Asian and African studies blog

Continuing our series of posts on the Ramayana in Southeast Asia, today we look at Thailand and Laos. The Thai version of the epic is known as the Ramakien. The Rama story is thought to have been known to the Thais since at least the 13th century. It was adopted from older Khmer sources, hence the similarity to the Khmer title Reamker. Various new versions of the story have been composed, often by royal authors, since the 16th and 17th centuries. However, large numbers of Thai manuscripts were lost with the destruction of Ayutthya in 1767, and the Ramakien known today was compiled only between 1785 and 1807 under the supervision of King Rama I (1785-1809).

The famous reliefs depicting about 150 scenes from the Ramakien at Wat Phra Chetuphon (Wat Pho) in Bangkok date back to the early 19th century. Manuscript and mural paintings showing scenes from the Ramakien are particularly famous for their illustrations of the monkey armies. Best known are the mural paintings at the royal temple Wat Phra Kaeo in Bangkok. In King Rama I’s version of the Ramakien all names, places, traditions, and flora and fauna were adapted to a Thai context. In this form, the Rama story has become an epic of national character in Thailand, and it is very popular not only as a literary work, but also as a mask dance (khon) and even TV drama. It has been re-published many times in the form of children’s and juvenile literature, and characters from the Ramayana have featured on series of postal stamps and trading cards. The title of Rama constantly re-occurs in the royal genealogies of Thailand.


Hanuman facing Ravana asleep in his palace. This drawing is from a 19th century album of ink drawings by an anonymous Thai artist of scenes from the Ramakien, with some text captions in Khom script (a variant of the Cambodian Khmer script used in Thailand). Hanuman can be seen with his sword, teasing Ravana who is fast asleep in his palace after having abducted Sita. The palace resembles 19th century architecture in Bangkok. British Library, Or.14859, pp. 58-59


Phralak – the Thai and Lao name of Lakshmana, Rama’s brother – served Rama and Sita reverently and played an important role in the war with Ravana. In the Thai and Lao traditions, he is a symbol of brotherly love, loyalty and commitment. He gave his life in order to protect Rama’s integrity and Ayodhya from an evil curse. This illustration of Phralak is from a folding-book with Thai character drawings including figures from the Ramakien, central Thailand, 19th century. British Library, Or.14229, f. 29

The Lao version of the Ramayana is known as Phra Lak Phra Ram (or Pha Lak Pha Lam since in modern Lao R is often replaced by L), the title referring to both the brothers Lakshmana and Rama. Sometimes it is also called Phra Ram sadok (Rama Jataka) as it is widely believed that Rama was a former incarnation of a Buddha-to-be. The Rama story featured in many mural paintings and wood relief carvings on temple doors and windows. It was also one of the favourite themes in the repertoire of the Lao Royal Ballet until 1975, and this tradition has been revived since 2002 by the Royal Ballet Theatre of Luang Prabang.


Introductory scene to thank and honour the Hindu gods during a Phra Lak Phra Ram performance by the Royal Ballet Theatre of Luang Prabang. Photo by Jana Igunma, 2002.

Numerous palm-leaf manuscripts from all regions of Laos containing shorter versions of the Lao Ramayana, Lam Pha Lam, show that the story was very popular all over the country in urban centres as much as in rural areas. These versions were created in order to be sung by a Mor Lam, a traditional expert singer who can melodically recite lengthy poems and epic literature while being accompanied by a Khaen (bamboo mouth organ).

In both Thai and Lao traditions, Hanuman was part of a favourite Yantra design used by soldiers and martial arts specialists. The leader of the monkey armies represents strength, stamina, agility, intelligence and devotion. Hanuman Yantras would either be drawn on protective shirts, headbands, battle standards of entire armies, or, most efficiently and durably, tattooed on a fighter’s body.


Hanuman as part of a Yantra design for tattooing or to be drawn on protective clothes and battle flags. From a Yantra manual written in gamboge ink on blackened mulberry paper, central Thailand, 19th century.  British Library, Or.15596, f. 9

Further reading

Angkhan Kanlayanaphong, Khon, Thai masked dance Sala Chalermkrung. Bangkok, 2006. (LP.31.a.679)

John Cadet, The Ramakien. The Thai epic illustrated with the bas-reliefs of Wat Phra Jetubon, Bangkok. Tokyo, Palo Alto, 1971. (Siam.742)

Sachchidanand Sahai, The Rama Jataka in Laos : a study in the Phra Lak Phra Lam. Delhi, 1996. (YD.2004.a.6415)

The Ramakian (Ramayana) mural paintings along the galleries of the temple of the Emerald Buddha. Bangkok, 1999. (SEA.2002.c.3)

Jana Igunma, Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

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If you were in Bangkok about a century ago and you were going to a theatre performance, the last thing you would expect is a play by Shakespeare. But you might be surprised to find out that this was very much a possibility, and it was equally possible to recognise the Thai king as one of the actors on stage.

King Vajiravudh (Rama VI, 1910-25) was a true fan of Shakespeare and translated several of his works into Thai. He also made great efforts to ensure that Shakespeare’s plays found their way into Thai theatres and by doing so he introduced Western/modern forms of theatre into Thailand. He often stood on the stage himself as he had a passion for acting that he had developed as a young student in England. Immediate family members were encouraged to join him on stage.

The Cheltenham Chronicle and Glo’shire Graphic reported on 30 August 1902 about the young Crown Prince Vajiravudh that “the Prince has recently appeared in another role – that of amateur actor and playwright - at an ‘At Home’ at Westbury Court… The stage name of the heir to the Siamese Crown is ‘Carlton H. Terris’, and he actually performed in three plays – ‘In Honour Bound’, ‘Old Cronies’, and ‘The King’s Command’, the latter being from his pen.”      

King Vajiravudh during his coronation ceremony in 1910. Source: Chotmaihet Phraratchaphithi borommaratchaphisek Somdet Phraramathibodi Srisinthon Maha Vachiravut Phramongkutklao Chaoyuhua. Bangkok, 1923, p. 1 (Siam.183)

King Vajiravudh was born on January 1, 1881 being the second son and successor of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). At the early age of 12, he was sent to Sandhurst Royal Military College and then moved to Oxford University to study history, administration and law. Altogether, he spent nine years in England. Following the death of his elder half-brother, Crown Prince Maha Vajirunhis in 1895, Prince Vajiravudh succeeded as Crown Prince and eventually ascended the throne after his father King Rama V deceased on 23 October 1910. He was the first Thai king to be educated abroad. The long time as a student in England had a considerable and lasting influence on his love of literary and performing arts. In many of his works, he emphasised the value of the press, and of reading in general.

Romeo and Juliet in Thai, translated by King Vajiravudh. The book was printed in 1922 and bound in a lavender coloured silk cover embossed with gilt (Siam.279)

His most important translations into Thai are Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” (Siam.279), “As you like it” (Siam.330/421), and “The Merchant of Venice” (Siam.275/7). His excellence in this field earned him the name “Maha thiraraja”, meaning “philosopher king”. Due to the fact that many of his contemporaries did not see the purpose in his activities as an author, playwright and actor – the latter being indeed very unusual for a Thai king - he decided to write and perform under different pseudonyms, like for example Si Ayutthaya, Asvabhahu, Tom Toby, or Carlton H. Terris. Altogether, King Vajiravudh used more than 40 pseudonyms (known to date).

Beginning of the first act of Romeo and Juliet in Thai, translated by King Vajiravudh (Siam.279, pp. 4-5) 

The publication of Thai literary works and translations of Western literature and theatre plays into Thai reached a first climax with King Vajiravudh as author and translator himself.  He stood out for his considerable contribution to Thai literature and the performing arts, and was the first one to classify Thai theatre into two types, the Khon and Lakhon.

In "A Descriptive Catalogue of the Siamese Section at the International Exhibition of Industry and Labour" (Turin, 1911) he wrote: “The theatre where the Khon and Lakon are performed ... possesses the beautiful simplicity of an ancient Greek theatre ... neither stage nor scenery is required ... Costumes and properties however, are very elaborate, and are made as accurately as possible. The costumes are made to resemble those worn in Siam in olden times, and have not changed during successive generations, because they have been found most picturesque and suitable. Queens or royal personages wear crowns or coronets; others have various kinds of headdresses suitable to their rank and station. Character parts, such as demons, monkeys, or yogis wear distinctive masks of different colours and designs. Each mask is a good example of Siamese decorative art, and is distinctive and characteristic, so that each character may at once be recognized by the mask worn by the actor.” 

In addition to these traditional theatre forms, he helped to popularise modern dance-drama, spoken drama (lakhon phut) and sung drama (lakhon rong) in Siam as a way to prepare the people of his country for the modern world.

The British Library has a collection of over 120 first editions and reprints of King Vajiravudh’s works, including the above mentioned three translations of Shakespeare’s plays into Thai.

Jana Igunma, Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

Further reading

Paradee Tungtang: Shakespeare in Thailand. PhD dissertation, University of Warwick, 2011 (SFX 537761) 

Walter F. Vella and Dorothy Vella:  Chaiyo! King Vajiravudh and the development of Thai nationalism. Honolulu, 1978 (X.800/32387)

Some famous Malay texts have survived in numerous copies – over thirty manuscripts of the Sejarah Melayu are known, including two in the British Library – yet others are only represented by a single manuscript.  One such work is the Kedah poem Syair Sultan Maulana, ‘The Ballad of our Venerable Sultan’, known solely from Add. 12394 in the British Library, which has just been digitised and can be read here.  This epic in verse, set during the reign of Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Syah of Kedah (r.1804-1843), records the heroic part played by a Kedah fleet in helping the Siamese expel the Burmese from the island of Phuket (known in Malay as Pulau Salang) in early 1810.  

The seal of Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Syah of Kedah.  The Arabic inscription reads: al-‘azīz dhū al-mulk al-qadīr al-ghālib ghayr al-maghlūb al-sultān khalīfat Allāh ‘alā dā’īrah Kedah wa-huwa al-Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Syah ibn al-Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Syah sanat 1219, ‘The mighty one, possessor of the kingdom, the powerful one, the conquering [yet] unconquered one, the sultan [who is the] vicegerent of God over the territory of Kedah, and he is Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Syah, son of Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Syah, the year 1219 (1804/5)’.  The seal is stamped on a letter from the Sultan to the Governor-General of Bengal, [Lord Minto], 26 Rabiulakhir 1226 (20 May 1811), pleading for protection against the Siamese.  British Library, MSS Eur.D.742/1, f.3.

Like many Malay literary and historical works, the Syair Sultan Maulana is anonymous, but the author’s vantage point at the centre of action led the scholar Cyril Skinner to conclude that the poem was probably written by the secretary to the Kedah Admiral, the Laksamana.  According to a note on the front cover, the manuscript was given by its author to John McInnes, who served as the government Malay translator in Penang from 1812.  In 1825 it was in the possession of John Crawfurd, Resident of Singapore, and as part of the Crawfurd collection was acquired by the British Museum in 1842.  The historical value of this work has long been recognized: the text was the subject of a Ph.D. thesis by Muhammad Yusoff Hashim (1980), and it was also published in transliteration and elegant English translation by Skinner (1985), from which the quotations below are taken.

The sultanate of Kedah is renowned as the oldest Malay kingdom in present-day Malaysia, its ruling line dating back to the 12th century.  For much of its existence, Kedah has been subservient to Siam, its powerful neighbour to the north.  When Burmese forces occupied Phuket in October 1809 Kedah was forced to support the Siamese war effort, and it is this five-month naval battle that is the subject of the syair.  


The opening lines of the Syair Sultan Maulana, written in the Malay syair verse form of four-line stanzas, with each line ending with the same rhyme.
‘Listen, Sirs, to this composition / the story of His Majesty the Sultan of Kedah
many were his subjects, fair his realm / and prosperous were those who dwelt in it.
His Majesty was venerated as Sultan Maulana / his official title being Ahmad Tajuddin
the son of the noble Sultan Abdullah / of a dynasty born to occupy the golden throne’
Dengarkan tuan suatu madah / kisah baginda Sultan di Kedah
negerinya ramai terlalu indah / isi negeri semuanya mudah.
Ismu baginda Sultan Maulana / Ahmad Tajuddin gelar rencana
ibnu Sultan Abdullah yang ghana / bangsa di atas tahta kencana
British Library, Add. 12394, f.1v. 

The syair is a valuable source of information on Malay naval warfare in the early 19th century, with details of vessels and crews, armaments, and battle formations and tactics.  The departure of the fleet from Kedah must have been a glittering sight, each ship flying the pennant of its commander:
‘The Temenggung had been made operational commander / his cannon was called Raging Tiger / his pennant was bright red in colour / a truly daunting sight’
Jabatan Temenggung panglima perang / lotang bernama Harimau Garang
tetunggulnya merah cahaya berdarang / memberi gentar dipandang orang
But perhaps one of the main delights of this syair lies in the author’s pithy, no-punches-pulled, portrayal of individual Kedah warriors, his aim in writing made clear in the closing stanzas:
‘I merely wished His Majesty to know / how his subjects acted –
who did their duty and who was remiss - / all their deeds are clearly related here’
Sekadar maklum duli makota / perintah hamba sahaya semata
masing kerja baik dan leta / barang perintah di sinilah nyata
Among the proven heroes were Wan Akil son of Wan Alang (patutlah jadi menteri hulubalang), the loyal and true Raja Mahkota (lagi sangat teguh setiawan) and the brave Wan Hanafi (muda terpilih), while those publicly shamed in the syair included the weak-willed Tengku Alang Naga (bersifat udang), who used the excuse of being thirsty (katanya dahaga) to slope off; Lebai Lang Didik, who put on a great show – once he was sure the coast was clear (mereka berperang sangatlah cerdik / tampil pun hingga habis disidik); and Captain (Nakhoda) Dul, whose actions did not match his fine words (jika bercakap terlalu behena / sampai berperang tiada berguna).  

The whole range of human sensibilities is depicted, with shades of grey as well as black and white.  Raja Setia Jaya, the chief (penghulu) of Kerian, may not have led from the front but neither did he lag behind (tiada dahulu tiada kemudian). The pious Tengku Idris (sikap pahlawan ulama pun dia) viewed the battle between co-religionists Burma and Siam as one in which Kedah should not play a part (katanya agama mereka sebangsa / menyertai dia kita berdosa), even for the sake of Kedah’s security (sebab negeri hendak dipelihara), and after long debates with the Laksamana he eventually sailed back alone. At the end of the successful campaign the Laksamana is rewarded by the Sultan with the position of Bendahara, and the syair ends asking for God’s blessings.


Final pages of the Syair Sultan Maulana.  British Library, Add. 12394, ff. 47v-48r.  

On a recent visit to Kedah to receive the award of Darjah Setia Diraja Kedah from the Regent of Kedah, I felt very honoured to meet the Regency Council comprising the four great ministers of state of Kedah – the present-day Bendahara, Temenggung, Laksamana and Panglima Besar – all descended from the 'Sultan Maulana' of the syair.


From left: Tunku Panglima Besar, Tunku Laksamana, Tunku Temenggung, the writer, the Menteri Besar of Kedah, the Regent of Kedah Tunku Bendahara, the royal consorts Toh Puan Bendahara, Toh Puan Temenggung and Toh Puan Laksamana, and the writer’s parents.  Istana Anak Bukit, Alor Setar, Kedah, 6 Feburary 2014.

Further reading:

Muhammad Yusoff Hashim, Syair Sultan Maulana: suatu penelitian kritis tentang hasil pensejarahan Melayu tradisional.  Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Universiti Malaya, 1980.
Skinner, C., The battle for Junk Ceylon.  The Syair Sultan Maulana.  Text, translation and notes.  Dordrecht: Foris, 1985. (Bibliotheca Indonesica; 25).

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

Regular users of the Asian and African Studies reading room in the British Library will certainly be aware of the display cases on the landing in front of the reading room. The two large cases by the lifts contain gilded manuscript chests from Thailand and Burma, while the exhibits in the smaller case are changed at least once a year. In the past we have covered themes like Thai illustrated manuscripts, rare printed material from Thailand, and Thai palm leaf manuscripts.

The latest display – by coincidence, installed just before Valentine’s Day – depicts love stories and relationships in Southeast Asian manuscript traditions. For the first time, we are presenting three manuscripts from different Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Thailand, and Burma.  

The Javanese story of Sela Rasa
This beautiful Javanese manuscript tells the story of Prince Sela Rasa, who with his two older brothers has been forced to leave their kingdom of Champa.  In the illustration shown in the display, the brothers pay their respects to a holy man.  The sage’s daughter, Ni Rumsari, had dreamt that three handsome men would come to visit.  The characters are drawn according to the stylised conventions of the Javanese shadow puppet theatre, wayang kulit.  The Serat Selarasa is perhaps the earliest finely-illustrated Javanese manuscript known. The manuscript is dated 1804, and according to a note in the text was once owned by the wife of a Dutch East India Company official in Surabaya, before it was presented to Col. Colin Mackenzie in 1812.


Serat Selarasa.  British Library, MSS Jav. 28, ff. 13v-14r.

A Thai divination manual
This divination manual (phrommachat) from central Thailand is on public display for the first time. It contains horoscopes based on the Chinese zodiac, relating each lunar month to the animals of the 12-year-cycle and their reputed attributes (earth, wood, fire, iron, water) as well as a male or female avatar (representing the Chinese concepts of yin and yang). This manuscript from the 19th century also includes beautifully illustrated descriptions of lucky and unlucky matches of couples. The paintings on the left side depict the female avatar of the year of the pig riding on a blue hog, and illustrations of possible fates for people born in the year of the pig. On the right side we see a couple of ogres (phi suea) who will stay happily married until old age, whereas the relationship between a male ogre and a female angel (deva) is an unlucky one.


Thai divination manual.  British Library, Or. 4830, ff. 25-26.

Scenes from the Burmese Ramayana
The highlight of the display is a manuscript book from Burma with large paintings stretching over several folios, illustrating the great epic of love and war Ramayana. It was created at the royal court, where a team of painters served.  The paper of this 19th century Burmese folding book of the Ramayana was handmade from mulberry bark. Shown here is the famous scene where Rama is lured away to shoot the golden deer.  Meanwhile, his wife Sita is captured by Ravana in the guise of an old hermit, after which he returns to his original form of a fearful ten-headed giant.
Dramatic performances of the Ramayana emerged in the Konbaung Period (1752-1885). The king’s minister Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa converted the Ramayana Jataka into a Burmese classical drama and he also composed accompanying music and songs. Ever since, Ramayana performances have been very popular in Burmese culture.  


Ramayana.  British Library, Or.14178, ff. 8-9.

All three manuscripts in this new display have been fully digitised and can be viewed freely online through the British Library’s Digitised Manuscripts website.  Clicking on the highlighted links beneath each image will take you directly to the digitised manuscript.  Digitisation of these manuscripts was supported by the Henry Ginsburg Legacy, while the display cabinets were sponsored by the Royal Thai Government.

Further reading

Annabel Teh Gallop, Javanese art in the early 19th century: Serat Selarasa.  Southeast Asia Library Group blog, 4 March 2013

Jana Igunma, When an angel meets a demon: advice on love and relationships in a Thai divination manual. Asian & African studies blog, 7 January 2014.

San San May, Scenes from the Ramayana. Southeast Asia Library Group blog, 3 April 2013.

Jana Igunma, San San May and Annabel Teh Gallop, Southeast Asian studies

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Meditation is an essential part of Buddhism. It aims to develop mental discipline and to cultivate a wholesome, alert state of mind which eventually results in the practice of Dhamma. Meditation, often combined with chanting methods, helps to reach a mental state of happiness (piti) which is one of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (satta bojjhanga), which are: mindfulness, investigation, effort, happiness, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity.

Happiness in the Buddhist sense, however, should not be misinterpreted as a state of individual happiness or temporary contentment. It cannot be self-centered or selfish but is rather a state of mind that has overcome all desire (tanha) –the principal cause of suffering (dukkha). Dukkha is often described as suffering or pain, but it also refers to impermanence and change, as well as to conditioned states of mind, i.e. being dependent on or affected by something/someone. Meditation is a powerful tool which can overcome such states of mind by focusing in different ways on the body, on emotion, and on the conscious or unconscious mind. Common methods of contemplation can be by breath and body movements, by means of a meditational device (a candle flame, metal object, beads or a mandala drawing), and also through sounds and smells (senses and emotions).

Fragment of a manual of a Buddhist mystic (yogacavara) on meditation practices, including morbid meditations. Or.14447, f 4

Although it is no longer widely practiced, morbid meditation is possibly the most efficient of all meditation practices aiming to overcome conditioned states of the mind and emotion. It is described in the Buddha’s discourse on the practice of mindfulness (Maha Satipatthana Sutta), one of the earliest Buddhist teachings. According to Buddhaghosa, a fifth-century Buddhist scholar who compiled numerous commentaries on the Buddha’s teachings, morbid meditation is explained as follows:

As though he were to see a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground – one, two, three days dead, bloated, livid, and oozing matter… being devoured by crows, hawks, vultures, jackals, or worms… a skeleton with flesh and blood, held together with sinews… disconnected bones scattered in all directions bones bleached white, the colour of shells… bones, heaped up, more than a year old… bones rotten and crumbling to dust – a monk compares his own body, ‘this body too is of the same nature, it will end up like that, it is not exempt from that fate.’ In this way, he abides contemplating the body as body… and he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. (Skilling, p. 30)

Or.13703, fol. 35

The highest state of meditation is reached when both attraction and repulsion cease to exist: ‘In the arahant, there is neither liking nor disliking: he regards all things with perfect equanimity, as did Thera Maha Moggallana when he accepted a handful of rice from a leper.’ (Francis Story).

Morbid meditations are very well documented in Thai manuscript painting. Many manuscripts about the famous monk Phra Malai (see my post ‘A Thai book of merit: Phra Malai’s journeys to heaven and hell’) include one or more scenes of morbid meditations. These manuscripts were often commissioned by families of deceased persons as funeral presentation volumes. The Thai, Lao and Cambodian Collections of the British Library hold over 20 such manuscripts, all of them beautifully illustrated with scenes from the monk’s encounters and his teachings to the lay people.

Illustrations of the monk Phra Malai meditating over corpses. On the left side, he touches the burial cloth of the deceased which is believed to be a method to transfer merit to the dead. Or.14838, fol. 7

In most cases, the meditation scenes in these manuscript paintings depict one monk (in the context of the legend of Phra Malai this would be the monk Phra Malai himself) sitting or standing in meditation near one or more decaying corpses. The monk is usually shown with one or more of his paraphernalia such as a fan, an alms bowl, an umbrella or a walking stick. The walking stick fulfils various purposes: to scare away small animals when the monk is walking, or to provide support during seating or standing meditation, but sometimes the monk can be seen touching a corpse with his walking stick in order to transfer merit to the deceased while meditating.

Illustrations showing two corpses, one being eaten by animals and the other wrapped in a sheet made from bamboo sticks, with the monk Phra Malai touching the wrapped body with his walking stick. Or.13703, f 9

The bodies of the dead are usually shown bloated and in a greyish colour, often with wounds discharging blood and pus, wide eyes, and in an obvious state of decay. Sometimes animals can be seen feeding on the corpses.

Lay people practising morbid meditation as shown in a Phra Malai manuscript. Or.14559, fol. 73

It is not only monks who are shown practising morbid meditation in Thai manuscript paintings. The story of Phra Malai includes a scene where the monk teaches lay people what he has heard from Metteya, the future Buddha, about what will happen to mankind. While violent humans kill each other, those who follow the Dhamma – lay people and monks alike - will hide in caves meditating, and in some cases meditating over corpses until the fighting is over.

Further Reading

Brereton, Bonnie Pacala. Thai Tellings of Phra Malai: Texts and Rituals concerning a Popular Buddhist Saint. Tempe, Ariz.: Arizona State University, 1995
Maha Satipatthana Sutta: the Great Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, with notes by Michael Potter on a 14 tape commentary by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Skilling, Peter. “The aesthetics of devotion: Buddhist arts of Thailand”. In Enlightened ways: The many Streams of Buddhist Art in Thailand. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum, 2012, pp. 18-31
Soma Thera. The Way of Mindfulness: the Satipatthana Sutta and its Commentary, 1998
Story, Francis. Buddhist Meditation: the Anagarika Sugatananda, 1995

Jana Igunma, Asian and African Studies

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31 January 2014 is the first day of the Year of the Horse, according to the traditional lunisolar Chinese Calendar.  According to this system years are counted in a series of sixty-year cycles, each identified by a combination of two Chinese characters – the first from a cycle of ten known as the Heavenly Stems representing the elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water, the second from a cycle of twelve known as the Earthly Branches represented by animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, cock, dog and pig.

People born in each of these years are traditionally believed to display particular characteristics –those born in the Year of the Horse, for example, are said to be passionate, talented, adventurous and independent but also self-centred and headstrong.

The Chinese Calendar was widely used in East and at various times was adopted in Japan, Korea, Tibet and Vietnam. In all these cultures the horse had a prominent role in practical life and was widely depicted in art.

Part of a printed almanac from Dunhuang dating from AD 877. Babylonian, Persian and Indian influences can be seen including the animal zodiac. (Or.8210/P.6)

In Chinese culture the horse is an animal that represents health and persistence and the written character for horse 馬 mǎ is found in many metaphors and idioms related to fortune and well-being.  For example, 千里馬 qiān lǐ mǎ (literally: 10,000-mile horse) is a metaphor used for talented people and 馬到成功 mǎ dào chéng gōng (literally: riding to success) is used to wish someone good fortune.

In pre-modern Japan the horse was highly prized by the warrior class and horsemanship was one of the key skills of the Samurai.  The image below is taken from Riō busshoku zusetsu ‘An illustrated explanation of the selection of strong horses and cows’ (Or.15562), an album dated 1647 depicting 97 horses and 14 cows, with anatomical annotations, by Kurosawa Sekisai 黒澤石齋 (1622-1678), an expert adviser on horses to the Tokugawa Shogunate.

A selection of different kinds of horses from the Japanese Riō busshoku zusetsu (Or.15562)

Although the Chinese calendar is not widely used in Thailand, the zodiac is important for fortune-telling. According to Thai horoscopes, people born in the year of the horse almost always achieve prosperity and wealth during their lifetime. They are often successful, but not always kind-hearted. They have to be careful in their thirties, sixties and eighties as there are certain years in which they can face danger or even death. It is important at these times to make much merit (in the Buddhist sense).

Horoscope for those born in the year of the horse (ม้า ma, as in Chinese). This illustration also shows the female avatar for the year of the horse and the banana tree. (Or.13650, f 4r)

Curators of the East Asian Section, Asian and African Studies

A new year – a new beginning. An easy (re)solution, one might think. But it may turn out later that things like love and relationships should not be taken too lightly, and it is always worth thinking twice. Or, at least, seeking advice. People in 19th century Siam would certainly have done so before getting serious in a relationship. They would have consulted a divination specialist (mor doo) who would have had the knowledge to interpret the texts and illustrations of divination manuals (phrommachat) that had been handed down from generation to generation. Such manuals were part of the paraphernalia of divination masters who specialised in fortune telling, matching the horoscopes of prospective couples, and giving advice on love and marriage.


British Library, Or.4830, folio 30, showing a couple of 'average' humans.

Divination manuals were found in Thailand not only in Thai language but also in Mon and Shan languages, but usually the illustrations in these manuscripts are in central Thai style. Some beautifully illuminated examples of such manuals are held in the Thai, Lao and Cambodian collections of the British Library.
 
One outstanding phrommachat manuscript was acquired for the Library by Henry Ginsburg in 1975 (Or. 4830) and has been digitised recently. Although the manuscript has no colophon and is not dated, we know from the style of writing and orthography that it was produced during the second half of the 19th century. However, it may be a revised copy of an older manuscript that was in a deteriorating state due to frequent use.  The manuscript has 59 folios of text written on mulberry bark paper, accompanied by coloured illustrations on 32 folios and one ink drawing of entwined naga serpents. The text mainly explains how to interpret the illustrations, which include drawings based on the Chinese zodiac that relates each lunar month to the animals of the 12-year-cycle and their reputed attributes (earth, wood, fire, iron, water) as well as a male or female avatar (representing yin and yang), and a symbolic plant. A small number diagram used to work out periods in a person’s life which are particularly dangerous or unlucky is also usually present.

British Library, Or.4830, folio 6, showing the horoscope page for people born in the year of the tiger.

Each zodiac-related folio is followed by one folio of paintings, which symbolise the fate of a person under certain circumstances. The paintings are accompanied by numbers and one would have to trust the interpreting skills of the divination specialist to find out about the future.


British Library, Or.4830, folio 7, containing illustrations that represent possible fates of a person born in the year of the tiger.

Most interestingly, the manuscript includes descriptions of lucky and unlucky constellations of couples. At first sight, these portrayals may appear like some wild imaginations of love and lust as they involve not only humans, but also angels (devata) and demons (phi suea). However, the figures - which are shown locked in amorous embrace - in fact represent different human characters, and the purpose is to take people’s characters in consideration in addition to the horoscopes.


British Library, Or.4830, folio 26, with explanations of the prospects of marriages between demons, as well as between demons and angels.

According to these interpretations, a couple of rough, noisy or hot tempered (demonic) characters have a good chance of living happily together through all ups and downs and growing old together, whereas the relationship between a demonic male character and an angelic female will not go well, although they can marry and have children together.


British Library, Or.4830, folio 28, illustrating the possible fate of marriages of angels with humans and between angels themselves.

The relationship between average humans and angelic characters may begin with passionate love, but it will not last long. They may end up fighting and having a lot of trouble. The best possible constellations for marriage are between two average humans, and between two angelic characters. These couples are said to grow old together happily with many children and without any worries.  

The miniature paintings in this manuscript are of outstanding beauty and quality. The unnamed artist paid great attention to every single detail of the figures - facial expression, hand gestures and body language, and the elaborate designs of their clothes and jewellery. It is a fine example of 19th century Thai art and wisdom.  The entire manuscript can be viewed online on the British Library’s Digital Manuscripts Viewer.

Further Reading

Ginsburg, Henry, Thai art and culture: historic manuscripts from Western collections. London, 2000. (Chapter on Fortune-telling, pp. 120-129.)  

Pattaratorn Chirapravati, Divination au royaume de Siam: le corps, la guerre, le destin. Manuscrit siamois du XIXe siècle. Paris/Geneva, 2011.

Wales, H. G. Quaritch, Divination in Thailand: the hopes and fears of a Southeast Asian people. London, 1983.


Jana Igunma, Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

On 27 April 1858, Alexandre Henri Mouhot, aged 31, sailed from London to Bangkok with the aim of exploring the remote interior regions of mainland Southeast Asia. He was particularly interested in ornithology and conchology, but he also had a passion for philology, photography and foreign languages.

Born in 1826 in Montbeliard, France, he became a Greek scholar, and at the age of eighteen went to teach Greek and French at the Military Academy in St Petersburg, where he quickly picked up Russian and Polish. At the same time he learned about the new photographic process invented by Daguerre which he tried out as a new art form during extensive travels to Germany, Belgium and Italy from 1854 onwards. Two years later, Mouhot settled down in England and married Annette, a relative of the Scottish explorer Mungo Park. John Bowring’s newly published book The Kingdom and people of Siam (1857) is said to have inspired him to travel outside Europe, but the growing French presence in mainland Southeast Asia and the adventurous travels of Mungo Park may as well have played a role.     


Drawing after a sketch by Henry Mouhot (1864).  British Library, W70/2682, vol.2, p.112.

With the support of the Royal Geographical and Zoological Societies in London, Mouhot started his journeys into the Southeast Asian mainland in Bangkok, then traveling to Cambodia by fishing boats, elephants, oxen carts and horses, and often the only way to travel through the jungle was by foot. In 1860 he reached the ruins of Angkor Wat , which was still in use as a ceremonial place by the native Khmer people, though heavily overgrown with huge plants and trees. With numerous sketches, drawings, word lists and epigraphic notes in his pocket, he went on to travel to the Korat Plateau via Bangkok, then down the Loei River past Loei and Pak Lay until he reached the Mekong and finally Luang Prabang in July 1861. In and around Luang Prabang he built up a collection of numerous specimens of insects and shells that were not previously known to Western zoologists, including a magnificent black beetle that was later named Mouhotia gloriosa and an extraordinarily shaped spider now known as Cyphagogus Mouhotii.  

During his journeys, Mouhot corresponded with his wife Annette as well as his brother Charles and wife Jenny, and sent detailed reports of his encounters back to the Royal Geographical Society via Samuel Stevens. He also wrote in his diary very detailed descriptions of the land and people, flora and fauna, and expressed his thoughts and longings while spending long nights in the jungle. 
One entry written near Phetchabun reads: The profound stillness of this forest, and its luxuriant tropical vegetation, are indescribable, and at this midnight hour impress me deeply. The sky is serene, the air fresh, and the moon’s rays only penetrate here and there, through the foliage, in patches, which appear on the ground like pieces of white paper dispersed by the wind. Nothing breaks the silence but a few dead leaves rustling to the earth, the murmur of a brook which flows over its pebbly bed at my feet, and the frogs answering each other on either side, and whose croaking resembles the hoarse barking of a dog. Now and then I can distinguish the flapping of the bats, attracted by the flame of the torch which is fastened to a branch of the tree under which my tiger-skin is spread; or, at longer intervals, the cry of some panther calling its mate, and responded to from the tree-tops by the growling of the chimpanzees, whose rest the sound has disturbed.  (Mouhot 1864: 2. 99-100).


Drawing after a sketch by Henry Mouhot (1864).  British Library, W70/2682, vol.2, p.98.

Travelling through the jungle, Mouhot had to face various dangers, mainly wild animals posing a potential threat to his own life and those of his native companions and servants. Drawings that he produced by the light of a torch give an impression of his encounters. However, he finally fell victim not to a feral beast but to a fever, and passed away on 10 November 1861 near the Nam Khan River about 8 km north of Luang Prabang. His loyal servants buried him there and made sure that all his belongings were brought back to Bangkok and eventually forwarded to Mouhot’s wife and brother.  

Mouhot’s grave that had been set up in a hurry had nearly vanished a few years later when members of the French Mekong Exploration Commission arrived at the spot in April 1867. A durable tomb was only erected in 1887 on the recommendation of Auguste Pavie, the first French consul in Luang Prabang, and was refurbished in 1990 by the Society of Montbeliard.


Henri Mouhot’s tomb near the Nam Khan river, Luang Prabang province (photograph by Jana Igunma, 2001).

Mouhot’s natural history collections were given to the Royal Geographical Society, and his travel journals, letters and engravings from his drawings were published in two volumes in 1864. With one exception: a small collection of epigraphic notes and Mouhot’s visas issued by the Siamese authorities that permitted him to travel to Laos. These papers and documents only came to light when they were given to the British Museum in 1894 by Mrs Mouhot, over 30 years after her husband’s death, and are now held in the British Library as Or.4736. They are believed to have been brought back from Siam and handed over to Anne Mouhot by Henri Mouhot’s close friend, Dr. Campbell.  The originally loose-leaf papers were bound together in book form by the British Museum. Most of the papers are dated 1860-1861.


Text sample in sacred Khmer script.  British Library, Or.4736, f.3.

They contain a sacred Khmer alphabet for Pali texts together with a short text sample, an ordinary Khmer alphabet with two text samples, a copy of an ancient Khmer stone inscription, an ordinary Lao tham alphabet, a Lao tham (phung dam) alphabet for Western Lao with a text sample, a Lao tham (phung khao) alphabet for Eastern Lao, and an ordinary Lao buhan alphabet with a text sample.


Lao buhan alphabet.  British Library, Or.4736, f.11.

The facsimiles of inscriptions that Mouhot produced are particularly interesting as some of the original stones may not exist any more. They include a copy of an ancient Sanskrit inscription related to the Pathom Chedi, a copy of a Sanskrit inscription related to Nakhon Si Thammarat (formerly known as Ligor), a copy of the Ramkhamhaeng inscription (erroneously) saying that it dated back to 1193 C.E., a copy of a stone inscription at Angkor, three copies of stone inscriptions at Phanom Wan near Korat, one copy of a stone inscription found at a temple ruin near Phimai, a copy of a stone inscription from Prasat, a copy of a stone inscription from Khamphaeng Phet, a copy of a stone inscription found at Battambang, a copy of a stone inscription found at Chaiyaphum, and one copy of a Khmer stone inscription from Angkor Thom.


Copy of a stone inscription found at Chaiyaphum.  British Library, Or.4736, f.13.

Included are also three travel documents that were issued and stamped by the Siamese authorities in Bangkok. When Mouhot arrived in Chaiyaphum for the first time, he was not allowed to travel further by the local governor. He had to return to Bangkok to obtain the necessary travel documents before he was able to continue his journey into Laos, which came to such an unfortunate and untimely end.

Travel document with the seal of the Mahadthai (Ministry of foreign affairs).  British Library, Or.4736, f.17.
    
Mouhot’s epigraphic notes were digitised and are now accessible online on the Library’s Digital Manuscripts viewer.

Further reading

Bendall, Cecil. Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the British Museum. London 1902, p. 223.
Mouhot, Henri. Travels in the central parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos, during the years 1858, 1859, and 1860. London: John Murray, 1864 (W70/2682).  (E-book available here.)
Rooney, Dawn F.  In the footsteps of Henry Mouhot, a French explorer in 19th century Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
The French in Indo-China. With a narrative of Garnier’s explorations in Cochin-China, Annam, and Tonquin. London : T. Nelson and Sons, 1884
Soetermeer, Frank. 'Een reizend daguerreotypist van Europese allure. Het veelzijdig werk van Henri Mouhot', in: Nieuwsbrief Nederlands Fotogenootschap, nr. 46 (April 2005), pp. 16-21.

Jana Igunma, Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

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