount of suspicion. This has led them to progressively downgrade the religious naktham and parian grades in relation to secondary standards. At one time a monk who had passed prayog 3 was eligible to enrol for a degree in law or economics at Thammasat University. In the mid-1940s the qualifying level was raised to prayog 6. Today none of the parian grades is recognised by any secular Thai university, though many universities in the UK and in the USA regard them as more than adequate entrance qualifications. In the early 1960s naktham ek was considered equivalent to lower secondary matayom 3, and prayog 5 was ranked equal to upper secondary matayom 6. · Matayom 6 was then effectively renamed ~awsaw 3, and .the level of entry to a secular univers~ty was raised to maw saw 5 (ie. the secondary system was upgraded without reference to the parian grades). Prayog 5 thus became equal to maw saw 3, and higher levels of equivalence were abolished. This meant that a monk had no easy route from maw saw 3 to pre-university maw saw 5 (which has. now _been changed to maw 6-as it is known colloquially in the few schools who seem to have heard of it!) The Buddhist University degrees and. Adult Education courses are effectively enabling scholar-monks to overcome the educational obstacles with which they have been confronted by successive civil and ecclesiastical bureaucracies (often working hand in hand-the Maha Thera Sama Khom or Supreme. Sangha Assembly does not encourage the educational aspirations of younger members of the Sangha !) A monk or novice who has obtained naktham ek and prayog 4 is eligible to enter either Mahachulalongkorn or. Mahamakut University in Bangkok, and. hence has no reason to pursue Pali studies beyond a certain level. Adult Education grade 4 is tecognised as equivalent to maw saw 3, so that a monk who does Adult Education courses hardiy needs to pursue any parian grades~ Not surprisingly the level of attainment in Pali studies of the Chiang Mai inonks and novices who formed the basis of this investigation was not very impressive. It was not possible to establish an inverse correlation between low Pali grades (or their complete a~sence) and participation in Adult Education classes. But the results of both the questionnaire analysis and interviews with~respondents and their· abbots suggested that Pali studies are being seriously undermined by Adult Education .and similar local educational programmes. Details of the religious and secular levels ~f attainment of the Chiang Mai monk~;~ and novices are $1WW.P.- ill Table I. The responses were analysed accc:>rdin8 to

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wat, and it may be presumed that the distribution was fairly even unless stated to the contrary. The primary prathom grades were evenly distributed except for a concentration ·of prathom 4 responses at the Wats Bupparam and Si Soda. Several of those with no apparent prathom grade had simply ~mitted to complete that part of the questionnaire. But they were much more meticulous about specifying secondarY and· Pali grades. Responses were not always -very precise : thus "studying for prayog 4" (in Thai) would be coded as prayog 3 irrespective of whether or not they had actually obtained such a grade. Naktham grades at the Wats Bupparam, Chedi Luang and Chetupon ranged from 17% to 36% (tho) and 10% to 20% (ek}. They were slightly lower at the Wat Phra Singh, and at the Wat_Si Soda the majority of respondents had not progressed beyond

the lowest grade or naktham tnri; the pe~centages were 55% (thri), 14% (tho) and 6% (ek). Only 14% of the respondents had obtained any Pali grades. None of these were at the Wat Si Soda, and only the Deputy Abbot .of the Wat Phra Singh had a parian qualification (prayog 4). Only three additional respondents at the five wats had obtainea prayog 4 or a higher grade. By· contrast, 16 monks at Mahachulalongkom University (90% of the sample) had at least prayog 4. Secondary matayom (or maw saw) grades were comparatively impressive. Thirty-two respondents had maw saw 3 or less, and seven had maw saw 5. These maw saw grades were distributed fairly evenly among the five wats, with the exception of the Wat Si Soda, which was .under-represented. By contrast, when taking into account the wider sample, every respondent at Mahachulalongkorn University could boast maw saw 5!

.

· Forty-nine per cent of the Chiang Mai respondents had Adult Education. · qualifications. Most were at the Wat Bupparam, Chetupon and Si Soda. Only four respondents at the Wat Phra Singh had an Adult Education grade, and there were none .. at the Wat Chedi Luang. However the Wat Chedi Luang, which it must be rememberecl is the only Dhanunayut wat in the sample group, has an independent school which is administered by Chao Khun Rajavinayaporn. Tambiah comments rather disparagingly on the scholastic attainments of the Wat Phra Singh, which runs its own distinctive educational programmes for monks an.d laymen.09l In 1971 it had only 12 monks with the title Phra Maha (ie. who had prayog 3 or 4 at least).

105

REDEFINING THE SANGHA'S ROLE IN NORTHERN THAILAND

Table I : Religious and Secular Educational Qualifications Matayom

Pali

Prathom

Naktham

Grade*

%

%

%

%

0 1 2 3 4

17 0 1 2 42 0 18 20

15 16 41 28

71

86 2.

5 6 7

5 5 14 0 5

* Not all numbers necessarily correspond to actual grades.

7 2 2 0 0 1

Adult Education

% 64

9 0 14 12 0 0 1

A response such as "soon to take

Adult Education 4" is classified as Adult Education 3.

It is extremely difficult to make across the board comparisons between the levels of attainment in Pali studies of monks and novices in Chiang Mai and elsewhere. Jane Bunnag's seminal research in Ayutthaya was conducted iq the middle and late sixties and suggests that Pali standards were not very high even then·,. Tambiah's more recent studies give much the same impression and indicate sound reasons why the more able scho~ar monks migrate from the provincial capitals to the Metropolis. What seems to emerge from this present investigation is that enhanced opportunities to pursue secular studies in the provincial capitals are further devaluing the premium placed on traditional Pali studies. Before concluding this section two monastic careers will be ·traced. Both are based on concrete data obtained from interviews and questionnaire responses,.,but each conftates information obtained from more than one individual. Phra Maha L was born in a small village in Doi Saket in uthe year of the rat... (1948). He went to the local primary school and passed prathom 4 at the age of ll. · ·He wished to pursue his studies further, but .his family did not have sufficient money to support him. His sister, however, was working as a metta-naree trainee at the Wat Pah Pai Si Khong, a small Mala Nikai wat a few miles away from L's home. She prevailed upon the Abbot, Phra Sing Toh, to find L a place as a luksit (or dekwat) with a view to ordination as a novice. L's ordination to the noviciate was sponsored by Phra Sing Toh who also became his luang phi or moral tutor (approximately). From PhraSing Toh he learned Dhamma and Vinai (monastic discipline, ie. Vinaya), 20. J. Bunnag, Buddhist Monk, Buddhist Layman, A study of Urban Monastic Organization in Central Thailand, Cambridge University Press, 1973.

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David L. Gosling

and at the age of 15 passed the highest naktham ek grade. The Wat was a small one and the only local village school was a primary school similar to tlte one in L's home village, so it was not possible for him to proceed beyond prathom 4 and naktham ek without moving~ One of the monks residing at the Wat Chetupon had been born in the same village as L, and was therefore a yaad or kinsman. L's mother prevailed upon this monk to ask the Abbot of the Wat Chetupon, Phra Khru Wickrom Kanapirakhsa, if he. could find a place for L at the Wat. Since the monk in question was the head of a residential section of the Wat, Phra Khru Wickrom readily agreed, and L transferred to the larger wat within C!nang Mai municipality. The kinsman-monk provided L with sufficient pocket money to purchase books needed to study for the parian grades which were taught at the Wat. L also learned meditation from Phra Khru Wickrom and attended Adult Education classes held in the Wat compound. Somehow, and periodically at cost to his health, L combined parian with the more secular Adult Education studies and greatly impressed the Abbot with his tenacity at vipassana (meditation). By the age of 20 L had obtained prayog 3 and Adult Education grade 4 (whice is equivalent to maw saw 3), and was thinking of progressing further. But in order to gain admission to Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist University he needed to pass prayog 4, and the Wat Chetupon did not teach. beyond the third Pali level. With naktham ek and prayog 3, he could, in fact, have easily enrolled ·in one of the Mahachulal9ngkorn pre-undergraduate schools for a year in order to obtain pray'og 4, but Phra Khru Wickrom, whom L now regarded as his achan, wantedbim to ordain to the monkhood in Chiang Mai. L ·therefore went to the Wat Bupparam in the centre of town in order to study for his next parian examination, which he passed the following year. Phra Khru Wickrom, the gentle Abbot of the Wat Chetupon, was L's upachaya at his ordination to the monkhood. In encouraging him to complete his Pali studies at the Wat Bupparam he had an ulterior motive (of the kindest possible variety) in that he wished L's training to be as perfectly "rounded" as possible prior to his inevitable departure to Bangkok. L's stay at his first and second wats had established him in Phra Khru Wickrom's eyes as thura kanta (a practitioner of learning) and thura vipassana (a practitioner of meditation). He now wanted him to become thura patana (a practitioner of development), and who better to teach him this than his good friend Phra Khru Mongkol Silawongs, Abbot of the Wat Bupparam and Chao Kana Ampur (District Sangha Governor) of Doi Saket District?

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107

Phra Khru Mongkol would take a p~t;rticular interest in L's training in development activities because L hailed from the area under his jurisdiction, and his sister had by this time become a leading organiser of the metta-naree groups which Phra Khru Mongkol had originally established. Furthermore Phra Khru Wickrom wanted his luksit (now using the term for the first time for an ordained person) to learn development from someone who \lnderstood it in a completely nonpolitical context-unlike the organisers of the Dhammajarik programme which L might meet in Bangkok. Phra Khru Wickrom was not an outstanding scholar and unknown as a teacher of meditation outside Chiang Mai. He was, on his own admission, hopeless at the practicalities of development work. But he was very kind. And also very shrewd. Phra K.hru Mongkol was delighted with his new monk, whom he took on regular visits to the various development projects in· his district. After two years he arranged for L to go to Bangkok where he resided at the Wat Mahathat and obtained his B.A. degree at Mahachulalong-. korn University. But he was unhappy and disillus~oned with life in the Big City, and quickly returned to Chiang Mai where he eventually became Abbot of the Wat Doi Saket. All the wats mentioned in this account have been Maha Nikai. . The following "case hiStory" is based on Dhammayut centres. M was born in a small Meo village on tlte Doi Inthanon mountain in 8 E 2500 (1957). His father died when he was nine years old, and his mother took him a year later to meet Phra Maha Tawin Dhammaraso, a senior monk from the Wat Chedi Luang living in the · village. Phra Maha Tawin arranged for M to move to Chiang Mai where he resided as a luksit at the Wat Chedi Luang. He quickly learned Thai and passed prathom 4 and, eventually, naktham ek. In the abse1;1ce of his original luang phi, Phra Maha Tawin, who had returned to his semi.-perma.nent residence on the Doi Inthanon, M began to attract the attention of Chao Khun Rajavinayaporn, who took him on some of his niany journeys among the hill tribes. When M. fii:st expressed an interest in ordination Chao Khun Rajavinayapom explained that it wa.S not essential for him to ordain in order to pursue his studies. But when M persisted, he was ordained first to the noviciate at the Wat Chedi Luang, and eventually to the monkhood at the Wat Bovornives in · Bangkok. He failed to gain admission to Mahamakut Buddhist University and returned to Chiang Mai where he disrobed and joined the Border Patrol Police.

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David L. Gosling

III The Scope and Justification of Spcial Development The main thrust of this analysis has so far been to show how the interplay of monastic careers with recent educational opportunities is opening up new avenues of social mobility which enable monks and novices to pursue a more development-orientated role. It remains to chart the various kinds of development work which are open to the monks, their rationale for undertaking it, and the manner in which some of t):lem seek to justify their new roles in the light of tradhiomil Buddhism-.,in particular the strictures of the Parimokkha, which played such a major ~art in nineteenth century monastic reforms under Mongkut. Much has been written about the Government-sponsored develop~ent programmes which have been in progress for the best part of two decades.< 2 1> These are primarily the missionary-orientated Phra Dhammatuta scheme begun in 1964 under the auspices of the Department of Religious Affairs, the Phra Dhammajarik Programme started the following year under the joint auspices of the Sangha and the Department of Public Welfare, and various other schemes based on the two Buddhist Universities and major wats such as the Wat Phra Singh. As has been in~icated, the Phra Dhammajarik Programme; though commun~ty­ based, is centred on the Wat Si Soda in Chian~ Mai, and exists primarily to recruit boys are ordained froni the hill tribes. After a short period as dekwats . or luksits the boys . in a grand ceremony at the Wat Benjamabopitr in Bangkok. Suksamran has drawn attention to the political overtones of both this and the Phra Dhammatuta scheme, a point of view echoed by certain members of the Sangha and some former monks on the teaching staff of Chiang Mai University. No attempt was made to gauge the politics of any of the respond~nts in this investigation, and it would have been inappropriate to have tried to do so. But both Phra Khru Mongkol Silawongs and Chao Khun Rajavinayaporn made ·it clear that they did not actively recommend the Government schemes and that they disagreed with the overtones of social work as a means of securing converts· to Buddhism. All respondents were asked whether or not they had participated in the national development scheme. Thirteen per cent had been involved in the Phra Dhammatuta Programme, 30% with .the Phra Dhammajarik, 7% listed Dhainmapatana, 19% Spiritual Development, and 14% "Other" (mainly Sunday School teaching). Two thirds of the Dha~majarik. respondents were predictably resident at the Wat Si Soda, which trains Dhammajarik novices and monks for community-based work in the hill areas. "Spiritual Development" was intended to elicit responses fro!? monks and novices who had worked at Phra Kittiwutto's controversial centre in Chon Buri (Chittapavan College). But no such identification could be made, and the four monks from 21. See especially S. Suksamran, Op. cit. (1).

REDEFiNING THE SANGHA'S ROLE IN. NORTHERN THAILAND. · .

109

the Wat Chedi Luang who opted for this questionnaire category could not conceivably have trained under Kittiwutto-if only because they belonged to a different Nikai I (Though Phra Khru Mongkol's training schemes increasingly involve both Maha Nikai and Phammayut monks). The majority of respondents who had taken part in development schemes had done so in or near their original home villages. The duration of their work varied from a ~ew weeks to more than a year. A period of three or four months in Chiang Mai Province was fairly typical. Attitudes to social service as an expression of Buddhist commitment were gauged in two ways. Respondents were asked to state which part or parts of the Bud-: dha's teaching suggest that a monk should do community service (Question 8). They were also requested to comment on the work of Khun Prateep Ungsongtham, whose spirited attempts to provide a rudimentary education for the slum children of Klong Tuey in Bangkok recently earned her the coveted Magsaysay Award. Respondents were asked whether or not they considered her work to be compatible with the Buddha's teaching, and if so, why? (Question 9). The following responses relate to Khun Prateep's work, though the answers to Question (8) were couched in very similar terms: .· Khun Prateep has shown kindness and compassion, having no craving (tanha). She helps the poor and educates them, sympathising · with all human beings. She shows kindness to the Thai people .... If all humans beha. ved like Khun.Prateep the world would be at peace. Khu.n Prateep is industrious and willing to suffer for others, not for herself. She has has been seeking what lives at the back of the Buddha's image (i.e. doing good deeds without telling other people)• . Because of her good deeds she was awatded the Magsaysay Award. The fact that Khun Prateep sets up a school says that she tries to help Qthers first. What she has done was not fo~ fame or for her own .self and not for her family. She did it for better lives for ~lum dwellers who she would like to see living in better conditions in society. She did it for the sake of Thai citizens and for humanity. She is teaching good Dhamma. . I hear from the radio what is being taught to Thai citizens so that they will be better citizens staying away from Communism. · Sacrificing for the public is praised by the Lord Buddha. Sacrifice is an act of giving (dana) which in this case is Dharmadana, that is making education available to the uneducated without any expectation of return.

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Her kindness extends to.the underprivileged in education and her deeds belp to maintain society.. This fits in with the four Brahmavihara. Quite a number of respondents justified both Khun Prateep's work and th~ir own developmental roles in ~erms of the four Brahmavihara ie. metta (loving kindness), karuna (compassion), upekkha (even mindnedness) and muditha (sympathetic joy). There were also frequent references to the Sarighahavatthu and t~e four Iddhipada, The Brahmavihara (or Sublime Abodes) and Sanghahavatthu have been discussed in ·relation to social action in an earlier article base~ on the Buddhist Universities.f22) .But none of the monks. in the earlier samples referred to the Iddhipada, or recommended virtues .set out fora novice or newly ordained monk. These are chandtl, satisfaction or joy in one's work, viriya, diligent effort, citta, wholehearted concentration, and vi11Jamsa or careful and rational "thinking around" .the matter in hand. These and a range of additional virtues culled from a wide range of Pali scriptures (in this case the (Vibhanga) are set out in a recently published standard textbook for naktham ek · students by Somdet Phra Maha Samal}a Chao Krom Phrayi Vajirailil}avarorasa~(23) The book repays careful reading as an authorative account of an appropriate life-style for a novice or newly ordained monk.. It is interesting to note . that the respondents made no scriptural distinction in justifying their own role as thura patana and that of Khun Prateep, wh9, after all, is both a lay p~rson and a woman! IV Appropriate and Inappropriate Developmental Roles The foregoing discussion provides a useful background for a consideration of the manner in which certain developmental activities 01ay be appropriate or inappropriate from the standpoint of the Vinaya or Patimokkha (which is contained within it). Acc~rding to the Patimokkha a monk may not damage a plant or dig the earth. though there is nothing to stop him from chopping up, say, a tree, once someone else has cut it down.(24) But the 227 rules of the Patimokkha do not apply to a novice who There are many· activities which are inappropriate is subject only to ten precepts. for a monk or novice from a variety of Buddhist standpoints, such as owning luxurious items or indufging in activities which bring the Sangha into disrepute. Also there are some thiJ1gs.which, though not exactly inappropriate, are not really in accordance with the status of a monk-.changing a car wheel, for example. 22. D L. Gosling, Op. cit., (7), p. 428. 23. Navakovada (Standard Text for Naktham Ek), Mahamakut Buddhist University, 1971, p. 44. 24. Ven. Ninamoli Thera, The Pii!imokkha, Makamakut Aeademy,l966, p. 48. For a more detailed account of the Vinaya see The Entrance to the Vlnaya, Vols. I and II, Mahaniakut Academy, 1969-73.

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These issues have been discussed in more detail in an earlier article._p1,11,ent-91'ie}ltat~ :.J:.QJ~s .nnts~;: iJ,J,-:t.w.:n{be::set within a somewhat different .and lengthier historical pe.rspective Which validat~:.o. dn:vali4!!-tes them fr~m the point of view of religious (and particularly scr-iptural) orthodoxy, consideration or' which has been given in Sections III imd IV. I should like to express my gratitude to the Nuffield Foundation fcir a grant in support of this research arid to the Thai National Research Council fot l'ermission to carry it out. I am indebted to the foil9~lrig for tti~it advibe ~ttd·assiiitance:·