The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. XLVIII, Part 1-2, 1960 - Khamkoo

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VOLUME XLVIII Part 1 

June 1960 

THE 

JOURNAL 

OF THE 

SIAM SOCIETY 

(JSS) 

BANGKOK 

2503

With the Compliments of 

Jvl.t~ 

J.J. 'Boeles 

'Dec 1996

VOLUME XLVIII PART 1 

i ' ., 

JUNE: 1960 

.Articles 

B.P. Grosliel' 

01.t1· K nm1•ledge of Klnnm· Oivilf:at{oh, 

A Be~arpp•J'aisrd 

:i?agb 

i 

A.B. Griswold Afle'f'llwugltts on the Romani:zat

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF KHMER CIVILIZATION 

A RE~APPRAISAL 

by 

Bcmard Philippe Groslicr 

Dh·ecteur des Recherches archeologiques de !'Ecole 

fr ancaise d 'Extreme-Orient 

' 

Research on the Khmer past has hitherto heen devoted 

to history, based on epigraphy, and to the history of art, through 

a systematic analysis of monuments. 'l'he wealth of knowledge 

thus acqttired is quite unparalleled in Southeast Asian studies. 

All Khmer inscriptions have been published and translatet1,1 and 

the history of ancient Omn bodia is far more than ad vanced.2 

Khmer art, especially during the Angkor period, is certainly the 

best worked ont amongst all the arts of Southern Asia, even 

including that of Inclia. 3 It would seem that from all these sources, 

there wonlcl emerge n. general picture of Khmer civili~ation.4 

However, to attempt such a synthesis is t,o 1'ealize5 that 

we are but at the beginning of t.hc real task. Not because the 

pioneers in this field have been inadequate. On the contrary, one 

can hut admire how impressively they luvve built on the basis of 

snch escanty clata. 'l'heir achievement offers a splendid contrast 

with the state of our 1mowledge of other comltries such as 

Ohampil., where so many facts still wait to be worked Oll. And, as 

a matter o.f fact, working hypotheses or brilliant intuitions are 

1. G. Coedes: Inscriptions du Camhodia. Puhtic:. de I'EFEO. Hanoi, Saigon 

and Paris, 1937-1954, 6 vol. 

2. G. Coedes : Les Etats hindouises d'Indochine et d'Indone.1·ie. Histoire du 

Monde d'E. Cavaignac. Paris, 1949. 

3. G. de Coral-RelTiusat: L'Art khmer .... Paris, 1940; P. Dupont: 

La Statuaire pre-angkoriennc. Artibus Asiae supp/em. XV. As con a, 1955. J. Bois 

Selier: La Statuaire khnlere ct SO/I evolution. Puhlic. de /'EF£0, 37. Paris, 1955. 

4. L.P. Briggs: Ancient Khmer Empire. American Philosophical Soc. 

Philadelphia, 1951. G. Coedes : Pour mieux comprendre Angkor. Paris, 1947. 

5, B.P. Groslier: Angkor, Hommes, et P/erres. Paris, 1956; English ed.: 

Aogkor, Art and Civilization. Londres, 1957.

2 Bernard Philippe Groslior 

constantly being eonfirmed by new discoveries, which, of course, 

reflectr1 hon.otu• upon the~r authors and guarantees progr.ess w; well. 

If there nre flaws in .our science, our sources are to blame. 

Khmer inscripticms are few, l~Specially in comp

otJh KNOWLEDGE OF KHMER crViLIZATiON-A RE-APPRAisAL 

secular buildings, which wm•e in wood, have been destroyed. And 

with them wood-carvings and paintings of the greatest importance; 

but now so many missing links in the evolution of Khmer art. 

Moreover, the bulk of this documentation -etJigraphic anr1 

plastic-belongs essentially to the classical age of Khrnei· cilltnre; 

the Pl'e•Angkot• aiHl Angkor periods, that is to say, f.l'oin tlu• VIith 

to the ·xiVth centuries. Brfm•e-and for that mattel' aftet•-we 

know pl'actically nothing, 

In the first. place, the prehistot·y or Cambodia-as well ai" 

of Southern Laos and Thniland-is still awaiting the spade. A fe>Y 

chance finds or isolated diggings have brought to 1ight scarce 

material, impossible to classify or even to study. In contrast with 

the good work carriecl on in Northern Viet-Nam and the Tranninh 

and the excellent research in Malaya and, above all, in Indonesia, 

there is, we must admit, a complete gap in our knowledge of 

Prehistoric Southettst Asia, whatever brilliant and alluring hypothese~ 

try to explain it as a whole.7 Bemmse there arr> no 

possible literary sources for this period, we shaH have tc• hnild 

solely on systematic surveys and oxcavtLtions all over this area. 

Then, and only then, will we be able to app1•ehend the origin and 

evolution of Early Man, and to form a picture of his achievements 

before the Indian influence was felt there. 

For there lies the second. major problem of our enquiries: 

the exact impact of Indian culture on Southeast Asia. It is 

now apparent that; the various populations which eame under this 

influence, were not mere "savages" but already had cultures, possibly 

refined, of their own-as fo~· instance in the case of the so-called 

Dongson people.s And it is also evident thttt it was only becfmse 

they were advanced enoug·h to assimilate Indian civilization. 

7. R. von Heine-Geldern : Ur!tcimat und fruherte Wandercmgen des Ausironesier. 

Antlzropos, 1932, vol. XXVII; P. V. van Stein Callenfels: The Me!anesoid 

Civilisati01is oj'Easteru Asia. Bull. oftlce Raffles Museum, 1936, ser. B. vol. I, 

p. 41 ; R. von Heine-Geldern : Prehistoric Researches in the Netherland Indies. 

New York, 1945. 

8. B. Karlgren: The Date of the eor/y Don~;-son Culture. Bull. of the !v!w·. 

of Far-Eastern Antiquities, 1942, t.14, p. 1; O.T. Janse: ArchaeologiC'a{ Researches 

in Indo-China. Harvard, 1946-1949, two vol. published. 

S

Bel'narci Phllippe Grosllei' 

Otherwise, they would probably have remained untouched, li1re 

so many of the hill-tl'ibes of Indochina, living side by side for 

centuries with higher cultures, and in much closer contact 

than the Indochinese populations were with India, and which 

nevertheless are still at tho same primitive level because they 

are not sufficiently advanced to absorb superior intellectual or 

social patterns. 

A proper eRtimate of Indian influences, then, wi11 not be 

possible till we know mm·o pt·ecisely who was influenced; moreover, 

we must know who influencecl whom. A lot has been written 011 

this mn.tter in the last fifty years,9 but little of it has been fit•mly 

established. Like biological evolution, Indian expansion is mm•e 

visible in its eifects than in its history, ancl no one has yet proved 

iu detail how it workecl. After all, our khowleclge of IncUa itself 

dt1l'ing this period is still insufficient. 'l'oo often medieval, if 

not modern, India is unconsciously taken ns a yardstick. The 

danger should be obvious. India,, whatever mtty i1e the legend of 

its "immobility," has changed quite a lot over twenty centuries, 

and the India, or, better, the various parts of the Indian continent, 

which have playecl a role in this expansion, wet·e not what 

they are now. This is especially true of its religions-so important 

for our enquiry -and perhn.ps even more true of its social structure. 

As a matter of fnct, it could perhaps be said, without too mneh of 

a pn.rnclox, that medieval India with its ossified society could not 

have "indirmhecl" Southeast Asin, for it would probably not 

hrwe expanded overseas. 

Happily enough, an enormous wealth of research, mostly 

that of Indian scholars, has recently been carried out, nnd we are 

hegining to have a better knowledge of the history of ancient India, 

the formation and the 0volntion of its religions, :ts well ns of the 

n.rts which expressed them. As a model, recent work by l\h. K. 

9. G. Ferrand: Le K'ouen-loue11. Joumal Asiatique, juil-aout 1919, p. 15; 

B. Ch. Chhabra: Expansion l~( fndo-AI)'a/1 Culture. Jal of the As. Soc. of Bengal, 

1935, Letters, I. p, 54: W. Stutterheim: Indian influences in old-Balinese art. 

Londres, India Soc., 1935; G. Coedes: £tats hindouises ... , op. cit.: pp. 33 sq.; 

R.C, Majundar : Ancient Indian Colonisation in South-East Asia. Oriental Institute, 

Baroda, 1955, etc.

OUR KNO\VLEDt;E OF KHMER CIVILiZATION-A RE-APPRAISAL 5 

Blwtttocharyn is worth quoting, for he is trying to find for Khmer 

borowings the exnct Iuditm sources, bot,h in space nnLl timc.lO 

In the field of ;n·t, for in8tauce, we know a great deal more about 

Auutravnti and Palhtvn styles-the main som•ccs of tbe varionr; 

typc~s 

of pl.astie art. of Southeast Asitt. 'vVe are personally engagerl 

in this field of research, awl we hope sorrw day to furnish new 

evidence in this field. 

But lt great deal more must lw done; for 

instance, we must hnve a better estimate of the pm·t played J,y 

Sonth India iu this connection.ll 

We shall lwve also to clisseet the Pxact procPss of Indiau 

expansion, why it happmwtl and hnw. 

New discoveries have 

alrcmcly thrown new light on the snhject; perhaps this. fact hn~ 

not yet been fully grasped. We refer to the latest nrchaeologien1 

discoverie::~ in Sout.b Inclia.12 'l'he fruitful excavations nf Sir 

Mortimer Wheeler have hl'nugltt ont the enormous trade which took 

place during the first century of the Clnistian Era between the 

Mediterr!tuean and Inc1ia.13 If, ~ts evl·rything suggests, the bnlk 

of thi1:1 trade was in gold, :,;pice:,;, perfumed woods mHl gums, we 

kuow that India itself could not protlucP them il1 sufficient. quantities. 

Itislikely,therefore, that Iudim1 traders looked for other 

fi.elcls of production and, because they were usually from the 

sou. the astern coast of the continent;, they began to sail for Southeast 

Asia, which filled the bill for these commodities. Beside the many 

10. K. Bhattacharya: La Secte des Pa.\·upata dans /'ancien Cambodge. Jal 

Asiatique, 1955, vol. CCLVIII, fasc.,4, p. 479; ID.: Etudes sur l'iconographie de 

Bauteai Samr'e. Arts Asiatiques, 1955, t. III, fasc. '1, p. 29,1; ID.: Notes d'Iconographh• 

khmere. Ibid., 1956, t, IV, fasc. 3, p, 183. 

11. See, for instance: K.A.N. Sastrj: South-Indian l!!!lllences in tlze Far 

East. Bombay, 1949, and: ID.: History l~( South India. Londres, 1955, 2d ed. 

12. R.E.M. Wheeler: Arikamedu: An Indo-Roman Trading Station ou the 

East coasl of India. Ancient India, July 1946, n • 2; J.M. Casal: Sites urbains et 

funeraires des environs de Pondichery. Paris, 1956; ID.: Foui/les de Vimmpatnam 

Arikamedu. Paris, 1949. 

13. H.G. Rawlinson: lnlercourse betll'een India and the Westem World. 

Can1bridge, 1916; E.H. Warmington: The commerce between the Roman Empire 

and India. Cam bridge, 1928; P. Meile: Les Yavanas dans I' Inde tanwule . .,Jal 

Asiatique, 1940,41, p. 80.

probrthlt> factors already known-political exodus, 14 

religl.o\t!:l 

proselytism-,15 trade now appears dnfinitely the most. imJJOrtant 

canse of Indian expansion. 

Bnt the significant factor, from om· point of view, was 

that Indian traders, if they wanteil to achieve the goal for which 

t.hey saile(l, had to settle more Ol' les8 permanently on the HhoreB 

of Southeast Asia. 

'L'hey could sail only with the lllonsoon, ~liH] 

eonld not thereforo come bn.ck before the next mcmsoon, at the 

earliest. Thn t-t, they harl to stay at 1 east one year in foreign 

lands. 

'l'hey we1·e looking for goods which were scarr.e, h:ll'd to 

gather in sufficient qttantities fot• tL profitable cargo, a.nll t.hey 

were dealing with populations who were pt•obubly shy, aurl unorganized 

economioall",\" m· technically to f:tee Huch a brisk 

impact. In bet, it is likely that Inl1ians had themselves to 

gather many of theHe prndtHJtS, ~ts for instance till iu 'M:dayn, 

whieh was probably 1nined by them. All these fnetors determined 

the settlentent nf lndinn "eafaret·s in morr or less 

permanent e!:ltablishment8. 

These were not "colonies" in the 

moderu political meaning of the tm·m, uor wore they, it seems, 

estahliBbed by military mett!ll:l. 

But they brought to the Yery 

door of local peoples Indian eu1ture, the tuore eft'eetively lwcaust> 

it Wtt8 brong h t pe acefn lly. 

'l'his vermanrmt instftllatiotl of Iut'lians hud another 

conseqtience, hardly ever snspecterl, but which is perhaps tlw 

most important. nne. Ships in this trade• being what they were, aud 

the stttpl.e food of Indians, riee, being not trlLIH:lportable, because 

it wonld hav0 fermented, the tr:wellers had to produee in their 

ports of call food for their st,ay t•s well as fo1· their return 

:journey. 

We know that peoples easily change theil· mental 

14. L. de La Vallee-Poussin: V!nde aux temps des /vlauryas el des barbares, 

Crees, Scythes, Panhes et Yue-tciJi. Histoire clulv!onde d'E. Cmaignac. Paris, 1930. 

15. S. Levi: l'tolfmlee, le Niddesa et Ia Brhatkatl!a. Etudes Asiatiques ... 25• 

An.de/'EF£0. Hanoi, 1925, vo1.2,p.l; ID.: Les"mwclwndsdemer"etleur 

rOle dam·le bouddl!i.~me primit(t: Bull. Assoc. Amis de /'Orient, 1929, n"3, p.19; ID.: 

K:ouen-louen a11d Dvipuntara. Bijdr .. 1931, t. 88, p. 627; ID.: Mm}imekha/a, divinite 

tie· le mer. Bull. Letters Acad . .Belgique, 1930, p. 202; K.A.N. Sastri: Agastya. 

Tijdsch. Bat, Gen., 1936, vol. 76, p. 503.

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF KI-lMER G!VILIZATION-A RI'.:·Al'PRATSAL 7 

habitE~ or reHgions, tm(l espf:'cially their polit.ical ideas, bnt that. 

they do not readil~' change theh diet. The Judian is a member of 

a st.rougly strnctm•ed societ.y where food habit.s are closely knitted 

with religions :mel mental attitudes. It is therefore lil{e]y that tlw 

settlers recreated "eells" of Indian life, wherever they estahlish.ecl 

themselves, exactly according to tho p:ttte1·n nf t.heir origin a 1 

honies. 'l'hat is to say self-subsistent sHttlements, with Indian 

collective (if not sometirneH political) strnctn.res, and social 

patterns, theoretically, at least, for they certainly married local 

girls, and finn.lly with t.lle necessary f:lanctinn for the whole, temples 

and priests. In other words, they est.abliflhed themselvAH 

exaetly as they-o1· for that matter the Chinese-still do nowudttys, 

as tlw Indian quarters from Rangoon to Saigon, from 

Djalmrta to Phnom Penh, from Singapme to Bangkok bear 

witness. I£ not one such Indian settlement Jw,s yet been 

oxcavateil, t,his suppoHition iB nevert.holess strongly supported hy 

the varions effects of Indianization. For instance, it is clear 

that tho first locally made temples and stM.nes of Southeast Asia 

were e~act copies of: Indian models. It was t.h.ercfore neeessary 

for the loeal workmen to htLve, initially, real models before them, 

which presupposes Indian temples on the spot. 

On the other hand, everything seems to point, to the 

fact that, by this time, the aboriginal peoples of Indochina 

were more or less food-gatherers, rather than permanent farmPra, 

and for that matter more often mountaineers than plain-dwellers, 

or, if they were the latter, only fishe1·metl established on the coastal 

sand-folds. For p1nins, in South Indochina, then meant swampy 

deltas or flooded alluviums, which could not be enltivated without 

extensive drltimtge or a water-control system. But Indians themselves 

were past masters in these techniques, as is clearly shown 

by their works in Pt"tll.twa country, or in Ceylon ,16 

And t.hey 

16; L, Brohier: Ancient irrigation works in Ceylon. Colombo, 1930, 3 vol.: 

C. Minakshi: Administration and Social life under the Pa!km;s. Memoirs'ofthe A.S.l. 

Madras, 1938.

8 Bornard Philippe Groaliet 

very probably used them for their own food production in 

Southeast Asia, thus teaching the art to the local populations 

ancl giving them a basis on which to construct a fixed society and 

an advanced civilization. Although, again, we cannot prove in 

detail this aspect of "indianizution," there Mn be no doubt 

about its effects us one looks down from the air on the extra~ 

ordinary irrigation network of l!~ou~nnn, which is unique for this 

tbne in this ;treu, and Cltnnot be otherwise accounted for.l7 

I personally feel that this was the most important gift of India 

to Indochina, without which all the rest of Indian culture 

would probably have been useless, for the very reason that it 

woul

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF KHMER C.lVlLIZATION-A RE-APPRAISAL 9 

in the mHmory of "spices'' t.hn.t, was rc~tainet1. 

For, ;Lg:dTist a11 

obHtacles, the t.rndt> was latt•J' 011 J•esnuwd by the AnLb seafarer,;, 

and soon by the ships of VL~nice. 

\Vheu, tin ally, tht' 'l'nrkH df:'fiuitely 

cnt this irnmemorialrnad to silk und spicPs, \\'eHteJ'IJ Enrnpe ('ntlE':t~ 

vmll'efi to obt,nin this luxury again. hut 11ll t.lip 

wny. 'rho appearance o[ Albuquerque Oll the coasts nf India wal:! 

merely the consequE·ll

10 Bernard Philippe Gros1ier 

p1etely nuaware of it. 

By tlw same token it stovped sailiug 

ettst :tw.1 fm·got its comrnereial empire as well, so much f:!O 

'Lhttt. 

refere!lcel:l to it., in its literWll th:tt a gt·onp eanltot adopt. an ill\p11 

teeltnolugir:al and snr.ial level. 

thn Hmne 

BncnnSfl 'Lltn [H'nples nf t.hP area wert:, thr, 

in permaneut eoHtaet with Indian sett.]e~r~entl:l OIJ t.heir ow11 

fllt

enlta. 

OUR KNOWL~;Dt.;E OF KHMI!:H CIVILIZATION--A HI!:·Al'PRAISAL ll 

'J'hit1 is what has lHJen aptly ca1letl "inrlianizatiun," but 

it must he rememhercd tltat its economical awl tflCilllological 

haso:> woJ•e

12 Bernard Philippe Groslier 

Anglror pet•iods ( IXth-XIVth eenturies ). For there again, 

rigilt of Khmer art, 11nfl J.udian religions 

the model::; followed in Oamhorlia, we are bound to interpret the 

whole of Khmer civilizatirlJt in India11 terms. But, if t.he origins 

and the models were indePcl, ns we havE' just poi11ted out, Inrlian, 

BOJ,tet,\wll,ss the Khmers themselvPH lllttloubtedly clirl not. !trees. 

8al'ily 11lways feel that t.lH,ir cnlt.tli'P was Indian, or nven trace it 

haek clearly t.o Tudia. 

Anyhow, fl·o11t a eertain time Ollwal'd8, 

t;hey no longPr hml tlireut eoutact with ln

OUR KNOWLEDr,E OF KHMER CIVILIZATION-A RE-APPRAISAL 

t:; 

nf travelH of the Budrlh:t Ill' rc·crPat.es a compld

Bemard Philippe Groslier 

pav~1d tlw way Eo1· emttnl'iHH ui Roman polHitml and eultm·al 

rloruiuat.iou. No doubt undet• C!wrleJUngne laws HJHl adminiH· 

t1•ation WP.l'l' Roman; art. W~LH 

the heir of Ronwn architecture; 

Christiallity derived many plastic fot·ms or iconogT

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF KHMEH CJVILIZA'liON-A liE-APPRAISAL 

iS 

unique situation in history. One should explain !tow such :m 

:Lbnonnal society evolved out of the indiani:tation of the M ou 

Khmer aboriginal groups, H.ud how, moJ•etlVer, it cnHirl 

subsisted fen· 

hav(' 

centurier: withnnt any noticeable tensions (for, 

paradoxical! y, Kluner history hears 110 trace of tlocia l rcvolu tinn 

or tronble), labouring with such olwion~ ·willingness for the ~ole 

glory of the King. l

16 Bernard Philippe Groslie1· 

Proper ~xcavat.ious 

harl not been nndert.aken before in 

Cambodia. Ottl! reason was that ther~ wPre already o;ome HOO 

HlOIJ\llJJC.nts ~t.ill i11 f'xiste!lce :t.ll over the country and it was 

!ir::;t neec·::;sm·y to inY2, wP 

the· Angkor al'ea itself, where we could not. 

find anything but 1111 urbau fit.e. We finally chose the l'oyal 

palace of A11gkor 'l'hum. whern the pr(o~pect::; 

were rather bright 

to judge from pre~·ioH::; duwce finds an1l tht~ genPral history of 

the a.rea. 

A first lnng-l'Ull exeavat.iou witS carJ•ied ont there 

ft'nm October 1 ~f>:! to May 19!'\i\.29 Huwever Rignificallt the first 

results, we did not fet•l entitled t,,, publish them, for t.no many 

(ttcts remaine(l in donbt. 

Unfurtllltatel y, events prtlvented ull 

f't•om resuming work dndng the f.oll()wing y here even it bri\•f ttecount. o£ this research. 

H ti ffi

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF KHMER CIVILIZATION-A RE·APPRAISAL 17 

about Angkor habitations, hitherto known only from the 

representations in reliefs. Amongst the I'uins of 'these looted 

palaces, we discovered quite u wealth of material, especially 

beautiful bronzes such as shafts-finials or cult-statuettes, which 

now rank amongst the finest productions of the htst period of 

Khmer art. At one level, we nuearthed foundatio11 deposits, 

consisting of bronze-plated jars, containing semi-precious stones, 

jewels, gold ingots, nnd Bilver foil. 'l'he excavation of the domestic 

quarters and kitchen of one palace furnished us with a vast 

amount of kitcheu waste (bones, ett~. ), importaHt evidence as to 

tho food of the period as well as to its fauna. Analyses and 

physical studies of all the artifacts have been undertaken, 

in order to prepare the study of Khmer technology. Generally 

speaking, all possible efforts were made to gather evidence 

on these aspects, hitherto entirely neglected Ol' unknown, of 

Khmer life. 

One of the most significaut discoveries was the euorrnotu:l 

bulk of ceramics. Part of it was Kinner, a11d it was completely 

unknown till then. We were able t.u draft a first tentative 

chronology of this material, which was of the greatest help fo1· 

on1· next research, as will be seen later. But the llwgest quantity 

consisted of Chinese export ware. There is very little known 

about this item for it was made for export only aud is not 

found i11 Ohinu itself, where its ld lu-sites han.~ 11ot been studied, 

not e·veu all located. However, these items ure found all over 

Asia, from the Philippines to Borneo, from Annam to 'l'haihmd, 

in Indonesia as well as on the wester11 coast of Africa, in the 

whole Middle East, and as fn1· west as Morocco. Everywhere 

they are the same. They all came from China and they are 

unmistakable, COilStantly changing in the course of time, because 

they were frequently renewed. Here is a chronological clue of 

exceptional value, for it serve:; to date entirely different sites 

.over a very wide area. The other data of Angkor excavations 

were sufficient to establish a chronology of this material between 

the IX.th and the XIVth centuries, with an accuracy of within 

about half a century. This may seem perhaps too loose, 

but one must realize that previously the range was about two

18 Bernard Philippe GrosHet' 

centnrie~. We can, therefore nse these data to follow Chinese 

tt·ade and commercial relations in Southeast Asia, in the same 

way that we use Greek u.nd Roman ceramics for comparative 

archaeology of thu :Mediterranean Basin or intercourse betweeu 

Rome and India. Besides, we found ceramimt imported frotu both 

Siam and Ann::uu, and the context of. these finds will throw new 

light on their tlntes aud the relation~ between these countries 

and Uu!llbodia, especially fur the prublem f Savank'alol;: eeramic!l. 

But the mu:;t importaut re:;ult of these excavatiou~, for 

u!l, wa,; the lirst attempt to identify rood-pln.ntt~ of the past frow 

their pollens preserved in the soils. We wel'e able to seud OUI' 

!:!ample~ to the excellent Laboratory for Palinology nf 'Mrs. Vau 

Uampo, in the National Naturul History Musonm in Paris, and 

she devoted herself wholeheo.rted.ly to this work. 'l'he results of 

he1· re!:learch are of special interest becau!:le they confirmed our 

::1trat.igraphy, aud entirely corroborated and explaille

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF KHMER CIVILIZATION-A RE-APPRAISAL 

Without dealing with ali the pl'oblems involvecJ,30 we 

mnst st,ress only t.be mnst 1:1ignifi.', 

the statistical a.nrl specific distribution of the species fntJnrl 

entil·ely confil'mS the fact-which we snrrnised fl•om other 

l'ese~trch-that, 

before human nccnpation, the Angkor 

r..ount,ry side was mostly swamp~land with flooded foret~ts. 

The fit•st oecupation level, with hnildings, etc., is 

indeed such as shown hy the vel'y noticeablr diminntim1 

of wild species- especially feJ'llS, and swamp p 1:m ts- an


They are a proof of the soundness of the excavations. 

most of al1, they open np new vistas for our research. 

But, 

We ean 

now begin to extend them to the whole of the Angkor area. 

We hope, finally, to e,stab1ish maps of the ancient vegetat,ion, 

period by period and area by area, on which it will probably be 

possible to follow t,he action of man upon nature, with the expan· 

sion of his cities and t.he pt•ogress-ot• t,he failures-of his tech. 

nique.s. 

'rhese excavations were necessat•y limited to a small a1·ea; 

and because we were obliged to chooAe the site of the Royal 

Palaces, our results can not be uncritically extenderl to the whole 

of Khmer life; they express only a vet•y special a.spect. of it. Wr. 

feel that the main problem iH the general set.t.in g of t.he Khmer 

society in its envh-onment. 

Everyone knows 

most important factor in Khmer life. 

supposed by Victor Golonbew.31 

that agriculture was certainly the 

'T'his had been rightly 

But it. is rather surprising 

t.o see that so little has been done on this obviously vital 

snbject, the more so since the proper technique for invest.iga. 

ting the matter, air archaeology, had been used in Auccessful 

experiments in Cambodia.32 

But thero again, and despite the 

first move, more than promising, the matter stood, while brilliant 

achievements were being obtained elsewhere by snch archaeo. 

logists as O.G.S. Crawford, the Rev. F. Poidebard, or Colonel 

·- - ~---·-·-----·-----···-· ·-···· ·- 

31. V. Goloubew: L'Hydraulique urbaine et agricole a l'epoque des rois 

d'Angkor. But. economique de l'Indochine. 1941, fasc. 1. p. 1; ID.: id., in Calziers 

de l'EFEO, 1940, n 6 24, p.16; see also: R.B. Le Baray occidental. BSE, nile 

sie, 2° trim. 1949, t, 24, n"2, p. 27. 

32. V. Goloubew: Le Phnom Bakhei1 et Ia ville de Yacovarmcm. BEF£0,1933, 

vol. 33, fasc. 1, p. 319; ID.: Nouvelles Recherches allfour ' du Phnom Baklze 1 i. Ibid., 

1934, vol. 34, fasc. 2, p. 576; ID.: Recherches aeriemzes au C'ambodge. bid., 1936· 

vol. 36, fasc. 2, p. 465. Later on, a vertical photographic cover of Angkor 

was made by ~he A,ir li'orce, alld partially interpretated by :a. far' 

m~~. . . .

OUR KNOWI,EDGE OF KHMER CIVILIZATION-A RE·APPR.AISAI, 

Zl 

Baradez.33 Worst of all, the pl.'oblem of space-exploitation in 

ancient Oambodia has either been given no consideration or 

dismissed with a mere passing reference to the alt,oget.her ancient 

and insufficient essay of Goloubew. 

When we were in Indochina dlll'ing 1951 we had at our 

command the tremendous progt•ess accomplished in the matter of 

air survey, togt~ther with the knowledge of the superb discoveries 

made from thE' air in archaeology, and we made every attempt to 

apply these methods in Cambodia. Southern Indochina is a 

paradise for archaeology from the air. It is easy to apot the 

ancient field gricl, t.he h·rigation works, and so forth. These 

works are relatively recent, and they have seldom been erased by 

more recent human act.ivities. Or, if m!m is sti11 Jiving in the 

same area, he is often re-using the old arrangements. The forest. 

is not, often a handicap, and very few other natm•al phenomena 

have altered the .face of the earth. 

We were fortunate also in enlisting the full support, 

of the French Air Force, the help of many private pilots, anrl in 

having sufficient funds t.o fly whenever necessary in chartered 

planes. From 1951 to 1954, we made a systematic air survey of 

Cambodia a.ncl South Viet-Nam, from the latitude of Angkor to 

Oape Oa-mau, with vertical photographic coverage of every 

suspected site, and complementary oblique black-and-white and 

colour photographs of all important. remains. It is, probably, the 

most extensive and complete survey of this type in archaeological 

research that has ever been made and it is certainly one of the 

most important achievements of the Ecole franQaise d'Extreme 

Orient during the past decade. 

The wealth of data thus acquired is rather impressive. 

Ove1· six: hundred sites have been sm•veyed, three-quarters of them 

33. However, General (then Major) M. Terrasson, who piloted 

V. Goloubew, fully foreshadowed the importance of this technique in 

Indochina. Mr. J .Y. Claeys of the Ecole franc;aise d'Extreme-Orient. 

carried out some air surveys in Vietnam-Champa Mr. P. Paris, and after 

him, Mr. L. Malleret, used air photographs to spot ancient canals in the 

Fou-nan area. See: B.P. Groslier: L'Avion et l'Arch~(Jf()gie indochinoise, 

Forr;esaeriennes}i'anc;aises; avril1952, n· 67, P· 51.


hit,het•to unknown, conneeted by several hundred of canals Ol' 

roads. not to mention the ancient rice fields and the tanks, which 

amonn t to ::leventl thousands. Of courf:le, we shall need som(l 

years of study before we ean interpt•et the whole of these discoveries, 

and, quite obviously, t.his prospecting must now bP con· 

trolled on the ground. :For, how

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF KHMER ClVILIZATION-A RE-APPRAISAL 28 

is exactly the same for archaeology, the only handicap being 

that one must. map everything, without being able always to 

date or to identify exactly. We can offer ~:~ome proofs of this 

accuracy. 

Wt! were able to reconstnLCt the hyd1·uulic ~:~ystem of Anglwr 

'l'hom, both with one air suJ·vey and from the previ


the already known historical facts, we have made suppositions 

as to the nature and even the possible dates of these remains. 

We then sent a preliminary report enlisting these hypotheses, 

to the French Academy (May 1958 ). 

During the second campaign ( 1.~58-1959 ), we dng in the 

most important remains amongst these sites. In every case but 

three, the identifications, and eventually the dates proposed were 

entirely confirmed by the discovery of inscriptions, architectural 

remains or archaeological material. For instance, we had tentatively 

defined one site, spotted from the air, as a temple of the 

middle of the Xth century. We fonud its foundations, with 

inscriptions from the beginning of the l'eign of Ri\jenclravarmatl 

( 944- 9li8 ). Elsewhere, at•ehi tectural remains, or statues, or 

ceramics, helped to establish the nature and the date, and fur. 

nished the same cross-check. As for thn three cases of error, they 

were omissions rather than real et'l'Ol'f:l. 

We had supposed that 

two places were dwelling sites of tht• widdle of the IXth ce11tury, 

and soundings produced domestic eeramics of this period. But 

they had 1tlso, later ou, become pagodas sites, and we discovered 

on one of them interesting Buddh1st sculptures of about the 

XVIIth-XVIIIth centuries. As for the other place, we supposed 

that it was a dwelling !:lite of the X!th century, and we found 

material of this period. But, becantle the soundings were carried 

down to the virgin soil, we ditlcovered there several layert:i of 

pre historic remains, "neolithic," if one wishes to be more precise, 

although it must be admitted our knowledge of prehistoric 

Cambodia is less than perfect. · This is the first prehistoric site 

discovered in the Angkor area proper, and it may prove of some 

consequence iu the history of this region. 

With our method now thoroughly proved by these finds, 

we were able to undertal(e the exhaustive study of Angkor 

space-organization. We began, logically, with the sectot· of 

Hal'ihara.laya, the first great e~tpital (between ROO and 900 ). 

We wanted to :E()llow the evolution from the p1·e-Angkor city 

of Jayavarman II (1;, 802-850) to the Angkor capital of

OUll KNOWLEDGE OF KHMER CIVILIZATION-A HE·APPRAISAL 25 

:tndravaruum (c. H77 -899 ). We discovered, and mapped, the whole 

of tho hydraulic system and the typu of soil-exploitation with 

8n1ticient. accuracy as to the levelling, in order to t·estore the 

circulation of water in ancient times. 

Besirles, we discovere1l 

twenty-five new temples, aud exeavatecl sevPHt.eeu of them. 

Several of these, n l thongh almost en tire ly dPstroyecl, 1-Jtill ofl'er 

important vestiges, and we mteu.rtherlHlltHy senlptnrei:i. Also some 

thirty-seven d.wel1ing site8 were spotted; almost all of them were 

tested with soundi11g trenches, and then 1lated with the help of 

the ceramic chronology established during on r excavations at the 

royal palace. 

For the first time we founJ, l:liLle by side with the 

great royal or sacerdotal foundations, the villagei:\ ancl tlw small 

temples of the humble Khmer peasantry. 

In a ::;econd phase, we extew1ed these researches to the 

:Jonthern part of the Anglwr area. 

It was agt1ill possible to trnec 

the irrigation system, together with the levelling ann the genera1 

ei J'en1 ation of the waters. Altogether nhou t one hundred and 

fifty new sites were again discovet·ed, and several are already 

date

26 Bernard Philippe Gros1ier 

proceed otherwise. And because the technique of ''aei'ia1• 

hmdscape" proved so ef[ective, we conld perhaps follow the 

smne pattern for the tremendous task of ex:ploring the rest of 

Indochina. First we will conduct nn air-survey, with a proper 

interpretation of the facts discovered, and the systematic confrontation 

of them with other data. 'l'hen we will verify on thr 

ground every important unusual prototype of aerial lnuclscapo. 

'l'lms, it will be possible to establish more-or-less complete maps, 

snfficiently expressive for a first general all(} tentative recnn. 

struction of the past. Later on, if we can, we shall explore 

methoLlically every spot. This must be onr ultimate goal; but 

we will require a nnmller of teams, substantial funds, and the 

peace which is so necessary in order to carry out the work 

On the other hand, thil-1 type of prospecting is the only 

one which can bring forth, if not all the facts, at. least. tho 

greater part of them. There is no other way of a~certnining 

the facts, for instance, nf space-organization works snch all 

canals, dikes, road awl fiel

esnlts. 

OUH KNOWLEDl;E m' KilMER CIVTLIZI\T!ON-A 111':-1\PPHAl::lAL 2'7 

On one point we ctm nf'l'er a sample demonstration of the 

We have already underlined the problem of transition 

from pre-A.ngkor to Angkor society. 

ttffords the necessary evidence. 

Our study of HarihadJaya 

Before Indravarman, a Khmer 

city was only a small urban nucleus of temples, pa.laces and 

habitations of the elite. 

Around it inhabitants farmed the 

soil in an empiricttl way, or rather cultivated it. only ttccoruiug 

to the rhythm of natural factors, depending upou actual levelling' 

rains or periodic Hoods to fill rice fields. Pt'L!·Angkor Cambodia 

was but the juxtaposition of small group::; in geographical 

units, living in accordance with the natn raJ capacity of these 

units. 

In complete contrast with this "natura}" strnctnru, 

Angkorean Cambodia appears as a systematic and artificial organization 

of the whole available space, favourable or not, made 

cultivable by a huge hydraulic networl{, and farmed to the limit 

of its capacity. 'rhis, and only this, explain::; the nntnre of the 

Angkorean''city," which is in fact the system evolved for intensive 

exploitation. And only this, again, can justify the social concentration 

of the period. We have here, therefore, one of the most 

important factors of Khmer evolution, and we shall have to 

adjust all the other conclusions of history to include the data 

of the economy and sociology of ancient Cambodia, if we are 

to effect a final synthesis. 

One can perhaps now understand better our position in 

the field of Cambodian studies, or, for that matte1·, of Indochinese 

studies. Already archaeology has furnished the bulk of our 

knowledge of these countries. Meanwhile, epigraphy ancl Indian 

studies have explained the formation of these civilir,ations, and 

supplied their essential chronology and general evolution. Unfortunately, 

epigraphy has practically reached its limits, and 

we have not much hope of finding many more texts; they will 

in any event always provide the same type of data. This is also 

true for the history of art, which has been an invalmtble help, 

but which is nearing the end of its capacity.


'l'he recent progrel:ls of archaeology in the field, together 

with the general study of man's biological enyironmeut, has enabled 

ns to apprehend the technological and economical behaviour of 

man in his natural setting. 

The impact of these discoveries on 

the general evolntion of a culture is more than obvious. 

must therefore concentrate our efforts, within this perspective, 

jointly with ethnologists, who may help ns tremendously in our 

task.39 

In order to be mo1·c accurate in our Cambodian research, 

we should nnclerline two main prospects for further studies. 

On the one hand, we must ponder again the general phenomenon 

of Indian cultural diffusion. Already, as a matter of fact, new 

Yistas are opening up. What we need most, perhaps, are unbiased 

minds for the proper sorting out of the facts and for a determination 

of their real action or significance. On the other hand, 

we must develop our archaeological research for U1e purpose of 

elucidating this questiou of Indian action by an exact appreciation 

of pre-Indian cultures and of the Indian cultural process. We 

mnst also use this Yesearch to bring on t in the general history 

of Oamhodia, aud in that of other countries, the part played by 

economics and social patterns. It may be said, at least for Oawbodia, 

that the prospects of archaeological research are l1righ t in 

these respects. 

We must, finally, stress how much we owe to om· 1nasters, 

the founders of the history of this part of the world. Without 

the magnificent achievements of the epigraphists, the historians 

and the art critics, however efficient the new methods, we could 

not have progressed any further in this quest for the past. 

We 

39. B.P. Groslier : Histoire et Ethno/ogie en Indochine. BSEI, nlle sie, 

t. 27. n• 3, 38 trim. 1952, p. 333.

AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THE ROMANIZATION OF SIAMESE 

by 

A. B. Griswold 

Summary 

In using the European alphabet to transcribe Siamese words, few 

people use any method consistently. Inmost cases, the writers, being 

Tai, know both the Siamese spelling and the pronunciation, while the 

readers, being foreigners, know neither. The writers would like to 

use a method that would indicate both at the same time. Unfortunately 

that is impossible, and any attempt to do so leaves the readers 

baffled. Two different sys'tems are necessary, and they should be kept 

separate. 

When the exact spelling must be made known, the graphic system 

is indispensable. Its rules are cleady established, and should be 

resolutely followed. But it is suited only to certain limited purposes. 

When it is more important to give a clue to the pronunciation, 

some phonetic system is required. Innumerable phonetic systems have 

been invented as aids to language students. Only one, the so-called 

General System, was designed for the wider use of conveying information 

to foreigners who have no intention of learning Siamese. On the 

whole it is a very good system, but certain defects have prevented it 

from becoming popular. A few amendments would turn it into a Commonsense 

System which could be used for signboards, timetables. 

newspapers, and so on. For more serious literature, Optional Refinements 

can be added. 

No system can cause foreigners to pronounce con·ectly. The 

author is content to propose a simple system that will not force them 

to pronounce worse than they otherwise would.

AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THE ROMANIZATION OF SIAMESE 31 

'fhe


'Palw1· and Jitt1", and they will say 1'rthan nnd 111an.'' 2 

Unfortunately the missionaries' scholarly efforts passed 

unnoticed by most wdters of the period. Portuguese or Spauiflh, 

Italian or E'rench, Dutch, German or English, they jotted dnWJl 

the names of persons and pla

AFTERTHOUGHTS tlN THE ROMANIZATION Ol•' SIAMESE 33 

Even today most people who hn,ve to write Siamese words 

in English letters uBe any ::;pelliug tlwt hupperH:I to come to mind. 

'fhat saves them trouble, but \("!1VeH the reader gtH:'SBillg. 

Here are foul' exawpleH of l:lUeh i:Uapda.sh ~;pdlit1g~. 

I'l:al nnd three inH.Lginary: 

uue 

( l ) Sum-law ma.ne. 

( ;,>) Nigh Ulll·Pll!'l' my you, t.ll'op. l:ly h'uuck·Oorn 8ee 

'l'ommyrot lie one ma layer. My sop war c~JW 

ma mewer-rye. 

( 3) Meh tom ngahn mock; my queuille key ght;t·-v.t. 

jar eluh 

(


But that is far from the case. as tile third a11d fourtl1 

example~ ~how. Some of the syllable> here are English words, 

(•ne is the name of a French stateHmau, one i:; the lndinn word 

fo 1 • clarified hntter-nnd all the rest lmvr, had to !Je arbitrarily 

invented. Since they have no existence of their fi\\IJl, tht'J'e. is 

no way to tell how they should he prononnee£1. 

Evidently ~omething 

mo1·e systematic than Slapdash iO\ 

needed even for simple matters lilre calling n tricycle OJ' comJIIending 

an inrlnstrions old l:tdy. 

'* 

King Rallla IV, I believe, was the first Siame::Je to p1•otest 

against Slapdash Rornanizatioml. It was inexeusable, he said a 

hnnd1•ed years ago, to write PIPRY for HejrapurY. 

Bishor> Pttllegoix, tlw lea1•ned li'l'enchman who taught him 

Latin, had already perfecterl :t ~:~cientific phonetic system; antl 

a rivnl seheme, devised by American rni~:~sionaries, had. been 

published nuder thte title A Plan frw Bomani:;·in(f the S·iu.mese 

J,anunage. 

'l'he King, however, was scornful. 

''Why is the name of 

M.r. Knox not printed MISSA NOX," he asked, "if BejrapnrT is 

tu he printed PETCH'ABURY? 11 

'fhe King, being It scholarly man, waB a

AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THI!: ROMANIZATJON OF SIAMESE 35 

Unfnl't.nnately a great mmty r>eopiB, '[;bough t.hey wuttld 

not. think of attempting the PreciHB 'l'ran!:llitnration, write their 

names iu put gt·aphienlly aml i11 part phmwtieally; t;hP m'w!:! 

paprrs arP fnll uf examples. Sneh hybrids rnere1y eomhim· the 

disavautagus of both mothodH: tltoy givn a f:allW itloa of tho pro~ 

nnneiat.ion and of 1;ho ;;pdlittg too. 

If the two methods arB mixetl, they are wnl'thlet~s; 

they a.re kept separate, e~:~ch has its nses. 

hnt if

36 A. B. Griswold 

2. The Graphic System 

(Fig. 3 and Appendix A} 

King Rama VI, like his gl·andfatheJ', preferred a graphie 

sy~:~tem. ''Personally," he wl'ote, "I think it is absolutely fntilEl 

to attempt to tr~msliterate phonetically, most attempts towards 

adopting any such system being usually att;ended by re~mlts both 

ludicrous and confusing ... " 7 

'fhe g1•aphic syAtem of Sanskrit equivalents he favrn·ed is 

pel'fect.ly snitf'd to certain purposes, and indeed indispensable for 

them. For example when transcribing inscriptionH-most of which 

arr RprinJded with Sanskrit and Pali worfls-ctmsist.ency is the 

fhHt reqni1•emeut, and all oddities of spelliBg mnst be pre!lerved. 

'J'hf' rules of the system at•e clearly establisherl, and known 

t.n OriPnt.alists n.l1 over the wmld. 'l'his is u gr .. at advant.agP. 

Words from the classical Indian languages are llRl'(l to recognize 

f.rom their pronunciation in the rlifferent countrirs of Southea.~t 

Asia. Iu Burma, for example, a certain wo1·d is pronouneed 

YAZA WIN; in that form, I snppos8, few Siamese would l'EHJOglli1'.!1 

it. 'rhe difficnlty vanishes whe11 it is t1·anscribed graphieally: 

RAJAVAMSA. For t•eciprocal I'P:tsons we might thin]{ t.wice hPfflrfl 

wJ•it.ing RACHAWONG for nxpoJ·t .. 

Thongh few people in foreign count.r.ies lmo\v Siamese, a 

good many know enough Sanskrit or Pali to grasp the purport of 

names written in this system. One thinks irnmediately of international 

atlases and universal histories, names of persons and 

places derived from the classical Indian languages, Royal tit.Jes, 

t.echnical Buddhist terms and the official designations of monasteries, 

t•eferences to Siamese statesmen and diplomats in t.hr, 

international press. Here it is the significance of the words that. 

counts; it does not make the slightest difference how the reafler 

may fancy they would be pronounced. 

The Graphic System has the advantage of a certain nniversalit,y, 

and it has the advantage of dignity. These advantngrt1 

are very persuasive, part.icnlarly wheu we are referring t,o pel'f:ions 

worthy of J'eHpect aiJCl to places with n rich heritage of tradit.ion. 

Names written in the Sanskrit style will never sound ridicnlons, 

no matter how they are pronounced. August names deserve 

7. JSS IXf4, page 2.

AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THE ROMANIZATION OF SIAMESF. 37 

august forrnR: HIS MAJESTY KING BHUMIBALA, SUKHODAYA. 

A YUDHYA. li'or such munes it is acutely embar1'atlsing to see 

pseudo-phonetic spellingfl that cause cal:lna1 reailerA to say "fnmj' 

pol1," "snck a thigh," or ''a youth here." 

In many cases the Graphic System ru11S exaetly count.er 

t.o phonetic vah1es, so that a strong will and a steady hand are 

needed to keep from reverting to faulty spelliugs that come more 

11atnrally. ( TlH

A. B. Gt·iswold 

3. Phonetic Systems for Dictionarie~> 

and Teaching Methods 

(Figs. zl-7 ) 

Some phonet,ic i:lyst.ern ia necessary for teaching fonJignerA 

the rudiments of the 1nllguage, and it is a gt•eat r.onveni~·nee 

~• 

bilingual dictionary. 

ill 

'l'here :tJ•e dozen~:\ 

of such systelm! in existPnee; let ns 

glancl~ 

at a few oJ' the more important I)UN!, 

Pallegoix (see l!'ig. 4: ).-In devising his phonetic :-;y:;tmn, 

Pallegoix's main purpose was to teach young mission~tries 

speak Siamesr fluently. 

Siame::;e~I,atin-l!'rench-English 

He also used it in his moJlUUJental 

Dictionary. 9 In this system the 

conson:mts are mostly to he pronounced as in French, the vowelH 

as in Ita1ian; where equivalent l:lounds do not exist, in tho:w 

languages, diacritical uuwks and forms f1•om other languages are 

nsecl. 

A breve ( '-') is put over short vowels, and fonr other 

diacritical marks indicate the tones. Pallegoix's system i~ 

Jngical and pl'ecise; and considering how much it conveys, it iti 

surprisingly easy to learn. 

Nevertheless it ha8 cel'tain disadvantages, 

Its diacritical.marks ltl'C impossible Oll a typewriter, 

yet if they are omitted the values are completely falsified. 

Besides, the pronunciation of consonantR in the :B'rench manner 

is a handicap iu a country where English is the best-known 

En rope an language. 

McFarland (see Fig. 5 ).- McFarland tried a system in 

which hut.h consonants and vowels are to hP prononnced as in 

English.1° 

price. 

Diacritical mtuks lll'e eliminated, bnt at a heavy 

Sonw of the l'cqnit·ed sounds are approximated hy cook~ 

neyisms ( UM-PUR, MARK) and repellent forms ( CHJA. MUR 

AH-RAI); but even so there at'P some incontlistencies (A, AH, 

AR nll stnncl for tlw sound of m, while A and U both stand for 

9. Pallegoix. Dictionarium Linguae Thai, Paris, 1854. See also his 

Diclionnaire Siamois-Fi·atlqais AnRiais, revu par J.L. Vey, Bangkok, 1896. 

10. McFarland, Thai-Eug/ish Dielianary, Stanford, London and Oxford. 

1944. 

to

A~"l'ER'l'HOUGHTS ON THE ROMANIZATlON OF SIAMESE 39 

the sound of 'il~- ). '!'ones are indicated by ~m:.dl exponent 

figures. 

lYlcFarland frankly admitted that he did not like hill 

own ~ystem, tmd begged the ltBeri:l of hil:! dictiom1ry t.o learn tlw 

'.l'ai alphabet. 

Campbell and Chuan (not illui:ltrated).--Comwnautl:l aud 

vowels both have English values, but some un-EHgliHlt diacl'itieal 

marks are required and cnclmeyiHHli:l abound. 'L'b t! Hy~:~te.m iH 

le::ls elegant and less thorough than Pallegoix's. 

PRU's Standard Thai-English Dictionary (see l l:lystem, hnt, 11() easier to 1Paru, aml type 

writerK that can (\eal with it :LI"O llot yet, C(Hllll.lOil. 

11. PRV's Standard Thai-English Dictionary, by Plang Phloyphroxn and 

R.D. Golden, with the cooperation of Brother Urbain-Gabriel, Bangkok, 

1955. 

12. Haas and Subhanka, Spoken Thai, n. d.; Haas, The Thai System of 

Writing.

40 A. B. Gt'iswold 

4. The "General System 11 

( Fig. 8) 

"'I'he whole qnestiou of Romani:wtion really eoncerus 

the Eut·opeans mot•e than wy people," wrote Kiug Rama VI in 

191 ~~: "but; at the same time, I should he glud to t;ee sowe sort 

of unifonn system adopted, rather j,JH~n 

tu have to eudurE' the 

haphazard alld faneiful sy:,;tems, which nut only mtel.t body ol' 

men but nhJu ~~ach 

individual, seems to Ui:le for Romanizil\g 111y 

language. Since the qneHtioll concerns Europemn; more than 

it does us, I consider that the proper body to discmH> tlw 

AiiTER'nlOUGHTS ON 'I'I·IE IlOMANIZATioN OF SIAMESI•; 

'I' he King could see no merit in the last recommendation. 

'' lB the proposed system," he wrote, "meant for scholars or for 

tou ristR and globe-trottel'S,

A. B. trrlswold 

'l'he Graphic :;y:;tem il:l useless for the touristl:l; what ehtt11t:e would 

they have of reaching their dol:ltination if they told the driver 

to takt• thetn to VAT SUDARSANA 01' the PARI~AD HMAI DAlY? 

In former days S1np

AWI'ERTHOUGHTS ON Tim ROMANIZATION OF SIAM~~S~~ 43 

account was to he taken of "


to substitute liunls that wonld col'l'espond rnore exacUy to tho 

Simnese orthography, but tho committee-quite rightly, i11 

opinirm-rejected their argument. 'l'hese sounds in Ol'dinary eon. 

versation are pt•ononncecl almost exactly like English final K,'l', P. 

{ ~~ is very nearly the same as English KI'l'; it, is not at a11 like 

English KID.) 'l'be system shonld be kept strictly phonetic, aml 

jealously gnartlod against any contamination from the Siamese 

spelling. 

Defects of the General System.- 'l'he Gemrnl System 

might have become popular if the committee had stnek more resolutely 

tn the amwm1ced principle- English consonants and 

Italian vowels. 

my 

I3nt they felt forced to "take account of cul'l'ent 

praeticu" in tho selection of symholt:~. 

In efl'ect that meant. inhel·iting 

a curtain nurnhot• of symbols from Pallegoix-symhols that 

were right enough in his system, 1mt ont of place in the General 

System, for they constituted an irnmerliate exception to the rule 

of English COJ!Sonants. 

Other symbols wore chosen from furthor 

nfiold, one from the International Phonetic System, one from i.ho 

Czech alphabet, anrl one (vin Pallflgoix) fron1 the IJ.1WC-n(JH of 

Vietnam. 

Hero ia how the Geueral S;\•Stem would rettder OUl' four 

oxamplos: 

( 1) Sam~l\1 ma ni. 

( 2) Nai amphoe mai :.yu, khrap. Pai Nakhon Si Thamnw- 

' 

rat lai wan rna laeo. Mai sap wa khno cha klap 

rna mu'arai. 

(B) Mae tham ngan mak; mai khoei khi~ldat. 

( 

1 

L) Pln·a Ramathib?di Sf\Woei rat nai krung Si Ayni; 

thaya. 

Ordinary people can read mo~t 

of this fairly well if 

t.hey remembe1· to pronounce the consonants as in English and 

the vowels as in Italiall. 

Bnt for THAM they are sure to say 

something like THUMB with a different vowel; AMPHOE looks 

like AMFO-E, with PH as in 'English PHtL0$0PI-IY, OE as in

AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THE l\OMANIZATJON Of' S!AMES[·~ 45 

Italian COEFFICIENTE. It. is no good saying that PI-I antl 'J'H 

must be pronouncerl as aspirated P aud T; people eannot fnel 

it,l9 And what ~we they to make nf 0 with a comma under it, 

or U with an apostrophe after it, or OH with a circumflex 

rwcent? 

Artificial fonns like these, I believe, prevented t.hn 

General System hom becoming popular. It rlnly boemue official, 

bnt today even the Government uses it ha1fheartecl1y, and the 

public for whom it was designed hardly know it exists. 

'l'hat is a pity, because the General System is on the 

whole very good. A few amendments would rnalre 1t worl;: 

beautifully. 

19. For the pronunciation of THAILAND uninformed people in 

America hesitate between THEY-LAND and THIGH·LAND; they would 

have a better chance of getting it right if it were written MUANG TAI, 

or even SIAM.


5. A Proposed Commonsense System 

(Fig. 9 and Appendix B) 

How can the General System be improved r 

Being myself bnt an indifferent 'l'ai scholar, it might he 

thought l should leave such cliscnssi011S to others. Bnt as King 

Rarnn VI observecl, Rornnni:;~ation i.s neeclerl only when foreigners 

are so1rwhow i11volved; rmd 1 might ndd that in serviug their needs 

some ptll'Hnn

All'l'I!:RTHOUl;llTS ON THE ROMANIZATION OF ::!IAME::m 47 

operation by 'l'ni natiouals who are writiug for fot•oign readers, 20 

It must he ~turdy enough 110t to break dowu if~w«ll parts ·like 

diacritical nwrks get lol:lt. 

And it must he gnai'allteed to turli 

uut a good, me

48 A.B. Grlswo1d 

'l'his first retreat f1•om the principle of using cunsonauts with 

English valnes was bad enongh, becuuse ordinary English-speaking 

people nt•e stu·e to pronounce initial K, 'l', and P explotlively, aJHl 

they cm1 make nothing :tt all of CI·l-tmless the cirenmfiex is 

tlropped off, and then OH ton will e:xplodt'. But worSE' was to come. 

Th.e first retreat reqnirell a second, whieh would 110t 

otlwrwh!(' have lJeen necesaary. For tho aspirated surds, E11glish 

Juu! let;terJ> thnt. are very near equivalents: K, CH, '1', P. 'l'ht~ 

nellCI'al Systt~Jll ctnite rightly l'Ollclerecl 'll as OH; hnt. K, '1', ami}' 

we 1·e no longer available, haviug already been givtlll ovPl' to t.he 

interme

AF'fER'l'llOUGH1'S ON i'tiE llOMANiZATiON OF SlAMgsg 4!1 

'll fl ~1 K 

l:j 'l! f)l OJ-I 

··---- 

;~ 'll \l)f tl 'VI li T 

-···-·---- 

N '1'1 n p 

'l'hen how would we deal with the intel'nH"diates ~ 'l'IH·.Y 

are not far away from t.lw sen.li-voiced sounds that eoll.le in the 

middle of some Englis!J words in rapid spet>r.h: 

DISGRACE ( f1 ) 

BOOTJACK ( "il ) 

MISDEAL ( Y1 ) 

DISBURSE (11) 

'l'lwugh t of in this way, the four difficult sound~:> 

becomE' more 

manageable: ordinary English-speaking people c1m feel their 

~pproximate value. I suggest thet•efore we write thew as follows: 

I 

! tl I G 

l_'il_I_J_·~ 

I I I 

,-~~- 

1 Ill : D I 

!---:---i 

tl B ' 

We are uot using G and J els~3where (except G in the diphtho11g 

NG ), and it wonld be a pity to waste them when so few letters 

must serve so n:u.my purposes; two of the ''English" systenH; I 

luwe mentioned at' f.~ more thrifty, u;,;ing G and J for 1l and 'll, ns 

I propose to do. It i1:1 true that D ar1cl B will have to serve for 

two different sound1:1, as we have already used them for ~ uud 1!; 

~o there might be some ambiguity, but no worse than the ambiguity 

.from failing to distinguish botween long and short. vowels. In a

50 A. B. G1'iswolc1 

"general'' system, 8otne imprecision is inl:'vitHble, aud. :It :Is a 

lPs~el' 

evil than cumbet·some forms.22 

Vowels.- ]

AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THE ROMANIZATION OF SIAMESE 51 

?" 

writt,en without on accent.~·' 

'I'wo ot,her sets uf vowel l:lonnds are morP troublesome. as 

they have no Ita.lian equivalent.s, evE>n app1·oximate. Here thP 

General System has: 

U' ( u' in typewriting) 

-------- ·---~--......... ·-·------: 

lflfl CE ( OE in t.ypewritilJg) 

Surely it. would be more natural to borrow two German symbols 

and write these sonnds as tT and 0, which, thongh they are 

admittedly not very c1os£l equivalents, at loast co11vey an 

appt•oximation readi1y enough.24 

Whatever schenH~ 

we rtdopt for the vowels, WI' should 

apply it also to the diphthongs that contain them. For instancf' 

1181 wonld be EO, l'flU would be or, and so on. 

UEI. 

Fot· 'il'HJ, the General System has UAI, while Pallegoix has 

The difference here is less a matter of the system used 

than of the real sonncl involved. Pallegoix 1·ef:used to be influenced 

by a theoretical pronunciation that might be closer tn the spelling. 

Since the sonnd is very nearly the same as in Italian BUE, I should 

prefer to write UE. If we are afraid thttt people nm~r pronounce 

it as in English GLUE, we can follow Pa11egoix. 

·------------------------..---· 

23. The grave accent in Italian is t·eally used to indicate a stress. 

or to distinguish between two words otherwise spelt alike. In ordinary 

usage the written accent is omitted in most words, but Italian "pronouncing 

dictionaries" use the grave accent to mark a stressed E or 0 

that has the open sound; e.g., PIETRA. OGGI. 

.. .. 

24. U and 0 are the mode1·n forms of the letters which the Get· mans 

u.sed to write U and 0. Those were close enough approximations to 

satisfy Pallegoix, and one of them satisJied the designers of the General 

System as well. There can consequently be no just complaint about U 

and 0 on the grounds of imprecision. A more serious complaint is that 

the diacritical marks may get lost. But in practice that is what has 

ah·eady happened to the tail over the U in the Genel'al System; and OE 

is hardly better than plain 0. Something might be said in favor of the 

Slapdash EU £or .f/, were it not in such flagrant violation of our l'Ule of 

Italian vowels. The eockneyisn1 UR for l'tl'tl is indefensible.


As t.o l~U'l, for which t.he General System ha.s 1EO, it, tteems 

more natural to write 10, in c!nnfOJ•mity with t.he Italian value 

at' in TliO. 

'l'he sound of I~U in fhud posit,ion is surely IA (as in It.alian 

PIA): hut 8ome 8cho1ttrs holrl that when 1iJu is followed by a 

nonsonant it iR pt•ononnced IE. We are accustomed to writing 

CHIENG MAI. and those whn prefer it to CHIANG MAI should he 

allownd to have their way. 

There is one simplE1 vowel that is liable to cause troublethP 

short. neutral sound of a:-: in the middle of a word. The 

Geueral System writes it as A, which also stauds J'or a"- and 'CJl; 

and i11 most cnses WP should do i;he same. But in clevisilJg onr 

improvl•ments it is our duty to set·ve the reade1• af\ well us we can. 

'l'lw CJ.eneral System renders 'W1::U1 as PHAYA, whinh almo::Jt forcef-1 

t.hc nnwary 1•eader to say sn.mething like English FIRE. H is 

quite right in omitting t.he 1, which is seldom hnard in ordinary 

eonve1·sat.ion: and indeed PHRAYA. with it;s resemblance to English 

FRYER, would he worse. In accorrlance ·with out• practice, we 

woulrl wl'ite PAYA, which iK cert,aill]y an .impt·ovemellt, hut. it 

still is confusing as it might, be pronounced something like 

English PYRE. In onr section on Optional Refinements, we Rhall 

propose a cure; but it involves nne more accent to rlistingnish 

between long and short vowels. In our system for general nse, 

we are not prepared to go so far. One remedy wonld be to snhstitute 

an ltpostrnphe for the first A, 1md write P'YA. Anothel' 

way wonlcl be to extend a practice of the General S~Tstem, which 

recommends that a hyphen be used when. necef:lsary i;o sepal'ate 

Hyllables; PA-YA wonld be a t'EHt.sonable approximation. Iu cmo~et:~ 

of this sort, I fePl, the nser•s of our system :;honlrl be free to rln 

as they wish. 

The hyphen, indeed, is a great convenienee. We can use 

it whenever we wish to make clea.r whether a certain lettet· is 

the final oi' one syllable or the initial of the next. Fot' IJ::'Wh~. 

for instance, if we rlo not wish to wl'ite M•PRAO, we can write 

MA-PRAO, 1:10 as 1;o keep the 1'eader fl•om sayiug MAP-RAO. })'or

AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THE ROMANJZATION OF SIAMESE 53 

nomponnds, we can either divide t,hf' ehnnents into sepa-rate words 

(ME NAM. SAM L{), CHIENG RAI ), m· else rtSE' a hyphen ( M.E-NAM. 

SAM-LO, CI-IIENG-RAI ). 

The Commonsense System. -- lf we rn ake the proposerl 

nhanges in t,he General System, we ::1ball have a CommonaensP 

System. It wi11 be fonnd in full in Amwndix R. Hm·e is hnw 

om· fonl' examples woulrl look: 

( 1 ) Sam lo ma ni. 

( ~) Nai 1Lmp() mai yu, krap. Ba.i Nakon Si 'l'ammarat la.i 

wau ma leo. 

Mai sap wa lmo ;ia glap ma rniiarai, 

( ::l) Me tam 11gau mal{; mai koi ki giet. 

( 

11) Pt·a Ramatihodi sawoi rat nai gl'llllg Si Aynt,t!


letters. When they ean t•ernember, they dutifully writ.e the 

aspirated snrdt! as KH, 'l'H, PI-I; but. they often forget and follow 

theil• natnral impulse to write them asK, '1', P. As t,heir conscience 

also makes them write the intermedint,es as K, 'f, P, e:xeept when 

J;hey f:

AJITER1'HOUGHTS ON THE l:tOMANIZATION OF SIAMESE 55 

6. Optional Refinements to the Commonsense System 

(Appendix B and Fig. 10) 

'!'he Ge11eral System, it W~ 

hoped, would •· eonstitnte a 

wiuimum standard" which could also be "expanded for particulur 

purposes." Because of n few defectl-l, it did not quite ::JU(~eeed in 

the tirl't purpose; 1:!0 the second became impossibl~. 

In the Commonsense System the worst defects are e liwiuat,ed: 

it cau lw used for general purposes, aud it can alRo be 

brought up to any required pitch of phonetic precision for special 

purposes. 

:For the sort of articles t;hat appear in the .Journal of 

the Siam Soeiety, for instance, a certain JHUJlber of Optional 

Re-finements would he twnvenient. 

We can use diaeritical marks 

Juure freely: a careful write1· will not mislay them, nor will hi:s 

J·e:nh~l'H 

liud them irritating. 

Consonants.- Sons t.o avoid ambiguity, we could underline 

D fot• ~ and ~ for 11, to distinguish them J'rmn the fully voiced 1'1, 

n, and u, B. For the salw of consisteney, we could also underline 

~ for f1 n.ud ~ for 'il, though that iR not rf'al1y neet>ssary as they 

have no fnlly-voiced couut("l'pal·ts. 

Vowels.- 'l'he mot~t 

nrgeut refinement is to distinguiilh 

\1etweeu long and :;hot•t vowels. As Italian does not du till, wed flyllahlt•, we ru·c· entitled t,o stret,ch tlH· eonventio11 

t:~lightly an(l us~:. tUl necent to indicate a long VOWf!\. 1!\n• t;wo 

vowt~18, 

E and 0, Halian dictionaries nse the g1·ave neeetJt, when 

they have thH "open" sound, thn acute when they hanl the 

"elosed" sound. 

We hnve n.h•oady deeided t


u for ·a.28 For U!lt and 11~. l'il1t and 'il~ ( souJHls which do not exi::>t. 

iu stur;·dard Italian) we cu.n write E and 0, so an to distinguish 

them from plainE ( L'ilt, 1~) and plain 0 (1m; and. tlu1 tmwl·itten 

vowel iu words like tl\-1 ). 

Our vowel symbols thus fa1l ini;o a 

clear rule: long vowels ttl'e marked with au acutt-, g1·n~·e m· 

eircumiiex accent; short vowels are lef1; unmarked, or else marlteu 

with a breve ( '·' ). 

With such retiuement,s, the~ 

serions literattn·e. 

system will serve well for 

Most readet·s of our Journal, llwlieve, would 

prefHr RAM KAMHENG and u TONG tn Mcli'arlanci's RARM KAM 

HAANG and 00-TAUNG or the C-lencwal Sy~tem'H RAM KHAMHAENG 

and UTHONG. JAO PA-YA or TAO P'YA would ~urely be bette1· 

' . 

than Nlcli'arlaud's CHJOW PRAYAH nr Dr. Haas\; CAW PHAJAAnot 

t.o mention the Slapdash CHOW PHY A, in which t.ltf' fi rHt 

llyll:tble look::; lilw a little dog and tht• ser.oml like '' firP." 

Some i;ime ago wltEm I wa~ 

lot of names, 1 tested my ~ystem by ~howing 

writilq,?; a hm1k eoutaiuiug a 

three ot· fonr Americans who knew no 'l'ai at all. 

the wauu~eript to 

l told thelll 

only 1;hat the consonants have Eugli8h value:; and the vuwell:l 

Italiau, with the few exceptious which I explniued. 

'!'hey were 

tlwn able to prouonnce the lltn:nes readily-not quito eorreetly, 

but at. lt·aHt reeoguizubly. 

auy othet· ~>ystem 

I know of. 

'J'!Jat iH more than

AFTERTHOUGHTS oN 'hiE ROMANiZAT!ON oF stAMt:sg 

Bnt any writer can add suoh further refinements as he 

wit:Jhes: lw onn in vent them ad hoc, explaining them ilt a t

58 

_low tone 

"falling tone 

-high tone 

/rising tone 

The indicator would be put at the beginning of the syllable, the commo11 

tone being left unmarked. Syllables would have to be separated by a 

short space, words by a longer one, and sentences by a still Jonget 

one; punctuation had better be eliminated. He!'e is our second example, 

t;qnipped with the tone indicators: 

nai am po ,mai _yu -krap Q.ai na kim 

/si tam rna ,rat /lai wan ma -leo ,mai .... sap 

"wi / kao ja _glap 111~1 -..mlia rai 

I confess it looks formidable; but is it not less so than auy of the other 

~ystems that convey an equal amount of information (Figs. :J., 1 and 7)?

A!o"I'ERTHOUGH'JS ON THE ROMANIZATION OF S!AMESR !59 

7. The Two Systems and their Uses 

'l'he lovely dmwer Isadora Dnnean, it is said, once propoHerl 

cohahit.ation to Bernal'd Shaw in the hope that they would have 

ehildren who would iuhedt her physique and his intelleet.; bnt 

ho decliued the offer. "Suppose," l~e mnJ'llllll'Od, "they were to 

ltave my physique and yo·u1· intellect ..•. " 

We neeil two diBtilJct systems of Romunization, the Graphic 

when we wish to show how thf! word is :>pelt, t.he Oo.nunonsense 

phonetic when we wiHh to show how it is prononnoofl. If we try 

to combine tht>m, the hybrid will show neit.her.30 

Hybrids and how to avojd them.·- If hot.h the SJWlling a11c1 

t.hl~ pronnueiatiou must be made known, the 110 

harm in spelling a word almost phonetically, but slippiug ill a 

letter or two from the Gt·aphic, or e1:;e spelling a word p1·adh·ally 

in the Graphic system, h11t making some small coJJees~:liOJlS to 'J';ti 

pron u ll C'.i at i on.32 

30. I once.listened to an argument between two Siamese friends 

over the Romanization of Y.l~fi in a proper name. PHONG ?-no, people 

would say FONG. BONG ?-no, it wouldn't be ris;ht, because in Siamese 

it has an Sat the end. I timidly suggested either BANSA, which would 

satisfy the eye, or else PONG, which would satisfy the ear. Slapdash 

won the day; the choice fell upon BONGS, which satisfies neither. 

31. To avoid all risk of doubt, italics could be used for words 

transcribed graphically, and ordinary type for words in the Commonsense 

System. 

32. A good many of my Tai friends who Romanize their names by 

a hybrid method refuse to consider a change. Some say it is too late; 

people have gotten used to the wrong spelling and anything else would 

be confusing. That, I admit, is a valid reason. But others (I refrain 

from citing examples) are proud of the hybrid spelling, claiming as a 

precedent such English names as Cholmondeley and Berkeley. That is 

a false analogy. We write CHOLMONDELEY and BERl

60 

'l'ilai; is wl1y thn newspapers are fnll u£ pretent,imtB hyhrid 

J:m·mH thnt. arc worse than Slapdash. Lot us piek n few at random, 

aJl(l see why they are bad . 

.. SARISHDI" looks as if it, were intended to he Grnpbie, 

hut in that system it tranrwrihn~ the llleallingless ft1).J~. 'l'he 

propet• fhaphic form I'm· the Pl'ime Minister's nallle would he 

SRISI-ITI. 

Fortunately several newspapers havo ado11ted the 

CotmnonsPnHe form SAHIT. 

"PHIBULSONGGRAM '' is n jumble of spellings; 1'11, B, 

aud SONG cOJllO from the (.h~net•:d 

System, L and GRAM fron1 t.he 

Graphic:. People ill Amet•if~a would rmlcl the tlr::;t two ::;yllables 

FIBBLE a11d thell give 11p. 

E\'Oll u ch:mtde like PEA-BOON-SONG· 

CRUMB wult]tl be lH•ttol', HJHI HOillOthiug might lJO ::;aid ill defellHU 

pf tlw Gmwral Ry~t.om's PHIBLJN SONGKHRA.M. In the ConullOllsen::;e 

System the former Prime Minit:;t.or's name would be PIBUN 

SONGI\:f{AM, whieh auymH~ eonlcl proJJOUHee; iu the Graphie it 

would be BIPULASANGRAMA, which SH11Hkl'itist::: uonld lilld(~rKtand. 

"PHONGSAVADAR" loo]o:l liluJ a grnphie rouclt>ring of 

1tatnm, whatever thai, lllight lw. 8onw readers might like to 

]mow that, it, is i11tended tn mcu.n BANSAVATARA; ot,}l(H'H migbt, 

lili:o to ]\lluW that H iH prollOLll.JCc 

the seouud syll:tblo right, hut uot if ho remembered that the 

'I'onrist Guido had tol1l him that MANE means "come here." 

'l'he spelling, thcn1, servee~ 

the tonl'i::;t poorly, uud it servt'S tho 

Scmskriti::;t worse: lw wight, like to lmow that the place is muued 

tho Holy Meru. 

"DEJO Rourl" might learl u~ 

to p1·onouuce eithel' ll'lL'il or 

olso I'I'IL'll; but nulot>~ we happened to know, we shon1d hardly 

t.hillk of saying 11~ti'll, 

m3cm). 

"NAGOI{ SRI THAMMARAJ" is a 1uonster. NAGOR, SRI 

aml RAJ are mutilated Graphic, THAMMA is from the General

AI'TEIH'HOUGHTS ON THE ROMAN!ZATION OF SIAMESE 61 

~yl:lte.uL Wltynot NAGAHA SRI DI-IARMARAJA in serious writiug, 

all(l NAKON SI TAMMARAT for air and r:tilway schedules i' 

"RAJABURI" il:l a hybrid between RAJAPURi (Graphic) 

m11l RACHABURI ( Uenel'itl ). People who write "RAJABURI" in 

all imweence might l>e ~nrprised to learn wbat it means in 

flans)n·i t. 3 3 

sorve ns well. 

of ~an,;krit 

lf om· two syl:!tcms are kept separate, th t:1y 

;f; 

will both 

Graphic.- 'J'he Oraphie iH lmant.il'nlly adapt,ed i,o wordr:l 

or Pali origin; ancl though awkward J'or 'l'ai word::;, 

it iH uevurtheless the 01lly pl'actical means of Rornani:.~iug 

writ.teu forms without. ambiguity. 3 4 

i,h ei r 

It ii:l essential for a few 

spoeia1 pnrposos, chie!ly scientific; it is desirahlc f:or S:wskrit 

and I'ali worchl wherever dignity and universality are required, 

and for addressing Bntldhit~ts 

the world. Its rnlo~ 

resolutely. 

and Oriental seholars t.hronghont 

are well establishorl, aJl\l slwn1d bo fo1\owocl 

When the exact spelling must ho made known, 

t.hero is Jtn SHhstitnt,o J'or it. 

The Commonsense System.-· 1

AF'l'ERTHOUGHTS ON THE ROMANIZATION OF SIAMESE 63 

Appendix A : The Graphic System 

\l k ~ t ' 

'_v_L p u y 

~I kh lJ 

t JJ !2 

'j 

11 g 5i \h ~I ph a 

I 

,1 gh w j' 

• 

ll 1"1 b 1'1' 

'11 ( ~ w f y sh 

~l ch 11 hh Cl s 

~-----~--- 

'li ! t JJ Jll Yf 

~-----L----" 

-- 

I 

'li 

l 

th 

---- 

I) I jh


Appendix B: The Commonsense System 

()~ 

'1l1 

1)~ 

- a 

. 

m 

a 

all! 

"' "' .. 

'iJ'Di 11 

!-----------1 

,------· ___ .,._"·~-- 

' 

ltl 

u 

e 

e 

a " 

vowkL 

-1 

HHJ 

·----~-- 

Hl'il 

!------·-·---- 

tl'eHJ 

I'EIU 

ia 

ua 

llH 

ai 

ni 

ao 

au 

ni 

oi 

tli 

... 

Ol 

ll 

-·------···- 

Refinements 

Ordinary 

Refinements 

:-- 

{ti 

(co 

,. 

tl] 

i 

: Ct?ANJ~· :INITIAL FINAL, 

·,~,-L............-1 

-- ----=· -~"c==~•: 

fl ~; ( g)-:!: k 

---------- 

'11 r1 ~1 k : 

'iJ 

1-1 'll 

t)J 

{,] ~ d 

~l 

~ (] 

r· 

~ '1'1 ~ll 

--------------·- t 

ll Yl l'i 

tl! \l n 

' 

"! 

t 

!, 

I ! 

' 

f; 

1 

ue 

h 

fJ 1£J 

ne 

in 

i-----·~f------i---------1 

i tltl j 0 

181 

p() 

eo 

eo 

11'111 

- -------------.. ~ ... 

-I 

JtHJl 

('.() 

io 

ill 

l'U, l'i 

w 

s 

91 VJ'j s 

;;; Optional Hellnements

AFTERTHOUGHTS ON 'l'HE ROMANIZATION OF SIAMESE 

(The Commonsense System, cont'd) 

Key to approximate pronunciations 

65 

Initial Consonants (English) 

g, disgrace 

k, kill! 

ng, singer 

j, bootjack d, clog b, boy y, yes 

ch, checJ.: l ~!, mil:ldenl ~. disburse r, red 

y, yes t, tag! p, pooh! l, love 

n, name f, fig w, wet 

m, man 

s, sing 

h, hat 

Final Consonants (English) 

k, brenk 

ng, sing 

t, pit P, lip 

j n, pin I m, ham 

Vowels (Italian~) 

a, aclesso i, difesn'* u, snddito* e, gentile'r' o, siamo 

{t, stato i, studi lt, lupo e, para o, carb

Go 


(The Commonsense System, eunt'U.) 

[Note: In the examples below, I have eliminated i.he Optional 

Refinements except in a few cases where they seem 

specially desirable,] 

Geographical Expressions 

Jallg-wat, Ampo, Mi:iang, Dambon, Ball, Pu-kau, Doi, 

Me-nam, Huei, Tale, Klong 

l'it.snun1ok, 

Towns 

(hung '1'6p, 'l'unbnri, Nunbnri, Ayuttuya, Loplmri, Sukotai, 

Petchabtm, S'walllmlok, Chninat, Prtl, Nan, Dnk, 

Lambnug, Lampun, Chie11g Mui, Chieng Sen, Chieng Rai, Fang, 

Gampcng Pot, Nahon S'wan, Ubon, Udon, Rui Et, Loi, Kou Gun, 

Kurut, Nakon Ohai Si, Nakon B'tom, Snpanburi, U Tong, Aug 

'l'ong, Petbnri, Ratburi, Chaiya, Pu Get, Nalron Si TumnHl.rat, Song 

I\.la, Ohonburi, Si Racha, Jantaburi 

Bangkok Topography 

Hatc.haclaum'cilJ, Jaron Grnng, Cbulc)m Gnwg, Si Pa.ya, 

Ruriwoug, Si Lom, Sati')u, Bnmruug 1\:liiang, Ratchini, Gnmg G's0m, 

Yaowarat, Wittayu, Pn-ya Tni, Jaln·apong, Patpong, Wat Pu, Wat 

Sutut, \Vat Pra Gi!o, Benjuma-bc•pit., Bowon-niwet, Pu-lmo 'l'ong, 

Ta-riin l:'ra .Jun, Ducit, 'I'cwet., Hua Lampullg, 'l'nug l\iuha l\Jek 

Fruits 

Tviauao, Ma-braug, Ma-pnw, Mafai, Mamua11g, Malago, 

~um, Uluei, Ngo, .Lnmut, Ll

FIG. 1 s SLAPDASH 

(2) Nigh \1111-pLl..r:r Yrif y·ou, cropo By Knock...Corn See Torrmry:rot 

lie one ma layer.,. 11Y· sop war cow jar club m.a mewel• ... rye. 

(3) t-~h 'Gom ngahn mock; my queu1lle key ghee-at. 

(h) Phra Ramn Toabody sway raht nigh groong See A;yuthya. 

(1) .s~m .... 1o rna nl. 

(:2) 

. 

Na.i ~mph~ 

\ 

m~h 

~ !J ., v If ~ \ 

ju~ lh':B mai (a )yu k 1 r~p p~i nak 1 on(r) s(r 

.I 

)1 I th ~ a(rr )mma.rat(c "' 

• 

1 ) 

,v 

/ A ~ "\ \ ~ v~ 

(h )lai w~ ma li::Bo mai c ap wa khao cah k1 

"' \ _, . vi 

ap ma mu CEra 

'\ v \ 

(3) l'l"te thar;t ngan mak 

' 

~ . 

m~i k.,;mi l&l k!et ( c ) 

FIG. $: HcF~ 

( 1 ) Sarm t 1a1ir.r mah nee~. 

• .1 4 r ' t. ( ~ 

( 2 ) N a1 um-pur mal yoo , krup • Bpai Na -ka-vm See 'rtnn·~ma -rart 

t ,~ J ~ 3 1 4 4 3 

1a:L -v~an mah 1aa-oh • Mai sap wah kow chja gklap mah mur-ah -rai. 

(J) 1"' !.a a l tum ngan mark 3 ,; malj. ku..r•-ay kee 3 gkee--at 1 " 

(4) Pra' Rarmah-tl· .. bau ... dee sa 4 ~··wu:c ... ie 1 r::.n·t 1 nai gkroong 

See ~ Ah 4 -yoot' -ta' 

~yah. 

FIG. J : G:HAl1! IC 

t./ 

(1) sam J.o ma nf" 

(2) nay a~bhro 

I '·- 

(3) 

I 

mai ay1t 

'I,/ 

- J - ' 

hlay van ma lev 

, 

me dam nan mak 

• 

. - 

oJ • I' ...,... -. 

grap p.a~ nagara :srl. dhar•rmaraJa 

I _ '-· I, 

'd -~1... 1"" -·'. 

ma.l. rap va. lu1au cah k ap m~J. moarrn 

• 

I V 

mai gey l

. -1UIHIIII• 

FIG. 7: DR. HAAS 

(1) 

(2) 

..... / 

saam lYl maa 

;:) ,.. 

naaj arnphiF16 

v 

/ 

laaj wan maa l£tH 

'*· 

' 

l1l.l. 

maj juu 

(3) mtt " tham ~aan maag " 

I' 

khrab 

I 

A 

thammaraad 

A A 1\ V !) '\, A 

ma.j saab waa khaw ca klab maa rrwaraj 

' 

m~j 

v 

sawMj 

kh"j kt1i1 klad 

A 

raad 

nai kru~ 

y ')' ,.. I 

s1i ayudth~aa 

FIG. 9~ 

COMMONSENSE 

(1) Sam-16 ma ni. 

(2) Nai a.mpo ma:l yu, krap. Bai Nakon ' Si Tammarat 

' .. 

lai wan ma leo. :Hai sap wa kao ja g1ap nk1 rnuar.:li. 

(3) ~ tam ngan mak; rnai koi. ki-r~iat. 

(4) Pra Ra.mat;i.bbcli Darroi rat na:L r~runp, Sl A:rut tayu.. 

F:j:O. 8: THE GENERAL SYST!W 

(1) Sam-1o ma ni. 

~ 

(2) Nai amphoe mai yu, khrap. Pai Nalchon Si Thannnarat 

.J 

lai 1-1an ma lae o. 

A 

Mai sap wa khao cha klap ma mu' arai. 

(3) Mae tham ngan 1nak; mai khoei khi-kiat. 

(4) Phra Ramathib~di sawoei rat nai krung Si Ayutt,hayaG 

FIG. 10: COMMONSE1'£~E 

(1) sam-lb ma nt. 

vJJ;.TH [U~t:_!t{_EMEN'I'S 

, (2) Na'i ampo mai y-\l, la'ap. 

• ' !'\ .... ...... 

~J. Nakon Si Tamrnarat la1. wan 

" \. 

ma leo. M • A A k 1 A .. 

a1. sap wa ao ~a g ap rna IrtUarai. 

' r\ A "

TWO ASPECTS OF BUDDHIST ICONOGRAPHY IN THAILAND 

by 

j. J. Bocle.1 

Ih·seent from the Tu~ita heaven. Aspect of the rotna~vuha. 

'l'h!• life i:ltory of the 

Buddha si"tkyamuni containH tl 

lllllllhror of rna.in1· !~pii:!•HleH or mirades ( Jll'atiharya ), which trarlit.inna11y 

:tl't:• ol

70 

J.J, Boclcs 

a Bncl.dha, honont·ed hy t.!w tht·ee wol'ltlN. 

l11 HuddltiHt {lllilltiug~ 

and scnlptnro the npisnd

Fig, 1. 

Borobuc,lur. Part of relief with Descent from the Tu~ita Heaven. 

Photo f!J' J.J. Boclcs

Fig. 2. 

Dvaravatr relief with Descent from the Tul\lita Heaven. 

National Museum, Bangkok Photu ~· R. 8umw 1 1

I' I\ o AHI'I'

72 

j,j. Hoele" 

the end of the handle of this royal attrihutt· •nt tit•· palm "' tl~t· 

other band; this is another Gupta fcatun·. Som•· "! tilt· ,;,Hh< ltavc 

their hands folded in veneration. Till' t~ofl>· art·.,., t·arinv :nrhau•• 

and those closest to the pavilion st'('!ll tn supJu>rt tia: ,•.tnu·tnr•· m 

the cloud~ with their bodies and llll:ir ;;!wtllrl•·•··· n ..· lusanti ui l;"ti ••·• .. e i!,, 

bore the great pavilion on thdr hand,;. tlu:it ·•lwuld•·r:• .wd 

heads. (51: 4; !i2 : 16) 5 

One part to the dght of the relief is brokt•n. t'iu11d, .• 1 r • ·• ;t gud y 

outlined on this stone fragment. A hove tht~t-W •·IutHI•. an· at lea•il 

two unclearly detlned heavenly being;; floatinl\ in th< :•. Tht) 

;;eem to belong to the class of vidyadhura:-;, hl'artt'•'' "I h1nm lt:d}!t:, 

judging from the position of their folded !C).(!': thit0 a1r,:t111 is a l;upt:t 

tradition, The hands of the figU!'l.! to tlw riHlit ar• fnit.k!l in 

veneration at the display of this miracle in th•· ,,,l;i''"'· Tho• un;t "' 

central figure on the fragmented part holdii a >:arlaurl iu t'•.t••ntkd 

hands; he is also of the vidyndhara ria,;!>. llut kg i·· Hd!ktl iu tht 

"plough" position. The cdp;t;s of til(! rdid an· 111 "knL •.•r eut lu 

size. 

The attention of all the tigurc\l i!l clirt'l~t

I\\ H \~l'r:c lh \I~ 11\)J)laiJST ll:t\NOt;nAtmy IN THAiLAND 

'73 

!'hit' "''llhl ha\·t· \lt'f'll ill :wcnrllauce with the text. 

Tl11· ··•lltw t •·'t " t :1 t ,.~ t I 1at t t w I !ndhi:-~attva wa~:~ l:litting in hia 

rulll!U!Wia~ 

wit ld11 lh•• \\'htlllt nf hiti mother not aH m 1 emb 1 

•yo bnt 

ati :t tcnmpl>'t·· Y •h•\o·li•JH•d 1•hild pr11vided with the mark!:! of the 

lil't·:tt \l;o, IWl!A;'ipta·u~a).fi The~(' mar](~ are the thirty-two 

tu: 1 .i 11 t' •.~h:!l'.n·t.·,·i,.tit·.• ,.f th1• Htuldha, 'l'ht• first one, the usnisa 

1' 1 '1'1'*'"''11 t ~ u It iw :.• t •· •m I igh tt>JlllH~IIt. ;\] t ll't•over, the Lali tavi~~a~·a 

n•lat .. ~ tlt;~l hd ... r•· !.·avi11~ th(' 'l'u~ita heaven the Bodhisatt.va, 

i11 a t'l'l'o•uw'll~. ll'.llll'f•·l'ti hi~ t•rnwll to the Bodhisnttva Tvr'aitreya 

1 

wl1•• i" li ..\\ ,.,.. ,id\tq.: \11 tht• Tn~ita ffeaveu and who is to become 

tht• H111\tllta .. t 111•· fllt1ll'1',1 

Fnr tid~ t'l'al'iPii t h•· :wtd ptur uf t.h e relief in Fig. 2 might lJ ave 

waut•·d '" do•Jii1'1 f lw lltHit!lw, thu!l anticipatiug eventK that would 

1'"111• Jat•·r. Tld·· altt•mpt tu "xplaiu :tl.l itupnrtnnt deviation from 

a :·•>H't'••ol I•· \I i~· w•l t:••ttrd«l•~rl!d tu he ~~urwlnsivo aud it dues not 

""''II' '" ,,. :·'lll'll"''!l'd I·~· 

aua(oJ.!:oHK l'opretloJltat,innH ill Buddhist 

it'l•lt"~:raplt ~· "1:-i•·whl't'l'. lluWP\'

74 ).J. BoeJe!'l 

The birth of the Buddha at Khao Pmwm 1\ung :md Plumai. 

The ku(iigiinl asJwct. 

The Ln1itavistara rolate:-~ th:d •lu!'iu~~ tlu· !•"II lli 11 Jd Ia~· Ht' ill Jl,iit'alat' al'l, tiP

Fig. 3. 

Birth of the Buddha; Khmel' style. National Museum, Bangkok 

Photo by R. Bunnaa

Fig. 4. 

Birth of the Buddha; Panom Rung style. National Museum, BanRkok 

Photo /;1 ft. fhwno,11

'I'Wtl MlPECTS OF DUDDlliST !CONOr;RAPilY IN THAILAND 75 

Thai\:ttFi. II:' :wPn b1 Figures ·1 aurl f), rt•presents the birth of the 

Bn•l•llw i u a nlliqtw way; tlu• !Hli'Soll of the Bodhisattva is not 

prt·H~ut.lf• (Jllt'l!ll 1\ti1y;l i~ hnhling either the plalcsa, ot· siila 

tt·

711 

-, 1 J:J. Boehl~ 

t 

. 1 ~tyl". "" }J,·nwm Rnn~ ~t.vlr•. ·rh1• rrr·h~·f~ 

thi'!i 

frnru 

.patj 1cn at• '"' •• ·'~ 

Khao Panom Rung, :tH far a:\ t.lw:v (l;lf\ In• r'l

Fig. 5. 

Birth of the Buddha; Panom'Rung style. Detail with ku(iiaara. 

National Muscun1, Bangkok 

Photo~ R. Bunnao

Fig. 6. After the Birth of the Buddha; the 1\u~iioiira is brought to the 

Brahma heaven. Phimai, in situ. 

rJ ,w l:r }.]. llorlcs 

11

f\1 0 UJNIC:'l'S m· llllDIHil!lT H!tlNOGRAPY IN 'l'AILAND 77 

nslntlt'lfr/,fl,t priul" tn tlw birth nncl after the birth ku~ariara. One 

t:tlllll"t t ... ("" "llrt· hcmt'Vi•r whother this ruther rigid distinction 

w~~'" ••XJll'tHl:>t-d nnly f:or the pnrbose of providing '~ 

\\ lli'liiu.,:: J,:.,•i,; !111' tht• HJHlt·rstrmding nf the iJUtllJ'e nf this tem• 

IH•l'ary alo•••l•· ,.f tlt1: BHdhhHlttv:~.21 We believe that we have 

dt.•lflolllitt';tt>·d. i11 auy Pn·ut, that buth type nf "palace~'' have 

l~t•••u l'•"l•l'•"'·t'lttt•d 1111 !ilHlll' reliefH fouud iu Thailand. 

. . . -. . . ....... ··~~;ita vistara is an interpolation in 

21. The m/!llll',l'llhaeplsode 111 the . '''nterruption" p. 60,n.!.) 

9 9 

cha:Pter VI. 'I' his interpolation ( Fouca~x ~~e t~me when those events 

is appan~ntly of a much later date It an! t ·the story of the ratnavyiiha 

. . tl !3uddlra w 10 

happened,bacuuseJtts 1e 

re a 

· 

es. . 

to A nunda (Foucaux, op. •• PP· 60 • 70 )·

78 J.J. Boelefl 

Notes on the Illustrations 

Figm•P 1. l{ot•ulnt!llll'. lle~:wout. o[ t.ltf' Hodhisatt va ft'llllt tlt•· Tu~it a 

ht~l!V('ll. :i!ee text, note :1. 'l'hu r•·lit•f iK 111 J, .. [~>tllt•l 

in the top row of relit·l'~ Oil tltt• wain wall ••f t lt•· lir:'t 

gullcJ·y. !It 1\rom's moJtngraph H:tJ•ahn~llll' it i:-: !-\t•l'il':' 

1, a. Plnte VI, Nn. 12. For ltis dt1(. ('at. 

No. 'I'.W. ,-.;, Height 114, t'.Jll, Chil't.t•:-:•• t·\ay;;tnttt•, \~teal 

fine !Wn•ly. UnpnhliHlil'tl. 

VigUJ'P :L llirth of thP Butltlha. Hoe Ilt•k 1•!. 1"rn111 Angktll' Vat 

uow itt National l\'hHwnm, Bnllgkol\. t'at, _N,, L.lt ;,, 

Height 77 em. AlHJut li\t.lt Ct•nt. A.ll. ~atl'llltot~t·. 

Brnhmi1 i~ l'('. Birth ol' t.he Bmldha. 

CHtit .. A.ll. J

I\\ II Mil'r:l:1'/l llF flllllJ)lllliT lt:ONOt;RAI'HY IN THAILAND 79 

I :r. 'ft:. :-\t>itlmll'adeu, An liJa:t:ltl'sion to Phimai .7:8.8., 

\'ol, X\'ll (J) ( 1\J:I~! ). AIHo in J . .S'.S., Vol. XXV (1) 

( 19:1:2 ), (~f. L.P. Briggs, 'l'he Ancient Khme?' Empi?·e, 

Phila1lelplda (1951 ), pp. 178, ff. 

fZt: tlu• oJlicial guide hook, in 'l'hai, of the :Fine Arts J>epartHH·nt 

on 1 

)1 

mum: 

. . • ~ "' i , " ., 

ll11l1U1VHJ1Uill'lt m1\ll'ff!111l 1l11~ll1111 

Um71'1l,nn "' 1 ~l!.l1l1UmW91 "' nrn ., "'1 tllilJJ The

BUDDHA AND HUMANITY 1 

by 

Suniti Kumar ChatteJji 

'I'lH' intHrnatirmal importance of Buddha has been ex~ 

Pt'f'B!!Pd sncei netly by the English writer and h istnrian, Mr . 

. H. G. Wclls, who declared around about 1920 that the six 

greatet;t nwn iu history were Buddha, Socrates, Alexander 

or At•istntle, Asoktt, Roger Bacon ancl Abraham Lincoln. 

Buddha 

certainly haK been one of the gl'eatest and most significant 

thnHght.\eadeJ'S in human history. His appearance was not 

au isnlatE!d event in the history of man's endeavour to rise above 

hil:l hare m::~terial existence, to probe into the nature of the 

Ultimltte Rettlity behind life and to find a proper attitude 

towards his fellow beings and towards all living creatures. 

Hnmanity, after it had evolved into propel' man, Elorno 

t!(tpirns, from anthropoid apes, made its slow rmd steady upward 

progress along the path of group life to civilisation. 'l'he first, 

hundreds of thousands of yeMs were taken up by man's efforts 

to rise above his material surroundings. He passed through the 

various stages in his cultm·al advancement, first by learning the 

use oi' fire :mel thell by acqnil'in~ greater control over his hands 

and inventing t,oo!H lmd weapons. He passed through the 

••o1ithie, the pal!wolithie and neolithic stages, :~nd evolved wit,h 

what hocamn nne of: the fundamentals of human advancement, 

org:misod !:lociety. 'l'he uotionH of primitive man which were 

horn primarily of l'ear for the world around him and for the 

unseen f:orceH which t~eemed 

to ope1·ate here, gradually helped 

hhn UJL As he achieved greater control of his environment, 

.man l1egau to t~volve an intelligent nttitnde of enquiry and of 

imagination towards lif:e and being. In the earlier pe1•iods of 

human hist,ory when civilisation in the true sense of the term 

hecamP well-establit:~hed, with organised communities building 

1. From a paper read at the Bttddha Jayanti Symposium in New 

Pelhi, November 1956.

Suniti Kumar Chaltcrji 

np t•itie:-t anrl st.atPA alld ovolving c•rgmliHPil and t'tl(liiit'd r"ligi"''· 

tilt• gnAHSeH towards truth wu11t !lit devt•lupiltg n111l 

greatfll' momEmtum. 

gatht•t·inL: 

After c:ivilisatin11 had llllHlP ennsidnJ•ahlt• ndYtlllt't•tly SC\l)H.r:tt.f!d 

t.he raee or people or connt.ry. 'l'lw be~:-~t atternpt.i'l of thiltkPr!i 

aurl wise mt•ll o[ the centnrieK atHl millPtlltia hrofot't' ]!Hill 1\,C, 

HPnmPd to have het>tl Hnhjr.ctod grad11tdly t1• i.!J

llUllfJHA AND HtlMANI'tv 

.. r tl11• ad n•u1 nf 1 hi' Vetlie Aryans in India, aeuording to this 

.. -;titu:d•• nf tiuw, tlne~ nnt !tppPat· tn he anterior to lliOO B.C.; anll 

t ht• hiJ..diP:-lt iillil'it.na} 1\(\\'LJ}OpllWllt nl' thifl IJC'J'iO!l i:!liat'tr.rl tO\Vttl'(lH 

i 1,.; dt•:-11' \\"ht'll i 11 

lu:

Sunlti Kumai· Chatterji 

of t;he Vedas,

DUDIHIA ANll HUMANiTY 85 

Unit-y of Godhead, as, for example, that which wal:\ formulated by 

Amenopltis. 'l'he Indo-Europeans who established themselves in 

U1·eece wet·e iuilueuced by their Eastern neighbours, the Hamitic 

Peoples of Egypt and the Semites of the Near East. They had also 

their own uative conception of a Sky•lS of the rlawuing of the l

Suniti Kumar Chatter]i 

rationalising of this UJt,imnte Renlity mnde it. imperative fol• 

mau to have a mn1·al attitude towards life in gem•ral. 

Vedic Aryaw>, for iustanee, and similarly the early .lew~. 

early GrcPks, the early Chinese and 

'l'he 

the 

other early peop]!•l:l 

perfornwd their sacrifices to thr Gods by nwldng otrE~rings 

animals, of food and drink, of raiment. and precious (Jhjeets, and 

by observing certain taboos. 

Hnt it was a person like Krishna 

whu learllt fl·om his teacher Ghora Angirusa that th•• mol·nl lifP 

of trnth, of self-restraint, of abstention ftonm taking others' 

pl'Opel't;y, and of charit.y embodied the J"eal Hacrif"i(•e which 

plea~:~eil 

U1e Snprewe Spirit. So with the .Jews tlteir great enrly 

prophets lilcn Isaiah iusisted upon their leading a serious In oral 

life. 

'l'hey were uot free, however, ft•nm the aecepte1l ot• eurrent 

ritualistie haekgronnd, at least. fen a long time. 

of 

In China, 

Lao-'l'zn brought in tho need for detachment from life with a 

linn nnohoring ou the 'L'au. \Vith him IlOH-iukderPllee in tl1n 

affairs of oi;lwr~> and persistence il1 concentrating withii1 oneself 

formed thl: ideal moral life. Coufncin::;, 011 t.he otltei' h:nHl, 

t.!tonght that one iil'Ht ha1l to become established ill tho right 

life, l1y modelling hiH eondnet on t.hP tuuclliilgS und oxau1plo::; of' 

the ancient t>eors ~•ucl 

sagE'S, by trying to rectify tlw ills of 

soeiety to the· best of his ability, and !Jy tonehillg mnrlldnd t.o 

li v1~ 

rationally mHl in u ::;pirit. of uni versn.l friendship. 

h1 Ureeee tho earlier philosovhel"S were oceupi!•d both 

with t.hn fundamentals of t.he nnivonl(', which they sought tu 

explain with thei1· limited lmnw1edge, and with the tnoJ•al law 

whiell guided the universe. '!'heir teachings came toget}H~l' ill 

those of Socl'atet> and Plato, who esponsecl f

lllJDDHA AN!l HUMANITY 

R7 

or Aritlht.

88 :Suniti Kumar Chattet·ji 

positive and fnll ol: blisl:l. 'l'lw Jl1.r~hayiinu takt•H a dilrt•t•t•nt 1111int. 

of view, beginning with t,Jw Ul:lHUmptinn td' tlw exit-:tr•tH''' oJ' :Lll 

Ultimate Reality, a Cosmic Bnrlrllw Spirit, a~ l'Hndunwntal in 

life and being. We know that. wlteuevor a religion nr a ernetl 

becometl well-nt•gnnised wit.hin a O!mreh, it thw!!lopH, through a 

snccession of teachers, an orth.otlox phi lmltlphy t.lla t 

more and more rigid and hirlebomul with r•aeh 

lwt'tlltletl 

gCJH·ration. 

Buddhism in its various schoo b wal:l !H[ll!tll y t'XflliHtH! tn that 

sort of thing, jul:lt like Christianity aJHl Islam :md tht· varionn 

sectl:l of Hinduism. 

We must talw 11ote of Burlllha'!4 Tntlian hPt·itagr\ in hiH 

attitude towards the world. Iu hiH Iwlian hel'itage, thurr~ waH 

a compelling sense of sorrow and sufforillg in tldt-~ \\'111'\d; t.hnrt\ 

was the idea that philosophical speeulaticm alltl qtwst. wt•rp tu 

have as their final aim and object tht) removal of t.llit-~ !:llll'l'tl\\' allll 

suffering. In this quest for a perHumuJH:e lwynnd !if" tht>rt: wa~ 

to be absolute honosty and f1·eotlom of rmrpoHt•, (J,,mp\Pt.n intullectnal 

freedom was fully gnarant~wtl i11 annimd. Jwlia il1 thiH 

matter; and in the ancient Indian tradition, H)teeulat.ion about 

the 11ature of human personality anrl itH t:Oilnl'et.inu with tht\ 

Ultimate Reality went hantl in hand with a nw:-;t, rl'fi'nHhing 

detachment from ideas that had anythh1g of ioltc• 11atnrn of a hi!l(lhound 

theology or organiseu religion with itH vt.:Htnd inki'PHtt', 

Certain explanations of life and hci11g wero sought in \'al'inuH 

ways, and some of these ivere very wiclcly acenptod, though thny 

were not insisted upon as cardinal cloetrhws ot• rlngnws. 'l'lwsu, 

for example, wer~ the ideas of Ktwnw and of ,)'rw;.sara.-oJ: Kar·nw 

or Action which formed the basis of the huuwu JhH'Ilouulit.y :md 

of num's moving about in this world, aud of 8ari}8a,.ra whieh waH 

a notion of human personality or soul passi11g through a cycle oJ: 

existences in a number of'' incarnation~." 

The path nf: liheratiou 

was regarded as being through lmowledge primarily, but a new 

factor, namely, that of good deeds, came into existe11ee fairly early. 

Blind aclherenee to sacrifice and ritual were gradually restricted, 

Althot1gh they were ~10t completely eschewed, in philot:!ophical

BtlllDHA AND HUMANITY 

thought. t.l'wy WOl'tl gonorally relegat(Hl'to secoudal'y, nuimportant 

lllacei:l. We have mentioned before how Kl'i:;lma, following hir::~ 

teacher Ghora Angirasa, looked upon anf\terity OJ' self-discipline, 

ehari ty, simplicity, non-injn ry and speaking the truth as the 

enlmination of sacrifice ( Ohandogy(~ [Jpanished, III, 17, 5/G ). In 

the Clita, ill which unquestionably n considerable amount of tho 

teachings o[ the historical Krishna Vasndevtt lies embedded, we 

have n similar ernph::~sis on the moral life. Religions sacriliee 

and ritmtl are not wholly eschewed; they are commended if they 

are pet·formed in a spil'it of sincere faith. Re1igiotlS ritna 1 of ftll 

types, both Aryan and non-A1·yan, have evidently been recommended 

by Krishnlt V lll:lltdev a as he in g conductive to man's Hpiritual 

uplHt. The idea of AMrp8li or Non-injury to auy being was 

gai niug ground among Indians, ftn a this ranged itself against the 

purely Aryan or Indo-European rite of the fire-sacdfiee, in which 

the o as to reach the Gods, who 

gave riehes, progeny and power in exchange. Buddha spol'e in 

very plain terms against this sacrifice, which in his view was 

perfectly useless; and so also was the view of the J ainaa. As a 

matter of fact, Krishna also, according to the later trndi tions 

regarding his life and his teachings, was against Veclie sacrifices. 

Bnddha further used some of the Upanishadic Ol' Vedantic termi'l 

in connexion wit.h the ascent of man to a higher life and 

experience. The word Ni1·va1:a is a common Buddhist heritage 

with the p,J•ahmans and the Jainas, and N·i1'VU'f!,a, is something 

which h! not. capable of being described in words, hnt which is 

revealed in the ·Pali canon as a positive state and not a negative 

one ( Nibl/ii·1.wm :JJaramttl/1 s~tkharp, ). 'rhe highest position to 

which a man could attain in his progress towards obtaining 

JJiJdh'i or Supreme Wisdom in order to become transfol'lned into 

~t BtHlclha, atHl so to be liberated from tho shackles of Karma 

tmd 8art}Sa1'a, is describecl in the Pali canon as B1•ahma-Viha1·a. 

This is ;m expression which should be taken in the ordinary 

:;Jense in whieh it would be employetl l1y the SageR of the 

Upanishads and PhilosopherB of Brahmtmism in general. There

\JO 

Suniti Kumar Chatterji 

il:l 110 f\{lf>Cia\ inl>Pt'fll'etat,inll gi \'l'11 t,o t.hiH C.O!lllllllll OXpl'PHI:'iflll ill 

the Burldhitlt, t.radit,ion. HrrtJz.mrJ--V?'hal'rt., m· 'llwolling in U11• 

Brahmm1,' or 'Rojoieing .ill the Hrahmau,' itl a 

cnn be ntt,uillet.l. through tl1P p1•aetiee of theHe grt~at 

JWI:lititlll which 

virtn0s, 

namoly Upek.~!i. or' non.eogllhmnce of Pvil or sufl'E~rillg inilietotl 

hy otherfi, Mrdnta, or 'mi lcluess ur gt\ntleu0sR'6 K aru·~ta, 

'Pity nud Love for al1 Jiving ereutm·eH,' 1LtHl J1aih·1, or 'active 

[riemlliness,' that iH, doing good actively atl against lllfll'Ply 

negative Ah?:u,tsa. 

t~ontrihntinn 

'['hiH hrings in what waK prf'-erninently Bllddha's HpPnial 

tn In

hUD1lHA ANn Hl1MAN1'l'Y 

~ist·ot,leit-~m a11d lll'1linu ry world I y exi stenct•, '1' he fact 1·emaiml that 

Buddha in hi~ l:lpidt was so ohl:les::;ejurinlo( everything iu the wol'1d. 

of: 

span of life to mePt 

'.l'his aspt~ct 

Buddha's spiritual and social att.itnde led to an abnormal 

developme!lt or tllOlHt::itidsm ill 1hu1dhislll, which of ennrse had 

itf\ bPnorlcent as well ns itl:l utuleHirable aspel~ts. 

He r~11 

thiH as it. mt•y, Buddha is nedited with this great 

Spirit uf Love for everyl1olly. He Juts been made to say that just. 

aH n llltltlter prei:l8rves her Bingle chilcl even at the eost ul' her 

OWJI life, so ahll• Hhconlc1 llll:m have a milul Inll ol' infinite h•ve 

towards all living creatures. 

The ! . .n·eat Pity of 11nud ha for 

Hnmani ty has been bean t.ifnlly e xprPsserl in t h iA poetieal pasi:lage: 

My children, 

The Enlightened One, because He saw Mankind drowni11g in the 

Great Sea of Birth, Death and Sorrow, and longed to save 

them. 

For this He was moved to pity.

92 Suniti Kumar Chatter]! 

Because He saw the men of the world straying in false paths, and 

none to guide them, 

For this He was moved to pity. 

Because He saw that they lay wallowing in the mire of the Five 

Lusts, in dissolute abandonment, 


Because He saw them still fettered to their wealth, their wiveR 

and theii· children, knowing not ho\1' to cast them aside, 


Because He saw them doing evil with hand, heart and tongue, 

and many times receiving the bitter fruits of sin, yet ever 

yielding to their desires, 


Because He saw that they slaked the thirst of the Five Lusts as 

it were with br.ackish water, 


Because He saw that though they longed for happiness, they 

made for themselves no karma of happiness; and though they 

hated pain, yet willingly made fo1· themse! ves a karma of pain: 

and though they coveted the joys of Heaven, would not follow 

His commandments on earth, 


Because He saw them afraid of birth, old age and death, yet still 

pursuing the works that lead to birth, old age and death, 


Because. He saw them consumed by the fires of pain and sorrow, 

yet knowing not where to seek the still water of Sanwtllti, 


I3ecause He saw them living in a time of wars, killing and wound· 

ing one another; and knew that fot· the riotous hatred that 

had :flourished in their hearts they were doomed to pay an 

endless retribution, 


Because many born at tlte time of His incarnation had heard Him 

preach the Holy Law, yet could not receive it, 

For this l-Ie was moved to pity. 

Because some had great riches that they could not bear to give 

away, 


Because He saw the men of the world ploughing their field, sow· 

ing the seed, trafficking, huckstering, buying and selling: and 

at the end winning nothing but bitterness, 

For this He was moved to pity.7 

7. From the Upasaka-Sila Siitm, Ch. III. Translated into the English 

by Arthur Waley.

llUDiliJA AND HllMANiTY 93 

A nhinesc frimHl of mine, who is himse1f o. very ardent 

love!' of B11

Suultl Kumnt Chatterji 

ol' l1efore, through the Hudclhh;t flpiJ•it of nHH1itatiun. 

Htuuanity 

heenme hnt·nwnised everywhere, anrl ItHtny erne] alld httt·lwrnml 

rite~ 

which WOI'f' p1•aetiHecl temled to be f:limillattHl by the gtmtle 

spit•it of Budel£. AJt,hough some of Buddha's philo~ophy was not. 

appt·oved by the Brahmans, nevertheless the idea of uoH-iu:iury 

to all living creatures has been adopt('d as a part of the Indiuu 

Atti tnde to Life. 

Bnddhn condernHecl auiwal fHLCl'i ticcs, even 

though they were to he found in the Vedas. 

His merciful heart 

was moved b~· t.lte sight of t;lw slnnghter of animals-~o saug 

the Vaish11nva poet .• Tayadeva in the 1:2th eentury in India. 

VcgPtariauism spread with Bnddhism, at ]past ::mwng megiuning of t.hii:! idea in the HmWhi~Jll, 'l'his hal-l givett 

l'iHe in Ohilltt and in the areal:l inspit•e

fHIDDIIA AND HUMANITY 9 ,.. 

'0 

t,o l!W that tlw progt'l'KS of Bnrldltism throughout thn vast; lm~tl 

u[ China, amnng 0110 11f the most giftml peoplc:3 in the world, has 

l:lni1Jt'thing to tlo with this basic hnckgronn

.BOOK REVIEWS 

Ht>lwri H. Fox, "'l'ho Oalatagrm Excavations. 'l';vo lfith Century 

Burial ::1itos in Batangas, Philippinos," Ph,:Zippine 8tndics, vol. 7, 

Ilu. i\, August 19()9, pp. i\21-390. 

'l'his lengthy articlt\ with 1G7 plates, 17 figures, a.nd two 

maps, is a prdimiuat•y report on the results of t,he Oalatagan 

excavations conclnctecl by a field team of: the National Museum of: 

the Philippines under Ur. Fox. 'l'he Ctllatagau burial site:-; fti'O 

ou tho coast of a sm:tll peninsula faciug the South China Sef\ iu 

the Province of T3atangas, about one hundred ldlometres l:lOuth of 

Manila. 'l'he gt·aves belong to the 15th century and thni:l afl'urcl 

some in valuable evidence of the islands' pre-Spanish cnlturalonmmcl·cial 

relations. In the early Ming Period thousands of 

pieces of: ceramic ware were brought to Oalatagan by Ohjnet.H:'· 

tradei'S from the kilus of South China, Annam and Siam to be 

exchanged for the hardwoods, cotton, indigo, pearl,; an

BOOK RI~VIf!:Wt; 

The Thai yields at, the two Calatagan sit0r.: I'npl'A.IW.nt, a 

varil'ty of howls, rliBhes, covm· dishes and ,ianl, anrl a surprisingly 

large llltmhcr of t.hose Rrnall hottle-shaped YeSSl' Is with two Para 

011 t.he shot·t neck, whieh are partially covered with a r!aJ•k hrPwn 

glaxe. A similar type nf bottle but nf a doublr~-goHrrl shape HJl

they wt>i•e unaldo to match its Huperunl qualities of eolom· and feel. 

What tlw Sawankalok pntteJ•H rlid achieve, however, waH a highly 

glu::~sr, tnmH{l:ll'tmt gla"'e whieh often seems to bl'ing the incised 

Ul' 1uoulded m1tlerglaze llesigllS into shat•ptw foens. It would 

aplJeUr that tlds glttsH-likn truni:lpfHeucy i11 tho Sawanlmlok glaze 

was uw~ of the features which especially conunended Sawankalok 

celadon to the pal'ticular tasteH of thet::c island peoples. It is of 

real interest, thcn·ofore, that arnollg Dr. Fox's discovedes at 

Oalatagan were several typet; of bowls of undeniable Chinese 

provenauce which have this same glasl:ly, light, green glaze. 'l'hey 

were typical 15th centnry products of some of the South Chinn 

provinchtl kilns, and Professor Beyer has made the intriguing 

~nggestion that these pieceH nuty represent at,tempts l>y the Chinese 

tu copy the glass-like quality of the Sawanlwlol' green glaze in 

ordeJ' to meet thcc success which these Siamese wares were 

appan•Htly enjoying iu the ceramic trade of the i(-llands. 

'l'!Hl presence of Ohine~w 

and other Asian wares in what 

])r. Fox cullt~ pottery complexes iu the Calatagnn graves provides 

a method for establishing dat0s on the brtsis of assoc£ations wheJ'o 

pieces of Ohiuese and Simnese wares are fouud together as grave 

hll'nitnre in pre-SpaniHh burial sites. 'l'hns in the pottery complexes 

at Oalatagau, the Sawanlwluk pieces t·ecovered were found 

in as~:~ociutinn with sueh Ohinose wures nl:l 14tll ccmtury monochromes 

(late Yiian or early 1\Hng) and types of blue-and-white 

with ~:~lunp beveled foot-rims which belong to the eltrly .lflth 

t\eniury. On the lmsil:l of sueh assol'iniions, Jlr. :Fox eonelude:4 

that the: 8awanlwlo1< pith eeutu1·y. 

Sn.w:mkalok pieces are far let:8 coumwn 

in 1atP lf>ih

100 BOOK HEVII"\'8 

h1 this conuection it is nf fnrthrr i11terest to llote tl1at 

Dr. Fox did not find a Hingle piece of 8nl;:hot.hai stonPwarr at. 

Calnt.agau, suggesting that this ware waH uot nHc•1l as a tradn 

pottery. Nevertheless, cnusidewhle qmmtitif~s ol' this heury 

decorate1l Ht.ouewat·e have been found. in Iu

UUOK HEVH:Ws 101 

~H t•za H utJltir~rul-cliu Mnhmnd Ahmad, 'flhe Life of Mtthammad. 

Ahnmdiyya Mmdim Foreign Mis~:~ion'~ Office, Paldstm1. 

A lifl• al:l full and aH luminous ar; that of the Prophet ·Molwumwd 

l'Hi::Jes certaiu probloms for a biographer. One whose life, 

wcn•kl:l anrl teaehinga have become so well-known as a part of our 

nnivenw1 hortitage is n, tempting snbjeet who is often given i1 bio. 

~·raphieal treatment tlwt iguoref\ the ueces:mry research. In snell 

a t.reatmpnt. ser(nential cleolOription of wajor eveuts tends to he 

viewurl n.guinst the grentnesl:l of the events t•ather than in the 

light of: tho litertu·y merit of the prose. It is a difficult task to 

write with llistinet.iuu or originality about a ·well-known life. 

'!'he author rnns the risk of misplaced eUlphasis. 'l'he ta~k of 

the (:J'itic of such a wol'k is made much more probleuwtioal. Not 

ouly must ho check the correctness of !'acts. HP.' must also talce 

into aeurnmt the general t.encn·, literary finesse, style, accent, 

nndel'i:ltanding, sympathy, reverance and c:l'itical under;;tnndiug 

whieh the author hns brought to the subject. B11t if these cmt 

(litions are fulfilled, :ts the~' a1·e in t.his biogr:q.Jhy, the eritie hu.~ 

nothing to clo bnt; sit back nru1 talk of gener

ib2 

to be lmowH for their learning a]l(l t.hnrouglmesf:\, in hoh· 

scl'iptnreH aH wel1 as in modern snhjects. ~nmr- of the nJOst H heon chose11 with gl'ea1; care. Htawl Hl'tl 

eonunoutaJ·ies have heen frequently cite

!lOOK Hl

l04 

BOOK RrWII~WI:> 

.John Blofeld, 1'/ti! Wheel of Li.f1l: 'l'he Autobio11ra.phy of n W(J,qfe/'1! 

J-Jnddhi.~t. Riden· & Compauy, Lund on, 1%\L 2(i il pages. 

All antohiograplly is only pal't.ial trnt.h. 

To t.P!l tllf' 

estwntial trntl1 abont the objeetivrdy percPiver1 is diflicnH l'liPngh; 

the snhjeet.iye is harder still, 1'or IWither tlw eye nor the I ean 

pel'ceive itself, 

The difficnHies are CO!llpounded in a spiritual 

autobiography, f()J' the Pnconnters nrc i11tangible and, to a high 

deg1•ee, pl'ivat.r; mystie !·'XJJerience is vil•tnally impossible to communicate 

dil·ectly, as the great religious leaders utteHt in their 

resort tnimrable, a11egm·y, and wet,aphor-deviees liable to distortion 

and misinterpl'!)tatiou by eve11 thn mnst, rlevoted rliseiplm;. 

( 'rhe wheel of life iti an example of anch metaphor, and so is tlt1· 

rn·oss, nnder which thousands have heen slaiu.) 

When a f01'eig1wr 

horn and edncnted in one culture undertakes the Hf'fll'Ch for :mob 

an experience in an vntiJ•p]y (1iffeJ'Ollt enltnrC', with it.R disparities 

of: langnage, trnilling, and mor1es of t.lwnght, tlw )JM1sihility of 

orJ'Or is raise,·! to the highest power. He Clmnot. atl'ol'd to "falter 

in drive or direction towarrls the cent.J•al insight that hrings all 

oth(er expel'iorwe into focus anrl perspecti vP, and, nntil that is 

nooK m·:vn;ws 105 

fatht•t•, h1· :-:1'1, fnrth fnl' Uhin:t inunecliatci'y upmt coming dowtt from 

O!tllllll'illgl', i.o llegiu thEl BPtn·ch that, excPpt for a few iuterruptioul!!, 

luu; kl~pt him ht Asia ever sinue. 

Thitl Parly rnje;ctinn nf the West, he nttributes to his 

Knrmie Pl'OJlE>llSitit!t.l. 

'rhrongho11t the book it is apparent that 

the htti'Hhnr.ss of much o'f Westen1 enltnre repellec1 him: athlotic 

nompetition nt twhool, ucadewic punishments, the rigidity of 

Protestant ritnal, tlH• Oill'iHt.ian ductl'inos of Hell nwi original Hin. 

A l'OIIHtntie wlto J!Pnl'l\8 for the l'emote n.ncl the past, for panoply 

and Rplcm

106 BOOK HBVfE\VS 

as a result of these studies al'e statPcl br.iPily iu the Epilogue. 

They bonr a striking ro~:~emhlance to Platouil:!ltl. 

Mr. Blofelcl's account of his wanderiJ1gs iH mmle~:~t. Some 

ehains of events are sluned over or referred to glancillgly, mtcl 

the crises of spirit, however searing or exalted they may have 

been to him, never seem of more than ordinary int.enl:lity to the 

reader; nor do the insights recounted seem remarlwhle-one 

wonrlers why he had to go so far mtd wait 80 long for them. Ho 

hmnbly admits that, thongh he hnl:l harl intimation~> of the highc1:1t 

order of religions experienee, he has not yet attained it; he it~ Bt.ill 

on his way tn the center of the wheel. WE'storn readers unacr]ttainted 

with Buddhism will finll t.hat this report of a Western-rclncatrd 

rnat1 trying to reach that cente1· illuminate!:! Bomc of the method!:!, 

ohjeeti ves, nnd obstacle~:~. Ad veu tu re, :mspeuse, au d iustr netion are 

ltere, clad in well-bred prose; profundity and rtulia11ee are 110t, 

but, their lll'el:!e1we il:! alwayl:! improbable.

:.!flO:~, p. ] ~:!. 

RECENT SIAMESE PUBLICATIONs 

:2G:I. JA!t:ml'!f Hrwifa{/1!. Rmj riialJdlutl'ln Prc~s. Thngiw1i:, 

Sponsors of. the cremation of the late Mme Sri A!int of 

the Pfi.nikulmt family applie

108 HECENT SIAMESE PU!JLICA'J'JONS 

:2f>4. Rama VI: Ma'(}rJala ,':J'utta 'in l't!/'8!~; C'omJit!ndi·lu/1 o./ 

,":.'r~u·in(J.~: and the classic11ltlance-drmua ul' OJ·a,i1m and i'osakaJI/ft, 

l{etail Sale coupel'ution ProBS, Danglwk. 2:102, ill. :lG!l page:;. 

'l'his was pul>lished in dedicatirm to tho late h·ayi1 Ra.insi"tsnua 

Soldwn in early December 19f>\:l. 

'l'he deceaHr·cl Ht,l'Vl~d 

nuder the royal anthor UH his persoual secretnl'.Y with dnt.il·:> that 

were chiefly eoHnected with the Kinp;'s volumiuoHR writings. 

'l'lte Hrst lJUllletl piece is an elegan1; tram1laticm oJ' a widely 

known sut1·a funning part of ever,\' benedictory HervicP. 

It iK au 

enuweratiou of the auHpices, or ma.yuala, according to the BU

HI

ACCESSIONS TO THE LIBRARY 

from /July to q)ecernbe r 1959 

Books 

R.O. Wiustedt: A HistoJ'Y of :Mal1~ Literature ( .l930 ). 

The Voyage of Abdullah ( 194\J ). 

Sir Richat•d Winsteilt : A Practical Modern Malay. Englil:lh 

Dietionar~· with an Appendix of Arabic Spellings ( 1952 ), 

Sit• Rieluu·d Winatedt: A 

J1ietiollary ( 1.\J54 ). 

Sir Ri()]wrcl Winl:ltedt: 

Dictimmry. 

~LB. Lewis: 'feach Yourself Malay ( 1951 ). 

Isidore Dyen : Spoken Malay, Book One. 

Isidore llyen : SpolID ( 1 \l59 ). 

l'nJHMtted lr.lf H.H. Pl'incr l>hani Nivut, Krommamwn !3irlhua· 

lrthh. 

Tnngki Fn1m Sindaha He1•gen l DangsP: The Sem·et 011l'oniole8 of 

the Manch11 Dynasty. ll-l07-l!iB7 A.D. Vol. IV.: T'Ai-Tsnng 1 

( 1 ~59,).

112 

Borifl Past81'1Htk ( 1 !l59 ). 

L.F. Onmber : Chitwl:le Seeret SocietieK in I\1alaya: A Rnrv8y of 

the 'friacl Society from HWO tho l\100 ( 1 flMl ). 

Kingdom ol' Laol:l ( 19!>\l ). 

Unl'!'eut, Ant,hropology ( 19flt) ). 

llavirl P.O. Lloyrl : The Dhwrete and tiH' Diffuso in Nf.1rvnnfo\ 

Aet,ion ( 1959 ). 

Ruth '1'. IVfeVey : Bi bliO!Jr1tP hy of Soviet Pnh licatinns 011 SouthP.ast 

Asia ( 1959 ). 

llr. Panl Wil'l'; : Neu Guinea ( 1959 ). 

Hm:rat Mirv,a B~LBhir-Url-Din Mahmud Ahmad: 'l:'he Life of 

l\'Inhammad. 

Sonya Diane Cater : 'l'!Je PhilippinP Fer!erat.ion of Free Farmors 

(1959). 

Atomie Energy ( 1959 ). 

India: A Reference A1mmtl ( 1959 ). 

Atomic Energy ( H.E. ~502) ( 'l'hai ). 

Heul'i Marchal: Le l>rJcor et. Ia Scnlptm·1:1 f(!tlnf'l'B ( Hlfd ). 

;J.P. Rock: 'l'ho Na-Khi Nii.ga Cult and Related Ceremonies Parts. 

1-2 ( 1952 ). 

Bibliographie ( Ext1·ait rlu Bulletin de I' Ecole I:

AGCESBIONS TO T!Jg l,IBRAIIY 

Ilihshn 1. 

Van:m-Og Ka Bnol-( ( 1 \H)\1 ). 

Hina-Ama ( l9fi!l ). 

A .• l. BPntet Kempnra: Aneient lndouesia.n Art ( l 959 ). 

llenwerncy in the Now States ( 195B ). 

Knrala mHlel' Communism, A Report ( 195~ ). 

Fifth AnniverRary Report of the Summel' InstHnto of Linguistics 

(195R). 

])avid D. Thmuas: Mansalm Sentenefl and Sub-Sentence Struc! 

tnres ( 1958 ). 

The Lac•1ner Pavilioll at 8uan Paldoicl Palace ( 1959 ). 

Periodicals. 

American Judicature. Soeiety, Journal of the, Vol. 43, Nos. 1, :1. 

American Museum of Natural History, Hnlletin of the, Vol. 117, 

Arts. 1-6. 

Anales de la Escne la N aciona l de OieuciaR Binlogieas, Vol. lX. 

Nnms. 1-4. 

Ancient India, Bulletin of the Archaeology survey ol' India, Nn. 

14, 195ft 

Annuaire dn Mnsenm National rl'Hi.stoire Natnrelle ponr l' Annee 

1.959. 

Annual Report, 195H, Museum of :Fine Arts, Bost(m. 

Archiv Oriontalui, Vol. 27, No. l. 

Al'lphy, Vol. VIII, No. l l EOA:FE Libra1·y ). 

Asian Cn1tnre, Vn1. l, Nos. 3-4. 

Asian Studies, Jonrnfl1 of, Vnl. XVIII, No!'\. 4-5. 

Asiatiqne .Jour11al, Tome OOXLVI, "Fase. Nos. i~-'t; 

J

114 ACCESSIONS TO nm LIBRARY 

Ant.hor IndE>x tn a Classified Cat.alogue of Books in SNJt,ion XYII, 

.Japau, in the 'l'oyo Hmtko acquired rlnring the YearR 1HJ7.19:1G· 

AuKtral News, Vol. 2, No. :1. 

Banssler-Archiv, Neue Ji'olge, Band VU, HAft I. 

Rerichten Vau de Afcte1ing Tropische Prorlucten Van Het 

Knninkli:ik lnstitunt. Voor de 'l'ropen, No. :!ti7. 

Bihliogt•ttphy of Scientific Pnblications of South & South East Asia, 

Vol. 5, Nos. li-11; Index to Vol. IV. 

Bombay Naiinral History Society, Journal of the, Vol. 56, Nn.l-2. 

Ronner GeographischE• Ahhandlnngen, Heft 2f), 1 \lfiH. 

Bowet·'s 1959. 

Breviora Musenm of Comparative Zoology, Nm~. I]().] 11. 

Cornell Univet•sity Agricultural Experiment, Bnllet.i11, 9:\4, 944, 

1958. 

Cornell Unive1•sity Agrienltnral ExpMimrnt Stat.inn, Mr.n1oir. ilfifi- 

359, 191>9. 

East and West, New Seriel:l, Vol. 10, Nc>H. 1-2. 

Egypt '!.'ravel Magazille, No. 57, l%H. 

Encounter, Vol. XITT, Nos. 1-il, 5. 

Florida StatE' Mmlenm, Biological Scieners, ·Hull(-Jtiu of thP, Vf\1. '1, 

Nos. 4·-11; Vol. 5, No. 1; Index Vol. 4. 

l~oreign 

Office Records Preservetl h1 tlw Pnhlie Renonl OilicP in 

London Relating t,o China and .Japan, List or the. 

France-Asie, 'l'orne XVI, Not-!. 153-H\7, lf\8-159, ]li0-lfi1. 

l

AGCI~SSION!:! 'J'O 'J'H~; LIBRARY 

l11do~A~:~iau Onltur!', the, Vol. VII, No. 4,, Vol. Vll.I; Nt1. 1. 

ln~:~doe List, V(•l. G, Nos. IH-14, ~2-.·~3. 

lu:,;titut Biologiqne, Beogt·ad :\Tonographies, '1\>rne 1~4, 1957. 

lm:~titute 

1957. 

for Oriental Onlture, the 1\'femoil·s of the, Nos. lli-17, 

lnstltuto of Ethnology Academia Sinicn, Bulletin of the, No. ti, 

19M\. 

Iustitnt,e of Fishery Biology of Ministt•y of Economic Affairs allt.l 

National 'l'aiwan University, Report of the, Vol. 1, No. il. 

lustitnto de Biologia, Auales del. 'l'ome XXIX, Nmneros 1 y ~. 

Iyton, Vol. 1:2, l!'asc. 1-2. 

:J«rmnese .Journnl of Ethnology, the, Vol. 23, No. ~\. 

Koninl-\cl,

116 AGcESSIONS '1'0 'l'HE LIBRAHY 

Ninth Paeific Sciencn OongreSI:l of' the Pacific Sciettee As~>neiatlon, 

Proceeding:; of the, Vol. XI: :Forest. He:;nurees; Vol. G: Uocolntt. 

P t•oblenu:. 

Nytt Maga:>in for Bot,anil

;l'ropit:al Ahr~trat~t.s, 

ACCESSIONS '1'0 TJJE LiBRARY 

\'nl. XLV, Nns. ti-11. 

'L'nlaue Strulh•i:i in Y.:oulogy, Vul. 7, No. :l. 

lhlited Asia, Iudia and Italy, Vol. XI, No. 4. 

1-h!ited Stater~ National Museum, Proceedings of the, Vol. 108, 

NoH. t\401); Vol. 109; Nos. B41l.:.B415; VoL llO, No::;, Htllti .. i\tl-1 ~l. 

Univet·sitas, Vol. 3, No. L 

University of CalifOl'nia Publications in East Asiatie t)hi1o1ogy, 

Vol. 2, 1%~L 

UuiYerl:lity of California Puhlieations in Entomology, Vol. 14, 

No. li; Vol. lG, Nos. 1·4. 

Uniyersity of California Publications in Zoology, Vol. tio, No. 1; 

Vol. li5, No. 1; Vol. 67, No. 1. 

WMO 'Bulletin, Vol. Vlli, No.4.

ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1959 

'J'hu Aunnal GcmeJ•al Meeting turminatilq.~ tlw yeat' 1!)58 

waH holtl at the Soeiety's Home, lill. Lane 21, SnldHunvidhya Road 

(.furmnrly (10, Asulm H.oad), Banglmpi, Bangkok, with His HighneHs 

Prinuo J>hnni Nivat, Kromamnn Biclyalahh, President, in t.he 

chait·. 'l'he Meeting was attendorl by about 50 members and their 

gnost.i:l rmd the following mem bet'S of the Ootmcil we1·e present : 

II.H. Prince P1·em PnraclLatra, Senior Vice-Pt·esident, 

I-I.E. Chao Phyn Sri Dharrnadhibes, Vice-President, 

H.S.H. Prince A:invadis Disku1, Vice-President aud 

Honorary Secretuy, 

Mr. J'01•gen Holm, Honorary Trcasnrer, 

Mr. Cecil L. Sanford Jr., Honorary Erlitor of the ,Jounwl, 

H.E. Monsieur Gunnar Sciclen[nden, Honorary 'Editor of 

tho Natural History Bulletin, 

Mr . .J.,T. Boeles, 

Mr. Ariyant. Manjikn1. 

'l'hc Meetillg nnanirnont~ly 

rc-el.oct.od the Counei\ ell b l11c. 

'l'be Annual General Meeting was then followed hy a 

lactnre by I-I.E. Mons. Snldeh Nim.man haemindn, who is now 

'l'hai Amhns1:ladot· to Incli.a. 'rho subject of the lectuJ'o was "The 

]'ailnre ancl Snccoss of Early American Misshms." 

~t.ntl

120 ANNUAL IIEPOR'I' FOR 19:-iO 

H.K Monsieur Gnnnar SeirlEIJd'adAn, 

Mr. John CairucrnRs. 

3) Natural History: JJientenaut General Phya Salwirlhan 

Nidhcs, Chairman, 

H.E. Monsieur Gunnar Seiclenfade11, 

H.S.H. Prince Piyarangsit Raugsit. 

4) Exchange: 

5) Travel: 

6) Research: 

H.S.H. Prince Snbhadradis Disknl, Ohai I'• 

man, 

Phya Anmnan Rajadhon, 

H.H. Prince Snkhnmabhinand. 

Mr. Sanya Dharmasakti, Chnirmau, 

H.S.H. Prince A:iavadis Disknl, 

H.S.H. Prince Snbhadradis Diskul, 

Mom Rajawongse Surnouajati Swasdiknl. 

H.H. Prince Prem Pnrachatrn, Chairman, 

Dr. TAmriston Sharp, 

Mr. Cecil L. Sanforrl, .Jr., 

M1·. ,J.,J. Boeles, 

Mr. Jorgen Holm . 

. Mr. Cecil L. Sanford, .Jr. and H.E. Monsieur Gunnar Soiclenfaden 

were unanimously re-elected as Honorary Editor of 

the ,Journal anrl Honorary Editor of the Natural History Bnl. 

let.in, t•espectively. 

It was with sincere regret that the Oormeil harl to lose 

the sel'Vices of f-LE. Monsienr Gunnar SeidenJ:ade11, th.e Danish 

Amh:tssador, who in Septembet• 1959 had to resign from the seat 

on the Council owing to his transfer to a new assignment. 

Through his energetic leadership in the fi.eld o:C natnral history 

the Society has been able to proclnee two valuable volumes nf 'l'hc 

01·cldds of 2'hailand, namely: Part I and Part II, No.1. Because 

of his int,erest in and assistance to the Society in many other ways 

he has been elected to Corresponding membership of the Siam 

Society. However, t.he Soci!'lty b,as been very fort11nate ~n sectF~

ANNIJA!. ngPOHT !l()ll l95\l 1:?.1 

ing thn !Hll'Vines of Monaiour (htlllHLl' Seid1111fad.eu's Rneeessrn·. 

H.E. MonHirnr Ehhe Mnnek, the !tow lhni:-:;h Ambassador, whose 

intercHt, in and knowledge of natural history iu other parts nf 

the world is well-lmown. He W!LS co-opted as membrr of the 

Cnnncil iu October I91'i9 and if.l now serving as Honornry Editor 

nf the Natnrnl History Bulletin as well. 

During the period nnder review oue of onr Vice-Presidrnts, 

H.E. Ohao PhyfL Sri Dhnrmadhihes, was absent on leave 

for :Eonr months in Etuope. He has, however, rettunecl and 

resnmerl his duty on the Oouucil. 

The Ommcil held ten bnsiness mEletiugs during the yoar 

nnrl nll of them took place in our P1·osident's house. 'l'he re!tson 

for thiB is that the road leading to our Home in Banglmpi wa!:l 

undergoing major repairs. Tho Conncil is happy to 1'epo1·t that 

the work is now completed and future meetings can conveniently 

be held at the Society's Home. 

'l'hc Ommen must take this opportnnit.y to express itr~ 

gratit.uc1e Mld appreciation to the U.S. In:f.ormation Oenter for 

having kindly put itA anditorinm in Patpong Road at the Society's 

disposal whenever it was requested for our general 

meetingf,l, 

The Ommcil ~t1so 

wishN1 to put on reco1·d 'tt.s sincere 

app1•eciation f

1~2 ANNUAL [lJ~POHT FOB 19!)() 

follow:>: 

'l'he Hooiety's membnr;,;hip up to t,lto owl of 1\lf•H was aB 

Royal Pat.ron aut! Viec-l:'ai;roJJS 

J-[ouoraJ' y MemlJm•t~ 

'I 

Corl'eSpondillg MomherB 17 

Free Members 

i3 

Life Members 

\l~ 

Ordinary MemlHll'i:l 

41iB 

582 

afl comparefl wit.h G5i.\ in 1\)58. 

= 

'l'ho decline was partly 1luP tn 

the resignations, upon leavil1g this conHtry, of several member:>. 

'rhe financial standing of the Society continues to he 

satiHfactory, anil the acconnt.t~ at the end of 1 ~5\l ::;how au excess 

of receipts over expenditure to an amount of Baht 25,1i9(UHI, in 

spite of n large outlay for the cost of publications, the snlr of 

which the ConllC:il hopes will eventnally bring lL snhstantial 

incurue to t.he Society. 

'l'he Council acknowledgei:l with profonnd gratitrulu a l'UCollt 

aunual graut of US$ 8,500.00 from the Ford l!'uu11clat.io11 in tllfl 

United State~ for the establishllleut oJ' a re~earch center under 

the auspicel:l of the Siam Society. A committee has been formed 

to supervise the work of this l'Nlearch center, consisting of H .. H. 

Prince Prem Puraehutra ( Ohn,irman ), nr. Lauriston Sharp, Mr. 

Cecil L. Sanford, Jr., Mr .• Jorgen Holm and Mr. ,J..J. Boelet:. M1·. 

Boeles has also bee11 appointed tile Direetor of the 11ew Siam 

Society Researeh Center and work is now progressing in the 

Held of archaeologieal research. 

'rhe Conucil must nlso recoril grateful rqlpreeiat;ion to tho 

Asia ]'onndation, Bangkok, for ii;s kind and valnalJ1o assistauce 

in the matter of the Soeiety's pnblicatious. Recently a repri11t 

of .tl Histm·y of Bwldh'ism 1:n Siam by H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, 

Kromamnn Bidyalabh, for free distribution has been made possible 

by its sponsorship. Mention mnst also he made of the publication 

of The Thai Peoples by Major E. Seidenfarlen which is again due 

to the generosity of the Asia :Foundation. 

il

ANNUAL HEPORT FOH 1959 

The Boeiety puh lishecl two journals in HlfiH, namely Volume 

57, l'

THE SIAM 

FINANCIAL RESUME 

Receipts 

Subscr1 ptions 

Ordinnry membet•s, cnrrent year 

Ordinary memhers, overdue accounts 

Life memherR 

iH.i,7HU7 

~,i\Oil,OK 

:!1,700.00 Baht fi~l.7~!1.:!5 

Sale of publications 

'l'he .Jnnrnnl 

Natural History Bulletin 

Florae Siamensis Ennmeratio 

Sundry receipts 

[nterest received 

fi,IIOl)J !'• 

1 , 1 iHi.il:l 

·t!!.fiO 

llaht 7, 7 Hti.OO 

Baht 80,400.50 

Bangkok,

SOCIETY 

FOR THE YEAR 1959 

Expenditure 

Maintenance of the Home: 

Sabry to ctLret,akor 

!

THE SIAM SOCIETY 

Incoltle 

Hoceived from Tho Ford 1

R~SEARCH CENTEI{ 

Stamp duty 

Balance to be carried forwal'd 

Baht i.25 

" 179,590.42 

Baht 179,591.(17 

Ji'eb?'Wt?'V 7 4llt, 19(11) 

.T. Holm 

'Examined nnd found t.o ugree with bonhs an(l vouchers. 

P. Banijya Sara Vi des 

Honor·ar{t Aud'ito'J'

PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT 

TENTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 

The 'l'enth Pndjic Science Conr;Tess of the Pacific Science 

Assoct"at-ion wal be held (tt the Unive·rsitu of Hawa1:i, Jionoluln, !1·om 

21 August to a September 19u1, sponsm·ed by the National Academy 

of Sciences, TVashington, ·D.C., and .Be1·nice P. Biflhop Mttseurn, 11:ith 

the cooperation of the Univrwst:ty of Hawaii. Scienlijlr; session8 wW 

fie held f1·om .?1 Augnst to :l Septem)Jor, with a post-sessional .field 

trip throuoh u September. 

Pacific Science Association 

The Pacific Science As1:1ociatiou is an h1ternational, 

regional, non-govcrnmentalscientific orgunizatio11, foun

TF;NTH PACIFIC SCIENCI•; CON

'mNTH PAGWIG SCJgNGl~ CONt;R~~SS 

135 

l L 

Seetion of Biological Sciences 

A. Division of Zoology and JiJntonwlogu 

B. Division of Man:ne Biology a,nd 1NshM·ies 

CJ. lh:v1:sion of Limnology and F1·esh1uatm· Fisluwies 

D. Divis'ion of Bolctny 

IlL Seetion of Public Health and Medical Sciences 

A. Divi8ion of Pu,blic Health and Medical Sm:!lnoe.~ 

B. Divis1:on of Nttlrition 

IV. 

Section of Acrricultural Sciences 

0 

A. Division of Animal Sc,iencr; 

B. Divis·ion of 01·op Sc·ienco 

CJ. Division o.f SoU 8ciencr; 

V. Section of Forestry 

A. Division o.f Fo1·est B-iology 

B. DiV?:sion of Fm·est Management. 

C. Division of Fo·rest Produ,cts 

VI. 

Section of Conservation 

VII. Section of Anthropology and Social Sciences 

VIII. Section of Geography 

A. D1:vision of Cartography 

B. D1:vision of Phy.~1:cal Geogmphy 

CJ. D£V?:sion o.f Hwnan Geog1•aphy 

D. Division of Regional Geography : 'l'he Pacific Island.~ 

IX. 

Section of Scientific Information 

Public Lectures and Panel Discussions 

In addition to the J'egnlar daily scientific sessions, there 

will he a program of public lectures and evening panel discussions.

136 

'J'JlNTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONr,Jigss 

Exhibits 

A display of exhibits willl>e arranger!, illcluding an exhibit 

on Pacific publications t,o include exal!lples of the work of the 

major presBef:l publi::Jhing worki:l on Pacific scienCl'. 

Travel and Hotel Accommodation 

Scientists attending the Congress mnst mn,ke tlwir own 

arrangements for travel and hotel accommodation. 'l'he American 

Express Company is rlesignatod iihe principal travel agent for 

the Congress, and its uflices throughout the world wi11 assist 

seirmtists who plan to attend. 

Dormitory Aceommodation 

A limited mnonni; uf dormitory accornnwrlatinn will he 

available at. the University of Hawaii aud pol:!sibly at other 

educational institutions in Honolulu. l!'or this inexpensive accommodation 

scientists from countries other than the United States 

will be gi von preference. 

Applications for dormitory accommodation 

shouW he se11t to: 

'l'he Chairman, Aceonnnndation 

Corum i ttoe, '1\m th Pacific Science Oougrosl:l, 

Bishop .M u !:lenm, 

Honolulu 17, Hawaii. 

Field Trips 

During tho two weeks of meetings a program of fiol

'i'EN'l'H PACIFIC SCIENCE· CONGRESS 137 

COUNTRIES, DOMINIONS, COLONIES, AND TERRITORIES, ELIGIBLE FOR MEMBERSHIP 

IN TI-lE ASSOCIATION, WHOSE SCIENTISTS HAVE PAIITICIPATED IN PREVIOUS 

CONGRESSES. 

American Samoa . Argentina. Australia .·Cambodia, 

Oanada .. Chile. China (Taiwan). Colombia. Costa Rica, Ecuador. 

EJ,Salvador . Fiji . France .. French Establishments in Oceania, 

Guam . Guatemala . Hawaii ,·Honduras . Hong Kong . Indonesia, 

.Japan·. Korea (South) , Laos. Macao . Malaya . Mexico. Nether• 

lands . Netherlands New Guinea .. New Caledonia and Depen~ 

rlencies . New Zealand . Nicaragua . North Borneo . Panama . 

Peru . Philippines . Portugal ., Portuguese Timor . Rynkyu 

Islands. Sarawnk. Singapore· .. Thailand. Tonga. Union of Soviet 

Socialist Republics • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern 

Ireland . United States of Americu U.S. Trust 'l'erritory of the 

Pacific Islands • Viet-Nam (South) . Western Pacific High Commission 

'l'crritories, Western Samoa 

TN ADDITION, THE FOLLOWING NON-MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE PACIFIC SCIENCE 

ASSOCIATION HAVE RECEIVIW INVITATIONS TO PARTICIPA'rE: 

Bolivia . Burma . Denmark . Norway •. Sweden 

Circular of Information: rJ.llte Ooncwess Oir·eula1· of Injm·mation, 

with mor·e deta-il on prooram, ,tiel1Z trips, ancl otluw matte·rs, will 

be issued in August 1960. 

Please addr·ess enquiries to : Secretary-General, Tenth Pacific 

Science Congress, Bishop Museum, Honolulu 17, Hawaii, U.S.A . 

. F·mm this address the MUJnir.~y 1m'll lJe for•ward1Jd to the prwson 

concer·ned.

VOLUME XL VIII Part 2 

November 1960 

THE 

JOURNAL 

OF THE 

SIAM 

OCIETY 

(J ss) 

BANGKOK

, - · 

With the Compliments of 

:Mr. J,J. 13oeles 

Vee 1996 

L,__ ___ .. -1 

l 

·~

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

VOLUME XLVIII PART 2 NOVEMBER 1960 

Articles 

;Note 

O.W. Wolters 

Phya Anuman Rajadhon 

Nicholas T arling 

Robert Kickert 

].]. Boeles 

Prince Dhani Nivat 

lJirst Annual CR..eport from Cfl.esearch (Jenter 

'Book CJleviews 

H.G. Quaritch Wales 

Jane Gaston Mahler 

L. Starling 

K.E. Wells 

Ohen-li.fu 

A State on the Gulf of Siam at the 

beginning of the 13th Oentury 

Fertility Rites in Thailand 

Siam and Sir James Brooke 

A Funeral in Yang Terng, 

Ohangwat Ubol, Northeast Thailand 

Page 

1 

37 

J!./ote on Archaeological Survey and 

Excavations in North-Eastern Thailand 

in 1959 85 

Protocol of the Royal Family 

Prehistory and Religion in Smtth-East 

Asia (Charles Nelson Spinks) 

The Westerners Among the Figurines 

of the T'ang Dynasty of Ohina 

(Elizabeth Lyons) 

Dawn over Temple Roofs 

( Prince Dhani ) 

Thai Buddhism: its Rites and Activities 

( Prince Dhani) 

Artibus Asiae (Prince Dhani) 

R. Wening and A.F. Somm Siam, pays des merveilles 

(Prince Dhani) 113 

S. B~ra~ri and D. Yupo The Origin and Evolution of Thai 

Murals etc. (Prince Dhani) 

H6 

43 

73 

91 

93 

103 

107 

111 

112 

113

(]3ook CJ{.euiews (~ant.) 

Lichfield, Whiting, 

Browne Associates 

H.R.H. Prince 

Chula Ohakrabongse 

The Bangkok-Dhonburi City Planning 

Pro}ect (Prince Dhani) 

Lords of Life (Prince Dhani) 

Page 

117 

118 

CZ1ecent cSiamese C]Jublications 

256. Paramanu}it, H.R.H. Prince: Pathomasompodhikatha 123 

257. The Pictured Pavilion of Suan Phakliiid Palace 124 

258. Bi·rasri, S,: Oases of Thai Lacquencor1c 125 

259. Fine Arts Department: Art Treasures from the Bhumibol Dam 127 

260. Fine Arts Department: Plan and Report of the Survey 

and Excavation of Ancient Monuments in Northeastern Thailand 127 

261. P .E.N. International, Thailand Centre: Bhasa l~ Navsu 128 

262. Amatyalcul, T.: Guide to Saraburi 129 

q.>ublications of Interest in other flournals 131 

.Accessions to the £ibrary 135 

_

A 

CHEN-LI-FU 

A STATE ON THE GULF OF SIAM 

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 13TH CENTURY 

by 

(9.cc&. C@olters 

Srlwul of Ol'ierlirtl and African 8tmli1'S 

Uwiuersity of London 

The fiuna lmi yew kao contains an unexpectedly loug account 

of a small State (~alled CJ/en-li.fu Jt.. .£. 'i' which, in the 

years 1200-1205, made a determined and temporarily successful 

effort to establish official relations with the Sung dynasty. 1 It 

lay to the west of Oambodia and had access to the Gulf of Siam. 

The information contained in this account may have a bearing 

on the political situation on the uorthern shores of the Gulf at 

the beginning of the 13th century, though whether the rulers of 

Oh'en-li-fu at that time were Mon, Khmer, or Thai must remain 

unknown until further information- epigrnphic or chronicularhecomes 

available. 

The text 

"l'he 20th day of the seventh mouth of the ninth year of 

Ohia ling(= 5 August, 121G).2 

'It is unknown in what year GMn-l·i-ju was fhst founded 

as a State. It is in the south-western corner.3 Its south-eastern 

(region) adjoins Po-Bsu-lan ift N( Mi. Its neighbour in the southwest 

is 'l'eng-U-u-mei 1f')fti. JM. It administers more than GO settlements. 

Its nutul'al resources are ivory, rhinoceros horn, local 

beeswax, laku wood, 'foreign oil', course perfumes, cardamon a, aud 

ebony wood. 'l'he ruler j. lives in a palace resembling a Buddhist 

temple. All his utensils are of gold. His tents are of Chinese red 

floss silk. He weut•S white clothes aa his privilege. His en rtains 

are of white gauze interwoven with gold. When his officials come 

to court, they bow their heads and clasp their hands to salute 

him. 'l'he canopy over his curtains is 'dry' red in colour. 

Beneath it there is a madder-red one and then a striped red one 

and finally a gt•een one. When (these people) nse official 

documents they are bound together with b1aclt skin and the

2 0. W. Wolters 

characters are written in white powder. Each of the settlements 

has its administrator. The chief officials only use silver utensils 

and their tents are of flowered silk. (The people) tend to follow 

the law of the Buddha. When there is a dispute about grievances 

among them, (the parties) proceed to the Temple of the God of 

Potent Magic :i[Yh-t" and drink the water of the Bnddha in front 

of each other. He who remains at ease is considered to be telling 

the truth, while he who shows distress is considered to be lying.4 

'rhe people (of_this country) are fo11d of dark red ganze and of 

pottery. For trade dealings in clothing and food they use piN~es 

of lead. 

(The dark red gauze and pottery which they usc are commodities 

which Chinese ships bring to them for the pn r 

pose of commerce.) 

'If one wants to go (from Ohen-li-fu) to China one puts 

out to sea :#.:.$¥-from this country and reaches Po-ss':f.t-lan in five 

days. Then one reaches the K'Hn-lun sea J£ ~51f-, skirts OMm-lrt 

(Cambodia), and after several days reaches the country of Pin. 

ta-yeh Jfjt{ff~. 5 Several days later the bot·det·s of Ohan-ch'cno 

(Champa) are reached. Then one crosses the sea for ten days. In 

the south-east there is a rocl

A 

CIIEN·LI-FU 3 

Mo.lo- pa-lcan-wu-tino-'im-ss·u-li-fang-lnt'i-chih (::.::: Mo-lo-pa ?'s 

Kam1·ateng An S·r'i Fan-hui-cht'h ), 8 who hacl been established Ji. 

for twenty years, hnd sent (his) senior palace officials, Shl:h-lo-pachih 

and Mao-yen-wu-l'Lt, and others 9 as envoys to present a 

memorial. 

( 'l'he memorial was (in the form of) a gold-engraved scroll. 

rrhe ruler had written it himself in black script.) 

The tdbnte was (in the form of) two elephants and local 

products. 

(20 pieces of ivory, 50 pieces of rhinoceros horn, and 40 

strips of locrtl cloth.) 

The Oh'ing yuan p1•efectnre was instructed to provide 

hospitality in accordnnce with the protocol and to order men to 

tal{e charge of the local products and to bring them forward. 

'l'he elephants were to be }{ept in a suitably safe and convenient 

place, fed, and to await further instructions for moving them. 

(The lcang shou P'tt-te-hsin :ift .f.t Hr 10 stated that (the envoys) 

had left the shore ftf: 11 during the third month of 

that year (= between 15 Apt•il and 14 May) and on the 

22nd day of the fifth month(= 4 July, 1200) had put ont to 

sea from the estnary ifV: ~ of their country. 'rhey had 

good luck with the south wind. 'rhey sailed day and night 

and reached the Ting hai District in sixty days.12) 

'On the first day of the tenth month ( = 9 November) the 

Pl'ime Minister submitted a petition (to the emperor) in which he 

stated: 

We have now seen the gold memorial from Ohlm·li·ftt. It 

is a comic affair. It is merely a small gold-inscribed 

scroll. On (its) wooden cover something more has been 

written in a crooked style. Neither (of these texts) can 

be understood. Moreover, one of the legs of the motherof-pearl 

casket containing the memorial is broken. It is 

really quite shocking. Inside there are several chin Jf 

of skeined silk (the wol'd 'cloth' at the side of the text 

in the Sung hui yao kao was erased). ( Ohen-li-fu) is

6 

0. W. Wolters 

'The prefectut•e stated that, in accortlauee with tho Jll'C'· 

cedent of the sixth year of the Oh'ing yiian pcl'ind, 25 hospitality 

in the form of dee, flour, and wino wet•c provitled for the foroign 

officials. 

Moreover, the elephant had suffercfl nt, Hea from stnrmt-~ 

and great waves. It had been shalct?n about lllltl hatl injurctl its 

four legs. It fell into a fever, coul

predecessors, must have received from theil• overlord in Angkor. 

No doubt at Angko1· in 1200 he was still regarded as a vassal, but 

an embassy from a State which was in the sphere of influence of 

a more powerful one snggPsts a bacl,ground of special political 

circumstances. 'rhree of them in six yetws amount to a persistent 

effort to establish 1•elations with the Sung emperor, and indeed 

:Mahi(lharavarman in 1205 stated thn.t he wanted to send them 

every year. 

'rhongh the rulers' motives on these occasions were 

usually commercial, thPJ'e must sometimes have been political 

reasons behind professions of homage. 'l'he Chams, for example, 

dnl'ing the Snng period were often vassals both of the Viet and 

of the Chinese, and it is reasonable to believe that weak States 

argued that a double vassal status was a form of insurance; the 

paying of homage to the Chinese might strengthen the vassal'B 

position vis-a-vis his overlord closer at hand. 

But over and above these theoretical con~iclerations 

general backgron11cl of events at the end of the 12th century gives 

a special interest to Ohen-li-fu's diplom::tcy. 

7 

t.ho 

'l'he 13th century 

was the Thai century in the Men am valley, and Khmer authority 

may have come to an end in the Snkhothai region as early as 

1219.28 While there is no evidence that the ruler of Oh~n-li-ftt 

was a 'l'hai, or indeed that he was a Mon or a disloyal Khmer 

governor, it is possible that the weal{ening of Khmer po\ver in 

the middle Menam valley which freed Sukhothai was part of a 

general decline in Khmer powel' in all the western provinces of 

the. Angkorian empire. Already abont 1182 Jay!1varman VII, 

early in his reign, had to suppress a revolt at Malyang, perhaps 

in the south of the present province of Battambang.29 Even in 

Champa by 1200-the year of the first embassy from Oh(m.z.i-jttthe 

fruits of the Khmer military successes nearly ten years 

earlier hacl been tempora1·ily lost. Against this baclrground the 

diplomatic initiative of Olten.li-fn does not appear as an eutirely 

isolated and curious development. 

Where was Ohcn-li-ftt?

o. W. Wolters 

'l'be estuary iJ}: P and port of Ohrm-li-Ju were uncltlesti011ably 

on the Gnlf of Sia!ll, but a more precise description of the 

SLate's location is not easy. Its products were such as one wonlcl 

expect to come from that regiou,3° Nor can much be inferred 

from the statement that the people worshipped the Buddha. It 

would not be snrpl'ising if the TheravU.da Buddhism flonl'i:,;hecl 

there. Part of the recently discuvcrrrl Nakon Sawau inscription, 

eontaining a elate correspouding to 11G7, was written in Pali.31 

The chief geographical evidence for locati11g Ohlm-li-ftt, 

though it leaves much to be desired, is supplirrl by the 81tn(Jlllti 

yao kao. Chou Oh'ii-fei in 1178 did not mention it unrler that 

name.3 2 Chao .Tn-kua in 1 ~Z~~5 n11ly listed it with P'uJran = 

Pagan and other places HlJHJ!lg the dependencies of Cambodia, Chou 

'ra.Jman iu 1:~96 did not mention it. The ~','un(l ,q/tih, based ou 

the 8·nn(llnl'i yew, 11H1I'ely stated that its nnighboni'S to th(~ sonth. 

east and sonth-west wo1•ePo-ss¥t-lan and 'l'enr;-li!l-mei r('Spectively. 

Ma 'l'nan-liu also rrpi·oclncNl tho i11fnrmation contained in tile 

8'unr1 lm£ 1/(to. 33 

rl'he material in the 8U110 hni yew lciiV is lllUl'O iuforma. 

tive. It malres it clear beyond doubt that Clt'iJn-f.l:.ju had a harbour 

nsed by ocean-going ships and that it irnpol'tecl Chinese pottery. 

rl'he population liked this pottery. It is the 01lly trading ceutJ•e 

in the northcJ•n part of the Gulf of Siam known from records tn 

have het~n visiteci by Chinese ships at that time. rrhere must 

havo been others, hut it is a fair assumption that it was tho 

lmsiest. 

Again, the 8ung hni yew lcao makes it clear that Po-ss1'i-llm 

was also on the sea aud oecupied a section of the east const of 

the Gulf. 

'fhe statement in the 8-!triO shih that Po-ssl{,.lan was 

sonth-eal:!t of Cl/en.l£·fr.t may mean that their coasts ·were con. 

t.ignous. It took five sailing clays in favourable weather to reach 

tlutt coast from Ohen-t-i.ftt's port whieh could either bo by sailing 

along the coast or, more likely, by making for the open sea and 

thereby sailing more swiftly and safely. IJa Lonbere noted that 

in the southwest monsoon the currents drove ships on to the

CHEN-LH'U 9 

eastern shore; to avoid this and also to avoid the land and sea 

breezes at. this time of the year ships would probably have kept 

out to sea as they made their way towards Oochin-Ohina.34 

The most interesting detail, however, is that the headquarters 

of the ruler early in 1200 would seem to have been elsewhe>re 

than at the port. The text states that the envoys left the 'shore' 

sometime between 15 April and 14 May and left the estuary on 4, 

July. Ohrm-li-ftt was evidently more than a harbour State such 

as Pasai, for example, on the north coast of Snmatra. It would 

not be surprising if it had some depth from the sea and that a 

rivet• provided its access to the interior. 

But here two problems arise. 

What is meant by the 

term 'shore'? How far was the 'shore' from the port? It is 

convenient to consider the second problem first. 

'rhe evidence about the envoys' journey from the 'shore' 

to the port has to be interpreted with caution. It could, of course, 

mean that they were travelling with their elephants continuously 

for nearly 80 days, ot• fl'om the beginning of the 'third month' 

to the eve of their journey on 4, July, but common sense suggests 

that if it took them so long to pass through their ruler's territories 

it is surprising that little is known of so extensive n State. 

rl'he only means of attempting to reconstruct theil• journey 

seems to be by taking into account sailing conditions at that 

time of the year which are determined by the south-west monsoon, 

the importance of which was stressed in the Sung htti yao kao 

probably because the envoys, cross-examined on the occasion of 

the first mission from an unknown State, made much of the point. 

According to the Ohina Sea Pilot the south-west monsoon is established 

in the Gulf of Siam about the middle or end of June and 

iS preceded by a few weel•s of unsettled weather. In the Bangkok 

area, however, it begins to establish itself in April, though until 

June its direction is mainly south to south-west; it is more constant 

in a south-west direction in July and August.35 

But Mahi-

10 

O.W. Wolters 

dharavarman in 1205 seems to have foreseen a voyage beginuing 

011 

'the ninth day of the fourth month' which in any year would 

have been before the end of May. It would therefore seem that 

a considerably earlier start t,Ium 4 July, the beginning of the 

voyage in 1200, was practicable. 'l'he envoys that year could 

have expected to sail any time from at least as early as the end 

of May. Because it is reasonable to believe that they planned in 

1200 to get to the harbour early in the monsoon season-on so important 

a mission they would not have taken risJ,s with their 

sailing programme-it is suggested that they did not leave a 

headquarters which was a great travelling distance from the 

port.36 It is even possible that they were not more than a weclr's 

travelling away and that they spent some time at tho port ma1dng 

arrangements for their voyage and waiting for the most sui table 

wind. This interpretation of their journey is obviously not suf. 

ficient for locating the ruler's headquarters but, if ta]{ell into 

consideration with other possibilities ex.amine

. 

CHEN-LI·FU 11 

and ,Tava as the 'lowor shore'. He explained that the expression 

was a colloquial one, and it was probably current among traders.40 

It is tempting to wonder whether 'shore' had some special significance 

o.t that time and mermt the northern or southern 'hinter. 

land' behind the coast of South East Asia and therefore the 

hinterland behind a particular coast. In the absence, howeve1•, 

of ftll'ther evidence in support of this interpretation it is safer to 

reject it. One is, therefore, still faced with the problem of deciding 

whether the likely capital of the State in 1200 was on the 

coast or on a l'i ver bank. 

Once again an appeal to common sense is necessary. If 

the ruler lived on the coast, it is hardly conceivable that he 

should. not have chosen to live at his most important trading 

centre. It is much more reasonable to believe that he lived in 

the interior and on the bank of a river. 

The suspicion that Ohim-li-ftt was a fair-sized confitry 

whose territories did more than hug the coast is strengthened by 

the statement that it had mot·e than GO 'settlements', each with 

its own administrator. Nor would the title of lcamrate'!1g have 

been given to its ruler by the Khmer overlord if he had not been 

of some local importance,41 even though the Chinese called him a 

rhu _:f. or 'chief' and not a wang .:£. or 'king'. The scornful attitude 

of the Chinese officials who compared it with a chou in 

China seems to have been their reaction to the hroken memorial 

casket rather than an accurate estimate of its real size. 

The only specific information about its extent-apart from 

the fact that the ruler's headquarters were some distance from 

the port-is that its neighbours were Po-ssu-lan and 'l'eng-liu-mei 

respectively; both these States lay to its south. Of Po-ssu-lan, 

its 'south-eastern' neighbour, nothing is known, though the name 

may have survived until at least the end of the 13th centnry. 42 

Before the much later agricultural expansion in the central part 

of the east coast of the Gulf, that area may have had no great 

significance. One imagines that Po .. ssu.lan ·was a large and under·

12 O.W. Wolters 

administered tribal territory rather than a sma11 ancl importa11t 

State. 

More is known of 'Peng-lht-mei which is almost certainly 

the same State as Tan-l-ite-rnei 1t ~t Alj or Tambralit1ga and was 

associated with the rising fortunes of the farni1y of Sii.ryavarman 

1 of Anglwr at the end of the tenth century an

CIIEN·LH'll 13 

approximately to the Meklong valley and the adjacent lands 

which are traditionally connected with the events leading to the 

foundation of Ayntthaya in the middle of the 14th century, and 

the northern part of the territory of Tfimbraliliga. Oh'im-li-fu 

must have represented the first OJ' third Ol' both these areas. 

The usual identification of Ohlm-li-ftt has been with the 

town of Chanthabnn, a few miles up a river on the north-east 

coast of the Gulf. This is the result of Gerini's view in 1909.46 

He quoted Ma Tnan-lin's account of 01/en-la and stated emphatically 

that Oh?m-li-fzt, for phonological reasons, represented Can. 

danapura or Ohanthabun. Hirth and Rockhill47 and much later 

Mr. Briggs48 accepted the identification, but Professor Ooedes 

cautiously descdherl it as being on the Gulf of Siam,4 9 Pelliot 

had no occasion to be interested in it. 

Mr Briggs thought that Ma Tnan-lin's description of 

Ohen-lt'-ftt impli!'d that it was in fact separated from Tambra1inga 

by the sea,50 He argued that neither the Menam valley nor 

any part of the Malay Peninsula belonged to Cambodia at that 

time and, therefore, that the statement of Ma 'l'uan-lin that 

Ohen-li.fu was on the south-western frontier of Cambodia made 

it impossible for Tambrali11ga and Ohlm-U-ftt to have had a com. 

mon land frontier. The latter must have been further east and 

thus in the area of Gel'ini's Chanthabun. 5 1 It is not easy to 

follow this argument. Nor is it possible to describe the political 

situation in the Menam valley in so straight-forward a manner, 

The claims of Angkor to suzerainty there need not have been 

inconsistent with the de facto independence of some of its more 

distant vassals, and in fact the J( am?·ateno of Ohim-li-f'u in 1200 

was behaving as an independent ruler, Ohjnese geographical 

information of early South East Asia was probably often only 

a photograph of a political situation which was much more fluid 

than the Chinese writers over suspected. 

Whatever may have been the correct location of Ohen-liju, 

little can be said in favour of its identification with Ohanthabnn. 

The present site of ·Ohanthllb\lJl is too pear the sea to mah

O.W. Wolters 

it likely that the envoys would have taken the tl'cmble to give 

the details of their departure from the 'shore'. Nor is it eYon 

a satisfactory transliteration of Oandanapwra. Ftt pl'ohnbly 

meant-puTi,52 but. Ohen-li can hardly mean Oandana without 

stretching the transliteration beyond recognition. Hather 

could it correspond to a Thai or possibly Khmer rendering 

of Jalapw·i. Again, the Sung shilt's expression 'south-west of 

Cambodia' used to locate Ohen-li-f'u does not appear in the Sung 

hui yao lcao; it could even mean south-west of 'China' in the 

context of the latter document. Anyway it should not be regarded 

as an exact orientation in terms of Angkor. 

examplE~, 

Chao .Jn-kna, for 

said that Cambodia was 'south' of Champa; 'west' ·would 

have been more accurate in modern eyes. 

The south-west mon. 

soon was described as the 'south wind', and a corresponding 

correction of the Sttnr; 8hih's position of Ohen-li-jn in terms of 

Angkor would in fact put that State west of Angkor and fmther 

v 

away from the Chnnthabnn region. Nor does there soom to be 

any st1·ong corroborative epigraphic or arehaeological evideuee 

that in medieval times there was ever a flonl'ishing foreign traue 

centre in the Ohanthabun area. 

Finally, the east coast of the 

Gulf may have been snfficiently close to Angkor to make it 

unlikely that the Khmers lost control of it at so early u elate. 

Already by the first half of the seventh century Isi1navarman of 

07/f::n-la was responsible for a Sansln'it/IOuuer inscription at 

Ohanthabun. 53 .Po.ssu.lan which was definitely on that coast 

may have been under the control of Angkor nt the end of the 

13th century if Chon Ta.lman's Pa-ssu-li is the same plnce, and 

there is no evidence in Ram Kham haeng's inscription of 'l'hai 

occupation of any part of that coast. 

Even in the 17th century 

when Ohanthabnn was Thai, it was close to the Cambodian 

frontier,54 

Further support for the suspicion that O!lfm-Zi-fu's port 

was not on the north-eastern pat•t of the Gulf is perhaps suggested 

by the pattern of sailing directions in l\Iing times, probably 

based on information of the early 15th century. 

At that time

' 

CHEN-LJ-Fll 15 

shipping charts did not describe the east coast of the Gulf from 

Ko Kram (12o 42' N) to the Menam delta. No harbour was mentioned 

in the Chonburi region, though the Ohanthabnn river may 

have been known as the Ohan-pen J; Jt river. More significant, 

however, to reach 'l'hailand from China ships crossed the Gulf 

from Paulo Wai and sailed to the coast off Khao Samroiyot on 

the M ttlay Peninsula. 55 

No attempt will be made here to suggest the precise location 

of the port of Ohen-U-fH or indeed the original place-name 

which was transliterated as OMn-li. Suggested renderings of 

place-names from Chinese sources have a habit of living on and 

sometimes impede progress in early South East Asian studies. It 

is sufficient to record the impression left on the writer's mind by 

the geographical evidence that the port was approached by the 

envoys from the hinterland and not from somewhere else on the 

coast, that the expression 'shore' meant the bank of a river, that 

the two places were some distance apart but not necessarily more 

than about a week's travelling, and that though the eastern part 

of Ohen-li-fu was adjacent to Po-s.su-lan on the east coast of the 

Gulf its port and most of its hinterland were in the north-western 

and northern corner of the Gulf. This kind of loeat.ion would 

explain why Mahiclharavarman foresaw a voyage to China beginning 

before the end of May, why it took five days at sea to reach 

the coast of Po-.s.sil-lan, and why 'fi1mbralii1ga and not Lavo/Lop. 

buri was mentioned by the Chinese in connexion with the location 

of Ohfm-li-ftt. 

There seems to be no evidence to indicate the ethnic iden. 

tity of the population. 'l'here must have been many Mons in the 

area. In the 16th century Tome Pires, writing about Ayuttbaya, 

regarded the population of 'Siam' as similar to that of Pegu: 

'the people, and almost the language, are like those of 

Pegu , , . They are tall swarthy men, shorn like those of 

Pegn•.5 6 

'fhe ruler who sent the embassy in 1205 was called Mahidharavarman. 

No Thai ruler lmown from historical records

16 

O.W. WoltcrH 

had a name ending in this way. Yet Muhldh:u'a\•annnu'K Jlredecessor 

did not nse -vannan in hiH nam( 1 • He\ nlaimt-tl to have 

been ruling for twenty years which nntk

' 

CHEN·Ll·FU 17 

As a result of its conquest by Suryavarman I of Ligor 

early in the eleventh crntury the Angkor State bPgan to control 

extensive territories in the west, including Tambraliuga-the 

ancestt·al home of Sii1·yavarrnan-, the LavoiLopburi area which 

Suryavarman's father had conquered, and presumably the remaining 

part of the lower lvienam va1ley. The Kinner empire 

now represented Kamlmjadesa I Dvaravati I 'l'amlwaU1~tga. 'I' he 

evidence fot• this expansion is supplied by Professor CoedL·s' study 

of the Pali Chronicles of northern 'l'hailanrJ,60 the epigraphie 

evidence of his long campaign before he occupied Angkor, and 

Khmer inscriptions at Lopburi issued in the period when he was 

ruling at Angkor. To this impressive body of evidence the present 

writer has suggested that the embassy of Tamhrali1\ga in 

1001 should be added.61 

As long as the successor of Siiryavarman I ruled unchallen.gecl 

at Angkor the western provinces, probably governed by 

members of the royal family or by their own chiefs, may have 

been content with the new situation. 'l'he tone of Khmer inscriptions 

found at Lopbnl'i does not suggest a harsh rule. But, with 

a decline in the fortunes of that dynasty, the western provinces 

would have become restless. This may be the reason for the 

embassy from Tambraliiiga in 1070.6 2 For in the second half of 

the eleventh century the :Mahiclharapura dynasty, possibl~· from 

northern Camboclia,63 came to the fore, and for several decades 

there were in fact two dynasties competing for the control of the 

Angkorian empire. With the consecration of Siiryavarman II in 

1113 the family of Suryavarman I finally lost control of the 

remaining territories to which they had clung,64 and the usurping 

family were able to lay a claim not only to the provinces of 

Cambodia proper but also to the heritage of Suryavarman l's 

descendants in the northern Malay Peninsula, the lower Menam 

valley, and Lava. This is, perhaps, the explanation of the expression 

're-uniting the double ldngdom' which appeared in one 

of Siiryavarman II's first inscriptions.65 

But in the western provinces he would. have been regarded 

as an alien and the representative of Khmer powe1·. This may

18 

O.W. Wolters 

be why, perhaps before he was able to consolidate his rwsitiou 

. there, Lo-hu ft.liM = Lavo/Lopburi sent envoys to China in 1llfl.G6 

The Chinese lmew nothing of Lo.Jw, and had to malw onqnirioH 

about its location, size, and importance, If thiH was an attnmpt 

by Lavo to assert its independence, Suryavarman must hnvc 

repressed it quickly, and as long ns he ruled it hns to bo ns!lnmecl 

that the authority of Angkor was aclmowledgccl in L:\\'o, the 

lower Menam valley, and probably in the northern 1\falay 

Peninsula. 

Unfortunately, it is nnlmown when he llic\1. His la~t 

inscription was of 1145. In 1155 an emlH\Ssy wall St

... 

cm:N·LI·FU 

1111cler the title of 'prince of Lavo'.7 1 In these years and at 

least nntil 1191 one has to presume that. the Kam1·ateng of 

Cl!en.U-ft~ was an obedient vassal, 

But by 1200 something may have happened to change the 

situation, for Ohlm-li-ju's embassy that year, like that of 'l'am. 

bralh1ga in 1070 and of Lavo in 1115 ancl perhaps again in 1155, 

mnst surely he regardecl as at least a gesture of independence and 

an attempt to obtain royal recognition from the Sung empero1•. 

'l'he only explanation which offers itself is that once again in 

Anglmr there was a period of weakness, for which there is some 

evidence in the fact that several years before then the Chams 

had recoverecl their independence. 'l'he Khmer puppet, Vidsanandana, 

who had been established in Pa~1sluranga about 1191, 

defected in 1192 and beat off two Khmer expeditions in 1193 and 

119·1.72 Another consequence of the temporary wea).mess of the 

Khmers could have been a revival of the independence movement 

in tho always restless weste1·n provinces, 

It is therefore suggested that Ohen-li·fu's diplomacy. from 

1200 to 1205 should be interpreted against the background of a 

long t1·adition of disquiet in the western half of Suryavurman 

II's 'double kingdom'; it is the only available backgr01.111d against 

which an embassy from a Khmer province at that time makes 

sense. It is also consistent with the geographical evidence 

about Ohen-li-jn. In efl'ect, it was a gesture of inde-pendence. 

from part of the ancient DvaYavati land. 

The history of the Dvaravatr kingdoms cann.o.t at present 

be reeonstl•nctecl because of an absence of epigraphic evidence. 

All that is known is that the name probably exif!ted. at lea.st as 

long ago as the seventh century and that it. represented a 

sufficiently lively historical tradition to. be incorporated as 

Thawarawadi in the name of Ayutthayain the middle of the 14th. 

century ,73 The area at the north~western end of the Gnlf of 

Siam was undoubtedly very important in the early centndes of 

the Olll'istian era as a trade route between the Indian Ocean and 

southern China, As a trade route it must have continued to b19 im~ 

Hl


portant, and Professor Lnce and Dr. 'l'hun 'l'nn have rce

" CIIEN-LI-JIU 21 

weak in the west; Khmer energies were probably absorbed in 

holding down the Chams. 

Whatever were the political changes 

which took place in the nrea in the later decades of the 13th 

century, the Khmers were on the retreat. 

'l'he problem remains of establishing the age or the 'l'hai 

connexion with the lower Menam ancl of their taking over the 

traditions of Dvaravati of which this article has suggested that 

Chen-N-ftt was once to some extent the custodian.

NOTE:~ 

1. * -t- * ~f.j I henceforth refened to ns ,)' rn~ K. Fa

" CHEN·Ll-FU 23 

editor of the Snno shih in 1a4l-1.345, met•ely chose to tack a few 

sentences from it on to the end of his account of Cambodia, 

omitting most of the Sung hH·i yew material and bringing the few 

excerpts he selected into a somewhat misleading sequence. The 

. only indication in the SHYK. that C'hen-li-fzt had been a dependency 

of Cambodia is the Khmer title of its ruler in 1200 which 

was Kam?Ytieng An. 1\Ia Tuan-lin also drew on the S·ung htti yao 

in his Wen hs'ion t'ttn(] lc'ao, translated by Hervey de Saint-Denys 

in Ethnograplde des peuples et-ra.nge/'8 ala Chine, Genilve, 11, 1883, 

487-8. Ma Tnan-lin's borrowing was slightly more literal than 

Saint-Denys' tt•anslation suggests because it contained a reference 

to the Ch'ing yiian pt·efectnre which reported to the emperor the 

embassy of 1200; this was omitted by Saint-Denys; photolithographic 

edition of the Wen hsien t'nng lc'ao by the Commercial 

Press, 19ilG, which reproduces the Shih t'ung -f iii and also forms 

part of the second series of the Wan yu w()n k'n, 332, 2605. 'l'he 

additional material in· the 8HYK, obtained no doubt from the 

records of 0!/lm-li-fu's three embassies, ;justifies a re-consideration 

of this State. 

4. ''l'hey have another sort of Proof, which is performed by 

certain Pills prepared by the 'l'alapoins, and accompanied with 

imprecations. Both the parties do swallow them, and the token 

of the right cause is to he able to keep them in the stomach 

without casting them up, for they are· vomati ve.' A New Historh·al 

Relation of the K inodom of Siam, by frf. de La Lottu'm·e, ]!Jnvoy l!JrctraM·dinary 

f1·om the F·rench King to the King of Siam ·in tho years 

168"/ and 16 88, London, 1 G9il, 87. It is not suggested, of course, 

that the survival of this custom lu1s any bearing on the identity 

of the population of Ohen-li-ftt. 

5. Pelliot stated .that in Chinese texts the sea sonth of Pnlo 

Condor towards the Straits was called the 'Sea of K 'ttn-lun'; 

Notes on. Ma?'CO Polo, I, Paris, 1959, 505. Pin-ta-yeh. is l~a~- 

~urarJga, the southern province of Ohampa. J!'or other forms 

of this name see Pelliot, 'Tex.tes Ohinois sur Panduranga', 

BEFEO, III, 1903, 64:9-54. He later noted Fujita ToyohachFs

24 

O.W. Wolters 

discovery of the Sunt! lnti yao verHi

13. The Prime Minister. His biography is contained in Sung 

sMh, a94. 

14. m ~ 'l'he region in question was certainly in the south~ 

western part of India; Chao Jn•kua made this clear. Hirth and 

Rockhill thought that Ncm-pi, with its va1·iant forms, meant the 

'Nairs' of l\Ialnbar, but Pelliot considered that it referred to the 

'Namburi Brahmans of Malabar'; 'l"ouno pao, XXXII, 1936, 221; 

Notes on !Jia.rco Polo, 1, 1959, 596, 

15. -¥± 11.t Translated by Professor des Rotonrs in respect of 

the 'l"ang institution as 'Lacour des lettres'. T1·m·tc des fvnclionnai?'es 

et trait~! de l' armee . .. ' 194 7' 1' 17. 

16. )~ ~·1/)1) iJi. fi) 'The Imperial Commissioner's Office for the 

control and organisation of the coastal areas'. Jung-pang Lo, 

'China as a sea power', Far Eastc1·n Qual'lerly, XIV, 4, 1955, 491. 

17. '!'he Department of the Affairs of State. 

18. 'l'he characters in this name were 7t v,m]!!:. # F'i::. ~¥.1! 31 1fi ~If 

'l'he writer originally reeonstructed the name as Sri Mahen


seems to mean that he ·was always thinking of the route to China 

via Champa. See note 21 below which strengthens the view 

that the Cham port was meant. 

20. The charactei·s were: *_gmq.:.r.¢*-'li· 

21. This can only mean the Cham port known to the Chinese 

as Hsin chou. At this time it was nnder the control of the 

Khmers. It provided landfall for ships from China. 

22. According to Chao Jn-kna, the best species of ivory carne 

from the A rt\bS and the next best from Cambodia and Champa. 

A large Arab tusk could weigh from 50 to 100 chin, bnt the 

Cambodian and Cham tusks only weighed from 10 to 20 or :30 

chin. Evidently the ruler of Oh~n-li-fu had done his best to 

supply good specimens. 

23. In other words, when the 'north' wind was blowiug. 

24. This is one of the difficult passages in this difficult memorial. 

It is curious that a specific sailing date for the following year 

should have been foreseen, but this is what the text seems to 

mean. 

25. This was when Ohen-li-fu sent its first mission to China. 

26. The last certain embassy from Angkor had been in 1129, 

from Sl'ivijaya in 1178, and from Clw-p'o '= 'Java' in 1109. 

Honours were, however, conferred on the Olw-p'o ruler until1170. 

The Srivijayan envoys in 1178 were told that they need no 

longer come to court. 'I' he Ohen-li-fu envoys in 1205 were similarly 

treated. 

27. Ch'ing yiian prefecture was one of the areas where copper 

cash was leaving the country, according to a ministerial complaint 

in 1217. SHY!(, ifl] iJ., 2, 142 a-b. 

28. G. Coedes, 'L' amH~e clu liuvre, 1219 A.D.,' India ant-il]'tta, 

1947, 83-8. 

2.9. L. J!'inot 'Notes d'upigraphie,' JJ.I!JJ.i'EO, IV, 1904-, 939-40, ~71; 

, 

G. Coedes, 'Etudes Cambodgiennes: XXVIII. Quelques suggestions 

sur I a methode a sui vre pour interpreter Ies bas-reliefs de Bantay

,.. 

C!IEN-Ll-FU 27 

Chmar et de la galerie exterieure de Bayon,' BEFEO, XXXII, 

1933, 80, note. 

HO. Ma Huan noted that Hsien-lo = Ayntthaya sent laka wood 

as tribute to China. He also noted that white oardamons came 

f1•om there. 'l'he ruler of Olt~n-li-ft~ presumably imagined 

that ivory and rhinoceros horn were the most acceptable form of 

tribute. In T'ang times there was a famous rhinoceros known as 

the To-ho-lo ~!t! t"l.l rhinoceros; New :rang History, Ssu pu ts'ung 

k'an edition, 222 '"f, 4a. To-ho-lo appears in texts referring to the 

seventh century and occupied the area at the head of the Malay 

Peninsula and the adjacent regions. It is discussed on page 12. 

above. 

3l. On this inscription see Kachorn Sukhabanij, ''l'he 'l'hai 

beach-head States in the 11th-12th centuries', ''l'he Silapalcon 

JOU1'nal, 1, 3-4, 1957, and G. Coedes, 'Donnees epigraphiques sur 

l'histoire de l'Indochine centrale', Jowrnal Asiatiqite, CCXLVI, 

2, 1958, 132-9. Professor Coedt'ls has also suggested that the 1230 

inscription of Ligor, though in Sanskrit, showed a strong Pali 

influence; Bijdragen, LXXXIII, 1927,471. Professor Paranavitana 

has recently described some links between Ceylon and 'l'O.mbralinga 

( Tamuarattha) Buddhists in the 12th and 13th centuries; 'Ceylon 

and Malaysia in medieval times', Jou1·nal of the Ceylon Branch of 

the Royal Asiatic Society, VII, I, 1960. 

32. He referred to Ohan-U.p'o 6 ]~[)~ city which Gerini and 

Hirth and Rockhill took to be the same as Oh'lm-li-f.u; Ling wai 

tai ta, Pi chi hsi shon ta Jman collection, Chin pu shu chli, Shanghai, 

undated, 10, 8; Hirth and Rockhill, Ohau Ju-kua ... , 56. It 

was said to be in the kingdom of Ohen-la and was on the sea. 

Buddha was born there. 

33. See note ( 2) above. 

34, A New Historical Relation ... , 170. 

35, Ohind Sea Pilot, III, second edition, 1923, 18, 160. 

A


BG. 

If their headquarters were inland aJHl ou a navigable rivet• 

presumably their journey to the sea would have been muc.h qnicl,er 

than the pace of the elephants travelling on lund. 

37. 'fhe voyage in 1200 took GO clays. In 992 envoys from Java 

also a:rrived off the same coast in China after nO days at sea. 

Sung shih, Ssu pu ts\wg lc'an edition, 489, 17a. 'l'ho owner of 

this ship seems to have been a Chinese merchant trading with 

Java. In. 1~97 

Chou Ta-lc\lan left Kompon Chnan in the interior 

of Cambo

~ 

Clll~N·LI·Fll 29 

but not one to 1'rm-mm:-lin; (ii) one of these references was to 

the embassy of 1001 described in the Sung shih reference to 

'Tan-mei-lin' (iii) a l'efereucc in the Y·u hai to the 7.'an-lit~·mei 

embassy of 1001; ( iv) the probability that Tan-liu-mei was 

the same State as Teng.Uu-mei 1t?ftf.IJ§j mentioned in later Sung 

sources and occupying npproximrtte1y the same region west of 

Cambodia. The equivalence of Tan-lht.mei and Chao Jn-lma's 

Teng.Utt-mei was inferred in the 18th century catalogue of the 

Imperial Library and noted by E.J. Eitel, The China Review, XVIII, 

5, 1889-90, 319. The catalogue ascribed 'l'an-Uu,.rnei to the Sttng 

shih. Finally, it may also be noted that the VVtt pei chih sailing 

directions stated that the east coast of the isthmus of the Malay 

Peninsula 'produced sapan woou'; J.V. Mills, 'Malaya in the 

Wu-pei-chih charts', ,Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal 

Asiatic Society, XV, III, 1937, 39. A great quantity of sapan 

wood had been sent by Tan-li'u,.mei during its embassy in 1001. 

In view of all this evidence it is submitted that it would be 

dangerous to use the isolated reference to Tan-mm:-l·itt as a basis 

for historical reconstruction as long as there is a doubt about 

the correct rendering of the name. Since the present writer 

wrote on Tambralil1ga Dr Paul Wheatley, in a thesis which is 

being published on the historical geography of the Malay Peninsula 

before 1500 A.D., has suggested that Kalah, mentioned in 

Arab records as n dependency of the Maharaja, was in the 

Mergui a1·ea. Before accepting this view one has to talie into 

account the Dhan1mttrfi.jalm inscription of 1198 A.D. which indicates 

that the Met•gui area was nuder the control of the Pagan 

ruler; G.H. Lucc, 'The early 8yam in Burma's Histo1·y. A supplement', 

.Tmtrna.l of the S'iam Societu, XLVII, I, 1959, 92, note 

360. The history of the northem Mahy Peninsula is exceedingly 

confu1:1ing. Perhaps political authority tbere was divided on an 

east and west coast basis. with the east coast normally under 

'rambt•alinga, once under Srivijaya, and occasionally under Khmer 

suzerainty after abont 1000 and the west coast nuder Sumatran 

and Burman rnlers. Tome Pires noted that the west a1Hl east 

coasts were under different viceroys; to that extent distinct 

administrative and thel'efore historical traditions may be 

impliecl,

O.W. Wolters 

44. Paul Pelliot, 'Deux itinet·aires .. .', BEFRO, IV, 190·1, 25:1, 

and note 5; G. Coedos, Rccneit de.~ inscr-ipt•ions du Siam, 1, 192,1, 

1. The location of To-lw-lo is convincingly described in the Old 

'J"ang HistoJ•y, Ss~ pu pei yao edition, 197, 3a, and in the Nt!IO 

T'ang H·iBfOTy, 222 r. 4a. The former text also stated that WC'St 

of 'Water Ohen-la' was 1'o-lo-po-ti ~11 ;!fU.'*· obviously the place 

mC'ntioned by the Chinese pilgrims in the seventh century; 197, 

2b. 'l'o-llo-lo was undoubtedly in the Dvaravati country and can 

hardly have been other than a transcription of that name. 

45. Petchaburi unde1• the name of SJ'?, JayavajJ•rtpur~ may 

have been mentioned in the Prah Khan inscription of 1191, but 

there is no evidence that any city cort·esponding to Ligor was 

mentioned in that inscription. 

46. Researches on Ptolnmy's Georrmphy ... , 190H, not(l on 

page 524. 

4 7. Ohau Jou-kt~a ... , 56. 

48. "l'he Khmer Empire and the Malay Peninsula', Few 

Easte1·n Q1tarte?'Zy, 9, 3, 1950, 283. 

49, J,es flats hind01.tiSC8 , , , 1 1948, 304, 

50. .F'EQ, 9, 3, 1950, 289, note 145. 

51. Ibid, 283. 

52. Chao Jn.kna mentioned a T'm~-f

A 

CIIEN-LH'U 31 

might in the time of Ham Khamhaeng have still formed part of 

the Khmer empire; 'Siamese History prior to the founding of 

Ayuddhya', Jmtrnal of the Siam Society, XIII, 2, 1919, 45. It 

should be remembered in fairness to those who favoured Ohanthabnn 

as the site of Ohen-l·i-fu that they were unable to know 

that this State was au important trading centre which sent three 

embassies to Ohina, thongh Saint-Denys' translation of Ma Tuanlin 

indicated that Ohlm-li-f'lt sent an embassy in 1200, 

55, :For this information the writer is endebted to Mr. J.V. Mills 

who is at preseut completing a study of Ma Hnan in which certain 

Ming sailing directions will be considered. Mr. Mills talws the 

view that the sailing directions in question indicate a voyage 

along the coast from IOwo Samroiyot to the Meklong river and 

that at this time Ohinesc ships a void eel the eastern shore of the 

Gulf. 

5G. 'l'he Hnma 01•iental, Haldnyt Society, 1944, lOi.L Gaspar da 

Oruz referred to the country of 8iooB .ll1aos; O.R. Boxer, South 

Chine~ in the Sixteenth Century, Haldnyt Society, 195a, 75-G. La 

Loubl'1re wrote of the mixing of Thai blood with that of the 

'Pegnins'. 

57. Other dependent rulers of the period with the title of 

Kamrc~teng ware the ruler mentioned in the Nakon Sawan inscription, 

containing a date con·esponding to 1167, the ruler of 

SukhothHi in the first half of the lHth centmy, and the ruler of 

Tambralii1ga in 1230. 

58. Dr. Quaritch Wales, writing on Brahmanical manuscripts 

in the possession of the National Library at Bangkok, noted 

Barnett's view that the script was Pa!f~yan and could be ascribed 

to a period not later than the middle of the 13th century; Siamese 

Stato Ceremonies: the·1:1' History ctnd Ftmction, 1931, 55-6. 

59 . . SHYK, ~~·, 44, 6b; SHYK, ~~ 4, 82a. According to the 

111iny shih, Ssli pu ts'ung k'an edition, 324, lSb, in 1497 on the 

occasion of a Thai embassy to Ohi.na the Ssu i lcuan 1!!1 ~fl{ had 

to obtain from Kuangtung the services of one who understood the


Thai language and script. 

On the 8s-t'i i lcttctn and on Chinese 

facilities for diplomatic communications in South East Asian 

languages see Paul Polliot, La !Joja et le Sayyid IJusain de l'Hisloi?·e 

des Ming, Leiden, 1948, 207.272. 

(JO. The evidence for the incorporation of the western tert•itories 

in the Angkorian empire is summarised in "l'arnbralinga', Bulletin 

of the School of Orimdal and African Studies, XXI, 3, 1958, 

591-97. Recently Professor Coecles has noted that before Jayavarman 

VII's time Khmer occupation is not proved for certain 

beyond Lopbnri; Jow·nal AsiaUuue, CCXLVI, 2 1958, 127. 

61. BSOAS, XXI, il, 1958, 595-7. 

62. Ibid, 598. 

63. G. Ooedes, 'Etudes camboclgienues XXIV: Nouvelles donuees 

chronologiques et genealogiqnes sur 1a dynastie de MahTdharapura', 

BEJi'I!JO, XXIX, 1930, 297-330. 

64. On the problem of Nripatlndravarman, thought to be a descendant 

of Suryavarruan I, see G. Coedes, Les 'etats ..• , 1948, 259, 

note 4, The authority of this prince in Cambodia must have 

been very slight. 

65. 'l'he expression appeared on a Vat Phu inscription and was 

discussed by Professor Ooedes in BEFEO, XXIX, 1929, 303-4. 

There was also a reference to the 'two masters' of the kingdom 

contained in the Ban That inscription; BEFEO, XII, 2, 1912, 27. 

In medieval South East Asia there must have been many such 

artificial political units held together in the face of ancient 

historical traditions. Early Srivijaya was described in the New 

1''ang Histo1·y as a 'double kingdom', and other examples which 

come to mind are Pagan/:iY!onland, northern Champa/Pii:r:t

A 

CHEN-LJ.FU 33 

li7. 8HYK, ~ ~. 7, 47a. Y·ii lwi, Chiang Ning t'ao knd t'ing, 

17i3l:\, 15!, 33b. 

liS. L. J


•~ ", It Fujita Toyohachi accepted both renderings of the name 

;(!$- I -'f", 

and identified them with Sttvarr}apuri or Snphan; Hsiieh t'ang 

ts'ung l~:'o ec1ition. 5Gb, Rockhill seems to have omitted this 

notice in his translations from Wang Ta-yiian, 'Notes on the 

rela ti.ons and trade of Ohin a .. .', 1"o1,tn(J pao, XVI. 1915. 

77. Lavo sent embassies to China from 1289 to 1299, but cities 

in the U' Thong area were mentioned among the territories of 

Ram Khamhaeng. ' Presumably the union of these two areas took 

place in the first half of the 14th century when Sukhothai was 

becoming weaker. Could it have been the U' 'l'hong State which 

' 

supp1iec1 the 'Dva1•avati' part of the name of the city of Ayutthaya? 

78. The 1•uler of Ohlm-li-fn who sent the embassy in 1200 hegan 

his reign in 1180. According to a Thai trarlition recorded by 

La LonMre a Thai prince was living at Petchaburi dnring the 

period covered by this reign; A New IIislo'!'t'cal Hclalion .. . , 8 

'l'he coincidence in dates is interesting. 

79. The vivid expression ' beach-head' wa::; coined by Mr. Kachorn 

Snkhabanij in his article entitled ''l'he Thai beach-head 

States in the 11th-12th centuries', The Silapalcon .Tonrnal 1, B-4, 

1957. 

Postscript 

After this article had gone to press Professor Coedes 

brought to my notice an article written in Chinese by Mr. Fang 

Kuo-yu entitled 'Notes on Ohen-li-fn-a Tributary State to China 

during the Snng Dynasty', JoHrnal of the So't,tth Seas Society, IV, 2, 

December 1947, 9-11. It is an interesting study and must be added 

to the bibliography on the subject. Mr. Fang I'eproduced the text 

of the Snna hui yao lcao and analysed its geographical information. 

He did not consider to what extent it had a hinterland 

but his impression of its general location was the same as mine. 

He concluded that it was north of Ligor on the Malay Peninsula, 

and he noted that Georges Maspero had suggested that it should 

be identified with PetchabLui CEtttdes asiatiques, Paris, 1925, II,

A 

CI\EN·LT·FU 

104-5). He also agreed with me that Hs£·11 chou, mentioned in 

the memorial of J;W.S, should be understood to refer to the Cham 

port of that name. On the other hand, he thought that Nan-pi, 

the country of the person who prepared a copy of the memorial 

nf 1200, was a mistal{e for Olwn- rpi h Jjt, often thought to be 

Jamhi on tho snnth-castern coast of Rnrnatra. I am not convinced 

of this. 

He ba1l no occasion to discuss the political significance of 

the Ol!rm.li-jtt emhnssies but he mentioned an additional source 

of information in the K·unrt lc'uei ohi :~Jt ~ ~of Lou Yo {.t; 1111.1" 

of the southern Sung dynasty which had bee11 noted by Kuwahara 

in his study of P'n Shon-kl\ng in the il1ernoiTs of tlle 'l.'oyo Bunlco, 

7, 1935, 96-7. A wealthy Olt'en.U-fu merchant died in Ming chou 

in 1lG5. The governor, Chao Po-lmei, insisted that his corpse 

and property should be sent back to his own country, an act of 

generosity which made a groat impression. Tho proceeds were 

used to build three Buddhist temples in honour of the merciful 

governor, and the 'leader of the barbarians' gave thanks. But 

the text does not prove that there were any official embassies 

before 1200, and it is safe to regard as au thol'i tati ve the information 

in the 8·ung hui ycto lcao on the subject of embassies. rr he 

additional evidence, however, strengthens one's impression of the 

commercial importance of Ohen-li-fn and gives the place-name a 

somewhat longer life. Nevertheless, 1165 still falls within the 

distn rbed period between the end of the reign of Siiryavarrnan 

II and the time when ,Jayavarman VII restored the authority of 

the Khmer empire. 

3G

FERTILITY RITES ·IN THAILAND 

by 

ljJhya .Anuman Cfl.ajadh.on 

'l'opographical1y, Thailand is divided into four main 

areas: the Northern, the North-eastern, the Central and the 

Southern. The Central Area is apt1y called by the 'l'hai, in 

their idiom, "the store-house of rice and water". It is a com. 

paratively vast and flat alluvial plain drained by five major 

rivers. Chief among them is the river Chao Phya, miscalled by 

foreigners the Menam which on1y means ''a river". The lower 

port.ion of this vast plain is tidal and intersected by numerous 

cana.1s. 'l'he main occupation of the people living in this area 

is a wet rice culture, which depends on regular rainfall during 

the sonth-west monsoon. The rural population attach a great 

importance to this periodical natural phenomenon for they rely 

upon their rice crop as their major source of sustenance. Any 

faihtt•e of rainfall or rainfrd1s coming not at the expected time 

spells dearth and hardship to them. Lil{e t.he rural population 

in other lands the 'l'hai peasants have recourse to magic to ensure 

for themselves an abundance of rain dnl'ing the coming rainy 

season. 

'l'he hottest month of the year in 'l'hai1and is April. In 

mid April, jnst before the regular rain monsoon breaks, the Thai 

traditional New Year Feast called Songlua.n comes. Such a feast 

is also observed by the people in Burma, Cambodia and the Lao 

Kingdom. 'fhe predominant thing a bon t the feast as witnessed by 

foreigners is the water throwing by the people as their chief 

form of amusement. Shway Yee (Sir George Scott.) has dealt at 

some length with the water throwing during Songln"an in Burma 

in hia book '''l'he Burman, his life and notions". In Thailand 

the water throwing is also observed everywhere throughout the 

country, with the exception of the Southern Area of Thailand 

in the Malay Peninsula, Hel'e the clirnat.ic conditions relating

38 Phya Anuman Rajadhon 

to rainfall do not re1atiYe1y coincide with tho other arcafl. Insteail 

of a periocl of rai11fall ronghly from May to October, the Southern 

Area has it from August to January, and rarely is there a scarcity 

of rain as compared to other parts of the country. 

In tho Southern Area thel'C is no So11gkra11 as obscrve(l in 

the real sense of the word, there is no, therefore, water throwing 

festival. Factually we may assume that the water throwing 

during the Songkrau as observeJ. in other parts of the country 

might have a meaning in olden

FEUT!LITY RITES IN 'l'l!AILANIJ 39 

"Hail! Nang Meo (=female cat), give ns rain, give us 

nam mon (=consecrated water) to pour on the Nang Mea's head. 

Give us cowry shells (=token money) give us rice, and 

give us a wage for carrying the cat (on shoulders with a long 

pole). 

'W 1~ llJJ WCJ I'J 

~ t.' 

'll'CJ'W 1lJ1Hl 

!\ " 

'11 '1l i 1J ll 'lJ '!l'lJ 11 

'lHl¥!\'ll'Cl ~H 

~\?l11~1Ul~llll'l 

'll'CJ fll'ilN ' " 111lJ\! N lllJ1lJ1 

'I'hen follows another similar sung or songs but with different 

wordings which have a hint of sex. For academic lJUrposetl, 

the wording in one of the songs is gi.ven hm·ewith. 

"The rain falls in fom· copious showers, 

A thunder bolt strikes a nun (a character to be found in 

many Thai droll stories and folk-tales). 

Strip off her clothes and see the 1JUdenda, 

'l'he rain pom·s down heavily, ponrs down heavily". 

2/ 1 -1 

1"1 1N11.J 1U'U 

~hl~!VI'El~~J1 

IVI~~lJ1 

The inmates of the bouse where the procession stops will 

come out and drench the cat with wnte1·, rmd give a small sum 

of money. This process is repeated from house to house. 'l'he 

money collected from each house is utilized by the young men in 

the procession to bny food alld spirits for their own entertainment 

after the end of the parade. 

Of all domestic animals the eat is a hater of water and 

highly antagonistic to such treatment. Perhaps the cat is a 

personification of dryness. Hence it may be considered as an 

inducement, by the effect, of sympathetic magic, to bring on a 

wet day if a cat is wetted thoroughly. Why is a female cat 

used instead of a male one? Perhaps a female cat is also a symbol 

of fet·tility and abundance, and the use of an obscene word or 

words is to induce nature to play her part by pouring down 

the rain. To a primitive mind fertility requires two partners

Phya Anuman Rajadhon 

of dii[erent t;exes to complete the process. Mother Earth is 

always deemed as a Goddess of Fertility. As such she needs 

a male partner. 'rhat partner is the Sky God. The use of 

obscene words or other obscene objects may be meant as a 

reminder and indncermnt to the Sky God to play his role by 

pouring down the rain, )1is semen pPrh aps, to Mother Earth, 

who receives it in her womb, the eftrth, and in an appropriate 

time, growth springs. 

'fhere is a device for inducing the rain to pour down 

which is prevalent among the peasants of Central 'rhailand. It 

is called ''Pan Mek" in Thai which means "shaping a clond ". 

It is a figure made with mnd-cby in the image of a man and a 

woman united in an embrace-like sitting or lying posture. In 

certain localitic~s the former posttll'e i~ predominant and in others 

it is the reverse. Walking during a hot day cludng a drought 

along a field's path or on a road nem• ·a rice field, one sometimes 

comes across such clay figures lying near the side of the path 

or road. 'l'hey are of varying sizes from a small one the size of 

a hand span to a relatively bigger one. They are mostly made 

by boys and yonng men of the village eit.her with the implicit 

consent or the encouragement of the elders. My American 

friend, an antln•opologist, once showed me a photograph, which 

he had taken, of such a figure in life-size, carved out of mudclay 

in the manner of a high relief. 'l'he photograph was taken 

some four years ago in a rice field not far from Bangkok. Such 

figures are 'Nell-known, perhaps, throughout the Central Area 

of Thailand. The fignr~ is sometimes found together on the 

stretcher with the cat in the procession as previously described. 

During the process of shaping such figures there is a 

magical formula in the form of "mon" ( = 'mantra' in Sanskrit 

meaning a spell or a charm). There are in this country a large 

number of '' mon" which are put to many uses ranging from the 

cure of certain ailments, such as eye-sore, the sting of the spine 

of a ca.t-fish, or the p1a.nting of certain fruit trees, etc., to that 

of harming one's enemy by the use of black magic. "Mon 's"

F!mTILJTY RITES IN THAILAND 

wordings are usually in the 'J'hai language, and most of them 

contain obscene words relating to sex. Sometimes Pali or Sanskrit 

wo1·ds in the form of phrases and 'gatha' or stanzas are to be 

fonncl interpersed here and there within the "mon ''text.. Usually 

tho "mon" hrgins with the word" Om", the sacred syllable of 

the Hindus, and ends freq.nently with the words "Svaha Svaht ", 

and in rare cases with the words" phut ph at" or other Pali and 

Sanskrit sacred words. Evidently, such words betray an Indian 

origin, particularly the esoteric doctrine c,f Mantrayana Sect of 

later Buddhism to be found mostly in Euste1·n India, Tibet and 

the neighbouring countries. 

Here is the "mon" text relating to "the flhaping of a 

cloud" in Eng 1ish tt·ansla tion. 

"Shape a cloud and recite mystically the spell. Tal\e a 

cloth to screen human beings. Shape the JYUJ.enda, then the 

rain will pour down heavily, pol1l' down heavily". 

It is to be noted that the above "mon" has neither the 

wo1·d "Om" at the beginning nor the ending words "Sv§.ha 

Svii.ht" as afore-mentioned. It is to be presumed, therefor€', 

that it is not taln.•n seriously by the reciter, but is more in a 

crude or humorous vein. 'l'he "!Ylon" are usually composed in 

measured syllables and in most casrs in a l'hyruing pattern to 

facilitate memorizing. In relieving certain pains and ailments 

the reciter of the '' mon" is to intone it in a loud voice, presumably 

within the hearing of the patient. Perhaps if the patient 

hears the "mon" with words one never expected to hear, he Ol' 

she will be tickled by the joke, thus relieving the pain, at least 

temporarily. 

Allied to the figtu·e "shaping a cloud" is the figure called 

"In", It, too, is a figure of a man and a woman in an embracelike 

posture. Its sizes range from a big one, the size of a small 

fountain pen abont one and half inches in length, to the smallest 

one, so far as I have seen, about the size of a small bel'l·y. It 

is made either of metal alloy, ivory or hard wood. Some of the 

Thai people of both sexes carry an "In" with them. Whoevel'

42 Phya Anum an Rajadhon 

has an "In" with him, so people say, will increase his or her 

wealth and prosperity. As" In" figures are to be found fre

.. 

SIAM AND SIR JAMES BROOKE 

by 

9\ficholas 79arling 

UniversUy of Queensland 

B1·isl1ane, A1tstralia 

"Sir James thoroughly understood that Eastern princes 

and chiefs at·e at first only influenced by fear; the fear 

of the consequences which might follow the neglect of 

the counsels of the protecting State ... " 

/)''ir r;'penser St. Joltn. 

The revolutionary impact of economic nncl social ch::mge 

in Southeast Asia in the nineteenth centmy was intensified by 

tho simnlt.aneous remodelling of its political map. 1'he frontiel'S 

of Sium were indeed moclitieu, and it.s old-fashioned imperial 

chims witlely displaced, but its economic and social history wal:! 

pl'ofnnndly affected by the fact that, alone ttmong South-east 

Asian powers, this kingrlom rettcined its political independenee. 

The explann.tion o:E this lies, on the one hand, in the attitude of 

the Siamese ruling-groups, nnd, on the other hand, in the policies 

of Great Britain, the predominant po\ver in the area, and a survey 

of Anglo-Siamese relations is essential to an understanding of 

modem Siam. In this survey, the mission to 13anglw1{ of Sir 

James Brool\e should hold a crucial place, since its failure produced 

a crisis in these relations, the prompt resolution of which 

re-establislwd them on a new basis and largely determined their 

fntnre course. 

1'he conquering advance of the East India Company in 

India hom the late eightel'lDth centnry onwards aroused concern 

among the Siamese, who feared lest the ambitious Bl'itish extended 

their activities to the lndo.Ohincse peninsula. This was not, 

however, the Company's policy. There was a general disposition 

against an expansive policy i.n these regions, and, more particnlarly, 

the Company wished to avoid conflict with a country on 

the confines of China, a tributary of the Emperor who permitted

Nicholas Tarling 

them to cat·ry on their pt•ofitaole monopoly tracle in tea at Canton. 

The apprehensions of the Siamese tended to add to the possibili. 

ties of conflict, for they provided an argument against the 

unrestricted admission of British commerce additional to the 

tradition of trade monopolies on the part of King and Court, and 

such a policy in fact risked provoking the British. 'l'here was 

another potential source of dispute in Siamese claims over tho 

northern states of the Malay Peninsula. Penang had been ceded 

to the Company in 1786 by the Sultan of Kedah, a vassal of tbe 

Siamese, and the English authorities remained afraid that it 

would involve them in a conflict with his suzerains. 1 In 1R18 

Kedah invaded Perak at the instigation of the Siamese, who in 

turn invaded Kedah itself in 1821. Penang merchants and officials 

believed that Siamese hegemony wonlrl destroy their commerce 

and influence on the Peninsula, and the Gove1·nor was urged to 

drive the invaders from Kedah. Bnt, he asked, "wonlrl the Siamese 

let us stop there; and are we disposed to fnrnish the mot·e powet·· 

fnl nations in out· neighbour hood, the J3urmnns, Ch incse, and 

Cochin-Chinese, with additional grounds for distr•nsting onr 

ft•iendship and accusing us of an ambitions and aggrandizing 

spirit?" The Supreme Government in Ca.lcntta considered that 

a war with Siam would be ''an evil of very serious magnitncle."2 

An attempt to deal with the problems by conciliatory 

negotiation had proved a failure. ,John Crawfnt·cl had been se11t 

in 1821-1822 on a mission to two of tho conntril'S the Governor 

mentioned, namely Siam and Cochin.Ohina, i.e. Vietnam. He 

was quite unsnccessful,3 and at Bangkok it was thought that he 

1. Minute by Lord Hastings, 25th. October 1818. Bengal Secret 

Correspondence 307 (2nd. January 1819), India Office Library. 

2. Minute by Governor Phillips, 17th. September 1823. Straits 

Settlements Factory Records 91 (2nd. October 1823), India Office Library; 

Board's Collections 22627, p. 123, India Office Library. Governor-General 

in Council to Phillips, 17th. January 1824. S.S.F.R. 94 (15th. April1824); 

B.C. 22627, p. 177. 

3. For accounts of the mission, see G. Finlayson, The Mission to 

Siam, and Hue the capital ofCochin China ..., London. 1826, and J. Crawfurd, 

Joumal of an Embassy from the Govemor-General of' India to the Courts of Siam and 

Cochin China, London, 1830, 

'

STAi\1 AND STH .JAMES BROOKE 45 

"had come to view the Empire of Siam, previous to the English 

fitting out an Expedition with ships of wur to come and conquer 

and seize on the Empire ... " 4 'I' he Supreme Govenuuent became 

doubtful ahont sending further missions, lest an outrage were 

committed that would necessitate a punitive war. The only possible 

policy seemed to he one of great caution that might abate 

Siamese distrust, and indnce the Bangkok Government pe1:haps to 

treat foreign commerce more liberally at home and in its tributary 

territories. 

In 1824, however, the Supreme Government decla1•ed war 

on the "Bnrmans'', and it subsequently cleciderl to send Captain 

Henry Burney on a friendly mission to Bangkok while thE'se 

hostilities were going on. 

1t observed that 

"all extension of onr tel'l'it01·ial possessions and political 

relations on the side of the Indo-Chinese nations is, with 

reference to the peculiar character of those states, to 

their decided jealousy of OlH power ltnd ambition, and to 

thei1· pJ•nximity to China, earnestly to be deprecat8d and 

declined as far as the course of events and the force of 

circumstances will permit. In the case of Siam, an actual 

feudatory of the Chinese Empire, it should be especially 

our policy to avoid contiguity of dominion or intricacy of 

relations with that state, and the conse

NirholaR Tarling 

perhaps hnpressed by the defeat of the Bnrmesr, assented to n 

t.reaty in which they sacrificed some of their limitati011S npon 

British commerce. 'rhe chief provisions were that Dritish 

merchants were to "bny and sell withont the intervention of 

other persons", i.e. monopolists; that. residence might be granted; 

that the importation of opinm and the exportation of rice were 

prohibited; and that a duty was to be levied by measurement of 

the vessels at tho rate of 1,700 ticals for each Siamese fathon1. 

Bnrney had, on the other hand, to concede Siamese claims 

in Kedah nndet· article 13, an([ under articles 12 and 1.4 to compromise 

on those in Perak, Kehmtun, and 'l'renggl\1111.6 '.l'he Penang 

authorities were disappointed, ~twl sought to renH.>cly tho situation 

by direct intervention in Perak. :For this they were reproved 

by Lord Amherst, the GovcrnoJ•.GoJJeral. 'J'boy must not exaggerate, 

he said, the menace iuvolved in the proximity of the 

Siamese to their settlement. 

"In point of fact., we have ... far ruoro ranson to apprehend 

inconvenience from tbe extreme drea

SlAM AND SlR ,JAMES BHOOKE 

The Supreme Oovel'l\mcnt thus hoped that the ]3tll'ney treaty woulrl 

provo the basis of increasiugly friendly relations with Siam, and 

thus of inc1·easingly liberal commercial policies in that country. 

In fact, however, the Siamese attitude did not become more 

liberal, and, indeed, a new Hystem of fanning the taxes in ldn

Nicholas Tarling 

Itept·esentations had been received from commercial 

bodies in England, and from the Chamber of Colllmerce at Singapore, 

pressing for measures to place British commerce in Siam 

and Vietnam on a better footing. 'l'he Burney treaty was declared 

to be inadequate, and, in any case, infringed, and, though the 

Government was doubtful about the latter allegation, it was clear 

that "great impedime11ts" were "thrown in the way of British 

Trade with Siam." Lord Palmerston thus authorized Sir James 

Brooke to visit Bangkok if he thought that he" might be able to 

make some a nangemen ts that would effect an improvement in 

the British Commercial Relations with that Conntt•y," and he 

might also vi::;it Oochin-Cb.iua. The commet•cial stipulations, it 

was suggested, might bear some relation to those made with other 

"imperfectly civilized States," such as China and Turkey. 'l'he 

other stipulations should pl'ovide for ''the unrestricted l'ight" 

on the part of resident British stibjec:ts to exercise Christian 

worship, and for" the exclusive jurisrUction of Bl'itish authol'ities 

over British sHbjects," as provided for in the Brunei treaty. 

"In condncting these Negotiations you must be very 

careful not to get involved in any dispute ot• hostile proceedings 

which would render our position in Siam or in 

Cochin-Ohina worse than it now is, or which might compel 

Her Majesty's Government to have reconrse to forcible 

measures in order to obtain redress. It is very important 

that if your efforts should not succeed, they should at 

least leave things as they are, and should not expose us 

to tb e alternative of submitting to fresh affront, or of 

undertaking an expensive operation to punish insult,,,, "10 

The Foreign Office did not provide Brooke with a letter 

from Queen Victoria to the King of Siam, and at Singapore it was 

thought that this would prove "a serious obstacle in the way of 

success". Sir James, however, thought that it might be" turned 

to advantage, and aid me in maintai11ing the high and firm position 

which it is necessary to take with Indo-Chinese nations .... " 

His '' fhst impression", on receiving the instructions in March, 

10. Pa!merston to Brooke, 18th. December 1849. F.O. 69/1.

SIAM AND SIR jAMES BROOKE 49 

\Vas "that in order to ensure the maintenance of our present 

relations, the proposed Treaty should be of a very general 

character, and the arrangements for the amount of duty, and 

the future condtwt of the trade, be afterwards attemptecl in a 

supplementary treaty, "11 

ri'he explanation of this suggestion appears from a letter 

Brooke wrote at this time to his friend Templer: 

"I shall not ad vnnce to them; I shall not seek to malm a 

treaty in a hurry. I shall try to remove apprehensions 

and obstacles, and pave the way for the future. The king 

is old nnd an usurper; he has two legitimate brothers, 

clever and enlightened men, who ought to be raised to the 

throne, o.nd the lea.st help on the reigning sovereign's 

decease, will place one of them on it. 

'l'his done, Siam is opened, really and substantially, to 

English commerce and capital, and it is a noble country, 

second only to China. A. treaty, extorted by fear (for no 

other way could we get one) would be but a wasted bit 

of parchment, unless enforced, and if enforced it must be 

by arms alone, for as to persuasion it is thrown away with 

this people. Patience aud time are therefore requisite .... 

It is a clumsy style of diplomacy, and with time, perfect 

sincerity, good intention and scrupulous attentions to the 

rights of Siam, must have weight; and this is high 

diplomacy. The Prince Ohow-fa-Mongkut is an educated 

man, t·eads and writes English, and knows something of 

our literature and science. His brother ... has a great 

mechanical turn, and has himself made a small steamengine 

and fitted it in a boat!! And these two are the 

legitimate brothers of the old savage king, who seized the 

throne. And are they not worthy instruments? ... " 12 

He also wrote to his uncle, Major Stuart : 

"I considei· that time should be given to the work of 

conciliation, that their prejudices should be gradually 

undermined, rather than violently upset, and that as we 

11. Brooke to Pahnerston, 5tl1. March 1850. F.O. 69/1. 

12. Brooke to Templer, 12th. June 1850. John C. Templer, editor, 

The Private Letters of Sir James Brooke . .. , London, 1853, ii, pp, 299-300.

50 Nicholas Tarling 

have delayed for thirty years doing anything, that in the 

course of this policy we may wait till the demise of the 

king brings about a new order of things. Above all, 

it would be well to prepare for the change, and to place 

our king on the throne," 

hameiy Monglmt, "a highly accomplished gentleman, for a semi• 

barbarian. " 1 3 

The Chamber of Commerce at Singapore believed that 

"~•n imposing display of Force calculated to impress the Siamese 

with a due sense of the power of Great Britain and its earnestness 

on this occasion will much facilitate negotiations and ave~·t a risk 

of failure ... .'' 1 4 The Raja of Sarawak did not, however, wish 

to force a convention on the Siamese,15 and commented that they 

might "from fear" be "open to conciliation without concession, 

and I shall consider it fortunate if my visit only paves the way 

for a more frequent and friendly communication, or if it pro" 

vicles some sure indication of tho best course to be pursued in 

future ...." 16 

Brooke, it is clear, associated the king, Rama III, with 

the restrictive commercial policies of the preceding decades, and 

believed that his brothers, educated by French and American 

missionaries, might follow quite a different policy when they at 

last secured power. This event could not be long delayed, since 

Rama III was an old man, and meanwhile the mission would 

perform a holding operation and encourage and conciliate the 

princes. 'rh.e policy the Raja appears to have contemplated for 

the future was not unlike the policy of "indirect rule" he had 

sought to follow with Raja Mncla Hassim in Brunei, and which 

he had recommended as the proper policy for the Sultanate of 

Acheh.l7 

13. Brooke to Stuart, 17th. June 1850. Ibid., p. 304. 

14. Logan to Brooke, 14th. June 1850. F.O. 69/1. 

15. Spenser St. John, Rajah Brooke, The Englishman as Ruler of an 

Eastern State, London, 1897, p. 113. 

16; Brooke to Palmerston, 2nd. July 1850. P.O. 69/1. 

17. St. John, op. cit., p. xl-xii. The quotation at the head of this 

paper comes from the same source. See also Tarling, J.M.B.R.A.S., xxx, 

Pt. 3, pp. 136, 191.

SIAM AND SIR JAMES BROOKE 51 

'rhe mission had been delayed while Brooke and his party 

recuperated from i1lness at Penang,18 and in June and July they 

were held up in Singapore waiting for a ship. Spenser St. John, 

the Raja's Sect·etary, found it hard to be angry with Admiral 

Austen, since he was Jane's brother.l9 In fact, Austen thought 

that August was the best time for crossing the notorious bar of 

the Menam,20 but, when the mission at last arrived there, the 

larger of its two steamers, the" Sphinx", stuck in the mud. It 

was to this fact that St. John was to attribute the failure of 

the mission.2 1 Probably, however, only an overwhelming force, 

such as Brooke had been against using, could have affected Rama 

III's belief that more was to be lost than gained by any further 

treaty concessions. He had just turned away an American mission,22 

and he was set against any furthel' invasion of Siamese 

customs and traditions even by the British. 

Brooke went up to Paknam in the other steamer, the 

"Nemesis", and met the Phraklang on August 16th. 

"What passed ... was as follows- Was I aware 

(it was asked) that there was a Treaty between Siam and 

the East India Company? How could there be two Treaties? 

Was my object to annul the Company's .Treaty? Had not 

the Company a right to make a tt·eaty? What was the 

difference between a treaty with the Company and a 

treaty with the Queen? Were the Queen and the Company 

one and the same? Was not a treaty made with one 

the same as if made with another? 'l'o these questions 

I replied that I was aware of the existence of the Treaty 

'rhat there could be two Treaties-That the Company had 

a fnll right to make a Treaty having been empowered by 

the Qneen to do so-That the difference between a Treaty 

with the Queen and a Treaty with the Company was that 

18. Spenser St. John, The Life of Sir James Brooke ... , Edinburgh and 

London, 1879, pp. 217-218. 

19: Ibid., p. 221. 

20. Austen to Admiralty, 2nd. July 1850. F.O. 69/2. 

21. St. John, Life, p. 222. 

2~. Vella, op. cit., pp. 131-134.


the first was a direct Treaty made with the Queen and 

the other an indirect Treaty made with the Company 

which held its authority under the Queen.-That the Queen 

was not the same as the Company, but the Company was 

the same as the Queen.-'rh.e one being the Sovereign-the 

other holding its power under the Sovereign. It was now 

proposed that the two Sovereigns shoulcl make a Treaty",23 

Assuming that Brooke would be demanding a large decrease 

in customs duties, the King doubted if it were right 

to assent, as the Phraklang appears to have suggested doing in 

the hope of maintaining friendly relations and perhaps gaining 

concessions in Malaya. Rama III also thought that Brooke's 

credentials sh011ld be examined. It seemed, therefore, that the 

lack of a letter from Queen Victoria might be turned to account 

by a monarch who had come to the conclusion that more was to 

be risked by yielding to Brooke, as he had to Burney, than by 

not yielding. He suggested also that Brooke's conversation with 

the Phraldang could be turned to account: if a new treaty were 

required, it could be argued, then a representative of the 

Supreme Government must revoke the old; and it was objectionable 

either to inct·ease or reduce the number of articles in the old 

treaty. 'l'here is no evidence in the king's memoranda that the 

attacks on Brooke in Singapore and in London on account of his 

policy in Borneo influenced the King's attitude, but it may have 

been so.24 

Brooke, all unaware, went up to Bangkok, noting extensive 

fortifications on the way, and met the Phraklang and the 

Senabodi on the 26th. "Every attention that politeness could 

dictate was shown during this meeth1g which passed off in the 

most friendly manner, and it was arl'anged that any communications 

which I wished to mnke to their Government should be 

made in writing .... '' Brooke seems sti 11 at this jnnctnre to have 

23. Brooke's Journal. F.O. 69/1. Some of the following quotations 

are also taken from this. 

24. Vella, op. cit., pp. 135-136. 0, Frankfurter, 'The Mission of Sir 

James Brooke to Siam,' Journal of the Simn Society, viii, Pt. 3, 1912, p. 25.


hoped for a favourable result. It was only "a few days subsequently 

to this interview," he reported, that "a marked change occurred 

in the conduct of the Siamese officer towards the mission, 

their friendly behaviour was succeeded by coldness and distrust," 

and he thought he experienced various attempts to demean or 

provoke him. The "Sphinx" had withdrawn beyond the ba1·, and 

this, Brooke thought, perhaps encouraged the Siamese to demonstrate 

"their real feeling towards us," which was, after all, what 

he had purposed to discover. 

Whether he wished further to test this feeli11g, or whether 

he was so committed by his agreeing to put in written proposals, 

is not clear, but Brooke abandoned his earlier plan to work for a 

merely general agreement, and despatched to the Phraldang 

several letters and the heads of a treaty and a commercial convention. 

His first letter emphasized the need to conso1idate the 

frieuship established by the treaty of 1826. ''Will the ministers 

of Siam", he asked in a second letter, "endanger the friendly 

feeling which has lasted so long.-.Will they ref~se the cordial and 

sincere alliance now offered by resisting the just and moderate 

demands of a powerful state like England?" He mentioned the 

opening of the trade under the Charter of 1833, the Government's 

protection of commercial interest, the war with China. Now the 

Government wished to point out the violations of the Burney 

treaty, and to suggest the conclusion of a new and better one. In 

a third note, Brooke introduced his general proposals, which 

would, he said, modify the treaty in some respects. For instance, 

it would give British subjects a right to reside in Siam, and to 

lease or purchase land for domestic and commercial purposes and 

for buria.l-gt•onnds, though not for plan tat,ions and estates. British 

merchants would be able to reside or trade anywhere in Siam under 

most-favoured-nation stipulations, and Christian worship won ld 

be freely allowed. No regulation would be introduced injurious to 

the trade of British subjects. Consuls or Superintendents of Trade 

should be appointed at principal ports if thought desirable, and 

would decide, with Siamese anthorities, any disputes between 

British and Siamese subjects. Articles of the Burney treaty not


specifically modified were to remain in force, and its principle of 

reciprocity was to be maintainecl.25 

In another letter, introducing the commercial convention 

he proposed, Brooke sought to expound the advantages of a free 

trade between the two countries. 

"The revenues of Siam, like the revenues of every 

other country, are dependent on its internal prosperity; 

and its internal prosperity is greatly dependent on its 

foreign trade; burdensome duties must limit trade, the 

paucity of trade must distress the mass of the people, and 

the distressed condition of the people must affect the revenues 

of the monarch and the stability of his th t•one." 

According to his pt•oposals, the Siamese Government were in future 

to monopolize seven articles, but paddy and rice were to be freely 

exported, and thus production would greatly expand. A. t present, 

it was doubtful if the Siamese could rightly monopolize any products, 

Brooke observed. Transit duties were to be fixed, the opium 

prohibition maintained, and measurement duty reduced to 500 

ticals.26 

After some procedural difficulties, replies were secured 

"amid a mass of words'', as Brooke put it, refusing "every article 

of the proposed Tt·eaty .... under one pretext or another." The 

first letter complained of the obscurity of Brooke's utterance, but 

praised his friendly sentiments. A second letter insisted that the 

Siamese desired friendship, and approved of Brooke as "a person 

of wisdom and affability." It denied any violations of the Burney 

treaty. Some Singapore sampan-pukats hacl been seized in 1839 

ancl in 1846 because they were smuggling opinm; and the prisoners 

had, nevertheless, been released at the request of the Straits Govei"nment, 

though it hacl done nothing to prevent smuggling. The 

Senabodi next commented on the Raja of Sarawak's treaty pl'oposals. 

The;{ opposed the provisions on residence, pointing out the 

objectionable activities of Hunter, a British merchant who had 

been expelled in 1844. 

25. Brooke's three notes of 4th. September 1850, and proposed 

treaty. F.O. 69/1. 

26. Brooke's note, lOth. September 1850, and enclosure. F.O. 69/1.

SiAM AND SIR JAMES BROOKE 55 

"If the English should come in large numbers and 

reside in Siam and should pass about in the provinces, 

controversies and quarrelling would rise and proceed to 

blows, and an Englishman or a Siamese be killed and then 

the matter would become serious .... it cannot be allowed 

that many English subjects should come here to reside, it 

would prevent the quiet of the eouni;ry and cast a shade 

on the subsisting frienships ...• " 

As for the Christian religion, American IDISSlOnaries had long 

been present, often usefully employed in writting letters and 

translating books, and no obstructions had been placed in the way 

of the exercise of Christian rit.es: thoro was thus no ca1l for a 

treaty article on that point. The appointment of consuls was 

equa11y superfluous, and, as for consular jurisdiction, Siamese subjects 

in foreign lauds were expected to follow local laws. A new 

treaty seemed unnecessary, and the Bm·ney treaty, made with 

Bengal, but in effect with England, was adequate. Elaborate 

treaties were difficult to execute.27 

As for the commercial convention, the Senabodi stated 

that they could not agree to the reduction of the measurement 

duties 01• to the genet·al exportation of rice. 

"The object seems to be assiduously to prepare 

long communications from beginning to end filled with 

winding crooks and twists, without end, to blot out, to 

destroy, to change the fixed rules and customs of a great 

Country which has been established for many hundred 

years, and bring them all into confusion and ruin .... "28 

Sir James regretted in reply that the Senabodi ''should 

have forgotten the gravity of advanced age, the dignity of exalted 

position, and the duty due to the King their master,"29 and departed 

for Singapore. He pointed out to Palmerston that the mission 

had been insulted by not being received at Court. 

69/1. 

27. Phraklang's three notes of 18th. September 1850. F.O. 69/1. 

28. High Officers to Sir James Brooke, 24th. September 1850, F.O. 

29. Brooke to High Ministers, 28th. September 1850. F.O. 69/1.

Nicholas Tarllng 

"The total want of attention-the want of courtesy 

in the Phraklang in not retmning my visit; the non-permission 

for any communication with the Siamese nobles. 

-'rhe slight of placing a man of low rank about the mission-The 

confinement forced upon us by the improper 

attendance when abroad and the tone of the High Ministers' 

letter are all just matters of complaint and demonstrate 

that amicable communications with the Siamese 

Government should cease till their feeling of hostility 

shall have been corrected ... :•30 

These sligh t.s were accompanied by ''specific acts of outrage 

an(l wrongs committed against British subjects", Brooke alleged, 

and the Government must ''decide on the effect which our submission 

to them may produce on the neighbouring countries, and 

on British interests." In dealing with Siam, as with other despotic 

states, 

"a resolute attitude and an unflinching determination to 

support our rights, is the only means of avoiding ho~:~tilities, 

or of attaining permanent peace after a single 

struggle. 

'rhe hope of preserving peace by an expedient 

Policy-by concession, submission, by indifference, or by 

any other course, than by rights firmly maintained by 

power justly exerted, is both a delusion and a cruelty; and 

after years of embarrassment and the sacrifice of a favoUl·able 

prestige leads to a sanguinary war. 

An adherence to this principle has t~aised our Indian 

Empire, and established the reign of Opinion which 

maintains it; and the departure from thi~ principle has 

caused the present deplorable conditions of onr relations 

with Siam, and the consequent and embal'rassing circumstances 

which no longer permit of Palliation or inactivity . 

. . . I can only arrive at the conclusion that there 

is no other course open to Her Majesty's Government, 

except to clem11nd the freedom of British subjects unwarrantltbly 

detainecl,-a just reparation for injuries inflicted, 

30. It has been said that Brooke was not received at Court because 

of the King's illness. Vella, op. cit., pp. 11, 139.

siAM AND S!R JAMES Bi\odKE 

u !air remuneration for pecuniary losses entailed by violations 

of the 'l'reaty,-a.nd either a more equitable 'rreaty 

in acco1·dance with the observance of civilized nations, or 

a total withdl·awal of British subjects and their prope1·ty 

h•om Siam. 

Should these just demands firmly urged be refused, 

a force should be present immediate1y to enforce them by 

a rapid destruction of the defences of the river, which 

would place ns in possession of the capital and by restoring 

us to our proper position of command, retrieve the 

past and ensure peace for the future, with all its advantages 

of a growing and most important commerce. 

I offer this opinion with the more confidence, from 

a firm conviction that should any delay be interposed, Her 

Majesty's Government will, within a short time, be forced 

to pursue the measures here recommended, under less 

favourable circumstances." 

rro justify these views, and incidentally to refute the 

Senabodi, Brool'e produced cases of outrages, infractions of 

treaty, and ''total disregat•d of international rights''. 'l'he first 

violations of the Burney treaty, he observed, had been ignored, 

and this indifference on the part of the British authorities 

had led the. Siamese to ignore all international obligations. 

The tre:J.ty, too, was of a type that needed to be "resolutely 

enforced". There were the vague stipulations over Kelantan and 

Trengganu, and the sacrifice of Kedah, which ought now to be 

reconsidered. 'l'he commercial provisions were even more objecft 

tionable. There was no security for any permanent residence, or 

for any trade except at Bangkok. The treaty provided for the 

Beiznre of opium as contraband, but this could not permit the 

cruel treatment meted out to the crew of the sarnpan-pukats. 

Burdensome dnties and other vexations were imposed on British 

vessels. The treaty was, moreover, violated by "the system of 

monopolies" maintained by the Government of Siam, and by its 

prohibition of the exportation of some articles of merchandise. 

Other infractions of the treaty brought fol'WEH'dS by the merchants


related to "acts of violence-arbitrary conduct on the part of 

the Siamese officers-the impossibility of recovering just debtsthe 

total denial of justice-the delays of passes and numerous 

other vexations and impositions .... '' Sir James thottght that the 

c0mplaints were "well founded" and that there was "a direct 

exertion of arbitrary power, ancl an indirect system of spoliation 

carried on by the authorities against British subjects ...." 

He 

also mentioned the case of thirty Oeylonese priests detained in 

Siam for years against their will, an "outrage" he considered 

"the climax to the presumption of the Siamese, and of the 

accumulated wrongs which they have offered to the English; 

and submission will increase this presumption 

without solving the difficulty ... , 

..... Justice-coropassion-interest-clignity-!Llld a 

consistent course of Policy appear to me to call for deeisive 

measures to be taken without delay."3 1 

'l'ho Siamese. he told Templer, "must be taught a lesson .... our 

policy should be commanding, ancl our power exerted when necessary. 

My policy in Sara wak hns been high-handed against evildoers, 

and there, and in England and in Siam, there are bad to 

be punished, as well as good to be cared for .... " 32 'l'he evil-doers 

in England were the Radical Joseph I-Iume and the Raja's other 

assailants. 

The revolution in BritiSh policy that Brooke proposed was 

also to effect a dynastic revolution in Siam. 

In his ,Journal he 

had written that "the Parties may be


and guarded manner." Brooke now proposed that decisive action 

should effect the enthronement of Monglmt, a prospect to which 

he had earlier looked forward. 

"Siam may now be taught the lesson which it has 

long been tempting-its Government may be remodelled 

A better disposed king ploced on the throne-and an influence 

acquired in the country which will make it of 

immense commercial importance to England. At the same 

time the Malayan States (particularly Keduh) may be placed 

on a footing to save them from the oppressions they are 

now subjected to." 

An envoy in a man-of-war should demand the persons and property 

of British subjects, and redress and remuneration for wrongs 

and losses. "This would be refused; in six hours afterwards the 

capital would be in our possession and in th1·ee months the whole 

question will be arranged which in any other way will cause Her 

Majesty's Government a few years embarrassment before arriving 

at the same result .... "33 

Brook's mission had been due to visit Vietnam, and be had 

proposed to go in August or September, via Hongkong, perhaps 

picking up there a let·ter from the Chinese whose supt•emacy the 

King acknowledgec1.34 In London, Sir John Davis, who had been 

on an earlier mission, suggested April was a better month, if indeed 

at any time anything could be expected from such a monopolist.35 

In the event, Sir James clid not go there at all. 

Instead he announced : 

"Cambodia .... is the Keystone of our policy in 

these conntries, -the King of that ancient Kingdom is 

ready to throw himself under ~he protection of any 

Enropean nation, who will save him from his implacable 

enemies, the Siamese and Oochin Chinese. A Treaty with 

tMs mQp.arch at the Sal;lle time that we act agai11st Si~m 

might be made. -His independence guaranteed, -The 

33. Brooke to Palmerston, 5th. October 1850, Confidential. F.0.69{ 1. 

34. Brooke to Palmerston, 6th. March 1850. F.O. 69{ 1. 

;35. l;>avis to Haw.Plond, 1st. May 1850. F.O. 69/2.


remnants of his fine Kingdom preserved; and a profitable 

trade opened. -The Cochin Chinese might then be properly 

approached by questioning their right to interrupt the 

ingress and egress of British trade into Cambodia. tr'he 

example of Siam-our friendship with Cambodia, and our 

determined attitude (not Treaty seeking) would soon open 

Cambodia to our commerce and induce the Cochin Chinese 

to waive their objections to intercourse ...." 

The invading Vietnamese were interfering with trade at the 

Cambodian port of Kampot, and this, Brooke thought, woulcl form 

the basis of the-obviously "commanding" -approach he advocated 

to tl.w Emperor of Vietnam. "I have thus sketched a course of 

policy which I believe would be highly advantageous and which 

would enable us by exerting our power, so to regulate it as to 

influence these Governments without taking possession of the 

conn tries .•.. "36 

He hoped he would be granted ''fu1l powers", which he would use 

"discreetly but with a high hand. No one can know what 

we give up in these countries for want of energy and action. 

We ought to have these slaves who crouch before 

arrogance in their own masters tremble at the least 

demand from us. Now is the time. The tide which ou.ght 

to be taken at the flood ....,37 

Mercant-ile opinion at Singapore was divided as to whether 

more would be gained or lost by a resort to hostilities.38 Palmerstan, 

though approving Brooke's conduct of the mission, decided 

against any "hostile proceedings", and thus in favour of the traditional 

policy towards Siam. He did, however, display some interest 

in Kampot and sought fnrthet· information about it.39 

Orawfnrd, assuming in Britain the role of an expert on Straits 

affairs, had pointed it out, and mentioned its trade to Singapore 

in Ohinese junl's and sma1l square-rigged vessels. He thought it 

36. As footnote 33, 

37. Brooke to Eddisbury, 7th. October 1850. F.O. 69/1. 

38. Hamilton, Gray, and others, to Palmerston, received 19th. 

December 1850. F.O. 69/2. 

39. Palmerston to Brooke, 6th. February 1851. F.O. 69/3,


could become an entrepot for distributing British manufactures, 

and "at the same time check the exclusive commercial policy of 

the Siamese." 4 ° Further infot·mation, culled by St. John from 

the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," showed that Kampot 

exported wax, cardamums, raw silk, benjamin, and gamboge, and 

conld export rice if transport were improved. The total trade 

with Singapore was worth about £30,000 a year. The King of 

Cambodia, hearing of the failu reof Brooke's mission and anticipating 

a punitive attack on Bangkok, had in fact sent an ambassador to 

Singapore, and an enterprising firm, D'Almeicla's despatched a 

ship, the "Pantaloon," to Kampot, with the Danish adventurer, L.V. 

Helms, as supercargo. fie was able to trade, and to visit the 

royal capital.41 

* * * 

In July Helms was in Bangkok, where Monglmt had succeeded 

to the throne, and promised to do all he could to encourage 

foreign trade. 42 In August, Brooke, who was in England defending 

himself agniust the Radicals' attacks, received a letter from the 

Phraklang's son, describing the illness of Rama III and his death 

early in April, and the e1ev at ion of Monglmt to the throne by 

the Senabodi, and the appointment of his brother as Second Ring. 

The new King, it was added, fully understands the relations of 

Foreign Nations, ... any intercourse or consultation may hereafter 

be conducted in an easier manner than hefore."43 The 

Phraklang had, in fact, ph>yed an important part in these events,44 

and he bad earlier been in favour of a re-appraisal of relations 

with Britain. Brooke urged a new mission, so as to "enable us to 

place our relations.,. on a satisEact.ory footing", and "guide the 

reforms which they are about to make in their government." He 

40. Crawfurd to Stanley, 21st. December 1850. F.O. 69/2. 

41. St. John to Palmerston, 24th. August 1851, and enclosures. 

F.O. 69/3. See also The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and East em Asia, v, May 

and July 1851. and L.V. Helms, Pioneering in the Far East ... , London, 1882, 

pp. 95-108. 

42. Ibid., pp. 109-122. 

43. Letter to Brooke, 23rd. April1851. F.O. 69/3. 

44. Vella, op. cit., pp.l2-13.


would be glad to go and bring back a treaty; and thought it should 

be done at once. 

"There really is no finer a field for the rapid extension 

of commerce than in Siam-there is now no danger 

of collision and from the character of the present Kinghis 

brother the Wangna or sub-king and his ministers we 

may gain everything we desire and open a direct trade 

between the two countries second only to the trade with 

China .... "4 5 

The Fot·eign Office was in favour of a mission-though, 

Palmerston thought, without "any great Parade .... I thinl{ it a 

mistake to send grand missions to these semibarbarous chiefs." 

Broo1'e would again be the envoy, and the Foreign O-ffice this 

time sought to arrange with him beforehand the outlines of the 

treaty he might propose at Bangkok.4 6 The instructions were duly 

prepared early in September, Brooke planning to leave in October. 

He agreed that the force with the mission should be as before: 

it certainly" should not present itself in a less dignified shape.,., 

If it did so, the King, being a vain though a well-intentioned and 

educated Man, might imagine that we held him cheaper than 

his Predecessor." 

Brooke suggested spending £500 on presents 

principally ''scientific instruments and objects, as both of the 

Kings are men of science. " He might also have this time a letter 

from the Queen. Palmerston agreed to all this, and to giving the 

envoy a certain disct•etion in regard to alterations in the draft 

tt·eaty.4 7 According to the instrnctions, Brooke was to consider the 

"general principles" of the despatch of 1849 "still applicable," 

but more specific direction was given on some points. For instance, 

it was stated that, iu regard to consular jurisdiction, reciprocity 

was out of the question: 

45. Brooke to Palmerston, 24th. August 1851. F.O. 69/3. 

46. F.O. to Brooke, 29th. August 1851, and note thereon. F.O. 69/3. 

47. Addington's Memo. on Brooke's mission to Siam, 4th. Septem• 

ber 1851. F.O. 69/3.

SiAM AND SIR JAMES BROOKE 

"If is of vital importance to the security of the persons 

and property of British Subjects in an impe1·fectly ci vi• 

lised State like Siam, that a right of jurisdiction in all 

matters in which they are concerned should be secured 

to the Bl'itish Agent resident in such State; bi1t the same 

necessity does not exist for giving, nor indeed has the 

Bl'itish Government the power of giving to Siamese 

Agents in the British Dominions a concurrent jnl'isdiction 

with British judicial authorities in cases in which the 

interests of Siamese Subjects are concerned ... , " 

63 

'l'hc declaration that opium was contraband, it was thought 

' 

would only encourage smuggling and clemoulisation in the foreign 

trade, and importation under duty wonld be preferable; but, if 

the Siamese insisted upon prohibition they must not expect British 

aid in enforcing it, 'rho British Government were also against 

the specification of monopolies in treaties. Measurement duties, 

though simple in operation, would discourage imports of a "bulky 

or cheap description'', and perhaps a better arrangement could 

be made. 'l'he two conventions that Brool{e had suggested should 

be made into oue.48 

Some clays later, Brooke heard from the Governor of 

Singapore "that the King of Siam is anxious that no British 

mission should be sent to Siam and no change made in the external 

Policy of the Kingdom until after the funeral of the late King 

which takes place in April next, ... " Perhaps the mission should be 

postponed; or" a discretion should be allowed to Sir James Brooke 

to make his first visit purely of a complimentary character and 

so to lay a foundation for a treaty, remaining in the East in the 

discharge of his ordinary duties until the negotiation can be 

effectively commenced and returning on ita conclusion."49 A 

48. F.O. to Brooke, September 1851, two drafts, and treaty 

projet. F.O. 69/3. 

49. Memo, by Brooke, 18th. September 1851. F.O. 69/3. Mongkut 

had written to Governor Butterworth, 22nd. May 1851. 'English Correspondence 

of King Mongkut,' Joumal of the Siam Society, :x:xi, Pt. 1,1927, pp. 

7-10.

64 Nicholas 'tarling 

decision followed to defer the mission till after the funera1,50 

and "Sir James went down to hunt with Harry Keppel .... " 5 1 

'rhe following March, the Permanent Under-Secretary, H. 

U. Addington, asked on behalf of the new Foreign Secretary, 

Lord Malmesbnry, if Booke were ready to leave. 52 The Raja was 

now down at Brighton and declared that ''the season for the 

journey overland and the residence in Siam is very unfavourable 

and would alone he a good cause for the postponement of the 

mission. In my present state of health I require a few months 

longer residence in England .... " The feeling in Siam was very 

favourable, but "if we evince any anxiety for a treaty we shall 

raise their suspicions and a treaty after all without the cordial 

support of the government would only be a future source of 

trouble .... " A letter from Bangkok showed that reforms were 

in progress: measurement duties had been lowered to 1,000 ticals, 

and the inte relict on rice exportation had been modified. Opium 

was to be farmed, and sold only to Chinese immigrants, and English 

and American merchants were to trade where they pleased, and 

establish their own chapels and burial-grounds. Brooke suggested 

that the commercial and political changes in progress were a 

reason for putting off the mission till their completion. He would 

be ready to leave for Singapore in October,"so as to reach Siam 

during the cold season when the Ships engaged may be anchored 

off a weather shore."53 Brooke thus argued against the early 

despatch of the mission, as he had earlier argued for it, and it 

was put off by the Government till the autumn. 54 

The Foreign Office had, however, received a letter from 

Orawfnrd, expressing doubt about any further mission. Before 

Brool{e's previous mission, he had suggested that it should have 

50. F.O. to Admiralty, 20th. September 1851. F.O. 69/3. 

51. St. John, Life, p. 238. 

52. Addington to Brooke, 23rd. March 1852. F.O. 97/368. 

53. Brooke to Addington, 24th. March 1852, one private, with 

enclosures. F.O. 97/368. 

54. F.O. to Manchester Commercial Association, 22nd. Apri11852. 

F.o. 97/368.

SlAM AND SIR JAMES BROOKE 65 

been merely complimentary, and express the Queen's desire for 

friendly relations and the extension of commerce. 

"This recommendation was derived from my own experience 

which B!1ti.sfied me that the vain Court of Siam 

was ambitious of direct communication with the Crown 

and impatient of one with the vicarial Government of 

India. The recommendation to abstain from negotiation 

arose from a thorough conviction that any attempt of the 

kind would not only fail, but might arouse suspicion and 

provoke irritation." 

So it had, and Orawfurd felt that a further mission would be 

"inexpedient, indiscreet, and cannot be expected to be followed 

by any beneficial results ... .'' The Siamese were "semi-barba· 

rons, and although essentially unwarlike, they are unspeakably 

vain, presumptnous, and suspicious, while through frequent in· 

tercourse with the Chinese they are by no means strangers to 

our Indian supremacy, and the means by which it was acquired .• .'' 

Some might expect more from a commercial negotiation now 

that" a prince of far more enlightened views than any of his 

predecessors" had succeeded to the throne. 

"Such hope, I am satisfied, wot1ld be utterly delusive. 

That prince was raised to power by the very same men 

who gave such a categorical refnsal to the propositions of 

the last mission, and down to the present time, they 

continue in the exercise of authority, while the powel'ful 

party opposed to them is still more reluctant to advance, 

more national, ancl consequently more jealous of foreign 

interference." 

Even if a treaty were made, its provisions would be evaded, like 

Burney's. 

"My assured conviction is that a liberal commercial policy 

is more to be hoped for, on the part of the Siamese, with. 

out a Treaty, than with one. They would, in my opinion, 

fell fettered, uneasy and suspicioua when shackled by 

stipulations which compulsion alone would make them 

abide by-a compulsion which, to say the least, it would 

be both inconvenient and unprofitable to exercise."


Indeed, some improvements had already been made voluntarily~ 

A "frequent, friendly, and complimentai·y correspondence" with 

the Governors of Singapore and Labuan would encourage this 

L• spontaneous development" and be preferable to a mission. "Too 

busy an intet·ference in the affairs of Siam might even put to 

i'isk the very power of its liberal aovereign, against whose reforms, 

as might be expected, there is a powerful party at Oonrt 

as already stated ...."55 

Some of Brooke's arguments for defer. 

ring the mission here became arguments for not send1ng it at all. 

The Foreign Office asked the ad vice of the India Board, 

and this agreed with Orawfurd. "Mr. Orawfurd's letter contains 

a great deal of good sense and sound reason, founded upon much 

practical experience, upon this question, and I should be disposed 

on the whole," the President wrote, "to let well (or ill? ) alone 

in this matter. 'l'ime and experience will probably teach the 

Siamese Government what is their real interest in promoting 

friendly intercourse with us. Raja Brooke is not likely to convince 

them."56 

'l'he attacks upon Brooke's poliey in the Archipelago had 

been meanwhile intensifying, and no doubt this afforded a reason 

for his staying in England. In August, Lord Stanley, the Parliamentary 

Under-Secretary, was arranging an interview with 

him as to the course of British policy in relation to piracy in the 

Archipelago. In October he told his friend, W.EL Read, that he 

was "working hard to place our policy in the Archipelago upon 

such basis to prevent any future obstruction arising from the 

malice and spleen of individuals ...." 

It was arranged that he 

should leave his post at Labuan, but have greater scope as Commissioner, 

and in November he was removed from the Governorship.57 

His future activities would include the new mission to 

55, Crawfurd to Derby, 25th. March 1852. F.O. 97/368. 

56. Herries to Malmesbury, 28th. May 1852; 16th, June 1852, pri· 

vate. F.O. 97/368. 

57, G.L. Jacob, The Raja of Sarawak .... London, 1876, ii, p. 62. Tarling, 

J.M.B.R.A.S., xxx, Pt. 3, pp, 202-203. In a forthcoming book, Piracy 

and Politics in the Malay World, the author deals more fully with these 

arrangements.


Siam, though the time originally set for it had passed by. That 

matte1• had " rested" with the receipt of the India Board letter, 

Addington later wrote, for 

"in the meantime Mr. Hume had been making represen. 

tations to this Office in inculpation of Sir James Brooke 

' 

and desiring an investigation into his conduct as Raja of 

Sarawak, Governor of Labuan. Consul General, and Suppressor 

of Piracy in the Indian Archipelago, 

The season accordingly went by without anything 

fresh having been done in furtherance of Sir James 

Brooke's projected Mission to Siam... . I have heard 

speak in the Office of a sort of roving commission having 

been projectecl by or for Sir James Broo1re which was to 

embrace Oochin China and other Countries in that part 

of the world; but I know nothing about such a project."58 

In fact, Lord Stanley had been dealing with it. The aim seems 

to have been to modify the controversial policies in the .A.rchipe. 

lago,-and thus BrooJre was removed from Labnan,-but to amplify 

his field of activity as Oommissioner, to make him in name what 

he hac1 been in fact in 1849, and, despite the India Board, to 

despatch him again to Bangkok. 

In November Sir James sent in to the Foreign Office a 

letter from the old Phraklang's son, now the Kralahom, which 

welcomed the prospect of a new mission. 

"As to the three kingdoms embracing Siam, Burma, 

and Oochin-Ohina, they are not far from being equal in the 

number of their subjects, and they are all adjoining 

countries.- But Burma, judging falsely of her own power 

and being ignorant of the power and forces of other 

Kingdoms, has fallen into collision with the English 

power, and thereby lost much territory and many subjects." 

After this allusion to the second Burma War, which had broken 

out in April 1852, it was emphasised that the King and High 

58. Memo., 4th. February 1853. F.O. 97/368.

! 

\ 


Ministers of Siam were "well accustomed to estimate the comparative 

strength of Kingdoms and Nations ... ,''59 

Late in December, there were further ministerial changes, 

the Aberdeen Coalition took office, Lord Malmesbury was replaced 

by Lord John Russell, Lord Stanley by Lord Wodehonse. On 

January 31st., Brooke wrote to Wodehouse, asking "whether the 

appointments by the late government are to be confirmed; and 

at the same time, should any change of this arrangement be 

contemplated Sir James Brooke will be glad of an opportunity 

of stating to Lord John Russell or to Lord Wodehouse the reason 

which he previously used to Lord Malmesbury in its favour." 60 

It was at this point that Addington prepared his memorandum 

with a view to explaining the situation. 

"Whether Sir James Brooke is or is not a proper 

man for undertaking the negotiation of a Treaty with 

Siam is a question for the Secretary of State to determine. 

Some are vehemently opposed to him; others vehemently 

favourable. I am neither the one nor the other. But I 

think him a very capable man. 

'l'he main point for consideration, however, is not 

the man hut the thing. Ought we, or ought we not, to 

endeavour to conclude a Treaty with Siam under the 

altered circumstances of that Country? 'l'his question does 

not appear to me to have been quite satisfactorily solved 

ancl I cannot but think that we shonld do well to refer 

the communication from the Siamese Minister to the India 

Board, and once more request theil' consideration of the 

matter.'' 

Russell thougt Crawfurd's arguments against a treaty conclusive; 

"there might be some use, but also some danger in an embassy 

of compliment." He would consider the matter further.61 

- -···--·-·-----------..--- 

59. Brooke to Malmesbury, 17th. November 1852, and enclosure. 

F.O. 97/368. 

60. Brooke to Wodehouse, 31st. January 1853. F.O. 12/13, 

61. Minute, 5th. February 1853. F.O, 97/!J68~

SIAM AND SIR JAMES BHOOKE 69 

Addington then learned from Brooke that Malmesbury 

had agreed to appoint him 

''as regular Minister Plenipotentiary to Siam and other 

Principalities of the Eastern Archipelago with a salary of 

£ 1,000 a year .... 

This arrangement, as far as I can understand, 

seems to have originated with Lord Stanley. At all events 

I had nothing to do with it; and am unable to see utility 

of it at this moment , , , . n62 

On February 7th. the Raja of Sarawak saw Lord John Russell. In 

a note of the following day, he emphasized that he could not 

demean himself by accepting a lower public position than he had 

previously occupied, and would t•ather separate himself from the 

public service and promote the cause of Sarawak independently; 

in other words, having lost the Governorship, he must expect the 

appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary. 

1,.. -· 

''On the question of Siam, Sir James Brooke may venture 

to say that the jealousy of that government, as well as 

every other in the East, is not excited by intercourse and 

is not allayed by non-intercourse: it is of a permanent 

chat·acter, al'ising out of the constant territorial aggrandisement 

of the East India Company. The former mission to 

Siam in 1850, tmdertaken under circumstances of pecnliar 

difficulty and delicacy, owing to the strong aversion of the 

reigning monarch to the English, ao far from exciting 

jealousy, imparted a degree of confidence to the present 

King and his ministers which has since led to a friendly 

correspondence, and has induced them to propose an embassy 

to England. It is a remarkable circumstance that 

on tbe occasion of the last Burmese war the East India 

Company despatched a mission to Bangkok to allay any 

jealousy which might exist; and under more favourable 

auspices, ali alarm is now entertained during the pending 

contest with Burma of exciting jealousy by the proposed 

mission ...."63 

62. Minute, 6th. February 1853. F.O. 97{368. 

63. Brooke to Russell, 8th. February 1853. F.O.l2/13.


The tide was, in fact, again to be taken at the flood. 

Sir Charles Wood, now at the India Board, was, on the 

whole, opposed to the mission. He was, like his predecessor, "inclined 

to think that trade will introduce itself on a better footing, 

and in a manner more likely to be permanent than Government 

can do for it by treaty." This was also the opinion of the Chairman 

and Deputy-Chairman of the Company. "Whether there is any 

necessity for a visit of compliment is another matter, but I should 

not think it worth the expense." They should wait: two Siamese 

envoys had come down to Rangoon, and some further contact with 

Bangkok might become desirable in relation to Burma.64 Russell 

accordingly decided that there was "no immediate advantage" in 

sending an ambassador to Siam. Brooke would retain his Consular 

appointment.65 Thus the new ministry declined to adhere to 

Stanley's plan of giving Brooke the benefit of the Siamese doubt 

so as to enable the Government to re-define its policy in Borneo 

without striking at his prestige, or appearing to join in the 

attacks upon him. Brooke was to be left as Consul-General, and 

so he was informed on the 19th. 6 6 The Raja then proposed to leave 

for Borneo on April 4th.67 By that time the Coalition had 

yielded to Radical pressure and agreed to appoint a Commission 

of Enquiry into the Borneo proceedings.68 

* * * 

The reversion to the policy of letting well (or ill ) alone 

in relation to Siam did not last long. In 1854 it was arranged 

that Sir John Bowring should visit Bangkok, and he secured a 

commercial treaty in the following April. Discussions had taken 

place at Court, he reported, aa to the policy to be followecl.69 The 

64. Wood to Russell, 14th. February 1853. P.O. 97/368. 

65. Note, 16th. February 1853. F.O. 97/368. 

66. F.O. to Brooke, 19th. February 1853. F.O. 12/13. 

67. Brooke to F .0., 24th. February 1853. P.O. 12/13. 

68. Tarling, J.M.B.R.A.s., xxx, Pt. 3, p. 203. 

69. John Bowring, The Kingdom and People of Siam; with a Narrative of the 

Mission to thai Country in 1855, London, 1857, i, pp. 463-464, ii, p. 228,

SlAM AND SIR JAMES BROOKE 71 

treatment given to Brooke had not provoked any reaction, and 

one party advocated its repetition, while the Kralahom worked 

for a treaty. His views prevailed, and the treaty provided, inter 

alia, for the appointment of a Consul at Bangkok, for limited rights 

of purchasing land, for the opening of the rice trade 1 and for the 

fixing of various rates of import cluties.10 Siam thus made further 

concessions to the European economic world with a view to pre .. 

serving her continued independence of European political power. 

It is clear that it had been, as in Burney's time, a matter of 

appraising the risks involved, rather than of ideology, and the new 

Burma War had made it plain, particularly to the Kralahom, where 

the greater risk lay. 

Bowring had been sent to Bangkok from Ohinu, rathet· 

than from the Archipelago, and he appears not to b ave been instructed 

in regard to the affairs of the Peninsula. 

The Siamese 

suggested a new article on Kedah, replacing that of 1826 and 

saying that in serious though not in minor matters involving 

Kedah the British authorities would seek the intervention of the 

Bangkok Government. Bowring referred to the Governor-Gene1·a1, 

Lord Dalhousie.71 'l'he Governor of the Straits Settlements, E. A. 

Blundell, thought: "the 12th. and 14th. articles of Captain Burney's 

Treaty seem of mo1·e importance than the loth., as they 

provide in a measure for the independence of Perak, Se1angor, 

Trengganu, and Kelantan, which states it would not be convenient 

to see sn bject in any way to Siamese domination ... "7 2 In the 

event, it was agreed on the ratification of the Bowring treaty 

that these and some other articles of the Burney treaty should 

70. Copy in F.O. 97/368; Bowring, op. cit., ii, pp, 214-226; B.C.171870, 

p. 15. 

71. Bowring to Dalhousie, 17th. April 1855, B.C. 171870, p. 7. 

72. Blundell to Secretary, 27th. December 1855. B.C.171870, p. 53, 

and B.C. 189617, p. 7.

72 Nicholas Tarl:tng 

not be abrogated.73 Brooll:e had, of course, talren the Peninsula 

into account: a reorganisation of political relations there was to 

follow from intervention at Bangkok. That intervention had 

not occurred, and never did occur, although, by the late nine• 

teenth century, it would seem that it was only a desire to avoid 

en com• aging the F1•ench 1 who had in tet•vened first in Oochin 

Ohina and then in Cambodia, that prevented a demand for the 

Peninsular provinces of the Siamese emph·e.74 

73. Bowring, op. cit., ii, pp. 231-232. 

74. V.G. Kiernan, 'Britain, Siam, and Malaya: 1875-1885,' The 

Journal of Modem History, xxviil, 1956, pp, 18, 20.

A FUNERAL IN YANG TERNG, CHANGWAT UBOL, 

NORTHEAST THAILAND 

by 

Cfl.obert Rickert 

TUFEO, Ubol, Thailand 

In the early evening of a hot and clear day towa1·d the 

middle of the fmll'th month, the evening before the moon rose 

full, Nai Pani ,Jitwong died in his thatched-roof, 1EH>f-wl>llecl 

honse in the poorest section of the village behind the Wat. He 

died a uatnral death, his family said; he died of old age and heart 

failure. 

Nai Pani's step-son pressed his father's. eyelids closed; he 

put a copper Satang into his father's mouth and closed this, too. 

He will need the Satang for the trip to the spirit house. 

spirit house is located somewhere in the sky. 

The 

I am not sure why this is so, but I think if he does not have the 

Satang he might lose his way, never finding the house or land 

of the spirits, returning here to make a crying sound and to 

shake the walls of the house in anger, perhaps even to make 

one of us sick. 

Yes, sometimes a spirit comes back to visit a family. Sometimes 

after one or two years. If relatives quarrel, or if the family 

forgets to feed him. The spirits come back when the -people 

make n1istakes. 

Tonight we will feed the spirit in the house. The food will be 

placed near the dead body. Tomorow the spirit will eat the 

morning and noon meals in the house,too. After lunch tomorow, 

when the body has been taken to the forest and burned, the 

spirit will be fed in the forest. He will be fed there for three 

days. Yes, every mP-al. 

After the third day the priests will be fed by the family and 

some of this merit vrill be divided with the spirit. Then the 

feeding of the spirit stops, Sometimes the spirit is fed again 

when the family has a celebration, or when one of the family 

enters the priesthood. 

All the spirits are always very hungry. 

Nai Pu was sent for imediately. At sixty-five with receding 

hair making a strong line over the top of his head from 

ear to ear, and tattoos, fading now from his wrinkled brown s1dn,

74 Robert Kickert 

covering his body from the shoulders to below the knees, he is 

the acknowledged leader in all village rituals concerned with 

death and cremation. 

He is also the first person to be consulted 

when someone falls ill and the illness is thought to be caused by 

a spirit. 

Nai Pan is consulted first if the illness is not caused 

by a spirit and the stricken man or woman is most interested in 

getting one of the horne remedies Nai Pan is able to concoct. But 

then Nai Pan also helps handle the many village spirits. 

When Nai Pu arrived at the house he began immediately 

to direct the activities. Water was boiled and, while two neighbour 

children held kerosene lamps for light, the body was bathed 

in the one-room house by the dead man's step-son, a grandson 

(the son of a daughter by his first wife), the son of a younger 

sister, and a granddaughter. 

First the head was washed, then 

the torso and arms, and then the legs; the feet and toes were 

washed last. 

Sometimes a daughter-in-law or a son-in-law helps, too. Yes, 

other people may help. Yes, friends may help wash the body. 

Anybody may help. 

After the body had been washed it was smeared with 

Peeng-the white clay powder mixed with water that Thai 

villagers everywhere rub on the faces of their children and, 

sometimes, on their own faces. 

The body of a dead person is rubbed all over with Peeng to 

avoid a bad smell. 

Nai Pu and the dead man's wife, Nang Buntawng, and 

Nang Hawn (a stepdaughter) and Nang Sa wang (a granddaughter), 

helped smear the body with the white paste. 'l'he 

dead man's wife combed his hair. 

Together they laid the body on a woven mat and dressed 

it in trousers and a shirt. 

Both the shirt and the trousers were 

put on front to back and a small tear, about an inc4 in length, 

was made in each,

A FUNERAL iN YANG TERNC, CHANGWAT UBOL, NORTHEAST THAiLAND 75 

Trousers and shirt must be put on front to back; because they 

are put on a dead body. The buttons must be at the back, Our 

mothers and fathers taught us it should be done this way.l 

The clothes are torn to inform the spirit of the dead man that 

the body it once occupied is now dead. Yes, the deliberate 

tearing tells the dead man this. 

But this is also done so that the spirits of those already dead 

will not be jealous. 

If the dead man does not own a shirt and a pair of trousers he 

is dressed in a sarong, and a Pakhaawma is draped over his 

shoulders and across his chest. 

Taking lengths of cotton thread from an unused skein1 

Nai Pn tied the big toes together, the knees together, and pressed 

the hands of the dead man into the Wai-position at the base of 

his chest. He tied the thumbs together and the wt·ists, placing 

flowers, two candles and two joss sticks between the joined palrus; 

then he wrapped several lengths of thread around the chest to 

secure the elbows. A tlll'e:_~.d was also tied around the dead man's 

neck. 

The string around his wrists will remind the spirit of the dead 

man to think of his wife. The string around his neck will 

remind him of his children. The string around his ankles will 

remind him of his earthly treasures-his land, his house, his 

cattle, his gold. These are the things that bind a spirit closely 

to this world-wife, children, possessions. 

The head was then covered with a cloth, and slipping a 

blanket under the corpse, it was wound and wrapped in this and 

the ends secured at the legs, the waist, and the shoulders with 

more lengths of cottou thread. The body lay in state, finally, 

in the middle of the room, on a mattress and on a mat, the head 

resting on a dirty pillow and pointing towards the west. 'rwo 

rough poles, tied to the rafters and fastened at the floor by strips 

of split bamboo, wel'e set at the head and foot of the covered 

body, and a string was tied between these poles. 'l'his string 

served as a support for a length of tattered red silk that was 

1. Nai. Pu•s repeated response: "Our fathers and mothers taught 

us it should be done so" to all "why" questions seemed to indicate 

that in the village of Yang Terng there was a lot o:f ritual content but 

not very much ritual meaning.

Robert Kichrt 

wound horizontally around the poles, rolled over the string and 

secured there by pieces of bamboo split to fnnction as clothes pins. 

'l'he final effect was that of a long and low pup tent about two feet 

high and six feet long. For decoration a short length of brightly 

patterned silk was thrown over the red silk at the head end of 

the tent. 

This protects the body from flies. 

Now you wait for one clay, two days, or three days. Yes, it is 

better to wait three days. Four days is the very best. Waiting 

four days shows re!;pect for the spirit of the dead man. 

If you keep a body as long as four days you must have something 

to absorb the discharges, and the bamboo mat must be 

smeared with rosin. 

If you keep a body four days you put it in the coffin inside the 

house. 

Neighbours and friends had been gathering on the veranda, 

and when preparations inside had been completed, the young 

people moved into the single room, to one side of the tent, and 

began playing the game of Khnaw Cam or 'I'ob Khaaw 2 , a guessing 

game like "BuUon, bntton, who's got the button?", but played 

with a small gl'nbby wad of glutinous rice instead of a button, 

The boys formed a team and the girls another. One team covertly 

circulated the wad of rice from hand to hand and, when they were 

ready, the other team attempted to guess whose hand contained 

the rice. In order to gness, an individual team member had to 

stake a valuable-a watch, a ri11g a belt, a necklace or chain. If 

he or she dicl not correctly guess whose fist held the wad of rice, 

the valuable was forfeited and the wad of rice recirculated by 

the same tenm. If tho guess made was correct, the stake was not 

forfeited and the wad of rice was won for circulation by the other 

team. 

Outside some older men played Sya Kin Mu (Tiger Eats 

Pig) on a board of sixteen sqnares indistinctly painted in white 

on the back of a rice tray. Four tigers and twelve pigs were indicated 

by two sizes of stieks. The tigers were placed in the 

2, There was disagreement in the village about the correct 

name for this game. Some players said the game was called Khaaw 

Cam; others said it was called Tob Khaaw.

A FUNEilAL IN YANG 1'ERNG, CHANGWA'r UBOL, NORTHEAST THAiLAND 77 

four corner squar•es and two pigs wet•e placed in squares chosen 

by the pig player; the tiger made the first move. A tiger ate a 

pig by "jumping" it, as in checkers, and, again as in checkers, 

jumping was only possible when there was an empty square im. 

mediately beyond a pig. The game ended either when all the 

pigs had been eaten or when the pigs had boxed the tigers so 

that they could not move. 

Yes, Tiger-Eats-Pig may be played at other times. No, Khaaw 

Cam is played only at wakes. 

'l'here was conversation out on the veranda, shouting by 

the game players, some drinking, aml a small gathering of people 

in the compound in front of the house. Children were lying in 

corners sleeping fitful1y. Not far away someone was playing a 

mandolin. It is the custom in the village to lreep the family of 

the deceased company during the period immediately after death, 

to play and to chat in their house through the night so that they 

will not be sad or unhappy-and perhaps, too, so that they will 

not be terrified by the spirits. 

'fhe ablJot and two assistants arrived shortly before ten 

o'clock that first night to chant for a time behind the dead man's 

red silk tent. Khanw Cam, being played to the praying priests' 

immeuiate right, continued with vigor, aud no one ontside paid 

much attention to the recitation either. 

Next morning the casket, X-shapecl and hol1ow, was made 

from rough boards itnd covered on the outside with two 1dnds of 

paper; there were huge pink roses set among very bright green 

leaves on a white backgronnd, and geometric patterns, in violet 

and darl{ blue, on a pink bacltgrouncl. 'l'he upper part of the 

casket was separated from the lower pa1•t by a gl'ill of lashed 

bamboos on which the lJody, still wrapped in the blanket and 

still resting on the mattress and mat, was laid. 'l'he casket, now 

containing the body, was put inside the house at the place where 

the pnp tent had been. A common gable roof ft·ame of split 

bamboo, consisting of tie beams, principal rafters, a ridge piece, 

and pole plates, was made and set atop the casket, and this frame 

was draped with the length of red silk.


Outside on the veranda and in the yard games and con" 

versations continued. Cards had replaced Khaaw Cam, but Tiger 

Eats-Pig was still being played with enthusiasm. Chewing betel 

nnt and smoking, those people not playing or conversing squatted 

'on their haunches 01' sat on the groUnd killing time until three 

o'clock in the afternoon, the time when the spirit of the dead 

man would be ready to come down out of his house and be carried, 

as his body would be, to the forest to join all the other spirits 

of the dead. 

It doesn't matter who carries the coffin and body from the 

house. 

No, it doesn't matter which end of the coffin is carried out first. 

But when the dead man is in the coffin and the coffin is on the 

ox cart being pulled to the forest, his feet must go first. 

Early in the afternoon the ox cart that would carry the 

coffin to the cremation grounds was pushed up to the compound 

entrance and left there. After lunch the eldest daughter of the 

dead man had roasted rice in an earthenware pot over an open 

fire. 'rhis would be strewn about the single room when the co:ffiu 

had been removed from the house to insure that the spirit of the 

dead man did not linger behind. Nai Pan took care of this ritual 

as the funeral procession, led by Nai Pu, started for the forest. 

As the coffin was being removed from the house and 

settled firlml y on the ox cart, the dead man's wife began a high 

wailing and keening that the ritual must then have called for. 

Crouching on the veranda and holding her head in her hands, 

she rocked and screamed wi thont any emotion nnd looked about 

to see that her audible expression of grief was properly appreciated. 

'l'here were mm·mm•s of approval, smiles and grins and 

laughter. She had obviously done her bit, aucl the wailing ceased 

as abruptly as it had started the moment the procession got 

underway. 

Afternoon is the time for taking the dead to the forest for that 

is the time the other spirits also come down to the for-est. Never 

in the morning. No, never at noon. Not at one o'clock or two 

o •clock either. AI ways after three, yes; when there is soft 

sunlight. That is when the spirit of the dead man can be in the 

for-est with the spirits of his dead friends and relatives.

A FUNERAL IN YANG TERNG, CHA.NGWAT UBOL, NORTHEAST THAILAND 79 

Nai Pu, carrying a tin plate that contained a fresh raw 

egg, eight candles (four twice), rol1ed banana leaves which held 

flowers (any kind of flower), and one copper Satang, was out 

in front with the old men of the village. Behind Nai Pu and 

the old men came four novices. 'fhe novices held a length of 

cotton rope that was tied to the long rough rope used to pull the 

cart carrying the coffin. And along the entire length of rough 

rope (about thirty yards), and on each side, were spread the men 

of the village interested in attending the cremation. Four men 

held the cart yoke to keep the cart bed level, and together they 

pulled the cart along. 

On the cart, behinfl the coffin, and shaded by an umbt·ella 

held by his assistant, the Abbot stood reading a text aloud. A 

few young men pushed. the cart from behind. Some old women 

with baskets of water, a mat, and with little bundles of food for 

the spirit of the dead man followed in the rear. Nai Saeng was 

in the rear, too, carrying a coconut. 'l'wo men with axes had 

set out ahead of Nai Pu and the elders to clear the path of any 

protruding roots or low-hanging branches. 

We use candles and flowers and joss sticks at eve1·y ceremony. 

The copper Satang is an extra one to help pay the dead man's 

way to the land of the spirits. Maybe this Satang is burned; 

maybe it is given to the priests. 

The procession wound down the narrow track beside the 

dead man's house, out into the open along the edge of a dried 

and cracked pond bed adjacent to the Wat, down the road deep 

in dust which cut across a corner of the village, and into the 

forest to the west. The forest path. led through an arched tunnel 

fot·med by the branches of the high Yang trees, through scrub, 

and through flat open areas where only dry tufts of grass grew. 

Two ldlometers from the edge of the village was the cremation 

and burial ground. It was marked by many small mounds 

of sand that had been piled over bones; some of the mounds had 

sticks projecting from their centers. Here N ai Pu hacl already 

found the exact place desired by the spirit of the dead man fo1• 

ct·e:rnation and burial.


As I arrive I look for a good spot. A spot where there are not 

too many mounds already. When I have found a good spot I 

throw the egg. If it breaks, that is the place desired by the 

spirit. If the egg does not break, then I must look for another 

place and throw the egg again. If the spirit does not like a 

place the egg will not break, even if the ground is as hard as a 

stone. 

The egg did not breal{ on the first thro\v and Nai Pu 

picked it up and threw it again just beyond the place he had 

first thought the spirit wanted. The egg broke. 'l'here four 

stakes were driven into the ground and the wood, gathered 

casually by some of the men, was stacked between and about 

these stakes. Not many people helped with the wood gathering; 

most of them sat around under the sparse shade of stunted trees 

or bushes, smoking or chatting. 

The wood should be gathered quickly. We could not hurry 

this afternoon because most of us were .tired after being up all 

night. And it was very hot today. 

When enough wood had been gathered for the pyre, the 

red silk roof was t~tlcen from the coffin and the coffin lifted from 

the ox cart and carried to the pyre. 

'l'he coffin was rammed 

against the stack of wood three times and then lifted to the top 

of this stack. 

Anyone may lift the casket from the cart and put it on the 

pyre; this is a voluntary action. When the casket is pushed 

against the pyre three times you must not count aloud, I don't 

know why this is done; no, I don't know why it is done three 

times. This is the custom. Our fathers and mothers taught 

us to do it in this way. 

Climbing to the top of the pyre Nai Pu and. another man, 

each standing on one side of the open casket, untied the wrap. 

pings around the corpse and tossed out the blanket, the mattress, 

the pillow, and the mat. 'rhese were left at the sides of the pyre 

and eventually burned. 

Milk of a coconut was poured over the 

corpse, soaking the clothes and dripping through the bamboo 

grill onto the wood below. 

This was followed by a waterproofed

A FUNEHAL IN YANG TEHNG, CHANGWAT UBOL, NORTHEAST THAILAND 81 

bnsket of scented waters that was als

, 


to where the coconut had been set on the ground, and, with one 

swift downward swing of the stick, hit the coconut squarely. 

The game, played only by the men, continued while the flames 

consumed the body of the dead man; the game continued until 

the players got tired or bored and wandered off home. There 

were five winners among all the participants that afternoon. For 

hitting the coconut once you were awarded one Satang by the 

family of the dead man; if yon hit the coconut four times you 

were awarded one Baht. It seemed that yon could have as rnauy 

tries as you liked. Nai Bua won a Baht. 

This game is necessary to keep the people happy and amused. 

If they did not play this game they would become sad sitting 

watching the fire thinking about death. We always play this 

game when we cremate. 

The amount of money given for prizes depeuds on how rich a 

family is. 

A few people, Nai Pn among them, stayed to watch the 

fire to see that the maximum amount of destruction was got out 

of this first burning. When someone announeecl that the head 

was not burning properly and Nai Pu had confirmed this by 

taldng a close look, he sent his assistant with a long pole to poke 

the head down into the glowing heat of the flames. Shortly 

after this everyone went horne. 

That night games were played again and people came to 

visit all through the night at the dead mn.n's house. This continued 

for two nights more. 

Altogether, four nights. The games are played every night. 

Both games are necessary. Yes, sometimes we play cards and 

other games, but these are not necessary. 

The next morning, and for a total of three mornings, 

someone from the dead man's family went to the cremation ground 

with food for the spirit of the dead man and continued the bn 1· 

ning of the body. On the third day a priest went with the family. 

The bones were collected and put into a now pot. A hole 

was dug in the burned area and the excavated dirt formed into 

a mound resembling the shape of n man's bocly, the head pointing 

to the east. 'l'his they called Uay Hun. The pot was placed on

A FUNl\HAL IN YANf: TERNG, Cl!ANGWAT UBOL, NORTHEAST THAILAND 83 

that part of the monnd corresponding to a man's chest and, while 

the prieHt chantell, scented water was poured into the pot to wash 

the bones, 'l'hen the top of the pot was covered with the cloth 

that had been used to cover the man's face while he was lying 

in state. 'l'his had not been burned, but had been hung on a tree 

near the et·emntion pyre. It was fastened about the brim with 

cc•tton th rPad and a long tail of thread was left for the priest to 

hulcl as he ehnntetl. 

Sometimes a spirit does not know he has died. He has not been 

paying attention. He will stay with the bones for three days. 

On the morning of the fourth day a hole was lmocked in 

tho bottom of the pot to drain away the scented water; the pot 

was put into the hole that had been dug in the ground; the dirt 

fignre was b1•ol

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NOTE ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL. SURVEY AND EXCAVATIONS 

IN NORTH-EASTERN THAILAND IN 1959 

by 

ff./J. c.Boeles 

Aerial photographs show evidence of the existence in 

North-Eastern Thailand of more than 200 sites of deserted towns 

and sanctuaries; many of these have not yet been surveyed. Important 

progress was made when the Fine Arts Department in 

1959 sent out in the field an expedition group to survey, and 

excavate n number of ancient monuments in that area, mainly 

l1elonging to the cnltnre of the Khmer. 

rrhe results of this work are now available in an official 

publication in Thai ancl in Eng1ish: 

Plan and Report of THE SURVEY AND EXCAVATIONS OF 

ANCIENT MONUMENTS in North-Eastern Thailand. 1959. 

• The Fine Arts Department, Bangkok, 1960; 79 p. English. 

Baht 30.- 

This splendiu work contains a short description of 34 

monuments surveyed in the changvat.s (provinces) Nukhon Ratcha 

Sima, Bnl'iram and Ohaiyaphoom in North-Eastern Thailand. Pictorial 

evidence is presented in 78 very clear illustrations and 24 

plans as well as in one large area map. The aim of the survey 

and the scope of the work has been clearly defined and operations 

were carried ont accordingly in the dry season of 1959. It is 

evident from the report that the most important w01•k has been 

done in the excavations at Pt•asat Hin Non Kn, and Prasat Hin 

Muang Khaek, 'l'ambol Korat, Amphoe Soong Noen, Ohangvat 

Nakhon Ratcha Sima. 'l'he sites of these two small Khme1• 

sanctuaries are easily accessible from the Fl'iendship Highway 

between Saraburi and Korat ( Nakhon Ratcha Sima), a distance 

of 228 lou. from Bangkolc 'rhe Research Center of the Siam 

Society has made the trip several times in the dry season, easily 

within one day. 'l'he report states that it is not \lll1i1{e1y that

86 J,J, Boeles 

in this area of the Province of Nakhon Ratcha Sima, near the 

Dongrak range, there existed once the old Mahidharapnra, ruled 

by a king called Hira~1yavarman. He was the ancestor of the 

royal dynasty that governed Cambodia from 1082 to about li357. 

( p. 63 ). 

Archaeologists will greatly welcome this new publication 

because almost the only literature on the area snt·veyed is to be 

found in the inventories of Aymonier and Lunet de Lajonquiere, 

published some 50 years !lgo.l 'l'he report nlso records megalithic 

sites "I-Iin 'l'ang" at Muang Sema and the old town of Ohaiyaphoom. 

A number of new inscriptions are reported. Evidence 

of contact with China is represented in the find of a white glazed 

Chinese bowl of early Snng period (fig. 75) from Muang Khaek. 

Dming the excavations at Prasat Bin Non Kn and Muang Khaek 

it came to light that at least some of the doors and windows were 

closed by layers of coarse bricks that had no constructional purpose. 

It seems to us as if these bricJ,s were pnt there in a hurry. The 

report does not mention this feature. A possible explanation, 

verbally suggested by Professor Feroci of the Fine At'ts Department 

is that it seems that at one time the sanctuary was closed 

de1iberately, may be by people of different religion. We noticed 

a similar development with regard to the main prasat at Tap 

Siem, Amphoe Aranya Prades, Ohangvat Prachinburi, during a 

field investigation. The images found during the excavations 

are temporarily housed in the Amphoe office at Soong Noen. 

Points of iconography. 

Prasat Hin Non Ku. 

In front of the Eastern gate two stone torsos were found 

fig. 49 and 50, representing standing deities with bent knees as 

in a dancing position. It also signifies the kl'odha or angry aspect 

of the deity. Fig ·19 seems to show a female deity with raised skirt 

on the right side as a result of a swirling dance. The breasts 

are broken off. 'rhe left arm hangs down; the hand is gone. 

'I'he right hand is raised and displays clearly a vitarlca mud1'a

Ntrn: ON AHCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND EXCAVATIONS 87 

with thumb and index; tho other fingers are spread. The male 

deity of fig. !'>0 nssnrues a similar position with both hands displaying 

the vita'l'lw mudni. His male character is established 

by the double anchor garment slip hanging between his legs. It 

seems thnt the middle of the three stone heads of fig. 59 fits the 

stone torsos ( p. 77) rather well. Those heads show no lcrodha 

aspect. Nevertheless there is sufficient evidence to identify 

these torsos as a (laldni (fig. 49) and rJalca (fig. 50). They are 

indispensable deities in tantric Bndclhism as it is known even 

today in Tibet and Napa!. :pakinis have many aspects and are 

amongst other slayers of enemies of Buddhism. These ''terrible 

sisters" destroy ignorance, often personified as Hindu Gods and 

out of skull caps, they drinl>: their blood. Their sacred rites are 

usually performed at night in cemeteries. 

'fhere ifl alflo sufficient evidence to identify the dancing 

"hayad(\res" on the reliefs above the Eastern and Nol'thern gates 

of the rru.tin praaat of Phimai, as ~lalcinis, though that name is not 

encountered in Khmer inscriptions. The male aspect, called 

fl:alca is unnsnal in Thailand, but his characterics in combintttion 

with the dalcini sufficiently warrants that nume. There are no 

other statues found at; Non Ku. Based ou these two torsos found 

outside the sanctuary itself it seems that it is permissable to 

rccognh1e a Buddhist tantric character in the monument. We 

would not venture to mention a date in view of the crude character 

of the sculpture. 

Prasat Hin Muang K.hael;:. 

This sanctuary is dedicated to ~iva; his Z?:i!ua was 

found outside the sanctnrwy. The most import,ant scnlptnre 

is a stone relief that represents the scene of Dnrga as mahi~asurama1·dini. 

(:Fig. 65 ). This consort of Siva, in her angry nspect 

called Durg§., slays the demon ( ft81-t'/"a ), disguised as a bntralo. 

'l'he story is related in the markm~~eya pul'ill,ll\j the ultimate


significance is the victory of good ovet• evil.2 

It seems that 

there are presently only two statues found in 'l'hailand representing 

the dttr(Jilmahi~aswmmardini episode. 

This one from Mnang Khaek of fig. G5, where Dnrga is 

standing on the bacl{ of the animal and a much earliet· one in a 

private collection in B~mgko1{, 

head of the mahi~a. 

sculptures from Southern India.3 

where Dnrga is standing on the 

The latter type is well lmown in Pallava 

'l.'he type of fig. 65 has been 

remarl;:ably popular in Indonesia, where more than a hundred 

stone statues of that type are known.4 

National Museum in Bang1rok. 

Durga of fig. 65 from the report. 

One of these is in the 

Onr fig. 1 gives a close-up of the 

It shows the deity standing 

with bent knees ( krodha aspect) on the back of the subdued buffalo. 

Dnrgii, has four arms. 

The raised upper right hand seems 

to hold the wheel or calera; tbe lower right hand holds a lance 

that could have been a trident or t?'isula. 

The attribute in the 

upper left hand is unclear; the lower left hand pulls the tail of 

the buffalo which at the same time seems to serve as vehicle or 

vahana of Durga.5 

Prasat Hin Khok Prasat. 

Her f~we is peacefuL 

Amphoe Nang Rong, Changvat Buriram. · Fig. 38 shows a 

seated crosslegged deity in stone on a crudely executed lotus 

cushion. The two armed deity is wearing a crown. The attention 

is focussed on the two hands held before the body. 

The right 

haud is holding a five pointed thunderbolt or vafm and the left 

hand holds a vajra marked ghary,{a or bell, placed on the body, or 

rather on the navel. 

It seems that we have no other choice 

than to identify thi.s statue ns Vajt·aclhara, the supreme Bnddha in 

one fiSpect of tantric Buddhism. Sometimes also called Adi Buddha. 

The encounter of Vajradha1·a in a sanctuary in the province of 

Burit·am shows more light. on the development of the vaj1·ayana

Fig. 1. 

Durga as Mahi{asuramardini: Prasat Hin Muang Khaek. Central section of lintel. 

Phoco ~· J.J. Bodes

NOTE ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND EXCAVATIONS 89 

in Thailand at the end of the 12th. century. The date engraved 

on a bronze found in the vicinity is A.D. 1193 (p. 71). The four 

armed seated stone deity of fig. 39 was found together with the 

Vajradhara of fig. 38. The top right band is holding a rosary, 

the principal right hand displays the vam mudra on the right 

knee. 'rhe top left hand is most likely holding a conch shell, 

the principal left hand rests on the left knee and is holding an 

attribute resembling a stalk of a tlower or lotus. The tentative 

identification by the Department of Fine Arts with Avaloldtesvara, 

is not clarified. 

tion. 

This concludes a rapid review of this important publica~ 

The lead.er of this team of scientists of the Pine Arts Department 

who made this publication a reality, is the Director 

General, Nai Dhanit Yupho. His enthusiasm and enormous drive 

has inspired those who carried out the excavations and prepared 

this report. They are in the first place Nai Manit Vallibhotama, 

Chief Curator and leader of the expedition group, Nai Chu.mras 

Kietlwng, Chief of the Survey section of the Archaeological division 

an


NOTES 

1 ) E. Aymonier, 1900- 1903; Le Cambodge. 3 voli3. Paris. 

G. Ooedes. Index Alphabetique pou.r "Le Oambodge" de M. 

Aymonier·. Bulletin de la Commission Archeolo• 

gique de l'lndochine. Pttris, 1911. p. 85-1G9. 

E. Ltmet de Lajonquiere, 1902, 1907, 1912. Inventa?;?'e Des. 

criptij des Monttrnents du Oambodge. :3 Vols. Paris. For 

Thailand see Vol. II. 

E. Seidenfaden, 1922. Oornpl/Jment a l'Inventaire Descriptij, 

B.E.F.E.O. XXII, 1922, no. 1. 

2) Mal'lcar:~leya pnra~a; 83 English translation by F.E. Pargiter, 

Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta, 1888-1899. 

3) F.D.K. Bosch. 195fl. Remarques sur les injlttences recipr·oques 

de l'iconographie et de ta mythologie indienne. 

Arts Asiatiques, Tome III, fascicule I, 195ti. p. 22-47. 

4:) J.J. Boeles 1942. Het groote Durga beeld te Leiden. Oultnreel 

IudiP, 1942, afl. 2/il. 

5) The Dnrga of fig. 1 is the same figure as represented in the 

sketchy drawing fi g.101 in E. Lnnet de Lajonquiere I nventai?'e, 

Vol. II, p. 305.

NOTE 

PROTOCOL OF THE ROYAL FAMILY 

In a note entitled The Dharmniam Rajatrakul nai Krung 

8ayam, Protocol of the Royal Family by Rama V (JSS XLVII, 2, 

Nov, 1959 ), James N. Mosel wrote that he had "uncovered" some 

interesting facts which indicated that the contents of the King's 

mas. above-named must have been available to two English scholars 

shortly after its composition, namely: E. Gilbert, author of La 

Famille ?'oyale de S1:am in the Bulletin de la societe, academiqtte 

indochinoise (2 6 ser., t. iii, Oct. 1R83) and G.E. Gerini, author of 

Ohulakantaman.gala, or the Tonsure Ceremony as perfor·med in 

Siam. 

It seemed clear to Mosel that Gilbert was following King 

Ohulalongkorn, and that Gerini was following either Gilbert or 

the King. The question of relationship between either authot• 

and his source of information arises. Mosel thinks that between 

Gi \bert and the King there might have been an intermediary; 

and there is also the possibility that both might have worked 

from an unknown third treatise. Both authors were vague 

about theit• sources. Mosel says that his note is intended merely 

to raise the question rather than suggest an answer. I wonder, 

therefore, whether this additional note of mine may not supply 

something of a clue. 

Not very long ago, perhaps in 1957, when applying for 

some materia 1 for publication as a dedication, I was offered the 

mss. of the above-named title. This consisted of 47 typewritten 

folio pages. I was informed that they formed part of a volurni· 

nous collection of papers from the private library of the late 

Prince Krompraya Devawongs with whom King Ohulalongkorn 

was in the habit of sharing his writings. From what I lmow of 

His late Royal Highness, he would not have been likely to let 

private papers of the King be utilized for writing by others, 

especially when they had not been published. I would rule out 

therefore the possibility of Gilbert obtaining such firsthand right

92 Prince Dhani 

to make use of these notes, for Gilbert seems to have been an 

unknown Frenchman. Gerini on the other hand, being an aclmowledged 

savant and an acquaintance of the Royal Family, might 

have been permit,ted to quote the notes of the King. 

Judging from its style and the knowledge it contains of 

the protocol of the Ro:yal Family with its successive changes and 

development up to the time of King Ohulalongkorn, the treatise 

could not have had any ot,her author but King Ohulalongkorn. 

The problem is his purpose in writing. He might of course want 

to commit to memory what there was of the protocol; he might 

also have intended to write for publication. It is a well-known 

fact that the King wrote several articles for the Vajiraniin Magazine 

on traditions and usages. The Magazine did not however 

make an appearance till 1884, six years after this treatise was 

written in 1878. In any case on examining back numbers of the 

Magazine one finds that this article never found its way into it. 

As for the "third treatise" suggested by Mosel, I am not inclined 

to believe its existence. Mosel himself seems inclined to believe 

that the King was the source of information for either of these 

authors. 

Not having seen what was written by Gilbert although 

Mosel thinks it was similar to the King's treatise, I would not 

care to decide what the source of his information on this subject 

might have been. For Gerini, on the other hand there is every 

likelihood that he relied on the King's treatise. 

In any case Mosel's note is a proof of the growing interest 

in things Siamese among our foreign public and is to be 

welcomed on that account. 

Bangkok, 15 Nouembe'r 1960 

CJJhani

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT 

THE SIAM SOCIETY RESEARCH CENTER 

Year : 1st October 1959 

30th September 1960 

1. Establishment of The Siam Society Research Center. 

The Research Center became established upon notification 

of the President of the Siam Society to the Treasurer of the 

Ford :Foundation in New York City, N.Y. by letter dated September 

30, 1959. 

2. Program of activities of the Research Center. 

A program of proposed activities of the Research Center 

as basis of operation is containecl in the memorandum attached 

to the letter of the President of The Siam Society to the Director 

International Training and Research Program dated 13 October, 

1958. 

3. Budget. US $ 25,000 - for 3 years. 

it 

The Research Center operates on a grant of the· Fot•d 

Foundation of U.S. $ 25,000 .• payable in 3 annual instalments of 

each US $ 8,500. - . 

The first instalment was received in November 1959. 

The administration of the funds thus received is the responsibility 

of the Hon. •rreasnrer of the Siam Society, who obtains 

authorization of spending from the Committee of The Siam Society 

Research Center. 

For the first financial year of the Research Center, the 

Hon. Treasurer has prepared a statement of account for consideration 

by the Ford Foundation. 

From the statement it appeal·a 

that the funds of the first instalment have been fully utilized 

and spent.

94 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT 

The breakdown of the approved Budget for one year is: 

us$ 

Salaries : 

Director } 

Librarian/office manager 

Research Fellowships 

Library Acquisitions 

General Operating Expenses 

First instalment received 

4,200.- 

2,200.- 

1,000.- 

1,100.- 

us$ 8,500.- 

For comparison with the actnal figures spent, reference 

is made to the financial statement of the Hon. 'freasurer of The 

Siam Society, submitted separately. 

4. Committee. 

'!'he Research Center is governed by a Committee of which 

the members have been elected by the Council of the Siam Society 

and which Committee per 30th. September 1960 was composed of 

the following members: 

Committee 

H.H. Prince Prem Purachatra, 

~.S.H. Prince Ajavadis Diskul, 

H.E. Monsieur Ebbe Munck, 

Mr. Jorgen Holm, 

Mr. Kenneth Mac Cormac, 

Dr. Lauriston Sharp (Cornell), 

Mr. J.J. Boeles, Director 

Chairman 

Deputy Chairman 

Member 

Member 

Member 

Member in absence 

Secretary, non-member. 

The committee held its first official meeting on ·February 

9th. 1960 and has since been meeting regularly at least once a 

month. In total, nine meetings were held and proper minutes, 

approved by the committee, are being kept in the minute book of 

the Research Center. The Chairman of the Research Center reports 

once a month to the Council of the Siam Society on the 

activities of the Center. All Committee members t•esiding in 

Thailand and the Director of the Center, are also members of the 

Council of the Siam Society.

5, Personnel. 

FlRST ANNUAL REP01l1' 95 

The staff paid by the Research Center existed per 30. 9. 1960 of: 

Name 

Mr. J.J. Boeles 

Mrs. Chncheep 

Thiarabongs Boyle 

Nat. 

Dutch 

Thai 

Engaged on: Function 

30. 9. 59 Director 

1. 5. 60 Librarian 

Office Manager 

Personal income tax is paid monthly by the Center and 

deducted from staff's salary in accordance with the requirements 

of the Revenue Code. 

6. Facilities Research Center and Library. 

Formerly the Library of The Siam Society was open to 

members in the evening only during weekdays from 5.30-7.00 p.m· 

Now the Research Center and the Library are open on 

weekdays: 

9.00 

14.00 

17.30 

12.00 

16.30 

19.00 

including 

except 

except 

Saturday 

Saturday 

Saturday 

A telephone was installed. No. 57401. The Center's P.O. 

Box is 9GO. One additional typewriter (Underwood) was bought. 

The librarian requires most of her time to bring the library 

in tip-top shape. A great number of books had no index 

cards at nll. A considerable amount of binding and rebinding 

of bool's and periodicals has to be done. For this specific purpose 

'fhe Siam Society has allocated from her own funds Baht 10,000.- 

for 12 months. 

As it is considered that the librarian's work should proceed 

ns speedily as possible, the Dit•ector takes care of all office 

correspondence and billing of sales. 

7. Rehabilitation of the Library. 

The Center's main task is the rehabilitation of the Siam 

Society's library. Many essential books dealing with this country 

have disappeared from the library and it is in many cases most 

difficult to fill these gaps.

g6 

FIRST ANNUAL iiEPOR'l' 

The Center is of the opinion that it is essential to aim at a 

library containing the basic material with reference to Thailand 

and neighbouring countries. 'l'he books of which this material 

consists, are the tools without which no proper scientific research 

on 'l'hailand will be possible for scholars and students who will 

use the Research Center. 

For this purpose want lists are prepared from catalogues 

received from many international sources of supply. At the same 

time lists are made for those new books for the Library to be 

purchased locally and abroad. 'l'hese lists are submitted for 

app1·oval by the committee once a month. In this way the total 

allotment of US $ 1,000.- has been spent on library acquisitions. 

'l'he new acquisition are circularized to members for their information. 

'l'he Center also supervises the steady flow of Exchange 

publications with some 84 institutions. 

8. International distribution of the Society's publications. 

International distribution of the Journal of the Siam 

Society and of the Natural History Bulletin is mainly effected 

through exchange arrangements. Apart from these periodicals 

the Society possesses 8 volumes of photo mechanical reprints of 

arhcles which have appeared in the Journals of the previous 50 

years. 

These reprint volumes were produced and presented to 

the Society by courtesy of the U.S. I. S. in Bangkok through her 

printing establishment in Manila. 'fhe sale of these volumes 

has now become an important source of income to the Society. 

Furthermore in order to arrive at a systematic distribution and 

sale of these reprint volumes on an international scale, the Center 

has arranged for snch an international distribution through the 

house of Nijhoff, the Hague. 1.'hese publishers for their own 

account have printed some 10,000 special leaflets to publicize these 

publications through their international organisation. Moreover, 

they will have now received on consigment 1,500 publications of the 

Society, mainly reprint volumes. More interest for the Society's

FIRST ANNUAL REPOHT 97 

."Jonrnal and Natural History Bulletin is now shown abroad 

t h rongh sales of subscriptions on these periodica Is. 

9. Research Projects. 

Under approved poliqies formulated throngh the Com. 

mittee, the Research Center, dnring the first year has er Mom:ieur Ebbe :Muncl


The object of the first stage of the expedition is a fleld 

investigation of the area and selection of those sites which are 

to be excavated during the dry season one year later. The team 

of scientists is constituted as follows: 

Leade1': D1•. Eigil Nielsen Mineralogical Museum, Copenhagen; 

Palaeontologist 

Per Sorensen M.A. National Museum, Copenhagen; 

Prehistorian 

H.R. VanHeelteren State Museum for Ethnology, Lei den; 

Prehistorian 

Nai Chin Yon-di Fine Arts Department, Bangkok; 

Chief of Pre-History Division 

The participants from Denmark will arrive in Bangkok 

on October 25th. 1960. The Thai-Danish Prehist.oric Expedition 

operates under the auspices of the Siam Society Research Center. 

It is encouraging to be able to l'ecord that this international 

and major scientific research project in Thailand-mainly 

financed from ontsiue sources-has materialized within the first 

year of operations of the Research Center. 

b. Library Project. 

With t.he incrE'ased activities of the Researeh Center it is 

felt that the present facility in the Society's home is no longer 

to be considered adequate. 'rhere is no space to hold the new 

acquisitions of the librat•y, neither is there proper room for the 

Research Center; there is no storage place for the Society's own 

publications. In actual fact the Society's home is mainly suitable 

as a lectu1·e hall. 

For this reason the Center has made plans for a separate 

Jibrn.ry building, to contain also proper facilities for the Research 

Center. By courtesy of Messrs. Cbristiani & Nielsen, Bangkoh·, 

initial drawing have been pJ•epared; it is fortunate that the 

Society's premises provide ample space for such a new buildinggrollhd 

level- of which the cost is estimated at US $ 25,000.-. 

As the Society bas no funds to finance such a building, plans 

are in preparation to solicit contributions from abroad.

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT 99 

c. Field research into the iconography of Khmer sanctuaries in 

Thailand. 

This research is conducted by the Director in the interior; 

usually with a research team. In total, 9 research trips were 

made to Kinner antiquities in the following provinces (cbangvat): 

November 1959 Ohangvat Prachinburi 

December 1959 

Surind1• 

January 1960 , 

" 

Srisal(eS 

.January 1960 ,, Bnl'irum 

February 1960 , Phimai 

Mareh 19GO 

Sukhothai ) 

" 

Apl"il 1960 , KarubaengPet ) 9 days 

Utaradit ) Seminar 

" 

,, Pi tsanuloke ) 

(rainy season) 

August 1960 

Phimai 

" 

September 1960 ,, Ayudhia 

'l'hese trips were made in close cooperation with the Fine 

Al"ts Department and from which Department all.out assistance 

was received. 

One of the immediate reeults of these field trips was a 

report from the Re~ea1•ch Center to the President of the Council 

of Ministers, submitted through the Director-General of the Fine 

Arts Department. with his approval. The rf'port, snpported by 

photographic evidence, drew attention to the fact that many of 

these Khmet• sanctuades, usally 800-900 years old, are being 

desecrated by an increasing number of Thai tourists, who scratch 

their names on the walls of these National Monuments, :Moreover 

heads from relief sculptures are being chopped of by vandals. 

'£he Fine Arts Department bas inH1fficient funds to properly 

guard the gt•eat many monuments under their care. 

'fhe report was very well received and the Prime M it1ister 

acted almost at once by press and radio to prevent further desecration, 

whilst also the chiltlren at school are now being educated 

to help to preserve the national treasures.


Anothel' direct result of these field trips is contained in 

the first Siam Society Research Center Study pnhlished in the 

Journal of the Siam Society VoL XLVIII, pt. 1 (.June 1960) under 

the title: '' rrwo aspects of Buddhist iconog1·aphy in 'l'haila.nd" 

by J. J. Boeles. 

The cost to the Center for these field trips was Baht 

4,270.G:3 or about US $ 200.- in total. 

d. Training in Cliiengmai of students in Northern Thai Epigraphy. 

The Center is assisting in financing a project of training 

young Thai students in the epigraphy of Northern Thai inscrip. 

tions, on stone and on palm-leaves. 

'l'he training is done intensively 

ni1der the supervision of Nai Kraisri Nimmanhaemin,banker, 

historian and epigraphist in Cheingrnai. Presently, three students 

are trained at Baht 1,000.- in total per one month. 

e. Research into the Western cartography on Siam. 

The object of this research project is: To collect e:xist.ing 

material of Western cartography on Siam as hom Ptolowaens 

and \Yith special emphasis on the Ayndhian period. 

To collect sources of such material, make photo copies of 

existing maps; purchase of original maps on a very l'nodPRt sc!ale: 

prepare mi inventory. 

The project is run by Mr. John Black, corresponding 

meml~er of the Society in England. Several original maps of the 

18th. and 19th. Oent.ury have now been purchased, as well as 

literature on the same subject: 

Ol'iginalmaps are being bonght 

on. a large scale by private collectors in the West; therefore it is 

a matter of urgency to obtain at least phot.o copies of these. lllaps, 

before they disappear. 

This completes the activities of the Center in the. field of 

Research. Pending the arrival of the funds of tlw second instalment. 

of the grant, no new projects have been submitted to the 

Committee for consideration.

Policy for the second year of operations. 

FIRST ANN{)AL REPORT 101 

In continuation of the adopted policy of operation for the 

first year it is the aim of the Research Ornter for the second 

year to concentrate efforts specially on: 

1. Rehabi)itation of the Library. 

2. Improvement of the international distributions of sales 

of the Society's publications, including the .Journal and 

the Natura.l History Bulletin. 

n. Foundation of contactH with scholarly institutions nncl 

seholat·s in the same field abroad, 

4-. Development of ResE'arch projects. 

Conclusion. 

When evaluating the r~::port of the activities of the Reseal·ch 

Ornter for the first yr.ttr it should be considered that 

spect.acnlar resnlts could not be expected to materialize within 

the ildtial 12 months of ope1·ations. 

These operatiOlJS of the Oeuter had to be started almost 

from sct•atch. 'l'his effort has required much more tlum the 

agreed min imn111 of one third nf the time l1f the Dil·ector. 

The rc•.snlt of the first ypar's work is showing definitely. 

'I'he uew aetivities resulted in a comriderahle increase of thP 

international sale:; of the Society's publications. 

l

SIAM SOCIETY RESEARCH CENTER 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR PERIOD 1 OCTOBER 1959-30 SEPTEMBER 1960. 

Income 

Grant from Ford :Foundation $8,500 178,925.00 

Interest received S21.31 

179,746.31 

Salaries: 

Expenditure 

Director (incl. tax) 

Librarian (incl. tax) 

Clerk's assistance 

} 71,500.00 

1-.800.00 

Research: 

Director's research 4,270.63 

Epigraphy studies, Chiengmai 5,000.00 

Misc. research work incl. 

contribution of Tcs. 59,550.00 

to Thai-Danish archaeological 

expedition 112.120.00 

Administrative expenses: 

Stationery, typewriter etc. 

Postage and delivery 

Cleaning 

Misc. expenses 

Purchase of books for Hbrary 

Debtors, advances for expenses 

Bank deposit 

5,748.50 

l,C.1S.70 

600.00 

1,195.30 

73,300.00 

71,390.63 

9,162.50 

21,722.25 

2,394.35 

1,776.58 

179,746.31 

Bangkok, October lOth, 1960 

!Jorgen '3folm 

Honorary Treasurer

BOOK REVIEWS 

H. G. Quaritch Wales, Prehistory and ReUgion in So·ttth-EcMt Asia 

Bernard Qnaritch, Ltd., London, 1957, 180 pages. 

This scholarly probe into the depths of Southeast Asia's 

prehistory and religion is, in a manner, the concluding volume 

of a provocative bLlt stimulating trilogy which Dr. Wales began 

with The Making of Greater India ( 1951) and developed further 

in The Mountain of God ( 1953 ). The first volume reviewed the 

penetration of Indian cultural influences into Southeast Asia and 

the extent of their modification by the resurgence of the local 

genius; the second volume was mainly an elaboration and refinement 

of earlier conclusion concerning the significance of the pre 

Hindu Mega1ithic culture, especially its preoccupation in Southeast 

Asia with the chthonic, life-giving forces of the Earth. The 

present volume now t.races another development in the prehistory 

of Southeast Asia, namely, the shift in religious emphasis from 

Earth to Sky. This departure from the earlier chthonic bias 

towards an onrJ.nic religion, "over and above what was inculcated 

by the Indian sky inflnenees," is attribntrd hy Dr. WalE's toreligions 

icleas which first appeared in Southeast Asia during the 

Bronze Age. 

'l'he trend from Earth to Sky l'E'presents in a sense a return 

to the Palaeolithic past, where the slry, as the only constant in 

the lives of nomadic peoples, gave religion ouranic forms of ex. 

pression, with the All-:Father type of deity exhibiting "an overwhelming 

connection with the slty." This initial outloolt on the 

cosmos had been changed during the Neo1ithie revo\ntion by an 

ent,irely new set of religious responses associated with the newly 

discovered productivity of the soil by peoples who, through the 

discovery of new food-producing techniques, were able to pursue 

the more stationary life of agriculturalists. 

One may snppose,

104 BOOK REVIL':WS 

Dr. Wales suggests, ''that the p1•oductivity of the efHth, eonpled 

with the prior importance hitherto accorded to the sky, quickly 

led to the t•ecognition nE an animitJtic Mother Earth, Father Sky 

couplet." 

In Dr. Wales' view it was not the advent of Hindn cosmological 

ideas alone which late1• gave tho religious life of Sontheast 

Asia a renewed ouranic emphasis. 

More important, or at 

least more fnndnmental, in his view were ir1finences associated 

with the relatively late coming of the Bronze Age to Sout.heast 

Asia. 

The religious views of this Bronze Age cultnre, which 

takes its name from the Annamese village of Dong-s'o11,

BOOK REVIEWS 105 

results of this confrontation of Earth and Sky varied, according 

to Dr. Wales' working hypothesis, with the local genius actuating 

the different peoples of the area. The direction the local genius 

gave to the evolution of Khmer religions development was in 

conformity with its older chthonic pattern; with the religion of 

the Oham it took a primarily Dongsonian, or ouranic character; 

but with the Indo-Javanese religious evolution the operative force 

appears to have been composed of both Older Megalithic and 

Dongsonian elements, with the former, as the older, not coming 

into open resurgence until just prior to the advent of Islam. 

Thus Dr. Wales is led to conclude that "it was preeminently 

the celestial nature of the supreme deity in the religion 

of the Dongsonians that made Mahayana Buddhism more 

acceptable to the Ohams and the Indo-Javanese than to the 

Khmers," For example, in India and wherever there was Indianization, 

Siva has been sufficiently affected by ouranic beliefs 

(as shown by his third eye) to have acquired omniscience. The 

Khmer with their marked tuleric heritage, on the other band, 

preferred Siva in the more chthonic form of the linga; and again, 

the Bodhisattva Lokesvara, as represented by the Khmer on the 

four-faced towers of the Bayou, is not the omniscient central 

deity, but the means by which the chthonic power of the Mahayana 

Buddharaja, whose statue in the likeness of King Jayavarman 

VII was enshrined in the centt·al tower, radiated to the four 

terrestial quarters of the realm. This statue in tum was itself 

"the personalized focus of the chthonically-conceived deity 

whose 'substitute body' was the whole pyramid." 

It was in Champa and Java that the predominantly celestial 

character of the Dongsonian religion gained ascendancy over 

the chthonic basis of the Older Megalithic cultnre. The original 

shamanistic trend toward a supreme, omniscient sky deity

106 BOOK REVIEWS 

gradually acquired some of the forms of Hinduism and Mahayana 

Buddhism through that peculiar religious syncretism which has 

been so characteristic of Southeast Asia, and eventually lost its 

identity in Indonesia with the corning of Islam. Possible 

modification of the chthonic ideas of the KhmEn' by Dongsonian 

influences (as happened in Champa and Indonesia) was forestalled 

in Cambodia by the popular acceptance of Theravada Buddhism. 

The interaction of the Older Megalithic and Bronze Age 

cultures and their varied responses to the introduction of the 

more sophisticated and formalized religions ideas of India in 

historical times have served to confuse the cultural history of 

Southeast Asia to such a degree that there is still far from 

general agreement among scholars in their analysis and interpretation 

of these complicated developments. It is not surprising, 

therefore, that many of Dr. Wales' views have been vigorously 

challenged. Accordingly, much of his book is in the nature of 

an equally spirited rejoinder to his critics. Even though many 

of the conclusions reached by Dr. Wales have not received 

general acceptance, he has nevertheless presented a considerable 

body of weighty evidence in support of his position. Moreover, 

the courageous manner in which he has been willing to depart 

from the more deeply worn ruts of academic speculation and 

conjecture, together with his readiness to revise or modify his 

views in the light of fresh evidence, give a validity to his worlr 

which cannot be brushed lightly aside and should provide in. 

spiration ancl encouragement for renewed efforts to unravel the 

confused story of Southeast Asia's cultural evolution. 

Clharles 9Velson c$pinl?ts

nooK REVIEWS 

Jane Gaston Mahler, The Westerners Among the Figu1·ines of the 

T'ang Dynasty of Ohina, Instituto Italiano per il media ed estramo 

Oriente, Roma, 1959. 192 pages, ·12 plates. 

China in the 'l"ang dynasty (610-906 A.D.) was truly the 

"Middle Kingdom," the center of the civilized world. There were 

nations elsewhere of economic and cultural importance but n011e 

was as powerful and prosperous, or as creative and sophisticated 

as China at this time. 

Her power and influence extended far beyond her own 

borders. Certain areas of Afghanistan and Northwest India were 

classed as protectorates, and garrison towns were established 

throughout Central Asia. China maintained supremacy in these 

outlying districts by a balanced mixture of diplomacy and military 

force, protecting the weak and dividing the strong to prevent 

them from forming dangerous alliances. One of the main 

objectives of this policy was to keep the trade routes to the West 

open and reasonably safe. From India, one could go over the 

Khyber Pass and follow the southern route through Kashgar, 

Khotan, Miran, Tun- huang. From present Russian Samat·kand 

and 'l'ashkent, the northern route went through Qizil, Kucha, 

'l'urfan. Both roads led ·bo Oh'ang-an, the capital of T'ang China. 

It must have been a colorful crowd that poured into the 

city: foreign ambassadors bearing gifts or tribute, sharp businessmen 

from small kingdoms who frequently operated under selfappointed 

embassy status to gain better trade benefits, ordinary 

peddlers, craftsmen, refugees, and Buddhist pilgrims. Thousands 

of these foreigners-Greeks, Syrians, Persians, Arabs, Indians, 

Central Asians, and Southeast Asians- came into Oh'ang-an and 

they made it a thoroughly cosmopolitan city. Usually these aliens 

lived in special districts where they were granted extra-territorial 

privileges of customs and religion. The city was a noted center 

of Buddhist scholarship, lmt with true Buddhist tolerance. Nestorians, 

Manicheans, Moslems, Hindus and Zoroastrians were permitted 

to practice their own form of worship. 

'rhe Chinese may have been blandly sure of their own 

superiority but they were, nevertheless, fascinated by the 

io7

108 !lOOK REViEWS 

foreigners. Any alien item that was valuable or amusing was 

freely adopted, and the aliens themselves were deftly portrayed 

in small statuettes. These clay figurines of dancers, musicians; 

wine merchants, horsegrooms, guards, etc., were as colorful a 

part of the miniature retinue put into a tomb as they must have 

been in the real life of Ch'ang-an. 

It would be easy to romanticize this era, or to find its 

richness and varie.ty almost indigestible, but Jane Gaston Mahler 

has taken the only possible road for a scholar. She has isolated 

one ingredient of the T'ang civilization; the foreigners as );lor~ 

trayed in funerary figurines; and has treated that subject with 

both depth and breadth. 

A look at the table of contents will give an idea or the 

detailed information on each group of Westerners treated in the 

first chapter. For example, under the heading of "Western Turks 

and theil• Vassals" are the following sub-divisions: Early History, 

Olash with the White Huns, Division of the 'l'urks, Alliance with 

China, Descl'iption of the Land and People by Hsuan-tsang, Men 

with Braided Hair, Grooms for Horses and Camels, Audience of 

Hsuan.tsang with the Khan, Diplomatic Exchange with China, 

The Sha-T'o Turks. 

The second chapter is a study of Chinese costume in its 

relationship to the figurines. By comparing them to donor portraits 

on dated memorial stales, and by reference to the literature 

of the period, many of the statuettes can be accurately placed 

within the century. Far more than great monuments, these little 

clay figures can reflect the life and the changing fads and fashions 

of the age. One can picture the court ladies of the 7th century 

viewing the exotic costume of the Central Asians and adopting 

the low decolletage and other ideas. By the 8th century this 

fashion was out, and a round neck, long-sleeved blouse and Persian 

stole was the only style considered chic. Men, while more 

conservative than women, also make several changes in the cut of 

their costumes.

BOOK REViEWS 109 

No archeologist regards the fashions of the past as a trivial 

subject because the length of a sleeve on a painted or sculp. 

tured figure can often determine its age, and even its validity. 

'l'he third chapter contains a valuable technical analysis 

of the figurines, the clays and glazes used, the methods of assembly, 

T'ang regulations concerning their use (size and number were 

determined by the rank of the deceased), the composition of a 

typical retinue, etc. There is also a page on the faking of these 

popular objects with the sound advice that even the expert should 

beware of buying an unglazed piece. It may be made from an old 

mould, and of clay from the original 'l"ang site, but have been 

buried for rather less than a thousand years. 

There are also several informative appendixes, charts, 

maps, bibliography and 42 good black~and·white plates of the 

figurines discussed. 

Plates XXIV, c and d, and XXV are identified as dancei' 

and drummer from Southeast Asia. They have curly hair, non .. 

Chinese features, and are wearing heavy jewelry aud a garment 

that seems to be a cross between a dhoti and a pannung. The pose 

and modeling of the body is similar to the Gupta style. Mrs. 

Mahler cautiously identifies them with the K'un-lun people of 

whom there are .. several confusing references in Chinese texts. 

Scholars have not agreed whether the homeland of the K'un-luu 

is Siam-Cambodia, Champa, Indonesia, or the east coast of Africa. 

Mrs. Mahler feels that the closest stylistic connection is with the 

8th century reliefs on the Prarnbanan. One might also look at 

the sculptures of the Tra Kieu style of Champa. 

No doubt, many readers who are told more than they 

wish to know by this book will object to the card file style of 

presentation. It is true that there is more literary grace in the 

quotations than in the author's text, but she is to be congratulated 

on having compiled a worlt which is not only valuable for the 

study of one special type of tomb figul'ines, but which can be used 

as som·ce material in other areas of research on the 'l"ang 

dynasty. 

0lizabeth £yons


Starling, Miss L.: Dawn over Temple Roofs, World Horizons Inc .. 

New York, 1960, 182· pages ill. 

The author has been in the missionary calling from 1909 

to a very recent date; but she reflects much of the thoughts and 

feeling of an older generation of missionaries in these writings. 

Her work was mostly in the north, where, one gathers from her 

writing, the people were made up of a governing class and the 

ignorant and grossly superstitious plebeian class, both of whom 

however were steeped in superstition. And these formed her world 

of the Siamese. "To the peasant, she says, if a tree is nprootei! 

by the wind, it is the act of an enraged pee. An eclipse of the 

moon is the work of a dragon which must be frightened away 

with firecrackers and drums.... Leafy groves are supposed to 

be inhabited by hordes of pees. The early evangelists pitched 

their tents in such groves, but the timid villagers refused to 

assemble there ..." 

Further on she says "All the pees are supposed 

to have been embodied at one time. But for laclr of merit, 

some fail at death to pass into another body. If they have been 

monks, they are fated to haunt temple grotmds and are known 

as "tiger pees of the temple". The pees of departed kings are 

called "tiger pees of the land "and roam the scene of their former 

glories, venting their spleen on the living. Those who die away 

from home, as did Prince Kawilorot, are lmown as "tiger pees of 

the forest" and are doomed forever to wander in the dark jungle. 

She ends up of course "... the missionary came with the message 

of a great Spirit who loves his children and protects them from 

evil." ( pp. 51-53). 'l'his was at least a pt•actical conclusion. 

Though nominally Bnddhists, these people seemed to have been 

more of animists than anything else. They were thus easy to 

convert. 

'l'he hook may be summed up as notes and incidents of 

the working and expe1·ience of a missionary, who spared no effort 

to go about mixing with the peasantry whom she set out to 

save sph·itually according to the missionary tradition perhaps of 

a fot•mer generation. In snell an effo1·t the author spared no per 

SOUl~l inconvenience and wa.s so generous as to udopt more or less


a few of. Lhe converted among them. Her treatment in this book 

is e:ympathetic though perhaps she should have recognised that 

the people of the northern jungles were but a section of the 

Siamese race and their characteristics are not shared by a greater 

number of Siamese. 

Wells, K.E.: Thai Buddhism: its Rites and Activities, second 

edition, Police Press, Bangkok, 1960. 320 pages ill. 

The first edition of this work appeared 21 years ago and 

was duly reviewed by the present reviewer in these pages ( pp. 

55-9. JSS, XXXII, pt. 1, Sept. 1940 ). The impression it then 

gave was good; and, as stated in the preface to this 1960 edition, 

its reprint had been requested by many students, among whom 

the reviewer would like to count himself one because he has been 

entertaining admiration for that first edition for its understanding 

and sympathetic treatment. 

In the second edition under review there are several additions 

mostly in connection with the rites which form one of the 

t;wo aspects of his presentation. 

One would have expected more 

of the second aspect-activities-to be given more detailed consideration. 

Some of the former edition's statements seemed to 

need correction or amplification, such for instance as the Pali 

Buddhist literature of Lannatai of the XVth century and their 

translations in the first reign of the Oakri dynasty towards the 

end of the XVIIIth century; a few other mistakes such as the 

discussion of the inclusion of the term Buddha in the names of 

the first two kings of the same dynasty both of which instances 

were suggested for cor1·ection in the review above-mentioned. 

More, too, might have been said with profit about the increasing 

interest being taken in Buddhist teaching as evidenced by the 

numerous institutions such as the Gana Dharmadan (Institute of 

the Propagation of the Dharma) o£ Jaiya and the numerous Bud. 

dhist and Yonng Buddhist societies all over the Kingdom which 

have been acknowledged by the Siamese public as having done 

much towards sound living.

ilOO.K ttl£VlEWS 113 

To sum up we may say nevertheless that this book in spite 

o£ its 20 years still remains in its second edition the best exposition 

of the Buddhist rites practiced in Siam if not its activities 

and as such remains unchallenged in its unueJ·staucling of the 

subject. 

Artibus Asiae, Vol. XXII, pta. 1-2. 

This special number is dedicated by his collel~gnes and 

pupils to the memory of the late Alfred Salrnony. It consists of 

their writings, among which is the Note on an Indian slab of the 

Pii.la epoch discovered in Ayudhya ( pp. 9-14 ), The stela was 

found among the treasures buried probably by Ring Para,ma. 

rajadhiraj II ( 1424-48) underneath the monument of Wat Raja. 

bl:uua dedicated to his elder brothers who lost their lives in au 

elephant duel. On its front is a gilt haut.reUej of the traditional 

octette of scenes in the life of the Buddha; whilst on the back is 

inscribed the famous couplet often reproduced on monuments 

el·ectecl by Asolm commencing with the words Ye dhamrna hetuppab!Jhava 

.• Ooedes dates it XI or XII centuries. 

Griswold has a short note on two Shan Buddha-images of 

the XVIth century. D.T. Devenura surveys his government's worl{ 

in connection with Ceylon archaeology ( pp. 23-40 ). 

'rhe rest of the number is full of interest, dealing with 

localities outside this country, 

Bangkok, 4 October 1960. 

CJJ. 

Wening, R. and Somm, A.F. : Siam, pays des me,rveilles, with 90 

coloured photogravures by Michael Wolgeusinger, Editions Silva 

Ziirich, 1959, 122 pages quarto. 

'l'ho work was originally w1·itten in German under the 

name of vVttnrlM'bar Siam. 'l'he edition nuder review is a French 

translation and one learns that a third will be issued in English. 

'l'he first impression one obtains is the beauty of its photogravures

114 BOOK l\EVlEWS 

in colour. The choice of subject for photography is not exag~ 

gerated ar!'d really characteristic of the scope of the book. On 

reading the running commentary which touches on all aspects of 

Siamese life, religion, food, geographical sitnation, racial sections, 

language, time-reckoning, elephants, life at Court, monasteries, 

art, drama, music, concluding with modern Siam and politics, etc. 

one obtains a good impression of the information thel'ein contained, 

though a few inaccuracies exist such as in figure 7 where the 

widely familiar theme of the Buddha's temptation by Evil, here 

defectively reproduced thus leading to the mistake in the inscription 

being that of a scene from the Ramalcien. 'l'he commentary 

modestly limits itself to a succession of topics rather than aiming 

at a systematic planning; but it is a wealth of observation which 

is not necessarily high-brow but is intelligent and sympathetic 

all through. 

The most noticeable section of the book is the short preface 

by Wening. A propos of the ties of friendship between the 

two nations, his and ou1'S, arising from the close connection made 

by the Siamese monarchy with the Swiss people, he says: 

... cette sympathie n 'est pas unilaterale ; miJme 

apres un sejour de courte dnree, les Suisses reviennent du 

Siam enthousiasmes. Il y a les mysterieux paysages tropicaux, 

les temples aux lignes harmonienses, le va-et-vient 

des bateaux sur les rivieres et les fl.euves; mais il y n sur. 

tont les Siamois enx-memes, dont l'amabilit6 et !'inalterable 

bienveillance tronvent les chemins de tous les coeurs. 

Les Siamois sent continnellement partes ala bonne hnmeur, 

vis-a-vis des etrangers ils ont tontes les prevenances, ils 

s'oublient eux-merues pout· se mettre au service des antres; 

antant de qualites qui font disparaitre le difference de 

race et preparent la voie a l'amitie eta des rapports tout 

empreints d'estime reciproque! " 

The credit for such sympathies he attributes to our Buddhism, 

thus: 

"Oe penple aime passionement sa religion, et celleci 

l'a amene a un haut degre de civilisation. La tolerance


manifestee par les rois a l'egard des alltres cultes est 

connue depuis longtemps; et cependant, c'est au Siam que 

le Bouddhisme s' est conserve dans la plus g1·ande pnret{l. 

IJa plupart des pays ayant. adopte Ja doctrine de Bonddha 

out garde leurs anciennes croyances, parce qn'i1s n'ont 

pas compris tonte la grandeur et la noblesse de cette 

doctrine." 

In paying credit to the wisdom of mugs Olmlalonglwrn and his 

father Mongkut, he cites the now large circle of friendly states 

who are represented at the King's Court and says : 

"J_,e ton sec et cassant malheureusemen t trop repandu 

dans les colonies est inconnu clans les milieux clirigeants 

du Siam ... " 

and cites, by wny of evidence of the King's liberal viewpoint 

passages from his letter to his sons then being educated in Europe, 

thus: 

"Ne vous imaginez pas que vons ponvez outrager 

les an tres et len r infiiger de mau vais traitements, sons 

pretexte que vous etes mes fils et que vous ne con rez aucnn 

risque... Si -vous commettez nne injustice, voua serez 

punia; le fait que votre p(we est roi ne voua evitera pas 

le chatiment .. .'' 

"Sonvenez-vons continnellement que le roi de 

votre pays n'a pas l'obligation de vona p1·ocnrer des postea 

importanta simplement parceque vons etes des princes 

royaux:.. Lea emplois snperie1•s ex:igent des aptitudes 

speciales ..." 

The author finally sums up in the preface: 

"Que penser d'nn monarqne absolu qui se montre 

aussi excellent pere de famille et un edncateur anssi par. 

fait? Le pays qni possede des ministres formes a une 

no\Jle t1cole a les meillenrs raisons de s'estimer henreux." 

"T'ar la suite, les bonleversements politiques qui 

ont BeCone l'Enrope et l' Amerique n'ont pas epargne le 

Siam. La Monarchic absoln a fait place a nn gouvernement 

constitutionnel, comma celui de 1'Angletene. An.


jourd'hui le pouvoil· legislatif est assure par le Parlement. 

QueUe sera l'influence exercee sur 1e moral du peuple par 

le nouveau regime? Nul ne saurait le dire. Au Siam 

il existe evidernment aussi des milieux se tenant plus ou 

mains a l'ecart dn Bouddhisme; i1 n'en reste pas mains 

que dans son ensemble, le peuple s'efforce de se confirmor 

a la doctrine du maitre et de rester fi.dele a l'heritage 

spirituel et artiatique qui lui est ete transmis d'un genera. 

tion a l'autre." 

" Mais le temps va vite, et le Siam ne neglige rien 

pour prendre dignoment place a ci>te des autres Etats 

civilises. Lorsque les Siamois sont gagnes a une idee, ils 

sont capables de tout." 

What an encouragement indeed. 

complement. 

It is up to us to deserve the 

Birasri, S. and D. Yupo: The Or1:gin and Evolution of 'l'hai M·urals 

etc. with A Oatalogue of Murals in the Silpalcorn Gallery, Sivaporn 

Press, Bangkok, with maps, plans and illustrations, 1959, 55 pages. 

Professor Birasri's learned treatise on the Origin and 

Evolution of 'rhai Murals is a chronological resume of the development 

of Siamese pictorial art as evidenced by murals from the 

earliest specimen thought to have dated from the epoch of Dvaravati, 

inclusive of the ones in the caves of YaHt down through 

the times of Sukhodaya, Ayudhya, Dhonburi and Bangkok, conc1uded 

by an analysis of the technique of old Thai painting. The 

professor het•e enlarges upon his former theory ( cf. JSS XLVII, 

part 2, under Recent Siamese Publications no. 251, pp, 216-7) by 

the statement that the Thai knew the technique of fresco f1·om 

the Chinese who made some murals at Wat Rajabiirna in Ayudhya 

at the beginning of the XVth century but could not use such 

technique on small and very detailed figures. 

Hence the more 

general use of tempora, which involved the application of vege. 

table soh1tions Sp\"lcifically indicated by the Professo~· ( :p, 24 ),

noOK REVIEWS 117 

Then follows an historical and touristic deacription of the 

edifices containing murals of Siam with plans and charts, brought 

up at the end by a catalogue of murals in the Silpakorn Gallery, 

which latter is reproduced in 121 figurea in colours as well aa in 

black and white. 

One may say without exaggeration that both parts of the 

book, each written by the respective authors mentioned make up 

a scientific and artistic handbook of murala. 

Lichfield, Whiting, Browne Associates : 

The Ban(Jlcolc-Dhonburi 

Oity Ptannin(J Pro}ect-Historical Growth-with maps, plans and 

illustrations 17 pages. 

This technical monograph is the first of a series of papers 

being planned by the Banglwk-Dhonbnri Oity Planning Projecta 

joint unde1•taking of the Thai government represented by its 

Ministry of the Interior and the International Oo1•poration Administration 

represented by the United States Operation Mission 

to 'l'hai1 and. 

The volume under review consists of historical sketches 

from 1500 years ago when the Hinduized Mon kingdom of Dvaravati 

dominated the valley of the Ohaopraya river down through 

the days of Ayudhyii. and Dhonburi to Bangkok The presentation 

is carefully made up and is supported all through by old 

mapa (from 1693 A.D.) and reproductions of old prints of the 

:XIX century. More interesting still are the four maps of the 

successive development of the area of the cities of Bangkok and 

Dhonburi. From the one of 1900 when the combined area of the 

two cities was approximately 3,330 acres; to that of 1936 when 

the area spread towards east and north to 10,660 acres; then in 

1953 when it, spread most1y east to cover some 16,490 acres; and 

final1y in 1958 it spread in all clil'ections especially east and 

north to an approximate area of 23,805 acres. 

The historical narration takes its authority from reliable 

(luthorities as dela Lonbere and Pallegoi:x:.


There is also an appendix with interesting details of the 

topography of the Grand Palace in the citadel of Bangkok. Some 

old maps here reproduced are not within the easy reach of 

students and should be valuable in research work. 

Chula Ohakrabongse, H.R.H. Prince: Lords of Life, Alvin Redman, 

Ltd. London, pp. 352, ill, maps. 

Some 22 years ago I started to write down my experiences 

in the service under the sixth and seventh sovereigns of the 

Ohakri Dynasty touching on the work and nature of their paternal 

kingship under the title of K1:ngs I have served. An esteemed 

friend to whom I showed the mss. pointed out tha~, though it 

was planned along the lines of an autobiography, the self became 

obliterated as the narrative proceeded till disappearing altogether 

it ceased to be what it purported to be. It was then decided that 

the work should be revised to take shape of a History of the 

Ohakri Dynasty so that I would not be bothered with trying to 

write an autobiography which seemed a task beyond my inclinations. 

This new idea got under way but the mss. was later lost 

in travelling. It is still my intention to reconstruct this history 

from memory, but time and application failed me and laziness 

took the upper hand. This is, I believe, as much as I care to say 

about myself. 

It is with a great deal of satisfaction, therefore, that I 

welcome the work under review of a younger and abler writer, 

who, without being aware of my conception of that type of a 

monarchy which after all was no less of a democracy than some 

of the modern democracies of the world with the exception that 

it frankly called itself an absolute monarchy, has intelligently 

observed it from a close point of vantage thongh at an age when 

one cannot be expected to realise all its whys and wherefores. 

Now, that the institution is past and gone, an academic interestfor 

no practical purposes-deserves the attention of the historian. 

The author is to be congratulated on securing an introduc. 

tion by Professor Trevor-Roper of Cambridge in which he has 

summed up the characteristics of the book succinctly, thus:

BOOKiREVIEWS 119 

"In the first chapter he will find eighteenth cen• 

tnry Siam placed in its long historical perspective. He 

will see it, as it were, developing out of the past, out of 

itself, out of contact with its immediate neighbours. He 

will learn the terms of its existence, the basis of its 

nineteenth century problems. And he will see the state 

to which it was reduced just before the accession of the 

new dynasty. After a century of anarchy and isolation, 

the ancient capital of Ayndhya hacl been sacked by the 

Burmese, its buildings and records destroyed, its life and 

government and culture dislocated. A successful usurper 

for a time restored order, only to lapse in to whimsical 

megalomania, on one hand unfrocking the clergy by thousands, 

on the other hand seeking, by concentrated private 

devotion, 'to enable himself to fly in the air'. It was a 

palace revolt against this interesting de1·ot which brought 

his most successful general in haste from Cambodia to 

accept the throne and become the first Ohahri ldng. Such 

was the inauspicious beginning of the dynasty which, 

from its new capital of Bangkok, would soon have to face 

the mounting pressure of imperialist Etu·opo throughout 

the Far East. 

Through the rest of the book we can follow the 

fortune of this new dynasty: a dynasty which ruled absolutely, 

taldng its ministers from its own numerous members, 

but which nevertheless first rebuilt and reformed 

the fahdc of the state and then, by understanding the 

realities of power-by study, imitation, adaptation, and 

occasional timely surrender-carried its country independently 

through the nineteenth, the colonial, into the 

twentieth, the ex-colonial century." 

Having thus given the reader the above general idea of 

the book, so succinctly stated, there only remains the following 

reaction of a Siamese reader. 

The survey of the period prior to the rule of the Ohakri 

ldngs has been very well written. A few points need correction. 

One would prefer, for instance, to be more explicit about our 

predecessors in the land, to lay it down without hesitation that

i2o 

BOOK REVIEWS 

the Australasian negroids were followed among others by peopie 

of a Mon Khmer stock, among whom were probably those of the 

state now called Dvii,ravati who had been either the Mon or tho 

Lawii,, Another point is the date of Pimai (p.l9) which has now 

been definitely determined by sav-ants to be within the Classic 

Khmer period and therefore contemporaneous with several of the 

bettet· known ruins such as Angkor Wat. 

Into the debate of 'l'hailand versus Siam as a terminology 

(p. 23) I prefer not to enter save to call to mind that the use of 

the name Siam as that of the country can be found long before 

the time of King Mongkut. Literature abounds in instances of 

this. 

The arrangement of the main portion of the book is 

divided into 9 chapters: "Before'', dealing with events prior to 

the Ohakri dyuasty already commented upon; then a chapter to 

each of the first seven sovereigns, who are given individually a 

well-chosen epithet; and "After" dealing with events after the 

abdication of King Prajadhipok. 'l'hronghout the length of the book 

one comes across details of the protocol and relationships within 

the Royal Family, which had been criticised in former works as 

being unnecessary in a scientifically written history even of a 

dynasty. On an un biassed consideration, however, one must 

admit that in order to take in all aspects of a situation for the 

writing of a history what appears as a detail is often important 

for the balanced view. 'rhis work may not after all have been 

intended to be a standard history of the time. It forms a valua. 

ble source material for future histories. No history or account 

so far written in English or any of the better known languages 

of the world has paid much attention to Siamese sources fot• information. 

Among the more recent works there is only this 

work and that of Vella on Rama III which take Siamese sources 

into serious consideration. 

In writing this account of the Siamese sovereigns, the 

author ha~ no case to defend. He tries to be fair in his condemnations; 

he i~ quick to put right any misunderstanding especially

BOOK kEVIEWS 

of misinformed foreigners. .As evidence of such may be cited his 

presentation of the case of the Franco~Siamese dispute of 1893 

(pp. 24\J-253) and the calumniOllS statements prevalent in certain 

quarters during the first decade of the democratic t·egime. 

The book is an evidence of much reading. 'l'he Prince;s 

anthol'ities ai·e judiciously chosen; but, though born and partly 

bred in the most intelligent circles of the Siamese Court, he has 

lived the greater part of his life detached f1·om his people, Not 

all his judgments are accurate. In a sonrce material such as this 

book should be; accuracy of detail is impot•tant, For the genel"al 

reader, on the other hand, the inaccm•acies do not dett•act much 

from the bool,'s value and will be left uncommented upon. 

I2i 

Bangkok, 20 Novembm· 1960 

CJJ.

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RECENT SIAMESE PUBLICATIONS 

256. Paramanujit, H.R.H. Prince: Pathomasompodhikatha ( Pathamasambodhikatha) 

Maha-Ohu 1alongkorn University, Bangkok, 

publ. S. Krityi1kom, B.E. 2503, 484 pages quarto. 

The Pathomasompodhilcatha has been a well-known work 

for several genet·ations past. It deals with the life and time of 

Gotama the Buddha. It should be of interest to give here a 

sketch of its origin and development for the work is a literary 

monument of llational importance. According, then, to the well- 

, I 

]mown scholars, Sathienlwses and S. Salitn 1, who wrote the kam 

thalev prefaced to the present edition, there exist in the National 

Library two works of the name in Pali verse. One, of 22 cantos, 

gives no clue to its authorship or date though it is obviously old. 

The second says "The King ... commanded Prince Kraisorawiji t 

to invite the monk, Prince Nujit of Wat Pra ,Tetubon, to examine 

( ~'l'J~) an old work of the name and the result of his work was 

a version of 30 cantos \Vhich was concluded in the year of the 

snal

124 RECENT SIAMESE PUBLICATIONS 

portray so many different aspects of life through his eloquent 

writings. As pointed out in the shot·t biography attached to this 

work, the best 1mown of his creations was the heroic poem of 

Talevpai, depicting in lofty and majestic wording the essence of 

chivalry in King Naresvara of Ayudhya which has been acknowledged 

to have aroused feelings of patriotism among its readers 

and inspired them to write other works along the same theme. 

His art is also detectable in the contrast he made of the vanquished 

adversary, the Crown Prince of Burma, who has not been made 

to suffer from any lack of good ideals expected of such a highly 

pla9ed prince of a reigning royal family. Turning then to another 

aspect of his writing, his Exhortations from Krishna to her sister 

shows a remarkably unexpected knowledge of the feminine heart 

and virtues. His prose, such as the History oj Siam, reflects 

elegant rhetoric. 

The monastic purist may indeed question the Prince's 

inspira tiona and even accuse him of 

, 

paying attention to frivolous 

details nnbefitting of "a son of the Sakya "; the linguistic purist 

too may he shocked by the liberty he has taken over rules of 

prosody in favour of melodic sonance. One can almost imagine 

the poet murmuring aloud to himself his new compositions as 

they turn up in his mind. His indeed was an idea of melody 

triumphing over pedantic rnles of quantitative requirements. 

In calling this work a "translation'', it should be borne 

in mind that it is really more of a dissertation bused on the theme 

of the original Pali poem which was much shorter. The 

"translation" here abounds in additional facts and details and 

does not shrink from taking advantage of literary license. Inspite 

of its length it used to form the material of a series of se1·mons 

delivered on the occasion of the Visalrha festival of three days 

and three nights in the royal palace. Hence the later versions 

to make such deliveries more practical. 

257. The Pictured Pavilion of Suan Phaldcad Palace V! t.H ~ "' tJ'UIJ .:1 

tli"JlHJflfl'Wl Sivaporn Press, Bangkok, B.E. 2502 ill. by 33 :figure13 

in black and gold and also in blacl~: and white, 76 pages,

RECENT SIAMESE PUBLICATIONS 125 

The book was published as a memorial in dedication to 

His late Royal Highness Prince Ohnmbhot of Nakon Swan on the 

occasion of the cremation of his remains. 

The late Prince was 

an acknowledged connoisseur of antique and with his consort 

bought and transferred the pavilion from upcount1·y to be set up 

within the grounds of their palace. 

The gilt panels were of 

course decorated with artistic skill and great taste. These panels 

have been reproduced in the book with an account written by 

Momchao Subhadradis Diskul of its history and acquisition. 

Originally at Wat BalJklilJ in the province of Ayudhya, it was 

said to have been an old palace which was dedicated to the Wat 

and became a "h6 trai ", i.e. a repository of the Canon of the 

Tipitaka. E:x:perts have dated it to the reign of King :Narai 

( 1657 -1688) for reasons fully stated in the bool•, one of which 

was the inclusion of figures of a Frenchman in contemporary dress. 

There is also a description of the design aud subject of 

the pictures in black aud gold by Lua~ Boribal and Nai Tinakorn 

'folJSWet, an article on Ayndhyan repositories of the Canon by 

ProfessorS. Biraari, translated into Siamese by Momchao S. Disknl 

and yet another-intelligent and witty-article by Momrii,jawolJS 

Ki.1kriddhi Pramoj with apt quotations floom a eulogy of King 

Narai by Pra Sri Mahosoth, one of that King's poets at court, 

bringing to light many interesting and humorous features of the 

portrayal. No better memorial could have been chosen to perpetuate 

the late Prince's memory as a connoisseur of art. 

258. Birasri, S.: Oases of Thai Lacqum·worlc l'l'CI'liJUJ'-!1 Sivapot·n 

~ 

Press Bangkok, B.E. 2502, prof. ill. 32 pages. 

Dealing with an identical topic as the above is a little 

b1·ochme issued this year as a souvenir of the festival of Visakha 

by the Fine Arts Department. 'rhe book was given away to monks 

and novices who visited the Museum during that festival. The 

subject deset·ves the wide publicity thus given for no less than 

15,000 copies were p1·in ted for this first edition. 

'-' 

%--'


The short hooklet describes the lacquered cases and boxes 

of the collection in the Hall of Sivamokkhapimfi,n in the Palace 

of the Prince of the Front ( Wa;una) which has been turned now 

into the National Museum. It is stated therein that the Siamese 

translation of an ol'iginal-presumably English-of Professor 

Birasri is by Kian Yimsiri of the Fine Arts Department. 

According then to the booklet this art of the lacquer 

flourished in the time of Ayudhya about the XVIth century. It 

has been handed down to the periods of Dhonburi and Bangkok 

(and is still practised). It originated in China as indicated in 

the treatment of nature-motifs such as mountains, fauna and 

flora. It developed into scenes of everyday life especially at 

Court whence came all artistic inspirations. 

As for material, backgrounds of wooden wicker or plain 

wood are first coated~over with black or red lacquer, designs are 

then drawn on its surface and what surface is to remain outside 

the design is coated over with gamboge mixture. Another coating 

of lacquer is then applied over the whole surface, then the gilt 

of gold leaves. After about 20 hours the surface is washed with 

water. The soluble gamboge comes off with all the lacquer and 

gold which lays on it, leaving only the design in gold because it 

has not been treated with gamboge. Hence the name given to 

the process "watered design". 

Decoration by this process is also applied to door- and 

window panels. Then follows a description of the collection, in 

which the Professor gives full rein to his artistic eyes and his 

love of nature. There seems to have lurked an error in his description 

of figtll'e 1 which is described as a design depicting Rama 

.; 

and Tosakanth borne by a Hanuman and a yaksh. No 'fosakanth 

is really there, though the bearer other than Hanuman looks like 

a ynksh. This bearer might have been O~kod but was turned into 

a yalcsh by mistake, for he wears an identical crown as O;ukod's. 

'l'here is no doubt that this kind of a souvenir publication 

can do much to keep alive the traditions of the national art vis-avis 

the increasing materialistic tendencies of modern technology.


259. Fine Arts Department: Art Treasttres from the Bhumibol 

"1!1"" A ,!\ "'> 

Dam, ~:W1JV1 M 'l.'llll"l1flll Jll'J'UI.l ']'E:J'\Jfi:W VH.'i publ. for the National 

~ 

Exhibition of Ancient Art 'freasures, Sept. 2503, ill. 80 pages. 

This is an interesting handbook of one of the recent art 

exhibitions organised by the Department, containing a 1 •ticles 

by experts in their respective fields. 

Such are K. Indakosai's 

E.vcavations in the Neighbourhood of the River Ping, Luau Boribal's 

Buddha Images from the North of Bhumibol Dam and M. Valla. 

bhodom's Cedi Type of Hod District etc. With the exception of 

Professor Birasri's 3 pages of an English description of a printed 

flag some four or five centuries back which had been found in a 

terracotta vase in the crypt of a cedi at Wat Dokuoen, District 

of Hod, all has been written in Siamese. Specialists in the 

technique of Thai ob}ets d'art and pottery will profit largely from 

the contents of the book, which contains several maps, plans and 

24 pages of illustrations. 

260. Fine Arts Department: Plan and Report of the Sttr11oy and 

E:ncauation of Ancient Monuments in Nm·theastern Thailand, Sivaporn 

Press, Bangkok, with maps, plans and illustrations, B.E. 2502, 

79 pages. 

The bilingual report deals with the object aucl scope of 

the survey. Of much interest is the part dealing with excava. 

tiona and restorations in the three provinces treated, Nalwn 

Rajaslmii., Buril•am and J ayabhumi. Some of the smaller monu. 

menta are described in detail regarding what is found and how 

they have been restored or receiving an application of anastylosis, 

such as Non Ku luoun (fig. 3); Wat Pnomwan fJ~W'Il:Wl'J 

~ 

.,!!, 

and Muang Khek DJ'MU']'fl (figs. 4,48-Gl, 64-78 ). 

..... f! (figs. 62-63) 

Muang Khek, 

where considerable finds have been macle, was the old Gorii.khapura 

which has been suggested as the original of the name of Korat. 

One is tempted to add that here is an instance of the adoption 

of an Indian name-the modern Gorakhpur,


261. P.E.N. International, Thailand Centre, Bhasa le NarJsit, 

..... .& 

Jl1H'llLq;j::Vl'!.J~~'EJ Vol. 2, part 1, Sept. 2503. Strisar Pi·ess, Bangkok, 

155 pages. 

In JSS XLVII, 2, Nov. 1959, we reviewed in the series of 

Recent Siamese Publications No. 252 the first number of the Jom;nal 

above named and decided that it indicated a promising sign of 

greater interest being taken in scholarly research in Siamese 

circles. Further publications have since appeared which are 

keeping up the" promising sign". 

Among the contents of this first mtmber of the second 

year there is an interesting note by H.R.H. P1·ince Wan, Krom aM 

mun Naradhip, tracing the origin of the 20 ai sounds written 

with the mai muan (l~~fJU) thus 1 to Ahom sources. Foreign 

readers may perhaps be reminded that in Siamese there are two 

ai vowels written l and 1. 

It has been a constant source of 

wonder why it should have to be represented by two separate 

vowels. This note now explains that the 20 sounds of the 

''twisted vowel" or mai muan have a different origin. We would 

like to offer an opinion that these 20 vowels could have been the 

original representatives of the sound and that the other vowel 

represent loan words which could just as easily be written with 

another vowel the tJ as 'fJUn1T ( Aiyaldi.rn) or l 'fltl ai in 

Lflf"lfJ:rTU (Aisvariya). 

The scholarly paraphrase of the Niras Haripunjai by 

P. na Nakon is continued to its conclusion with notes on local 

topography and names of personalities in the poem. Khun Wichit's 

article on the origin and venue of the romance of Kawi is a piece 

of scientific research worthy of the JournaL Mme K. Sribunriiau's 

English and French translation in verse of the Nira8 .Narind is 

generally accurate and elegant piece, even though a translation, 

of belle-lettre. P. SrijaHi.lai's discussion of the spelling in the 

famous Ramakamheu inscription of the name of that monarch's


£ather deserves the consideration of schola1•s and is really convincing. 

Th~ rest of the number is none the less of high quality. 

0 ,d. .!. 

262. Amatyalml, T.: Guide to Sarabur·i, \.I'H'VltJI'J~r aJd' Bhakdij 

prasroeth Press, Bangkok, ill. B.E. 2500, 16mo, 64 pages. 

Saraburi, it is pointed out here, though a new town of 

modest proportions, is distinctive through her shrine of the 

Buddha's footprint, which has been highly venerated all over the 

country. It is accessible by road, rail and river. In the days 

of Ayudhya it was a summer resort. The famous shrine is built 

on a promontory within a group of hills with interesting grottoes 

and picnic grounds. Besides the Buddha's footprint there are 

various other touristic attractions. One is the so-called Reflection 

of the Lord on the side of a cliff and beyond it the glen of three 

cascades at Pathavi Hill some 3 }em from the Hi11 of the Lord's 

Reflection. Other spots '-vithin easy reach from here are the high 

waterfall of Jvtuak Lelc, 40 1nn, and the Government Botanical 

Park a little before Sarabul'i on the mainroacl from Bang1wk. 

The shrine itself of the Buddha's footprint occupies a 

ra tber large area with innumerable shrines of smaller sizes. 

Within the main shrine are panels inlaid with mother-of-pearl 

designs of great beauty made under the sponsorship of King Rama 

I of the Chalui dynasty to replace the original mentioned in a 

late Ayudhya poem, the Bunnouad, which had been destroyed by 

fire in 1766 and left in ruins for some 20 years. 

Bangkolc, 29 Octol!m· 1960 

CJJ.

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST IN OTHER JOURNALS 

Ancient India 

no 13, 1959 

Krishna Devi. : The Temple of Khajuraho 

in central India 

Deshpande, M.N.: The Rock-cut caves of 

Pithalkora 

Annals of the American Academy 

of Political and Social Sciences 

no 321, 1959 

Skinner, G.W.: Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia 

Ars Asiatica 

no 6, 1959 

pp, 43-65 

pp, ()6.93 

pp. 48-49 

Auboyer, J.: Trois portraits du roi Jayavarman VII, 

4 pl. p, 70 

Boisselier, J.: La Statuaire preanglwrienne 

et Pierre Dupont pp, 59-G9 

Artibus Asiae 

Vol. XXI, nos 3-4, 1958 

Devendra, D.T.: The Symbol of the Singhalese 

Guardstoue pp. 259-268 

The number contains interesting reviews of works ou Siam 

e.g. Griswold's Dated Buddha Images of nor·thern Siam by 

Boisselier; 

Vella's Siam under· Rama III by K. Su1{habanij; 

Emcee Chand's and Khieu Yimsiri's Thai Monumental 

Br·onzes by Michael Sullivan. 

Vol. XXII, nos 1-2,1959 

Coedes, G.: Noto sur une stele indienne d'epoque 

Pala decouverte a Ayudhya pp. 9-14

132 PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST IN OTHER JOURNALS 

Devendra, D.T.: Seventy years of Ceylon 

Archeology 

pp. 23-4.0 

Griswold, A.B.: 'l'wo dated images from the 

Shan States 

Asian Culture 

Vol. I, no 4 

Nguyen Dang Tbnc: The Equilibrium of 

Vietnamese Culture 

Nguyen Oao Flach: Social Implications of 

Industrialization in South 

Asia and the Far East 

Erdkunde 

no 13, 1959 

Louis, H.: Beobachtungen iiber die Inselberge 

bei Huahin am Golf von Siam 

(summarized also in English) 

pp. 1-14 

pp. 31-58 

pp. 314-319 

Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture 

no 10, 1959 

Penin, J.M. : The Thai and their Destiny 

pp, 234-337 

Far-Eastern Economic Review 

no 28, 1960 

Wolfstone, D: U.N. Economic for Laos 

Emori, M.: The Thai-Japan Maize Trade 

Lee, S. Y.: 

Prospects for Thai Maize 

France-Asie 

nos 158-9, 1959 

Ma1leret, L.: L'archeologie dn delta du 

M~khong 

pp. 46-48 

pp. 968-972 

pp. 1148-1155 

pp. 1032-36 

nos 160-1, 1959 

Archaimbanlt, 0.: Les rites agraires dans le 

moyen-Laos 

pp. 1185-96

PUDLICA'l'IONS OF INTEREST IN OTHER JOURNALS 

History Today 

no. 10, 1960 

Sullivan, M. : The Discovery of Anglwr 

India Quarterly 

Vol. XX, 4. 1959 

Note: North-East Frontier of India 

Journal asiatique 

no 247, 1959 

Filliozat, .T.: Gopura, "porte de ville" 

Journal of the Greater India Society 

no 16, 1957 

Sarkar, H.B.: Indo-Javanese History in English 

13:! 

pp. 169-178 

pp, :193.395 

pp. 251-255 

pp. 1-82 

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 

pa1·ts 3-4, 1959 

Wales, H.G.Q.: The Cosmological Aspect of the 

Indonesian Religion, 

parts 1-2, 1960 

Bassett, D.K.: The Trade of the East-India 

Company in the Far-East 

Journal of World History 

Vol- V, part 2, 1959 

Ebisawa, A.: The Jesuits and their cn1tural 

activities in the Far-East 

Altelwr, A.S.: Educational and intellectual 

Methods in Vedic and Ancient 

Indian Cultures 

Wint, G.: South-East Asia in the XXth 

century 

Vol. V, part 3, 1960 

pp. 100139 

pp. 32-47 

pp. 3~4-374 

pp, 423-4:33 

pp. 495-50;) 

Tsukamoto, Z.: The ear1y stages in the 

introduction of Buddhism into China 

(up to the Vth century A.D.) pp, SMi-57li

134 PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST IN O'rHER .JOURNALS 

Koska, M.: The Meiji Eea: Its forces 

of rebirth 

L' Afrique et l' Asie 

no 47, 1959 

Lenormand, H.: Le Laos et la crise du 

sud-est asia tique 

pp. 621-633 

pp. 53.59 

Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 

no 18, 1960 

Yamasaki, Y,: The Origin of the Chinese abacus 

Oriental Art 

new. series: Vol. V, part 2 

pp. 91-140 

Harrisson, Tom: 'Export wares' found in west 

Borneo 

pp. 3-1.2 

Pacific Affairs 

XXXII, 3, 1959 

Clubb, O.E.: Oriental Studies through 

Soviet eyes 

Pakistan Horizon 

no 12 1959 

Jayanam, Direck: Present-day Thailand 

Philippines Studies 

Vol. 7, part 3, 1959 

Fox, R.B.: The Calatagan Excavations, ill. 

pp. 307-308 

pp. 210-214 

pp. 325-390 

United Asia 

no 11, 1959 

Newsom, R.: Trek to Tavoy 

pp. 121-123 

World Affairs 

Vol. 123, no 2, 1960 

Carroll Parish, 0, : Thailand, cornerstone of 

peace in Southeast Asia 

pp. 46-49

ACCESSIONS TO THE SIAM SOCIETY i..II3RARY 

from c!January to c!June 1960 

Acheson, Dean 

(Compiler) 

Ahmad, Hazrat 

Mirza Ghulam 

Ajarananda, Swami 

Books 

United States Relations with China: Special 

Reference to the Period 1944-49 (1949). 

: The Philosophy of Teachings o~ Islam 

(1959). 

The Problem of Reincarnation (B. E. 2497). 

Angsnsingh, Pakorn : Public Welfare-Today and Tomorrow 

(1959 ). 

Blake, W.T. 

Bezacier, L. 

Bhadragaka 

Bnddhaghosa 

Bhadantacariya 

Bhushan, J.B. 

Busch, Noel F. 

Boyer, Martha 

Boulle, P. 

Thailand Journey ( 1955 ). 

Relevt~es des Monuments Anciens dn Nord 

Viet-Nam (1959). 

The Khuddalm-Patha OJ' Short Buddhist 

Recitations in Pali and English (B.E. 2496). 

80 Inspiring Words of the Buddha from the 

Udana in Pa1i and English (B.E. 2497). 

Miscellaneous Buddhist Though ts-Qnestions 

with Answers No.5 (B.E. 2502). 

The Path of Purification (Vi!:!uddhimagga). 

(1956). 

The Costumes and Textiles of lndi.a (1958). 

'l'hailand, an Introduction to Modern Siam 

(1959). 

Japanese Export Lacquers from the 17th 

Century in the National Museum of Denmark 

(1959). 

Siam

i36 

Blofeld, J. 

ACCESSIONS TO THE SIAM SOCIETY LIBRARY 

'l'he Wheel of Life: 'rhe Autobiography of 

a Western Buddhist (1959). 

Baker, E.M. Short Studies in the Name of Truth (1959). 

(Presented by the Author). 

Bernatzik, H.A. 

Bloch, R. 

Bhuddhist 

Association, The 

de Berval, R. 

(Ed.) 

The Spirits of the Yellow Leaves (1958). 

Le Symbolisme Oosmique des Monuments 

Religieux (1957). 

Visakhapuja B.E. 2500 

Presence du Bouddhisme, Fevrier.Juin 

(1959). 

Collis, Maurice 

Chakrabongse, 

Siamese White (1951). 

H.R.H. Prince Chula: The Twain Have Met. 

Chaya, Prem 

Conze, E. 

The Story of Khun Chang Khun Phan, 

Book I-II, (1.955, 1959). 

Vajracchedika Prajnaramita (1957). 

Abhisamayalankara (1954). 

Ooedes. G. 

Corbin, H. 

Chand, Emcee 

Yimsiri, Rhien 

Cauvin, R. 

Prince Damrong to 

M.R. Sumanajati 

Svastikul 

Dupont, P. 

Durand, M. 

Oonferenze, Vol.! (1952). 

Oonferenze, Vol. II (1.955). 

Thai Monumental Bronzes (B.E. 2500). 

Thailande 

Five Species of Lotus & Notes on Different 

Subjects. (l)resented by H.H. Prince 

Dhani Nivat, Rrommamun Bidyalabh). 

L'Archeologie Moue de Dvaravati, Texte 

et Planches (1959). 

Techniques et Pantheon des Mediums 

Vietnamiens (1959).

ACCESSIONS TO THE SiAM SOCIETY LiBRARY 137 

: Imagerie Populaire Vietnamienne (1960). 

Draus, J. 

Bernard, H. 

: Memoire du Pere de Beze sur la Vie de 

Constance Phaulkon et sa Triste Fin (1947). 

Eakin, 

Paul A., Rev. 

Evans. I.N. 

Feriz. Dr. I-I. 

Frauwallner, E. 

: Buddhism and Christian Approach to 

Buddhist in Thailand (1959). 

Papers on Ethnology & Archaeology of the 

Malay Peninsula (1927). 

Zwischen Peru und Mexico (1959). 

The Earliest Vinaya and the Beginnings 

of Buddhist Literature (1956). 

On the date of the Buddhist Master 

of Law, Vasubandhu (1951). 

Ferrari, A. 

Foster, G.M. 

Foreign Affairs, 

Ministry 

Grondahl. K. 

Gray, B. 

Gnoli, R. 

MK' Yen Brtse's Guide to the Holy 

Places of Central Tibet. 

Culture and Conquest: 

Heritage (1960). 

America-Spanish 

Relations Between 'rhailand and Cambodia 

(1959). 

The Mango Season (1954). 

Early Chinese Pottery and Pol'celain. 

The Aesthetic Experience According to 

A bhinavagupta (1956). 

Nepalese Inscriptions in Gupta Characters 

Part I, Text and Plates (1956). 

Guilleminet, P. 

van Gnlil,, R.H. 

Grunwedel, A. 

Dictionnaire Bahnar-Fran9ais 'l'ome 

P1·emier Partie A-K (1959). 

Chinese Pictorial Art (1958). 

Mythologie des Buddhismus in Tibet und 

der Mongolei (1900).

138 ACCESSIONS '1'0 THE SlAM SOCIF.TY L!BllARY 

Van Heekeren, 

H.R. The Bronze-Iron Age of Indonesia (1958). 

Hall, D.G.E. 

Hoontralml, Yong 

Hoontrakul, 

Lilt hit 

Haas, Mary R. 

Ingram, J. C. 

International 

Bank for 

Reconstruction 

& Development 

Jones, J.J. 

King, J.K. 

Kingshill, K. 

Khemo, Bhiklm 

Kempers, A.J. 

Bernet 

Kaufman, I-I.K. 

Lake, E. 

Leonowens, Anna 

The Stone Age of Indonesia (1957). 

History of Southeast Asia (1958). 

The Path of Light (1956). 

The Historical Records of the Siamese 

Chinese Relations (1951). 

The Thai System of writing (1956). 

'rhai Reader (1954). 

Thai Vocabulary (1955). 

Economic Change in 'rhailand Since 

1850 (1955). 

International Symposium on History of 

Eastern and Western Cultural Contact 

1957, to 'l'okyo-Kyoto (1959). 

Report: A Public Development Program 

for Thailand (1959). 

'l'he Mahavastu Vol. I-III (194-9-1956), 

Southeast Asia in Perspective (1956). 

Kn-Daeng, The Red Tomb (1960). 

(Presented by the Author). 

What is Buddhism (1957). 

Ancient Indonesia Art (1959). 

Bangkhnad: A Community Study in 

Thailand (1960). 

Siamese Counterpart (1958). 

The English Governess at the Siamese 

Court (1870) (Presented by H.S.H. Prince 

Ajavadis Dislml).

ACCESSIONS TO THE SIAM SOCIETY LIBRARY 139 

Lee, P.H. 

Lorgeou, E. 

de Lajonguiere, 

E.L. 

Studies in the Saenaennorae Old Korean 

Poetry (1959). 

Les Entretiens de Nang Tantrai (1924). 

Le Siam et les Siamois (1906). 

Atlas Archeologiqne de l'Indo-Chine, 

Monuments du Champa et dn Cambodge 

(1901). 

Loetsch, F. 

Lightwood, T. 

Moore, D. 

Malleret, L. 

Mukerjee, R. 

McFarland, George 

B. 

Mahler, J.C. 

Le May, Reginald 

Mouhot, H. 

Marshal, H. 

Orientalia Romana 

Percheron, M. 

Petech, L. 

Mai Pen Arai 

Teresa of Siam (1960). 

Far Eastern Agent or the Diary of an 

Eastern Nobody (1954). 

L'Archeologie du Delta du Mekong. Tome 

Premier, 'l'exte et Planches (1959). 

The Culture and Art of India (1959). 

'l'hai-English Dictionary (1956). 

The Westerners A!Jlong the Figurines of 

the T' Ang Dynasty of Ohina ( 1959). 

Siamese Tales Old and New (1958). 

Voyage dans les Royaumes de Siam, de 

Oambodge, de Laos (1868). 

Le Decor et le Sculpture Khmers (1951). 

Essays and Lectures (1958). 

Buddha and Buddhism (1957). 

Mediaeval History of Nepal (c.750-1480). 

(1958). 

Northern India According to the Shui 

Ohing Ohn (1950).

140 ACCESSIONS TO THE SIAM SOCIETY LIBRARY 

Parmer, J .N. 

Pittman, R.S. 

Publicity 

Committee, 9th 

Pacific Science 

Congress 

Rambai, B. 

Rambach, P. 

de Golish, V. 

Rahula, W. 

Rhys Davids, 'l'.W, 

de Roerich, G. 

Rock, J.F. 

Rowland, B. 

Rangthoug, J, 

Rangthoug, J. 

(Edited) 

Soper, A. 

Paine, R 

Colonial Policy Labor and Administration, 

A History of Labor in the Rubber 

Plantation Industry in Malaya, 

c 1910-1940 (1960). 

Jarai as a Member of the Malaya-Polynesian 

Family of Languages (1959). 

: Thailand Past and Present (1957). 

The Silent Revolution, (1959). 

(Presented by the Informatoin Service of 

India, Bangkok). 

'l'he Golden Age of Indian Art, Vth-VIIth 

Century (1955). 

History of Buddhism in Ceylon (1956). 

Reports on Institutions for Oriental Studies 

in Various Countries (1959). 

Buddhist Birth-Stories (Jataka Tales). 

Poem of Cloister and Jungle: A Buddhiat 

Anthology (1941). 

Le Preler de 1 'Amado, Etude d'un 

Dialecte Archaique du Tibet (1958). 

The Amnye Ma-Ohhen Range and Adjacent 

Regions, a Monographic Study (1956). 

The Na-khi Naga Cult and Related 

Ceremonies Pt. I-II (1952). 

The Art and Architecture of India (1956). 

A Week in Bangkok 

A Souvenir of Siam (1954). 

Tb.e Art and 4rcbitectu~·e of Japan (1959),

ACCESSIONS TO THF. SIAM SOCIETY LIBRARY 141 

Soper, A. 

Sickman, L. 

Suzuki, B.L. 

Sarasas, Phra 

Steinilber-Obe1·lin, 

E. 

Stanton, E.F. 

Suriyabongs, Luang 

Sethaputra, So 

Stntterheiro, W. 

Sayre, Francis B. 

Sibunruang, J .K. 

Skinner, G.W. 

Schweisgnth, P. 

Stucki, 0. W. 

Sutter, John 0. 

Schmid, P. 

Turrell, V.W. 

Tucci, G. 

The Art and Architecture of China (1956). 

Mahayana Buddhism (1959). 

My Country, Thailand (1956). 

The Buddhist Sects of Japan (1938). 

Brief Authority (1956). 

Buddhism in Thailand (1955). 

A Buddhist Anthology (B.E. 2500). 

English-Thai Dictionary A-Look (1952). 

, , , Look-Z (1952). 

Studies in Indonesian Archaeology (1956). 

Rama-Legenden Und Rama Relief in 

Indonesian Textband, Tafelband (1925). 

Glad Adventure (1957). 

Siamese Folk Tales Vol.I (1954). 

Chinese Society in Thailand (1957). 

Etude sur la Litterature Siamoise (1951). 

American Doctoral Dissertations on Asia 

(1933-58 including appendix of Master's 

Theses at Oornell University (1959). 

Indonesianisasi Vol.I 1-4: Politics in a 

Ohanging Economy, 1940-1955 (1959). 

In the Shadow of the Dragon (1957). 

A Place Name Index to George N. Roerich's 

Translation of the Blue Annals (1957). 

Minor Buddhist 'l'exts, Part I-II (1956- 

1958). 

Preliminary Report on the Two Scientific 

Expeditions in Nepal (1956).


Periodicals 

Acta Zoologica and Index to Vol. 1-40, 1920-1959. 

American Mnseurn of Natural History, Vol. 118, Nos, 1-7. 

Ananai, the Jan-Feb, 1960. 

Ancient India, No. 15, 1959. 

Archaeology and Anthropology, Bulletin of the Department of 

No. 12, 1958. 

Archiv OrientalnL 27/3, 27/4, 1959. 

Arkiv for Zoologi, Andra Serien, Band 12, Hafte 4. 

Artibus Asiae, Vo1. XXI1, l/2, 1959. 

Asian Bibliography .July-December 1959, Vol. VIII, No. 2. 

Asian Culture. Vol. 1, No. 4; Vol. II No. 1. 

Asian Recorder, Vol. 6. No. 18. 

Asian Studies, Journal, Vol. XIX, Nos. 1-2, 1960. 

Asiatique Journal, Tome CCXLVII. Fasc. No. 2, 1959. 

Baessler-Archiv. Neue Folge, Band VII, Heft 2. 

Berichten van de Afdeling Tropische Producten Van Het Koninklijk 

Instituut voor de Tropen, Nos. 268, 270-272, 1959. 

Bibliographical List of Japanese Learned Jonrnal Humanities & 

Social Sciences, No. 2, 1959. 

Bibliography of Scientific Publications of South & South-East 

Asia, Vol. 5, No. 12; Vol. 6, Nos. 1-5. 

Bombay Natural History Society, Journal of the, Vol. 56, No. 3. 

Bonner Geographische Abhandlungen, Heft 26, 1959. 

Breviora. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Nos. 112-124, 1959- 

1960. 

Changing Village, Seminar 4, 1959. 

Ohetana, Vol. V, No 3. 

Cornell University AgricnltUt•al Experiment Station, Memoirs 

363, 366, 368, 1959. 

Contributions from the Dudley Herbarium, Vol. 5. No 5, 1959. 

Dansk Botanisk Arldv, Bind 18, No. 4; Bind 19. No. 1. 

East and West. New Series. Vol. 10. Nos. 3-4; Vol. 11. No. 1.

AcCEssioNs to THE SIAM sociETY LIBRARY 143 

Ecole J!'ran

144 ACCESSIONS TO THE SlAM SOCIETY LiBRARY 

Institute of Ethnology Academia Sinica, Bulletin of the, No. 7. 

1959. 

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural 

Resources, Bulletin of the, Vol. VIII, Nos. 1-3, 1959. 

Jahrbucb des Museums fiir Volkerkunde zu Leipzig, Band XVII, 

1958. 

Japanese Journal of Ethnology, the, Vol. 23., No. 4; Vol. 24, Nos. 

1-2 Kambujasuriya, Vol. 31, Nos. 9 -10. 

Librarian of Congress for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1959, 

Annual Report of the, 

Literary Appendice, Vol. XX, No. 2. 

Maha Bodhi, the, Vol. 67, Nos. 11-12 ; Vol. 68, Nos. 1-5. 

Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic Society. Journal of the Vol. XXX, 

Pt. 3 ; Vol. XXXI, Pt. 2. 

March of India, the, Vol. XI, No. 12, 1959; Vol. XII, Nos. 1, 3-5, 

1960. 

Marg, Vol. XIII, No. 1. 

Mensual, Bulletin, Vol. VIII, No. 1. 

Mie Medical Journal, Vol. IX, No. 2. 

Mitteilung aus dem Staatlichen Museum fur Naturkunde in 

Stuttgart, Nrs. 360-373. 

Museum National d' Histoire Naturelle, Bulletin du, 2e Serie, 

Tome XXXI, Nos. 4-6. 

Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard College, Bulletin of 

the, Vol. 121, Nos. 6-8; Vol. 122, Nos. 1--5. 

Museum cf Fine Arts, Boston, Bulletin, Vol. LVII, Nos. 308-310, 

1959. 

Muslim World, the, Vol. L, Nos. 1-2. 

Natur Und Volk, Band. 89, Heft 9-12; 4. 

Nature, la, Nos. 3295-3296, 1959. 

Nytt Magasin for Zoologi, Vol. 8, 1959.

ACCESSIONS TO THE SIAM SOCIETY LIBRARY 

Ol'ienta,l Art, New Series, Vol. V, Nos. 1-4. 

Oriental Culture, No. 28, 1959. 

145 

Pacific Science, Vol. XIV, No. 2. 

Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Bulletin of the, Vol. 

X, Nos. 3-12; Vol. XI, Nos. 1-2. 

Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 1958, Annual Report of 

the Board of, 

Report upon the Work of the Department of Science for the Years 

1953 (B.E. 2496-2497) No.17. (Thai). 

Research Department of the 'l'oyo Bunko, Memoirs of the, No. 

18, 1959. 

Revista de la Universidad Industrial de Santander, Vol. 1, No. 1. 

Hoopa-Rekha, Vol. XXX, Nos. 1 & 2, 1959. 

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 

Vol. XXII1, Pt. 1, 1960. 

Science Department, Annual Report of the, No. 21, B.E. 2501, 

(Thai). 

Science Museum Science Library Bibliographical Series, No. 773. 

Siriraj Hospital Gazette, ( 'l'hai ), 11th Year. Vol. XI, Nos. 1-4. 

Soci6t6 des Etudes indochinoises, Bulletin de la, Nouvelle S6rie, 

Tome XXXIV, No.4,, 

Houtheast Asia Accessions List, Nos. 9-10; 12-14, 1959-1960. 

Spanish Cultural Index. 14th Year, Nos. 164-167; 15th Year, 

No. 168, 

Stuttgarter l3eitrage zm· Naturlnmde aus dem Staatlichen Museum 

fi:ir Nnturlmnde in Stnttgarter, Nos. 16-30, 1959. 

Sumer, Vol. XV, Nos. 1 & 2, 1959. 

'l'amil Culture, Vol. VIII, Nos. 3-4. 

T6h0gaku, No. 19, 1959. 

T5y6 Gakuho, the, Vol. XLI, No. 4; Vol. XLII, Nos. 1-2. 

Traditional Cultures Madras. Bulletin of the Institute of, Pt. :2, 

1959.

J 


Tropical Abstracts, Vol. XIV, No. 12; Vol. XV, Nos. 1-4. 

Tulane Studies in Zoology, Vol. 7, No. 4. 

Union Geodcsiqne et Geophysiqne Intcmationale, Nos. 28-'29, 1960; 

Monography, No. 2, 1960. 

United States National Museum, Annual Report for the Year 

Ended 30, 1959, the. 

United States National Museum, VoL 110, Nos. 3420-3121; Vol. 

lll. Nos. 3422-3425, 3426-3428. 

United States National Museum, Bulletin, 217, 1960. 

Universitas, Vol. 3, Nos. 2-3. 1959. 

University of California Publications in Zoology, Vol. 63, No. 2, 

Pt. 73-150.

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