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Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts

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Silpakorn University Journal of

Emeritus Prof. Chetana Nagavajara, Ph.D. Social Sciences, Humanities, and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Arts is published in June by Thailand Silpakorn University. The journal Prof. Santi Leksukhum, Ph.D. features articles and research notes/ Department of Art History, Faculty of Archaeology, articles in the fields of Art and Silpakorn University, Thailand Design and the Social Sciences and Emeritus Prof. Kusuma Raksamani, Ph.D. Humanities. Its aim is to encourage Department of Oriental Languages, Faculty of Archaeology, a n d d i s s e m i n a t e s c h o l a r l y Silpakorn University, Thailand contributions by the University’s Assoc. Prof. Rasmi Shoocongdej, Ph.D. faculty members and researchers.

Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Thailand Well researched, innovative works Assoc. Prof. Maneepin Phromsuthirak, Ph.D. by other scholars are welcome. A Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, Thailand review committee consisting of Prof. Samerchai Poolsuwan, Ph.D. academic experts in the relevant fields Faculty of Sociology & Anthropology, will screen all manuscripts, and the Thammasat University, Thailand editorial board reserves the right Assist. Prof. Wilailak Saraithong, Ph.D. to recommend revision/ alteration, English Department, Faculty of Humanities, if necessary, before their final Chiang Mai University, Thailand acceptance for publication.

Assist. Prof. Alice Thienprasert, Ph.D. Director, Silpakorn University Research and Development Institute, Thailand

Editor Assoc. Prof. Thanik Lertcharnrit, Ph.D. Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University Editorial Board Asst. Prof. Bamrung Torut, Ph.D. Faculty of Education, Silpakorn University Instructor Kamonpan Boonkit, Ph.D. Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University Instructor Supaporn Nakbunlung, Ph.D. Department of Sociology-Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiangmai University Prof. Miriam Stark, Ph.D. Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii, USA Assoc. Prof. Peter Smith, Ph.D. International College, Mahidol University, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom Assist. Prof. Matthew Liebmann, Ph.D. Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, USA Managing Editor Pranee Vichansavakul All correspondence should be addressed to : Managing editor, 44/114 Soi Phaholyothin 52, Phaholyothin Road, Klongthanon Saimai, Bangkok 10220 Telephone : 080-5996680 Fax : 66-2973-8366 E- mail address : pranee_aon1@hotmail.com Web site : http: //www.journal.su.ac.th and www.surdi.su.ac.th Information about the Journal An electronic journal is provided on the web site (http://www.journal.su.ac.th and www.surdi.su.ac.th)

Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Volume 11 Number 2 (July-December) 2011

Contents

Editor’s Note

5

Articles Saphao: Lan Na Perception on a Journey

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Across the Ocean

Surasawasdi Sooksawasdi

Encountering Death: Towards a Deeper 34 Understanding of Life in Wit and Time

Pimalaporn Wongchinsri The Lexical Variations between Three Generations of Tai Dam in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand

Suwattana Liamprawat

Thai and Indian Cultural Linkage:

The Religious Festivities Ruchi Agarwal

Book Review Immanuel Ness and Dario Azzellini, Ours to Master and to Own

Reviewed by Eugene Jones

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78

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Editor’s Note

This issue of Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts, like previous issues, features papers on a wide variety of topics including art history, linguistics, religious studies and literature, and includes a book review. Again, as the editor, I would like to thank all the contributors in this issue, as well as the manuscript reviewers for their constructive comments on the papers.

I am also pleased to report to our readers that our journal has been well received in recent years, with a rapidly increasing number of submissions from many diverse fields of interest. Furthermore, the journal has recently passed the quality evaluation by the Thai Journal Citation Index Center (TCI).

As always, we welcome submission of any manuscripts under the broad themes of social sciences, humanities, and arts.

Thanik Lertcharnrit, Editor thanik@su.ac.th

Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts is indexed in the Thai Journal Citation Index Centre (TCI Centre) Database.

Saphao: Lan Na Perception on a Journey Across the Ocean 1 Surasawasdi Sooksawasdi * Thai Art Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand * Corresponding author. E-mail address: tibetan07@gmail.com

Abstract

Saphao is a Lan Na word equivalent to the Central Thai samphao referring to a Chinese style ocean-going merchant ship or junk. There are many archaeological traces such as terracotta seals, medals and stucco motifs found in many sites in Thailand depicting the connection with India, the Jambūdvīpa, and Sri Lanka. Some of those present the journeys by one-mast vessels and also brigs. Several folk jatakas composed by Lan Na monks, as scholars, during the 15th - 16th Centuries A.D. referred to a journey made by samphao namely, Suwannasangaraja jātaka and Chanthakataka jātaka for example. Although the jātakas did not give any detailed description of the samphao and the journeys made by them, several Buddhist documents of several sects in Lan Na contain records of the trips made for the purpose of perpetuating Buddhism from its origin in Sri Lanka via such transportation as the samphao.

The 3rd Conference of South and Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culture and Religion (SSEASR) on Waters in South and Southeast Asia: Interaction of Culture and Religion. June 03-06, 2009, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. This paper also joins in the celebrations commemorating the Six Hundredth Birthday Anniversary of King Tilokarat of Lan Na (A.D. 1409 2009)

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Saphao: Lan Na Perception on a Journey Across the Ocean

Surasawasdi Sooksawasdi

The ‘crossing the great ocean’ conveys both the concrete and abstract meanings which include crossing over the samsāra or the process of life and death (birth, aging, sickness and death) transcending the Lokīya, the worldly and mundane, comforts to Lokutara, the supramundane or absence of such unpleasant conditions. Several objects of sacrifice dedicated to certain important chedis containing the Buddha relics in the Lan Na tradition include saphao kham (golden junk) which is also part of the sacrifice in certain Lan Na rites. In some Lan Na folk rites practiced for the merit dedicated to a woman who died in giving birth to a child it is required to have a model of saphao to carry all kinds of fishing equipment. This is to assist the dead woman who died soaking in blood and amniotic fluid to ride on it and get released to be born again. Part of the merit dedicating phase accompanying the rite says that may the merits gained from this rite be like a crystal and golden ship taking the unfortunate person to the next life.

This article aims to investigate the allusions to saphao in the various contexts of Lan Na society in the past, especially those related to Buddhist history, social history and its culture.

Key Words: Saphao; Jātaka; Paññāsa jātakas; Lan Na; Sri Lanka

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“GATE GATE PĀRAGATE PĀRASAMGATE BODHI SVĀHA”

from

THE HEART SUTRA

Saphao (read as “sa-pao”) is a word in the dialect of Lan Na - the area in the upper north of Thailand. The word refers to a Chinese oceangoing vessel in particular. It is the variation of the Central Thai word “Samphao” which refers to an ocean-going vessel of any nation or style.

Samphao or junk became a symbol of trade across the ocean between Siam and other countries. King Rama III of the Chakri Dynasty (A.D. 1824-51) himself had a base of the chedi at Wat Yannawa in Bangkok made into the shape of samphao (Figure 1) lest future generations would not recognize or know what a samphao looked like.

Figure 1 Wat Yannawa, New Road, Bangkok, behind the Vihāra is Chao Phraya River.

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In the past there was a type of jātakas known as “Paññāsa jātakas” composed by some Lan Na scholars. The story involves a journey using a saphao as a means of transportation, for example Suwannasangkharaja jātaka and Chanthakataka jātaka. Some Lan Na rituals also called for the making of a saphao to be dedicated to a woman who died in childbirth.

In this case the saphao must be five meters long and containing all kinds of fishing equipment. It is believed that in this way, it will release the soul of the dead woman from the unpleasant circumstance so that she can be reborn. A chant accompanying the offering of the saphao says, “May the merit made here be like a golden saphao taking the unfortunate person to the next life” (Buppha, 1999: 6705-07).

This article will explore the overall picture of saphao in various contexts of Lan Na society as related to archeology, history, literatures and ritual traditions.

Connection between Jambūdvīpa and Southeast Asia

A number of pieces of evidence discovered from several ancient communities in Thailand proved that there were trade connections by the sea with Indian merchants such as those in Nakhon Pathom in Central Thailand and those in Khuan Lukpat in Khlong Thom District, Krabi Province, in the south of Thailand. Several trading ports in the south of Thailand and the Malay Peninsula also shown that, there were goods transported by land from the west coast to the east coast (Suphadradis, 1979).

Archaeological evidence of terracotta seals, especially those found in the ancient city of Nakhon Pathom (Prapatsorn, 1999: 21), bear an image of a boat (Figure 2). They were single-mast sailing boats, boats with the support of ropes fore and aft and boats with large rudder and outriggers with some human figures on them. There was also a metal coin found at the archeological site at Khuan Lukpat (Mayuree, 1984: 137) with the image of a bull with a hump (Figure 3) while the other side of the coins bears the image of a boat (Figure 4) that looks like the boat on the terracotta seal of Nakhon Pathom. This boat with a double

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Figure 2 A single-mast sailing boat with outrigger on the terracotta seal,

Nakhon Pathom National Museum. (Photo:Fine Arts

Department)

Figures 3 and 4 A metal coin found in the archeological site

at Khuan Lukpat, Khlong Thom, Krabi. (Author’s

photographs) mast and no outrigger makes it more slender. Although the coin has no human figures, the support ropes fore and aft can be seen clearly.

There has been a significant study of Indian ancient ships by Dieter Schlingloff. In the article “Kalyānakārin’s Adventures: The Identification of an Ajanta Painting,” Schlingloff believes that the parallels to Indian ships are not to be sought in Indochina, but in the contemporary Roman ships (Schlingloff, 1976: 19). This hypothesis may have to be verified by archaeological evidences from Nakhon Pathom and Kuan Lukpat in Krabi Province. The study of Schlingloff verified

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that the mural painting in cave no. 1 at Ajanta, once interpreted as Mahājanaka, is the Kalyānakārin story because there is only one story in Buddhist literature in which a blind man, whose eyes were put out by his brother on a voyage, is mentioned in connection with a shipwreck (Schlingloff Ibid: 6).

It also seems that his interpretation that Indian ships were never found in Indochina was confirmed too. Schlingloff’s assessment came from the comparative study between Indian vessels in the painting in the cave no. 1 at Ajanta (Figure 5) and other sites from Andhra (Figure 6), 2nd century A.D., with the multiple masts sailing vessels in

Figure 5 Voyage of Kalyānakārin and his evil brother, Cave No.1

Ajanta. (Schlingloff 1970)

Figure 6 Junk Boat drawing of Schlingloff from Andhra, 2nd century.

(Schlingloff 1970)

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Figure 7 The relief of multiple mast sailing vessel with outrigger at

Borobudur. (Miksic 1990) the Borobudur relief’s (Miksic, 1990: 67-69) (Figure 7). Schlingloff said that apart from multiple masts, the Borobudur ships have nothing further in common with the Indian ships. A further contrast between the pictures of Indian and Borobudur ships lies in the latter being equipped with an outrigger, which is totally absent from all representations of Indian ships (Schlingloff Ibid: 19). It looks like the terracotta seal from Nakhon Pathom which show the vessel with the outrigger, could agree with Schlingloff’s assumption.

According to this statement, the assumption of the Fine Arts Department that the vessel in the terracotta seal from Nakhon Pathom resembles those found in west Bengal in northeast India (Prapatsorn Ibid) (Figure 8) has to be reconsidered. On the contrary, the medal found at Kuan Lukpat with double masts has no outrigger. This can be explained by the fact that the Indian ships played a significant role only in the Indian Ocean and the Andaman Sea; that is from the west coast

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Figure 8 Terracotta seal found at West Bengal in Northern India.

(Prapatsorn 1999)

Figure 9 Sketch of a relief from Aurangabad in the 6th century A.D.

(Schlingloff 1970) of Myanmar and the south of Thailand through the Malay Peninsula rather than in the Gulf of Siam and South China Sea. This vessel on the Khlong Thom coin with the ship that shows two-masts, whose masts are supported by support ropes fore-and-aft, are similar to that on the Andhra coins dating from the beginning of the Christian era as well as a relief from Aurangabad in the 6th century A.D. (Schlingloff Ibid) (Figure 9).

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Southeast Asia to Sri Lanka: Journey to Continue Buddhism

There are so many Buddhist texts that refer to the visit of the Buddha in many places in Southeast Asia. Nearly all Dhātu Cetiyas give their own stories based on the Buddha’s prophecy. In Sangha and state in Burma, Mendelson gave detail from a Burmese text that the Buddha visited Lower Burma by air with many hundreds of monks (Mendelson, 1975: 31).

A relationship with Sri Lanka is also reflected in a number of bronze sculptures from maritime Southeast Asia by the 8th century A.D. (Nandana and Leidy, 1994: 48) as well as in the legend of Buddha images such as the Legend of the Emerald Buddha. Hazra (1982: 1) affirmed that there are evidences from many sources, especially the Culavamsa, that from the 11th century A.D., of all the Southeast Asian countries, Sri Lanka’s relations with Burma were the closest.

However, the sea route connection should be with the Mon instead. We know that around the 16th century Pegu’s shipyards at Martaban, Mottama in Burmese, were best placed for large stands of Burmese teak, supplied to many by the biggest junks for the merchants of Malacca, Melaka in Malay, and those of Southeast Asia (Reid, 1993: 42). The well known reliable source, the A.D. 1479 Kaḷyaṇīsīmā Inscription, relates that 22 Mon theras from Pegu who sailed to Sri Lanka in A.D. 1476 were re-ordained in the Mahāvihāra ritual on a raft on the Kalyani River (Surasawasdi and Penth, 2007: 158). Beyond doubt, the journey from Southeast Asia to Sri Lanka in 15th - 16th centuries A.D. was a usual activity.

Hazra also remarked that Siam, or Thailand, was the next important country with which Sri Lanka had a fair amount of cultural intercourse but not before the second half of 13th century A.D. (Hazra Ibid: 5). The important Thai source, the Jinakālamālī, which was written in Pāli by Ratanapaññā thera, a native of Lan Na in the first half of 16th century A.D., refers to Lan Na’s contact with Sri Lanka in the reign of King Sam Fang Kaen of Chiang Mai (A.D. 1401-41). It presents valuable information relating to religious intercourse between

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Sri Lanka and Thailand and the establishment of Sīhala Buddhism, the Sīhaḷabkikkhu sect or the new Sri Lankan sect, in Chiang Mai. Hazra also suggested that the main points of the Jinakālamālī relating to Thai’s cultural relation with Sri Lanka are corroborated by the Sāsanavamsa (Hazra Ibid).

From a recent research, we found that the Sīhaḷabkikkhu sect, led

by Mahā Dhammagambhīra and Mahā Medhankara, was established at Wat Padaeng Luang in Chiang Mai in A.D. 1430, after they had been re-ordained in the Mahāvihāra Monastery in Sri Lanka in A.D. 1423 (Surasawasdi and Penth Ibid: 22). This Sīhaḷabkikkhu sect, or Wat Padaeng Sect as it was called, was strongly patronized by later kings in the Golden age of Lan Na, Tilok (A.D. 1441-87) and Phra Muang Kao (A.D. 1495-1526) (Sraswadee, 1996: 143 and 149). The other important sect in Lan Na at that time was the Wat Suan Dokmai Sect. This sect, also called the old Sri Lankan sect, came from Phra Udhumporn Bupbhā Mahāswāmī’s Lankan-Mon sect at Thaton in Southern Burma. Sumana thera and Anomadassi who were the leaders of this sect was patronized

by King Ku Na (A.D. 1355-85) and was installed in Wat Suan Dokmai in Chiang Mai.

According to the sources in the Archives of Lan Na Inscriptions, Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University, Srilao provided a list of monks in the Sri Lanka connection. Nevertheless, we could not specify which Sri Lankan sect they were part of. One of those inscriptions from Wat Rattanawarāram in Phayao Province, A.D. 1499, described 25 Maha theras, Mahāsāramanggla and Mahāsīsaddham kunwannarattanalanka for example, who brought Buddhism from Sri Lanka to Haripunchai (Sujit, 1995: 224-227). Other monks associated with the Sri Lankan sect were Mahāthera Suvanna; abbot of Wat Pasagnat, Mahāthera Luang; abbot of Wat Pa Ku Kae and Mahāthera Buddhakhosa; abbot of Wat Pa Ha (Pens and Srilao, unpublished).

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Names of Cities of Jambūdvīpa in Paññāsa jātakas

The jātakas are stories of the Buddha’s past lives. One of the most extraordinary anthologies of jātakas is that preserved in Pāli, the textual language of Theravāda Buddhism (Skilling, 2008: 66). Texts belonging to the Pāli and Sinhalese tradition refer to 500, 547 or 550 stories of the Blessed One’s past lives as a human, deity, or animal. One of the earliest sources of jātaka in Thailand was the series of slabs at Wat Si Chum, northwest of the ancient town of Sukhothai.

The Lan Na Buddhists adopted the jātakas from Sri Lanka as practiced by the Buddhists in other parts of Thailand, particularly the Vessantara jātaka which deals with the last past life of the Buddha in which he demonstrated the highest level of merit, the merit of giving (Wray, 1974: 109). However, several Lan Na monks also composed their own version of jātakas known as “Paññāsa jātakas” consisted of 50 stories. The jātakas of Lan Na had been popular in the neighboring lands with variations. For example, the Burmese version of the Paññāsa jātakas contains some Buddhist teaching written in Pāli with confidence while the Cambodian version written with more imagination (Niyada, 1980: 20-21). A number of scholars agree with Prince Damrong Rajanubhab who suggested that Paññāsa jātakas could have been written around A.D. 1450-1650 by a Buddhist monk from Chiang Mai (Damrong Rajanubhab, 1956: a ; Udom, 1999: 7077). However, some scholars suggest that they could have been composed in Haripunchai around A.D. 1265 (Niyada Ibid). The significance of the Paññāsa jātaka lies in that they reflect the values and attitude related to the naming of the cities in Jambūdvīpa, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

Paññāsa jātakas generally relate the ordeals befalling the Blessed One while repaying for his bad deeds in past lives. Some stories relate a journey by saphao such as the Suwannasangaraja jātaka, the 6th on in the series. Schweisguth said that the famous classic Thai drama “Sang Thong,” well known among the Thais in the central plains of Thailand may have been derived from this story (Niyada Ibid). In one

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part, the Suwannasangaraja jātaka of Wat Sungmen version A.D. 1836, the Bodhisattva and his mother were put on a raft and were caught by a severe storm, causing them to be separated from each other. The mother drifted to Matrat while the Bodhisattva was taken on board a golden boat by a naga king to meet a hermit before going further to Paranasi where he was finally married to a princess and the story had a “happy ending” (Udom Ibid: 7077-83). It can be noted that the author had to use his imagination about the geography of Jambūdvīpa and referred to several important cities by such names as Madhras in Southern India and Benares (Varanasi) on the Ganges River in Northern India.

Paññāsa Jātaka did not mention details of the saphao boat nor the ocean trip, but the Tai Lue mural painting on the Chanthakataka jātaka at the vihāra of Wat Nongbua in Nan Province, gives some pictures of the people’s perception of the Chinese-Western three-masted ships (Figure 10). There are also human figures of Chanthakataka as well as Devāthisanka riding on the saphao (Sone 2526: 103).

Figure 10 Chanthakataka as well as Devāthisanka riding on the saphao, mural painting at Wat Nongbua, Nan. (Sone 2526)

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The awareness of the people of Nan on western technology at that time can be observed from the picture of saphao fai or ‘steamboat’seen in the mural painting of Wat Phumin in Nan City (Figure 11). This could be an influence from contact with some missionaries or people from Bangkok at that time. The shipwreck scene can be imagined from the mural paintings of the Mahājanaka jākata at many Wats or temples in Thailand, for example; the scene of shipwreck of Mahājanaka at Wat No, Suphanburi Province (Wray Ibid: 31-37 and pl. 6). Sometimes the Lan Na people’s perception of western technology can come as well from the Burmese artists who were engaged to paint the picture; for example the western saphao fai in the Mahājanaka jātaka (Figure 12) at the vihāra of Wat Monpuyak in Mueang District of Lampang which is approximately 100 years old.

Boats and Ships in the Daily Life of the Lan Na People

The topography of Lan Na, in Northern Thailand, is mainly highlands with mountains and rivers from North to South. The Ping, the Wang, the Yom and the Nan Rivers are the main rivers in the area.

Boats and ships are actually used in everyday life of the people in every river basin from the past. The Chiang Mai Chronicle gave us a clear imagination about the way of life of those when it relates that, after the construction of Wiang Kum Kam in A.D. 1823-24, King Mangrai saw people of Chæ Chang of Chiang Rua District riding their boats upriver to the market or Kum Kam, with two or three boats sinking every day (Wyatt and Aroonrut, 1998: 35).

Nowadays, the boats used daily among the Lan Na are small ones to go along the rivers and canals. These boats can be grouped into two types: Klone boats (Figure 13) and Kap-pli boats (Figure 14). The former requires the technique which is hollowing out (klone) a whole tree trunk into a boat for 5-6 people or a small amount of goods; so it is mostly for personal use. The latter is made by putting some wooden boards together to form a boat and hold them together with the keel. The bottom part of the boat is round and is suitable for shallow water. It is

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Figure 11 Saphao Fai or ‘steamboat’ seen in the mural painting of Wat Phumin in Nan City. (Sone 2526)

Figure 12 The western saphao fai from the Mahājanaka jātaka at Wat Monpuyak, Lampang, approximately 100 years old.

(Author’s photograph)

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Figure 13 The Klone boats in Chiang Mai. (Pradit 1999)

Figure 14 The Kap-pli boats in the Ping River, Chiang Mai. (Pradit 1999)

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used to transport farm products or light stuff or for fishing in shallow rivers and canals. Another kind of smaller boat is the sala boat (or chala in Central Thai pronunciation). It is larger and faster than the kap-pli boat. It is also used for transporting farm products or fishing (Pradit 1999: 5737-40). Larger boats can be made the same way as kap-pli boats with a larger scale and not as round a bottom as that of the kap-pli kind. They can carry more load but required deeper water. They also have a curved roof in the middle or farther end.

Special care needs to be considered when building a ship to ensure auspicious or good characteristics as well as good fortune (Pradit Ibid: 5742). Large boats are called by their distinctive features and functions: thong chang, sado and scorpion tail, for instance. The scorpion-tail boat or ‘hang maengpong’, also called mae pa (Figure 15), was a popular kind to commute along the Ping River 100 years or so ago. The hang maengpong and sado boats are pushed by using a long pole; therefore their front sort of juts out and slightly upward to allow the operator to have a space to walk while pushing the pole to make the boat go forward.

Figure 15 The scorpion-tail boat or ‘hang maengpong’ was a popular kind to commute along the Ping River 100 years or so ago.

(The National Archives)

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If it goes against the current, the one who pushes the pole must apply more energy and quickness and the nai-hoi or the leader of the freight has to make sure that the pole pushers get enough to eat more than the downstream trip.

Another significant document that provided a clear picture of the journey along the Ping River is the The Diary of the Journey along the Ping River from Chiang Mai to Pak Nampho by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (1931). This is an account of the trip during February and March of A.D. 1931, according to the wish of King Rama V’s Royal Consort, Princess Dara Rasmi. It is an important document as the author intended to survey as many rapids on the route as possible. He classified all 49 rapids into 3 groups according to the level of difficulty to negotiate.

The first group was considered ‘kaeng rai’ (the most dangerous) where large boats like hang maengpong or mae pa had to be tied and guided down the rapids. In the second one has to watch for underwater rocks.

The third had a wider passage for boats to go through even if the current was strong.

The people’s way of life along the river was also described where there were two resting places, one at Ban Mud-ka of Doi Tao District, Chiang Mai and the other at Ban Tha around Ban Tak of Tak District.

Figure 16 Prince Damrong Rajanubhab’s voyage in A.D. 1931. (The National Archives)

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These are the places to get the boats, food and the crews ready to tackle the rapids. Men came to be hired out to help in pulling the boats down or up the rapids as some extra hands were needed (Damrong Rajanubhab Ibid: 7-8) (Figure 16). A record of the trip along the Ping River was also made by Dr. Daniel McGilvary, an American doctor and missionary, in A.D.1866. It took them three full months to reach Chiang Mai and the most difficult time was around Hod and Tak territory, which took over one month by itself (Surasawasdi, 2000: 32).

Lan Na Traditions and Rituals Related to the Saphao

The Lan Na people have a strong belief about the saphao due to the influence of Buddhism from Sri Lanka and the jātakas. The tradition of a floating saphao has been popular and is still being performed today.

Lampang is considered a province that has preserved its tradition of long saphao (floating the saphao), which is performed on the nights of the 15th waxing moon and the 1st waning moon of November known generally as “Loi Kratong” or candle-light festival. This is the tradition to pay homage to the Khongka or Ganges River according to the Brahman beliefs and to worship the Buddha’s footprints. It offers a chance to release one’s bad fortune and convey merit to the deceased relatives.

People of Lampang and Lan Na still believe that floating a boatlike float or saphao provides a means for the dead to cross over to another world or a vehicle to take one’s soul on a journey to the next life, crossing the water that divides the land of death and the human realm. Thus, came the custom of sending the soul as well as practical things to the ancestors (Srilao, 2008).

The well-known and popular saphao in Lampang are saphao nok, the bird-like float, and saphao ruae, the boat-like float. The first one is made from coconut shells cut in half and attached to basketry wings and tail then covered with colored paper. Another piece of coconut is cut into the bird’s head and neck. People of Lampang believe in floating a bird-like float or saphao to worship the white crow who gives birth to the five Buddhas as written in local Buddhist text. The latter, a boat-

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like saphao, made of bamboo structured in boat form and decorated by colored paper. People believe that after death one who floated this kind of saphao will ride a huge ship across the river to another world. It also looks like a similar activity was found on the Spirit Ship decoration on Ðông So’n drums. Both kinds of float or saphao should be load with the rice, banana, sugarcane, glutinous rice steamed in banana leaf, sugar, salt, tobacco, betel nut, flowers, incense, candles and images of animals, etc. It is believed that the devoted things are necessities for the next life of the death. We may interpret the saphao as a vehicle to take the deceased’s soul into the good after life. The water is an obstacle between earth and the underworld. The Lampang traditional floating has become an attraction for many tourists every year.

Observation reveals that this concept of crossing the ocean is passed on to the Lan Na funeral rites. Besides being a means to release the soul of a woman who died in childbirth as mentioned earlier, it is also a way to make merit for the dead. When a person dies, the soul will go to a spirit land where the soul still needs food, lodging and money for expenses before finding a way to cross the ocean to another world or universe. Two things that can carry one over the ocean are a duck and a saphao. So duck eggs will be packed in a bag along with food for the journey to the land of the spirits. The dead can ride on the duck whereas the saphao or boat can be sailed by the power of the wind to safely cross the ocean or any obstacles (Srilao Ibid).

Another Lan Na belief is that if one dreams of a deceased relative within three months of that person’s death, it means the person is in a suffering state and unable to be released to a new birth or life. Then the relative should make merit and dedicate it to the deceased one. The ritual is called poi khao sang and one of the items to be used is a model boat (saphao) (Figure 17) made of woven bamboo strips and covered with white cloth or paper in which all kinds of household utensils and food are placed. A monk will then be invited to the house to accept the sacrifice or offering. In addition, in the old time people of Lan Na also made golden and silver saphaos to be placed in a chedi or stupa

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Figure 17 Model boat in Lan Na ceremony called poi khao sang in which all kinds of household utensils and foods are placed.

(Srilao’s photograph) as an offering to ensure that when they died, they would be equipped with all those things to allow them to cross the great ocean. This is why one sometimes sees these items in some chedis of some golden saphaos decorating the chedis such as the one at Phra Thāt Haripunchai in Lamphun (Figure 18) and another one dedicated by a former ruler of Chiang Mai at Phra Thāt Chomtong in Chiang Mai (Buppha Ibid: 6705) (Figure 19). Another special feature of Lan Na Buddha image is the Subduing Mara posture with it sitting on a saphao-like pedestal (Figure 20), which can be interpreted as crossing the great Samsāra to Nirvāna.

Saphao is also a symbol for the astrology of trading called “ruaek saphao” or auspicious moment junk. The study of Sarawut (2544: 108-9) found a similarity of Mon and Lan Na people in this astrology. The transliteration of astrological Mon text of Juan (2537: 128) mentioned a traditional junk astrology text that is similar to Lan Na texts; for example those of Wat Salamor in Ko Kha district,

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Figure 18 Golden saphao decking out the Phra Thāt Haripunchai, Lamphun. (Author’s photograph)

Figure 19 A model of golden saphao dedicated by former ruler of Chiang Mai at Phra Thāt Chomtong, Chiang Mai. (Encyclopedia of Thai Culture: the Northern)

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Figure 20 S i h i n g B u d d h a i m a g e o n pedestal, Lampang. (Srawut 2544)

Surasawasdi Sooksawasdi

the

saphao-like

Figure 21 Junk boat-like sketch of ruaek sapao or auspicious moment junk, Wat Salamor, Lampang. (Srawut 2544)

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Figure 22 A sketch of ruaek sapao of Mon people. (Juan 2537) Lampang province (Figure 21). The content and calculation of both similar texts talks about auspicious moments calculated from sets of number placed in a junk boat-like sketch (Figure 22). Those whose calculation matches up to the number of the vessel’s front part will be propitious and rich the same as with back part. But the latter has to work harder. Those whose calculation matches up to the vessel’s lower part will be propitious and rich and accomplished in trading.

Those whose calculation matches up to the inside of the vessel will experience obstacles and danger. People who are deciding in their investment frequently depend on this kind of astrology. Nevertheless, the important content difference is that the Lan Na text also says how the obstacles can be overcome.

Conclusion

It seems that Lan Na is far from the coast and has no trading activities related to the sea trade so they seem to lack an understanding about how to use saphao or to make a journey by sea. However, they have some traditions and concept related to the saphao or samphao which is derived from some experiences of some monks from Lan Na who travelled to Sri Lanka like others monks in Southeast Asia.

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Together with these experiences they have the Buddhist teaching through the jātakas like Mahājanaka jātaka and other local jākatas based on some folk tales as referred to as Paññāsa jātaka like the jātakas of Suwannasangharaja and Chanthakataka as mentioned.

Acknowledgements

This article would never have been materialized without the inspiration and encouragement from Dr. Amarajiva Lochan, President of the South and Southeast Asia Association for the Study of Culture and Religion (SSEASR), and the assistance of Ajarn Silao Ketphrom of the Lan Na Inscription Resources, the Social Research Institute, as well as the valuable advice from Professor Dr. Udom Rungruengsri of the Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University, and Dr. Bali Phutharaksa of the International Buddhist College, Songkla. I am grateful to Ajarn Nakorn Pongnoi, Director of Rai Mae Fa Luang, who kindly provided budget for the conference. I deeply appreciate all of their assistance.

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Damromg Rajanubhab, Prince. (1931) Record of the Journey Along the Ping River from Chiang Mai to Pak Nampho. Bangkok: Soponpipattanakorn. ________. (1956). Paññāsa Jātaka. Bangkok: Silapa Bannakan.

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Calcutta: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Ketphom, S. (2008) Interview on 15th September at the Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University.

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1.5.1.1 Wat Rattanavarāram 2042/1499,” the Archive of Lan Na Inscriptions, Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University. ________. unpublished. “Inscription no. 1.4.1.1 Wat Paruang inscription A.D.1485,” the Archive of Lan Na Inscriptions, Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University. ________. unpublished. “Inscription no. 1.4.1.1 Wat Pa Ku Kae, A.D.1559,” the Archive of Lan Na Inscriptions, Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University.

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Second Edition. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.

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Encountering Death: Towards a Deeper Understanding of Life in Wit and Time Pimalaporn Wongchinsri* Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, Sanamchadhara Palace Campus, Nakorn Pathom, Thailand * Corresponding author: E-mail address: wpimalaporn@yahoo.com Abstract

Even though people know everyone has to die one day, it seems nobody realizes that this is a truth of life and they themselves are going to die. This is apparently a universal problem for all people and it causes them to live their lives in forgetfulness until the day they have to encounter death. This article aims to explore how the narrative techniques employed in Margaret Edson’s Wit and Chart Korbjitti’s Time induce each individual reader to contemplate death and meaning of life and stimulate them to question, criticize and evaluate his/her own life.

Key Words: Alienation effect; Brechtian techniques; Chart Korbjitti;

Comparative literature; Death; Margaret Edson; Narrative

techniques; Time; Wit

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Death and the ways in which one encounters death are universal themes found throughout literature. Brother David Steindl-Rast in his forward to Thich Nhat Hanh’s Living Buddha, Living Christ writes “…in the face of death, human hearts were most alive.” This statement suggests the benefits of awareness of death which is always the beginning of self- awareness. How people encounter death is a crucial issue that helps them understand how to live a worthy life because experiencing suffering and understanding it constitute the path towards gaining insight into life itself. Somdet Pra Nyansamvara, the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, postulates that,

To realize that everyone is born only to end up with death is very valuable. If we pay enough attention to this, it can be extremely beneficial to us and nothing can be compared with its worth. To encourage an individual and people to realize its great benefit, most sages in Buddhism teach people to practice dying before their death-day. They emphasize that people need to always practice dying at least once a day. (Somdet Pra Nyansamvara, 2010)

In “Love and Knowledge in Margaret Edson’s Wit”, Darin Pradittatsanee discussed the value of love and knowledge overlooked by people in present society, especially those in educational system, in the lieu of materials. The matter is discussed and illustrated through the protagonist’s near-death experience (87-109). That article conjured up an idea of the positive side of death, the same motif employed in an awarded Thai experimental story Time by Chart Kobjitti. More importantly, the two stories share the same effects created by their outstanding narrative techniques which aim to challenge the audience and the reader. When perceived through a cross-cultural perspective, this demonstrates that even though people, either westerners or easterners, know birth, illness, and death are the truth of life, they fail to live in full awareness of these.

Therefore, it is important for writers to incorporate appropriate different narrative techniques if they intend to generate interest in what is viewed

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as mundane but, in reality, significant and to yield some intended results.

This essay examines the notion of death, perceptions of death and dying, the experience of encountering death, the benefits of this encounter, and the paradox of encountering death in a positive sense and how the dramatic and narrative techniques in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit by Margaret Edson and the SEA Write award-winning experimental story Time by Chart Kobjitti effectively stimulate the reader to reflect, compare and evaluate. The narrative techniques used in both stories result in the deconstruction and then reconstruction of figure-perspectives by interrelating the information from the external communication system in the domain of the message receiver which includes the audience and the reader and the internal communication system which is the communication among the fictional figures with the mediating communication system created by having one of the fictional figure directly address the receiver in order to give the figures’ utterance and the authorial comment.

Using the motifs of time and death, both texts present narrators who are forced to encounter death yet lack cognizance that they are meeting great opportunities to examine their own lives. Eventually, the central figures in both stories garner powerful lessons in life from their near-death experiences. Although the two stories are narrated through different cultures, they address questions concerning the meaning of life and death. They both employ complicated narrative techniques to inspire the receiver to reflect on death. What the receiver of the messages can learn from these stories is the contemplation of death which can lead to the pursuit of the meaning of life. It also supports realization of the way to let things go and peacefully accept death.

In Wit, the ‘epic’ theatrical techniques are deployed in order to instruct the receiver and arouse him/her to think. According to the writer of The Theory and Analysis of Drama, the three most important features associated with the concepts of ‘epic’ in drama are the abolition of finality, concentration, and dramatic autonomy (John, 1988). The first feature is evidenced by the end of the story. It is obvious

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that whether Vivian comes to the full understanding of the truth about God and life is a subordinate matter because it is intended to be viewed as a model of reality that is open to be variable and open to change.

Moreover, the story is intended to indicate that the final meaning for life does not subject to Vivian as a dramatic figure but to the receiver who must reconstruct the meaning for themselves. Second, the abolition of concentration brought about with the use of episodic structure which results in undermining suspense “to the extent that the spectators are able to distance themselves critically from the action, thus leaving them free to reflect, compare, and evaluate (John, 1988).” creates the alienation effect to the receiver. That the representative segment of the totality are portrayed by “introducing panoramic structures of time and place and having a comprehensive range of figures (John, 1988)” and that, in term of stage-design, the manner that Vivian addresses the receiver and “corresponds to the exposure of theatrical machinery and apparatus in order to create an anti-illusionist awareness of the set as a set, and the props as props (John, 1988)” resulted in reducing the dramatic autonomy.

With the ‘epic’ in drama, the central dramatic actress must play two roles for the two layers of communication systems—the internal and mediating communication systems. One is Vivian, a cancer patient functioning as the narrator of the mediating communication system in which Vivian as the narrator functions as a medium between the internal dramatic actions and the audience. She always appears on the empty stage with an I-V stand and gives her utterance or comments.

The first scene opens with the narrator Vivian wearing a baseball cap walking across the empty stage. It can be said that she is stylized personification of the consciousness of Professor Vivian who lies dying in hospital. Diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, she is suffering tremendously; she has only two hours remaining before she dies. The other role in the internal communication system is Professor Vivian Bearing, the central dramatic figure who always comes to the stage when props are being prepared by the staff. This Vivian is a fifty-yearold university professor of seventeenth-century poetry. She specializes

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in John Donne’s sonnets which discuss life, death and God. Thinking that she has real insights into these matters, she considers herself a woman of wit and intelligence. Vivian is very proud of her position as a professor doctor, following in the footsteps of her highly admired teacher, Professor E.M. Ashford, D.Phil. Although Vivian finds her sickness humiliating, her illness breaks down her pride and prepares her for dying. While struggling for life and trying to attain salvation through her belief in God, she gradually gains self-awareness through intense self-examination. She finally comes to the realization that while she was in good health, she lived her life as if she were not alive. She refused human relationships in lieu of promoting her intellect, fame and pride.

Encountering death is considered a great opportunity for Vivian the protagonist to perceive herself more clearly through the eyes of her doctors who consider her an object of their research. The doctors neither have sympathy nor appreciate communication with their patients.

Though they deal with people dying every day, they never perceive it as a profound truth of life. Vivian’s experience with these doctors prompts her to reflect on her past and realize that her lifetime attachments cannot help her any longer. She finally realizes that she cannot utilize her academic research or her knowledge to deal with her own dying.

What she was once proud of turns out to be a false friend. After talking to nurse Susie, she finally admits that, But it can’t be helped. I don’t see any other way. We are discussing life and death, not in the abstract, either; we are discussing my life and my death, and my brain is dulling…

(Quickly) Now is not the time for verbal swordplay, for unlikely flights of imagination and wildly shifting perspectives, for metaphysical conceit, for wit.

And nothing would be worse than a detailed scholarly analysis. Erudition. Interpretation. Complication.

(Slowly) Now is a time for simplicity. Now it is a time for, dare I say it, kindness.

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(Searchingly) I thought being extremely smart would take care of it. But I see that I have been found out. Ooohhh.

I’m scared… (Edson, 1999)

In this scene after Susie finishing speaking, she leaves the stage.

Then, Vivian as the narrator faces the audience and admits that as she is encountering death her illusion is destroyed. She eventually realizes that only spiritual insight can help her cope with the fear of death. Sharpening one’s intellect with words and literary devices or engaging in a battle of wits proves to be useless. At this point, she learns that kindness and the warmth of human relationships are what people need to live a happy life. Thus, without faith in God and humanity, Vivian, the main figure of the flashbacks, is truly afraid of death and cannot calm her mind.

Through the process of self-examination, whenever Vivian the narrator gains insight into her present hospitalized situation, she compares it with her academic past. This approach helps create a strong contrast between Vivian as the patient and Vivian as the narrator.

Moreover, the contrast is more emphasized in the scene which Jason and Vivian, who acts as the narrator while lying on bed as the patient, simultaneously speak in different contexts. In spite of that, the focus of the scene is placed on Vivian’s comments. Vivian the narrator comments on the situation in which Jason, together with Kelekian and other doctors, is examining Vivian the cancer patient; the doctors treat her like an object or an experiment, not a human being. This message is presented through the special format of the dialogue as seen here:

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Jason: Very late detection…

Vivian: ‘Grand Rounds.’

…Here, ‘Rounds’ seems to signify darting around the main issue… which I suppose would be the struggle for life… my life…with heated discussions of side effects…

At the time of first-look surgery, a significant part of the tumor was de-bulked, mostly in this area—here. (He points to each organ, poking her abdomen.) Left, right ovaries. Fallopian tubes. Uterus. All out.

With one important difference: in Grand Round, they read me like a book. Once I did the teaching now I am taught. (Edson, 1999)

Through ‘grand rounds’, a medical term referring to medical education and the presentation about patient care, Vivian plays with the meaning of the word ‘rounds’ by associating it with her condition. For her, to be a cancer patient becomes the first time she has an opportunity to examine her true self because she cannot take refuge in her intellect.

As a result, she believes that all the doctors discussing her condition is the struggle ‘around’ her life, not about saving her life. Consequently, it is also the first time she realizes that though she used to teach people about life through literature she never really internalized the lessons.

Then, when she was treated inhumanely, she learns the relative uselessness of her intellect. She eventually comes to the realization that human relationships and kindness are essential for life. Paradoxically, Vivian’s painful suffering becomes a vital learning experience for her.

In spite of the fact that she studied Donne’s sonnets and contemplated

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death, the soul and God as intellectual games, she only experiences them for the first time during her eight month treatment for cancer.

While her experience at the hospital dehumanizes her, it forces her to look within and discover her true self. She is gradually able to penetrate her own illusions by reflecting on the manner in which Dr. Kelekian and Dr. Jason are fascinated by research and intellect. This concept is demonstrated when Vivian speaks to the audience while reminiscing about the time when she refused to have sympathy for one of her students whose grandmother had passed away:

(Getting out of bed, without her I-V) So. The young doctor, like the senior scholar, prefers research to humanity.

At the same time the senior scholar, in her pathetic state as a simpering victim, wishes the young doctor would take more interest in personal contact.

Now I suppose we shall see, through a series of flashbacks, how the senior scholar ruthlessly denied her simpering students the touch of human kindness she now seeks. (Edson, 1999)

Vivian clearly expresses her disillusionment. She has finally embraced humanity because she is physically and mentally weak and longs for human sympathy which the two doctors fail to give her. As a result, she realizes her own heartlessness towards one of her former students and finally comprehends her own blindness to another person’s grief. She discovers that one cannot live happily on knowledge or fame but can only survive with kindness and close personal relationships.

While healthy, Vivian believed that through her fame and intellect she could gain power to bring whatever she wanted, namely, reassurance and happiness.

Susie, the primary nurse, symbolizes a contrary perspective towards life than the other figures. Susie wholeheartedly takes care of Vivian, demonstrating that relationships and kindness are of the

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greatest value as death approaches. Susie appreciates communication with people and knows very well how to keep her patients’ hearts warm.

Her actions contrast sharply with Dr. Jason’s; for example, she touches and talks with Vivian even when Vivian is unconscious. She understands that for those near death, communication is the only way to relieve loneliness and fear.

Susie: (Laughing, fondly) Well, she hasn’t exactly been a cup cake here, either. (Leaning over VIVIAN and talking loudly and slowly in her ear) Now, Ms. Bearing, Jason and I are here, and we’re going to insert a catheter to collect your urine. It’s not going to hurt, don’t you worry. (During the conversation she inserts the catheter.)

Jason: Like she can hear you.

Susie: It’s just nice to do. (Edson, 1999)

With Susie’s kindness and sincere consideration for her, Vivian learns to develop relationships with other people and to accept the true nature of life. Finally, she has just realized her misconduct as a teacher who should have had compassion and mercy for students. Her misconduct is emphasized by the contrast between Vivian the narrator and Vivian the professor. The former is the voice of her consciousness while suffering in hospital, speaking tenderly to the audience as if she is confessing to her students while the latter represents Professor Vivian enjoying the complexity of a poem.

Vivian: (Speaking to the audience) Did I say (tenderly) “You are nineteen years old. You are so young. You don’t know a sonnet from a steak sandwich.” (Pause) By no means. …(She walks away from STUDENT 1, then turns and addresses the class.)

So we have another instance of John Donne’s agile wit at work: not so much resolving the issues of life and God as reveling in their complexity. (Edson, 1999)

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As she is dying, Vivian comes to comprehend that a professor must also be a teacher. When she was in good health, she did not realize her responsibility to students, though her teacher, Professor Ashford, always treated her with understanding and kindness. As a professor of literature, Vivian did not teach her students but preferred to puzzle them with intellectual games while interpreting Donne’s sonnets. In fact, this was just her unconscious manipulation of power over her students to produce the illusion that she could feel secure in her position.

Conversely, Professor Ashford understood the nature of life and related it to the texts she taught. In the following quotation, she explains to Vivian about the negative effect of the wrong edition of the poem and then about death.

E.M.: …Gardner’s edition of the Holy Sonnets returns to the Westmoreland manuscript source of 1610—not for sentimental reasons, I assure you, but because Helen Gardner is a scholar. It reads: And death shall be no more, comma, Death thou shalt die…

Nothing but a breath—a comma—separates life from life everlasting. It is very simple really. With the original punctuation restored, death is no longer something to act out on a stage, with exclamation points. It’s a comma, a pause.

This way, the uncompromising way, one learns something from this poem, wouldn’t you say? Life, death, Soul, God, Past, present. Not insuperable barriers, not semicolons, just a comma. (Edson, 1999)

As Ashford explains, the use of a comma suggests that no “insuperable barriers” separate life from death. She also teaches Vivian to be careful to select the right edition of the sonnet because to be a scholar, for Ashford, is to be a person of intellect with understanding of the meaning of life. Moreover, she teaches Vivian that she should go

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and enjoy life in order to experience it; for wit and logic cannot help her understand life. Even though to work thoroughly on any literary work is crucial, one important role of studying literature is to enhance one’s understanding of the nature and meaning of life. Unfortunately, Vivian totally missed the point; instead of enjoying life with her friends as Ashford advised, she went straight to the library. She failed to comprehend that to accept the nature of life is the only way to understand the sonnet, but, according to the quotation, Vivian in the past still gave priority to wit and complexity in Donne’s sonnets in spite of labeling it “the issues of life and God” which are actually a matter of spirit and practice.

This is further emphasized when her student gave a suggestion about the sonnet about Donne’s sonnet and the meaning of life. One of her smartest students significantly points out the reason that the poet wrote the sonnet was that he might have been scared, so he tried to hide behind his complicated sonnets and behind his wit or else the poet should have made it simpler (Edson, 1999). However, at that time Vivian was not brave enough to admit this since the same reason as the poet has haunts her own immature mind. That scene shows that before she was ill, she failed to fathom that she herself was mortal. Poignantly, she was truly awakened to life through her own process of dying. The fear of death and the complexity of word play in Donne’s sonnets mirror Vivian’s feelings and attitudes towards death and God. Unwittingly, this is emphasized in her mind throughout the play.

In spiritual terms, no matter how intelligent Vivian might be, what she must value most is her spirit and faith in God. While she is encountering death, to keep faith in God is her only reliable source.

Nevertheless, at first she remains attached to her intellect. Moreover, she tries to deny and dare death as evidenced by her frequent recital of the words, ‘Death be not Proud.’ Reciting the poem implies that she is trying to empower herself and to decode the mystery of death in order to conceal her fear. Unknowingly, while resisting death, she is denying God. In truth, she would be much better advised to take just the opposite perspective. For example, when she explains the sonnet ‘If poysonous

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mineralls’ (sic) she explains that “…The speaker does not need to hide from God’s judgment, only to accept God’s forgiveness. It is very simple.

Suspiciously simple”. (Edson, 1999)

As Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living (Kamerling, 2010).” Vivian only takes this courageous leap at the last moment because she finally learned through suffering to examine, to fear, to get angry about, to resist and finally to accept death as it is. When she experiences the anxiety of death and tries to believe in God, not as a textual experience, which is the way to salvation, it is simultaneously the first significant step towards touching the energy of the Holy Spirit within herself. Even though it remains ambiguous whether or not Vivian finally attains true faith in God or not, she learns the most precious lesson which is how to live a meaningful life.

All discussed above are the messages conveyed through the interrelating the internal communication system with the external communication system. As a result, the audience as the receiver is induced to follow the unfolding story continuously, and to stimulate them to reflect, question, and comment on what they are watching and what Vivian the narrator confides to them. The internal communication system are interrelated by Vivian the narrator who functions as the mediating figure. When Vivian the narrator addresses the receiver directly, she metaphorically “distance herself from the dramatic action and comment on it from the outside… and steps outside her role in order to break the illusion”. (John, 1988) For instance, when Vivian the narrator challenges the receiver to put themselves in Vivian’s situation by saying that to sit and watch eight months of cancer treatment is boring for the audience, it is quite clear that the author intentionally implies that Vivian as the patient should be regarded as an agent of people who are in suffering and the audience members represent normal people who shun other people’s suffering. After challenging, she continues teasing and daring the audience by saying in an ironic voice that she will not force them to watch her lying on the bed for fifteen minutes because as a person of wit she will choose to illustrate what has happened to her and to express

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her feelings in a succinct way (Edson, 1999).

Furthermore, the alienation effect also encourages the audience to question and comment on what is happening on stage instead of identifying themselves with the dramatic figures. Thus, the whole story conveys a commentary about the narrator’s life as presented in the flashbacks. As a result, this technique aims to conjure two simultaneous feelings in the audience. One, the alienation effect aims to avoid causing emotional effects on the audience. The disconnected montage of scenes, together with staging that empowers the audience to witness the staff pushing the patient’s bed and other props on the stage, aims to make the audience feel alienated, question, and try to conceptualize what is truly happening to Vivian and other figurers. Second, after compelling the alienation effect, in the final part, the story induces the receiver to involve emotionally in the figure’s torment because the narrator does not step outside the dramatic action any longer but there is only the illustration of Vivian as the patient who lies in bed, dying. Therefore, whether the dramatic figures learn anything or not is not important because the play’s purpose is to stimulate the audience to deconstruct the message through the figure-perspective and then to reconstruct the meaning from the message by themselves.

Despite cultural differences, the theme of life and death that is examined in Wit can be found in Time, a Thai novel written by Chart Kobjitti. Kobjitti wrote Time as an experimental fictional story, in which various narrative techniques of experimental drama are incorporated with four narrative forms: a play, a screenplay, a descriptive narrative and stream-of-consciousness. With the motif of time and death, this experimental story discusses the perception of life in an existential light. He also embraces the essential Buddhist notion that all existence is subject to impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and lack of self.

However, it is worth to note that the Buddhist notion he applies in the story is superficial and shows his misunderstanding of the matter shared by most laypersons. The Buddhist notion in Kobjitti’s view is that because everybody is going to be ill, to be older, and to die one day,

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their lives become empty and nothingness. This superficial interpretation is at discrepant level when compared with the philosophical meaning as described either in Tripitaka or by Buddhist sages who possess insightful experience from their practices. Moreover, the existentialistic idea employed in Time is also superficial in the same way. Nevertheless, when those drawbacks are compared with the effectiveness of the narrative techniques used in this story, they seem to create no effects on the story at all because Kobjitti is an experienced writer and “knows how to put his little knowledge to good use (Nagavajara, 1996).”

The narrator of Time is a workaholic film director, who is presented as ‘I’. He acts like a member of the audience watching an experimental stage drama conducted by university students. The performance on stage revolves around elderly people’s lives in a nursing home. The performance on stage conveys messages concerning emptiness or the Buddhist notion of lack of self through the notion of ‘time’ by focusing on what time brings about and how time is powerful.

The dramatic figures on stage include six old women, a monk, vendors, a few kids and two mad men. The main figures in the stage drama are old women with various perspectives concerning life, aging and death.

The stage drama also features in the secondary text—other things except the verbal dialogues between figures—a symbolic old clock and silver shadow of lotuses.

The structure for conveying messages in Time is more complicated than in Wit because the former conveys messages through only one theatrical technique. The messages in Time can be divided into three levels and the most emphasis is placed on the outermost level which the targeted-receiver is the reader. At the innermost level, Time presents its ideas through the perspectives of the dramatic figures in the stage drama such as Sorn, Yoo and two mad men. Sorn is the main figure who expresses her ideas concerning the power of time and the Buddhist concept of the three primary characteristics of existence. She is the only figure who learns life lessons from other figures’ conditions. The messages of this level are illustrated in forms of play which sometimes

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are shifted to screenplays. At the next level, the film director who is the main narrator is the main figure of Time. He reflects on the performance on stage and expresses his perception of life, aging and death. The film director’s utterance is narrated through the first person point of view in the stream-of-consciousness mode. Finally, with a particular narrative technique, the message of the story is derived from the reader who is reading this experimental story about the film director watching a stage drama about the elderly. All of these three levels are bridged with the voice of an omniscient narrator. Time deceives the reader into thinking that the film director himself is being criticized. If the reader believes in this, s/he is trapped. On the contrary, Time aims at stimulating the reader to critically reflect on both Old Sorn’s experience and the film director’s ideas in order to gain lessons from the story.

At the innermost level, the two significant dramatic figures, Sorn and Yoo, were named for the sake of the receiver’s perspective. Sorn whose name means ‘teaching’ in Thai, represents an individual who always touches on the idea of the three characteristics of existence, yet still cannot let things go with equanimity. Nevertheless, if the receiver looks into the story from the outermost to the innermost levels, the meaning of her name is clearly indicative of the author’s purpose that Sorn is intended to teach the receiver some life lessons. Despite being named Sorn, in the dramatic situations she herself is prepared to learn the truth of life at all times. She realizes that all human beings are slaves to things in the world, especially money, aging, sickness and time. For example, when a boy talked to her about power over human beings, she insists that everybody is a slave to things in their lives (Kobjitti, 2003).

Sorn is the only figure in the nursing home who points out the disadvantages of money. She explains to Nuan and Erp that money is not always good because sometimes it hurts people; for example, when being robbed, being cheated or being killed because of money (Korbjitti, 2003). She uses the mad naked man in the cell who was once a rich man as an example to demonstrate her opinion.

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Old Sorn: (Smiles.) ‘Oh, I see. I didn’t. I wasn’t pointin’ at your bed at all. I was point’ at the cell. I was sayin’ that he had bags of money but finally he had to come and stay here as well.’ (Kobjitti, 2003) Moreover, Sorn is the only person on stage who understands the messages hidden in the mad men’s words. She realizes the value of death and the power of ‘time.’ When she is contemplating Thapthim’s mad son’s story of the white lotus in a blood swamp, she thinks of what she discussed with the young man. She discovers the answer that the master of all beings is ‘time.’ After Yoo’s death, she contemplates death as if it were her own; through this she gains wisdom about the nature of life and laughs out loud.

My dear Yoo, this isn’t you any longer. You’ve disappeared. The body lyin’ in front of me here isn’t you. It’s just a corpse.

A human corpse. What lies here is but a corpse. As for the part that was you, my friend, it has disappeared. What lies smilin’ here isn’t my friend Yoo. I don’t know who it is.

It’s just a human body.….

What she sees here is nothing but corpses. Standing corpses

looking at a corpse.

I’m a corpse too, …(Kobjitti, 2003)

Yoo, one of the figures on stage, leads other people, including the film director, closer to the revelation of the truth of life: Everyone is subject to the three characteristics of existence and finally reaches the state of emptiness. She is paralyzed and gradually becomes weaker during the course of the story. Despite her name meaning ‘to be alive’ or ‘to exist,’ she is without strength to do activities and without voice to express her cravings. This impasse illustrates the impermanence of life.

The disparity of her condition and the meaning of her name strengthen a message that everyone is going to die one day. This seems to be the simple truth everyone knows, yet it is what everyone forgets. The

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uncertainty of life is further emphasized in the flashbacks of Yoo’s life.

The flashbacks show that her life does not differ from the others in the nursing home. She was deceived and abandoned by her children and then ends up her life in a lonely home for the elderly. Her life clearly symbolizes Buddhist notion of the transitory nature of life.

In addition to Sorn and Yoo, the mad man in the cell and Thaptim’s mad son can be regarded as messengers who convey the theme of the story. The mad man in the cell always says, ‘There’s nothing. There’s nothing at all! There’s absolutely nothing.’ This emphasizes that people should be attached to anything. Thapthim’s mad son’s story about the white lotus flowers symbolically indicates that people are fighting for wealth and fame. In reality, these are of no significance because those things are not what people can bring with them when they die.

‘Where were you for so long?’ Old Sorn asks.

‘At the big swamp. There are big white lotus flowers. Their shadows in the water are like silver. The fish swarmed around to eat the silver, fought over it, bit one another.’ He laughs delightedly…

‘Where? Where?’ Old Sorn asks.

‘In town. They bit each other to death all over the swamp. Fought over themselves to eat the lotus shadow. None of them could eat the lotus shadow.

‘Why, son? Why couldn’t they eat the lotus shadow?...

‘Nobody can eat the lotus shadow. It’s only a shadow, ah,ah!’ He laughs uproariously. (Kobjitti, 2003)

Ironically, while other figures claim to be in their right minds, they all embrace every sort of illusion. Therefore, the mad men serve as effective literary devices to satirize the conditions of a society full of materialistic people fighting for the silver shadows of white lotuses. The satirical sense is transferred into a sense of humor when Sorn wonders whether she is also going to be a mad woman because she communicates so well with the two mad men.

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Despite the stage drama director’s attempt, the film director and other people in the audience fail to comprehend any messages conveyed through the drama. Whereas Sorn almost finds the truth of life, the film director does not fully understand Buddhist philosophy portrayed by the mad men. At least he realizes that the way he has lived his life has been wrong. When all the lights on stage are turned off, he contemplates death. His thinking shows a glimpse of the existentialistic idea, which “argues the ‘absurdity’ of an existence in which an individual never knows when the life s/he seeks to endow with meaning will be terminated (Herlands, 2002)” so an individual must accept the consequences of choices in life.

The performance on stage arouses the film director to reconsider his view of life. In terms of theatrical techniques, the performance on stage succeeds in using characteristics of naturalistic drama such as employing the smell of urine and an old clock ticking away for ten minutes, to induce boredom in the audience. Whenever the film director feels bored of the picture on stage, he comments on the dramatic figures’ circumstances and his own life and discusses them in two forms—in the form of screenplays adapted from the play he is watching and in the form of stream-of-consciousness of his comments and feelings.

The performance at which I sit smelling urine is the seven o’clock performance. The audience is sparse. I don’t know if it’s because the show has run its course or because the play is really boring, as the critics say…

If this play was showing something interesting I’m sure nobody would mind the ten minutes gone by, or if some did, it’d be to regret that time had gone by so fast.

But not here, not now, with everybody having to sit looking at the clock ticking away, having to sit looking at a lack of action. Even though it’d be the same ten minutes in both cases… (Kobjitti, 2003)

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In this initial part of the story, the film director and other people in the audience show the reader how people who are ignorant to the importance of flying time waste their time. Though life is uncertain and mundane, people are not patient enough to calmly wait and see what is going on in their minds and bodies. On the contrary, they always find something to entertain themselves and kill time. Consequently, they cannot perceive the true nature of life; maybe they are not brave enough to face it. Although the film director, as a member of the audience, does not realize the influence of ‘time’ that the producer of the play intends to communicate, to some extent, the intended effect of the theatrical techniques of this performance has been achieved. Therefore, the film director questions the meaning of his own life. For instance, when he contemplates his life after his wife and daughter’s deaths, he asks himself what he should do when the last day of his life arrives.

I was fed up with life.

Until one day I asked myself, why should I keep living like this?

I should kill myself.

But finally—finally I decided to go on living.

I asked myself, if I keep on living, how will I live, and what for?

I began to look at what I lost. I had lost my daughter, I had lost my wife, but I still had work to do….

But when I see those bodies on that stage lying there being fed, I’m scared. I’m damn scared—scared to have to live like this, to live unable to do anything, not even bring rice to my mouth.

If such a day comes, what will I do with my life? But why think about this while the time hasn’t come?..(Kobjitti, 2003)

However, this does not suggest that the director failed to garner any message from those boring scenes on the stage; as he comments on them, he finally admits and realizes that he is a heartless workaholic father to his daughter even when she is dead (Kobjitti, 2003). His

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realization strikes him after emotionally absorbing what is happening in the drama. This insight occurs immediately after Jan, one of the dramatic figures, explains that parents are never heartless with their children; only children are ungrateful to their parents.

The film director is an agent of people in reality who forget that life itself is really mundane. In truth, people do not need anything else more than what can relieve their physical and emotional needs.

Poignantly, they fail to take cognizance of that truth but they struggle to pass time with whatever contents them so that they can forget the reality of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and lack of a self which appear in every moment of life.

Seemingly, the drama is intentionally designed to unfold the story this way. Ironically, the boring scenes on the stage that the film director describes as the weak point of the play are actually the strong point. Like ordinary people who want to liberate themselves from impermanence in life, the film director lives in forgetfulness. He is blind to the fact that he also lives under the control of time which powerfully drags all beings with it to revolve around uncertainty and unsatisfactoriness that cause suffering. This point is emphasized when the director is thinking, “If this sequence was in my film, it wouldn’t take more than one minute for the time shown on the clock to reach five o’clock as desired. But this is the time on a theatre stage. So I have to sit and wait (Kobjitti, 2003).”

Not only the film director and others in the audience but also many figures in the stage drama criticise and react to other figures’ circumstances inconsiderately. The way that people carelessly look at other people’s problems, regarding those problems as something not related to them, blinds them to the fact that can set them free at the end of life. They are not aware of the simple depiction of reality disguised as the figures’ lives in drama. It is undeniable that if the film director and others in the audience profoundly considered the performance, they would recognize that they are not different from those figures on stage.

To instruct, it seems that every figure on stage is intentionally characterized as a group of people who lack spiritual development and

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let their spirit be devoured by all defilements. This is shown when the old women are praying for their worldly wishes after offering food to a monk. Although they are very old and experienced, they still have ceaseless cravings for things which have not come and they still cannot accept those things that already exist.

Regarding the innermost communication, except Sorn, every figure lives in illusion. Most of them are blind to the timeless truth revealed by illness and death. Since aging is viewed as a sign of near-death, the elderly in the nursing home are treated by their children as if they were useless things in a storage room. Both those wh o abandon their parents and the elderly themselves do not realize the great opportunities to learn about the nature of life as the Venerable Buddhadasa Bhikkhu once said, Illness should be regarded as a common characteristic of bodies, both human beings’ and animals’ bodies, because all kinds of body are changing all the time…Especially, when a person is getting older and older, it seems that the rest of one’s life is imprisoned by illness. All of these are the truth of reality that we need to look at. (Buddhadasa, 2010)

Even though aging and sickness should be good sources for spiritual awakening, the elderly in the drama are overwhelmed with their cravings and impossible hopes. Bunruean, Jan, Sorn, Thapthim, Erp and Nuan’s lives and hopes are still flowing like people who try to deny the existence of death by hiding within illusions. They are attached to what they have been familiar with their entire lives. For instance, Bunruean is always hankering for wealth and her past life as an aristocratic lady and thinks that her life in the home is unacceptable.

The structure of the narrative technique in Time that lets the reader, which is here mentioned as the receiver, know every idea, feeling and perception of life from all the figures stimulates the need to reconstruct the meaning of life for themselves. The meaning-making at this third level is achieved by questioning and criticizing all of the perceptions

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of life from all the fictional figures—both those in the drama and in the audience. In this story, every consequence of whatever happens on stage is important in the way that it affects the film director’s feelings and attitudes. Up until the time when the film director is forced to contemplate boredom and life, he has never enjoyed the present moment or realized the inevitable approach of death. On the contrary, he always plans the future, even when his daughter dies. Many life lessons appear on the stage but above all the focus is on the issue of impermanence and lack of a self. Then the figures’ perspectives on life are deconstructed and reconstructed through the receiver’s perspective. The feelings of the elderly are performed and communicated to the intended receiver in the outermost level through the dialogues between the figures and descriptions narrated through a limited omniscient point of view. Kobjitti intended to stimulate the reader to question life through the stage drama and the film director’s view.

At least, it can be said that the drama was successful in encouraging people to reflect how an individual lives his/her life and in reminding the receiver that they are getting old and one day they are going to die.

Even though Sorn and the film director have different views towards the meaning of life, they are ready to encounter death with peaceful minds as represented by an old clock on the wall. This is described many times on the stage throughout the story. The description of people’s feelings when waiting for time running stresses the power of time that hangs and weighs over them.

It is only an empty room.

An empty room.

After a while, the light dims then goes out.

The clock strikes seven times.

Ticktack-ticktack.

Ticktack-ticktack is still heard all the time. The curtain slowly unrolls and falls. (Kobjitti, 2003)

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Viewed in its totality, the similar communication structures in Wit and Time can be divided into three systems of communication as previously discussed. That the authors eliminate the separation of the internal and external communication systems by creating the mediating communication system to bridge the two systems is the key factor of the two stories. The mediating communication systems in the stories are constructed by having Vivian as the narrator and the film director, who is presented through the first person point of view which produce a similar effect as the alienation effect in drama does, function as mediating figures by directly addressing the receiver in the two stories respectively.

Furthermore, the authors utilize appropriate techniques of characterization and presentation. Both Vivian and the film director are allegorical figures of people in society who have lived in forgetfulness and blind to the truth of life until the day they come to an impasse when encountering death, either in American or Thai society. Ostensibly, the messages of the two stories involve philosophical notions of death in religious terms, but in actuality encountering death and its effect are their emphases. Therefore, despite embracing the Buddhist notion of the three common characteristics of existence, that Kobjitti deploys the superficial interpretation of the notion does not significantly influence the important messages of the stories. Instead, this seems to be compatible with the main purpose of the story that aims to stimulate the receiver to reflect on the meaning of life. Similarly, in Wit, though no trace of the explanation excerpted from the Bible, the authorial intention to arouse the receiver to reflect on the meaning of life is still effective.

In Wit and Time, when both protagonists seek their own reliable sources for their spirit while encountering death, it is evident that they are not profoundly interested in religions but they consider religions as their first sources just because of their social-culture. Even though Vivian and the film director question what the meaning of life is and they have carried on the internal struggles to find their own resolutions throughout the stories, seemingly at the end of the stories the authors

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intentionally do not put the finality and leave the receiver to variably reconstruct answers to those questions for each individual. Even though the processes to convey the important messages of the two stories to the receiver are incompatible in details, they share the overall process in conveying the messages to their receivers. As discussed in the introductory part, the process to do so comprises four steps that are to construct the meaning through the dramatic actions among the figures in the stories, to communicate the meaning to the receiver, to arouse the receiver to deconstruct the meaning and finally to stimulate the receiver to reconstruct the meaning for themselves.

In the final analysis, the microcosm in the two stories illustrated how suffering and cravings are complicated and how they can lure people to commit both good and bad actions. Thus people need to perceive and comprehend them correctly. For that complication in human’s minds, it is crucial to attract the receiver’s interest by making the two stories effectively function as entertainment and instruction. The analysis of the two stories shows that different beliefs are not a major hindrance to disclose the meaning of life. The stories reveal that people in the level of macrocosm always embrace delusions that they can control everything in life in spite of the fact that they are slaves to suffering, loneliness, illusion and cravings as exemplified in Wit and Time. From the two stories, the main figures, as agents of ordinary people in societies, present us that, paradoxically, most people are not aware of the truth of life and refuse to accept undesirable feelings and the nature of life such as suffering, despair, loss, defeat, and death which commonly happen in everyone’s life when they are in good condition. Only when they are encountering death, they become really alive because with fear of death they are forced to examine their lives in order to find out what the meaning of life is. To disclose the truth of life and to demonstrate that all unsatisfactory ones and even death do not have only negative effects but provide spiritual growth and wisdom for people who are brave enough to encounter and accept them are crucial points. Therefore, as evidenced by the above discussion, certain theatrical and literary techniques are essential.

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All in all, it would be worthy if we practice dying by reminding ourselves of our coming-death-day as often as it is possible before our last day comes. This is in order that when we are still alive and healthy, we can be really involved in life and on our death-day we will be prepared and ready to sleep peacefully and let things go. Moreover, the two stories suggest that the most important ability people should develop are the ability to appreciate human relationships, as well as the ability to diminish pride and to be more humble and grateful to everything and everyone in their lives so they can be fully human.

References Bhikkhu, B. (2010) Illness Sharpens your Wisdom. Contemplating Death: A Buddhist Way to Welcome Death. (in Thai) (Panwadee Wasinwattana et. al, eds), pp. 81-88 Bangkok: Komon Keemthong Foundation.

Edson, M. (1999) Wit. NY: Faber and Faber.

Halliday, J. (1988) The Theory and Analysis of Drama. Tran. And Ed. Manfred Pfister Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hornstein, H. L. (2002) The Reader’s Companion to World Literature.

New York: Penguin Books.

Kemerling, G. Socrates: Philosophical Life. [Online URL: http://www. philosophypages.com/hy/2d.htm] accessed on July 15, 2010.

Kobjitti, C. (2003) Time. Trans. Marcel Barang, Nakhon Ratchasima: Howling Books.

Nagavagara, C. (1996) Comparative Literature from a Thai Perspective: Collected Articles 1978-1992. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press.

Pradittatsanee, D. (2003) “Love and Knowledge in Margaret Edson’s Wit.” (in Thai) Journal of the Faculty of Arts Chulalongkorn University, January-June: 87-109.

Somdet Pra Nyansamvara, the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, ‘Death.’

(2010) Contemplating Death: A Buddhist Way to Welcome Death. (in Thai) (Panwadee Wasinwattana et.al, eds), pp. 5-16 Bangkok: Komon Keemthong Foundation.

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The Lexical Variations between Three Generations of Tai Dam in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand1 Suwattana Liamprawat* Department of Thai, Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand * Corresponding author. Email address: sliamprawat@yahoo.com Abstract

Tai Dam is a language in the southwestern group of the Tai language family. Spoken in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, Tai Dam originated in the Sip Song Chu Tai region of Vietnam. This article aims to study the lexical variations between three generations of Tai Dam speakers in Donkhlang Subdistrict Damnernsaduak District, Ratchaburi Province. Data for the analysis comes from a list of 222 semantic units tested on three generations of informants : old generation (over 60 years old), middle generations (35-55 years old), and young generation (18-30 years old). The results reveal that the first generation used Tai Dam the most whereas the third generation used Tai Dam the least. The young generation use lexical in central Thai more than the other generation groups. The young generation tend to use only lexical in standard Thai or lexical in central Thai together with lexical in Tai Dam. When the young speakers use Tai Dam lexical, a variation in sounds was found. The sound variation can be attributed to the fact that standard Thai is an official language used in educational institutes and the mass media in Thailand.

Key Words: Lexical variation; Social variation; Thai Song Dam; Tai Dam This research is a part of “Ethnicity: New Paradigm in Language Cultural Transmission” which is in a sub-project “Ethnic language processes in progress” funded by The Thailand Research Fund.

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Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Vol.11 (2) : 59-77, 2011

The Lexical Variations between Three Generations of Tai Dam

Suwattana Liamprawat

Introduction

The Tai Song Dam or Tai Dam ethnic group of Thailand speak a language in Tai Family of Southwestern Tai Group. Fang Kuei Li (1959) classified languages in Tai Family into three groups; namely, Northern Tai Group, Central Tai Group and Southwestern Tai Group. The Tai Dam are named in differently such as Lao Song, Tai Dam, Phu Tai Dam, Tai Song and Tai Song Dam. The variation of naming is presumed to be because both “Song” (ซง) and “Song” (โซง) mean “pants”. Therefore, “Lao Song” means someone who is wearing a black shirt and pants living on the bank of the Black River, Northern Vietnam.

The original residence of the Tai Dam is in the south of China next to Northern Vietnam. They settled down scattered from Guangxi, Yunnan, Tang Kea, Black and Red River Basin and Sipsong Chu Tai. Muang Thaen or Dienbienphu was the center of this dependent state.

Because of war, the Tai Dam migrated to Thailand during ThonBuri Era (BE 2322) and the rein of King Rama V of Rattanakosin (BE 2430).

They first settled down in Phetchaburi. Nowadays, the Tai Dam spread in different provinces of Thailand such as Phetchaburi, Suphanburi, Nakhonpathom, Samutsakhon, Kanchanaburi, Lopburi, Saraburi, Phichit, Phisanulok, Sukhothai, and Loei. (Panida Yensamut, 1981)

It is notable that nowadays the Tai Dam communities in Thailand are affected by the development of the country in every aspect. The communities; therefore have changed into bilingual communities and multilingual communities because of the influence the media, education as well as the interaction with the outsiders. The Tai Dam have to communicate in the official Thai Language i.e. teenage use central Thai (Bangkok Thai dialect) vocabulary whereas the working people and the elderly people speak Tai Dam more than other groups.

According to this observation, the researcher then incorporated sociolinguistic principles in the framework of this study by using the study of language variation which mainly states that there is a variation in every language i.e. the different forms of language are interchangeable without changing the main meaning. Therefore, the

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variation of language can be explained by social factors such as gender, age, education, residence and situation.

The researcher was interested in the variation of language over different age groups because it does not only reveal a variety of languages used by people of different age groups, but also reveal a change in progress and an apparent-time change. Moreover, a society where people of the new generation are likely to speak their ethnic language less will be overtaken by other languages which will result in language shift. The ethnic language will soon disappear and become a dead language. For all these reasons, the researcher then incorporated age as an important variation in the study of Tai Dam.

This analysis aims to study lexical variation and lexical usage among three generations in Tai Dam living in Donkhlang Sub-District, Damnernsaduak District, Ratchaburi Province. The independent variables is the language informants’ age and the dependent variable is the 222 semantic units used in the analysis.

Research Methodology

1. Semantic units selection

Researcher used word list of Tai Dam vocabulary spoken in Vietnam (Fippinger 1974). This includes 222 semantic units of Tai Dam vocabulary which have different consonant and vowel from the central Thai (Bangkok Thai dialect) because the researcher wanted to study the variation of Tai Dam language in Thailand to see if the lexical exist in Tai Dam language in Vietnam or not and to what extent.

2. Site selection

Researcher opted to conduct the research in the western part of Thailand because there are a lot of the Tai Dam living there. The site chosen is Tai Dam community Mu 1 Donkhlang Sub-District Damnernsaduak District, Ratchaburi Province.

3. Informants selection

The criteria used in the selection of informants are as follows:

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3.1 Born and raised up in the local area, without migration

3.2 Use Tai Dam in daily life

3.3 Obtain clear articulation and good sight and listening

skills

3.4 Obtain language expertise

4. The criteria of generation

The informants are divided into three generations.

The researcher fixed the range of five years so as to prevent a narrow gap of age among the informants with the same level of expertise. Prior research in this category also used the range of five years. (Labov, 1972)

a. The first generation (G1) represents the elderly whose age is more than 60 years old.

b. The second generation (G2) represents the middle-aged whose age is between 35-55 years old.

c. The third generation (G3) represents the younger people whose age is between 18-30 years old.

Regarding the above criteria, the informants chosen are:

a. The first generation of informant

1. Mrs. Aae Puakja, 75 years old.

2. Mr. Narong Donnoi, 70 years old.

3. Mrs. Yai Sewi, 65 years old.

b. The second generation of informant

1. Mrs. Jannaphat Prathepphephon, 48 years old.

2. Mr. Yot Satphet, 50 years old.

3. Mrs. Wan Aujphet, 40 years old.

c. The third generation of informant

1. Miss Watcharawadee Unrua, 19 years old.

2. Mr. Kamol Aujphet, 28 years old.

3. Miss Ratree Butphet, 25 years old.

5. Data collection

The researcher used a word list of 222 semantic units in the interview. In case the informants did not understand the meaning

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because of unclear meaning, the interviewer used real objects, illustrations and body expressions and a make-up situation to facilitate the interview. When the informants understood the meaning and articulate the word, the interviewer recorded the sound twice and then transfer into phonetic alphabet.

Phonological System of Tai Dam

The researcher collected the data of phonological system of Tai Dam at Donkhlang Sub-District Damnernsaduak District, Ratchaburi Province. The results are as follows:

There are 19 consonant phonemes of Tai Dam in Donkhlang as follows /p, ph, b, t, th, k, kh, ?, c, f, s, h, m, n, , N, l, w, j/ and there are 18 simple vowel phonemes as follows /i i: e e: E E:  :   : a a: u u: o o: :/ and 4 Dipthong as follows /ia a ua a/

There are 6 tones as follow

1. Tone 1 mid rising tone (34)

2. Tone 2 mid rising falling tone (354)

3. Tone 3 low rising tone (24)

4. Tone 4 high level tone (44)

5. Tone 5 mid falling tone (32)

6. Tone 6 high rising falling tone (452) Results

The results of this study will be discussed as follows:

1. The lexical variation among three generations

The variation of language used by people of three generations means the usage of the same lexical or the usage of different lexicals in the same semantic unit.

2. Variation of lexical variants among three generations

The variation of the same lexical in people of three generations means Tai Dam people use the variation of the same lexical by changing vowel sound or consonant sound which have similar phonetic feature.

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The criteria used in judging the variation of the same lexical focus on the variation of vowel sound or consonant sound. For example, /khaw5 po:t4/ ~ /khaw5 pho:t4/ ‘corn’ the variation of consonant sound /p/ and /ph/ has similar phonetic feature, so / khaw5 po:t4/ and /khaw5 pho:t4/ are the variation of the same lexical.

The word /pi:1/ and /?uan5/ ‘to be fat’ do not use any variation which has similar phonetic feature, therefore, the word / pi:1/ and /?uan5/ are different lexicals.

There is an exceptional case. Even though some words use similar phonetic feature, the researcher indicates the language of those words according to study and research evidence. For example, several documents indicate that the word /ka:N1 k:n2/ ‘night’ is Tai Dam, whereas /kla:N1 kh:n2/ is central Thai. The researcher then indicated that they are different lexicals.

1. The lexical variation among three generations

The analysis of lexical variation of three generations in Tai Dam living in Donkhlang Sub-District Damnernsaduak District, Ratchaburi Province from 222 semantic units is as follows:

1.1 Semantic units which people of three generations used the same lexical.

1.2 Semantic units which people of two generations used the same lexical.

1.3. Semantic units which people of three generations used different lexicals.

1.1 Semantic units which people of three generations used the same lexical.

The language informants interviews revealed that the Tai Dam of three generations used the same lexical. There are 153 semantic units (68.91%) which can be classified as follows:

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1.1.1 From the analysis of Tai Dam vocabulary, the Tai Dam of three generations used Tai Dam vocabulary. There are 81 semantic units (36.49%) as indicated (A) in the following table.

G1 Age over 60 years

G2 Age 35-55 years

G3 Age 18-30 years

A

A

A

Example Semantic unit

G1,2,3

‘tree’

/k:3 maj6/

‘papaya’

/ma5 hoN3/

‘mouth’

/sop3 ~ hu:2 sop3/

‘to hear’

/daj5 Nin2/

‘to speak’

/pa?3/

‘to cry’

/haj5/

‘meet’

/p:1/

‘human’

/kon2/

‘father’

/?a:j5/

‘mother’

/?em1/

1.1.2 The usage of other lexicals means the Tai Dam informants of three generations used central Thai (Bangkok Thai dialect), or new word. There are 72 semantic units (32.43%). They will be indicated as (B) in the following table.

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The Lexical Variations between Three Generations of Tai Dam

G1 Age over 60 years

G2 Age 35-55 years

G3 Age 18-30 years

B

B

B

Example Semantic unit

Tai Dam

G1,2,3

‘rabbit’

/th?3/

/ka5 ta:j3/

‘spider’

/siN2 sa:w1/

/to:1 mE:N2 mum2 ~ mE:N2 mum2/

‘chopstick’

/thu:2/

/ta5 kiap3/

‘conical hat’

/kup3/

/mua?3/

‘cloud’

/piN2 fa:3/

/khi:5 me:k4 ~ me:k4/

‘sock’

/ma:t5/

/thuN1 ti:n1/

‘towel’

/xan1/

/pha:5 pok3 hua1 ~ pha:5 ka:t4 hua1/

‘to shoot’

/bEn2/

/iN2/

‘grit teeth’

/an6/

/khop1/

‘clever’

/lak2/

/sa5 la:t4/

1.2 Semantic units which people of two generations used the same lexical.

The usage of the same lexical used by two generation means the Tai Dam informants of two generations used Tai Dam only, or other dialect or both Tai Dam and other dialects. There are 62 semantic units (27.93%). They can be classified into 5 categories as follows:

1.2.1 The second and the third generations used other dialects or new word whereas the first generation used Tai Dam. There are 22 semantic units (9.91%) as indicated in the following table.

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G1 Age over 60 years

G2 Age 35-55 years

G3 Age 18-30 years

A

B

B

Example Semantic unit

G1

G2, 3

‘star’

/la:w1/

/da:w1/

‘a fly’

/mE:N2 Nwan2/

/mE:N2 wan2/

‘mosquito’

/to:1 uN2/

/juN2/

‘to swim’

/l:j2/

/wa:j4/

‘rotate’

/pin5/

/mun1/

‘hammock’

/?u:3/

/pe:2 ~ ple:2/

‘yet’

/he:1/

/aN2/

‘will’

/ci?3/

/ca?3/

‘deep’

/lk4/

/lk4/

1.2.2 The first and the second generations used Tai Dam whereas the third generation used other dialects or new word. There are 16 semantic units (7.21%) as indicated in the following table.

G1

G2

G3

A

A

B

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Example Semantic unit

G1,2

G3

‘grass’

/k:1 a:5/

/k:1 ja:5/

‘calf’

/ma5 kEN5 ~ na:5 kEN5/

/na:5 khEN5 ~ khEN5/

‘remember’

/c:3/

/cam1/

‘man’

/kon2 ca:j2 ~ p:4 ca:j2/

/p:3 cha:j2/

‘human’

/kon2/

/khon2/

‘spear’

/h?3/

/h:k3/

‘not’

/b:3/

/ma?4/

1.2.3 The second and the third generations used both Tai Dam and other dialects or new word ( A ) whereas the first generation B

used Tai Dam only. There are 12 semantic unit (5.41%) as indicated in the following table.

G1

G2

G3

A

A B

A B

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Example Semantic unit

G1

G2, 3

‘moon’

/ban1/

/ban1/ /dan1/

‘rainbow’

/to:1 huN6/

/to:1 huN6/ /to:1 luN6 ~ luN6/

‘day’

/m:6/

/m:6/ /wan2/

‘fat’

/pi:1/

/pi:1/ /?uan5/

‘to push’

/suj1/

/suj1/ /phak3/

‘corn’

/khaw5 li:2/

/khaw5 li:2/ /khaw5 po:t4 ~ khaw5 pho:t4/

1.2.4 The first generation and the second generation used Tai Dam whereas the third generation used Tai Dam and other dialects or new word. There are 10 semantic units (4.5%) as indicated in the following table.

G1

G2

G3

A

A

A B

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Example Semantic unit

G1,2

G3

‘neck’

/k:2/

/k:2/ /kh:2/

‘heart’

/hua1 ca1/

/hua1 caw1/ /hua1 caj1/

‘to give’

/ha5/

/haw5/ /haj5/

‘crawl’

/ca:n2/

/ca:n2/ /kha:n2/

‘fever’

/saj5/

/saj5/ /khaj5/

‘ash’

/taw5/

/taw5/ /thaw5/

1.2.5 The first generation used both Tai Dam and other dialects or new word whereas the second and the third generation used other dialect or new word. There are 2 semantic units (0.9%) as indicated in the following table.

G1

G2

G3

A B

B

B

Example Semantic unit

G1

G2,3

‘worm’

/to:1 lan2/ /to:1 saj5 dan2/

/to:1 saj2 dan2 ~ saj2 dan2/

‘half’

/thoN2/ /kN4/

/kN4/

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1.3 Semantic units which people of three generations used different lexicals.

The first generation used Tai Dam whereas the second generation used both Tai Dam and other dialects and the third generation used other dialects only. There are 7 semantic units (3.15%) as indicated in the following table.

G1

G2

G3

A

A B

B

Example Semantic unit

G1

G2

G3

‘night’

/k:n2/

/ka:N1 k:n2/ /ka:N1 kh:n2/

/ka:N1 kh:n2/

‘visit’

/ja:m4/

/ja:m4/ /jiam4/

/jiam4/

‘spill’

/ba:1/

/ba:1/ /hok3/

/hok3/

‘rotten’

/min1/

/min1/ /men1/

/men1/

‘swell’

/ka5/

/ka5/ /buam1/

/buam1/

‘shortened’

/km5/

/km5/ /san5/

/san5/

‘short’

/ten5/

/ten5/ /san5/

/san5/

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The Lexical Variations between Three Generations of Tai Dam

Pattern of the lexical item usage can show in chart as the following : 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

81

72

22

16

12

A A A B B B A B B A A B

10

A A A A A A B B B

2

7

A B B B

AA B B

It is clearly stated that the informants of three generations in Tai Dam language community, Damnernsaduak District, Ratchaburi Province used 81 semantic units of Tai Dam vocabulary and 72 semantic units of other dialects.Regarding to the ratio of the usage of Tai Dam vocabulary (A), and other dialects (B), and both Tai Dam vocabulary A together with other dialects ( ) among three generations. The first B generation used Tai Dam the most and used other dialects the least. The third generation used Tai Dam the least, used other dialects the most and used Tai Dam together with other dialects the most as indicated in the following table.

(A)

%

(

Generation

A ) % B

(B) %

G1

148

66.67

2

0.9

72

32.43

G2

107

48.20

19

8.56

96

43.24

G3

81

36.5

22

9.9

119

53.60

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The above table compares the usage of Tai Dam (A), Tai Dam A together with other dialects ( ) and other dialects (B) among three B generations.

150

1st generation

148

2nd generation 100

119

3rd generation

107

96

81 72

50 19

22

2

0 (A)

(

A ) B

(B)

2. Variation of lexical variants among three generations There are two categories of lexical variants.

2.1 The lexical variants of Tai Dam 2.2 The lexical variants of other dialects 2.1 The lexical variants of Tai Dam Different generation of Tai Dam’s informants used more than one form of the vocabulary. The variations found are the deduction of syllable, the addition of syllable and syllable changes. The syllable which contains the main meaning remain unchanged.

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The Lexical Variations between Three Generations of Tai Dam

Example Semantic unit

Generation G1 /po:N1/

G2, 3 /khi:5 poN1/

‘nose’

G1,2 /hu:2 laN1/

G3 /laN1/

‘elephant’

G1,2 /to:1 ca:N6/

G3 /ca:N6/

‘abdomen’

G1 /kham2 pum1/

G2 /pum1/

G1 /pha:5 suaN3 kha:1 hi:2/

G2, 3 /suaN3 kha:1 hi:2/ /suaN3 hi:2/

‘mud’

‘trousers’

In addition, there have found consonant and vowel variation in Tai Dam Language such as Phonological variation

/a ~ aw/

/E ~ ia/

Semantic unit

‘heart’

G1,2 /hua1 ca1/

G3 / hua1 ca1 ~ hua1 caw1/

‘tooth’

G1,2 /khEw5/

G3 /khEw5 ~ khiaw5/

/ha:j1 ca1/

/ha:j1 caw1/

‘like this’

G1,2 /caN3 si:6/

G3 /jaN3 ci:6/

‘worm’

G1 /to:1 dan1 ~ to:1 lan1/

‘sew’

G1,2 /ip4/

‘breathe’

/s ~ c/ /d ~ l/

/ ~ N/

Generation

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G3 /ip4/

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2.2 The lexical variants of other dialects Different generations used the central Thai dialect or Bangkok Thai dialect or new vocabulary. The variations found are the deduction of syllable, the addition of syllable and syllable changes. The syllable which contains the main meaning remains unchanged.

Semantic unit

Generation

‘spider’

G1 /to:1 mE:N1 mum1/

G2, 3 /mE:N1 mum1/

‘cloud’

G1, 2 /khi:5 me:k4/

/me:k4/

‘to tell a lie’

G1 /khi:5 bE:w5/

/bE:w5/

G3

G2, 3

In addition, there have found consonants and vowels variation of new vocabulary such as Phonological variation

Semantic unit

Generation

/c ~ ch/

‘hour’

G1 /cua mo:N1/

/p ~ ph/

‘corn’

G2 /khaw5 po:t4/

G3 /khaw5 pho:t4/

‘axe’

G1 /khwa:n1/

G2, 3 /fa:n /

/khw ~ f/ /p ~ pl/

4

G2, 3 /cua mo:N1 ~ chua4 mo:N1/ 4

1

G3 /pe : ~ ple:2/

‘hammock’

2

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Conclusion

The interviews with three generations of informants living in Donkhlang Sub-District, Damnernsaduak District, Ratchaburi Province using 222 semantic units revealed that the first generation used Tai Dam the most whereas the third generation used Tai Dam the least. Regarding the usage of other dialect, the third generation used other dialects the most whereas the first generation used other dialects the least. Regarding the usage of Tai Dam together with other dialects, the thrid generation used them the most.

Besides, there are variation of lexical variants in Tai Dam and other dialects such as the addition of syllable, the deduction of syllable, consonant and vowel changes. Therefore, age can be an important factor which affects the changes in Tai Dam used by people living in Donkhlang Sub-District, Damnernsaduak District, Ratchaburi Province.

Discussion

The results of this study reflect that people of new generation use central Thai (Bangkok Thai dialect) instead of Tai Dam. Moreover, they also try to mingle well with central Thai people on the aspect of language so as not to be distinguished. If the situation continues like this, the influence of central Thai (Bangkok Thai dialect) will hinder Tai Dam lifestyle. If the people in this community do not preserve and develop their Tai Dam, the researcher anticipates that Tai Dam language will encounter a crisis within a few generations.

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Reference Buranasing, A. (1988) Wikro kaan plian plaeng kam khong khon sam radap aju nai phasaa Tai Song. M.A. Thesis, Mahidol University. (in Thai) Ferguson, C. A. and Gumperz, J. D. (1973) “Variety, dialect and language.” Reading for Applied Linguistics. Vol.1, Ed. By J.F.B. Allen and Pit Corder. London : Oxford University Press.

Gedney, W. J. (1979) A Checklist for Determining Tones in Tai Dialects.” Studies in Linguistics in Honor of George L. Trager. Ed. By M. Estillie Smith. Mouton : The Hauge.

Labov, W. (1972) Sociolinguistics Pattern. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania.

Li, F. K. (1959) “Classification by Vocabulary : Tai Dialects”.

Anthropological Linguistics Vol. 1-2.

Liamprawat, S. and Wattanaprasert K. (1996) Wikhro kaan chai Kham lae kaan plae khong phasaa khong khon sam radap aju nai chumchon phasaa Lao lum nam thacin. Nakhon Pathom : Silpakorn University Press. (in Thai) Maneewong O. (1978) A Comparative phonological Study of Lao Song in Petburi and Nakhon Pathom Province. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Mahidol University. (in Thai) Prasitratthasin, A. (1989) Kham cam kat khwaam nai phasaasaat sangkom. Bangkok : Chulalongkorn University Press. (in Thai)

. (2007) Pasaasaat sangkhom. Bangkok : Chulalongkorn University Press. (in Thai)

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Thai and Indian Cultural Linkage: The Religious Festivities Ruchi Agarwal* Social Science Division, Mahidol University International College, Mahidol Univesity, Salaya, Nakorn Pathom, Thailand * Corresponding author: E-mail address: icruchi@mahidol.ac.th Abstract

There is a long history of cultural linkage between India and the Southeast Asian region. The Indian influence can be found in cultural and religious practices, arts, scriptures, and language. One of the common cultural heritages shared is the celebration of the major religious festivals. The festivals have originated in India and are widely celebrated in the Southeast Asian countries. In this paper, I am interested in examining the Indian cultural influence with an emphasis on four major annual festivals celebrated in Thailand. The major Thai festivals include Songkran, Loy Krathong, Thai-Chinese Vegetarian festival, and the Long boat race. These festivals share a common cultural heritage with Holi, Karthik Purnima & Deepavali, Navratre, and Onam.

My research revisits the Thai-Indian Cultural linkage through these religious festivals that are celebrated at the same time of the year but under different names.

Key Words: Hindu; Festivals; Religion; Thailand; Songkran; Holi; Deepavali; Loy Krathong; Navratre; Onam

Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Vol.11 (2) : 78-91, 2011

Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts

Introduction

There is a long history of the connection between Hinduism and Southeast Asia.. These links date back to 2000 years and had resulted in the formation of Indian kingdoms on the Indochinese Peninsula and pre-modern Indonesia. The foundation of the first Indian settlements in this region was established with the migration of priests, traders and seamen from India to parts of South and South East Asia. This migration of Indian traders and immigrants resulted in the founding of Indian kingdoms which practiced Indian arts, religion and customs who used Sanskrit as the sacred language. Majumdar notes a number of Indian had settled and established colonies in South-east Asia. There was also political domination exercised by Indian dynasties in this area. He shows the spread of Hindu kingdoms and the victory of Hindu culture over the region and the influence in almost every part of people’s life in the region. He also notes that Buddhism had importance centers and played an important role in the spread of Hindu culture in this region.

(Majumdar, pp 15-16, 1955) Bose also gave evidence of Indian settlement in Thailand and the Indian influence over the Thai society.

Kirsch also points out the complexity in Thai Buddhism. He has shown how the Thai Buddhism comprises of animistic, Brahmanistic, and Buddhist elements.

Thailand is a Buddhist country with almost 95% of its population practicing Theravada Buddhist. Buddhism spread from India long before the Christian Era to different parts of Asia. The Thai culture has two sources of origin, indigenous and foreign. The first comes from the ideas and inspiration of people while the later comes from the cultural contact with other civilizations like India and China. The customs, traditions, ceremonies and festivals were thus derived from these sources1.

1

Charuwan Chareonla, Buddhist Arts of Thailand, pp 12-13

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Therefore it is common to find Buddhism and Hinduism practiced together in Thailand. In addition even though Buddhism is the official religion in Thailand, there is a great religious tolerance for other religions. Therefore there is a mix of several practices from other religions with the Buddhist beliefs. As for the Hindu practices, they have become so common that Thais’ sometimes are not being able to distinguish between Buddhism and Hinduism. It then becomes easy for them to practice both the religions at the same time. The reason behind this is that many of the Buddhist rituals and beliefs are the same as the Hindus rituals and beliefs. The purpose of this paper is thus to study this similarity with an emphasis on the connections found between the Thai and Hindu festivals.

Thai festivals and their linkage with Hindu festivals

India, a country of festivals is the seventh largest country in the world and each month there is a festival celebrated in some part of the country. There is a festival to celebrate every season like harvests, commemorating historical people and events, and to express one’s devotion to deities. All the festivals celebrated do have prayers, rituals, decorating homes, music, dance, and sharing feasts. As mentioned earlier there are several festivals but among those there are a few that are the most important ones and are celebrated all around the country.

Similarly in Thailand there are lots of festivals that are celebrated throughout the country. Many of these festivals are celebrated at the same time of the year as the Hindu festivals and are celebrated in the similar manner as well. For this paper I will focus on four famous festivals as the examples to show the cultural connections through religion between the two countries.

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1. Holi and Songkran

Holi

The festival of colors called Holi begins on Duwadashi - the twelfth day of the waxing moon of the month of Phalgun 2 or spring (the season of hope and new beginnings and marks the rekindling of the spirit of life). Phalgun is considered the last day of the year and spring starts from the next day. Thus since ancient times, this festival is considered a festival of merrymaking announcing the commencement of the spring season. The festival is generally celebrated in northern part of India.

There are several different stories associated with this festival. According to one of the stories from the Puranas 3, it is said that this was the day when Lord Shiva opened his third eye and the spark from his third eye burned Lord Kama (Lord of Love) into ashes. This perhaps explains the other names of this festival: Vasanta-Mahotsava and Kama-Mahotsava.

Almost 40 days before the start of this festival, a log of wood is kept in a prominent public place and people throw twigs of trees and other things that make the log grow into a big heap. This heap is then set alight on the night of the Phalguna Purnima 4, along with chanting of some Mantras to ward away all the evil spirits. Singing and dancing also add to the celebration of this festival. On the next day people splash colored powder and colored water over each other. It is believed that even the enemies become friends on this day. The significance of this festival is to fill ones life with the colors of happiness and friendship. It marks the beginning of the Indian New Year.

Songkran

A Thai festival celebrating the New Year is the same as the Indian festival of Holi. Songkran in Thailand is celebrated on the 13th April

Is the last month in the Hindu Calendar

Literary texts written in Sanskrit dating from 4th Century BCE to around 1000 A.D 4

Full moon day in the month of February to mid-March

2

3

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every year and last for 3 days. The traditional celebration was pouring water to invite God Indra to descend to earth and bring rain for a good harvest for the farmers. The first day is known as the Maha Songkran Day which marks the end of the old year. The second day is known as the Wan Nao and the third and the last day is the Wan Thaloeng Sok which marks the beginning of the New Year itself. This festival offers valuable customs to the Thai community where every one returns home in order to celebrate the festival with their family members. Everyone gathers together to pay respect to their elders by pouring scented water on to their hands and presenting gifts. Later together everyone celebrates this festival by splashing water over each other. Perhaps the only difference that can be found in Thailand would be that people pour scented water over others while in India it is more common to use colors which are sometimes mixed with water as well. This festival originating from India is celebrated not only in Thailand but also in other Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar known as Feast of Thingyan, Bpee Mai in Laos, Chaul Chnam Thmey in Cambodia, Vietam, and Yunnan 5.

2. Karthik Purnima, Deepavali compared with Loy Krathong

Karthik Purnima & Deepavali

Karthik Purnima 6 is an Indian festival where devotees take a dip in the holy river of Ganges to wash away all the sins and their effects.

The whole month of ‘Karthik’ falling in around October to November according to the Indian calendar, is considered to be the most sacred among the twelve months of the year. During this month devoted Hindus refrain from non-vegetarian food. People take pre-dawn bath and visit temples as a matter of routine. The last five days called ‘Panchaka’ are

Ruchi Agarwal, Water Festivals of Thailand: the Indian Connection, pp11, 2009-10 6

Celebrates the power of Lord Shiva who killed the demon Tripusara on this day. The month of Karthik is considered to the holiest month of the Hindu Calendar.

5

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considered even more sacred, in which there is wide participation and the last day is “Kartika Purnima”.

Deepavali on the other hand is the most popular and most celebrated festival of India which lasts for four days. During this festival people will light their houses with traditional diyas (oil lamps) and candles marking it as a night of enchantment. This festival falls in the holiest month of Karthik and comes 20 to 21 days after Dussehra (festival celebrated to mark the defeat of Ravana by Lord Rama). The festival of Deepavali is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama along with his wife Sita and brother Laxman to Ayodhya after 14-years of exile. The festival symbolizes the end of darkness of ignorance and the beginning of knowledge that enlightens the world. This festival is celebrated by people of all races and religion symbolizing unity is diversity. As part of the festivities, everyone would worship Goddess Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth) along with Lord Ganesha, play fireworks and exchange gifts and sweets among friends and family members.

For businessmen, the festival marks the end of the financial year. The businesses would close their financial accounts and start with the new accounts only after worshipping Goddess Lakshmi during Deepavali.

Loy Krathong

The festival of Loy Krathong, one of the most popular festivals of Thailand, falls somewhere in November on the full moon day of the twelfth lunar month. The practices performed in this festival are to show gratitude to the river goddess “Mae Khong Kha” (Ganga). ‘Loy’ means ‘to float’ and ‘Krathong’ is a ‘raft’. The worshippers float the Krathong in the river during the high tide at the end of the rainy season. The festival starts in the evening when people carry their Krathongs (a lotusshaped vessel made of banana leaves) to the nearby rivers. The Krathong contain a candle, three joss-sticks, some flowers and coins. After lighting candles and joss-sticks and making a wish, each person gently places his/her Krathongs on the water and drifts it away till they go out of sight.

The general belief is that the Krathongs carry away sins and bad luck, and the wishes that have been made for the new year due to start. This

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Thai and Indian Cultural Linkage: The Religious Festivities

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festival is the same as Karthik Purnima, the festival celebrated in India around the same time of the year and is also known to be inspired by the festival of ‘Deepavali’ 7. These festivals of lights mark the end of the rainy season and the beginning of winter. The festival is also celebrated in Myanmar and is known as Tazaung-mon 8.

3. Navaratri and Thai-Chinese Vegetarian Festival

Navaratri

Navaratri a festival dedicated to the Goddess Durga appearing on earth in nine materializations. This festival is celebrated twice a year, beginning of summer and beginning of winter. It is observed for 9 days all over India and each day is considered to be sacred and auspicious.

The festival is devoted to the worship of God in a female form. Out of these 9 days, three are dedicated to Durga (Goddess of Energy), three to Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth), and three days for Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge). On the eight and the ninth day, Yagna (offerings to fire) is performed in every temple to give offerings to Goddess Durga and to bid her farewell. The 10th and the last day of this festival hold a lot of significance for the Hindus. This is the day when Goddess Durga killed demon Mahishasura who defeated the gods and their king Indra and took over the throne. The defeated gods and Indra approached Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva who then decided to combine their energies to give rise to Durga who could destroy the evil demon. Even since then the day is celebrated as Dusshera or Vijaydashmi which is the victory of good over evil. Another common theme which celebrates the victory of good over evil is associated with the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana. On Vijaydashmi, Hindus all around the country burn effigies of Ravana, his

S.N Desai, Hinduism in Thai Life, p. 32-33

Ruchi Agarwal, Water Festivals of Thailand: the Indian Connection, pp17, 2009-10

7

8

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brother Kumbhakarana, and son Meghnath to celebrate this day. This festival of Navratre holds the same significance of cleansing ones’ self as does the Vegetarian festival in Thailand. During this festival, devotees will observe a fast for seven to nine days depending on which region they come from. During this festival where they will refrain from meat, alcohol, and anything made from common salt or spices. Special meal is prepared to be consumed during this festival.

Thai-Chinese Vegetarian Festival

The Thai Chinese Vegetarian festival falls at the same time as Navratre. It falls during the first nine days of the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar. For 9 days the Thai-Chinese community cleanse themselves spiritually and physically by abstaining from meat, alcohol, sexual encounters, lying, uncharitable thoughts and aggression.

During these 9 days, the Chinese Buddhist would wear white attire and visit temples in order to be part of the merit making ceremonies. Other highlights of this festival include devotees performing incredible acts like fire-walking, climbing knife-blade ladders, and a street procession where some have their cheeks pierced and bodies spiked with sharp objects. This festival is originally Taoist rite which was introduced in early 19th century in by a visiting Chinese opera troupe to Phuket. At that time there was a outbreak of malaria which quickly spread and affected everyone in Phuket. According to legend, the troupe performed a religious ceremony which involved a strict vegetarian diet and ritual self-mutilation. This allowed the troupe to quickly recover from their illness and the attracted the locals who then sent volunteers to China to learn more about the purification routine practiced by the troupe. These rites then became part of an annual festival in Thailand since then.

4. Onam Long-Boat Racing

Onam

Onam is one of the greatest festivals and most important harvest festivals of Kerala, South India and is considered as the time for sports and festivities after 3 months of heavy rains. It is 10 days festival

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Thai and Indian Cultural Linkage: The Religious Festivities

Ruchi Agarwal

celebrated in the Malayalam month Chingam which falls around the end of August and the beginning of September. It is a festival to celebrate the reward of nature after a year of hard labor. During this festival people take their boats and country crafts to celebrate. Each snake boat in Kerala belongs to a village along the banks of the river Pamba and is worshipped like a deity. Only men are allowed to board or even touch a boat and that too just barefoot. The oarsmen usually dress in white dhotis and turbans singing traditional boat songs as they splash their oars in the water along with the rhythm of the songs. Women on the other hand dress up in new clothes and heavy jewelry and make elaborate yet complex designs of rangolis (most popular art forms in India) using colored rice paste and flower mat in front of their homes. This colorful festival also draws several thousands of local and foreign spectators.

Long-Boat Racing

Long-Boat Racing is one of the most traditional rites that mark the end of the Buddhist Rains Retreat. The earliest records show King Ekathotsarot (1605-1610) during the Ayuttaya period held a boat race.

The purpose was to train the oarsmen with the soldiers so they can be used during war. King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) also wrote about this festival in his ‘Royal Ceremonies of the Twelve Months’. He mentions the race being held in the 11th month between Samatthachai (boat of the King) and the Kraisonmuk (boat of the Queen). The race was held to predict the future. If the race was won by Kraisonmuk, the nation would enjoy abundant harvest and on the other hand if it was defeated then there would be sufferings.

In ancient times the royal race would be held in the 11th lunar month with the end of the rainy season when the Chao Phraya river was flooded annually in Ayutthaya region. Later the water level would subside and farmers could harvest their crops. However if the water level remains high, it would lead to hardship for the farmers. As a remedy to this, the king would also perform a Brahmanic rite in the 11th month to prevent floods in advance.9

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The rites now take place during the 11th and 12th lunar months (September or October) when the water level is at its highest. In Thailand, long –boat racing is considered a traditional annual event and is presently considered as a national sport. It is organized by provinces with major waterway flowing through like Phitsanulok, Nan, Pathumthani, Angthong, Surat thani, Ayuthaya and others. The long boat racing has historical significance as it can be traced back to 600 years. During the earlier periods, boat racing was a means to keep boat oarsmen physically and mentally strong for national defense. These races are very colorful and unique as the boats are nicely decorated and the oarsmen would wear the same dress. This race draws thousands of local and foreign spectators enjoying the event from both sides of the riverbank. This festival shares a connection with the Indian festival of Onam which has been discussed above.

Other Religious Similarities

In addition to the festivals of India and Thailand, there are other similarities that one can found. Thai culture is deeply routed in the traditional religious practices. The Thai cultural habits are similar to those practiced in the Hindu culture. First of all, the salutation to welcome or greet each other is Wai, a gesture of bowing which is very common in India where people greet each other with Namaskar. In fact this word is part of the Thai language and is pronounced in Thai as Namaskarn.

It is also important to note that the Thai national and royal emblem is Garuna, the vehicle of Vishnu. The walls of the magnificent temple next to the King’s Grand Palace are painted with stories from Ramayana.

The Hindu Gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are commonly worshipped

9 Thawat Wattana, Boat Racing in Thailand, 2006 http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/thai_article/2310_boat_racing_in_thailand/boat_racing_in_ thailand.html

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Ruchi Agarwal

by the Thais. Also every office and even the residential areas will have a spirit house with the statue of Brahma and offerings of food, incense sticks, and flowers will be made on a daily basis.

Yet another interesting influence can be seen at the new Suvarnabhumi airport’s international departure hall. A famous Hindu sculpture of Samudra Manthan (the Churning of the Ocean of Milk) is located in the passenger departure hall. The Samudra Manthan statue depicts a legend of the Hindu god Vishnu (Narayana), who took the form of a tortoise and sat on the bottom of the sea. According to the myths, Vishnu‘s second incarnation on earth was of Kurma, a tortoise, to help recover Amrita (nectar of immorality). Gods and demons together set about producing amrita by churning the ocean of milk, using Mount Mandara as a churning stick. The mountain along with a Vasuki (the serpent) used as a churning rope, was placed on Kurma’s back by other others gods in order to proceed with the task.

Another common religious practice in both the cultures is the one related to making offerings or giving alms. One is not suppose to sniff flowers, incense sticks or taste food items as that will be considered as being used already and therefore unsuitable to be used as religious offerings.

Furthermore one can find a religious similarity when a Havana or Homa is conducted in which a Homa Kund, sacrificial pit is sanctified by chanting mantras before the fire god Agni is invoked. Offering of various things are made along with chanting of mantras into the fire. During this ritual, the Brahmin will offer ghee (clarified butter) with a wooden stick into the fire and the leftover will be dropped in a vessel full of water just beside the Homa Kund chanting Namamah along. This means that the offerings are made to God Indra and are not for one’s own self. The water is considered sacred and is sprinkled over the worshippers at the end of the fire ceremony as a blessing from the gods and also to ward away evil spirits.

A similar ritual is practiced in Thailand where the Sangharath (Supreme Patriarch) drops candle wax (instead of drops of oil as in Hindu

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ceremony) in water which is then considered Nam-mon (holy water).

The word Nam-mon has originated from the Sanskrit word Namamah itself. This sacred water is then sprinkled over worshippers as a blessing from God. As Nathaniel Altman mentions, water is commonly used in Thailand for ritual exorcism, which is performed by a specially trained Buddhist monk or Hindu Brahmin whose ancestors emigrated from India. The belief is that evil spirits are afraid of water and the worshippers who fear being possessed by spirits would undergo ritual bathing to ward away these spirits.

Conclusion

This research paper shows the cultural linkage of Thailand with India with an emphasis on four popular festivals celebrated in the two countries. There is a long historical linkage between India and the Southeast Asian region. Therefore it is likely to find lot of similarities to show the cultural linkage in this region. The diffusion of the Hindu religious practices has been made possible by the trade links, the traders, priests, and seamen. Overtime the cultural diffusion has become an integral part of the Thai society and it is sometimes difficult to know which practices are Hindu practices and which ones are Thais.

This study compared four major Hindu festivals, Holi, Kartik Purnima and Deepavali, Navaratri, and Oman with the four Thai festivals of Songkran, Loy Krathong, Thai-Chinese Vegetarian festival, and the Long-Boat race. The four chosen festivals are celebrated around the same time of the year and the ways of celebration are also very similar. The festival of Holi and Songkran, the harvesting festivals are celebrated by splashing water over one another and marks the beginning of the New Year. Karthik Purnima, Deepavali and Loy Krathong are also associated with water where people wash their sins by taking a dip in Ganges in India and by floating a krathong in Thailand. The festival marks the financial New Year in India. The Navaratri and the Vegetarian festival mark the period of time where devotees discipline themselves by fasting, turning themselves into vegetarian for nine days. Lastly the

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Thai and Indian Cultural Linkage: The Religious Festivities

Ruchi Agarwal

Onam and Long boat race are traditional harvesting festivals that mark the end of the rainy season and are celebrated by having boat races.

It is also interesting to see other cultural links between the two countries. Some include the way of greeting, the Indian Namaskar and Thai Wai, the national emblem of Thailand, Garuna which is the vehicle of Hindu God Vishnu, several Hindu sculptures that can be found around Thailand, and the practice of Homa and the beliefs related to the sacred water, nam-mon. More research on the cultural and religious linkage can reveal several other elements that link the two regions of India and Southeast Asia together.

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References Agarwal, R. (2010) Water festivals of Thailand: The Indian Connection. Silpakorn University International Journal, Vol. 9-10, pp 7-18, 2009-10.

Altman, N. (2002) The Spiritual Source of Life: Sacred Water. Hidden Spring, Ch 5, pp 138-40.

Bose, P. N. (1927) The Indian Colonies of Siam. Lahore.

Chareonla, C. (1981) Buddhist Arts of Thailand, Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc. Ch 1, pp 12-13 http://www. buddhanet.net/pdf_file/budartthai2.pdf Gupta, S. M. (1991)Â Festivals, Fairs, and Fasts of India. New Delhi: Clarion Books.

Kirsch, T. A. (1977) Complexity in the Thai Religious System: An interpretation. Journal of Asian Studies. Vol 36, no.2.

Majumdar, R. C. (1955) Ancient Indian Colonization in South East Asia.

Oriental Institute, Baroda.

Tansuchat, R. and Panmanee, C. (2010) Tourist motivation, characteristic and satisfaction in Night Festival: Loy Krathong Festival 2010, Oral presentation at Maejo University. http://iscthlr.turismo. wu-wien.ac.at/files/papers/p25_fullpaper.pdf (Retrieved on 16 September 2011) Thai Festival Primer: The weird, the colorful, and the fun by Dave Stamboulis http://www.davestamboulis.com/festival.pdf (Retrieved on 16 September 2011) Wattana, T. (2006) Boat Racing in Thailand, Anura Thailand Tourism, Thai Airways website, Vol.23. No. 10. 25 Aug 2006 http:// www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/thai_article/2310_boat_racing_in_ thailand/boat_racing_in_thailand.html http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/texts/Puranas.html (Retrieved on 10 September 2011) http://www.enotes.com/food-encyclopedia/hindu-festivals (Retrieved on 16 September 2011)

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Book Review Immanuel Ness and Dario Azzellini, Ours to Master and to Own, Chicago: Haymarket, 2011, pp. 443 pages.

Reviewed by Eugene Jones, Social Science Program, Mahidol University International College, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand * Corresponding author. E-mail address: iceugene@mahidol.ac.th

The fact that the publisher is Haymarket Publishers indicates that the book under examination is concerned with labor studies. This particular book is an anthology of twenty-two articles by various authors who specialize in labor movements or the history of workers’ organizations.

The central argument that runs through the entire work is three fold. First, workers’ councils tend to take a similar form and that form was the type of organization established by Paris workers when they seceded from France in 1871 and governed through elected assemblies of laboring men and women. Second, workers’ councils, following the Paris model, are more democratic than capitalist systems of government. Third, there are common aspects of this form that make for greater democracy.

Those aspects are direct election of workers by workers, instant recall of delegates if they do not act in the interest of workers and the absence of separate branches of government. Most of the authors also expressed the belief that networks of workers’ councils could serve as a more centralized national or international government.

The book under consideration here is a valuable tool for interpreting and understanding current political phenomena in the contemporary world. It is, therefore, recommended for any scholar who would understand such recent events as the Arab Spring uprisings, the “Occupy” movements in Europe and America, the pro-democracy demonstrations in Russia and the student protests in Latin America. All Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Vol.11 (2) : 92-96, 2011

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these phenomena demonstrate that throughout the world, workers and the poor are taking the lead in demanding new social structures and new conditions that would lead to a more just world order and a more fair distribution of the world’s resources. However, these same conditions are what laboring people have been demanding since the beginning of the industrial revolution. By studying the history of labor councils, one can better comprehend why the world is now in such turmoil.

To aid that understanding, this anthology contains a series of articles tracing the history and development of workers’ councils and evaluating their relative successes. Beginning with the Paris Commune in 1871, the first attempt at a workers’ state, through the Chartist movement in early 19th century Britain and the Soviets of revolutionary Russia to the post war workers’ anti-colonial initiative in Java, Indonesia and workers’ control of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, the laboring masses have been in the forefront of liberation movements and, when left to their own initiative, have been ingenious at creating council movements that achieve their objectives.

Although the book has a unifying theme, there are articles for various interests. For students of Asian and, particularly, Southeast Asian politics and culture the articles by Jafar Suryomenggolo, “Workers’ Control in Java, Indonesia, 1945-1946” (210-27) and Arup Kumar Sen, “Workers’ Control in India’s Communist-Ruled State: Labor Struggles and Trade Unions in West Bengal” (356-64) would be of particular interest and would add greatly to their body of knowledge in these areas.

Although there are no articles concerned precisely with Thailand, Thai Sociologists and Thai Studies specialists would benefit by these two articles as well as by the entire process outlined in the book as it explains the grievances and aspirations of working people. It would, for example, be a valuable tool in understanding the growth, increased activity and possible future political involvement of the “Red Shirt” phenomenon.

Furthermore, the excellent composition by Donny Gluckstein, “Workers’ Councils in Europe: A Century of experience” (pp. 32-47) outlines the history of worker’s councils from the Paris Commune to the

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end of World War II. This work is a sequel to his authoritative book on the Paris Commune, The Paris Commune: A Revolution in Democracy (2006). Gluckstein, shows the similarities in organization, policy and structure of the various workers’ council movements in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Alberto R. Bonnet’s essay, “The Political Form at Last Discovered: Workers’ Councils against the Capitalist State” (66-81) provides an argument that the workers’ councils of Europe demonstrated an ability on the part of wage-earners to overcome the division between the economic and political spheres of society. His commentary complements Gluckstein’s claim that workers have proven themselves able to govern and to create an administration that is more democratic and egalitarian than found in capitalist states.

Dario Azzellini’s expose, “Workers’ Control under Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution” (382-99) argues that during the administration of Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan workers have successfully used the councils to supply the government with feedback and advice on the needs and expectations of the laboring classes and that this has provided a model of accomplishment for workers’ councils and proven that workers, if not hindered by government, have, in fact, found the model of organization that best suits the needs of a democratic and egalitarian society.

In addition to the articles just mentioned, David Mandel’s history of the Soviets (pp. 104-30) provides an insightful analysis of a successful model of workers’ councils becoming government. This same conclusion gains support from the essay by Shiela Cohen (pp. 48-65) on how such councils can translate into revolutionary action. One final contribution that needs to be mentioned. as it puts adds caution to the idealistic enthusiasm of Mandel and Cohen is Gabriela Scoedeller’s article “Limits and Possibilities of Workers’ Control Within the State (pp. 248-62).

Using Argentina as a model, Scoedeller argues that worker councils have to take account of and work within the capitalist institutions as they are not capable, acting alone, in supplanting capitalist institutions and structures.

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The other essays in the book are more nation-state specific and of less general interest. However, they advance the central argument and overall theme of the work and all are both interesting and insightful.

But due to the nature of this review, I have considered in detail only the eight most characteristic or relevant articles to that argument and theme.

While the book is highly relevant to students of sociology, economics and labor theory, there are a few weaknesses or, at least, omissions. First among these weaknesses is the fact that each and every contributor to this anthology has dealt primarily with workers’ councils in the political sphere. Not one author considered in any great detail other elements of workers’ councils such as their effectiveness as organizing tools for civic and social events. Related to this is the second weakness which is that there are no essays concerned with the cooperative, nonpolitical role of workers’ councils in Northeast Asia in the late 20th century. Yet Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese workers’ have been quite successful in using councils that do not confront government or use industrial action for political purposes but still improve the quality of life and the working conditions of laborers. These councils should be evaluated in a subsequent work. Lastly, there is no consideration throughout the book of the present day use of social media rather than personal interaction to organize workers’ councils for political purposes. But the internet has been used lately to mobilize workers across geographical barriers and industrial trades for movements that promote their interests. One example of this use of social media is the current “recall” movements in the USA using Facebook and Twitter in which elected officials that are believed to be anti-labor are criticized and organizations are formed to work for their dismissal. Another example is the use of the internet to organize demonstrations against such anti-labor institutions as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organization (WTO).

Despite some weaknesses and omissions, however, Ours to Master and to Own is such a fine contribution to socio-economic history that it should be required reading for all people in the field of social theory.

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