Asian and African studies blog

James Low was one of the first Europeans to visit the Andaman sea coast of Thailand, stretching from Phuket to the Malaysian border, which is nowadays one of the great tourist destinations of the world. Low’s mission took place in his line of duty as an officer of the English East India Company based at Penang.

Detail from a drawing depicting the reception of James Low by the son of the Raja of Ligor (Nakhon Si Thammarat) in 1824. Drawing attributed to “Boon Khon”. The use of a Western perspective as in the depiction of the chairs was unusual in Thai art of the early 19th century. British Library, Add. 27370, f.18 

Born on 4 April 1791 at Causland in Scotland to Alexander Low and his wife Anne Thompson, Low graduated from Edinburgh College and was then nominated for a cadetship in the East India Company’s Madras Army in 1812. He was accepted and embarked from Portsmouth on the East Indiaman Astell, which reached Madras in July 1812. During the first five years, Low acquired military competencies and language skills. The Company’s policy was that their officers had to be capable of basic communication with the Indian soldiers under their command. In May 1817 Low was appointed Adjudant, and then promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in August of the same year. In January 1819 Low moved to the East India Company’s settlement in Penang and spent the rest of his career in and around the Straits of Malacca. In 1820 he was given command of the Penang Local Corps until the corps was disbanded in 1827.

Since Low had received a mathematical and philosophical education at Edinburgh College, he nurtured an interest in the study of languages. The posting to Penang offered the opportunity to acquire language skills in both Malay and Thai. The knowledge of Thai was particularly important in the light of events on the Malay peninsula, to which the Burmese had sent their last military expedition against Siam, directed at its west coast territories. Subsequently, the British at Penang found themselves in the middle of a conflict between the Siamese Governor, known as the Raja of Ligor (Nakhon Si Thammarat), and the Sultan of Kedah, who had fled to Penang instead of providing the support which had been requested from him by the Raja of Ligor.

Drawing by James Low of a village with pagodas in Martaban (Mottama in Mon State, Burma) 1825. RAS 027.012. Photograph courtesy of Nancy Charley, Royal Asiatic Society

Low’s was the second mission to Siam, following John Crawfurd’s first mission that was mainly concerned with resolving the legal status of Penang. The second mission of 1824 under Low’s command was prompted by the British declaration of war on Burma. Its aim was to enlist the support of the Raja of Ligor, who was in command of most of the Siamese territories on the west coast of the peninsula including Kedah, for the planned British move up the Irrawaddy river. Low described the events of the mission in a report on his Public Mission to His Highness the Rajah of Ligor, and in more detail in his Journal of a Public Mission to the Rajah of Ligor. Low also produced a map of Siam, Cambodia and Laos. After his mission to Ligor, he was posted to Tenasserim where he produced more maps and landscape drawings. In 1826, Low was promoted to Captain and was sent on other missions to the Malay state of Perak. Shortly after, he was appointed Superintendent of Lands in Province Wellesley in Penang, a post he held until 1840 when he was made Assistant Resident of Singapore. He finally retired in 1845 but returned to Edinburgh only in 1850, where he died just two years later.

Although Low's main responsibility as an officer of the East India Company was to settle disputes with local chiefs in the interests of the British – a task he did not always succeed in fulfilling – he was also a pioneer in the study of Thai language, literature and art by Westerners. The lack of textbooks inspired him to produce a Grammar of the Thai or Siamese language (1828), and he published a collection of works On the government, the literature, and the mythology of the Siamese (1831-36) as well as articles on Thai Buddhist art, Buddhist law, local histories and ethnic minorities of the Malay peninsula. He also studied inscriptions and translated parts of Thai Buddhist scriptures, and the Malay historical text from Kedah, Merong Mahawangsa. Low’s ability to observe and then describe in detail a variety of aspects of Thai art and culture helped to make his mission journal an interesting source for the study of everyday life and cultural practices in 19th century Siam.

Copy of a Thai zodiac in Thai manuscript painting style of the 19th century. Artist unknown. British Library, Add. 27370, f.14 


Another version of the Thai zodiac shown above this one, with added background landscapes in Chinese watercolour technique. Probably by the artist “Boon Khon”. British Library, Add. 27370, f.15
 
Low clearly had a strong interest in Thai art, and amassed an impressive collection of fine paintings and drawings from southern Thailand. These included rare copies from a Thai Buddhist cosmology associated with a Thai text, Traiphum, which is thought to date back to the 14th century. Other subjects of these artworks are the Ten Birth Tales of the Buddha, illustrations from Thai divination manuals and zodiacs, as well as depictions of Low’s reception in Ligor, genre scenes, and of religious artefacts. Several of the drawings contain a note in English in Low’s handwriting that they are copies by a Siamese artist from original manuscripts, and to one pencil sketch of three Chinese gods Low had added in ink the note “Boon Khon delint” (copied by Boon Khon). On another pencil drawing of a vase, the artist is named as Sayid Nuh, his title indicating a person of Arabic origin, a descendant of the Prophet.

Impression of a Rajamukha wheel, which is used in Thai and Malay divination. Attributed to “Boon Khon”. British Library, Or.14179

Unfortunately, not all of the artworks bear the name of an artist, but it is believed that most of these are copies from Thai manuscripts by the artist “Boon Khon”, who Low said was “a Siamese”. However, the fact that chairs, musical instruments and round objects are shown in Western perspective – something unusual in Thai art of the first half of the 19th century – and that certain features of plants, landscapes, architectural ornaments and faces of the figures appear rather Chinese in style than Thai, suggest that the artist mentioned as “Boon Khon” was probably a Chinese painter who may have acquired some drawing skills from Low himself. A comparison of pencil drawings by Low, now held at the Royal Asiatic Society in London, and works attributed to “Boon Khon” show some striking similarities, especially when it comes to details like plant features. Some of the coloured drawings showing the same motif were made in different styles and techniques, suggesting that artists copied from each other. There may actually have been a third artist - one who was skilled in Thai painting techniques - who worked for Low or who trained “Boon Khon” to copy paintings from Thai manuscripts.

Part of a painting of Buddha’s Last Ten Birth Tales, probably by the artist “Boon Khon”, depicts scenes from the Candakumara Jataka and Bhuridatta Jataka. The faces and breasts of the Naga princesses at the bottom, but also the gable and roof of the building at the top, are untypical for Thai manuscript painting. Some trees and tufts of grass have similarities with plants in pencil drawings made by Low. The lotus plants at the bottom are similar to lotuses drawn by “Boon Khon” as part of a Buddha footprint, reprinted in Low’s article “On Buddha and the Prabat” (1835). British Library, Add. 27370, f.12 

Part of Low’s collection of Thai drawings and paintings was acquired by the British Museum in 1866 from Alan White Esquire, and is now held in the British Library. Most of the artworks have been digitised and are available on the Library’s Digitised Manuscripts viewer (Add MS 27370). Another part of Low’s art collection, including several of his own drawings, is held in the Royal Asiatic Society in London. Although not much research has been done on Low’s art collection, it is a popular source of inspiration for Thai designers.


Some designs for children’s shirts marketed in the early 2000s by Ayodhya, a Bangkok-based home decorative brand, used paintings from Low’s collection for inspiration. British Library, ORB.Misc/171

Further reading

Charley, Nancy. James Low in Thailand and Burma.
Farouk Yahya. Magic and divination in Malay illustrated manuscripts. Leiden, 2015 (see pp. 128/9 on the Rajamukha wheel)
Farrington, Anthony (ed.). Low’s mission to Southern Siam 1824. Bangkok, 2007
Ginsburg, Henry. Low in Thailand. The James Low album of paintings. FMR (Franco Maria Ricci) No. 13, 1985, pp. 125-140
Ginsburg, Henry. Thai manuscript painting. London, 1989 (see pp. 15 and 25 on Low’s collection)
Low, James. Extracts from the Journal of a Political Mission to the Raja of Ligor in Siam. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal No. 79, July 1838.
Low, James. On Buddha and the Prabat. Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society No. 3, London 1835, pp. 57-124

Jana Igunma, Henry Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

My thanks to Nancy Charley for providing photographs of artworks in the Low collection at the Royal Asiatic Society, and to Annabel Gallop and Farouk Yahya for their advice on Malay manuscript painting.

Various buildings in and around Bangkok, including four royal palaces, come from the hand of a German architect who was also a distinguished art historian and  passionate collector of Thai art. Karl Siegfried Döhring was born in 1879 in Cologne, Germany, into the family of a pastor. He passed his Abitur (German higher education entrance qualification) in 1899 in Neustettin - now Szczecinek in Poland - and went on to study architecture at the Royal Technical College in Berlin-Charlottenburg. At the same time he attended a course on art history, during which he developed a particular interest in the cultures and architectures of Southeast Asia. Döhring graduated in 1905 and in the same year applied for a post in the Siamese civil service.

Photograph of Döhring standing by a gate at Wat Chetuphon, Bangkok. He admired the fact that the gate was made from granite in a style showing baroque architectural influences. From Döhring’s book Buddhistische Tempelanlagen in Siam, second volume of plates, plate 114. British Library, 7818.pp.8

From 1906 to 1909 Döhring was an engineer in the Royal Siamese railway department where he helped to design administrative buildings for the department and rail stations for the Siamese provinces. Two of his rail stations still exist: Thonburi station in Bangkok, originally built in 1900, had a building with welcome hall designed by Döhring added in 1909 (the building was destroyed in WWII but then rebuilt in the style of the European expressionist brick architecture, now part of the Sirirat Hospital), and Phitsanulok Station, which is reminiscent of the southern German half-timbered building style.

King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) had a passion for European cultures and modernisation, and it was no surprise that Döhring soon became a superintendent, architect and engineer at the Siamese Ministry of Interior. In September 1909 King Chulalongkorn nominated him as his First Architect. Prince Dilok Nabarath, who had studied in England and Germany, commissioned Döhring to build a new palace in a simple, inexpensive European style, including decent quarters for servants. Other members of the royal family also commissioned buildings for various purposes. For Queen Sukhumala Mahasiri Döhring designed an elegant palace in the Art-Déco style, while at the request of King Chulalongkorn, he designed a palace in Phetchaburi, Phra Ram Rachaniwet, which was only finished in 1915, five years after the king’s death. With this palace, the Art Nouveau style was introduced in Siam. Other important designs by Döhring are Wang Varadis and Tamnak Somdej, both located in Bangkok.

Döhring returned to Germany when his first wife suddenly passed away in 1911. In the same year, he submitted his dissertation about the Phrachedi in Siam at the Royal Saxon Technical College in Dresden and obtained his first Ph.D. degree. In 1912 he returned to Siam, and his scope of responsibilities broadened. He was involved in the architectural planning of the first university in Siam, Chulalongkorn University.

Photograph of a statue of the fasting Siddharta Gautama which was inspired by a similar statue in the Greco-Buddhist art style in the collections of the Lahore Museum. This statue is held at Wat Chetuphon in Bangkok. From Buddhistische Tempelanlagen in Siam, second volume of plates, plate 180. British Library, 7818.pp.8

At the same time, Döhring was also supervisor for research on Thai antiquities, a task that took him on expeditions to ruined cities in northern Siam. Due to a severe illness he had to return to Germany again in 1913, but he used this time to obtain two more Ph.D. degrees (in archaeology and art history at the University Erlangen, and in law at the Royal University Greifswald). An updated and extended version of his dissertation on Buddhist temples in Siam was published in three volumes in 1920 by Asia Publishing House (Bangkok) and Vereinigung Wissenschaftlicher Verleger Walter de Gruyter et al.

Photograph of a library (ho trai) at Wat Rakhang in Bangkok Noi. From Buddhistische Tempelanlagen in Siam, first volume of plates, plate 77. British Library, 7818.pp.8

World War I and the subsequent economic crises prevented Döhring from ever returning to Siam again, but his passion for Thai art remained. In 1918 he gave up his work as an architect and dedicated his time mainly to research on Thai art and art history. His publications “Art and art industry in Siam” (ca. 1915), „Buddhistische Tempelanlagen in Siam" (1920), and „Siam" (1923) were among the first illustrated scholarly researches into areas of Thai art such as lacquer, mother-of-pearl and porcelain works, manuscript furniture, textile art, funeral art, and theatre costumes. Part one of his book Siam provides illustrated descriptions of the country and its people with topics like family, law, water ways, funerals, life at the royal court, music and theatre. Part two looks at fine art and examines art symbolism, the role of the Ramakien, architecture, painting, wood carving, ceramics, lacquer and mother-of-pearl works, mosaic art, and textile art.

Photograph of a wooden funeral carriage with the gilt and lacquered urn of Prince Urupong. From Döhring’s book Siam, part 1, p. 130. British Library, J/10152.tt.26.a

Döhring’s most impressive publication is perhaps his Art and art industry in Siam which was edited under the instructions of the Royal Siamese government and published by Asia Publishing House (Bangkok). The book - consisting of two large volumes (measuring 49 x 62 cm) - is a work of art itself: printed by letterpress, with unique handcrafted metal plates showing a scene from the Ramayana on both front covers. It contains high quality images and descriptions of Thai lacquer designs in black and gold, and was, at the time, the leading work on Thai lacquer art.

Handcrafted metal plate on front cover of volume 2 of Döhring’s Art and art industry in Siam. British Library, X.946

Detail from a side panel of a manuscript cabinet in the National Library in Bangkok. Art and art industry in Siam, volume 2, plate 39. British Library, X.946

Döhring was a passionate collector of Thai antiques and works of art and handicrafts. From his stays in Siam he brought back several Thai manuscripts, manuscript chests, lacquer works, porcelain and other items which are now held in the collections of the Grassi Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. Eleven manuscripts that are held in Leipzig, which mainly contain literary, medical and legal texts, were described by Klaus Wenk in 1968. Under the pseudonym 'Ravi Ravendro' Döhring wrote novels and translated books by Edgar Wallace into German. Döhring passed away in 1941 in Darmstadt.


Photograph of a wooden manuscript chest, outstandingly carved and decorated with gold on black lacquer, one of the items Döhring brought back from Siam and held at in the Grassi Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig. From Döhring’s book Siam, part 2, p. 69. British Library, J/10152.tt.26.a

References
Döhring, Karl: Art and art industry in Siam (2 volumes). Bangkok: Asia Publishing house, ca. 1915
Döhring, Karl: Buddhistische Tempelanlagen in Siam (3 volumes). Bangkok: Asia Publishing house et al., 1920
Döhring, Karl: Siam (2 volumes). Munich: Georg Müller Verlag, 1923 (published in  the series Der Indische Kulturkreis in Einzeldarstellungen, edited by Karl Döhring)
Krisana Daroonthanom: Das architektonische Werk des deutschen Architekten Karl Döhring in Thailand. Berlin: Logos Verlag, 1998
Somchat Chungsiri’arak: Rāingān kānwičhai sathāpatyakam khǭng Khārl Dư̄ring = The works of Karl Siegfried Döhring, architect. Nakhon Pathom: Silapakon University, 1997
Voss, Waltraud: Von Dresden in die Welt. Frühe Promovenden der TU Dresden in Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft. Dresden: TUD Press, 2010
Wenk, Klaus: Thai-Handschriften (2 volumes). Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1968

Jana Igunma, Henry Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

Updated 19 January 2023

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Ten Birth Tales of the Buddha (IO Pali 207)

The Chakrabongse collection of Thai royal letters (Or.15749)

On Monday 28 September the media was full of reports and images of the so-called ‘blood moon’ seen in the early hours, caused by a full lunar eclipse.

This phenomenon was also described in a nineteenth-century Thai manuscript held in the British Library, Or.15760, probably dating from the time of King Rama IV (also known as King Mongkut) of Siam, who reigned from 1851 to 1868.  Rama IV was a passionate astronomer and astrologer, who actually died after catching malaria during an excursion to southern Thailand to watch a total solar eclipse that he had accurately predicted. In 2003, a newly discovered asteroid, 151834 Mongkut, was named in honour of King Rama IV and his contributions to astronomy.

In our manuscript, two types of ‘red moons’ are illustrated at the top of folio 25, together with a warning that following the occurrence of such a moon three bad things might happen: the price of rice may increase, robberies may take place, and there is even the prospect of war! The entire population, including governors and Brahmins (learned men) could suffer great hardship.

The manuscript, which contains illustrations together with astrological interpretations of various shapes of the sun, moon, planets, and clouds, has been fully digitised and can be viewed online here.  

Illustrations of possible appearances of the moon. Tamra phichai songkhram (Divination manual for the prediction of wars and conflicts). British Library, Or.15760, f.25

Further reading

Pattaratorn Chiraprawati, Divination au Royaume de Siam – le corps, la guerre, le destin. Paris and Geneva: Presses Universitaires de France, Fondation Martin Bodmer, 2011

Jana Igunma, Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian
With thanks to Thanyarat Apiwong for help with the translation

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Ten Birth Tales of the Buddha (IO Pali 207)

The British Library received the Chakrabongse Collection of Thai Royal Letters as a donation from M.R. Narisa Chakrabongse, granddaughter of Prince Chakrabongse, in 2002. The letters were written by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and two of his sons, King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) and Prince Chakrabongse, between 1896 and 1915. They cover a range of personal and political topics, including descriptions of several European and Asian countries during that period, unique eye-witness reports of certain political events in Europe, matters relating to Prince Chakrabongse’s education and the education of other Thai royals in European countries, as well as evidence of the close relationship between King Chulalongkorn and Prince Chakrabongse. The acquisition was managed by Henry Ginsburg, who was at that time Curator of the Thai, Lao and Cambodian Collections at the British Library.

King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) reveals on 15.6.1910 details of a request from the French ambassador in Bangkok: "The French ambassador has written that a Yuan [Vietnamese], whom we expelled from Bangkok, has come back to Bangkok as the bearer of a letter from the rebels in Vietnam, and that he is planning to send weapons via Laos. He asks that we capture him and expel him... We have an obligation to help the French in this matter..." (translation by Henry Ginsburg). British Library, Or.15749/13.7, f. 1

His Royal Highness Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanadh, Prince of Bisnulok, was born on 3 March 1883, as the 40th child of His Majesty King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and 4th child of Her Majesty Queen Sri Bajarindra.  He was initially educated in the Royal Palace in Bangkok, then sent to England for further study at the age of 13. During King Chulalongkorn's visit to Russia in 1897, Nicolas II, last Emperor of Russia and a close friend of King Rama V, invited the king to send a son to be educated in Russia, under the care of Nicolas II himself.  Prince Chakrabongse, who had been studying in England for almost two years, was chosen and moved on to St Petersburg to study military science (1898-1912?).  After finishing his studies, he became a Colonel in the Hussar Regiment of Nicholas II.


Prince Chakrabongse describes the situation in St Petersburg, dated 6.11.1905: "It can be called a revolution but of a new kind, not like the French revolution. As I wrote before, there is a new group of people, the ‘intellectuals’ asking for a parliament, asking for the workers’ rights and strikes, but the aristocracy do not want a parliament... The intellectuals are more determined, the government cannot suppress them because most people support the intellectuals. On 17 August the parliament was allowed but only to persons trusted by the government, i.e. rich people, professionals, but no students or workers... So they continue with disruptions, demanding elections and as in every city of Europe guarantees of personal freedom, freedom of speech, of conscience, of meeting, of press."(translation by Henry Ginsburg). British Library, Or.15749/8.12, f. 5

After his return to Thailand, Prince Chakrabongse initiated the idea of establishing a flying unit in the Thai Army and set up the Aviation Section in the Directorate of Engineering in 1913. During World War I, he was the commander in charge of war planes and established the Volunteer Force that was sending Thai soldiers to help the European Allies under the royal command of King Rama VI. In 1919, aircraft were used for postal purposes for the first time in Thailand. Today, Prince Chakrabongse is still respected as the “Father of the Royal Thai Air Force”.

In 1906 in Constantinople, Prince Chakrabongse married Mom Catherine Chakrabongse Na Ayutthaya, a Russian of Ukrainian descent (maiden name Ekaterina Desnitskaya).  Their only child was H.R.H. Prince Chula Chakrabongse. Prince Chakrabongse died in 1920 at the age of 37.


Prince Chakrabongse writes to his brother, King Vajiravudh (Rama VI), about his impressions during a trip to Saigon on 21.4.1912: "The centre of the city is completely French, with large buildings, the shops lit up at night by electricity, it was very elegant. There are French cafes everywhere, the roads are lined with trees and as the trees are already large it is shady and cool to the eye, and there are lots of parks. Municipal water which is clean and clear flows everywhere. There are large ships and European packet boats moored only on one side of the water, then the native city around it, the Yuan live in huts and in Chinese row houses.... Around Saigon and in all Cochinchina there are paved roads going everywhere.  It is very easy to drive here, as quickly as in Europe, which is admirable and astonishing in Cochinchina. Believe me, the French have spent a lot of money here." (translation by Henry Ginsburg). British Library, Or.15749/14.12, f. 1

At the time of his unexpected death in 2007, Henry Ginsburg had already begun to catalogue and describe the letters, and he left behind an electronic text document with a list of shelfmarks and more or less detailed descriptions of many of the letters. For some selected letters he also had prepared a romanised transcription and translations of parts of their contents.

Almost all the letters in the collection, written on European paper, are in good condition. In order to make a decision on an appropriate storage solution several aspects had to be taken into consideration, including the safety and security of the collection, convenient reader access, technical aspects of order and supply, aesthetic aspects, and cost. It was decided to store each letter in a custom-made case, which was the most costly option, but at the same time the safest option in terms of conservation and security.  

At the beginning of 2008, a decision was made that the Chakrabongse Collection should be digitised as part of the British Library’s Thai Manuscripts Digitisation Project, which was funded by the government of Thailand through the Royal Thai Embassy in London. In this project, the entire Chakrabongse Collection and over fifty Thai manuscripts from the Library’s collection were digitised and made available freely on the Library’s Digitised Manuscripts webpage, enabling easy and comfortable access at any time to this rare archival material. This initiative is highly valued not only by historians and the wider research community but also by the Thai public, as the letters give insight into the relationship between King Chulalongkorn and his children as well as political issues at the time the letters were written. To access the digitised letters from the Chakrabongse Archive, the keyword “Chakrabongse” should be inserted in the Quick Search field on the Digitised Manuscripts webpage.     


The book Katya and the Prince of Siam by Eileen Hunter and Narisa Chakrabongse  provides a detailed insight into the life of Prince Chakrabongse and his family.

Further reading

Chula Chakrabongse, Prince, Lords of life: a history of the kings of Thailand. Bangkok: DD Books, 1982 (3rd ed.)
Hunter, Eileen with Narisa Chakrabongse, Katya and the Prince of Siam. Bangkok: River Books, 1994
Narisa Chakrabongse and Paisarn Piamattawat, A pictorial record of the Fifth Reign. Bangkok: River Books, 1992

Jana Igunma, Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

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Ten Birth Tales of the Buddha (IO Pali 207)

In the Thai manuscript painting tradition, Gautama Buddha was widely represented in scenes of the events of his previous lives, known as the Jatakas. Special importance was often given to his last ten existences before he was re-born as Siddharta Gautama. This Thai manuscript (IO Pali 207) dates from the 18th century and is a fine example of how small collections of Buddhist texts were combined with illustrations from the last Ten Birth Tales of the Buddha in folding book form.

Given to the India Office in 1825, this is perhaps the earliest acquired Thai manuscript in a British collection. A note at the end of the manuscript states that it was “Presented by Ltt Coll Clifford by the hands of W Wigram Esqe, 9th Dec 1825”. Lt. Col. Miller Clifford served in the British Army during a long career beginning in the West Indies in 1794. In 1824 he was with the 89th Regiment of Foot in the first Burma war, which was where he must have acquired this fine Thai manuscript. Wigram was a director of the East India Company.

Scenes from the Suvannasama Jataka, symbolising the virtue of loving kindness. It tells the story of Suvannasama who looked after his parents after a poisonous snake caused them to lose their sight. While fetching water for his parents, the king of Benares was hunting nearby and accidentally killed Suvannasama. His parents pleaded with the gods to restore his life, and due to his extraordinary merit he came indeed back to life and the king was forgiven. The parents also regained their eyesight. British Library, IO Pali 207, f. 6

The illustrations in this manuscript are related to the main part of its text, the Mahabuddhaguna, which explains the ten Great Perfections of a Buddha. The Ten Birth Tales are symbolic representations of these Great Perfections. In addition to this text, which covers 37 folios, the book contains other selected short extracts from the Tipitaka.

Scenes from the Candakumara birth tale, which stands for the perfection of forbearance, show a ritual plotted by evil court Brahmins to sacrifice Candakumara by burning him on a pyre, but Sakka (Indra) descends from heaven to interrupt the ritual and to destroy the evil Brahmins. British Library, IO Pali 207, f. 14

The Ten Birth Tales of the Buddha are well-known as Thotsachat or Sipchat  in Thailand. The last of them, called the Great Birth Tale (Mahachat) is the most important and best known. Its proper name, Vessantara Jataka, is after the name of its hero, Prince Vessantara. Its narrative embodies the greatest of all Buddhist virtues, that of giving or charity. Re-telling and paying attention to recitations of the Great Birth Tale are regarded as acts of  merit-making, and its recitation by monks is usually the occasion for a great celebration that lasts a full day and night, or even several days.

Detail from the Vessantara Jataka, which symbolises the great virtue of charity. The Brahmin Jujaka, who asked Prince Vessantara to give him his children as servants for his wife, drives the two children away violently. Remarkable in this painting is the defensive gesture of the child who is trying to protect the other sibling from being hit. In the end, through the intervention of the gods, the children are re-united with their parents and grandparents. British Library, IO Pali 207, f. 20

The text in this book was written in Khom (Khmer) script, but in the Pali language. Altogether there are thirty paired illustrations in the late Ayutthaya painting style, which make this book a rare treasure of Thai manuscript painting. The paintings are simply composed, but the artist’s command of line and form, and composition and colour, are all exemplary. The first twenty pairs of paintings illustrate the last Ten Birth Tales, and the remaining ten paired paintings depict gods and heavenly beings, including Sakka (Indra) and Brahma, as well as scenes from a Buddhist funeral.

Depictions of Brahma (left) and Sakka (right), both kneeling down in a respectful position. The gods repeatedly helped Gautama Buddha in his former incarnations that are retold in the Jatakas. British Library, IO Pali 207, f. 27

The paper of this book was made from the bark of the Khoi tree (Streblus asper), a plant in the family of mulberry trees. It is of a dull cream colour, and the writing was done with black and red China ink and a bamboo pen. Thai manuscript painters at that time had only a limited range of colours made from locally available natural materials. Red and yellow ochre, as well as white were obtained from plants and minerals (gamboges, huntite, vermilion, red lead). Black was produced from carbon (soot) or crushed charcoal. Greens and blues were mostly produced from vegetable matter (for example Indigofera) or minerals (copper, emerald, kaolin). Malachite and ultramarine were imported to produce brighter green and blue shades. Gold paint, usually a mixture of gold with lead, mercury, copper, and other minerals, was used in this manuscript to enhance the appearance of the human and heavenly figures.  

This manuscript, IO Pali 207, has been fully digitised and can be viewed on the Library’s Digitised Manuscripts page by clicking here.

References

Ginsburg, Henry: Thai art and culture. Historic manuscripts from Western Collections. London : British Library, 2000
Ginsburg, Henry: Thai manuscript painting. London : British Library, 1989
Jo-Fan Huang: A technical examination of 7 Thai Manuscripts in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

Jana Igunma, Henry Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

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28 Buddhas

In contrast to Thai mural painting and sculpture, depictions of Gautama Buddha are relatively rare in Thai manuscript art. Numerous Buddhist temples in Thailand are famous for their lavish mural paintings illustrating the milestones in the life of Gautama Buddha, often beginning with his former existence as a Bodhisatta (Buddha-to-be) in Tusita heaven, or with the wedding of his parents, and ending with the distribution of his physical remains.

Although the majority of Thai manuscript paintings are dedicated to Buddhist topics, instead of Gautama Buddha’s life these illustrations often highlight his former incarnations, particularly the last Ten Birth Tales, and the legend of the monk Phra Malai, or other subjects like the Buddhist cosmology, funeral ceremonies and meditation practices. However, there are some remarkable representations of Gautama Buddha in rare Thai manuscripts, and sometimes these can be found in a rather unexpected context.


The most lavishly painted scene from the Life of the Buddha in the British Library’s Thai, Lao and Cambodian collection is this scene called The Great Departure, contained in a northern Thai (Lanna) Kammavaca manuscript from the 19th century. Prince Siddharta, after having learned about the worldly sufferings and the inevitability of death, decided to abandon his luxurious life and to become an ascetic as a result of his great compassion for human suffering. British Library, Or.14025, ff. 13-14
 
While the manuscript shown above was created for use by Buddhist monks on the occasion of the ordination of novices and new monks, the following book containing a collection of drawings and paintings on European paper may have been copied from one or more older manuscripts to serve as an artist’s manual. It includes numerous drawings from the Ramakien (the Thai version of the Ramayana) as well as a set of 23 ink-and-colour paintings illustrating the Ten Birth Tales and the Life of the Buddha.


After leaving his family and home, Siddharta arrived at the Anoma river where he took off his clothes and gave them to his servant and charioteer Channa, who took them back to the palace with a message for Siddharta’s relatives. Then he cut off his hair which Sakka (Indra) collected and placed in Tavatimsa heaven. British Library, Or.14859, ff. 202-203

Another rare manuscript of a smaller, almost square folding book format was used by fortune-tellers in southern Thailand. Some men specialising in fortune-telling and divination were former monks and had acquired a good knowledge of the Buddhist doctrine. It comes as no surprise that the small book combines Buddhist topics, like Jatakas and cosmology, with folk legends and indigenous beliefs. Using the text and picture on a randomly chosen page, the fortune-teller would be able to interpret the fate of a person and give advice on how to avoid bad luck. Very often the advice would point towards making merit or following the Buddhist precepts for lay people.


In the southern Thai dialect this fortune-telling book from the 19th century is called Satra. The illustrations are all rather simple, but highly expressive. The image above shows the scene where Mara, the personification of evil and death, threatens and attacks Siddharta while he was sitting in meditation, touching the ground with his right hand (bhumisparsa or earth-touching mudra). British Library, Or.16482, f. 3


Another unexpected illustration of the same scene, Siddharta under attack from Mara and his army, can be found in a manuscript from central Thailand containing mantra and designs for protective diagrams (yantra). Mara cannot be seen in this drawing in yellow gamboge ink, but underneath the picture of the meditating Siddharta one can see the earth goddess Nang Thorani exercising her supernatural powers by wringing a great flood out of her long hair, thus sweeping away Mara and his army. British Library, Or.15596, f. 17


Once Siddharta was free from all disturbances and distractions, he was able to attain Enlightenment on the full moon day of Visakha. By touching the earth he called upon the gods, here represented by Sakka and Brahma, to witness his enlightenment. British Library, Or.16101, fol. 2

A book of Thai characters, which may have been produced on request of a Western traveller in 19th century Siam, contains ink coloured paintings of human figures representing various ethnic groups found in mainland Southeast Asia at the time, and of figures from Thai literature, particularly the Ramakien (Ramayana). Only on the first page there is a scene from the Life of the Buddha.   

The weeks after his enlightenment the Buddha spent in standing, walking and sitting meditation, thus recollecting his former births and the Four Noble Truths. During the fourth week in seated meditation, devas descended from the heavens to build a jewelled pavilion around him. British Library, Or.14229, f. 1


This illustration is from a Thai folding book in Khom (Khmer) script from the 19th century that contains a collection of extracts from the Pali canon. The painting shows the Buddha in contemplation while two creatures from the heavenly Himavanta forest kneel by his side, showing their respect. British Library, Or.15246, f. 16

Large illustrations covering one entire or more openings of a folding book like in the picture above are relatively rare. Most frequently we find a set of two smaller paintings touching the right and left edges of folding books with some text between them, as shown below.


This generously gilded set of paintings in a 19th century manuscript containing the legend of Phra Malai depict a scene of utmost rarity in Thai manuscript art - Gautama Buddha’s death that is mourned by his followers. On the right side we see Kassapa, one of Buddha’s closest disciples, who was travelling with a group of other monks. While resting under a tree, they encountered a man holding a gigantic flower over his head. They enquired about the meaning of this supernatural plant and the man informed them that he found it at the place where the Buddha had passed away and finally reached pari-nibbana. British Library, Or.14956, fol. 2

Further reading

Appleton, Naomi and Sarah Shaw and Toshiya Unebe: Illuminating the Life of the Buddha. An illustrated chanting book from eighteenth-century Siam. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2013
Ginsburg, Henry: Thai art and culture. Historic manuscripts from Western collections. London: British Library, 2000
Tom Chuawiwat: The Life of the Lord Buddha from Thai mural painting. Bangkok: Asia Books (no year)

Jana Igunma
Henry Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian Collections

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Weird and wild monsters in the ocean's dark depths: revelations from the Thai Mahajanaka Jataka

The Mahajanaka Jataka is one of the last Ten Birth Tales of the Buddha, which are popular themes in Thai mural and manuscript painting. In Thai folding books (samut khoi), the Ten Birth Tales are often used to illustrate a text with the title Mahabuddhaguna describing the Great Qualities of the Buddha (paramita). The Mahajanaka Jataka symbolises perseverance.
 

A typical folio from a Thai folding book containing a collection of Buddhist texts including the Mahabuddhaguna in Khom (Khmer) script. The illustrations depict Mahajanaka’s sinking ship with giant fish waiting to swallow the helpless humans. On the right is Mahajanaka clinging to a wood plank while a goddess comes to his rescue. British Library, Or.14559, f. 5.

The Mahajanaka Jataka tells the story of Prince Mahajanaka whose father was killed in battle and lost his kingdom before the prince was born. When he discovered the truth of his ancestry the prince vowed to regain his father’s kingdom. He set out on a seafaring voyage with the aim of building a fortune in a distant land so he could use the wealth to set up a powerful army. However, the ship sank in the middle of the ocean and everyone on board drowned or was killed by ferocious sea creatures - except the prince. He drifted in the ocean for seven days without food, but survived through the sheer strength of his determination and perseverance. Although he refused to implore the gods for help, a goddess named Manimekhala lifted him from the waters and flew him to the royal park of Mithila in his father’s kingdom, which he finally regained in an unusual way. Thereafter, he discovered the truths of life and left his kingdom to pursue spiritual attainment. It is the story of one who would rather perish than give up.
 

The goddess Manimekhala, believed to be the guardian of the seas in Thai Buddhist mythology, is often depicted with a body in bright blue or white colours. The illustration above is from an album of Thai character drawings from the 19th century. British Library, Or.14229, f. 13.

The illustrations in Thai manuscripts - which mostly date from the 18th and 19th centuries - capturing scenes from the Mahajanaka Jataka feature a variety of ficticious sea creatures. They show how Thai people at that time perceived the ocean, which they regarded as an integral part of the Buddhist cosmology.  The paintings reveal the ocean as an endless, constantly shifting and moving substance in cold colours, with waves that could easily swallow a large trade junk or a fleet of war ships. All sorts of creatures can hide under the water and appear on the ocean’s surface without warning.
 

Another scene from a 19th-century Thai Buddhist manuscript depicting the moment when Manimekhala lifts Mahajanaka from the water. The other people on the ship, representing various ethnic groups, struggle to survive while a mermaid and a merman watch the event. British Library, Or.16100, f. 3. 

The sea monsters that are believed to populate eight mythical oceans surrounding Mount Meru are fierce animals battling the waves, often with large teeth and bulging eyes, powerful tails or sword-like jaws. Other dangerous creatures are mermaids and mermen of beguiling beauty who try to pull humans under the water. Whereas some of the creatures do appear closer to real animals, like giant fish or swordfish, many of them are creations of the imagination of painters who had to rely on the verbal accounts of sailors or fishermen – stories which may often have been dramatised and embellished. Another source that painters would have used was the Thai Buddhist cosmology Traiphum, which includes descriptions of the eight mythical oceans.  
 

The eighth, or outer ocean that surrounds Mount Meru is shown in this illustration from a 19th-century Thai manuscript containing a collection of Buddhist texts together with the legend of Phra Malai. The world is shown to be resting on a giant fish at the bottom. Apart from the fish, one can see a mermaid (center) as well as Sang Thong, the boy born from a conch shell (Suvanna-Sankha Jataka), on the left. British Library, Or.16100, f. 96.

In contrast to Western descriptions of sea monsters, which often include water serpents or gigantic octopuses, water serpents do not usually appear in illustrations of the Mahajanaka Jataka. Whereas the creatures of the ocean are generally perceived as dangerous, death-bringing enemies of humans, serpents (naga) are regarded as potentially friendly to humans, and with a positive attitude towards the Buddha or a Buddha-to-be. The naga in the Thai tradition is not actually associated with the ocean, but is believed to reside on shore, for example in caves or in rivers.  


Mahajanaka’s rescue in a more abstract painting style with a bright red background and floral decorations. The outfits of the goddess and Mahajanaka are in the tradition of the late Ayutthaya  style. This Thai manuscript from the 18th century contains the Mahabuddhaguna and other extracts from the Pali canon. British Library, Or.14068, f. 3.

Manuals for artists that feature sea creatures have been produced in manuscript form at least since the early 19th century. From the mid-20th century on, numerous printed painters’ manuals were published. Nowadays these are also used by art students and tattoo artists.   

In 1996, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand published his own interpretation of the Mahajanaka Jataka, illustrated by cartoonist Chai Ratchawat. The book was re-published several times between 1997 and 2003 and has contributed significantly to the increased popularity of the Mahajanaka Jataka in Thailand.

Pages from an artists’ manual of characters from Thai mythology that was published in 1993. On the left one can see a mermaid and a merman, whereas on the right there are a sea cow and a sea deer.

Further reading:

Mahajanaka Jataka (full text version)
Phrabāt Somdet Phračhaoyūhūa Phūmiphon ʿAdunlayadēt, Rư̄ang Phra Mahāchanok = The story of Mahājanaka. Bangkok: Amarin, 2000. (YP.2007.b.628)
Sētthaman Kānčhanakun, Sēnsāi lāi Thai. Bangkok: Sukkhaphāpčhai, 1993 (YP.2009.b.89)

Jana Igunma, Henry Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

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Henry David Ginsburg (1940-2007), the former Curator of the Thai, Lao and Cambodian collections at the British Library, started work at the British Museum Library in 1967 as a Special Assistant. He spent his entire life conducting research on Southeast Asian arts and cultures, but passed away in 2007 without finishing his last two research projects, on Thai banner paintings and the Chakrabongse Archive of royal letters held at the British Library. Henry Ginsburg left behind a huge collection of books, photographs and art treasures, which he had collected over forty years through personal and professional contacts. He was friends with several members of the Thai royal family, as well as with scholars, private collectors, and colleagues from a variety of institutions all over the world. As a curator Henry was well-known for his specialism in Thai manuscripts and manuscript painting, but his interests and expertise were far broader than this.

Henry Ginsburg was born in 1940 in New York as a son of prominent traders of Jewish-Russian descent who dealt in antique furniture, decorative art and accessories, and textiles. Having grown up in a family that admired the arts and dedicated much of their time to collecting and researching antiquities, he studied Russian and French at Columbia University and began to travel during this time. His first Asian experience was a trip to India in 1963, where he acquired a taste for cultural research. One year later he joined the American Peace Corps in Thailand to teach English in Chachoengsao, an experience which thence set the course of his future life. From this time on Henry started to live on three different continents (Europe, North America and Asia) and his part-time contract with the British Library from 1973 onward allowed him to pursue his own research and travel interests all over the world. 

Henry Ginsburg (fourth from left) with students in Chachoengsao in the mid 1960s. British Library, Photo 1213(17)

Perhaps influenced by the Ginsburg family’s photographer Aaron Siskind, Henry left a remarkable collection of photographs, which tell the story of his professional life as well as of his own distinctive artistic and travel interests. The earliest pictures are from his visit to India in 1963, where he explored ancient Indian architecture and engaged with local communities: an aspect of Henry Ginsburg’s interests that was not widely known until his photographs were made available for research. Many of the pictures that were taken over a period of more than forty years show that he continued to pursue these interests throughout his life.


Kanheri archaelogical site, India, mid 1980s, British Library, Photo 1213(387)

The photo collection includes a huge amount of detailed documentation of South and Southeast Asian temples in the 1970s, and particularly of ancient Khmer architecture. One particular benefit of these photographs is that they record the process of reconstruction of these sites over the past decades (for example, Payathonzu temple, shown below, nowadays has a different appearance after reconstruction was carried out).   


Payathonzu temple, archaeological site, Burma 1967, British Library Photo 1213(1014)

Many photographs did not contain any written information and were difficult to identify. In some cases, we made digital copies of such pictures and shared them with other scholars and researchers to find out more details. This kind of approach helped to establish the identity of a series of photographs depicting a piece of embroidery described later on in this post. However, there remain some photographs which have not been identified so far, for example the stone inscription shown below.  The inscription in this photograph has not yet been read, and the archaeological site where the photograph was taken is also not known; perhaps crowd-sourcing may provide a solution.


Unidentified stone inscription. British Library, Photo 1213(460)

A smaller number of rare photographs give insights into traditional ways of life in Thailand and India in the 1960s and early 1970s, one of the reasons why travelling to these countries was so popular at the time, including for Henry himself. He was fascinated by the cultural differences and travelled a lot in order to conduct his research. It would be a valid assumption to state that Henry’s research was influenced through direct contact with living traditions and the translation of religion in everyday life. This makes his work very special in comparison with established methods based, for example, purely on textual research.
    

Traditional Norah dance performer in Southern Thailand, late 1960s. British Library, Photo 1213(233)

One example of this interdisciplinary approach combining anthropology, philology and art history was his research about the Norah dance, which is based on the legend of Sudhana and Manohara. In 1971 Henry wrote his Ph.D. thesis about “The Sudhana-Manohara tale in Thai” at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) in London. For the analysis of texts contained in two different manuscripts, he travelled to Southern Thailand, where he also attended a Norah dance performance. The photo above was shot at this time.  

The majority of pictures relate to Henry’s work as a scholar and provide a very good overview of his work at the British Library. There are various photographs of mostly illustrated manuscripts containing texts like Jatakas, Phrommachat, Phra Malai and Traiphum in all kinds of painting styles like 18th and 19th century Thai, Burmese and Khmer styles. These photos could support the comparative study of different artistic interpretations of Southeast Asian literary traditions, without spending too much time travelling, or ordering copies of manuscripts from different institutions in different countries.   


A 19th century map drawn on cotton showing the coast of Thailand. British Library, Photo 1213(1353)

The image above and the following picture remind us of the roots of Henry Ginsburg. He grew up in a family who were prominent for their knowledge of antique textiles and decorative arts, and he followed this family tradition throughout his entire life. Therefore, he researched and collected antique textiles and other works of art in his spare time.
 

Tibetan relic cover made from needle-looped patchwork embroidery. British Library, Photo 1213(1485)

As mentioned earlier, the most spectacular piece depicted in a series of pictures from the estate of Henry Ginsburg is this piece of needle-looped patchwork embroidery shown in the picture above. It was a hard job to find out what kind of textile it was or where it originated from. After numerous emails had been exchanged with experts and former friends of Henry’s all over the world, a solution to the mystery was found. The textile artwork shown in the photograph was a Tibetan relic cover, originally perhaps from Suzhou, now held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The embroidery shows different influences from all over Asia like the needle-looping technique that can be traced back to 10th century Central Asia and the patches of fine silk from China.

The photo collection of Henry Ginsburg has been fully catalogued now and can be retrieved via the Search our Catalogue Archives and Manuscripts website. The original photographs can be viewed on appointment in the Library’s Asian & African Studies reading room. Thanks to Henry Ginsburg’s passion and work on Southeast Asian manuscripts, arts and cultures the Library holds one of the finest collections of Thai manuscripts. The British Library is grateful to have been given the responsibility to look after Henry Ginsburg’s photo collection as well.   

References:

A guardian of Thai treasures. Henry Ginsburg (1940-2007), A display to mark the 70th anniversary of his birth – 5th November 2010. London: British Library 2010. Download Henry Ginsburg Guardian of Thai Treasures

Berger, Patricia: A stitch in time. Speculations on the origins of needle-looping. In:  Orientations, The magazine for collectors and connoisseurs of Asian art, vol. 20 no. 8 (August 1989).

Henry Ginsburg. The Telegraph, 11 April 2007.

Ginsburg, Henry: The Sudhana-Manohara Tale in Thai: a comparative study based on two texts from the National Library, Bangkok, Mat Wachimawat, Songkhla. Ph.D. Thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.  

Ginsburg, Henry: Thai Art and Culture. Historic Manuscripts from Western Collections. London: British Library 2000.

Anne Gruneberg, M.A., Freiburg, Germany

Anne is a historian and anthropologist who recently graduated from the University of Freiburg. She volunteered for six weeks at the British Library in early 2015 to catalogue and research Henry Ginsburg’s photo collection. This blog article is a summary of her work.

Update:

Since the publication  of this blog post, Nicolas Revire, lecturer at Thammasat University in Bangkok, has kindly helped to identify the stone inscription depicted in Henry Ginsburg’s photograph mentioned above. It is a detail of an inscribed Dharmacakra originally from Si Thep, now held in the collection of the Newark Museum, which has been published by Robert L. Brown in his book The Dvaravati wheels of the law and the Indianization of Southeast Asia (Leiden/New York/Cologne: Brill, 1996; pp. 106-108) and, more recently, in John Guy's catalogue  Lost Kingdoms, Hindu-Buddhist sculpture of early Southeast Asia  (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014; cat. 122). The inscription in Pali is a phrase from the Buddha’s first sermon about the Four Truths of Buddhism.

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