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Buddhist Cosmography in Thai History, with Special Reference to Nineteenth-Century Culture Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Craig J. Reynolds
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In Thai studies to date there has been little attempt to discuss the changes that took place during the nineteenth century in terms of what Western historiography would call intellectual history. The reasons for the scant attention paid to this subject are various, having as much to do with the infancy of the field of Thai studies as with the lack of speculative literature (in Siamese) that would attract the curiosity of intellectual historians. For example, we hardly know what books—especially what Western books—were read by the nineteenth-century Siamese elite, let alone how such books shaped its outlook and its perceptions of change. Because Siam has been a predominantly Buddhist state, it might be advisable to begin with Buddhist materials—in particular, with Buddhist cosmography and the Siamese reassessment of it that has taken place since the encounter with the West in the middle of the nineteenth century.

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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , February 1976 , pp. 203 - 220
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Copyright © Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1976

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References

1 The Thai recension consulted most often, Lidaiya, Traiphum phraruang [The Three Worlds Cosmography of Phraruang] (Bangkok: Khlang Witthaya Press, 1972), has recently been translated into French by G. Coedes and C. Archaimbault, Les trots mondes (Traibhümi Brat) Rvah) [hereafter LTM, Vol. LXXXIX in Publications de l'£cole Franchise d'Extrême-Orient (Paris, 1973).

2 Hanks, L. M., “The Cosmic View of Bang Chan Villagers, Central Thailand,” Proceedings, Ninth Pacific Science Congress, 1957 (Bangkok, 1963), Vol III, pp. 107–113Google Scholar; A. Thomas Kirsch, “Phu Thai Religious Syncretism: A Case Study of Thai Religion and Society” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1967); Tambiah, S. J., Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970)Google Scholar, chap. III.

3 For the European medieval cosmic hierarchy in which rank indicated difference in kind, and therefore in excellence, see Lovejoy, Arthur O., The Great Chain of Being, A Study of the History of an Idea (repr. ed.; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973)Google Scholar, chap. II.

4 Coedès and Archaimbault, LTM, pp. 30, 182.

5 Ibid., pp. 173, 175.

6 Ibid., pp. 37–38.

7 For the horrible and unspeakable punishments inflicted on the damned, see plate VII in Wenk, Klaus, Thailändische Miniaturmalereien nach einer Handschrift der indischen Kunstabteilung der staatlichen Museen Berlin (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH, 1965)Google Scholar. Prof. A. Thomas Kirsch informs me that mural paintings, including cos- mographical scenes, are enjoying a revival in northern Thai monasteries; personal communication, 3 May 1975.

8 L. M. Hanks, (see note 2), p. 107.

9 Coedes and Archaimbault, LTM, p. 170.

10 Rabibhadana, Akin, The Organization of Thai Society in the Early Bangkok Period, 1782–1873 (Data Paper No. 74; Ithaca: SE Asia Program, Dept. of Asian Studies, Cornell University, 1969), pp. 21–22Google Scholar.

11 Coedes and Archaimbault, LTM, pp. 53–61.

12 Ibid., p. 167.

13 Any article that discusses merit in Siamese society must acknowledge the influential essay of L. M. Hanks, “Merit and Power in the Thai Social Order,” American Anthropologist, LXIV, 6 (Dec 1962), pp. 1247–1261.

14 Rāma in (1824–1851) had asked high-ranking monks if a man with one coin could make as much merit as a man with 100 or 1,000 coins; he was told: “Men with little devotion and little wealth cannot make a great deal of merit…. Men with much devotion and much wealth are capable of making much merit.” Question 8, dated 2 Dec 1838, in Prachum phraratchaputcha phak thi 4 [Collected Royal Questions, Part4] (Bangkok, 1922), p. 91.

15 D. M. Mendelson suggests that a monk is a model of non-reciprocity in “Initiation and the Paradox of Power: A Sociological Approach,” Initiation, ed. By C.J. Bleeker, Vol. X of Studies in the History of Religions, Supplements to Numen (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965), p. 217.

16 For an assessment of Lidaiya's reign based on epigraphical studies of A. B. Griswold and Prasert na Nagara, see Barbara Andaya, “Statecraft in the Reign of Lu Tai of Sukhodaya,” The Cornell Journal of Social Relations, VI, 1 (Spring 1971), pp. 61–83. The cosmography is set in the context of the history of Buddhism in G. Coedes, “The Trai-bhūmikathā Buddhist Cosmology and Treaty on Ethics,” East and West, VII, iv (Jan 1957), pp. 349–52.

17 Masson, Joseph, S. J., La religion populaire dans le canon bouddhique pâli (Louvain: Bureaux du Museon, 1942)Google Scholar; and Law, B. C., Heaven and Hell in Buddhist Perspective (Calcutta, 1925)Google Scholar; Gombrich, R. F., Precept and Practice: Traditional Buddhism in the Rural Highlands of Ceylon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971)Google Scholar, especially chap. IV.

18 The Burmese version of the cosmography is summarized in Father Sangermano, A Description of the Burmese Empire, trans, by William Tandy (repr. ed.; London: Susil Gupta, 1966), chaps. I-V, and recapitulated in Yule, Henry, A Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava in 1855 (repr. ed.; Kuala Lumpur and New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 235–38Google Scholar; see also, Dr. Ba Han, “Burmese Cosmogony and Cosmology,” Journal of the Burma Research Society, XLVIII, i (June 1965), pp. 9–16. Mon and Northern Siamese versions are cited in Damrong Rajanubhab and Naritsar-anuwattiwong, San Somdet [Princes' Letters] (Bangkok: Khurusapha Press, 1961), XI, p. 320. The Khmer version may have derived from the Siamese, San Somdet, XI, p. 313; see also Roeske, “L'enfer cambodgien d'après le Trai Phum (Trī Bhūmi) ‘Les trois mondes,’”. Journal Asiatique,, IV (1914) (nth series), pp. 587–606, and L. Feer, “Études cambodgiennes, La Collection Hennecart de la Bibliotheque Nationale,” journal Asiatique, IX (1877) (7th series), pp. 161–234.

19 Gonda, J., “Karman and Retributive Justice in Ancient Java,” R. C. Majumdar Felicitation Volume, ed. By Sarkar, H. B. (Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1970), pp. 225–37Google Scholar.

20 A number of these stories, some of which are found in the Traibhümi, are related in B. C. Law, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits (2nd ed.; Lon don: Luzac & Co., 1936).

21 Prachum phraratchaputcha phak pen phraratchaputcha nai ratcbakan thi 1 [Collected Royal Questions, Part 2, the Royal Questions of the First Reign] (Bangkok, 1923), pp. 7–8. This episode is also discussed in Law, (see note 20), Spirits, pp. 47–49.

22 “Michael Vickery, “A Note on the Date of the Traibhūmikathā,” Journal of the Siam Society [hereafter JSS], LXII, 2 (July 1974), pp. 275–284.

23 See Prince Damrong's introduction to Lidaiya, Traiphum phraruang; i-ii; Prince Naris is more specific in San Somdet, XIII, p. 18.

24 A. B. Griswold and Prasert na Nagara, “The Epigraphy of Mahādharmarājā 1 of Sukhodaya, Epigraphic and Historical Studies No. 11, Part,'I,” JSS, LXI, 1 (Jan 1973), p. 99.

2z5 Ibid., p. 109, notes 135–36.

26 Lidaiya is as “sad as a Chakravartin who has lost the jewel that is his chakra,” ibid., p. 167.

27 A. B. Griswold and Prasert na Nagara, “The Pact Between Sukhodaya and Nān, Epigraphic and Historical Studies No. 3,” JSS, LVII, 1 (Jan 1969), pp. 87–89.

28 Ibid., p. 84.

29 Ibid, pp. 80–83.

30 Griswold, A. B. and Nagara, Prasert na, “The Asokārāma Inscription of 1399 A.D., Epigraphic and Historical Studies No. 2,” JSS, LVII, 1 (Jan 1969), pp. 48–49, 55Google Scholar.

31 G. Coedes, “Le substrat autochtone et la superstructure indienne au Cambodge et à Java,” Cahiers d'histoire mondiale, I, 2 (Oct 1953), pp. 368–77.

32 See, for example, p. 51 in Coedes and Archaimbault, LTM, for the “laws of motion” pertaining to Naga. The rebirth possibilitie s for the hell-born are defined on p. 189.

33 Ibid., pp. 74–75 for a lesson in human embryology; p. 201 for the causes of seasonal changes; p. 204 for the Meru-centric solar system.

34 Wenk, (see note 7), p. 20ff.

35 Vickery, “A Note on the Date of the Traibhūmikathā,” p. 284, note 27.

36 It is a copy of the illustrated 1776 recension that Wenk has published. Could this copy, now in Berlin, be the same one taken to Germany in the nineteenth century, as reported by Damrong, Prince in Nithan Borannakhadi [Tales of Ancient Times], (Bangkok, 1966), p. 156Google Scholar.

37 On the Tripitaka revision see Klaus Wenk, The Restoration of Thailand under Rama I, 1782–7809 (Monographs and Papers of the Association for Asian Studies; Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1968), Vol. XXIV, pp. 38–42.

38 Rāma, I, Traiphum lokkawinitchai (Bangkok, 1913), p. 2Google Scholar, Gerini, G.E., Chulakantamangala, or the Tonsure Ceremony as Performed in Siam (Bangkok, 1895), pp. 95–109Google Scholar, providing a detailed summary of this version, a sketch of the cosmic geography, and a comparison with the Hindu scheme, credits King Taksin as the author.

39 The appointment of this ex-monk illustrates how the new dynastic administration accommodated personnel favored by Taksin. For biographical infor- mation on this ex-monk see Schweisguth, P., Étude sur la littératuresiamoise (Paris, 1951), p. 199Google Scholar.

40 Nivat, Prince Dhani, “The Reconstruction of Rama 1 of the Chakri Dynasty,” JSS, XLIII, 1 (1955), pp. 21–47Google Scholar.

41 Čhaophraya Thiphakgrawong. Phraratcha-phongsaiwadan krung rattanakosin ratchakan thi 1 [Royal Chronicle of the First Reign of the Bangkok Period] (Bangkok, 1960), p. 183.

42 Wenk, (see note 37), chap. IV.

43 For an article on the cosmography as an instrument for promoting social cohesion see Kalatyu, Chon-thira, “Traiphum phraruang: rakthan khgng udomkan kanmüang thai [The Traibhümi of Phra Ruang: The Foundation of Thai Political Ideology],” Warasan thammasat, IV, 1 (1974), pp. 106–121Google Scholar.

44 Thiphakgrawong, (see note 41), pp. 271–72.

45 Damrong and Narit, San Somdet, XI, p. 320. Prince Damrong notes that he never saw such paintings in Burma or Ceylon.

46 Abeel, David, Journal of a Residence in China (New York: Leavitt, Lord, 1934), p. 258Google Scholar.

47 Dhaninivat, Prince, The Royal Palaces (Thai Culture, n.s.; Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 1963), No. 23, p. 13Google Scholar.

48 Abeel, (see note 46), pp. 237–39.

49 Reynolds, Craig J., “The Buddhist Monkhood in Nineteenth Century Thailand” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, 1973)Google Scholar, chap. III.

50 A new monastic order created schism in the Siamese Sangha and a certain amount of friction with the court. Shortly before his accession, in fact in order to assure it, Mongkut backed away from his outspoken position; see his own statement, ibid., pp. 100–101.

51 Bradley, William L., “Prince Mongkut and Jesse Caswell,” JSS, LIV, 1 (Jan 1966), pp. 36–37Google Scholar.

52 Ibid., p. 36.

53 Ibid., p. 38.

54 Ibid., p. 39.

55 Léon Feer, “Le bouddhisme à Siam, une soirée chez le Phra-Klang en 1863, le dernier roide Siam et ses projets de reforme religieuse,” Mémoires de la Société academique indochinoise de France, I (1879), PP. 146–62. The ultimate source for Feer was Adolf Bastian, Reisen in Siam imjahre 1863 (Jena, 1867).

56 Lord, Donald C., Mo Bradley and Thailand (Grand Rapids. Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), pp. 106–107Google Scholar. When failing eyesight drove him from public service in 1867, he summoned a Dutch physician from Java to remove cataracts; Bangkok Calendar, 1871, p. 76.

57 Feer. (see note 55), p. 152.

58 Ibid., p. 159.

59 Such was the language in a Bangkok Recorder editorial of 1865: R. Lingat, “Les trois Bangkok Recorders,” JSS, XXVIII, 2 (Dec 1935), p. 208.

60 For interest in steamboats see Moffat, Abbot Low, Mongkut, King of Siam (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1961), pp. 49–50Google Scholar; on the printing press see Reynolds, Craig J., “The Case of K.S.R. Kulap: A Challenge to Royal Historical Writing in Late Nineteenth Century Thailand,” JSS, LXI, 2 (July 1973), pp. 65–66Google Scholar.

61 Nakayama, Shigeru, A History of Japanese Astronomy: Chinese Background and Western Impact (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969), No. 18, p. 2Google Scholar.

62 Bacon, George B., Siam, the Land of the White Elephant (New York: C. Scribner's and Sons, 1892), pp. 86–87Google Scholar, citing Malcolm, Howard, Travels in South-Eastern Asia, Embracing Hindustan, Malaya, Siam and China (Boston: Could, Kendall and Lin-coin, 1839)Google Scholar, Vol. II.

63 Neale, Fredrick, Narrative of a Residence at the Capital of Siam (London: National Illustrated Library, 1852), p. 88Google Scholar.

64 Harris, Townsend, The Complete Journal of Townsend Harris, First American Consul and Minister to Japan (repr. ed.; Rutland, Vt.: C. E. Tuttle, 1959), pp. 158, 568–70Google Scholar.

65 Lingat, see note 59, p. 204.

66 Wood, William Maxwell, Fankwei, or the “San Jacinto” in the Seas of India, China and Japan (New York: Harper, 1859), p. 256Google Scholar. Other information in Wood, namely that this Siamese printed an edition of the laws in 1849, identifies him as Mot Amatyakul, who became head of the Royal Mint in Mongkut's reign.

67 Bastian, (see note 55), p. 127.

68 Jonēs, John Taylor, “Some Account of the Trai Phum,” Journal of the Indian Archipelago, V (1851), p. 539Google Scholar. The missionaries recognized that only a minority held this view; Bangkok Calendar, 1862, “The Buddhist System of the Universe,” pp. 70–91.

69 Čhaophraya Thiphakgrawong, Kitćhanukit (Bangkok, 1965). The first section of Alabaster's, HenryThe Wheel of the Law: Buddhism Illustrated from Siamese Sources (London: Trübner & Co., 1871)Google Scholar is based on Kitčhanukit.

70 There were 200 copies in the first printing; Bangkok Calendar, 1868, p. 125.

71 Thiphakçrawbng, Kitčhanukit, p. 173.

72 Ibid., pp. 14–16.

73 Ibid., pp. 35–37.

74 It is interesting to note in this connection that the last time the court sponsored the Buddhist ceremony for countering epidemics was in 1820; see Fine Arts Dept., comp., Latthi thamniam tangtang [A Miscellany of Beliefs and Customs], Bangkok: Khlang Witthaya Press, 1964), I, pp. 387–88.

75 Kitčhanukit, pp. 158–61.

76 Ibid., pp. 153–58.

77 Ibid., p. 139 for giving (dāna); p. 147 for the precepts.

78 Ibid., p. 110.

79 Sixteenth-century England (before the development of the social sciences), when astrology could account for the differences between human beings, might be cited as a comparable period in European history; see Thomas, Keith, Religion and the Dedine of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1971), p. 324Google Scholar.

80 Recall also the evidence for this view of gender in the Sukhodaya inscription cited in note 30.

81 Thiphakgrawong, Kitchanukit, p. 161.

82 Ibid., p. 173.

83 Chai-anan Samutthawanit, Phaen phatthanakanmüang chabap raek khong thai: kham krap bangkhom thun khong chaonai lae kharatchakan hai plianplaeng kan pokkhrqng, r.s. 103 [The First Thai Plan for Political Development: The Princes' and Officials' Petition in 1885 to the King for a Change of Government] (Bangkok, 1970).

84 Fine Arts Dept., comp., Chumnum rüang m¨ängsawan müangnarok lae müang samkhan nai samai phutthakan [A Collection of Materials Concerning Heaven and Hell and Important Principal-hies during the Time of the Buddha] (hereafter CRMM) (Bangkok, 1971). The titles of the lay officials on p. 64 suggest they worked in the Royal Pundits Department. For a description of the Culamaņī relic monument see Coedes and Archaim-bault, LTM, p. 162.

85 Ibid., p. 38, 43–44, 60–61 et passim.

86 See the king's comments on the reply of Phra Sasanasophon (Qn), ibid., pp. 8–10.

87 Phra Siripanyamuni (On), Mongkhonsut plae doi phitsadan samnuan thetsana [The Mangala-sutta: Complete Translation for Preaching], rev. By Fine Arts Dept. (Bangkok, 1968).

88 Somdet Phra Phutthachan (To), Thamma [Dhamma] (Bangkok, 1967).

89 Fine Arts Dept., comp., CRMM, p. 10.

90 Lidaiya. Traiphum phraruang (Bangkok, 1972), pp. vi-vii.

91 Rāma 1, (see note 1), p. iii.

92 Review by Prince Dhani Nivat in JSS, XLIII, 1 (1955), pp. 73–75. For the northern country see Coedes and Archaimbault, LTM, p. 79ff.

93 Phraya Anuman Rajadhon, Lao rü'ang nai trai-phum phraruang [A Summary of the Traibhumi Cosmography of Phraruang] (Bangkok, 1970). See also the review of the first printing by Prince Dhan i cited in note 92.

94 Ibid., p. 7.

95 Fine Arts Dept., comp., CRMM, pp. vi-VII.

96 Anuman Rajadhon, (see note 93), p. 7.

97 Andrew Turton, “Matrilineal Descent Groups and Spirit Cults of the Thai-Yuan in Northern Thailand,” JSS, LX, 2 (July 1972), p. 239. On Rāhu see Coedes and Archaimbault, LTM, pp. 65–67. On the resilience of the cosmography in rural Thai culture generally see L. M. Hanks, (see note 2).

98 In the language of Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality, A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1967), p. 105, it is possible to draw a line between a “sophisticated” and a “naive” view of the cosmography, “naive” here meaning unexamined.

99 This would be the process of legitimation in the Berger and Luckman theory of the sociology of knowledge, ibid., p. 93.

100 Nakayama, (see note 61), pp. 211–213.

101 Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being…., p. 102.

102 Ibid., pp. 107–108.