Journal of the Siam Society; 52

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r.•..!;. ;,~). ' The reason why Prince Damrong here follows the piamese popular usage, in which the Khmer prasatl£t is called U11~fl is tfat he has in mind a particular edifice, the Prang Str.m Yot l.l·mmnlJtl'Cl\l\ or 'Triple Tower' at Lopburi (Monograph, Fig. 5. ). The w~rd fJ'CJ\l\, which commonly means 'spire,' is here a classifier for lhHfl and as such is equivalent to tl~~. The images were not 'housed in spires.' The meaning is as follows: 'Som_etimes sanctuaries of prasada form were built in groups of three in a row (called in Siamese Prang

52

A.B. Griswold

S(~m

Yot or "Triple Tower" ), with an image of the Buddha in the central sanctuary and images of Bodhisattvas in the other two.' Ibid.- 'Buildings were usually made of stone. Only the smaller kinds were cast in bronze.' The real meaning is that fullscale sanctuaries were made of laterite, whereas miniature shrines might be made of bronze. P. 13, par, 2.- 'Buddha images during the Lopburt period were cast as well as made of stone and clay. There was also an innovation of royal insignias cast on the images.' The real meaning is: 'In the Lopburt period Buddha images were sometimes made of stone, sometimes of bronze, and sometimes in the form of votive tablets. During this period the type known as ''the Buddha Wearing the Royal Attire" ( 1"lT::VlHlf1~~~ ) appears for the first time.' P. 14, p(zr. 1.- 'The popular position was that of the Buddha seated under a serpent known as Pra Nag Prok.' This passage should read: 'The most popular type, known as Bra~L Naga Prnk, "the Lord sheltered by the Naga," represents the Buddha seated in meditation with the serpent's hood spread protectively above his head.'

P. 1.5, par . .Z.- The statement that 'Buddhist monuments of the Lopbur! period are more numerous in Siam that those of any other single period' is of course untrue, as those of the Bangkok period are far more numerous. I think Prince Damrong meant that they are geographically more widely distributed than those of any other ancient style in Siam.

Ibid. - 'People claim that Lopburt images were also discovered at Lampoon. They were probably not made there, but were brought from Lopburl itself.' The reference is not to images in the plural, but to the famous image called Bm~, Lvo, 'the Buddha of Lawo', which can still be seen in the little museum of the Great Relic Monastery at Lampun. Judging by the style, I take it to be a copy, made in northern Siam in the late 15th century, of some image of U T6ng 'C' type which was made earlier in the century at Lopburi or Ayudhya.

TIIOUcaJTS ON A CENTENAHY

53

/'. JS, f'Cll'. :1.- The argument that northern Siam received

Buddhism directly from India rests on faulty premises. It received Buddhism from Dvaravati, with the founding of Lam pun around the 8th century. The Seven Spires Monument is indeed a copy of the Mahabodhi at BodhgayiT, but it was built in the second half of the 15th century. P. 16, par. 2.- Northern Siam is full of monuments of Burmese style, mostly built in the late 19th and early 20th century. Not a single one can by any stretch of the imagination be attributed to Aniruddha or to his (imaginary) conquest of northern Siam. JJ. IS, par. 2. is headed: CHIENGSAEN PERIOD FROM

CIRCA 1600 OF THE BUDDHIST ERA. I have shown elsewhere that the term 'Chieng Sen' is a misnomer; 'Um Na' or 'Northern Siam • would be more appropriate. The date is too early. Depending on precisely what is to he included, we could place the beginning date anywhere between the late lBth and the mid-15th century. Cf. below, my comments regarding page 17 par. 4, and p. 18 par. 1. P. 16, JWr •. f.. - The Cetiya Luang (here called 'Royal Dagoha') date:; from the 15th century; the original cetiya of the FlowerGarden Monastery dates from the 14th, but is now restored beyond recognition. The cetiya of the Standing Buddha at Lampun was built in the early years of the present century, and is one of the monuments of Burmese style referred to above.

P. 17, par ..J.• - 'Images of the Buddha on the whole represented the Votive Monument.' Read instead: 'The most important kind of tulrlesikaceti.ya were Buddha images.' For ' the robe was short • (last two lines of page), read 'the flap of the robe over the left shoulder was short' [i.e. stopping above the nipple]. The images of the sort described in this paragraph, which are here attributed to the 'early Chieng Saen period,' w~re, in my opinion, made at Chi eng Mai and the other cities of northern Siam, mainly between 1455 and 1565. The example illustrated in Fig. 10 was cast in 1486, as we know from the inscription on its base; the one in Fig. 8 I believe to be a little later. See my remarks in 'The Arts of Thai-

54

B.A. Griswold

Bloomington, 1960, p. 123; also my Da.tecl Buddha lmctges of Northern Siam, Ascona, 1957, passim. Most of my colleagues in Bangkok disagree with my views on this subject, maintaining that only the ugly examples date from the 15th and 16th century, whereas the beautiful ones are much earlier. P. 18, par . .l.- For' his robe was longer,' read' the flap of the robe over the left shoulder was longer' [i.e. reaching down nearly to the waist in front].- The images here described were made from the mid-15th century up to modern times. The image in Fig. 9 was cast in 1482. For a further discussion of these types, see 'The Arts of Thailand,' p. 123 f., and Da.ted Buddha. Images of Northern Siam,

pnssim.

P. 18, par. 2.- For 'decorated with ornaments' read 'wearing the Attire of Royalty.' P. 18, par. 5.- For' Relic Dagoba at Nakonpanom' read 'the monument of Dhatu Bnam'. Recent unplishecl researches by Mr. Boisselier indicate that it was built around the 9th century.

Ibid.- For 'Buddist or Hindu stone castles' ( umnvniu) read: 'sanctuaries of the prasada type.' These are the same type as was

called tl·n~~~ at p. 13, par. 1, though not in groups of three.

POSTSCRIPT Sinc,e writing Thoughts on a Centenary, I have received further information about the two volumes under review, and learn that many of the imperfections in them were due to hasty preparation in order to meet a deadline. Deadlines, as my own experience has taught me, can be painful; and I should be sorry if my reproaches were to add to anyone's discomfort. Nothing could be further from my intentions than to offend anyone connected with the enterprise, If I have indvertently done so, I hasten to offer my apologies.

A. C/3. f}riswold Bangkok, February, 1961k

NOTJ~

( lm: of tlw most useful ideas initiated by Prince Dumrong in his eapucity of head of the National Library and later President of Rnyal Institute wns the series known in our pages as A Compendium of lli.~loricol .Uaterial (" Prajum f)ongsiiwadar ", as we prefer to write it,). Tlw series served to present to the public historical material which already existed in print as well as in manuscript thereby pre:-;crving them from further decay. New translations of good historical work were encouraged and published. The scheme commenced as far hack as 191.1. By the time of the Revolution of 19:12 when the Prince was relieved o{ his connection with those institutions :-;ixty volumes had already come into existence. Then came a period of cessation of the good work which was fortunately rl~Snmed about 19:·~(i from which there have been added some 17 volumes of the series, making the whole 77 in number. The range of .subjects are within the range of historical materials.

Although the JSS. has since 1944 been publishing reviews and notice:-; of recent Siamese publications which invariably include the series of historical material, no summary of the whole series had been so far available to fnreignl·r:-; in thP more generally understood languages. It i:> therefore to the credit of Dr. 1\.laus Wenk of Hamburg that he has made such u summary with a preface descrivtive of the work in Orien.s h'xtn•mus, year 9, part 2, December 1962, pp. 2:-32-257, under the title of 11rachum Pon{{siiwadiin, ein !Jeitrar; zt/1' Nibliographie dt•r Tlwilandisdum lti.Huri.w·lwn f)uelltm. Dr. Wenk's summary carries us down to vol. 7(). Another volume has been since published, eontaining a translation from the French of tbe llistuire tles prirwes du l'un-rwn et lenr.1 relations at1e1: Ia r:hi11a. Il is sponsored by His Excellency M. Thanat Khoman, Minister of Foreign Affairs in dedication to his farther-in-law, Mr. Pao Viran kiira on the oecasion of the latter's cremation. The work is thought, as staled in the preface by the Fiue Arts Department to be an authority on tbe subject. The translation has been done by Mme ]usri 3~itborn of that Department and annotated by Praya Anuman its President. The material runs to some 1?1 pages. Bangkok, 11 November 196:1.

CIJ.

\I

COIUtTGENDA

P.

2.3, line 24: for Viskha read Visakha.

P.

2fi, line 10: for devided read divided.

·~·~-----

Pl. 25, line 12: after ( 1l'1l\\ Ibid.: for a[ read of.

),

----

add a comma.

P. P. P. P.

27, line 25: for-Dhamatraipitaka read Dharmatripiataka.

P. P.

BO, line 32: for next read text. -:·n, line 20, 21: for Brah read Bral~1.

P.

:12, line 2, f1: for Brab read Bra!).

P.

:·32, line 19: for Carnmadevivamsa read Cammaclevivamsa.

P. P. P.

::l2, line 15: omit the parenthesis at the beginning. :32, line 18: for nan~_e read ~lamed._ il6, line 29: for Thanking read Tongking.

P.

·tO, line 3: for in heart read in the heart.

P.

1\il, line 4:1: for the stamped read he stamped.

P.

1\4, line 28: for refer, read refers.

29, line 21: for Record read Records. ~().

---

line 11-12: for Pras-roth read Prasroth.

30, line 2::l: for time honored read time-honored.

--

·-

1'. 14, second footnote: for catiyas read cetiyas. P. P.

45, line 2: for !?wers read t_?wer. 46, line 2: for North read Nord.

P.

,!G, line 10: for whether read Whether. 16, line 24: for the country read the Man country. --·-----tl7, line 2: for of illustrious read of the illustrious.

P.

P.

I I

At the New Year in Luang P'rabang food is offered to the masks of Grandfather and Grandmother

No before the ancestral spirits dance. (Photo by Coutard)

RELIGIOUS STRUCTURES IN LAOS 1

by

e.

_A,·chaimbault

The research we have pursued in Laos from 1951 to 1956 has permitted us, first to establish a comprehensive body of materials concerning the annual ceremonies of the principal Laotian subv cultures, namely: Luang P'rabang, S'ieng Khwang, Wieng Can and

v

.

Campas~k. Each ceremonial complex has been related to its specific

cosmogony and to the religious structures which have developed from an original T'ai substratum. Secondly, we have been able to discern behind the variations within the structural ritual and mythical frame, the historic factors (or at least the events attested to in the Annals) which explain these variations. Proceeding from North to South, that is to say, down from Luang P'r~bang we shall here examine rapidly the characteristic traits of each of the sub-cultures mentioned above. The Laotian cosmogonies in the North(2)_ very close to that of the Black T'ai- depict a paradise of archetype-founders and accord a position of primary importance to the clan of the ruling lineage. Where the ancestor of the princely Black T'ai clan (the name of this ancestor was Lo K'am) was created by an incarnation of the king of the gods, the ancestor of the ruling line in Luang P'r~bang is none other than the grandson of the king of the highest divinities. As to the common people, the Black T'ai cosmogony, as well as the Laotian, has them emerge from the heart of one or more pttmpkins. But, whereas within the pumpkins, discriminating social distinctions were non-existent once out of the pumpkins, says the' Laotian cosmogony, rigid distinctions were established between the Laotians and the aborigines, as well as between the different clans. The Kha, that is, the aborigines, were installed in the mountains . where they cultivated dry rice, while the Laotians became the people of the plains cultivating wet rice. This distinction in the way of life and this social statute could not have been established without

58

C. 1\.rchaimbault

violence. Thus when the Laotian chief, according to the divine plan, came to set up the kingdom of Luang P'd:lbang, he came into conflict with the Kha who already occupied the land. These he had to evict. Recognizing their anterior right to the land- and here is an important fact that the ritual emphasizes,.- he gave to his oldest son the name of the Kha chieftain whom he had just dispossessed. According to this cosmogony, the foundation of Luang P'dibang was subsequent to that of Muong Then ( Dien Bien Phu ), where the son of the supreme divinities descending from heaven first touched earth. Now in his descent, tqis son was preceded by two servants, Grandfather and Grandmother No, who were charged with the task of clearing the way by driving out ogres and demons. Afterwards these two servants sacrificed themselves for the benefit of the ruling lineage and the community, and became the first guardian spirits of the heartland of the territory. When the eldest son of the divinities founded Luang P'rabang, he modeled it after the original kingdom, the above Muong Then, and accorded a special place to the cult of the two guardian spirits. As the tradition is carried from Muong Then to Luang P'r~bang, the personality of the two spirits takes more significance. From servants of the son of the gods, they became parents, took over his descendants- the founder of Luang P'rabang thus became their son- and became creators of the world, a world whicb, according to the cult legends, they caused to arise from the waters by a dance which then became the dynastic emblem of the ruling line of Luang P'rabang. Reflecting faithfully this cosmogony, the religious structure of North Laos sets forth beneath the cult of the dancing ancestorswhose masks occupy the most important altar of Luang P'rabang-a cult of divine monarchs descended from the founder of the ruling line. Now, according to the Black T'ai, the descendants of the founding ancestor are ·immortal, but with the Laotians of Luang P'dibang, the descendants of the ancestor of the line are potential divine rulers, capable, at death, of becoming guardian spirits, and entitled to altars and a custodial personnel (up to a few years ago, the maintenance of the cult was incumbent upon the royal farnily ).

~ew Year Festival in Luang P'rahang. The "cry~tal and gold lion'' which Grandfather and Grandmother captured in the Himalayan forests dances at the fool of the "Watermelon" T'11t.

No

New Year in Luang P'r~bang. Grandfather and Grandmother No and the "crystal and gold lion" dancing at night in the Wat Wisun to honour the big bronze Buddha: P'racao Ong Luang.

RELiGIOUS STilUCTURES IN LAOS

Below these divine monarchs, we come to spirits belonging to the pre- T'ai substratum: ogres and with whom certain divine monarchs are even linked as kinsmen. The cosmogony thus not only expiains the religious sti"ucttit=e, but also accounts for the rituals. The great ceremonies of Ltiang P'r~bang which act out a historico·mythical scenario, permit us to witness the genesis of the world by the dancit1g ancestors, the organizing of a territory seized from the aborigines, and the installation of the ruling line. The combat between the Laotian. conquerors and the aborigines was replaced, according to the texts, by a game of hockey(3) which reintroduces the barbarians briefly to the bosom of the ~ommunity and thus permits the retracing of the evolution of an exclusive land right. The ruling lineage having been reinstalled (this installation takes place twice a year(4), at the end of the rainy season and at New Year), the king, newly conceded his rights by the aborigines, enters a period of meditation at the foot of the royal reliquary of Luang P'dibang(5) in order to consolidate his energies and assimilate this reservoir of law, as Paul Mus has phrased it, to regulate the natural, juridical and moral order. These rites having been completed, the monarch reigns serenely over a renewed universe in an eternal present. However, this peaceful conscience, this serenity, can only be explained by exceptional historical circumstances. Luang P'rabang was actually the cradle of Loatian unity, a unity set up by F'tl Ngum in the 14th century.(6) As a result of the choice of Wieng Can as capital, Luang P'dtbang was later spared from the Burmese invasions. When, in the 18th century, the Um S'ang area was split into two kingdoms, Luang P'dibang turned back to itself, almost lived in a vacuum. Vassalage to Siam at the end of the 18th century was not much more than token submission. When it was about to be implemented, the intervention of France ended it. Protected from then on by a regime which recognized his rights ?nd privileges, the king of Luang P'dibang continued to administer his state under French control. With independence, it was on the house of Luang P'rabang that Laos in its constitution centered its unity. The king, descendant of the founder of Luang P'rabang, was considered supreme ruler of the country.

do

C. Archaimbauit s'IENG KHW ANG

l:founcled by a brother of the founder of Luang P'rabang, then reorganized in the 15th century by an "a~an '' (teacher) from Luang P'r~bang, the kingdom of S'ieng Khwang manifested, probably until the 19th century, a religious structure very close to that of Luang P'rabang. Possibly centered formerh in the cult of the dancing ancestors, this structure accords an important place to the deified monarchs. More than thirty sovereigns actually occupy the altar at S'ieng Khwang. This considerable number and the collective term of "Lo K'am '' (name of the founder of the Black T'ai clan) given them suffices to indicate the undeniable influence of the Black T'ai. This structure was shaken in the 19th century by the opposition of the great vassal-princes against Cao Noi, by the Vietnamese occupation, by the massive deportation carried on by the Siamese -which explains the disappearance of village cults- and finally by the Ho invasions. The latter, in burning the masks of the dancing ancestors, severed the ritual forms from the cosmogony that supported them. Myth having been replaced by history, the rites no longer had as purpose the re-enactment of the age of the archetype-founders nor of the founding of a domain seized from the aborigines. Instead, the rites merely kept alive an historically validated event, namely: the struggle that King Cao Noi carried on against his vassals who were in revolt, a struggle which preceded the collapse of the ruling lineage· For this reason, the hockey game ( 7) which portrayed in Luang P'dlbang the reintegration of the aborigines into the community became in S'ieng Khwang a competition of clans which opposed each other in violent aggressiveness. In place of the serene frame of mind of the monarchs of the North, we find an uneasy conscience which is, as a matter of fact, an expression of guilt, for the rites that emphasize the betrayal of the vassals serve only to mask better that betrayal of which Cao Noi himself was guilty (or rather accused of being guilty) when he turned over the king of Wieng Can- his suzerain- to the Siamese enemy. Thus, it is history ( 8 ) that accounts for the modifications in the religious structure and the ritual of S'ieng Khwang. History reveals even in the reinterpretation of the ritual the unconscious motives that have inspired them.

hELIGroi.Js sTimcTuims iN LAOS

th

\IU

WIENG OA.N

Capital of U.n S'~mg in 1564, then seat of an independent kingdom in the 18th century, Wieng Can has not retained at all the cosmogony of the North. The two ancestors who put the ogres (yaks a) to the sword have been attached to another cycle of legends which makes them into agrarian divinities ( 9 ), Nevertheless, the religious struc tnre and the ritual organization have retained a trace of those of the North. Thus we find again the king of the great divinities but now a modest spirit in one of the quarters of the town ( 10 l, yet one deified monarch, in this case King Settat'irat, still possesses an altar not far from the sacred reliqnary of the T'at Luang (Royal T'at) ( 11 l. It is on the esplanade of this religuary that every year is staged a controlled competition ( 12 \ between the slaves of the T' at- here a substitute for the aborigines- and the clan of the royal functionaries. But a historico-mythical scenario no longer guides this ritual play. The disorganization of the religious structnre and of the ritual is due to the numerous wars which Wieng Can carried on against the Burmese in the 16th century and against the Siamese in the 18th century before being obliterated by the latter at the beginning of the 19th century.

This sketch which emphasizes the disintegration of the original cosmogony as well as the modifications undergone by the religious structures and the ritual in Central Laos permits us to locate Basak among the Laotian sub-cultures. The cosmogony of Southern Laos, like that of the North, views human beings as born from the heart of the cucurbitaceans but with an essential difference: the appearance of these beings does not take place in a plan conceived and carried out by the divinities. It is the tribulations of a divine unmarried mother impregnated by a servant in the celestial palace, which underlie the birth of human beings. The messenger of the gods sent in hasty pursuit

C. ArchaimbauH

of the guilty couple accidentally let fall the gourds which contained his water supply; they broke, and out spilled mankind in escape. Ct;eation thus appears as an accident: human beings fell into the world. Moreover, when they came out of the gourds, human beings were not divided up as in the North into patronymic families, or into races by a son of the gods. Without any surveillance they paired off or killed each other. Disorder was such that the king of the divinities sent agents to earth to pnt an end to this state of things. These agents chose from among the most virtuous the founders of the hundred and one kingdoms, one of which is \i Campasak. However, in contrast to the mongrchs of the North, these founder-kings arose from the gourds along with their subjects. If their virtue languishes, they are immediately replaced by the gods, who, as soon as their work of reorganizing is complete, remain on earth to watch over the conduct of princes and common men. This cosmogony explains the religious structure of Campasl:Hc which establishes a hiatus between the divinities charged with observing the conduct of princes and the defunct monarchs. Being no longer son of gods, nor vessel of the divine word, the kings of Campasak at their death, fouled by the exercise of power, like their subjects must submit to their karma, and cannot even on this stage take their place on the level of the lower gods where certain of their great vassals to the South, in particular those in Khong, have the right of entry.( 14 l Not being guardian spirits at all, they. cannot then reside in the altars consecrated exclusively to the divinities, and they may, in principle, only be the object of a private cult. Cosmogony and structure account for ritual. The rites of the South reactualize the original fault- the accidental cause of the creation of the kingdom of Campasak-and open out into a time not of purity but of defilement. Ceremonies in the South as in the North reintroduce into the community the aborigines who, according to cosmogony came out of pumpkins as did the Laotians, but with this d.ifference: where the Northern rites are charged with ratifying the right of the aborigines to the soil, as they were the first occupants, the Southern rites recreate the sexual liberty which reigned

1\lo:LJ(;JOlJS STHUCTURES JN LAO;;

6 '>

"

between the races at the dawn of history. The integration of the aborigines thus operates on the level of the socialized sexuality (15). Moreover, the divine guardians of the principality having been instructed by the head of the divinities to watch over the princes, each of these guardian spirits returns annually to heaven to report on the mandate with which he has been entrusted (16). Already suspect because of their common origin, the princes appear on this occasion like potentially guilty ones at the tribunal One can well understand how such a structure, such of the gods. a ritual organization can foster in the heart of the ruling lineage the formation of a guilt complex. A political collapse suffices to reinforce the memory of an original fault out of which emerges, for the princes of the South, the notion of an ineluctable destiny (17). However, only the history of Campas~k can account for the deformations that the cosmogony and the ritual have undergone. Whereas the Laotians of the North settled on a site where they met no significant trace of a former civilization which might have impelled them to feelings of modesty, the Laotians who came into the South discovered to their astonishment the vestiges of a grandiose past. As if to throw into even greater relief the strange character of these abandoned monuments, at the foot of the Khmer temple of Wat Pbu and of Tomo, there vegetated a motley population. These populations had retained some memory of the former brilliant dynasties which had suddenly collapsed. But one of the first Laotian ruling line which took possession of this historic site also fell, and the power came into the hands of a princess who, to the dishonor of the kingdom., gave birth to an illegitimate child. The coming together of the mythical fanlt and the historic fact or the historicized legend reveals that the cosmogony of the South is only an effort by_ the Laotian conquerors to interpret, or account for, the disappearance of fanner civilizations the cause of which they must have seen in transgressions, in the mixing of race's as exemplified by the tribes clustering round the ruined monuments. A fault was thus postulated at the very origin of the Southern lineages, a fault which let loose the misfortunes of their history (18). Purified by a head priest of a 1nonastery, then reorganized in the 18th century by a

C. Archaimbault

prince from Wieng Can(l9) who, respectful of tradition maintained the ritual of purification elaborated by the unmarried princess-mother, the kingdom of Campasak actually enjoyed but a few years of apogee. From the end of the 18th century, the great vassals of: Khong began to rise. Then Campasak fell under the yoke of Siam. The capital which up to then spread out from the revered monuments, source of prestige for the ruling lines who could not set themselves up as descendants of a divine ancestor, was transferred, and the throne came into the hands of usurpers. At the beginning of the 19th century, the fall of Cao Anu, king of Wieng C~n, precipitated that of his son who was governor of Campasa:k, and the power returned to the legitimate line. We witness then a veritable revival of the monarchic idea, but being controlled by the Siamese, this restoration could only be elaborated slowly. However, at the moment when the king of C~mpasak was about to achieve The descenhis goal in 1893, the French occupation upset it all. dants of the rulers could only try to erase a decline adumbrated by the collapse of the economic and social structures. To do this, they modified from the beginning of the 20th century the ritual organization of the principality in such a way as to gather around the ruling house the Southern communities. Disguising the split between the guardian divinities of the principality and the deceased monarchs, they grafted on to the cult of the highest divinities that of the direct ancestors. Moreover, substituting themselves for the mediums, they attempted during the New Year rites to go back to the magical sources of power, but taking on themselves all the misfortunes of the community they bound themselves ever more closely to the original fault, and so succumbed under the weight of a guilt hom which no rite could ever completely free them (20). Thus are the diverse fortunes which history accords the different princely houses of the North, Central and Southern regions, fortunes which account· for the modifications which the myths, religious structures, and ritual organizations have undergone in the principal Laotian sub-cultures and which reveal behind the institutions the unconscious configurations which give to each ruling lineage its particular aspect.

For the T'at Festival in Wieng c;{n, a game of Ti Khi is played between the T'at slave clan and the royal officials. The master of ceremonies raises the Ti Khi ball with an invocation before the game starts.

v

•

"

Ceremony of the Ho Cao Bt\n at Wieng Can

Dance of the aborigines in the precinct of the shrines of the prim:ipality of

C~mpasak during the boat race. (Photo by Manikus)

At the time of the boat ntcf', the fourth day of the ceremony, the aborigines by offering a jar of alcoholic liquor. renew the ancient contract with the descendant of those who were charged with the maintenance of order in the country. (Photo by Manikus)

Ceremony of the first month in Bas~k. The long sugar can.e with offering~ of food for the journey to the great divinities. before being placed under the shrine. Behind it are the medium and master of ceremonies ..

ilELIGlOIJS STRUCtURES tN LAOS

65

NOTES 1) A paper presented at the field Seminar sponsored jointly by the School of Economics and Political Science, the School of Oriental and African Studies of London University, and the South East Asia Program of CorneU University, at the Siam Society in Bangkok, October I, 1963. We are indebted to Mrs J, Hanks of CorneU University who has kindly agreed to undertake the exacting task of translating this article from the French original. 2) For a detailed presentation of Laotian cosmogonies, cf. C. Archaimbault "La naissance du monde selon les traditions lao'', pp. 385-414, in "Sources Orientales'', editions du Seuil (1959 ), Paris. 3) This game is mentioned in the Laotian work, "The Twelve Rites and the Fourteen Traditions", ( Mss. EFEO, Book I p. 91) and in the abstract in Siamese of this work which appeared under the title of "The Royal Laotian Traditions of the Lan S'ang" by K'ricak, Bangkok, 1936, p. 90. On the meaning of this game in Luang P'dibang, cf. the hypothesis we formulated in BEFEO, vol. XL VIII, 1956, pp. 221-231. 4) The game of hockey is mentioned only for the festival of the T'at at the end of the rainy season. But at the New Year ceremonies the aborigines, led by the P'ia Kasak, ten years ago still had to offer to the sovereign of Laos every three years, after the "Basi" rite of homage, cucurbitaceans called "fruits of strength, fruits of longevity" (d. "The Twelve Rites and the Fourteen Tradi.tions ", op. cit., pp. 29-32, and "The Royal Laotian Traditions of the Lln S'ang '' op. cit., pp. 52 and following ). This offering emphasized that the aborigines were in fact the support of the prosperity of the kingdom and the longevity of the monarch. .

" K'am Man, when a sovereign According to our informant, Cao was installed in a new palace, the aborigines attached to the "P'ia Kasak '' had to shoot arrows against its facade to drive out evil. The king then rubbed a small ball of rice over his body, and, turning

66

C. Archaimbau1t

towards the aborigines, cried out, "May the aborigines living in the mountains perish before I do! May the aborigines living on the mountain-crests perish before I do! " In chorus, the aborigines shouted, "Yes ! " The king then threw the ball in their direction, and the aborigines fled in fright back to their village, which, however, they could only enter after having been purified. If one of hem were touched by the royal ball, he would die, they said, within the year. 5) This rite takes place only at the end of the rainy season at the time of the ceremonies of the royal reliquary. Formerly, they said the king had to remain seven days and seven nights beside the T;at. Later, he stayed but three days, and finally, one day only. This meditation of the sovereign on the esplanade of the T'at took place after the dance of the ancestors. At the New Year there are substituted for this meditation at the foot of the T'at rites in order to enhance the sanctity of the different sacred places of the territory. 6) Behind this unity-apparently more nominal than real-could be discerned the ideal image that the ruling line of Luang P'rabanglike all the other ruling lines-had created of itself. The theme of unity (the germ of which is already found in certain versions from the ''Territorial Limits of Muong Um S'ftng" which give the waterfalls of Khong as southern limit of the kingdom ever since the founding of the kingdom of Luang P'rabang ), permitted a ruling lineage, which myth attested was of divine origin, to satisfy with a minimum of effort its desires for hegemony, and in practice must have played the role of a ''tranquilizer". (One notes that the recent efforts of Laotian historians to historicize myth by pushing back .the foundation of the ruling line into the distant past betrays, in fact, the very permanence of myth). Let us note that it is under F'a Ngum that there appeared for the first time in the annals of the North the mention of a certain v Muong Campa (which later became C~mpasak) which must have ~

hEucrous STRUcTuims iN LAos

6'i'

been forced to accept the sovereignty of the ruling line of Luang P'rabang.

7)

As to this game at S'ieng Khwang, d. "La fete du T'at Khwang ". Artibus Asiae, val. XXIV 3/4, pp. 187-199.

aS'ieng

8)

Cf. "Les annales de l'ancie11 royaume de S'ieng Khwnng '•, thesis, 177 pages, archives of the Sorbonne, May, 1959. Cf. "Les rites agraires dans le Moyen Laos", France Asie, 1.60-161, pp. 1185-1194 and n• 162-163, pp. 1274-1283. 9)

6

11

10 ) One of the minor altars of Wieng Can is actually consecrated to the Lord-Father of the Then, Cao P'o Then, who has the title of Cao Bim, lord of the village, and to his brother Cao F'a the celestial spirit. (The Then are the great divinities who in the traditions of the North reside in the heavens and presided over the arranging of the world ). These names probably conceal the personality of the superior divinities of Luang P'rabang's cosmogony who, as a result of the obliteration of a trandition clearly separating the two worlds, were installed in a terrestrial kingdom. If it is thus, the genealogy of these Then has been somewhat disturbed. Actually, the ceremony of the Ho Cao Ban at Wieng Can ends with " a rite of "maintaining the souls ( su khwan )" in honor of Cant'a Burom (contraction of Cant' a Burisi' one oE the ancient names of Wieng Clin, and of Khun Bulom ), considered as the father of P'o Then (according to the cosmogony of the North, I' .'{ ua~fi1'WNW'l't'l'!l>lfl '\1'tl~fflJI111il~1Yl111HJY.I7~!l1

u1fl''J'11fJ"I?I9i'l~~ Kaona Press, Bangkok, 2506, illustrated. pp. 96. On behalf of the publishers Sulaksh Sivalaksh contributes a preface giving a panegyric of the late Prince, on the occasion of whose centenary this volume among others have been issued. It consists of~ biography ( pp. 1-58) written by his daughter, Momchao Dum]C:itra CitraiJOl:)S who had been the late Prince's constant companion. The biography is therefore full of details and thus more interesting than most of the biographies that have been published in cremation books. It was first published as a memento of the cremation of the late Prince's remains.

It is thus a second edition.

itECE~T SIAMESE PUDLICATIONS

;.l'be next section is the Prince's correspondence with Pra saraprasoeth who is perhaps better known under the pen-name of Nagapradip. This touches on a variety of subjects of cultural and philological interest, of tradition and ceremony. Among the topics dealt with may be mentioned the derivation of the word badluan;; denoting a Roman Catholic missionary; and the significance of the tegalia of the Siamese monarchy. The final section consists of the late Prince;s designs and drawing or painting, especially those of the ecclesiastical fans of honour. Most of the above material was not within reach of the public and will not be easy to get bold in future. 299. Naris, H.R.H. Prince: Journal of a voyage up river to hsnulok ~"l"r!H1tll1Hp::u::;\1H'h.h~1lt~lflfl Pracand Press, Bangkok, 2fi06. pp. 107. Prince Naris has been widely known as an eminent all-round artist as well as a statesman of sane views. The journal here is, however, an evidence of his ability in yet another field--that of a writer. In the preface signed hy his daughter, Princess Dual)citra CitratJOl)S, we learn that when King Chulalongkorn planned the erection in 1900 of the then monastery of Bencamaboj)it (known to foreigners as the Marble Temple) to be an up-to-date combination of the latest in architecture with the retention of the traditional style of the national architecture, a government sc11lptor, Pra Prasiddhi Patima, was sent up to Pisnuliik to make a mould of the aesthetic image of tbe Jinadij Buddha in the main chapel of the Monastery of the Reliquary. The King's intention was to reproduce the artistic image and set it up in the bot of the new monastery that was being built. Six months later Prince Naris was sent up to supervise the preparations and the moulding of theimage and its altar. The actual casting of the image was to take place some six months later when the rains would have come to an end. The Prince left Bangkok in May travelling by river for there was then no railway '

to Pisnulok. The daily records of the trip wl'itten by himself form the subject of this work.

iz,i

RECI'r-1'1' SIAMtr.SE PUJlLICATidNS

The journey commenced on the 17th reaching Nalwn Sawan a week later, and Pisnu!Ok six days after. The party proceeded further up river to Uttaradith. A detour was made by horsebaek to Fa9 and back on the same day; then again on horse·baek to Mna9 Do!), which was a 11art of Sawankal6k from where they wPnt to Sukhotai. The daily records are not made up of mere account~ of travel but contain much information regarding architecture, art, and admi· nistrative matters of the grovcrnmen t postal and telegrap hie administration over which department the Prince presided. Particularly interesting for readers of the JSS would probably be his hislorical and philological notes. To mention but one or two instances the name of Wat Sijum (~'J!lJ) of which he gave an alternative name of Ri~ijum (t]~'l(lJ). Nowadays the more widely known name iH Sijum which unfortunately does not to seem make sense. The alternative name however might have referred to an assemblage of risi's, or seers. The reason for the elimination of the first syllable of the word risi is not hard to guess. In the south even nowadays nulwn is often referred to by the more illiterate as 'kon; and in the north-east Nakon Raiasima. often becomes just 'kon etc. As literacy spreads the tendency to drop the first syllable appears to be getting rarer. Another name of interest for the philologist is Wat Pra l1ai Lua~ (1~w~::;w1mHrH) on page 98. As written it would make no sense for it would mean the monastery of the Great Wincl.god or the Great Monastery of the Wind-god, or just monastery of the great wind. None of the three are satisfactory for what would a Buddhi:H monastery have anything to do with the wind or the Wind-god of Hinduism. Prince Naris writes here however not this way but calls it the 1"'~1Vm~'lwnt111\l or Monastery of the Great Forest. Though the monastery was situated within city walls yet it is nearer to a forest than the wind. With regard to the linguistic evolution which turned Prai into Pai we can call to mind the fact nowadays that many people cannot or do not try to pronounce the compound consonant which included a semivowel, thus p]a is turned into pa and triam into tiam. After having been shed of its semivowel and become pai a further process would easily be from pai into pai, in the same way

ilECEN'I' SIAMESE PUBLICATIONS

125

as dai (I~) is pronounced dai though still written short and also khao Ct..J'1) into khtio C'li'11). In this case an excess of intelligent authority on the part of the national education has come forward to support the latter mispronunciation on grounds of phonetics. Altogether the diary bas been written with great intelligence such as one would expect from the pen of the late Prince and also, again to be similarly expected, with great humour. 300. Punnavanna, the Rev. Dr. Sthirapo~s: A Translation into Siamese of the Somantapasadika, Commentary of the Vinaya, Part I lltlmn.i\auh:niim 'tl~H1flm1liu UjjlJfllfl published for the dissemination

of Buddhist j)hilosophy, Prayura wo9s Press, Dhonburi, 2506. pp. 255. This first part of the work is divided into 2 sections; namely an introduction, bahira-nidana giving a narration of the three holy synods of the Buddhist monastic order directly after the death of the Master going on to the propagation of the religion among lands beyond India; and the first chapter called the Veranjakancla commencing with an expose of the good qualities of the Master as summarised in the 'Namo tass a .. .', or the credo of Buddhism, then developing the narration into the visit of the Master to the village of Veraiija where on the request of Sariputta he enunci::~ted the Ovadapatimokkha or essence of his teaching and propagated the Vinaya, or Regulations of the Holy Order o-f the Sal)gha. The translator apologises somewhat for his literal style which, however pedantic, was intended for the use o-f students in the monastery who would be looking up to it for a literal rather than a free one so that they can -follow the original texts to the letter. He also pays tributes to his preceptors in the usual way for the Rev. Dr. Punnavanna is a recent though very high graduate of the doctorate. He did so well in fact in his examinations that the Patriarch recommended special royal honours being given by the sovereign ·for his ordination into the full mo11astic order as a bbikkbu. 301. Fine Arts Department: Pra Pathomac~di l~'tlo3W~::;tl~lJI'II~6 SivaI5orn press, Bangkok, 2506, ill. maps plans, pp. 271.

In the preface written by the Director~General it is pointed out that the cedi of Fathom is highly venerated by people coming

Pra

nECENT SIAMESE i'UBLICA'l'IONS

from all quarters of the kingdom of every nmk from the sovereign downwards, as may be witnessed by the numerous additions and repairs around. It has inspired poets and writers to produce many a work of literary and historical value. l-Ienee he decided that every thing that has been written about it should be examined, collected and published in one book to ease due reference. The hook is divided into three parts.

Part I consists tlf the

older texts namely a. the Story of Pra Prat'urvey of the

Tung Samrit lrrigati01~ Area ( HJ62 ). (Presented by Dr. Moormann ). Montrakun, Sarol

Miscellaneous Soil Reports of the Department of Rice, Royal Irrigation Dept. and Dept. of Agriculture No.3 Report

on the Preliminctry Soil Survey of the Lam NamOon Irrigation Area ( 1962). (Presented by Dr. F. Moormann) Morrison, W.S. (compiler):

I-Ienzada District, Vol. A. ( 1963 ).

Moura,}.

Le Royaume du Cambodge I-II ( 1883 ).

Nakamura, Hiroshi

East Asia in Old Maps ( 1962 ).

Naval Intelligence Division

Indo- China ( 1943 ).

Naval Intelligence

Netherlands East Indies,

Division

(1944 ).

Vol.

I-ll

\I'JI:til$10\5 I 0

Dshima, Ibn~· T.

Pnge, A.J. { l'lllllililN

I liE SIAM SOCIETY'S L!BHAHY

ltl

The International Comparison of S1~e Distribution of Family Income::; with Special Reference to Asia. (Presented by the University of Hawaii). .,

Pegu District, Vol. A ( 1962 ).

Pnrnnnvitnnn, S.

The God of Adam's Peak ( 1958 ).

Paribntrn Na Ayuthyn, Mom 1)usd i

The Regional Folk Dances of Thailand (1962).

Paukcr, Guy

J.

Indonesia: Internal Development or External Expansion. ( 1963 ). (Presented by the University o{ California, Berkeley, California).

Pavic, Augulitc Pavie, Auguste Pinto, F.~l.

1\ Ia Conquete des Cours ( 1947 ). Contes du Cambodge ( 1921 ). Lcs Voyages Advantureux de Fernnnd Mendez Pinto ( 16~5 ).

ll.S.0.!\1.

Organbmtional Directory of tbe Govet·nment of Thailand, April1962.

l'uhlir I l!•alth, Ministry of:

I foal th Progrcl!s 1961-1962 ( 1D62) ( Jlre:;ented by Dr. Auay Ketsingh ).

l~angthonK • .f.

Souvenir of Siam ( 1954).

Rei:.;clwucr, E.

o. anti

Eost Asia, the Great Tradition ( 19GO ).

Fairhnnk, John 1 Lll!RARY

l\hha Bod hi, the, Vol. 71, Nos. 1-10, 1963.

Malayan !\ranch l~oyal Asiatic Society, Journal of the, Vol. XXX, . Pt. ·1, 19~)7; Vol. XXXI, Pt. 4, 1958; Vol. XXXII, Pt. 1, 1959; Vol. XXXIII, Pt. •I, 1960. XXXIV, Pt. 2, 1961. March of India, the, Vol. 15, No. !.l, 196:·\. Mi\rg, Vol. XVI, NoH. 1-2, 196:1. Presented by the Information Service of India, Bangkok. Microentomology, Vol. 25, No.2, 1963.

Tvlitteilungen nus dem Museum fiir Vc5lkerkunde zu Leipzig, Nr. 12, 1962.

l'rcscntchya Anuman Cflajadhon Acting President, Royal lnstitztte Tbe belief in and use of charms and amulets as magical protection against dangers and misfortunes, and also to bring love, luck and power is a world-wide one. It is not confined to primitive races on! y, but also to be found among modern peoples of every nation and faith. In fact "the thought and practice of civilized peoples can not be cut off as with a knife from the underlying customs and beliefs which have played a determining part in shaping the resulting products, however much subsequent knowledge and ethical evaluation may have modified and transformed the earlier notions". 1 For this reason, every faith and religion has in one form or another certain cui ts and formulas, as inherited from the dim past and handed down from generation to generation, from the old belief of magic and superstition, which are paradoxically contrary to the real teaching of the religion's founder. This is inevitable; for the mass of humanity that forms the woof and warp of the woven fabric of faith of the great religions, is composed of many levels of culture. A.B. Griswold says in his "Doctrines and Reminders of Theravada Buddhism" that "within the Theravada there are two very different sorts of Buddhistrationalists and pious believers." 2 This may be applied equally to other religions: there are always implicitly two sorts of believers within the same religion, the intellectuals and the pious people. It is with the latter that one can :find abundant phenomena of charms and amulets in belief and practice. In the Thai language charms and amulets are called collectively

khawng-khlang ( "U'1l~"Utl"'~) which means "sa~red, poten~ objects." Traditionally, this is divided and classified into four major classes, namely: 1 Preface to the Comparative Religion by E.O. James, 1961. 2 The Arts of Thailand, p. 28, 1960 A.D,

172

Phya Anuman Rajadhon

"

"

.. ( va::.:tTlHN ) I Khruang-ran.g ( 11'\Hl~,,~ ) II Phw Khman.g III Khruan.g plalc-sek ( Lfl~~NU~fllfffl) and IV Wan.-ya ( •'1tHJ1 ) 1 I K.hriiang-rang. This is a material substance transformed from its natural and normal state mostly into stone or copper. Such a thing is supposed to he imbued inherently with magical power. If held in the mouth or carried or worn on the body of a person, it will provide him or her with invulnerability and protection against dangers or misfortunes. ''Guns will not explode, sharp things will not wound if fired at or struck at the wearer'' ( il~1~'1l'1lflv.fli1~L'li'1) who has such a magical object with him or her. The khruang-rang is sub-divided roughly into two sub-classes, namely: ( a) Khat ( tWI ) • A certain kind of talismanic stones found in certain animals, birds, fishes, crabs and trees; (for instance teak and bamboo). Included also in this sub-class are certain stones found in termite hills, stone eggs, certain kinds of ores and lek-lai ( 1'11~fl '1 rHl ) 2 and a certain kind of stone called "khot a kat" ( fl~ 'el1fl1fl ), literally the "khot of the sky." Probably it is a meteoric stone or fragment. There are many kinds of "khots ", more than enumerated here, and no text books relating to the subject as far as I know are in printed form. Some khots I have seen resembled in material substance black stone or oxidi.sed copper. Whether, perhaps they were artificial, I am unable to verify. 3 (b) Unclassified. Included in this sub-class are certain seeds found in jack fruit, tamarind, krathin thet ( m~i1lltVlfl- agacia faraesiana ), pradu ( 1h::~ - pterocarpus indicns ), saba ( ff~U1 - entada phaseoloides ), satu ( ff~~'il- caudia chrysantha) and makha ( lJ~fl1lntsia bejuga ). 4 1 The transcription of Thai words is based mainly on the Transcription of Thai Characters into Roman, The Royal Institute, Bangkok, 1954. 2 A miraculous iron characterized by its quality to become soft if held over fire. 3 Probably the "khot" and the Burmese amade are one and the same thing. See Shway Yoe, The Burman, his life and notions, 3rd ed. 1909. p. 46.

4 Latin words from McFarland, Thai-Engli.>h Dictionm.;'·

TIIAJ CHARMS AND AMULETS

173

Witb the exception o£ the jack-fruit tree, all the above trees

and vines are "leguminosac" in species, and are found more or less as indigenou:-; growths in Southern Thailand, the northern part of the Malay Peninsula. Any seed or pod from the aforesaid species

of trees if found .unusually in its natural state to be copper, it is deemed a miraculous object which commands awe and trust, and can be utilized for its supposed inherent vital force as khruang-rang. Paren thctically, there is a well-known belief among the older generation that if a man is born, as a freak of nature, with a lone copper testis, he will have in himself a certain magical property. Such a prodigy cannot be slain by any means with ordinary weapons but by impalement only. There have been once or twice, if my memory serves me right, mentions in old chronicles of such a notable man. Undoubtedly, the belief in the magical efficacy of copper is an echo of the Copper Age preserved superstitiously by man that any such object, a novel and a freak of nature, is a thing of awe and wonder. Sometimes, I am told, for lack of such rare magical things as enumerated above, people will resort to artificial ones by fashioning them in copper as representations of the aforesaid natural ones. Khriiang-rarz.f.f both sub-class (a) and (b) may be set, mounted or encased with precious metals and strung to a gold chain to be worn as u necklace. Sometimes they are enmeshed with fine wires strung to a piece of thread to be hung around the neck, or wrapped with a narww piece of white cloth, then rolled and twisted to be worn as a charm or an armlet. If a natttral one is sizable, in particular the "khot" stone, it may be broken in smaller pieces for convenience of wearing. Included too in sub-class (b) are adamantine cat's-eye ( LWJIH111IlJ'l) and rat's-cye ( 1W'IfH11l1~) solid boar's tusk, canine

. t oot 1J of t tger or " sang ,1 ( !l'H) ' boar's or elephant's tusk broken and lodged in a tree. The latter elephant tusk has a special name in Thai /camchat kame hay ( rh1i'~flH11l) ==to ·expel and disperse). Also included in this sub-class (b) are buffalo's and hull's horns · an old t1ger · · can transform t"tseIf·111 to a man or vice-versa a magician 1 Sang ts wh1ch • , • • . £ • · It · a were-tiger m fhat fo!ldore. 8 who can turn hnnsel mto a tiger. t

which Hash with a radiant light in c\nrkncs:·• aK if in flame:;. Any object of this cln~s, (or part of it if it b a hi~r otH!) moy be orna· mented with precious metal nne! worn nr ~~arriecl hy the owner usn protection against any danger. The names of these talismanic objct'ls of the Khriiallg·rang are mentioned frequently in Thai historical romances, particularly " in the well-known story of "Khun Chang Khun Phaen" ( ~\l'I!H ~1HINU ). Without an elementary knowledge of the nhjccts ot Khriiang-rang, one will not he able to have n dear iden of popular beliefs and lore of the good old days amonr: member~ of certain social groups in Thailand. One stuclies such sur vi vnls of the present day in order to know something of the pnst and to unclcrstnnd the present. To ignore sueh studies for various rcosons is to understand ineorrectly the growth and developnwnt of the thOttghts nnd ideas of the folk. II Phra Khriiang ( vm:Lfl~'il~ ). Allied to objects in elass I or khrilang-rang are certain claHsc:> of figurim•:; representing altitudes and episodes of the life of the Lord Buddbn. In fuel, the Thai word Phra Khdiant; is a shortened form of Phra Khriilmg nmg (Pbra "'the lord+ khri.iang-rang ). These figurines are of three sizes, large, me(lium and small which can be utilized ns a necklace pen(\ant or (;Hrri