The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXXVII, Part 1-2, 1989 - Khamkoo

The Journal
· ofthe
Sia1n Society
VOLUME 77, PART 1
1989

©
All Rights Reserved
The Siam Society
1989
ISSN 0857-7099
Printed by Amarin Printing Group Co., Ltd., 413/27-36 Arun Amarin Rpad, Bangkok Noi, Bangkok 10700,
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Cover: Detail from a Northern Thai style mural in Wat Phra Sing, Chiang Mai. Photograph by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni.

THE SIAM SOCIETY
PATRON
VICE-PATRONS
HON. PRESIDENT
HON. VICE-PRESIDENTS
HON. MEMBERS
HON. AUDITOR
HON. ARCHITECT
HON. LEGAL COUNSEL
HON. LANDSCAPE CONSULTANT
His Majesty the King
Her Majesty the Queen
Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhom
Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana
Mr. Alexander B. Griswold
Mom Kobkaew Abhakara na Ayudhaya
H.S.H. Prince Subhadradis Diskul
M.R. Patanachai Jayant
Maj. Gen. M.R. Kukrit Pramoj
The Ven. Dhammaghosacariya (Buddhadasa Bhikkhu)
The Ven. Debvedi (Payutto)
Dr. Fua Haripitak
Dr. Mary R. Haas
Dr. Puey Ungphakorn
Dr. Soedjatmoko
Dr. Sood Saengvichien
H.S.H. Prince Chand Chirayu Rajani
Professor William J. Gedney
Professor Prawase Wasi, M.D.
Mr. Yukta na Thalang
Mr. Sirichai Narumit
Mr. John Hancock
Mr. William Warren
COUNCIL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY FOR 1989/90
Dr. Piriya Krairiksh
Dr. Tern Smitinand
Mr. Dacre F.A. Raikes
Dr. Rachit Burl
Mrs. Virginia M. Di Crocco
Mr. James Stent
Mr. Sidhijai Tanphipat
Dr. Warren Y. Brockelman
Mr. James V. Di Crocco
H.E. Mr. Frederik Kiaer
H.E. Mr. Derek Tonkin, C.M.G.
H.E. Mr. Hisahiko Okazaki
Prof. Wongchan Pinainitisatra
Dr. Pintip Tuaycharoen
I
President
Vice President
Vice President
Vice President & Leader of the Natural History Section
Honorary Secretary
Honorary Treasurer
Honorary Librarian
Honorary Editor of the NHB
Honorary Editor of the JSS
Honorary Officer
Honorary Officer
Honorary Officer
Honorary Officer
Honorary Officer (for Publicity)
MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL:
Mrs. Bonnie Davis
Dr. Chek Dhanasiri
Dr. Ing. Hermann Wilhelm Heitmann
Mr. Henri Pagau-Clarac
Mr. Teddy Spha Palasthira
Mr. Kaset Pitakpaivan
Dr. Thawatchai Santisuk
Mr. Smitthi Siribhadra
Mr. Barent Springsted
Dr. Pornchai Suchitta
Mr. William B. Tate
Dr. Charit Tingsabadh
Dr. Steven J. Torok
Mr. Steve VanBeek
M.R. Chirie Voravarn

The
Journal
of the
Siam Society
VOLUME 77, PART 1
1989
CONTENTS
A Message from the President
Editor's Note
In This Issue
7
8
9
ARTICLES
ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RAI
HANS PENTH 11
DID KUBLAI KHAN'S CONQUEST
OF THE DALI KINGDOM
GIVE RISE TO THE MASS
MIGRATION OF THE THAI
PEOPLE TO THE SOUTH ? DU YUTING, CHEN LUFAN 33
A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF
IMPORTANT CULTURAL RELICS
OF THE NANZHAO-DALI KINGDOM
TWO DHARANI INSCRIPTIONS FROM
TOMBS AT DALI (YUNNAN)
REBELLION IN NORTHERN LAOS:
THE REVOLTS OF THE LU AND
THE CHINESE REPUBLICANS
(1914- 1916)
CHEN LUFAN 43
OSKAR VON HINUBER 55
GEOFFREY C. GUNN 61

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND
THE TRANSFORMATION OF
FOLK CRAFTS- THE HMONG
(MEO) OF THAILAND AND LAOS
ERIK COHEN 69
CONTINUITIES IN HIGHLAND AND
LOWLAND RELIGIONS
OF THAILAND E. PAUL DURRENBERGER AND NICOLA TANNENBAUM 83
DIFFICULTIES. WITH INSCRIPTION N0.1
ARCHAEOLOGY IN THAILAND- WHAT'S NEW?
HANS PENTH 91
PORNCHAI SUCHITTA 101
REVIEW ARTICLE
SATYAWADHNA, The Lua of Nan Province.
DAVID FILBECK 102
REVIEWS
S0RENSEN (ed.), Archaeological Excavations in
Thailand -Surface finds and minor excavations
SMUCKARN and BREAZEALE, A Culture in Search of
Survival: The Phuan of Thailand and Laos
STACHE-ROSEN, Upalipa.J;iprcchasiitra;
DIETZ, Fragmente der Dharmaskandha;
BECHERT (ed.), Zur Schulzugehorigkeit von Werken
der Hinayana - Literatur. Erster und zweiter Teil.
JACQ-HERGOUALC'H,
Etude historique et critique du livre de
Simon de la Loubere "Du Royaume de
Siam"
PORNCHAI SUCHITTA 110
MICHAEL SMITHIES 111
OSKAR VON HINUBER 112
MICHAEL SMITHIES 113
OBITUARIES
LUCIEN B. HANKS
ELIZABETI-I LYONS
WILLIAM J. KLAUSNER 115
WILLIAM WARREN 115
Addendum
117

Mom Clzno Sn/w/vnrnnkom Vornvnrn

A Message from the President
You a re now reading the first issue of the joumn/ of till!
Sin111 Society in its newly revised format. The joumn/ has been
published by the Society for the past 85 yeors, and over th e
decades has ea rned fo r itself a reputation as a distinguished
scholarly publi ca ti on of g reat va lu e to all w ho are interested in
the history and culture of Thail and .
The Council of th e Society has d ecid ed, however, tha t it is
time to enhance the appeorance and presenta tion fo rmat of the
joumn/. to give it a li veli er and more modern image and tone,
whil e retaining its high scholarly standards and content.
In add iti on, the joumn/ henceforth w ill be issued quarterly,
and we look fo rward to diminishing th e interva l between
the receipt of contributio ns and their publica ti on, to the benefit
of au thors and readers ali ke. We trust that the mission of the
joumn/ to d issemina te the latest contributions to lea rning in the
field s of Thai a nd related cultures will serve the needs of both
professional scholars working in technica l specialties and of lay
enthusiasts seeking to in crease their knowledge.
This first issue of the new jSS has been mad e possible by
the generosity of Council Member M.R. C hirie Voravarn, and
commemorates the centenary of her eminent fa ther, Mom
Chao Sa kolvarnakorn Voravarn, to w hose memory it is d edica
ted .
Mom Chao Sa kolvarnakorn Voravarn was born on 9 Ju ne
1888, the eldest son of Krom Phra Narathip Prapanpong. He
had degrees in economi cs (Ca ntab.) and law. He served in th e
Ministry of the Interi or, and was Director Genera l of Public
Hea lth fo r twenty- fi ve yea rs. Mom Chao Sa kolvarnakorn Vorava
rn a lso served in the O ffi ce of the Jud icial Council , and was a
professor a t Thammasat Uni versity u ntil his d ea th in 1953. As
a member of the Siam Society Mom Chao Sa kolva rna korn
Voravarn was a contem porary of Major Eric Seid enfaden.
The Siam Society wishes to ex press its deepest appreciation
to M. R. C hirie, and sa lutes th e memory of one of its most
d istinguished Members.
We are honored and pleased to welcome three internationall
y famous pho tographers to the jourunl . Lu ca ln vernizzi
Tettoni has p rovided photographs o f distinction for many
ha ndsome books on Thai culture, such as The Arts ofThnilnud,
Tlw ilnud fro nt the Air a nd, most recently, Thni Style. Fred B.
Werner, a friend of th e Society of long sta nding, has recently
revisited the Society's home to present to us a range of
selections from hi s ex tensive portfoli o. Tedd y Spha
Pa lasthira, Member of th e Council , w inner of many crea tive
awards, author o f A Priut Poiu t of View, and an accom p lished
travel photographer, has d eri ved much of his inspiration
from scenes viewed on study trips conducted by the Siam
Society. We invite contributors to take ad va ntage of our
im p roved ca pability to illustra te our articles, especia ll y w ith
co lor.
The red esigned joumnl is now before you. We woul d
welcome your comments and suggestions.
Dr. Piriya Krairiksh
Presid ent
The Siam Society

Editor's Note
The Honorary Editor wishes to
thank Euayporn Kerdchouay, Kaset
Pitakpaivan, Peter Rogers, Barent
Springs ted and Anothai Nunthithasana
for their help in preparing this issue of
the Journal of the Siam Society.
Thanks also are due to The
Guide Book Company Limited of Hong
Kong for permission to use the map
of the Erhai Lake area by Unity
Design Studio on p. 41, and the photographs
on pp. 42 and 44 by Tom
Nebbia and Patrick Booz, respectively,
all from Yunnan Province: A Complete
Guide, by Patrick R. Booz, published by
Passport Books, Lincolnwood, Illinois,
U.S.A.

In This Issue
ASPECTS OF THE NORTH-Lan Na, Sipsongpanna,
Northern Laos-{:onstitute, with one exception, the theme for
this issue.
HANS PENTH discusses the founding of Chiang Rai by
King Mang Rai, with comments on where, how and why the
nucleus of the new city-state was established as it was. He
examines early Lan Na government and the role of the
Burmese-appointed officials, especially Mang Phara Saphiik,
and then notes how plans fvr the revival of some relics of Chiang
Rai's past were carried out in 1985-88 with due respect for
authenticity.
Four of our articles relate to Sipsongpanna and the Dali­
Nanzhao kingdom. CHEN LUFAN is the author or coauthor
of two of these. One, written with DU YUTING, sets
forth further arguments against the theory of a mass migration
southward by the Tai peoples under the pressure of Kublai
Khan's conquest of Dali; the other describes outstanding
examples of the cultural heritage of the Dali Kingdom, such as
the Nanzhao Civilization Memorial Tablet, the Three Pagodas
of Dali and the Pictorial Scroll of Nanzhao History preserved in
Kyoto.
OSKAR VON HINUBER turns his attention to an
epigraphic analysis of two inscriptions from a tomb at Dali.
Rubbings of these were examined in 1985 by a party from
Thailand led by the Honorary President of the Siam Society, Her
Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana. Dr. von Hiniiber
points out that these inscriptions, written in the siddham script,
were described by Walter Liebenthal over four decades ago.
The wording in one of them, however, as recorded in
photographs taken on Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani's
visit, casts doubt on Liebenthal's suggested date of the
introduction of the text to China.
We then review the participation of elements from
Sipsongpanna-Tai Lu' and Chinese republicans-in the
rebellious activity in Northern Laos between 1914 and 1916.
GEOFFREY C. GUNN places this armed insurrection in
perspective along with other uprisings against authority going
back to the early days of colonial rule, and studies the motives
and goals of the insurgents.
ERIK COHEN focuses on the impact of "indirect tourism"
on the folk crafts of the Hmong (Meo) in Thailand and Laos.
The sponsored production of folk crafts through a variety
of external agents, such as patrons, traders, missionaries,
governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations,
exerts an importanf commercializing influence on traditional
designs, leading to the stifling of creativity and innovation.
E. PAUL DURRENBERGER and NICOLA TANNEN­
BAUM take up the elements of personal power and potency
central to both the Lisu highland and Shan lowland religions.
They analyze the religious ideologies of both and argue that the
similarities are not consequences of highlanders borrowing
from the lowlands or attempts to incorporate aspects of
"civilization" into their cultures, but part of a general system of
Southeast Asian religion with various manifestations in different
economic and social settings. Furthermore, they maintain that
to view lowland societies through Theravada Buddhist lenses
obscures the fundamental structure of these societies.
We leave the Tai North to consider the debate over
Sukhothai Inscription No. 1 that is a lively topic of attention at
the present. Once again we present a contribution from HANS
PENTH, who sets forth some of the results of his own study of
the subject, the substance of which he presenteJ before the Siam
Society in a lecture on 24 January 1989. Dr. Penth, correcting
previous interpretations of the inscription as well as various
commentaries on its dating, suggests that the fragile evidence
available at present appears to place it within a period of about
two decades beginning with 1292.
Also, we inaugurate in this issue a special feature,
"Archaeology in Thailand-What's New?" for which our guide
is PORNCHAI SUCHITT A, Member of the Council. Dr.
Pornchai invites attention to a new listing of sites in Thailand,
the finding of 13th-14th century decorated stoneware near
Suphanburi, and the possible position of Chaiya as an economic
center for Srivijaya.
In a review article, DAVID FILBECK examines
CHOLTIRA SATYAWADHNA's detailed study of The Lua of
Nan Province, a book he describes as a well-written work of
value that is enJoyable to read. He comments that its
interdisciplinary approach makes it informative and interesting
while placing great demands on the author's ability.

ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RAI
HANSPENTH
ARCHIVE OF LAN NA INSCRIPTIONS, SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
CHIANG MAl UNIVERSITY
The historical sources are nearly all agreed that King
Mang Rai founded Chiang Rai in Culasakkaraja (C.S.) 624, a
year Tao Set. 1 It is therefore probable that Chiang Rai was
founded sometime between 27 March 1262 A.D. and 28 March
1263 A.D. 2
Most sources do not indicate the day and the month, but
according to a work on the history of Phayao (PA Y.PP.29), the
foundation day was a day 3, month 2, day 15 of the waxing
moon, i.e. day of the full moon, C.S. 624. That corresponds to a
Tuesday in about October- November 1292 or to a Tuesday two
months later, viz. in about December 1262 - January 1263,
depending on whether "month 2" here means the LcL11 Na
calendar or the Central Thai calendar. 3
According to two chronicles of Phayao (PAY.WSS/ms
and PAY.WSB/ms), Chiang Rai was founded at the hour Tiit
Kham, a day 6, day of the full moon, month 5, C.S. 624, which
corresponds to a late Friday afternoon towards the end of J anuary
of the beginning of February 1263 A.D.
In 1986, the astrologer Arun Lamp hen of the Astrological
Society of Thailand calculated the date mentioned in the two
chronicles in terms of the modern calendar. He concluded that
the details of the date were consistent among themselves and
that according to that date Chiang Rai was founded at the auspicious
time of 17.48 h on Friday, 26 January 1263 A.D.,
Buddhasakkaraja (B.S.) 1805. 4
All our sources call the king who founded Chiang Rai,
PhayaMang Rai 'V'lqj1ii'IT11'J. and sometimes shorten this to Mang
Rai, leaving out the word phayif.
Phaya (in Lan Na usually spelled /braya, brafla 'V'l'JI'J1
'V'l'Jqj1/ pronounced phaya) is a title of possibly Mon or Khmer
origin meaning "king."5 The same title was also borne by the
kings of Sukhothai. In later times, however, the title was
devalued in Lan Na as well as in Central Thailand and became
a rank for government officials (phraya, phaya 'V'l'J~m).
Mang is a word which is attested in an area roughly
between the following four points: Southwest Yunnan-Chiang
Mai- Prome/Pagan- the northern Shan States. In Thai-speaking
areas, the word appears as mang if..:~ (~ in Paii texts, mong
bii..:~, miiang u:ieJ..:~; in Chinese sources as meng, and in Burmese
sources as min or meng (although spelled /mali./). The oldest
known mention of the word is under the form mang, attested by
a contemporary source for around 860 A.D. in the southwest of
Yiinnan.6 Later sources mention the word for an even earlier
time, presumably in the area Prome-Pagan-Tagaung? Throughout
the time and throughout its area of distribution, mang has
the meaning of "king" or of "kingdom."
We do not know for how long mang was used in the royal
house ofthe Thai Yuan, to which PhayaMang Rai belonged. But
it seems that soon after 1300 A.D. mang fell into disuse and was
replaced by phaya after a period of transition during which both
words were used. The Chronicle of Chiang Mai mentions only
two mang: Mang Rai and Mang Khram, his son. Both are also
called phayif by the chronicle. But although mang is regularly
used for Phaya Mang Rai and sometimes even exclusively
(dropping the phaya), his son is rarely called Mang Khram;
usually he is called Phaya Khram. All later kings are called
phayif only.
The oldest known stone inscription to mention King
Mang Rai by name is the inscription from Wat Phra Yiin,
Lamphtin, which dates from around 1371 A.D. Here the king is
called Phaya Mang Rai Luang /brafla mari.ri ray hlvari. 'V'l1GJ1 l-.I.:J.:J
'Jli'J 'Vliin.:J/.8 Although the inscription was written 55- 60 years
after his death and therefore is not strictly a contemporary
source, there still must have been a number of older people
living who had known the king, so that his title/ name should be
correct. Also, later inscriptions call him Phaya Mang Rai, 9 Mang
Rai 10 or Miiang Rai. 11 Evidently the king was known as Phaya
Mang Rai to his contemporaries.
The personal name of the king thus was Rai,l2 and it
would be correct to call him King Rai. But historians are used to
calling him Pha ya Mang Rai or King Mang Rai, although that is
a pleonasm meaning King King Rai. Appellations such as "Pho
Khun Mengrai" 'V'lel'Jl'\,1,1.3.l.:J'J11'J etc. are new creations made up in
modern times and are not found in any of the historical sources.
King Mang Rai was born in 1238 or 1239 and died in 1311
or 1317; he was therefore a young man of 23 - 24 years when he
founded Chiang Rai. 13 His mother was a princess of the royal
house of Chiang Rung 14 and therefore was a Thai Lii. His father
was the king of Ngon Yang b'j'I,I,I'J1.:J, whom he succeeded at th~
age of 21, after his father had died.
We do not know where Ngon was. General opinion
appears to identify this country with the area around present
Chiang San, or with the triangle Chiang San- Ma Jan- Ma Sai,
because some sources of uncertain age and provenance vaguely
speak of a place called Hiranya Nakhon Ngon Yang Chiang San
(for instance PAY. PP), but definite proof is lacking. One could
also consider other regions to the north or to the east, for
instance the area of Chiang Tung, which city claims to have been

12 HANS PENTH
founded by Phaya Mang Rai or initially governed by persons
whom he had appointed, 15 or perhaps the area of Chiang Rung,
the home of his mother.
Evidently Phaya Mang Rai was not a native of the region
of Chiang Rai. Our sources indicate that he was a newcomer
and depict him as a founder or conqueror and "uniter" of several
minor Thai principalities in an area beyond his own inherited
kingdom. While on one of these "excursions," he found by
chance the site of the future Chiang Rfu, His auspicious elephant
~1'13-1-:Jfl~ had broken loose and had wandered away. The
king traced the animal to the peak of a little hill, Doi Jom Thong
fl

ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RA J. 13
at the time; the diameter should be 5 or 7 or 9 times his fist. 20
However, there were certain variants. Sometimes the pillar was
defin itely taller than human size, and sometimes much smaller.
Often there was not one pillar but a group of them. For instance,
until the 1960's, Wiang Pa Pao had three pillars, perhaps 2.50 m
tall above ground; at present, only one is left. Lam pang still has
its three pillars; the tallest is about 4 and the smallest about
2.50m high (fig.l). Thai Lii villages usually seem to have five
ra ther short pillars; for instance, the jai ban of Ban That Sop Wan
close to Nan (fig. 2). In modern times, most of the pillars and
even the memory of them slowly disappear.
It is not known whether the custom of erecting such
pillars was already practised in the time of Phaya Mang Rfu or
whether the custom was introduced in Ia ter times. Considering
that these jai ban I jai miiang seem to have been common to the
whole of Lin Na and beyond, it appears possible that the
concept of a village or country pillar is quite old and was part of
Thai culture in the time of King Mang Rai. Also, further to the
south, both in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, pillars and
hills were used to mark the spiritual center of kingdoms. King
Mang Rai would neither have been alone nor the fi rst monarch
to use a combination of pillar(s) and hill to indica te the "hea rt"
or the "navel" or the "axis" of his country.
Fig. 1 T/1e 3 jai bii n pillars of La111plfng, in front of
tile provi11cial office. Plwtogmph: Hans Pent/1 1988.
88/14/1
However, our historical sources say nothing about a pillar
on Obi Jbm Thong. And the archaeological evidence from the
top of the hill, if there was any, was lost decades ago w hen the
peak of the hill was chopped off by several meters and flattened
to make a suitable surface for a telecommunica tion station. But
in spite of its more profa ne use in the recent past, the upper part
ofObiJbm Thong has been a place of worship for as long as local
memory reaches back. It is frequented by Buddhists (who have
erected a stCipa and built a little monastery), by local Chinese
(who have also built their shrine), and by those w ho wish to
propitiate the ancestral and clan spirits Phl Mot and Phi Meng,
well known over all northern Thailand. It therefore seems not
unreasonable to assume that King Mang Rai had a I ready erected
something to worship on top of the hill, w hich may have been
one or several pillars.
It is perhaps also significant that the stupa w hich was built
in 1864 on Obi Jbm Thong was not built on the top of the hill,
which would normally have been its place, but a little below.
Possibly there was something on the peak w hich the people did
not wish to disturb.
Fig. 2 jai ban pillars of the Ui village Ban Phtit at Chiang
Klia111, province of Phayao. Photograph: Han s Penth
1988. 88/14/9
Thus, at the beginning of its history, Chi ang Rfu was a
little fortified settlement or wiang on Obi Jbm Thong. The
fortifica tions of a wiang at that time seem to have consisted of an
earthen wall with the earth being dug up on the spot, so that
w hile hea ping up the earthen wall, a dry moat or trench was
excavated at the same time. This earthen wall would run
around the settlement, or at least include its most important
part, the moat being on the outside. The earthen wall possibly
had a wooden fence or palisade on its crest, and it would have
had one or several entrances.

14 HANS PENTH
Fig. 3 Old Phrifo. A COIIIJ.Inrtlllent town covering two hills, interconl/ected by wa lls (do 11ble wia11g). Photograph: Ha ns Penth 1976.
76(1/4
Si nce Obi Jom Thong is not very bi g, the available space
probably soon became insufficient, especially after the entire
court had moved in and the country's administration was
conducted from there. It is therefore probable that from an early
time on, the three or four little hills immediately beside Obi Jbm
Thong beca me part of the city together with some of the flat area
at the foot of the hills, the whole complex forming several compartments
which were protected from the outside and connected
with Obi Jbm Thong (and among each other) by earthen
walls. Even today one sees short stretches of regular elevations
along the slope of some of these hills. This concept of compartment
town, sometimes extending over several hills, is well
known from many other old Thai settlements in Uin Na; an
example is Phrao (fig. 3). 21 Apart from its rather special snd(i
munng, Chi ang Rai should have been a typica l Thai town of its
time.
During the decades that followed its founding, Chiang
Rai expanded towards the east, but not very much. This can be
deduced frvm the fact that Chiang Ra:i' s major monasteries (Wa t
Ngam Miiang, Wat Phra Kao, Wat Phra Sing) are all in the
western half of the present town, on or close to the hills beside
Obi Jbm Thong.
The town lost some of its status after King Mang Rai
founded Chiang Mai in 1296 and moved his court there, but it
regained and perhaps even increased its importance in 131 1 or
1317 after the death of the king, because his successors, how
kings, of both the Yuan State (Chiang Rai) and the Ping State
(Chiang Mai), lived in Chiang Rai. Another d ecline in prestige,
although perhaps not in commercial or strategic importance,
occurred in 1327, w hen King San Phu founded Chiang San on
the Ma Khong river and moved his court there. Chiang Rai
definitely became a provincial town, although one of importance,
in 1339 or 1340 when King Pha Yu moved his court to
Chiang Mai and he and his successors continued to live there.
It therefore seems that during the golden age of independent
Lin Na, Chiang Rai extended for less than 1 km, or less
than a 10-minute walk, from DbiJom Thong to the east. In other
words, up to about 1560 (and perhaps much later), Old Chiang
Rai probably only covered about the western half of present
Chiang Rai . Correspondingly, there would have been a wall
running north- south through what is now approximately the
middle of Chiang Rai town, but its remains, if there are any left,
have not yet come to light.
During Uin Na' s golden time, Chiang Rai was governed
by princes of the royal Chiang Mai line, d escendants of King
Mang Rai. Some of them were quite independent. One of the
most powerful men was Thao Maha Phrom Yll"l:J.JVIl'Yi'l'VI:J.J."
younger brother of Phaya Kii Na (r. 1355- 1385)2 3 who began the

ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RAI 15
modernization of the LanNa sangha. Thao Maha Phrom is
reported to have obtained in Kamphang Phet and brought to
Chiang Rai the two famous Buddha images PhraSing and Phra
Kao (the Emerald Buddha).24 Upon the death of PhayaKii Na,
he vainly tried to seize Chiang Mai. In return, his nephew, the
son of Phaya Kii Na, now Phaya San Miiang Ma, went up to
Chiang Rai, captured him, and brought the PhraSing to Chiang
Mai/ 5 perhaps around 1385-1390. The Phra Kao, however, well
hidden under a layer of lime, was not recognized, and stayed on
in Chiang Rai until the time of Phaya.Tilok (Tilok, Tilaka, r. 1441-
1487) when the image was brought first to Lam pang and then to
ChiangMaU 6
Another governor of royal blood was Thao Mill Yf11~~- In
1484 he mf.de a Buddha image in the cave of the hill Dbi Tham
Phra ~e:J~ti1't'l~~ (about 5 km upstream from Chiang Rai directly
on the north bank of the Ma Kok), provided eight families of
slaves for its service and a regular income for its upkeep. This
image may or may not be the brick-and-stucco image that one
sees in the cave at present. The inscribed stone slab which
records the event is in the National Museum in LamphiinP
In 1558, with the capture of Chiang Mai, LanNa came
under Burmese rule, which finally ended in 1804 when Chiang
San, Burma's last stronghold, fell. During that time, Chiang Rai
is hardly mentioned in the sources, which probably means that
it was politically and militarily of little importance. The Burmese
favoured Chiang San, at least militarywise. In 1701 - 1705
(the sources are not agreed on the date), the king of Burma
removed Chiang San from the administration of Chiang Mai
and placed it with its dependencies as a new province directly
under Angwa (Ava); Chiang Rai also was among these dependencies
of Chiang San, at the latest since 1715-16. 28 Maps ofthe
19th and of the early 20th century still show Chiang San as a
more important place than Chiang Rai.
Chiang Rai twice tried to rise against the Burmese. The
sources do not explain the circumstances for either attempt. In
1600, Chiang Rai revolted. A Burmese military force arrived
and took the town. 29 In 1614, the Burmese Fa Suttholed a
military expedition to LanNa. A result was that all members
of Chiang Rai' s ruling family were deported to Burma and were
replaced by four local "country fathers," pho miiang ....-.Jm!le:J-:~.' 0
During their occupation of LanNa, because of increased
uprisings and civil war the Burmese had to rely more and more
on Burmese-appointed government officials and on locally
stationed Burmese military garrisons, in addition to military
expeditions sent over from Burma. Judging by their names, the
Burmese military seem to have mostly been ethnic Burmese or
Burmese Mon; perhaps some were Shan with a Burmese name.
Few of the civilian officials, however, although Burma-appointed,
seem to have been ethnic Burmese; mostly they appear
to have been western Shan (Ngio), Khon, perhaps Lii, and local
Thai Yuan. The lower bureaucracy was made up of Yuan
anyhow.
The more important Lan Na city-states had, at least in
theory, a tri-partite government. Nominally at the top was the
Ruling Prince, called phaya or jao fa b•hvh often, a local person.
He either belonged to an old ruling family or was appointed by
the Burmese. In fact, his authority was limited. Next came the
Burmese Resident, called myowan, who held the real civilian
power. The third was the military commander of the town, sitke
(often called jakkai etc. in Yuan texts). Many times, however,
there seems to have been either only a myowan or only a sitke.
One of the Burma-appointed officials was Mang Phara
Saphak, Senior Ruling Prince of Chiang Rai and Senior Resident
of Chiang San. His name is frequently mentioned in the years
after 1700, and once additional sources have been studied, it
might be possible and worthwhile to attempt the biography of
this remarkable man. He seems to have been an able administrator,
loyal to his (Burmese) king, considerate towards the
people and the region that had been entrusted to him, pious, and
not without a sense of fun.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Here are a few stations in his life, taken from chronicles:
Between 1702 - 05, San Luang Thong bb"U'VIGn.:Jb~--1 alias
Sang Kyb La ~1-:Jn~m~~ was appointed Ruling Prince of
Miiang Rai (Miiang Hai), also called Miiang Rai Cha
b!le:J.:~h b!le:J.:~li'lf1)."
Between 1704- 1708 he was appointed Ruling Prince of
Chiang Rai, where he constructed the Pepper Grove
Mansion, Khum Pa Phrik ~~U1'V'l~n."
Between 1710- 12 he did some construction work and
made merit at Wat Phra Kham 1~'t'l~:::fi1 on the northern
end of the island DOn Than at Chiang San (which island
has now practically disappeared). On one of these occasions
he arranged for a kind of verbal contest between
girls paddling boats on the Ma Kh6ng, which was a great
event beJ1\jn~'VIqj.:J't'l1mimilmnudju'!JeJ~'!J1.:J L'VIqj."
Between 1711 - 14 he was appointed Resident of Chiang
San with the name Mang Phara Saphak ~.:J'V'l:::':i:::"bb'Y'ln."
In 1715- 16, by order of the King of Angwa, the city-states
Miiang Kai ~-m~. M. Rai ~.1-a_ M. Len ~-b~U. M. Phayak
a..J.'t'lmn. M. Lao a..J.bb'\11~1. Chiang Rai b~~.m~ and M. Luang
Phil Kha a..J.'\11~1-J.fJm were placed under Chiang San, to be
under the authority of the Myowan Mang Phara Saphak,
the Na Sai u1~1~ and the Na Khwa U1'll11."
In 1719-20 he built an ub6sot (ordination hall) in the pool
or lake Nong Pathama Rak 'VIUe:J.:Jtl'YI~~~ (not identified). 36
In 1722-23 he put the umbrella on the stii.pa Jbm Si1n~b'h-iie:J~rn
(not identified) and again organized a verbal
contest between female boat crews. 37
In 1724 Jao Fa Lak Thi b~1W1~nYi. the Ruling Prince of
Chiang San, died. The jao fii was succeeded by his son,
Jao Y'ot Ngam Miiang b~1~e:J~~1b!le:J.:~.'•
Between 1725 -27 he made more merit at W at Jbm SI, also
called Wat Jbm Si Song Miiang 1~'-ile:Ja..Jffl"e:J.:Jb!le:J.:J, and
arranged another verbal contest between female crews,
this time on the pool or lake Nbng Pathama Rak.39

16
HANS PENTH
Fig. 4 Phra jao Siin Swii, Chiang Siin , 1726 A.D. 111 Waf
Phra jao Liin Tho11g. Chiang Siin. Photograph: Hans
Pent/1 1970. 70/2/7
Fig. 5 Paccekabuddha Chia11g Siin, c. 1727 A.D. 11 Mu see
Guimel, Paris. Photograph: Ha11s Penth 1970. 70/15/1
*
*
*
In 1725 - 26 he diplomatically persuaded a number of *
towns not to revolt, and survived an assassination plot 40
From Chiang Mai's revolt in 1727-28 on, his life story is
not so clear.
*
When Chiang Mai military forces beleaguered Chiang
San in 1728, the myowan, the sitke and all Burmese managed
to escape. 41
*
Many towns sided with Mang Phara Saphak, who in the
end seems to have had the upper hand. A royal order was
received from Angwa placing Phra, Nan, Lampang,
Phayao, Salao, Thong, Chiang Ron, Chiang Rom, M.
Khbp, M. Sat, Chiang Khbng, Chiang Rai, "the whole of
LanNa," under the administration of the Myowan Mang
*
Phara Saphak. 42
In 1728- 29, the Ruling Prince of Chiang San, Jao Fa Yot
Ngam Miiang, died, aged 25. He had ruled for four
yearsY
However, in 1730- 31 a certain Mbng Yang Pang Cha was
appointed myowan of Chiang San, 44 and in 1733 the Burmese
general Bo Sakhang Kia was appointed myawan
with the name of Kia Saphak. 45
On the other hand, in 1735- 36 the King of Burma sent
Mang Phara Saphak many valuable gifts, and also his
wife received a complete gold betel set. 46 And when in
1737-38 Miiang Fang revolted, the Myowan Mang Phara
Saphak sent troops who took care of the matter. 47
Finally, according to one group of sources, the Myowan

ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RAI
17
Mang Phara Saphak died in 1740, having been Ruling
Prince of Chiang Rai for 31 years, 48 while according to
another group of sources, it was the Myowan Kia Saphak
who died in 1740. 4 9
Mang Phara Saphak also was the founder or co-founder
of a nuri1ber of bronzes, of which five have been identified so
far. Two of them are Buddha images, two are images of the
Buddha's disciples, and one is a pasada model. They are no
great masterpieces; nonetheless they are valuable because of the
rarity of bronzes (and other pieces of art and architecture) from
the time of the Burmese occupation. All five bronzes have
inscriptions written in Tham letters of the LanNa variety and
in the Yuan dialect. The inscriptions have been published but
they have not yet been fully investigated.
One of the Buddha images (fig. 4), about 120 em high and
seated in the position maravijaya, is at present in Wat Phra Jao
Lan Thong 1

18 HANS PENTH
Fig. 8 Pii siidn, Ch in11g Siill, 1727 A.D. In the Bn11gkok
Nnlio11nl M ll seu111. Reproductio 11 jro1 11 Griswold 1960
Five Cilieng Sen Brouzes. 88/13/14
Fig. 9 Wihii 11 (vihn rn). Chia ng Siin, 1726 A. D. In the
Ayuthnyn Na tional Museu 111 . Reproduction fro/11 Kasem
1966 Model Vihlfrn. 88/13/10
Summary of the very similar inscriptions on Sariputta
and Moggalan a: In 1727, PhayaLuang Jao Mang Phara Sa phak,
who is ruler of Mong Chiang Rfu and is Myowan Luang ofMong
Chi ang Sa n, together w ith Busaba Siri Wathana Thepha Racha
Ka nya and her son, the Racha But by name of Phra Ybt Ngam
Mong, cast this image of th e disciple Moggalana (Sariputta); it
has a weig ht of 75,000 53
The model of the pasad a, about 165 em tall (fi g. 8), is in the
Ba ngkok National Museum. Summary of the inscription: In
1727, Phaya Lu ang Jao Mang Pha ra Saphak ~r)!l'VI

ON THE HI STORY OF C HI ANG RAI 19
Fig.lO Neis's pic tur~ ofChinng Rni's city wall , 1884 A.D. Reproductiou of the reprodu ction in Silnpn- Wnthn nnthm11 {flm.Fi'IJJU15n;.~ (6.3! B.S.
2528 (1985) 86/1/33
river. Mi.i n Sara Phirom's house would have been either
directly on the bank of the ri ver or onl y a very short d istance
from it, between the ri ver and the monastery.
After the war of liberation from Burma ca me to an enu
with the recapture of Chiang San in 1804, the entire region was
ex hausted and towns and vi llages were depopulated. Chiang
Rfu was an empty town for a number of years. It was also utterly
devastated and therefore was refounded in 1844. 57
During the first years after 1844, the reestablished city
was protected by a stockade or palisad e. 5 8 In 1858, the first part
of the new city wall was built, a stretch of about 600 meters from
the Nang Ing Gate in the north to the easts 9 During the
following years, more sections of the wall were added clockwise
around the town. The fin al stretch of wall, from the Si Gate to
the Chiang Mai Gate and beyond, reaching the hills in the
northwest, was built in 1874.'' 0 It is not known whether these
palisades and walls were built on some earlier fortifications of
the city or not. The new city measured about 1.7 km from west
(Obi Jb m Thong) to east and about 650 meters from north to
south. 61 The ga tes mentioned during these years are: Prati:1
("ga te") Nang Ing, Tha Nak, 51 (locally pronounced sal/) Jao Shai,
and Chiang Mai 62
The French physician Dr. P. Neis, w ho was in Chiang Rai
from 20 to 23 February 1884, either made a photograph or drew
a sketch of the city wall together with an unspecified gate. From
that original, Eugene Burnand made a clean copy in the form of
a dr2.wing, under the· supervision of Neis. From Burnand's
drawing the engraver Hildibrand (?)may have made the litho-

20 HANS PENTH
graph which was printed in Neis' article of 1885. 63 That is the
onl:' known picture of Chiang Rai's former city wall (fig. 10).
Neis observed that on the latest maps then available
(1884), the town was still called "ruins of Chiang Rai." Therefore,
upon arrival at Chiang Rai (by boat from Luang Phra Bang), he
was surprised to see that in fact in place was a fortified city. According
to him, the fortifications were somewhat dilapidated at
certain spots though nonetheless impressive, and had a circumference
of more than eight kilometers. But once inside the city,
he found that most of the space was taken up by ruined
monasteries and big gardens. The market was quite well
stocked with merchandise and was visited every morning by
300-500 persons. However, apart from the market, the city had
an air of desolation and solitude. 64
Hallett65 was in Chiang Rai in the same year, 1884. He
had this to say: "(The city) is neatly laid out, and the roads are
straight, ditched, and neatly kept. The gardens of the houses
are palisaded with bamboos, pointed at the top, and have
strong teak entrance-gates, which are closed at night. Water is
led into the town from a neighbouring stream by an aqueduct
entering near the western gate. There are twelve entrances into
the city, eight of which are larger than the others." But when
McCarthy 66 visited Chiang Rai in 1891, the situation seems to
have changed in the meantime because he noted: " ... the town
is much neglected, being overgrown with jungle." In 1887,
Younghusband67 observed that the population was "small for
the size of the place ... There are no shops ... only a daily market
held at the cross roads in the middle of the town." In 1872,
Vrooman68 estimated that the city had about 300 houses, and
that the population was between 2,000- 3,000. In 1882, Bock69
estimated that the male population of the city was about 3,500,
and that the male population of the entire province (then
including Chiang San and Fang) was about 5,500.
Because of frequent raids by bandits, usually operating
from the Shan States, the walls of Chiang Rai were needed
longer than those of other, more southerly towns. The last
overhaul took place in 1899, when a new gate was added, the
name of which is not known, and when a moat inside and
outside the wall was dug. On the same occasion, streets in the
city were laid out.7o
According to oral tradition, which is corroborated by
Hallett's statement quoted above, Chiang Rai had twelve gates.
But it is not known since when the city had twelve gates, since
medieval times or since its reconstruction in 1844. Not all af the
gates were elaborate constructions. According to Hallett, there
were eight major gates and four minor gates. Probably it is one
of these minor gates that is shown 1n Neis' picture, a simple
passageway through the wall, just wide and high enough for an
elephant and its rider to pass through.
I have heard, but not seen written evidence, that the walls
and gates were finally dismantled in the years around 1920 on
the advice of Dr. Briggs, an American missionary physician,
who argued that the area along the wall and the moat was
muddy and generally filthy and therefore a permanent source
of all kinds of illnesses, and that the wall also obstructed the
flow of fresh air.
That piece of information may not be altogether incorrect.
Dr. Briggs worked in Chiang Rai from about 1903 to 1918; in
1910 he founded the Overbrook Hospital. 71 Chiang Rai was
surrounded by swamps and former riverbeds of the meandering
Ma Kok, and the inner part of the town contained stagnant
water. The latter problem may have been man-made, selfinduced
by the construction of city walls (loss of natural drainage),
and by the uninterrupted feeding of fresh water into the
town as reported by Hallett (Chiang Mai had a similar problem:
its southeast comer was a swamp with an overflow or spillway
into the moat).
A drainage channel about 1.5 km long had already been
excavated in the city in 1865, from the pond Nbng 51 Jang
VIUel~ftLL"il~ (not identified, but probably in the east) to the Chiang
Mai Gate in the west.72 More drains or moats were dug in 1899,
inside and outside the city. 73 The newspaper The Lao News
reported in 1905: "Dr. Briggs of Chiang Rai has, at the request
of the government, overseen the laying out of Chiang Rai into
streets and the draining of a large part of the city which heretofore
has been a malaria swamp and tiger jungle." 74 Hosseus/5
who was in Chiang Rai in 1905, writes of swampy, low-lying
areas housing a multitude of snakes, and mentions frequent
cases of mysterious cholera and typhoid illnesses. Le May/6
who visited Chiang Rai in 1914, seems to have found the city
wallinastateofneglect and decay: "The city wallis built of mud,
and one only catches a glimpse of it here and there ..."
All this shows that Dr. Briggs may indeed have regarded
the city wall as a public health hazard which gave cause for
concern. And many people would have wished to obtain free
bricks from the city wall.
During the period of reconstruction of the city after 1844,
the city received a new city navel, sadii miiang ~~~m~e:~~. in the
form of a stftpa which was built in Wat Klang Wiang 1(;lmn~
L1EJ~. Some people in Chiang Rai still remember that it was not
very solid and that the debris were later removed to make room
for the construction of a school building in the monastery
compound. 77
A Buddha image and a stupa were built on DOi Jbm Tong
in 1864. The stiipa collapsed in the same year and was rebuilt in
1865. It was forcibly opened (and preseumably robbed) in 1899,
but the perpetrator was caught and handed over to the authorities.78
Between 1985 -1988, partly with local funds and partly
with funds from the Federal Republic of Germany, plans for the
revival of some items of Chiang Rai's past were made and
carried out. Thus, twelve commemorative signs at the sites of
the former city gates were erected, a stretch of the old city wall
was rebuilt, and a city navel pillar L~1~~~m~el~ was erected on
DOi Jbm Thong.79

ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RAI 21
Fig. 11 The recollslmcted city wn /1 of Chin11g Riii. Plwtogmph.· Hn11s Pe11th 1988. 88/14/67
The Reconstructed City Wall
Initially, it had been hoped that a complete city ga te
together with a part of the city wall could be rebuilt. But neither
detailed technica l descriptions nor photographs or drawings
could be found other than Neis's picture, printed in 1885, which
only shows part of the wall with what must have been a minor
city entrance, not a "real" gate. As for the construction site, after
a thorough discussion which took into account such items as
traffic flow, space available, water mains, power lines, sewers
and drainage, and the municipality's overall plan for the future
development of the city, ti1e site of the former Yang Song G3 te
in the east was selected where there still was a section of the
former city moa t, incorporated in a little public park.
Two short stretches of wall, the northern and southern
wings of the former Yang Song Gate, then were rebuilt but not
the gate itself. The gate was omitted because no reliable data
were available. But in order to indica te that formerly there had
been a gate here, each of the stretches of wall received a passageway
for pedestrians modelled on the minor gate in Neis's
picture. These passageways, therefore, serve a modern function
and as a reminder or souvenir; they are not reconstructions
of passageways or secondary gates to the left and right of the
original Yang Song Gate.
The wall as it has been rebuilt ca n be ca lled an authentic
reconstruction based on historical evidence, as far as its location,
its d imensions and its general appearance are concerned.
The dimensions were calculated from Neis' s picture, assuming
that the elephant in the gate was 2.50 m high, which is perhaps
slightly above average. The reconstructed wall, therefore,
should look reasonably like Chiang Rai's city wall around 1880
(fig. 11). 80
The construction materials and construction technique
used, however, are modern. The former wall almost certainly
was solid and consisted of an earthen core with a mantle of
bricks. The new wall is hollow. It rests on foundations in the
ground and consists of a skeleton of reinforced concrete pillars
and beams which are covered with two layers of bricks. The
bricks were specially made of a size used in the past, 28 x 14 x 8
em, w h.ich was the size of some old bricks that were found in the
neighbourhood of the gate.
The northern stretch of wall is 26.30 m long and the
southern stretch measures 43.70 m. The wall is 5.00 m high,

22 HANS PENTH
including the crenelations on top, and 2.50 m thick. The crenelations
alone are 80 em high. The two passageways are 3.45 m
high and 1.70 m wide. The budget for the construction was
j$ 974,265. The new wall was ceremoniously inaugurated on 26
January 1988. A sign in three languages (modern Thai, classical
Thai Yuan with Tham letters, and English) is attached to the
southern stretch of wall and informs visitors.
---- -----·----
The City Navel Pillar
The original idea had been to build a city navel

ON THE HISTORY OF C HI ANG RAI 23
(1) The ancient texts w hich explain the universe neither
appear fully logical to th e modern mind nor are their contents
completely identica l. Depending on their age, on the religious
school and the geographica l regions in which they were written,
individual texts may accentuate one item and treat lightly or
omit another. This obviously is the result of local evolution of
thought through the ages, coupled with a d esire to incorporate
old loca l customs or loca l preferences into a world-geography
the essence of which seems to ha ve originated in India in the
remote past and then been exported to regions outside India in
several stages.
Fig.14 "Map of the cosmos" over thebuildiug coveriug the
Buddhnplida at Bnn Hun S fin uenr jo111 TliOug , proviucc
of Chinug Mni. Photograph: /-/nus Peut/1 1976. 76/5/7
(2) These cosmologies inva riably are complex and are
difficult to visualize because they aim at being all-comprising
and perfect. They try to include th e physical, geographical
world as it appeared to th e author; th e supernatural world of the
gods and the heavens; Nibbana; and even the "history" of the
universe, its periodic coming into being and its decay. If it was
already difficult to ex plain such complex things in a written
treatise, one can imag ine the difficulties an artist had to face
who wanted to sketch this picture of th e universe in two
dimensions in a painting (figs. 14, 15) or the difficulties a
builder had to face who wished to erect a good-sized model of
the universe, big enough for people to walk around in . Both the
painter and the builder by necessity had to abstract and to
styli ze the id eas put for wMd in th e tex ts.
(3) Such a representation of th e universe, whether painted
or built up as an architectural structure, was not used in the
modern utilitarian sense like a map or a scale model, made for
quick and practical information. It was an object for med itati on,
the mind leisurely contemplating the various items, supplying
connections left out by the artist or the builder. Thus, worldpictures
or world-models did not ha ve to be exact or to be to
sca le. It was enoug h if th e contemp latin g person kn ew w hat
was meant. The rest was supplied by hi s own imagination and
by his schooling.
(4) It resulted that basically a ll old architectural models
of the universe were similar, but that details were open to
different interpretation, depending on the school of th oug ht
w hich prevailed at that locality at that tin

24 HANS PENTH
sensuous world (kamaloka). The terrace of laterite blocks
represents the earth inhabited by humans (manussabhumi),
w hile the six-step elevation represents the six heavens which
make up the lowest class of heavens: Catummaharajika,
Tavatimsa, Yama, Tusita, Ni.mmanarati and Paranimita-vasavatti.
The upper three-step elevation represents the triad
rl!pabrahmaloka, arupabrahmaloka, and N irodha or Nibbana.
Rl!pabrahmaloka, or rt:tpabhilini, is the second highest class of
heavens of which there are 16 and w hich belong to the world of
appearance. Arl!pabrahmaloka or anlpabht:m1i is the third
highest class of heavens of which there are four and which
belong to the incorporeal world.
The focal point of the site is the city navel pillar (fig. 16)
w_hich represents Mount Sineru, the axis of the universe. It rises
from a triangular pedestal that represents the three mountains,
Trlkl!tapabbata, on w hich Mount Sineru is resting. The pillar is
also equated with the jai ban or jai miiang pillar, the "village (or:
country) hea rt pilla r" mentioned above. Following the traditional
formula, it has the height of the monarch at the time of its
erection, and a diameter five times his fist. His Majesty the King
graciously had the data made known to the construction committee
and permitted it to use them for the Chiang Rai city navel
pillar. His Majesty anointed the pillar in Chitrlada Palace on 27
January 1988.
The city navel pillar is surrounded by 108 satellite pillars.
Four of them stand cl ose to the city navel pillar at the four
corners of the upper platform and are taller than the others.
These 108 sa tellite pillars represent major features of the universe
as illustrated in detail; for instance, on the "map of the
cosmos" on the wall behind the Emerald Buddha in Wat Phra
Kao, Bangkok (fig. 15), or on the Buddhapada from Wat Phra
Sing, Chiang Mai (now in the Chiang Mai Museum, fi g. 17;
around 1500 A.D.?). H 2 These important fea tures or items of the
cosmos are also known as the 108 auspicious signs,
mangalalakkhai}a. On Buddha footprints they are usually
found in stylized form and in rigid geometrical alignment, not
in the form of the ma p H 3
Also surrounding the city navel pillar, on five of the lower
steps, are five channels collecting the rainwater which represent
the fi ve grea t rivers (pancanad]) that water the earth on
which we are living, the continent Jambudipa: Gmiga, Yamuna,
Aciravatl, Sarabhu, and Mahl. Like their originals, the channels
drain towards the south.
The city navel pillar ca n be sprinkled w ith water by those
w ho wish to pay their respects to it. The water is thought to
become consecrated through contact with the pillar and to bring
good fortune. The custom is to moisten one's head with a few
drops.
Corresponding to the royal measurements, the ci ty navel
pillar is 1.72 em high (measured from the top to where it enters
the pedestal) and has a diameter of 39.8 em. The outer terrace
measures 35 x 35 m . Each step is 20 em high. The platform on
which the ped estal with the pillar is standing is 1.80 m above the
level of the outer terrace. The ped estal of the pillar is 80 em high.
Fig. 16 Th e City Navel Pillar 'fl1ff::~vd1vJ.
Han s Pen/11 1988. 88/3/12
Photogmph:

0 THE HISTORY OF CHJA C RAJ
25
Al l pillars are sculpted from Phayao granite. The sculptor w ~. s
Niii Singkham Somkhrt.ia '\.m.J~.JVi~l l'l~bfl~€1 of Phayao. The
shape and sculpted ornaments of the pillars are copied from Ui.n
Na sema stones of the 16th century, exa mples of w hich ca n be
seen, for instance, in the Lamphun Museum. At the northeast
and southeast corners of the surrounding moa t are explanatory
signs with inscriptions in three languages: Modern Thai, classica
l Thai Yuan in Tham letters, and Engli sh. The budget for the
construction of the city navel pillar and the surrounding "worldmodel"
wasB1,174,500. The city navel pillar was ceremoniously
lowered into its pedestal on 31 January 1988 (a nd not on 26
January, as the inscription on the sign says).
Fig. 17 "Mnp of t l1 e cos111os" 011 tl1e Buddllnpiirln of Wn/
Pl1rn Siug, Cl1inug Mni. / 11 tl1c Cl1inug Mai Nntiounl
Musclll/1. Pl wtogrnpl~: Hnu ,; Pculll '1 973 . 73/9/9

26
HANS PENTH
ENDNOTES
1. CMA.B.l.37; CMA.T.10; CMA.
N.23; JKM.C.87; JKM.J.111; etc. A
source that disagrees is CSA.W.
255 which has King Mang Rill move
into or found the town on day 4
(Wednesday), day 7 of the waxing
moon, month 5, C.S. 610, a year
Kun, viz. around January- February
1249. It is immediately apparent
that there must be a mistake
because C.S. 610 was a year Wok,
not a year Kun. No known inscription
mentions the date of the
founding of Chiang Rai.
2. U Ka's table, reproduced in Luce
1969 -70 Old Burma (2) p. 336 and
supplement. The same date results
from Prasot' s formulii of calculating
the beginning of the
Culasakkaraja year in terms of the
Julian calendar. (The Julian cal endar
was used until and including
1581 A.D. From 1582 on, the Gregorian
or modern calendar was
officially in use, which needs a
different formula).
The formula is:
1. (A.D. x 2.07 + 603.07) + 8 =A (disregard
fractions).
2. (A.D. -1) + 4 = B (disregard fractions).
3. A - B = number of days from 1
January to the beginning of the
C.S. in that particular A.D. year
(Prasi:it 1971 Wan Sang Krung Sl
Ayuthaya 93).
Example for C.S. 624:
C.S. 624 + 638 = 1262 A.D.
1. (1262 X 2.07 + 603.07) + 8 = 401.
2. (1262- 1) + 4 = 315.
3. 401 - 315 = 86.
C.S. 624 began on day 86 after the
beinning of 1262 A.D., counting 1
January as day 1, viz. on 27 March
1262 (86 minus 31 days for January
minus 28 days for February=
27 days in March).
3. The Lan Na calendar counts the
months ahead of the Central Thai
calendar by 2 numbers. For instanc~,
month 4 in LanNa is called
month 2 in Central Thailand although
both mean the same periodoftime,
viz. themonthPhussa.
It is quite possible that the original
manuscript read "day 6, month 5"
(and not: day 3, month 2), because
a 6 can easily be mistaken for a 3,
and a 5 for a 2. If so, this work
would be in agreement with the
two Phayao chronicles mentioned
in the following.
4. Letter by Arun Lamphen PJ'FU. ~l
~~u.dated 120ctober1986, toPhra
Udompanyaphbn 'l"''l'~~(;l~ .. JlJqjqjl
1mii. head monk of the province
ofChiangRai (unpublished). Letter
by Arun Lamp hen, dated 31 October
1986, to Phra Udompanyaphbn
(published in: Chiang Rill 1987
Anusbn 725 pi24- 26).
If the chronicles and the astrologer's
calculations are not mistaken,
Chiang Rill was 725 years old on
26January 1988, B.S. 2531, the day
of the inauguration of the newly
rebuilt stretch of city wall. The
city had officially celebrated its
725th anniversary one year before,
on 26 January 1987, B.S. 2530,
because of an erroneous calculation:
B.S. 1805 (year of foundation
+ 725 =B.S. 2530. However, due to
the calendar adjustment of 1940
(which was made to have the B.S.
begin on 1 January instead of on 1
April), the B.S. 2483 began on 1
April 1940 (as in previous years)
and ended after only 9 months mi
31 December 1940. On 1 January
1941 beganB.S.2484whichended
on 31 December 1941. There were
no January, February and March
B.S. 2483. UponJan/Feb/Mar B.S.
2482 followed one year later Jan/
Feb/Mar 2484. January, February
and March of the modern B.S.
therefore are in advance by 1 year
over the old B.S. Thus, when at
present calculating the age of an
object made (or the age of a person
born) during Jan/Feb/Mar in or
before B.S. 2482, one has to subtract
one year; but for calculations
in terms of the AD. year, no change
is necessary.
Example:
A person born on 25 Jan 1937 (B.S.
2479) is 51 yearsoldon25Jan 1988
(B.S. 2531): 1988 - 1937 = 51.
2531 -2479 =52; 52-1 (the missing
Jan 2483) =51.
A person born on 6 May 1937 (B.S.
2480) is 51 years old on 6 May 1988
(B.S. 2531): 1988 - 1937 = 51.
2531 - 2480 = 51.
5. Shorto 1971 Diet. Mon Inscriptions
258 s.v. bafia. According to
Shorto, the earliest attested use of
the title phayti in Burma is in 1455
in a Mon inscription. In Lan Na,
the title is attested for the first time
in the Wat Phra Yiin inscription
(Lamphiin) which dates from
c. 1371 (published i.a. by Griswold
I Prasot 1974 Inscr. Wat
Phra Yiin).
6. Luce 1961 Man Shu Introduction;
1; 43. Fan Ch'o completed his
book Man Shu in c. 863 A.D.
7. Phayre 1883 History of Burma
276-279.
8. Griswold I Pras6t1974Inscr. Wat
Phra Yiin.
9. Inscription of Wat Chiang Man,
Chiang Mai, 1581 A.D. (see:
Griswold I Pras6t1977Inscr. Wat
Chiang Man).
10. InscriptionfromthePhraSuwanna
Maha Wihan, Phayao, 1411 A.D.

ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RAI
27
(see: Thorn I Prasan 1980 Inscr.
Wat Phra Suwanna Maha Wihan).
11. Inscription on the main Buddha
image in Wat Chai Phra Kiat,
Chiang Mai, dated 1566 A.D. (see:
Penth 1976 Jariik thl than phra
Phuttha n1p, image no. 22).
12. See the attempts in the Chronicle
of Chiang Mai to explain the king' s
name, Mang Rai; for instance
CMA.N.21; CMA.B.37- 38;
CMA.T.9; CMA. HP. 1. 11V; see
also: Prachakit 1907Phongs. Y0nok
132.
I was wrong to assume that mang
was part of the personal name of
the king (Penth 1983 Prawat Lan
Na 57- 61).
13. CMA.N.20, 74; CMA.T.8; JKM.CI
F.87, 91; Thewal6k 1963 Jotmaihet
hon 86.
14. Capital of the Sip Song Pan Na,
Yunnan, on the west bank of the
Ma Khong river, about 250 km
northeast of Chiang Rai.
15. CTU.SM.224- 227, 234. Capital of
an eastern Shan state of the same
name in northeast Burma, about
150 km north of Chiang Rai.
16. CMA.B.1.37; CMA.HP.1.12.R;
CMA. T.10. The wording in
CMA.HP is: I " ... m1 ',) n'Yi1 ~

28
HANS PENTH
33. CSA.PP.204; CSA.W.205; Prachakit
1907 Phongs. Y onok 324. Phra
Racha Wisutthisophon, the translator
of CSA.W, understood this
to mean a girls' boat race or a
regatta: Lm~VI~.:J'f.llm~mL'lklll''UdJ'U
:IJVIlUelt.J"I.n.:JLVIt"\J (CSA.W.283).
34. csA.PP.205; CSA.W.283; CRA.
PR.31- 32; CRA. WPL.l, 7.
35. CMA.N .179; CMA.T.82; Prachakit
1907 Phongs. Yonok 324-325.
36. csA.PP.205- 206; CSA.W.283.
37. CSA.PP.206; CSA.W.283.
38. CSA.PP.206; CSA.W.283- 284.
39. CSA.PP.206- 207; CSA.W.284.
40. CRA.PR.33 - 34.
41. csA.PP.207.
42. CRA.PR.34-35. Although Chiang
Mai, Lamphiin etc. are not included
in this "whole of LanNa,"
this confirms that Chiang San etc.
were independent of Chiang Mai
etc.
43. csA.PP.207 (the text says ~e:J(jll'il
bSje:J.:J instead of ~e:J(jl~lbSje:J.:J); CS -
A.W.284. See also below the inscriptions
on the Buddha images.
44. CRA.PR.33.
45. CMA.N.181 -182; CMA.T.83- 84.
46. CRA.PR.33, 35.
47. CRA.PR.35; CRA.WPL.1, 7.
48. CRA.WPL.l, 7.
49. CMA.N.182; CMA.T.84.
50. ALI 1.4.3.2 Aram 51 Song Mang
B.S. 2269 I 1726 A.D. Published in
Griswold 1954 Buddha Images of
Northern Thailand; Griswold 1957
Dated Buddha Images, no. 101;
Griswold 1960 Five Chieng Sen
Bronzes 199 - 204. The date given
in the inscription is: Friday, day 6
of the waxing moon, month 2, C.S.
1088, which according to Roger
Billard, Paris, corresponds to Friday,29November1726(Griswold
1960 Five Chi eng Sen Bronzes 202).
The weight indicated corresponds
to about 350 kg.
51. ALI 1.4.3.2. Chiang Rai B.S. 2270 I
1727 A.D.(?).
52. Personal communication from the
abbot, whom I knew well. But he
could not remember the year, only
that it must have been long before
B.S. 2500 = 1957 A.D.
53. ALI 1.4.3.2 WatNgamj'v1iiang B.S.
2269 I 1727 A.D. (1) and (2);
Griswold 1957 Dated Buddha
Images, no. 100 (only Moggalana);
Griswold 1960 Five Chieng
Sen Bronzes 11 - 21. The date
given in the inscription is: Tuesday,
day 13 of the waning moon,
month 4, C.S.1088, which according
to Billard corresponds to Tuesday,
18 February 1727 (Griswold
1960 Five Chieng Sen Bronzes 15,
20 - 21). The weight indicated
corresponds to about 75 kg.
54. ALI 1.4.3.1. Chiang Rai B.S. 2270 I
1727 A.D.; Cham 1952 Inscr.
Bronze Pasada; Griswold 1960 Five
Chiang Sen Bronzes 101 - 108;
Cham 1965 Inscr. Bronze Pasada.
55. In LanNa, the wihan (vihara) is
the main assembly hall of a monastery.
It contains the principal
Buddha image 'f.l'.i::1l'.i::1ll'U and
represents the Buddha's own living
quarters or KutT.
56. ALI 1.4.3.1 Chiang San B.S. 2269 I
1726 A.D.; Kasem 1966 Model
Vihara. The date given in the
inscription is: Monday, day Mong
Mao, day 7 of the waxing moon,
month 7, C.S. 1088, year Rawai
Sanga, (Ma)mia, which according
to Billard corresponds to Monday,
6 May 1727 (Kasem 1966 Model
Vihara 132).
57. CRA.P.T.143.
58. CRA.P.T.144.
59. CRA.P.T.l45. The text says that
this stretch of wall was 350 wa
long.
60. CRA. P.T.145 -146.
61. CRA.P.T.145saysthatthenewcity
was "976 wa long" (viz. from east
to west) "and 356 Wci wide" (viz.
from north to south). This matches
well with the remains from the
past, such as the location of former
city gates, moats, layout of roads,
etc.
62. CRA.P.T.l45- 146.
63. Neis 1885 Haut Laos. "Taus les
dessins de ce voyage ont ete faits par
M. Eugene Bumand, d'apres des
photographies ou les croquis et /es indications
de /'auteur" (ibid. p. 65).
The names Burnand and Hildibrand
(the latter perhaps the engraver
?) appear at the bottom of
the printed sketch (ibid. p. 69).
This sketch of the city wall with a
gate is reproduced in Sumet 1970
Seen, frontispiece, and in the
monthly magazine Silapa-Wathanatham
~~Ul

ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RAI
29
69. Bock 1885 Im Reiche 321.
70. CRA. P.T.150.
71. Wells 1958 Protestant Work 104.
72. CRA.P.T.l45-146.
73. CRA.P.T.150.
74. Wells 1958 Protestant Work 86.
75. Hosseus 1912 Konig Tschulalongkorns
Reich 182.
76. LeMay 1986 Asian Arcady 197.
77. CRA.P.T.l46 and personal communication
from several persons
in Chiang Rai.
78. CRA.P.T.145, 150.
79. The governor of the province of
Chiang Rai, Niii Aram Iam-arun
UlE.JeJil:!-1 b5E.J:I.J€l1W.. initiated the
project and supervised its implementation
together with a
committee of scholars, government
officials and some private
citizens. Seven persons from
Chiang Mai University participated
in the project: M.L. Shansoon
Ladavalya :l.J.~. ~u~

30
HANS PENTH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Fran

ON THE HISTORY OF CHIANG RAI
31
Inscription of Wat Trahan Jan Phoak.
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Yiin.
A.B. Griswold I Prasert na Nagara: The
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A.B. Griswold I Prasert na Nagara: The
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D.G.E. Hall: A History of Southeast
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Hallett 1890 Thousand Miles.
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Edinburgh I London 1890.
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Beitrage zur Kunst und Literatur Asiens,
1930.
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Jinakalamali The Pali text edited and
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BEFEO (25) 1925 p. 1- 200.
JKM.J.
JinakaiamaH. Translated into English
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The Sheaf of Garlands of the
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K. Nandakic: An Inscribed Model Vihara
from Chiang Sen. In: Ba Shin I Boisselier
I Griswold (eds.): Essays Offered
to G.H. Luce, Vol. 2, Ascona, Artibus
Asiae, 1966 p. 121 -132.
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Reginald le May: An Asian Arcady.
Cambridge 1926. Photographic reprint,
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Book of the Southern Barbarians. Ithaca,
New York 1961 (Cornell University,
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Luce 1969 - 70 Old Burma.
Gordon H. Luce: Old Burma - Early
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Le Tourdu Monde (Paris, Hachette) 1885
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PAY.PP.
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(61) 2497 'VIih 1 - 55.
PAY. WSB!ms.
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022-022.
PAY.WSS!ms.
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Wat Si Suphan, T. Ma Jai, province of
Chiang Rai. The title of the ms is
"Tam nan Miiang Phayao;" one bundle, 47
47 pages, copied in 1959. Microfilm
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020-020.
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Penth 1973 Yuan-Schrift.
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!J'u~ L'l"lufi ''W~::wnm..nrrnww!Jnr:u?fffnTu
uviJ"lf1~ t:ffm1JIIJ.; .. 'u'ilE.Jff1~ffl>'lthm (18.5)
2518 'VIU1 " 49 - 55.
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!J'u~ L'l"lufi "ri1'in1nn:r1uw~::wn1lw1uum
ttdvJ1liiJ.i " ni.:IL'Yl'l"l"1 2519.
... . ~
Penth 1983 Prawat Liin Nti.
!Ju~ L'l"lUli "th::-J~m1J.J!U'UJ./1'f/€JJ6f1UU1l'Y/V"
ffmifu1~E.Jil'.:~fi3J 3J'V111'Ylm~m:aEJ.:~ L'V13-i 2526.
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Chiang Rai. In: 3-J.l>'l. ~unffff~!i l>'l~T1mJ
(m~ru1nm~) "J1UffJ.J Ttl"lft~1ffdimfJ€JJuf'l::
rht!WJtiJ€JJ tiJ€JJttdmnv " L:a~m1EJ 2531
'VIU1 "' 13 - 33.
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London 1883. Photographic reprint.
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".d • •
Prasot 1971 Phon ngan khon khwa 90 -
94. (Reprint of an article which had
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32
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Translated. Ann Arbor, Michigan,
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Phamlua de Ia caverne du mont Doi­
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1898 p. 331 -339.
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Centuries. London 1971.
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Sumet 1970 Seen.
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Bangkok 1970.
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Traibhilmikatha Translated into French
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nj-:JL'Y1W'1 2507 VIU1 86 - 11s.
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TI"lf'J.:tffJ4.:tTI~ fi'W./9" U~~~11fl

DID KUBLAI HAN'S CONQUEST OF THE
DALI KINGD M GIVE RISE TO THE MASS
MIGRATION OF THE THAI PEOPLE TO
HE SOUTH?
UTING AND CHEN LUFAN
INSTITUTE FOR SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES, KUNMING
I. Introduction
During the several decades since Tern Jin received the
title of Genghis Khan though the support of th aristocracy and
unified the grasslands of Mongolia in 1206 th e Mongolian
cavalry swept over the continents of Asia a d Europe like a
hurricane, devastating many countries in th western part of
Asia and the eastern part of Europe, leaving ehind a tremendous
influence upon those areas. The study the merits and
demerits of the history of this period of the ngolian people
remains a subject of world-wide interest and the most divergent
controversy. Although foreign works 01 Mongolian history
undoubtedly embrace some studies con rming with objective
reality, many of them are only phenom al descriptions.
Even worse, some of them have mad e the a ready much entangled
history of the 13th century even mo e confused . An
example is the theory that Kublai Khan's c01 uest of the Dali
Kingdom compelled the mass migration oft e Thai people to
the South (the Mass Migration Theory).
The originators of the Mass Migration T eory were scholars
and specialists ofthe Western countries su 'has H.R. Davies,
W. C. Dodd and W. A. R. Wood, etc. Their arks, published
fifty or sixty years ago, proclaimed that Kubla Khan's conquest
of the Dali Kingdom in Yunnan Province led the final extinction
of this Thai Kingdom and the mass mi ation the south.
They even asserted "This is beyond all doubt. '1
Kublai Khan's conquest of the Dali King om Yunnan is a
historical fac t. But did this compel the Thai p ople to migrate
en masse to the south?
No.
Editor's note : For an earlier and less detail d version of this
article, see Th e Siam Society Newsletter, Vol. 4, No.4 December 1988,
p. 19.
Since the originators of the Mass Migration Theory stated
their th esis very positively, describing their fallacies as beyond
all doubt, what irrefutable hi storical sources did they possess to
demonstrate the reliability of their theory?
None.
Since Kublai Khan's conquest of the Dali Kingdom did
not in fact compel the Thai people to migrate en masse to the
south, and not a single hi storical source could possibly prove
the mass migration of the Thai people from Yunnan to the south
in the Yuan Dynasty, we may ask the question: Whence the
Mass Migration Theory?
This paper is intended to answer that question.
II. Kublai Khan's Conquest of
the Dali Kingdom Did Not Give
Rise to a Mass Migration
To be sure, armed forces did play an important role in
Kublai Khan's conquest of the Dali Kingdom. In 1253, an army
of a hundred thousand strong, led by Kublai Khan, the grandson
of Genghis Khan, entered Sichuan via Gansu; then, using
leather canoes and rafts, crossed the Jinsha River by three
routes, and in less than one year vanquished and ex terminated
the Dali kingdom which had been entrenched in Yunnan for
several hundred years. 2 At that time, the middle and eastern
parts of Sichuan were still under the ru le of the Southern Song
Dynasty, so the route of march was laid across the western part
of Sichuan and the border region between Sichuan and Yunnan
having high mountains and deep valleys and a very scanty
population. The Emperor resorted to a strategy of a broad
circuitous flanking movement, thus taking the kingdom by
storm. The conquesf of the Dali Kingdom turned Yunnan, the

34 DU YUTING AND. CHEN LUFAN
rear base of the Southern Song Dynasty, into an important base
far encircling the· territory of that dynasty. This was indeed a
battle of strategic significance. Without a vigorou~ army and
capable generals the victory would have been inconceivable.
Nevertheless, the reason why the Mongolian aristocracy made
a rapid conquest of the Dali kingdom and firmly consolidated
their rule in Yunnan when what is now Sichuan, Guanxi and
Guizhou were still under the jurisdiction of the Southern Song
Dynasty was this: apart from the use of military forces, they had
another very important card to play: appeasement and propitiation,
disintegration, and the utilization of the original Dali
rulers with a view to fully mobilizing their traditional forces. In
this sense, such a manoeuvre was no less important than the use
of military forces. This basic historical fact which is not to be
ignored is exactly what is fatal to the Mass Migration Theory.
Along with the military operations aimed at the conquest
of the Dali Kingdom, Kublai Khan paid great attention to·
summoning the enemy to surrender and to the disintegration
and utilization of his adversaries. In order to summon the king
of the Dali Kingdom to surrender, Kublai Khan despatched two
envoys en route. The first was sent from Gansu but failed to
reach Dali. The second was killed by the king of the Dali
Kingdom. 3 When the army crossed the Jinsha River, the Khan
accepted the surrender and the welcome of the leader of the
Naxi tribe. When the attack on Dali town started, the policy of
"Massacre of the Town" was changed, an edict forbidding
slaughter was issued, 4 and discriminative treatment was given
to the captured nobles of the Dali Kingdom. For instance, the
recalcitrant and powerful courtier Gao Xing, who refused to
surrender, was beheaded,5 while Duan Xingzhi, the king of the
Dali Kingdom, who originally showed resistance but later was
willing to surrender, was bought over and made use of. As a
result, the measures taken by the Mongolian aristocracy towards
the king of the Dali Kingdom rapidly took effect. In 1255
and 1256 Duan Xingzhi was presented at court, offering Mengu,
the Yuan Emperor Xienzhong, maps of Yunnan and counsels
about the vanquishing of the tribes who had not yet surren~
dered, as well as their schemes of political domination and
economic exploitation. Mengu was highly delighted with this,
and instantly conferred on him the Sanskrit title "Maha Raja,"
charging him with the administration of the affairs of the
various tribes in Yunnan. 6 From that time on, Duan, the King of
Dali, certainly did not disappoint the expectations of the Mongolian
aristocracy.
Kublai Khan led a cavalry force of a hundred thousand
when he went to conquer the Dali Kingdom, and brought back
only a part of the army when he returned to the capital. Thus
taking into account casualties in the war, the general Wulianghoutai
had only an army of less than one hundred thousand left
in his command. This small army not only kept under its rule
YunnanandtheadjacentareasofwhatarenowSichuan,Guanxi
and Guizhou, but also extended its occupied territory to part of
the region of what is now Southeast Asia. What then is the
reason? During the reign of the Tang Emperor Xuanzhong
there were two successive expeditions against the Nanzhao
Kingdom. Since no small number of troops took part in each
expedition and the area under their attack was by no means as
extensive as in the Yuan Dynasty, why then war. the whole army
annihilated? To be sure, the fighting capacity of the Mongolian
cavalry and the judicious command ofWulianghoutai are not to
be ignored, yet equally important is the fact that the surrendered
king of Dali used his own forces to serve as a spearhead for the
Mongolian aristocracy and offered them good counsel. And
herein lies the difference between Wulianghoutai and LiMe, the
Tang general.
It was precisely the fact that Duan, the king of Dali, led a
considerable army to serve as guides and vanguards for the
Mongolian army that accounts for the vanquishing of the rebellious
tribes. And then the tactics used by the Mongolian aristocracy
in making use of Duan were also very judicious. Duan was
not deprived of his original military and political power. Furthermore,
he was allowed to continue his administration of
state affairs, and the newly installed military and political
officials with fiefs of less than "ten thousand households" were
made subject to Duan's restraint and moderation." This gave
Duan's helping the Mongolian aristocracy to vanquish the
rebellious tribes a decent cover of recovering remnant followers.
Duan played his part in vanquishing the various tribes in
Yunnan. His· troops also acted as vanguards in "bringing Indo­
China (Vietnam) to surrender," thus helping the Mongolian
aristocracy to extend their territory to what is now Southeast
Asia.
The outstanding meritorious deed performed by Duan
for the Yuan Dynasty was the suppression of the great uprisings
of the various peoples in Yunnan.
In 1264, a great uprising against the Mongolian rulers
broke out, involving more than one hundred thousand people
of the various nationalities in Yunnan. The rebel army developed
with tremendously rapidity and took by storm such cities
as Xinxing (now Yuxi), Shicheng (now Quqing) and Weichu
(now Chuxun), and also seized Zhongqing (now Kunming).
The Mongolian garrison was no tin position to resist, and sent an
urgent appeal for help to Duan. Duan' s chief general, Xingzuri,
immediately moved his troops to launch a counterattack against
the rebels in coordination with the Mongolian army. This great
uprising lasted more than a decade, went through several ups
and downs, and ended in failure with the murder of the rebel
leader Sheliwei. 8
Hence it is clear that neither during Kublai Khan's conquest
ofDali nor after his return to the capital did there occur any
mass migration of the Dali people to the south. Even the king
of Dali himself did not move to the south. Noteworthy is the fact
that Duan, the king, not only stayed at Dali, but also served the
new lord in many ways thus playing a unique role in consolidating
the rule of the Mongolian aristocracy in Yunnan. Xingzuri' s
suppression of the great uprisings of the various peoples resulted
in the "establishment of counties, the signing and issuing
of orders, the imposition of taxes and the process of political discipline
and civilization, and in a manner identical with that of
the interior." This shows that the adoption of political and eco-

KUBLAI KHAN AND DALI 35
nomic measures in Yunnan, which were identical with those
in the interior during the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, all had
something to do with Xingzuri's suppression of the peasant
uprisings. Hence it is evident how important Duan's position
was in helping the Mongolian aristocracy to consolidate their
rule in Yunnan. In order to show its high regard for Duan, the
Yuan Court not only bestowed on him many awards, but also
conferred on him the "Golden Tally" and 'The Tiger Tally."
Duan, the king of Dali, was vouchsafed the title "MahaRaja"
while Xingzuri was installed as "Governor of Dali," "Magistrate
of Dali and Monghua etc.," and "Commander of Dali, Weichu
and Jingchi Magistracies." In addition, Aching, the son of
Xingzuri, was kept by Kublai Khan as the queen's bodyguard
and installed as a high dignitary of Yunnan on his return,
assuming the office of Vice-Governor of Yunnan Province,
etc. 9 This series of historical facts all reflect the policies carried
out by Kublai Khan in Yunnan. After his army had penetrated
into the depths of Yunnan and vanquished a series of entrenched
local political forces, Kublai Khan knew very well the
importance of keeping the original sociopolitical forms to win
popular support. Hence the policy of "no official is to be
deprived of his office, no person is to lose his job." 10 The Mass
Migration Theory is exactly contradictory to this policy. Small
wonder that not a single historical source can be found for the
confirmation of that theory.
When they began to consolidate their rule in Yunnan, the
Mongolian aristocracy made full use of the old aristocracy of the
Dali Kingdom. While the Yuan Court was maintaining unity
with Duan in their joint domination over Yunnan and achieving
remarkable success in this respect, Duar.'s local power had
gradually come to pose a certain threat to the former. Consequently,
with the consolidation of the rule of the Yuan Court
over Yunnan, the power of the House of Duan gradually declined.
This was particularly the case when at the end of the
Yuan Dynasty the rule of the Mongolian aristocracy was going
down hill and it began to restrict the power of the House of
Duan. According to convention, the House of Duan' s office of
"Governor of Dali" was originally a hereditary local office. But
in the third year of the reign of Emperor Wenzhong when it
was the turn for Duan Yi to succeed to the post, he was deprived
of the office of "Governor of Dali" as well as that of "Governor of
Yunnan." He only received the title of "Magistrate of Monghua
Prefecture." His offspring (son and grandson) were treated in
the same manner. 11 Although the offspring of the original king
of Dali were entitled "Magistrate of Monghua Prefecture," they
resided as in the past only at Dali, not at Monghua (now
Weishan). With their power still extending to the broad area
originally under the jurisdiction of the Dali military and civil
government, the House of Duan, still possessing considerable
strength, were naturally not reconciled to their decline and it
was inevitable that the contradictions between the local and the
central governments were aggravated. As a result the struggle
between Duan and Prince Liang, who represented the interests
of the Yuan Court, became white hot, leading to rather cruel
wars ending in a draw, neither side being able to devour the
other. Thus the House of Duan was entrenched in the broad
region in the west of Yunnan in which its headman was selfstyled
as king/ 2 while Prince Liang of the Yuan Court could
only be resigned to this existing state of affair:s.
Significant, however, is the fact that although there was a
life-and-death struggle between the House of Duan and Prince
Liang of the Yuan Court, these adversaries would make peace
and make joint efforts to suppress the peasant uprisings as soon
as they threatened the rule of the Yuan Court and the local
entrenchment of the House of Duan. At the end of the Yuan
Dynasty, King Duan Gong helped Prince Liang defeat the Red
Scarf rebel army which had entered Yunnan from Sichuan,D
and this is a manifestation of the identity of their class nature. In
the suppression of the Red Scarf Army, Duan Gong acted in the
same manner as Prince Liang, launching a frantic counterattack
against the rebels which ended in the defeat of the Red
Scarf Army and the recovery of Zhongqing (now Kunming). At
the moment of fatal danger, Prince Liang and Duan Gong were
indeed in the same boat. When grieving over the death of
Duan' s soldiers, Prince Liang even burst into tears. 14 In order to
buy Duan over, he went so far as to marry his daughter Agai to
Duan Gong. Yet once the threat of the peasant rebel army was
removed, the contradictions between Prince Liang and Duan
Gong were again aggravated. When Prince Liang's command
that Princess Agai should poison Duan Gong with peacock
bile was disobeyed, he soon had Duan murdered under some
pretext. 15
The House of Duan' s ambition of local entrenchment was
given full play when the army of the Ming Dynasty marched
into Yunnan. In 1381, the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang
empowered Fu Youdei, Lan Yu and Mu Ying to lead an expedition
of three hundred thousand strong into Yunnan, annihilating
more than a hundred thousand troops of the Yuan Dynasty
in the east of Yunnan. Prince Liang committed suicide. 1 " Yet
Duan Gong refused to surrender. He wrote thrice toFu Youdei,
making it clear that Dali could only be a "foreign country"
making "a small tribute every year and a big tribute every three
years," at the same time directing every possible threat to the
Ming army commanders 17 in the form of the so-called "Dali's
letter of challenge" . 18 Thus Duan Gong, who insisted on the split
of the nation and local entrenchment, became the last representative
of the Yuan Dynasty's remnant forces in Yunnan. In order
to destroy these remnant forces in the name of the unification
of the motherland, Fu Youdei, after giving a solemn severe
refutation to Duan Gong's challenge, resorted to arms for a final
settlement in view of Duan's being intransigent. After a fierce
battle, Duan' s activities were crushed. 19 When the Duan brothers
were escorted in captivity to the capital, Emperor Zhu
Yuanzhang neither had them beheaded for their crimes nor sent
back to Dali. They were only installed in an insignificant office
in the interior. This cunning manoeuvre thoroughly deprived
the House of Duan of their hereditary feudal domain which had
been passed on from generation to generation for several
hundred years. Henceforward, in Dali Prefecture in Western
Yunnan "permanent chieftains were replaced by transferable
officials/ 0 and the region was ruled by transferable officials"
formally appointed by "the Ming Court according to set regula-

36 DU YUTlNG AND CHEN LUFAN
Pllotos rnpf, IH: Tctltht Splw Pn/n ,;tirn.
A Tn i vegetnb/e vendor wit/1 typicnl bnskets in Xisl111nngbnnnn.
tions. This shows that the entrenched domina tion of the House
of Duan in Dali ended indeed in "migra tion"- not in migrati on
to the south, bu t in migration to the north.
III. Did the Tai People in Yunnan
"Migrate to the South" 1n
the Yuan Dynasty?
The House of Duan in Da li belonged to the Bai race. Apart
from the Bai and Yi, w ho made up the main body of the people
under their domination, there were other races and tribes such
as the Tai, Hani, Naxi, Lishu, Achang, etc. The Tai was the onl y
race closely related to the Thai in Thailand and w hose language
belonged to the san

KUBLA I KHA I AND D L1 37
Pltotosm!•lt lnt Teddy Splw Pa/a,;tim .
Tni nrcltitccture in Xi> ln wngbnn nn.
as its center. According to historical records, this regime "regarded
the Emperor of the Chinese heavenly d ynasty as their
common lord ," 23 and had some subordinate rela tionships w ith
the Chinese interior. This indica tes that the history of the Tai
people has d eveloped in keeping with the inevitable laws of
social developm ent.
After Kublai Khan's conquest of Dali , the rule of the Yuan
Dynasty did extend to the region w here theTai people now li ve.
But the d omination of the Yuan Dynasty over the Tai region
underwent a gradual process: the Deihong District fe ll u nder
Mongol rule earlier, w hile Xishua ngba nna District accep r ~d the
domination of the Mongolian aristocracy in 1292, more than 30
years after the conquest of Dali 26 As can be seen from relevant
record s, in the process of extending its d omination to the Tai
people, the Yu an rulers resorted chiefly to the soft tactics ot
"appeasement and propitiation" and no consequential battles
took place in the Tai Region. After the rule of the Yuan Dynasty
had extended to the Tai Region, a "Six Routes Chief Magistracy"
was set up in w hat is now Deihong Prefecture,27 and a "Cheli
Military and Civil Magistracy" was esta blished in what is now
Xishuangbanna 28 During the Yuan Dynasty the Tai Region was
under the d irect rule of transferable officia ls appo inted by the
central government. But owing to the subtropical local cl imate,
offi cials from the interior could onl y go to the Tai region in
w inter and return hom e in spring, unable to assume permanent
offices. 2 '' T herefore, judging by relevant records d a ting from
the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the Tai Region remained
pred ominantly under the rule of the "chieftain s. " The
"chieftains" of the Tai Region were hereditary officials appointed
by the Yu an Court. Disputes am ong them were subject
to the ruling of the Court. In the Historyof tire Yuan Dynasty there
are repeated records of the settlem ent o f disputes between the
Tai chi eftains by the Court. The Yunnan provincial government
exacted taxes, set up posts and sta tioned an army in the Ta i
Region. 30 In short, during the Yuan Dynasty the Tai Region was
a part of Yunnan province. At that time the Tai people rem ained
settl ed in the sou th and southwest of Yu nnan. "Mass Migration
to the Sou th" simply does not com e into the picture.
According to Descriptions of Yunnan written by Li Jing of
the Yuan Dynasty, "of the tribes in the Southwest, the Bai Yi is
the d ominant one, since it spreads to Tibet in the north and
Cochin-China in the south, w ith basica ll y similar customs."

38 DU YUTING AND CHEN LUFAN
Hence it is evident that in the Yuan Dynasty the Tai people had
already a rather wide distribution, yet their area of habitation
was roughly the same as it is now. Noteworthy is the fact that,
judging by the relevant historical sources of the Yuan Dynasty,
so far as the history of Yunnan is concerned, not only does the
"Mass Migration to the South" of the Tai people not come into
the picture, but, on the contrary, it is migration to the north that
is recorded in veritable historical sources. For instance, the Tai
people who live in what is now Jingdong and Jinggu etc. were
those who migrated from the south to the north. 31 This also
represents a sort of negation of the theory of Mass Migration to
the South on the part of history.
IV. The Tai People Did Not
Migrate Southward to Thailand
after Kublai Khan's Conquest
of the Dali Kingdom
The Thai people are the natives of Thailand and have a
long history. They did not in any sense migrate southward to
Thailand en masse after Kublai Khan's conquest of the Dali
Kingdom.
Early in remote antiquity, the ancestors of the Thai
people had friendly associations with China. According to the
records of the History of the Later Han Dynasty, at the end of the
boundaries of what is now Baoshan and Deihong Prefectures
there was a state known as the "Shan Kingdom." The king,
named Yongyoudiao, thrice sent missions to Loyang, the capital
of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in 97,120 and 131 A.D., and they
were given friendly receptions by the Court. The kings of the
Western Han Dynasty bestowed on Yongyoudiao the "Golden
Seal and Purple Cordon" and conferred on him the title of
"General of the Han Dynasty." Another mission was sent to
Loyang by King Yongyoudiao and they presented to the Court
a band of musicians and some magicians who gave "varied and
excellent performances before the royalty." The interpreters
who accompanied the mission of the Shan Kingdom had to use
several languages successively to make it possible to communicate
with the Han Court. This indicates the distance which
separated the Shan Kingdom and the Han Empire in racial, linguistic
and geographical respects as well as the long history of
political and cultural associations between the two countries.
Noteworthy is the fact that the first and second missions came
from a territory beyond Yongchang, that is, via China's Baoshan
in the Eastern Han Dynasty; yet eleven years later, the third
mission did not "come from a territory beyond Yongchang" but
from a territory beyond "Rinan," that is, from what is now the
middle part of Vietnam. This shows that as far back as more
than 1,800 years ago, the ancestors of the Thai people (presumably
this Shan Kingdom) already were in the broad area of the
northern part of what is now the Indochinese peninsula.
The Shan Kingdom established by the progenitors of the
Thai people, though recorded in the history of ancient times,
rose in fact in the first century and became powerful in the third
century. After the emergence of Funan, which was based in
what is now Cambodia, and powerful Chenla, which rose in the
Indochinese peninsula in the middle of the sixth century, the
Shan Kingdom fell successively under their rule. During this
long period, several small states were founded in Thailand.
The Thai people waged a long struggle lasting several centuries
to resist foreign domination. In the early period of the thirteenth
century, the Thai people established the Sukhotai Kingdom
with Sukhotai as its center. The Sukhotai Kingdom, called Xian
Guo (the ancient Siam) in Chinese historical sources, had rather
close political and cultural relations with China in the Yuan
Dynasty. More than a dozen records of tributes to the Chinese
court can be found in the History of the Yuan Dynasty. In June of
1282 Kublai Khan sent a mission headed by Ho Zizhi- a "ten
thousand household military lord"- to visit the Siamese kingdom,
but it failed to reach its destination owing to accidents on
the way. 33 Yet ten years later, in 1292, the Government of
Cuangdong sent to the Court a "Golden Volume" presented by
the Siamese King. 34 And in 1295, the latter again despatched a
mission to China to present a "Golden Letter" requesting the
Yuan Court to send ambassadors to Siam. By the time when the
Siamese mission arrived in the Chinese capital, the Chinese
mission had already left for Siam. Emperor Chenzhong of the
Yuan Dynasty bestowed on the Siamese envoys "Golden Tallies"
and asked them to pursue the Chinese mission in all haste
so that they might go to Siam together. 35 Remarkable is the fact
that the famous King Rama Khamheng of the Sukhotai Kingdom,
answering an "Imperial Request," sent this prince- hereditary
prince- to the Court and made tributes of tigers and
elephants, etc. The Yuan Court also bestowed on the king
"saddles and bridles, a white horse and gold-filigreed dress"
and bestowed a TigerT ally on the "hereditary prince."36 Judging
by the fact that the Yuan Court requested the Siamese king to
send his son as a sort of hostage, it is only too evident that the
Yuan Court posed itself as "Heavenly Kingdom" and suzerain
towards Siam. Yet the Yuan Court never started wars against
Siam. The history of the Sukhotai Kingdom was impelled
forward by the Thai people themselves.
The expedition against the "State of Eight Hundred
Concubines" 37 was an important historical event in the middle
of the Yuan Dynasty. The capital of that state was Chiang Mai
in the north of what is now Thailand. When the Sukhotai
Kingdom which was situated to the south of that state already
had political connections with the Yuan Court and the Chieftains
of Cheli to the north had become hereditary officials
appointed by the Court, that state still kept on expanding its
power, interfering in the affairs of Greater and Lesser ChelP8
When the authority of the Chieftains of Cheli, which was within
Chinese territory, was threatened and damaged by such interference,
Emperor Chenzhong of the Yuan Dynasty was greatly
shocked and infuriated. As a result, an expedition was sent in
1300 against the State of Eight Hundred Concubines. 39 Nevertheless,
by the time the expedition came from the interior to the

KUBLAI KHAN AND DALI 39
west of Guizhou, still2000 li from that state, the army met with
the resistance of the Yi people because of exorbitant taxation and
requisitions, and was heavily besieged by the rebels. The army
of 20,000 suffered a total defeat which shocked both the Court
and the populace and resulted in the execution of Liu Shen, the
general who led the expedition.40 This event was a turning point
which shows that'in the middleofthe Yuan Dynasty the political
and military ruling power of the Mongolian aristocracy was
seriously on the decline. Yet remarkable is the fact that although
the expedition against the State of Eight Hundred Concubines
failed because of setbacks on the way, yet the soft tactics of
appeasement and propitiation were again set in motion and
even proved successful. Beginning in 1312, the year when that
state started to "present tame elephants and native products," 41
its political relations with the Yuan Court grew rapidly. The
chieftains of that state not only repeatedly "presented native
products" but also requested on their own initiative that the
Court set up local governments there. The Yuan Court was
greatly delighted. In addition to appointing the chieftain of that
state "Magisterial Military Commander," officials were also sent
there from the interior. 42 Though the reactionary nature of the
Yuan Dynasty as reflected in the expedition against the State of
Eight Hundred Concubines is a subject to be investigated, yet
one thing is certain: Chiang Mai is a famous ancient capital of the
Thai people, and the people of the state of Eight Hundred
Concubines with Chiang Mai as its capital could boast of a long
history. The Thai people in the north as well as in the south did
not in any sense "migrate en masse to the south" after Kublai
Khan's conquest of the Dali Kingdom.
ENDNOTES
1. H. R. Davies said that it was
beyond all doubtthatthose Shan
people who had not been assimilated
by the Han people were
gradually driven to the south
after the conquest of Yunnan by
the Mongolian Emperors in the
13th century. (See H. R. Davies,
Yunnan, the Link Between India
and the Yangtze, Cambridge, 1909
pp. 378-379.)
W. A. R. Wood said that in 1253
Nanzhao (or Yunnan) was conquered
by Kublai Khan. This
Thai Kingdom was finally
brought to an end, leading to the
mass migration to the south of
the local inhabitants. As can be
seen form what follows, this
exerted a great influence upon
the history of Siam. (See W. A. R.
Wood, A History of Siam, London,
1926. Reprint of 1959, p. 35.)
W.C. Dodd said that the Thai
people's seventh and last wave
of mass migration from China to
the south took place in 1234, after
the downfall of the Ailao
Kingdom in Dali. This Kingdom
had already existed over 600
years. It was not conquered by
the Chinese, but by a Mongolian
army led by Kublai Khan. (See
W.C. Dodd, The Relation of Chinese
and Siamese, Journal of the
North-China Branch of the Royal
Asiatic Society, Vol. Ll, 1920.)
Three years later, Dodd, in his
book The Tai Race (Iowa, U.S.A.
1923) systematically put forward
his "Theory of the Seven Migrations
of the Tai Race," asserting
that after seven migrations to the
south, the Thai people gradually
moved from the south of China
to the north of the Indo-China
Peninsula.
2. Histr,ryoftheYuanDynasty: Vol.
3 Chronicles of the Reign of Emperor
Xienzhong, Vol. 4 Chronicles
of the Reign of Emperor Shizhu.
3. History of the Yuan Dynasty: Vol.
3 Chronicles of the Reign of Emperor
Xienzhong; Vol. 4 Chronicles
of the Reign of Emperor Shizhu.
4. History of the Yuan Dynasty, Vol.
158 Biography of Yao Shu.
5. History of the Yuan Dynasty, Vol.
4 Chronicles of the Reign of Emperor
Shizhu.
6. History of the Yuan Dynasty, Vol.
166 Biography of Xingzhuri.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. History of the Yuan Dynasty, Vol.
10 Chronicles of the Reign of Emperor
Shizhu.
11. According to the Bypath History
of the Nanzhao Kingdom written
by Yangshen of the Ming Dynasty,
Duan Yi (asumed office in
the third year Zhishun of the
reign of Emperor Wenzhong)
and Duan Guan (assumed office
in the first year Yuan tong of the
reign of Emperor Shun) and
Duan Gong (assumed office in
the fifth year Zhizhen) were only
installed as Magistrates of the
Prefecture of Monghua when
they came to assume office.
12. Bypath History of the Nanzhao
Kingdom by Yang Shen.

40
DU YUTING AND CHEN LUFAN
13. Chronicles of the Early Period of the
Nanzhao Kingdom.
14. Bypath History of the Nanzhao
Kingdom by Yang Shen.
15. Chronicles of the Early Period of the
Nanzhao Kingdom, Bypath History
of the Nanzhao Kingdom, History of
Yunnan, Records of Yunnan and
other annals of Yunnan and Dali
dated from the Ming Dynasty all
have more or less detailed narrations
of the stories of Duan
Gong's helping Prince Liang to
defeat the Red Scarf Army and
Prince Liang's marrying his
daughter Agai to Duan Gong as
well as Duan Gong's being
murdered and Princess Agai's
committing suicide. The stories
teem with the contradictions
between Duan Gong and the Red
Scarf Army and between Duan
Gong and Prince Liang as well as
the contradictions between Duan
Gong and his first wife Madame
Gao of Dali and his second wife
Princess Agai from Kunming.
The stories with their undulating
plots and some versified
comments and adornments are
highly dramatic. Since they were
narrated by people of the Ming
Dynasty, the specific incidents
are not all factual accounts,
though not altogether groundless.
As there are many versions
of these stories which are often
contradictory to each other, no
detailed mention is made in this
article. Guo Morou wrote a play
entitled "Peacock Bile" which is
based on this story.
16. Chronicles of the Period of the
Hongwu of the Reign of Emperor
Taizhu of the Ming Dynasty Vol.
139,140.
17. History of the Ming Dynasty Vol.
313: Chieftains of the Tribes in
Yunnan, and Hoshantang Supplementary
Works Vol.85 : Correspondence
between Duan and Fu
Youdei.
18. Hoshantang Supplementary Works
Vol. 85: Letters of Challenge from
Dali which include the letters
1,2,3, from Duan Gong to Fu
Youdei and an attached reply
from Fu Youdei to Duan Gong.
19. History of the Ming Dynasty Vol.
313: Chieftains of the Tribes in
Yunnan; Hoshantang Supplementary
Works Vol. 85: Letters of Challenge
from Dali.
20. "Removing native officials and
installing transferable officials"
otherwise called "Replacing native
officials with mobile officials"
or "Removing native officials
and returning power to mobile
officials," exerted a remarkable
influence upon the history
of the minority peoples in Southwest
China. However, views
have all along differed on this
point. Such is also the case with
the problem as to whether the
crushing of Duan Gong's activities
in 1382 is referrable to
"Removing native officials and
installing mobile officials."
21. Regarding the ending of Duan
Gong, the relevant historical
sources dated from the Ming
Dynasty are identical in pointing
out that he was installed in
NorthChina. Butviewsdifferas
to the specific circumstances of
the installation and even the
specific person installed. No
detailed account is be given in
this article.
22. The Tai people and the Thai
people in Thailand all belong to
the Zhuang-Tai language family
of the Sino-Tibetan language
branch.
23. RecordsofHiston;Vo1.123: Chronicles
of Dawan.
24. Book of Savage Tribes by Fanzhou
of the Tang Dynasty, Series 4:
New History of the Tang Dynasty
Vol. 222: History of Southern
Tribes.
25. History of the Tai People. This is
a history of the Tai people in
Xishuangbanna written in the
Tai language, translated by Li
Fuyi, published in 1947 by the
Research Institute of Southwestern
Culture Attached to Yunnan
University.
26. Chronicles of Yunnan by LiJing of
the Yuan Dynasty; History of the
Yuan Dynasty Vol. 132: Biography
of Buluhouda, Cheli.
27. History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
61: Geography Vol. 4.
28. Views differ as to the time of the
establishment of the "Cheli Military
and Civil Magistracy."
a) In the second year ofthe reign
of Yuanzhen was established
the "Cheli Military and Civil
Magistracy" (History of the
Yuan Dynasty Vol. 19: Chronicles
of the Reign of Emperor
Chenzhong.)
b) "The Cheli Military and Civil
Magistracy was established in
the middle of the period of
Dade." (History of the Yuan Dynassty
Vol. 61: Geography.)
c) "The Cheli Military and Civil
Magistracy was established in
the period of Zhiyuan and
charged with the taxation of
gold and silver." (History and
Geography of Yunnan by Jingtai.)
d) "In the middle of the period of
Zhiyuan was established the
Cheli Military and Civil
Magistracy, with six counties
under its jurisdiction." (History
of Yunnan by Zhendei.)
29. History of the Hundred Tribes by
Chien Guxun and Li Shi-Chung.
30. History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
125: Biography of Nashuchiding.
31. History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
61 Geography gives this account:
Kainan Prefecture (now Jingdong)
"was inhabited by the two
tribes of Xipu and Hounierman
when a person called Mong rose
into power; he set up the Yingshen
township government. The
township was later taken by the

KUBLAI KHAN AND DALI
41
tribes of Jingchi (golden teeth)
and Baimen (white barbarian)
and the government was moved
to Weichu. Thus Kainan was occupied
by the rude barbarians."
Wei y u a n . Prefecture (now
Jinggu) "was inhabited by the
two savage tribes o f Xipu and
Hounierman and la ter was
seized by the Chieftains of the
Jingchi and Baimen tribes, su ch
as Azhibu etc."
38.
39.
40.
Encyclopaedia of Historical Events:
Appeasement and Conquest; History
of the Yuan Dynasty Vol. 19:
Chron icles of the Reign of Emperor
Chengzlwng.
History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
20: Chronicles of the Reign of Elnperor
Chengzhong.
History of tl1e Yuan Dynasty
Vol.21 : Chronicles of the Reign of
E111peror Chengzhong.
41.
42.
History of the Yuan Dynasty
Vo1.24: Chronicles of the Reign of
Emperor Renzhong.
History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
30: Chronicles of the Reign of Elllperor
Taiding. Vol 35: Chronicles
of the Reign of E111peror Wcn zlwng.
In the early p eriod of the
Nanzhao Kingdom, Jingd ong
and its neighbourhood were
chiefly inhabited by the tribes of
Pumen and Houni. Later the
Jingchi and Baiyi moved tribes
to the north and became the
dominant people of this region.
Similar cases can be found in
Dehong District and along the
banks of the Red Ri ver.
r
I
;
32 . History of the Lnter Han Dynasty
Vol. 4: Chronicles of the Reign of
Emperor Hou Vol. 5: Chron icles of
the Reign of Emperor An Vol. 86:
History of the Southwest Tribe of
Ailao.
33. History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
12: Chronicles of the Reign of Emperor
Sh izhu.
34. History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
17: Chronicles of the Reign of Emperor
Shizhu .
35. History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
210: F-fistory of Xien Guo (S iam).
36. History of the Yuan Dynasty Vol.
17: Chronicles of the Reign of Emperor
Sh izhu Vol. 20: Chronicles of
the Reign of Ernperor Chengzhu
Vol. 210: History of Xien Guo
(Siam).
l
Heyun Peak'}
"-·-.
BlaCk orasen Pond
Yangbi
.
Saoyang Rea~),
Lanieng Pe~~
37. History of the Ming Dynasty Vol.
315 : History of Chieftains of the
Tribes in Yunnan has this account:
"Eight Hundred refers to the fact
tha t a chieftain ruling over a
hamlet possessed eight hundred
concubines. Hence the nam e:
State of Eight Hundred Concubines."
Erhni Lake
Map by Unity Design Studio, courtesy of The Guide Book Co., Hong Kong.

A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF IMPORTANT
CULTURAL RELICS OF THE NANZHAO­
DALI KINGDOM
CIIEN LUF/\N
11\:STITLfE FOR c;()liHEAS.I A~IA'\
STLDIES, KL:f'.;MII\C,
ilw r.h i(ll .:tttn\'1-ut~=.ht
~ r,.lr.n\ 1\ t ~On\ ~I'M.' ·" .lth.>tn:~: .. mJ ...... ,,, Th.lll.ln·d
l. The Cultural Relics
llh· "\. n vh~\n D~lll Ktngdom 1~,· 11 tlw 1t)lh1\\' i n1~ "'xi.,h•:tl
lmP~'rti'll\1 tllhur.tl n.•h.,· .... lin· NHnth.u' ('i\ tht.ut,ll\ \h"iltOri.ll
T.-tbh.·t lht· I h r,•(._· P.t)!.~'d.b ~..t D.tJi .wd t •lh~ .. r,., .,•tHlv d t..:.((t\ t-~r,,l
rt~lt,,_ tiw \lid~t (r~m PliLlr, lht• hd!tdl\:.m ( ;r,tthl('... tht" ltlu• ...
lrdh"! ,,uvh,''-' I h .. wn.·. tin \·anMI.,"-trH·'mft...,, "iutr.t and
tr..tn-...:nl't..."'\.1 n,,,l~lh: ... t ~utra ... lcit b\ lht·l),,l- 1'\tn~tf,,lr •h\.• Kt:n
nnn~ ":-tt,fh' lh·ll, tl11• '"'"-'-"£\! st•Uut.: ,,zlht•(,,,h!, ...,,,t \lt'TC\' wllh
Duan', 11'1'0.\"1 1ptimt. and th\.· rh:hu Ml ~ n ·11 h\ /h.trl~ '-h..--n~\\'t.~r,
()f tht~ Dah 1\inJ;thmt '•\\·~hall inHoJW.l' tht·llhllli' hvont:, h'ngwcn
The Nanzhao Civilization
Memoria 1 Tablet
Tlw '·U!I'hoh'Cit,htattnn \'it"I1Wrt.\l l.tNt!1 b pr~n·t-d
m T •nh('\ Jii,Jg(' 1 !\ h ...,uuth"-'f D~1h l il\ I hi .. Ul-'h.•t. '\ O:!m lugh,
2.:!/m w1Jl•.1nd ll5;-:;m rhkk, I!> an m'lp\"'JUnt ''hit.'d ' '-' ~' 1hc stud\
tit ,,,nth.'l.-.. hi.;, tot\. ll .. i •lw\.'r'\''h,h: 1 ... ,.U\'t•J \\ lth tlw nwn\~ •~
.. ,,,t !"'" .11'-oout -:..;"ii'll' \\prd ... \\ h1h. thl r..:\·cr-..,• ... tJ,. ~I'M' tlw
n,trT'It'"' ,lnd fh.._, hllt." 11! tlh.' ,h..\lh... Hvr .. m .l~'UI 1\•.lll \\i'r'-t-..
m.1km~ ,1 h.tl,,: ot ~)n!,• :o,)(Jl '"',,n,l-.. ,,n m (luu,~· -\-...t :-...... ullt-,1
th. \\j·,tth..·nn~; t-"-r"'~, .........,\t'r ·' t ......·n,,l ell ,,,,.r l:!tl() ~-\'.Jr-. ,,nh
It''" ~h.m !o;t)() w~,r~.h H'llL-,in h.·~Jbi'-'
I ha ... t.lhlt•l w,1~ ..,t .. ,iit..'ltl·d II\ ,\1) itlC\ Ulw ur·a \'e.ll ut tlh'
1),1!1 l{t'l)!.l'l d l tl11· T.mj!, Drn.bt\ )·: J1\ ( .uniPknj.{ (It '\.

cf(l~l"·"~aved oc-t(1!;l•rMI bnd. structur~~t. hull I sumt'\'•:hilt l111t: r
liMn I hi! main on~· . The three p(•~odn:'! :"!t.lnding m J Uil'lngll•
h_1(1"-ing ~rand ~1nd touDhmc. rcpr~;;>~cnt •''PI,·n~lid ..rchH 1·~ tur.\1
ll mirrof', .tnJ ... i);ll4.'1'. 't>dl"'.•
111t1
('010,, .1hn,gdht'T II .1ntd 1 ~. r,nthcflnc"f~o•, Lht•n,> h t•T.: ~ J' ..fl.l
numd pt.".;th:~ . .J l"~f('nl.: bcJI..;, ;-; hnmt-: l'tr.tcl-'lrl ..., 2 ... J...~th.otnn~
l'• Hh • h.•1•d~ . 7 brnl\/t' llip ..., V\'C'f l,llllO I'P..,j1ry l"'t'·-lt..b ,md !2 )~,,!d
liiH.I sllvcrornMI,PJ\I'i, Tlwugh mt.•dh ... tmcnh \\l' l''-' 11ut h~tmd in
gnt~t .11'110\IIH::_., lht!y '''·''\' "''mCrlpUi u) t!-. ~' t,H In ~mth .. IC~ h,l\ \.' b"''-'n dt (jlllii'WII Pt~~'Aio "'"AITc' •utmc'tl.•ll'- rt-11 ..(,« t;~ ,\an-:n.r.-,.f ldr f,.m,'\.t.lf'ft
~(~,.- ~~'tmd w 1~ •.;;
Tlw ... t a llh'~ m tiw .a:,r

CULTURAl RELICS 01 '-' \!Z!IAO llAII 45
Shcn~n\\.•ngh u .1nd hi-. :-0:1~ lon~~'-1"'~· Lungrun. I Hn~m~
Lon)toU\olnd Ltmgqi.-ln.~h ..,bem~g,r,h• J ·w1th h ...·.1\ ,·nl~ 1rOtten II\ ml..
1\l ~ •\• ' th o..• ffi1lUlh ,,j lht: (~ ll tl oll t.l\'i' c•t th(• -.•1gh1h gr.;.,t h'
dt tlw '-lflltlh\n~ T ~ n'l p k· j, .m mr....:rq"t tnll ll11nl.. w ho..:.,• J.h t lin~.·
rl'lllh ,,.., JPII( 'H"':
'C.on ... t rth~t .··d in I he Fuul'lh ' \.\lr ttl clw ~h~· n~ ... h.· R.:tg11,
Ut•U i ~,, ,t t>d Jt ~ani'- t'\ t·n· ptuu~ pra\·cr4- Sin~\:"
thl" m.m p1ll_,r "'"' f't...,pt.·ctt."d a .. the Ptll.lf Hlllt.•a\'('nlv Di~Jlih ·
it bt·\ .11ftl' 1hc S\'lnhol t lt!ifymp. th~ n1lt .. ~1 1 tfw ,,,nzh;,o Kim~ ­
dom
The Illustrated Nanzhao History
l lw ll ht .. tr?tte-d ~·.iln t h .ln I fi .. titr\', t)lll ">4,_"(\'lli.J J'-ln H.lnl.un-.. .ln in""4 npllffi\.•n:.- C;'tll\t' ln101
ht·,l\ f•n, .1nd Zha n ~' uqm l'l th~· \\'h1h•l r.l,e. ..

CHE' I.UFi\N
motmt.lut~ .-ml n .. km~ t.ian~ers. Grat:ed: bv th~ l·mpt!rot'"' r.,.
voot", h'\' prot~· th.tt the r~mOlt- Chinese Empirt• €tnfu\ inh:rrnl•
n.lhlt.• milknni,, of h.1pp\' hfc.
't..'.lr~
-l""'h'-.._'t\"'tl on '-:l.',,. \ears Day m th\! wmtcr ol \\ u'u
tlw Nmth Y~tar t.ll th~ \Ven1h1 Reu;n
Und~r thc .. upt ... n·Jsicm oi Yun Yuntu, lh•~Chi~.~t ~1 onk ut
th~ F1•d111).; l'vmrt.: ·
Tit~ t\n l·..:dnd.1torv ~lemolr ol lht.•
Sevrn l'rO)~"'"ito,..., 1~aN~< this mscnptlon. ·A ,·olumt• nl tlw
CommL"nd."'h)ry ,\1t>mmrot theSc..~·cnProgemtoro;;,dC'dJcJh and is Sm in l)(·l~~h t . I h 1• 1 "1•l l 1~ ,.ti..-id\'\1 int._• ... ~v~n :.tOI\'ys,
...... rv ...•d \q{h ove-r 21JU pu.:luct .... ttl the liu...td h.1 ~1nd 1 'It her detth."'!:'­
llt~ upp-er fwe ston:>\':. ..r,• ..·.tr"t.."l with the pt.:turt." c•f the
Huddha. BodhiSatto,:a~ .wd Ath.tl ... ,,.., \\ dl .b ot p.1.l.tct.!!o and
p.l\ llin:t-.. Th~ Sl\.th S(OCC\o jo, t..H\\'\1 \\ lth tht.• ptdUre::> 01 th~
I ,mr( ,rt-ift '\arayan..1ln stanJmA l""lurt· ht-lt.lin~ Nttl\.-,l\.e.
, I. hi\\ 1th \1nras~ and cn.,\,lll'\.1 \\ 11h twhnd') On thetr right
.mtl Jt ... lt -..kit! are t>ngtowcd th'-~ S.u\ .. kral ,lh.tr.mi 1n.1ntra Tile
'''\"nth .. tt

47
tu-.tnncal figurCOL o\lld 1'\ l!nb ffiL .. n llPIWJ Hl J ht 1-f, .. tof\ P r
Mtll-.ing the BciJ Jt m.w bt• i nfnn~ thtH th.·bt.:H ''.._... m,,J, mtht
tw,•ltth centun•
The Copper Statue of the Goddess
of Mercy \vith Ducm's Inscription
Tiu ... t 11f'J'4't 1.11\ll 11 I ,,. ( "'"lt.f, 'ul \1, h \ n\o~~h a~• tht
l),lh "11\hdtUIII' 1\P\\ J"'l l''-''1\nl In lht ""' Ph·,~u \1u"r·um In
l ,,lift•rnhl, l 1.0 It tdll\1'11\h' ih ptl ... .,, ..... hm 1n ru-11
It 1.., .1 '"PI'' t .. t.lltLt ,~.1111h'\.t r"l .1111 lllumuMI•'\J \\llh
~~~·1, 1 .1l,..•utl ;,IUhl)~h Jh,·,·mr-" ... ,1m"'r•i'l~•l1 •nth\• '"'r
JloUI ttl tJW \l.h ~ I II\ If"" ol ... •.1(\ olt---.1\11 -1 lu U1 \\ khh ol ~~ I'
'""'l"'''"""fpf 11,1,,11 kl ... ll1.111~'"' , .. lul.o.J\, ..
I IHP"-'11 11 tl'~th- \1111: 1l l\;.1n /lh U}~' IIIJ; hu..m, ''''" ...._ ull'
hu •' 111 I h ~·..,t·lhu ld h,t ..,, '''"'..., h 1r I j,, \ \ ··lf.Ht· u! ht., l'um ,,...J )11.111
Yl, h .w>:-. h1 ·n~.u1d l lu 111 \11. 1 -r•r' '"t' .u1d lwrd~-. J'''~·nh lht•
J, •fk,llh1J\ lit• hu 1 1 lft.\t l'l'f \U't 111 t}t.,. ,t.,.,J t.ll \UIUt lht•
);• 1w.11u~t~ dllrt .. •urth• l•u.m t .uml\ h 111 t" .lf truu-.. •ll•l'""ll • ..,
ol' hill lllt'f,!t1Jt· ,,.., ._,If\.!' 1'1\-..UJ Ill llh·ll\ t \t fl.l .. U!l~ f't'oh I' .l.,d
P ""•JWIII\ th.tl t lw Hlhf 1 1lll> ~ n l th• l,lll\11\ "11! ,tl!!.!• ''''"' llw
J'l! lh "t.llt tli 111 llt'ol\ t'l\ ,,n, l l·.nlh .1fld 1,,..,1 Itt t•h.'fiii(\' 1\ 1lh .111
ll llh ll t~.I.'H lHh' 1•l "11• 11 -.-.11111
I lw lfl'( nl't"''' th '\'.. th.\l1ht ' "llt r ••I :tu.. ""1'1"' r ...
".,. th.·JI.th "rn•~ I )u m I b~.·nh" mt;, !ht tht- pur;"~ 111 1•t n •
11 \\,\.., ' ' ' ~l\t•1•1•"'1lllh "' l'nlht lhl\n )H.h.JJh'.. , n,; Inti
nu.ul 'H h.n l~\lll)~ I hi. II' /lh'J\.. ~'\111~: \\,I• n•·n~ ••tht'l th.ut lh
Dll.ul/.lh·n }~" mgwhth~·• ~ ·Jp_nl.,-.t , d IH•mlll"'h• ll·~ lh•rt
l ~ tft,• lh t.., ... t ~thli' 1111 1"'1 h,l\ t·l'lot..,•tt ~ ,1.,1111 ~~ ;l( f~Ot'll.i P: till (h d:th
\.cntur\ t•,h-u,lm,; lfi•M d·w h.•f'h...,lttlht ""'"'t:ntl~-..
TIIt"'t.uu .. · ••I t ~·· t ,,~o,.t-.J,..., ... ,,t \1t.rro m .. ! .• 1ndu ,.; i "''dl rt
lh·r lt•H h.md dH'•'J'Inf~· h,•r rihh1 h,md hnt.J \,.th P.u."S •r ,.,1
.,lt·nd .. ·r w,'u~ l .1nd 1 1.\lh..r hr",ltl-bn-.i~t.·J Ot~'"(· .1nJ thh t ht'
h., .. d -.1.11d and l..md miPn 1 hc t ' '""t.·pl h•n ~ ·I tht• Jm.u.~t· 1ud tht.'
mV~.id hng nr til'-' .. t .. ltut· .trt· .. plt·1hh.J ,,n,J t'''Jlll~H~ m.1~1n~ t l
!ol,lndard )\'lrrrt ~ll th\-• c,,,Jj._...,.., 1•! \h·r-. \ 1n '\ ll.,_rtan f "• 1\ 1M t:
The Pictorial Scro11
Shen~vcn of Dali
bv Zhang
llw itmn,,J htlt• t't 1hr;. 1'-m).: T• I b BuddhJ' PlliUh"
l'.u nkt.l 111 I ht ~~n ~ I '''n;lo;l \ 1"~\ I ht· \ rllJH.cr Zh.Jn~ ..,l~t·m~\\ t'll
,,, n,,h tor-.hnrt \t PJ • '"'' ~'lt it 1 .. pn· ....,n t.-d m the 1.111'4.'11 t•rbhl·
h·n r.llacl" Mll't'UI"'l 'ht ..... rnll ,... " 1 m hu~h. 1 t'>~ O:....m fpn~
d 1\ n.lt'\1 mh• I q '4' ·u"n". p ..\mft j "1tl IJo~~ piCtUh'""' rh, \\ htJh:
'-4.WII tun ......, .. ,~tthh'\' J'-'rl' .. th. llr-.1 ·n..::ludm.::. ~"ta1n., I~
:"! 2• m hm~. ~,_·nmr,~-., ,i t•l pu":iln .... •·l 1 he,.. m,: 'h:tmut. 111 l h~
"'t."Cnnd r.ut '-t"* '~h n~ tll ~ocnons 7 ·l3H. 1, 'l 1 .:;._2(1n lol"'g, Lon·
t.:lm .. rl~o tUft ... t •t th,• UnJhl .. otlt\' i'l ... . I fe '-\--wll
1., 1\,rtr.ut 111 l.uh••n\!, lnq~·r••r P1011' \ul~. hlllllWI'I I by iH"!
o1th1·r l'••rlr.HI r.unh·~.l.lt tlw l • •mm.m,lt•l Fmpt'lttr r'a.lt• >..lng
\t tf-., ··n I \I lht ~·,ttt•u ,.., tht• t.:pdtt)! wrHh·n b\ \.h111~
\ta•• ·u'" • lbanl! ... hln~\\t•n p.1mkr ,,1 llw l>.th ~'"~'-h •m
h.1\ m I" rtr.J\\.trd I h.,. \llJl'h "'nt.f'.h• h.'.I(Uh"' lr~r llw l'l·ndtt
t~llht" mm '"P'-'"l'l' "'l'"' .. l!-.Ult ttn\nlt tln-t'pl l••~
\qlh.tll
~h ktl't'llt i"\ \l~tn~ \ h,l"·~li·UH: 0 11 t)h· t•lt •\·t•l\lh Ul t h1• H1"1
'''"'" ••• lht• 'lt•.lf (,1'11)-:tl ll Ill tlh· llttl\ \I'M,,, lh•· I~Pif, l \ ,,J
..,lwn •,h• I mr.·r••t l11l1t·n~ \'1. ,,., th•m·••tht•t 111.111 tlh· l >.'lll ~lnJ~
l>t...tn /h1' n~ Tlt, ..... 1\ut '"~nptu•l .tl11t lh.th· th.u lh••
I' 'htn II""' n•ll l-\ /ILtft): ~. n~\\ l n \\ ,, n ,., ... lit tlh' l"'flttt.l
•! K n • I}. .m /h1,m~ llu.m /lu'l''h ~.lt.tnt.:t'l tht• n.mH· 111111
r. ,,:u mt•• llllh n~~ m lh• tt.tuh \t.'.ll ''' ttlt't,.ll.\llll.tn ~~~ ·tgn t •l
lilt• '"i.otllh,·t n "mg lh n.,.,C\ I th ..•l lh.ll
m.1dhJIU \\·" ..:nmrlctt."\.1 u h~ld tx· ..·tt pr"......._'f\'t'tf tn th ..• Forhi\1
~1d' I'.JI.l. 1 un!1J 11 w;~~ ~rt-•U'I!h l b ..-l--u \·1 t,,(IJ,m~ " hun w hC'II h··
f, :-t tht: P.t1.1.:c fn. t...aJ :; tt1t: ...... r .. ~n ('am~.· lllhl th-.• han~ or ~'
0.-'-:lmtn..:r \~p!-.···•·lll u ,.. •~ thehlm l'm\Uttt.ll '-1u~m . '·
Jh, ..... Tdl ·~ .:.3 en h:...,h.: 1'1.; ... m J,,n~-nt'll ,,nh hight:r ,,nJ
!Jr...:• r 1h.tn tht:· ..:·n~III.Jll·u~ ,,J..,l' h1n1=er b\o· J qu.1rh•r tU lt~ k nf,lh
Tht• l'a lilrl-..11 ~ n ,JIb\ Zh.1n" Sl-wnp\ "'I\ b t:'\ ln:mcl~· Ill h
and mulurJn

48
li mt•, ,,nd pru\'idt>~ lmp,,rMnt "''urc-.>' ''"·"t-•n.'ll ICIT r.:-sc-arch llllt•
I ht · i\' ,uvh.u •-11rlli Pt>nod .
Tlw Iii\! 0f Zh.H'IA Shcn).';\V('I' l .. llul +h\vrt.un(\bh.' '-:l'Vt'rtht'll!'"-.,,
th1., 'pilmting lfolCL"•r" w~.l ... ll\ lrlfl ,, ~~rt•.l t drti--.t W()fthy l•l
tht• n\tnw. This lnng s;crnll L"~ • mpll'h•d b\ huu i-.. u•d t>t·~J ..1 r.nl'
''''-'r~ t•t .ut tn th ...· wl"''rld ·., hl'nt.l~l' ,,, Hth.idht-.t p.-llntin}:
II. Attribution of the Relics
NPw I h.lt \..-.... ha\'C J'!,i vcn il brit-•1 Jt• .., 1 ipl 11..m \)f tlw i mp~ \f·
r-..·lit..:. of the No1nzh.hl [),\li Kingdo1u, IIW r~o\h.it•r
wh.1t arc the char~1ct~.-·rl ... tk~ t •l lht-''t• v.llll.:lb h: thm~.,
tnut ~..u l hltll l
ru,l}' ,, ~l.,;:
l'\i,tint; betwixt the C han~sh.1n \h)UIH•lHl .Ultl l,.rlMi l _r dt'\.IK.1U< H1 .. nt th ...• "\.,m;rh ;h l Ll\'IIII.HHHl
\h:Olllft.tl I.IH\'t, tht• h.lntvn.! tlw J3thC,--.nturv. lr th~Dyna'>t\' '"·'"
.lCtu.llh ~t.:.blb~l a~ a w~uh (lllht' m,,, .. m1~r-ahon ot tlw Th.u
f'l---~opl\'• t.lu~>t! by .._ubla1 ~han·, r

turkn 1
sourc.'l" IH,)II.•ri.-11t'l•r the stud v uf Budll h1 .. n11n t ht 1 NiliH'hriC.l-D,lli
Kin1;dtlln . rh\'' ~4;... 1'0 11 cont.li;1S "L'\'l'r.l l h ll1h.lrt·d pkture--, .. nch ~-­
of t]w VilJr.l, I hi! D rilgl>n Kmg~ Bt~Ci hi .. tlttWh, tlw grt~at BI.KS..
o~\'J, 11 tlw T\\'tl Ct"c~lt l) j ..,cip l ~·"'· fht! "ii\trt•n )nks-has, thto Si'\
P.-tn .. ,n;h.. ,,( tht.· Chan ~·(t} ~ ~1nd lt'lt.~ll ,•rnm~nt mvn~ (lnd ct._'­
h!t-nc•""' n••t mcnw•n'-..:f in tht· HtuJtil''"'t ,,,.....,,.., ' The gr.x:eful
,.. mdbun ..,,( th.._•lm.lgcuf(;uc.td ........ ut \h•r, y olft' al~qutt~dlstin~ut,JK..J
11w C.,hin~"' ~Yl tnm\ I i1~t tht." Ch.1n Se\.\ from
CentrJl Chtn."\ and ti'W1\ilh\'P ligurt-".., ut tlw 11.111 r~on makeup
a fin~;• mhturc.· .tnJ A ,~ rJnd di .. pl..l)' PI llw n,mpJt'~o,;ity ("If lh t'
Buddhht rdl);h>ll
l lw \·,u "'d i n Mt~''' (JI lilt.• I~ · • J· '' 111\d '' o~ r.• \.ui,,.., t'lnmd ,, I
thl' Jt,llh h\1 1\U ( ; 111tlut ., .-'lud I h< ,..,,. 1 •I Bt•d Ill'•' It ''•'" '' nd D~t.· ' ,,..
roun .. ll"\1\ lht• i-..III 'H\)11'~~ Sttnh' lkll .11\' lllr t!:t' ltlll .. t f'·l l't Ui \'HW
inta~l .. ., nl tlw'-,ha\~~L•Jl. ~d. ( lw ... uu,., .. lnh·~•l tlw largt-• '-lu.m
uh· ,,j o..l.'\tu~.·tk ... Jk\\'h uth.·arth .. .J JnliU tlw \,)i.u"u'' l'a~~;.'"ld .. t
Tlw lr.\1\."4.·rif"lt.>tl lluddhbt .. ulr.,, ''' thl! '.lnJ'I'l.tn-LMh
1'"-·noJ ... u, h d .. th._• Vimal.1~rtt '\Jirth.... 1 Sutr.,, \1Jhapr.'ijndr~rclnut.1
diJ...1 I '1.utJI'~'P3r.ln11t.l, BuJdh.w(lldm:.:
..,J....-'1 \bh.h ('lipnlya Sutr.-, C"tC olh ' li •r th ..· nltl!'tt p:m ~ u tr. ~ ... ,u
the ShHIAHH ~,., t.
i\mtln>) tlh' n•lk~ m.'w l ~ u nt'.lfthcd .H tlw Qi.Hl .XUU P..-1-
glJd,1 J rc.• :U "-.lu.. lrit manl "'~ ,,nd .:!.11 \ .1j1'.h. In .. u.lditi\ m. tlwn:
C'\T~t in tht' 0.111 f{q.~ilm ~:.h.,Ll'n~ '-'' t •..nr;r.w.., J S.u, .. krit tllh lt>l._,,
-.omf..• utWhh:h l,d,,n~ to th~ Bu"idh1 .. t I'"~·IL\ ui th,· l )ali King­
J,,m r h~ ... ,·.'lt•·tnr tl\\'11\i...~l f\UI 1t.:Uitur,1) r...·h~·..,!clt b..•hinJ b~ tht"
Sh1n~,,n '""t
'-,111 h ,, ~r .. ~.lt \"tlril!t: ot JT\'11"\L' Jm.'~''• niiMI \'t~!->t?b and
"-UI 1 ,,.. ~ '' thl· C.,lun~vn St:ct inJJCalc..,liMIII ''·"I he t..;_hm~I.Jn ~t
tll llw t\ 1,11My.m,\ t h.11 1Si1S n fc in llw l.lh'l ' '.ml'hthl Perivd and
d uri n~; tlh• '' ht1l..: \,lf tht.! D.11i l"cf'l• lll t\h·'·'-· rth ~lt>!-~, l·he Si"
P.ltl'i.,rt..h .. itf lht.•ChanSed t•cpn•:-..;•l' h'LII nlh ..•l,k·t•mcliSt-:-nlll by
Zh.1ug ~ht.• tl ~Wt'n ,,bo ~.:k•motl'•tr.l l l' l h11l ~ • lthtmgh d uring tlw
Oah 1\:nvd thl" S h in~on Se~t w,, ... Jtunln,wt. lht.' l iMn ~ct vt
1\l,\h,l\,,n.l w,b .. lirl'=,hl .lltll~.. ct>
I he progenitor of the '\...ln7h.l0 Knl[!.c:IOn'l, \i l.ulou. 1~
1~.1r'-... i(l(.'ted and crowned wnh ·' hl~h (hiJ.'l,nOl'l
Let us nO\\' look .lt th\· pidurL" ul Emperor LlLheng·~
IJuddhil \•Vorshlp. J. sc•.xlo "' tiH.· ht.-.H.Itn th~: Pictonal Scwll bv
Zh:mp. S h cn ~wc n . r h(' I) " h K 111~ l)uim ZJuxmg wear5 a hi);h
~,;rt.l \ ''" of red s .. l tC-C'n ,,nd .L lOi~dt>cur,lh~~.l
wath th•'J);O'.:I ••t battlt~ ,m\.1 tl,,mt:" .1 ... well a~ p.'lttt!rn~ ,,: th~.·
.. un •'"'' muun c._., th< ~4.)\ll.,tt'f'!..
The hrgh cro,,-n 1s none ,"llh-1.'r th.'ln t& .. S(l· I he h)l
hl\\'h\ ~~ dt' .. cr'i pliou:
' rht: T\.,..ttlf tht!'dPthtn):.l""

50
.!.
~~~
!lf ~(~
~t. '·~·~ ••
~r~,phu.,l ll )' p r('st•tlt m ~ th1.• SL'CilL· o l 'p l ~)ug hm~ w!lh h \'1) \ ok ..:d
butl.llt)"' '\:i Lulou anc..l h t~ "-On l.olt .. h,•ng,lrL'In luo~t· 1-sh,tiWt.l
r~•bv~. bMc ftWft!d 3nd Cfdern llnw .... 'pi•'Ughm}! w1th h\'11 \ ••l..t"~.l ['.uu •.J.,, ·•
rl'm.l.ll\t'\1 thC' c u ~ l om m tht• r~tJ.;it•n .. lnhilhltt>t.l by lht;> Yi omd lkti
P~·t l J •Ic·~...
0~ (,·mph.• in [1,,jj ~.! anJ th~.-·
p.l~t )..f,,...' •I th\· h1..,1t.•n1 .n1d \·V~,.•~J\. 1 1' 1 ' I ~·rn p l .:-~ in Ku nm 111 ~~ 1 ,u '1•
'tmiltu l~' tlw Q i

Fine Arts
Th ...·mu.. tr.lh.-d '·m1:l~o~o t-11~tnn. ilnd Tht.> Pt,1t>n..tl' fi.l­
~) /h..m~ '-h·-n~"' n in f'·•tlH ul.n ~·th !"\'If!' l~"l.ln .1Jmtr l't'•
Ol'W htl~hl o\li,\IOL'\i ''\ lht• hilt" ilff .. tlf tht.• ,,10lhJ k , .. J, m
1 h,• "''"dt•rtul l·ru~h Pl Zh,m~ ~~"fl~'' ··n lhl ... !f(,tr
m;l-ttt~r nl oil I hr(lll~;ltl hlrlh If\ lw· lut1g ··nvn.t .. l\ .n h l bt•.t• tlw tn.ul ... nl llw I''''JL•UtlJ mthutl .\1 111 .. flltlt \\H ~h•l \\h id\ ,hth'l!•ul h11r11
( I t1!•,11( hlll.lo'tlht·t In t•,ll!u-... J'•l\ tlhtllo., I.!Ui~llol)~t'.llld 1\tlti!!O
lhn~
tlr•n •um.n:~o \\t'\lhu·mdtull• 1 •~t•m,•nlt····'"'"'"'l
.... ITit 11.1n .lftu:·.. w~t , u"h•n .. II•• '"'" l••d• ,1 th.tl I '''11
\ ,,, ,.,ttr 'I'll' >tit\ th11 • ltt:tt Ut ltllh·uum'""'''''' t( hll\.llll
tht J'-'"'
l )n I 11· ••lhN h.md It t. m h .,,.,, lit.~ I ltu mtp~ttl.llll
uh r.d r•lk .. ur th, '·•11J'h • .w(t,,la ~Ut~\Jum .lh' r11.h w ,,
d1 ... U : "·'' n -lh•n.:tf, ,,J, •r ,.,w:,· rdh·, h!l~~ IIH , h.lf.l\ h u•.t"..,
••t th1 , ulluh• '''It') 1l't··•pk ••lht'l'ldln Ill'>~ Uh''''''' tlh• I'.H
J "" lj'lt
I h I h.H rn•plt• h.!\"- .I IPn~· h· •h. If\' .tnd lhl• .ll'llt.H'i)lllf,l
1 ·'' t'\h1\ •lflllll" 10 rlt.\11.11\d .lft')'ht\ !dll\1', II ,\\ ith u •ll\'111111\H
t'\ldo lh1' d\.11 lho·\> h,~\t' Ill !ht• h)ll); h l..,h•lh,tll·ll'llld t'Jl•,lh•d
tlh·u P.t1lh.mt •HilhllflliiiUI~.- \\lilt tl tl\\1\ dl.,ltl h.l tl.t liuH.tl
:r,1 t .. t•nl•r,•h •ltft,~r,·nr 1h'l1\ lhtt ,. ••I llh• :'\.11\th.h• I l.th }..HI>~
~l•m

52
Cl lc :-.. LUFAN
ENDNOTES
J. Tl'rnen th.• I ~l\•1upt>rit", Proies­
.,or at I c111d0 n t .tnl\'t~r-.,ity m ht"'
.uttdl' " I he• ( · ,·,ld lt~ ,,, t h~ &.;han
Ra e~.· puhl i.,Jwd m ls:-::;, fir~t
pul fcHlh th1.• vi•·\\' lhllt'Nrttvhm•
Wa!-- ._, I h,,; KingUi~~nce
uifh't·r .., pri'''h ,,nd diplnmar ..
pubh .. h,·d hut•l..' t>dWing thJ-.
\ h'" c~l 1\:.wth~w·., 11-t>ing: il .. tatt:
hlUIIP.h\.1 "" tin- TIMi prttplt:.> Ot
c.Ju.., numt,_•r tlh• htHc,wmg have
t''\''"',j,, "t'lt;ht\ imlu~nu.>U~"''\'0
t~ wn11n.:,•H tlh• dOt1\:'nt hi'h'T)'
,,; 11\..lJI.lntl:
It R Ool\'tt".;;:' wm.m tlh' Lwi.
H,·J rn ,., ltrdm 1111.1 tl:~· J mr,,;t~·,
tclC..Jndt."\1 b\· tlw Thm pt."'ple
''~rt! Ptuh,_-......nt l·.ln~ Luuyw ot
\ un"''" Linh\"r"'th dnJ \1r. \u
) un-.poh' ol 11\C* "'-•uthea:-.1 Asta
Sl\(lt>h In thr f't·riv~l t.\f thCt !'f3l1.:;
1(1 l'llll-. hnth t)f them wrote
tht:!-t'!' rf Ow thin,l moon of th~
Sec< •t'd y,.,,,. ut tlw Zhonp.xlng
Rclp.tl. \Vith .Ill due submisc:lorl
b\ Hi .. \1,lW"'(' \1tn t5tt'rZh:~og
Sh\JII .uld thl· 1\·lJgJstnt .... or
~VL•t-.h,ln , tt .... ~l.ll"-'~t)·'s ~·lhli!=;h~r
\V~m~ l•t•na;,thtmg .1nd othNg~-.,·d••d
it d' tlw t •rigmal. yet
P rolc~~~~r X L\Il}~ D.t t:•f 1.\.t.>ijing
• • IJ~> Cf\'l"ll th,u " llw lkdit:,Hi11 th~
"'li};hh...,t tr,l\'.llt l\'ra1\.l~ no t to b

CUL Tl'I:.h't'
S:udy t•f 0;,· l'v'tot• ..;i,urn~ •)JJ tht·
~·:m:f1ll,!.!
= \' hu \\"t,_'>f(' ha~h munk .. .ttl\.1
..,..,·k•bulh'.., 111 1ht•D.lil Rt·~U 'Il
17 \' ~twn Htl 11t the I.,. 1uri01l
'icrolt l"~\' Zh.11ll~ 'iht>n~\\'f~n.
1\ \',lk'.._'t..~~' .1 r,i ~Fl.. at:l.h ·• m u­
.._h.lh. I he plt'lUh: ..,how-. ho\\
the ' ..u11hi10 ~1 ug~ ,,f thlrll't,>n
)otC'lWr.Ha.ms \.\'l 'l'\' w o r .. hiprin):.
-\l"..tlokth.'C\"olrd ll.td.ll"OlU·
!..Juh. l l..:nt:c it 1"' e''1dt•t'lt th(lt
lhi.:. fl'lldlu'i.ilttv.l t•niun."'(l g r~"l
.'\d(mttwn a l llh· timt!
IS. Cilmt•rdlc'll~i:•,• Stutlv ''' tlh' z\'r.•u•
~~mu.· .. •11 :1:< ,\1,m.:lr.h• (J;Jir Kill.'\
dtlm, p. 25. pu bh.,.hcd ,\t T:dbci,
1%7.
10. Tit,· Rr)iJJ. tl) S~ •~'•IS«' fl'll~t> :,,1y ~ m
11
lht t'lghlh il\.. m on the :o.cl\·,,;:.e
.-u.. lt'm:;, "Til~ purple and the
rt"(l ''nlor:. .lrl.' Kre;,tl}' l''itccu•cd
Pt·Nlns whu wC'In t~rt~at :nt:'nb.
afrt•r ,,bt.llnin.g th,· purple .• lrt'
pt'rtntltcd ll, \Vl'•lr Vroc.,dc,
'"'h1l~ ~· '"-ho att• ''"cepllnu·
Jl!\ m('rihllll'U!l- .• 1h' pem1ilkd
ttl '"''(lr Ool11u .;h.in .111 n'-'"' Me pertmttL-'LI lll ,,·ear thr:.•
:;J..ln, •ve-r th,• brca~t ,1 nd tht.~ b.'lf ~.
l\ llhtl\11 Oll t!nn,; lht!' oHm ....
TIH'"''' \\·hr1.-ut• ~t1111.--. ... m~ ritt U'It)U
.. .~r~ cm.lv p~rmhkd to \\\'.lr
th,• .. l.,m cwt•r the bn•.t-.t, wtthnut
em r·nng thr.• h.u:(.. u , ,l ~,m ... t..in ,..._
n~Hhlll):;l•tJW I than h~\·r rnplt:o P.lgL){(J, ·IU5"\m
m ht:l).!hl •• md lhl' \\'~~~ l•·ntrle
P.1~od11 , Vi~3m II\ hei~hl, both
iu Kunminl!. J t\' LJ-~hm')'l'1.~
'lUd\i r.tn~~ul,u brld .....\nh:turv-.
1-L fnl' M Dt1l1 bv ( .uo Si.•ngnt.'lll
..t~•tc--; 1h.1t t-n tht• Erhat I ·'"''-" r~
~ion tiw P"Jan'. pa\·111'"'"'· Jan
Hlt.1p,e ,u\1 1 bibliut1t...•ci1. tht• \\'t:!d
din,z... ftmt•r.:tl.ln~f ... Knt't, Ml ntu
,,b. -a~''"'' as tht• nuhtar\ ... tr.tl
•'):'' ;mJ t,1f tic ... though 1111t .-tft

TWO DHARANI -INSCRIPTIONS FROM
..
TOMBS AT DALI (YUNNAN)
OSKAR VON HINUBER
ORIENTALISCHES SEMINAR
UNIVERSITAT FREIBURG/BRSG.
Invited by the Government of Yiinnan, Her Royal Highness
Princess Galyani Vadhana paid an official visit to that part
of China late in 1985, the events of which have been described
in great detail in a beautifully produced book entitled Yunnan
printed in Bangkok 2529/1986.
In the afternoon of the 12th December 1985, Her Royal
Highness and her entourage met the members of the "Historical
Circle of Dali." During the ensuing discussion some rubbings of
inscriptions on old tombstones were shown to the Thai visitors,
among them Dr. Hans Penth from the Social Research Institute
of Chiang Mai University as one of the four scholars accompanying
Her Royal Highness. Dr. Penth was able to photograph
altogether five of these rubbings, among them two which are
written almost entirely in an Indian script; that is, nos. 1 and 3
according to his numbering. Both photographs were shown to
me during my visit to Chiang Mai early in 1986, and I am very
much obliged to Dr. Penth for his suggestion and kind permission
to publish them.
These inscriptions are mentioned briefly on p. 166 of the
book Yunnan referred to above, where it is said that their
language is Sanskrit, their script devanagarl, and their contents
gathii, i.e. magic formulas. Further it is stated there that they are
found on tombstones, that the names of the deceased persons
are given in Chinese, and that nobody has ever attempted to
read the Sanskrit inscriptions.
This is not entirely correct. First of all, as a glance at the
plates shows, the script is clearly not devanagarl, a name used
since the 18th century for a variety of the Northern Indian
scripts and e.g. for Hindi today/ but the well known siddham
script, widespread among Chinese Buddhists and described by
R.H. van Gulik: Siddham. An Essay on the History of Sanskrit
Studies in China and Japan. Sata-Pitaka series 247. Delhi 1980
(reprint of the 1953 edition).
Secondly, these inscriptions from the so-called "mushroom
tombs" are well known and were read long ago, for as
early as 1946 the German sinologist Walter Liebenthal (1886-
1982), who also was deeply interested in Buddhism, visited
Yiinnan, and particularly Dali and Likiang, to do research on
that religion there.
The results of his investigations have been published in a
series of four articles:
1. Sanskrit Inscriptions from Yunnan I (and Dates of the
Foundation of the Main Pagodas in That Province), Monumenta
Serica 12, 1947, 1-40.
2. A Sanskrit Inscription from Yunnan, Sino-Indian Studies III
parts 1,2. Calcutta 1947.10.-12
3. An Early Buddha Statue from Yunnan, Indian Historical
Quarterly 32.1956.352. foil.
4. Sanskrit Inscriptions from Yunnan II, Sino-Indian Studies
V part 1. Santiniketan 1955. 46-68.
In the last of these four contributions, Liebenthal indentified
the siddham inscriptions on the mushroom tombs as the
U~IJ~avijaya-dhararJz, which, according to his findings, was extremely
popular from the Sung (960 - 1279 AD) to the Ming
(1368 -1644) dynasties. Further, Liebenthal points out that all
copies of the U~IJ~avijaya-dharm]lhe saw in Yiinnan contain the
typical phrase tathagatamate dasabhumiprati~thite, which occurs
in the literary tradition of this dhiira11! only in the Sung text
revised by Dharmadeva, a monk from Nalanda, who died in
China in 1001 AD, and who translated into Chinese nos. 974 (a)
and 978 Taish6 Tripitaka, both containing the Ulf1JI!javijayadhiim'112.
Because other versions found elsewhere in China, as
e.g. the one published later by D.C. Sircar: Some Epigraphic and
Manuscript Records, in: Journal of Ancient Indian History 3.
Calcutta 1969/70. 30 - 49: II. An Inscription in siddham script,
39- 41, do not include this particular phrase, Liebenthal cautiously
suggests that Dharmadeva might have brought this
dhiirarJI to Yiinnan. Consequently, the date of the introduction
of this text to that part of China would be the lOth century AD.
Now, this conclusion can be shown to have been somewhat
premature by Dr. Penth' s inscription no. 3, for this inscription
does not have the typical Yiinnan version of the u~~;ii­
~avijaya-dhararJI, in contradistinction to inscription no. 1, which
confirms Liebenthal's evidence. Therefore it may not be totally
useless to reproduce this new textual evidence here as read from
Dr. Penth' s photographs. At the same time this may be helpful
in making Liebenthal's researches known, which so far seem to
have escaped even the attention of scholars on the spot in
Yiinnan.

56 OSKA R VON HI NUBER
The tex t of both versions of the U~(1l~avijaya-dharn(1l is
ex tremely fa ulty, and both are incom plete, breaking off in the
middle of the tex t, probabl y due to the lack of space on the
stone.J In order not to destroy any philological evid ence, the
mistakes committed by the scribes have not been correc ted, but
the tex t from the tomb inscription published by Liebenthal
(1955), p. 60 note 2, w hich is far better, has been printed here as
an interlinear version• to facilitate understanding.
The rather many errors seem to be due partly to th e fact
that the scribes w rote down their tex ts "phonetically;" that is, as
they hea rd them recited, which might account fo r e.g. snttfpnlnlllittf,
no. lline 9 fo il.: ~ ntpn-ram ittf; s ahtfs nra l a~ im i , no. 3 line 13
foil.: snhnsrnra s'mi, partly due to a seemingly somewhat imperfect
kn owledge of th e siddham script, especially on the part of
the scribe of inscription no. 3: hr stands for ?fi'i in line 3, for ~ [ h i
in line 17 and fo r ~ ( 11 in line 13 as a kind of substitute for any
di fficu lt ligatu re the scribe was unabl e to remember.
Instances w here the script is not entirely clear have been
pu t into parentheses, as e.g . no. 3 line 15 pn rnn dr)tn fo r pnrifn1itif,
which if interpreted correctly, wou ld agree with other epigraphi
ca l evidence such as nm rtahha for amithaha 5 A seri es of dots
(....) indica tes a divergence from the wording of the dhtftmil
published by Liebenthal.
Both dhifrn l)lS begin with the siddhnm mark/' in no. 3 the
in iti al nn111n: IIn iiiO has been written verti ca ll y in lines 1 and
2. The Chinese headline is the same fo r both inscri p ti ons:?
" n ~ ul~ n v ijnyn -dhmmJI, the sacred mantra." Strangely enough, no.
3 does not contain any name, in contrast to no. lline 19 fo il: "for
the dead CH ANG; may Ku an-yin (Avalokitesvara) ... the way
leading to his tomb (7) ." As Dr. Penth kindly informed me, his
inscription no. 2, w hich is written in Chinese and dates to 1431
AD, is said to stem from th e same tomb as no. 1, but not from th e
same stone. The name of the person buried here is TS' AI.
Only this last tombstone of TS' AI shows the seri es of the
a~ tnmnl ign l n , the "eight a uspicious symbols," to the right il nd to
the left of the Chinese tex t: svastikn, kiirma "tortoise," 111ll1n or
mntsyn "fish," ka lasa "pitcher," vajrn, S(f} ikhn "shell," piinJnghnta
"vase of plenty," chnttrn " umbr e ll a . " ~
In the middle of the semicircle above the inscriptions a
sea ted Bud dha is shown in different attitudes, who has been
id entified tentati vely by Liebenthal as Amitabha. No reading of
the com plica ted m ystical syllables surrounding these Buddhas
'has been attempted here, nor have the dhif rn iJ Is been translated,
as these magic formulas do not norma ll y give any coherent tex t.
Inscription no. 1 (Plate 1)
1. [Chinese tex t: fo-ting-tsun-sheng t' o-lo-ni shen-chou]
2. (siddhan}) namo bhagavata sa rva trailakyaprati vinamo
bhagavate sarvatrailokya prativi-
2. + ~ taya vuddhaya ta naml} tadya thaon} bhrtll1) sudddaya
5i$taya buddha ya te nama!'\ tad ya thaOil} bhrtm}sodhaya
Plate 1: Inscription no. 1 Dnli, Yiinnnn. Pres 111nnbly 1431 AD, sin ce it co111es
jro 111 1he sa1ne l01nbns Inscription I/o. 2. l~nbbing ofn lomb inscriptio // .
Photo by Hnns Pent/1, 1985.
3. 3 visuddhaya 3 mucilya 3 vimuca 3 asama(sa)
3 visodhaya 3 mocaya 3 vimocaya 3 asamilsa-
4. masamasamil tavabh(u)silspharanful}gati svabhavamasama
ntavabhasaspharar) aga ti gaganasva bhava-
5. visuddha abhis(u )tu mful} sarva tathaga ta saga tal)
visuddha a bhi ~ ii'\ca ntu ma rl} sarvatathaga ta sugata
6. va l avacil n a n)Im;t abhi ~(e) k a i mahamutramantrapavaravacanamrta
bhi~ e k a ir mahamudraman tra pa-
7. dai al1ala 3 ay(a)samdhalani suddhaya 3 gaganful}
dail) al1ara 3 ayusatl}dharil}i sodhaya 3 gagana-
8. visuddha U$I}l$avijayaparisuddhe sahasravisuddhe
U $ I}1 ~a vij ay apari s uddh a l} sahasra-
9. lasmisan}ca(d )ite sarvatathaga tapal(o)kani sarasmisan)codite
sarvatathaga tavalokani ~a t-

TWO DHARANT INSCRIPTIONS 57
16. to(ko)tiparisud dhe visphu(va)tha viSuddhe hi (!we)
jay a
tako ~ip a ri s u d dh a v i s phu~a s u d dhi suddhe he he jaya
17. 3 vijaya 3 samla 3 sphara 3 s ar vav uddh adhj s ~h a n a n}­
jaya v ijaya 3 smara 3 sphara 3 sa r va b u ddh ad hi :? ~h an a-
18. d hi :?~ hit e suddhe 3 vajri 3 mahavajra suvajri vajragrad
hi 9 ~hit e sudd he3 vajre vajre mahavajre su va jre vajraga-
19. bhi jayaga(r)bh (e) jayagarbha vajravajra n1 bahavatu +
[Chinese text: Chuil
rbhe jayagarbha vijayagarbhe vajre vajra l1} bhavatu
ma ma [open gap for a name]
20. wei wang jen CHANG kuan-yi n pao shen-tao l
sar1rm1} sarva(sa) +:?asar1ra
n1 sarvasatvfu1a
21. ii ca kayapariSuddhan i bahavatu me (siddhi) sarvaga
tipaii
ca kayaparisud dhis ca bhavantu me sad

58 OSKAR VON HINU BER
20. na parasuddha sarvakarmavara(Qa)panaparisuddhe
sarvakarmavaraJ}apa-
21. (ri)suddha p(r)avi(na)varta(y)i visuddha
risuddhe pratinivartaya ayurvisuddhe
The tex t of the u~!1l~avijaya - dhiiral]l, which has been always
very popular w herever Mahayana Buddhism flourished,
was printed for the first time by F. Max Mt.iller and Bu njiu
Nanjio: The Ancient Palm-Leaves Containing the Prajiia­
Paramita - Hridaya-Sutra and the UshQisha-Vijaya-DharaJ}1.
Anecdota Oxoniensia I, 3. Oxford 1884 (reprinted Amsterdam
1972) . The manuscript used here belongs to a temple in Japan
and ca n be traced back to the 6th century AD. Consequently it
was by far the oldest Sa nskrit manuscript known at the time of
its publica tion, before many older manuscripts came to light in
Central Asia, and among them again the u ~ ni~ a v ijaya-d luimJll
published by R.A.F. Hoernle: The "unkown languages" of
Eastern Turkestan II, in: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
1911. 447-477, especially p. 461 foil . with plate V. The same
manuscript was edited again w ith corrections by I-I.W. Bailey:
Khotanese Tex ts V. Ca mbridge 1963, p. 359 foil. , nos. 728 and
729 9 In spite of their importance, th e study ofdhifranls is still a
relatively neglected field of Buddhist studies, and it is only in
the very recent past that some studies have been devoted to this
literature. Thus a kind of general survey has been given by J.W.
de Jong: A New History of Tantric Literature in India, in:
Studies of Mysticism in Honor of the 1150th Anniversary of
Kobo-Daishi 's Nirvai}am. Acta Indologica VI. Narita 1984,91-
113, on dhifm(llS p. 95 foll. 111 Different aspects of the actual use
and ritual mea ning have been discussed in the foll owing important
papers by G. Schopen:
Pin k 3: Inscription no. 3 Dati, Yiilnlnll. Rubbing ofn lo111b inscription. Photo
by Hans Penth, 1985.
13. hrna(sa)vijaya parasudhi sahasa­
~ 1}1~ av ij aya parisuddh a l} sahasra-
14. rala(~)i(m)isan}su(dh)ito sarvatathagarasmisan}codi
te sarva ta thaga-
15. tavabhakina sa tap a r a m(r)t a~ ar a ­
tavalokani ~a~patamitapari-
16. bhurana saravatathaga tamato tapCrrai)i
sa rvatathagatamate da-
17. subhunapato(hrpi)ta sarva ta thagasa
bhCmliprati~~hit e sarvatathaga-
18. tahrdayaddhopithana +~~ito mutro
tahrdayadhi~~hanadhi~~hi te mudre 3
19. (muvi) mahamutro vajrakayasan}gatamahamudre
vajrakayasamghata-
The Tex t on the "Dharat;T Stones from Abhayagiriya:" A
Minor Contribution to th e Study of Mahayana Literature in
Ceylon, in: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist
Studies V, 1.1 982.100-108.
The Bodhigarbhalari.karalak~a and Vimalo~I}J~a Dharai}lS
in Indian Inscriptions, in: Wiener Zeitschrift ft.ir die Kunde
St.idasiens 29.1985.119-149.
Burial "ad sanctos" and the Physical Presence of the Buddha
in Ea rly In?ian Buddhism, in: Religion 17.1987.193 - 225.
ln the last article mentioned, G. Schopen draws attenti on
to the application of dhilralJ Is in funeral rites (p. 199 foil.). Similar
practices ca n be observed in present day Nepal, where certain
dhiiralJlS are reci ted at the moment of death, and others while the
funerary procession is moving toward s the cremation ground,
as recently pointed out by S. Lienhard. 11 This cl ose connecti on
of certain dham nls to death is confirmed again by the tombstone
inscriptions from Yunnan.
However, it is not only in Mahayana that the Uf?lJlf?avijaya
is related to death. In a recent major contribution to the study
of Thai Buddhism by L. Ga baude: Une Hermeneutique Bouddhique
Contemporaine de Thailande: Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

TWO DHARANT INSCRIPTIONS 59
Publications de !'Ecole Fran

REBELLION IN NORTHERN LAOS:
THE REVOLTS OF THE LU AND
THE CHINESE REPUBLICANS (1914-1916)
GEOFFREY C. GUNN
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
While conventional scholarship has portrayed the colonial
era as "peaceful," in reality, rebellion stirred all the major
ethnic groups in Laos at various points between 1893 and
1954. 1 Pathet Lao historiography dates the nationalist movement
in Laos from a popular armed insurrection led by the Lao
"patriot," Pho Ka Douat, in 1901/ eight years after the French
conquest. Other ethnic rebels deemed sufficiently important
and "patriotic" to rate mention are Ong Keo and Ong Kommadan,
the leaders of armed insurrection on the Bolovens plateau
which lasted from 1901 to 1936, the armed resistance of the Lu
minority under the leadership of the Chao Fa of Muong Sing
(1914-1918) the resistance of the Tai in Sam Neua (1916) and
the Hmong rebellion of 1918-1922led by Tiao Fa Patchay. 3
Resistance to central power in Laos did not of course
commence in colonial times and not all rebellions in Laos
during colonial times were purely anti-French. For instance, in
1875 the Kha chief, Nhi, at the head of his fellow tribesmen
rose in revolt in Houa Phan (Sam Neua), burning and killing
all in his path and inflicting a complete defeat upon a Lao army
dispatched from Luang Prabang to capture him. Only with
Nhi's death did peace return to the mountain province. 4 The
Khamu of northern Laos were themselves victims of the Hmong
at the time of the migration of the latter from Vietnam in the
early nineteenth century. Khamu crossbows were no match
for Hmong blunderbusses. 5 Among the Thai-Lao, otherwise
religiously oriented rebellions have a recorded history that
goes back to the seventeenth century. 6
Neither was all anti-authority activity recorded by colonial
observers construed as "rebellion." In many cases the
activities of bandits, labelled pirates, existed in the grey area
between social banditry and anti-authority rebellion. In common
with the more notorious rebel groups, the favoured "bandit"
terrain included inaccessible mountain redoubts and the
more remote regions of the trans-Mekhong boundary with
Thailand as well as the borderlands between Laos and Yunnan,
Laos and Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia.
The presence of these rebel-bandits was revealed during
the opening years of the colonial administration. Among the
first recorded were Sene Louang Anakete, the rebel Lao chief
of Muong Phou Kha, arrested in 1895. In the same year, an uprising
by the "pirate" chief Bang Thuoc was suppressed by the
Lao population as he was leading a march upon Muong Het.
Various other acts under the general rubric of "piracy" were reported
in Cammon and Tran Ninh in 1896, certain of them
committed by Vietnamese on Lao territory. Isolated acts of
"banditry" were also recorded in Khone in 1918 (the assassination
of a French family) and at Muong in 1924.7 Again in June
1933, the arrests in Siam of two infamous bandit leaders, Nai
Sai and Nai Chau, were recorded. Having eluded the Siamese
and French authorities for years, their incarceration was seen
as a major defeat and loss of prestige for bandit emulators. 8 To
be sure, the phenomenon of social banditry was not confined
to Laos but was prevalent in Siam, Cambodia, Vietnam and in
other colonies or semi-colonies, and indeed in other epochs,
preceding and succeeding the era of European colonial
intervention. 9
Typically, incorporation of the colonial periphery into a
metropolitan-ordered state system involved the recasting of
local political arrangements and power hierarchies. Such disruption
often met with local resistance. Indeed, this was encountered
by the French in Laos in the early years of conquest.
But additionally, political instability increased in northern
Indochina with the end of dynastic rule in China in 1911.
Inside Laos, as discussed below, instability took two forms,
"feudal," as in the case of the Lu, and "republican" or war-lord
as in the case of Chinese elements.
Revolt of the Lu (1914-1916)
The colonial administrator Boulanger observed that the
montagnards of upper Laos were more or less "violently agitated"
during the entire period from 1914 to 1921. Up until
1914, he contends, the various races of Muong Sing, Lu as well
as montagnard, had accepted French tutelage, the only major
dissenter being the Lu chief and "vulgar bandit," VanNa Poum,
until his death at the hands of the military in 1910. 10 To be
sure, as Adas has written, given the colonial rapporteur's habit
of indiscriminate labeling of anyone who resisted colonial rule
as a bandit, it is very difficult to determine which bandit
groups were exponents of popular resistance and which were

62 GEOFFREY C. GUNN
merely common bandits. 11 There is, however, no mistaking
the anti-French and popular cha1acter of the revolt of the Lu of
1914-1916. Led by a Lu prince and centred on Muong Sing, one
of the former constituent muong of the ancient Tai-Lu political
federation of Sip Song Panna, the rebellion took on the character
of a movement for the secession of the muong from French
rule. 12 Muong Sing had only been fully incorporated into French
Laos in April 1904 following preliminary negotiations between
Scott for the British in Burma and Pavie for the French
side13• Pavie had originally secured the Lu country for France
by winning over the Chao Fa (prince) of Muong Sing. In 1907,
however, the old Chao Fa was succeeded in that position by
his son Phra Ong Kham, who did not share his father's pro­
French sentiment and, indeed, developed an implacable contempt
for the French. Following his initial flight to Sip Song
Panna in December 1914, the Chao Fa led the Lu people in
rebellion against the French for the next two years. It took the
French three military expeditions before they could restore
order and reestablish their administration. This they achieved
by stripping the principality of its vice-regal prerogatives and
converting it into a simple muong. Although the Chao Fa's
family was authorised to return to Muong Sing, the Chao Fa
himself eventually died in exile in China in 1923. 14
Up until this time the principality was in theory governed
by the Chao Fa, considered by the population as an
emanation of Buddha. He was seconded by a Ho Senam or
Assembly of "mandarins." Each was of the Lu race and in
theory was responsible for a special service such as finance,
public works, police and so on, although, to be sure, they may
have been concerned with anything but their allotted duties.
Under the colonial order, appointments to the Senam were
made by the Chao Fa but subject to the approval of the French
administration. Before the French occupation, the Senam comprised
150 members, but the numbers had been progressively
reduced, to seventy-five in 1899 and twenty-five in 1905.15
In tandem with the French-imposed corvees and taxes,
the Chao Fa upheld his traditional seigneurial rights. The
population could be called upon to exercise a variety of servile
duties, e.g. as tahoi (partisans), malalec (sword-bearers), timoi
(parasol bearers), kounan (intendants for the preparation of
fetes), watchmen for the Chao Fa's cattle, labourers for his ricefields,
huskers for his padi, watchmen and so on. According to
colonial accounts, the Chao Fa subjected his people to "a reign
of terror." As in oth~r muong, the montagnards were the major
victims of domination at the hands of the Lu "mandarins." Not
surprisingly, the Kha and the Tai Neua desired to be rid of the
yoke of the Chao Fa. 16
Even before his defection in 1914, the Chao Fa was seen
to be turning his not inconsiderable talents to "evil." This
became most apparent between 1905-1908, during the period
when extensive public works projects were carried out in northern
Laos. Village chiefs acting on the orders of the Senam
refused to supply corvee labour for the French while requisitions
required for the Chao Fa or the mandarins were met.
According to the French rapporteur, the only possible explanation
for this act of duplicity was the "natural" proclivity of the
Lu to surrender themselves to pomp and pageantry as long as
it gave them the "illusion of being a great people" or at least
being at the top of an ethnic hierarchy which placed the montagnards
at the bottomY
One French observer states that the rebellion of the Lu
probably commenced as an attempt by relatives of the Chao Fa
to usurp power. In any case the Phya Kham Lu fled to Sip Song
Panna in 1909 and from there mounted opposition to both the
French and the Chao Fa. With the flight of the Chao Fa to
Muong La in Sip Song Panna, clan rivalry and court intrigue at
Muong Sing became subordinated to the war of resistance
mounted by the Lu peoples against the French. While the
Chao Fa awaited a propitious time to stage his return from Sip
Song Panna, his armed bands engaged in running guerilla
actions against the French forces in Luang Nam Tha and Muong
Sing. The advice tendered by the Resident Superieur to his
beleaguered deputies in the Lu country was to hold "blow by
blow" the posts already occupied until reinforcements could
arrive. The strategy was to guard the valleys of the affluents of
the Nam Tha, the most likely "invasion" route of the Lu "pirates"
towards Muong Sing. A major fear of the French was
that the rebellion would be consummated as a true war of
secession, especially if the Chao Fa was contacted by enemies
of France in China. 18
The Chinese Revolt of 1914
In November 1914, what the French saw as a band of
"Chinese pirates and opium smugglers" entered Laos from
Yunnan and attacked the administrative centre at Sam Neua,
killed the French administrator, Lambert, and made off with
between 100,000-200,000 piastres from the local treasury along
with 49 kilograms of opium and a supply of weapons. Fortified
in the post, the rebels repelled attempts by the military to
dislodge them. Reinforced by "turbulent elements" drawn
from the local population, the band withdrew in the face of the
tirailleurs (infantry) summoned from Hanoi. From Sam Neua,
the rebels marched on Son La, successfully destroying French
posts in the Black River region.19 Before storming Son La and
occupying the office of the Resident, the rebels staged a procession
and fete in the Black River region celebrating the coup de
main at Sam Neua. On this occasion they brandished flags of
the Chinese Republic and their own revolutionary standard,
featuring a black triangle on a red background.20 Pursued by
the military the rebels retreated to Sip Song Panna-whence
they had come-via Dien Bien Phu.
If the ringleaders of the rebellion were Chinese from Sip
Song Panna, the rest were drawn from local Chinese residents
in northern Laos, Son La and Hoa Binh. 21 At the time of the
attack on Son La the rebel forces had been swollen from the
original group of thirty Chinese and forty Kha and Phuthai to
include 200 Chinese and 600-700 Li:w and Kha mine cooliesP
These were joined by Black Tai elements from Muong Het in
the Black River region, otherwise referred to by the French as

REBELLION IN NORTHERN LAOS 63
the "dregs of the population." Other Tai supporting the rebel
cause were from the clientele of local functionaries whose positions
had been revoked by the French for misdemeanoursP
The chief of the rebel band went by the name of Leang
San or Liang l;'ou Tou, in emulation of the Chinese military
"governor" of the region during the Ho (Black Flag) invasion in
the late nineteenth century.24 Indeed, by assuming the name of
special commander he attempted to pass himself off as King of
the Ho. Allowing no allusions as to the intent or permanency
of the rebellion, the rebels posted the following proclamation
at the occupied post at Sam Neua:
We Leang Tou Tou,
In execution of the orders of the chief superior, Li Yuen
Hong, we have seized the poste of Sam i-Jeua to render
good will to all. Everyone continue to cultivate your
land and remain peaceful. It will be necessary to unite
and obey orders received.25
Neither was the anti-French dimension of the rebellion ignored:
The French army which is at Muong Boun Nua is encircled,
it seeks to rescue itself but is unable.
1. If this army requests any provisions, porters or coolies,
refuse to offer any services.
2. Any infraction of this order will lead to the death
penalty for the guilty.
3. The French army in Muong Boun Nua will be destroyed
blow by blow.
4. All the soothsayers have predicted the annihilation of
the French people. Even Paris has been crushed by the
German army. It is no use counting on France. Drive
out the French and the country will commence a happy
'!-rid prosperous era and will enjoy entire religious freedom.
Authorities receiving this proclamation, make it known
to all inhabitants.
Enigmatically dated the twenty-eighth day of the second month
of "the Chinese era, 2615," the proclamation was signed by the
military chiefs, Xing Tchai and Xing Liani in the name of the
newly proclaimed country of "Phu Nan Khui."26
Having eliminated the French from Sam Neua, the Chinese
rebels sought to restructure the local administration. All
in all, eight chaomuong were to be nominated from among those
Lao tasseng who had joined the rebel cause. The Chinese chief
pledged double salaries for all, and a generous pia (measure) of
opium a day for the coolies. Twenty coolies conscripted from
each tasseng were to be employed to construct a redoubt headquarters
for the rebel administration at Sam Neua. In an
evident departure from past administrative practice in the
province, the Chinese chief paid for everything he requisitioned.27
While in fact several new chaomuong were nominated
and installed in office on double salary, the majority of
the Lao tasseng remained pro-French, as did the Hmong of the
province.28
Following suppression of this short-lived rebellion, a
War Council was convoked with a view to the restoration of
the status quo ante. Six of the guilty (or at least six scapegoats)
were summarily executed. These included Ba Phom, the former
Lao chaomuong of Xieng Kho, Khamphan Ken, a Lao guilty
of assassinating a French missionary, and the Chinese rebels
Hy Vo Ky and Ba La. Witnessed by the mandarins and the
local population, the executions were reported by the local
French observer to have had a very "salutary" effect upon the
population, especially the execution of Ba Phom, who had held
very high office for eighteen years and who was well known
locally.29
The major repercussion, however, was the reorganisation
of the territory between the Black River and the Upper
Mekong bordering Yunnan as military regions (Military Region
Five in Laos and Military Region Four in Tonkin). Simultaneously,
a state of siege was proclaimed in the regions. According
to the Governor General this drastic measure was
justified by the continued threat posed to the French order by
the Chinese rebels. In June 1915, between 1,000 and 3,000
rebels, 500 of whom were well armed, were strll holding out at
Muong Hou in north Laos, where they were being resupplied
from China, but only the Yao population of the region was
reported as susceptible to rebel influence. 30 On the diplomatic
level, although various approaches were made to the Chinese
government in Yunnan, the Governor General did not consider
intercession with Peking to be warranted. 31
Should, then, this rebellion be viewed as a political
movement? According to the Governor General, not at all. In
his view it was simply the work of opi1,1m smugglers out for
"vengeance and death." According to this reasoning, Lambert
had brought vengeance down upon his own head because he
went about the suppression of opium smuggling with a degree
of zealousness unmatched by his predecessors. That he made
enemies among the local Chinese, the leading smugglers in
northern Laos, was undeniable, but why did other ethnic groups
and strata join in the revolt? The entire Muong population of
the hill country of Than Hoa and Hoa Binh were seen as
inveterate opium smokers-women included-and averse to
paying an inflated price for opium sold by the Regie. The
opium heisted by the rebels at Sam Neua included opium
confiscated from smugglers. Indeed the post was attacked the
night before the collection of taxes was to have been effectively
accomplished. This manifest act of "banditry," according
to the Governor General, was largely a result of retribution
sought by Ba Phom, the Lao functionary whose position was
revoked in June 1913 and who had been fined 800 piastres by
the Douanes et Regie. It was then that he made common cause
with the Chinese and was himself responsible for rallying the
Tai, the "wretched auxiliaries of the bandits." Following this
argument, all the proclamations, discourses, letters and demonstrations
of Leang San, the Chinese rebel chief, were just
"boasting and parody." 32

64 GEOFFREY C. GUNN
Still, there is evidence of a far more careful preparation
for the revolt than is suggested by a single-minded action of
bandits. Although ignored by the unfortunate Lambert, a rebellion
by the Chinese in northern Laos had already been
brewing for some four or five months. This involved rudimentary
military training of rebel units. Unlike the Lao, most
Chinese in Laos were literate and were ardent readers of newspapers
from their homeland. Au courant with events surrounding
the 1911 revolution, the resident Chinese in Laos
were able to influence the local population in many ways.
Leang San reportedly even told the chaomuong of Sam Neua
that he was sent by the President of the Chinese Republic to
conquer Annam. Indeed, after the initial coup de force at Sam
Neua, the rebels were sufficiently well organised to sound out
the entire Chinese population residing in the territory between
Sam Neua and the Black River as to joining in a general uprising
against the French administration.33
Nor should we overlook the historical antecedents of the
revolt, which might also be described as a localised manifestation
of Chinese republicanism fueled by a lingering memory
on the part of the Chinese population of the Black Flag revolts,
which swept northern Indochina in the late nineteenth century.34
By the Treaty of T'ien Tsin of June 1884, Peking had
abrogated to France all rights of suzerainty in Tonkin. Local
Yunnanese mandarins, Chinese troops and bandits living semipermanently
in the Black River region had never recognised
this treaty, however, nor was the government in Peking­
Imperial or Republican-inclined to discipline them. They
lived off the local population like locusts and on the occasion
of the sacking of Luang Prabang, the Ho joined forces with
troops of Deo Van Tri. Larteguy and Yang Dao observe that
while certain Hmong joined the Black Flags on this occasion,
the majority fought against them to secure their independence.35
On the other hand, by withholding support for Leang
San's movement, the Hmong probably ensured its ephemeral
existence.36
In general, Chinese residents in Vietnam rallied to Sun
Yat Sen's Tung Meng Hui society and welcomed the republican
leader during his visits1to Vietnam in the eariy 1900's. Sun
saw in Tonkin a safe-base from which to launch anti-Ch'ing rebellion
into Kuangsi and Yunnan. But with the failure of one
such rebellion in 1908, Sun was deported from Indochina by
the French either at the request of or in complicity with the
Chinese government. One official Ch'ing memo of the time
described Sun Yat Sen as "a head of a band of robbers which
had been committing depredation and disturbing the public
peace in Kwangsi on the borders of Annam ...".37
While we
have no evidence that the Tung Meng Hui took root in Laos, it
would not be too fanciful to draw the inference that bolder
elements among his former subordinates took matters in hand
to strike a blow for local northern Lao and Vietnamese independence,
albeit on Chinese terms.
A probable sequel to the rebellion occurred in April
1932, when a band of 300 Yunnanese "pirates" armed with 150
weapons rallied in the Taland region with the intention of
attacking Muong Le. The colonial authorities surmised that
this band was in league with elements of the Garde indigene
who had turned their guns against the French during December
of the previous year. Not usually given to cooperation, the
Chinese authorities in tandem with the French suppressed the
rebellion. Its origins were believed to lie in the failure of the
crop, more particularly because young plants were destroyed
by the rains. 38
As seen, the revolt of the Lu under the Chao Fa illustrated
the phenomenon of the rebel aristocrat. The Chao Fa
provided not only leadership but was simply the most prestigious
personage in the Lu world. "Feudal" in the way he
treated his subjects, he was, nevertheless the symbol of Lu
separateness and identity.39 The impulse on the part of the Lu
peasantry to rid themselves of the corvee and the colonial tax
burden was undoubtedly a major factor in facilitating popular
support for the Chao Fa's rebellion. For the man himself, his
rebellion may have been as much a war of secession for the
restoration of traditional boundaries and traditional prerogatives.
The revolt therefore has a dual anti-colonial and "feudal"
quality. Above all, however, the revolt illustrates the particularly
Lao-Lu quality of the importance of a clientele to a rebel
leader as much as the importance of a meritorious leader to a
clientele.
Distinguished by its political program and its foreign
element, the revolt of the Chinese in 1914 is a more complex
phenomenon. Although anti-fiscal and anti-French and while
attracting a limited participation of the local population, it
would be hard to conceive that had the rebels established their
republic, they would have removed all local abuses. Clearly,
however, the Opium Regie had alienated not only the local
merchants cum opium smugglers cum Black Flags but had
driven a number of the lesser Lao nobility into social banditry.
The Kha, as was usually the case, had nothing to lose by
joining the rebels. Singing the praise of Chinese Republicanism,
while acting out the role of opium warlords, the rebel
leadership appeared to be responding less to crisis than a sense
of relative political deprivation. By attempting to replace one
protectorate with another, the Chinese rebels have emphatically
not won a place for themselves in patriotic Lao history.
Conventional histories of the Black Flags40 have tended to
emphasise the destructiveness of their military campaigns and
their ideology of "anarchy." Accordingly, their pioneering
struggles against French colonialism in Indochina have scarcely
merited serious consideration from Lao or Vietnamese historians.
Yet, the attempt of Leang San and his army to liquidate
the French Opium Regie and the colonial tax system in northern
Laos stands as a major prelude to the outbreak of major
mass revolutionary insurrection in northern Indochina some
decades later, albeit under vastly different circumstances.

REBELLION IN NORTHERN LAOS
65
ENDNOTES
1. Hugh Toye, Laos: Buffer State or
Battleground, London, Oxford
University Press, 1968 p. 48.
2. This rebellion occurred in the
area along RC 9 in southern Laos
close to the Laos-Vietnam border.
See Ky Son, "The Special
Vietnam-Laos Relationship
Under Various Monarchies and
During the Anti-French Resistance,"
Vietnam Courier, no. 7 ,
1980 1 p. 11.
3. See Phoumi Vongvichit, Le Laos
et Ia Lutte Victorieuse du Peuple
Lao contre le Neocolonialisme America
in, n.p. Editions du Neo Lao
Haksat, 1968, pp. 40-41.
4. Anon., "La Province des Hua
Phan: Laos" Extreme Orient,
Nouvelle Serie, No. 14, August
1972.
5. J. Mottin, History of the Hmong,
Bangkok, Odeon, 1980, p. 47.
6. Y. Ishii, "A note on Buddhistic
Millenarian Revolts in Northeast
Siam,"in S. lchimura (ed), Southeast
Asia: Nature, Society and
Development, University of HawaiiPress,Honolulu,
1977, p. 6.
7. L. Mogenet, Bibliographie Complementaire
du Laos (1962-1973),
Bibliotheque Nationale, Vientiane,
1973, 75-85.
8. ArchivesOutreMer(AOM) Paris
Indochine A2 NF 328-2649 June
1933.
9. The following reflection by a
Cambodian on why people became
"pirates" is instructive:
"Why do people become pirates?
"Cambodians are very gentle and
very often submit to authority
because of ignorance and religion.
Buddhism teaches them to
be resigned and wise. If they become
pirates it is because they
are at the end of their means and
because they have no alternative,
it is because they have nothing
to eat or to wear and pay and
because personal and property
tax is too heavy for them. Moreover,
the Douane is insupportable
for them. Customs officers
threaten them severely, make
them pay dues, carry off the
products of their cultivation,
wagons, buffalos. These activities
discourage them, reduce
them to nothing, prevent them
from d.evoting themselves to
cultivation and incite them to
become pirates ... " ("Reflexions
d'un Cambodgien au sujet des
actesdepiraterieau Cambodge."
La Presse Indochinoise, 11 July,
1936).
10. P. Le Boulanger, Histoire du Laos
Fraru;ais, Paris, Libraire Pion,
1931, 356-7.
11. M. Adas, "From avoidance to
confrontation: Peasant protest
in pre-colonial and colonial
Southeast Asia," Comparative
Studies in Society and History, Vol.
23, No. 2, 1981,217.
12. See AOM Aix-en-Province, Laos
Q2, Monographie du V Territoire
Militaire, May 1926.
13. Le Boulanger, op. cit. p. 333.
14. ibid., p. 375.
15. AOM Aix Laos Ell, "Situation
Geographique et Ethnographique
de la Principaute de
Muong Sing," n. d.
16. ibid.
17. ibid.
18. ibid.
19. AOM Paris Indochine A 50 NF
(28) 3 "Note pour la presse" n. d.
20. AOM Aix Laos Q1, "Situation
Politique du Laos" 4th tri 1914,
Report to Governor General,
Vientiane, 11 January 1915.
21. AOM Aix Laos E12 "General
Report."TranhNinh,3rd tri 1914.
22. AOM Paris Indochine A 50 NF
(28) 3 "official telegram." Lai
Chau, 29 December 1914.
23. AOM Paris Indochine A50 NF
(28)' 3 "Governor General of Indochina
to the Minister of Colonies,"
5 February 1915.
24. A previous instance of Ho invasion
of Laos occurred in 1895 by
a band of 200 under the leadership
of Phan Dinh Phung; see
Mogenet, op. cit. p. 77.
25. AOM Paris Indochine A50 NF
(28) 3 "Governor General of Indochina
to the Minister of Colonies,"
5 February 1915.
26. AOM Aix Laos Q1 "Situation
Politique du Laos." 4th tri 1914,
"Report to the Governor General,"
Vientiane, 11 January 1915.
27. AOM Aix Laos E12, Tran Ninh,
Barthelemy, 4th tri 1914.
28. AOM Aix Q1 "Extract from the
report of the Resident Superieur."
15 January 1915.
29. AOM Aix Q1 "Extract from the
report of Drouot, Administrator
Commissioner of the Government
at Sam Neua," 2 April,
1915.
30. Service Historique de la Marine
10 H 73 "Etat Major de l'Armee
de Terre" and AOM Paris Indochine
A50 NF (28) 3 "Note pour
la Presse" n.d.
31. AOM Paris Indochine A50 NF
28 (3) "Governor General to the
Minister of Colonies," 31 May
1915.
32. AOM Paris Indochine A50 NF 28
(3) and see AOM Aix Q1 "Extract

66 GEOFFREY C. GUNN
from the Report of the Resident els, still led by Leang (Luong) to His Majesty's Minister," Pe-
Superior" of27November 1914. Tou Tou and holding out in king, 30 January 1908.
northern Laos, see Guillemet,
33. "Governor General of Indochina
38. AOM Paris A2 NF 328 2649 "Les
Sur les Sentiers Laotiens, Hanoito
the Minister of Colonies," 5
Rapports Politiques Mensuelles,"
Haiphong, Imprimerie d'Ex-
February 1915, op. cit.
April 1932, May 1933.
treme Orient, 1924. While the
34. cf. D. Marr, Vietnamese Anticolo- rebels were found to be in pos-
39. cf. M. Moerman, "Who are the
nialism, 1S85-1925,Berkeley, Uni-
session of tax documents and
Lu?" American Anthropologist, 67,
versity of California Press, 1971
while they had constructed sopp.
1215-1230, 1965.
pp. 46-47.
phisticated military defense systerns,
they were treated by the
35. J. Larteguy and Yang Dao, La
40. cf. H. McAleavy, Black Flags in
military as common criminals
Fabuleuse Aventure du Peuple de
Vietnam, New York, Macmillan,
and shown little mercy during
l' Opium, Paris,Pressede la Cite',
1968.
the course of the military opera-
1979 p. 86.
tions leading to their liquidation.
36. For an eyewitness account of the
brutal operation mounted by the 37. (Public Record Office) Colonial
Garde Indigene to crush the reb-
Office (CO) 273 343, "Waiwupu

Commercialized Hmong (M eo) ganne11ts on sa/eat the Clmtuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok. Hard economic fa cts have led to the stifling
of creativity and innovation mnong the Hmong and the standardization of a greater volume of production for an expanding market.
Photog raphy by Fred B. Werner.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND
THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOLK CRAFTS­
THE HMONG (MEO)
OF THAILAND AND LAOS
ERIK COHEN
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
Introduction
The commercialization of the folk crafts of the Fourth
World people (Graburn ed., 1976), the usually small andremote
tribes and ethnic groups in developing or even developed
countries, has been frequently described in the ethnographic
and anthropological literature. This literature, however,
has dealt predominantly with the immediate factors affecting
the processes of transformation of folk crafts as they
become oriented towards an "external" public (Graburn,
1976b:8). It is by now well established that these processes are
closely related to tourism in a wider sense. However, though
the spontaneous arrival of ethnic tourists (Keyes and van den
Berg he eds., 1984) in a tribal area may lead to the gradual commercialization
of the local crafts (e.g. Elkan, 1958), such direct
tourism seems to be responsible for only a fraction of the total
volume of commercialized folk products. Much more important
is what Aspelin (1977) termed "indirect tourism"-the
sponsored production of folk crafts for a wider tourist market,
through the intermediacy of a variety of external agents, such
as patrons, traders, trading companies, missionaries, governmental
agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
These agents initiate, encourage, and direct the production of
crafts, and promote them on domestic or even international
markets (see e.g. Graburn ed., 1976; Ethnic Art, 1982). Th01'5h
the products may be eventually bought by tourists, the latter
are not in direct contact with the producers themselves, and
may be only dimly aware of their identity and culture.
The extensive literature on this variety of commercialization
is primarily concerned with the kind of intermediaries,
their policies and effects on the crafts. It does not
usually pay much attention to the wider, political events
and the sociopolitical context which affected the lives of ethnic
and tribal groups in the first place, and thereby made them
accessible to outside agents, and responsive to their demands
and initiatives. The political factor in the commercialization of
folk crafts thus remains unexplicated, and its influence insufficiently
understood.
In this paper I shall note the impact of the wider, particularly
international political factors on the commercialization
and transformation of the crafts of one ethnic group, the Hmong
(Meo) in Thailand and Laos-the principal topic of study.
Specifically, I shall show the variety of ways in which the
Second Indochina War and its repercussions upon Thailand
and Laos affected the crafts of the Hmong. I shall show how
the disturbance and eventual destruction of the "traditional"
tribal life of the Hmong of Thailand, and especially of Laos,
through insurgency, war and flight, wrought havoc in the
Hmong economy, and made the Hmong accessible to the outer
world and receptive to craft production for the market as an
important supplementary source of livelihood. I shall describe
the mechanisms which emerged as a consequence of the political
events to guide the production of Hmong crafts, and to
promote and market them. I shall point out the transformations
which the Hmong textile crafts underwent under the
impact of these developments and indicate the significance of
the commercialized textiles themselves for the Hmong peopleparticularly
for their "external identity," i.e. their identity in the
eyes of the world into which they were precipitately catapulted
by historical events over which they had no control.
Three principal periods can be distinguished in recent
Hmong history; each of these had a particular impact on Hmong
commercialized crafts:
(1) The period of insurgency, war, and removal of the
Hmong from their villages in Thailand and Laos
and their resettlement or flight.
(2) The peJ:iod of the sojourn of the Hmong from Laos
in refugee camps in Thailand.

70 ERIK COHEN
(3) The period of the resettlement of the Hmong from
Laos in third countries, principally the United
States.
First, however, I have to outline briefly the "base-line"
situation of the Hmong and of their crafts in the period prior to
their involvement with the Second Indochina War and its re··
percussions.
TheHmong
The Hmong (called Miao by the Chinese and Meo by the
Thais) are an ancient tribal group of uncertain origins, who
have been traced by some authors through thousands of years
of Chinese history (e.g. Savina, 1930). In recent centuries they
inhabited the high al titudes of southern China and northern
Thailand, Laos and Vietnam (see map in Lemoine, 1972a: 106).
They were remote from the centers of political power, and
lowland rulers maintained only a tenuous hold over them.
Their independence of spirit and resistance to outside control
led to occasional armed conflicts with lowland rulers. Nevertheless,
during hundreds of years of contact and conflict with
the Chinese, the Hmong acquired many elements of Chinese
culture.
The Hmong are divided into about twelve exogamous
clans; members of several clans usually reside in the same village
(Lemoine, 1972b : 184-192). In recent times, the village
constituted the largest political unit of Hmong society, although
occasionally, particularly in periods of emergency and
strife, Hmong leaders with an extensive following emerged.
The Hmong practiced shifting agriculture, based on swiddening
(slash-and-burn) of primary jungle (Kunstadter et al.,
eds., 1978), and the planting of their staple product, brown
mountain rice, as well as of vegetables, chili, and-in recent
decades-opium (McCoy, 1972, Geddes, 1970). They exchanged
opium and some other products with lowlanders, through
itinerant traders.
The main concentration of the Hmong rs in southern
China, where their numbers reach approximately several millions.
In Thailand (outside the refugee camps) they count
more than 60,000 (Tasanapradit et al., 1986 : 4 ). Before the
Communist takeover in Laos, their population there reached
300,000 (Yang Dao, 1988 : 3). Many of these, however, perished
in the war or escaped to Thailand after the Communist
takeover in 1975.
The Hmong are divided into several major subdivisions,
most of whose names are derived form the colors of the
woman's skirt. Two main subdivisions are the White Hmong
and the Blue or Green Hmong (Lemoine, 1972b; Chindarsi,
1976; Geddes, 1976) 2
The Hmong engaged in a wide variety of crafts, especially
silver smithing and the production of embroidered, appliqw§d
and batiked textiles. Both men and women wore
richly ornamented costumes (Bernatzik, 1947, passim; Le-
Ill. 1: Old 1-/mong square (pn ndnu) from Lnos (author's
collection).
moine, 1972b: 114-21; Campbell et al., 1978, passim; Lewis and
Lewis, 1984 : 100-133; Cohen, 1987). Square embroidered or
appliqued pieces, generally known as pa ndau, (more correctly
spelled paj ntaub; see Dewhurst, 1983 : 15; Ill. I) were used as
gifts in rites of passage, such as births, marriages and funerals.
The relative isolation of the Hmong in their own world
was rudely disturbed by the Second Indochina War and its
repercussions, which came in the wake of earlier sporadic
attempts of national and colonial governments to penetrate the
highlands of continental Southeast Asia and impose their rule
upon the tribal populations. While those earlier attempts still
left Hmong society on the whole intact, the events of the
Second Indochina War wrought drastic changes in the lives of
many Hmong communities in Thailand, and completely transformed
those of the Hmong of Laos. These developments, in
turn, had a decisive impact on the commercialization and
transformation of the Hmong textile crafts.
Thelnception Insurgency
and War
In the course of the 1950's the Thai government initiated
the first sporadic steps intended to incorporate the hill tribe
area of northern Thailand-heretofore virtually outside direct
governmental control-into the Thai state. Three types of considerations
purportedly induced the Thai authorities to make
that effort: the alleged destruction of the forests by the swid-

THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOLK CRAFTS 71
dening agricultural techniques of the hill tribes; their production
of opium; and considerations of national security, which
became ever more paramount with the widening of the Indochina
conflict (Marks, 1973; Hearn, 1974). In the process, attempts
were made to impose various ~estrictive measures,
often in a drastic· manner, upon the tribal population.
By the 1960s the Hmong, who, living at the highest
altitudes, were among the last hill people to be reached by the
arms of government, accumulated sufficient grievances to be
ready to offer armed resistance to governmental penetration
(Hearn, 1974:40ff.). In 1967, with Chinese, and later Pathet Lao
(and, by extension, Viet-Minh) assistance, a small-scale but
fierce Hmong insurgency began in Nan Province of northern
Thailand (Lindsay, 1969; Marks, 1973:932).
In the course of their initial, heavy-handed response to
the insurgency, the Thai armed forces killed significant number
of Hmong tribesmen, and napalmed or otherwise destroyed
many Hmong villages (Lindsay, 1969:82). The government
also intensified an earlier-conceived resettlement program,
according to which tribal people were removed from sensitive
highland areas and resettled in lowland villages, often composed
of households arbitrarily assembled from several tribal
groups. Thus thousands of Hmong and other tribal people in
fact became internal refugees (Thomson, 1968a, 1968b, 1968c;
Abrams, 1970; Charasdamrong, 1971; Bhanthumnavin, 1972;
Hearn, 1974). It was in these areas threatened by the insurgency
and in the Hmong resettlement villages that the commercialization
and eventual transformation of Hmong textile
crafts was initiated in Thailand. Later on, and independently
of this process, commercialization also began in some other
Hmong villages, such as Meo Poi Pui (Cohen, 1979 : 14-20),
which were not involved in the insurgency. Some of these
were exposed to the penetration of tourism. These, however
will not be dealt with in this article.
As the Thai authorities realized that the use of brute
force would neither overcome the insurgency nor safeguard
the loyalty of the tribal people, activities intended to improve
their welfare and gain their trust were initiated (Kerdphol,
1976, 1986). A crucial role in this process was played by the
Border Patrol Police (BPP), a paramilitary organization combining
security and civic functions (Lobe and Morell, 1978). In
an effort to create supplementary sources of livelihood for the
tribal people, the Border Crafts of Thailand (BCT) was founded
by the BPP as early as in 1965. This enterprise, intended to
collect and market tribal craft products, was designed to become
part of a multi-pronged security effort in the tribal areas.
From rather limited beginnings (Luche, 1969 : 5-7), the BCT
eventually became one of the major channels through which
the craft products of the resettled tribal people and particularly
the Hmong and Mien (Yao) were commercialized. Several foreigners,
especially Christian missionaries working with theresettled
population, also contributed to the commercialization
of the tribal crafts; some of these eventually played a major role
in the establishment and direction of other non-profit enterprises
and NGOs, through which Hmong tribal craft products
are currently marketed.
While sporadic commercialization of crafts took place in
some original Hmong villages located in "sensitive" security
areas, it was in the resettlement villages that it expanded in
scope and grew in economic significance. Craft production
constituted an important source of supplementary income in
the first years of resettlement, when the traditional economy of
the tribal people was seriously disrupted by their removal
from the highlands, and had not yet adapted to the new circumstances.
However, the development of a market for these
products proved difficult. The promoters of commercialization
attempted initially to sell to outsiders the clothes and
jewelry which the Hmong produced and used themselves;
these were purchased by a few foreigners, especially volunteers,
residing in Thailand, but did not prove marketable in
significant quantities. In the course of a trial-and-error process,
products especially intended for the market were developed;
these differed in a variety of ways from those in use by
the Hmong themselves. Traditional tribal designs were simplified,
so that their production would take less time than
that of traditionally executed designs; new products, adapted
to the foreigners' and, later on, tourists' demand for souvenirs
and utilitarian objects were developed, such as small, embroidered,
appliqued and batiked "patches" and squares of varying
sizes based on the original "pa ndau," which could be used
as decorations on Western-type clothes or as wall-hangings.
Material, colors and color combinations were gradually adapted
to the tastes and demands of the external public, according to
the feedback from the market reaching the marketing agents,
and, through these, the producers (Cohen, 1983).
The market, however,.remained limited for several years,
since the Thai people themselves showed little if any interest in
tribal products, and the marketing agencies were slow in developing
export channels. Nevertheless, this initial period of
commercialization is important in that in its course the prototype
of many Hmong products and their designs were first
developed; these were later on produced in much greater quantities
in the refugee camps for the Hmongs from Laos.
Approximately at the same time as the Hmong insurgency
in Thailand, the Second Indochina War disturbed and
eventually destroyed the accustomed way of life (Barney, 1967)
of the Hmong in Laos (Yang, 1979; Yang Dao 1982). The
Laotian Hmong initially sought to remain neutral and outside
the Indochina conflict; they were, however, drawn into it
through Pathet Lao and Viet Minh reprisals against those
Hmong who collaborated with the French colonial authorities.
In self-defense, part of the Hmong supported the French and
later the Royal Lao government against the Communists. These
Hmong began to be involved in fighting the Pathet Lao as
early as in 1961 (Yang Dao, 1982 : 7-8; cf. also Chagnon and
Rumpf, 1983); subsequently they found themselves aligned
with the Americans, who succeeded the French in the direction
of the war against communism. The CIA eventually organized
and equipped a Hmong army, under the Hmong general Yang
Pao. As the forces supported by the Americans in the course of
the early 1970s gr'adually lost ground to the communist insurgents,
the Hmong aligned with the Americans and their de-

72 ERIK COHEN
pendents foubd themselves exposed to harsh Pathet Lao repercussions
(Gunn, 1983; 324-5). They subsequently escaped
from the highlands into the as yet "safe" lower plains (Everingham
and Burgess, 1973; Rank, 1973). Eventually, up to 150,000
Hmong (one half of the total Hmong population) were thus
displaced and became internal refugees in Laos (Abrams, 1971;
Everingham and Burgess, 1973 : 3). In their flight from the
advancing Pathet Lao, many of these refugees eventually
reached the capital Vientiane, whence they crossed the Mekong
River into Thailand after the Communist takeover of Laos in
1975. Grea t numbers of Hmong also entered Thailand at other
crossing points. Others, however, continued to resist the Pathet
Lao even after the Communist takeover. Their rebellion
was suppressed only by 1977/8 in a combined Pathet Lao and
Vietnamese offensive, which involved "... the systematic destruction
of villages and the massacre of the inhabitants" (Gunn,
1983 : 325). The Vietnamese were accused of seeking to
"exterminate the Hmong completely" (ibid ·: 325; see also
Pringle, 1979, and Yang Dao, 1982; 17), and apparently succeeded
in that intention to no small degree. Many of the
surviving Hmong fled into Thailand, often after a dangerous
crossing of Laos from their mountain redoubts to the Mekong;
a trickle continues to reach Thailand up to the present. Altogether,
the number of Hmong refugees surpassed the 100,000
mark (Yang Dao, 1982 : 18). A small number of these continued
to fight a guerrilla war against the Communist regime,
departing on combat missions from the refugee camps on the
Laotian border (Chau vet, 1984). Most of the refugees, however,
settled down to a quiet and bleak existence in the refugee
camps, hoping against hope that they would eventually be
able to return to their homeland and highland villages. They
were encouraged in this hope, and asked to stay in the refugee
camps by Gen. Yang Pao (Srichara tchanya and Atkinson, 1979;
Walker and Moffat, 1986 : 54). However, as time passed, a
growing number of the Hmong refugees have asked to be
resettled in third countries and particularly in the United States.
As in Thailand, the commercializa tion of the crafts of the
Hmongs of Laos also began among those groups who were
affected by the war. Individuals working with the Hmong,
and in particular foreign missionaries, seeking tci help the displaced
tribal people, began to sell small quantities of Hmong
textiles from Laos to friends and acquaintances in Bangkok.
American military personnel stationed in Laos also occasionally
purchased Hmong products as souvenirs to bring home.
In Vientiane, Hmong hawkers used to sell their wares in front
of hotels where foreigners were staying. All these, however,
were apparently sporadic activities, involving only small quantities
of products. As interest in Hmong crafts grew and the
market expanded, an enterprising Laotian woman opened a
workshop in the city, employing Hmong women, where Hmong
textiles, already adapted to the demands of the external public,
were produced. The workshop is said to have employed up to
100 women, but this may well be an exaggeration. The Laotian
woman sold her wares not only locally, but also in Europe and
Japan. After her flight to Thailand, she continued to supply
Third World shops in those countries with hill tribe crafts.
lll. 2: Conunercial Hn10ng square from refugee ca111p.
Ill 3: Co 111mercial lcllllong square from refugee can1p
(author's col/ectiou).
While the tex tiles of the internal Hmong refugees in
Thailand were commercialized before those of the Laotian
Hmong, the commercialization of the latter was the crucial
event in the process of commercializa tion of Hmong textiles as
a whole. Among the various Hmong commercialized products
the most prominent place was taken by those developed
from the square textile piece, or pa ndau, which has been primarily
of ceremonial use in Hmong culture. Whereas other
traditional Hmong textiles could not be easily adapted to the
life-styles of a potential external Western public, the pa ndau
proved a handy sou venir, which could be used as a hanging or
tablecloth. Known as a "square," it came to be specifica lly
produced for the market by the Hmong while they were still in
Laos. In the massive expansion of Hmong textile production
in the refugee camps in Thailand and later in the United States,
the "squares" and patches of varying sizes and intended for

THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOLK CRAFTS 73
111. 4: H111011g woman e111broideri11g i11 refugee cnlllp Ba11 Vi11ai (1984) .
different uses continued to be the most popular and wellknown
Hmong product (TIC, [1 978]: 26-31, Camacrafts, [1984];
Cohen, 1983: 29-30; Ill. 2-3).
The Refugee Camps
As the Laotian refugees, among whom the Hmong consitu
ted the principal group, crossed into Thailand, in one large
wave in 1975 and in smaller waves ever since, they were
settled in a string of refugee camps along the Thai- Laotian
border (see map in Hafner, 1985: 89). The Hmong were at first
dispersed among six camps, but as the Thai authorities implemented
their policy to consolidate the camps and reduce their
number (ibid: 84-5), the Hmong were eventually concentrated
in one major ca mp, Ban Vinai in Loei province in northern
Thailand (Dewhurst, 1985). The total number of refugees in
this camp, by official count, fluctuated over the years between
40-45,000; the grea t majority were Hmong (Walker and Moffat,
1986 : 54). This number does not include a few thousand illegal
refugees who were smuggled into the camp (Preechakul, 1987).
The relatively constant size of the refugee population, however,
belies the perpetual movement of individual refugees, as
some are transferred to transit camps and eventually leave for
resettlement in third countries, while others enter the camp. 3
Many, however, have been stuck in the camps for more than a
decade, without a prospect of return to Laos or resettlement in
a third country.
The basic necessities of the refugees are taken care of by
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Additional assis-

74 ERIK COHEN
tance in the areas of education, health and welfare is provided
by several international NGOs. While the refugees are formally
confined to the camp, surveillance by the authorities is
lenient; they are, however, not permitted to work ouside the
camp. In order to prevent refugees from enjoying a hi g h ~r
standard of living than the surrounding northern Thai villagers,
salaries for those employed by the NGOs within the camps
have been restricted bv the Thai authorities to 300 baht (about
US $15.00) a month (Hafner, 1985).*
The rudimentary nature of the U.N. support and the
limitations on employment enhance the importance of craft
production as a significant source of su pplementary income
(Cohen, 1982; Ill. 4).
Even before the refugees were settled in orderly camps,
foreign relief workers and local intermediaries-most of them
themselves Hmongs from resettlement villages in Thailandbegan
to purchase and to market the refugees' craft products.
As life in the ca mps became routinized in the late 1970's,
several foreign religious and humanitarian NGOs started orderly
projects intended to further the production and marketing
of refugee crafts. 4 The primary target customers of the
Hmong products were at first expatriates living in Thailand
who were reached by means of the monthly Hill Tribes Sales
on the premises of the International School in Ba ngkok. Later
on, other outlets were developed, not only in Thailand, but
also abroad . Export of refugee crafts through non-profit channels,
particularly to Europe, gradually became the principal
outlet of several NGOs which market the crafts.
The NGOs faced several major policy dilemmas as they
engaged in the promotion of Hmong crafts. Although there
were important nuances in the manner in which each NCO
sought to resolve these dilemmas, some major trends can be
observed .
The first and most important dilemma related to the
preservation of the H mong material traditions vs. the marketability
of their products. The primary interest, indeed raison
d'etre, of the NGOs was to promote the welfare of the refu gees;
since wholly authentic and unadulterated tribal products are
not marketable in quantities, the NGOs had to compromise
authenticity to achieve marketability. However, this was done
selectively, so that, w hile the functions, forms, colors and materials
were innovative, the designs and techniques of production
used were on the whole preserved. This was achieved by
letting the Hmong women choose their own designs on the.
commercial products, within the constramts set by the NGOs'
production policy. With time, the NGOs developed the practice
of handing, or selling, to the producers "kits" of materials,
comprising cloth and thread s in desired color-combinations,
and receiving fro m them products ornamented with the
women's "traditional" designs, chosen according to their own
predilection and taste. It is indeed astonishing how persistently
traditional designs penetrated the Hmong commercialized
products (compare e.g. Ill. 5 and Ill. 6) .
* In October 1989 300 ba ht = about $12. Ed .
Ill. 5: Old Hmong square (pa ndau ) with 111eander design
(author's collection ).
Ill. 6: Commercial Hmong letter-holder with meander design
(author's collection) .

THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOLK CRAFTS 75
Ill. 7: Connnercial H111ong e111broidered mnner, with 111otiJs
frolll traditional H111ong life (author' s collection).
Ill. 8: Connnercial Hnwng e111broidered mnner with serial
representation ojsha111anistic ritual (author's collection).
The preservation of the traditional designs in commercialized
products, thus, metonymically, safeguarded their "authenticity"
for the consumers (Cohen, 1988). However, while
the NGOs helped to conserve, within the existing market constraints,
the Hmong textile traditions, the Hmong spontaneously
introduced their own innovations into the commercialized
products. The most important of these is the emergence
of representational motifs, which were unknown in the tex tiles
of the Hmong prior to their flight to Thailand and confinement
to the refugee camps 5 While contact with news media, in
particular illustrated books and magazines, and Chinese pattern
books may have induced this radical innovation in Hmong
designs, for our purposes its importance lies in its thematics.
In addition to purely decorative representations of plants and
animals, two themes stand out particularly in these products:
the pictorial representation of Hmoi1g customs and feasts prior
to the war and the fli ght (Ill. 7-8), and the experiences of the
war and the flight themselves (Cohen, forthcoming; cf. Withington,
1987 : Ill. 9-11). In an important sense, these Hmong
textiles ca rried a message, th rough which the displaced Hmongs
presented to the wide world outside the camps the glory and
joys of their past, and the hardships and tragedy of their recent
historica l experiences (Cohen, forthcoming). The personalized
character of these representational designs is accentuated by
the fac t that some of these products· were signed by the producers-
while, at least as long as they stayed in Thailand, the
Hmong refugees never signed their ornamental designs. Some
producers of tex til es wi th representational motives even stated
the place and date of their production (e.g. Ill. 12).
The second major dilemma faced by the NGOs marketing
the refugees' products was that of quality vs. quantity.
Lacking experience in business and seeking to help as many
refugees as possible, individuals assisting the refugees and
managers of the NGOs at first bought up whatever products
they were offered, and sought to sell them ·to whoever would
buy. They realized soon, however, that this purely altruistic
approach left them with grea t quantities of unsold products.
Following this realization, the problem of quality control beca
me one of the chief concerns of the managers of the NGOs.
Indeed, the relative success which the Hmong tex tiles enjoyed
on the market is to a large extent attributable to the rigorous
standards of quality w hich the managers imposed upon the
producers. The NGOs in several camps also offered special
courses for those Hmong women whose skills did not meet
these standards. The producers whose products were rejected
could always attempt to sell them to local intermediaries, at
much reduced prices. Since, however, the market was able to
absorb only limited quantities, and the women had virtually
no alternanve sources of income, most preferred to adhere to
the standards demanded by the NGOs, and to put in more
time and thus make more money. The NGOs on their part
were careful not to set their standards too high so that they
would become unattainable to most women. While some NGOs
were more exacting in their demands than others, none concentrated
on the production of masterpieces by the few top
producers, to the detriment of the provision of employment to
iess skilled workers. Indeed, as the best workers gradually left

76
ERIK COHEN
the camps for resettlement in third countries, the NGOs were
gradually forced to compromise their standards. The products
presently (1988) marketed by the largest of the long-established
NGOs are of considerably lower quality than those marketed
in the Ia te 1970s.
Ill. 9: Couuuercial 1-/uwug lmtiked square with scene fro lll
t/1e war iu Laos (author's collection ).
The third dilemma faced by the NGOs is that of variety
vs. standardiza tion. The attractiveness of Hmong commercialized
crafts largely depends on their rich variety. However,
the conditions of the crafts market create pressures for standardization.
The longer the chain of intermediaries between
the producer and the ultimate consumers, the stronger these
pressures tend to become. Once an NGO turns from the
domestic to the export market to sell Hmong craft products,
these pressures become decisive. Wholesale importers in Europe,
the United States and Japan stipulate not only the precise
sizes and forms of the products which they order, but also the
colors, color combinations and even the designs. The tendency
to standardiza tion is further reinforced by the publication of
catalogues listing and illustrating the NGOs' products (e.g.
TTC, [1 978], Camacrafts [1984). Even though the illustrations
were meant as mere examples, customers tend to order those
designs which they see in the catalogue, to the detriment of
variety and change. The principal NGO active in the camps in
fact eventu ally formalized the range of Hmong designs which
it offers, by numbering them serially, so that desired designs
can be ordered simply by their number.
Ill10: Commercial Hmong embroidered square, depicting flight frolll Laos over the Mekoug River (author's collection).

THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOLK CRAFTS 77
I/111: Con nnercinl H111ong embroidered nlllner witl1 serinl scenes frolll wnr in Lnos; signed by produ cer (nuthor's collection ).
Ill. 12: Detail of commercial Hmong bedspread with inscription sla ting the iden tity of uroducer nnd date nnd place of production.

78 ERIK COHEN
While craft production for the market began in the refugee
camps on a small scale in a haphazard, trial-and-error
fashion, it gradually became a well-organized, large-scale industry.
This achievement, however, though providing a large
number of Hmong women with an important supplementary
source of income and conserving some of the traditional Hmong
designs, has also its more problematic aspects: it hampers
creativity and change, takes away some of the spontaneous
enjoyment of making handicrafts and leads to a petrification of
this home industry, thereby also detracting from its inherent
aesthetic interest. Indeed, perhaps paradoxically, while much
of the production sold to local intermediaries is often inferior
in quality to that marketed through the NGOs, this segment of
the market is nevertheless more dynamic and innovative than
that of the NGOs. This is true even for some products decorated
with Hmong ornamental designs, but it is especially true
for the products carrying representational designs, which are
marketed almost wholly outside the NGO marketing channels.
Resettlement
States
In the United
From the late 1970s onwards, the United States admitted
growing numbers of Hmong refugees, resettling them in various
localities and particularly in Minnesota, Michigan, California
and Rhode Island (Catlin, 1981; Dunnigan, 1982; Downing
and Olney, eds., 1982; Scott, 1982; Hendricks et al., eds., 1986).
Altogether, more than 50,000 Hmong have by now immigrated
to the U.S. (Crystal, 1983 :11) and large numbers of Hmong in
Thai refugee camps are still waiting to be resettled there (Walker
and Moffat, 1986: 54).
The precipitate resettlement of a Southeast Asian highland
tribal people from the restricted and sheltered life of
refugee camps into the urban centers of a modern large-scale
industrial society led to serious disorientation and culture shock,
as they were in the words of one observer "transported into
what seemed centuries away form their mountain homeland"
(Thompson, 1986 : 46; cf. also Viviano, 1986 : 48). The most
salient and dramatic manifestation of the distress experienced
by the resettled Hmong is the still largely unexplained phenomenon
of "sudden death in sleep" (Marshall, 1981; Lemoine
and Mounge, 1983). The Hmong in the U.S. also suffered
serious problems in the areas of integration and employment.
For a mostly illiterate people, the learning of a new and unfamiliar
language, English, presented serious difficulties, despite
much effort to adapt its study to the Hmong context, in
both the camps in Thailand and in the U.S. (cf. Downing and
Olney, eds., 1982). Unable to find work, many Hmong fell
back upon welfare, which, owing to state welfare regulations,
was also not always readily forthcoming (Viviano, 1986: 47);
cf. also Desan, 1983 :.45; Freeman eta!, 1985).
Under these circumstances, the Hmong textile products
appeared to offer a promising source of support to the destitute
and often helpless new immigrants. Indeed, the American
public "discovered" the Hmong textile crafts soon upon the
refugees' arrival. Their unaccustomed designs and colors make
them a popular item in bazaars and craft shops (Lacey, 1982,
Hmong in U.S. 1984). With the help of volunteer American
women, cooperative workshops for the production of Hmong
textiles were established (Godfrey, 1982, Hmong in U.S., 1984;
Barry, 1985; Donnelly, 1986). It was felt that the Hmong,
unacquainted with the American market conditions so vastly
different from those they experienced in the refugee camps in
Thailand, needed assistance in the production, promotion and
marketing of their products. As Americans recognized the
uniqueness of Hmong culture, they also initiated projects to
preserve the Hmong folkways (Project, 1985). Numerous exhibitions
of Hmong commercialized textiles of both an academic
and a commercial character were held, and catalogues and
other publications on Hmong textiles in the U.S. proliferated
(Textile Art, 1981; Flower Clothes, 1981; Finch, 1982; Henninger
and Hoelterhoff, 1982; White 1982a and 1982b; Dewhurst and
MacDowell, eds., 1983; Rush, 1983; Hmong-Americans, 1984).
By all indications, the Hmong in America appeared in the early
1980's on the way to become a minority with a distinctive
identity, thanks to their handicrafts, which were simultaneously
also becoming an important source of their livelihood.
The Hmong on their part did not have to struggle much
to adapt their products to the American market, since the
commercialized textiles produced in the refugee camps had
already been so adapted. Much of their production followed
closely the designs introduced in the camps; indeed, it is often
difficult to distinguish pieces produced in the camps from
those produced in the U.S. Nevertheless, some interesting
innovations, influenced by the American setting, can be observed.
These can be described in terms of two opposing
tendencies: growing Laotization on the one hand, and growing
individuation on the other.
The Hmong are only one of several ethnic refugee groups
from Laos resettled in the U .5. The others were lowland Laos
and another hill tribe, the Mien. As is common in such situations,
the Americans do not always distinguish between these
groups, often labelling them collectively as "Laotian refugees"
(e.g. Laotian Needlework, 1981; Barry, 1985). Apparently responding
to this identification, some Hmong women began to
integrate Laotian national symbols, especially the threeheaded
elephant, into their products (e.g. Dewhurst and
MacDowell, 1983:57,71).
The second tendency, growing individuation, appears to
be much stronger than that of Laotization. Freed from the
restrictive control of the NGOs in the camps, and exposed to a
highly competitive environment, the Hmong women proceeded
to spectacularize their work significantly beyond what was
common in the camps (see e.g. the illustrations of Hmong
textiles produced in the U.S. in Dewhurst and MacDowell,
eds., 1983). In the exhibition catalogues, items were listed
under the name of their individual producers. The women
also began to sign products with ornamental designs (ibid : 37,

THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOLK CRAFTS 79
47), rather like Western artists, a custom which does not exist
in the refugee camps. Hmong commercial textiles appeared
on the way to become art products, rather like Eskimo soapstone
sculptures (Graburn, 1976).
However, the Hmong commercialized textiles in the U.S.
failed to develop in the indicated direction, or to become a
continuous and viable business proposition. For soon after
production for the market began, serious difficulties arose, and
put the whole enterprise into jeopardy. At the bottom of the
crisis is the problem of prices and profits. In the sheltered
environment of the refugee camps, the Hmong women could
devote themselves to the production of labor-intensive textiles,
often earning less then one US dollar a day. With minimal
wages in the U.S. several dollars an hour, the production
of textiles, which at the current prices often yielded about 30
cents an hour (Hmong in U.S. 1984), proved highly unprofitable.
Many Hmong women therefore stopped producing for
the market. Older women, who cannot find other employment,
tended to remain in the field, while the younger ones
turned to other occupations (ibid.). Exacerbating the problem
,is the fact that the refugees in the camps in Thailand continue
to produce huge quantities of textiles, sending them for sale to
their relatives in the U.S.; here they are often sold at lower
prices than those fetched by the products made in the U.S.
itself (ibid.). Some Hmong women have therefore found it
more profitable to become intermediaries for refugee products
rather than to produce crafts themselves. This predilection,
indeed, provoked a serious conflict between the American
volunteer advisers and the Hmong women in one of the major
producers' cooperatives (Donnelly, 1984 :167), thus impeding
the consolidation of the enterprise. It appears, therefore, that
the chances of survival of the Hmong textile crafts on the
American scene are slim indeed; without a concentrated effort
at their preservation, which might involve subsidies from external
sources, the Hmong textiles will either disappear or become
a degenerate shadow of their earlier self-as did many
folk craft products in other highly industrialized countries.
The explosion of Hmong textiles on the world scene, which
initially received its impetus from the repercussions of the
Second Indochina War, will thus eventually be extinguished
by the hard economic facts facing those victims of that war
who have been resettled in the modern West.
Conclusions
Political events and folk crafts appear too remote from
one another to serve as a topic for research, and hence their
relationship has rarely, if ever, been make the subject of express
consideration. And yet, a close relation appears to exist
between them, at least in some significant instances: major
political events on the international scene have frequently had
drastic effects on hitherto cut-off and remote people, who have
previously had little opportunity or motivation to sell their
craft products on the wider national or international
market-indeed, they may have been completely unaware of
the possibility of commercialization of their crafts. Once caught
in the events, displaced or otherwise drawn into national and
international struggles and wars, their economy transformed
or shattered, their lifeways and customs in jeopardy, the traditional
crafts of these people may well become an important,
everi if only subsidiary, means of livelihood and a vehicle of
communication to the wider world, whose salience for the
affected people has suddenly been significantly increased. In
the process, however, their crafts also become transformed, the
precise nature of the transformation depending on the channels
through which their products are marketed.
The case of the Hmong, whether internal refugees in
Thailand, refugees from Laos in Thailand, or resettled immigrants
to the United States, illustrates the multiple effects of
dramatic international political events on the transformation
of folk crafts. Specifically, we have seen how the early efforts
to help the displaced Thai and Laotian Hmong gave the first
spontaneous, and often only tentative, impetus to the production
of craft items, which could be marketed to an external
public; how the intervention of NGOs enrouted the development
of the commercialized crafts along some major lines,
which eventuated in the conservation of basic Hmong designs
on marketable products, but also in a gradual stifling of creativity
and innovation, and the standardization of an ever greater
volume of production for an expanding market; and, eventually,
how the apparent promise of a new flourishing of Hmong
crafts in the U.S. was frustrated by the hard economic facts of
the American market.
However, besides these major lines of developments,
largely influenced by the policies of the NGOs, another, minor
but significant process of spontanem1s innovation took place:
namely, the emergence of representational motifs on Hmong
products. This process was more directly related to the tragedies
of recent Hmong history than the transformation of the
ornamental designs on other commercialized products.
In their representation of Hmong recent experience of
war and flight, and in their idealized pictorial reconstruction
of Hmong life in the periods preceding these events, the Hmong
women expressed their anguish, longings and distress, and
communicated them to the wide and unknown world into
which they were precipitately catapulted (Withington, 1987;
Cohen, forthcoming).
The particular development of Hmong textile crafts
should be compared with similar developments in other parts
of the world, where ethnic groups experienced major cataclysmic
events in recent decades. The impact of such events on
small and marginal ethnic groups is a subject which has recently
been given growing attention by anthropologists. 6
However, the cultural expressions given to the events and
experiences remain, up to now, practically unexplored. Here
an important link could be established between the study of
ethnic arts and crafts and research on precipitate social change
among the people of the Fourth World.

80
ERIK COHEN
ENDNOTES
1. This paper summarizes one
aspect of a longitudinal study of
the commercialization of the
crafts of the hill tribes of northern
Thailand, conducted by the
author mainly between 1977 and
1983;afterthatdate,a yearly brief
survey of new developments has
been conducted, up till1988. This
study was supported by the
Harry S. Truman Research Institute
for the Advancement of
Peace at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, whose support is
herewith gratefully acknowledged.
For related papers see
Cohen, 1982, 1983, 1987 and
forthcoming.
2. Most authors translate the selfappellation
of this subdivision,
Hmong Njua, as "Blue Hmong."
Lemoine (1972b), however,
prefers "Green" Hmong (Hmong
Vert). The confusion stems from
the fact that there is no distinction
between our blue and green
inHmong color classification (cf.
ibid. : 116n).
3. For a description of Ban Vinai,
see Hafner, 1985: 87-91.
4. It is impossible within the confines
of this paper to describe the
activities of each of the several
NGOs active in the camps, and
the differences in their approach
to the commercialization of tribal
crafts; see Cohen, 1982, 1983: 15.
5. On the stages of development of
Hmong representational art, see
Cohen, forthcoming.
6. See e.g. the two recent issues of
the Cultural Survival Quarterly on
Militarization and Indigenous
Peoples (Militarization, 1987).
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CONTINUITIES IN HIGHLAND AND
LOWLAND RELIGIONS OF THAILAND
E. PAUL DURRENBERGER
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
AND
NICOLA TANNENBAUM
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
I. Introduction
Kirsch (1973) argues that upland mainland Southeast
Asian societies express variations on the same theme of potency.
Durrenberger (1981b) shows that variations in political
form result from differences in local ecological and economic
environments (see also Maran 1967, Lehman 1963). This structural
unity cuts across major ethnic and linguistic boundaries.
Central aspects of the complex are power /potency, productivity,
how one achieves it, and the necessity to publicly validate it
through feasts and generosity.
Many see in Theravada Buddhism a similar underlying
structural unity in lowland societies. Both inside and outside
observers identify these people as Buddhist and state that these
societies Il'\USt be understood in Buddhist terms. Anthropologists
tend to view lowland societies through Theravada Buddhist
lenses (Kirsch 1977, 1982, 1985; Keyes 1984; Van Esterik
1982). This obscures the fundamental structure of these societies,
making it difficult to ask questions about continuities in
upland and lowland societies or the nature of the relationship
among religion, world view, and political economic form (Tannenbaum
n.d.a., n.d.b., n.d.c.).
We argue that the religious structure shared by lowland
societies is similar to that of the upland societies .and that
differences are a consequence of their radically different political
and economic for-ms.
II. Lisu Highlanders
Lisu are Tibeto-Burman people who live in the highlands
of North Thailand, Southwestern China, and Burma (Dessaint
1971). In Thailand, they live in autonomous villages scattered
among those of other highlanders such as Akha, Lahu, Hmong,
Yao, and Karen where they produce corn, rice, and opium in
their swidden fields.
Lisu live in a world of beings of differential power (du),
only some of whom are visible as people. Those which are not
visible, spirits (ni), have the same characteristics as human
beings, but more or less power. As their part of contractual relationships
with people, some of these, such as lineage spirits
and the village guardian spirit, take care of people and keep
them from harm. People make annual offerings to these spirits
to renew the contractual relationships.
Power is derived from proper comportment and generosity.
Generosity rests on wealth. Therefore there are two
components to power: wealth and proper conduct. People and
spirits accrue power in the same way, by the production of
wealth, carrying out their contractual responsibilities, and
meeting the expectations of others, being honorable. People
produce wealth by working in their fields. Spirits get wealth
from the offerings of their descendants. "Honor" and "power"
are the same.
While some spirits help and protect people in contractual
relationships, any powerful spirit can be offended and hurt
people. Like people, their recourse is negotiation and self help
if that fails. Since people cannot see spirits, and do not know
what is offensive to them, they do not initiate apologies when
they have offended spirits. Spirits then have recourse to self
help and do some damage to the person, his household members,
his livestock, or crops. To remedy the misfortune one must
make restitution just as one would for a person.
Fate is a measure of one's innate abilities and invulnerabilities-it
can be good, bad, or indifferent. For Lisu fate is
unknowable. There is no a priori way to discover what a
person's fate holds for him. It is an innate characteristic. Its
quality determiRes one's ability to gain honor /power (du) and
can be discovered only by the course of events in life. The

84 DURRENBERGER AND TANNENBAUM
A Lisu gathering. Photogrnph by Luca Jnvemizzi Tettoni.
converse of power is "shame" (sa tua). Shame results in a loss of
honor. Power is the ability to honor one's claims and others'
legitimate expec tations. Even spirits, if they do not do what
people ca n legitimately expect them to do, can lose honor and
be s h a m~d (Durrenberger 1976a).
Wealth is central for a person's being able to meet the
demands and expectations of others-to be able to offer hospitality,
pay fines of household members should they be necessary
(see Durrenberger 1976b), and to provide bride price for
sons. Wealth (fwu chi) is the tangible manifestation of intangible
blessing (gh swi). Lisu often appeal to spirits to give them
blessing.
When a person makes a ceremony, he generally gives
offerings to spirits, so they speak well of the person and give him
blessing. When one kills a pig for guests to eat or builds a rest
house, bridge, or path-sid e bench for public use as part of such
a ceremony, a wider public benefits. Good speech results in
blessing, and is the result of offerings given to spirits, and food
and structures given to people.
If someone has wealth, he can give things to people and
spirits, w ho feel generously disposed toward that person, speak
well of him, and give blessing, the fulfillment of which is wealth.
If a person does not feel generous in situations where he should,
he loses honor and is shamed. If one has wealth, he can not only
feel generous but be generous and fulfill general expectations
having to do with dispensing wealth and therefore gain honor.
Finally, one's fate is only known by his wealth.
Since inheritance is limited to ornamental jewelry which
is not alienable, wealth must be the result of an individual's own
productive efforts in a household production unit. Households
are the units of production, consumption, honor, power, and
self-help (Durrenberger 1976b, 1976c).
Everyone has equal opportunity to work the same lands;
all have access to the same technology. Thus wealth is directly
related to household productivity. Honor is a direct consequence
of wealth because one can fulfill general and specific
expectations only to the ex tent of one's resources. Wealth is a
consequence of productivity. Honor is therefore a measure of
productivity. One cannot infer a person's or household 's honorpower
from posi tion, lineage, filia tion, name or any other such
indica tor except wealth, which is a result of hou'sehold productivity.
The basic assumptions are: power flows from wealth;
wealth is the result of productivity; power can be los t; and

CONTINUITIES IN RELIGIONS OF THAILAND 85
power can be reinstated by presentations of wealth. This
underlies the logic of offense, retribution, and apology for
people and spirits alike (Durrenberger 1980a).
Among Lisu, sponsoring feasts is a means of showing that
one is an honorable person, someone who can meet his obligations,
including reciprocating feasts which members of his
household have attended in the past. The number of pigs a
household keeps is a readily observable measure of its ability to
meet such obligations. Other readily visible measures are attire
and household furnishings, general measures of wealth or
potency, in Kirsch's (1973) terms.
Mainly beca4se of the opium trade and nearby Thai
markets, wealth is available to all Lisu households equally. All
can participate equally and gain recognition as honorable in
terms of the ideology of honor which, in these circumstances,
recognizes only productivity. Most Lisu villages are not more
than a day or two's walk from a lowland Thai town with a
market, so there is access to markets as well as money (Durrenberger
1974, 1976b).
Each household desires to engage in the reciprocity to the
same extent as all others, regardless of the availability of labor
from the household. Since the ability to engage in reciprocity is
gauged by consumer goods, each household also purchases
consumer goods without reference to the ratio of workers to
consumers. The households with many consumers per worker
can only do this by incrementing their own labor by hiring labor
from outside the village (Durrenberger 1974, 1976b).
Spirits are mappings of productivity onto occult beings.
Productivity is power. Wealth gives one the wherewithal to be
generous, generosity causes others to speak well of one, that
confers blessing, the realization of which is wealth. Honor and
power are the same thing. One gains it by generosity, hence
from wealth, and by meeting other obligations. Power is the
result of participation in society. Generosity is an obligation and
feasts are reciprocal.
This ideology has no ethical dimension, except in the
most rudimentary sense in which ethics retains its meaning as
the customary. Ethics, custom, religion, law are all one. It is an
ideology of power, and how to acquire it. There is no ethical
dimension which concerns the uses of power except that one
uses it to defend oneself against other powerful beings, all of
which are of the same kind whether they be visible or not, dead
or not.
Throughout highland Southeast Asia, where there are
possibilities of trade and accruing wealth there are egalitarian
political forms based on reciprocal exchanges. Where there is no
means by which everyone can accrue wealtl). to use for social
goals such as enhancing prestige, there are hierarchic social and
political forms (Durrenberger 1976c).
In order to gauge another's innate qualities, one must
examine the exterior indicator of wealth. In hierarchic organizations,
some person claims superiority, and others recognize
it. Since money and markets are remote, goods are distributed
by means of exchanges among lineages and by heredity as
Lehman describes for Northern Chin (1963). Possession of them
implies superior innate characteristics. Wealth implies honor
and power, and the superior quality of one's fate. Just as a
person's honor is attributed to his productivity in an egalitarian
situation, in a hierarchic one his honor is attributed to the source
of his goods, his position in the round of exchange and heredity.
The qualitative aspects of a person's fate can be predicted if the
source of his wealth is known. If the source of wealth is the
wealth of his parents, then it follows that innate qualities are
heritable, but those who inherit rank must validate it in practice.
These concepts involved in the ideology of honor are
central to the operation of social relations in both the hierarchic
and egalitarian conditions, but with rather different consequences
for action. In the hierarchic situations they allow one to
assume that someone has better fate, more honor/power/
potency than oneself on the basis of given information such as
parentage. In the egalitarian situation, one must prove constantly
that one has as much honor as anyone else. Thus, one
would expect something of a work ethic and consumerism
among non-hierarchic systems, as Kirsch (1973) suggests. The
ideology of honor, the elements of the world view which concern
qualities of people and their implications are the same in
either case since wealth implies honor regardless of the origin
of the wealth.
This ideology allows for the development of political
systems similar to those described for Northern Chin or highland
hierarchic Kachin if there are few opportunities to acquire
goods or money. Where there is easy access to both goods and
money, the non-hierarchic variant results.
III. Shan
Shan live in the mountain valleys of Southern China, the
Shan States, and in Maehongson and Chiang Mai Provinces in
Thailand. Like the other lowlanders, Shan have a long history
of state organization (Moerman 1965; Mangrai 1981). While
Shan, Burmans, Northern Thai, Lao, Central Thai, and Cambodians
practice slightly different forms of Theravada Buddhism
with slightly different festivals, religious scripts, and ordination
lines, they all identify themselves as Buddhist and recognize the
others as coreligionists.
Maehongson Shan are peasant farmers. Most make their
livings by growing irrigated rice supplemented by swidden rice
for subsistence, and sesame, soybeans and garlic as cash crops
(Durrenberger 198la, Durrenberger and Tannenbaum 1983,
n.d.; Tannenbaum 1982, 1984). In communities with access to
hill fields, few people are available to do wage work because
even the poorest households are able to grow rice for their own
consumption. In larger communities without access to hill
fields, poor households must depend on wage work to augment

86 DURRENBERGER AND TANNENBAUM
off the consequences of behavior. Men with powerful antic
bullet and anti-knife tattoos are protected from retaliatory
violence and are free to steal or kill withouc ~2ar of the consequences.
Powerful beings do not need to worry about the consequences
of their actions. To the extent they are powerful, beings
are dangerous because they do not fear the consequences of
their actions. They are free to behave as they choose and can
easily be offended and ca use harm. Villagers know this as part
of their existential reality. Offended spirits cause illnesses;
offended government officials create real problems for villages.
Because these powerful and unpredictable beings exist, people
need to enter into relationships with more powerful beings to
protect themselves.
Beings with power I protection have the potential to withhold
it, leaving one exposed to dangers from other beings.
Consequently, powerful beings need to be treated circumspectl
y; the greater the beings' power/protection,.the greater
the restraint in interaction. People deal with this power d ifferential
by limiting their interaction with powerful beings or
interacting with powerful others through intermediaries.
A Shan boy of Maehongson. Photograph by Luca 1nvem izzi Tettoni.
their incomes from gardening and collecting and selling forest
products
For Shan, power is a basic, unquestioned part of the
universe: it simply exists. It is not equally distributed-some
beings have greater power than others. All beings are ranked in
terms of their relative power. Spirits, as Kirsch (1973) suggests
for upland societies, form one part of this continuum. In the
lowlands, beings gain access to power either through withdrawal
and restraint or through taking refuge in more powerful
others. Paradoxically, those most w ithdrawn from the world
have the greatest power over worldly things.
Power implies protection. If one has access to power one
is protected; if one is protected one has the power or freedom
to do as one chooses. Hanks (1957) discusses Central Thai
concepts of power and freedom in similar terms. Power I
protection takes the form of barriers which ward off misfortune.
Tattoos which protect from gunshot and knife wounds surround
the bearer's body with a protective barrier. The annual
"repairing. the village," mae (repair) waan (village), ceremony
closes off the village, drives dangerous beings out, and creates
a barrier against their entering the village (Tannenbaum n.d.a;
Dutrenberger 1980b).
Power / protection passively prevents bad things; it does
not cause good things. The essence of power is its ability to ward
Power is automatically derived from the practice of austerities.
The process is mechanical and the practicer's morality
or intentions do not affect the process. This is contrary to the
standard Buddhist conception that people's intentions (Shan,
tsetana) determine results. In Theravada Buddhist countries,
practicing withdrawal and austerities, following Buddhist
precepts (Shan sin; Pali sila), is considered equivalent to morality.
Practicing morality, keeping precepts, is one way to gain
merit. Precept keeping automatically confers power; the more
precepts one keeps, the greater one's power.
Precept keeping ca n be interpreted as either morality or
power seeking. The ambiguity lies not in the consequences of
precept keeping which automatically convey power but in
people's motivations to do so. One ca n strive to keep precepts
to aid in the escape from the cycle of rebirths, the approved
motive, or one can do so to achieve magical power. Claiming
mystica l powers which one has not achieved is one of the four
causes of expulsion from the monastic order. (The other three
are: killing or urging someone to kill another human, engaging
in sexual intercourse, and stealing.)
The automatic acquisition of mystical power is a recognized
consequence of practicing restraint and withdrawal but it
is deemphasized in scriptural Buddhism. The Buddha warns
his followers not to be distracted from their goal of escaping the
cycle of rebirths by the acquisition of mystical power. Regardless
of a man's intent when he becomes a monk, keeping the
monastic precepts gives him great power and people interact
with monks in the same way as with other powerful beings.
Buddhas exemplify the peak of power: they have abandoned
all worldly pleasures and demonstrate the power which
can be achieved by such withdrawal. Monks keeping 227
precepts exemplify the most powerful beings that ordinary
villagers interact with. Forest monks who practice additional

CONTINUITIES IN RELIGIONS OF THAILAND 87
austerities have greater power and the amulets they make have
great power. Ordinary men and women attempt to keep five
precepts: to refrain from killing, stealing, improper sexual conduct,
lying, and intoxication. However, they recognize that this
level of restraint is difficult to achieve and only undertake to
keep these on holy days.
Acquisition of power is not inherently connected with
morality. Precept keeping is often glossed as the practice of
morality (Spiro 1967, 1980). Examining precept keeping in a
broader context illuminates its essentially amoral nature. A
person who receives powerful tattoos is required to keep at all
times one of the five everyday precepts lest the tattoo not work
and the person become physically or mentally ill. Typically the
person takes the precept to refrain from improper sexual behavior,
usually interpreted as refraining from adultery. By keeping
this precept, a man with tattoos that protect from gunshot
wounds or knife cuts can rob and kill with impunity. Keeping
this one precept does not imply any commitment to morality or
right behavior; often, in fact, it suggests a commitment to a life
of crime.
A person making powerful tattoos and amulets must
practice withdrawal and restraint or his tattoos and amulets
would not be effective. The more precepts a person keeps, the
greater his power and the better able he is to draw on power
from other sources. However, the recipient of the amulet or
tattoos is not committed to restraint beyond keeping one precept.
If one limits "Buddhist" objects to Buddhist interpretations,
one is either forced like Spiro (1967, 1980) to develop
separate analyses for animism and Buddhism or to dismiss the
magical usages with the statement that they have scriptural
support. Calling these "elements in a religious field" (Tambiah
1970) does nothing more than recognize the coexistence of both
magical and scriptural Buddhist practices (see Durrenberger
1983). Such approaches make it impossible to explain the
magical usages in local terms.
It is the underlying axiom of power, its existence, and how
one acquires it which accounts for many practices which are
labelled Buddhist. Anthropologists writing about Theravada
Buddhism remark on the goal of every male to spend some time
as a novice or a monk, even if the reality does not match this
ideal. The importance of power and the need for men to acquire
power accounts for both the ideal of ordination and its frequency
(Tannenbaum n.d.c.).
Two facts make this account appear Buddhist. First,
tattoos and amulets draw on the power of the Buddhas and their
teachings and second, people acquire power through keeping
Buddhist precepts. These actions only make sense in the
context of the axiom of amoral power and how one acquires it.
The quintessential element of Buddhism, the law of karma -the
inevitable consequences of actions, both good and bad-with its
moral implications, is simply irrelevant.
Merit-making through generosity is the most striking
aspect ofTheravada Buddhist ceremonies, yet it is unimportant
in this account of power. Generosity is the means to validate
and display one's power, rather than a means to acquire it.
Powerful people stage merit-making ceremonies as evidence of
their power and ability to organize the necessary resources.
Through offerings to monks, they also assert their legitimate
claim to power. Through their gifts, they accumulate merit
which serves to legitimize and reinforce their present powerful
positions. The ability to be generous is justified in terms of the
law of karma.
Because karma is unknowable (Hanks 1962), people who
make claims to legitimate power must validate them through
public displays; because its beneficial aspects can be depleted,
people need to continually restock their store of merit. Public
displays of generosity to monks serves both of these purposes.
IV. Cosmology and Power
the Uplands and Lowlands
.
1n
Power is a central axiom in both upland and lowland
world views. In both systems power is crucial for defining the
status of human and other beings. Claims to power must be
validated through public generosity. The use of wealth to
validate claims to power through generosity returns blessing
which is productive of more wealth.
There are three economic contexts for this ideology and its
concomitant rituals: highland remote from markets, highland
proximal to markets, .and lowland. Where there is open access
to wealth in the highlands this ideology informs and accompanies
egalitarian social forms; where there is not, it informs and
accompanies hierarchic social forms. Power is attributed to the
source of wealth. If the source of wealth is personal productivity
there is an egalitarian system. If one inherits claims to wealth,
then power is also heritable in a hierarchic system. Power I
honor is not related to morality, but to the concept of ethics
which means following one's customs. Legitimacy is not an
issue. Honor, power, productivity all mutually imply each
other. If one were not honorable, able to live up to one's
obligations, then one would not have power. Having power is
indication that it is legitimate-that one has honor and productivity.
In the highlands beings are compared with respect to
power but in the lowlands these comparisons form a universal
hierarchy into which all beings fit.
Lowlanders gain power either through the practice of
austerities and I or through the reliance on more powerful others.
More powerful others provide protection directly or else
one draws on their power through amulets and tattoos. Powerful
humans justify their power in terms of karma and legitimize
their claims to it through generosity to their dependents, monasteries,
and monks. Power is not related to productive ablility
but linked to the control of productive resources. This difference
is the difference between power/potency residing in the individual
or power residing in the control of productive resources ..

88 DURRENBERGER AND TANNENBAUM
The major difference between the upland and lowland
systems is the different political and economic forms. The
ideological consequence is the increased complexity and ambiguity
in the lowland system. Access to power is through
restraint and withdrawal or dependency on more powerful
others, two radically different means with different consequences
for behavior. Power frees people from the consequences
of their actions and removes them from society and
societal constraints. This contrasts with power in the uplands
which derives from production and implies participation in
society, not withdrawal from it. In the lowlands the consequences
of gift giving become ambiguous; they depend on the
status of both the giver and receiver. Leach (1954) focuses on just
this difference in his analysis of Kachin becoming Shan. Buddhism
heightens this ambiguity and complexity. The law of
karma legitimates the distribution of wealth and power and
provides a moral element to power. This element is similar to,
but not identical with, the upland notion of power deriving from
proper behavior and establishes a surface similarity between the
two systems. This superficial similarity is strengthened by the
importance of publicly validating claims through feasting and
generosity. Finally, the operation of the lowland system in areas
where everyone is equally poor, results in a similar egalitarian
form within the community.
In the upland system, things are what they appear to bepower
implies potency and the ability to meet obligations; there
is only one possible interpretation. In the lowlands there is
ambiguity and multiple interpretations are possible.
In the lowlands the realities of political systems and
political power are so different that there are transformations of
the ideology of power. Political power rests on the control of
productive resources, which rests ultimately on coercion and
force (Fried 1967). One has access to productive resources by
virtue of social relationships to those who have sufficient coercive
power to make good claims to ownership of resources.
Thus any person's power is a consequence of social relationships
with more powerful others. State systems which order social
realities of stratified societies invariably develop rhetorics of
justification for power relationships, often in religious terms.
The ideological system is subtly transformed in the state
context. Personal power remains central, but how one gains
power and its meaning shifts. In the upland egalitarian and
hierarchic forms, power is based on productivity and confers
prestige and respect. It is inseparable from honor and from
being a proper member of the community. The scale of power
is narrow; those with the most do not have much more than
those with the least. People interact with spirits in an egalitarian
way. In the state form, power becomes amoral; there are great
differences between those with more and less power. Great
power removes one from societal constraints. Buddhism is
incorporated into the state system where it provides a justification
for the distribution of power, both mystical and "real." It
creates an alternative rhetoric for power and the motivations to
achieve it and thus creates the ambiguity around power and
what it means in the lowlands.
In lowland Southeast Asia, Buddhism has provided such
a rhetoric for a variety of state systems. One can see an underlying
unity among all mainland Southeast Asian ideological
systems, based on concepts of personal power and its origin as
they play out in different economic and political forms-highland
and lowland, stratified and unstratified, hierarchic and
egalitarian.
V. Conclusions
Our conclusions cut two ways. On the one hand, every
similarity between highland and lowland religious practice and
ideology need not be attributed to highland attempts to incorporate
aspects of civilization, or simple borrowing for unexplained
reasons. The similarities are due to shared structures of
ideology, aspects of shared world views. On the other hand, it
is not plausible to explain lowland behavior or ideology in
terms of Buddhist ideology or doctrine. Rather, one can explain
the aspects of Buddhist ideology which have been incorporated
at various times and places in terms of the underlying world
view which is, itself, not Buddhist.

CONTINUITIES IN RELIGIONS OF THAILAND
89
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DIFFICULTIES WITH INSCRIPTION NO. 1
HANS PENTH
- -
ARCHIVE OF LANNA INSCRIPTIONS, SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
CHIANG MAl UNIVERSITY
Inscription no. 1, known as the inscription of King Ram
Khamhang (text edition and translation i.a. in: Coedes 1924
Recueil; Griswold I Prasot 1971 Inscr. Ram Khamhang), generally
is held to have been written by King Ram Khamhang of
SukhOthai in 1292 (with the exception of one [Coedes] or two
[Griswold I Prasot] postscripts on face 4); to be the oldest
specimen of Thai writing the letters of which, according to the
inscription, had been invented by the king in 1283; to give an
adequate description of Sukhothai at the time; and therefore to
be a trustworthy source for conclusions in the fields of history,
art history, religion and linguistics.
As for the stone on which the inscription is written, a
short, black, square pillar with a pyramidal top, inscribed on
all its four faces, it seems generally accepted that Prince
Mongkut, the future King Mongkut, in 1833 saw the stone in
Sukhothai and had it brought to Bangkok, together with a
stone slab which is now known as the stone throne Phra Than
Manangkha Sila (3J~-:!~1tJ1q), Manang Slla Bat as it is called
in the inscription), and another stone inscription with Khmer
letters which is now known as the inscription of Wat Pa
Mamuang or inscription no. 4. Certain ruins to the west of
Sukhothai, outside the town, have been identified as the former
Wat Pa Mamuang. But Prince Mongkut is said to have
found all three items together on the Palace Hill of Sukhothai,
called Non Prasat. At the time, Prince Mongkut was a monk,
making a journey through some of the old towns of northern
central Thailand.
Inscription no.1 has at times less than enchanted its readers.
Prince Narit, in a letter to Prince Damrong dated 4 August
1939, wrote that inscriptions were rather perplexing; for example,
the Ram Khamhang inscription was a mixture of Ram
Khamhang's own words and those of others, and if everything
was as well in Sukhothai ~s the inscription says, th~n what was
the use of saying it? (~~fhYi'ilmm.i.1Ylf11-:1 ~"lh+'lll~n~t11fl~'ljU,3Jfi1~~l1-:l
H'-:~m111L~'I.utlufi1'!l'l.m3Jfi1~L'III-:Jm-:~n3l ~tlufi1flu£iun3l 'l.l::'l.lunumJ ~Ltl::
.., .. J ., A 1 - I .., A .... ~ .., d T ~ " .. .
tn'il1mb3JEltJ1UL3JEI-:J~ tJEln11tJ1UL3JEI-:13JEll: LW1-:J'ill:3JU,l: LIU'iiUEll: ~,; Nant
1939 Letter 9).
The substance of this article was presented as a lecture
at the Siam Society on 24 January 1989.
Prince Chand (1976 Guide 29-31) and Michael Vickery
(1978 Guide 205-209) were the first, as far as I know, to publish
their difficulties with the inscription and its date of 1292, and
to advance arguments for a lesser age, suggesting that the inscription
was written in the time of Phaya Lii Thai (c. 1347-
1374). I myself have tried to show that King Ram Khamhang
did not actually invent the Thai alphabet but modernized an
already existing Thai alphabet which apparently had been
based on Mon letters (Penth 1985 Wat Kan Thorn Inscriptions;
198511988 Jariik Wat Kan ThOrn; 1985 New Evidence; 1986
Thai Scripts). In 1986, Phiriya Krairiksh Concluded that, for art
historical and other reasons, the inscription must have been
written after 1400 (Phiriya 1986 Silapa dan neramit). In 1987,
Vickery, chiefly using linguistic evidence, again concluded
against a great age for the inscription and even questioned its
authenticity (Vickery 1987 Inscr. Ram Khamhang). Finally, in
August 1988, during a lecture at the Siam Society, Phiriya
Krairiksh compared certain expressions and passages in the
inscription with other Sukhothai inscriptions and also with
some Thai classics, and concluded that the inscription must
have been written between 1833-1855.
Even if one disagrees with some of the arguments advanced
against the traditional interpretation and understanding
of inscription no. 1, the fact remains that at present scholars
from various fields are not satisfied. The combined weight of
their critical arguments should be reason enough to prudently
review the position of the inscription as an authoritative source
and to try to solve the problems it poses.
Many difficulties and uncertainties in connection with
the inscription have not been publicised. For instance, the
sources that deal with the discovery of the inscription in
Sukhothai and its subsequent deciphering in Bangkok need
some clarification. The earliest sources seem to be two works
by the Supreme Patriarch, Prince Pawaret, a contemporary of
King Mongkut. In his biography of the king, the Prince Patriarch
refers only to the discovery of the stone throne and inscription
no. 4, but not to the discovery of inscription no. 1
(Pawaret 1962 King Mongkut Biography 11-12; Pawaret 1968
King Mongkut Biography 50-51). It is reported that an unpublished
notebook of the Prince Patriarch contains the same story,
again omitting the dis~civery of inscription no. 1; but that elsewhere
in the same notebook reference is made to some of the

92 HANS PENTH
contents of inscription no. 1 and to its Sukhothai origin (Krom
Silapakon 1983 Jariik samai SukhOthai 4-5). On the other
hand, the biography of King Mongkut written by his son, the
Prince Patriarch Wachirayan, says that Prince Mongkut found
the stone throne, inscription no. 4 and inscription no. 1 in
SukhOthai (Bradley 1909 Oldest Siamese Writing 7; Coedes
1924 Recueil "Thai part" 51). A good publication of all original
sources would help to dissipate doubts about the history of the
stone and its inscription.
In this article, I shall deal with three particular difficulties:
(1) The date and objective of the inscription; (2) the
"Mongol passage" in the inscription which has been interpreted
as showing Mongol influence on Sukhothai; (3) the
Jindaman1 evidence which is sometimes used in discussions to
back up the date 1292 for the inscription.
Date and Objective
Inscription no. 1 is undated in the sense that it does not
state the year in which it was written. But it mentions three
different years which are expressed in the Mahasakkaraja era
(M.S. + 78 =A.D.) plus three more years which are expressed
by stating that such and such an event happened a certain
number of years (khao L'lh) before or after an already mentioned
M.S. year. The inscription thus contains a total of six
dates: three by direct indication of the year, and three by reference.
In theory, the inscription could have been written at any
time after the most recent date. The six dates are, in the order
in which they appear in the inscription:
14 years before M.S. 1214 =A.D. 1278
Planting of l?ugar-palm trees. This is the usual translation
of the text. Another possible translation, dating the event
to 1292, will be discussed at the end of the chapter. (Face 4,
lines 10-12).
M.S. 1214 =A.D. 1292
Installation of the stone throne Manang Sila Bat among
the sugar-palm trees. For a different translation, dating the
event to 1305-06, see at the end of the chapter. (Face 4, lines 12-
13).
M.S. 1207 year Kun =A.D. 1285 or 1287
Excavation of relics and their reenshrinement in Mong
S 1 Sachana.Iai. The date is not certain because the figures and
the name of the year are incompatible: M.S. 1207, year Kun
"Pig." In fact,M.S.1207 = A.D.1285 was a year Raka "Cock,"
and the year Kun would be M.S. 1209 =A.D. 1287 (or earlier I
later by x number of 12 years because there is a year Kun every
12 years). In the absence of corroboration, either may be
correct, the numeral or the name of the year. (Face 4, lines 4-6).
After 6 years= A.D. 1290-91 or 1292-93
Completion of a sliipa built over the reenshrined relics.
The dates calculated by reference are approximate because in
the old way of counting years, any date beyond the local "New
Year" could be counted as "one year later." (Face 4,lines 6-7).
After 3 years =A.D. 1292-94 or 1294-96
Completion of an enclosure wall around the Phra Maha
That, probably the sliipa mentioned under 129011293. (Face 4,
lines 7-8).
M.S. 1205 = A.D. 1283
"Invention" of Thai letters. (Face 4, lines 8-11).
Therefore, without additional evidence, the inscription
could date at the earliest from 1292 or 1305-06, and could as
well be more recent.
George Coedes is usually credited with having definitely
shown that the inscription was written in 1292 with the
aim to commemorate or to record the installation of the stone
throne Manang SilaBat. However, Coedes was not so definite.
Many of his readers overlooked the hesitation and prudence
with which he expressed himself and interpreted and overinterpreted
him in their own ways. As it is, even Coedes' own
cautious reasoning needs reconsideration.
Coedes, with reservations, deduced the year of the writing
of the inscription from the purpose or the objective of the
inscription, and for Coedes the objective of the inscription was,
again with reservations, King Ram Khamhang's wish to record
the installation of his stone throne in 1292.
As for the objective of the inscription, Coedes hesitated
between being certain that the main point of the inscription
was the installation of the stone throne, and thinking it probable
that this might be so. Within two pages of his main work
on the inscription, he offers two different opinions:" ... la stele
avait justement pour objet de commemorer !'installation de ce
tr6ne ... " On the next page, he says: "II est a peu pres hors de
doute ... qu'elle avait pour objet de commemorer !'installation
... du tr6ne de pierre" (Coedes 1924 Recueil37-38).
His readers, however, had no doubts: "The purpose of
the text is to commemorate the installation of the stone throne
in the Sugar-Palm Grove in the gardens of the Royal Palace at
Sukhodaya" (Griswold 1968 Historian's Debt 66). Some years
later, Griswold I Prasot wrote (1971 Inscr. Ram Khamhang
191) : "Coedes was the first Western scholar to bring out
clearly the formal purpose of the inscription;" and then they
quote a passage from Coedes 1918 Notes critiques 21 which
only says prudently: "II est a peu pres certain qu'elle (the inscription;
HP) a pour objet de commemorer !'inauguration du
tr6ne de pierre ... "
Concerning the date of the inscription, a glance through
Coedes' writings shows that throughout his life he hesitated
between the certainty and the probability that the inscription
was composed in 1292: " ... m.s. 1214 (1292 A.D.), date probable
de !'inscription ... " (Coedes 1919 Documents 32); " ... la
stele de Rama K'amheng composee en 1292" (Coedes 1964
Etats 357). But a few pages later in the same book, he writes:
"En 1292, date probable de la stele ... " (p. 372) ..

DIFFICULTIES WITH INSCRIPTION NO. 1 93
There is a strange item that I am at a loss to explain. In
his main work on the inscription (Coedes 1924 Recueil), Coedes
does not date the inscription at all but merely says that the
stone throne probably was inaugurated in 1292 (p.38). What is
more, in his book on the history of Southeast Asia (Coedes
1964 Etats), which contains the alreaqy quoted passage, "la
stele de Rama K'amheng composee en 1292" (p.357), that passage
has a footnote, no. 2, which refers the reader to p. 37 of his
main work on the inscription (viz. Coedes 1924 Recueil), but
as has just been noted, he nowhere says there that the inscription
was written in 1292 !
But others took the date 1292 as definite: "The stone inscription,
which bears the date of 1214 of the old Saka era ...
equivalent to 1292 A.D .... " (le May 1986 Asian Arcady 13).
"His celebrated inscription of 1292 .... " (Hall 1964 History
161). "As everyone now knows, the inscription was composed
in 1292 ... "(Griswold 1968 Historian's Debt 66).
In his Notes critiques (1918, p. 12-25), Coedes explains
the reasons for choosing 1292 as the probable date for the inscription,
and for choosing the episode of the installation of the
stone throne as the probable purpose of the inscription. He
explains that previously he had adopted the date 1292 for the
wrong reasons by following a certain argument advanced by
Bradley, but now he does not believe in that argument anymore.
He then goes on to show that, by combining the episode
of the excavation and reenshrinement of the relics in 1285 with
the episode of the setting up of the stone throne in 1292, and
with a passage in the Yuan history dealing with an embassy
from Sukhothai (Sien) to the Mongol court in China, the same
date of 1292 still appears as the probable year in which the
inscription was made, although for other reasons than Bradley
and he had previously thought. Coedes concludes that the
date 1292 is probable, although the inscription could have
been engraved two or three years after the installation of the
stone throne, and that the probable objective of the inscription
was to commemorate the installation of the stone throne.
In other words: Coedes thought that the objective of the
inscription probably was to record the installation of the stone
throne in 1292, which is the reason why the inscription should
date from that time. The same argumentation is also found in
Griswold I Prasot 1971 Inscr. Ram Khamhang 194.
Six years later, Coedes again explained his reasoning
concerning the purpose of the inscription (Coedes 1924 Recueil
38) : He thought it likely but not really proven ("II est a
peu pres hors de doute ... ")that the objective of the inscription
was to commemorate the consecration of the stone throne in
1292 because that year seemed to have been of special importance
to King Ram Khamhang since it was in 1292 that the king
began his relation with the Mongol court in China: "II est a peu
pres hors de doute ... qu'elle (the inscription; HP) avait pour
objet de commemorer I' installation ... du trone de pierre ... en
cette annee 1292 A.D., qui semble marquer dans le regne de
Rama Gaxphenune date capitale, puisque c'est alors qu'il entra
pour la premiere fois en relation avec la Cour de Chine". Thus,
the reasoning of Coedes hinges on one point: the year 1292, in
which year he thought the king had inaugurated his stone
throne and also had contacted the Mongol-Chinese court.
Coedes did not explain why contacting the Mongol court
was such an important event, and what the stone throne had to
do with it. The reader is left to speculate on his own that
perhaps Ram Khamhang, having contacted the Mongol court,
had been granted certain privileges or assurances by Kubilai
Khan in 1292 and therefore now felt free to establish himself as
a ruler with a throne which was such an important event that it
became the main subject of the inscription, which in turn
would mean that the inscription was written in 1292 or shortly
afterwards.
However, there is no contact attested between Sukhothai
and the Mongol court in 1292, which breaks Coedes' chain of
argumentation
The historical source that Coedes used, as he says himself
(1924 Recueil38 and 19~4 Etats 372), was a passage from
the Yuan Shih (in Thai: 'VImutle.J) as quoted by Pelliot 1904 Deux
itineraires 242. In English translation, it reads: "November 26,
1292: The Pacification Office of the Kwangtung Circuit sent a
person who arrived at the capital bearing a golden missive
proferred by the chief of the country of Hsien" (Flood 1969
Sukhothai-Mongol Relations 223).
Coedes (1917 Documents 33) was satisfied that Pelliot
had definitely identified Hsien "avec la region de la Haute­
Menam ou royaume de Sukhodaya." Pelliot, on the basis of
Ming and Yuan sources, had advanced the following reasoning:
Siam originally consisted of two countries. One was the
kingdom of Hsien; it was hilly ("accidente") and little fertile.
The other was the kingdom of Lo-hou; it was flat and very
fertile. These geographical conditions meant to ['elliot that
Hsien must have been on the upper Menam (Lu.iuwhl"l'J~m),
and Lo-hou on the lower Menam. Lo-hou was Lop Buri.
Hsien must have been the kingdom of Sukhothai, because it
was to the north of Lop Buri, and because inscription no. 1
attests to Siamese power at Sukhothai (Pelliot 1904 Deux itineraires
235, 244).
It is still unknown where exactly Hsien was, but there
are enough indications to show that at around 1300, Hsien did
not mean Sukhothai but referred to some city lower in Thailand
and closer to the ocean than Sukhothai.
The reasoning that Hsien, a hilly and rather barren land,
must be north of Lop Burl, is immediately suspect because
there is such a type of land also in other directions from Lop
Burl. For some years now, it has therefore been argued that
Hsien should have been somewhere in the delta of the Ma
Nam J ao Phraya, or in southwest central Thailand, or even further
down south (i.a. Chand 1972 Review: Griswold 1967
Towards 259; Vickery 1978 Guide 205; Vickery 1979 New Tamnan
134, 155-156). I shall not repeat the reasons but will
mention some arguments that I find particularly striking.
Chou Ta-kuan, the Chinese envoy, flatly stated that
Hsien/ Siam, in 1296-97 when he visited Angkor, was 15 days

94 HANS PENTH
southwest of Angkor (Chou Ta-kuan I Paul 1967 Notes 9).
However, Sukhothai is northwest of Angkor.
The cultures of Hsien and Sukhothai seem to have been
quite different. Hsien was a state that was known to habitually
practice and to some extent live on piracy; their staple food
was sago, not rice. A Chinese source, the Tao I Chih Lio which
is thought to have been composed towards A.D. 1350, has this
to say about Hsien: "The people of Hsien are much given to
piracy; whenever there is an uprising in any other country,
they at once embark in as many as a hundred junks with full
cargo of sago (as food) and start off and by the vigor of their
attack they secure what they want. (Thus) in recent years they
came with seventy odd junks and raided Tan-ma-hsi (= Tumasik
=Singapore or Johore) and attacked the city moat. (The
town) resisted for a month, the place having closed its gates
and defending itself, and they not daring to assault it. It
happened just that an Imperial envoy (of the Chinese court)
was passing by (Tan-ma-hsi), so the men ofHsien drew off and
hid, after plundering Hsi-li" (Rockhill1915 Notes 99-100).
Perhaps it is also helpful to note that the Sayful! on the
famous Angkor bas-relief may have originated from or may
have been related to inhabitants of west-central Thailand, because
their particular hairdo is similar to that of people from
Old U Thong (Khian 1966 Folk Art fig. 1; original in U Thong
National Museum). Further, the chronicle Jinakalamali, written
in 1516-1527, includes the regions of Chiang Mai, Lamphiin
and Lampang in Syamadesa (JKM.C. 73, 96, 115). This again is
an old Mon area. From all of that one might perhaps consider
that around 1300, Hsien, Sien, Saya111 etc. had something to do
with Mon or with Mon-related people, and not with Thai, an
idea that was alreadly envisaged by Vickery 1979 New Tamnan
137 n.81.
Lastly, when the Yiian Shih wants to mention Sukhothai,
it says so. There is a passage in it stating that on 5 June 1299,
the barbarians of "Hainan, Su-ku-t'ai, Su-long-tan and Pen-hsi
arrived at court bearing tribute of tigers, elephants and sha-lo
wood boats" (Flood 1969 SukhOthai-Mongol Relations 226).
Thus, Hsien was not Sukhothai and the first attested
contact between Sukhothai and the Mongol Chinese court was
in 1299, not in 1292.
The assumed objective of the inscription, the commemoration
of the inauguration of the stone throne, also is not
evident from the inscription itself. The matter of the stone slab
occurs only on face 3, lines 10-19 (crafting, inauguration and
use of a stone slab) and then again on the same face, lines 26-27
(indicating the name of the stone slab as Manang S1la Bat).
Before, in between and after these two passages, entirely different
matter is being dealt with. If the stone slab was what
really mattered in the inscription, one would expect it to have
been accorded a more prominent place and a more extensive
treatment, and not to have been mentioned twice rather lightly
in the third quarter or at the end of the inscription (Coedes
1924 Recueil 38 considers face 4, lines 11-27 a postscript;
Griswold I Prasot 1971 Inscr. Ram Khamhang 192-193 think
that all of face 4 may be composed of two postscripts: lines 1-11
and 11-27). The matter of the stone slab appears too much
hidden away in the inscription and too much treated as just
one item among the many items written down, for it to have
been the main subject or the objective of the inscription.
If indeed the stone slab had some particular importance
for the inscription, then the inscription may perhaps better be
described as a eulogy of King Ram Khamhang which includes
his descendance, his biography and a description of his prosperous
country; the eulogy was set up at a stone seat that had
been installed by the king and that was regularly used by
religious leaders and the king, which was something that the
king regarded as one of or as the most important deed(s) he
did in his life. This would mean that the inscription was
written by the king after the stone seat had been in use for a
certain time because the inscription explains how and when it
was used, but before the death of the king because after his
death no other person would write the eulogy. The "postscripts"
which expand the eulogy perhaps also would have
been written during the lifetime of the king. Such self-praising
or rather self-appraising eulogies were common in the old time
(see Khmer inscriptions; also the Wat Phra Yiin inscription
from Lamphiin, c.137; text edition and translation in Griswold
I Prasot 1974 Inscr. Wat Phra Yiin); they were more a religious
than a political (and not a boastful) act: a statement of who the
person is and what his merits are.
Similarly, the objective of inscription no. 2 (text edition
and translation in Griswold I Prasi:it 1972 King Lodaiya), which
contains one principal eulogy but also praises some other
persons, may not have been to record the restoration of the
Maha That in Sukhothai. Rather, the inscription may have
been written on the occasion of, or even after, the restoration of
the Maha That and then was installed at the Maha That because
its restoration was regarded by the person involved as
one of his important deeds.
To sum up: The old reasons for dating inscription no. 1
to 1292 are not convincing because the objective of the inscription
cannot have been to record the installation of a stone
throne in 1292 following Sukhothai's contact with the Mongol
court.
But even the year 1292 for the installation of the stone
throne is not entirely certain; it may have been 1305-06. The
inscription says (face 3, lines 10-13):
1214 li'ln1J3JlJ-:J~'lJU'a13JfiLL'V\-:J ... ti~n b~cmuttbfi~lJ~L'Ih~-:!l~
' ~
'l11..:~v.Juu'llm~u "il-:~..:~v1-mn~1-:J ~·mutt
Ajan Phithaya Bunnak (Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai
University) points out to me, and I agree, that the text can be
translated in a simple, straightforward way:
"In A.D. 1292, King Ram Khamhang ... planted these
sugar-palm trees. After 14 years (= A.D. 1305-06), he had
craftsmen make a stone slab and set it up among these sugarpalm
trees."

DIFFICULTIES WITH INSCRIPTION NO. 1 95
Also, there is corroboration from the stone itself. The
same construction with 'tlii and ~~ occurs on face 4, line 4-6, on
the occasion of the excavation and reenshrining of the relics in
SI Sachanalai:
1207 ilntlm Lvl'll~(be:n) Y"l'~~1i1!ile:Je:Jn'VI~~'VI~1~b'VIUnv'hu'lfTtk~e:J
bbri'l-'4~~1i1~ 't(;)b~e:JU'VI~1u~~~be:n~~e-J~~ Lun~1~ (b~e:J) ~~~'lf'lf'l-tl 't~
"In A.D. 1285 (or 1287, see above), he had relics dug up.
Everyone saw them and paid their respects to them. After one
month and six days, they were reenshrined in the city of SI
Sachanalai."
Bastian, who was in Bangkok in 1863 where he examined
old inscriptions and whose understanding of ili.scription
no. 1 still was somewhat rudimentary, translated: "When the
era was dated 1214, in the year of the dragon, the fatherbenefactor
Ramkhamheng ... planted a palm tree, and after
nineteen (sic!) rice crops had gone by, he ordered the workmen
to prepare the smooth surface of a stone, which was fastened
and secured in the middle of the trunk of the palm tree" (Bastian
1866 Siamese Inscriptions, in: Griswold I Prascit 1971
Inscr. Ram Khamhang 185-186, 224).
But ever since Father Schmitt merged the two main
clauses into one clause with a string of subordinate clauses,
because he thought that the stone throne was made in 1292, all
the other renowned translators of the inscription followed
him: Bradley, Coedes, Griswold I Prasot:
Schmitt: "En caka 1214, annee cydique du grand dragon,
le prince Rama-Khomheng ... fit placer par son architecte un
tr6ne de pierre, a l'ombre d'un groupe de palmiers que Sa
Majeste avait elle-meme plantes, il y a quatorze ans passes"
(In: Griswold I Prasot 1971 Inscr. Ram Khamhang 224-224).
Bradley, professor of rhetoric, inserted one subordinate
clause in the main clause and translated (his brackets) : "In
1214 of the era, year of the Great Dragon, Prince Khun Ram
Khamhaeng . . . (having) planted this grove of palm trees
fourteen rice-harvests (before), caused workmen to hew slabs
of stone and to set them up in the open space in the center of
this palm grove" (Bradley 1909 Oldest Siamese Writing 28, 57).
Coedes: "En 1214, annee du dragon, le Prince Rama
Gamheri. ... qui avait fait planter ces palmiers a sucre depuis
quatorze ans deja, ordonna a des ouvriers de tailler cette dalle
de pierre et de la placer au centre de cette palmeraie" (Coedes
1924 Recueil47).
Griswold I Prasot: "In 1214 saka, a year of the dragon,
King Rama Gamheri. ... who had planted these sugar-palm
trees fourteen years before, commanded his craftsmen to carve
a slab of stone and place it in the midst of these sugar-palm
trees" (Griswold I Prasot 1971 Inscr. Ram Khamhiing 214).
Depending on whether one assumes an imaginary "full
stop" before 'tlii in the inscription text or not, and on which
object one places the emphasis, the trees or the stone slab, one
is led to favour one or the other of the two possible translations.
Thus, inscription no. 1 may date from 1292-96 or 1305-
06, because those are the last years referred to in the inscription,
or else it may date from a few years later, but it should
have been written during the lifetime of King Ram Khamhang,
perhaps including the "postscripts."
The "Mongol Passage"
Coedes saw Mongol influence on Sukhothai social and
political thinking as revealed by inscription no. 1; he saw a
similarity between the structure of Ram Khamhiing's government
and that ofthe Mongol khans (Coedes 1962 Peuples 137),
and also a similarity in political and filial behaviour (Coedes
1964 Etats 358). But while he cautiously formulates his ideas,
others who obviously copy from him are less cautious. Coedes'
"une certaine dose d'inspiration mongole dans la structure
sociale" (1962 Peuples 136-137) and "(les princes thai) semblent
... s'etre inspires de l'exemple des Mongoles, dont la
prodigieuse epopee devait frapper leur imagination ... !'inscription
de Rama K'amheng ... sonne meme parfois comme
un echo de la geste de Gengis Khan" (1964 Etats 347) become
"King Rama modelled his institutions closely on Mongol examples;
his great inscription ... se"ems to have echoed the
language of Genghiz Khan, and the King may have been an
actual ally of the Great Khan ... he visited Peking in 1294 ... "
(FitzGerald 1972 Southern Expansion 80-81).
A certain passage from the inscription was particularly
in Coedes' mind. It is the passage on face 1 where Ram
Khamhang says of himself: 'When I went hunting elephants,
.. I brought them to my father. When I raided a town or village
and captured elephants, young men or women of rank, silver
or gold, I turned them over to my father." For Coedes, this
passage was too close to the oath of the electors of Genghis
. Khan than to be just a coincidence: "Ce passage rappelle de
fa

96 HANS PENTH
probably non-existent. Unless there were at present unknown
close relations between Sukhothai and the Mongol court, Ram
Khamhang would not have had the detailed knowledge of the
Secret History which permitted him to use a certain passage
from it for his inscription. Until such close ties can be demonstrated
from other sources (they are not apparent from the
official Yiian history), one has to assume that either the similarity
between the two passages is a coincidence, or else that the
inscription was composed at an indefinite and possibly much
later time, after the Secret History had become known in Thailand,
where then a short passage was adapted for an inscription
dealing with Sukhothai and one of its former kings, Ram
Khamhang.
Thus, Mongol influence on Sukhothai society can probably
be ruled out. However, the choice between a coincidental
similarity of the two passages (which would mean that the
inscription dates from 1292-c. 1305 or a few years later) and a
plagiarism or adaptation perhaps centuries later (which would
mean an equally reduced age of the inscription), cannot safely
be made without further evidence.
The Jindamani Evidence
Jindamani (~u~n:~.~rn from P. cintamaiJ.i) is the collective
name of a group of works intended as primers or reference
books on correct orthography and versification. There are
quite a number of Jindamani manuscripts, some very different
from others.
The usual opinion seems to be that the author of the
first Jindaman1 probably was the royal chief astrologer,
hOrathibodi (P. horadhipati) who may have originated from or
may have lived for some time in Sukhothai and I or Phijit, that
he composed the Jindamani by order of King Narai in 1672,
and that he also may have been the author of the so-called
Luang Prasot Chronicle, composed in 1680. That opinion was
first put forward by Prince Damrong in 1932 and was later
repeated and somewhat deepened by Thanit Yupho (see: Silapa
Bannakhan 1961 Jindamani 146-151). King Narai ruled
from 1656 to 1688.
Prince Damrong and Thanit Yl1pho based their view on
three notes contained in Jindamani manuscripts. The first note
is found in nearly all the Usual Jindamanh (see below) and
says:
a G
~:IJL~'OJYr~~U1-rl~UL
tl
UL'OJ1~'1"l'I.J1"
" "'
"The chief astrologer who formerly lived in Miiang
SukhOthai, composed this Jindamani and presented it to king
Naral, Lord of Lop. Burl."
The second note is found in one of the Unusual
Jindamani s UM.NLB/93; see below) and says:
Page 16, line
(2) :: ff 1 04 il'lf'l~fln ~-3Yl1~m
. . . t11U'l~ n-n'li
(3) "OJ17m~1~3:ii:lty1LLqJ-3~u~1:~.~rntm~ ...
The date, C.S. 104, obviously is defective. Since the
name of the year is given, Chuat, and since it is thought that
the time of King Naral is meant, the date is understood as C.S.
1034 =A.D. 1672.
"In A.D. 1672, the learned royal teacher composed the
Jindamanl for presentation to His Majesty."
The third note is from the end of one (or several) Usual
Jindamanl manuscript (s) and says in verse form that the
learned chief astrologer (1'VIW1~L~1e:J~) originally was from
Okha Burl ('li111miJ'I.J1) which Prince Damrong and Thanit understood
to mean Miiang Phijit (Silapa Banrakhan 1961
Jinaamanl147-148).
Thanit YuphO classified the Jindamanls into four main
groups (Silapa Bannakhan 1961 Jinaamam 128 ff). Group no. 1
is made up of only a few manuscripts which are, however,
quite different from the others. A particular characteristic is
that they have a preface on the origin of Thai letters which is
not found in other Jindamanis. Thanit calls this group ~U~1-
:~.~rn 'll.Vut111:1JLLtl~n "Jindamanl with strange contents," or "Unusual
Jindamani." Group no. 2 is by far the largest group with more
or less similar contents though requiring a. division into four
subgroups. Thanit calls this group ~u~1:1.1rn 'll.U1Jt111:1J~e:J-3
"Jindamanl with identical contents" or, somewhat freely but
perhaps more to the point, "Jindamani with ordinary contents,"
"Usual Jindamanl." Groups no. 3 and no. 4 consist of
only a few items, all 19th century creations, such as Prince
Wongsathirat Sanit's "Second Volume of Jindamanl," composed
in 1849 (group no. 3), and Bradley's Jindamani anthology
cum dictionary (group no. 4).
The Unusual Jindamanls are of interest here because of
their introductory note on the origin of the Thai letters.
The oldest known Unusual Jindamani manuscript is in
the Royal Asiatic Society in London. It is a leporello paper
manuscript which has a date equivalent to A.D. 1732 and
which in the following shall be called JM.RAS. Dr. Henry
Ginsburg of the British Library in London kindly informs me
in a letter.dated 10 March 1988 that this manuscript is no. 8 in a
collection of about 25 Thai manuscripts and that there is no information
on its origin.
Of this manuscript, the late Professor Khajon Sukhaphanit
'IJ'OJ1 ~'IJ'Vl1U'li had a microfilm made which he gave to the Fine
Arts Department, Bangkok. It is now in the National Library
and has become quite brittle .. From that microfilm, the text of
the manuscript was first printed in 1961 under the title ~u~1:1.1ru
'll.Ul.J'Vl1~L~1tn:IJ lnfl "Jindamani, version of Phra Jao Boroma Kot,"
which was included in a book on the subject of Jindamanl
(Silapa Bannakhan 1961 Jindamani 158 ff). An identical reprint
was made in 1969, and a third edition with a slightly
different pagination appeared in 1971. King Boroma Kot of

DIFFICULTIES WITH INSCRIPTION NO.1 97
Ayuthaya may have had nothing to do with this Jindamanl,
but 1732 was the first year of his reign, hence the title of the
publication.
Judging by the microfilm, it seems that- the manuscript
is made of black paper and that the letters are written in gold
colour, now somewhat faded. Each page has five lines of
writing. Each line of writing is marked by a horizontal line
that is drawn across the page. The upper part of the letters
touch the line but the end of the long stroke of tall letters like
tl, the tone marks and the vowel i are above the line. Definite
traces of use and insect attack as well as general marks of age
are apparent.
Still according to the microfilm, it seems that, if one
opens the first fold of the manuscript, the upper page has the
title of the book: 'VIU19i'u fla.j'Yl'VI~~£1 ~'""13-Jru "Front Page, Book
of Jindamaru."
The lower page has five lines of writing. The first three
lines contain the introductory note or preface:
(1) ei'u'VI'iL LWil"'VIa.J1mL~ne:Jw;h fl'nridl"lf 645 3-JLLa.Jfln'V'l'l"
(2)
(3)
nmeJ.:JL~1L~~eJ.:J1ii~W1L~mL~1
(LL) (~).:! ('VI)~iM'Yl~LL~IiiL~11LL~.:Jpln~LL~.:JLL3-JeJn~n~'VIii
l~11l1'LL~.:J eJ'VIiLLL3-J'VI~~mL~ nm nu
A 4 G I- I 1.1 I 1.1 I
'1~'1 tl.:JLneJ~L3-JeJ.:J~eJ3-JnLL'Il.:J3-Je:JmL~1 L'VI'\.Io11~1tt.L11e:J.:JL"il1"il
LL~.:JLL~pl
ei'n~ L'Yl~
"(An) old document (s) state (s) that in A.D. 1283, after he
had obtained Miiang Sl Sachanalai, Phaya Rong devised the
Thai writing system (ti:ing nangsii Thai). It is not clearly stated
whether he devised the form (tang rup) or whether he devised
the letters themselves (tang rna akson). (Because) the letter
combinations (rna nangsii) from kka, kn, etc. to keoy had
already been devised in the I

98 HANS PENTH
"Phaya Rong" in the JM.RAS preface should be the same
as "Phaya Ruang" in the JM.NLB prefaces; it could be an older
form or a local variant of the name.
That Phaya Ruang had something to do with the "invention"
of Thai letters, or else was strong in magic and had
superior knowledge, is corroborated by the existence of a
number of tales of unknown origin and age that were current
during the Ayuthaya period. Phra Wichian Prlcha (Noi) included
one of them in his Phongsawadan Ni.ia which he composed
from old sources and finished in 1807. These stories
give no date for the "invention" of the Thai letters.
According to the tale in Phongsawadan Ni.ia, Phra Jao
Arun Rat alias Phaya Ruang (V'l~~L%1

DIFFICULTIES WITH INSCRIPTION NO.1 99
convincing; yet, because of other reasons, the inscription may
date from that year or from a few years later, for instance from
1305-1306 or even later, but should date from a time when
King Ram Khamhang was still alive. (2} The "Mongol Passage"
leaves a choice between the same period and an indefinite but
possibly much later time. (3) The preface of the Unusual
Jindaman1 points to a date in the plain Sukhothai period.
Therefore, on the basis of what has been discussed in this
article, there appears to be no sufficient reason to move the
traditionally accepted date of the inscription to a much more
recent time. T!le evidence seems to point to a date within a
period of about two decade's beginning with 1292.
As for the objective of the inscription, it would seem that
the inscription was intended as a comprehensive eulogy of
King Ram Khamhang, perhaps written some years after the
installation of the stone seat Manang Sfla Bat which was of
religious and secular importance.
I am aware of the fragility of much that has been put
forward in this paper. Many conclusions were arrived at only
by weighing probabilities and by judging from appearances. It
is therefore likely that in future corrections will have to be
made. In a sense, the present article is only an interim assessment
based on limited material.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALI.
Archive of Lan Na Inscriptions, Social
Research Institute, Chiang Mai University.
Bastian 1866 Siamese Inscriptions.
Adolf Bastian: On Some Siamese Inscriptions.
JRAS Bengal Branch 341
1.1866.22-37.
Bradley 1909 Oldest Siamese Writing.
Cornelius Beach Bradley: The Oldest
Known Writing In Siamese. JSS 611.1909.
1-68.
Chand 1972 Review: Griswold 1967
Towards.
M.C. Chand Chirayu Rajani: A.B.
Griswold: towards a History of
Sukhodaya Art; Bangkok 1967. JSS 601
2. 1972.257-284.
Chand 1976 Guide.
Mom Chao Chand Chirayu Rajani:
Guide through the Inscriptions of
Sukhothai. University of Hawaii 1976
(Southeast Asian Studies Working Paper
no.9).
Chou Ta-kuan I Paul1967 Notes.
J. Gilman d'Arcy Paul: Notes on the
Customs of Cambodia by Chou Ta-
kuan. Translated from the French version
of Paul Pelliot. Bangkok 1967.
Coedes 1917 Documents.
G. Coedes: Documents sur la dynastie
de Sukhodaya. BEFEO 1712.1917. 1-47.
Coedes 1918 Notes critiques.
G. Coedes: Notes critiques sur !'inscription
de Rama Khamheng. JSS 1211. 1918.
1-27.
Coedes 1924 Recueil.
G. Coedes: Recueil des inscriptions du
Siam. Premiere partie: Inscriptions de
Sukhodaya. Bangkok 1924.
Coedes 1962 Peuples.
G. Coedes: Les peuples de la peninsule
indochinoise. Paris 1962.
Coedes 1964 Etats.
G. Coedes: Les etats hindouises d'Indochine
et d'Indonesie. Nouvelle edition
revue et mise a jour. Paris 1964.
FitzGerald 1972 Southern Expansion.
C.P. FitzGerald: The Southern Expansion
of the Chinese People. Delhi -
London 1972.
Flood 1969 Sukhothai-Mongol Relations.
E. Thadeus Flood: Sukhothai-Mongol
Relations. A Note on Relevant Chinese
and Thai Sources (with Translations).
JSS 5712. 1969. 201-257.
Griswold 1968 Historian's Debt.
A.B. Griswold: The Historian's Debt to
King Mongkut. In: ThammayutOrder I
Maha Makut University: In commemoration
ofH.M. King Rama IV (Mongkut).
Bangkok 1968, p. 59-78.
Griswold I Prasi>t 1971 Inscr.
Khamhang.
Ram
A.B. Griswold I PrasertnaNagara: The
Inscription of King Rama Gamheri of
Sukhodaya (1292 A.d.). JSS 5912. 1971.
179-228.
Griswold I Prasot 1972 King Lodaiya.
A.B. Griswold I Prasert na Nagara:
King LOdaiya of Sukhodaya and his
Contemporaries. JSS60I1.1972.21-152.
Griswold I Prasot 1974 Inscr. Wat Phra
Yiin.
A.B. Griswold I PrasertnaNagara: The
Inscription of Wat Pra Yiin. JSS 6211.
1974. 123-141.

100
HANS PENTH
Grousset 1960 L'empire.
Rene Grousset: L'empire des steppes.
Paris 1960 (4e edition).
Hall1964 History.
D.G.E. Hall: A History of South-East
Asia. London 1964 (2nd edition).
Hirth 1887 Chinese College.
F. Hirth: The Chinese Oriental College.
JChBRAS 22.1887.203-219.
JKM.C.
G. Coedes: JinakalamalinT, traduction.
BEFEO 25. 1925. 73-140.
Khian 1966 Folk Art.
Khien Yimsiri: The Folk Art of Uthong,
Sukhothai and Bangkok. Bangkok 1966.
Krairiksh.
See: Phiriya.
Krom silapakon 1983
Sukhothai.
le May 1986 Asian Arcady.
Jariik samai
Reginald le May: An Asian Arcady.
Bangkok 1986 (photographic reprint of
the original edition, Cambridge 1926).
Narit 1939 Letter.
mm!~J.J~~~ (L'l:IJL~'il'1 L•hvhm:IJ'Y'l~::mu1f1'1
LL~:: ":IJL~'il'1 m:IJ'Y'l1::m'ii11-:J'1) il.~!.J.,11
fi~1hm 8/6.2509. 6-10.
Pawaret 1962 King Mongkut Biogra·
phy.
":IJL~'il'Y'l1:::1JVI1.,:1Jtu.L~1
m:IJ'Y'l1::mll·mm1m
~.:~n-m1 "m::'rnllhrl~w~m~J.J!~~wr.::v€1J.Jmtf7t

ARCHAEOLOGY IN THAILAND
WHAT'S NEW?
PORNCHAI SUCHITTA
MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL
THE SIAM SOCIETY
Last year the Division of Archaeology of the Thai Fine
Arts Department took a major and welcome step by publishing
works related to archaeological surveys and excavations in
Thailand. Three of the publications which I would like to
introduce especially to non-Thai readers are summarized below.
1). ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THAILAND, VOLUME
I, Division of Archaeology Publication No. 6/2531, Fine Arts
Department, edited by Amphan Kijngam. 1988 (in Thai).
This publication is a report of over one hundred registered
prehistoric and historical sites distributed in the ten
western, eastern and coastal provinces of Thailand. The ten
provinces are Kanchanaburi, Ratchburi, Suphanburi, Nakhon
Pathom, Ayutthaya, Prachinburi, Nakhon Nayok, Chachoengsao,
Cholburi and Rayong. This publication is a useful
index of what has been discovered and where, with some
offerings of absolute and relative dates. The locations of the
sites are well illustrated with maps and some of the important
artifacts are well illustrated with photos and drawings. "Archaeological
Sites in Thailand, Vol. I" is a very important and
useful publication in gaining a basic and general understanding
of the development of prehistoric and historical cultures and
societies in this part of Thailand.
2). BAN BANG PUNE KILN SITE, Division of Archaeology
Publication No. 9/2531, Fine Arts Department, reported by
Jaruk Vilaikaew, 1988 (in Thai).
This second publication deals specifically with a historical
kiln site located at Ban Bang Pune near the capital city of
Suphanburi Province. The site reveals interesting findings such
as stamped and incised stoneware jars and also earthenware
pots. The unique designs on the stoneware jars include human
figures riding on an elephant or attending cattle as in plowing,
human faces, and other animals such as rabbits and horses.
Most of these designs are framed with decorated lines and are
arranged in rows. The decorations are to be found from the
wide rim down to the broad shoulder and the main body of the
jar. The repetitious heart-shaped design around the shoulder of
stoneware jars is also common at the Ban Bang Pune kiln site.
Judging from the designs, distribution and associated findings
at other sites, the author of this report suggests that the date of
the decorated stoneware jars at Ban Bang Pune may be around
the 13th-14th century A.D. and this .type of stoneware jar may be
called the "Suwannabhume Group." The origin of Ban Bang Pune
village may go hack beyond the Lopburi and Dvaravati periods
as evidenced from the decorated earthenware pottery found
here.
3). LAEM PHO SITE: SRIVIJA YA'S ECONOMY, Division of
Archaeology Publication No. 15/2531, Fine Arts Department,
reported by Khemchart Thepchai, 1988 (in Thai).
The third publication is an archaeological study of Chaiya
city. It includes the area of the Laem Pho site at Tambon
Phumriang, Amp hoe Chaiya, SuratThani Province. The survey
and excavations reveal that this area has been inhabited since
prehistoric times. The archaeological site at Laem Pho is a historical
site where hundreds of monochrome and polychrome
glass and carnelian beads and Chinese ceramics were found.
Most of these artifacts, according to the report, are dated to
around the 9th-10th century A.D. or during the time of the
T'ang Dynasty. It was during this period that the Chinese Buddhist
monk Ei-jing recorded the name of "Srivijaya" and described
it as a stop-over place where he spent six months
studying the Sanskrit language. The author of this publication
hypothesizes that the city of Chaiya might have been one of the
important cities of Srivijaya that professed Mahayana Buddhism.
The city of Chaiya was also an important maritime
entrepot for both east and west, involving Chinese, Javanese,
Arab, Persian, Indian and even Roman merchants.

REVIEW ARTICLE
DAVID FILBECK
CHIANG MAl
"' .dl I
it 'J :: L3.1 iHI 'U. 1 'U.
t(;l!J ~ili11 ilGl!11'i(i.I'U.1
ihitnwaJ..4Lila~ ttJ-a1nt. l!:lctlilo
The Lua of Nan Province.
CHOLTHIRA SATYAWADHNA.
Bangkok: Muang Boran Publishing Co.,
1987.
This book is about the Lua, or Tin,
a little-known hilltribe located in the
· northernpartofNanProvince. The book
is basically an anthropological description
of six Lua villages located in Pua
and Thung Chang Districts; however, a
total of 23 Lua villages was surveyed.
Data collection and surveying were done
during the years 1976-1980, and again in
1986.
The book is well written; it is ~n
sanuk (fun) to read. Technical words and
complicated grammatical patterns are
kept to a minimum. The sentences and
descriptions of Lua life and culture are
straightforward. The book is professionally
published with a good cover
and clear photographs.
In addition to anthropology,
the author also draws upon the disciplines
of economics, sociology ,linguistics
and history to describe the Lua of
Nan Province. In short, Ms. Cholthira
has employed an interdisciplinary approach
in her research and writing on
Lua culture. This approach allows Ms.
Cholthira to range far and wide in telling
us about the Lua and is in turn a major
reason why it is an interesting book to
read. However, this strength places great
demands on an author's ability. Unfor-
tunately, in this work, the combination
of these various disciplines to describe
the Lua has led to numerous mistakes in
data collection (facts), interpretation and
methodology.
History vs Anthropology
The disciplines of History and
Anthropology have been "on-again, offagain"
partners in describing the human
situation in this world. During the 1800s
scholars combined the two in construct­
. ing broad evolutionary schemes or theories
depicting how the human raceevolved
from primitive or savage roots
to the great civilizations of ancient Greece
and modern Europe. However, a reaction
against such schemes soon set in.
As one scholar stated it, such schemes
showed more about the mind of the
theorists than ofwhatactually happened
in the history of mankind.
Yet, historical considerations in
anthropological descriptions were not
dead. Scholars came up with the idea of
diffusion; i.e. when certain items of either
material or mental culture were
found to be similar from one society to
another, the similarities were explained
as diffusion from one society (as source
or donor) to other societies (the recipients).
Sometimes this process was described
from the recipients' viewpoint: a
cultural trait or material item was borrowed
from another society. In either
event, this process was described as having
taken place over a period of time. It
was, in other words, a way of keeping
both history and anthropology together
in describing the human condition.
Diffusion and borrowing likewise
declined in popularity in anthropological
descriptions. In their place came
function, more precisely structure and
function. Anthropologists now described
the human situation on earth in
terms of function, i.e. what function or
functions did an item or structure perform
in society and how did such help
maintain society as a social system.
Ideas of diffusion and cultural
borrowing, alongside of functional
descriptions, have survived in anthropology
while evolutionary theories (at
least those of the 19th century type) have
been rejected if not discredited in the
social sciences. Diffusion and borrowing,
especially of technology plus the
new forms of behavior and thinking that
follow, are clearly observable in today's
world. We can also observe societies
developing in economics and government
as well as in other areas. But it is
still an open question whether such diffusion
and development, while obviously
historical in nature, are evolutionary
(civilizing, integrative, progressive)
in character, or whether they are ultimately
disintegrative and destructive to
the recipient societies involved.
In my opinion the greatest weakness
of Ms. Choltira's book is the misuse
of the historical approach in describing
anthropologically the Lua of Nan Province.
The major reason is that Ms.
Choltira draws too much from the evolutionary
side of the historical approach
and relies too little on diffusion and
borrowing (with no mention whatsoever
of function) in her description.
That is, for· aspects of Lua

REVIEW ARTICLE- THE LUA OF NAN PROVINCE 103
culture and society that she describes,
she often employs an outdated
interpretation of historical
development and change (often from
a deep time frame of hundreds of
years) from a common source. It
would have been much better, as I
shall point out in certain examples,
to have described these aspects in
terms of diffusion and borrowing.
Of course, there is no discussion of what
functions such aspects perform in Lua
culture and society.
The most outstanding example
of what I am talking about is found in
Ms. Cholthira's classification of Lua
society. Lua society is matrilineal
in determining descent of its members.
Mr. Cholthira declares,
lil13-I'VI~n~~'\..1.1nl'j~.:J"3J
lil13JLLU1
~~u~11ilnU~3Jth~1~m~lil{~-:~"3J
'
mTI'-In1~3JllillihJ11il ~ (matriarchal
primitive society) dju%u-w~ulm'j
According to the principle of
social development, [plus] according
to the thinking in materialist
history, matriarchal primitive
society is the initial stage in human
social development. (p. 58)
Ms. Cholthira goes on to outline
step by step human social development
from rna triarchal prirni ti ve society to the
next stage of patriarchal primitive society,
then to the next stage of control by
sorneoverthelaborofthernajority, which
in turn developed warfare, which led to
slavery, which finally developed into
private ownership of land and social
stratification in society. Ms. Cholthira
next applies all of this to the Lua of Nan
Province by saying that Lua society
exhibits traces of each of these stages of
human development. This is especially
true, she says, in the area of the Lua
matrilineal descent which shows traces
of matriarchal primitive society

104
DAVID FILBECK
knowledge about the Lua. Second, by
again misusing the historical method at
this point, it led her to posit a wrong
relationship, that of one (the Wa) being
the ancestors of the other (Japanese). In
other words, such comparisons are unproductive
if not misleading to readers,
deceiving them to think that there is a
historical connection when there is is
none.
Again, in a case where housing
patterns are compared, it is much better
to talk in terms of cultural diffusion of
such patterns or similarities than in terms
of historical or biological relationship.
Anthropologically it is no great mystery
that the kalae housing pattern is found in
a wide area over Asia. For one thing,
there is only a limited number of ways
people can build a house out of bamboo
and wooden poles. Because of this it is
entirely possible these various ethnic
groups could have independently invented
the kalae pattern and what the
outside investigator is discovering is
nothing more than a convergence of
human thinking and skill in building a
bamboo house with thatch roofing. Or,
the kalae pattern could have been invented
in one or even two groups and
from there it could have diffused to surrounding
groups. Ethnic groups in Asia
have been and are still in constant contact
with each other. As a result cultural
traits, skills, objects, etc. get borrowed
and used first by one group then by
another. It is no surprise, then, to find
similarities throughout the area.
For example, there are a number
of similarities in culture between the
Lawa and the Lua. Ms. Cholthira has
cited these as evidence of a common
historical heritage between the Lawa and
the Lua. However, this is not supported
by any hard evidence such as should be
found in historical records and linguistics.
Better explanations of these similarities
are that they are the result of
cultural diffusion, or that they are the
result of borrowing from one group to
another. Similarities that are currently
found among the Lua, Lawa and even
the surrounding Thai are much more
likely to be due to a diffusion of areal
features among all groups involved than
to inheritance from a common source.
Inadequate Research
Another weakness of Ms
Cholthira's book is that she has not
done adequate research in order to
back up her many claims regarding
the Lua of Nan province. For example,
the author aligns the Lua of Nan Province
too closely with the Lawa, who live
in other parts of northern Thailand and
who figure prominently in Thai historical
records. That the Lua and Lawa are
related is not in dispute. However, these
early historical records do not and cannot
show this. Only linguistic evidence
can show this, but Ms. Cholthira does
not employ this line of evidence. If she
had employed linguistic comparisons of
the Lua and Lawa languages, moreover,
she would probably have seen that, even
in historical times, the two were still
distinct groups, i.e. when the Lawa are
referred to in northern Thai historical
records, the Lua were already a separate
linguistic and cultural group and therefore
could not have been included with
the Lawa.
In reading through this book I
was surprised to find that Ms.
Cholthira apparently consulted only
a few sources-and most of these are by
now out-of-date -while she was doing
her field work and writing her book on
the Lua. Evidently she either overlooked
or failed to consult a great number of
other articles and monographs that have
more recently been written and published
on the Lua (Tin, Mal, Prai). For
example, only one of my publications
(David Filbeck 1976a) was cited in her
book. There is no evidence that she consulted
any of my other numerous publications
(see references below) or that she
did any research at the Tribal Research
InstituteatChiangMai University, where
much of this material has been deposited
along with the research that others
have conducted on the Lua. If she had
consulted these sources-and, more importantly,
built on them-she would
have been spared from many of the
mistakes she made in her research and
interpretation.
In comparing Ms. Cholthira's
book with my knowledge of the Lua
in Nan Province I find that she did not
adequately survey all the Lua. For
example, in hu list of 50 Lua villages,
she failed to mentioned several
additional villages located in
Chiang Klang District, including the
village of Pha Nam Yoy where I have
done much of my research and on
which I have written much. Another
example of inadequate research is
her listing of U1'U.fln1f!L~ (Southern
Skat village located in Pua District)
as a Lua village. This village is a Northern
Thai (Yuan) villag~indeed it may
never have been a Lua village, for its
inhabitants have spoken the Northern
Thai language for many generations. It
should not be included in a list of Lua
villages. Still a third example is the
statement that she considers only the 23
Lua villages which she surveyed as
·~1:mYf" (True Lua) while the remaining
27 other villages (in her list above) :
":jfl (m'l!Yl) fieru'ltl'Y11.:1'!13-J3J1nn11
speak [a language] much more
like Khamu (language). (p. 27)
This statement, unfortunately, is grossly
in error. It shows that she did not truly
compare her linguistic data from these
villages with the Khamu language to see
if her statement is true. Moreover, if she
had consulted my own Ph. D. research
(David Filbeck 1971, 1978), she would
have seen that the village of Ban Kwet
in Chiang Klang District linguistically
contains the oldest forms of the Lua
language and dialects and on this basis
should be be considered the "truest" Lua
of all.
The inadequate research mentioned
above led her into making a
number of incorrect generalizations
regarding all the Lua when in fact she
should have restricted them to Lua life
and culture in only the six villages she
studied in depth. Unfortunately I too
have in my earlier years been guilty of
engaging in generalizing from my experience
in the village of Pha N am Yoy to
all the other Lua of Nan Province (cf
David Filbeck 1973). But the Lua are not
a homogeneous people, whether culturally
or linguistically (David Filbeck 1987).
In Thailand they are divided into two
main groups, the Prai and the Mal. The

REVIEW ARTICLE- THE LUA OF NAN PROVINCE 105
Prai are further divided into an "R" dialect
and a "Y" dialect (e.g. the Prai and the
Pyai). It appears that the "R" dialectspeaking
people have retained many
traditional customs while the "Y" speakingpeople
have dispensed with the same
customs. The Mal are also divided into
three groups. In other words, generalizations
about these groups and subgroups
should be avoided until each has
been investigated separately to see what
unique linguistic and cultural patterns
each exhibits. Only then is it permissible
to make generalizations about the Lua.
Parts I and II: Some Specifics
The book ~'l~LSja~thu The Lua of
Nan Province is divided into four parts or
sections containing a total of 18 chapters
plus introductions and final remarks.
For this section of my review I focus on
some specific weaknesses and mistakes
found in the chapters of Parts I and II.
Part I Is titled ~1~1ud "The Lua Today,"
which gives an overview of the Lua in
Nan Province, and Part II is titled
3J':i~n1'iii'UliTI3J~'l~ "Cultural Inheritance
of the Lua," which details from a historical
perspective the culture of the Lua
people.
The seven chapters of Part I are
titled:
1. 'Jiunilw!Xa~ i.u"!.h~b'l'lfll'l'l~ "Minority
Groups in Thailand" (an overview of the
hilltribal groups, their populations and
location in Thai provinces).
2. ~'" ~'l~ 3J1GI LY4':i ~€1 i.mm ..t "The Tin,
Lua, Mal, Prai: Who Are They?" (a
survey of the Lua and the ethnic
names by which they are known).
3. 'llla.Jlhum::u'W1~€l~L3je:~~u1u "Lua Villages
" "
on the Mountains of Nan Province" (a
list and discussion of villages).
4. bbuu1nm':i~g:;l1l'!JeJ~Iit~"3J~'l~LSje:~~u1u "Production
Patterns of Lua Society in Nan
Province" (a brief description of the dry
rice agriculture of the Lua). ·
5. tm~G'f-r1~'1'11~'llu~u'!leJ~Iit~"3J~'l~b!ieJ~u1u
"Social Class Structure in Lua Society
of Nan Province" (a characterization
of Lua village society).
6. G'fmW11"1-'4'!JeJ~'IIIqj~~'l~ "The Status of
Women Among the Lua" (a description
and discussion of the relatively independent
status that women enjoy in Lua
Society).
7. m13J~3J~wih~'lll-;i1~'113J'llu~'l~nu~~"3J
'
bn~&\'eJ3J "Relationships Between the Lua
and Surounding Societies" (an overview
of the social relationships between the
Lua and the Northern Thai, Hmong and
Thai peoples).
The first three chapters of
Part I contain good information on the
Lua with the exception of those
weaknesses and errors noted in the
previous sections of this review.
Chapter 4 on production is an adequate
treatment on dry rice cultivation
among the Lua; however, it is lacking in
that it does not discuss other means of
producing wealth and income. For example,
this chapter, as well as all the
book, makes no mention of the production
of b!J~~ miang "pickled tea leaves,"
which is a major source of income in several
Lua villages. In fact, the Lua are
major suppliers of miang in the northeast
section of Nan Province. Also there
is no mention of young Lua men going to
work in the corn fields of Phitsanuloke
and Petchabun Provinces for a year in
order to "get a stake" before marriage.
The Lua also raise pigs, cows (11) and
water buffalo (m1~). which may be
sold or bartered for other goods. Water
buffalo may also be rented out to lowlanders
during paddy plowing time,
thus providing extra sources of income.
Chapter 5 is an interesting discussion
of orphans in Lua village society.
However unless the reader is well acquainted
with Lua society in general, he
or she may be left with the impression
that all Lua villages contain a great
number of orphans. While I have seen
the condition that Ms. Cholthira describes,
it seems not to be as common as
this chapter indicates. My guess would
be that the orphan condition she describes
is valid mainly for the villages
where her research was conducted. n
would still be an open question how
widespread this condition is among the
Lua.
Another interesting discussion
in Chaper 5 is her emphasis on gourds
in Lua village society. Again, however,
her discussion leaves the impression
that the Lua place a great deal of
significance on gourds in their life and
culture. Ms. Cholthira writes,
'111'l~'l~!im13J~n'lll'l~bb'VIU .. ~,b~1" ~
1J':i':i~~111'lu:a11111h~"ii11u .;(~ i.uf1~'lbiaubbG~~
m3J 1tJlMJumh~ri~
The Lua have a devotion for the
"gourds" which contain their
daily supply of water, a devotion
found both in their homes
and especially on the way to their
dryland rice fields. (p. 41)
I have not observed this m13J~n'lll'l~bb'III'U
or devotion for gourds among the Lua.
Of course,- it could be true for those
villages where Ms. Cholthira did research
and which I have never visited. However,
my feeling is otherwise. That is,
gourds are not objects of significance or
devotion among the Lua; rather, they
are convenient and quite inexpensive as
containers of water. This feeling, furthermore,
is reinforced by the picture
chosen for the front cover of her book. It
is a picture of a young Lua lady carrying
a pack basket full of gourds, but in her
right hand she is also holding a plastic
oil "gallon" (it looks to be carrying the
Esso brand). In other words, if gourds
are as significant as she states, then why
the gallon? If they are significant, then
she overlooked an even more significant
change in Lua culture as exhibited in this
cover picture. Factually, however, aside
from any imputed significance, these
plastic oil containers are becoming
popular among all the Lua in Nan Province.
Indeed, they are rapidly replacing
gourds and bamboo as containers of
water because they are not only inexpensive
but are also much more durable.
Still another oversight in Chapter
5 is the failure to mention the role and
power of the headman in Lua village
society. In this chapter Ms. Cholthira
rightly discusses the power and influ-

106
DAVID FILBECK
ence that the village 'VIa.Je:J~ "shaman" has
in each Lua village. But from my observation
the village headman has a similar
amountofpowerandinfluence(cfDavid
Filbeck 1973, forthcoming).
Chapter 6 in Part I is a delightful
chapter on the role and independence
of women in Lua village society.
Ms. Cholthira is to be commended for
discovering this and bringing it to the attention
of the outside world. I have often
observed this independent status of Lua
women myself, and have marveled at it
as Ms. Cholthira did. Yet, she probably
overstated herself when she wrote that
n-:i1~'1l1~
eiTU 1"il m~ :::1JYI1J1YI'llel.:l ~ 'VItlj.:J~.:J!i L 'VIU

REVIEW ARTICLE- THE LUA OF NAN PROVINCE 107
The Lua here, if considered from
what we know about their "numbers,"
as can clearly be seen, have
a level of culture that is very low.
This can be demonstrated in that
they are able to count only 1-2-3,
and to count days. They are unable
to count months and years.
(p. 110)
This quote, if left unqualified, is
wrong. It is true that the Lua language
contain numerals onJy to three (or four
in the case of the Mal dialect). But this
means that Lua can count to three (or
four) in Lua only. When they want to
count higher they do one of two things:
They either interject Thai numerals intotheir
Lua speech, or just switch languages
and speak Northern Thai only. The Lua
arequitecapableofcountingashighand
as long as anyone. The way it is done is
by speaking Thai!
The Lua Language
Part III, on the Lua Language, is in
my estimation the worst researched
section of the whole book. Part III contains
two chapters:
1. b~I:J.,'Jbb

108
DAVID FILBECK
bly beginning its emergence as a separate
language from a Proto-Khamu-Tin
base some 300 to600 years ago, and 1000
or more years ago Proto-Khamu-Tin was
probably still a part of Proto-Khamuic
(cf David Filbeck 1971, 1978). In other
words, contact between Thai and Lua
could have occurred, resulting in words
being borrowed from Thai by the Lua,
only in the past few hundred years.
Now let us look at some of the·
evidence-Thai loanwords found in
Lua-put forward to substantiate the
above claim. It must be remembered
that the existence of Thai loanwords in
Lua is not the issue here; there are abundant
loanwords and I have discussed
them at length in my Ph. D. dissertation
and other works (David Filbeck 1971,
1978, forthcoming). The issue is over the
choice of words claimed to be Thai
loanwords in Lua and the claim that the
words so chosen are now so integral a
part of the Lua language that they are
unrecognizable as loanwords.
Now Ms. Cholthira states that
there were several ways in which Thai
loanwords were brought into Lua. The
first was fi1n1

REVIEW ARTICLE-THE LUA OF NAN PROVINCE 109
group. However, even this is highly
speculative. All of which means that we
should be extremely careful in trying to
tie in the Lua of Nan Province with the
Lua of other areas in Thailand in the
historical records.
This is not to say that we should
dismiss the Lua of Nan Province from all
historical records. Certainly those records
of Nan Province eastward into Laos,
if referring to the Lua, should be considered
as a record of the Tin (Mal, Prai).
Ms. Cholthira cites several references to
the "m1" /lwa/ contained in the Vll'l~-:1
/thao hung/ story. She claims that
"m1" LU'l~~ruif1~lL~eJ-:JVl11~--l !iu'YI
'
U1'1'1Ltlu~'ll1U1t~J 1um:u;'YI1-:~
~-:~~e1
m13.J'VI3.11~11LU'l-IL~1nufiL~'l-ILU'l-l~'l-l~-:!
.IJU~nru,:Cu ~mnnu~nrud:ie1--1th 11.1
UjeJ-:IL:a~-:ll-:1
The "Lwa" in the Thao Hung story
have the role of being expert
guides, which shows that they are
the owners of the land running
through that mountainous area,
i.e. from the area of Pua to Chiang
Rung. (p. 194)
If it is true that the "Lwa" refer to the Lua
(and there is some doubt that the word
does), then the Thao Hung story could
refer to the Tin/Lua of Nan Provice.
There is another possible historical
reference to the Lua of Nan Province.
In Chapter 1 of this section Ms. Cholthira
refers to a battle between the Thai.and
Burmese armies which is recorded in the
Lan Na Thai records under the title ~n
~1'\-1 "The Man [Burmese] Battle." This
record states that the Lua helped the
Thai in the battle. The interesting thing
about this reference is that Ms. Cholthira
discovered that the Lua, where she did
her field work, remember stories of a
time when there was such a battle between
the local Thai inhabitants and
Burma. Also, I have found that the District
Office of Chiang Klang District, Nan
Province, has published a brief history
of this battle which took place in Chiang
Klang District several generations ago
(no date is given in the document). This
of course would be only a few miles
from where the Lua live in the nearby
mountains. Therefore, 1t is highly possible
that this reference in the Lan Na
Thai records refers to the Lua of Nan
Province.
Conclusion
Ms. Cholthira ends her book with
a chapter summarizing her conclusions
and hypotheses regarding the Lua of
Nan Province. Generally she concludes
that the Lua have resided in Nan since
ancient times and that their culture reflects
ancient customs (on which there is
general agreement) but she also seeks to
place the Lua of Nan Province in certain
historical records (over which there is
disagreement).
However, regardless of the points
over which one may agree or disagree,
writing and publishing this book on the
Lua in Nan Province is of great value.
For one thing, the book will help bring
outside attention to the Lua of Nan. For
too long these gentle hilltribe people
have been neglected by both both government
officials and scholars. I began
my association and research among them
in 1962, and for many years I felt I was
the only outsider interested in their language
and culture, plus concerned for
their well-being and development.
Now, fortunately, Thai scholars
are becoming interested in the Lua and
other Mon-Khmer groups in Thailand.
This book by Ms. Cholthira will go a
long way in creating more interest. For
this we owe our thanks to Ms. Cholthira
for her research and publication on the
Lua of Nan Province.
REFERENCES
BEALS, RALPH L.; HARRY HOIJER;
ALAN R. BEALS
1977 "An Introduction To Anthropology,
5th Edition." New
York: Macmillan Publishing Co.,
Inc.
FILBECK, DAVID L.
1971 "T'in, A Historical Study."
Ph.D. Thesis, Indiana University.
1973 "T'in Culture: An Ethnography
of the T'in Tribe of Northern
Thailand." Chiang Mai: Dept.
of Sociology and Anthropology,
Chiang Mai University.
1976a "Mal (Thin)." In "Phonemes
and Orthography: Language
Planning in Ten Minority
Languages of Thailand," ed. by
W.A. Smalley (Pacific Linguistics
Series C. No. 43) Canberra: Australian
National University.
1976b "On*/r. in T' in." InAustroasiaticStudies
1:265-283,ed. by
Philip N. Jenner. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press.
1978 "T'in: AHistoricalStudy."
(Pacific Linguistics Series B. No.
49). Canberra: Australian National
University.
1987 "New Ethnic Names For
the Tin of Nan Province." Journal
of Siam Society, Vol. 75:129-137.
Forthcoming 1'1J.Jn~~3.J'lleJ--l'lf11L'li1Lt: .. h
if~ LU~-:J'VI1\i1U1'\-I (in press).

Archaeological Excavations
in Thailand-Surface finds
and minor excavations. Edited by
PER S0RENSEN. Scandinavian Institute
of Asian Studies, Occasional Papers
No. 1. London: Curzon Press Ltd., 1988.
156 pp. with photographs and illustrations.
Almost three decades ago the Thai­
Danish Expedition of 1960-62 carried out
its first prehistoric studies conducted in
the Kwae Noi area of Kanchanaburi
Province, Thailand. The expedition was
financed by a grant from the Government
of Denmark. In spite of the long
lapse of time since the expedition ended
in 1962, it is still a welcome occasion to
see more publications on the the results
of the expedition being published.
This new publication is divided
into four sections. Section I, by Per S0-
rensen, is a catalogue of the surface finds
collected in 1960 during the reconnaissance
in Kanchanaburi Province by the
Thai-Danish Prehistoric Expedition. It
is accompanied by line drawings of the
selected artifacts and has a discussion
and conclusions.
Section II, by the late Dr. H.R. van
Heekeren, deals with an account of the
excavations undertaken during 1961 in
the Chande Caves, Kanchanaburi Province.
It includes also a list of the excavated
finds and illustrations of some of
the artifacts.
Section III, also by Dr. van Heekeren,
describes the subsequent excavations
with illustrations of the remains of
the Late Bronze Age cemetery on the
bank of the River Kwai near Wang Pho
known as the "Saw Mill" site in Kanchanaburi
Province.
Section IV, by S0rensen, gives a
detailed description, fully illustrated by
line-drawings, of the four kettledrums
from the Ongbah Cave, followed by an
extensive discussion of the drums.
In Section I the author presents a
list of· 64 identified caves and several
open-air sites such as Chande A and the
Saw Mill site. It is unfortunate indeed
that the reported artifacts in this section
REVIEWS
were from surface finds. However, the
advantages that fellow archaeologists
can well derive from this report are the
well-delineated drawings of the stone
tools, pottery, wooden coffins, and
bronze and iron artifacts. In order to
make these surface-find artifacts meaningful,
the author did a typological study
and compared them with similar dated
finds elsewhere. On stone tools the
author makes one interesting conclusion:
that the new types of tool emerged
in the Holocene as a result of climatic
changes, forcing prehistoric man to increase
the number of specialized tool
types such as the bifacial handaxe, which
is a bifacially edge-flaked pebble. The
author points out further that no surface
finds from this expedition nor later
published finds from Kanchanaburi
Province can on present evidence be
claimed to be of the Early Paleolithic, as
postulated.
On the ceramic finds at Ongbah
Cave two interesting pottery fragments
from two different vessel types, OB.38
and OB.56, were found with painted
decoration on the surface that is unknown
from Thailand. The decoration
has wide oblique and converging lines
in red and black paint in a kind of coarse
cross-hatched pattern. By comparative
study the author points out that patterns
painted in nearly the same fashion are
known from the Cha Ching culture,
Gansu Province, in China, where they
are dated to Eastern Zhou, i.e. later than
771 B.C. This, according to the author,
may actually indicate that the Ongbah
fragments are to be ascribed to a Bronze
Age/Metal Age context at Kanchanaburi
dated to about the 4th century
B.C., based on charcoal samples from a
burnt wooden coffin, i.e. 2180±100 B.P.
calibrated 240-355 B.C.
With the evidence of boat-shaped
wooden coffins found in several caves in
Kanchanaburi Province and the fact that
they are also known in Sichuan, China,
and considering further the possible
relationship of the painted pottery
mentioned earlier, the author proposes
that it cannot be excluded that some
influence had entered the area of Kanchanaburi
form Southwestern China in
the last centuries B.C.
With a rather strong view on diffusion
from the north, i.e. China, the
author concludes further that before the
disappearance of the Hoabinhian populations
from the area, the Ban Kao culture
populations entered. They were
probably a full (rice?) agricultural society,
as reaping knives exist, both fragments
of semi-lunar Chinese types with
two perforations for hafting, and local
copies of such, made from the shells of
bivalve fresh water mussels. This, together
with many other observations,
indicates that these populations may
have ultimately originated in China,
probably somewhere in the South China
vacuum between the first appearance of
rice agriculture at He Mu Du in the first
half of the 5th millennium B.C., and the
late 3rd millennium appearance in Western
Central Thailand when the climate
was suitable for rice agriculture.
In Section II, the author describes
the excavations of the two caves at
Chande, and the conclusion is that little
has been learned to increase knowledge
of the Hoabinhian except for more evidence
of its geographical spread. In the
first cave the author describes the findings
as "Mesolithic Hoabinhian" assemblages
which are very uniform in character
and can be looked upon as a continuation
of the Lower Paleolithic chopper
I chopping tool complex of the Far
East. The difference between the two
cultures, according to the author, is
caused by the fact that the monofacially
flaked pebble tools tended to become
smaller and better finished as time went
on.
What appears to be contradictory
to S0rensen's interpretation in Section I
is the interpretation made by van Heekeren
in Section II in the beliefthat the fact
that this culture (Mesolithic Hoabinhian)
survived so long shows not only that the
people were well adapted to this kind of
life, but also that neither climate nor
fauna underwent major changes at the
termination of the Pleistocene. S0rensen

REVIEWS
111
proposes that there were climatic
changes during the last millennium of
the Late Pleistocene and first millennium
of the Holocene. These changes
led S0rensen to postulate the increment
of the number of specialized tool types
found in the Kanchanaburi area. On
dating, though van Heekeren did not
produceanyC-14datesfromhisexcavations,
it appears that he dated the "Mesolithic
Hoabinhian" culture in the late
Pleistocene, whereas S0rensen dated
the "Hoabinhian" by comparative data
as Holocene.
The neolithic burial in the second
cave produced a conical object and a pi
stone ring, both made of yellow-white
chert, and a unique flat lance-head made
of slate. The author concludes that the
objects belonged to the same culture as
those found in the neolithic cave burials
at Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi Province,
where he had no hesitation in identifying
them as a local version of the Lungshanoid
of China.
In Section III the excavation at the
Saw Mill site revealed two phases in the
occupation of the site: an upper stratum
belonging to the historical period, and a
lower stratum which was ascribed to the
Bronze Age. Bronze artifacts found are
one socketed axe and a series of conical
bells with a metal loop on top. Both
types are known from the classical Dong­
Son site, and thebellsalsofromSa-Huynh
in Vietnam. In addition, an earthenware
container with a lid decorated with a
geometrical pattern, probably used for
secondary burial, was found. With the
existing data the author came to the
conclusion thatthe Saw Mill site at Wang
Pho discloses a diffusion of Sa-Huynh
and Dong-Son cultures.
In Section IV the author describes
the four fragmentary kettledrums, OB.
86, OB. 87, OB. 88 and OB. 89, found at
Ongbah Cave, as surface finds. Due to
the many variations of Heger 1 type existing,
the author proposes that the postulated
typology of the Pre-Heger I
drums discovered in Yunnan, Vietnam
and Thailand most likely represent nothing
but a local Yunnanese variation of
Heger I drums with limited further extensions
into Southeast Asia from ca.
400 B.C. to A.D. 200. The author stresses
further that the drums of Heger I type do
not constitute a chronological continuum
in development, but seven chronological
groups, which, except for the C
groups, are largely contemporaneous.
Also, the Heger original Type I is insufficient
as reference to the variety of drums
known today. It is now certain, according
to the author, that they constitute
local or regional groups, based on two
different schools of decoration, i.e. the
saw-tooth pattern and the comb-tooth
pattern.
Despite the major surface find
status of the artifacts presented, the entire
book has a positive academic interest,
especially among prehistorians of
Southeast Asia. However, there are some
unsettled problems concerning the clarification
of terminologies such as "Mesolithic
Hoabinhian," "Hoabinhian," and
"Bronze Age" in Southeast Asia. With
new prehistoric archaeological data
emerging in Thailand, perhaps the old
or present classifications and terminologies
should be reviewed or revised. This
applies also to the postulated diffusionistic
view of Southwestern China's infiltration
into the Kanchanaburi area. If
the postulated view has some tendency
to be true, then perhaps more studies
should be concentrated on the search for
and implications of a possible route or
routes and the distribution of the similar
"diffusionistic artifacts" found in Thailand.
PORNCHAI SUCHITTA
Member of the Council
The Siam Society
A Culture in Search of Survival:
The Phuan of Thailand
and Laos. SNIT SMUCKARN AND
KENNON BREAZEALE. Yale University
Southeast Asia Studies, (Monograph
Series 31. New Haven: 1988. 279 pp.
US$15.
Dr. Breazeale, a historian at the
East-West Center, Hawaii, and Dr. Snit,
an ethnic Phuan and anthropologist at
The National Institute of Dev~Ippment
Administration, Bangkok, have put to-
gether this volume on the nineteenth
century history and twentieth century
survival in Thailand of the Phuan, thus
making it the third publication, to judge
from the bibliography, to appear on this
minority Lao group originally occupying
a vaguely defined upland area centring
around Chiang Kwang, between
Luang Prabang in Laos and Vinh in
Vietnam.
The origin of the people in this
region is glossed over, probably for want
of facts, and the scene is set at the end of
the eighteenth century of an independent
farming community with their own
princes forming a rather ill-defined
"state" trading in forest products and
silk. The geographical situation dictated
the political polarity, torn between allegiance
to Vientiane and Vietnam, with a
divided succession seeking aid from
opposing parties.
The Thai attack on Vientiane in
1827 and the subsequent demolition and
depopulation of the city made the court
in Bangkok heir to Phuan submission on
the Lao side. Hue from the 1830s increased
its expansionist tendencies and
tried to assert its influence in upland
areas. The Thais set out to extend their
own influence in the region and at the
same time remove as many of its people
to settle in the northeast plateau on the
right bank of the Mekong; communities
of Phuan also arose in the central valley
near Lopburi and in the Prachin area.
In a complex political situation,
the Phuan state was reestablished in the
1850s, but the appearance of the Ho
marauders in 1869 together with French
colonial expansionism in the 1880s led to
the end of the Phuan in their homeland.
This was made final in 1893 with the
Franco-Thai treaty of October, under
which Siam renounced all claims to the
left bank of the Mekong.
The extremely complex moves of
the different parties throughout this
period form the first part of this volume
and were presumably mostly authored
by Dr. Breazeale. The detail is considerable
but never overwhelming, and he
tells a fascinating story well. The plight
of the transported Phuan in 1876, taken
captive into Siam, was miserable and

112
REVIEWS
commented upon by European diplomatsatthetime.
ItwastheFrenchthreat
to claim extraterritoriality for all descendants
of the Lao that caused a change in
attitude in Bangkok and the abolition of
war-captive and descendant status.
The second half of the book, the
shorter of the two, is a straightforward
analysis of a contemporary Phuan community
at Ban Mi, in Lopburi province.
It has all the apparatus of contemporary
sociological research, complete with a
table of forbidden marriage patterns,
statistical tables and opinion surveys,
ending with autobiographical sketches
of five elderly Phuan in the district who
had made good. A better balance could
have been been obtained if some women
had been asked to supply their life stories
and also some who had not done so
well.
The description of the contemporary
Phuan, however, makes one wonder
in what way they differ at all from
the Thai (or for that matter the Lao),
except in their assertion of their Phuanness.
They have a slightly more vigorous
spirit world, but so do many Thais
away from urban centres. Only language
clearly marks them out, and that
is inevitably in decline (though mention
is made of a recent association to promote
the language). Assimilation, as
with another hard-working, upright and
usually successful rice-farming community,
the Mon, is clearly inevitable.
There are two rather unsatisfactory
maps to locate the Phuan state and
the places mentioned in the book (the
point is made in the text that the Thai
commissioners often did not know where
the watershed of the Mekong lay to
divide Thai and Vietnamese areas of
influence; if they used these maps they
would be no further enlightened). This
and the absence of a genealogical table of
the Phuan princes are the only drawbacks
to the first part of the book, the text
of which is excellent. The second half
does inevitably leave one with a feeling
of deja lu, for anthropological studies of
minority communities in the region are
not lacking. All in all, the volume is
valuable and physically very well pre-
sen ted, though it deserves a stiffer cover.
MICHAEL SMITHIES
UN-ESCAP
Bangkok
Upiilipaript;cchiisutra. Ein Text
zur buddhistischen Ordensdisziplin.
Aus dem Chinesischen iibersetzt und
den Pali-Parallelen gegeniibergestellt.
Herausgegeben von H. BECHERT.
VA LENTINE ST ACHE-ROSEN. Abhandlungen
der Akademie der Wissenschaften
in Gottingen, Philologisch -
Historische Klasse. Dritte Folge 140.
Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht,
1984. 104 pp., 14 plates.
Fragmente des Dharmaskandha.
Eine Abhidharma-Text in
Sanskrit aus Gilgit. SIGLINDE DIETZ.
Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften
in Gottingen, Philologisch -
Historische Klasse. Dritte Folge 142.
Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht,
1984. 104 pp., plates.
Zur Schulzugehorigkeit
von Werken der H[nayiina-Literatur.
Erster und zweiter Teil.
HEINZ BECHERT, editor. Symposien
zur Buddhismusforschung, III, 1, 2.
Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften
in Gottingen, Philologisch -
Historische Klasse. Dritte Folge 149,
154. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und
Ruprecht, 1985, 1987. 434 pp.
These three highly important
contributions to the study of Buddhism
have been published recently
under the auspices of the Academy
of Sciences at Gottingen and under the
editorship or at the initiative of H. Bechert,
Gottingen.
The Upilipariprcchiisutra appeared
only after the untimely death of V.
Stache-Rosen (1925-1980), and was prepared
for the press by H. Bechert. A
coupleofyearsagoina brief note printed
in "Buddhism in Ceylon and Studies on
Religious Syncretism in Buddhist Countries"
(Symposien zur Buddhismusforchung,
I), Gottingen 1978, the author
was able to identify this text, which
is preserved in Chinese translation
only, as being based on a lost Pali original,
which again most probably belonged
to the Vinaya literature of the
Abhayagirivihara school corresponding
to the Parivara. This discovery is of
much consequence for the study of Buddhism,
as for the first time a text of the
otherwise lost canonical scriptures of
this school could be traced, which once
had an important place in the history of
Buddhism in Ceylon and beyond, before
the teachings of the Mahavihara tradition
were finally raised to the status of
orthodoxy in the 12th century A.D. This
volume contains an introduction, a German
translation of the Chinese text together
with parallels from the Parivara
of the Mahavihara Vinaya, and a facsimile
of the Chinese text itself.
The Dharmaskandha is a philosophical
text most probably belonging
to the abhidharma literature of the Mulasarvastivada
school as S. Dietz was
able to demonstrate. Before fragments
of this text were unearthed from what
mighthavebeenaruined stilpa atNaupur
near Gilgit (North Pakistan), the Dharmaskandha
was known in Chinese translation
only. Earlier, these fragments,
preserved in Ujjain today, were edited
rather carelessly in India in 1975 after
they had been identified by J. Takasaki,
and were attributed erroneously to the
Sarvastivada school at first. Now Dr.
Dietz has reedited these fragments with
utmost care. Moreover, she describes in
a lengthy introduction the fragmentary
manuscript of the 7th(?) centuryA.D.,
discusses both language and script, and
traces the Chinese parallels. The edition
of the fragments is followed by a concordance
to the Chinese translation and to
the previous Indian edition, and finally
by an exhaustive index. Regrettably,
however, the facsimiles at the end of the
book are hardly readable, which is the
only shortcoming of this otherwise fine
piece of scholarship. It may be added
that in the meantime further folios from
the Gilgit manuscripts have been identified
by Kazunobu Matsuda as belonging
to this text: Newly Identified Sanskrit Fragments
of the Dharmaskandha in the Gilgit
Manuscripts, Kyoto 1986.
While the first two books under
review thus provide new and valuable
primary material for the study of Bud-

REVIEWS
113
dhism, the third one contains the proceedings
of a symposium held at Gottingen
in 1982 on the occasion of the 85th
birthdayofE. Waldschmidt(1978-1985),
the late doyen of German Buddhologists.
The topic of this symposium was
"the attribution of Hinayana literature
to different schools." In the first volume
of the proceedings this topic is discussed
in 17 papers, of which 14 are in German
and three in English, preceded by an assessment
of E. Waldschmidt's contribution
to Buddhist studies by H. Hartel, a
former pupil of Waldschmidt and retired
director of the Indian Museum at
Berl.in (West). The first eight articles try
to develop ways and means for attributing
certain texts to certain schools. Here,
0. v. Hiniiber, Freiburg, tries to demonstrate
how linguistic data, especially the
terminology of the vinaya, may help to
trace the school by which a text was
used. Closely connected are the articles
by G. v. Simson, Oslo, on stylistic criteria,
and by L. Sander, Berlin, on the
distribution of the word parifiad/parfiad
in (Miila) Sarvastivada texts from Gilgit.
G. Roth, Gottingen, and J. W. de Jong,
Canberra, who contributed to the volume
though he did not participate in the
conference, both try to elucidate the
problematic term madhyuddesika and its
variants found at the beginning of the
Mahavastu, a Mahasa ll}ghikalokottaravada
Vinaya text, without any definite
result: "intermediate recitation (??),"
which might refer to the language oftha t
school. Both these articles and the survey
of "Japanese Studies on the Schools
of the Chinese Agamas" by E. Mayeda,
Nagoya, are in English. Further, C.
Vogel, Bonn, and D. Seifort Ruegg,
Hamburg, contribute to the subject by
evaluating Tibetan sources relevant to
the classification of Buddhist Hinayana
texts according to schools.
The second part of the first volume
comprises three articles devoted to
the study of single texts:S. Dietz,Gottingen,
discusses the attribution of the Gilgi t
fragments kept at Ujjain, among others
the Dharmaskandha (see above), to the
MUI.asarvastivada school. Bhikkhu Pasadika,
Gottingen, investigates canonical
quotations in the Abhidharmakosabha~ya,
and Ch. Tripathi, Berlin, traces
Sang itisiitra-Ekottariigama parallels.
The third part is devoted to Buddhistnarrative
literature: D. Schlingloff,
Miinchen, deals with the tradition of the
Syama (Pali: 5ama)-Jataka in Buddhist
art, while J.-U. Hartmann, Gottingen,
discusses the A vadanasataka, and A.
Mette, Miinster, treats the Padmiivati­
Avadana together with a fragment of the
Candraprabha-Avadana, both found
among the Gilgit manuscripts. More
general deliberations on narrative literature
and Buddhist schools may be found
in the article by M. Hahn, Marburg.
Lastly, S. Lienhard, Stockholm, describes
various aspects of the Buddhist community
in Nepal, and K. T. Schmidt,
Saarbriicken, discusses the possibility of
ascribing to specific schools Buddhist
texts in the Tocharian language found in
Chinese Turkestan.
The second volume contains
only one rather long article by L.
Schmithausen, Hamburg, on canonical
and post-canonical material of the Miila
(Sarvastivada) schools, written in German
with an English summary. Comprehensive
indexes to all contributions
are found at the end of this volume.
Thus going far beyond a mere survey
of research on the interrelation of
Buddhist texts and schools, the articles
collected in these volumes greatly advance
our knowledge of this subject.
Therefore this book together with its
predecessor on "The Language of the
Earliest Buddhist Tradition," reviewed
in JSS 70.1982.162foll., are to be considered
as indispensable tools of presentday
as well as future research on many
varied aspects of Buddhism.
OsKAR voN HINOBER
Orientalisches Seminar
Universitiit Freiburg/Brsg.
Etude historique et critique
du livre de Simon de la Loubere
"Du Royaume de Siam," Paris
1691, MICHEL JACQ-HERGOU­
ALCH. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1987. 647 pp. No price
given.
Perhaps the trouble with having
people paid to do nothing else but research,
as the French have, is that they
feel obliged to justify their existence in
much print. The most recent reissues of
La Loubere in English (which, both of
1986, published in Bangkok and in Singapore,
do not make J acq-Hergoualc'h' s
bibliography of the work) both reproduced
the 260 pages of the original and
each made do with five pages of introduction.
This present volume has 103
pages of preamble, 463 pages of heavily
annotated text, and 77 pages of referential
material. Given that the book is of A4
size, it is literally weighty at 1.8 kilograms
(4 pounds).
It is interesting to note that this is
the first new edition of the text in French
since 1714, but one needs to stress that it
is not an historical reprint, unlike the
English versions of Wyatt of 1969 or
Villiers of 1986. The whole volume has
been entirely reset, with rather poorly
defined copies of the original illustrations
inserted at appropriate places and
broken up from the original plates. Since
none of the original page breaks are
indicated, this has the disadvantage of
not allowing one to know where the
original stopped and started and precisely
what changes have been made to
the original text. We are told that spelling
has been systematically modernised,
as well as punctuation, that names
of persons have been made uniform,
that place names and proper names
having nothing to do with Siam have
been modernised, and some italicisation
has been added. In some quarters this
would be considered as textual tampering,
and a happier solution would be
that adopted by the Siam Society itself in
its reprint of Caron and Schouten in
1986, namely keeping the original as is,
in a sepia reproduction, and adding relevant
footnotes on each page (the Caron
and Schouten volume was 16mo, which
made this easy; the French publisher is
obviously not afraid of size, and could
have kept a page of the original on one
side with notes facing). Astonishingly
this new French edition has numbered
sections within each chapter; there is no
indication in the editor's "A vertissement"
that he has added these, and one' s first

114
REVIEWS
reaction is to think that the English translator,oneA.P.
Gen, whose version came
out in 1693, was guilty of mispresenting
the text. A more likely explanation is
that the original gloss has been incorporated
in the text, and numbers added by
the assiduous Jacq-Hergoualc'h. If so,
this is definitely tampering with the text.
There is little worth saying at this
late stage about the original text itself,
except that on each re-reading one is
surprised at La Loubere's thoroughness,
general accuracy and relative lack of
bias. Jacq-Hergoualc'h has occasionally
helpful notes pointing out where the
author contradicts himself, or where he
is wrong, as in saying there was no silk in
Siam, indicating a passage from Gervaise
showing that silk was indeed produced
in the country. But all too often
the notes are excessively pedantic or
quite unnecessary; there is no point in
saying in a note that La Loubere was
right about there being three seasons in
Siam, or that Batavia was an important
Dutch trading centre which became the
federal capital oflndonesia (incidentally,
he missed his cue here, for this last wellknown
fact appears at the second entry
in the text for Batavia). The descriptions
by the editor in notes about mangoes,
pineapples and coconuts are more extensive
than in the original but add nothing
to them,other than their Latin names.
The information about the Princess·
Queen of Siam, which forms a footrtote
of half a page, with quotes from
Chaumont and Ge~aise, is not essential
to the text, and more properly coul_d
have been removed to an appendix, particularly
as very little is known about
her. This is not to say that all the footnotes
are useless, just that there are far
too many of them and they. are for the
most part far too long. Nothing is more
tenacious than professional deformation,
Cocteau reminds us, and academic footnoting
scores high on any scale of professional
deformation.
There is actually one entire chapter
without a single footnote, and that is
the very long and boring "Reflexions sur
les regles indiennes." The editor excuses
himself, saying that "some parts in Vol.
II of the original hardly inspired us." He
deserves sympathy, for much of the
second volume of the original is of no
interest at all to the modern reader
wanting to have a description of late
17th century Siam. One can see here the
advantages of a selective edition, which
would omit these original fill-ups about
Chinese chess, magic squares and Taprobane.
The academic apparatus where
the text ends is hefty but not without
value. There is an annotated bibliography
of the works referred to by La
Loubere in his text, a bibliography of the
different editions of La Loubere's main
work, a bibliography of biographies of
La Loubere, a general bibliography, a
glossary of units of measurement used
in the Ancien Regime, an index of names
of persons, a separate index of geographical
names, an index of non· French words,
a list of maps, plans and figures, and·
lasfly, in the curious French tradition, a
table of contents.
There is also much critical apparatus
at the beginning of the book. Jacq­
Hergoualc'h gives us a list of important
dates, a conventional list of abbreviations,
and a series of chapters in, respectively,
the historical background to the
book, a biography of La Loubere to the
point of his becoming ambassador to
Siam, an account of the embassy itself, a
biography of La Loubere after his mission,
and a study of La Loubere's literary
works. By far the most important and
relevant is that dealing with the embassy
proper, for Jacq-Hergoualc'h has
privileged information. He draws extensively
on hitherto unpublished material,
letters from the court to .the intendant
at Brest, letters from Desclouzeaux
(in Brest) to the Marquis de Seignelay
(the Minister of the Marine), numerous
letters from the impossible Tachard to
Paris saying everything bad that he
possibly could about La Loubere to
whoever might read him (his patrons
included the king's confessor, the Pere
de Ia Chaise), and above all, he quotes
extensively from Ceberet's still unpublished
account of his joint mission with
La Loubere. This material been known
about for a long time; Lanier referred to
it in his Etude historique sur les relations de
la France et du Royaume de Siam de 1662 a
1703 of 1883. These texts, above all Ceberet's,
throw important new lights on
the mission and the way it was conducted.
Jacq-Hergoualc'h makes quite
clear that, though La Loubere may not
have been ideal as an ambassador, his
position was made untenable by the
collusion between Tachard and
Phaulkon, with the former having the
effrontery to imply he was the real
ambassador and if La Loubere wished to
complain about his treatment, Tachard
would ensure that the ;King of Siam
would not receive him as ambassador
and he would suffer many difficulties.
This enormous volume finds its justification
in the thirty pages on the actual
embassy itself, drawing on this hitherto
unpublished material.
This reviewer admires the work of
Jacq-Hergoualc'h and envies his position
as a "chercheur" which allows him
to be paid to study what he wants, but
feels that the interests of scholarship
would have been better served by a less
ponderous presentation of a new French
edition of La Loubere' s classic on Siam;
and above all the publication in entirety,
and without excessive commentary, of
vital texts of the period. Ceberet is only
one; Jacq-Hergoualc'h, in his entries in
the "Etudes" section of the catalogue of
the three hundred years of Franco-Siamese
relations in Paris in 1986, indicated
there exists a hasty translation into
French of a text in Siamese emanating
from the Siamese ambassadors describing
to Phaulkon their mission of 1686-7,
and Wannee Pooput in the same volume
indicated that an original copy in Siamese
of the account of this embassy had
recently been located in Paris. Scholars
have a duty to the world at large to
ensure these hitherto unpublished text~
are published. Similarly, scholarly institutions
like the Siam Society have a duty
to ensure that long unavailable texts are
reissued: considering just the late 17th
century period, there is a regrettable
absence of any recent edition, in English
or French, of Gervaise (an English trans­
·lation of which appeared in Bangkok in
1929), and no more recent edition than
the 1740 translation of Forbin in English.
MICHAEL SMITHIES
UN-ESCAP
Bangkok

OBITUARIES
In Memoriam
LUCIEN M. HANKS
(1910- 1988)
The world, or at least that academic corner of it which we
inhabit, seems somehow a much smaller place without our dear
friend and esteemed colleague, Lucien Hanks. Yet, in a sense,
Dr. Hanks remains with us not only in our fond memories but
in our very persons so vitally touched by his kindness and
influenced by his intellect.
I always thought of Dr. Hanks as a typical New Englander,
lean and hard in body and mind. I visualized him walking in
those "lovely, dark and deep woods" of Robert Frost. To those
of us who followed in his footsteps on the "less traveled by"
academic road, Dr. Hanks was always ready to give not only
advice and guidance, but encouragement, support, and hospitality.
In providing never-ending rice and compassion (Asian
equivalent of tea and sympathy), Lucien Hanks was always
joined by his loving wife and valued colleague, Jane.
Lucien Hanks shifted his academic compass from the
Blackfoot Indians to Thai villagers in the early fifties and maintained
his i11terest and involvement in Thai studies until his
death almost thirty years later. Anthropological studies of Thai
rural communities were largely the province of western scholarship
in the fifties, and Dr. Hanks was at the cutting edge of this
community along with his Cornell University colleagues. His
scholarly output over several decades was prolific, but, among
Thai social scientists, he is probably best known for his article
"Merit and Power in the Thai Social Order." His insights and
analyses remain intellectually provocative to this day and continue
to be the subject of academic debate and dialogue.
Dr. Hanks was both a wise, gentle man and a gentleman.
Dr. Hanks kept his academic promises to his second home
Thailand and travelled many miles here in both the physical and
intellectual realms before he finally went to sleep in his beloved
Vermont. The academic community remains in his meritorious
debt.
WILLIAM J. KLAUSNER
CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY
Editor's note: See also The Siam Society Newsletter, Vol. 5, No.1,
March 1989, p. 26, for an obituary notice regarding Dr. Hanks by David
Scribner of Bennington College.
ELIZABETH LYONS
Word has been received of the death of Elizabeth Lyons,
last February in Philadelphia. This news will sadden many
Siam Society members who recall her active participation in
Society affairs during the periods when she lived in Thailand
on various assignments. Countless others, too, will long
remember Lisa, as she was known, for her efforts spanning
more than thirty years on behalf of Thai archaeology, both in
this country and in the United States.
A native of Michigan, she received her B.A. from the
University of Michigan and her M.A. from Michigan State
University; she also completed the courses and examinations
for her Ph.D. at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York
University, though she did not complete her thesis. Other
studies followed at the Musee du Cinquantenaire in Brussels,
the Ecole du Louvre in Paris, and Columbia University in
New York.
From 1948 to 1955, during part of her studies, she worked
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she subsequently
lectured at Queens College and Columbia University in New
York and at Michigan State University. Her longest period of
employment was with the University Museum in Philadelphia,
where she served off and on from 1968 until her death, at which
time she was Keeper of the Asian Collections. She worked in
Thailand on three different occasions: from 1955 to 1957, when
she was sent by the U.S. Department of State as consultant to the
Fine Arts Department; from 1966 to 1968, when she was attached
to the Fine Arts Department as an adviser on museum
development and archaeology; and from 1971 to 1976, when
she was a project specialist with the Ford Foundation,
administering art and archaeology programs for Southeast
Asia.
But this bare biographical outline of a life devoted to art
history does not really explain why Lisa will be long remembered
by a such a large number of Thais and foreigners involved in the
culture of this country. The answer to that question lies in the
friendships she forged and also in activities that were as often
as not carried out behind the scenes and that were rarely
included in official accounts.
Though her specialization was Chinese art, particularly
jade and painting, she was immediately attracted to Thai culture
on her first visit in the mid-SO's. A booklet she wrote on Thai

116
painting, at the request of Professor Silpa Bhirasri, was one of
the earliest to appear in English and has formed the basis for
other, more detailed studies by subsequent scholars. This text
was reprinted in the catalogue for a pioneering exhibition
entitled The Arts of Thailand, which toured American museums
in 1960-62; Lisa also served as an adviser to those who assembled
the pieces for this exhibition, drawing on what was by that time
an extensive knowledge of Thai collections both public and
private.
During the time she spent with the Fine Arts Department,
she not only helped initiate many new projects at the National
Museum but also demonstrated a rare ability to work
harmoniously with her Thai colleagues, nearly all of whom
became lifelong friends as a result. The late Khun Chira
Chongkol, director of the Museum, was one of the closest of
these and together she and Lisa made numerous improvements
to the Museum's collection and display techniques.
Perhaps Lisa's most important contribution to Thai
archaeology came following the discovery of prehistoric sites at
Ban Chiang. She was responsible for sending the first pottery
shards to the U.S. for dating and, later, played a crucial part in
working out the joint archaeological effort between the Fine
Arts Department and the University Museum in Philadelphia,
with partial funding by the Ford Foundation. Indeed, it would
not be inaccurate to say that without her efforts the scientific
exploration of Ban Chiang might never have achieved success;
certainly it would have been a very different story had she not
worked so hard to bring the various parties together.
Nor did her association with Thailand end with her
return to full-time work at the University Museum. She
continued to serve as a kind of "den mother" to Thai students
who went to the university for further study, having them
regularly for meals, counseling them in times of trouble, and
generally being ready to lend a sympathetic ear-services
difficult to measure but nonetheless of vital importance.
To Elizabeth Lyons, Thailand was a "second home," and
with her death the country has lost one of its most effective
foreign friends.
WILLIAM WARREN
THE SIAM SOCIETY

117
Addendum
The following list of publications by Jean Mulholland,
Australian National University, author of Ayurveda, Congenital
Disease and Birth Defects in Thai Traditional Medicine, should be
added to the endnote ofthat article on p. 182 of Vol. 76,1988, of
the Journal of the Siam Society:
"Thai Traditional Medicine: Ancient thought and practice in a
Thai Context," Journal ofthl! Siam Society, Vol 67, Part 2 (July
1979), pp. 80-115.
"Traditional Medicine in Thailand," Hemisphere, Vol23, No 4
(July/ August 1979), pp. 224-229.
"Thai Traditional Medicine: Treatment of diseases caused by
the tridosa," South East Asian Review, Vol III, No 2 (February
1979), pp. 29- 38.
Medicine Magic and Evil Spirits: A study of a text on Thai traditional
paediatrics. Asian Studies Monograph, New Series No 8.
Canberra: Faculty of Asian Studies ANU, 1987. (In press)

PUBLICATIONS
OF
THE SIAM SOCIETY
GENERAL
1. Culture and Environment in Thailand, 1988 ............................ .
2. Pimsai Amranand, Gardening in Bangkok, 2nd ed., 1976, ill.
3. Prince Dhani Nivat, Collected Articles, 1976 (reprint of the
1969 edition), 194 pp., ill... ........................................................... .
Baht
M/NM
120/150
80/100
80/100
Prices
US$
M/NM
9/13
5/7
6/8
ARTS AND CULTURE
1. The Siamese Theatre, edited by Mattani Rutnin, 1975,291
pp., ill ........................................................................................ .
2. Thai Pottery and Ceramics, Collected Articles, 300 pp., ill ..
HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
1. Blofeld, John, King Maha Mongkut of Siam, 2nd ed., 1987,
97 pp., ill .................................................................................... .
2. Caron, Fran

5. Moutin, Jean, 55 Chants d' Amour Hmong Blanc, 1980,173
PP····································································································· 80/100 5/7
6. Jackson, Peter, Buddhadasa: A Buddhist Thinker for the
Modem World, 1988, 354 pp ........................................................ 250/300 14/16
ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE
1. The Archaeology of Peninsular Siam, Collected Articles,
1986, 163 pp., ill .............................................................................. 200/250 10/14
2. Black, John, The Lofty Sanctuary of Khao Phra Vihar, 1976,
88 pp., ill. ......................................................................................... 56/70 4/6
3. Krug, Sonia and Duboff, Shirley. The Kamthieng House,
1982, 100 pp., ill ............,................................................................. 200/250 9/13
4. Matics, Kathleen I.. A History of Wat Phra Chetupon and Its
Buddha Images, 1979, 71 pp., ill .................................................... 72/90 5/7
5. Narumit, Sirichai, Old Bridges of Bangkok, 1977, 176 pp.,
ill ......................................................................................................... 120/150 7/10
M = Member NM = Non-Member
Please include 15 Baht per copy for postage and wrapping charges for all destinations in Thailand.
Prices in U.S.$ include postage by surface mail. Requests for a complete list of publications as well as orders
and inquiries should be addressed to the Administrative Secretary, The Siam Society, 131 Sukhumvit 21, Soi
Asoke, Bangkok 10110, Thailand.

Recent Siam Society
Publications
THE SIAM SOCIETY UNDER FIVE REIGNS
Written by Mrs. Bonnie Davis, a Member of the Council
and long-time Member of the Society, the book tells the history
of the first 84 years (or 7 cycles) of the Siam Society; the problems
and successes, early lectures and study trips, the difficult years
of two World Wars, and the people who had a part in the Society
during all those years. The history of the country also had its
effect on The Siam Society and its own history. Mrs. Davis tells
the Siam Society story wi th a keen eye for the events and local
color of the contemporary Thai scene. The Siam Society has
been-honored by Royal Patronage since its inception, and has
been he I ped and encouraged through all the years by the ad vice
and support of its Royal Patrons and Vice-Patrons.
M embers and Non-members US$ 10
CULTURE AND
ENVIRONMENT
IN
THAILAND
CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT
IN THAILAND
A Symposium of The Siam Society
Culture and Environment in Thailand is a timely look at how
Thailand's human culture and natural environment affect each
other at a time when economic and social development have
placed unprecedented stresses on both. This volume is the
product of a symposium sponsored by the Siam Society in
Chiang Mai in August 1987, and is a pan-disciplinary approach
to the environmental crisis w hich Thailand is facing. The
contributors represent a range of academic fields including
history, anthropology, botany, archaeology, linguistics, literature,
economics, demography and theology. Culture and Environment
in Thailand should be read both by those interested in
Thailand and also by all those interested in environmental
problems in tropical countries.
M embers US$ 9, Non-members US$ 13.

BUDDHADASA: A BUDDHIST THINKER
FOR THE MODERN WORLD
Dr. Peter Jackson's book is indispensable for understanding
how Buddhism can approach the modern world.
Buddhasa is one of the leading contemporary Buddhist
thinkers of Thailand. The 82-year-old scholar-monk has undertaken
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The Journal
of the
Siam Society
VOLUME 77, PART 2
1989

©
All Rights Reserved
The Siam Society
1989
ISSN 0857-7099
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Cover: Borobudur. Photograph by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni. See "Architectural Composition in Java from
the Eighth to Fourteenth Centuries," by Jacques Dumarr;ay, p. 21 .

PATRON
VICE-PATRONS
HON. PRESIDENT
HON. VICE-PRESIDENTS
HON. MEMBERS
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THE SIAM SOCIETY
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COUNCIL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY FOR 1989/90
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M.R. Chirie Voravarn

Editor's Note
A special note of thanks is due Mr.
Euaypom Kerdchouay for his longstanding
contributions to the production
of the Journal of the Siam Society,
particularly but not exclusively in the
areas of design, layout and graphics.
Appreciation also goes to Peter Rogers
for his own special assistance, to Luca
Invemizzi Tettoni for his photographs,
and to Anothai Nunthithasana for continuing
help in a variety of ways. We are
grateful to Sayant Pornnatharat and the
Bangkok Post for permission to use the
photograph of modem Thai tattooing
on p. 39 which first appeared on p. 46 of
the Bangkok Post of 8 June 1988.

The Journal
of the
Siam Society
VOLUME 77, PART 2
1989
CONTENTS
Editor's Note
In This Issue
4
7
ARTICLES
THE PONG TUK LAMP:
A RECONSIDERATION
ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION
IN JAVA FROM THE EIGHTH
TO FOURTEENTH CENTURIES
A NOTE ON THAI TATTOOS-
NOTESURLETATOUAGE
EN PAYS THAI JUSQU'A
LA FIN DU XVIIe SIECLE
TECHNICAL STUDY ON THE
WHITE-GLAZED WARES WITH
GREEN PATTERNS EXCAVATED
IN THE TAK AREA, THAILAND
ROBERT L. BROWN
ANNA M. MACDONNELL
JACQUES DUMAR

BANGKOK IN 1883:
AN ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL PROFILE
THE TRAVELS IN FRANCE
OF THE SIAMESE
AMBASSADORS, 1686-7
BLOCKPRINTED FABRICS OF
GUJARAT FOR EXPORT TO SIAM
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE
URAK LAWOI'-A RESPONSE
TOJ. IVANOFF
HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
IN THAILAND-WHAT'S NEW
CONSTANCE M. WILSON
MICHAEL SMITHIES
MICHELE ARCHAMBAULT
STEPHEN W. PATTEMORE
DAVID W. HOGAN
PORNCHAI SUCHITTA
49
59
71
75
79
REVIEWS
JACKSON, Buddhism, Legitimation and
Conflict: The Political Functions of
Urban Thai Buddhism
BICKNER, HARTMAN and PEYASANTIWONG
(eds.), Selected Papers on Comparative Tai
Studies by William J. Gedney
LINDELL, SWAHN and TA YANIN
Folk Tales from Kammu- IV:
A Master-Teller's Tales
EDMONDSON and SOLNIT (eds.),
Comparative Kadai: Linguistic
Studies Beyond Tai
Index to the Siam Society Newsletter 1985-1989
Corrigenda
WILLIAM J. KLAUSNER
JAMES R. CHAMBERLAIN
JAMES R. CHAMBERLAIN
JAMES R. CHAMBERLAIN
MICHAEL SMITHIES
82
84
87
89
91

In This Issue
The Pong Tuk lamp, excavated before 1927 by villagers
at the important Dvaravati site of the same name northwest of
Bangkok, has been the focal point of high interest because of its
identification as of Roman or Graeco-Roman provenance, with
all that such a derivation implies for early contacts between the
Mediterranean world and what is now Thailand. The lamp
was dated to the 1st or 2nd century A.D. by Coedes, and to
some time before the birth of Chris• by Picard. ROBERT L.
BROWN and ANNA M. MACDONNELL now marshal
evidence to demonstrate that the lamp is of a common Byzantine
type dating to the 5th or more probably 6th century A.D.,
consistent with the early florescence of the Dvaravati cultural
period.
JACQUES DUMAR

The Pong Tuk site.
Scale 1 : 250,000, 2516 B.E. (1973).

THE PONG TUK LAMP:
A RECONSIDERATION
ROBERT L. BROWN
ANNA M. MACDONNELL*
In an article published in 1928 in the journal of the Siam
Society, George Coedes presented a report of the archaeological
remains from Pong Tuk, a village on the Meklong River some
110 kilometers (as the crow flies) northwest of Bangkok. 1 Among
the finds was a bronze lamp, notable both for its large size (H:
27 em, L: 21.5 em) and excell ent condition (figs. lA and 8). The
lamp was not found in the excavations that the Archaeological
Section of the Royal Institute had carried out in 1927, but had
been found earlier in the area by two local inhabitants, one of
whom had the body of the lamp while a second had the handle.
Neither of the two owners was aware of the other's find, and it
was Coedes who recognized that the two pieces fit together and
acquired the complete lamp for the National Museum in Bangkok,
where it is on display today. (color plate, p. 42).
Coedes realized that the lamp was of Western manufacture,
calling it "Greco-Roman" and suggesting that it had been
imported from Italy, Greece, or the Near East. He dated it to the
first or second centuries A.D 2 It was 27 years later, in 1955, that
Charles Picard published the most detailed study to date of the
lamp, "La lan

10 BROWN AND MACDONNELL
considered of greatest importance. Scholars present the lamp as
the most significant evidence of early relations between Thailand
and the West, a relationship suggested in various literary
sources but supported by very few archaeological finds. 7 Almost
every general work on art found in Thailand, and many specific
studies, mentions the Pong Tuk lamp, making it one of the most
widely illustrated and discussed, and thus best-known, objects
found in Thailand.
It is our position, however, that Coedes's and Picard 's
dating of the lamp is too early, and that the lamp in fact dates to
the 5th or more probably the 6th century A.D. In what foll ows,
we will present the evidence for our redating of the lamp and
d iscuss the implica tions the new date has on rela tions between
Thailand and the West.
Date of the Lamp
As mentioned above, the lamp is composed of two parts,
the bod y and the handle. The oval body terminates in a large
saucer-shaped nozzle from which a wick would have been
lighted. The body, or reservoir, is supported on a raised base.
The fill ing hole on top of the reservoir bears a hinged lid
decorated with the head of a Silenus. The elaborately decorated
handle, which received much attention from both Coedes and
Picard, 8 is composed of an ornate palmette flanked by two
heraldic dolphins; the leaves of the palmette terminate in large
pearls.
While Greco-Roman lamps from the Hellenistic to the
Byzantine period (ca. 4th c. B.C. to 6th c. A. D.) share many
comm 01~ characteristics, the chronology of these objects is so
firmly established that, although the Pong Tuk lamp comes
from a non-stratified context, accurate dating is possible through
comparison w ith archaeologically dated material from other
areas. In fact, scholars at both the Louvre and the British
Museum recognized the Pong Tuk lamp as a product of the
Byzantine period when Picard was writing his article, and,
although he duly noted this view/ no one, including Picard
himself, seems to have paid it much attention. He even published
in his article photographs of a Byzantine-period lamp
(fig. 2), now in the Louvre, that is stylistically very similar to the
Pong Tuk lamp, using its Alexandrian provenance as an argument
for Alexandria's being the likely place of manufacture for
the Pong Tuk lamp as well. However, despite the obvious
similarities between the Louvre and Pong Tuk lamps, and the
opinion of Mme. G. Cart, a curator at the Louvre, 10 that it was
Byzantine in d ate, Picard insisted that the iconography of the
Pong Tuk lamp was inconsistent with a Byzantine dating, and
that the dolphins on the handle could be nothing other than
"pagan." His argument was that the d olphins and the Silenus on
the cover of the filling hole indicate a pre-Christian, Dionysiac
religion.
Prior to a discussion of the comparative material, it is
therefore relevant to dispel the notion that with the ad vent of
Christianity all pagan symbols were removed from the artistic
Fig. 2. Byzantine-period lamp in the Louvre, stylisticnlly si111ilar to the
Pong Tuk /nnw After Pica rd (1955).
repertoire. Quite the contrary; the new religion was given
credibility by a careful and conscious ad aptation of these same
symbols into the Christian context. 11 The dolphin is not antithetical
to Christian beliefs. An example of its assimilation from
its original pagan context into Christian lore is the legend
ancient sources tell of the body of the murdered poet Hesiod
being brought to shore by a dolphin, and the parallel story of the
Christian saint, Lucian of Antioch, also being carried by a
dolphin. 12 In art, the classical Greco-Roman representation of
Eros and the dolphin is transposed into Christian iconography
intact, but with its meaning altered to suit the new religion. The
winged child becomes symbolic of the soul, and the d olphin
becomes the conveyor to the afterlife, thus preserving even the
funerary connotation already present in the pagan symbolism.
This motif carries on into the Renaissance.

THE PONG TUK LAMP: A RECONSIDERATION 11
Fig. 3. Christian /amp featuring a dolphin and griffin as well as a do ve a11d cross. Wadsworth Athenei/111.
Dolphins also regularly make their appearance on Christian
lamps. One of these, an ornate bronze example of the
Christian era now in the Wadsworth Atheneum (fig. 3), sports
not only a dolphin whose tail functions as one of the loops of the
suspension chain of the spout, but a "pagan" griffin as well,
surmounted by the universally Christian symbols of dove and
cross. This lamp is clear evidence of the compatibility of
Christian and non-Christian (or pre-Christian) symbols on the
same object.
Throughout the ancient world examples of co-mingling
of Christian and pagan are plentiful. In Palestine, craftsmen
appeared to have catered to patrons of the Christian, pagan, and
Jewish religions in the same workshops, often creating glass and
ceramic objects alike in all ways except for certain decorative
motifs, from which a patron might select the appropriate
menorah, cross, or other symbol, according to his or her religious
persuasion. 13 However, assigning the Pong Tu k dolphins
to either the pagan or Christian belief system may be unnecessary
because even if Picard is correct in attributing the iconography
of the Pong Tu k lamp to paga n sources, that alone does
not preclude a Byzantine date, as paganism survived well
beyond the founding of the Holy Roman Empire. 14
Far more accurate than iconography in assessing lamp
chronology is a comparison of lamp profiles. The most readily
discernible stylistic difference between the Pong Tuk lamp and
its Hellenistic predecessors is in their proportions. If one
compares the length and width of the nozzles, one immediately
notes the slenderness and elongation of the Hellenistic example

12 BROWN AND MACDONNELL
Fig. 4. Hellenistic predecessor of the Pong Tuk lamp, with slenderer, more elongated proportions and 11 more horizo ntal
positioning of the handle.
as opposed to that of the plumper, more squat Pong Tuk lamp
(compare figs. 1A and B with 4). 15 The manner of attachment of
the handle of the Pong Tuk lamp and the heat shield of the Hellenistic
lamp differs also: the Hellenistic craftsmen favored a
more horizontal positioning of these elements to the body,
whereas the handle of the Pong Tuk lamp, like that of the
Byzantine lamps in general, is usually almost perpendicular to
the body.
Although very well made and obviously quite costly in its
day, the Pong Tuk lamp is nonetheless of a common Byzantine
type found in numerous excavation sites in the Mediterranean
area. Of particular interest is an example found at Corinth and
dated 4th-6th century A.D. (fig. 5). Although far more crudely
executed, the rather disgruntled face on the filling hole cover is
obviously a relation to the Silenus on the Pong Tuk lamp.
Proportions, body type, and bases of the lamps are also comparable,
as is the vertical positioning of the handle. The Corinth
lamp, however, like many of its Byzantine cousins, bears the
undisputedly Christian symbol, the cruciform handle. The
Corinth lamp was excavated in a clearly Byzantine context in
which other finds included pilgrims' flasks, glass, and Byzantine
pottery. 16 There are, in addition, many other Byzantine
lamps that can be compared closely to the Pong Tuk example,
confirming the latter's date. 17
The shifting of the date of manufacture of the Pong Tuk
lamp to the 5th or 6th century, and thus of its importation into
Thailand at that date or later, changes our perception of the early
contacts Thailand and, as we shall argue below, Southeast Asia,
had with the West. This change comes about because the Pong
Tuk lamp has been the most significant object found in mainland
Southeast Asia that supports an early (1st-3rd century
A.D.) contact with the Roman world.
Before discussing the full ramifications the redating produces,
however, we should mention another Roman-style metal
lamp rumored to have been found in Thailand. 18 It was given
to the Bangkok National Museum by the Bangkok Dealers'
Association 19 (figs. 6A and B). The dealer who had the lamp
reported that it carne from a runner w hose territory was exclusively
the Ban Chiang area in Northeastern Thailand . 20 Ironically,
this lamp fits almost precisely the dating Picard proposed
(incorrectly, we have argued) for the Pong Tuk lamp, as the
Dealer's Association lamp dates quite clearly to the 1st century
B.C-1st century A.D. Furthermore, it probably was made in
Alexandria, or at least in Egypt. We may use it here as a good
example of the type of lamp that enables us to give a later date
to the Pong Tuk lamp.
It is much smaller than the Pong Tuk lamp (12.5 x 5.5 ern).
It sits on a low ring base with a globular reservoir that tapers

THE PONG TUK LAMP: A RECONSIDERATION 13
Fig. 6A.
Fig. 68. Views of anoll1cr Ronmn-style lmnp ru11wrcd to hauc /?cc 11 fo lll ni i11
Thailand, da ted quite clearly to tlw 1st. c. B.C. - 1 sf c. A.D. Bangkok
National Mu scn1n.
Fig. 5. Lamp fro m Corinth , 4th -6th c. A.D., with characteristics of design
similar to the Pong Tu k lamp.
slightly toward the central filling hole, which was originally
covered by a now-lost hinged lid. The ring handle is covered by
a leaf-shaped hea t shield and the nozzle is rather long and
slender, decorated with narrow double volutes. The lamp bears
an interesting side-lug fashioned in the form of a dolphin.
Pierced side appendages fi rst appeared on lamps during the
second half of the 4th c. B.C. and were used to suspend the lamp
by a cord when not in use. The earliest lamps bearing the sidelug
were otherwise w ithout handles. The lug soon lost its
functional use but remained as a decorative element, usually
unpierced, until the 1st c. A. D. 21 A few examples, such as the
Dealers' Association lamp, bear side-lugs modelled into zoomorphic
forms. The only other published examples of dolphins
used as lugs are found on lamps excavated in Egypt 22 This
fea ture, combined with the general characteristics of lamp as
described above, points to a date not later than the 1st c. A. D.
and probably not earlier than the 1st c. B.C. The use of the
dolphin suggests a relationship to the Ehnasya lamp, and thus
a possible Egyptian origin.
Nevertheless, there is, as we have said, no convincing
evidence that this lamp was found in Thailand or, even assuming
it was, of when it entered the country.

14 BROWN AND MACDONNELL
Thailand in the 5th-7th Centuries
A.D.
The redating of the Pong Tuk lamp to the 5th or 6th
century places its presence in Thailand (at the earliest) during
the period of Funan-related or of DvaravatT sites. Does its
presence in Thailand at this time make sense? The date fits well
with the other archaeological finds from Pong Tuk. The dates of
these finds, along with the foundation of the site itself, have
been consistently pushed forward since their initial discovery.
When Coedes first published the Pong Tuk material in 1928,
he placed four bronze Buddha images found there to the
DvaravatT Period (by which Coedes means 5th-6th centuries).B
One other Buddha image (his Pl. 17), however, he felt was an
Indian import of the AmaravatT school dating to the 2nd c. A.D.
24 Alexander Griswold has since argued that this image is a
locally made copy of a Pala-style figure and dates to the 8th c.2 5
The four DvaravatT bronzes that Coedes felt were "not later than
the Vlth century"26 have also been redated later, to the 8th or 9th
century, by Jean Boisselier.27 Finally, H. G. Quaritch Wales has
suggested that the founding of the site itself is probably not
earlier than the 9th c./ 8 that is, about the same date as the bronze
Buddha images found there. None of these authors, however,
has questioned the early date of the lamp, leaving an eight-or
nine-century gap between its manufacture and that of the other
material found at the site. While such a time interval is of course
possible, our later dating of the lamp puts it, and its possible
importation into Southeast Asia, much closer to the dates of the
other finds, creating a more plausible association between it and
the site's other archaeological material.
The importation of the lamp into Thailand in the 6th
century or later is reasonable considering Southeast Asian
trading patterns with the West and local interest in exotic goods.
It is true that Picard's early dating of the lamp fits nicely with
what we know was an active trade in the early centuries A.D.
between the Roman and the Indian world/ 9 and Coedes could
suggest specific 2nd-century events, recorded in Chinese histories,
that mention Southeast Asia as a route taken by Westerners
at that time on their way to China, when they conceivably could
have left the lamp. 30 But it is incorrect to think that contact
between mainland Southeast Asia and the Roman West was in
any way as extensive as that between India and the West in the
early centuries A.D. Louis Malleret argues, based on the archaeological
material from Oc-Eo, that connections between the
West and mainland Southeast Asia (Funan) began in the late 3rd
and 4th centures A.D., and were never extensive.31 He finds no
support for the theory that Oc-Eo was a Roman entrepot, as, for
example, Arikamedu was in India. The Western-related material
found at Oc-Eo consists of small, minor objects such, as
medallions, glyptics, coins, and beads;32 and, in fact, many of the
finds are probably local copies of imported objects rather than
actual Western products. The impression is more one of chance
and adventitious leavings of personal property by adventurers
than of products systematically left because of trade.
Particulary important for us is a comment Malleret makes
concerning the PongTuklamp. In contrasting the heavy Roman
presence in India to that in Southeast Asia, he says that
with the exception of an Alexandrian bronze lamp ornamented
with a face of Silenus, found in Ratburi Province
in Siam by M. George Coedes, nothing allows us to think
that merchandise from the Mediterranean had been able
to reach by the sea route the eastern extremes of the
Eurasiatic continent. 33
Indeed, it is the Pong Tuk lamp that most strongly among
archaeological finds supports a connection between the West
and Southeast Asia for the first centuries B.C./ A.D. Although
since Malleret wrote a few other Western objects have been
found in Southeast Asia that perhaps date to the early centuries
A.D.,34 none compares in size and value to the lamp, and the
redating of the Pong Tuk lamp suggested here removes it as the
most significant support.
On the other hand, the lamp's importation into Thailand
in the 6th or 7th century would place it at a time when trade and
connections among China, Southeast Asia, India, and the West
were well established. We can visualize this interchange as
continuing throughout this time, with periods of greater or
lesser contact, motivated by trade, diplomacy, and religious
pilgrimage.35 We do not want to speculate that any particular
event might have brought the lamp to Thailand. For one thing,
the Chinese texts, on which one must rely for this historical
information, in no way give us a complete record of the movement
of people through Southeast Asia during the period.
Rather, we are arguing that as there is considerable evidence
connecting Southeast Asia with interchange among the Byzantine
West, 36 India, and China in the 6th and 7th centuries, on
historical grounds the lamp's importation into Thailand during
this time is not unlikely.
The likelihood of its importation is put into better focus by
the recent excavations at Chansen.37 Chansen, a site in Central
Thailand roughly 100 km northeast of Pong Tuk, is important
because it shows evidence of habitation from the protohistoric
B.C.periodcontinuouslyupto1000A.D.andafter. Oneimportant
conclusion drawn from the excavation data is that there was
a surprising amount of long-distance trade during the period
from the 3rd to the 7th centuries. 38 Imported objects from China,
South Vietnam (Oc-Eo), Burma, India, and Ceylon occur,39 and
these are from diggings that covered only a fraction of Chansen's
area. Furthermore, Chansen was never a heavily populated
area, making the finds of numerous imported objects in what
must have been a relatively provincial and unimportant city
that much more significant. For our discussion, the Chansen
evidence perhaps supports the likelihood of the importation of
the Pong Tuk lamp durng this period when foreign luxury
goods were prized and relatively common.
NoWestern-manufacturedobjectswerefoundatChansen.
As we have said, the number of Western-made objects found in
Southeast Asia is very small, making the Pong Tuk lamp,
whenever it was imported, highly unusual. For Central Thailand,
we can mention only a Roman medal of Emperor Vic-

THE PONG TUK LAMP: A RECONSIDERATION 15
torinus who reigned from 269-271 A.D. found at U-Thong 40
(Colour plate, p. 42), and possibly three Western intaglios, one
found at Kanchanaburi and two at Dong Si Maha Pot 4 1 Even
more ambiguous than the medal in their implications for Central
Thailand's connections to the West are the so-called Roman
beads found at U-Thong, as there is the possibility of their local,
o·r at least Southeast Asian, manufacture 42 We can, nevertheless,
suggest an intriguing possible connection between
Central Thailand and the West around the time of our proposed
importation of the Pong Tuk lamp. Among the finds at another
site in Central Thailand, Ku Bua, were terra cotta figures that
wear highly unusual clothing (colour plate, p. 42). This clothing
includes a pointed cap, blouse, pants boots, and identifies the
figures as foreigners. The pointed cap, apparently a Phrygian
style cap similar to those worn by Semitic merchants as depicted
in Tang-period Chinese figurines, led Elizabeth Lyons to suggest
that the Ku Bua figures were Semitic traders who "used Ku Bua
as a purchasing center and supply depot between the 8th and
10th centuries with the peak of activi ty in the early 9th century."·"
She says there are at least three pairs of these figures,
arranged so that the figures in each pair face one another in
what may be "an attitude of paying respect to a divinity placed
between them." 44 It is true that some figures appear even to be
holding an objec t in their hands in front of their chests as if
bearing a gift or offering (fig. 7, proper left figure). Would such
Western traders as these have been the importers of the Pong
Tuk lamp, giving it in honor of the Buddha to a monastery? 45
Today in Pong Tuk the local monastery has a bronze copy of
the lamp on the altar in the vihifm, a gift of the Fine Arts
Department, in what might ironica lly be a replication of its
original setting at the site.
Local Copies
The Pong Tuk lamp type has served as a model for copies
in Thailand both in antiquity and in modern times (Colour plate,
p. 42). 4 " Within a two-hundred kilometer radius of Pong Tuk,
excavations and chance finds have produced a number of
mostly fragmentary clay lamps that echo the technology and
form of the Pong Tuk lamp. Many of the nozzles have indica ­
tions of burning, and all are wide and upward-curving,
reminiscent of the Pong Tuk lamp nozzle 4 7 A nearly complete
terra-cotta lamp from Nakhon Pa thom (fig. 7) shows how
closely these copies follow the Pong Tuk type.
Judging by the date of the Pong Tuk lamp, a comparable
5th or 6th century date can be proposed for the appearance of the
clay copies. It is our assumption that before the introduction of
the Pong Tuk lamp type, the lamps used in Thailand were of the
type common to all ancient people: a simple bowl filled with fat
and ignited by a floating wick, or a wick that was partially
stabilized by a pinch in the rim of its clay bowl. 48 This simple
type of lamp continues to be used in Thailand today, while the
nozzle-type lamp appears to have died out by the end of the
DvaravatT period (ca. 11th century). 49 The date of 5th-11th
century A.D. for the locally-made clay lamps with nozzles
would thus confine them to approximately the DvaravatT cultural
period. Some support for this dating comes from the
Chansen excavation, as it is during Phase IV there (450/500-
600/650 A.D.) that these lamps begin to appears o Based on the
style of the terra-cotta copies and the date of the Pong Tuk lamp,
this is, in fact, precisely when one might expect them to appear.
Fig. 7. Terra-cotta copy of the Pong Tuk lamp style. Nakhon Pathom; 5th-6th c. A.D.

16 BROWN AND MACDONNELL
Fig. 8. Roman-style (nozzled) lamp excavated at Tha Kne in1983, unique in its narrow, straight nozzle. The level in which
it was found dates stratigraphically to c. 6th c. A.D.
It is also important to realize that the terra-cotta Roman-style
lamps in Southeast Asia are confined to areas of present-day
Thailand. 51 Considering the continuity of material culture
between Central Thailand (U-Thong, Tha Muang, Chansen,
etc.) and Oc-Eo during the Funan period (up to ca. 600/650), 52
the absence of terra-cotta lamps at Oc-Eo might suggest that the
lamps are not part of the original Funanese cultural matrix but
a later development in Thailand at sites, such as U-Thong, that
were to develop into Dvaravatl cultural centers.
There is one other Roman-style (that is, nozzled) ancient
terra-cotta lamp which deserves mention here (fig. 8). It was
excavated at Ban Tha Kae in 1983. It is very small (H: 2.8 em, L:
8 em) with a round body, open bowl and tapering nozzle. When
news of the find was first published, Phuthorn Bhumadhon correctly
noted that it is different from other lamps that have been
found in Thailand, specifically mentioning its unusual narrow,
straight nozzle shape. 53 He repeatedly says it is modeled on a
Roman lamp type, and specifically that it is closer in appearance
to Roman clay lamps than are other lamps found in Thailand.
Unfortunately, he is not specific in identifying the Roman lamps
he has in mind, merely saying that they cover a period of more
than a thousand years from the 7th century B.C. to the 7th
century A.D. Furthermore, he accepts a B.C. date for the Pong
Tuk lamp, yet does not attempt to place it in relation to the Ban
Tha Kae lamp or the Roman clay lamps that he mentions. Even
the fact that the Ban Tha Kae lamp was found in level three of the
excavation, which stratigraphically dates to ca. the 6th century
A.D., does not elicit an attempt to situate the lamp more securely
as to date or sources. In short, while Bhumadhon legitimately
notes that the Ban Tha Kae lamp is unique, he fails to identify its
sources or relationships.
It is our suggestion that the Ban Tha Kae lamp is derived
from Indian copies of Western lamps and probably found its
way into Thailand at approximately the same time as the Pong
Tuk lamp. 54 The Ban Tha Kae lamp is stylistically related to
those excavated at Ter in Western India that date from the 1st
century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D. 55 Vimala Begley, who is
currently researching the Ter lamps, feels they are based on
Greek rather than Roman prototypes. The exact function of the
Ter type vessel is somewhat in question. While some of this type
in the West functioned as lamps, as proven by the evidence of
burning on the nozzles, others, because of the tapering configuration
of the nozzles, may have been lamp fillers or infant
feeders. 56 For us, what is important is that the Ban Tha Kae lamp
type, even if imported into Thailand at an early date, does not
appear to have inspired local copies 57 In addition, any argu-

THE PONG TUK LAMP: A RECONSIDERATION 17
ment that the Roman-style locally made clay lamps in Thailand
derive from Indian lamps 58 cannot be maintained, as the specific
Byzantine type of the Pong Tuk lamp, which is reflected in the
vast majority of clay copies, does not occur at all in India (based
on the presently available evidence).
Conclusion
The redating of the Pong Tuk lamp from the 1st century
B.C. to the 5th or 6th century A.D. seems secure. While we
cannot say when the lamp was imported into Thailand, a date
within a century or two of its manufacture is most reasonable,
and we have argued that in terms of other artistic finds at Pong
Tuk, archaeological evidence from other Central Thailand sites,
and general interregional and economic conditions at the time,
this date makes sense. Furthermore, while we of course cannot
argue that the Pong Tuk lamp engendered the numerous
DvaravatT period terra-cotta lamps, it does appear that the "copies"
are based on Byzantine rather than Roman-period lamp
types. It also appears, based on the limited evidence available,
that the source for the DvaravatT lamps is not Indian terra-cotta
copies of Roman lamps but bronze Western lamps (like that
found at Pong Tuk) imported into Thailand, and that, therefore,
the DvaravatT terra-cotta lamps are an indigenous development.
Finally, the lamp's later dating will force scholars to
reconsider the past attempts made to delineate early contacts
between Thailand-and, more generally, Southeast Asia-and
the West. We are obviously not arguing that there was no
contact. Rather, it is the nahtre and date of the contact that may
be in need of reconsideration, or at least of interpretation. Prior
to the 4th-5th centuries A.D., Southeast Asia's Western contact
was with India, not directly with the West. What "Western"
material is found in Southeast Asia that dates to this early period
is probably best regarded as Indian, in the sense that it consists
of Indian-made objects based on Western models, or of ones
which, even if ultimately of Western manufacture, were probably
regarded as "Indian" by the Southeast Asians. 59 The point
is that we cannot in any meaningful way say that Southeast Asia
was in contact with the West at this time, when in reality there
was no cognizance of a relationship. It is likely that eve11
between India and Southeast Asia little was known at this
time. 60 Voyages by Indian merchants appear to have been exceedingly
chancy, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime undertakings,
which, if successful, could reap enormous profits." 1 The successful
voyages did introduce Western manufactured objects,
albeit in a haphazard and small-scale manner, into Southeast
Asia.62 Again, however, the point is that this does not, to our
minds, indicate a contact with the West as would, for example,
the introduction into Thailand of such an object as the Pong Tuk
lamp by Western traders (as those from Ku Bua) who were
active during the DvaravatT period. Ultimately, we are suggesting
that a simple listing of early Western objects that have been
found in Southeast Asia does not tell us very much about
contact, and that the famous "Roman lamp" from Pong Tukone
object that appeared to have a clear context of Alexandrian
manufacture, early date, and perhaps early historical
associations-must now be reconsidered.

18
BROWN AND MACDONNELL
ENDNOTES
'G. Coedes, "The Excavations at P'ong Tuk and
their Importance for the Ancient History of
Siam," Journal of the Siam Society 21 (1928):195-
209. Republished in The Siam Society Fiftieth
Anniz>ersary Commemoratil>e Publication Vol. I
(1904-29) (Bangkok: Siam Society, 1954):204-
238. References will be to the original Joumal
publication.
2 See his discussion in ibid., pp. 204-207. It should
be pointed out that Coedes supplies no r~ferences
to support his date.
'Charles Picard, "La lampe alexandrine de P'ong
Tuk (Siam)," Artibus Asiae 18 (1955): 137-149.
4 lbid., p. 142. The Ptolemaic Period extends
from the death of Alexander in 323 B.C. when
the general Ptolemy La gus was appointed ruler.
In 304 B.C. he founded the Ptolemaic Dynasty
which lasted until the death of Cleopatra VII in
30B.C ..
5For example, M. C. Subhadradis Diskul, Art in
Thailand: A Brief History (5th ed; Bangkok:
Amarin Press, 1981):2 and Elizabeth Lyons,
"Dvlirtimmti: The
Earliest Kingkom of Siam (6tl1-l1th century A.D.)
(London: Bernard Quaritch, Ltd. 1969):4.
"Coedes, "The Excavations at P'ong Tuk," 205;
Picard, "La lampe alexandrine," 140.
•Ibid., pp. 145-146.
111 Ibid., p. 145.
''See, for example, Meyer Schapiro, "Style," in
Anthropology Today (Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1953):305.
"Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway, "Dolphins and
Dolphin-Riders," Archaeology 23, no. 2 (April
1970):95.
1 JThe same practice held for textiles. The wellknown
Antinoe shawl, now in the Louvre,
although securely dated to the 4th c. A.D., is
distinctly pagan, a record of the life of Dionysos.
A piece similar in style and date to the
shawl, the so-called Christian veil in the British
Museum, uses similar design patterns but
replaces the Dionysiac motifs with figures of
prophets and apostles. See Andre Grabar, The
Golden Age of Justinian (New York: Odyssey
Press, 1967):332.
••Ernest Stein, Histoire du Bas-Empire, Tome II
(Paris: n.p., 1949):373.
15In addition, the similarities between the heat
shield design of the Hellenistic lamp and the
handle of the Pong Tuk lamp is the most plausible
reason for the former misdating of the
PongTuklamp. It should be noted that whereas
the handle and heat shield on the Pong Tuk
lamp are one and the same, on the Hellenistic
example the functioning handle is a simple
ring covered by the more elaborate palmette of
the shield.
'"Gladys R. Davidson, Corinth, Volume XII,
The Minor Objects (Princeton: The American
School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1952):
Pis. 53:573-576.
''For example, Judith Perlzweig, The Athenian
Agora at Athens, Volume VII,Lampsofthe Roman
Period (Princeton: American School of Classical
Studies, 1961):PI. 48:2948; Early Christian
and Byzantine Art (exhibition catalog) (Baltimore:
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1947):
P1s. XXXVIII:250 and 251; J. Strzygowski, Koptische
Kunst (Vienna: Impr. A. Holzhausen,
1904):p. 291, nos. 9137 and 9138; and Renate
Rosenthal and Renee Sivan, Ancient Lamps in
the Sc/tloessinger Collection, QEDEM 8 Qerusalem:
Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew
University, 1978):no. 664, p. 160. For general
remarks on the Byzantine type lamps see Heinz
Menzel, Antike Lampen (Mainz: Philipp von
Zabern, 1969):106.
'"The National Museum's label on this lamp
gives no provenance, nor does the Museum
claim it was found in Thailand. To date we
have only the word of the donors, Mr. and Mrs.
Tranongsak Boonwarangsrit, that it was found
in Thailand. They base their attribution on the
fact that the runner who sold it to them deals in
objects found exclusively in Northeastern
Thailand. Although the Boonyaransrits are
obviously well-intentioned and are repeating
what the runner told them, there is no assurance
that their information is correct because it
is likely the lamp passed through numerous
runners before it came into their hands
'"The Association's name in Thai is: fltu::nTI3Jnm£J-lfi3J1f13JLNULL'Vi1LLfl~a-lLM3Jflfll.J'i91'l
2"Personal communication.
21 D. M. Bailey, A Catalogue of the Lamps in the
British Museum. I. Greek, Hellenistic, and Early
Roman Pottery Lamps. (London: The British
Museum, 1973):14.
2 2W. M. F. Flinders Petrie, Roman Ethnasya
(London: The Egypt Exploration Fund, 1905),
pl. ix, V., 24.
2JCoedes, "The Excavations at P'ong Tuk," p.
202.
14 Ibid., p. 204.
2 5Griswold, "Imported Images and the Nature
of Copying in the Art of Siam," pp. 71-73.
26 Coedes, "The Excavations at P'ong Tuk," 207.

THE PONG TUK LAMP: A RECONSIDERATION 19
2'Referred to in Griswold, "Imported Images,"
p. 71.
28 H.G. Quaritch Wales, Dvaravati, p. 65.
2 "See for example, E. H. Warmington, Commerce
Between the Roman Empire and India (2nd
ed: London: Curzon Press Ltd., 1974); Mortimer
Wheeler, Rome Beyond the Imperial Frontiers
(London: G. Belland Sons, Ltd, 1954):115-
171; and Kenneth R. Hall, "The Expansion of
Roman Trade in the Indian Ocean: An Indian
Perspective,"The Elmira Review 1 (1977):36-42.
30Coedes, "The Excavations at P'ong Tuk," p.
207.
31 Malleret has presented this material in a series
of articles and books that include: L.
Malleret, L 'Archeologie du delta du Mekong, t. III
La civilisation d 'Oc-eo et Ia culture du Fou-nan
(Paris: EFEO, 1962): chapt. xxiii; L. Malleret,
"Aper~ de Ia glyptique d'Oc-eo," Bulletin de
/'Ecole Franr;aise d'Extreme-Orient 54 (1947-
50):189-199; and L. Malleret, "Les dodecaedres
d'or du site d'Oc-eo," Artibus Asiae 24, 3/4
(1961):343-350.
32Perhaps the most impressive Western-related
object found thus far in the Mekong Delta area
is a bronze male figure now in the Guimet
Museum in Paris. Found in an excavation in
Tra Vinh District in 1897, the figure, which is
broken below the knees, is 23 em high. It was
Charles Picard, the author of the Pong Tuk
lamp article discussed above in the text, who
identified the figure as "made somewhere in
the East, in imitation of an imported Greek
type" and thus "one more evidence of the eastward
penetration of Mediterranean art and
commerce .... " The Greek type Picard refers to
is the Lysippian Poseidon. (Charles Picard, "A
Figurine of Lysippian Type From the Far East:
The Tra Vinh Bronze 'Dancer; ':Artibus Asiae 19,
3/4 (1956):342-352.) It may well be, however,
that this bronze is not of Western manufacture
at all, but is a locally made Khmer figure that
was originally placed on a standard and would
date to the to the 11th-13th centuries. Compare
for a similar posture the figure in the Thompson
Collection Oean Boisselier, "Note sur quelques
bronzes khmers d'aspect insolite," in Essays
Offered to G.H. Luce by his Colleagues and Friends
in Honour of his Seventy-Fifth Birthday, Vol. II,
Papers in Asian Art and Archaeology (Ascona:
Artibus Asiae, 1966): fig. 1, proper left hand figure).
The arm positions (the right arm raised
and left lowered and in front of the body) are
seen on a wide variety of Khmer figures; compare
ibid., fig. 1, as well as the figures illustrated
in J. J. Boeles, "Two Yoginis of Hevajra
from Thailand," also in Essays Offered to G. H.
Luce, Vol. ll. It is the Tra Vinh figure's posture
combined with its extremely worn condition,
in which all details of dress and facial expression
have been erased, that allows for its interpretation
as a Poseidon.
33" ••• a !'exception d'une lampe alexandrine en
bronze ornee d'une visage de Silene decouverte
au Siam par M. George Coedes,dans Ia
province de Ratburi, rien ne permettait de
penser avec assurance que, par Ia voie de mer,
les merchandises de Ia Mediterranee avaient
pu attendre les extremites orientales du continent
eurasiatique." Malleret, L'Archeologie du
delta du Me'kong, t. III, pp. 379-380.
34For Thailand some "Roman" seals and a coin
have been found. See note 40 below and Sfisakra
Vallibhotama, "Development of Archaeology
in the South: A Comprehensive
Evaluation," Muang Boran Journal 4, no. 3
(1988):49; in
Thai: m1l.ni1'l"VI

20
BROWN AND MACDONNELL
49 Ibid., pp. 25 (in Thai) and 51 (in English).
5 "Bronson, "Excavations at Chansen, Thailand,
1968-1969: A Preliminary Report," p. 33.
51 Louis Malleret published a terra-cotta lamp
in the Phnom Penh Museum that was found at
Angkor Thorn. It is almost identical to lamps
found in Thailand, such as that in figure 8 from
Nakhon Pathom, a relationship that Malleret
pointed out; but Malleret thought it was a
Roman manufactured object that could have
entered Cambodia in the 2nd century A.D. It is
the only example of which we are aware from
Cambodia, and appears likely to have been
made in Thailand sometime after the 6th century
A.D. (Louis Malleret, "Une lampe romaine
au Musee de Phnom-Penh," Bulletin de
Ia Societe des Etudes Indochinoises, n.s. 32, no. 2
(1957): 187-188.)
S2"fhe cultural similarities between sites in Thailand
and Oc-Eo has been suggested by Jean
Boisselier, "U T'ong et son importance pour
l'histoire de Thailand," Silpakon 9 (1965):27-30;
Jean Boisselier, "U-Thong et son importance
pour l'histoire de Thailande et nouvelles
donnees sur l'histoire ancienne de la Thailande,
in lunm 1"1'1~1L~£J.:1Lal&:~~"YI£1.:1 (Bangkok: Fine Arts
Department, 2509):163-176; and H. H. E. Loofs,
"Problems of continuity between the pre­
Buddhistand Buddhist Periods in Central Thailand,
with special reference to U-Thong," in
Early South East Asia, eds, R. B. Smith and W.
Watson (New York and i

42 COLOR PLATES FOR "THE PONG TUK LAMP," p. 9.
Coin of the Roman emperor Victorinus (reigned 269-271
A.D.) found at U-Thong. (U -Thong Mu seum .) See p. 15.
Clay Dvamvati ln111ps 011 Roman models. See p. 7 5.
The Pong Tuk lamp.
(Bangkok National Museu111 ). See p. 9.
Term cotta figures possibly representing Semitic traders,
found nt the Dvamvali site of Ku Bun. (Bangkok
National Mu se111n.) See p. 15.

ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION IN JAVA
FROM THE EIGHTH TO FOURTEENTH
CENTURIES
JACQUES DUMARC::AY
ECOLE FRAN

22 JACQUES DUMARC::A Y
Cn ndi fngo, 1269 A.D.
Plwtogrnph by L11 cn lnl•fmizz i Tclloni.
space" or "tax-free zone": one could perhaps ca ll it an area where
the revenues were reserved for a temple or ome other institution.
Fines imposed on those w ho illegally entered the sites
protected by the simn also went to the shrine. The same is true
w hen the tax-free zone was a vill age; the taxes due from the
artisans were no longer collected by the authorities but given
to the temple. The establishment of a si111n was a very important
act w hich was updated on several occasions; com inscripti
ons before the 11th century are only known by co pies dating
from the 14th century.
In spite of these indica tions, the economic constraints
w hich evidently played a very important ro le in co nstruction
are not clearly determinable, as the huge ensemble of Candi
Perot shows. Candi Pringapus is out of proportion with the
vi llage authorities named in the inscriptions, and there were
probably other economic sources for this foundation w hich we
do not know. The participants in the ceremony of consecra tion
of the temple named in the inscriptions ca nnot be the persons
w ho initiated the constructi on, or at least ca nnot be these who
fin anced it.
The technica l constrain ts depend on the materials employed,
though sometimes techniques appropriate to wood are
used on stone constructions. The techniques of stone or brick
masonry were probably brought from Ind ia with the first architectural
prototypes, doubtless around the beginning of the
Christian era, but by the 8th century they had already consid ­
erably evolved and were at va riance on several points with those
of their country of origin. However, masonry in India derives
from the cavernous origins of a large part of religious architecture,
and when a building was constructed a rock-like coherence
had to be sought so that the sculptors could exercise their
art.
The master craftsmen thus had to avoid joints which
would stop the sculptor's chisel; it is w ith this idea constantly
in mind that stonecutting evolved in Java. There was for a brief

ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION IN JAVA 23
period a difference in techniques according to the two great
religions present in the 8th century. The Buddhists, to obtain a
better coherence to a building, employed the forcing of the
foundation course by a wedge of vertical stone, which the
Hindus did not know, but from the beginning of the 9th century
this technique became general.
About 830 there appeared in Java a procedure which the
Indian master craftsmen had known since prehistory (it is found
on the site of Nindowari in Beluchistan from the second
millennium before Christ). This consists of masonry known
as double facing. The walls have two unconnected external
surfaces and the space between is filled with rubble of various
kinds bound with mud. The techniques of stone assembly in
all their diversity were established from the end of the 9th
century. This possibly over-rapid attempt at invention halted
technical evolution and there were no important changes in
stone construction until the 14th century. The only way of
obtaining a stone roofing in this period is corbelling. The surface
covered cannot exceed, on a square plan, 80 square metres,
as at Prambanan, which is already remarkable. The assembly
of brick structures varied little but from the 14th century a strong
influence of stone can be detected in the use of wedges and
double facing. Brick corbelling covered smaller areas than
stone; the 36 square metres of Candi Pari are maximal; the
binders were of very mediocre quality and did not permit a
greater extension.
The fragility of brick was recognized, so lintels, with very
rare exceptions, are made of stone, and steps are often stone
too. The adaptation to the land required innovations in construction;
in this way, at Borobudur, built on a hill that was
oval in plan, it was necessary to fill in the spaces left empty by
the approximate square perimeter of the structure, and with a
sufficiently homogeneous mixture for it not to cause too much
pressure on the walls. The sites chosen were sometimes unsuitable
for construction and had to be adapted. This is the
case of Candi Dadi, built on top of a rocky peak where the huge
scale of the undertaking is completely disproportionate to the
resulting building.
To these unavoidable constraints had to be added those
of the ritual of the building which required an order to the layout
of the different elements of very complex structures. The ritual
differed depending on whether the building was Hindu or
Buddhist. The complete dismantling of the main Buddhist
temple of Candi Sewu prior to its reconstruction has enabled
the different periods of Buddhist rites to be reconstituted.
First of all, a huge square excavation was dug into the
ground to a depth of some two metres. This space was then
filled with stones mixed with sand to 75 em below the surface. A
mandala was drawn at this point and the shapes formed by the
crossing of the lines of the drawing were decorated with symbols
of Buddhist divinities, of which only two have been found,
both representing Taras. This mandala was covered up and
the excavation entirely filled to the original surface level. A
layer of sand was spread over this and on it a square was marked
out by four stones. A brick altar surrounded by stone paving
was built on this square. When the ceremonies required by
this altar were completed, the cruciform perimeter of the base
of the temple was laid out in stone and raised to the upper level
of tpe brick altar. From this level just on the surface of the altar
a vast rough-hewn stone block with ten courses was built.
Above this then came a dressed stone block 1.78 m high. Then
a moulded plinth was laid down and on this a very large seated
statue was raised on an ellipsoid cutting, the larger axis of which
measured 3.5 metres. After the statue was put in place, work
continued on the base, but before the stairways were built; these
were added at the very end of the construction work.
The rites of Hindu constructions in Java have not been
re-established with the same precision as those of Buddhist
temples, but thanks to the dismantling of Candi Brahma at
Prambanan we have some details. First of all, in contrast to
what was done at Candi Sewu, there was no excavation into
the earth. This was not a general rule though, and there are exceptions;
there is, for example, an excavation for the Candi
Arjuna complex, but not for Candi Gatokaca,likewise at Dieng.
The perimeter of the temple was laid out on the surface and in
the centre the square which would become the axial well of the
monument was fixed. These two concentric elements were both
built with dressed stone on the outside and the space between,
sometimes enormous, was filled either with quality rough-hewn
stones bound with a mud mortar, or else with indifferent rocks
mixed with sand. This structure went as far as the upper level
of the base going around the temple, when construction on the
temple proper began.
These rites, whether they be Hindu or Buddhist, determine
an order in the building of structures with concentric
elements, which had serious consequences for the solidity of
the monuments, as for example with the virtual independence
of the stairways. It is also possible that the master craftsmen
were constrained by these ritual obligations. Sometimes difficulties
which occurred because of the rites have come to light,
as when, from the 9th century on, the nine pegging-out markers
were replaced at the end of the works with smalllingas,
sometimes protected by little shrines; this required that the
central point of the enclosure be unencumbered. When the
remodelling of the older temples was felt to be necessary, rather
than shift the monuments, the enclosures were reconstructed
in such a way that the central points were left free, as at Candi
Badur and at Dieng.
The organization of religious architecture is also intimately
tied to the rites celebrated inside the buildings. The
construction of a temple had as its principal though not its sole
aim of allowing the religion to be celebrated, so the necessary
arrangements for this are important parts of an architectural
programme. These can take the form of the circumabulation
galleries or the substantial closure systems permitting the priest
in charge to shut himself off in the cella while honouring his
god.
The iconographic element also conditions to a considerable
extent the architectural plan, so the cruciform shape of
Candi Siva at Prambanan or that at Candi Singosari only take
on a meaning in relation to the iconography to be displayed
there.

24 JACQUES DUMAR(AY
The Hindu iconography remained essentially unchanged
from the 8th to the 14th century: Siva was placed in the centre,
Agastya to the south, Ganesha to the west and Durga to the
north. This is not the case for Buddhist buildings, where the
icongraphy was changed twice. Until about 790, the Buddhist
statues were all visible from the outside, the temples having to
that date no doors or porches. Then came an enormous campaign
to renew completely the old iconography which was
replaced by that of the five Jinas (the five Buddhas perpetually
in existence); doors and porches were added to all existing
Buddhist monuments. Temples built after this reform were
constructed with these elements which had become essential.
There was a second campaign at the end of the 9th cemtury but
this was not completed; it would appear to have been the replacement
of the Jinas by triads (a Buddha flanked by two
Bodhisattvas), but this vast effort coincided with a loss of
Buddhist influence and the master craftsmen were not able to
finish the undertaking.
The building of a temple is doubtless the most obvious
attempt to arrange the universe which one can undertake. In
Java, this is translated by the construction of huge complexes
like Candi Sewu, Prambanan or Candi Plaosan, where the arrangement
of the different buildings in relation to each other
is probably the expression of an ideal order of the kingdom, as
is indicated in the inscriptions from Candi Perot. This is not a
matter of architectural symbolism which can be decoded; architecture
in Java remained completely abstract. However, in the
14th century, some elements ended up by taking on an overt
meaning. Thus the illustration on the doors of Belahan and
Candi Pari of a roof ridge in tension, carved in stone or brick
with no architectural context, is doubtless there to indicate a
Vishnuite cult, more particularly that of Sri, the first wife of
Vishnu and the goddess of rice. Models of rice granaries with
the roof resting on stretched beamwork carved in the stone can
be found throughout Java and are an indication of this cult.
One is struck by the fact that while the technique of roofs in
tension is hardly anywhere employed, it is still however to be
found in Sulawesi in the Toraja region and in Sumatra among
the Minangkabau for rice granaries. But in the 8th century
nothing seems to have been fixed. In a recent study, Professor
Gomez of the University of Michigan identified Borobudur with
the divine . palace called Kutagara of the future Buddha
Maitreya, where the internal measurements were greater than
the exterior dimensions. This is very interesting since we have
not only the literary description of this monument but also its
representation on the relief of the third gallery of Borobudur,
illustrating an episode from the Gandavyuha, where Sudhana
can be seen trying many times to enter the monument. The
texts are very inexplicit and Professor Gomez himself concludes
that any building can be a Kutagara providing it is in the form
of a stepped pyramid. However, the passage illustrated at Borobudur
is rather more precise; it is about a building reserved for
Bodhisattvas who knew the real condition of the world; the
building is hollow and its dimensions are infinite; it contains
hundreds of thousands of other Kutagara which reflect each
other. The sculptors at Borobudur confronted with such a
description let their imagination run free and the building is
shown fifteen times, on each occasion in a different form; an
essential element of the description, its suitability for habitation,
was for the most part omitted.
It can be seen that if Borobudur is going to be discussed
in this context, one can talk about other monuments as well, in
particular Candi Sewu, where, after entering the enclosure the
visitor is confronted with two hundred and forty shrines, all
alike. In their first state they had no doors and their statues
inside could be seen from without. It can even be supposed
that the reflection of the buildings on each other was desired,
since in some cases the exterior reliefs of two different shrines
facing each other are reversed.
When all these constraints had been noted, the master
craftsman could undertake the composition of the building, but
he faced right from the beginning an enormous difficulty, because
he lacked the means to anticipate how the completed work
would be viewed. So there was constant and obligatory reference
to buildings already constructed whose beauty was assured.
Manuals and architectural treatises of all kinds fixed
the proportional relationships recognized as agreeable and
permitted the composition of something reliable.
In the 8th century, Pallava architectural models were still
very much present in the minds of the master craftsmen. This
is evident in Borobudur in a relief on the first gallery. The structure
can be reconstituted and in both cases we are dealing with
a wooden building whose load-bearing was external, as is still
the case in contemporary Java. But in India the movement from
light buildings to more solid structures occurred at this moment
in the evolution of building, and the temples of Mahabalipuram
or Panamalai recall externalloadbearing wooden structures
but where the load was actually carried on internal walls
and load-bearing pillars. In Java as in Thailand, at Chaiya, the
movement was made at a different time, when the master craftsmen
had adopted a more solid form using the corner block
formed by four pillars linked together. In India wooden buildings
followed a similar evolution but the changeover to stone
only took place much later in the Chola period.
In Java, this changeover to stone can be seen in the buildings
on the Dieng plateau or the Gedung Songo site, where the
projection of load-bearing pillars can be seen on the walls, forming
an important part of the architectural decoration. It seems
that the external composition of the building is completely
independent of its internal volume. For example, at Candi
Nandin, in the third group at Gedung Songo, the interior floor
is completely embedded in the volume of the base, the outline
of which was cut to leave room for the door. This no doubt
derives from the use of a treatise, although no relevant texts
have come down to us. In Java there are many buildings like
this, as in Bali, where examples are more recent, sometimes
completely contemporaneous. In the group of Balinese texts
known as Hasta Kosali some passages can be identified as going
back to the 14th century; these works are norms, codifying
works considered satisfactory. Their measurements are translated
into a system of proportions whose primary value changed

ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION IN JAVA 25
according to the scale of the project. Thus the point of departure
of Hasta Kosali is particularly suggestive: the gule (in Balinese)
is the length of the first bone of the index finger of the
master craftsman.
On the work site this type of information could not be
given to the workmen, and the proportional values were translated
in concrete terms, which Lordereau has established: the
measure is a cubit of 34 em divided into ten inches. This transformation
of the ideal project into a design that could be executed
was the source of many changes in the rhythm of proportions.
This is especially true of the superstructures requiring
perspective effects to increase their height visually. This is
obtained by reducing the dimensions of elements of the same
type, which shortens the vanishing point in the perspective. It
is obvious that these reductions ought to be very regular and
the least error breaks the illusion. For example, at Candi Siva
and Candi Visnu in group three at Gedung Songo the artifice is
not very well executed since the reductions of the elements are
not strictly regular, nor are they similar. On the other hand, on
the southern annex temple at Prambanan the illusion is perfect.
With this, the master craftsman suppressed all the elements
which could not be seen because of the projection of the
cornice; the builder did not worry about this at Gedung Songo,
where everything was carved, even if it could not be seen.
The master of works of the Prambanan ensemble built
many structures which were meant to be seen from particular
vantage points, fairly near the temples, some 15 metres on
average; it is from these points, and only these, that the artifices
used in the buildings appear coherent. Today, with all
the enclosures and small shrines destroyed, one can see the
central temple whole from all sides, which gives the monument
its real dimensions, but when the enclosures were still standing,
it could only be seen in parts, which made it appear larger
and gave complete coherence to the perspective effects.
Buddhist architecture at the end of the 8th and the beginning
of the 9th century was without any artifice. The plan is
primary, while with Hindu sanctuaries the external shape has
no relation to the internal volume. Candi Sewu was begun about
775 and more or less completed in its first state about 790. At
this time the central temple in the complex was redesigned and
given a cruciform plan, as with the nearby Candi Kalasan.
Borobudur is in its present state, after many refurbishings, a
Buddhist monument, but it was probably constructed on the
outline of the stepped Hindu pyramid which included perspective
effects. One can only be struck by the similarity of composition
of the first state of Borobudur, that is, a stepped pyramid
surrounded by brick monuments (those of Pawon, Bajong and
Mendut also in their first state), with the Khmer monument at
Roluos, the Bakong, built by Jayavarman II, who was the guest
of the Sanjaya until about 800, the approximate date when the
Sailendra extended to the north of central Java. The second
state of Borobudur was already Buddhist and included, extending
from the outline of the base (almost entirely carved all
around the perimeter), the broad stairways framed by stringwalls;
the remains of these can be seen in the extension built in
the third state. During the construction of the latter, the existing
doorways were probably altered by adding a framework
to them; this partly covered the existing reliefs. It was also
during these works that the summit of the monument was considerably
modified; it should have comprised just one big stupa,
which corresponds to the restoration proposed by Parmentier,
though without his grandiosity. This was destroyed, and the
upper part was built which can be seen today. From these different
examples it can be seen how difficult it is to speak of the
architectural composition of Borobudur. This accumulation of
refurbishings, sometimes remarkably well executed, gives
however the impression of motley architecture. While the very
fine horizontals of the monument are conserved, it is somewhat
by good luck, and successive intentions did not succeed
in changing the shape of the initial undertaking.
After the renewal of Hinduism at the beginning of the
9th century (more precisely, about 830), Buddhism did not collapse
and the Sanjaya undertook an arrangement of the universe
similar to that at Prambanan, but in a Buddhist context,
at Candi Plaosan. This temple comprises two main tiered sanctuaries
surrounded by shrines and stupas. The iconography is
different from tha't followed at Candi Sewu and Borobudur;
each cella contains a triad, as previously indicated a Buddha
between two Bodhisattvas. At least one other temple, Candi
Sari, was built on the same model. With these two temples the
master craftsmen expressed the internal volume without artifice
(as the master craftsmen in Ceylon did with similar structures);
the storeys are shown in elevation and if at the top there
are attic windows to light a non-existent loft, that at least corresponds
to the volumes of the internal corbelling.
This tremendous building spree was spread over a very
short period of time, fifty to sixty-five years at most. The same
rate could not be maintained, so new forms in the very last
years of the 9th century were adopted, giving a larger place to
the use of wood. This is apparent on several sites, first of all at
Candi Plaosan in the extension of the building known as sanctuary
C. This building consists of a single very large hall, the
roof of which was raised on wooden columns. The same principle
of construction can be seen at Ratu Baka with all the buildings
on the southern part of the site. The main innovation
consisted in suppressing the internal corbelling which was
replaced by wooden beams supporting a roof feigning to look
as though it derived from a stone vault. This can be seen on the
northern entrance pavilion restored by the Dutch, who replaced
the wooden beams with a concrete slab. These methods of lightening
the structure made the work easier but considerably increased
its fragility, which perhaps explains the small number
of buildings of this period (between the lOth and 13th centuries)
which have been preserved.
There are less frequently combinations where wood figured
in a structure surrounding the main building in stone, as
is the case in Candi Sambisari. The main structure remaining
is extremely squat, appearing to have sunk into the balustrade
of the base, but the usual proportions were restored with the
construction that covered it: this was a roof resting on wooden
pillars, the stone bases for which still rise from the level of the
platform. The whole plan of Candi Sambisari (a main sanctu-

26 JACQUES DUMARC::A Y
Cn udi Sn 111bisari.
Plwtogrn ph by Luca lul'emizzi Tettoui.
ary with three secondary shrines facing it) was much used in
central Java, for example, at Candi Cangal and Candi Merak,
as well as in east Java, w here Candi Badut was refurbished in
the 9th and Candi Gurah in the 11th century.
The continuity of art from the lOth to 13th centuries in
central and east Java, in spite of the grea t disparity of forms, is
marked by the reuse of ancient monuments. In addition to
Candi Bad ut, the baths of Jalatunda and Belahan were old
foundati ons rearranged to the taste of the time. This prolonga ­
tion is marked by a sort of return to the sources of Javanese art;
for exa mple, Candi Singosari has the same p lan as Cand i Sembodro
at Dieng. Even the detail of the eleva ti on is taken up
with the contracti on of the square plan on the upper level over
the crucifo rm ground plan. While bearing in mind that most
civilian as well as religious architecture was likely to be in wood,
one can reduce architectural composition of the east Javanese
temples from 13th century to two types, represented by Ca ndi
Kidal and Candi Jago, both temples of a similar order, but with
the latter raised on a very high founda tion.
Candi Kidal is a building where display is important. The
temple is built in a pool w here the building is reflected, and
may be intended to recall the churning of the sea of milk; the
reliefs on the base show Gan1da carrying Sri, Gan1 da carrying
the flask of the liqueur of immortality and Garuda carrying the
serpent which acted as the rope to churn the sea. The main
build ing is entirely d isplaced within the surrounding wall,
leaving th e central point free, and in front of the temple is a
terrace which would have had three shrines on it.
Candi Singosari, as ind ica ted , has a cruciform plan but
the tower above the first level is of the same type as Candi Kidal.
The pegging-out points have not been replaced by small lingas
as was the practice up to and includ ing the construction of Candi
Kid a!, but by statues of the guardians of space. Only six have
been discovered on the site and the state of the enclosure wall
is such that is not possible to say if the central point was left
free or not.

ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION IN JAVA 27
The composition of Candi }ago is similar, but the base is
very different, being divided into three levels decorated with
reliefs, and the stairways .are somewhat complicated, the flights
not being all situated on the same vertical plan. The master
craftsman of Candi Jawi tried to express the convictions of his
sovereign who believed in the unity of Sivaism and Buddhism,
so the base of this temple is decorated with Sivaite reliefs while
the summit is in the form of a stupa. Candi Cungkup is of a
similar composition but is raised on a vast terrace nearly 800
square metres in size and covered in bricks.
The extremely large complex of Penataran is the result of
a long works programme begun at the latest in 1347 and finished
at the earliest in 1375, with many resumptions and
changes of plan. The successive master craftsmen all aimed to
preserve the dominance of the main terrace supporting a temple
which has disappeared. The access ways have the same complications
as at Candi }ago but the reliefs are very different, in
particular the upper level formed by winged animals recalls
the representations of the Khmer flying palaces of Preah Khan
at Angkor and Kompong Svay. In the courtyard of Penataran
a dated temple corresponding to 1369 was built level with the
ground of the same type as Candi Kidal, but the perspective
effects are completely unintelligible because of excessive decoration.
The nearby Candi Naga is raised on a foundation reduced
to a single level and would have had a roof resting on
wooden beamwork. Outside the enclosure are baths; that to
the south is decorated with reliefs illustrating animal tales and
that of the north includes two tanks into which water pours.
In the middle of the 14th century, the Mojapahit capital
was fixed in the region of the present hamlet ofTrowulan, where
very many buildings, all brick, were constructed, for the most
part following the same types as in the previous century.
However, far away from the town, on the eastern extremity of
Java, a Buddhist temple, Candi Jabung, was built with a plan
that was on the outside circular and on the inside an irregular
octagon. Notwithstanding the plan, though, the upper part of
the structure is the same as Candi Kidal, for the doorway and
false doors are topped by three false storeys. The topmost of
all of these met and in the space between there used to be a
circular feature, probably a stupa, which has now disappeared.
At the end of the 14th century, carved decoration on brick with
a stucco covering was much employed, as in Candi Gambar,
for example, and the brick foundations of wooden temples are
sometimes of considerable size, like the Buddhist temple of
Candi Gayatri.
Throughout this same period an attempt was made to
obtain a new formula for perspective effects in the region of
Gempol, at Candi Pari, at Gunung Gansir, and on the doorways
of Belahan, where not only the enhancement of the vanishing
point is obtained by proportional diminution of similar
elements, but also by the displacement towards the centre of
the antefixes in superimposed rows, as if the master craftsmen
in this region had disco'!ered a very simplified form of graphic
perspective. If the arrival of Islam had allowed it, Javanese
architects would doubtless have been able to finalize a procedure
to anticipate in part the way a completed work would
look, and the relationship between buildings and their creators
would have been profoundly changed.
The way architecture from the 8th to the 14th centuries
was perceived is not easily put together, and the few notions
on this subject in the Negara Kertagama limit themselves to
banalities concerning beauty and magnificence. However, it is
quite certain that these temples were viewed in an entirely different
manner from the way they were conceived. If, a little
after the inauguration of the monument, the artifices used in
the conceptioh of the structure were coherent, in particular in
relation to the perspective effects, this is not the case with the
passage of time after different structural changes sometimes
profoundly transformed the buildings, to the point where the
initial undertaking lost some of its meaning. This is the case
with Borobudur, where the perspective effects of the original
state are hidden by balustrades, and the duality of the architecture
noted by so many scholars is only a more or less accidental
transformation in the transition of a structure; the function of
this, without any doubt different from the original, had become
essentially the practice of the rite of the Pradakshina. The spectator
participates in a certain way in the creation of the building,
in spite of the architects' desires. So the master craftsman
of the second state of Borobudur employed all his talent in
giving a unity to the building and in suppressing anything that
could recall the original pyramid, adding a projecting base to
the walls which lacked it, unifying the width of the stairways,
and constructing string walls that are now encased in the third
state. The work we can see today is a sort of combination of
happy accidents, whose meaning was never very precise, leaving
the spectator free to view his universe and participate in
the composition of the work, because one can suppose that these
diverse interpretations caused in turn certain modifications. The
architectural composition did not finish with the end of the
construction work, and one can say without appearing too
paradoxical that each alert visitor participates in the creation of
the building.

COLOR PLATES FOR "ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION IN JAVA," p. 21. 41
Prall!bn11nn; Clw11d i Sa ri (p. 25).
Candi Sewu ( p. 23).
Prn 111bnllllll; Lnm jo11ggmllg Temple.
Gedu11g Songo (p. 24). Candi jawi (p. 27).
All photographs 011 this page by Luca lnvernizzi Tettoni.

A NOTE ON THAI TATTOOS
Travelers'and ethnographers' accounts up to
the end of the XVIIth century
FRAN

NOTE SUR LE TATOUAGE EN PAYS THAI
Recits de voyages et regards d'ethnographes
jusqu'a la fin du XVIIe siecle
FRAN

30 FRAN

NOTE SUR LE TATOUAGE EN PAYS THAI 31
bien une des conditions necessaire pour obtenir le statut d'individu
civilise.
La coutume du tatouage chez les peuples du Fou-nan
aurait ainsi disparue assez tot dans son histoire et les etats qui
lui succederent, le Tchen-la et I' empire khmer ne semblent pas
l'avoir connue. Aymonier et B.P. Groslier ont en revanche note
que les fameux Syam kuk des bas-reliefs d'Angkor Vat portent
des tatouages ou des scarifications sur les joues. Pour Groslier,
s'opposant sur ce point a !'interpretation generalement admise,
on ne peut absolument pas voir chez ces Syam qui forment une
"legion etrangere khmere" des Siamois ni meme des Proto-Thai.
Cet auteur pense que le terme syam designait des le VIle siecle
un peuple d'lndochine Centrale faisant partie de ceux qu'on
appellait "Kha" par mepris, et les identifie a des Austroasiatiques,
les Suei du Moyen Mekong (B.P. Groslier, p.l18). Les
Thaine seraient devenus Siamois qu'en occupant le pays des
Syam.
Dans le Man shu que l'on considere comme une source
d'information unique concernant l'histoire proto-birmane et
proto-thai, il est fait plusieurs fois mention de "barbares du Sud
(du Yunnan)" marques en differents endroits du corps. LeMan
shu est l'oeuvre de Fan Ch'o, secretaire du gouverneur chinois
du Tonkin. Elle fut publiee entre 860 et 873 A.D. et meme si
son auteur n'a peut-etre jamais visite toutes les regions dont il
parle, il ne pouvait que recueillir, etant donne le poste qu'il
occupait, des temoignages de premiere main.
FIGURE 1
Un "Laotien des possessions birmanes" (Shan ou Thai Yai) aux jambes
tatow!es du motif en ecail/es a I' epoque de Ia mission d 'exploration du
Me'kong (1866-1868). D'apres un dessin de L.Delaporte, planche XIX de
/'Atlas du voyage d'exploration. en Indo-Chine de Doudart de Lagree et
Francis Garnier.
Depuis que l'on a identifie avec une quasi-certitude Ia
population dominante du royaume de Nan-chao (les ancetres
des Pai-tsu et des Yi actuels plus connus sous le nom de peuple
Lolo) on ne peut que rechercher chez leurs voisins ceux qui
devraient apparaitre comme des Proto-Thai (Backus, p.51).
Entre Ia Salouen, le Mekong et le Fleuve Rouge, sur un territoire
qui correspond actuellement au pays shan de Birmanie,
au Sipsong Pan Na de Chine et a Ia region de Phong-Saly au
Nord-Laos, vivaient, selon le Man shu, ces differents peuples:
les Heich 'ih Man ("barbares aux dents noires"), les Chin-ch' ih Man
("barbares aux dents don~es"), les Yin-ch'ih Man ("barbares aux
dents argentees"). Ce premier groupe de peuples pratiquant
sans doute le laquage des dents est suivi par un deuxieme
pratiquant le tatouage: les Hsiu-mien Man ("barbares au visage
tatoue") et les Hsiu-chiao Man ("barbares aux jambes tatouees").
"The Tattooed Legs Man, above the ankle and below the shin,
engrave the skin all round with lines and patterns .... The tattooed
Face Man, when a month has passed after their birth, are
pricked on the face with a needle: they then apply pencillings
of dark blue." (Luce, 1961, p.43). Enfin un troisieme groupe
tres interessant est cite: les Mang Man, organises en principautes
conduites par un Mang-chao qui vivent dans des maisons sur
pilotis, se laquent les dents et utilisent !'elephant pour les travaux
agricoles.
Toutes ces caracteristiques correspondent globalement a
des coutumes bien connues des Shans, Siamois et Laotiens (telles
que le laquage des dents ou l'usage du betel) mais aussi des
Lawa, des Khamu, des Lamet qui sont leurs voisins; les Lawa
du Nord de Ia Thailande pratiquent toujours le tatouage du

32 FRAN

NOTE SUR LET ATOUAGE EN PAYS THAI 33
(Cordier, p.85). Mais pour Leach cette hypothese des migrations
nord-sud ne repose sur rien. II a fort bien montre comment
on devenait shan ou thai et il est permis de penser a sa
suite que Ia coutume du tatouage attestee chez certains peuples
de cette region, a l'epoque ou justement les Thai font irruption
dans l'histoire, est aussi signifiante d'options sociales. Certaines
formes seront abandonnees au profit de certaines autres: par
exemple pour Ie tatouage religieux, empruntant au bouddhisme
un grand nombre de ses symboles. Car !'entree dans Ia communaute
thai devait probablement exiger une "conversion" plus
ou moins spectaculaire.
FIGURE2
Un Thai Lii et sa campagne. Les tatouages des jmnbes et du buste mettent en
valeur ce jeunehommedans son entreprise de seduction. Peinture rnurale, Vat
Phumin, Nan , ecole du Lanna, fin du X!Xe siecle, in situ.
FIGURE 3
Un jeune Thai du Lanna (Khon Miiang) en train de courtiser sa belle. L 'un
et /'autre devoilent innocemment leurs charmes. Peinture mura/e, Vi han Lai
Kham du Vat Phra Singh, Chiang-Mai, ecole du Lanna, milieu du XIXe
siecle, in situ.
Pour Ia province de Caugigu Marco Polo fit noter que
presque toute Ia population se tatouait Ia partie superieure du
corps, visage compris, avec des images d'animaux: lions, oisea
ux, dragons. Selon Yule cette province de Caugigu correspondrait
au Laos ou plut6t aux etats du Nord Laos que Ies
annales chinoises nomment Papesifu (Pa-pai-si-fu) dont Ia
capitale aurait ete Kiang-Hung (Chiang-Hung de Ia region des
Sipsong PanNa, alors probablement integree ou alliee a Chiang­
Sen et au Royaume du Lanna, Wyatt, pp.44-50). G. Maspero y
voit Luang Prabang et Cordier Kiao-chi, c'est a dire Ie Tonkin.
II est vrai que le tatouage y eta it egalement pratique. Par ailleurs
Kiao-Chi etait au XIIIe siecle, sinon partiellement peuple de
Thai, du moins revendique par ceux-ci, les Princes de Chiang­
Hung en particulier. Cependant il est fort difficile d'imaginer
des Thai voire meme des indigenes en voie de thai'sa tion se
marquant le visage: Ia coutume semble appartenir plut6t
aux Austroasiatiques qui ne l'ont jamais totalement abandonnee2.
Marco Polo, contrairement aux distinctions des annalistes
chinois, evoque avec Zardandan et Caugigu deux pays dont
les habitants se seraient plies totalement a Ia coutume du tatouage.
II souligne ce que bien d'autres observateurs repeteront
a pres lui: le tatouage est le signe d'une elegance exigee par
un certain eros social. Les peintures murales des monasteres
du Lanna expriment encore cela a !'evidence (voir figures 2 &
3). Le tatouage etait-illie a des rites de mariage, d'admission et
a des systemes d'alliances particuliers?
Cette vision du tatouage serait partielle voire trop connotee
par une idee de tradition ou de rC)ce si Marco Polo n'avait
pas complete son rapport par le paragraphe suivant, concernant
Ia ville de Zayton, un port de Ia province chinoise du
Foukien: "May come hither from Upper India to have their body
painted with the needle in the way we have elsewhere described,
there being many adepts at this craft in the city." (Yule,
p.235). Ainsi Ie tatouage participait-il aussi de cette mode internationale
adoptee par les marins, les aventuriers, les voyageurs,
et apparalt tel que nous le connaissons aujourd'hui.
Preuve eclatante qu'il etait bien un produit d'echange susceptible,
par dela les races et les nations, d'enjoliver n'importe quelle
peau humaine et de prendre des significations multiples. Un
curieux exemple de ce cosmopolitisme du tatouage peut etre
observe dans une peinture murale d'un monastere du Nord de
Ia Thai'lande (figure 5); les elements europeens (barbiche, kepi
d'un cornac d'une armee siamoise ou yuan sont contrebalances
par les tatouages du mollet dont Ie motif des tenailles et du

34 FRAN

NOTE SUR LE TATOUAGE EN PAYS THAI 35
FIGUR E 5
Co mac sur son elephan t. Ma lgre son kepi et sa barbiche Second E111pire (sonvenir d11 passage des explorateurs frnn(ais 7 ) ce perso ,mage curieux porte
sur /e mallet, SOliS I 'imaged 'un fauve, les tena illes etle pointille en vogue chez /cs La 1net dn Laos. Peintnre murnle, Vat Phu111in, Nan, ecole du Lanna, fill
du X!Xe siecle, in situ.
cement) et il est toujours associe aux tatou ages (voir n ·l des
references thai). Francesco Carletti, un marchand fl orentin du
XVle siecle a lui aussi consigne une histoire semblable et, avec
Ia meme candeur, il voit !'interdiction Ia ou d'autres trou vent
un regain de plaisir (Carletti, pp.181-183).
Sur le tatouage proprement dit, Conti remarque au passage
que les Chinois l'utilisent comme signe d'infam ie pour les
criminels: d 'abord applique sur le bras puis, en cas de recid ive,
sur le visage (ibid. p.152). Les Siamois faisa ient de meme et on
a J'exem ple d 'une large repression de ce type qui eut lieu en
1848 contre les symphatisants d es rebelles de Chachoengsao:
tous furent marques sur les joues, en thai et en chinois (Terwiel,
1989, p. 170).
Au milieu du XV!e siecle l'historien portugais Joao de
Ba rros recueillait, a Lisbonne, le temoignage de Domingo de
Seixas et de certains autres de ses compatriotes. Seixas, un mercenaire
qui vecut 25 ans au Siam au service du Roi d'Ayuthaya
Ra mathibod i II, combattit dans le Nord du pays. Par Ia plume
de l'his torien, il signale !'existence des royaumes d es Laos contjnuellement
en guerre contre les Gueos et que le rapporteur imagine,
ne les ayant jamais vus, Ia peau marquee de dessins appliques
au fer rouge (Campos, p. 9). On suppose que ces Gueos
etaient des Lawa ou peut-etre d es Karens, qu e les historiens
modernes rapprochent des habitants de cette Caugigu evoquee
par Marco Polo dont les marques corporelles n'etaient certainement
pas des br(Hures mais des tatouages. Ces Portugais, installes
au service d es monarques d~ s differentes cou rs des
royaumes indochinois, vendaient leur savoir-faire militaire et
participaient a de nombreux combats, dans un camp ou un
autre. lis ont legue !'expression brat;os pintos par laquelle ils
nommaient les gardes du roi du Siam, une elite militaire qui se
ta touait les bras, Ia poitrine et le d os (sans pour autant renoncer
totalement au tatouage des jambes dont Ia mode s'affaiblira

36 FRANC::OIS LAGIRARDE
chez les Thai du Siam pour demeurer chez les Thai d u Nord,
voir figure 6). Avec ce theme militaire, les Portugais continuent
a evoquer, sur le modele des historiens chinois, differents
peuples tatoues, tous d e forts bons guerriers, habitues a se disputer
un meme territoire: les premiers, laissant finalement le
controle de cet espace, que nous considerons comme thai, aux
seconds.
A partir des Portugais, et dans les temoignages ulterieurs,
un nouveau regard se pose sur les signes du corps: on voit
beaucoup moins Ia race 3 , le peuple ou l'ethnie qui exhibent ces
marques mais on commence a s'interesser a leur usage reel: ainsi
par brm;os pintos designe-t-on une categorie professionnelle:
celle que formaient les gardes du corps, les troupes d 'elite et les
bourreaux du roi. On passe d e Ia recherche du signe d 'identite
at.l signe de Ia fonctionnalite. Ce regard s'est-il modifie parce
que les explorateurs changeaient ou bien parce que le tatouage
s'elargissait vers des croyances faisant Ia synthese d 'elements
magi(jues "traditionnels" dans le cadre d'un boudd hisme plus
qu'affirme?
Le terme meme de bra~os pintos (traduit ulterieurement
par les voyageurs fra n ~ ais au XVIIe siecle par les mots "braspints"
ou "braspeints") indique deja un changement du lieu
d 'inscription principal. On ne parle plus du tatouage du visage
et tres peu de celui d es jambes (sauf remarquable exception
chez La Loubere qui affirme a voir rencontre un noble siamois
aux jambes completement bleues). En revanche Van Vliet,
les ambassadeurs persans, Tachard, Gervaise, La Loubere,
Forbin et Kaempfer signalent tous les inscriptions qu'arborent
les gardes du palais des rois de Siam. Ils lisent deux choses
d ifferentes: d 'abord Ia marque d'incorporation que portaient
les serfs siamois (les phrai, LY.d) ensuite les motifs magiques, inscriptions,
diagrammes qui etaient censes les proteger contre
Ies risques du metier. Ces tatouages n'ont cesse jusqu'a
aujourd'hui de se developper, avec toutes les variations de sens,
parfois contradictoires, que leur histoire ancienne atteste.
Conclusion
FI GURE 6
U11 de ces brafos pin tos leis qu 'ils furent observes par les Port 11gais des le
X VIe siecle. Les bras sontnwrq11es de fonnules religieu ses ecrites en kh om
111nis les jambes de motifs en ecailles . Peinlure murnle, Vat Nn i Ro 11g,
Thonburi , ecole de Rntnnnkosin, milie11 d11 X/Xe siecle, in situ.
On ne saurait done trou ver dans !'art d u tatouage le revelateur
d 'une verite d'un corps qui devrait ga rantir une identite
quelconque, mais bien plutot une technique largement partagee
par les peuples de Thailande et par leurs voisins, meme
si des options traditionnelles d emeurent. Seuls, certains messages,
traces par ce moyen, ont une valeur qui se situe en dehors
du lieu-commun et devraient etre (auraient du etre) etudies
au cas par cas.
La plupart d es exemples cites d ans cette etude montre
en revanche comment, par larges periodes, se forme une vision
standard des sujets tatoues a laquelle on opposera toujours Ia
mobilite de la coutume. La plus invraisemblable de cette vision
etant celle revelee par Bowring et Pallegoix au XIXe siecle:
"Le tatouage des jambes et d es cuisses est general parmi Ia tribu
qu'on appelle Lao-Phungdam (ventres noirs), tandis que Ia tribu
de Lao-Phung-khao (ventres blancs) a le tatouage en horreur. ..
Les Etats Lao de Ia race blanche qui ne se tatouent pas sont:
Muang-Lom et Muang-Luang-Phra-Bang. La race qui se tatoue
en noir habite les Etats de Xieng-Mai, Lakhon, Muang Pine et
Muang- Nan ." (Pallegoix, vol. 2, p. 35). Meme si Pallegoix n'avait
aucune intention particuliere en evoquant ces deux "races" lao,
!'usage qu'on a pu fa ire de cette discrimina tion, ulterieurement,
devait sans doute conduire a Ia fabrica tion d e cliches ethniques
mis au service d 'une cause ou d'une autre (nationalisme,
colonisation). Faut-il le souligner, ces races n'existent pas en
tant que telles, pas plus qu'une frontiere absolue du tatouage:
des deux cOfes d u Mekong on a d eveloppe cet art avec talent.
Cette repartition apparalt d'autant plus hasardeuse lorsqu'on
lit le chapitre de Bowring sur les Lao et dont le passage concer-

NOTE SUR LE TATOUAGE EN PAYS THAI 37
nant le tatouage est emprunte a un missionnaire franc;ais: "The
western regions belongs to the White-bellies; the Black-bellies
occupy the provinces of the east." (Bowring, vol.2 p. 10)
Si d'une certaine fac;on il est difficile de savoir qui est le
tatoue on peut alors se demander qui est le tatoueur. Les ethnographes
contemporains repondent souvent de la meme fac;on:
le tatoueur est un etranger, un hote de passage qui repand
son art de villages en villages. Les Sadang et les Katu utilisent
les services des "laotiens qui sont d'habiles tatoueurs" (Guilleminet
p. 405). Dans le roman Fils d'Isan, source de documentation
ethnographique sur le Nord-Est de la Thailande, on assiste
a une seance de tatouage dans un hameau lao: les tatoueurs
sont des Kula, c'est a dire des Shans (Khampoun, chapitre 15).
Chez les Lawa etudies par Kunstadt~r ce sont les Karens qui
officient, bien qu'on sache par ailleurs que chez ces memes
Karens le rituel de tatouage (chekosi) est relativement recent et
tend a se substituer a d'autres obligations traditionnelles (Lewis,
p. 96). Pour Leslie Milne, les Shans et les Siamois ont probable-
ment appris cette coutume des Birmans, tandis que Shway Yoe
rappelle que "Mostly all the men who tattoo charms and cabalistic
figures are Shans." (Milne, p.66 et Shway Yoe, p. 41).
Certains tatoueurs siamois, quand a eux, se plaisent a evoquer
de grands maitres khmers (n "5 des ref. en thai).
Un dernier exemple de cette incroyable vitalite de l"'echange"
du tatouage en pays thai nous est donne par le recit
d'une expedition chez les Kho11 Pa (Phi Tong Luang ou Mrabri)
des jungles du Lanna, consideres comme les derniers representants
d'un type d'humanite prehistorique. Dans le groupe
que les explorateurs trouverent sur leur chemin, quatre individus
"has a blue tattoo worked onto their chest and back and
one actually had a watch tattooed onto his wirst. The tattooes,
they explained, had been done for them by some Thai visiting
the valley a few years earlier and was in a conventional Thai
pattern consistent with this explanation." (Kraisri, p. 169).
Surrealiste rencontre d'hommes, de signes et de procedes,
amusante et triste comme une figure de l'eternel retour ...
REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES
En thai:
1. li\1'5'11tm C'ID:IIitlnrn. "mffin'll1fl1mLfl~1'nlf1.:1
.'' .
: mn~n~'lleJ.:I"'fUL~·heJ1E.Jfl11 'VI~eJL'YlE.Jft11",
gf!11-lo'lf'n'i'flii. ~3J~f1~.:~~ 2
2.

38
FRANCOIS LAGIRARDE
Prachakul. T. Wongphisethkul, en cours
de publication.
KRAISRI NIMMANAHAEMINDA & Julian
HARTLAND-SWANN, "Expedition to
the Khon pa (or Phi Tong Luang?)". J.S.S.
Vol. L, part 2, 1962.
KUNSTADTER, Peter, The Lua? (Lawa) of
Northern Thailand: Aspects of Social Structures,
Agriculture, and Religion, New-Jersey,
Princeton University, 1965.
LEACH, Edmund, Les systemes politiques des
haute$ terres de Birmanie, Paris, Maspero,
1972.
LE THANH KHOI, Le Viet-Nam, histoire et
civilisation, Paris, les Editions de Minuit,
1955.
LEVY,Pau!,Histoiredu Laos,Paris,P.U.F., 1974.
LEWIS, Paul & Elaine, People of the Golden
Triangle, London, New-York, Thames &
Hudson, 1984.
LUCE, G.H., "The Early Syam in Burma's
History", J.S.S. Vol. XLVI & XLVII, 1958-
1959.
LUCE, G.H. (traducteur), Man Shu (Book of the
Southern Barbarians), Ithaca. Cornell University,
Southeast Asia Programm, 1961.
MA-TOUAN-LIN, Ethnographie des peuples
etrangers a Ia Chine, traduit du Chinois par
le Marquis d'Hervey de St. Denys, Geneve,
Paris, Londres, 1876.
MASPERO, Henri, "Etudes d'Histoire d'Annam",
B.E.F.E.O. tome XVIII, IV, "Le
Royaume de Van Lang." 1918.
MILNE, Leslie, Shans at Home, London, John
Murray, 1910.
PELLIOT, Paul, "Le Fou-nan", B.E.F.E.O. tome
III. Hanoi, 1903.
PELLIOT, Paul, Memoires sur les coutumes du
Cambodge de Tcheou Ta-Kouan, Paris, Librairie
d'Amerique et d'Orient, 1951.
SHW A Y YOE, The Burman, His Life and Notions,
New York, W.W. Norton, 1963.
SINGER, Noel F, "Tattoo weights from Burma"
Arts of Asia, March-April1988.
SUMET JUMSAI, Naga, Cultural Origins in
Siam and the West Pacific, Singapore, Oxford
university press, 1988.
TERWIEL, B.J., The Tai of Assam and Ancient Tai
Ritual, Gaya (India) Centre for South East
Asian Studies, 1980.
TERWIEL, B.J., Through Travellers'Eyes, An
Approach to Early Nineteenth Century Thai
History, Bangkok, Editions Duang Kamon,
1989.
VERN ANT, Jean-Pierre, Mythe et pensee chez les
Grecs, Paris, Maspero-La Decouverte, 1985.
VINCENT, Frank, The Land of the White
Elephant, New-York, 1874.
WYATT, David K., Thailand: A Short History,
London, Yale University Press, 1984.
YULE, Henry (traducteur), The Book of Ser
Marco Polo, Third edition, 2 vol., London,
J. Murray, 1921.
NOTES
1. Par pays thai on entend un large espace
humain occupe par les locuteurs d'une des
langues suivantes: shan, lao, Iii, yuan et
siamois ce qui ne peut exclure le rapport
politique avec d'autres espaces indus dans le
premier.
2. Notons que le tatouage sur le front et le
cuir chevelu est quelquefois pratique en
Thai1ande particulierement a !'occasion d'une
retraite dans un monastere bouddhique.
3. Idee qui resurgit en force au XIXe siecle.

NOTE SUR LE TATOUAGE EN PAYS THAI
39
An example of a modern Thai tattoo, featur ing Hanuman, a pangolin and assorted symbols and writings . (Courtesy of the Bangkok Post;
photograph by Snyant Pornnanthamt.)

TECHNICAL STUDY ON THE WHITE­
GLAZED WARES WITH GREEN PATTERNS
EXCAVATED IN THE TAK AREA IN
THAILAND
A Preliminary Report
KAZUO YAMASAKI
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
NAGOYA UNIVERSITY
MASAYO MUROZUMI
MURORAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
JOHN C. SHAW
CHIANG MAl UNIVERSITY
ALAN R. GEORGE
FAST NEUTRON RESEARCH FACILITY
CHIANG MAl UNIVERSITY
I. Introduction
In 1984 burial sites were discovered high in the mountains
along the Thai-Burmese border in the area of Tak.
Amongst the many artifacts excavated was one group of ceramics
not previously reported (although occasional pieces had
been found earlier in Indonesia and Thailand). These wares
were the subject of much interest as their provenance was not
known and as many pieces are beautiful white lead-glazed
dishes decorated with green floral and animal motifs.
It has long been known that green-glazed plaques were
used to decorate temples at Pagan, Burma, and that green, white
and brown glazed plaques were used at Pegu, Burma, particu-
See the article "Burmese Mon Tin-Glazed Wares in the Tak Finds and
Influences from the Middle East," Virginia M. Di Crocco and Doris
Schulz, The Siam Society Newsletter, Vol. 1, No.4, 1985, pp. 6-13. The
green and white tin-glazed wares from the Tak finds are there identified
as Burmese Mon products stemming from the Mon sectors of Lower
Burma, and having lead glazes opacified by tin.-Ed.
larly on the Shwegugyi pagoda built by King Dhammazedi in
1476. It is almost certain that so many large plaques must have
been made near the temples.
The finding of lead-glazed, copper-coloured ceramics at
Kalong in 1985 caused some scholars to speculate that the leadglazed
wares found at the Tak hilltop burial sites were produced
at Kalong. Studies of lead isotope ratios confirm that, as
others believed, this speculation was not correct.
The results presented in this paper make it highly probable
that this group of ceramics found at Tak were produced in
the vicinity of Pegu.
II. Samples
The glazes of a plate, two bowls and a plaque, and the
body clay of a bowl were studied by chemical analyses and
lead isotope determination. Several galena ores of Thailand
and Burma were examined and their lead isotope ratios were
compared with those of the above- mentioned glazes.
1. Sample A. A fragment of a white-glazed bowl with
green patterns which was collected at a digging site in the Tak
area by the research group of Chiang Mai University and is

44 KAZUO Y AMASAKl ET AL.
now in the collection of the University. (Color plate, p. 40. See
also a complete specimen of the ware, same page.)
2. Sample B. A white-glazed plate without green patterns
in a private collection. Only the isotope determination was
made.
3. Sample E. A small fragment of a glazed plaque which
was reported to have been brought from a temple in Pegu,
Burma. The glaze remaining on the fragment is green. Only
the fragment was obtained, and the whole fi gure is unknown,
but it is similar to the plaques which are decorated with two
figures having animal head s and human bodies.
4. Sample G. A white-glazed bowl with green patterns
in a private collection. The white part of the glaze was studied.
5. Galena ore from Lamphun, Thailand. 1
6. Galena ore from Mae Hong Son, Thailand. 2
7. Galena ore from Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai Province,
Thailand.'
8. Galena ore from Hatyai, Thailand.<
9. Galena ore from Mergui, Burma.
10. Galena ore from Tenasserim, Burma.
III. Analytical methods
Chemical analyses of the glaze were made by using the
so-called ICP spectrometry (inductively coupled plasma as the
light source) after decomposing the samples with acids. The
body clay was analysed by the commonly used method of silica
te analysis. The distribution of copper, lead and tin in the
glaze layers was determined by an electron-probe microanalytical
method . The lead isotope determination was carried out
in the laboratory of the Muroran Institute of Technology using
a Hitachi RMU-6 mass spectrometer. For a more detailed description
of the detern1ination see the report on the meta l objec
ts unearthed in the Tak area by Y. Kuno eta!., publication of
which is forthcoming.
Preliminary experiments on the glazed wares found in
the Tak area were carried out in the Fast Neutron Research
Facility by using X-ray flu orescence analysis. 5
IV. Results
1. Che111 icn l compositions. Results of chemical analyses of
the glazes are given in Table 1." The standard deviation of the
data determined by ICP is about ± 5%
Tab le 1. Chem ical compositions of glazes
Constituent
White
Sample A
Sample E
Sample G
Green Green White
Si0 2
61.9%
Alz0 3
5.41
Fe 2
0 3
0.96
CaO 6.01
MgO 0.66
Na 2
0 0.51
K 2
0 0.29
PbO 25.3
CuO 0.085
Sn0 2
0.58
51.8% 43.2% 41 .3%
6.70 3.19 11.0
0.82 2.20 1.06
3.90 1.16 3.28
0.73 0.50 1.27
0.23 1.36 0.14
1.00 0.30 2.65
28.6 46.6 37.3
2.66 1.30 0.038
1.60 0.38 0.1 8
The chemical composition of the body cla y of Sample A is given in Table 2.

TECHNICAL STUDY ON TAK AREA WARES 45
Tnble 2. Body c!ny of Snmple A
Si0 2
A l 2
0 3
Fe 2
0 3
(total iron)
Ti0 2
CaO
MgO
Na 2
0
Kp
Ignition loss
78.9%
15.2
2.3
1.1
0.029
0.44
0.099
1.4
0.96
2. Distribution of copper, lend nnd tin in the glnze /aijcrs. The
distribution was determined by an electron-probe microa nalyzer
on the w hite and green glaze layers of Sa mple A . The
results are shown in Fig. 1. Lead and tin show maxima in both
glazes, w hereas copper is distributed almost uniformly in the
green glaze. The uniform distribution of copper over the whole
cross section of the glaze indicates the so-ca lled in-glaze method.
The close similarity of the chemical compositions of the white
and green glazes of Sample A also explains mixing of two glazes
and diffusion of the green part into the white part.
3. X- rny diffmction of the clny of Srnnplc A. The body clay
was examined by X-ray diffraction, and formation of a small
amount of mullite during firing was found. Quartz was present
in the original clay used, but no formation of cristobalite from
quartz during firing was found. This means that the firing
temperature was about 1000-1100"C. As the softening temperCIture
of the g l

46 KAZUO YAMASAKI ET AL.
4. Lead isotope ratio determination. The lead isotope ratios
of the glazes were determined by using a mass spectrometer,
and the results were compared with those of the galena ores of
Thailand and Burma. The results are shown in Table 3 and Fig.
2. The lead isotope ratio determination is useful to study the
provenance of glazed wares containing lead. 7 The isotope
ratios of three galena ores in the Malay peninsula, Hatyai,
Mergui and Tenasserim indicate that these ores may have
different geological ages compared with those of Lamp hun and
Mae Hong Son.
Table 3. Lead isotope ratios of the gla zes and the galena ores
Sample Pb 206/ Pb 207/
Pb204 Pb 204
Pb 208/ Pb 207/ Pb 208/
Pb 204 Pb206 Pb 206
Sample A, bowl, 18.1 9 15.67
white glaze
Sample B, plate, 18.21 15.72
white glaze
Sample E, plaque, 18.16 15.69
green glaze
Sample G, bowl, 18.35 15.85
white glaze
38.28 0.8621 2.112
38.46 0.8639 2.11 3
38.34 0.8636 2.111
38.40 0.8629 2.100
Galena ore, 1 18.26 15.76
Lamp hun
Galena ore, 2 18.32 15.78
Mae Hong Son
Galena ore, 3 18.61 15.75
MaeTaeng
Galena ore, 4 18.75 15.75
Hatyai
Galena ore, 5 18.73 15.72
Mergui
Galena ore, 6 18.52 15.57
Tenasserim
38.65 0.8654 2.118
38.72 0.8615 2.115
39.05 0.8458 2.097
39.19 0.8394 2.091
39.29 0.8391 2.098
38.67 0.8402 2.089
The coefficients of variation of the ratios Pb 207 /Pb 206 and Pb 208 / Pb 206 are± 0.2% and those of other three ratios are+
0.4%, respectively. -

TECHNICAL STUDY ON T AK AREA WARES 47
Fig. 2 Lead isotope ra tios of samples A, B, E and G, and galena ores. Galena ores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 stand for the same orrs in Table 3 .
..& and • indicate Samples and galena ores, respectively.
Pb 208 I Pb 206 0.840
2.150
0.850 0.860 0.870
2.100
5 • . 3
4
• • 6
2
• AB
• 1
AA AE
A
G
±0.2%
2.050
0.830 0.840
0.850 0.860 0.870
Pb 207 I Pb 206
V. Discussion
As is clear from the results in Table 1 the white and green
glazes are lead glazes opacified by tin. The green colour is due
to copper. The tin contents are rather low compared with the
bluish green glazes of the sherds found in the Fustat site, Cairo,
Egypt. One of the unpublished data by K. Yamasaki shows the
tin content to be 2.82% Sn0 2
• The comparison was made
because Islamic influence seems to have been exerted on the
white-glazed wares found in the hilltop burial sites. The body
clay of Sample A contains much iron, 2.3% as total iron, and this
is the reason for the red colour of the body. The body clay is
poor in alkaline earth and alkali metals, and rich in quartz.
Besides the white-glazed plates and bowls, chocolate
brown coloured wares are rarely found. One of them, a bowl,
was examined by the X-ray fluorescence method in the Fast
Neutron Research Facility in Chiang Mai University, and the
presence of lead and tin was confirmed. The colour was due to
iron. Another bowl of similar colour was also studied by the
same technique in Nagoya, and it contained lead, tin and iron
like the other one. In both cases no sample for the quantitative
analysis of the glaze was available because they were in private
collections.
The results of lead isotope ratio determination show an
interesting and important fact. The isotope ratios of Samples A,
B and G are close to those of galena ores of Lamp hun and Mae
Hong Son. The latter is supposed to have been brought from
Burma. It is not clear why Lamphun galena ore mined in
Thailand shows similar values with a Burmese galena. Probably
these two galena ores belong to mines with similar geologica
l ages. As we have very little knowledge about the lead mines
in Burma, especially in the central part, no more information is
obtained at the present moment. The fact, however, that Samples
A, Band G have similar isotope ratios with those of a glazed
plaque, E, which is supposed to have come from Pegu, Burma,
suggests a possibility that these white-glazed wares and plaques
were all made in Burma. Our unpublished results show that
several more plaques of Pegu and sherds found in Pagan,
Burma have similar isotope ratios with the above three sam pies.
It is highly probable that all these were made in Burma. It may
be difficult to suppose that numerous plaques found near Pegu
were produced in Thailand and sent to Burma. More samples
are under investigation.

48 KAZUO YAMASAKI ET AL.
In 1985 George and Shaw, two of the present authors,
reported that small numbers of green-glazed wares were fired
in a kiln at Tung Man, Kalong kiln complex, in Ampur Vieng
Papao, Chiang Rai Province, and these wares were different
from the green-glazed wares found in the hilltop burial sites. 5
Our studies now under way show that the wares found in Tung
Man have entirely different isotope ratios from those of the
wares found in the hilltop burial sites, indicating that the latter
wares were not produced in the Tung Man kiln.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The technical assistance of Messrs Seiji Nakamura, Shin-ichiro
I

40 COLOR PLATES FOR "T AK GREEN AND WHITE WARES," p. 43.
AND "BLOCKPRINTED FABRICS OF CUJARAT," p. 71.
A fmglll cnt of a white-glazed bowl collected at a digg ing situ in Tak bij the research group of
Chiang Mai University and tested for the report on white-g lazed wares with green patterns
(p. 44 ).
An example of the white-glazed wares with green patterns
excavated in the Tak area in the mountains along the Thai­
Burrnese border (p. 43).
Snwothing the block with chalk to print saudagiri fabrics (p. 71 ).
Drilling holes to outline the design for sau dag iri fabrics (p. 71 ).
Sa1nple design fo r saudagiri wood blocks. Note
the word "Malabari " in vertical Thai letters at
the botton1 (p. 71).
\

BANGKOK IN 1883: AN ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL PROFILE
CONSTANCE M. WILSON
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
In 1883 Bangkok was a city in transition, just beginning
its growth into the large, crowded, modern metropolis it is
today. At this point Bangkok had been the capital city for a
century; in 1782 King Rama I of the Chakri dynasty had moved
the capital, established by Taksin, from the west bank of the
Chao Phraya to the east bank probably for security reasons, as
the big bend in the river protected his new city on three sides
while canals protected the fourth.
The capital grew slowly during its first hundred years.
As early Western visitors noted, transportation was primarily
by water. The Chao Phraya River and the major canals provided
both the visual and physical orientation for the city. In
1821 John Crawfurd wrote:
The morning presented to us a very novel
spectacle-the capital of Siam, situated on both
sides of the Menam. Numerous temples of Buddha,
with tall spires attached to them, frequently
glittering with gilding, were conspicuous among
the mean huts and hovels of the natives, throughout
~hich were interspersed a profusion of palms,
ordinary fruit trees, and the sacred fig. On each
side of the river there was a row of floating habitations,
resting on rafts of bamboo, moored to the
shore. These appeared the neatest and best description
of dwellings; they were occupied by good
Chinese shops. Close to these aquatic habitations
were anchored the largest description of native
vessels, among which were many junks of great
size, just arrived from China. The face of the river
presented a busy scene, from the number of boats
and canoes of every size and description which
were passing to and fro. The number of these struck
us as very great at the time, for we were not aware
that there are few or no roads at Bangkok, and that
the river and canals form the common highways,
not only for goods, but for passengers of every
description ...
The right bank of the Menam, where our residence
was, had only a narrow strip of dwellings along
the river-side. Behind these, the country, which is
inconvenient foot-paths, and frequent canals, over
which there are no other bridges than single narrow
planks or trunks of trees. 1
There was little change when Sir John Bowring visited
Bangkok 34 years later:
The limits of the city are marked by a semicircle of
the Meinam on the western side, and by a canal on
the eastern, whose two extremities joining the river
make the city almost circular. There is an inner
island, formed by another canal, also joining the
Meinam. There are two other canals, viz., one from
north to south, and another from east to west, crossing
the city at right lines, besides auxiliary canals
on both sides of the river. The highways of Bangkok
are not streets and roads, but the river and the
canals. Boats are the universal means of conveyance
and communication. Except about the palaces
of the Kings, horses or carriages are rarely
seen ...
There are a few houses in Bangkok built of stone
and brick; but those of the middle classes are of
wood, while the habitations of the poor are constructed
of light bamboos, and roofed with leaves
of the atap palm. 2
The Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Great
Britain and Siam, which Bowring negotiated, still marks the
beginning of Thailand's transition from a traditional Southeast
Asian kingdom to a modern state. As treaties were signed with
all major Western powers, foreigners began to settle in the city:
consuls, merchants, and missionaries. The new foreign community
had some very different ideas about urban planning.
The city began to change.
.. : the foreign consuls all signed their names to a
petition which they presented to the King. It said
that the Europeans were used to going out in the
open air, riding carriages or riding horseback for

50 CONSTANCE M. WILSON
Vnrious river crnft nud flont iug stru ctures on the Chno Phrm;n nt Bnngkok circn 1885.
Source: Child, j.T., The Pearl of Asia, Reminiscences of the Court of a Supreme Monarch, or Five Years in Siam. Chicago.
pleasure. These activities had been good for their
health and they had not suffered from illnesses.
Since their coming to live in Bangkok, they had
found that there were no roads to go riding in ca r­
riages or on horseback for pleasure, and they had
all been sick very often.
The King, after having heard the contents of this
petition, reflected that recently the Europeans had
been coming to live in Bangkok in increasing
numbers every year. Their countries had roads that
mad e every village or town look orderly, pleasant
and clean. Our country was grea tly overgrown
with grass or climbers; our pathways were but
small or blind alleys; our larger pathways were
dirty, muddy, or soiled, and unpleasant to look
a t. .. 3
The introduction of roads was to change, completely, the
character of Bangkok. People began to move from the river
and the canals onto land. The road network was to establish
future patterns of growth, away from the inner city and the
river bank, out into the gardens, orchards and rice fields. 4
This profile of Bangkok is based primarily on the information
about the residents of the city w ho lived along its roads
and lanes and in its villages. This material was recorded in the
first Bangkok Postal Directory, published by the Post and Telegraph
Department in 1883.
Before 1883, the British Consulate handled the capital's
international mail w hile the court, itself, was responsible for its
internal correspondence. The British Consulate had been
granted Royal Permission in 1867 to accept international mail
for transhipment to Singapore. The Consulate sold postage
stamps and constructed a small building where mail could be
received and picked up. This arrangement lasted until1882. 5
The British, however, had offered to ex tend their service
beyond 1882. The British Consulate proposed the establishment
of a postal agency in Bangkok w hich would have been a
branch of the Post Office of the Straits Settlements in Singapore.
The government of the Straits Settlements was willing to set up
an agency provided it was given a monopoly over the sale of
postage stamps and over international mail. All of the employees
would have been under the direction of the Postmaster
General of the Straits Settlements while the local supervisor
would have been the British Consul in Bangkok. 6

BANGKOK IN 1883
51
4
3
... ,_
1
PLAN OF
BANGKOK
'==~==!l=a~nF.l.n;;;;:;;=ii===! ,•&••••
!! ..... ,,
106 107
Plan of Bangkok on a scale of 1 inch to 880 yards from "Map of the Kingdom of Siam and its Dependencies" printed in
England in 1888, and believed to have been adapted from the larger-scaled map in the Thai version.

52 CONSTANCE M. WILSON
A memo by the Acting Postmaster General of the Straits
Settlements, H. Trotter, dated 1st September 1882, reported that
one of the brothers of the king had written to him about the
establishment of a postal service in Bangkok. The Thai prince,
apparently, had been talking about this with a Mr. Bettije,
Superintendent of the Telegraphs in Bangkok. Mr. Trotter noted
that Mr. Bettije had been a former employee of the post office
in Singapore where he had attained "a fair knowledge of our
system." Mr. Bettije had looked into the prospects for a Bangkok
post office, but had found the costs of setting it up too high.
Thus, Mr. Trotter remarked, it had been postponed. Current
postal services in Bangkok were provided by Mr. Gardner,
Constable of the British Consulate. European residents in
Bangkok paid a small, voluntary subscription fee for postal
services. All profits were returned to Singapore. Mr. Gardner
received a 10% rebate on the sale of Straits Settlements stamps
plus 10% of the postage due on unpaid letters. Mr. Trotter
estimated the cost of running a postal service in Bangkok at
$45 a month or 100 pounds a year plus the salaries of the postmen.7
If the government of the Straits Settlements had opened
a branch post office in Bangkok, it would have created additional
problems for the Thai as relations with the British Consul,
at this point, were highly sensitive. The Thai wisely moved
ahead with their own plans and the British Consulate informed
London, "the Siamese Government have lately established a
local Post Office for Bangkok and are full of projects for further
undertakings of the kind. They have therefore rejected the
proposal of the Straits Government to establish a branch
here."8
The Thai, nevertheless, did borrow many ideas from the
postal system of the Straits Settlements. When I presented an
early version of this paper at SOAS, the School of Oriental and
African Studies at the University of London, a member of the
audience informed me that the format of the Bangkok Postal
Directory was similar to those used by the Straits Settlements
at that time.
The Bangkok Postal Directory, referred to below by its
Thai title, Sarabanchi, was published as a result of a royal order
by King Chulalongkorn. In his introduction the king discusses
the changes which are taking place in Siam, noting the presence
of large numbers of foreigners and the recent establishment
of the Post and Telegraph Department headed by Krommaluang
Phanuphanwongworadet. King Chulalongkorn
writes that this new department, if it is to perform its duties,
needs a register of the population. This is the first register of its
type in Siam.
The register is in four volumes, with varying titles. The
first volume, Sarabanchi Suan thi 1 khu Tamnaeng Ratchakan
Samrap Cao Phanakngan Krom Praisani Krungthep Mahanakhon
Tangtae Camnuan Pi Mamae Benchasok Chulasakarat 1245 (Classified
Directory of the Royal Family and Government Officials, Post
and Telegraph Department, Bangkok, 1883), lists all government
departments, their personnel, and their addresses. This first
volume is available in the SOAS library at the University of
London and on microfilm from the Center for Research Libraries
in Chicago.
The remaining three volumes bear the title Sarabanchi
Suan thi 2-3-4 khu Ratsadon nai Changwat, . .. , Samrap Cao Plwnakngan
Krom Praisani . .. (Register, parts 2-3-4 of the Population
of the Changwat by the Post and Telegraph Department for the Year
1883). The second volume is subtitled Thanon lae Trok (Streets
and Limes), the third lists Ban Mu lae Lamnan (Villages and Waterways),
while the fourth covers Khu lae Kltlong Lam Patong
(Ditches and Irrigation Canals). The copy of volumes 2-4 which
I have been working with is a microfilm given to me by Acan
Maenmas Chavalit, former director of the National Library of
Thailand. The microfilm was given to me with the request that
I put the contents on the computer as an illustration of computer
technology for Thai students.
This paper is based on the contents of volumes two and
three which cover streets, lanes, villages and waterways. These
two volumes list some 77 streets, 102lanes, 313 villages, and 36
waterways. The visual image that is presented of Bangkok
matches that of John MacGregor writing in the 1890s,
On land there is only one street worthy of the name,
and this long street leads from near the Palace
enclosure, for a least three or four miles, to the
southern outskirts of the city, ... The rest of the
streets, especially outside the walled city, consists
for the most part of comparatively short offshoots
passing here and there; for the city ... has no great
inland depth in it, ... ~
The most important of the early roads were Charoen
Krung (New Road), begun in 1862, and Bamrungmuang Road,
begun in 1863. From their origins the two roads were commercial
centers, attracting speculators who constructed shop houses
and market places. The construction of the roads also gave
employment to Chinese labor. 1 ° Charoen Krung was by far the
longest of the early roads. It stretched south, following the river,
reaching down into the rice paddies, dominating all maps of
the city drawn at that time. Bamrungmuang, on the other hand,
cut directly through the inner city and out into the fields on an
east-west axis. Both roads were to determine the future configuration
of Bangkok, with Charoen Krung serving as the
western boundary along the river and Bamrungmuang heading
east into the interior, becoming, in the twentieth century,
Rama I Road, and, then, extending into Sukhumvit Road, the
main eastern artery of the present city, with its numerous side
streets. Apart from these two important streets, the arrangement
of the Sarabanchi makes it difficult to determine the location
and extent of local neighborhoods. The major identifying
features for most place names were waterways, many of which
have been filled in or covered over, Buddhist wats, about half
of which have either disappeared or had a change of name,
and the houses of Thai nobility, who, of course, have all passed
away. Hence we find such place names as the 'street in front of
Wat Bowonniwet', the 'lane behind Wat Bowonniwet', the 'village
of Wat Bowonniwet', and the 'lamnam of Bang Lamphu',
all scattered among the wide-spread pages of the Sarabanchi,

BANGKOK IN 1883 53
completely breaking up the pattern of neighborhoods which
existed in 1883.
The Sarabanchi gives building numbers for each unit along
with brief expanatory comments, such as: house, shop, sala,
wat, fort, etc. If the building is a house or a shop, the register
will give the title and the name of the person in charge of the
building. The title and name of only one person is given at
each address. I assume that this person is the head of the household
or the owner or manager of the shop. Then, the register
may provide additional information: the parent-mother or
father-of the occupant; payment of the Chinese head tax; note
if the building is rented; tell if the building is built of bamboo,
wood, or brick; give the title and name of the owner of the
building; the occupation of the person in charge; any special
name or title resulting from the occupant's duties; and, finally,
the master of the person in charge.
The type of material is of obvious interest for a number
of reasons. However, this particular set of material is also very
difficult to work with. The Sarabanchi is ,a hybrid document,
based on a Western model, but containing many indigenous
features. There is considerable inconsistency in the ways in
which the information is recorded. The spelling of the Thai
language is not yet standardized. Nor are the descriptions of
the buildings, the details of their construction, or the occupations
of the residents standardized. At this point in time, no
person possessed a surname. Most heads of households are
registered by their personal names, usually just one or two
syllables, with the result that computer printouts contain long
lists of people with such names as Bun, Chun, Daeng, Ha, Meng,
Nim, Phloi, and so on, which imposes severe restrictions on
some types of analysis.
Neverthel~ss, I have gone ahead with the coding of volumes
two and three. This has yielded 17,857 computer cards,
16,739 of them containing information about heads of households.
This material has .been run through a series of computer
procedures. In spite of the problems involved, the results, allowing
for the limitations of the material, have been very interesting.
In some cases this material offers additional evidence
for generally accepted views of Bangkok in the 1880s. In a few
cases, it should serve to modify standard interpretations of Thai
development.
Only a small handful of government buildings are listed
in the Sarabanchi. I should note that we do not know what
government buildings, apart from the palaces of the royal
family, existed at that time. Novertheless, there were public
facilities in Bangkok. These are given in Table 1.
Table 1: Public Facilities
Bridges 9
Clinics (rong mo) 2
Courts 2
Forts: Ordinary 2
Palace 7
Gates: Ordinary 15
Palace 9
Guard Houses 4
Hospitals 1
Hotels 2
Jails 2
Markets 8
Palaces 26
Police Stations 8
Religious Buildings
Chinese Temples 20
Churches 1
Hindu Temples 1
Mosques 12
Spirit Shrines 3
Wat/Bot 61
Rice Bins 8
Rice Mills 3
Schools 3
Theaters (Lakon) 1
Although the number of more sturdy brick or masonry
buildings (tiik), Table 2, were increasing, the number of wooden
and bamboo houses and shops remained high. Numerous rafts
still lined the river bank. The large number of shops indicated
the commercial character of much of the city.
Table 2: Other Buildings
Brick buildings (tiik)
Houses (riian)
Rafts
Sal a
Shops (rong)
2,064
8,046
800
18
4,578
The titles of the heads of households and the owners/
managers of shops can also serve as a means of ethnic identification.
The ethnic identity of the heads of households is given
in Table3.

54 CONSTANCE M. WILSON
Table 3: Ethnic Groups
Table 4: Ethnic Distribution in the Largest Neighborhoods
Ethnic Group Number Percent
Thai Chinese Indian Farang Other Total
Thai 9,442 56
Streets
Chinese 6,274 38
Indian
51:}
Khaek 732 4
Malay 212
Burmese 14
Khmer 3
Lao 13 106 1
Mon 2
Vietnamese 74
Fa rang 131 1
Unknown 54
Charoen Krung Nai 98
Charoen Krung Nok 224
Bamrungmuang 114
Ban Khamin 152
Fuang Nakhon 163
Rop Phranakhon
Chan Nai 376
Rop Phranakhon
ChanNok 202
Sampheng 12
86
780
210
49
145
121
53
483
6
79
23
4
7
2
24
3
35
1
5
15
6
3
194
1,133
354
205
320
500
257
520
Total 16,739 100
Waterways
Bangkok-East 539
195
8
3
4
749
(The nationality of Farang is not always given. Of those
whose nationality is given, we have: American-7; Danish-1;
Dutch-6; English-37; French-7; German-15; Portuguese-7;
and Swedish-1.)
Bangkok-West 70
Bang Lamphu-West 84
160
121
9
8
4
4
244
218
56 percent were Thai, and 38 percent were Chinese. The
Indians, Khaek, and Malays make up the third largest group of
people with only 4 percent of the registers' population. (The
term Khaek, as used in the Sarabanchi, often suggests Javanese
as well as Malay or South Asian background. I use the word
here only because it is used in the text and cannot be translated
in more specific ethnic terms.) However, the aggregate figures
include a large number of outlying wats and their villages. The
inner city population of Chinese was higher. If we consider
only the citations for streets and lanes, dropping villages and
waterways, we are left with 7,531 people, of which 47 percent
(3,571) were Thai, 47 percent (3,559) were Chinese, 4 percent
(335) Indian, Khaek or Malay, and 2 percent other Southeast
Asians and Farang.
Chinese were well distributed throughout the city where
they could be found in nearly every neighborhood as shown in
Table 4. There was little clustering of any ethnic group in any
location with but a handful of exceptions, one of them being
the Chinese neighborhood of Sampheng.
The Chinese, since they were not subject to corvee, were
required to pay a separate head tax. As can be seen in Table 5,
many Chinese did pay this tax. Thai and all other ethnic groups
were exempt from this tax.
Table 5: Number of Chinese Paying the Head Tax
Paid
Exempt
Total
4,736 75
1,530 25
6,274 100
percent
percent
percent
Chinese could obtain exemption from the head tax by
seeking a master; several sought protection from Thai officials.
Others looked to the foreign consuls for assistance. Those
Chinese who were registered under a patron, Thai or foreign,
were usualty exempt from the Chinese head tax.
Exemption from the Chinese head tax provided an incentive
for individual Chinese to seek dependent status. Actually,
44 percent of the people in the register held dependent
status of one type or another (Table 6). Most were registered
with a nai or master

BANGKOK IN 1883 55
Table 6: Heads of Households Holding Dependent Status
Status
Number
With a Master 6,956
-of whom:
Farang 2
France 193
Germany 1
Great Britain 391
Italy 3
Netherlands 238
Portugal 123
United States 11
Subtotal 962
Converts 2
Employed By Someone 102
Lek Wat (Owes service to a wat) 4
Live With 98
Phi Liang (Nursemaids) 8
Prisoners of War 10
Servants 86
Slaves, Bondspersons 130
Total 7,396
(Most of the people registered under the foreign embassies are
Chinese or Indian or Malay or Khaek. Some of the people listed
as 'employed by' are employed by foreigners.)
Most listed as of dependent status were registered with a nai or
master for whom they provided various services. The Thai registrar
handled the Chinese, as well as the other Asians who
sought foreign protection, in the same way they handled the
Thai who had masters. No Thai was under the protection of a
foreign consul apart from foreigner's employees, who were then
listed under their employer, as was Nai Ram, an employee of
Dr. Bradley. Most slaves and bondspeople were Thai; a few
were Chinese. They were registered as heads of households,
apparently owned the buildings they occupied, and in some
cases engaged in normal occupations.
The inhabitants of Bangkok were employed in several
ways (Table 7). The largest source of employment, 42 percent,
was in marketing, followed by 16 percent in government service,
and 15 percent in manufacturing (small workshops for such
crafts as weaving, tailoring, metalwork, woodworking and
pottery). In 1883, Bangkok, even though it was a center of
government, had already moved away from government service
as a major means of employment. This evidence is one of
the unexpected surprises of this research.
Table 7: Types of Employment in Bangkok in 1883
Royal Palace (accountants, guards, 197
wardrobe, retired, Kalahon1)
Front Palace (caretakers, artisans,
Klang Sinkha)
141
Other (Wat Phrasirattana, Wang Khwa) 3
Krom 631
Subtotal
Officials (clerks, scribes, record keepers)412
Tax Collectors
Subtotal
Professionals (doctors, herbal
doctors, massage, theater, musicians,
·teachers, accountants)
Manufacturing (weaving, clothing, metalwork
- gold, silver- precious stones,
kitchenware, nipa, lime, opium)
Employees (sewing, clothing, house agents)
972 11%
440 5%
320 4%
1,344 15%
377 4%
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (growing 1,005 12%
rice, flowers, betel, market gardening,
raising pigs, fowl)
Marketing (selling groceries, rice, fish,
fruit, noodles, khanom, vegetables,
timber, ramie, tobacco, liquor, oil,
medicine, opium, cloth, Buddha images,
miscellaneous)
Commerce, Business (Gambling dens, pawn
shops, brothels)
Miscellaneous (Christians, Christian
religious teachers, servants of
foreigners, other)
Total
3,737 42%
426 5%
192 2%
8,813100%
A breakdown of employment opportunities by ethnic
group (Table 8) should help to modify some of our ideas about
the ethnic division of labor in Thailand in the 1880s. As expected
the Thai clearly hold most of the government positions.
Only a small number of Chinese and Vietnamese hold positions
in the royal palaces or serve as government officials.
However, the Thai dominated professional activities, and, surprisingly,
manufacturing. Bangkok housed a large number of
Thai artisans, who, at this time, were holding their own in relationship
to the Chinese and the other groups, with a 51-49 split;
692 Thai, and 642 other ethnic groups. Although the Chinese·
position in marketing and commerce is very strong, there is,
nevertheless, a Thai presence in these fields. The Thai had not

56 CONSTANCE M. WILSON
isolated themselves behind the walls of goverment service and
agriculture, they had not cut themselves off from such areas of
activity as manufacturing, marketing, or commerce. This suggests
that the history of Chinese economic dominance needs to
be reexamined. It may not have been as complete for all periods
of the nineteenth century as many authors have alleged.
Table 8: Employment by Ethnic Group
Employment
Royal Palace
Front Palace
Other
Krom
Officials
Thai
191
136
4
598
366
Subtotal 1,295
Professionals 193
Manufacturing 692
Employees 89
Agriculture &
Animal Husb 591
Marketing 852
Commerce
Miscellaneous
64
96
Chinese
Total 3,872 4,428 303 63 58
(Nineteen of the Southeast Asians employed in Krom were
Vietnamese.)
There is yet one more aspect of the economy in which the
Thai held a strong position. The Thai owned much of the property
in Bangkok. In 1883, as is shown in Table 9, most of the
Chinese did not own the buildings they occupied. Many apparently
refused to indicate their relationship to the buildings
they lived in, but even when we allow for this large unknown
fi(lctor, we find that some 67 percent of the Chinese were registered
as renters, 'live theres,' and caretakers, a higher percentage
than any other ethnic group except the Farang.
Table 9: Owners and Renters by Ethnic Group
Indian
Thai Chinese Malay Other Farang Total
Khaek
Own
7,925 1,947 485 111 52 10,520
Rent
637 3,722 158 17 49 4,583
Live There
(asai) 454 265 31 3 11 764
Rent Land 35 195 46 2 1 279
Caretakers 16 5 0 0 0 21
Subtotal 9,067 6,134 720 133 113 16,167
Unknown 375 140 12 27 18 572
Total 9,442 6,274 732 160 131 16,739
1
1
10
47
59
97
585
252
345
2,675
341
74
Indian
Malay Other
Khaek SEA
2 1
1 1
13
16
12
55
26
5
174
13
2
20
2
24
2
12
7
16
1
1
Fa rang
2
3
2
7
13
2
3
1
15
4
13
An examination of the titles of the owners of rental buildings
indicates that the Chinese were already investing heavily
in rental property. Of the 4,583 rented buildings, 1,091 (24
percent) were owned by Chinese. In other words, although
most of the Chinese were not yet owners of real estate, some
Chinese were making heavy investments in property.
Many visitors to Bangkok, past and present, have commented
on the social problems present in the city. We can obtain
some idea of the extent of these problems by examining the
number of places of business which had a social impact as
shown in Table 10.
Table 10: Social Problems
Inner Outer
Headed by
Bangkok Bangkok Total Chinese
Alcohol-Shops
Alcohol & Misc.
Alcohol & Gambling
Alcohol & Opium
Total
Brothels
Gambling Houses
Lottery Shops
Total
PawnShops
Pawn & Lottery
Total
Opium Dens
Opium Companies
Opium Storage
Total
440 57 497 459
28 2 30 25
14
6
488
11
60
14
7
548
14
6
504 (92%)
26
69
11
80
154
2
156
245
2
9
256
1
44
5
49
6
5
11
18
1
19
27
113
16
129
9 (33%)
103
15
118 (91%)
160 159
7 7
167 166 (99%)
263 258
3 3
9 9
275 270 (98%)
It is all too clear that there was a connection between the
social problems that existed in Bangkok in the 1880s and the
large Chinese immigrant community. As Table 10 shows, a
total of 1,067 Chinese managed over 90 percent of all liquor
shops, gambling houses, pawn shops, and opium dens. The
only vice they did not control was prostitution. Surprisingly
only 150, or 14 percent, of these Chinese were under foreign
protection. The diplomatic records in Great Britain and the
United States for the last half of the nineteenth century contain
numerous references to conflicts that arose between Chinese
dealers in alcohol and opium and the Thai state. These records
give the impression that the number of Chinese businessmen
seeking for~ign protection was much higher. The information
in the Sarabanchi indicates that most Chinese shopkeepers were
independent, not under the authority of any individual, government
office, or foreign flag.
It is possible to say that as of 1883, the Chinese had not
yet achieved a dominant position throughout the Bangkok economy.
They were just beginning to invest in property; they did

BANGKOK IN 1883 57
not yet hold a dominant position in manufacturing or in professional
life. And, in their strongest areas, marketing and commerce,
they were still faced with competition from the Thai and
from other ethnic groups. The only area of the local economy
that the Chinese dominated was the sale of alcoholic beverages
and opium. The Chinese also managed most of the gambling
houses and pawn shops. Nevertheless, in 1883, Bangkok was
an ethnically mixed city still very much under the control of
the Thai in most of its social and economic activities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The best of the early maps of Bangkok is the "Plan of
Bangkok A.D. 1888," the first of the maps reproduced in the
Royal Thai Survey Department's Maps of Bangkok A.D. 1888-
1931 (Seep. 51). Sternstein's Portrait of Bangkok contains a series
of small scale reproductions of maps of Bangkok drawn between
1797 and 1971 plus numerous drawings and photographs
of the city during the two centuries of its existence. Other old
photographs are reproduced in the two volumes by Thepchu
Thapthong. The books by Davis, the Post and Telegraph Department
(Krom Praisani Thoralek), and Samnak Nayok Ratthamontri
(the Prime Minister's Office), are histories of the
postal and telegraph system. They are especially concerned
with Thailand's entry into the Universal Postal and Telegraph
Unions. Most of the remaining items listed are either the accounts
of foreign visitors or general histories of the city and its
growth.
ARCHIVES
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, Kew, England.
Foreign Office 69/85-87, Siam.
PUBLISHED SOURCES
----- Bangkok Guide: The Greater Bangkok
Street Directory. Krungthep: Assumption
Printing Press, 1972.
BOCK, CARL. Temples and Elephants: The
Narrative of a joumetj of Exploration Through
Upper Siam and Lao. London: Sampson
Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1884.
BOWRING, SIR JOHN. The Kingdom and People
of Siam. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University
Press (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints),
1969. 2 Vols.
CRAWFURD,JOHN. journal of an Embassy to
the Courts of Siam and Cochin China. Kuala
Lumpur: Oxford University Press (Oxford
in Asia Historical Reprints), 1967.
DAVIS, BONNIE. Royal Siamese Postal Service
(The Early Years). Krungthep: Siam Stamp
Trading Co., Ltd., 1983.
GRAHAM, W. A. Siam. London: Alexander
Moring, 1924.
KANCHANAKKHAPAN. Krungthep Mua 70
Pi Kon. Krungthep: Ruang Sin, B.E. 2525
(1982).
MACGREGOR, JOHN. Through the Buffer State:
A Record of Recent Travels Through Borneo,
Siam,andCambodia. London: F. V. White,
1896.
NEALE, FRED. ARTHUR. Narratit•e of a Residence
at the Capital of the Kingdom of Siam.
London: National Illustrated Library,
1852.
SATHABAN WlCHAI SAPHAWAWAET­
LOM, Chulalongkorn University. Kanpatthana
Krungthepmahanakon Baep Phasomphasan
Kap Sing Waetlom. Krungthep:
Sathaban Wichai Saphawawaetlom, B.E.
2526 (1983).
SAYAMIN, RAM WACHIRAWUT. Phraratchaniphon
lae Phraniphon. Krungthep:
Chuan Phim B.E. 2523 (1980).
SIRICHAI NARUMITREKHAKAN. Old
Bridges of Bangkok. Krungthep: Siam Society
B.E. 2520 (1977).
SO. PHLAINOI. Lao Ruang Bangkok Somphat
Khrung Rattanakosin 200 Pi. Krungthep:
Bamrungsan, B. E. 2525 (1983).
SOMBAT CHAMPANGOEN. Ru Ruang
Muang Bangkok. Krungthep: Suriyaban,
B.E. 2526 (1983).
SRISAK WANLIPHODOM AND SUCHIT
WONGTHET. Krungthep Ma Chak Nai?
Krungthep: Chao Phraya, B.E. 2525 (1982).
STERNSTEIN, LARRY. "A Catalogue of Maps
of Thailand in the Museum of the Royal
Thai Survey Department, Bangkok." journal
of the Siam Society, Vol. 56, Pt. 1 Oanuary
1968): 47-99.
---. "Bangkok at the Turn of the Century:
Mongkut and Chulalongkorn
Entertain the West." joumal of the Siam
Society, Vol. 54, Pt 1 Qanuary 1966): 55-71.
---. "Krung Thep at a Hundred: Scape
and Grid." Joumal of the Siam Socil'ty, Vol.
67, Pt. 2 (1979): 1-20
___ ,Portrait of Bangkok. Krungthep:
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration,
B.E. 2525 (1982)
___ . Thailand: The Environment of Modernization.
Sydney: McGraw-Hill, 1976.
THAILAND. KROM PRAISANITHORALEK.
Sarabanchi Suan thi 1 Khu Tamnaeng
Ratchakan Samrap Cao Phanakngan Krom
Praisani Krungthep Malmnakhon Tangtae
Camnuan Pi Mamae Benchasok Chulasakarat
1245. Krungthep: Krom Praisani Thoralek,
B.E. 2426 (1883).
--. KROM SINLAPAKON.
Phraratchaphithi Chalong Phranakhon Khrop
150 Pi. Krungthep: Krom Sinlapakon, B.E.
2525 (1982).
___ . ROYAL THAI SURVEY DEPART­
MENT. Phaenthi Krungthep Ph. S. 2431-
2474. Maps of Bangkok A. D. 1888-1931.
Krungthep: Krom Phaenthi Thahan, B.E.
2527 (1984).
--. SAMNAK NAYOK RATTHAMON­
TRI. Kan Praisani Raya Roem Raek.

58
CONSTANCE M. WILSON
Krungthep: Kanakammakan Pitcarana le
Catphim Ekasan Thangprawatsat, 2523
(1980)
--. THE POST AND TELEGRAPH DE­
PARTMENT. 90th Anniversary 1883-1973:
The Post and Telegraph Department, Thailand.
Krungthep: The Post and Telegraph Department,
1973.
THEPCHU THAPTHONG. Krungthep Nai
Adit. Krungthep: Aksonbanthit, B. E. 2518
(1975).
THEPCHU THAPTHONG. Krungthep Samai
Khun Pu. Krungthep: Aksonbanthit, B.E.
2519 (1975).
VINYU VICHIT-VADAKAN. "Land Use Policy
in Thailand with Special Reference to
the Bangkok Metropolitan Area." in
Wong, John, Ed. The Cities of Asia: A Study
of Urban Solutions and Urban Finance. Singapore:
Singapore University Press, 1976,
pp. 237-246.
ENDNOTES
1. Crawfurd, Journal of an Embassy to the Courts
of Siam and Cochin China, pp. 78-79, 140.
2. Bowring, The Kingdom and People of Siam, Vol.
1, p. 402.
3. Aood, The Dynastic Chronicles: Bangkok Era,
The Fourth Reign, Vol. 1, p. 260.
4. Vinyu, "Land Use Policy in Thailand with
Special Reference to the Bangkok Metropolitan
Area." pp. 239-240.
5. Thailand. The Post and Telegraph Department.
90th Anniversary 1883-1793, p. 3.
6. A. Blackwood to T. Villierstester, Foreign
Office, 3rd January 1883. Foreign Office 69 I
87. Siam--Domestic, Various.
7. Memo by Acting Postmaster General, Straits
Settlements, H. Trotter, 1st September 1882,
enclosed in Fred A. Weld, Government
House, Singapore, 6th October 1882 to Lord
Kimberley. Foreign Office 69/87 Siam­
Domestic, Various.
8. Letter to the Earl of Granville, August 25,
1883. Foreign Office 69/85 Palgrave and
Newman, January-December 1883.
9. MacGregor, Through the Buffer State: A Record
of Recent Travels through Borneo, Siam, and
Cambodia, p. 60.
10. Aood, op. cit. vol. 2, pp. 228, 308.

THE TRAVELS IN FRANCE OF THE
SIAMESE AMBASSADORS 1686-7
MICHAEL SMITHIES
cfo UN-ESCAP, BANGKOK
Jean Donneau de Vize, the editor of the Mercure Galant, a
court circular during the reign of Louis XIV, published in 1687
an account of the visit of the Siamese ambassadors to the court
of Louis XIV entitled Voyage des Ambassadeurs de Siam en France
(1). The visit lasted from 18 June 1686 to 1 March 1687. The
most important places and persons seen by the ambassadors
are noted, and often the addresses made to them and their
replies recorded.
The first in rank of the three ambassadors was Ok Phra
Wisut Sunthon (Kosa Pan), who was soon accepted as a person
of charm and intelligence, and who completely outshone the
others. Rama IV, King Mongkut, in a communication to Sir
John Bowring (2), noted "from this person extraordinary our
ancestors were said to be descendants"; Kosa Pan came to a
sad end, however, after service under both Kings Narai and his
usurper Petracha. The second ambassador was the elderly Ok
Luang Kalayan Rachai Maitri, who had formerly been on a
mission to China and who prided himself in speaking directly.
The third, a young man named Ok Khun Si Wisan Wacha,
appears to have possessed no intrinsic merit but a father on an
ambassadorial mission to Portugal (3). A description of their
qualities and standing appeared in a frequently reproduced
print made in Paris at the time of their visit, as well as in the
accounts of their embassy of 1685 of Chaumont and Choisy.
The purpose of the embassy was rather more than to
return that of the Chevalier de Chaumont and the Abbe de
Choisy, who came back to France with the Siamese ambassadors
in the same ships. The wily Phaulkon, effectively chief
minister to the Siamese King Narai, was seeking a political alliance
with the French to act as a counterbalance to the growing
commercial and political power of the Dutch, already wellentrenched
in Malacca, Java and the Moluccas. A convert
himself to Catholicism, Phaulkon dangled the possibility of
conversion of King Narai before the French court, where the
king's pious mistress, Madame de Maintenon, together with
the king's confessor, the Jesuit Pere de la Chaise, wielded considerable
power. However, Phaulkon had suppressed the
pressing remarks regarding the king's conversion in
Chaumont's speech at his audience in Ayutthaya on 18 October
1685, and knew full well that to approach the matter too
directly would be to court disaster.
The equally wily Pere Tachard is often seen as Phaulkon's
real ambassador and organized the armed expedition which
was to accompany the new French embassy to return with the
Siamese ambassadors; Songkhla, already offered to the French,
was to be exchanged for Bangkok, and Mergui thrown in as
well. Lanier (4) is harsh on Phaulkon's intentions, which he
sees as stemming primarily from the desire for personal gain;
what is certain is that Phaulkon's policies unleashed a chain of
events over which he had no real control and which cost him
his life.
The French version of the Siamese ambassadors' visit was
not the only contemporary account of their journey. The ambassadors
themselves kept a record. According to Donneau de
Vize, "Not only do they each evening compile memoirs of what
they have seen during the day, there is even a Mandarin with
them who writes up their Voyage in Siamese Verse." (5) They
were so assiduous in keeping their records for their king that
they went so far as to have their attendants count the number
of trees in the parks of different palaces seen.
The ambassadors were said to be accompanied by eight
Siamese nobles (consistently referred to as "mandarins" by the
French) and twenty of their own servants. However, only six
were marked in a contemporary print as taking part in the solemn
audience at Versailles, together with six servants, and,
while four Siamese mandarins accompanied their excellencies
when they visited Flanders, only two are noted as staying
behind in Paris. Two of the mandarins were delegated to lay
out King Narai's presents before the audience, and later received
praise from Monsieur le Due (the heir to the collateral house of
Conde) for their conduct. Towards the end of their stay, one of
their servants was upbraided for some misdemeanour in front
of the entire Siamese delegation, and was about to be punished
(whipped?), but was saved by the intervention of the gentleman-in-waiting
who accompanied them throughout their journey,
M. Torf (sometimes called Storf and even Stolf by de Vize),
who said the delegation would lose in reputation if the servant

60 MICHAEL SMITHIES
THE TRAVELS IN FRANCE OF THE SIAMESE AMBASSADORS, 1686
...... ,
tHennebont)
RIVER SEINE
(Gravelincsl
rque 28-29-30 Oct.
_-•!Rosbruckl
Calais 26-27 0 •::: ~-.--·-- ..... ,._ypres 31 Oct..- 1 Nov.
tRegougel'•,,
· ... ~Mcnin 2 Nov.
St. ( mer 24-5 Oct."• .. . J
' • Lllle •~ .... _ Tournai 6-7 Nov.
Aire 22-23 Oct. • ... 3 • 4 • 5 Nov. - ~\
Bethune 21 Oct.~ 11-12 ~ov . \
(Aissel \ Dou~ - ...... jConde 8 Nov.
Arras 19-20 Oct.~ (Creo'hl~n l e ncienncs
(Sarbretl _...' ' 9-10 Nov.
/ ,:tambrai
Dourlans 18 OcL f ,' 13· 14 Nov.
1
1
,.~ IFainl JGNov.
Amiens 17 Oct. r eronnc 15~ clV-:- St. Quentin La FCre
: tFesnes) ~,17 Nov.
Breteuil 16 Oct . • ~ }
' 1Croucy-le-Ch8!faul '
'Soissons 18-19 Nov.
/
Viii ~~.Cotle re ts 20 Nov.
, , .... •·{Nanteuil}
\ / ..•Dammartin 21 Nov.
' RIS
Ver11ailles • l,...-\ Vincennes 29-30 July
Berny 31 July-11 August• \
I
(Melunl:
(MCrev ille~ -- _)Fontainebleau 28 July
--•Malcsherbes 27 July
',, Auray 12 July
•---•..(Vannes)
'
', Pontch8t.enu 14 July
Blois
22 .23
'
~· SL Laurent. Eaux
Muz 1 nL 1 July '--:remplcs) Angers Amboisc , •- - •· (St. Laurent Nou
(La Roche Be ard) ..........._, Ancenis 17 July .-•- --~~~~~- (Aurosicz) 21 Jul~,' ambord)
Nantes 15 -)&~~ly _......... - · ..... ~..... 20~'!q: ...•---_...
_...;:,.._•~-~ Soumur 19Ju _____..
(Ln Chapelle Blanche)
RIVER LOIRE
(Landerneau) = stop for "dinner" (lunch).
The precise identification of some stops is not possible; in one, for example,
Sarbret, the ambassadors ate in the one building available in the locality, a
posthouse containing only horses.
were punished for an offence neither knavish nor of a similar
nature. The first ambassador said their reputation was important,
but the servant's behaviour was like that of a painter who,
after a year of work, by one unfortunate brushstroke ruined a
picture; he nevertheless acceded to the request. This situation
was the reverse of one which occurred on their journey to Paris
between Chambord and Orleans, when their coachman, or the
state of the road on which they were travelling, caused them to
be tipped from their carriage. M. Torf had "wished to treat him
as he deserved"; but the first ambassador successfully defended
him, saying no one had been hurt and the man had suffered
enough trouble already for what had happened.
One of the attendants they brought was not Siamese,
but Portuguese, and served as interpreter. He is mentioned
but once, when M. Vaneroni, the official French interpreter of
Italian, at the Comedie Ii:alienne, translated the address of M.
Cinchio to the ambassadors. Vaneroni "speaks Portuguese as
well as the ambassadors' interpreter who was born in Siam and
is the son of a Portuguese who has taken residence there." His
services were probably not much used in France, but it was
reasonable for the Siamese to have thought they might be;
Portuguese was the lingua franca for communication with Europeans
in Ayutthaya in the seventeenth century, and even
Phaulkon used Portuguese in his dealings with the French.
One other person is specifically mentioned as being an
interpreter; he had spent "many years in the [French Catholic]
mission which had been established in Siam and was already
in orders; he speaks French well, and better still Latin, and is
called Mr Antoine." When in Cambrai, this interpreter was
taken up by the Archbishop and spent the night in the archbishop's
palace, since His Eminence wished to ask him many
things about Siam.
Though the ambassadors learned some French from the
Abbe de Choisy on board their vessel travelling to France, the

THE TRAVELS IN FRANCE OF THE SIAMESE AMBASSADORS 61
bulk of the interpretation at the highest level seems to have
fallen to the Abbe de Lionne, who, as a missionary in Siam, had
learned to speak the language fluently and had been ordered
by his superior to accompany the mission to France. He was,
according to the Marquis de Sourches (6), the third son of the
late Marquis de Lionne, Secretary of State and Knight of Malta,
who renounced the world, took orders, and followed the Bishop
of Heliopolis to the Indies. He was present at the audience at
Versailles, and after the first ambassador had delivered his
harangue, "the Abbe of Lionne, who had [previously] translated
it, read it in French." He interpreted the king's enquiries
about the King of Siam's health and the rest. He was present at
the formal lanch after the audience, and on many other occasions;
he is, for example, specifically mentioned by name as
interpreting at the audience with Monsieur le Due.
One other person might have been in a position to interpret,
a "Siamese" priest with the very Portuguese name of Pinto,
who was half-Siamese and half-Bengali, had been brought up
by French missionaries from the age of nine, was in Paris presenting
a thesis at the Sorbonne. There is no mention that he
ever accompanied the party, though they did go to the Sorbonne
on the occasion of the defence of the thesis.
Only one of the mandarins is ever named in de Vize's
account, one Raclan, who is reported to have said to the Abbe
de Lionne when witnessing Louis XIV at dinner at Versailles,
"If I knew how to speak French, I would speak to him, for his
goodness appears to me so great that I think it would be greater
than my boldness."
The account of the ambassadors' journey by Donneau de
Vize is in epistolary form, to an unnamed lady, and is divided
into four volumes, to be considered, the author tells us, as a
single work, perhaps because the division into volumes is without
meaning. Volume one deals with the ambassadors' journey
to Paris and audience at Versailles, and ends with the date
30 September 1686. Volume two starts with afterthoughts that
should have been included in their proper place in audiences
in volume one, and covers the ambassadors' stay in Paris after
their audience; it ends with an abridged version in reported
speech of the first ambassador's harangue to King Louis (which
more logically should have appeared at the end of the previous
volume), and is dated 30 November 1686. Volume three
starts in the middle of the account, begun in the previous volume,
of what the ambassadors saw at Versailles and goes on to
cover the first part of their journey into Flanders. Volume four
resumes the account of the Flanders trip, but returns to places
previously covered, to include matters relating to incidents
which occurred in Gravelines, Lille and Dunkerque; it then
describes the ambassadors' activities on their return to Paris
and their farewell audiences, with their harangues. The return
journey to Brest is not described.
The reason for omitting the return journey from Paris to
Brest is stated to be that the route was the same as that which
the ambassadors took on their arrival. A much more practical
reason is that the ambassadors requested a copy of de Vize's
account to take back to Siam, and this would explain the slipshod
way in which it was put together. Since they left Paris a
few days after their farewell audience on 14 January, and departed
from Brest on 1 March, Donneau de Vize had less than
six weeks to get the work through the press, have it bound, and
copies delivered to Brest by the fastest means then possible. In
the circumstances it is hardly surprising there are slips in the
text or that there are afterthoughts ("J' ai oublie de vous dire
que ... ") displaced from the largely chronological account. The
author himself speaks of the "great precipitation" in printing
the volume to satisfy the ambassadors' wishes that allowed
some errors to creep into the text, but at several points vouches
for the truth of his account, notably in the audience with Monsieur
le Due, at which he was present.
The work is not exclusively devoted to the Siamese
ambassadors, since many pages are given over to architectural
descriptions of buildings seen by them, and there is an extremely
long section describing the engineering works undertaken
to bring water to Versailles for the functioning of the palace
and the "grandes eaux." As well as being an account of the visit
of Siamese ambassadors (with the subliminal notion of their
coming to pay homage to a mighty king), the work is also to be
viewed as a panegyric of the Sun King himself, and no opportunity
is lost of extolling his virtues and impressing on the
ambassadors his achievements, resources, and interests. The
ambassadors were clearly meant to be dazzled by what they
saw, and to be treated in such a generous manner that they
would report to their end of the earth the greatness of the French
monarch.
De Vize's work divides into seven chronological sections:
1. The ambassadors' journey to Paris (18 June- 31 July 1686)
2. Their stay at Berny outside Paris (31 July - 12 August)
3. Their entry into Paris and anticipation of audience (12-31
August)
4. Their audience at Versailles (1 September)
5. Their stay in Paris (2 September- 13 October)
6. Their journey to Flanders (14 October- 22 November)
7. Their second stay in Paris and farewell audience (22 November
1686 -18 January 1687)
The stay at Berny was necessitated by having to wait for
the arrival of King Narai's gifts (as well as those of Phaulkon)
which, being very bulky and numerous (they came to 132 bales,
according to de Vize), had been sent on a different route by sea
from Brest to Rouen. The journey to Flanders, not at the most
propitious time of the year, was to impress on them the extent
of recent conquests in war, as well as to show them a prosperous
region of the country within a relatively short distance from
the capital. The planned return journey via Normandy had to
be abandoned because of the state of the roads and the need to
arrive speedily at Brest to profit by favourable winds for the
long sea voyage back.
Not covered in Donneau de Vize's account, but to be
found in those of Choisy (7) and Chaumont (8), is the sea voyage
lasting six months from Siam to Brest (they left Ayutthaya
on 22 December 1685 and did not reach Brest unti118 June 1686)

62 MICHAEL SMITHIES
and the return journey Paris-Brest, as mentioned above. The
journey back to Siam, which they reached after nearly seven
months on 27 September 1687, is described in Tachard (9).
Using Donneau de Vize, the ambassadors' two recorded
journeys in France will be retraced here, and a thematic account
given, though without dates (de Vize abandoned any attempt
to provide a dated account of their many social activities), of
what they saw in the capital and Versailles. Their speeches
and bons mots will for the most part be omitted, since they were
mostly only flattering banalities of the kind expected of them.
The first ambassador however passed as a wit; when asked at
Berny if he like the way French women dressed, he said "They
would be better still if they were dressed in the manner of my
country." Asked what that was, he replied "They are halfnaked."
There was some raillery from the ladies at his supposed
twenty-two wives, which he took in good part. Indeed
it is clear that the ambassadors, particularly the principal envoy,
had great success with the ladies, and to have witnessed
the ambassadors eat was evidently a distraction as fashionable
as the opera. Thai legends accredit the first ambassador with
half-French progeny; while this would not have been impossible,
it seems rather unlikely in the circumstances, as he was
always very concerned to do the proper thing by the King his
Master. Furthermore, the frantic pace of their social activities
and travels allowed for little leisure.
The ambassadors were throughout made to feel as
honoured as possible at the different towns they visited: guards
headed by their commander were sent to greet them before their
arrival in each town; they were board~d in the best lodgings
available and had a cook and purveyor supplied by the royal
household accompanying them; they were entertained by the
principal dignitaries of the town, and met the local nobility and
senior clergy. De Vize gives far more information about the
journey to Flanders, and relates in sometimes tedious detail the
history of each town visited. He notes the principal sights seen,
and the balls, concerts, comedies and fireworks that were organized
for them. He also describes the ambassadors receiving
the principal ladies of the places they saw, offering them
fruit and jams themselves if their rank or beauty warranted it.
The journey to Flanders in addition took on a more military
aspect; they saw far more ramparts, citadels, forts and fortifications,
and gave the word for the day to the commander of
the troops, and their arrival and departure in each place was
marked by cannon salutes.
The only buildings specifically mentioned on the outward
journey to Paris as having been seen by the ambassdors are the
chateaux of Chambord (of which the ambassadors requested a
plan), Fontainebleau and Vincennes. Even though they met
the Bishop of Quimper in his seat, de Vize does not say that
they visited his cathedral, though since they stayed in Quimper
two nights it is safe (o assume they did. The reason for this
lack of detail is probably that de. Vize simply did not have the
information. There is greater detail given the nearer the ambassadors
approached Paris; th~ir success there allowed de Vize
to ensure his sources for the trip to Flanders.
During their stay in the Paris region from 31 July to 13
October and again from 22 November to 18 January, they had
audiences with all the members of the royal family, including
the collateral houses of Conde and Orleans. They met everyone
in the nobility of note. As in the provinces, so in Paris it
was evident that to have seen, watched eat, or better be offered
fruit by the ambassadors was the desire of every "grande dame,"
to the extent that when the Duchess of Nemours, clearly afraid
she would miss them, called on them unannounced at the Hotel
des Ambassadeurs, just before their farewell audience, they
found there were no interpreters, but nevertheless managed to
make themselves understood (the occasion must have been
interesting if not amusing).
There is perhaps little point in enumerating all the personages
they met, but two important persons they did not officially
meet are worth mentioning. Though they stayed several
days at Clagny, the residence of the Madame de Montespan, in
order to visit the nearby park of Versailles at leisure, and had
an accidental meeting there with the Count of Toulouse (the
illegitimate son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan), they
are not recorded as having met their hostess herself, who was
officially in disgrace, though allowed a grace-and-favour residence
of some splendour. It is a matter of speculation whether
they did or not; at all events no meeting is recorded by de Vize,
well aware of what protocol permitted. Given their popularity,
not least among fashionable ladies, it seems rather unlikely
that Madame de Montespan would have passed up the opportunity
of meeting them in her own residence. The other person
there is no official record of them meeting was the King's current
mistress; and possibly already at this stage his secret wife,
Madame de Main tenon. Again, tact is likely to account for this
omission by de Vize, andjt would seem most likely that they
did unofficially meet this influential lady at court (10).
That they met numerous prelates of the church, particularly
on their journeys, and members of the Jesuit order where
they were to be found, is not surprising; the court was under
the impression that they, and more importantly their monarch,
were ready for conversion, though nothing the ambassadors
said or did could have confirmed this impression. Indeed in
Arras, they were treated to an extremely long and tedious harangue
by the provost of the cathedral, in which the subject of
conversion was dwelt on at length. The first ambassador replied
very curtly, saying he understood there to be two points
to the discourse, the first relating to the greatness of Louis XIV,
' with which they fully concurred, and the second relating to
their conversion to the Roman Catholic faith, and for that they
had bishops in the own country who could instruct them.
Chronological account of
the ambassadors' journey from
Brest to Paris
18 June At Brest, where they had arrived earlier than expected,
they were given the honours of the place, greeted by

THE TRAVELS IN FRANCE OF THE SIAMESE AMBASSADORS 63
I ' L \:-;CIII ~ II ,
Contemporary print by de /'Armess in showing the three Siamese ambassadors
to Louis XIV, with Kosa Pan, the firs t ambassador, in the centre.
600 cannon, saw the citadel, the magazines, went on
board three men of war, and waited ·13 days for the
arrival of the king's envoy, M. Torf.
9 July They departed Brest in litters, because of the poor state
of the roads in Brittany, and lunched ("dined" in
the French, but at the time one dined in the early afternoon
and supped in the evening) at Landerneau (Ladrinot).
They slept (and presumably supped) at Foux.
10 July They continued to lunch at Chateaulin and reached
Quimper, where their arrival was marked by the firing
of cannon.
11 July At Quimper, where they met the Bishop of Quimper
and received the compliments of all the religious orders.
12 July They departed Quimper to lunch at Hennebont, where
a ball was arranged for them, and departed to sleep at
Auray.
13 July From Auray they proceeded to lunch at Vannes, the
seat of the parliament of Brittany, which gave them
the honours and regaled them with a concert. It is not
stated that they visited the Chateau de !'Hermine, the
former palace of the Dukes of Brittany, though the
14 July
15 July
16 July
building is mentioned . They proceeded to spend the
night at Muzillat.
Leaving Muzillat, they lunched at La Roche Bernard,
where they were able to leave the litters for coaches;
the use of coaches required that the King of Siam's
letter, which had always to be higher than they, be
raised on a plank above their heads; the plank was
removed and replaced each time they changed carriage.
They slept at Pontchateau, where the Duke of
Coiflin had given orders that they be received with
honour; flags and men at arms greeted them.
They proceeded to lunch at Temples, where they entertained
the Marquis and Marquise d'Assigny, whose
charms and wit they admired, and moved on to spend
the nex t two nights at Nantes.
At Nantes, M. de Mollac, lieutenant-general and governor,
assembled all the nobility on horseback, with
ladies in carriages witnessing the event and ca nnon
sounding. The mayor addressed them and proffered
presents from the town. They were taken to the Prairie
where many ladies were assembled, and to the Capucines,
from where all the suburbs could be seen, which
seemed to them like so many towns.
17 July The early part of the day was spent at Nantes, which
they left to spend the night at Ancenis. There they
bathed in the river Loire "which gave them much pleasure,
for they bathe often in their country, and they even
bathe here every day after meals."
18 July They proceeded to lunch at Ingrandes, where they
again bathed in the river, and slept at Angers, where
the mayor sent carriages to .greet them; cannon were
fired on their arrival, they were given presents and
listened to addresses. M. d'Ernepont, who commanded
the infantry in the town, was sick, but ordered
his troops to receive them and went in a litter in the
evening to their lodging to salute the ambassadors; he
was invited to sup with them. There is no mention of
their visiting any monuments.
19 July They lunched at Aurosiez and slept at Saumur, where
they were given guards and officials displayed their
zeal. Again, there is no mention of their visiting the
castle.
20 July Proceeding to lunch at LaChapelle Blanche, they then
moved on to sleep at Langeais, where the burghers
donned arms to protect them and mounted guard.
21 July From Langeais, they moved on to lunch at Tours,
where their reception, organized by M. de Nointel,
the intendant, was such that they were often to speak
about it afterwards; cannon, the provost and archers
on horseback greeted them, speeches of welcome and
presents were received from the judges and treasurers.
They proceeded to spend the night at Amboise,
where, there being no troops, "the burghers mounted
guard around the lodging which had been prepared
for them ."

64 MICHAEL SMITHIES
22 July Leaving Amboise, they went to Blois, where they
stayed two nights and "where they received the customary
presents."
23 July At Blois; no indications are given as to how the day
was spent.
24 July From Blois, the ambassadorial party moved on to
lunch at Chambord, where they asked for a plan of
the chateau, and saw a pheasant and duck preserve.
They slept at St. Laurent des Eaux (St. Laurent
Nouan); before reaching this place, their coachman
accidentally tipped them out of their carriage.
25 July They moved on to spend the night at Orleans; nothing
is said of their reception, but Jacq-Hergoualc'h,
quoting the Journal of the Marquis de Dangeau, says
they disliked their stay. It is known from much later
in de Vize's account that they visited the glassworks
in the city, run by M. Perrot.
26 July From Orleans, they lunched at Artenay, and slept at
Toury in l'Ile de France.
27 July They then moved on to lunch at Mereville and sleep
at Malesherbes.
28 July They next visited Fontainebleau; the governor, the
Marquis of St. Eran, was taking the waters, but had
given orders that they be shown the chateau in detail;
they were greeted here by the head of Foreign Missions,
M. Brisancier, who in a discourse lasting a
quarter of an hour, thanked them for favours received
by the priests in Siam, and the interpreter, most probably
the Abbe de Lionne, "had a happy enough memory
to retain it almost in entirety and, what is even
more surprising, the first ambassador took up all the
points of the compliment and replied to each."
29 July After spending the night at Fontainebleau, the ambassadors
moved on to lunch at Melun, where they
were given all the honours they could expect of the
notables, and then went to Vincennes. They did not
stay in the chateau, which was full of workers renovating
it; they were lodged instead in "the most convenient
house in the locality." There the third ambassador
caused some confusion by refusing to sleep in a
room above the first ambassador, as he would be
placing himself above his king's letter.
30 July The next day they visited the park, the animals kept
therein, and the chateau (workmen notwithstanding)
and where the Pere de Ia Chaise, the king's confessor,
called to show his gratitude for the way in which the
King of Siam had received the Jesuits. Here the first
mention is made of the great crowds that came to see
the ambassadors out of curiosity.
31 July They ·proceeded from Vincennes to Berny, "two
leagues from Paris," to the chateau, which was filled
with furnishings from the king's stores in their honour,
and where they awaited their presents coming up the
Seine. This residence was built by Mansard, uncle of
the king's architect, for the Puysieux family, was then
owned by the Marquis de Lionne, and was currently
the property of the Abbe de Ste Genevieve (it was
probably suggested as a temporary residence by the
Abbe de Lionne).
From 12 August to 14 October the ambassadors were
lodged in the Residence des Ambassadeurs, rue de Tournon,
Paris. An account of what they saw is grouped with their second
stay in the capital on their return from Flanders.
Chronological account of
the ambassadors' journey to
and from Flanders
14 Oct (Monday) The ambassadors left Paris with four of the
Siamese "mandarins." They ate lunch at St. Denis,
where they visited the treasure and the tombs of the
French kings in the Benedictine abbey, the height,
length and width of which they examined. They slept
at Beaumont, where as elsewhere they were addressed
by the notables and offered wine.
15 Oct They left Beaumont to lunch at Tilliar and sleep at
Beauvais, where they were greeted by the burghers
bearing arms, and received the usual compliments and
presents; the evening many came to see them sup.
16 Oct At Beauvais they visited the cathedral and were treated
to a display of horsemanship by the King's Grenadiers;
they left to sleep at Breteuil.
17 Oct From Breteuil, they left for lunch, witnessed by the local
nobility, at the castle belonging to Mr Descerreaux, sonin-law
of the king's wetnurse, in whose grounds they
fired blanks; they moved on to sleep at Amiens, where
a twenty gun salute and the burghers under arms
greeted them; the mayor addressed them, speaking of
the advantages of commerce.
18 Oct At Amiens the burghers paved a way for them through
huge crowds of spectators to the cathedral; after seeing
this, they were take to the bishopric escorted by
the bishop, and they requested to return again to the
cathedral, the vault of which they said was one of the
finest things they had seen in France; they left Amiens
to lunch and sleep unexpectedly, because of bad
weather and damaged roads leading to Arras, at Dourlans,
where they were welcomed as usual and visited
in detail the ramparts and the citadel; they showed
gallantry towards the wife of the King's lieutenant and
towards the ladies who watched them eat; the first
recorded order of the day was noted as being "Prosperity
in Travel."
19 Oct After leaving Dourlans, they lunched at Sarbret, where
they were served "with the same magnificence as in
Paris" in the single house available, designed as a posthouse
and containing only horses; they then moved
on to sleep at Arras, French since 1640, which they
approached towards 3.30 pm, to be met by 12 companies
of soldiers. All the notables were lined up to greet

THE TRAVELS IN FRANCE OF THE SIAMESE AMBASSADORS 65
them at the city gate, and they entered the town to the
sound of cannon and escorted by a double rank of infantry;
the ambassadors greeted all the ladies gathered
at their windows to watch them pass, and the bells of
city rang out. At their lodging they asked how many
homes and people Arras counted, and requested a plan.
The rector of the Jesuits called, as did the magistrates;
the deputy general and ordinary of the States of Artois
addressed them at length; the order for the day was
"Who attacks me, loses." Only the most important
ladies were allowed to see them sup, there being too
many wanting the privilege.
20 Oct At Arras they received visits in the morning from the
notables.and the nobility, at two in the afternoon they
were taken in carriages to the citadel by the Count of
Villeneuve and were received by the firing of cannon,
were entertained to a demonstration of batallion exercises,
were served a collation, saw the arsenal and drank
many different liqueurs in the presence of the most distinguished
ladies of the place. The first ambassador
requested a plan of the town and was given it; they
then went to the cathedral, where the crowd was great,
and were received by the entire chapter, and addressed
by the provost at considerable length, to which the first
ambassador briefly replied, noting that the harangue
spoke of the glory of King Louis, with which he concurred,
and the conversion of the Siamese, for which
they had bishops who could instruct them, They
admired the church, and its organ; they saw the magazine
in the city and the Abbey of St. Vaast, where
something of the history of the Low Countries was
explained to them; they then attended a concert organised
by the wife of the president of the Council of Artois,
Mme de Prefontaine, and the most important
ladies of the place attended; many ladies came to watch
them sup.
21 Oct They left Arras at 8 in the morning for lunch at Aisse
and slept at Bethune, where they were lodged in the
castle. The ambassadors saw the ramparts on foot,
walked on the terrace, retained the lieutenant-colonel
to supper, were entertained by violins after, and many
ladies watching were offered fruits and jams.
22 Oct Lunched at Bethune, which they left to the sound of
cannon, and slept at Aire, French since 1676; received
by the firing of cannon, a reception and presents.
23 Oct At Aire, where they visited the fort of St. Franc;ois and
observed much new building in the square.
24 Oct After an early lunch at Aire, the left to sleep at St. Orner,
taken by Monsieur, the King's brother, in 1677; cannon
and troops greeted them, they were lodged in the town
hall, many ladies came to witness them at supper and
there was a ball in their honour afterwards.
25 Oct At St. Orner, where, among other notables, the bishop
called on them, accompanied by the bishop of Ypres;
they saw the cathedal because the bishop was halfexpecting
them; they also saw the large abbey of St.
Bertin. They visited the square, had lunch with ladies,
were given a collation by the Jesuits, followed by a
concert; many people came to supper.
26 Oct After thanking people for their stay at St. Orner, the
ambassadors went on to lunch at Regouge and sleep
at Calais, where they were received by cannon and dignitaries.
27 Oct At Calais, where heavy rain in the morning did not
stop them from visiting the fortifications, the port and
the citadel.
28 Oct They left Calais to lunch at Gravelines, French
since 1658; considered the plan with the engineer, and,
as the weather was bad, their mandarins visited those
places they did not have time to see themselves. They
left to sleep at Dunkerque, where the company may
have included the Prince and Princess of Bournonville,
the Prince de Robert, the Countess of Sore.
29 Oct At Dunkerque, where they saw the fortifications, jetties
and boats.
30 Oct At Dunkerque, where they saw the citadel built by the
king, the garrison square, the sluices and the new dock.
31 Oct They left Dunkerque at 7 a.m., taking a covered boat
along the Bergues Canal, visiting forts and redoubts.
They got off the boat at Bergues to lunch at Rosbruck
and sleep at Ypres, French since 1678.
1 Nov At Ypres, where they saw the citadP.l parade ground
and defences; lunched with Mr Desmadrit, the Intendant
of Justice in Dunkerque, who had invited the
ambassadors when in Dunkerque. They were taken
by boat to visit the locks a league from St. Orner; their
functioning was demonstrated by two boats loaded
with stones being raised in the water and the second
ambassador said he had seen the like in China.
They returned late and dined with M. de Ia Neuville,
the commander of the garrison and the King's lieutenant;
the health of the royal alliance was drunk to and
the noise from the cannon was so great "that many
panes of glass leapt at the joy of the occasion."
2 Nov They left Ypres to the firing of cannon, to sleep at
Menin; the governor greeted the ambassadors at the
town gate, two rows of soldiers lined the path to their
residence; addresses and presents from the burghers.
They supped in company, which included a Dutch lady
of quality, who had come with her daughter to see the
ambassadors.
3 Nov At Menin, they visited the outer walls of the fortifications
on horseback, lunched, and left immediately afterwards
to sleep at Lille, French since 1667. A grand
reception by the nobility of the city and the region
awaited them; the crowds were so great that it seemed
to the ambassadors they were repeating their entry into
Paris. The handsome streets were lined with troops
and at supper there was a huge assembly, especially of
ladies.
4 Nov At Lille, where M. de la Rabliere, the commander of
the town, took the ambassadors in carriages to the cita-

66 MICHAEL SMITHIES
del, where cannon were fired and the infantry drawn
up in battle order. They inspected the ramparts, designed
by Vaubin, in the company of the King's lieutenant,
the major and the engineer, and visited a garden
with a grotto inside the citadel. Then they were
taken hunting, accompanied by a huge crowd estimated
at more than twenty thousand from the town.
The magistrates organized a comedy in the Town Hall,
after which there was a concert lasting an hour and a
half; this was followed by a magnificent spread; the
crowds at supper were so great that only ladies were
admitted.
5 Nov At Lille, in the company of the governor, the ambassadors
visited the Mint in great detail and then saw the
Comtesse Hospital, run by nuns, all the daughters of
the nobility, and received bouquets of silk flowers of
their making. They visited the parade ground in the
afternoon, the arsenals and magazines and then went
to the house of the Jesuits to be show an ingenious
watermill, and offered a magnificent collation. They
then supped with M. de la Rabliere in considerable style
and to the strains of a symphony orchestra; this was
followed by a ball which lasted until after midnight.
6 Nov They ate very early to leave Lille for Tournai, taken by
Louis XIV in 1667; the Count of Maulevrier, Lieutenant
General of the King's Armies, governor of the town,
the citadel and the region, sent trops to greet them and
escorted them to their lodging; twenty rounds of cannon
were fired. They received speeches from the Count
and the magistrates, the most elderly touching on the
possibility the Siamese king embracing the Christian
faith, and were offered six bottles of wine. At five in
the afternoon the Bishop of Tournai called, in the
company of the governor of the citadel; an hour later a
firework display took place before the ambassadors'
windows, which was followed by a fire-fighting display;
the Count's son joined them at supper along with
the ladies.
7 Nov At Tournai, where at nine in the morning left in carriages
for the citadel, visiting the galleries to the blastholes.
They saw the arsenal and requested the plan,
but were told it was secret, though they were permitted
to look at it. They witnessed the manoeuvres of
young gentlemen at arms and returned for lunch to
the sound of more cannon, eating in the company of
many ladies. Then on horseback they visited military
constructions and the parade ground. From there, they
went to the Comedy, where the Countess of Maulevrier,
the Countess of Medavy and twenty other ladies,
said to be the most beautiful in the town, awaited
them, and saw a comedy performed in Roman dress
(so that the actors could display their fine costumes).
More construction works had to be viewed with demonstrations
of bombs, mortars and other military engines.
After this, the Count conducted them to his
residence for a concert, supper with more music, and
. many toasts. After this the Count took them to his
apartments, and asked if they wished to smoke, which
they declined; a firework display in the garden came
next and this was followed by a ball.
8 Nov At Tournai, at nine, the ambassadors sent for the young
Marquis of Maulevrier to breakfast with them, and
those ladies who had risen in sufficent time came and
watched. The Count of Maulevrier came to say farewell;
they visited the cathedral of Tournai where the
bishop awaited them and saw two paintings by Rubens.
They then left for the town of Conde, French since 1667;
the usual reception, cavalry, governor, compliments,
and presents; slept in the finest apartments of the house
of the Count of Sore, who however was absent.
9 Nov At Conde in the morning they visited on horseback the
fortifications and the parade ground and lunched with
the governor, M. Petau, in his residence. They then
left for Valenciennes, French since 1667; as elsewhere,
soldiers lined the route on arrival, cannon were fired;
the magistrates were introduced, and M. Chateau, the
town cousellor, addressed them, speaking of the manufactures
of the town, and giving three lengths of the
finest Valenciennes linen as samples; ladies watched
them sup.
10 Nov They visited the citadel of Valenciennes and saw the
cadets at exercise, lunched with the governor, drinking
Italian wines and the best liqueurs; they praised
pictures made of Valenciennes petit point, but declined
to accept them as gifts; saw the fortifications and entertained
ladies at supper.
11 Nov They left Valenciennes in the morning (with in their
carriage the two pictures, richly framed, the governor
had offered them the day before) and visited the nunnery
of Denin, where they drank tea with the canonesses.
They lunched in the village of Creon, and left
for Douai, outside which cavalry awaited them. They
entered the town by a gate reserved for kings and
sovereign princes, with guards on horseback preceding
their carriage and infantry lining the route; the
gentry were assembled at the windows they passed;
the governor greeted them with the chief of staff and
introduced the magistrates; the governor sent musicians
to play at their supper at which many ladies were
present.
12 Nov They visited the foundry at Douai in the morning with
the governor, then the cadet school, where a display
was mounted by apprentice gunners and artillerymen;
on to the fort, where they visited the towers, and were
taken by the commander inside his residence to warm
themselves, on account of the cold; important ladies
were present and a fine meal eaten; they were invited
to start with liqueurs to warm them. The first ambassador
suggested the fortress commander's daughter go
to SiaQl to marry one of his sons. They then visited the
Jesuits of Douai where an entertainment was provided
as well as another m,eal, from which they excused themselves;
they were nevertheless obliged to sit at supper

THE TRAVELS IN FRANCE OF THE SIAMESE AMBASSADORS 67
in their lodging_ so that the many ladies who were waiting
to see them would not be disappointed.
13 Nov They left Douai to sleep at Cambrai, taken by Louis
XIV only nine years previously, and were received at
the town gate by crowds, cannonades, cavalry and the
governor, the Count of Monbron, and a double row of
infantry lined the route. The ambassadors were presented
with lengths of Cambrai cloth. The archbishop
called in the evening and took away one of their Siamese
interpreters from Ayutthaya to learn over supper
more about Siam. The governor supped with them,
with the ladies of the town watching.
14 Nov At Cambrai; metthe Count of Monbron the next morning
who took them to see the fortifications, the citadel
and the ramparts; a display by cadets then lasted until
dusk, when the ambassadors called on the archbishop
in the cathedral, which they visited and the organ of
which was played for them.
15 Nov They left Cambrai to lunch at Fain, and thence toPeronne
in Picardy; all shops were closed in their honour
and the Marquis d'Hoquincourt, the governor, and all
the nobles and notables greeted them at the town gate,
where the governor, and the mayor presented them
with the keys of the town; cannon were fired and the
bells rang out as they pased through the soldiers on
parade to reach their residence, where above the doorway
the arms of Siam had been mounted, surrounded
by laurel and flowers. The governor and the gentlemen
of the town called and delivered speeches; church bells
rang throughout the evening_ and all the windows were
lit up and the streets filled with torches. The crowd of
ladies was great at supper, though not all could be
admited.
16 Nov At seven the next morning, they left Peronne, after
receiving the compliments of the governor and all the
notables at the town gates, to the sound of bells ringing
and firing cannon; lunched at Fesnes and continued
to sleep at St. Quentin. The King's lieutenant, Mr
d'Abancourt, in the absence of the governor, did the
honours; the bishop of the town thanked their king for
allowing the Christian religion to be practised in his
country without hindrance; the square was illuminated
and all the windows had lanterns. They supped as
usual, with a great number of ladies, after which there
was a concert, and the evening finished with a volley
of harquebuses from the Town Hall.
17 Nov At St. Quentin, the ambassadors sent their mandarins
and secretaries to visit the cathedral in the morning,
finished breakfast at nine, and asked to hear the bells
of the cathedral again before departure; to do this they
stood at their windows to listen. They left with fanfares
and a considerable escort to sleep at La Fere, after
the usual reception and a visit by the Duke-Bishop
of Laon, a peer of the realm, who was invited to sup
with them; only ladies were allowed to watch and
receive fruits, jams and compliments.
18 Nov The ambassadors left La Fere at eight to the sound of
cannon firing and accompanied by troops, lunched at
Croucy-le-CM.teau, and went on to Soissons, arriving
in the dark at six in the evening, to find the town illuminated
in their honour; the finest furniture was carried
to the Bishop's Palace where they stayed (the see
was vacant at the time), and where the arms of Siam
were everywhere to be found. There was the usual
reception and speeches, which lasted so long that they
did not sup until nine, in the company of the intendant;
after which they saw a firework display in the
courtyard of the palace.
19 Nov They rested at Soissons the following morning, and the
intendant and his son came to join them for lunch,
witnessed by many ladies; they visited the cathedral
of Soissons and the monastery of StJean des Vignes,
some gardens and the newly-planted mall. The intendant,
M. Bossuet, gave a supper for them in his residence
in the evening, followed by a }?all and a masquerade,
which finished very late.
20 Nov After lunch they departed Soissons to the customary
sound of firing cannons and muskets and with an escort;
arrived late to stay at Villers-Cotterets in a storm,
making it impossible to visit the palace of Monsieur.
They declined the invitation of the palace guardian to
stay there in his absence.
21 Nov They left Villers-Cotterets to lunch at Nanteuil, where,
for want of time, they saw only the exterior of the
residence of the Marquis de Coeuvres, who was related
to their interpreter the Abbe of Lionne. They slept at
Dammartin, a hamlet near Paris.
22 Nov They left Dammartin to return to Paris, to resume residence
at the Hotel des Ambassadeurs.
During this journey the two remaining Siamese mandarins saw
in Paris the Royal Plant Garden, the Law Courts, the College
Louis- le-Grand, and lunched in the Seminary of Foreign Missions;
they also saw to the King of Siam's commissions.
Thematic account of the
Ambassadors' stay in the Paris
.
region
Berny
From 31 July to 12 August while waiting for their presents
to come by sea and up the Seine, the Siamese party stayed
at the Chateau of Berny. There they received visits from, among
others, M. de Bonneuil, the ambassadors' initiator at court; the
Abbe de Dangeau, a friend of the Abbe de Choisy; M. du Mets,
royal treasurer; the Prince and Princess of lssinguen, the Princess
of Bornonville, and the Marquis and Marquise de Laver-

68 MICHAEL SMITHIES
din, who gave an impromptu display of horsemanship in the
grounds. They also paid a visit to nearby Sceaux, the property
of the Marquis de Seignelay, Minister of State, and paid an
incognito to the College of Louis the Great.
Court Formalities
The three most formal occasions of the ambassadors' stay
in France were:
1. Their entry into Paris on 12 August 1686.
Some 60 carriages of members of the royal family, led by
the Due de Ia Feuillade, the Marshal of the Court, and all those
obliged in some way to Siam took part in the procession, the
route of which took them from Rambouillet, through the Faubourg
St. Antoine, the Porte St. Antoine, the Rue St. Antoine,
the Rue de Ste Honore, across the Pont Neuf, into the Rue
Dauphine to the Rue de Tournon where the Hotel des Ambassadeurs
was located. The crowds to watch the spectacle were
so great that the procession was halted at times for up to halfan-hour.
2. Their solemn audience at Versailles on 1 September
1686.
This was described at length by Donneau de Vize and
has been commented on by Lanier (11), Jacq-Hergoualc'h (12)
and Smithies (13); a description falls outside the scope of this
paper. The full pomp of Versailles was laid on for the occasion,
with Louis XIV surrounded by the Dauphin, the Duke of
Chartres, the Duke of Bourbon, the Count of Toulouse, Monsieur
his only brother, Monsieur le Due, the Duke of Maine, the
Duke of Monpensier, and the entire court. It was followed by a
lunch at Versailles at which the Due de Ia Feuillade and the
Chevalier de Chaumont were present, and then came separate
audiences the same day in their respective apartments with the
Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, the Duke of Anjou, the newlyborn
Puke of Berry (the Marechale de Ia Mothe responding) ,
with Monsieur, and with Madame, wife of Monsieur (14). The
ambassadors saw for the first time on their way to Versailles
the exteriors of the chateaux of St. Cloud and Meudon, which
they were to visit later.
3. Their farewell audience on 14 January 1687.
In very similar fashion to the solemn audience for the
presentation of King Narai's letter, the ambassadors' farewell
audience took place in the same manner, in the same room,
and with the king on the same silver throne, though in a less
resplendent costume. In all, the ambassadors were granted 16
audiences and gave 16 discourses (ten of which have survived),
all on the same day.
In addition, there was a number of other formal occasions
of lesser importance, when they presented their compliments
to members of the royal family. These were audiences
on 4 September with the Duke of Chartres at St. Cloud and
with Mademoiselle, an audience on 5 September with Maderooiselle
d'Orleans at the Luxembourg Palace, with Madame Ia
Grande Duchesse in attendance, an audience with the Princess
of Carignan at the Hotel de Carignan, and audiences at the Hotel
de Conde with Monsieur le Due and his son the Duke of Bourbon.
They were also entertained both at Versailles and St.
Cloud, respectively by Louis XIV and his brother, Monsieur.
They saw while visiting Versailles in detail, before their departure
for Flanders, the king at dinner and were received in private
audience with him; they were received on the same occasion
by Madame Ia Dauphine, Madame Ia Duchesse, the Duchess
of Bourbon, and met the Duke of Rochefoucauld, the Marquis
of Beringhen, and the Count of Brionne.
On 24 November they were at St. Cloud, attending a
lavish party organized by Monsieur in his palace. It began at 3
p.m., the Dauphin, his wife, Monsieur and Madame doing the
honours to a great throng of ladies and gentlemen of the court,
with the ambassadors in the place of homour; there was a concert,
a ball, a performance of Bajazet by Racine, and a supper ;
the royal hosts left just before midnight for Versailles and the
ambassadors returned to Paris.
Two days before their farewell audience, on 12 January
1687, they were again at Versailles to witness the king lunch
and attend a court supper.
Monuments, Palaces and Institutions
in Paris
Among the monuments of Paris, specific mention is
made of the ambassadors' visit to Notre Dame for the occasion
of the Assumption, the Bastille (where they saw the armoury),
the Invalides (still under construction), Montmartre (where they
visited the convent), the Porte St. Denis and the Porte St. Martin,
the Louvre (where they saw the Royal Wardrobe and the
Arms Room), the Old Louvre (for the late queen's apartments),
the Pont Neuf, and the palace of the Tuileries. They attended a
concert at the Hotel de Guise, and met on their insistence Mile
Ia Princesse de Guise, called on Monsieur le Prince, in succession
to his late father, at the Hotel de Conde (after their return
from Flanders), and attended a concert at the Hotel d'Arras,
Rue de Seine.
The ambassadors were taken to see many institutions in
Paris, mostly those founded by the king. Those noted by de
Vize were the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, Rue
de Richelieu, the Palais Royal (M. LeBrun was Director), the
Gobelins (M. and Mme LeBrun were in attendance), the Observatory
(led by M. de Cassini), the Royal Printery (directed
.by M. Mabre de Cramoisy), the Convent of the Chartreux, the
Jesuit Fathers house at Monlouis (where they met the king's
confessor, the Pere de la Chaise), the church of St. Mederic, the
Sorbonne to hear the defence of a thesis written by a half-Siamese,
the College of Louis-le-Grand, the church of the Feuil-

THE TRAVELS IN FRANCE OF THE SIAMESE AMBASSADORS 69
Ians (to hear aTe Deum by Lully for the restoration of the King's
health), the Val de Grace, and the Foreign Missions.
Entertainments
The ambassadors saw a number spectacles while in the
Paris region. They paid an incognito visit, prior to their solemn
audience, to the College of Louis-le-Grand to witness Clovis.
This bears the sub-title "La France Chretienne" and was an
heroic poem dedicated to Louis XIV by Jean Desmarets de Saint­
Sorlin, first published in 1657. Donneau de Vize gives an account
of a ballet figuring the trials of Hercules who conquers
Flanders, enters Holland, brings peace and prosperity, gives
help overseas to Canada, Hungary, Sweden and Algiers, sustains
the true religion and destroys heresy.
They went three times to the Comedie Fran

70
MICHAEL SMITHIES
REFERENCES
(1) A 160 typescript photographic reproduction
of the text, with some pages in facsimile,
was produced by Chalermnit Books,
Bangkok, in 1985.
(2) Bowring, Sir John, The Kingdom and People
of Siam, London, 1856, Vol. 1, pp. 64-65.
(3) Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h in his "Les
ambassadeurs siamois a Versailles le ler
septembre 1686 dans un bas-relief d' A. Coysevox",
JSS Vol. 72, 1984, details the further
appearances in Siamese history of the ambassadors,
pp. 30-33.
(4) Lucien Lanier, Etude Historique sur les
Relations de Ia France et du Royaume de Siam de
1662111704, Versailles, Aubert, 1883.
(5) Wannee Pooput, in "Les echos dans Ia
litterature et Ia pensee thai..." in Phra Narai,
Roi de Siam, et Louis XIV: Etudes, Paris 1986,
p. 106, suggests that a copy of this has been
located. The publication of this in modern
Thai was announced for 1987 but does not
seem to have appeared to date. Michel Jacq­
Hergoualc'h in his "La France et les franc;ais
vus par les ambassadeurs de Siam" in· the
same volume, p. 94, indicates there exists a
hasty and approximate translation of a Siamese
text into French of a letter from the
ambassadors to Phaulkon in the Archives
Nationales (Colonies) describing their embassy.
It is most unfortunate that this does
not appear to have been published in full to
date either.
(6) Memoirs du Marquis de Sourches, Paris,
1882, Vol. 1, p. 401, cited in Jacq-Herqoualc'h,
JSS, 1984, op. cit.
(7) Choisy, Abbe de Journal du Voyage de Siam
fait en 1685 et 1686 par M.L.D.C., Paris, 1687.
(8) Chaumont, Chevalier de, Relation de
l'Ambassade de Mr le Chevalier de Chaumont il
Ia Cour du Roy de Siam, Paris, 1685 [1686].
(9) Guy Tachard, Second Voyage du Pere
Tachard et des Jesuites envoyes par le Roi aux
Indes et ilia Chine, Paris, 1689.
(10) Jacq-Hergoualc'h, in his JSS article of
1984 and M. Smithies in "The Ladies at
Versailles on 1st September 1686," Siam
Society Ne'Wsletter (SSN), Vol. 2, No. 2, June
1986, both argue for her presence at the solemn
audience of 1 September 1686. Donneau
de Vize makes clear that neither Madame Ia
Dauphine nor Mademoiselle were present
at audiences at Versailles on 1 September
1686, so my own article stands in need of correction;
see note 14 below.
(11) Lanier, op. cit.
(12) Jacq-Hergoualc'h, JSS 1984, op. cit.
(13) Michael Smithies, SSN 1986 op. cit. and
The Discours at Versailles of the first Siamese
Ambassadors to France 1686-7, Bangkok, Siam
Society, 1986.
(14) The ten principal discourses delivered
by the first ambassador at the ambassadors'
audience and farewell were printed separately
by the Principal Printer to the King and
Director of the Royal Printery, Sebastian
Mabre-Cramoisy, who himself met the ambassadors
and showed them round his printing
works some time between November
1686 and January 1687 (even providing braziers
in the works so they should not feel the
cold). These were reprinted with translations
into English, together with a complete list of
their presents, by the present author (The
Discourses at Versailles of the First Siamese Ambassadors
to France 1686-7, cited above).
However, a correction is needed; it is clear
from Donneau de Vize's account (not then
to hand) that, though seven of the audiences
of reception took place on the same day, 1
September, and in the same palace, they
were granted in different rooms before varying
but not always different persons. However,
the audiences with the two children of
Monsieur, the Duke of Chartres and Mademoiselle,
did not take place until 4 September,
at St. Cloud, and that with Madame Ia
Dauphine, who had given birth to the Duke
of Berry the day before the ambassadors' reception,
took place on their return visit to
Versailles at a date unspecified by de Vize,
towards the end of the September or the beginning
of October. The audiences of farewell
(de Vize notes there were sixteen in all,
but only ten of their addresses seem to have
survived) all took place on 14 January 1687
at Versailles, but again in different apartments
and not always with the same courtiers
present.
(15) See Chapter 3 "L'ambassade de Simon
de Ia Loubere" in Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h
Etude historique et critique du livre de Simon de
Ia Loubere "Du Royaume de Siam," Paris 1691,
Paris, 1987, which draws on unpublished
archival material by Ceberet and Tachard.

BLOCKPRINTED FABRICS OF GUJARAT FOR
EXPORT TO SIAM: AN ENCOUNTER WITH
MR. MANEKLAL T. GAJJAR
'
MICHELE ARCHAMBAULT
GENEVA
In Pethapur, not far from Ganghinagar, the new capital
city of Gujarat, lives one of the national treasures of India,
Mr. Maneklal Gajjar, who keeps up the great tradition of his
ancestors, making wood blocks for printing cloth.
His father, Mr.Trikamla Gajjar, at the tum of the century
was making the blocks for the "saudagiri fabrics" which were
produced in Gujarat for export to Siam. "Saudagiri" (from the
Persian saudii, "goods for sale"), which means "trade," was used
as a general term for these blocks as well as for the printed
fabrics and the designs especially created for the Siam market
in the 19th century. The trade between Gujarat and Siam flourished
for about one hundred years and ended around 1940.
Gujarat had long been a major textile-producing region
in India. It also dominated the Indian textile trade with Southeast
Asia, particularly from the 17th century, as fabrics from
different parts of India were brought to Gujarat and then transhipped
to the export market. During the A yutthaya period in
Siam, prints from India were already very popular and were
called "pha gujarat."
When we met Mr. Maneklal in his house in May 1988, he
showed us design sample catalogues dating from his grandfather's
time and told us that the original patterns for the "saudagiri
prints" were always created in Siam. Simple designs drawn
in black outline on beige paper were sent by the Malabari trad·­
ing company in Bangkok to three trading companies, Maskati,
Vasi and Baghwall, based in Surat (the important port in South
Gujarat which had been recorded by many early European
writers for its central role in the Indian textile trade, and which
gave its name -"pha surat"- to the Indian printed fabrics of
the Rattanakosin period in Siam). The textiles were so popular
at the tum of the tum of the century that they were known by
the names of the companies-"pha Maskati, Vasi" etc.
These trading companies would send the original Siamese
sample designs to the block makers in Pethapur. The
block makers would slightly modify the patterns by adding or
The author is currently writing a book on Thai fabrics.-Ed.
removing some decorative lines in order to balance the overall
pattern properly, but always respected the basic motifs (Color
plate, p. 40). The innovations of the block makers were then
sent back by the Indian trading companies to Siam for approval.
Once the designs were approved by their Siamese counterparts,
the Suratbased trading companies sent messengers to the block
makers, who could start carving the blocks.
According to Mr. Maneklal, his father's designs were
highly appreciated and big orders were made for "saudagiri
fabrics."
The blocks were made, as they still are today, of teakwood
coming from South Gujarat. The process of making the blocks
was a long and difficult one. The teakwood had to be cut according
to the design, either 5x5 or 6x6 inches and 3 inches high.
The first step is preparing the surface, the procedure for which
Mr. Maneklal showed us: he rubs the surface of the wooden
piece using a file and then a smooth stone, sand and water.
The second step is the chalk process: he pours water and rubs
chalk on the surface of the piece using his index and third finger
(Color plate, p. 40). Then the wooden piece is allowed
to dry in the sun. The chalk is made, as it was in the past, by a
nomadic tribe, the Vanjaras. They use block lome that thet bury
underground for over six months. They then take it out, put it
into a piece of cloth, and mix it with gum arabic (from the acacia
tree) and make balls which are dried in the sun.
When the wooden block is completely dried, it is ready
to be carved. Mr. Maneklal starts drawing geometrical lines on
the surface of the block using different compasses. With iron
punches he hammers down the desired motif-flower, star,
sun-producing the pattern in deep relief on the block. Each
iron punch has a small embossed design at both ends; they
are known as leaf, sun, moon, three-petal flower punches, etc.
The fine outline of the pattern is chiselled with one among the
thousands of chisels used by Mr. Maneklal according to the
fineness of the motif. Then Mr. Maneklal makes fine holes with
a drill along the outline (Color plate, p. 40).
The "saudagiri blocks" were carved with ''butti"-flowers
or sprigs-and geometric patterns. The flowers were com-

72 MICHELE ARCHAMBAULT
Ill. No. 1. A block with a design for the center field of the fabric.
posed of points or dots and would appear as flowers of three,
five or seven petals, and could also be found enclosed in a network
of geometrical patterns. Jasmine (Chameli), champa
(Michelia champaca), tisi (linum, the linseed oil plant), and
tuberose were suitably stylised according to the nature of the
fabric, technique of production, and the number of colours to
be used.
Different blocks were made for the center field of the
fabric (Ill. No. 1) and for the border. The borders (butto) were
made of five different parts with a separate small border (tui)
dividing the five parts. Geometrical lines alternating with floral
festoons gave a rhythmic elegance to the borders. Mr.
Maneklal showed us old blocks and catalogues dating from his
father's time with designs of borders always ending with
"tumpal" (an elongated triangular form used in a row; Ill. No.
2). The blocks were always carved for an eight-colour pattern,
but "saudagiri fabrics" were usual! printed in three or four
colours. Chemical dyes which were introduced to India in the
early 19th century were always used for the "saudagiri fabrics."
The piece of cloth was first dyed with one colour and then
blockprinted with three different colours, one block for each
colour. Mr. Maneklal showed us an original "saudagiri block"
with spaces between the carved lines stuffed with wool, and
explained that this block, which absorbed more dye, was usually
used for filling spaces between fine outlines and consequently
would imprint better on the cloth (Ill. No. 3). Another
original "outlining block" had holes on each side so the air could
go through and thus the lines of the pattern would appear
perfectly stamped on fabric (Ill. No.4).
Blocks were used by the printers mostly on cotton fabric
which was imported from Great Britain. The printing was done
in Pethapur itself by thirty families, and also in Ahmedabad.
Mud resist dyeing technique was used by the printers. Parts of
the fabric were coated with mud which became hard when
drying. This mud paste served as a reserve which could be
removed after dyeing by immersing it in hot water and by
washing.
Each printer would print a particular design as shown in
the original sample catalogues. Each printer wrote his name
under a particular design he specialised in (Ill. No. 2); the
printer's name under the border is "Pasasarai").
According to Mr. Maneklal, production of the "saudagiri
farics" would stop for four months every year during the
rainy season as the prints could not take well due to the very
damp weather. During that period the block makers would do
some carpentry work in houses (windows, stairs etc.) and the
printers would weave cloth.
The usual length of one piece of "saudagiri fabric" was
five yards, as the fashion of the time in Siam for both men and
women was to wear the "pha nung" as "pha mmg chong krabeng"
(the piece of cloth being wrapped around the lower body and
pulled through the legs, like an Indian dhoti). The "pha nung"
was worn by women in the "pha nung nang" style, but in that
case the fabric was more precious. The remaining portion of
the clogth would be used for women as a shawl ("pha sabai" ).
From catalogues and books depicting old textiles made
in India for Siam it seems that these "saudagiri prints-pha surat
" were made for local markets and worn by common people.
In his book entitled Le Royaume de Siam, published in 1870,
Amede de Crehan, consul of Siam in Paris, thus describes the

FABRICS OF GUJARAT FOR SIAM 73
Ill. No.2. A "tum pal" design for a border.
Ill. No.3 . The spaces between the fine lines are stuffed with wool.
Ill. No. 4. Air holes on the side of an "outlining block."
costume of the common people: "Leur costume est des plus
primitifs. II se compose pour les femmes comme pour les
hommes d'une simple piece d'etoffe d'Indienne teinte
(/angoutis) qu'ils attachent a Ia ceinture en ayant soin d'en relever
les deux bouts." (Langouti comes from the Hindi Lagoti: a piece
of cloth hanging in front from a waistband). ("Their costume is
extremely simple. For women and men as well, it is made of a
simple piece of dyed Indian cloth (langooty) that they tie around
the waist, being careful to pull up the two ends.")
Obviously Indian prints were copied in Siam itself and
the result was what is known today as "pha phim," another example
reminding us that traditional fabrics have always provided
considerable inspiration to the producers and designers
of the emerging generations. In her book entitled Made in
Thailand, published in 1964, Margaret Ayer wrote about the
production of "pha phim:" "Patterns were carved on hardwood
boards and different dyes were applied to the various parts of
the design. The board was the size of the piece of material and
they did the whole job at one printing."
Mr. Meklal pointed out the very interesting fact that many
"saudagiri patterns" are still used today to carve blocks and
print fabrics for local markets. The "saudagiri fabrics" which
were so fashionable in Siam for almost a century still appeal to
the taste of local customers in Gujarat. Following the path of
tradition it is not surprising to see surviving forms of "saudagiri
patterns" today in Thailand.

40 COLOR PLATES FOR "T AK GREEN AND WHITE WARES," p. 43.
AND "BLOCKPRINTED FABRICS OF CUJARAT," p. 71.
A fmglll cnt of a white-glazed bowl collected at a digg ing situ in Tak bij the research group of
Chiang Mai University and tested for the report on white-g lazed wares with green patterns
(p. 44 ).
An example of the white-glazed wares with green patterns
excavated in the Tak area in the mountains along the Thai­
Burrnese border (p. 43).
Snwothing the block with chalk to print saudagiri fabrics (p. 71 ).
Drilling holes to outline the design for sau dag iri fabrics (p. 71 ).
Sa1nple design fo r saudagiri wood blocks. Note
the word "Malabari " in vertical Thai letters at
the botton1 (p. 71).
\

ON THE ORIGINS OF THE
URAKLAWOI'
A response to J. Ivanoff
STEPHEN W. PATTEMORE
AND
DAVID W. HOGAN
PHUKET, THAILAND
Abstract
In an article in the Journal of the Siam Society (Vol. 74, 1986) Mr.
Ivanoff maintained that the Sea People of Sireh Island and Rawai, in
Phuket province, and points further south, are the outcome of intermarriage
between Moken and Malays. This article seeks to refute that
assertion, advancing sociological, historical, geographical and linguistic
evidence that the Urak Lawoi' people, as they know themselves,
have origins independant of the Moken. It is suggested that they are
essentially of Malay stock but have been distinct from the mainstream
Malay population for a considerable period of time-probably several
centuries. Their language and customs have been influenced by
their Thai environment. Interaction with the Moken people has been
subsequent to their establishing a distinct identity.
Mr. lvanoffs article on the Moken people in the Journal
of the Siam Society OSS Vol 74, 1986:9-20) is to be warmly welcomed
for the light it sheds on the Moken and for his sensitive
treatment of this much misunderstood and much abused
people. In particular he has highlighted the tensions involved
in the creation of Surin Island as a National Park with the subsequent
influx of tourists. Similar tensions are evident at Peepee
Island in Krabi Province and at Adang Island, in the Tarutao
National Park in Satun Province. The rights of indigenous
peoples need to be very carefully considered. Tourist dollars
cannot redeem a people's heritage. 1
Unfortunately, in the process of bringing the Moken into
the light, Mr. Ivanoff has cast into shadow another much misunderstood
people. Those he refers to as "Moken-Malay" are
known to themselves as the "Urak l.Jlwoi"', or in the plural,
"Lumoh l.Jlwoi'" (People of the Sea). In Thai both the Moken
and the Urak Lawoi' are grouped together as Chao Talay (Sea
People) or Thai Mai (New Thai). We wish to argue that the
Urak Lawoi' have an origin quite independent of the Moken,
being essentially of Malay stock but with a separate history for
some hundreds of years.
That the Urak Lawoi' are the result of Moken-Malay intermarriage
is not a new theory, having been assumed as early
as White (1922:157-160). It should be noted that this is a highly
ethnocentric view-both White and Ivanoff focus their attention
on the Moken. It is not unusual for surrounding people to
be seen as derivative but this does not necessarily represent
historical fact. In any case, Bernatzik's account (1958:40-42)
records Moken creation stories which give the "Orang Lonta"
(sic) an independent place, alongside Moken, Malay, Karen etc.
Despite the disclaimer in his last paragraph, Mr. Ivanoff seems
to obscure the boundary between myth and history, frequently
presenting deductions from the epic as historical fact (1986:19-
20).
One further general problem before we outline the reasons
behind our views. There is some logical confusion in
Ivanoffs article as to whose aetiology is being presented. Ken,
the progenitor of the Moken and the origin of their name, turns
out to be the ancestress not of the Moken but of the Urak Lawoi'!
(Ivanoff 1986:17-19).
1. Sociologically, the Urak Lawoi' are in contact with
Malay, Moken, Moklen, Thai and Chinese communities. But,
with the exception of the small group at Chalong in Phuket
Province, and possibly those on Mook Island in Trang Province,
they have always maintained their identity and have a
strong sense of community. There is a ~ertain amount of marriage
of Thais (both Buddhists and Moslem) into the Urak
Lawoi' community, but much less marriage of Urak Lawoi' out
into other groups. They have no sense of being a "hybrid"
people-all the more significant since both the components of
the alleged hybrid are still in their immediate environment.
At the same time they are very conscious of their strong his-

76 PATTEMORE AND HOGAN
torical and linguistic links with the Malays. A significant minority
can identify a Moken parent or grandparent, but with
one exception the other partner is always an Urak Lawoi'. So
the formula is:
or
but not
Urak Lawoi' + Moken = Urak Lawoi'
Urak Lawoi' + Malay = Urak Lawoi'
Malay + Moken = Urak Lawoi'
Of particular interest, in view of their continuing contacts
with Malay Muslims and consciousness of Malay origins,
are the Urak Lawoi' religious beliefs and practices. These are
purely animistic (Hogan 1972:215-218). Such traces of Islam as
are found are cosmetic in nature and appear to be borrowed.
Only on Mook Island would a significant number of Urak
Lawoi' seem to have adopted Islam and this only recently. The
clear implication is that they are not lapsed Muslims but have
always been animists. In fact they seem to preserve pre-Islamic
Malay animism. It should be noted further that, apart from the
shared animistic world view, there are few if any points of
contact with Moken beliefs and practices.
2. Historical factors give added weight to the sociological
data. If we accept Ivanoff's identification of the strangers
who tried to educate the Moken as the BFitish 2 (1986:19), this
gives a "terminus a quo" of 1826 for the emergence of the Urak
Lawoi' as a distinct people. This is clearly much too late. By
White's time they were well known as the "orung Lawta" (sic)
(1922:157-158), equivalent to Bernatzik's "orang lonta" (sic)
(1958:41). If the date is correct, then Ken's lover is correctly
identified as a Muslim-but this implies both Moken and Muslim
lifestyle and beliefs were abandoned in a very short space
of time. Nai Mae, an older man at Rawai, says his father who
died perhaps ten years ago at the age of over ninety had been
born in Rawai. Risiq, an old man at Adang Island, now deceased,
has spoken of his grandfather as a Buginese pirate who
settled in this area and became an Urak Lawoi' (Hogan 1972:
218-219). This must have been over one hundred years ago.
There is thus at most two generations between the supposed
date of the epic and the confirmed existence of the Urak Lawoi'.
This is not nearly enough time for the emergence of a distinct
people with their own customs, belief system and oral literature.
It should be noted in discussing the historical scene, that
the Moken who have settled at Rawai and Peepee Island have
all, with the one known exception mentioned above, come since
the time of World War 2, fleeing the Japanese at first and subsequently
being joined by relatives, mainly from Burma.
3. Examining the patterns of settlement, both currently
and in oral pre-history, we obtain geographical reasons for postulating
a southern origin for the Urak Lawoi' independent of
the Moken. The Moken have moved from north to south, Rawai
and Peepee Island being their southern limits (though the
nomadic Moken rarely if ever venture south of Surin Island
and Phra Thong Island). The Urak Lawoi' on the other hand
appear to have generally moved up from the South, Rawai, Sireh
Island, Peepee Island and Sepum being their northernmost limit
of settlement. That there should be some considerable interaction
along the boundary is natural.
The Urak Lawoi' do not agree with Ivanoff's thesis that
their origin was on Sireh Island from which they moved south
(1986:15). They consistently point to Lanta Island ~s their original
home, and their movement seems to have been radially
outwards from there. This is probably the origin of the Moken
name for the Urak Lawoi', namely "Orang Lonta", referring to
Lanta Island. The group settled in the Adang islands are said
to have been taken there by a Governor of Satul, to forestall
any British claim on the islands.
On the.other hcimd, some Urak Lawoi' legends point further
back to Mt. Jerai (on the mainland north of Penang) as
their point of origin (Hogan 1972:219). The absence of any trace
of Urak Lawoi' in Malaysia is probably due to assimilation to
the majority Muslim population, while those in Thailand, where
the majority language is totally different from their own, have
maintained their identity.
4. Linguistic studies point in the same general direction.
Ivanoff wrongly states that the "Moken-Malay" (sic) speak
Malay (1986:15,19). This again represents the Moken viewpoint
as Moken north of Phuket Island say that the people of Rawai
speak "Phasaa Khaek", meaning the Malay language. While
the Urak Lawoi' language is lexically very close to Malay, it
lacks much of the Malay affixation and its syntax has been influenced
by Thai. To some extent it follows its own unique
pattern (Hogan 1978:15-17; 1985:128-130). The average Urak
Lawoi' person cannot maintain a conversation with a speaker
of Malay.
A lexico-statistical survey by Sorat (1981) of the dialects
of Urak Lawoi' and Moken along the west coast of South Thailand
showed them to be different languages but members of
the same family. He found that Urak Lawoi' and Malay are
closely related, while Moken is more distantly related to Malay.
Sudarat has used phonological comparison to reconstruct
Proto Orang Laut and set out the relationship between Urak
Lawoi', Moken and Malay. Her study clearly establishes that
Moklen-Moken and Urak Lawoi' have a common ancestry in
the Austronesian family with Urak Lawoi' more closely related
to Malay that the Moken dialects are (Sudarat 1984:196-202).
(Moklen is a dialect of Moken found in Phangnga province and
at the northern end of Phuket Island, and referred to by Ivanoff
as "thai mai" (sic) (1986:15-16)).
If the Urak Lawoi' were truly the result of Moken-Malay
intermarriage, one would expect to find that both the Moken
language and Malay were in some way antecedent to Urak
Lawoi'. This is not the case as far as Moken is concerned. Urak
Lawoi' could best be described as a Malay dialect strongly
influenced for some considerable period by its Thai
environment. 3 Of particular interest in the relationship of Urak
Lawoi' to Malay is the fact that Urak Lawoi' shows virtually no
trace of Islamic terminology. A recent limited survey of Urak

ON THE ORIGINS OF THE URAK LAWOI' 77
Lawoi' words of Malay origin has uncovered about 30 words
which are ultimately of Arabic origin. None of these, however,
has a distinctly Islamic religious flavour. Most are general
words in common use. The only religious one is Urak Lawoi':
/kramac/Malay: /kramat/ "sacred shrine, spirit of shrine". This
is an animistic, not an Islamic, concept. The clear implication
of these data is that the Urak Lawoi' were already a separate
entity by the time Islam became a dominant influence in Malaya.
Parameswara of Malacca is said to have had the help of
the Orang Laut in suppressing piracy in the Straits of Malacca
(c.1403-1424). While these may not have been the ancestors of
the Urak Lawoi' this is still testimony to the existence in the
15th century of quite distinct Malay groupings of sea people.
From one of these groupings, isolated from the mainstream of
Islam, the Urak Lawoi' are in all probability descended.
Conclusion
While the Urak Lawoi' oral prehistory is rather vague
and there is a lack of contemporary supporting references, the
evidence given above-sociological, geographical, historical
and linguistic-is sufficient to advance a tentative conclusion
regarding the origins of the Urak Lawoi':
(1) The Urak Lawoi' are of Malay origin, but distinct from the
mainstream of Malay life for four or more centuries.
(2) The Urak Lawoi' have never been Muslim, but have retained
pre-Islamic Malay animistic beliefs and practices.
(3) While there has been some subsequent intermarriage and
intermixing, the Urak Lawoi' are quite distinct in origin from
the Moken, whose own relationship to the Malays is in the yet
more distant past.
We would welcome any further discussion on the question.
ENDNOTES
1 A recent example of the rights of the indigenous
people being overshadowed by a tourist
project was when a series of yacht races was
organised, one of which was of yachts sailing
out and around Raya Island, on the horizon
off Rawai. Water police boats were busy,
chasing the various Thai Mai boats out of the
way of the yachts. The waters around Raya
Island have been one of the main fishing
grounds for the Rawai people for generations,
as they go there not only for fishing, but also
for lobsters and for shellfish. With the handto-mouth
existence of these people, this tourist
venture could easily have caused some of
the Rawai people to go to bed hungry that
night.
2 1826 is the date when Tenasserim was ceded
to the British (Ivanoff 1986:19), but the first
recorded attempt by anyone to learn the Ian-
guage and attempt to educate the Moken was
not by the British but by missionaries of the
American Baptist Mission. Lewis describes a
primer used by them at Mergui in 1844-1846
(1960:4-18). Alternatively the legend may refer
to some more informal attempt at "education"
in the remote periods of prehistory.
3 Since preparing this paper we have been able
to read a fascinating fuller account by Ivanoff
of the Moken Epic of Gaman (Ivanoff 1985),
including transcriptions of important parts of
the epic itself. This in no way alters our conclusions.
In fact, the section dealing with the
settlement of Ken and her lover at Sireh Island
(1985:190) includes some very interesting linguistic
observations, as Gaman (the Malay seafarer)
compares the Malay and Urak Lawoi'
languages. The Urak Lawoi' phrases are typically
among those that would be learnt first
by a newcomer, and their reproduction is far
from perfect. (In recitation form we would
expect /pi diha/ not /pi dia/ for "Where are
you going?" Urak Lawoi' would say /makat
nasi/ in contrast to Malay [makan nasi] for "Eat
rice.") Gaman says, "If we are to stay here we
must speak differently." The distinct impression
is of someone learning to speak a language
which is new to him but already in existence.
This is precisely what the Moken who fled the
Japanese and settled at Rawai have done. We
would suggest that, to the extent that historical
movements underlie the epic at this point,
it is much more likely to reflect the at least
partial assimilation of an earlier generation of
Moken refugees to an Urak Lawoi' community
who were already clearly distinct from Malay
life, rather than the hrst appearance of the Urak
Lawoi".

78
PAITEMORE AND HOCAN
REFERENCES
BERNATZIL, H.A., 1958. TheSpiritsoftheYellow
Leaves, trans. by E.W. Dickes,
London: Robt. Hale.
HOCAN, DAVID W., 1972. "Men of the Sea:
Coastal Tribes of South Thailand's West
Coast." Journal of the Siam Society 60 (1).
--1978. "Urak Lawoi', Malay and Thai:
Some Syntactic Comparisons" in Te Reo
Vol. 21 Auckland.
__ 1985. Basic Structures of the Urak
Lawoi' Language and their Functions.M.A.
thesis, Melbourne: Pacific College of
Graduate Studies in association with
William Carey International Univer
sity, Pasadena.
IVANOFF, JACQUES, 1985. "L'Epopee de Gaman:
Histoire et Consequences des Relations
Moken/Malais et Moken/Birmans",
ASEMI XVI (1-4).
__ 1986. "LES MOKEN Litterature Orale
et Signes de Reconnaissance Culturelle",
Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 74
(1986).
LEWIS, M.B., 1960. "Moken Texts and Wordlist:
A Provisional Interpretation", in
Federation Museums Journal, Vol. IV New
Series.
SORAT MAKBOON, 1981. Survey of Sea
People's Dialects along the West Coast of
Thailand. M. A. Thesis, Bangkok :
Mahidol University.
SUDARAT LEERABHANDH, 1984. Phonological
Reconstruction of Proto Orang Laut.
M. A. Thesis, Bangkok : Mahidol University.
WHITE, WALTER G., 1922. Sea Gypsies of Ma·
laya. London : Seeley, Service & Co.

HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY IN
THAILAND-WHAT'S NEW?
PORNCHAI SUCHITTA
MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL
THE SIAM SOCIETY
The name "Dvaravati" is common among students and
scholars of the early history of Thailand. It generally refers to a
particular Buddhist art style (ca. 6th-11th century A.D.) that is
largely found in the Central and Northeastern regions of Thailand.
In July 1989 the Muang Boran Press in Bangkok put out a
new book in Thai entitled(rn) 't'l11TI~ : tl-,t19im~917~fl~li.'Yl£1.:1
~m3Jtl-reL'I'If1 [(Sri) Dvaravati: The Initial Phase of Siam's History]
by Dr. Dhida Saraya, Associate Professor in the History
Department of Chulalongkorn University. This publication
offers a new attempt in presenting a historical view of Dvaravati.
The book does not describe Dvaravati as a particular art style
or art period as has generally been done in the past but looks at
Dvaravati with a holistic view of interaction of people, culture
and society. As a historian, the author has taken into consideration
all the relevanta vailable data and documents dealing with
archaeology, history, geography, anthropology, art, and stone
inscriptions, together with interest in the role of the local
population. The author also delineates the economic, political
and social structures of (Sri) Dvaravati that eventually led to
the dev~lopment of its social and cultural systems. The book
offers an excellent choice of photos, illustrations and maps
dealing with the history of (Sri) Dvaravati. Below is an English
abstract taken from the book.
(Sri) Dvaravati: The Initial
Phase of Siam's History
(ABSTRACT)
This book will examine and consider many factors pertaining
to the existence of the state of Sri Dvaravati during the
6th to 11th centuries A.D .. Sri Dvaravati is considered to have
played an important part in the historical development of early
Siam and Southeast Asia. A study of this state reveals not only
itsimportantstatus,btitalsotheheightsofprominencetowhich
it later rose. Moreover, such a study also reveals clearer insights
and approaches towards the study of the history of Siam and of
Southeast Asia. By using the word "clearer" in the preceding
sentence, we mean that much light is shed on facts and dimensions
concerning early Thai history. These are more concise
than the vague theory of migration from Southern China which
has previously often been proposed. As a result, this study
helps to provide new perspectives on the historical development
of early Southeast Asia which, up until now, has suffered
from a lack of documentation and systematic research.
Sri Dvaravati was one among a number of indigenous
political entities which was able to absorb foreign cultural influences,
and yet at the same time, forge its own distinct cultural
identity. Previous studies on the state of Sri Dvaravati have
been confined to the preconception that both its origin and
existence were the direct and indirect results only of Indian
influences. This Indian influence was previously seen as being
a significant cause of Sri Dvaravati becoming a unified state
with vast territorial power covering areas of the Central, Northeastern
and Southern regions of what is now Thailand. The fact
that all of these held traces of Dvaravati art seemed to support
this notion. Furthermore, the idea of a unified state also extended
to the belief that its citizens were all of Mon descent. But
this preconception ignored the important fact that the indigenous
groups already had their own political and cultural systems,
albeit numerous and diverse, which were both individualistic
and well developed. There must have been a wide variety
of intercultural contacts and exchanges between these groups,
and this resulted in the forging and establishment of a common
culture well before the advent of Indian influences in the region.
New discoveries in archaeology are now shedding new
light on historical development in the Chao Phya River basin.
Its west bank was heavily populated and was the core of the
State of Sri Dvaravati, whoes radiating power extended throughout
the Nakhon Pathom-U Thong-Ku Bua complex. This society
and its culture needs to be described in more detail than
before. It may be stated here that the development of the Sri
Dvaravati State was related to another important coastal center
located in the region of the Mae Khong River delta. This latter
center was called Funan by the Chinese chronicles.
The growth of ancient UThongdeveloped along the same
lines as Funan. Both had their origins in that stream of historical
momentum by which the coastal peoples in their search for

80 PORNCHAI SUCHITTA
experience and adventure came into contact with the seafarers
of lower Southeast Asia. Both U Thong and Funan were coastal
centers of trade and cultural activities during the 2nd to 6th
centuries A.D ..
However, recent archaeological discoveries such as the
Dong Son-styled bronze drums, earrings, bracelets, and beads
(which are all similar to those found in Vietnam), and a reappraisal
of certain Chinese writings, now suggest that the origin
of the Sri Dvaravati State had nothing at all to do with the spread
of Indian influences in the region. Rather, the development of
both U Thong and Funan from large villages to coastal centers
was due to their economic and cultural intercourse with seafarers
from the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Certainly
a part of this influence dervied from the expansion of
China. Chinese interests began to make their presence felt along
the Southeast Asian coastal regions all the way from the Vietnamese
coastline to Gulf of Siam. Nevertheless the major force
was the role and initiative shown by those adventurers who
already inhabited the coastal areas of oceanic Southeast Asia.
These peoples were expert seafarers and became the instigators
of much economic and cultural intercourse. They transported
both new techniques and artifacts to the various settlements in
Southeast Asia. They were the main influencing force for the
later development of populated centers into states.
The coastal centers along the South China Sea and the
Gulf of Siam, as exemplified by U Thong and Funan, had been
in contact with each other by sea since the pre-Christian Era.
These coastal seafaring experts subsequently found overland
routes to the Andaman Sea and Southern Burma. This in tum
generated contacts with commercial travelers from India, the
Middle East and the Roman Empire. Chinese records around
A.D. 3 mention the towns of Lin-I, Funan, Tun Sun, Chin Lin,
Tan Tan, and Pan Pan, and these records correlate with certain
archaeological finds. This same route also allowed Western
seafarers and traders the opportunity to reach China. In this
way, lower Southeast Asia became a part of world commerce
from the 2nd century onwards as may be seen in the number of
Indian and Roman artifacts found, particularly in ancient cities
such as U Thong, Chansen and Oc Keo.
Coastal towns such as U Thong and Funan continued to
grow physically, and also to develop in terms of both their
economy and culture. Intercourse with other cultures was not
confined merely to the coastal dwellers and the two major
foreign cultural mainstreams (from the West and the East).
There is evidence that these coastal towns spread inland, where
they met up with more diverse cultures which had already been
through their own process of historical and cultural developtnent.
These traits seem to be the norm in the historical development
of the towns of the Chao Phya River basin during the
2nd to 6th centuries A.D ..
Another important characteristic which appears throughout
the formation stages of the Sri Dvaravati State is "the great
variety" of the ethnic groups who were to become converts and
thus the builders of the great Buddhist civilization found along
the Chao Phaya River plains. There was also a great variety of
cultural traditions and lifestyles found among the peoples who
were to populate the Sri Dvaravati State. Migrations and
population changes further helped to extend and enlarge this
variety. Variety is indeed the key to the understanding of the
history of this period. In a sense, the political systems which
developed later partly served to resolve those differences which
had evolved out of all this variety.
The state of Sri Dvaravati in particular grew out of the
various early coastal centers. Its growth helped to bridge the
gaps that existed between the lndianizing influences and the
local or indigenous cultures. Through selective acceptance and
assimilation there gradually came into existence a clearlyindentifiable
Buddhistic culture. Buddhism, which had originated in
India, was accepted and adapted, and so became the core faith
of this society,linking up and unifying the various lifestyles and
beliefs found in this area. Buddhism also played a part in
determining the form of the political system. This political
system was dominated by the concept of kingship in which the
King was at once regarded as pious bodhisattava and mighty
cakkavatti raja. The Buddhist faith was recognized by both the
State and its people. Thus, Sri Dvaravati has come to be
regarded as a very powerful state which grew as a result of the
process of developing and unifying the variety found in coastal
centers.
Naturally, the evolution and development of Sri Dvaravati
from "Coastal Centers" was also firmly related to the
trading which linked the Eastern and Western worlds. By the
6th century A.D., mariners had learnt to use the prevailing
monsoons and to navigate through the Malacca Straits, which
greatly helped to shorten the journey to the Far East. This
borught the Gulf of Siam mariners into direct confrontation
with their rivals, the seafarers of the Java Sea, who were already
trading out of several important ports. About this time the
importance of Funan lessened, whereas the importance of U
Thong of the Tha Chin River appeared to grow, together with
the importance of new towns close to the sea such ad Nakhon
Pathom. The new network extended as far as Ku Bua on the Mae
Klang River. The land area located between these two rivers
became the agricultural and economic base for Sri Dvaravati as
a riverine state.
During this formative period, there were radical changes
in the local political system. The original system of "chiefdoms,"
each led by a chief who had special personal qualities such as
skills in warfare, was changed in some centers to a system of
divine kingship based on Indian models. Several new towns
were established at trading centers linking the hinterland with
the external world. Some became coastal cities and this meant
thattherulingsystem becameevenmorecomplex. Such changes
enhanced the power of this riverine state.
Even so, the state of Sri Dvaravati was not an all-powerful
empire with sovereign power over all the territories in which
Dvaravati art has been found. Conversely, the political power
possessed by the state of Sri Dvaravati may be divided into two
~istinct areas. The core or central seat of power covered the U
Thong- Nakhon Pathom- Ku Bua complex, and the other area
consisted of peripheral territories over which central sovereignty
exercised no direct influence. The latter included areas

HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY IN THAILAND 81
west of the upper Chao Phya River which consisted mainly of
highlands and itinerant tribesmen, and towns in the river basins
such as Ku Muang (in present Sing Buri), Bung Khok Chang
(in present Uthai Thani) and U Tapao (in present Chai Nat). It
can therefore be said that sovereign power was strongest at the
core, but gradually lessened towards the peripheral areas. Of
considerable importance is the fact that even in the Chao Phya
River basin and the nearby Pa Sak River basin, there appear to
be towns which received the Dvaravati artistic influences, yet
were independent from the state sovereignty of Nakhon Pathom.
Examples of such towns are Lawo and Srithep.
Thus Dvaravati society and culture covered an area far
wider than that ruled by the State. Although the peoples of this
society shared common artistic and cultural traits based on a
belief in Buddhism, they differed widely in ethnic origins. The
Mons, who were once believed to be the sole owners of the
Dvaravati culture, were in fact only a part of the great melting
pot of Dvarvati society. There were also the Tai/Sam/Sayam/
Siam (as they have been variously called by different writers at
different times). When we refer to the peoples of Sri Dvaravati,
therefore, we refer not only to the Mons, but also to various
indigenous peoples, as well as to immigrants from India. In
addition, the population also consisted of coastal peoples, some
mariners, the Chinese, the Vietnamese and a host of other
minority groups, some of whom may have been transported to
the region by force.
The results of population movements and migrations
certainly affected agricultural production. A new concept was
introduced which had much effect on Dvaravati culture: the
water buffalo was introduced as animal motive power in place
of the ox. Ploughing with water buffaloes had long been known
to the Vietnamese in the Mae Khong River basin and to the
ethnic groups inhabiting the Northeastern territories of Siam.
Once the method was introduced to the Chao Phya River basin,
which was and still is ideally suited for rice farming, paddy
production increased so dramatically that rice became an economic
base for the development of the community. The people
became adept at rice farming. This can clearly be seen in the
Tais, who were to develop their economic system based on rice
until they gained economic and political power over all other
groups in the Chao Phya River basin.
Dvaravati society was stratified into two classes, the rulers
and the ruled. The king held sovereign power supported by
the royal family. This family was drawn from descendants of
both the indigenous people and the foreigners with whom they
had come into contact. Next was the upper class consisting of
statesmen and high officials who supervised the carrying out of
state and royal duties. Someofthis group comprised foreigners,
many of them being Indians. There were also community
leaders who interacted closely with the populace. These existed
as two main groups. The first group comprised the local elite
who had gained leadership status through the strength of their
personalities and their seniority. The majority of the elite
became elders of their communities through intermarriage. The
other group consisted of monks, hermits, mendicants, brahmins
etc. The brahmins enjoyed a direct relationship with the
royalty through their ceremonial duties. The Buddhist monks
partook in religious duies which were more related to the needs
of the ordinary people. They taught the people how to read and
write, as well as giving lessons concerning the Buddhist doctrine.
Most hermits and mendicants, however, took refuge in
the deep jungle, although some enjoyed various degrees of
influence over politically powerful persons.
The ordinary people found in Dvaravati society consisted
of several groups. The farmers and planters were the main
producers, while artists and craftsmen worked in both the
towns and in the rural areas. Townsmen and traders emerged
as a result of the state of Sri Dvaravati being located on both
continental and seafaring trading routes. The fact that it was one
of the most important commercial centers in Southeast Asia can
clearly be seen from the multitude of archaeological evidence
found: monumental structures, and artifacts such as beads,
earrings, ornaments and utensils. Another group of people
were the soldiers who were conscripted partly from the populace
and partly from serfs and slaves. The latter consisted of
prisoners of war, those who had been endowed to the temples
and other religious institutions by their master, and those who
were the properties of the upper classes.
Although it can be seen that much variety and stratification
existed in Dvaravati society, one factor unified all into a
homogeneous entity: the Buddhist religion, mainly Hinayana
Buddhism. The spread of Buddhism in the area shows that
foreign culture was adapted to suit the needs of the people with
the result that a form of popular Buddhism emerged. This was
different from state Buddhism which was the form of Buddhism
upheld by the ruling class. It should be stressed that, having
absorbed a variety of local and traditional beliefs and customs,
Dvaravati Buddhism was transformed and subsequently became
an integral part of the way of life of the ordinary people
through its emphasis on the tradition of merit making as well as
certain rituals and ceremonies.
It should also be noted that Buddhism did not take root
only among the ordinary people of the Dvaravati society. It also
played an important part in the affairs of the ruling classes,
particularly in the status of the sovereign as a bodhisattava, and
a cakkavatti raja. For it was accepted in Dvaravati society that
the king was not only the royal patron of Buddhism (elevating
the people's religious worship by participating in state religious
ceremonies and merit making), but also the dhammika raja
whose duty was to spread the Faith throught following the
righteous path as well as through the domination and subjugation
of other peoples through the waging of warfare.
It may therefore be stated that Buddhism took strength as
a result of the great Dvaravati civilization. Evidence for this can
elearly be seen in the Buddhist influences found in various
Dvaravati art forms, and in the spread ofDvaravati artthroughout
this region. Indeed the development of Buddhism during
the Dvaravati period formed the basis for a Buddhist society
and state in this area. Furthermore, this early state of Sri
Dvaravati can be understood to provide the historical basis and
origins for the later development of the state of Siam (now
Thailand).

REVIEWS
Buddhism, Legitimation and
Conflict : The Political Functions
of Urban Thai Buddhism.
PETERJACI

REVIEWS
83
lating to compilation of Buddhist texts
which also led to questioning of his loyalties.
While Dr. Jackson does touch on
personal rivalries in discussing the internecine
sectarian warfare, more consideration
might have been given to the
manoeuvering for positions of power
within the Sangha and personal antagonisms
as reasons for conflict. It would
have been interesting if Dr. Jackson had
explored the history of Dhammayut­
Mahanikai relations and rivalry in Laos.
Vientiane authorities tended to view the
introduction of and continued existence
of the Dhammayut sect in Laos as a
function of Thai imperialism, and it is
of some interest to note that one of the
first acts of the Lao government after the
communist takeover in 1975 was the
abolition of the Dhammayut sect. It is
of interest that Phra Bimoladharma had
a large folloWing in Laos as well as the
Northeast of Thailand and became a
symbol of Isan nationalism. The establishment's
fear of and frustration with
this monk should, thus, also be seen in
the context of traditional center-periphery
conflicts combined with the perception
of an Isan and its opposition politicians
receptive to Lao irredentist designs.
Sectarian rivalries might also be
viewed in a rural versus urban context
with the inevitable attendant stereotypes.
Dr. Jackson pays special attention to
a detailed exposition of the religious
thought and practice of various urban
Buddhist movements mentioned above.
He also provides a most informative
analysis of the different meditation techniques
used by the reformist and establishment
aligned movements: insight
meditation versus concentration meru.­
tation, respectively. While basically
these movements fall either into a rationalist,
reformist, democratic oriented
mold or a traditional, authoritarian,
hierarchical model, Dr. Jackson does
point up the logical inconsistencies inherent
in these movements and deviations
from the theoretical design he has
so artfully constructed. The lay audiences
of these movements are described,
noting, for example; the different sections
of the middle class represented by
the followers of Buddhadasa and Photirak.
Jackson, in his balanced, but, nevertheless,
somewhat sympathetic, account
of the Santi-Asoke movement and
its leader Phra Photirak, fails to mention
Phra Photirak's public declaration of his
having attained an exalted state of spiritual
attainment and thus the status of a
Bodhisatva. Such a public declaration
is forbidden under Buddhist doctrine
and is against the vinaya. It is subsumed
under parajika, being one of the
four most serious violations against the
vinaya. Phra Photirak has also been
accused of manipulating Buddhist religious
teachings in the effort to defend
himself against the above accusation.
Thus, it is not valid to define the legal
issue relating to Phra Photirak, as
Jackson does, as one of determining the
status of a monk by either abidance by
the vinaya or compliance with the procedures
of secular law. The Phra Dhammakaya
movement, combining both
rationalist and traditionalist elements,
and its appeal to the Thai "Yuppie generation"
is described. Dr. Jackson sees
these various movements as less a response
to an educated middle class
being disillusioned by a lax urban
Sangha prone to material attachments
and rewards and the seeming irrelevance
of ritualistic Buddhism, and more
as a means of validating middle class
values through a reinterpreted Buddhism
and seeking the legitimization of
political dissent for some and the cooption
into the power elite for others.
Dr. Jackson elucidates the "plague on
both your houses" of the rationalist
Buddhist movements as they decry both
the metaphysical Buddhism of an elite
establishment steeped in hierarchical
values and the merit, sin, karma, rebirth
orientation of rural Buddhism. These
rationalist movements stress the viability
of individual salvation here and now
for lay adherents as well as monks.
Frugality, self-discipline, rational orderliness
and spiritually imbued economic
activity are emphasized. Thus, there is
an alternative symbolic and \heoretical
system created to serve the interests of
an emergent commercially oriented
middle class rather than the interests of
an aristocratic/bureaucratic elite authoritarian
establishment.
Dr. Jackson's alternative rationalist
urban Buddhist model might be profitably
juxtaposed with the "development
monk" movement in the rural north and
northeast of Thailand. This Buddhist
inspired development model for rural
Thailand is an alternative to the economic
growth model imposed by a centralized
bureaucracy. The Sangha initiated
rural based movement focuses on
the union of spiritual and material development,
both in theory and practice,
and emphasizes self-sufficiency, moderation,
frugality, appropriate technology,
integrated farming and mutual help
and cooperative patterns of behavior.
The "development monks" have offered
an alternative system responsive to village
specific conditions and needs and
one that serves and is responsive to both
the material and spiritual needs of an
impoverished rural population. This
movement involves a socially conscious
and involved Sangha seeking their salvation
through spiritually infused community
development activities freed
from the burden of self-centeredness.
Interestingly enough, such role play for
the Sangha is denied by Buddhadasa.
Yet, like Buddhadasa's movement, the
alternative development model of the
reformist rural monks is democratically
oriented based on villager participation
in the planning and implementation of
development activities with the guidance
and support of monk leaders. This
rural movement reacts against centralized
authority and is often interpreted
as a focus for dissent against and opposition
to authority. Development
monks, like Jackson's rationalist Buddhist
movement leaders, have likewise
been accused of being communists or
communist sympathizers.
There are interesting parallels between
the village specific community
development programs of the "development
monks" and the government inspired
civic oriented Sangha programs
such as Dhammathud and Dhammacarik
on the one hand and the rationalist
versus traditionalist urban movements
described by Jackson on the other.

84
REVIEWS
It would be of much profit if Dr. Jackson
would next apply his excellent scholarship
and intellectual ingenuity to a study
of rural Thai Buddhism.
Just as a study of rural Buddhist
movements in Thailand would have
provided illuminating dimensions to Dr.
Jackson's analysis of urban Buddhism,
an examination of evangelical, born
again religious movements, and the
activities of "liberation theology" monks
on the international stage would also
have provided additional valued perspective.
Despite certain errors of both omission
and commission, Dr. Jackson has
made a most valuable contribution to
existing scholarship on the interaction
of Buddhism and politics. With exemplary
scholarship and a wealth of detail
hitherto unavailable in English, Dr.
Jackson has delved into the mysteries of
the political dimensions of Thai Buddhism
through careful examination of
the symbiotic relationship of the state
and establishment Buddhism; sectarian
conflict; Buddhist reform movements
and their particularistic religious
thought and practice and composition
of their lay audiences. Dr. Jackson has
developed an intriguing theoretical
framework which enables us to better
understand issues of legitimation and
conflict. While there are obvious difficulties,
recognized by Dr. Jackson as
well, in fitting all his data into his theoretical
construct, Dr. Jackson has performed
a valuable service in providing
us with new insights into the functional
role play of Buddhism. Scholars in this
somewhat arcane field of study will be
in Dr. Jackson's debt for years to come,
and the book under review will certainly
serve as a provocative point of departure
for future academic analysis by both
Thai and western scholarship.
The publisher, the Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies, Singapore is to be
commended for its encouragement of
such research as that represented by Dr.
Jackson's latest book under its "Social
Issues in Southeast Asia" program. If
future research works in this program,
focusing on issues of religion and eth-
nicity, maintain the high academic standard
exemplified by Dr. Jackson, the
academic commUJ.J,ity will continue to be
deeply indebted to ISEAS.
WILLIAM J. KLAUSNER
Chulalongkorn University
Selected Papers on Comparative
Tai Studies by William ]. Gedney.
Edited by ROBERT J. BICK­
NER, JOHN HARTMAN, and
PATCHARIN PEYASANTIWONG.
Michigan Papers on South and Southeast
Asia No. 29, Center for South and
Southeast Asian Studies, The University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 1989. 554 pp.
For many years the work of William
J. Gedney in comparative and historical
Tai, while widely recognized by
everyone in the field, has been limited
in distribution to a relatively few published
articles, and a number of papers
circulated at academic conferences.
Thus it is indeed gratifying to learn that
this volume of Gedney's writings has at
last been made available. In the editors'
brief preface it is made clear that the
quality of Gedney's work is a tribute to
his long and distinguished association
with the mainstream of American linguistic
scholarship, the descriptive and
analytical conventions of which underlie
his approaches to the problems of
comparative Tai.
As with all of Gedney's writing, the
papers contained in this volume are
prudent and devote considerable space
to suggestions for additional study.
Indeed if any criticism could be directed
at Gedney's analytical work, it would be
that it is overly circumspect and often
inconclusive. Such an observation is
perhaps unwarranted, however, because
this particular characteristic of
Gedney's writing has served as a source
of inspiration to his students and epigones,
ever eager to solve the puzzles
which Gedney proposes.
In terms of the present volume, we
are unfortunately not informed by the
editors by what criteria Gedney selected
the writings which appear, nor how the
ordering of the papers was determined.
In the case of the latter, there seems to
be neither rhyme nor reason; the subject
matter has no continuity and the
articles are not presented chronologically.
This is a minor point, but a sequential
or chronological ordering
would have enhanced the book with a
historical coherence useful to those less
familiar with the field of comparative
Tai.
Of greater concern, however, is the
omission of several important Gedney
contributions. There is a lack of either
data oriented papers or descriptive work
on the Central languages, a disconcerting
exclusion for those linguists who
recognize the importance of Gedney's
contributions to the study of these dialects.
Many Central forms are cited in
the other papers, but even the important
analytical insights on Central dialect
diversity which Gedney discusses in his
review of Brown (1965) and in a paper
presented to the Linguistic Society of
America (1966) entitled "Linguistic diversity
among the Tai dialects in southem
Kwangsi," have not been included.
These ellipses are quite unjustifiable,
unless we should be informed that a
second volume is forthcoming. Regrettably,
no clues are offered as to the fate
of these works nor to the remainder of
Gedney's as yet unpublished materials.
The selection of writings which were
included consists of fourteen articles
which fall roughly into the categories of
didacticism, synchronic descriptions,
diachronic analyses, presentations of
lexical data, and Thai literature. I say
roughly because there is naturally much
overlap and these heuristic terms are by
no means discrete.
Into the didactic category I would
place the two article~ entitled "Future
directions in comparative Tai linguistics,"
and "A checklist for determining
tones in Tai." The first and more important
of these takes the form of a set of
fifteen questions which have occurred
to Gedney in the course of his research
to which he proposes answers or approaches
through which answers might
be sought. This work, the closest to a
propadeutic that he has ever produced,
has been circulated in unpublished form
now for many years and is well known
to his students. It has always seemed to
me curious that this particular format
was chosen in which to discuss the most
basic elements of comparative Tai such
as the reconstruction of Proto-Tai (PT)

REVIEWS
85
initial consonants, the PT vocalic system,
the PT tonal system, and questions of
genetic relationships both external and
internal. These are, after all, the fundamentals
of the discipline, and the tentative,
question-and-answer structure of
the discourse reveals a hesitancy and
unwillingness to commit that is certainly
unnecessary for a scholar of Gedney's
stature. It is only when we consider,
those of us who know him as a teacher,
Gedney's devotion to his role as professor,
that the style of this particular piece
becomes intelligible and more stimulating
in its effect.
In addition to the more basic questions
in this paper, several interesting'-'·
peripheral issues are addressed. For
example, "What is the source of final -1
in Saek?" (p. 73). The suggested answer
to this is the possibility of its having been
borrowed at some point as an areal feature
in Sam Neua, because final -1 has
been observed there in free variation
with final-n in Red Tai and Neua. The
basis for the association of Saek with
Sam Neua is the change of the PT
vowel+ high back unrounded glide/ ay I
to/ ee/. Here I think it would be wise to
point out that a large number of Tai
dialects spoken in Khammouan, Xieng
I

86
REVIEWS
more basic areas of the reconstruction
of Proto-Tai. This is simply because
these issues, in order to be meaningful,
would be best approached in relation to
a more comprehensive discourse which
includes the work of other scholars, in
particular Li Fang Kuei and Andre
Haudricourt, and is beyond the scope of
this review. In good Gedneyan tradition,
I will suggest that this task of
comparison become the work of future
analysis.
The second piece which I have
termed didactic describes the Proto-Tai
tone system and lists a number of common
lexical items which may be used to
elicit the tone systems of any Tai dialect.
This is a practical paper, a tool for field
workers, and exemplifies the pragmatic
and common sense aspect of Gedney's
personality which has made him so
valuable as a teacher. In my own studies
I have always reversed the order of
the D tone subcategories, so that the DL
column, consisting of tones on long
vowels and final stops, comes before the
DS column for tones on syllables with
short vowels and final stops. This seems
more logical to me because in my opinion
the DL tones figure more prominently
in overall tonal patterning. My
Lanxangian bias is exposed here too,
since the C and DL columns fall together
in Lao. (Marvin Brown in 1965 was even
more radical because he put the DL column
between the B and C columns due
to the coalescence of B and DL in so
many other Tai dialects. And to confuse
matters even further, Chinese linguists
place what corresponds to Tai C in the
B column and call it B.)
Two of the papers describe the
Northern Branch languages of Saek and
Yay. Although both adhere to the same
design of phonological description and
then classification of the dialect into the
Tai scheme via comparison with extant
historical linguistic analyses by Li and
Haudricourt, in the Saek article Gedney
can scarcely conceal his enthusiasm at
having brought to light this most important
Tai language. The paper abounds
with attestations to Saek's uniqueness,
and with the characteristic suggestions
for further study, most of which have
regrettably never been done. The dictionary
and texts he speaks of were
never published, although I have been
led to believe that these may be forthcoming.
And, while we are deploring
this lack, we should note as well the
dearth of comparable descriptive publications
on the Central dialects of Western
Nung, Lung Ming, Lei Ping, and
others which Gedney utilizes as examples
throughout the volume. In spite
of the fact that this deficiency may be
largely the fault of Gedney himself, the
editors should have seen fit to include
his very interesting paper on the dialect
ofNing Mtng. This might have replaced,
for instance, the more mundane and
dataless piece ot\ ''Special Vocabularies
in Thai," directed at )t)d.cographers and
dealing with the muclt-$t\tdied phenomena
of royal vocabulary, ~inclusion of
which along with the othe't 11\ore substantive
papers is questionable. \
The longer data-oriented artitles on
the Tai languages of Nita (spoken tO \he
north of the Sip Song Pan Na in VU\\~
nan), and White, Black and Red Tai ()(
northern Vietnam, are vintage Gedney.
In their copious volume, lexicography,
and attention to detail they serve to illustrate
Gedney's consummate skill as
a field worker, and his indefatigable
perseverance in obtaining maximum
quantities of consistent data. Once
again, we can only hope that more of the
materials recorded by Gedney on the
lesser-known Tai languages will be
made available soon.
Perhaps Gedney's most daring diachronic
analytical contribution to the
field of Comparative Tai is his paper
entitled, "Evidence for another series of
voiced initials in Proto-Tai." Basing his
evidence on tonal discrepancies between
the Northern and Southern branches
which indicate a conflict between original
voiced and voiceless initials which
would have to be reconstructed as variants,
Gedney proposes the addition of
six new voiced consonants to the Proto­
Tai consonant inventory. The reconstruction
is carried out with great care
and precision and if we accept his premises
there would be little doubt that
Proto-Tai did indeed possess this extra
series.
I see only two weaknesses which
should be investigated further before
accepting the hypothesis, and even these
do not necessarily rule out the proposal.
The first Gedney notes himself, that
there are so few examples of the discrepancies
from which to work. The second
is Gedney's claim that "some, but by no
means all" of the forms are found in
Chinese as well, whereas I find that
practically all of them, at least 80 per
cent, do occur in Chinese. Furthermore,
the Chinese items are almost all voiced,
and occur with the correct tone category,
that is they agree with the Northern
branch of Tai. Whether or not the examples
offered represent lexical borrowing
in one direction or the other, now it
remains to be explained why the Chinese
forms are so regular in their agreement
with Northern Tai while the more
closely related Kam-Sui cognates are
not. Take, for example, the new series
initial *D (p. 241-44), where some study
of Karlgren's (1923) Middle Chinese
reconstructions provides reasonably
unambiguous forms for 13 of the 15
examples provided for Tai. Most of the
Chinese forms begin with initial voiced
palatals. One, the word for 'forest, wild'
(Siamese /thi'an2/) could not be identified
in Karlgren (although it seems to be
an Austronesian word), and another, the
word for 'cup, bowl'(Siamese/thuay~/)
could not be clearly identif~ed. The rest
are as follows (only a NT form will be
provided):
1. 'arrive, reach' NT: Yay /tang 4 /; MC
999 *, z'iang

REVIEWS
87
10. 'to weight or weight down' NT: Yay
/tuang 2 /; MC 1270 *,d'1_wong' (A,B)
'heavy.' (not found inKam-Sui)
-·
11. 'to flood' NT: Po-ai /tum6 / (B), Yay
/tum5 /and/tum6 I (Band C); MC 1081
*ts.!am' (B) (Gedney notes confusion on
tones for this particular item. The Chinese
form here is voiceless.) (Be I tSam
B or C voiceless/- Hansell (1988: 278)
notes that this initial affricate occurs
mainly in Chinese loans.)
12. 'young male (animal)' NT: Yay 1
tak 1 /; MC 81 ~d'ak 'bull, sacrificial animal.'
(Ai Cham /tak D voiced/)
13. 'hit, correct,' NT: Yay /tik1/;MC865
* d'z" .!a'< d' '-g or *d'z"iak

88
REVIEWS
the most important stories in the collection,
that of Cheuang. This is a crucial
difference and I would implore the editors
to continue this trend and provide
us with even more of the original language
in subsequent publications. For
serious students of Southeast Asia in a
great many disciplines .it is vitally necessary
that we have texts in the Khmu
language as well as in translation.
The tales found in Volumes III and
IV are divided into 17 types, of which
types 2, 3, 4, and 7 are represented in
Volume IV: Cheuang tales, tales of the
deverman,l\Jaarstories, and tales of wonder
respectively. The matter of classification
is discussed in Vol III, but the criteria
utilized for each category are somewhat
vague and perhaps overly reliant on the
Stith Thompson Index. It would be refreshing
to see a system built up independently
and internally from Asian
motifs first before being compared to the
"universal" one. For example, it seems
to me that Buanoy (otherwise known in
Laos as Khoun Lou-Nang Oua) belongs
to a cycle of myths extant in southern
China since at least the Han dynasty,
while the Cheuang tales belong to a
myth cycle indigenous to Southeast
Asia. Both are very ancient and widespread
in East and Southeast Asia, and
like other tales already classified as
myths in Vol III, such as the flood, they
are found in more than one ethnolinguistic
setting, not confined to Khmu or
even to the Austroasiatic family. I
would therefore prefer to classify these
as myths rather than as other types of
tales. Perhaps the editors have in mind
a Levi-Straussian evolution from myth
to fiction, or perhaps there is a folklore
definition of which we are not informed.
This is not clear.
But indeed, this is part of the great
pleasure one finds when reading these
tales-the recognition of so many common
themes and motifs suitable for
comparative analysis, helping to piece
together the multi-ethnic mythological
puzzles that abound in Southeast Asia.
The story of Buanoy is a good case in
point. Although the editors have chosen
to regard it as a variation of the swan
maiden tales, it has closer relations with
the cycle of myths known as The Cowherd
and the Weaver-girl (Levy 1984),
myths of the origins of silk production
which I have related to the Khoun Lou­
Nang Oua legends found among the Tai
speakers of Laos, the Sip Song Chou Tai,
and northeastern Thailand (1984). But
in addition, the second half of the tale,
after the two lovers have ascended to
heaven, resembles more closely the
Hmong tales of Niam Nkauj Zuag Paj
(cf. Johnson 1985).
The correspondences with the Lao
versions are fascinating, both for the
common motifs and for the common
style of presentation. Common motifs,
for example, would include: riding
horses, the suicide on the ficus tree (a
Southeast Asian counterpart of the Chh
nese mulberry which is associated with
human sacrifice which becomes the cinnamon
in Lao probably through a semantic
and phonological shift from
Chinese /sang/ to Lao /cuang/), the
crow and the cock (the Chinese black
sun-bird, a role played by either the cock
or the raven, cf. Chamberlain 1989),
Khoun Lou's being the only one able to
recover the body, Khoun Lou's suicide
while the mother is under the house,
Khoun Lou's blood which is equivalent
to the mother's red silk dye in the Lao
version, the flute (here the Lao versions,
such as the one recorded by Charuwan
(2522), as in several places throughout
the Lao and Khmu versions, employs
stock rhymed passages, such as:
n00ng2 pay k00n 1 si? aw pii kap
khEEn
?aay pay lun Hay ?aw VEEn kap
cOOng
pay? eez nooz ?efil nOOng2 Theng
faa 2 maay 1 kan
"If (I) go first I'll take a flute and
pipes,
If you go after take a mirror and
parasol [sometimes comb and hair ornaments],
So that our praises will be sung in
the sky."),
the bananas, Khoun Lou's spotted clothing
in the Khmu version which is
equivalent to the mother's spotted silk
dye in the Lao version (caused by Khoun
Lou's death throes), and the spinning of
the thread to return from heaven to earth
which is equivalent to the silk thread in
the Lao version by which Nang Oua
hangs herself. As Levy (1984 : 120)
remarks, "Weaving is the result of the
separation of heaven and earth ... "
The Cheuang tale presented here is
equally as engrossing for Southeast
Asianists both for its innate value to
Khmu studies as well as its contribution
to the rapidly expanding collection of
materials of this type. The guise of
Cheuang in this particular tale is that of
Nli Kraan. The first syllable appears to
be the Chinese and Tai alternative word
for the number 'two' or 'second.' The
name occurs associated with Cheuang
in many places such as Tlmo Nii Baa
Chiang, the title of a manuscript found
in Loei Province (Danuphol2523); Thao
Nhi, frequently substituted for Cheuang
in the Lao epic; or the Khmu leader of
the Kha rebellion in Houa Phanh and
Thanh Hoa provinces who styled himself
Phagna Thao Nhi (Robequain 1929).
Elsewhere, Cheuang is the last child, as
in the Black Tai chronicles and in the
Luang Prabang version called Nithan
Praya Cu 'ong Lun. I suspect that this may
imply an ancient system of kingship or
leadership based on secundo- or ultimogeniture,
perhaps due to the practice of
firstling sacrifice like that described by
Eberhard (1967 : 134-9). This practice
occurred, Eberhard suggests, especially
in the ancient state of Ch'u because the
northern Chinese laws did not recognize
southern marriage customs where the
first-born child was not usually the offspring
of the husband. And thus the
rebellious connotations of Cheuang may
be due in part to such north-south conflicts.
The second syllable of the name,
Kraan, like the Lao word, means 'lazy,'
apparently to distinguish it from other
Cheuang tales originating from a separate
traditional context.
A similar tale translated by Ferlus
(1979) was told by a Khmu man from
the district of Muang Khoa on the upper
Ou river in southern Phongsaly
Province. There is thus ample material

REVIEWS
89
now for a close comparative study of the
two versions, which differ considerably.
Many of the details in this tale are
ripe for interpretation. For example, Ay
Khun Luu is probably not a historical
.figure as suggested on page 34, but
rather represents a confusion of old
mythological traditions between Khoun
Lou-Nang Oua (Buanoy in the present
volume) and Cheuang. A reverse instance
of this occurs in the Lao epic
where one of Cheuang's wives is named
Nang Oua. Outside the context of these
two traditions, the names do not occur
in Laos, but the best illustration of the
confusion is in the Meuang story called
'The Flowery Garden of the Mountain
of Death,' where the Meuang character
is called "Ong Cun Chuang Ly Wi
Thang" (cf. Nguyen Tu Chi 1971). Furthermore,
the flower motif calls to mind
the orchids of the Kam Meuang (Lanna)
version presented in Archaimbault
(1961) or the Cantonese Golden Orchid
Clubs for girls who refused to marry and
committed suicide if they were forced
(Eberhard 136).
Other interesting information is provided
in great profusion: how the bamboo
rat got his puffy eyes from crying
for his jew's harp; how dragons arise
from the mixing of horse and elephant
urines (the horse is a Chinese motif
while the elephant is Southeast Asian);
and how Cheuang's magic knife was
transformed into his famous sword
after his angry mother "put it in her arse
and whirled it in the direction of the
rising sun" [although it is not clear from
the English translation whether the
whirling was performed before or after
the knife is withdrawn from her arse, the
Khmu original text implies (fortunately)
the latter].
It is not clear whether the so-called
historical section of the tale is part of the
original or was a recent addition inspired
by the Lao versions. In both the
present tale and in the version recorded
by Ferlus, Cheuang becomes the lord of
the realm, but the enemies are identified
only in the Ferlus version where they are
called the army of "Blind Keos" (Vietnamese).
Another feature of the Ferlus
version, not occurring elsewhere so far
as I know, is the theme of the gibbons
cutting down the banyan in heaven,
similar to the creation myths of the Tais
in Vietnam but without the gibbons, that
is, world-tree myths frequently combined
with grain origin myths, but in
Formosa, the Philippines, and Indonesia,
associated with the origin of monkeys
(cf. Levy 124-128). Origin myths
are also regularly linked with Austroasiatic
Cheuangs as well like the tale of
the Stieng (Chamberlain 1986), elements
of which are found in the Cheuang of
the present volume when the magic
knife-cum-sword cuts down all of the
trees, clearing the area like a swidden
field, or when Cheuang establishes his
domain by cutting up the serpent.
While reiterating the need for the
inclusion of the original Khmu texts as
well as the translations, it must be concluded
that the SIAS series on Khmu oral
literature is of enormous value to the
study of all aspects of Southeast Asia,
not only for their insights into Khmu
language and culture and to the field of
folklore generally, but because the
Khmu, ranging over so much of the
northern mainland, have become a repository
for much that has been lost or
ignored in other literate cultures. We are
greatly indebted to the editors of this
series for their perseverance in continuing
to make this information available.
JAMES R. CHAMBERLAIN
cfo The Siam Society
REFERENCES
ARCHAIMBAULT, CHARLES. 1961. Le
cycle de Nang Oua-Nang Malong et
son substrat sociologique. France­
Asie 170. nov-dec.
CHAMBERLAIN, JAMES R. 1984. The
god of spring and the mulberry girl.
Srinakharinwirot Journal, Mahasarakham
3.2.111-145.
__. 1986. Remarks on the origins of
Thao Hung or Cheuang, in Papers
from a conference on Thai studies in
honor of William]. Gedney, eds. Robert
Bickner, Thomas Hudak, and
Pacharin Peyasantiwong. Center for
South and Southeast Asian Studies,
University of Michigar...
--. 1989. Heavenly Questions. Documents
for the conference on Tai folklore.
Chulalongkorn University, Thai
Studies Institute.
CHARUV AN THAMMA VATR. 2522. vi?
khro? nithaan chaaw baan ?iisaan caak
saam muu baan. Srinakharinwirot
University, Mahasarakham.
DANUPHOL CHA YASIND and THONG­
SUK CHARUMETHICHON. 2523.
thaaw nii baa ciimg. Loei Teacher
Training College.
EBERHARD, WOLFRAM. 1968. The local
cultures of south and east China. Leiden:
E.J. Brill.
FERLUS, MICHEL. 1979. Le recit Khamou
de Chuang et ses implications
historiques pour le Nord-Laos. Asie
du Sud-Est et Monde Insulindien X. 2-
4.327-365.
LEVY, JEAN. 1984. Dong Yong le fils
pieux et le mythe formosan de l'origine
des singes. Journal Asiatique
CCLXXII. 1-2. 83-132.
NGUYEN TU CHI. 1971. Croquis Muong.
Etudes Vietnamiennes 7.32.55-161.
ROBEQUAIN,CHARLES. 1929. LeThanh
Hoa. 2 vols. Publications de !'Ecole
Franc;aise d' Extreme Orient, no. 23.
Paris, Brussels: L'Ecole Franc;aise.
Comparative Kadai: Linguistic
Studies Beyond Tai. Eds.
JEROLD A. EDMONDSON and
DAVID B. SOLNIT. Summer Institute
of Linguistics and The University of
Texas at Arlington. 1988. 374 pp.
For those readers unfamiliar with the
various proposals concerning the wider
genetic affiliations of the Tai linguistic
family, the title of this book will appear
enigmatic. In fact, the term Kadai has
been around since the early 1940's when
Paul Benedict first applied it to include
a group of lesser-known languages
widely separated from each other in the
southern Chinese provinces of
Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hainan, and in

90
REVIEWS
northern Vietnam. According to the
editors' introduction, this volume of
collected papers is the result of a project
to publish linguistic studies on the Kam­
Sui languages, information on which is
becoming more readily available due to
the efforts of Chinese scholars and outside
linguists being allowed to carry out
research in the PRC.
As the papers included focus primarily
on the Kam-Sui languages, the title
of the publication is slightly deceptive
for those of us who hoped to see more
data revealed on the lesser-known languages
of Gelao, Lati, Laqua, and Laha
(these last two, lumped together by the
editors, I prefer to keep separate until
seeing more evidence since the geographical
locations are quite distinct).
One paper does treat in considerable
detail the dialects of Li (called Hlai in
this volume), but the lack of inclusion
of Gelao, for which Chinese sources are
available (1983),or Laha, which has been
studied by Soviet linguists (1986), is
disappointing. It also tends to invalidate
the editors' attempts to redefine the
term Kadai since the same gaps in data
still exist in this volume. The proposed
circumlocution of 'extra-Tai Kadai'
which is broken down into Kam-Sui and
'others,' is awkward and confusing, and
until conclusive evidence is forthcoming,
it is less ambiguous to continue to
refer to Li, Laha, Laqua, Lati, and Gelao
as Kadai, and the hypothetical broader
grouping as Tai-Kadai.
Other obstacles in the form of suggested
usage are likewise planted
throughout the introduction in an apparent
attempt to establish formalisms
where none are called for. The substitution
of Han for Chinese, especially in
diachronically oriented studies, is immediately
ambiguous with the Han
dynasty. (The Chinese of the Han period
would, I assume, become the Han
Han.) In a perverse rearrangement of
the Proto-Tai tonal categories from ABC
to ACB, the editors have sought to place
the Tai and Kam-Sui languages into the
Chinese frame of reference rather than
that of Tai. This not only reeks of Chinese
chauvinism and calls to mind earlier
distinctions between Chinese and
barbarian, it will no doubt rankle the
majority readership whose orientation
will be mainly Tai because it violates the
integrity of a long-established and accepted
tradition set up by Li Fang Kuei,
the pioneer in the study of the relationship
between Kam-Sui and Tai, to
whom, ironically, the volume is dedicated.
This is not to say that some regul~rization
of the tonal recording is not
desirable, only that the regularization
should have been in the direction of Tai,
not Chinese. In promulgating this superficial
Sinicization, the editors have
perpetrated their own miniature cultural
revolution, seeking, no doubt, the domestication
of the unruly south, and
since publications of this kind appear so
rarely its effects will surely remain with
us for a long time to come.
Irksome as these aspects of the publication
may be, however, it nevertheless
contains much that is of value, particularly
in the Chinese articles made
available to non-Chinese readers, and in
the diachronic analyses offered which
treat reconstruction and classification.
Also, the maps showing the locations of
the languages mentioned in the southern
Chinese provinces of Guizhou,
Guangxi, Hunan and Hainan are carefully
drawn and extremely useful.
The Chinese articles are particularly
interesting for the new data which they
present. Shi and Cui's study of the hitherto
unrecorded Ai-Cham confirms that
this language is a Kam-Sui dialect most
closely related to Mak as was suggested
by Li Fang Kuei in 1943. Other Chinese
contributions include papers on Kam,
Mak, Mulam and Kam-Sui generally.
Classification of the Kam-Sui languages
and the relative positions of
Lakkia and Be are addressed in several
articles in the volume as well. The conclusion,
based mainly on lexical evidence,
is that Be is closer to Tai (Hansell),
while Lakkia is closer to Kam-Sui
(Solnit), although Thurgood's study
places Be apart from both Kam-Sui and
Tai.
Only the paper by Matisoff on the
reconstruction of Proto-Hlai (Li) tones
and initial consonants concerns true
Kadai dialects, that is, those languages
most remote from Tai or Kam-Sui. Nine
Hlai dialects are included from the work
of Ouyang Jueya and Zheng Yiqing. A
first look at the reconstructed initials
reminds one of Miao-Yao with its prenasalization
and lack of voiced stops.
However, despite the rather erratic inclusion
of the relevant Tai forms which
wanes as we work through the text, or
the confusion of Siamese 'sky-cock'
('heavenly chicken') with Hlai 'pheasant'
on p. 294, the proximity to Tai revealed
here is remarkable.
The volume concludes with a final
comment, "Kadai Linguistics: the Rules
of Engagement," by Paul Benedict, providing
guidelines and words of caution
to those who would wish to become
involved in this hazardous field.
Thus, although the overly Sinicized
editing of this book is regrettable, it must
ultimately be judged a valuable contribution
to the field of Tai-Kadai linguistics
and to the realm of Southeast Asian
studies generally.
JAMES R. CHAMBERLAIN
cfo The Siam Society

INDEX TO THE SIAM SOCIETY
NEWSLETTER 198.5-1989
MICHAEL SMITHIES
The Siam Society Newsletter was published quarterly from March
1985 until and including March 1989, when it was decided that
its contents resembled too closely the long-established Journal
of the Siam Society and its format was changed. This list of all
articles which appeared in the old-style Newsletter has been
compiled by one of its former editors, Michael Smithies.
ANOTHAI NANTITAT
CONTENTS
Ngob, a traditional Thai hat
(3/4: 27-28)
The secret of Kong Khao (3 I
1:15)
Pong-lang (411: 27-28)
ARCHAMBAULT, MICHELE The textiles of Bhutan (213:
17-22)
BARBETTI, MIKE
BENNETT, ANNA
see Hein, Don
BLEYERVELD-V AN'T HOOFf, ELISABETH
BOISSELIER, JEAN
CHAIYUDH KHANT APRAB
Prehistoric smelting and
metal working in the Chao
Phya Basin (313: 3-5)
Bronze metallurgy in Southeast
Asia in the first
millenium B.C. (511: 21-25)
The Dutch presence in Siam
(312: 6-11)
The symbolism of Angkor
Thorn (411: 2-5)
The symbolism of Neak
Pean and its importance for
the Angkorean monarchy
(414: 3-7)
The geology of Thailand, a
perspective (211: 7-12)
CHAMBERLAIN, JAMES R. The Tai languages: their
history and origin, reported
by James Di Crocco (211: 5-
6)
CHEN LUFAN
Kublai Khan's conquest of
the Dali kingdom and the
COX, BELINDA STEWART
DAVIS, BONNIE
migration of the Thai people (4 I 4: 19-
23)
The green peacock project in Thailand
(314: 13-17)
Hamilton King and the King family
in Siam (312: 1-6)
Governess and storyteller, the many
faces of Anna Leonowens (1 13: 14-
16)
Phya Anuman Rajadhon: a scholar
for all people (414: 2-3)
Lieutenant General Phya Salwithan
Nithes, gentleman of many seasons
(413: 2-4)
DI CROCCO, JAMES V. see Chamberlain, James R.
D1 CROCCO, VIRGINIA M.
Tha Kae: bulldozing Thailand's history
(313: 11-13)
Finds of 8-11 th c. Persian-type ceramics
and metal artifact in central
and northern Thailand (313: 13)
Excavations reveal Dvaravati period
sites in Lopburi (313: 13-14)
U Bokay, In memoriam (511: 27)
A case for the Lawa (413: 19-21)
DI CROCCO, VIRGINIA M. AND DORIS SCHULTZ.
DUMARC::A Y, JACQUES
EUAYPORN KERDCHOUA Y
GOSLING, BETTY
GRAVE, PETER
Burmese Mon tin-glazed wares in the
Tak finds and influences from the
Middle East (114: 6-13)
Obituary: B. P. Groslier, with bibliography
(411: 28-33)
see Kaset Pitakpaivan
On Michael Vickery's "From Lamphun
to Inscription No. 2" (411: 5-7)
see Hein, Don

92 MICHAEL SMITHIES
HEIN, DON
--AND MIKE BARBETTI
--,MIKE BARBETTI AND PETER GRAVE
"Bullet" coins excavated at Sisatchanalai
(313: 5-11)
Thoughts on the hypothetical and
evidential origins of the ceramic industry
at Sisatchanalai, Thailand (3 I
4: 10-13)
Inhumation burials at Sisatchanalai
(412: 12-15)
Sisatchanalai and the development of
glazed stoneware in Southeast Asia
(413: 8-18)
Southeast Asian ceramics: the Burmese
contribution? (511: 8-19)
HENNING, DANIEL H. The environment movement: values,
politics, problems and directions (41
4: 24-25)
HUGHES, CLIVE see also Rau, Jon L.
HUGHES, CLIVE AND JON L. RAU
ISHII, YONEO
JUMPOL CHUTIMA
Thirteenth-fifteenth century ceramic
discoveries in western Thailand (21
1: 1-5)
Thai-Japanese relations in the premodern
period (412: 7-12)
see Kham Ga-wai
KASET PITAKPAIV AN AND EUA YPORN KERDCHOUA Y
The in situ stone carving of Si Khiu
(114: 13-14)
see also Prinya Nutalaya
KHAM GA-WAI AND JUMPOL CHUTIMA
A Kwan chanting ceremony (314: 9-
10)
KINGSHILL, KONRAD, PRASERT BHANDHACHAT AND
RONALD D. RENAND
LEPSCHY, A.L.
MA YUREE VIRAPRASERT
NAIPANHLA
The Red Tomb, thirty years later: a
follow-up study on development of
a northern Thai village (Ku Daeng)
1954-1988 (212: 1-3)
Review of The Discourses at Versailles
... (21 4: 26)
Terracotta Buddhist votive tablets
bearing Mon inscriptions found at
Nadun, Mahasarakham, Northeastern
Thailand (511: 5-7)
Some new discoveries concerning
Mon studies in Thailand (511: 2-4)
PATANACHAI JAY ANT, M.R.
PENTH,HANS
PHIRAK CHA V ANAGRIENGRAI
PIRIYA KRAIRIKSH
PRASERT BHANDHACHAT
PRINYA NUT ALA YA
Personal reflections on King Chulalongkorn
and his contemporaries (1 I
1: 1-3)
New evidence from LanNa concerning
the development of early Thai
letters and Buddha images (1 13: 37)
On the history of Thai scripts (214:
2-4)
The city of Muang Phan (413: 6-7)
A European building of the Ayutthaya
period at Pichit (413: 7-8)
New evidence from LanNa concerning
the development of early Thai
letters and Buddha images, with
comments 013: 8-14)
see Kingshill, Konrad
RAU, JON L. AND CLIVE HUGHES
The subsidence of Bangkok, reported
by Kaset Pitakpaivan (214: 8-11)
Significance of 13th-15th century
ceramics and other artifacts in upland
burial sites of the Tak-Mae Sot -
Umphang region, western Thailand
(112: 1-21)
see also Hughes, Clive
RENAND, RONALD A. see Kingshill, Konrad
ROONEY, DAWN F.
SCHULZ, DORIS
SCRIBNER, DAVID
SHAW, JOHN C.
SOMCHAI ANUMAN RAJADHON
SMITHIES, MICHAEL
A new look at Khmer ceramics, based
on recent finds in Thailand (213: 14-
17)
see Di Crocco, Virginia M.
In memoriam Lucien M.
anthropologist (511: 26)
Hanks,
Review article of Rau and Hughes (1 I
3: 1-3)
The kilns of LanNa and the Tak hilltop
burial sites (213: 1-13)
An alternative theory to account for
the development of glazed stoneware
in Southeast Asia (414: 25-27)
Phya Anuman Rajadhon (314: 4-9)
The ladies at Versailles on 1st September
1686: a note on the Coysevox
bronze (212: 3-7)

NEWSLEITER INDEX 93
The Siam Society and the Oriental
Hotel (212: 11-12)
James Low (1791-1852) and Siam (31
1: 6-11)
Obituary: JohnBlofeld 1913-1987(31
3: 17-18)
The Siam Society: an early record (3 I
4: 16-17)
THAN, U KYA W The last lord of the sunrise (1 13: 15-
19)
VICKERY, MICHAEL
VILLIERS, JOHN
Some new evidence for the cultural
history of central Thailand (21 4: 4-6)
From Lamphun to Inscription No. 2
(311: 2-6)
The British Institute in South-East
Asia, 1976-86 (212: 7-9)
WHITE, JOYCE Ban Chiang lecture (3 13: 1-2)
WRIGHT, MICHAEL Where was Sri Vijaya? Another
approach (111: 4-12)
REPORTS ON SOCIETY STUDY TRIPS
AND EVENTS
ANON. Report of a tour to Phetchaburi (3 I 4:
28)
BLACKBURN, PAUL
BROCKELMAN, WARREN Y.
CHIRIE VORA V ARN, M.R.
CHUSIRI CHAMORAMAN
Report on a trip to Ayutthaya (411:
13-15)
Report on a trip to Lampang, Lampoon
and Chiangmai, with a Note on
Lanna History (411: 15-19)
Report on a trip to Nakorn Srithammaraj,
Satingpra and Songkhla, with
a note on the history of Nakorn
Srithammaraj and Songkhla (411: 19-
21)
The Siam Society Symposium in
Chiang Mai (3 I 4: 1-4)
Trekkers explore forest near Khao
Yai (112: 22-24)
Study trip to Kashmir and Ladakh
(414: 7-17)
The Phi-ta-khon festival at Dan Sai
(414: 18-19)
DI CROCCO, JAMES V. Dunhuang Institute welcomes cooperation
with scholars in Thailand (41
3: 4-6)
GAL YANI V AD HAN A, H.R.H. PRINCESS
Address to the Society (1 I 4: 1-2)
KASET PIT AKP AIV AN The Siam Society in search of Halley's
comet (212: 12-13)
MUSCAT, JULIE'ITE
NISA SHENAKUL
RAIKES, DACRE
A geological note on Doi Chiang Dao
(411: 24-25)
The green and timeless world of
Phuket (411: 25-26)
Natural history note on the Three
Pagodas Pass tour (412: 17-18)
'Report on a visit to Chao Mai National
Park in the Andaman Sea (41
2: 18-19)
Excursion to Ko Taenai, Ko Tao and
Ko Nang Yuan (311: 12)
Excursion to Bhutan, July 11-12, 1987
(314: 22-26)
Exhibition of Sin Jok textiles (212: 9-
10)
The National Heritage Preservation
Committee in Lopburi (313: 14-15)
Raising a new house post (411: 8-
10)
Esarn Patana (411: 21-23)
SIDHIJAI TANPHIPHATReport on a tour to Chaiya etc (212:
13)
The proposed Nam Choan Dam (41
1: 10-12)
SMITHIES, MICHAEL Trip to the north: Nan etc (213: 22-
23)
STENT, JAMES
TATE, WILLIAM B.
Trip to the south: Surat etc (213: 23-
24)
Trip to Lopburi (313: 15-16)
Report on a trip to the Three Pagodas
Pass (412: 15-17)
Chinese journeys (1 I 4: 2-6)
Siam Society excursion to the Northeast
(413: 18)
YOUNG, PATRICIA M. The Siam Society tour to Central Java
and Bali, April1987 (312: 11-20)
The Siam Society tour to three old
citiesofSiam(314: 17-21)

PUBLICATIONS
OF
THE SIAM SOCIETY
GENERAL
1. Culture and Environment in Thailand, 1988 ............................ .
2. Pimsai Amranand, Gardening in Bangkok, 2nd ed., 1976, ill.
3. Prince Dhani Nivat, Collected Articles, 1976 (reprint of the
1969 edition), 194 pp., ill.. ............................................................ .
Baht
M/NM
120/150
80/100
80/100
Prices
US$
M/NM
9/13
5/7
6/8
ARTS AND CULTURE
1. The Siamese Theatre, edited by Mattani Rutnin, 1975,291
pp., ill ........................................................................................ .
2. Thai Pottery and Ceramics, Collected Articles, 300 pp., ill ..
HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
1. Blofeld, John, King Maha Mongkut of Siam, 2nd ed., 1987,
97pp., ill .................................................................................... .
2. Caron, Fran~ois and Schouten, Joost, A True Description of
the Mighty Kingdom of Japan and Siam, 1987, ill ................ .
3. Chou Ta Kuan, The Customs of Cambodia, 1987,52 pp., ill .. .
4. The Discourses at Versailles of the First Siamese Ambassadors
to France, 1686-7,1986,96 pp., ill .................................... .
5. Early Accounts of Phetchburi, Collected articles, 1987,90
pp., ill ......................................................................................... .
6. The Kingdom of Siam, 1904, edited by Carter, Cecil A., 1988,
280 pp., ill ..................................................................................... .
7. de Beauvoir, Marquis, A Week in Siam, 1867,1986,91 pp.,
ill .................................................................................................... .
8. Old Phuket, Collected Articles, 188 pp ..................................... .
9. M.R. Seni Pramoj and M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, A King of Siam
Speaks: The Writings of King Mongkut, 1987,242 pp., ill ....
96/120
300/360
145/180
150/190
210/265
120/150
135/170
250/300
90/100
150/190
300/350
6.50/9
15/21
7.50/11
7.50/11
10/14
6/9
7/10
13/18
5/7
7/11
13/18
SOCIOLOGY AND RELIGION
1. Blofeld,John, The World of Buddhism: A Pictorial Presentation,
1980, 62 pp., ill.................................................................. 80/100 5/7
2. Gerini, G.E., Chulakantamangala: The Tonsure Ceremony as
Performed in Siam, 2nd ed., 1976,243 pp ................................................ 80/100 5/7
3. Klausner, WilliamJ., Reflections on Thai Culture (3rd edition),
1987,387 pp., ill................................................................... 200/250 10/14
4. The Mons, Collected Articles, 1986,82 pp................................. 100/120 6/8

5. Moutin, Jean, 55 Chants d' Amour Hmong Blanc, 1980, 173
pp ..................................................................................................... 80/100 5/7
6. Jackson, Peter, Buddhadasa: A Buddhist Thinker for the
Modem World, 1988,354 pp ........................................................ 250/300 14/16
ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE
1. The Archaeology of Peninsular Siam, Collected Articles,
1986, 163 pp., ill .............................................................................. 200/250 10/14
2. Black, John, The Lofty Sanctuary of Khao Phra Vihar, 1976,
88 pp., ill .......................................................................................... 56/70 4/6
3. Krug, Sonia and Duboff, Shirley. The Kamthieng House,
1982, 100 pp., ill .............................................................................. 200/250 9/13
4. Matics, Kathleen 1 .. A History of Wat Phra Chetupon and Its
Buddha Images, 1979,71 pp., ill .................................................... 72/90 5/7
5. Narumit, Sirichai, Old Bridges of Bangkok, 1977,176 pp.,
ill ......................................................................................................... 120/150 7/10
M =Member NM =Non-Member
Please include 15 Baht per copy for postage and wrapping charges for all destinations in Thailand.
Prices in U.S.$ include postage by surface mail. Requests for a complete list of publications as well as orders
and inquiries should be addressed to the Administrative Secretary, The Siam Society, 131 Sukhumvit 21, Soi
Asoke, Bangkok 10110, Thailand.

Recent Siarn Society
Publications
~6l'l~'l~f161b

BUDDHADASA: A BUDDHIST THINKER
FOR THE MODERN WORLD
Dr. Peter jackson's book is ind ispensable for understanding
how Buddhism ca n approach the modern world .
Buddhasa is one of the leading contemporary Buddhist
thinkers of Thailand. The 82-year-old scholar-monk has undertaken
a thorough reexamination of the literature and principles
of Theravada Buddhism with the aim of making the religion
accessible to the layman and relevant to the problems of the
modern world.
Dr. Jackson has most recently been Australia ASEAN
Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in
Singa pore.
Members US$ 14, Non-members US $16
THE SIAM SOCIETY UNDER FIVE REIGNS
Written by Mrs. Bonnie Davis, a Member of the Council
and long-time Member of the Society, the book tells the history
of the first 84 years (or 7 cycles) of the Siam Society; the problems
and successes, early lectures and study trips, the difficult years
of two World Wars, and the people who had a part in the Society
during all those years. The history of the country also had its
effect on The Siam Society and its own history. Mrs. Davis tells
the Siam Society story with a keen eye for the events and local
color of the contemporary Thai scene. The Siam Society has
been honored by Royal Patronage since its inception, and has
been helped and encouraged through all the years by the advice
and support of its Royal Patrons and Vice-Patrons.
Members and Non -members US$ 10

THE SIAM SOCIETY
UNDER ROYAL PATRONAGE
The Siam Society was founded in 1904, under royal patronage, as an organization for those
interested in the artistic, scientific and other cultural affairs of Thailand and neighbouring countries.
The Society maintains an excellent Library which is at the disposal of Members. The Society
publishes The Journal of the Siam Society and The Siam Society Newsletter in addition to occasional
works of topical interest and scholarly merit. The Society sponsors a programme of.lectures and
artistic performances, and regularly conducts study trips to places of archaeological and cultural
interest in Thailand and abroad. Activities and events of the Society are reported in the Newsletter
and special circulars of the Society. The Kamthieng House, an ethnological museum on the grounds
of the Society's home, provides an example of a traditional northern Thai house with artefacts of
rural life and superb collections of woven materials and wood carvings. The Saengaroon House is
a new addition to the Society's compound. A typical house of central Thailand, it too is open to the
public.
The Natural History Section of the Siam Society, which was organized in 1913, sponsors its
own programme of lectures and study trips to places of natural interest, and concerns itself with the
conservation of Thai wildlife and flora. The Natural History Section publishes the annual Natural
History Bulletin of the Siam Society as well as aperiodic works of scientific interest.
MEMBERSHIP
The Society welcomes new Members, resident in Thailand or abroad, on the following bases:
Life Member
Ordinary Member
Student Member
10,000 baht (US$ 500. )
800 baht (US$ 40. )
50 baht (US$ 2.50)
Both Life Members and Ordinary Members receive the Society's Journal, the Natural History
Bulletin, and the Newsletter, and discounts on all publications, study trips and performances, as well
as the right to vote at the Society's Annual General Meeting. In addition, all members resident in
Thailand receive the Annual Report of the Siam Society, which is issued in advance of the Annual
General Meeting, and special circulars.
Student Member is a special category for Thai students only and carries the same privileges
as Ordinary Member but without the right to vote at the Annual General Meeting or to receive the
Society's Journal, Newsletter, Natural History Bulletin and circulars.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscriptions to the Journal of the Siam Society and the Natural History Bulletin are available
independently at the following rates:
The Journal of the Siam Society, 500 baht (US$ 25) per year
The Natural History Bulletin, 300 baht (US$ 15) per year
APPLICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
Applications for membership, subscriptions or further information on the Society are
welcome. Please contact Mr. Euayporn Kerdchouay, Administrative Secretary, The Siam Society,
131 Soi Asoke, Sukhumvit 21, Bangkok 10110, Thailand.

Tlte Journal of tlte Siam Society welcomes all original articles and reviews of a scholarly nature
and in conformity with the principles and objectives to the Society.
Contributed manuscripts (accepted in Thai, English, French or German) should be typed
double-spaced on quarto paper (approximately 21 x 30 em), 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
series (where applicable), date and place of publication (or nature of reference, if unpublished),
and pagination (where appropriate). Contributors should include their institutional affiliation,
fields of special interest, and titles of their chief publications in a brief biographical sketch. The
Siam Society has selected The Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition, 1982, as its stylistic guide.
However, rather than impose at this time rigid standardization of such variables as transliterations,
referencing, etc., we are, in general, publishing such elements in the way they are employed by
our contributors. Page-proofs of articles and review articles are sent to authors on request only.
Originals of illustrations will be returned on request. Authors of published contributions receive
extra copies of the JSS free of charge. Additional copies will be supplied at cost price.
The Siam Society encourages readers to communicate comments, corrections, supplementary
data or differing opinions to the Honorary Editor regarding materials which appear in the JSS.
Suitably documented correspondence will be published under "Communications," bearing the
writer's name.
The opinions expressed in the JSS are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent
the views of the Siam Society.
Manuscripts, books for review, and all correspondence should be sent to the Honorary Editor,
Tlte Journal of tlte Siam Society, 131 Soi Asoke, Sukhumvit 21, Bangkok 10110, Thailand. Subscription
and membership enquiries and orders for publications should be addressed to the Administrative
Secretary, The Siam Society, 131 Soi Asoke, Sukhumvit 21, Bangkok 10110, Thailand.
Exchange copies of periodicals should be sent to the Honorary Librarian, The Siam Society,
G.P.O. Box 65, Bangkok 10501, Thailand.