Those Strange-Looking Monks in Phra Malai Manuscript Paintings: Voices of the Text

13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THAI STUDIES GLOBALIZED THAILAND? CONNECTIVITY, CONFLICT AND CONUNDRUMS OF THAI STUDIES 15-18 JULY 2017, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND Those Strange-Looking Monks in Phra Malai Manuscript Paintings: Voices of The Text Brereton, Bonnie Pacala Center for Research on Plurality in the Mekong Region Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Khon Kaen University Thailand -------------------------------------------- Abstract One of the most popular texts written and illustrated on accordion-folded paper manuscripts (samut khoi) is Phra Malai Klon Suat (PMKS), the vernacular version of the story of the magical monk who travelled to hell and heaven. The miniature paintings in these manuscripts depict key scenes from the story as well as pairs of seated monks sometimes with legs crossed and a talabat in their hands, and others in very unusual postures with strange facial expressions. Several Western various scholars have offered interpretations of these monk figures based on a number of factors: art historical analysis of the paintings, the opinions of other Western scholars, and their own guesses and assumptions. This paper offers a different interpretation of the monks – one that draws on the writings of Thai scholars, interviews with monks, personal communications with people who have sponsored recitations for their deceased relatives, and my experiences of listening to the text being chanted. In addition, other factors include the historical context of the klon suat genre, specific features of the text, the text’s function and usage, and the role of the monks and lay chanters. Introduction The story of Phra Malai is known to Buddhists throughout Thailand and exists in numerous versions or “tellings,” a term originally used by A.K. Ramanujan in reference to the many versions of the Ramayana (1991). While all Phra Malai tellings share the same basic sequence of events and are usually written as poetry, it is important to note that they differ in numerous ways, including language/dialect/region, ritual setting in which they are recited, poetic form, and literary style. Key scenes and iconographic images from the narrative are depicted in various genres of painting and sculpture. This paper concerns accordion-folded manuscripts (samut khoi) from the late 18th and 19th centuries containing the popular Phra Malai Klon Suat (PMKS). This version was commonly performed in a variety of melodies and rhythms, originally by monks and later by laypeople at funeral wakes in central and south Thailand. PMKS manuscripts are known for their illustrated paintings of scenes from the narrative and sometimes from funeral wakes, including vignettes of laypeople playing board games and 68 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THAI STUDIES GLOBALIZED THAILAND? CONNECTIVITY, CONFLICT AND CONUNDRUMS OF THAI STUDIES 15-18 JULY 2017, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND monks who sometimes have strange facial expressions and are seated in unusual positions. Western scholars have been puzzled by these figures and referred to them in various negative ways, for example, as depictions of “naughty” monks (Igunma, 2016), as “laymen satirizing ritual chanting” (Skilling and Pakdeekham, 2017: 141), and as a way of contrasting “pious monks” with “lax ones” (Ginsburg 1989: 77). This paper argues that role of the chanters was and still is central to PMKS, as the text was written to be chanted or performed. It was the chanters – whether they were monks or laypeople – who brought the text to life. Rather than being criticized or satirized, the chanters were applauded and appreciated by those sponsoring the manuscripts and funeral wakes for they provided a much-needed service: entertaining and easing the grief of those attending the wake. The Phra Malai Story44 The gist of the story is as follows. Phra Malai was a saintly monk who lived long ago on the island of Lanka. Because of merit accrued in past lives, he had supernatural powers like those of the Buddha’s disciple Moggallana that enabled him to fly to the hells to relieve the sufferings of the beings there, and also to heaven. After his visits to the hells, he found the relatives of the suffering beings and asked them to make merit on their behalf so that they could be reborn in a better place. One morning as he was going on his alms rounds, Phra Malai encountered a poor man who looked after his mother and made a living by cutting grass. The man went to bathe in a pond, where he picked eight lotuses and presented them to the monk, asking that he never again be born poor. After accepting the offering, Phra Malai flew to Tavatimsa Heaven to present the lotuses at the Culamani Cetiya, where the hair relic of the Buddha is enshrined. There he met the god Indra, who had built the cetiya, and witnessed the arrival of a series of deities coming to worship the cetiya each surrounded by progressively larger and larger retinues. In each case, Indra told Phra Malai how that deity had earned sufficient merit to be born in heaven. Each had practiced a specific act of dana (generosity), for example, giving food to a bird, presenting offerings to a monk, sponsoring cremations, planting bodhi trees, cleaning the temple grounds, etc. Eventually the bodhisatta Metteya arrived from his abode in Tusita Heaven to worship the reliquary. He asked Phra Malai about the characteristics of the inhabitants of the human realm (the Jambu continent or Chomphudvipa) and the monk replied that they lived in diverse circumstances and made merit in diverse ways, all in the hope of meeting Metteyya when he attained enlightenment as the next Buddha. The bodhisatta then gave Phra Malai the following message: those who wished to meet him should participate fully in the Vessantara Jataka festival in one day and one night, avoid sin and practice dana. Metteyya then described a serious of tumultuous events that will precede his coming: the disappearance of Gotama Buddha’s teachings,45 followed by the degeneration of morality and a period of violence in 44 For a discussion of the sources upon which the basic Phra Malai texts are based see Brereton, 1992 and 1995; Collins, 1993; Denis, 1953 and 1965; and Supaporn Makchang, 1978 and 1981. 45 The teachings are predicted to disappear after they had been in existence for five thousand years. This prophecy is mentioned in earlier sources, both the 14th century King Luethai of Sukhothai and earlier remarks by the great fifth century commentator Buddhaghosa (Coedes, 1957). 69 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THAI STUDIES GLOBALIZED THAILAND? CONNECTIVITY, CONFLICT AND CONUNDRUMS OF THAI STUDIES 15-18 JULY 2017, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND which the vast majority of people will kill each other. However, a small number will retreat into caves and emerge when the carnage is over to form a new society based on morality. Eventually the world will regenerate because of the gradual accumulation of merit made by virtuous people. A utopian age will follow, characterized by perfection in nature and human society. At that time Metteyya will accept the invitation of celestials to be born in the human realm, where he will become enlightened and preach the dhamma. The text ends with Phra Malai’s return to the human realm to deliver this message to the people there. Phra Malai Klon Suat as a Work of Literature There are many versions of the Phra Malai story (Brereton, 1992 and 1995). The summary above is what I call the “classical” or unadorned version, as found in the Pali Maleyyadevatthera-vatthu, the Northern Thai Malai Ton-Malai Plai and the Lao Malai Muen-Malai Saen. The latter two paired texts are recited at annual Vessantara Jataka festivals in the north and northeast, respectively. They are inscribed on palm leaf manuscripts, without illustrations, and are read in a perfunctory manner before the recitation of the Jataka. This version is also found in the elaborate “royal version” (Phra Malai Kham Luang), attributed to Ayutthaya Prince Thammathibet. All of these versions of Phra Malai are straightforward and in fact rather unexciting, with no room for humor in either the way they are written or in their recitation, unlike PMKS. PMKS – the version found in illustrated manuscripts – differs in that it contains greatly expanded descriptions of the hells, the sufferings of the hell beings, and the sins they committed which led to these karmic results. The PMKS texts vary little from one manuscript to another, with the only differences being in words or syllables (Priyawat Kuanpoonpol, 1995: 188). It is important to emphasize that this version of Phra Malai was meant to be performed, that is, sung in a variety of melodies and rhythms. PMKS is written in three varieties of a verse form known as kap, which developed out of Cambodian forms based on Sanskrit models. PMKS in Manuscript Paintings and the So-called “Naughty Monks” PMKS began to appear in manuscripts in the late 18th century and became the prevalent theme in the 19th century (Ginsburg, 1989: 72). The text is written in the Thai language but in Cambodian letters. Paintings illustrating key scenes from the narrative, such as the poor man presenting the lotuses to Phra Malai, are found on either side of the text on roughly 5-10 percent of the pages. Another pair of paintings depicts two monks in each frame. In some paintings they are seated with legs crossed in the lotus position, holding a talabat in front of them In others, however, they are seated with one knee raised, or less commonly, standing in what appears to be a comic pose of some sort (figs 1 & 2). The latter

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