12.07.2015 Views

The Wall Paintings at Wat Thung Sri Muang in Ubon Ratchathani

The Wall Paintings at Wat Thung Sri Muang in Ubon Ratchathani

The Wall Paintings at Wat Thung Sri Muang in Ubon Ratchathani

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Polson93I. Establish<strong>in</strong>g the sp<strong>at</strong>ial context - time and place: a) d<strong>at</strong><strong>in</strong>g the muralsMost of the murals <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> d<strong>at</strong>e to the time of the first abbot, ChaoKhun Phra Ariyawongsajarn (a.1840s -1881). <strong>The</strong> construction of wh<strong>at</strong> would becomethe sim 10 was begun <strong>in</strong> the early 1850s, and the murals, by necessity, must have beenone of the last projects completed. We also know from studies of other places th<strong>at</strong> itwould have taken a long time to cre<strong>at</strong>e them, usually many years. It is unlikely th<strong>at</strong> themurals were produced after the founder’s de<strong>at</strong>h <strong>in</strong> 1881 because we know th<strong>at</strong> thesecond abbot, Phra Khru Wirotr<strong>at</strong>anobon (a.1881 – 1942) <strong>in</strong>stalled the large woodenframe <strong>in</strong>side the sim <strong>in</strong> an <strong>at</strong>tempt to stabilise the build<strong>in</strong>g, a repair th<strong>at</strong> took priorityover decor<strong>at</strong>ion.Figure 1: Evidence for d<strong>at</strong><strong>in</strong>g, the post completely obscures the palace and the central action of the story,the pr<strong>in</strong>ce leav<strong>in</strong>g the palace.10 <strong>The</strong> first def<strong>in</strong>itive works on the religious art and architecture of Khor<strong>at</strong> Pl<strong>at</strong>eau were done by WirotSisuro and Phairot Samoson. Wirot Sisuro, Sim Isan = Isan Sim: Northeast Buddhist Holy Temples (Krung<strong>The</strong>p: Munnithi Toy<strong>at</strong>a, 1993); Phairot Samoson, Chittrakam faphanang Isan E-sarn Mural <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> (KhonKaen: E-sarn Cultural Center, Khon Kaen University,1989). Follow<strong>in</strong>g their orig<strong>in</strong>al work this paper alsoadopts their “fundamental agreement to reta<strong>in</strong> some vernacular architectural vocabulary… to call names bylocal orig<strong>in</strong>al words.On the Khor<strong>at</strong> Pl<strong>at</strong>eau<strong>in</strong> Central ThailandSim for Ubosot (Ord<strong>in</strong><strong>at</strong>ion Hall)Ho Jak for Sala Kan Parian (Congreg<strong>at</strong>ion Hall)Ngo for Cho faHung Pung for Ruang PungSi Na for Naban or Jua (Pediment)Ao- kan for Aew-kan (base)Bok-kwam Bok-ngay for Bua-kwam Bua-ngayBue for Lak or Sadu (Pillar)”Wirot Sisuro, Isan Sim: Northeast Buddhist Holy Temples, k15.


94 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani<strong>The</strong> mural pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs are not configured around the wooden posts of this frame;r<strong>at</strong>her, they are clumsily obscured <strong>in</strong> a way no artist would consider reasonable. As wellas this we can see th<strong>at</strong> the crossbeams across the top of the frame hides the faces of thethewada, and, as these beams are very close to the wall, it would have been too difficultfor an artist to pa<strong>in</strong>t beh<strong>in</strong>d them.b) the place <strong>at</strong> th<strong>at</strong> time<strong>The</strong> loc<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> would become <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani enters <strong>in</strong>to the Lao historicalnarr<strong>at</strong>ive around 1710 due to the actions of Phra Khru Luang Phon Samek, 11 the ViangChan (Vientiane) monk who is credited with establish<strong>in</strong>g the Champasak dynasty andeven with found<strong>in</strong>g Phnom Penh. 12 After he had established a Viang Chan pr<strong>in</strong>ce as theruler of Champasak, he also disp<strong>at</strong>ched rulers to eight surround<strong>in</strong>g centers, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>gthe land around the confluence of the Chi and Mun Rivers th<strong>at</strong> would eventually become<strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani. Thus, we can see th<strong>at</strong> it was already a significant place and a sharedspace because the new rulers reta<strong>in</strong>ed the name Khlong Chiang, which derived from thelanguage of the Suie people already liv<strong>in</strong>g there. 13We have an outsider’s very detailed description of <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani from1883,<strong>at</strong> the very moment when rule by the last of the old Lao elite was swept away. EtienneAymonier writes:<strong>The</strong> city of Oubon, … was built on the northern bank of the Moun,which rose <strong>in</strong> a gentle slope to form a r<strong>at</strong>her high knoll, clear from thehighest rises of the w<strong>at</strong>er. This fortun<strong>at</strong>e loc<strong>at</strong>ion, on the deep andtranquil reach th<strong>at</strong> the Moun formed from the confluence of the Si up toPhimoun, had rapidly transformed Oubon <strong>in</strong>to the most important centerof the whole of northeast [transl<strong>at</strong>or’s error] Laos. <strong>The</strong> city, built <strong>in</strong> arectangle and surrounded by an <strong>in</strong>significant mo<strong>at</strong> on the three sides...measured about 2,500 meters lengthwise by 500-600 meters <strong>in</strong> width.Three longitud<strong>in</strong>al streets, parallel to the Moun, and a host of smalltransversal streets divided the city <strong>in</strong>to small quarters, which were11 “Phra Khru Nyot Kaeo, (known as Khru Phon Samek.) Abbot of V<strong>at</strong> Phon Samek <strong>in</strong> Viang Chan dur<strong>in</strong>gthe reign of K<strong>in</strong>g Sur<strong>in</strong>yavongsa <strong>in</strong> the l<strong>at</strong>e 17th century. When the k<strong>in</strong>g died without an heir, Phra Khru gaverefuge to Pr<strong>in</strong>cess Sumangkhala. As the succession struggle <strong>in</strong>tensified, however, he and his followers fled thecapital for the south. Sumangkhala was pregnant <strong>at</strong> the time and <strong>in</strong> fear of her life. Phra Khru settled first <strong>at</strong>Nakhon Phanom (where Sumangkhala gave birth to her second son, Nokas<strong>at</strong>), and then <strong>in</strong> northern Cambodia,probably <strong>in</strong> the region of Xiang Taeng (Stung Treng). From there he was <strong>in</strong>vited to settle <strong>at</strong> Khong by theelderly local ruler, Nang Phan. With the support of the queen’s illegitim<strong>at</strong>e daughter, Phra Khru became regent(1708-13). Only when his position was challenged after the de<strong>at</strong>h of Nang Phau did Phra Khru present Nokas<strong>at</strong>to be crowned first k<strong>in</strong>g of Champasak, tak<strong>in</strong>g the throne name of Soysisamut Phutthangki<strong>in</strong>. Phra Khru cameto be credited with possess<strong>in</strong>g magical powers. He is revered as <strong>in</strong>strumental <strong>in</strong> found<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>dependentk<strong>in</strong>gdom <strong>in</strong> southern Laos, free of the suzera<strong>in</strong>ty of Viang Chan.” Mart<strong>in</strong> Stuart-Fox, Historical Dictionary ofLaos, 2 nd ed. (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001), 158.12 Phra <strong>The</strong>p R<strong>at</strong>tanamoli and J. B. Pruess, <strong>The</strong> Th<strong>at</strong> Phanom Chronicle: A Shr<strong>in</strong>e History and itsInterpret<strong>at</strong>ion (Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program, Dept. Of Asian Studies, Cornell University, 1976), 66-67.13 Toem Wiphakpotjanakit, History of Isaan, 43.


Polson95further subdivided by walls or by clusters of houses. <strong>The</strong> mœuong, orkhum, or residence of the chau, more or less <strong>in</strong> the center of the city, wassurrounded by a brick wall. Opposite this wall, several Ch<strong>in</strong>ese shops hadtheir displays of fabrics, crockery, dok kham, and other items. <strong>The</strong>re were1,000 houses <strong>in</strong> Oubon and eighteen pagodas, several of which had brickwalls co<strong>at</strong>ed with lime and roofs covered with planks, which was a luxury<strong>in</strong> a country where th<strong>at</strong>ch, wood, and bamboo generally constitute allm<strong>at</strong>erials used for house construction. 14Map 1: Tak<strong>in</strong>g the measurements from Etienne Aymonier’s 1883 description (shown here as red dotsand white l<strong>in</strong>es) and superimpos<strong>in</strong>g them on a Google Earth image of <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani as it is now, wecan see an outl<strong>in</strong>e of the town then def<strong>in</strong>ed by the mo<strong>at</strong> as it was <strong>in</strong> the l<strong>at</strong>e n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century.Us<strong>in</strong>g this report and wh<strong>at</strong> we know of the history of <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani, we canconstruct several maps to show the town as it would have appeared <strong>in</strong> the past, andthen by contextualis<strong>in</strong>g events recorded <strong>in</strong> its history, chart, to some degree, theprogress of the town.First, Map 2 depicts <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani circa 1840, as it would have been <strong>in</strong> thetime of the second ruler, Phra Prom Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong, just prior to the arrival ofChao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn the founder of W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>.14 Etienne Aymonier and Walter E. J. Tips, Isan Travels: Northeast Thailand’s Economy <strong>in</strong> 1883-1884(Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2000), 44.


96 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniMap 2: <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani circa 1840Maps however show us only part of the picture, for here was a town with a planand pretensions. Louis de Carné, who visited the town as a member of the MekongExplor<strong>at</strong>ion Commission <strong>in</strong> 1867, writes:“As to the town, it was the largest we had yet met. <strong>The</strong> streets are broad,and pretty well laid out, parallel or perpendicular to the river. In the moreimportant, there are even wooden pavements, which are of the gre<strong>at</strong>estuse to the people when the ra<strong>in</strong>s have soaked the thick co<strong>at</strong> of sand withwhich the ways are covered.” 15This confidence seems to be someth<strong>in</strong>g shared by the people who lived there; Aymonierrecounts:<strong>The</strong> girls <strong>in</strong> Oubon still wore their hair <strong>in</strong> a bun, like the Laotian girls ofthe east. <strong>The</strong> women rubbed themselves with turmeric and appliedperfumed wax to their lips. <strong>The</strong> men, who often tailored their hair withpork f<strong>at</strong>, more happily adopted Siamese fashion, and they hadpretensions <strong>in</strong> the way of elegance, as a popular say<strong>in</strong>g expressed: 'Onesees ant hills <strong>in</strong> Sisakêt, unfortun<strong>at</strong>es <strong>in</strong> Mœuong Dêt, and elegant idlers<strong>in</strong> Mœuong Oubon.’ 1615 Louis de Carné, Travels on the Mekong: Cambodia, Laos, and Yunnan; <strong>The</strong> Political and Trade Reportsof the Mekong Explor<strong>at</strong>ion Commission, June 1866-June 1868 (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1995), 95.16 Aymonier and Tips, Isan Travels, 45.


Polson97II.Establish<strong>in</strong>g the human context - people who could <strong>in</strong>fluence the formand content: a) the people who had the authority.Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn Yannawimol (Sui Lakham) 17 returned to <strong>Ubon</strong>l<strong>at</strong>e <strong>in</strong> the third reign of the Chakri dynasty. He had been born <strong>in</strong> Ampoe Khueang Naiabout thirty kilometres northwest of the city along the Chi River. While we know littleof his early life, beyond the fact th<strong>at</strong> he went to Bangkok to study <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket, his agetells us th<strong>at</strong> he must have left <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani around the time the second of the gre<strong>at</strong>Siamese wars devast<strong>at</strong>ed the pl<strong>at</strong>eau (1828). 18Phra Ariyawongsajarn (l<strong>at</strong>ter Chao Khun) was fortun<strong>at</strong>e to arrive <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket <strong>at</strong>the most excit<strong>in</strong>g time <strong>in</strong> its history. <strong>The</strong> w<strong>at</strong> was the place which Rama III (r.1824-1851) had chosen for his most ambitious projects, the enormous undertak<strong>in</strong>g of rais<strong>in</strong>gthe man made mounta<strong>in</strong> we see there today, the Golden Mount. Rama III would havespent a significant amount of time <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket because as well as mak<strong>in</strong>g the mounta<strong>in</strong>he also built the ma<strong>in</strong> wihan and renov<strong>at</strong>ed almost all of the build<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the hortrai, the library. 19This library, <strong>in</strong> which Phra Ariyawongsajarn would have spent a lot of time whilehe was a student, had been constructed of wood and built over a pond <strong>in</strong> the time ofRama I. 20 Phra Ariyawongsajarn, a young monk of simple rural orig<strong>in</strong>s from one of thefurthest regions, now found himself <strong>in</strong>volved with the lives of the gre<strong>at</strong>est men <strong>in</strong> theland. Yet, he must have been exceptional, for it was <strong>at</strong> th<strong>at</strong> time th<strong>at</strong> he wascommissioned to go back to <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani as Chao Kana <strong>Muang</strong>, a position th<strong>at</strong>granted him the power to govern all the monks <strong>in</strong> the region, a promotion th<strong>at</strong> addedthe honorific Chao Khun to his title. He brought back to <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani a copy of W<strong>at</strong>Saket’s Buddha footpr<strong>in</strong>t, and, <strong>in</strong> so do<strong>in</strong>g, he seems to be seek<strong>in</strong>g to connect the localpeople who honoured it to the gre<strong>at</strong>er world th<strong>at</strong> had recre<strong>at</strong>ed him. In all of his work<strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani, we see th<strong>at</strong> he rema<strong>in</strong>ed a true and loyal agent of th<strong>at</strong> gre<strong>at</strong>erworld.He came to live <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Pa Noi, 21 then still a forest w<strong>at</strong> just north of the thung, thelarge grassland <strong>at</strong> the back of the palace complex. 22 W<strong>at</strong> Pa Noi had just been raisedfrom a monastic residence to a full w<strong>at</strong> by <strong>Ubon</strong>’s second ruler, Phra Prom Worar<strong>at</strong>Suriyawong (r.1795-1840), and it was regarded as his personal w<strong>at</strong>.17 <strong>The</strong> abbots of W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> for the period of the study: Chao Khun Phra AriyawongsajarnYannawimol (Sui Lakham), founder, (mid 1840s – 1881); Phra Khru Wirotr<strong>at</strong>anobon (Bun Nan Taro), (1881 –1942).18 <strong>The</strong> first <strong>in</strong>vasion by the Siamese was <strong>in</strong> the reign of K<strong>in</strong>g Taks<strong>in</strong>, who had conquered Viang Chan by1779. <strong>The</strong> campaigns to subdue the other k<strong>in</strong>gdoms of the Khor<strong>at</strong> Pl<strong>at</strong>eau were still under way <strong>in</strong> 1782, led byChao Phraya Chakri, who came back from this campaign <strong>in</strong> order to depose K<strong>in</strong>g Taks<strong>in</strong> and assume the throneas the first ruler of the Chakri Dynasty. <strong>The</strong> second and most devast<strong>at</strong><strong>in</strong>g war was dur<strong>in</strong>g the third Bangkokreign, <strong>in</strong> response to the Chao Anuvong rebellion <strong>in</strong> 1827.19 Phra Debgunabhorn, Praw<strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket R<strong>at</strong>chaworamawihan [A History of W<strong>at</strong> SrakesaRajavaramahavihara] (Bangkok: W<strong>at</strong> Srakesa Rajavaramahavihara, 1991), 11.20 Phra Debgunabhorn, Praw<strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket R<strong>at</strong>chaworamahawihan, 17 and pl<strong>at</strong>e 22.21 This is now known as W<strong>at</strong> Maneewanaram. Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram, “<strong>The</strong> Local Characteristics ofthe Mural Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Upos<strong>at</strong>ha Hall of W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>, <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani Prov<strong>in</strong>ce” (masters thesis,Silpakorn University, 2008), 6.22 This is now the large public park called <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> the center of the town.


98 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniEvery morn<strong>in</strong>g, Phra Ariyawongsajarn would go to the edge of the thung tomedit<strong>at</strong>e. <strong>The</strong> temple history tells us th<strong>at</strong> he came to believe th<strong>at</strong> the place where hemedit<strong>at</strong>ed was good, so he decided to build the Ho Phra B<strong>at</strong> to house the footpr<strong>in</strong>t of theBuddha th<strong>at</strong> he had brought from W<strong>at</strong> Saket.He was a scholar and medit<strong>at</strong>ion master, not a builder; thus, <strong>in</strong> order to build hisw<strong>at</strong>, he recruited another monk, Phra Khru Chang, a skilled builder and artist fromViang Chan, who had come to W<strong>at</strong> Pa Noi to study medit<strong>at</strong>ion with him. 23 Currentscholarship regards wh<strong>at</strong> they cre<strong>at</strong>ed as a reflection of the two traditions th<strong>at</strong> thesemen represented – Siamese and Lao – but, as we shall see, this does not seem to be thecase.Francis Garnier, another member of the Mekong Explor<strong>at</strong>ion Commission, whovisited Oubon <strong>in</strong> 1867, commented: “Oubon ….has one or two pagodas built of bricks <strong>in</strong>the Ch<strong>in</strong>ese style...” 24 His comment is perceptive because he is not referr<strong>in</strong>g to thedesign or decor<strong>at</strong>ion but, r<strong>at</strong>her, to the method of build<strong>in</strong>g’s construction, compressivearchitecture, where the brick walls are load bear<strong>in</strong>g. Th<strong>at</strong> this would be cause forcomment <strong>in</strong>dic<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> locally ChaoKhun Phra Ariyawongsajarn musthave been seen to be do<strong>in</strong>g someth<strong>in</strong>gdifferent.Even today on the Khor<strong>at</strong>Pl<strong>at</strong>eau, a builder approaches theconstruction of a build<strong>in</strong>g by firsterect<strong>in</strong>g a post and rail frame, then<strong>in</strong>fill<strong>in</strong>g the walls; this is tensilearchitecture. Most of the gre<strong>at</strong> sims ofthe pl<strong>at</strong>eau hide a support<strong>in</strong>g woodenframe with<strong>in</strong> their masonry. Rama IIIwas a gre<strong>at</strong> admirer of all th<strong>in</strong>gsCh<strong>in</strong>ese, and this passion is reflected<strong>in</strong> his gre<strong>at</strong> build<strong>in</strong>g works <strong>in</strong>Bangkok. However, <strong>in</strong> order to achievethis, he had to have access to Ch<strong>in</strong>eseartisans skilled <strong>in</strong> this compressivestyle of construction. Chao Khun PhraAriyawongsajarn had seen how it wasdone, but, now back <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong>, he didnot have the advantage of hav<strong>in</strong>gthese skilled craftsmen. Still, <strong>in</strong>defiance of conventional wisdom andlocal gossip, he built the Ho Phra B<strong>at</strong>with 110 centimeter thick loadbear<strong>in</strong>gbrick walls, which is, asFigure 2: <strong>The</strong> front view of the sim <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>.23 Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram, “Local Characteristics of the Mural Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Upos<strong>at</strong>ha Hall,” 7.24 Francis Garnier, Travels <strong>in</strong> Cambodia and Part of Laos (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1996), 133.


100 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniFigure 4: Detail of the gable <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>.At W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> the framed deity is a simpler figure; his hands on hisknees, and he is rid<strong>in</strong>g on a three headed elephant. Clearly, this is Indra (known locallyas Sakka) rid<strong>in</strong>g on Airav<strong>at</strong>a (known locally as Erawan). This image of Sakka on Erawanis recognised as a significant Lao image, one which Mayoury and PheuiphanhNgaosyv<strong>at</strong>hn further associ<strong>at</strong>e with Chao Anuvong, whose followers swore by Sakka.Wh<strong>at</strong> is more, it forms the central decor<strong>at</strong>ive element seen on the famous candle bearerth<strong>at</strong> Chao Anuvong placed <strong>in</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Sisaket. 29 However, it was also a very common image<strong>in</strong> Bangkok; for example, it is the central image of the ma<strong>in</strong> prang <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Arun, whichwas be<strong>in</strong>g f<strong>in</strong>ished dur<strong>in</strong>g the time Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn was <strong>in</strong> Bangkok.Sakka is the ruler of Trayastrimsa heaven and was charged with the defence ofBuddhism, a responsibility th<strong>at</strong> is extended to, and thus legitim<strong>at</strong>es royal power on thisearth. 3029 Mayoury Ngaosiv<strong>at</strong> and Pheuiphanh Ngaosyv<strong>at</strong>hn, Chao Anou, ( 1767-1892), <strong>The</strong> Lao People, andSoutheast Asia (Vientiane: Lao PDR Pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g Agency, 2010), 71.30 Ishii Yoneo, Sangha, St<strong>at</strong>e, and Society, 42-43.


Polson101Figure 5: Indra rid<strong>in</strong>g Erawan <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Arun <strong>in</strong>Bangkok. Photo:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bangkok_W<strong>at</strong>_Arun_Phra_Prang_Indra_Erawan.jpg accessed21/5/2009.Runn<strong>in</strong>g counter to this simpleethnic duality are the equally powerfuland specifically <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hanilocaliz<strong>in</strong>g images, the two magnificentcrocodile guardians flank<strong>in</strong>g the stairs <strong>at</strong>the front of the sim.Figure 6: <strong>The</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al crocodile guardians <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> capped with the more generic nag<strong>at</strong>h<strong>at</strong> were added l<strong>at</strong>er.


102 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniAt th<strong>at</strong> time, the local rivers – the Mun, the Chi, and their m<strong>in</strong>or tributaries, theplace where Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn had grown up – were still teem<strong>in</strong>g withcrocodiles, and, <strong>in</strong>deed, they fe<strong>at</strong>ure <strong>in</strong> many local stories, such as <strong>The</strong> Biggest Crocodile<strong>in</strong> the World. 31 <strong>The</strong>se images were sufficiently contentious th<strong>at</strong> l<strong>at</strong>er renov<strong>at</strong>ors felt theneed to overwrite them with much more generic images of naga.<strong>The</strong> place where Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn and Phra Khru Chang choseto build was prone to flood<strong>in</strong>g, so, as they raised the land above the flood level to buildthe Ho Phra B<strong>at</strong>, they cre<strong>at</strong>ed a pond, just to the north, which became known as NongMak Saw – named after the big tree th<strong>at</strong> grew near it. 32 <strong>The</strong>y subsequently tookadvantage of this pond to build one of <strong>Ubon</strong>’s gre<strong>at</strong>est treasures, the Ho Trai Klang Nam,the library <strong>in</strong> the center of the pond just to the north of the Ho Phra B<strong>at</strong>. This library isalso described as an <strong>in</strong>tegr<strong>at</strong>ion of Lao, Siamese, and even Burmese motifs, but I believeit was more likely a re-cre<strong>at</strong>ion of the library from his youth – the library <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket,as it was before Rama III renov<strong>at</strong>ed it and filled <strong>in</strong> the pond <strong>in</strong> which it which had stoodwhen Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn was a student there. 33 This group<strong>in</strong>g of newbuild<strong>in</strong>gs became known as W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> Chai <strong>Muang</strong> signify<strong>in</strong>g it was <strong>at</strong> the edge of thethung but as the city developed the name was changed to W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>, whichrema<strong>in</strong>s its name today. 34In a similar way, as a loyal agent of Bangkok, Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarnfounded a language school to teach Siamese and Pali. 35 Local educ<strong>at</strong>ional practices hadalways been based <strong>in</strong> Lao and Khmer scripts, which meant th<strong>at</strong> <strong>in</strong> many places only theChao <strong>Muang</strong> and a few of his officials were capable of read<strong>in</strong>g and writ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Siamese.<strong>The</strong> school <strong>at</strong>tracted many people from <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani and from across the gre<strong>at</strong>erregion, especially the children of the elite who recognised th<strong>at</strong> a knowledge of centralThai, now the language of power, was a necessity. For monks, however, effective Paliskills were regarded by the modernisers a crucial requirement for a properunderstand<strong>in</strong>g of Buddhism’s <strong>in</strong>tellectual corpus, and a means of mov<strong>in</strong>g beyond thelocal vernacular tradition.Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn was a loyal agent for Bangkok, he was virtueof his birth a part of the local world, yet through his educ<strong>at</strong>ion he had become a part ofthe gre<strong>at</strong>er world beyond. He was the type of person who could offer a pluralistsolution, one <strong>in</strong> which the local world could become an active partner <strong>in</strong> the newSiamese K<strong>in</strong>gdom. He was also a man with the authority to determ<strong>in</strong>e wh<strong>at</strong> could bepa<strong>in</strong>ted on the walls of his temple.31 Kermit Krueger, <strong>The</strong> Serpent Pr<strong>in</strong>ce: Folktales from Northeastern Thailand (New York: World Publish<strong>in</strong>gCo., 1969), 75-89.32 Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram, “Local Characteristics of the Mural Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Upos<strong>at</strong>ha Hall,” 7.33 Phra Debgunabhorn, Praw<strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket R<strong>at</strong>chaworamahawihan, 17.34 Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram, “Local Characteristics of the Mural Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Upos<strong>at</strong>ha Hall,” 7.35 Paitoon Mikusol, “Social and Cultural History of Northeastern Thailand from 1868 – 1910: A Case Studyof the Huamuang Khamen Padong (Sur<strong>in</strong>, Sangkha and Khukhan)” (PhD diss, University of Wash<strong>in</strong>gton,Se<strong>at</strong>tle, 1984), 165.


Polson103b) the people with the civil power and resources.Establish<strong>in</strong>g who had the civil power and control of resources to cre<strong>at</strong>e themurals is a more complic<strong>at</strong>ed task. <strong>The</strong> chronicle story of the rul<strong>in</strong>g elite of <strong>Ubon</strong>R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani 36 beg<strong>in</strong>s with the com<strong>in</strong>g to power of Chao Siribunyasarn (r.1760-1779), 37the last <strong>in</strong>dependent k<strong>in</strong>g of Viang Chan. Hav<strong>in</strong>g supported Siribunyasarn’s succession,two brothers – Phra Vorar<strong>at</strong> and Phra Ta – were offended because they felt th<strong>at</strong> theirefforts were not adequ<strong>at</strong>ely recognised or rewarded, and so, with extraord<strong>in</strong>arydeterm<strong>in</strong><strong>at</strong>ion, they <strong>in</strong>iti<strong>at</strong>ed a series of events th<strong>at</strong> would ultim<strong>at</strong>ely provide thejustific<strong>at</strong>ion for the Siamese to overrun and destroy the many smaller k<strong>in</strong>gdoms of theKhor<strong>at</strong> Pl<strong>at</strong>eau.Offended and <strong>in</strong> dispute with the k<strong>in</strong>g they had previously championed PhraVorar<strong>at</strong> and Phra Ta now refused to consent to his authority, and with their supporters,followed the usual practice of withdraw<strong>in</strong>g. Leav<strong>in</strong>g Viang Chan, they first tried toestablish an <strong>in</strong>dependent k<strong>in</strong>gdom <strong>in</strong> Nong Bua Lamphu, where, from beh<strong>in</strong>d a verysecure wall, they were able to hold off the <strong>at</strong>tack<strong>in</strong>g forces of the Viang Chan K<strong>in</strong>gdomfor three years. 38 However, with the thre<strong>at</strong> of Burmese <strong>in</strong>tervention on Siribunyasarn’sside and Phra Ta’s de<strong>at</strong>h <strong>in</strong> b<strong>at</strong>tle, Phra Vorar<strong>at</strong> realised th<strong>at</strong> their situ<strong>at</strong>ion wasimpossible, so he led the people out aga<strong>in</strong>, this time down the Mekong to Champasak,where they were afforded the protection of Chao Sayakoummane (1738-1791), 39 thesecond K<strong>in</strong>g of Champasak. This refuge also proved temporary, as after a quarrel withSayakoummane; the chroniclers imag<strong>in</strong><strong>at</strong>ively tell us was about the city walls, PhraVorar<strong>at</strong> once aga<strong>in</strong> – albeit for the last time – led his people out, retre<strong>at</strong><strong>in</strong>g to Don ModDaeng, loc<strong>at</strong>ed on the Mun River between wh<strong>at</strong> is now <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani and PhibunMangsahan.36 Sources on the story of this conflict come from Wiphakpotjanakit, History of Isaan, 29-58; Phra <strong>The</strong>pR<strong>at</strong>tanamoli and Pruess, <strong>The</strong> Th<strong>at</strong> Phanom Chronicle, 55-68; Charles Archaimbault, “Le Histoire deCampasak,” Journal Asi<strong>at</strong>ique 294 (1961): 523-34.37 K<strong>in</strong>gs of Viang Chan (chronicled Lao rulers):Setth<strong>at</strong>hir<strong>at</strong> II (Sai Ong Ve) 1707-1735 Nephew of Suriyavongsa (Luang Prabang)Ong Long 1735-1760 Half-brother of Sai Ong VeSiribunyasan 1760-1779 Son of Ong LongNanthasen 1779-1794 Son of SiribunyasanInthavong 1794-1804 Son of SiribunyasanAnuvong 1804-1828 Son of SiribunyasanSee: Peter Simms and Sanda Simms, <strong>The</strong> K<strong>in</strong>gdoms of Laos: Six Hundred Years of History (Richmond, Surrey:Curzon, 1999); Souneth Phothisane, <strong>The</strong> Nidan Khun Borom: Annot<strong>at</strong>ed Transl<strong>at</strong>ion and Analysis (Universityof Queensland, 1996); Mart<strong>in</strong> Stuart-Fox, Historical Dictionary of Laos, 2 nd ed. (Lanham, MD: ScarecrowPress, 2001).38 <strong>The</strong> construction of the town and its walls took six years. Toem Wiphakpotjanakit, History of Isaan, 49.39 K<strong>in</strong>gs of Champasak (chronicled Lao rulers):Soysisamout 1713-1737 Grandson of Suriyavongsa (Luang Prabang)Sayakoummane 1738-1791 Son of SoysisamoutFay Na 1791-1811 Son of Phra Vorar<strong>at</strong>; not of royal descentInterregnum 1811-1813Phom Manoy 1813-1819 Nephew of SayakoummaneSee: Simms and Simms, <strong>The</strong> K<strong>in</strong>gdoms of Laos; Souneth Phothisane, <strong>The</strong> Nidan Khun Borom.


104 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniFigure 7: Show<strong>in</strong>g the chang<strong>in</strong>g loc<strong>at</strong>ions of the settlement. First to Don Mot Daeng (far right), and thenafter the war, mov<strong>in</strong>g further across to Chae Ramae (far left). F<strong>in</strong>ally, as the popul<strong>at</strong>ion grew settl<strong>in</strong>g onthe larger higher ground of wh<strong>at</strong> is today Ampoe <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani (centre). Image Google Earth,not<strong>at</strong>ions by the author.Beyond the chronicler’s explan<strong>at</strong>ion however we can see other good reasonswhy Phra Vorar<strong>at</strong> would have chosen Don Mod Daeng. His people were not farmers;they were entrepreneurs and adventurers and would have been assess<strong>in</strong>g potentialopportunities for <strong>in</strong>dependent economic survival. Just as their earlier settlement <strong>at</strong>Nong Bua Lamphu had given them control of a trade route <strong>in</strong>to Viang Chan, Don ModDaeng also s<strong>at</strong> on a trad<strong>in</strong>g route, <strong>in</strong> this case from the salt works of the lower Mun andChi river bas<strong>in</strong>s across to Champasak. It probably would have appeared to be aprofitable place from which to control pass<strong>in</strong>g trade and a rel<strong>at</strong>ively safe loc<strong>at</strong>ion as itwould not critically thre<strong>at</strong>en Champasak’s economic viability. <strong>The</strong> primacy of this k<strong>in</strong>dof economic reason<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the selection of this site seems to be confirmed by wh<strong>at</strong>happened after the gre<strong>at</strong> Siamese <strong>in</strong>vasions their actions <strong>in</strong>iti<strong>at</strong>ed were successfullycompleted.Hav<strong>in</strong>g abandoned Champasak’s protection, Phra Vorar<strong>at</strong> and his followers wereonce aga<strong>in</strong> <strong>at</strong>tacked by Siribunyasarn the k<strong>in</strong>g of Viang Chan. Phra Vorar<strong>at</strong> was killed <strong>in</strong>a subsequent b<strong>at</strong>tle, but not before his appeal for vassalage, and thus the protection ofK<strong>in</strong>g Taks<strong>in</strong> of the resurgent Thonburi k<strong>in</strong>gdom had been accepted. This right toprotection set <strong>in</strong> motion the Siamese <strong>in</strong>vasion of the whole Khor<strong>at</strong> Pl<strong>at</strong>eau, which sweptaway all the <strong>in</strong>dependent k<strong>in</strong>gdoms, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g those of both Siribunyasarn andSayakoummane, and left their capitals <strong>in</strong> ru<strong>in</strong>s.When the war was over, Phra Ta’s son, Phra P<strong>at</strong>hum Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong(Khamphong) (r. 1786- 1795) 40 claimed from the Siamese victors, as reward for his40 <strong>The</strong> rulers of <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani;Phra P<strong>at</strong>hum Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong (usually referred to as Khamphong) 1786- 1795 (son of Phra Ta)Phra Prom Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong (usually referred to as Phrom) 1795-1840 (brother of Khamphong)Phra Prom Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong (usually referred to as Kuthong) 1840-1863 (son of Phrom)Chao Phrom <strong>The</strong>wanukhro (Nokom) grandson of Chua Anuvong 1863-1886( recalled to Bangkok 1883 stillnom<strong>in</strong>ally k<strong>in</strong>g till his de<strong>at</strong>h 1886)


Polson105active support, the right to settle <strong>at</strong> Bo Chae Ramae, 41 the salt-produc<strong>in</strong>g locality on theHuey Chae Ramae, five kilometres northwest of wh<strong>at</strong> would become the town of <strong>Ubon</strong>R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani. <strong>The</strong> salt <strong>in</strong>dustry <strong>in</strong> this place was not the same as the small scaleextractionby farmers <strong>in</strong> the non-rice grow<strong>in</strong>g season th<strong>at</strong> was common <strong>in</strong> many placeson the pl<strong>at</strong>eau. R<strong>at</strong>her, it was a permanent <strong>in</strong>dustrial facility produc<strong>in</strong>g a commercialcommodity. Be<strong>in</strong>g on the w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g side <strong>in</strong> the war meant th<strong>at</strong> Phra P<strong>at</strong>hum Worar<strong>at</strong>Suriyawong and his followers were f<strong>in</strong>ally <strong>in</strong> a position to expect more than to simplyextract pass<strong>in</strong>g surpluses; now they could take possession of the space and rule. Thisrequest, and its acceptance by the Siamese, is wh<strong>at</strong> lead the Thai historical narr<strong>at</strong>ive toidentify Phra P<strong>at</strong>hum Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong as the founder of <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani.Through the turbulent first half of the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century the succession went aslocal tradition would have expected, though now it required Bangkok’s approval. UponKhampong’s de<strong>at</strong>h, his younger brother, Phra Prom Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong (Phrom)(r.1795-1840), followed as the second governor, who was then succeeded <strong>in</strong> turn by hisson, Phra Prom Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong (Kuthong), <strong>in</strong> 1845, around the time Chao KhunPhra Ariyawongsajarn returned to <strong>Ubon</strong>.It was dur<strong>in</strong>g the reign of the third governor, Kuthong (r.1845-1863), th<strong>at</strong> thepower of the <strong>Ubon</strong> rul<strong>in</strong>g family began to <strong>in</strong>crease. At the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of his reign,Kuthong had only the three rel<strong>at</strong>ively <strong>in</strong>significant s<strong>at</strong>ellites of Songkhon, Lamnao, andSenang on the left bank, 42 but years of rel<strong>at</strong>ively peaceful progress meant th<strong>at</strong>popul<strong>at</strong>ion pressure pushed the <strong>Ubon</strong> peasantry out through the lower Mun valley andup the Chi River towards Yasothon. Shortly before Kuthong died, Bangkok approved thecre<strong>at</strong>ion of three widely separ<strong>at</strong>ed s<strong>at</strong>ellite towns – Phimun, Trakanphutphon, andMahachanachai – on the right bank of the Mekong. Three of Kuthong’s sons wereappo<strong>in</strong>ted as governors of the new towns as <strong>Ubon</strong> confirmed its claim to the extensiveand rich lands of the entire lower Mun bas<strong>in</strong>. 43By the time the third reign of the Chakri dynasty was draw<strong>in</strong>g to a close, therul<strong>in</strong>g Suriyawong family had expanded their capital city <strong>in</strong>to the significant town theFrench would l<strong>at</strong>er visit and describe so enthusiastically. From their orig<strong>in</strong>al position <strong>at</strong>Chae Ramae, Phra P<strong>at</strong>hum Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong and his followers developed the centerof the town where we f<strong>in</strong>d it today, on a knoll above the high w<strong>at</strong>er levels. <strong>The</strong>y hadreason to feel confident about the future, for, shortly after his coron<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>in</strong> 1852, RamaIV (1851-1868), who had visited <strong>Ubon</strong> as a monk, presented his good and faithfulgovernor Kuthong with a set of gold regalia – an honor usually reserved for pr<strong>in</strong>ces. 44When we look <strong>at</strong> the period <strong>in</strong> which the murals were cre<strong>at</strong>ed, we can see th<strong>at</strong><strong>Ubon</strong> and its elite had thrived as active agents of Bangkok; nevertheless, they had adifficult heritage. <strong>The</strong> blood of so much of the old Lao world was on their hands, and yet,as they were to discover, they rema<strong>in</strong>ed very much a part of it. Although theyPhraya <strong>Sri</strong>s<strong>in</strong>gh<strong>at</strong>ep (Th<strong>at</strong>) Commissioner <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> Effectively takes control from 1882See: F<strong>in</strong>e Arts Department, Muong <strong>Ubon</strong> Rach<strong>at</strong>hani, Bangkok: <strong>The</strong> F<strong>in</strong>e Arts Department / M<strong>in</strong>istry ofEduc<strong>at</strong>ion, (1989), 35.41 Toem Wiphakpotjanakit, History of Isaan, 56.42 Kennon Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>e <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom” (PhD diss., OxfordUniversity, Oxford, 1975), 80.43 Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>e <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom,” 81.44 Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>e <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom,” 81.


106 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hanifunctioned as will<strong>in</strong>g tools of Bangkok, they would never be its children. <strong>The</strong>se were thepeople who would have had the power to shape and direct the form and content of themurals under consider<strong>at</strong>ion here.Establish<strong>in</strong>g the literary context:<strong>The</strong> murals are <strong>in</strong>side the sim, the doma<strong>in</strong> of monks. <strong>The</strong>re is no teach<strong>in</strong>g portico<strong>in</strong> front with images for public <strong>in</strong>struction, a typical fe<strong>at</strong>ure of the w<strong>at</strong> on the pla<strong>in</strong>s tothe north and south of Viang Chan, nor are there murals on the outside walls, as iscommon further up along the Chi River. At first glance the murals seem to present analmost complete text book for the practis<strong>in</strong>g monk, provid<strong>in</strong>g a visual represent<strong>at</strong>ion ofall the stories necessary for the monk to function<strong>in</strong>g of a local religious system th<strong>at</strong> wasgenerally understood to be Buddhism. 45 Three of the four walls are devoted to episodesfrom the life of the historical Buddha, with the third carry<strong>in</strong>g a completed rendition ofthe Vessantara J<strong>at</strong>aka – the story of the Lord Buddha's penultim<strong>at</strong>e life as Pr<strong>in</strong>ceVessantara (known locally and hereafter referred to as Phra Wet). This was an essentialtext for the work<strong>in</strong>g monk, as it was, and still is, the centrepiece of local w<strong>at</strong> life andf<strong>in</strong>ance.<strong>The</strong> wall beh<strong>in</strong>d theBuddha image carries a completerendition of his victory over Mara.This is one of the most commonlydepicted images <strong>in</strong> ThaiBuddhism, especially <strong>in</strong> centralThailand. It is similar to the one <strong>at</strong>W<strong>at</strong> Saket, although there it is onthe rear wall, fac<strong>in</strong>g the Buddhaimage. <strong>The</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al W<strong>at</strong> Saketord<strong>in</strong><strong>at</strong>ion hall murals werepa<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong> the time of Rama III;thus, they were either completedor <strong>in</strong> the process of be<strong>in</strong>gcompleted when Chao Khun PhraAriyawongsajarn was there. <strong>The</strong>Figure 8: <strong>The</strong> wall beh<strong>in</strong>d the Buddha image, the victory over Mara.45 Follow<strong>in</strong>g Hayashi Yukio’s concept of practical Buddhism, I have tried to see these stories not as part of aworld religion but r<strong>at</strong>her as parts of world religious thought th<strong>at</strong> people found useful to employ <strong>in</strong> a localcontext. Hayashi Yukio, Practical Buddhism among the Thai-Lao: Religion <strong>in</strong> the Mak<strong>in</strong>g of Region (Kyoto:Kyoto University Press, 2003). This understand<strong>in</strong>g is also <strong>in</strong>formed by the work of Ian Harris, who draws adist<strong>in</strong>ction between the Buddhism of the literary tradition (usually of the gre<strong>at</strong> centers where Pali and Sanskritwere known) and the Buddhism of the cult tradition th<strong>at</strong> unified diverse sources <strong>in</strong>to a practical local religion.Ian Charles Harris, Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005).We have with Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn a person who would have known both worlds but who weknow felt a need to br<strong>in</strong>g those he was responsible for to a closer understand<strong>in</strong>g of the Buddhist literarytradition th<strong>at</strong> he had become part of <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket.


Polson107orig<strong>in</strong>al murals, however, were repa<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong> the reign of Rama VII, so it is not possibleto confidently compare them. 46<strong>The</strong> full length of the wall to the right of the Buddha image carries the completePhra Wet cycle.Figure 9: <strong>The</strong> full wall to the left of the Buddha image, the complete Phra Wet cycle.To the immedi<strong>at</strong>e left of theBuddha image is a scene from of PhraMalai. 47 In this image, the monk isdepicted ascend<strong>in</strong>g to meet BuddhaMetteyya <strong>in</strong> Trayastrimsa heaven. 48 Thisparticular depiction is different fromother mural detail<strong>in</strong>g this story as it hasno represent<strong>at</strong>ion of earth or hell (withits gory images of the punishments ofthe dammed). Its presence here raisessome extremely important questionsth<strong>at</strong> go beyond the scope of this paper.Figure 10: To the right of the Buddha image,Phra Malai.46 Phra Debgunabhorn, Praw<strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket R<strong>at</strong>chaworamahawihan, 15.47 Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram, “Local Characteristics of the Mural Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Upos<strong>at</strong>ha Hall,” 30.48 This tells the story of the compassion<strong>at</strong>e monk, Phra Malai, who first visits hell and carries back messagesfrom those who are suffer<strong>in</strong>g to their rel<strong>at</strong>ives, exhort<strong>in</strong>g them to make merit on their behalf. He then travels upto Trayastrimsa heaven to meet the Buddha to come, Metteyya, and learn the promise of the future. BonniePacala Brereton, Thai Tell<strong>in</strong>gs of Phra Malai: Texts and Rituals Concern<strong>in</strong>g a Popular Buddhist Sa<strong>in</strong>t (Tempe,AZ.: Arizona St<strong>at</strong>e University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies, 1995), 7-13.


108 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniFigure 11: Centre of the wall to the right of the Buddha image, the early life of the Buddha.<strong>The</strong> middle of the wall to the right of the Buddha image presents the completeearly life of the Buddha, his life as Pr<strong>in</strong>ce Siddhartha. Here, with these images, thecre<strong>at</strong>ors have produced an almost perfect mental map of the events of the Buddha earlylife – a “graphic text book” of sorts.Figure 12: Schem<strong>at</strong>ic overlay for the centre of the wall to the right of the Buddha image, the early life ofthe Buddha.At the centre of the image is the world of the city and the palace, with theessential events of the Buddha’s life radi<strong>at</strong><strong>in</strong>g out <strong>in</strong> smaller cameos. <strong>The</strong>se scenes areset out <strong>in</strong> a way th<strong>at</strong> would be easy to remember for the local monks and lay peoplewho were likely unable to read Pali and would have known little of the gre<strong>at</strong> corpus ofBuddhist teach<strong>in</strong>g. 4949 Ishii Yoneo, Sangha, St<strong>at</strong>e, and Society, 86.


Polson109However, stories are never immutable, and the mural’s depiction of the city andthe palace is reveal<strong>in</strong>g. Even though the narr<strong>at</strong>ives are supposed to be set <strong>in</strong> India, thearchitecture is <strong>in</strong>escapably Tai. This is not unusual; religious pictures usually reflect thevalues and cultural forms of the communities th<strong>at</strong> erect them. 50 But there is more here,for <strong>in</strong> these murals, the images and cultural values depicted are not actually from thecommunity which cre<strong>at</strong>ed it.Figure 13: Detail, the sett<strong>in</strong>g for the early life of the Buddha.50 Wy<strong>at</strong>t, Read<strong>in</strong>g Thai Murals, 1.


110 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniAt the g<strong>at</strong>e of the palace <strong>in</strong> the lowest register, we see Pr<strong>in</strong>ce Siddhartha sett<strong>in</strong>gout on the journey th<strong>at</strong> will evolve <strong>in</strong>to the story of his four famous revel<strong>at</strong>oryencounters. In this depiction, we see life lived <strong>at</strong> the edge of a w<strong>at</strong>erway. Just outside ofthe city wall, <strong>at</strong> the top of this detail, amorous couples are look<strong>in</strong>g out of upper storyw<strong>in</strong>dows over the ceramic tiled roofs of the s<strong>in</strong>gle story houses below, built on theground <strong>at</strong> the w<strong>at</strong>er’s edge. At the end of the land<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>at</strong> extends from these houses,three small boys play happily <strong>in</strong> the w<strong>at</strong>er. In the foreground, a Ch<strong>in</strong>ese merchantpaddles a small bo<strong>at</strong>, sell<strong>in</strong>g bottled goods to a woman who looks out across the riverfrom the w<strong>in</strong>dow of her w<strong>at</strong>erside parlour just as the pr<strong>in</strong>ce passes by the rear of herhouse. This is a picture th<strong>at</strong> is <strong>in</strong>stantly recognisable even today – a picture of life on aBangkok klong.Such riverside scenes were never possible <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong>; here the people could notlive on the river banks and establish their villages on dons, small knolls th<strong>at</strong> were safefrom the capriciousness of the river. Also <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong>, the houses would have beenconstructed from wood and th<strong>at</strong>ch, raised on stilts much like the ones we see <strong>in</strong> otherparts of these murals, <strong>in</strong> the places depict<strong>in</strong>g the edges of the wild world of the forest.Nevertheless, on the walls of this sim, here <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani, the place where the lifeof the Buddha is be<strong>in</strong>g lived is unmistakably Bangkok.Figure 14: Detail, the dead man.<strong>The</strong>re is someth<strong>in</strong>g even more dist<strong>in</strong>ctive <strong>in</strong> loc<strong>at</strong><strong>in</strong>g and personalis<strong>in</strong>g theseimages. When we look <strong>at</strong> the pr<strong>in</strong>ce's encounters right <strong>at</strong> the g<strong>at</strong>es of the city, we seethe dead man, depicted as a portly man surrounded by vultures, one of which is peck<strong>in</strong>g<strong>at</strong> the man’s head while others eagerly wait nearby to consume the flesh.


Polson111Figure 15: Photograph of a corpse and vultures <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket. Here the undertaker is us<strong>in</strong>g a stick to holdback the vultures. (Phra Debgunabhorn 1991 figure 58.)<strong>The</strong> th<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>at</strong> made W<strong>at</strong>Saket notorious <strong>in</strong> Bangkok and anunlikely pleasure trip dest<strong>in</strong><strong>at</strong>ionwas its function as the place whereexcarn<strong>at</strong>ion was practised. <strong>The</strong>trees and the courtyards wereblack with vultures wait<strong>in</strong>g to feedon the flesh of the deceased devout.This is a scene th<strong>at</strong> the young PhraAriyawongsajarn would have seenevery day of his time <strong>at</strong> the w<strong>at</strong>.Similarly, <strong>in</strong> another scene,pa<strong>in</strong>ted on the other side of thesim’s w<strong>in</strong>dow from the klong scene,the miracle of the shadow is aboutto happen. Here, <strong>at</strong> the royalplough<strong>in</strong>g ceremony, we have aSiamese k<strong>in</strong>g and the <strong>in</strong>fantBuddha <strong>in</strong> the arms of a Siamesequeen. <strong>The</strong> authority of BuddhismFigure 16: Detail, <strong>The</strong> miracle of the shadow.


112 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniand th<strong>at</strong> of the <strong>in</strong>vader are comb<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> artistic harmony.<strong>The</strong> most remarkable achievement among all of the murals <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong><strong>Muang</strong>, however, is the enormous scene on the rear wall, so large, <strong>in</strong> fact, th<strong>at</strong> it couldnot be conta<strong>in</strong>ed on the rear wall alone and had to be cont<strong>in</strong>ued on the f<strong>in</strong>al third of thenorth wall, thereby squeez<strong>in</strong>g the depiction of the life of the Buddha <strong>in</strong>to to the middlesection.Figure 17: <strong>The</strong> B<strong>at</strong>tle for the Relics, fill<strong>in</strong>g the entire rear wall and one third of the wall to the right of theBuddha image.This grand scene runs more than 14 l<strong>in</strong>ear meters and is nearly a 100 squaremeters of densely packed images. Known as the War of the Relics, it is a story aboutwhich we usually only get a fragment.Our first glance here is captured by the <strong>in</strong>escapable central image: the enormous,glow<strong>in</strong>g city with the diamond motif of the w<strong>at</strong> <strong>at</strong> its heart. Cover<strong>in</strong>g most of the rearwall, it is formed, orderly, and concentric, luxuri<strong>at</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> a palette of reds, yellows andgold. It is a place where, even <strong>in</strong> a time of de<strong>at</strong>h and thre<strong>at</strong>en<strong>in</strong>g war, pleasure is stillglimpsed through every open w<strong>in</strong>dow. Beyond the city, the colors reverse <strong>in</strong>to thecooler detachment of blues which dissolve <strong>in</strong>to forebod<strong>in</strong>g greens and blacks. Across,on the north wall, the partial order of the straight country road and the l<strong>in</strong>es of themarch<strong>in</strong>g armies yield <strong>at</strong> the bottom, deep <strong>in</strong> the corner, to a forest where, heavilyoutl<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> black, grotesque misshapen rocks and hills emerge from the tangle of thewild, dark olive green veget<strong>at</strong>ion. This is the wild world, the world of dangerous men,


Polson113hunters, thieves and wild animals. This is the story of two conflicts between elites –elites both sacred and profane.Figure 18: <strong>The</strong> B<strong>at</strong>tle for the Relics. Images from the rear wall and one third of the wall to the right of theBuddha have been jo<strong>in</strong>ed and digitally manipul<strong>at</strong>ed to cre<strong>at</strong>e a s<strong>in</strong>gle fl<strong>at</strong> image of both walls. It has thenbeen overlaid with a schem<strong>at</strong>ic diagram of the narr<strong>at</strong>ive.<strong>The</strong> story, as it is presented on the walls, beg<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> the top left corner of the rearwall. 51 Here, <strong>in</strong> wh<strong>at</strong> is possibly the smallest tableau of all, the Lord Buddha passesaway near the city of Kus<strong>in</strong>agari <strong>in</strong> the land of the Mallas (figure 18, frame 1).Under the supervision of Ananda (usually called Anone by local people ), theMallas br<strong>in</strong>g the Buddha’s body, enshrouded <strong>in</strong> a thousand layers of cloth, to the centerof their city and place it <strong>in</strong> the coff<strong>in</strong> (figure 18, frame 2). <strong>The</strong>y would have proceededwith the crem<strong>at</strong>ion, but they found they were unable to light the crem<strong>at</strong>ion pyre. This isexpla<strong>in</strong>ed as the result of the restra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g hands of the gods, who do not want the fire tobe lit until the com<strong>in</strong>g of Mahakasyapa, another of the Buddha’s lead<strong>in</strong>g followers who,<strong>in</strong> a previous life, had promised the Buddha th<strong>at</strong> he would come to pay his respects <strong>at</strong>his par<strong>in</strong>irvana. A promise made must be honored. Mahakasyapa, who is oftencharacterized as a rival to Ananda, was l<strong>at</strong>er to play the presid<strong>in</strong>g role <strong>in</strong> the firstcouncil, effectively mak<strong>in</strong>g him leader of the majority of the followers.51 In retell<strong>in</strong>g the story I am comb<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a number of summaries: Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram, “LocalCharacteristics of the Mural Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Upos<strong>at</strong>ha Hall,” 32-35; John Strong, Relics of the Buddha(Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton, NJ: Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton University Press, 2004), 99-124; Parakrama Pandita, <strong>The</strong> History of the Buddha'sRelic Shr<strong>in</strong>e: A Transl<strong>at</strong>ion of the S<strong>in</strong>hala Thupavams, trans. Stephen C. Berkwitz (Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 2007), 112-33.


114 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniMahakasyapa is shown outside the city, <strong>in</strong> the forest <strong>in</strong> the upper right corner(figure 18, frame 3), where he hears of the gre<strong>at</strong> teacher's de<strong>at</strong>h a week after it hadhappened. He comes quickly, hop<strong>in</strong>g to be able to see the body of the Buddha and tovener<strong>at</strong>e him one last time. Sources vary as to wh<strong>at</strong> happens next, but central to thenarr<strong>at</strong>ive is the tension between Mahakasyapa and Ananda. 52 Mahakasyapa asksAnanda for permission to view the Buddha’s body, but Ananda refuses, say<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>at</strong> to doso would be too difficult, for not only is the corpse wrapped <strong>in</strong> thousands of shrouds,but the iron sarcophagus hous<strong>in</strong>g the body is already closed and on top of the pyre.Here the conflict is justly resolved by the miraculous <strong>in</strong>tervention of the Buddhahimself. As Mahakasyapa approaches, the feet miraculously escape from the thousandlayers of she<strong>at</strong>he and emerge from the coff<strong>in</strong>, enabl<strong>in</strong>g him to look upon the body andvener<strong>at</strong>e it for the last time (figure 18, frame 4). Strong comments:[T]he miracle of the feet, mov<strong>in</strong>g of their own accord after the Buddha’sde<strong>at</strong>h, is significant because it is the first graphic example of the Buddha’songo<strong>in</strong>g magical powers.... As such, it foreshadows similar magicalmovements, …. commonly .. exhibited by the Buddha’s relics. In fact, itmay he argued th<strong>at</strong> the Buddha’s feet here, though <strong>at</strong>tached to his body,are relics, and th<strong>at</strong> Mahakasyapa’s action is a precursor to the cult of theBuddha’s footpr<strong>in</strong>ts, which, .. was an important and early form of relicworship <strong>in</strong> Buddhism. 53With the resolution of this conflict it is possible to move to the crem<strong>at</strong>ion (figure 20,frame 5), an event th<strong>at</strong> led to the second conflict under consider<strong>at</strong>ion here, th<strong>at</strong>between the secular elites – the War of the Relics.After the embers had cooled, the Mallas collected the Buddha’s relics, put them<strong>in</strong> a golden casket, and placed it on a litter <strong>in</strong> order to transport it to the center of theircity (figure 20, frame 6). <strong>The</strong>re they enshr<strong>in</strong>ed the relics <strong>in</strong> a place th<strong>at</strong> is variouslydescribed as a gre<strong>at</strong> build<strong>in</strong>g, a high tower, or their own assembly hall (figure 18, frame7). Strong comments <strong>in</strong> detail on Comment<strong>in</strong>g on the defensive n<strong>at</strong>ure of thisentombment (especially as it is described <strong>in</strong> the Pali sources), Strong writes:[T]hey were surrounded by “a l<strong>at</strong>tice-work of spears,” and encircled by a“wall of bows” ... L<strong>at</strong>er texts were to elabor<strong>at</strong>e on these defenses andspecify th<strong>at</strong> the relics were surrounded by concentric circles of elephants(stand<strong>in</strong>g so close together th<strong>at</strong> their heads touched), horses (whosenecks touched), chariots (whose axle heads touched), soldiers (whosearms touched), and archers (whose bows touched) 54<strong>The</strong> news of the de<strong>at</strong>h quickly spread to the other k<strong>in</strong>gdoms, and the reaction wasimmedi<strong>at</strong>e and angry. In the murals, <strong>in</strong> the upper part of the last section of the northwall, we see the immedi<strong>at</strong>e reaction of K<strong>in</strong>g Aj<strong>at</strong>as<strong>at</strong>ru, ruler of Magadha. Initially52 Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 113.53 Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 113.54 Strong, Relics of the Buddha, 117.


Polson115shocked, he soon recovers and sends a demand th<strong>at</strong> the relics be turned over to him soth<strong>at</strong> they may be <strong>in</strong>terred <strong>in</strong> a stupa th<strong>at</strong> he will build. Aware words alone will not beenough, he equips a fourfold army and immedi<strong>at</strong>ely marches on Kus<strong>in</strong>agari (figure 18,frame 8). However, it is not just K<strong>in</strong>g Aj<strong>at</strong>as<strong>at</strong>ru who objects; six other k<strong>in</strong>gs also takeup arms or thre<strong>at</strong>en to do so.<strong>The</strong> Mallas resist the demands with an argument th<strong>at</strong> is based on the notion th<strong>at</strong>possession is tantamount to ownership, and they prepare for war. <strong>The</strong> situ<strong>at</strong>ion isresolved by the <strong>in</strong>tervention (figure 18, frame 9) and arbitr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Brahm<strong>in</strong>Dhumrasagotra (most commonly referred to locally as Donna Bhram, which is oftenshortened to Donna), who argues for fairness and equality. Successful <strong>in</strong> persuad<strong>in</strong>g thek<strong>in</strong>gs of their equal rights, the Brahm<strong>in</strong> goes about his task <strong>in</strong> an apparently equitableand s<strong>at</strong>isfactory fashion, divid<strong>in</strong>g the relics of the Buddha <strong>in</strong>to eight equal shares, eachone of which will be taken away to be enshr<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> a stupa <strong>in</strong> the recipient’s homecountry (figure 18, frame 10). For this service, he asks for and receives the vessel used<strong>in</strong> the division of the relics, which he will take back to enshr<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> a stupa he plans tobuild.Figure 19: Detail, the Brahm<strong>in</strong> <strong>at</strong>tempts to steal the eye tooth, but Sakka <strong>in</strong>tervenes.


116 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani<strong>The</strong> rendition here <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> seems also to carry with it a l<strong>at</strong>eraddition to the story which discredits the Brahm<strong>in</strong>, charg<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>at</strong> this fair broker wasless than fair and honest himself. 55 As he was divid<strong>in</strong>g the relics, some versions add, hetook the right eye-tooth of the Buddha and secreted it <strong>in</strong> his hair where it wentunnoticed <strong>in</strong> the tension of the moment. <strong>The</strong> action did not go unnoticed <strong>in</strong> heaven,however, for Sakka descended to earth, stole the tooth from the thief, and took it backto enshr<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> Trayastrimsa heaven (figure 18, frame 11). F<strong>in</strong>ally s<strong>at</strong>isfied, the otherk<strong>in</strong>gs returned to their countries with their share of the relics (figure18, frame 12).Inescapably, this story is not about the <strong>in</strong>dividual pursuit of salv<strong>at</strong>ion; r<strong>at</strong>her, itis a message concern<strong>in</strong>g appropri<strong>at</strong>e behavior here <strong>in</strong> this world, a tale about publicmorality and civil behavior. When we look <strong>at</strong> this pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g, this story, <strong>in</strong> this place,previously so dedic<strong>at</strong>ed andpractical <strong>in</strong> its teach<strong>in</strong>g wemust ask why this story waschosen and why it was affordedsuch prom<strong>in</strong>ence. Clearly, therewas a change <strong>in</strong> the perceivedaudience and, with it, adifferent message.With any story th<strong>at</strong>exists <strong>in</strong> common knowledge, itis the parts th<strong>at</strong> the tellerchooses and how they presentit th<strong>at</strong> shapes the mean<strong>in</strong>g.As has already been suggested,murals are public lessons, andit is fair to say they are lookedupon as such. <strong>The</strong> viewer looks<strong>at</strong> the mural <strong>in</strong> order to f<strong>in</strong>d the<strong>in</strong>iti<strong>at</strong>ors <strong>in</strong>tent. In thepreced<strong>in</strong>g case, the lessoncerta<strong>in</strong>ly <strong>in</strong>volves an assertionth<strong>at</strong> noth<strong>in</strong>g can be owned bymere possession. At the heartof civil behavior there must befairness and equality; withoutit there will be discord, chaosand – ultim<strong>at</strong>ely – war.Regard<strong>in</strong>g the conflict betweenAnanda and Mahakasyapa, thisassertion is endorsed by noneother than the Lord Buddhahimself and his “miracle of theFigure 20: Detail, the Brahm<strong>in</strong> address<strong>in</strong>g the k<strong>in</strong>g.feet.”55 Strong, <strong>The</strong> Relics of the Buddha, 120.


Polson117For the rulers, it is the necessary lesson to be learned if they are to avoid thede<strong>at</strong>h and destruction th<strong>at</strong> war would visit upon them all. Rulers may have the power tocontrol and possess, but they are still bound by the universal laws. Fairness andequality is a duty even to the highest rank<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dividual.Even if the message is open to <strong>in</strong>terpret<strong>at</strong>ion, there can be little doubtconcern<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>tended audience of this lesson. As we look <strong>in</strong>to the palace, we can seethe Brahm<strong>in</strong> address<strong>in</strong>g the k<strong>in</strong>g.Right <strong>in</strong> front of the palace g<strong>at</strong>e is a broad river with children play<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> theshallows while, just beyond them, a mother b<strong>at</strong>hes her child. In the middle of the river,a Ch<strong>in</strong>ese junk announces its departure, and, as a crewman is haul<strong>in</strong>g up a sail, it passesby wh<strong>at</strong> was then the most common and dist<strong>in</strong>ctive style of Bangkok liv<strong>in</strong>g – a housebuilt upon pontoons of bundled bamboo, moored to the river bank. A viewer cannotavoid see<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>at</strong> this town is Bangkok and the k<strong>in</strong>g be<strong>in</strong>g chastised is the k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>Bangkok.Figure 21: Detail, the w<strong>at</strong>er g<strong>at</strong>e of the palace and a junk on the river.


118 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani<strong>The</strong> chang<strong>in</strong>g context - <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani as the murals were be<strong>in</strong>g pa<strong>in</strong>ted:a) Changes to ecclesiastic powerWhen Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn arrived back <strong>in</strong> the place of his birth, hecarried with him the royally-granted authority to govern all the monks <strong>in</strong> the region. Atth<strong>at</strong> time, as we have seen, he had come to live <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Pa Noi which had only rel<strong>at</strong>ivelyrecently been raised to the st<strong>at</strong>us of a full w<strong>at</strong>, the personal w<strong>at</strong> of the second ruler,Phra Prom Worar<strong>at</strong> Suriyawong (r.1795-1840), thereby mak<strong>in</strong>g it the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal w<strong>at</strong> ofthe muang.Map 3: Map of the town circa 1840.We can assume <strong>at</strong> th<strong>at</strong> stage th<strong>at</strong> the mo<strong>at</strong> described by Aymonier would havebeen dug, or was <strong>in</strong> the process of be<strong>in</strong>g dug. <strong>The</strong> l<strong>at</strong>ter is more likely because it isrecorded W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> was built just <strong>in</strong>side it, serv<strong>in</strong>g to dist<strong>in</strong>guish<strong>in</strong>g it fromW<strong>at</strong> Pa Noi and W<strong>at</strong> Pa Yai, which were so named because they rema<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> the forest.Map 4: Map of the town show<strong>in</strong>g changes by 1850.


Polson119Even before Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn had begun to build his new w<strong>at</strong>,the world he had come from had changed. On April 2, 1851, Rama III died and wassucceeded by the new k<strong>in</strong>g, Rama IV (Mongkut).As a monk, Mongkut had been disda<strong>in</strong>fully toler<strong>at</strong>ed by his r<strong>at</strong>her devout butorthodox uncle, Rama III. A r<strong>at</strong>ionalist and a modernizer, Mongkut was a controversialfigure. A reformer who lacked power beyond his immedi<strong>at</strong>e circle, he found the onlyp<strong>at</strong>h open to him as a monk was th<strong>at</strong> of separ<strong>at</strong>ion. Thus, with the assistance of sixmonks symp<strong>at</strong>hetic to his ideas, he cre<strong>at</strong>ed a new community, the Thammayut. This act,explicitly ridiculed by Rama III and the leaders of the sangha on account of its adoptionof Mon practice, was all the more confront<strong>at</strong>ional because the required re-ord<strong>in</strong><strong>at</strong>ionimplicitly suggested th<strong>at</strong> the old Thai sangha was corrupt. 56 <strong>The</strong> effects of such zealousactivity could have easily been absorbed by the <strong>in</strong>ertia of the ma<strong>in</strong> body of the sangha ifnot for the sudden elev<strong>at</strong>ion of Mongkut, its founder to the position of supreme secularand ecclesiastical power. This community and its separ<strong>at</strong>e hierarchy of governanceyielded a legacy of sectarian discord for the next hundred years, because, due to royalfavor, the much smaller Thammayut community exercised power and <strong>in</strong>fluence well <strong>in</strong>excess of their numbers. 57<strong>The</strong> succession had an immedi<strong>at</strong>e effect <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong>. Rama IV, <strong>in</strong> one of his earliestacts as k<strong>in</strong>g (1853), f<strong>in</strong>ancially supported the establishment of a new w<strong>at</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong>R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani. This was the first temple of Thammayut on the Khor<strong>at</strong> Pl<strong>at</strong>eau, and itsBangkok monks brought with them the Thammayut’s new anti-superstitious, academicbasedcurriculum. <strong>The</strong> new w<strong>at</strong> was loc<strong>at</strong>ed <strong>in</strong>side the town, on the bank of the river – aplace the Rama IV remembered from his tour. It was named W<strong>at</strong> Suph<strong>at</strong>anaram <strong>in</strong>accordance with the k<strong>in</strong>g’s decree, mean<strong>in</strong>g “temple <strong>at</strong> an appropri<strong>at</strong>e loc<strong>at</strong>ion, a goodharbor.” It was, therefore, a royal w<strong>at</strong>, its community of Thammayut monks were notunder the local sangha authorities, and, perhaps most importantly, the first abbot, PhraTaw<strong>at</strong>ammee (Mao), was a royal rel<strong>at</strong>ive.Map 5: Map of the town by 1855 show<strong>in</strong>g rapid change after the accession of Rama IV <strong>in</strong> 1851 and thearrival of the Thammayut.56 Ishii Yoneo, Sangha, St<strong>at</strong>e, and Society, 155.57 Ishii Yoneo, Sangha, St<strong>at</strong>e, and Society, 106-7.


120 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani<strong>The</strong> effect on civil power was just as immedi<strong>at</strong>e. Kuthong, so recently honoured,suddenly needed to accommod<strong>at</strong>e the new situ<strong>at</strong>ion.From with<strong>in</strong> the walls of the palace compound, a plot of twenty five rai of thegarden grounds belong<strong>in</strong>g to the Upar<strong>at</strong> was don<strong>at</strong>ed for the purpose of build<strong>in</strong>g a neww<strong>at</strong>, which would become the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal w<strong>at</strong> of the muang. Phra Taw<strong>at</strong>ammee camefrom W<strong>at</strong> Suph<strong>at</strong>anaram to be the abbot of the new W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> Tong and immedi<strong>at</strong>ely<strong>in</strong>iti<strong>at</strong>ed an energetic build<strong>in</strong>g program. 58 From th<strong>at</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t, any man wish<strong>in</strong>g to beorda<strong>in</strong>ed had to have the permission of the Chao <strong>in</strong> the palace and the abbot <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> SiTong. Ecclesiastic authority and power had been taken from Chao Khun PhraAriyawongsajarn and given to a Bangkok-born Siamese lord.b) Changes to civil and political powerFor the local people, far worse was to come. Rama IV had awarded Kuthongpr<strong>in</strong>cely regalia, thereby officially recogniz<strong>in</strong>g the place and the person; however, he didnot upgrade his rank. On Kuthong’s de<strong>at</strong>h, for reasons external to the local politics of<strong>Ubon</strong>, Bangkok decided to pass over his sons and rel<strong>at</strong>ives and appo<strong>in</strong>t a Bangkokeduc<strong>at</strong>ed,Viang Chang pr<strong>in</strong>ce, Chao Phrom <strong>The</strong>wanukhro (Nokom) (r.1863-1886), asthe first k<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani. 59 It was the first time th<strong>at</strong> Bangkok had arbitrarilyasserted its prerog<strong>at</strong>ive not to follow local recommend<strong>at</strong>ion; <strong>in</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g so, it abandonedlocal consent. <strong>The</strong> decision ended the century-long rise of the loyal and successful rul<strong>in</strong>g<strong>Ubon</strong> family, and imposed on the town a ruler they bitterly denounced as a foreignpr<strong>in</strong>ce. 60Bangkok may have seen him as a Lao pr<strong>in</strong>ce rul<strong>in</strong>g a Lao st<strong>at</strong>e, but thisassumption of common ethnic identity is a centralist imag<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, and it highlights thedifference between the gre<strong>at</strong> trad<strong>in</strong>g k<strong>in</strong>gdoms of the coast and the pr<strong>in</strong>cipalities of theKhor<strong>at</strong> Pl<strong>at</strong>eau. 61 <strong>The</strong>se muang were territorially def<strong>in</strong>ed entities th<strong>at</strong> <strong>in</strong>tegr<strong>at</strong>ed allwho lived <strong>in</strong> the physical space <strong>in</strong>to a common local identity. 62 <strong>The</strong> accepted mechanismto express disfavor was to abandon the space, and it was not an unusual event.This process of defiance and withdrawal, with its implicit territoriality, had beenthe very mechanism th<strong>at</strong> had brought this family to <strong>Ubon</strong>. In its cre<strong>at</strong>ion, the blood oftheir forbears had been spilt across the breadth of the pl<strong>at</strong>eau. However <strong>in</strong> this placethey were no longer a non-consent<strong>in</strong>g m<strong>in</strong>ority but, r<strong>at</strong>her, a viol<strong>at</strong>ed majoritywithdraw<strong>in</strong>g their consent.58 Phra Kaew Busarakham W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>tanaram <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani. (W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>tanaram <strong>Ubon</strong>R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani), 2010.59 Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>es <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdon,” 81.60 Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>es <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom,” 115.61 Rama V justified the Siamese claims to the lands of the Khor<strong>at</strong> Pl<strong>at</strong>eau on ethnic grounds stress<strong>in</strong>g the Laoas a cogn<strong>at</strong>e of the Thai race. See Rama V’s speeches cited <strong>in</strong> Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>es <strong>in</strong>tothe Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom,” 114.62 Richard A. O'Connor, review of Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a N<strong>at</strong>ion by ThongchaiW<strong>in</strong>ichakul, <strong>The</strong> Journal of Asian Studies 54, no. 4 (1997): 280; Richard A. O’Connor, “Who are the Tai? ADiscourse on Place, Activity, and Person” <strong>in</strong> Dynamics of Ethnic Cultures across N<strong>at</strong>ional Boundaries <strong>in</strong>Southwestern Ch<strong>in</strong>a and Ma<strong>in</strong>land Southeast Asia, eds. Yukio Hayashi and Yang Guangyuan (Chiang Mai:Lanna Cultural Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 2000), 35-50.


Polson121Without consent, Chao Phrom was unwelcome. His legitimacy rested entirely onBangkok’s whim, and, because his appo<strong>in</strong>ters saw him as one of the others – i.e., apotential rebel – he was also denied military support, which is, perhaps, ironic given itwas the capricious exercise of violence th<strong>at</strong> had legitim<strong>at</strong>ed Bangkok’s own assumptionof power.As the people’s refusal to cooper<strong>at</strong>e became an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly serious problem,Bangkok’s first responses were legalistic, demand<strong>in</strong>g obedience, but even when ther<strong>at</strong>chawong and r<strong>at</strong>chabut – high officials and lead<strong>in</strong>g members of the displaced rul<strong>in</strong>gfamily – were imprisoned <strong>in</strong> Bangkok, they still refused to order their supporters <strong>in</strong><strong>Ubon</strong> to cooper<strong>at</strong>e. In 1882, when Chao Phrom tried aga<strong>in</strong> to exert his authority overthe peasants of the old family, he was met with armed resistance. 63Bangkok f<strong>in</strong>ally decided th<strong>at</strong> Chao Phrom would never be able to governeffectively and recalled him, but <strong>in</strong> conclud<strong>in</strong>g Phrom was unable to rule without localconsent implied Bangkok’s sovereignty there was also cont<strong>in</strong>gent upon th<strong>at</strong> veryconsent.This crisis, together with the <strong>in</strong>tern<strong>at</strong>ional situ<strong>at</strong>ion, set the stage for wh<strong>at</strong>Breazeale terms the “occup<strong>at</strong>ion stage” <strong>in</strong> which “[t]he presence of Bangkok officialswho were resident (as opposed to ‘temporary, special’) commissioners was required asa demonstr<strong>at</strong>ion of Thai control. With the exception of Th<strong>at</strong> [Phraya <strong>Sri</strong>s<strong>in</strong>gh<strong>at</strong>epCommissioner <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong>], they were not prepared to undertake <strong>in</strong>ternal reforms.” 64<strong>The</strong> commissioner arrived <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> <strong>in</strong> April 1883, accompanied by twenty foursoldiers – <strong>in</strong> case he encountered any resistance – and with<strong>in</strong> a month the soldiers hadbecome <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> brawls with the local people. 65 This commissioner-ship <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong>R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani led the way, establish<strong>in</strong>g the process whereby the local elites wereelim<strong>in</strong><strong>at</strong>ed. Power went to a Siamese lord answerable only to Bangkok and whoseauthority was enforced by Bangkok’s professional military capability.With<strong>in</strong> a year the commissioner <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> <strong>in</strong>troduced commut<strong>at</strong>ion tax, the firstnew tax to be imposed upon the prov<strong>in</strong>ce s<strong>in</strong>ce 1791, establish<strong>in</strong>g the precedent th<strong>at</strong>the central government could <strong>in</strong>troduce a new tax <strong>in</strong> the outer prov<strong>in</strong>ces. In thefollow<strong>in</strong>g year, 1885, he <strong>in</strong>troduced an import tax on the entire prov<strong>in</strong>ce. He sent 90%of the revenue to Bangkok and reta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g only 10% for local adm<strong>in</strong>istr<strong>at</strong>ion. 66 Economiccontrol had now also passed <strong>in</strong>to the hands of a Bangkok lord, effectively remov<strong>in</strong>g thelast rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g lever of regional autonomy.<strong>The</strong> chang<strong>in</strong>g social space:Wh<strong>at</strong> had happened to these people must have seemed <strong>in</strong>explicable. Neither thereligious nor secular authorities had given Bangkok any reason to doubt their loyalty orefficiency, and yet here, <strong>in</strong> their own place, both the religious and secular bodies ofpower found themselves capriciously cast aside for entirely external, non-local reasons.63 Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>es <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom,” 116.64 Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>es <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom,” 130.65 Breazeale, “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>es <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom,” 117.66 Tej Bunnag, <strong>The</strong> Prov<strong>in</strong>cial Adm<strong>in</strong>str<strong>at</strong>ion of Siam 1892-1915: <strong>The</strong> M<strong>in</strong>istry of Interior under Pr<strong>in</strong>ceDamrong Rajanubhab (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1977), 71.


122 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniMap 6: Map of the town <strong>at</strong> the time of the arrival of Chao Phrom <strong>The</strong>wanukhro <strong>in</strong> 1863.Look<strong>in</strong>g <strong>at</strong> a mid-n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century map, we can see th<strong>at</strong> the contest<strong>at</strong>ion ofpower had evolved <strong>in</strong>to a sp<strong>at</strong>ial dichotomy. <strong>The</strong> w<strong>at</strong> to the southwest of the thungwere aligned with Bangkok, and those to the northeast were aligned with and hadalways been recognized as those of the Suriyawong family and the local people. WithChao Phrom’s appo<strong>in</strong>tment control of the palace tipped, uncerta<strong>in</strong>ly <strong>at</strong> first, but thenwith the commissioner’s appo<strong>in</strong>tment irreversibly <strong>in</strong>to Bangkok’s hands and thus <strong>in</strong>tothe orbit of those to the southwest, those <strong>in</strong>iti<strong>at</strong>ed by, and answerable to Bangkok.<strong>The</strong> chang<strong>in</strong>g content:Though exiled from the palace, the local elite would still f<strong>in</strong>d welcomerecognition <strong>at</strong> the w<strong>at</strong>; thus, it is to the walls of these w<strong>at</strong> to the northwest th<strong>at</strong> we mustlook <strong>in</strong> order to discover the feel<strong>in</strong>gs of these excluded others. It should come as nosurprise th<strong>at</strong> they would choose to prom<strong>in</strong>ently depict a story such as this, a story ofconflicts both sacred and profane; render<strong>in</strong>g with it a defiant judgment of an unjustruler and the condemn<strong>at</strong>ion of a possessor who imag<strong>in</strong>ed himself owner.Postscript: <strong>The</strong> convers<strong>at</strong>ion.A st<strong>at</strong>ement produces a response, and on other walls nearby we can see aconvers<strong>at</strong>ion emerg<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> reaction to the murals <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>. <strong>The</strong> firstresponse is th<strong>at</strong> of a gentle critic, work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Na Khwai less than an hour’s walk tothe north, who seeks only to dissent on locality. <strong>The</strong> sim is very small and was built <strong>in</strong>1879 <strong>in</strong> the Viang Chan style, while Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn was still alive,and the murals are d<strong>at</strong>ed to th<strong>at</strong> similar time by Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram.


Polson123<strong>The</strong> artist is obviously an admirer and student of the W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>murals, for he replic<strong>at</strong>es the composition and the colors. Furthermore, much like theorig<strong>in</strong>als, the entire body of work <strong>in</strong> the sim is <strong>in</strong>flected with themes and stories fromthe body of thought recognized locally as Buddhism.Figure 22: Left: Mural from W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>Right: Murals from W<strong>at</strong> Na Khwai.Even though it is l<strong>at</strong>erally reversed, there is no mistak<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>at</strong> the pa<strong>in</strong>ter <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong>Na Khwai has studied and reproduced parts of the orig<strong>in</strong>al murals; however, <strong>in</strong> astrik<strong>in</strong>g assertion of locality, the artist now depicts the birth <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani. AsPhra Wet is born <strong>at</strong> the g<strong>at</strong>e of the palace, a Kula trader has just f<strong>in</strong>ished load<strong>in</strong>g thepack saddles on his oxen and is about to set out on the 1000 kilometer trek back to hishome <strong>in</strong> the Shan st<strong>at</strong>es of eastern Burma.Figure 23: Detail, from the murals <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Na Khwai, show<strong>in</strong>g the Kula trader <strong>at</strong> the g<strong>at</strong>e of the palace.


124 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniIt is not surpris<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>at</strong> this w<strong>at</strong>, loc<strong>at</strong>ed on a grassland north of the town, wasthe site where the issue of locality was asserted. It would have been a r<strong>at</strong>her wealthyplace, and the Kula (referred to as “Burmese peddlers” by the French) were a vital partof th<strong>at</strong> good fortune. <strong>The</strong> real wealth of <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani was here on the grasslands(the thungs), where buffalo and oxen were raised. In the second half of the n<strong>in</strong>eteenthcentury, with the open<strong>in</strong>g up of the rice grow<strong>in</strong>g lands of the Mekong delta Chao Phrayavalley and the central pla<strong>in</strong>s of Burma traders from all three of these regions scouredthe pl<strong>at</strong>eau buy<strong>in</strong>g the livestock to provide the draught animals needed for these newrice grow<strong>in</strong>g lands. It was not until they established a permanent presence <strong>in</strong> the townth<strong>at</strong> the Siamese understood this and learnt how to tap <strong>in</strong>to it by chang<strong>in</strong>g the structureof tax<strong>at</strong>ion.Follow<strong>in</strong>g the de<strong>at</strong>h of Chao Khun Phra Ariyawongsajarn <strong>in</strong> 1881, a second voicejo<strong>in</strong>s the convers<strong>at</strong>ion. This voice will do more than simply assert locality it will contestthe very heart of legitimacy. When Phra Khru Wirotr<strong>at</strong>anobon (Bun Nan Taro) becamethe abbot of W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1881, <strong>at</strong> the age of 31 he would have had fewillusions as to his position. If Phra Ariyawongsajarn’s potential held the possibility ofpluralist <strong>in</strong>tegr<strong>at</strong>ion, no such p<strong>at</strong>h rema<strong>in</strong>ed open to his successor, for whomcircumstances already seemed to have banished impotent localism.Born <strong>in</strong> 1850, Phra Khru Wirotr<strong>at</strong>anobon was educ<strong>at</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani,where he studied Thai Noi, Thai Yai, and Khom script. His further educ<strong>at</strong>ion was <strong>in</strong>pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g, construction, carv<strong>in</strong>g, and sculpt<strong>in</strong>g. He was orda<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> 1874 <strong>at</strong> the age of 24<strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Pa Noi. 67 On becom<strong>in</strong>g abbot of W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong>, he found himselfresponsible for the Ho Phra B<strong>at</strong>, which, hav<strong>in</strong>g been built without adequ<strong>at</strong>e found<strong>at</strong>ionswas now subsid<strong>in</strong>g and crack<strong>in</strong>g. In order to save the build<strong>in</strong>g, on the outside, aga<strong>in</strong>stthe back wall he added a meter thick masonry block to stabilize the rear section, while<strong>in</strong>side the sim he wedged <strong>in</strong> a structural wooden frame <strong>in</strong> an effort to support the roofand remove the load from the walls – a wooden frame th<strong>at</strong> local voices would have saidneeded to be there <strong>in</strong> the first place.A skilled pa<strong>in</strong>ter, he br<strong>in</strong>gs the only touch of local narr<strong>at</strong>ive and landscape to thewalls of the sim. On the posts of the frame and the surfaces <strong>in</strong>side a w<strong>in</strong>dow alcove, theunneeded space <strong>at</strong> the edge of the Bangkok klong scene, he added a fantasticallymystical rendition of the iconic Lao story S<strong>in</strong> Sai, paean to the ultim<strong>at</strong>e triumph of theexcluded and dispossessed.67 Phairot Samoson, E-sarn mural pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs, 140; Phra <strong>The</strong>p R<strong>at</strong>tanamoli and Pruess, <strong>The</strong> Thai PhanomChronicle, 74; Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram, “<strong>The</strong> Local Characteristics of the Mural Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Upos<strong>at</strong>haHall,” 8.


Polson125Figure 24: Phra Khru Wirotr<strong>at</strong>anobon’s S<strong>in</strong> Sai mural <strong>in</strong> dram<strong>at</strong>ic juxtapositionwith the staid scenes of the Bangkok klong (see figure 13).


126 <strong>The</strong> Art of Dissent: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Wall</strong> <strong>Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs</strong> <strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>haniBibliographyArchaimbault, Charles. “Le Histoire de Campasak.” Journal Asi<strong>at</strong>ique 294 (1961): 523-534.Aymonier, Etienne, and Walter E. J. Tips. Isan Travels : Northeast Thailand's Economy <strong>in</strong>1883-1884. Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2000.Breazeale, Kennon. “<strong>The</strong> Integr<strong>at</strong>ion of the Lao St<strong>at</strong>es <strong>in</strong>to the Thai K<strong>in</strong>gdom.” PhD diss.,Oxford University, 1975.Brereton, Bonnie Picala. Thai Tell<strong>in</strong>gs of Phra Malai: Texts and Rituals Concern<strong>in</strong>g aPopular Buddhist Sa<strong>in</strong>t. Tempe, AZ: Arizona St<strong>at</strong>e University, Program forSoutheast Asian Studies, 1995.Carné, Louis de. Travels on the Mekong: Cambodia, Laos, and Yunnan; <strong>The</strong> Political andTrade Report of the Mekong Explor<strong>at</strong>ion Commission, June 1866-June 1868.Bangkok: White Lotus, 1995.Condom<strong>in</strong>as, George. L'espace social à propos de l'Asie du Sud-Est. Paris: Flammarion,1980.F<strong>in</strong>e Arts Department. <strong>Muang</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> Rach<strong>at</strong>hani. Bangkok: <strong>The</strong> F<strong>in</strong>e Arts Department /M<strong>in</strong>istry of Educ<strong>at</strong>ion, 1989.Garnier, Francis. Travels <strong>in</strong> Cambodia and Part of Laos. Bangkok: White Lotus, 1996.Harris, Ian Charles. Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Honolulu: University ofHawai'i Press, 2005.Hayashi Yukio. Practical Buddhism among the Thai-Lao: Religion <strong>in</strong> the Mak<strong>in</strong>g of Region.Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 2003.Ishii Yoneo. Sangha, St<strong>at</strong>e, and Society: Thai Buddhism <strong>in</strong> History. Transl<strong>at</strong>ed by PeterHawkes. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1986.Krueger, Kermit. <strong>The</strong> Serpent Pr<strong>in</strong>ce: Folk Tales from Northeastern Thailand. New York:World Pub. Co., 1969.Mayoury Ngaosiv<strong>at</strong> and Pheuiphanh Ngaosyv<strong>at</strong>hn. Chao Anou, ( 1767-1892), <strong>The</strong> LaoPeople, and Southeast Asia . Vientiane: Lao PDR Pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g agency, 2010.O'Connor, Richard A. A <strong>The</strong>ory of Indigenous Southeast Asian Urbanism. S<strong>in</strong>gapore:Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1983.----------. “Agricultural Change and Ethnic Succession <strong>in</strong> Southeast Asian St<strong>at</strong>es: A Casefor Regional Anthropology.” <strong>The</strong> Journal of Asian Studies 54, no. 4 (1995): 968-96----------. Review of Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a N<strong>at</strong>ion, by ThongchaiW<strong>in</strong>ichakul. <strong>The</strong> Journal of Asian Studies, 56, no. 1 (1997): 279-281.O'Connor, R. A. (2000). “Who are the Tai? A Discourse on Place, Activity, and Person.” InDynamics of Ethnic Cultures across N<strong>at</strong>ional Boundaries <strong>in</strong> Southwestern Ch<strong>in</strong>aand Ma<strong>in</strong>land Southeast Asia: Rel<strong>at</strong>ions, Societies, and Languages, edited byHayashi Yukio and Yang Guangyuan, 35-50. Chiang Mai: Lanna Cultural CenterCenter for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 2000.----------. “Place, Power and People: Southeast Asia's Temple Tradition.” Ars Asi<strong>at</strong>ique 64(2009): 116-123.


Polson127Paitoon Mikusol. “Social and Cultural History of Northeastern Thailand from 1868-1910: A Case Study of the Huamuang Khamen Padong (Sur<strong>in</strong>, Sangkha andKhukhan).” PhD diss., University Of Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, Se<strong>at</strong>tle, 1984.Parakrama Pandita. <strong>The</strong> History of the Buddha's Relic Shr<strong>in</strong>e: A Transl<strong>at</strong>ion of the S<strong>in</strong>halaThupavams, transl<strong>at</strong>ed by Stephen C. Berkwitz. Oxford: Oxford University Press,2007.Phairot Samoson. Chittrakam faphanang Isan E-sarn mural pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs. Khon Kaen,Thailand: E-sarn Cultural Center, Khon Kaen University, 1989.Phra Debgunabhorn. Praw<strong>at</strong> W<strong>at</strong> Saket R<strong>at</strong>chaworamahawihan [A History of W<strong>at</strong>Srakesa Rajavaramahavihara]. Bangkok: W<strong>at</strong> Srakesa Rajavaramahavihara,1991.Phra <strong>The</strong>p R<strong>at</strong>tanamoli and J. B. Pruess. <strong>The</strong> Th<strong>at</strong> Phanom Chronicle: A Shr<strong>in</strong>e Historyand its Interpret<strong>at</strong>ion. Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program, Dept. of Asian Studies,Cornell University, 1976.Simms, Peter, and Sandra Simms. <strong>The</strong> K<strong>in</strong>gdoms of Laos: Six Hundred Years of History.Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1999.Souneth Phothisane. <strong>The</strong> Nidan Khun Borom: Annot<strong>at</strong>ed Transl<strong>at</strong>ion and Analysis. PhDdiss., University of Queensland, Brisbane 1996.Strong, John. Relics of the Buddha. Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton, NJ: Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton University Press, 2004.Stuart-Fox, Mart<strong>in</strong>. Historical Dictionary of Laos. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press,2001Tej Bunnag. <strong>The</strong> Prov<strong>in</strong>cial Adm<strong>in</strong>istr<strong>at</strong>ion of Siam 1892-I915: <strong>The</strong> M<strong>in</strong>istry of the Interiorunder Pr<strong>in</strong>ce Damrong Rajanubhab. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press /Duang Kamol Book House, 1977.Thongmy Duansakda, Vet Masenay, Khamphao Phonekeo, Hoang Vankhoan, and KiaoKangphachanpheng. V<strong>at</strong> Sisaket <strong>in</strong> Vientiane: Story, Art and Architecture LaoCultural Heritage. Vientiane, 2009.Toem Wiphakpotjanakit, Prawtis<strong>at</strong> Isan (History of Isaan). Bangkok, Thailand:Thammas<strong>at</strong> University Press / Social Sciences and Humanities TextbooksProject, 1999.Phra Kaew Busarakham W<strong>at</strong> Si <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>tanaram <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani. W<strong>at</strong> Si <strong>Ubon</strong>R<strong>at</strong>tanaram <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani, 2010.Wirot Sisuro. Sim Isan = Isan Sim: Northeast Buddhist Holy Temples. Krung <strong>The</strong>p:Munnithi Toy<strong>at</strong>a, 1993.Wy<strong>at</strong>t, David K. Read<strong>in</strong>g Thai Murals. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1999.Wy<strong>at</strong>t, David K., and Chulalongkon Mahawitthayalai. Temple Murals as an HistoricalSource: <strong>The</strong> Case of W<strong>at</strong> Phum<strong>in</strong>, Nan. Bangkok, Thailand: ChulalongkornUniversity Press, 1993.Yutthanawarakorn Saengaram. (2008). Puen t<strong>in</strong> Isan nai nai ngan jittagam fapanangubosot W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong> <strong>Muang</strong> Changw<strong>at</strong> <strong>Ubon</strong> Rach<strong>at</strong>ani (<strong>The</strong> LocalCharacteristics Of <strong>The</strong> Mural Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g In <strong>The</strong> Upos<strong>at</strong>ha Hall Of W<strong>at</strong> <strong>Thung</strong> <strong>Sri</strong><strong>Muang</strong>, <strong>Ubon</strong> R<strong>at</strong>ch<strong>at</strong>hani Prov<strong>in</strong>ce.) Master’s thesis, Silpakorn University, 2008.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!