REVIEWS interpretations that convincingly link together various Buddhist and Hindu archeological sites from different time Betty Gosling, Origins of Thai Art. periods, Gosling’s book is a summary Bangkok, River Books, 2004, ills, of other, mainly English language, pp.196, Bt.1,495. books written by specialists in the fields of Thai and Khmer cultural and visual The last few years have been excit- studies. Most notable are those of ing for those in the field of Thai art his- Charles Higham, Hiram Woodward, tory because of new publications that Robert L. Brown, and Piriya Krairiksh, shed light on several periods, subjects, to all of whom Gosling gives special and revised attribution of dates. These thanks in the preface for their vital con- books range from highly technical tributions. Unfortunately, unlike her books written for specialists such as The previous publications on Sukhothai art, Art and Architecture of Thailand, by in this book Gosling provides few new Hiram Woodward, Jr. (Brill, 2003), to contributions, except in the last two less technical books, written by special- chapters where she discusses what she ists but for general readers, such as Betty thinks were the main sources of what Gosling’s new book Origins of Thai Art. would later became the most important New light has also been shone on the architectural symbols of Thai Buddhist most up-to-date archeological research art and architecture: the bell-shaped on prehistoric periods by Charles stupa and Khmer-derived prang. Higham’s book, Early Cultures of Main- Origins of Thai Art is divided into ten land Southeast Asia (River Books, chapters that cover the pre-historic 2002). periods (c. BC 2300) through to the Both Gosling’s and Woodward’s beginning of the Thai periods (thirteenth books share similar goals: tracing the century). It covers a wide range of ma- origins and stylistic connections of what terial from different regions of Thailand became the iconographic and stylistic as well as from many countries in Asia. appearances of different periods of Thai It also includes a variety of visual docu- art (Sukhothai to Bangkok periods). ments, such as beautiful color photo- Both books also attempt to trace spe- graphs, line drawings, plans, and maps. cific religious sects of Buddhism and The first chapter, “The Complexities Hinduism, which spread to present-day of Thai Art,” explains the complex Thailand from other parts of Asia, sources of ideas, philosophical and namely India, Sri Lanka, China, Burma, religious concepts, and decorative and Cambodia. Both books cover the elements that later became vital com- periods before the first Thai kingdoms ponents of Thai art. “Neolithic, Bronze, were established. The major difference and Iron Period Art”, the second chap- between these two books is that while ter, covers the prehistoric periods when Woodward contributes new ideas and pottery, jewelry, and bronze weapons

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and instruments were produced as con- presented at the conference “Exploring tributions to funerary practices and to Theravada Studies: Intellectual Trends show status. and the Future of a Field of Study” (Na- The third chapter, “The Introduction tional University of Singapore), for the of Buddhist Art in the Central Plains,” most up-to-date approach to the topic traces the development of Buddhist art of Buddhist schools in Thailand. in India. Examples are given from the Chapters Four and Five, “The Emer- Gandhara region (northwest India and gence of Dvaravati” and “Art of the present-day Afghanistan), the Sanchi Dvaravati Heartland,” respectively, deal stupa, and the Amaravati stupa (in south with the earliest remains of Buddhist art India). Summaries of the Buddha’s life from many sites in the central plains and of different sects of Buddhism are such as Nakhon Prathom, U-Thong, and included; however, the sources Gosling Ku Bua (Ratchaburi). Gosling tries to uses are somewhat out of date. Gosling trace the origin of styles that strongly also tries to place important Buddhist influenced this region, specific types of events precisely within current geopo- Buddhist sects, and the links between litical entities and to relate them to some of these sites. The products of specific schools of Buddhism, which she Buddhist art, namely stupas, dharma- claims are reflected in the architectural cakra, sculptures, and votive tablets, are forms and motifs of these regions. included. Art historians have often tried to pin- Chapters Six and Seven, “The Pen- point Buddhist sects for which they insula, the Pasak and Nontraditional Art think art works were produced. Thus in the Central Plains - Fifth to Ninth various sects, schools, and lineages (e.g., Centuries AD” and “Khmer and Sravastivada, Sthaviravada, Theravada, Dvaravati-related Art on the Khorat Ariya Buddhism (from Burma), Plateau - Seventh to Ninth Centuries Tantrism, and Mahayana Buddhism), AD,” describe the continuation of Mon with or without written records, have culture to the southern and northeastern been employed in differentiating art regions of Thailand. The materials from works. In my opinion, more often than chapters four to seven form a good sum- not these attempts have been misguided. mary of excellent works by Brown, Buddhist studies, like other fields, are Krairiksh, and Woodward. continually changing, so it is critical for The eighth and ninth chapters, art historians to keep up with current “Khmer Art on the Khorat Plateau - research. Because of limited space, it is Tenth to Twelfth Centuries AD” and not possible for me to address the vari- “Art in the Central Plains and the North- ous problematic sections in this book ern Highlands - Twelfth to Thirteenth that deal with the differentiation of Bud- Centuries A.D.,” respectively, focus on dhist sects. Rather, I refer the reader to the increasing power of the Khmer king- Peter Skilling’s recent article, “Ubiqui- dom of Angkor and its influential reli- tous and elusive: in quest of Theravada,” gions, architectural forms, and stylistic

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appearances, which unmistakably dic- ing “Thainess” in terms of Sukhothai. tated major changes within the region. Although other art historians, such as Hiram Woodward’s significant works on Jean Boisselier, consider that the main Khmer materials (from 1966–1997) tower of Wat Mahathat at Lopburi was clearly influenced Gosling’s reading in the first true prang, Gosling claims that these two chapters. In chapter eight, it was Phimai where “incipient prang- Gosling focuses on Prasathin Phimai, an like features” came from (p. 166). In my important Tantric Buddhist temple that opinion, although Phimai was certainly predates Angkor Wat and gave it vari- a significant and influential site in the ous architectural and stylistic elements. early part of the twelfth century, there Instead of the usual quincunx of towers is not enough evidence to convincingly atop a pyramidal structure like temples support Gosling’s theory that prang in Angkor, Phimai’s tower has a unique structures in later Thai periods (from the form: a single tower on a very low base. thirteenth century to present) specifi- Gosling overstates its influence by cally symbolized Phimai. claiming “If there is any doubt as to In the field of Thai art, there have Prasat Phimai’s architectural and icono- generally been either books written by graphic influence on later royal build- specialists that are not easily approach- ings, one does not have to look far.” able by non-specialists, or coffee table (p.124). books with beautiful photos. Gosling’s The reign of Jayavarman VII of book introduces a new increasingly Angkor and its Buddhist art, with a fo- popular category: a summary of schol- cus on Prasat Muang Singh (in arly works that is written in a simple and Kanchanaburi), are the main topics of approachable manner, and illustrated Chapter Nine. Even though the with attractive photographs. However, Mahayana Buddhist triad (seated Bud- there are various problematic topics as dha protected by naga hoods and well as mistakes in the content and flanked by Avalokitesvara and captions. For example, a detail of Wat Prajnaparamita) became the most re- Mahathat, Lopburi (first photo on p. vered form, Gosling claims that the 164), is actually of Wat Mahathat at Phimai tradition was revived and pro- Ayutthaya. Moreover, Gautama is called vided the prototypes for future sculp- a “Nepalese prince” (p.39), identifying tural pieces in the plains (p. 159). Gos- him with a country that did not yet ling then concludes in the tenth chapter exist. that prangs from other Thai periods de- rived from Phimai, but that its signifi- Pattaratorn Chirapravati cant symbolism has long been forgot- ten because of the predominance of Theravada Buddhism, and because of the nineteenth century quest for defin-

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Chris Baker, Dhiravat na Pombejra, have been maintained in the present Alfons van der Kraan and David K. volume with only minimal corrections Wyatt, eds., Van Vliet’s Siam. Chiang deemed necessary, though Chris Baker Mai, Silkworm Books, 2005. pp. x + has added numerous notes to the 346, illustrations, maps, index. Description. The third item already known to spe- Historical reprints which allow key cialists was the Historical Account of primary sources to speak to us directly King Prasat Thong (1640), published from the ‘foreign country’ of the past originally not in Dutch but in a very are always welcome. As the editors point imperfect French edition of 1663. This out, the four texts written by Jeremias French version was rendered into En- van Vliet between 1636 and 1640 are glish by the owner of the Bangkok undoubtedly key sources, “unmatched Times, W.H. Mundie, and published as in length and detail by anything written a book in 1904 and an issue of JSS in on Siam before the nineteenth 1934. In the latter year, perhaps stimu- century”(vii). There are a number of lated by its republication, Iwao Seiichi reasons, however, why Van Vliet’s Siam found the original in the Rijksarchief. is especially valuable to those seeking Not until 1958, however, did he publish to understand Thai history, Southeast a transcription of it, as well as reprint- Asian social conditions in the early ing the French version, making clear the modern period, or the nature of interna- inadequacies of the latter. For Van tional relations in the region’s past. Vliet’s Siam, Alfons van der Kraan has First and foremost is the convenience now provided the first adequate trans- and insight which flows from having all lation of this text, with useful notes by four texts written by this perceptive the two Bangkok-based editors. merchant in the same volume. Three of Bringing these three texts together, the four had previously been published alongside a wholly new one in The in English translation, all at the hands Diary of the Picnic Incident, makes it of the Siam Society. The Description of possible to understand the context of the Kingdom of Siam (1636), the best Jeremias van Vliet’s writing and the known of the four, was published in character of the man. The Picnic Inci- Dutch in 1692, and in English in 1910, dent was the first of the four to be writ- in a translation by L.F. van Ravenswaay ten, and the motivation for beginning the published in the JSS. The Short History series. As acting head of the Ayutthaya of the Kings of Siam, the earliest ver- factory of the VOC, Van Vliet had felt sion of the Ayutthayan chronicles, was obliged to apologize and grovel before transcribed from its manuscript version the king to save from execution some by Miriam Verkuijl and translated by of his men who had offended some Leonard Andaya in a separate short monks and royal retainers by their monograph of 1975. Both translations drunken behaviour on an outing at the

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end of 1636. The Governor-General of from the time he was in trouble in the time, Antonio van Diemen, thought Batavia (1637–8), Van Vliet remained this a disgraceful humiliation and sum- in Siam until 1642, in charge of the fac- moned him to Batavia to answer charges tory for the last four of these years. His of dereliction of duty. This text is his close relations with the Thai elite were defence, in the form of a daily diary of facilitated by the remarkable Soet Pegu, events, highlighting Van Vliet’s own his very well-connected Mon concubine actions and statements and the reasons who bore him three daughters. His writ- for them. It impressed Van Diemen, who ing showed appreciation for the toler- then asked him for more information, ance, civility and taste of the Siamese which resulted in the Description, also elite, and a shrewd understanding both apparently written while in temporary of commercial opportunities and of disgrace in Batavia in 1637–8. This, too, political realities. Van Vliet read and as the editors make clear, had a very appreciated Machiavelli, quoting his explicit political purpose. It aimed to dictum “that the wisdom and authority show how the absolutism of King Prasat of a single Prince should decide all mat- Thong gave rise to such arbitrary ac- ters of state” (299). As the editors point tions, but also to show the essential out in introducing his text on Prasat weakness of the kingdom, combined Thong, he regards that king as success- with its commercial advantages, to ar- ful despite the terror and bloodshed by gue for an aggressive Dutch strategy which he came to power, much as towards the kingdom. Chris Baker Machiavelli explained Cesare Borgia sagely comments that “The European (252). records have proved invaluable in pro- The second particular advantage of viding a viewpoint different from that this volume is the newly translated text, of the royal chronicles. But, just like the already mentioned, on the Picnic Inci- chronicles, they too are political tracts” dent. Published in Dutch earlier than (98). Van Vliet’s other texts, in 1647, this had Jeremias van Vliet (1602–63) emerges been largely ignored by subsequent as a very capable renaissance man, acute scholars. As a detailed diary of 40 in his observations and broad in his tension-filled days in Ayutthaya it is a tastes. He served the VOC in Asia from wonderful window into court politics 1628 until he was dismissed on suspi- and the way various interest groups were cion of corruption in 1646. After initial handled. Every party to disputes, of experience in Japan, he was sent to Siam whatever ethnicity, deployed their own in 1633 as assistant to his friend and lobbyists as avenues to the centre of mentor Joost Schouten, the first of the power. Van Vliet himself called on the Dutch Thai-specialists unfortunately Phra Khlang, the Shahbandar, the executed in 1644 for the homosexual king’s brother and his mother (a confi- practices he picked up in Siam. Apart dant of Soet Pegu), the chief Chinese

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interpreter whom he calls Tjoucko and The editors provide a Cook’s tour of the various others, while a set of other in- city in Van Vliet’s time, lovingly illus- terests, including the Japanese, he sees trating each quarter with details from the as ranged against him. Vingboons or Coronelli maps. The Thirdly, the Thai historical expertise Vingboons map is reproduced as a brought to bear by the authors provides whole in an endpaper, and the large a safe guide through problems of trans- ‘Judea’ painting adapted from it and now lation and orthography of Thai titles and in the Rijksmuseum adorns the cover. personae in the text. Thai characters, The use Chris Baker has made of the temples and festivals are carefully iden- Van Vliet version of the chronicles to tified, in both romanised and Thai let- revise our understanding of Ayutthaya’s ters, making this a much more usable origins1 makes it appropriate to draw version than the older translations. Three particular attention to this fascinating of the texts have new introductions and semi-mythical material. In the Descrip- notes, only the Short History remaining tion, apparently written largely from content with the critical apparatus pro- memory in Batavia, Van Vliet com- vided by David Wyatt in 1975. In a per- pressed two Chinese interventions into fect world the learned editors might one brief origin myth (103–5). But in have added to their number authorities the much more elaborate section which on Malay, Mon and Chinese dialects, but begins the Short History (196–202) two they must leave a little for subsequent time-scales are depicted. The first is a readers to discover. On the Malay side, clearly mythical story placed 2000 years orang kaya is mistranslated as “big in the past when a son of the Chinese people” (129–87) and the Laksamana emperor was sent into exile and estab- title of the chief of the Malays is not lished himself at Kui, opposite picked up (149–125). While we are on Tenasserim in the north of the Penin- the slips (of which there is very little to sula, from whence the Siamese kingdom complain of), there are two occasions began. The other is a more detailed story disconcertingly early in the book (2, 3) of an exiled prince of “several provinces where fifteenth century is stated when in China”, sent away in junks with thou- sixteenth is meant. sands of followers some three hundred Finally, fortified by a generous grant years earlier (thus the fourteenth cen- from the Jim Thompson Foundation, the tury). This prince establishes himself historical introduction to this volume is first at Langkasuka a little upriver from wonderfully provided with detailed re- Patani, then in Ligor, and then in Kui. productions, many in colour, of the best There he established a fruitful alliance seventeenth century maps of Ayutthaya. with the Emperor of China, who sent

1 Chris Baker, ‘Ayutthaya Rising: From Land or Sea?’ Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 34,1 (2003), pp.41-62.

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him his daughter as a consort and gave him the title U Thong, the name all ver- sions of the chronicles agree as the founder of Ayutthaya. Then he moved north, discovering the merits of the Thai form of Buddhism at Petchaburi, and finally establishing Ayutthaya after magically clearing its swamp from disease. These maritime origins and Chinese connections are, as Baker has shown, suggestively different from the canonical understanding of Siamese history. This book will be treasured as an in- dispensable tool for the historian, and a delightful slice of the past for more gen- eral readers.

Anthony Reid

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B. J. Terwiel, Thailand’s Political (up to 1942) has scarcely changed at all. History: From the Fall of Ayutthaya to There is an extra page or so of scene- Recent Times. Bangkok, River Books, setting at the start of the first two chap- 2005, pp.328. ters, a handful of added sentences on minor issues, and about twenty-five new Bas Terwiel’s first contributions to footnotes either providing extra back- Thai studies were in the guise of an ground or supplying a source reference anthropologist with a special focus on to data already present in the earlier ver- religious practice. In the mid 1970s, he sion. researched an important village-based There are four other changes. study of the co-existence of Buddhism First, River Books has made the new and spirit beliefs. Subsequent publica- version much more easily available, and tions widened the focus to treatments of much more beautiful. The copy-editing Buddhism on a national scale. However, is much better. There are lots of photos, his interests seem to have been driven and the layout is unusually attractive for by a basic inquisitiveness, and not a history book. bounded by academic discipline or na- Second, the coverage has been ex- tional boundary. He wrote on cholera, tended to ‘Recent Times,’ meaning that the Bowring Treaty, tattooing, demog- there is mention of the 1997 economic raphy, the local history of Chanthaburi, crisis, the new constitution, and slavery, Phibun Songkhram, Mon mi- Thaksin’s election in 2001. While this grations, and the beliefs of the Tai Ahom extension starts well with an account of in Assam. During this inspired ramble, Thailand’s incorporation into the Cold he produced in 1983 a book entitled A War, it then loses any thematic thrust and History of Modern Thailand. It gained becomes an annotated list of prime a reputation for two main things: first, ministers. being rather difficult to find; and sec- Third, the chapter names have been ond, ending its account at the quirkily changed. In the earlier book, the chap- chosen date of 1942. Perhaps for these ters followed the traditional practice of reasons, it was always overshadowed by treating reigns as historical units, and Wyatt’s Thailand : A Short History were labelled: First Reign, Second which appeared a year later. Reign, Third Reign, etc. Now the reigns Wyatt’s book has just reappeared in have been removed, and thematic sub- a modestly revised edition, and hot on titles have been promoted to chapter its heels comes Terwiel’s. titles (Innovation in the guise of ortho- The book has a new title, and the pref- doxy, Trade and poetry, etc). But this is ace claims this reflects the extent of re- purely cosmetic, as the time coverage vision including ‘newly discovered is still by reign, and the focus of the book sources... sometimes leading to changes remains very much on the kings. Ordi- in the argument.’ In fact, the main text nary people appear only as things the

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king can tax and send to war. The book heavily on some European secondary might better have been renamed as works from the 1970s (e.g., Stransky on the Terwiel Chronicle of Rattana- the Taksin reign). kosin, given how closely it follows the By this method, he claims to modify traditional style of writing Thai history. the ‘standard’ account of Thai history. Each chapter begins with the king’s For example, he questions whether succession and initial appointments. Taksin truly became mad, necessitating Then come major events of the reign the overthrow of 1782, and suggests the treated episodically, just like the madness may have been invented later chronicles. These include the wars, to justify what might have been a coup. foreign relations, ritual events, and He undermines the status of the Bowring family crises which had always been the Treaty as a ‘landmark’ by demonstrat- focus of the chroniclers, but also things ing how much a money economy had like trade and taxation which started to developed prior to mid-century. He figure in the chronicles in later questions to what extent the treaty was Ayutthaya and early Bangkok. Each imposed from outside by drawing chapter then ends with the king’s demise attention to strong local interests in and a summary assessment of the reign. favour of such a change. He shows that In the 1986 book’s preface, Terwiel attempts to present King Mongkut as a admitted that he had been ‘influenced’ nationalist fighting off colonialism have by the chronicle style, and that the book imported later concerns into his reign. was much more ‘a history of kings’ than He presents a very detailed account of the more social history he would have the Front Palace Incident of 1874. He liked to have written. This admission has paces through the reforms of the Fifth disappeared from the new edition. Reign with less gobsmacked admiration The fourth change from the 1983 than found in some accounts. He does book is eight pages of ‘Concluding not spare King Rama VI, but describes Remarks’, including a note on ‘The his idiosyncrasies and his profligacy in subtle craft of history writing in Thai- some detail. He notes that the Seri Thai land.’ movement during the Second World Terwiel claimed in the 1986 version War did not really get going until late that he was writing athwart the 1943. ‘hagiographical’ tendency in Thai his- In the final four pages, he criticizes tory. He claims in the new edition that Thai historiography in three ways. First, he has ‘avoided, as far as possible, Thai history is always being rewritten [having] to rely upon interpretations by ‘to serve the purpose of fostering admi- fellow-historians.’ His account is thus ration in the reader.’ Second, this is part based very largely on his own reading of a general trend in which the state tries of contemporary sources, including Thai to control the production of knowledge. and Western documents. He also draws Just as the chronicles were once the sole

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repository of the past, now the state tries and English. And it seems unaware of to ensure there are only standard edi- the extra-academic production of history tions of all literary and historical texts, by Sinlapa Watthanatham magazine and and approved textbooks for schools. several publishing houses. These re- Third, Thai history has been severely searchers have produced new interpre- perverted by nationalism and the pro- tations on such matters as Taksin’s fall, tective attitude towards the monarchy. Mongkut’s reign, and the context of the Anyone who challenges the obviously Fifth Reign reforms which go much faulty history that results from these farther than Terwiel in revising the old limitations risks being accused of view. More fundamentally, they have ‘ill-will towards the nation.’ abandoned the focus on the king and There are several individual passages the periodisation by reign which tie in this book where Terwiel’s careful use Terwiel’s account firmly to a traditional of contemporary sources make a very framing of the course and meaning of important contribution to the under- Thai history. standing of individual events. Overall This book is, though, an important it is a good narrative, which is easy and period piece, and we should be grateful enjoyable to read. But the book was to Bas Terwiel and River Books for this written over twenty years ago and has attractive new edition. not really been changed at all. Moreover, it was conceived in the traditional style, Chris Baker with the focus on the court, to such an extent that it falters as soon as the king departs from centre stage. The 1932 revolt appears out of a clear blue sky, and the narrative tends to flounder from then onwards. Terwiel’s critique of Thai historiog- raphy was largely fair in 1983. But can you justify such a critique today with- out reviewing the last two decades of this historiography? Terwiel’s revision does not even incorporate his own post- 1983 research (e.g., on demography), let alone work by other people. His critique of Thai historiography remains true and justified by the ‘official’ version still found in school textbooks. But it ignores what two new generations of academic historians have produced in both Thai

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Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit, (Indic) and modern (Western) worlds. A History of Thailand. Cambridge, Most historians have supposed that Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. between the fall of Ayuthya in 1767 301, ills, GBP 14.99. and the early Bangkok period the Siamese were trying to restore the past. Modern Thai historiography was born But Baker and Pasuk propose a more in the late nineteenth-early twentieth radical theory: that the early Bangkok centuries when the threat of colonialism rulers were well aware of the failure of and a newly created absolute monarchy the recent past (Ayuthya) and therefore demanded a unified, linear, heroic, na- searched into the distant past to create a tional myth. The myth was amplified new beginning. around the mid-century during a flirta- By the time of Rama III, however, the tion with fascism when the national and Bangkok intelligentsia was looking to racial myth became embedded in the the West for new ideas. Baker and Pasuk school curriculum and popular imagi- propose that the new thinking (from nation. Later the Cold War and military Rama I to Rama III) was of one piece dictatorship required that the myth be and of indigenous origin. I question this perpetuated in the name of national se- view as, long before he came to the curity, so the writing of serious history throne, Prince Mongkut and several of became well nigh impossible. his contemporaries, though rejecting Late in the twentieth century of the Christianity, were in dialogue with the writing of history was released from its missionaries and were interested in iron cage. Thai thinkers led; others were Western science and secularist thought. slow to follow; indeed Baker and Pasuk Chapter 3 deals with bureaucratic are the first writing in English to reveal reforms between 1850 and 1910. When a whole new way of perceiving the Rama IV signed the Bowring Treaty in history of this country. 1855 he brought Siam, economically, In chapter 1 of this volume, Baker and into the modern world, which at that Pasuk deal succinctly with the pre-mod- time and place meant the British Em- ern period. What we perceive as “Thai- pire. Under King Chulalongkorn, Siam land” today was rather like pre-modern became a nation-state on the European Italy or Germany, a collection of model, with borders delineated for the loosely-knit city-states and principali- first time by French and British geogra- ties that juggled for precedence. Gradu- phers. ally those with the greatest economic One of the problems Chulalongkorn and strategic advantages came to domi- faced was proving to the Western pow- nate and draw into their orbit more dis- ers that Siam was “civilized”. This he tant regions. achieved with brilliant royal theater both Chapter 2 deals with the early at home and on visits to the West. An- Bangkok period and describes a crucial, other problem he had was choosing how liminal era between the traditional modern Siam should be governed. The

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King had what could be termed a “soft century. choice” and a “hard choice”, and this is First, the “new urban social forces” one of the key concepts with which were truly new, weak and fragmentary, Baker and Pasuk interpret the rest of and they were opposed by a formidably modern Siamese/Thai history. efficient colonial-style administration. The “soft choice” was proposed by Second, the Paknam incident of 1893 Prince Prisdang in 1885: that Siam was still fresh in mind, so the ruling elite should become a democratic constitu- had every reason to beware colonial tional monarchy on British lines; the threats and to prevent any internal dis- “hard choice” was that the country order that might invite European inter- should be ruled firmly from above, vention. Third, this caution was aug- along colonial lines, like British India. mented first by the fall of the Romanovs King Chulalongkorn rejected Prince and then the Ching dynasty. Prisdang’s “soft” proposal and em- Fourth, and perhaps most important, braced the “hard” choice. We do not were relationships within the ruling know why. He may have thought that a elite. Rama V had reigned with immense Siamese absolute monarch could best charisma for over 40 years. Thanks to protect the nation from colonialist the law of primogeniture (so vigorously threats; or he may have bowed to the insisted upon by the Western powers), demands of British interests who liked he was succeeded in 1910 by Prince the idea of exploiting Siam without the Vajiravudh, a well-meaning person expense of administering it. without the charisma of his father. Chapter 4 considers the economic and Thus Siam was politically paralyzed social changes that took place between for over 15 years. Rama VI had rejected the 1870s and 1930s. This is an admi- the “soft” policy of democratization in rable sketch of the social, demographic favour of the “hard” policy of absolute and economic changes taking place in monarchy and auto-colonialism. Siam at that time. But the authors’ con- In the meantime, Siamese society had cluding sentence, “In the early decades been changing in ways over which the of the twentieth century, these new ur- King had no control, and he himself had ban social forces challenged the abso- subverted what control he had by send- lutist conceptions of the nation-state” is ing commoners for education in the intriguing; if the new urban social forces West, supposing that they would remain did that, then they did so ineffectually. loyal to the absolute monarchy, but by Baker and Pasuk do not discuss this 1932, in the reign of King Rama VII, matter. patience had run out. There seem to this reviewer to be a In Chapter 5 the authors return to number of interrelated reasons for roughly the same time-frame as that Siam’s political stagnation through the covered in Chapter 4, but concentrate first three decades of the twentieth on ideological developments.

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In the late nineteenth century King Chapter 6 covers the War, its after- Rama V had turned pre-modern Siam math and the beginning of the Cold War. into a nation-state, unlike the failed In 1945–46 a window of opportunity states of Asia that had fallen to colonial- opened for the Free Thai who repre- ism. He seems to have achieved this sented the “soft” option of participatory without recourse to ideology. It fell to democracy. But this window was soon Rama VI to formulate ideological un- closed by the onset of the Cold War. The derpinnings to support, explain and jus- Western powers needed a “strong” Thai- tify his father’s achievement. land to oppose the spread of Commu- The writings of Rama VI are didac- nism, so members of the Free Thai were tic, aiming to inculcate virtues like or- stigmatized as Communist sympathiz- der, obedience, patriotism and loyalty ers, and rehabilitated Fascists returned that the king presumably considered to lead Thailand into the modern world lacking in his subjects. as champions of liberty and democracy. The revolutionaries seem to have During this period much material intended well, but they had an inherent progress was achieved. Urbanization flaw: they called themselves the advanced, wealth increased, but not “People’s Party”, but all of them were without costs. The arts were trivialized either senior bureaucrats or military of- and commercialized, traditional village ficers, with interests in promoting their solidarity was trashed, and rural self- own status, power and prosperity. The sufficiency became impossible as the “People”, urban and rural, remained cities commanded the market. outside the magic circle. Baker and Pasuk conclude here: Furthermore, the timing was inaus- picious. In the 1930s the liberal democ- “The Second World War proved to be racies like Britain, France, and the a boundary between eras...... The United States were widely perceived as liberal nationalist ideas of the 1920s effete, while the masterful ideologies of and 1930s were first pushed aside by Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and milita- the militaristic nationalism of the rized Japan were seen as holding the key wartime era, then crushed by the anti- to the brave new future. No wonder communist fervour in the aftermath... Siam’s new ruling class was seduced by an ideology that provided them with “Opposition to neo-colonialism, mili- ample legitimacy as champions of the tary dictatorship, and rapid capitalist Greater Thailand. exploitation also looked for inspira- The authors’ conclusion is again im- tion both backwards into Thailand’s peccable: the “hard” mode of gover- pre-American past and outwards to nance had triumphed once more, lead- America’s Cold War rivals. The cru- ing Thailand into another disaster, cible for this conflicting mix of new namely, participation in World War II ideas was a new generation of stu- on the losing side. dents.”

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Chapter 7 covers ideologies from the “strong state” concept without, however, 1940s to the 1970s. Thais reacted to the any external threat, real or imagined. Its changes in the period diversely. Some only “wicked other” is internal: a lim- welcomed material progress and the ited Muslim insurgency in the South opportunity to make a fortune; others which might be resolved if approached deplored the immorality and injustice of intelligently and honestly, but which the the new order. government has wilfully and consis- These affections and disaffections tently exacerbated by resorting to vio- help to explain the explosion of 1973 lent oppression while failing to address and the implosion of 1976, and the la- the real causes of discontent. borious process of reconciliation and In their postscript, Baker and Pasuk reconstruction that followed. For in- meditate upon the conflict between the stance I suspect that when bureaucrats authoritarian strong state and its liberal, invited provincial tycoons to mobilize civic, law-observant and participatory the Village Scouts (resulting in the mas- alternative. sacre at Thammasat in 1976), the bu- The authors note how, time and again, reaucracy forfeited much of its aura of the need for a strong state has been in- authority to an arguably disreputable voked to counter a mythical threat, and class that has since then taken over how often, time and again, democracy mainstream politics. has been subverted in order to protect Chapters 8 and 9 deal in a masterly the vested interests of an elite minority. fashion with world trends (globalization A History of Thailand is the first and mass society) and Thai politics in attempt in English to write a history of the late twentieth century. this country in the modern sense of As American interest in Southeast “history”. All earlier attempts, however Asia weakened and China developed a well-meaning, fell into the twin traps of taste for capitalism, in Thailand the Cold racism and nationalism prevalent War mentality cooled, and intelligent during the colonial and Cold War eras. generals and businessmen decided that This book is essential reading for any- democracy might be a good idea after one seriously interested in Thailand: all. Thus a window opened once again how it came about; its present strengths for a more liberal, civil, participatory and weaknesses; and its potential in the society. future of a very unstable world. The problem was that by this time a few super-tycoons and their allies were Michael Wright in a position to control the state and take over its organs of administration and communication. The result was the tri- umph of money politics. The present government has reintroduced the

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Santanee Phasuk and Philip Stott, Royal making of maps, but so precious little Siamese Maps: War and Trade in Nine- is known to be extant that few conclu- teenth Century Thailand, foreword by sions could be drawn. Thus we can be HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. especially grateful to Sarinee Manakit Bangkok, River Books, 2004, pp.210, and Nopphawan Leetachewa, who in ills, hardback, Bt.1,795. 1996 discovered a cache of seventeen intriguing nineteenth century Thai geo- Unlike the West’s vast corpus of ex- graphic maps, and to Dr. Santanee tant maps and other cartographic arti- Phasuk, senior teacher at Chitrlada facts, precious little remains of School, and Philip Stott, Professor Thailand’s early mapmaking, its geo- Emeritus in the University of London, graphic thought and cartographic prac- for writing this excellent book chroni- tices. Europe’s fondness for the medium cling the maps’ discovery and subse- of printing exponentially increased any quent restoration and analysis. given prototype’s chances of survival in Royal officials Ms. Sarinee and Ms. some form; its prodigious replication of Nopphawan discovered the maps while manuscript maps, use of durable media, working in the Princess Abbhantri Paja relatively benign climate, prevalence of Mansion of the Grand Palace. Recog- buildings that have survived centuries nizing the importance of their find, they and wars, and cultural regard for pos- brought the maps to the attention of terity, together insured that enough Achan Julathusana Byachrananda of the would survive of her cartographic his- Royal Institute, who in turn informed tory that even many of the missing Her Royal Highness Princess Maha pieces could be extrapolated from the Chakri Sirindhorn. The maps now re- extant corpus. Except for manuscript side in HRH Princess Maha Chakri replication, Thailand enjoyed none of Sirindhorn’s personal library in the Chai these, and even extensive manuscript Pattana Building of the Chitrlada Pal- copying could be negated by the phe- ace in Bangkok. Royal Siamese Maps nomenon of chamra, the periodic purg- is presented as the starting point for fu- ing of documents that were no longer ture research into the maps, not a com- current. As a result, the virtual absence prehensive or definitive work on them, of pre-modern Thai geographic maps but the handsome volume is a very fine (that is, maps neither cosmographic or starting point indeed. religious) could never be construed as Chapter One is a summary of the proof that they were not an integral part maps’ discovery, and in particular of of Thai history. Thai civilization did not their painstaking restoration, preserva- lack the sense of spatial awareness, geo- tion, and photography. It concludes with graphic perspective, literate tradition, a general description of the maps and a and arguably the practical ‘need’ that in table of their characteristics and fea- some societies found expression in the tures, the first of many very useful tables in the book.

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Chapter Two confronts the paramount Although a few isolated statements question of the maps’ dating, which be- in this chapter caused me to pause (I fore the authors’ research was presumed easily get squeamish at too much being by many to be late nineteenth century. read into circumstantial evidence used But by examining their internal evi- to demonstrate a date pre-something), dence, their orthography, and artistic in their sum the authors’ arguments in elements, the authors argue for pushing favor of early to mid nineteenth century the date back to the first half of the nine- dating struck me as sound. I finished the teenth century, and nine of the maps chapter comfortable that the evidence contained sufficient clues to ascribe a supports their conclusions. likely year of drawing, these ranging Despite the tedious effort that was put from 1809 to ca. 1850. One map be- into dating the Thai maps, a vastly easier lieved to date from about 1809, for ex- task, that of affixing accurate dates to ample, depicts a Western fortress at the Western maps illustrated, falls short. Penang, which is identified as that built Most images of Western maps are iden- by Francis Light in 1786. Particularly tified only as being ‘nineteenth century’, fascinating is the ‘Muang Phrataphang’ a hundred-year margin of dramatic evo- map, detailing the state of a Vietnam- lution in the West’s knowledge of the ese battle against Cambodia, which at Southeast Asian interior. This is unnec- that time was changing allegiance be- essary, as the Western maps they chose tween Vietnam and Thailand according are printed and are easily datable to a to which alignment might afford it a precise year of publication. In the case better chance of peace. On the verso of of one map (page 192), even the cen- the map is an inscription recording its tury is wrong - it is again identified ge- being brought to Bangkok and reaching nerically as ‘nineteenth century’, though the capital on 27 November 1841, which clearly it is the Henri Chatelain map of date tallied well when the authors 1719, itself a slavish copy of the Mortier checked historical records of the war. map of 1700, leaving an error in per- Since so few readers will have any ception of as much as two very critical background in the specialized field of centuries and creating a misleading jux- orthography, the authors wisely explain taposition of the Western and Thai maps. and illustrate the historical changes in Chapter Three, ‘Cartographic and Thai consonants and vowels that, they Historical Reliability’, attempts to de- conclude, support the dating of the maps code the maps’ internal evidence. In the to the earlier Bangkok period, some process, the newly discovered maps help maps again being more precisely dat- answer existing questions rather than able than others. Finally, a stylistic and just being the object of questions. For artistic analysis of the maps by Henry example, one map records ‘Wangpor’, Ginsburg also points to an origin in the a place on the frontier between Thailand first half of the nineteenth century. and Burma of disputed identity, and so

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the authors examine the map’s depiction and details of the seventeen newly-dis- of the locale in an attempt to identify covered maps, but also other diverse more precisely where it was. Another images: aerial views and satellite images example is the place-name, Sa Si Mum, of the topography they chart, photo- which was heretofore unknown. This graphs of natural and man-made fea- chapter’s clever tables were particularly tures they illustrate, other relevant early appreciated, concisely presenting data Thai documents, early views of cities that under lesser hands would have been marked, modern maps, and a key map confusing. There are however some iso- in which images of all seventeen maps lated comments that are less than coher- are superimposed on a modern map of ent, such as the reference to Map 3’s eastern Asia. The book is so generously directional compass as being ‘possibly and intelligently illustrated that I am unique’. Unique how, or among what, being very picky in citing what I feel is the reader is left without a clue, nor is it its one omission: its lacks full images even unique among the present group of the few other surviving early Thai of maps, as another such compass is geographic and Traiphum maps, though readily visible on Map 14. details are shown. Chapter Four, ‘The Royal Maps: a A concluding essay entitled ‘The Working Catalogue’, comprises well Maps in the Wider World’ summarizes over half the book. Here researchers will the known inventory of early indigenous find a wealth of useful images of the Thai maps, which—aside from these maps, as well as the authors’ commen- seventeen—the authors count as one or tary about what is shown and conclu- two: the extraordinary ‘Map of Nakhon sions that can be drawn. Inscriptions are Si Thammarat’, dating from the early translated, serving not only to illuminate seventeenth century (though it should the mapmaker’s intent and the histori- be noted that other scholars, e,g, Joseph cal context, but also show them to be Schwartzberg, place this map towards working tools of the people who made the end of the seventeenth or early eigh- them. These include notes recording that teenth century), and the ‘Strategic Map’ a strait or sea passage is adequate only that is ostensibly from the reign of King for smaller vessels, seashores that dis- Rama I (r.1782–1809), but which is appear at high tide, distances recorded probably a later copy. The two extant in the typical time (rather than linear) Traiphum with maps are cited by the measure, notes recording events in wars, authors but not included in the tally, and even editorial comments: the author presumably because they are not suffi- of the map from the war zones in Cam- ciently empirical. They deem the sev- bodia repeatedly used the pejorative enteen newly-discovered maps to be ‘damn’ in referring to the Vietnamese. ‘the only significant corpus of indig- The book’s cornucopia of fine illus- enous Siamese topographic maps cur- trations includes not just many images rently known.’ This is true, though the

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only common denominator among the portant at the time due to the specter of maps is that they all had ended up in the Western imperialism among Thailand’s Grand Palace. How these seventeen fit neighbors. The very fact that, with vir- into the ‘wider world’ is the key ques- tually no precedent, seventeen turn up tion, and is the only significant quibble in one place is curious and worth ex- I have with the book, for here the au- ploring. Simple happenstance? Or for a thors draw more conclusions than the reason that itself makes them atypical, evidence can justify. something akin to the relative abun- The authors contend that the tech- dance of extant Burmese maps, which niques employed in the making of these were made by request for Westerners? maps are too developed not to be part As exciting as these Thai maps are, of a larger tradition. It struck me that they are quite late even at the optimum the authors refer to the cartographers of dating proposed and, showing as they one map as being ‘highly skilled in tra- do signs of outside influence, they are ditional topographical mapping tech- insufficient pieces of the puzzle to make niques’, when the ‘tradition’ to which broad conclusions. Thailand’s early they refer is the very mystery in ques- cartographic tradition, whatever it was, tion, and these seventeen maps comprise remains an enigma. Imagine that only nearly all the extant pieces of that one pre-modern topographic European puzzle. To make the leap that these maps map was known, and then seventeen are not only part of, but indeed typical nineteenth century European maps were of, a larger indigenous tradition, risks discovered in London or Paris which circular reasoning, and should not be bore foreign cartographic and geo- ventured even as a theory until the maps graphic elements; what conclusions are scrutinized for evidence of external would we draw from them about the influence, an issue which is not ad- early indigenous European mapping tra- dressed. If, as seems evident, non-indig- dition? In short, the discovery of these enous sources were tapped, both for seventeen maps does not, as stated in geography and mapping techniques, one the foreword, ‘prove the existence of an must consider to what extent the maps’ extensive and hitherto unsuspected car- cartographic ‘tradition’ may be a foreign tographic tradition in Thailand.’ On the tradition. Even the flaunted directional contrary, to both points: that tradition compasses (one accompanied by what has long been ‘suspected’, but remains appears to be a Western-style linear dis- more conjecture than fact. Even if we tance scale) should have raised a red flag assume that mapmaking was an integral here; and we know, for example, that part of Thai civilization, are these maps Westerners had been hired by the Thai typical of a coherent tradition of government for help in mapping the mapmaking? Or was mapmaking more kingdom in the nineteenth century, ac- static and isolated, varying markedly curate mapping being particularly im- with era and region?

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On balance, my criticisms of the book are minor, and indeed may become moot if, as the authors believe, this cache of maps represents only the ‘tip of the ice- berg’ of early Thai maps that may yet come to light from obscure hiding places. Let us hope they do. If more maps are discovered, further afield in both time and place over what is now Thailand, we can begin to piece together its cartographic past. Encouraging the hunt may be a bonus of the book. Royal Siamese Maps is a most welcome volume, well-researched, and beauti- fully produced. More than simply illu- minating Thai mapmaking in the early Bangkok period, it succeeds in the daunting task of doing justice to a most remarkable discovery, these seventeen extraordinary maps.

Thomas Suarez

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Philip Cornwel-Smith, Very Thai, Very Thai is divided into four general Everyday Popular Thai Culture by sections—Street, Personal, Ritual, and photographs by John Goss. Bangkok, Sanuk—which are further sub-divided River Books, 2005, pp. 256. into a broad spectrum of individual categories. The extent of these can be For eight years Philip Cornwel-Smith gathered by mentioning only a few of was editor of Bangkok Metro, one of the the titles. Under Street, for example, first publications to offer up-to-date among the entries are “Dinner on a listings of activities in the city. Possibly Stick,” “Drink in a Bag,” “Tiny Pink as a result of such journalistic experi- Tissues,” “Blind Bands,” and “Truck ence, this comprehensive examination and Bus Art.” Personal encompasses of popular Thai culture is written in a “Uniforms,” “Katoey and Tom-Dee,” breezy style that is far more accessible “Sniff Kiss,” “Potted Gardens,” and to the average reader than most schol- “Cute,” while the Ritual entries include arly works on the same subject. Simi- “Royal Portraits,” “Amulet Collectors,” larly, some 500 brightly-coloured pho- “Magical Tattoos,” “Fortune Tellers,” tographs by John Goss and the general and “Ghost Stories.” Sanuk ranges from layout (the cover displays a range that “Temple Fairs” and “Festivals” to “Soap extends from Buddha images and a Operas” and “Songs for Life.” beauty-contest queen to street food and Even from this partial selection it a motorcycle taxi driver) suggest a light- should be clear that there is a good deal hearted, attention-grabbing approach of overlapping, as well as some inevi- not very far from that of many maga- table repetition. One has the sense that zines, including Metro. Cornwel-Smith got a little carried away But appearances (and style) are mis- by all the oddities he unearthed and was leading in this case. If it is not exactly determined to squeeze as many of them the “pioneering” work promised on the as possible into his narratives. That, jacket blurb (most of the areas have been combined with the small type-face de- covered before by other writers), it is cided upon by his designers, can be also not just another of the countless somewhat daunting to a reader, who superficial books now being produced, may feel that he is getting rather more presumably aimed at tourists looking for than he really wants to know about, say, a souvenir of their visit to Thailand. “Motorcycle Taxi Jackets” and “Gam- Cornwel-Smith has been diligent, even bling.” Probably the best way to read obsessive, in his research, and no mat- Very Thai is little by little, making it an ter how well-informed a reader may ideal book for bedside tables. consider himself he is certain to come Many of the entries go considerably across something new and provocative beyond the subject matter indicated by in nearly every chapter. their titles. In the one called “Greco- Roman Architecture” (subtitled “Dress-

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ing Thailand in classical chic”), for ex- country, ranging from the national trin- ample, far more is covered than just the ity of Miss Thailand, Miss Thailand Thai penchant for blending architectural World, and Miss Thailand Universe to styles with a wild, sometimes surrealis- local ones like Miss Durian. “Further tic abandon. (Not a new phenomenon, expanding the definition of beauty, Miss incidentally; Geoffrey Gorer com- Jumbo Queen has since 1999 selected mented on it back in the 1930s.) women over 80kg who display the grace Cornwel-Smith goes back into the of an elephant... It aims to promote el- history of similar blendings in other ephant conservation and increase self- countries like India and Indonesia, esteem among large women.” discusses the influences of King Even the coverage of standard guide- Chulalongkorn’s trips to Europe, and book subjects like “Festivals” can in- guides the reader to a few outstanding clude amusing revelations. “To attract examples of what he calls “camp tourists,” Cornwel-Smith notes, “new panache” like Rangsan Torsuwan’s festivals may focus on wacky activities. mind-boggling Chatpetch Tower on the Farmers turned casual water buffalo Chao Phraya River, which manages to contests into the staged Chonburi incorporate a medieval rose window Buffalo Races. Surin revived elephant (without the stained glass; it serves as corralling into an Elephant Round-Up, an air vent for the car park), classical along with costumed ‘battles’ and columns, and a gothic dome. Such struc- elephant football. Even the scientific tures, Cornwel Smith says, are just Elephant Conservation Centre in “plain skyscrapers and malls sporting Lampang hosts an annual satoke (North- brazenly preposterous drag.” ern feast) for pachyderms.” (He also Similarly “Blind Bands (Bringing joy finds space to mention such related to the street)” not only discusses the dif- matters as “the horrific Songkran road ferent kinds of music offered by these toll—which in 2003 outstripped allied sightless pavement performers but also deaths in the Iraq invasion.” Thai attitudes towards the handicapped Now and then a seemingly unsubstan- in general and the reasons for discrimi- tiated statistic—for example, that nation by the police in particular. “En- Bangkok has 25,000 stray cats—may countering a blind band is a life lesson,” prompt one to raise a questioning eye- writes Cornwel-Smith in a characteris- brow, but these are remarkably few. At tic observation. “A triumph of beauty the end of the book Cornwel-Smith over pain, of spirit over body, of talent meticulously lists his main sources for over intolerance, they perform a true each chapter, and in the text he con- social service. Blind buskers more than stantly quotes from assorted experts, play the blues; they really live it.” among them the founder of a gay disco “Beauty Queens” claims that there are on why so many such places enjoy suc- nine contests per week somewhere in the cess for only a short time, the scholar

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Vithi Phanichphant on the origins of Buddhist amulets and their evolution into magic charms, and the late Pimsai Amranand on the Thai fondness for the topiary creations known as mai dut. In other words, he has done a vast amount of reading, interviewing, and on-the- spot observation. As a result Very Thai deserves a wide readership, not just for- eigners who live in any large city in Thailand, but also Thais who may be surprised at some of the things they will discover about their own culture.

William Warren

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Donald M. Stadtner, Ancient Pagan: treatment of detail throughout the book Buddhist Plain of Merit, photography by is, as always, exquisite. Michael Freeman and Donald M. Stadtner approaches Pagan as a Stadtner. Bangkok, River Books, 2005, living entity and does not restrict him- pp. 286. self to those remains dating from its days of glory from the eleventh to the thir- Gordon Hannington Luce, whose teenth centuries. He refers to the evi- magnificent Old Burma - Early Pagan dence of the Pyu, whose remains pre- (3 vols., Artibus Asiae, Ascona and New date the city as we know it, as well as to York 1969) brought Pagan to scholarly the renovations and new buildings dat- attention, would be delighted to read this ing from the fourteenth century until new and masterly work by a scholar today’s travesties. Both the pre- and well-known for his work on Burma. post-Pagan phases have often been mis- Stadtner was commissioned to write a understood or ignored in the literature, guide book, but this is a volume which and the book makes a significant con- will be welcomed not only by the dis- tribution in this area. cerning traveller but also by art histori- Stadtner treats his historical sources ans. with great caution, wisely, as research The introductory section, which cov- on Pagan intensifies and many earlier ers history, religion, materials, architec- views have come into question. Strachan ture, painting and sculpture, is well- (Pagan: Art and Architecture of Old worth reading before a visit. While Burma, Kiscadale, 1989: 37) already much earlier material is brought together queried Luce’s assumption that the early in an accessible way for the first time, it temples were derived from Mon proto- also incorporates recent research on types, and proposed Pyu. More recently, some subjects, including divisions Michael Aung-Thwin has sought to fur- within the sangha and the role of ther minimize Mon influence at Pagan women. Thirty-three monuments, con- (The Mists of Ramanna: the Legend that veniently divided into five groups, are was Lower Burma, Honolulu, Univer- then described in detail. These include sity of Hawaii Press, 2005). The book many of the major monuments and deals with this subject circumspectly, others well-chosen to tell a different part stating that the Mon cultural influence of Pagan’s larger story. The book is was strong, that political influence from profusely illustrated throughout, each Pagan probably extended into Mon image appropriately reflecting the text. territory in the time of Anawratha Two of Colesworthy Grant’s delightful (1044–1077), and that the Mon were nineteenth century watercolours are re- perhaps accorded special religious and produced at the ends. The frontispiece cultural status despite their relatively by Michael Freeman is the most evoca- low numbers. tive I have seen, and his lighting and

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Recent research on early Pagan has and Ba Shin, Stadtner has also consulted addressed the question of continuous the more recent work of Pratapaditya occupation of the site from the Neolithic Pal, Than Tun and Bautze-Picron, and, and Bronze Ages (e.g. Bob Hudson, together with his own observations, “The Origins of Pagan” Doctoral Dis- makes a considerable contribution to the sertation, University of Sydney, 2005, history of painting in Burma. He has http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/adt/ been able to clarify many details and public_html/adt-NU/public/adt- also offers suggestions for future re- NU20050721.144907/index.html) and search. Following Brown, he rejects the the beginnings of urbanism, and has idea that the paintings had a didactic queried the role of the Burmans in the function, and suggests that they were foundation of the city. Indeed, King considered an important part of the ef- Kyansittha (c.1084–1112), in his palace ficacious nature of the donation. In dis- inscription, alludes to the role which the cussing the variations in the Jataka se- Mon and the Pyu played in its cultural ries, he notes that comparison with the development. The influence of the Mon earliest surviving examples in Sri Lanka in early Pagan art and architecture, while and in Thailand will perhaps reveal in- over-stated by Luce, still remains to be teresting connections. clarified satisfactorily. The discussion of mural technique Stadtner is prudent when discussing and stylistic development will be of par- the range of influences on painting and ticular interest to both scholars and trav- sculpture, attributing not only the usu- ellers. Unlike many earlier writers, he ally-discussed Pala style, but also its has assessed the paintings made after the variants as far north as Ladakh. While capital moved to Ava in the fourteenth the Pala practiced Mahayana Buddhism century, when Pagan remained a pil- and in Pagan Theravada dominated, he grimage destination. Of interest are the notes that such religious distinctions many Buddhas painted intrusively mattered little to Pagan’s artists and resi- within the corridors of a number of im- dents. The reason why, in a basically portant temples in the fourteenth cen- Theravada context, certain Mahayana tury by the monk Anandasura, fifteenth themes are accepted and others rejected century murals at monastery 225 and the (as in the Kubyauk-gyi [Myinkaka] and eighteenth century Konbaung mural the Abeyadana) remains a subject for work represented at the Upali Thein and investigation. the Ananda Brick Monastery. The paintings at Pagan, which are still The Abeyadana (eleventh to twelfth subject to UNESCO restoration, are to- centuries), with its depictions of Hindu day far more visible to scholars and and Tantric deities and its prominent other visitors than before. While the Bodhisattvas often juxtaposed with identification of many subjects is depen- Jatakas, has long intrigued scholars of dent on the pioneering studies of Luce art and of Buddhism. Stadtner asks

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whether this amazing pantheon is He does however challenge several sourced from a specific text or an icono- orthodoxies. He suggests that the four graphic manual from Eastern India, majestic gilded Buddhas standing in Nepal or Tibet, or whether the artists or deep tall niches within the central core patrons chose themes from a variety of of the Ananda date to the Konbaung sources such as artists’ sketchbooks period in the eighteenth or early nine- from India. He concludes that the bor- teenth centuries, as wood was never rowing from eastern India was not so used for central images in the Pagan much an absorption of Mahayana beliefs period. If there were originally stand- as a cultural and artistic appreciation. It ing images in these shrines they would could be said that the iconography is one probably have been made of brick and of the more interesting experiments of stucco. He concludes that it is more early Pagan, but one which bore little probable that there were originally fruit. There may well be some truth in seated Buddhas in these four niches. the legend that it was built by Given the proportions of the niches this Kyansittha’s wife Abeyadana, a princess appears to be unlikely. In the case of the from east Bengal, especially as a cen- Manuha temple, associated in Burmese tral painting of the sanctum depicts what legend with the Mon king captured by Luce, followed by Bautze-Picron, iden- the Burmans and brought to Pagan, tified as the pregnant Maya, mother of Stadtner dates the current structure to the Buddha-to-be. Described here some time around the early Konbaung (p.189) as probably representing Maya period, given its uncharacteristic ground holding the Buddha in her lap, both plan and the large reclining Buddha in hands are actually raised outwards the hall attached to the rear, which, to- above her knees with an embryonic gether with the example in the Shwe- Buddha seated in her transparent womb san-daw compound, is of comparatively clearly depicted. If Kyansittha regarded recent origin. In these cases, as in many himself as a Bodhisattva (Michael others, we would have to agree. Reclin- Aung-Thwin, Pagan: the Origins of ing Buddhas of this scale do not seem Modern Burma, Honolulu, University of to have been part of the Pagan reper- Hawaii Press, 1985, p.49), a Buddha- toire in the days of its greatness. to-be, why should his queen not have It is important to mention the many seen herself as mother of a Buddha-to- restorations and the looting which have be? Coming from east Bengal she may taken place since the fourteenth century, well have engaged artists familiar with and especially since the 1990s. The her own tradition to illustrate the cult average travel writer is ignorant of these, she endorsed. But in this book, which is and without a book like this mistakes after all an introductory guide, Stadtner and inaccuracies will be perpetuated. has been careful not to indulge in such Some earlier restorations, such as the speculation. eighteenth century renovation of the

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Pitakataik, are quite sympathetic, oth- It remains to be seen whether a fu- ers, like the East Hpetleik made in the ture historian will have to cite the igno- early twentieth century, much less so. rance, greed and lust for power of the Stadtner sadly remarks on the “deeply late twentieth and early twenty-first scarred landscape” that the recent con- centuries as a cause of its final demise. troversial rebuilding has created, its reconstructions “too often based on Pamela Gutman conjecture that many times borders on fantasy”. The ugliness these impose, together with the insensitive building of hotels and roads, may eventually repel rather than attract the “cultural” tourists they were meant to lure. A number of these 1990s mockeries are enumerated: the ridiculous reconstruction of the Nga- Kwe-Nadaung and the speculative tower of the Kubyauk-Gyi (Wetkyi-In) among many. We are indeed fortunate in having Pierre Pichard’s magnificent 8-volume Inventory of Monuments at Pagan (UNESCO,Kiscadale 1992– 2001), produced following the 1974 earthquake, to remind us of the original form of a great many monuments, and this is often acknowledged in the book. In describing the decline of Pagan, Stadtner rejects many accepted causes, saying that

There is no evidence of destruction brought on by an invasion, pestilence, climatic change, a massive earth- quake or a peasant revolt. Loss of patronage was almost certainly the chief culprit in explaining why Pagan’s monuments fell into ruin, but the reasons for the loss of support remain conjectural.

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Sheila E. Hoey Middleton Intaglios, mainland and with Sri Lanka. Cameos, Rings and Related Objects Both Burma collections are said to from Burma and Java: the White come from Pyu sites in central Burma. Collection and another small private Traditionally finds such as these have collection. Oxford, BAR International been attributed to Sriksetra, the most Series 1405, 2005, £32.00. pp. iii+204, “Indianized” of the Pyu sites, and a well- ills. known dealer and scholar who may have been the source of both collections has This well-researched book describes told me that Sriksetra was indeed the two important private collections ac- provenance. Archaeologists will point quired in Burma and twenty rings from out the limitations imposed by a lack of Java. The author, who has published context, but in the Southeast Asian widely on engraved gems from Europe archaeological environment such finds and the Middle East, has attempted to are rare. The great majority of similar examine these in their regional context, engraved objects at Oc Éo described by making comparisons with similar ma- Malleret were not found in context, and terial from India, Sri Lanka, Southeast the recent ÉFEO excavations there Asia and elsewhere. In this she pays reportedly uncovered none at all. More- particular attention to materials and over, dealers usually eschew fragmen- shape, style and technique, use and tary objects in materials such as iconography. A brief introductory sec- terracotta or bone in favour of semi-pre- tion places the collections in their his- cious gems. Fortunately the second torical context. Each item in the collec- collection described in the appendix tions has been photographed, as have (“another small private collection”) impressions made from the intaglios and includes a number of the former. seals. Of particular interest are the com- Middleton acknowledges Malleret’s parisons of each object with similar work as the benchmark on the subject, items from the region or beyond. Notes and through rigorous comparative on the materials used are appended, to- analysis is able to suggest some inter- gether with indices of materials, objects esting connections. For instance, many and inscriptions, all of which scholars standing figures engraved on carnelian and collectors will find valuable. The in Sri Lankan collections are close to book is an important contribution to our examples from Oc Éo, some close knowledge of Pyu culture, a sorely ne- enough to come from the same work- glected field, and to its relations with shop. mainland Southeast Asia and beyond. Middleton points out that the domi- The collection of rings from Java, while nant motif in both collections and in Sri mostly of the better-known type, also Lanka is the recumbent bull, and rightly contains a number which may have been points out that this does not necessarily imported and can be connected with the signify the presence of Shaivism. The

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bull is the best-known device on royal tion (106, 107) can be read either as a seals in India, where Shiva’s Nandi does ka¯la, or monster, mask or as a pair of not appear until the fourth century. A pu¯rnakala´sa, or vases of plenty, stand- symbol of wealth and of power, the bull ing on a lotus base, and in one case (107) still plays an important role in ritual ex- the reversed design could be interpreted change amongst some Southeast Asian as a vase of plenty. Similarly, 108, de- peoples who have received little, if any, scribed as a trisula´ or trident over a Indian influence, and the depiction of a lotus pad, could also be read as a bull would resonate with pre-Indic prac- ´sr™vatsa. This multiple reading of mo- tice. Those bulls juxtaposed with a cres- tifs is also found in Pyu architecture. cent moon may be more Shaivite in Temple 996 at Pagan, a Pyu shrine intent. Middleton has made an interest- encased in a later structure, has at the ing comparative study of the variations base of the extant stucco pediment an of the bull motif from its early Greek, ornate lotus throne for a Buddha image Roman and Indian forms on seals and which can also be read as a ka¯la mask coins and its diffusion in Sri Lanka and (Gutman and Hudson 2005:21). The Southeast Asia. vegetal volutes on either side of the Similarly, the conch need not neces- stucco design closely resemble those on sarily denote Vaishnavism, but as one the rings. Further investigation of Pyu of the auspicious symbols common to art may bring further examples of this Brahmanism and Buddhism usually interesting trait to light. suggests water and its association with The inscribed objects in the collec- wealth and fertility. Animals represented tions are of particular interest. The in the Burma collections also include the White Collection No. 62 is a tabloid lion (some forms dependent on Greek blue-green glass inlaid with a Sanskrit and Indian and, interestingly, Nepalese inscription in gold aprama¯da “non-neg- precedent), elephants, boars, deer, and ligence” “care”, which also appears at horses. Geese show similarities to those Oc Éo and in Vataka inscriptions. Other found on stamped bricks from Pyu sites. Deccan-style inscriptions paleographi- Many symbols are well-known from cally datable to around the fourth to fifth coins and medals found at old sites centuries appear on agate and carnelian throughout Southeast Asia, not all of stones and read nanditavyam, “rejoice”, which have been satisfactorily identi- j™vadaya¯, “compassion for life”, and fied. Middleton has attempted to iden- dayadanam, “gift of compassion”, some tify one major group as “fire altars”, of which have parallels at Oc Éo and although she has not explored the im- elsewhere and suggest religious inter- plied significance of Vedic or Zoroas- course with southern India. A clay seal- trian ritual in early urban Southeast Asia. ing (App. 58) is inscribed in what is de- Middleton has noticed that the de- scribed as “Pali written in Pyu script”. signs on two rings in the White collec- Different scripts were used by the Pyu

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for Pali, Sanskrit and the Pyu language; used are usually derived from Indic and those used for Pali and Sanskrit were non-Indic symbols of prosperity, appro- close to Indian prototypes. This script priate in a society fast developing its should be more precisely described as regional and international trade. Pyu Pali. The reading nagara Thiri, “auspicious city”, is spurious. Red glass Pamela Gutman beads inscribed with “Mohammed” or “Ali”, similar to examples from Oc Éo and to Malay and Javanese charms, were tested as selenium ruby glass and must date to after 1891. The “small private collection” de- scribed in the appendix complements the White Collection, some intaglios so close they may have come from the same workshop. It also contains some interesting stamped pottery sherds, simi- lar to those recorded by U Aung Thaw at Beikthano and other Pyu sites, and at Chansen. A few sherds (e.g. App. 63) appear to be similar to the fine moulded ware noted at Oc Éo sites (Tan 2003: 111–112). A couple of European inta- glios with monograms dated to the late eighteenth or early ninteenth centuries illustrate the continuing movement of such objects throughout history. This book supplements the recent re- search on trade and trade objects by Glover and Bellina, in particular. The attention paid to the symbols illustrated on the range of objects will be of inter- est to those concerned with the nature of religious belief as it evolved in the early urban period. On the whole, how- ever, it would appear that the motifs

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Sanskrithandschriften aus den Tur- Handschriften Teil 2 (Singhalese Manu- fanfunden. Teil 9: Die Katalognummern scripts part 2) [1997]” in JSS 86, 1998, 2000–3199 beschrieben von Klaus p. 247f., it may be useful to recall that, Wille, herausgegeben von Heinz according to the original plan as con- Bechert. [Verzeichnis der Orientalischen ceived by Wolgang Voigt (1911–1982), Handschriften in Deutschland, Band X, late chief librarian of the Collection of 9]. Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2004. Oriental Manuscripts, Preussische pp. xi, 471 (ISBN 3-515-07346-9). Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, and announced € 80,-. by him in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Birmanische Handschriften. Teil 5: Die 107/1957, p. 1 as “Katalogisierung der Katalognummern 901–1015 bearbeitet Orientalischen Handschriften in von Anne Peters, herausgegeben von Deutschland (Cataloguing of Oriental Heinz Bechert. [Verzeichnis der Manuscripts in Germany, KOHD)”, cf. Orientalischen Handschriften in K. L. Janert, KOHD Volume II, 11, Deutschland Band XXIII, 5]: Stuttgart, p. 413, only those manuscripts are in- Franz Steiner Verlag 2004, pp. xxix, cluded which have never been properly 159, 4 Tafeln. (ISBN 3-515-04860-6). catalogued before. This huge project is € 60,- divided into 45 groups with occasion- ally numerous parts. The material is Handschriften der Yao. Teil I: Bestände grouped together according to the re- der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek spective language of the manuscripts München Cod.Sin. 147 bis Cod. Sin. described: I. Mongolian, II. Indian, III. 1045 in Verbindung mit Michael Georgian, IV. Armenian, V. Syriac, VI. Friedrich herausgegeben von Thomas (XXXIV.) (Illuminated) Hebrew, VII. Höllmann mit Beiträgen von Lucia Obi, Nakhi, IX, Thai, X. Sanskrit Mss. from Shing Müller, Xaver Götzfried. Turfan, XI. Tibetan, XII. Chinese, XIII. [Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Turkish, XIV. Persian, XV. (Illuminated) Handschriften in Deutschland, Band Athiopan, (XVI.) XXXVII. (Illumi- XLIV,1]. Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, nated) Islamic Manuscripts, XVII. 2004, pp. 723 (ISBN 3-515-08403-7). (XLIII.) Arabic, XVIII. Middle Iranian, € 90,-. XIX. Egytian, XX. Ethiopian, XXI. Coptic, XXII. Singhalese, XXIII. Bur- mese, XXIV. African, XXV. Urdu, These three voumes continue an am- XXVII. Japanese, XXVIII. Batak, bitious project to catalogue all oriental XXX. Kurdish, XXXI. Javanese, manscripts preserved in libraries in Ger- XXXII. Lao, XXXIII. Nepalese, XXXV. many. Although the overall programme Malay, XXXVI. Khmer, XXXIX. Shan, has been very briefly sketched by Peter XLI. Tocharian, XLII. Mon, XLV. Skilling in his review of “Singhalesische Korean.

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The volume by Höllmann and standably, necessary to abbreviate the Friedrich begins a new group of manu- often rather long colophons, which were scripts (XLIV), and may be considered previously given in full, with a regret- as a pioneer effort, since this is the first table loss of information. Moreover, the time that manscripts of the Yao, living numbers of the catalogue now refer to in China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and codices, and no longer to individual Burma, have been catalogued in accor- manuscripts. The change from English dance with present day standards. After used in parts 1–4 to German as the lan- the outward appearance of the individual guage used in the descriptions is not manuscripts is described, the title, the explained. However, there still is an beginning and end of the text are given, English version of the introduction fa- both in Chinese characters and in pin- cilitating acccess for non-German yin. Moreover, the content of individual speakers. manuscripts is briefly placed into its The different titles of Pa¯li or Burmese cultural context, then the scribe, date and texts are listed in an appendix, which owner are given where these data are also contains the names of authors, available. The lengthy introduction scribes, donors, owners, place names, discusses the general features of the and dates (the oldest manuscript manuscripts, which, written in Chinese catalogued here is an Abhidham- characters, sometimes are accompanied matthasa¬gaha-nissaya copied in AD by glosses in other languages such as 1760). Thai or Lao. The preceding volume 4 has been The authors, Höllmann and Friedrich, reviewed by Peter Skilling JSS 89. 2001, who earlier published a study on the Yao p. 131f., who also introduced part 8 of under the title “Botschaften an die SHT in JSS 88, 2000, p. 249. Götter. Religiöse Handschriften der Yao The number of fragments described (Messages to the Gods. Religious Manu- in part 9 of SHT, 1200, has grown con- scripts of the Yao)” in 1999, succeed in siderably when compared with merely this catalogue in paving the way for fur- 200 in the preceding part. One reason is ther research on the Yao by presenting the diminishing size of the individual an unusually rich and extensive mate- fragments. Almost all the larger ones rial in an exemplary way. have been dealt with earlier, leaving the On the other hand, the “Burmese more thankless task to the cataloguer to Manuscripts” and the “Sanskrithand- take stock of occasionally minute schriften aus den Turfanfunden” (SHT), remains of texts. In spite of the obvious both continue parts XXIII and X respec- difficulties with small fragments, K. tively of the KOHD series. In “Burmese Wille has succeeded in an astonishingly Manuscripts”, some changes have been high number of cases in identifying texts introduced to accelerate the cataloging. or at least text groups. As he mentions Thus it was unfortunately, but under- in his introduction, no. 2026, a rather

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long fragment, is of particular interest, because an author is mentioned [krtir bhiksor arya-Dharmattr¡tasya], p. 53, folio rR, x “the work of the monk Dharmatr¡ta”, whose identity awaits to be ascertained. At the same time, this is one of the birch-bark fragments in the Turfan collection (p. VIII). Although the texts are written in San- skrit, there are occasionally glosses in other languages such as Chinese, Soghdian, Tocharian, Uigur, including tiny bits in a so-far unidentified lan- guage (nos. 2079, 3069). At the end, there is a long list of additions and corrections to parts 1–8 (pp. 368–432) followed by another list of texts from the Turfan collection, which have been published since part 8 appeared. This may be supplemented now by the ma- jor edition of a Turfan text by Eli Franco: The Spitzer Manuscript. The Oldest Philosophical Manuscript in Sanskrit. 2 Volumes. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2004. As usual, all these catalogues again contain a wealth of material, which will considerably enrich the study of Bud- dhist texts in different traditions. The decriptions are presented in a careful and circumspect manner. The task for the future is to describe further collections, manuscripts or fragments—in the case of SHT, another four thousand.

Oskar von Hinüber

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Jennifer Took, A Native Chieftaincy in nificance. It is also clearly written, me- Southwest China: Franchising a Tai ticulously researched and of the highest Chieftaincy under the Tusi System of critical calibre. Late Imperial China. Sinica Leidensia, Zhuang is used officially by Chinese 70. Leiden, Brill, 2005, pp.xviii+318, 7 authorities to refer to 16 million or more ills. EUR 89.- / US$ 120.- Tai speakers in Guangxi and is increas- ingly used by local people themselves. The focus of the study is a native chief- Tai as used here refers to a trans-na- taincy or tusi of the Tai-speaking Chi- tional linguistic grouping to which Thai nese-Vietnamese frontier area. The belongs. It includes speakers of other Zhuang tusi of Anping, on the Chinese languages who might not refer to them- side of the border roughly between Cao selves as ‘Tai’, such as the Zhuang Bang in Vietnam and Longming in people of Guangxi, China, the focus of Guangxi, was recognised by Chinese this book. Recent years have seen brisk courts as a semi-autonomous adminis- activity in Tai studies, with the Siam trative unit from 1368 until 1906. Un- Society and this journal providing no- like many political borders of the cur- table dynamism. As academics in Thai rent Southeast Asian map, this particu- universities have taken up new com- lar margin is of long standing, with parative and historical Tai directions in Chinese suzerains seeing Anping’s stra- their research, some have been accom- tegic location as a buffer polity with modated by the establishment of Thai/ defence and bandit-suppression signifi- Tai studies centres (thai-khadi-sueksa cance. The chieftaincy is transversed by units) in their institutions. A few over- the Heishui River with nearby low-ly- seas universities also contribute to this ing wet rice areas, surrounded by moun- research effort, but not necessarily in tains with passes calling for surveillance centres designated as ‘Tai Studies’. An and control. This geographical concep- Australian example is the University of tion is convincingly illustrated in the Melbourne’s active Zhuang research book through traditional maps (pp. group, located in the Department of 56–61), including reproductions of Chinese Studies. A Native Chieftaincy Ming block prints. in Southwest China is based on doctoral The book summarises the earlier research undertaken in association with history of the area based on Chinese this group. The author, Jennifer Took, records. Included is a compelling treat- is not only highly proficient in Chinese ment of the rebellion of Nong Zhigao, and knowledgeable regarding relevant the Zhuang cultural hero and subject of local sources, but also has a solid pro- local legends who challenged Song fessional legal background. These fac- authority in the eleventh century. His tors combine to make this book one of defeat is considered to be a ‘pivotal point unique perspectives and innovative sig- in the history of the Zhuang peoples’ of

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the area (p. 48), important in determin- pable choice to succeed as native offi- ing the context of the Anping tusi. The cial was not the oldest son of the former formal inception of the native chief- official’s principal wife, or when that taincy is described and its development son could be removed by other candi- traced through the Ming and Qing eras dates. Unlike Chinese familial norms, to its relatively recent absorption into matrilineal lines of descent entered into the Chinese state system. ancestral ceremonies. A regular reader of this journal would Chapters of the book are devoted to be quick to connect the Anping tusi with relations with the Chinese court, the a Tai mueang, noting both similarities native official’s local power, classes of and differences. On the local level the people in the chieftaincy, village-level native official or chief had many of the administrative apparatus and land ten- core attributes of a traditional chao ure, given especially nuanced analysis. mueang in Tai areas to the south and Pressures to assimilate to Chinese norms west. For centuries a Zhuang lineage of and to form hybrid Han-Zhuang cultural Anping, the Li, provided a hereditary blends are described. These became in- line for selection of native officials. creasingly significant in the late Qing. Succeeding chiefs were formally enfran- Some comparisons are made with non- chised by the Chinese court and subject Tai tusi chieftaincies of other Chinese to shifting investiture regulations. The outlying areas, along with a few brief Li were clearly bicultural. They came Thai/Tai references, e.g. regarding ju- to be externally Sinified in what the dicial functions and types of slavery. author refers to as a ‘pragmatic bargain’. Some patterns familiar in other Tai ar- Chinese courts imposed judicious eas are examined: the native official’s exactments and required recognition of power as realised in control of land ten- imperial sovereignty, along with defence ure, irrigation dams, rice distribution obligations. It is suggested that ‘fictive and his leadership in key ceremonial Han ancestries’ were sometimes manu- rituals. Over 85 per cent of the popula- factured for official display. However, tion constituted house slaves and serfs, inside his own realm the local official referred to in Zhuang as loek na, ‘chil- was supreme chief and was free to make dren of the wet fields’, with specific his own regulations and to uphold se- agricultural and service obligations. lected customary Tai-Zhuang norms and Control of manpower and village ad- practices. The careers of a succession ministration are described in detail. The of 23 incumbent chiefs are assembled official maintained this control through and summarised in the book, the last systems of entourage and patronage. official terminated in 1930 in early Red Relations with neighbouring towns were Army activity. As with succession in a not always peaceful. Taiping to the typical mueang, some contention was southeast once dispatched an Anping predictable, especially when the pal- chief with poisoned arrows. Later, the

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Taiping rebellion (1850–64) was sup- fessional. Western and Chinese bibliog- pressed with cooperation from Anping raphies are comprehensive for relevant forces. studies in these languages. There is little The author’s background in law is negative to be said about this work, but welcome not only in explicit attention if one had to indicate something, it to legal and judicial matters but also in would be the exorbitant price. In spite general methodology: alertness to criti- of this obstacle, the book deserves a cal sources of evidence and the careful wide readership and stands to make a amassing, sifting and evaluating of dif- continuing contribution to Tai studies. ferent strands. Through the long period under review, ideology of various casts Anthony Diller has affected the preservation and trans- mission of documents, as well as spe- cifics of Chinese phraseology, all com- petently discussed. A vital source lo- cated by the author is a set of field in- terviews and reports dating from a Chi- nese survey of 1956. Through inter- views collected in this source, eye-wit- ness depictions of the last years of the Anping tusi become accessible. The data require careful handling, however, given the Marxist frame of reference projected by the researchers. The outlook of the survey was more to emphasise hardship and feudal injustices than to report lo- cal Zhuang beliefs and values. In spite of this, the author has gleaned much material of value from this survey. This is translated and incorporated into vari- ous sections of the book, providing a wealth of little-known ethnographic material. Those interested in comparing traditional Tai marriage, childbirth, fu- neral and other cultural practices will find much of interest, some placed in convenient appendices. Production, including charts, tables, black and white pictures, maps, Chinese glossary and a good index, is highly pro-

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Patricia Cheesman, Lao-Tai Textiles: ritual. Five chapters then discuss in con- The Textiles of Xam Nuea and Muang siderable detail the textiles used by Phuan. Chiang Mai, Studio Naenna, women every day, by women for cer- 2004, pp. 297. emonial occasions, by men for religious rituals and ceremonies, and for house- The research, writing and photogra- hold purposes. The last two chapters phy for this book have clearly been a provide information on the techniques labour of love. Patricia Cheesman has used for dyeing and weaving and on the been studying the textiles of northern principal weaving motifs and their sym- Laos for thirty years. This volume builds bolism. on her previous published work1 and This structure may make sense for reflects her own love of textiles as a someone who already knows quite a lot weaver herself. The book is well pro- about textiles and weaving techniques, duced, and includes over 570 photo- but the general reader really needs to be graphs, by far the most in colour. For introduced to the technical terms and lovers of the wonderfully rich variety what they mean before these are used of textiles from these two regions of to classify and identify various catego- northern Laos, the photographs alone ries of textiles—especially since there make the book a collector’s item. is no glossary to refer to. The chapter The book is divided into eleven chap- on textile motifs and their symbolism ters, with three useful appendices and a would also have better been placed bibliography, but there is no glossary or earlier, since these both reflect Tai index, both of which would have added culture and are important for an under- to its value, both for general readers and standing of the significance and use of for scholars with an interest in Lao his- different designs, and how these help in tory and culture. The first two chapters classification. cover the geographical and historical The history of the northeastern Lao setting. The next presents Cheesman’s provinces of Huaphan and Xiang system of classifying the textiles she is Khuang is extremely complex—both interested in, namely the historical tex- because of the movement of different tiles (those more than fifty years old) of peoples in and out of both areas (not to the two regions of Xam Neua and Xiang mention invading armies), and because Khuang produced by the various Tai of the tributary relations each had with groups who live there. Then comes a various contending centres of power chapter on the culture of these groups, (neighbouring kingdoms, or mandalas).2 concentrating mainly on religion and Cheesman begins this history with some

1 Patricia Naenna, Lao Textiles: Ancient Symbols - Living Art. Bangkok, 1988; Patricia Cheesman Naenna, Costume and Culture: Vanishing Textiles of Some of the Tai Groups in Lao PDR. Chiang Mai, 1990. 2 See Martin Stuart-Fox, The Lao Kingdom of La¯n Xa¯ng: Rise and Decline (Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 1998)

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highly speculative early population affected far more than Xam Neua by movements of Tai peoples in China. She the forced depopulation policy of the is on firmer ground with the fourteenth Siamese court. Tens of thousands of century formation of the Sipsong Chu Phuan were resettled closer to the Tai, centred on the middle basins of the Mekong and in the Chao Phraya basin Black and Red rivers and covering north of Bangkok. But whereas Xam territory now part of southern China, Neua was separated from other parts of northwestern Vietnam, and northeastern the Sipsong Chu Tai by French-imposed Laos (including part of Phongsali prov- borders that left most of the Tai high- ince, which Cheesman does not include lands in Vietnam rather than Laos, in her study.) The twelve principalities Meuang Phuan lost only the upper (meuang) of the Sipsong Chu Tai actu- reaches of the Song Ca River. Both re- ally comprised many more, smaller, gions were fought over during the First tributary meuang, so Xam Neua was Indochina War (1946-1954). As Xam never an integral, single entity. Neua formed part of the Pathet Lao lib- By contrast, Meuang Phuan (or erated zone and the Plain of Jars was a Meuang Xiang Khuang) was a separate contested strategic area, both were small kingdom, with its centre of power heavily bombed during the Second and population further south on the Plain Indochina War (between 1964 and of Jars (though it too comprised con- 1973). Most of the population of both stituent meuang.) It was established by regions became internal refugees, or fled Tai-Phuan, who formed part of the same into the forest or hid in caves while their migrations that brought the Tai-Lao into villages were destroyed. the middle Mekong basin. For Meuang What is extraordinary is that through- Phuan, too, the first firm historical ref- out all this time women continued to erences date back only to the fourteenth weave under often impossible condi- century. From then on it maintained a tions. Perhaps even more extraordinary fragile independence through paying is that they saved from destruction so tribute, when possible, to both of its many of their precious textiles. Many powerful neighbours—Dai Viet (north- of these found their way onto the inter- ern Vietnam) and Lan Xang. Because national market in the economically of its geographical position, it was much depressed decade following the Pathet more open than was Xam Neua to both Lao victory of 1975 (when Cheesman trade and invading armies. Textiles were bought her first northeastern Lao tex- the crowning achievement of high tiles in Vientiane.) Others have been Phuan culture, and Phuan weavers were kept as heirlooms, and for ceremonial called upon to produce fine textiles for occasions. These older textiles are what the Lao court at Luang Phrabang. Cheesman discovered during her years Both regions suffered grievously dur- of research, and about which she writes ing the past century and a half. In the so warmly. nineteenth century Meuang Phuan was

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Textiles contribute centrally to the dress as women (when they are known self-identity of ethnic groups, down to as mô mot, as opposed to mô mon). the use of different colours and motifs These shamans perform mainly rituals by different lineages and clans. Tai- associated with sickness and appease- Dam, Tai-Daeng, Tai-Khao, and other ment of the ancestors. A special category ethnic minorities are distinguished by of shamans performs rituals for the dead, what they wear. What Cheesman discov- and are always elaborately dressed for ered, however, was that so much inter- the occasion. At funerals, the dead are action and borrowing had occurred as a dressed in their finest clothes. Deceased result of so many population movements women wear multiple sets of blouses that it was impossible to classify tex- and special tube skirts (known as sin tiles in relation to ethnography. All that ph™, or ‘spirit skirts’) into which are wo- proved possible was to differentiate ven highly schematic motifs of ances- weaving styles and designs, materials tral figures. Mourners, by contrast, wear and motifs, according to geographical simple white or very pale indigo mourn- location. On this basis Cheesman clas- ing clothing, with the exception of sifies Xam Neua textiles into four sub- daughters-in-law, who wear colourful styles, and Meuang Phuan textiles into blouses and multiple sin ph™. The pho- five, all beautifully illustrated. Each of tographs of these sin and the funeral the five chapters on kinds and uses of banners and coffin screens (for the textiles is sub-divided accordingly. animist groups bury their dead) are For many readers the most fascinat- among the finest in the book. ing part of this book will be the chap- A final note must be included on ters on the shamanic beliefs and rituals Cheesman’s idiosyncratic use of certain of the upland Tai (chapter 4) and the tex- terms and spellings, because both crop tiles worn by the shamans performing up in the title of the book. The first is these rituals (chapter 8). Bringing these her use of the term ‘Lao-Tai’, which she two together, along with an explanation uses throughout the text. This departs of the principal shamanic symbols and from the usual scholarly convention of motifs woven into the cloth, would have using ‘Tai’ as the inclusive term for all strengthened this section even further. those groups which speak Tai languages Cheesman has had the privilege of wit- and define themselves culturally and nessing many of these shamanic rituals ethnically as Tai (reserving ‘Thai’— herself, and there are some wonderful though it is the same word—to refer to photographs. the citizens of modern-day Thailand). Only the Tai-Daeng employ women Ethnic Lao can thus be referred to as shamans as well as men. In the other Tai Tai-Lao and the Siamese of central Thai- groups Cheesman studied, all shamans land as Tai-Syam. Cheesman uses Lao- are male, though in cases where the spir- Tai because some, but not all, scholars its which possess them are female, they believe ‘Lao’ was the earliest term used

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by the Chinese to refer to the ancestors in meuang (which Cheesman writes of the Tai peoples in China. This has the muang), but Cheesman for some reason benefit of giving equal billing to the Lao, reverses the order (to give Xam Nuea, now that the Thai have appropriated the as in her title, instead of Xam Neua, or general term for themselves—and per- Sam Neua, the alternatives used on ev- haps also stresses the provenance of ery map of Laos I have ever seen.) This these textiles. But it does so at the ex- choice is the more surprising in that it pense of making it difficult to refer to cannot be read by an English speaker ethnic Lao. Cheesman never uses the with anything near the correct pronun- term ‘Tai-Lao’. When she wants to re- ciation, while Cheesman goes out of her fer to the influence of lowland Lao way to ensure that other combinations weaving techniques and designs on closely reflect pronunciation (for those of Xam Neua and Meuang Phuan, example, ‘oa’ as in ‘groan’, instead of she refers to Lan Xang, the name of the ‘oo’ for the long o, and ‘or’ for the ô in Lao kingdom that existed in the middle nakhôn.) A personal reason why I do not Mekong basin from the mid-fourteenth like Cheesman’s use is that it reduces to the early eighteenth century. But this the ngeuak (Cheesman: ngueak), the is a political, not a cultural or ethno- great mythical river dragon that is the graphic term, and so seems inappropri- commonest motif in all Lao weaving,3 ate. and one of my favourite beasts, to some- My other quibble is with translitera- thing that appears to rhyme with tion, always a problem for Lao because ‘squeak’. there is no officially endorsed system, That said, for anyone interested in the as there is for Thai or Chinese. Chees- textiles of Laos, arguably among the man uses a modified Library of Con- finest expressions of Lao culture and gress transcription, with a doubling of now represented in many of the great the letter to indicate long vowels. This museums of the world, this book will results in some inconsistencies (Lan be an essential reference for years to Xang, but ‘saang’ for elephant as a mo- come. tif), but is acceptable overall—except for one diphthong, the sound as in Martin Stuart-Fox hearse, to use Cheesman’s example. This is usually transliterated as ‘eu’, as

3 Ngeuak have been tamed by Buddhism to become naga (nak in Lao), protectors of the Dhamma. So ubiquitous are they as a weaving motif that Viengkham Nanthavongdouangsy called her little book on Lao woven textile motifs Weaving Cloth, Weaving Nagas (Vientiane: Phaeng Mai Gallery, 2004).

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Gillian Green, Traditional Textiles of als, particularly cotton. Cambodia, it is Cambodia: Cultural Threads and Ma- claimed, exported raw cotton to the terial Heritage. Bangkok, River Books, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Vietnam 2003, pp.320, ills, hardback, Bt.1,795. and became, by the beginning of the twentieth century, the most important This book is the culmination of producer in Southeast Asia. Yet, accord- Gillian Green’s research, over a ten-year ing to the author, the Cambodians re- period, into the textile and dress tradi- jected indigenous cotton in favour of tions of Cambodia. The book is lavishly imported cotton yarn purchased from illustrated, with over three hundred Chinese merchants. Itinerant Ho were colour images drawn from important the major buyers of raw cotton in the private collections and from museum states of inland Southeast Asia, but did sources in Australia, Cambodia, they also deal in cotton yarn for export America and Europe. to Cambodia? A study of trade records The book begins with a brief history might provide the answer. of Cambodia with reference to Khmer, A comprehensive chapter explains Cham, Malay, Tai, Chinese and Sino- loom types, equipment associated with Khmer people, whose weavers contrib- production, warp and weft patterning uted to the development of weaving methods and the technique of tie-dye- techniques, to the patterning and design ing cloth after it is woven. The illustra- of cloth, and to dress styles. The author tions include sets of finely carved loom also cites Hindu, Buddhist and animist pulleys, warp board guides, reel stands traditions that helped shape the iconog- and warp brushes, and outstanding ex- raphy associated with textiles produced amples of red and black lacquered weft in this region. Using Khmer sculpture thread dyeing (hol) stands. The beauty as illustration, she traces the history of of these objects bears testimony to the Cambodian dress as seen in the exquis- importance attached to all aspects of itely draped, folded, pleated, sometimes cloth production. tailored, and patterned garments of Chapter Five comprises an amazing Angkor, Bayon and Banteay Srei. This array of Khmer design schemes, patterns is a necessary historical starting point, and motifs. The author searches for de- as in the tropical climate of Cambodia sign origins, drawing on Indian silk textiles and dress have not survived be- patola cloths and printed and painted yond one hundred to one hundred and cloth from the Coromandel coast, as fifty years. What is not so clear is where well as Indian cotton textiles made for these fabrics, portrayed in stone, actu- the Siamese market, a Chinese garment ally came from. India, China, Siam and with diamond lattice patterns, excavated Java are cited here as possible sources. from a tomb dated to the first century There are some intriguing statements CE, and Javanese and Malay textiles. in the chapter dealing with raw materi- This chapter focuses particularly on

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complex and rich, yet subtle, Khmer hip research. The beauty of the textiles il- wrappers and women’s skirts, woven in lustrated here will hopefully provide 1/2 twill. Over fifty fine examples are inspiration to artists and designers, as included in the illustrations. There is well as stimulate academic research. also a section highlighting resist tie- dyed head cloths that are compared with Susan Conway similar cloths from Malaysia and south Sumatra. The chapter on Cambodian dress is more problematic because, the author argues, there is little evidence follow- ing the ninth to twelfth century stone sculptures described earlier, until actual samples that have survived from the late nineteenth century. She refers to early and late twentieth century Khmer Bud- dhist mural paintings and contemporary sculptures for clues. Nineteenth century photographs might have provided some further information, if there were such a source. There are photographs of the Royal Khmer Dance Troupe (circa 1900–1930), showing how richly pat- terned tailored and draped cloth and ornaments were worn at that time. The author’s contemporary photographs of the Cambodian diaspora in Australia provide an interesting comparison. The final chapters deal with Buddhist textiles and ship cloths, explaining their significance in religious practice. Again, the illustrations are excellent, highlight- ing scenes from the Vessantara Jataka and the Buddhist cosmology. The main types of ship motif and the “tree of life” symbol are explained in useful diagram- matic form. In conclusion, this book is an impor- tant contribution to the study of Khmer textiles and provides a basis for future

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David W. and Barbara G. Fraser Mantles stripes and the success in hiding the of Merit: Chin Textiles from Myanmar, underlying warp colours” (p.95). This India and Bangladesh. Bangkok, River is a book steeped in the intricacies of Books, 2005, pp. 288, ills, Bt.1,895. back-strap loom technology, suitable for textile scholars and weavers who will Mantles of Merit is an authoritative be intrigued by the ingenious ways in reference book on the textiles from the which the Chin weavers have accom- Chin Hills of Myanmar and outlying plished subtle differences in surface areas, which include border areas of In- decoration and colour with the most dia and Bangladesh. There are eight simple equipment and limited iconog- chapters, an appendix, bibliography and raphy, while collectors will refer to it to index. The text is well illustrated with identify their textiles. Indeed, examples quality photographs and/or diagrams on of misidentified textiles in public and nearly every page. The American au- private collections worldwide are given. thors have studied textiles for over 20 The general reader will enjoy the many years and have previously written on excellent photographs, which beauti- this subject in Arts of Asia 2003 volume fully display their minimal qualities and 33. David W. Fraser is a research asso- capture the artistic merit of the textiles, ciate at the Textile Museum in Wash- for which the authors make a plea in ington DC and the University of Penn- their first sentence: “As art objects, Chin sylvania Museum of Archaeology and textiles deserve to be much better Anthropology, and has authored “A known”. With the authors’ intricate de- Guide to Weft Twining and Related scription of each textile, readers will find Structures with Interacting Wefts” and themselves turning the pages back and other articles on textile structures. In forth to follow the recommended illus- order to achieve this in-depth research, trations explaining each technique or to the Frasers travelled into many of the find an early photograph illustrating a areas covered and examined numerous textile’s use in former times. international collections of Chin textiles. These early photographs are a com- The authors have obviously found pelling part of the book, bringing the great pleasure in analysing weaving textiles into their cultural context and structures and unravelling weaving tech- illustrating well the authors’ title, niques that at first glance appear simi- Mantles of Merit. The authors have suc- lar and rather simple. We are led into a cessfully matched many early textiles, world of subtleties, where tone-on-tone now in private collections, with those fabrics and the width of a stripe can dis- being worn in the late nineteenth and tinguish a textile of high rank from that early twentieth century photographs. of an ordinary person. We are told “the These photographs were taken by mis- skill of the weaver is reflected in the sionaries and British administrators, density of these (plain) black weft faced whose agenda was not the documenta-

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tion of the textiles or dress, but never- maps. No legends are provided and the theless have proved invaluable to this maps at the beginning of chapters 2, 4, research. In particular, those of the Rev. 5, 6 and 7 fail to show all the towns and J. Herbert of the American Baptist locations mentioned in the respective Church taken between 1908 and 1920 text. Kalemyo, for example, does not seem to have been the most prolific. appear on the map of the northern Chin The authors have achieved their goals area (p.57), and the reader is forced to outlined in the preface, one being to turn back to page 10 to find its location. present the nineteenth century Chin tex- The Chin Hills, so important and often tiles as art objects by unveiling their mentioned in the text, are not named on “technical virtuosity”, and the other pre- any map, whereas the Chittagong Hills senting them as cultural objects that are. There are inconsistencies in spell- “deserve to be understood for their ings and town locations such as Tiddim, integral role in the core Chin effort to which is shown southeast of Falam on achieve merit in this life and the next”. p.10 and southwest of Falam on p.57. Missing areas of research have been The introduction gives a general an- cleverly covered by reference to other thropological background of the Chin researchers or by interviewing people peoples as Sino-Tibetans and compares in some of the main towns. It is obvious the opinions of various anthropologists, that the authors hold the Chin in great most of whom seem to differ in their respect as they credit “the expert weav- analysis of the Kuki-Chin peoples and ers of exemplary textiles” as a central rely on linguistics for their classifica- theme to the book and name many tion systems. We learn that the Chin people in the figure captions. New tech- originated in the Himalayan Plateau nologies such as standing looms and around 4000 BC and came into South- trade items are given minimal coverage, east Asia approximately AD 1000, with and from the lack of photographic data half currently living in Myanmar and the from the field made by the authors them- other half in India, with a small popula- selves, it is clear that they found little tion in Bangladesh. They speak at least traditional clothing in use today. 44 separate languages, the most com- Indigenous names of textiles are not mon being Lai. An appendix at the end always provided and would have been of the book gives the names of 22 loom useful, particularly in the captions. Fur- parts and related items in 32 of these thermore, it is not easy to understand languages, most of which are credited the inconsistency of the English given to Bahadur. However, despite the au- in parentheses after some indigenous thors’ claim in the preface that “the or- names, nor the role of bold lettering used thography of the Chin languages is not occasionally. It is perhaps also apt to standardized, so phonetic spellings are mention that the maps provided did not the rule”, it is a shame that a specific suffice my curiosity and love of good phonetic system was not specified for

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the book, nor a glossary provided for techniques show concise and clear un- readers with a keen eye for languages. derstanding of the subject. We are A table of Kuki-Chin languages taken guided into noticing the subtlest addi- from Grimes, and geographic, topo- tions to textiles such as laid-in wefts that graphic and climatic information are can hardly be seen but play an impor- given on pages 15–16. tant role in the status of a textile, and In Chapter 2 the studies of numerous alternated wefts that give depth to red scholars and missionaries are drawn warps by using a black weft and warmth upon for the history and cultural setting to black warps by changing to a red weft of the Chin, but the historical informa- in the same textile. Although most Chin tion is minimal. The missionaries’ ac- textiles are warp faced, the authors counts seem to be less useful than their document numbers of textiles that alter- photographs, as “the primary motivation nate from warp to weft face in the same (of the missionaries) was not recording piece by bunching warps together or of Chin history but the translation of the even by cutting them off to reduce the Bible” (p.19). More recent anthropo- warp count. Interesting techniques such logical studies made in the 1950s and as false embroidery and eccentric weft 1960s have been more useful for cul- twining are introduced, and stitching tural information, but these research methods have been carefully drawn. pockets of Chin culture and cannot be Unfortunately the “vai puan stripe” is taken as representative of the whole, as not sufficiently described, given its con- such a vast variety of cultural aspects tinuous mention throughout the book, exist. We are told that the primary so- and its discontinuous supplementary cial aim in the past of the entire Chin weft sections are not seen in the sug- population was power by control over gested photographic reference of figure land, the ability to demand high bride 95. Information sadly lacking in this prices and to organize large war parties. technical chapter is on natural dyes used Today many of these standards still in the nineteenth century, which the au- exist, and the Chin are preoccupied by thors admit they were unable to research status and material wealth that is due to the common practice of chemi- displayed in feasts of merit, when hosts cal dyeing today. It is likely that chemi- sacrifice massive mithans to feed large cal dyes reached these areas very early, numbers of the community. Interest- due to the British involvement there ingly, textiles are the only home-pro- since the late eighteenth century, but no duced items included in Chin heirloom information is given of this trade or pos- items. sible dating of textiles by their dye Chapter 3 is the crowning accom- sources. Bright red, for example, was plishment of these authors, whose mag- purportedly made from lac, but it is nificent drawings of textile structures known that lac does not dye well on and avid descriptions of the weaving vegetable fibres such as cotton, hemp

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and flax, the main materials for many The last chapter, “Wellsprings and Chin textiles. The authors doubt the Flow of Textile Ideas”, is a summary of originality of the red tunics of the the finds made by the authors and is a Khmau, calling it “a matter of debate”, pleasing conclusion to the book. We but fail to suggest chemical dyes as a learn that resist dyeing may have been possible reason for the greater use of red, the Karen influence, and that the Laytu, nor do they analyse the possible signifi- an Ashö group, may have been the origi- cance of silk in red sections of the tex- nal creators of the twill technique. The tiles, as silk dyes easily in lac. “vai puan stripe” is of possible Laytu The next four chapters are devoted to and Bawm origins. The Frasers’ dedi- a description of the textiles themselves. cation to detail has been triumphantly One wonders why blankets are not in- rewarded, as illustrated by one of their cluded in the sections on “wear”, but are final statements: “In many cases struc- described together with sleeping blan- tural analysis confirmed groupings (of kets, whereas they seem in some cases the different Chin peoples) suggested by to be one of the few garments worn and linguists and anthropological study” are, after all, body mantles. Sub-head- (p276). Mantles of Merit poses many ings within the textile types would have questions, but has successfully filled an assisted easier reference and greater enormous gap in our knowledge of Chin clarity. Unfortunately, the marvellous textiles and is a veritable dictionary on ability of the authors to describe the the subject. weaving techniques and structures of each textile was not applied to the meth- Patricia Cheesman ods of dress, perhaps due to the lack of information in the field. Chapter 7 on Ashö textiles describes some of the most fascinating textiles in the book. Despite the relocation of the six Ashö groups south of the Chin Hills in Burmese and Rakhine controlled areas, they seem to have maintained more sophisticated early textiles styles than the Haka, who are often thought of as the creative force behind Chin textiles. It is very interest- ing that these textiles show a high level of impressive weaving, even though they are only used on ceremonial occa- sions and the people have adapted them- selves to more modern living.

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Donald K. Swearer, Sommai Premchit directly relevant, and the doctrinal jus- and Phaitoon Dokbuakaew, Sacred tifications used by the Buddhist envi- Mountains of Northern Thailand and ronmental movement are briefly ex- their Legends. Chiang Mai, Silkworm plored. These are put into a Thai-spe- Books, 2004, pp. 112, Bt. 395. cific context by a short review of the late Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s interpreta- The mountains of northern Thailand, tion of the relationship between nature famous to pilgrims and tourists alike, are and the Dhamma, the Buddha’s teach- associated with monastic asceticism, as ings. well as shamanism and animist beliefs. In Chapter 2 we turn to a more de- Drawing on a number of Thai and ver- tailed examination of the many mean- nacular sources, this book presents new ings and roles ascribed to the mountains translations of tamnan, legendary of northern Thailand. Illustrated by a chronicles, associated with the moun- simple diagram on page 22, we see how tains of northern Thailand. Two of the the mountain has been linked with translations, the Tamnan Ang Salung notions of kingship and cosmology, (Chronicle of Water Basin Mountain) Buddhism, Brahmanism, legends and and the Tamnan Phra Doi Suthep deities. Here we examine the apparent (Chronicle of Doi Suthep) are the result tensions between nature and culture, a of collaboration with Thai scholars, false opposition in the opinion of the Phaitoon Dokbuakaew and Sommai author, who suggests that “when culture Premchit, respectively. Swearer contrib- is perceived as a total way of life of a utes two thoughtful introductory chap- group of people, then nature becomes ters and introduces the translations, and part of the way in which a people un- is the sole translator of the legends of derstand and construct their very exist- Phra That Doi Kham and Chao Luang ence” (p. 23). Swearer goes on to ex- Kham Daeng. amine some of the similarities between The first chapter, entitled “Buddhism, the tamnan, discussing ways of under- Nature, and Culture”, examines the con- standing the Buddha’s travels around tribution of religion, particularly Bud- northern Thailand and his encounters dhism, to debates surrounding the with local peoples and places, giving “global environmental crisis”. Swearer names to places and distributing relics. proposes that the attempts to tackle the The Buddha’s presence and journey environmental crisis have neglected serve to create an order, “within which “humanistic, ethical and religious per- particular locations derive meaning as spectives” (p. 1), and that these dimen- a result of being integrated into a larger sions urgently need to be addressed in scheme of things grounded ultimately order to move the debate forward. in the Buddha.” The signs, relics, place Swearer suggests that the teaching of the names, stories, folklore and legends he historical Buddha can be interpreted as leaves in his wake serve as reminders of his “continuing presence”.

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Chapter 3 contains the translation of (in the form of a footprint) as he goes. the Tamnan Doi Ang Salung, the Often these relics are of a rather surpris- Chronicle of Water Basin Mountain, ing nature, as when a Lawa farmer is Thailand’s third highest mountain. The presented with a relic from the mucus text is translated from palm leaf manu- which drips from the Buddha’s nose. script in northern Thai script, from a The chapter concludes with the Legend monastery in the Chiang Mai district of Chao Luang Kham Daeng, Lord Bur- kept in microfilmed copy in the Social nished Gold, in which we learn how the Research Institute’s archive at Chiang son of the king of Champa’s mysteri- Mai University. The manuscript used is ous death at the hands of a yakkha (de- dated Chulasakarat 1306 (1944 C.E.), mon) lead to him becoming the guard- though the author suggests this version ian spirit of the cave in which he disap- probably dates from the early nineteenth peared. He still “rules over the spirits century. The authors have slightly al- and lords of the forest and the moun- tered the order in which the elements of tains in northern Thailand all the way the original are organised in order to to the Burma border” (p.67). make the text more straightforward and In Chapter 4 we turn to that most readable, meaning that elements can famous of Thai mountains, Doi Suthep. work independently of the main narra- The Tamnan Phra Doi Suthep is trans- tive. The text comprises three elements, lated from a microfilm copy in the arranged into five shorter sections for Social Research Unit, Chiang Mai ease of reading. In this type of legend- University. The manuscript was palm ary text, which draws together figures leaf, written in Lan Na script and dated of religious authority who may be C.S. 1186 (1824 C.E.). This legend diachronically separated by centuries, again gives an account of the Buddha and places which may be geographically visiting northern Thailand, and includes far apart, into a single synchronic the well-known story of the journey on narrative of localised sacred place, lit- an elephant’s back to the summit of Doi eral interpretation is not the intention. Suthep of the Buddha relic brought Thus, we read of the Buddha being ac- from Sukhothai by the holy monk companied by King Asoka and attended Mahasumana Thera. This text also in- by his disciple Ananda, and events from corporates the lineage of the kings of his biography are transposed from an In- Chiang Mai and the building of the dian to a northern Thai context. The chedi, and details the correct way in tamnan relates the Buddha’s journey which to make offerings. The chapter around northern Thailand and his en- concludes with the translation of the counters with various ethnic groups, Legend of Doi Kham, the golden moun- including the Lawa, Tai and Burmese, tain. This includes the legend of converting the people and the land and Chamathewi, and the history of the distributing relics and leaving his mark yakkhas Pu Sae and Ya Sae, and their

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son, the ascetic Wasuthep, whose story explains the annual buffalo sacrifice held at Doi Kham. This is a short book and is of interest to anyone who cares about Thailand’s cultural and physical heritage. Of course, it will be of particular interest to historians and scholars of Buddhist studies, but it is written in accessible language appropriate to the general reader. It is an ideal companion volume to Swearer and Sommai Premchit’s Legend of Queen Cama (Albany: SUNY Press, 1998). There are thirteen colour plates which accompany the text; how- ever, the inclusion of a simple map would have aided readers unfamiliar with the location. The decision to con- vert the distances described in the text from Thai wa to metres seems rather strange and jars somewhat with the rest of the translated text. The fact that foot- notes are kept to a minimum and there is no separate bibliography means that pointers to further reading on Buddhist environmentalist movements in Thai- land and beyond are minimal. These minor points notwithstanding, this book makes a fascinating read for scholars and interested individuals alike, and is a welcome addition to the body of work of Professor Swearer.

Catherine Newell

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Donald K. Swearer, Becoming the Bud- of scholarly and theoretical angles. dha: The Ritual of Image Consecration Drawing on Pali and Thai and vernacu- in Thailand. Princeton, Princeton Uni- lar sources, Chapter 1 explores the ways versity Press, 2004, pp.336, USD 37.95. in which the Buddhist tradition has ac- counted for the existence of Buddha This wide-ranging study has as its images. This discussion sheds light on focus the abhiseka ritual to consecrate the nature of the Buddha image and how a new Buddha image. Although Profes- it should be treated, themes which are sor Swearer concentrates upon the ritual developed later in the book. Swearer as it has developed in the Chiang Mai then turns to the art historical debates, area of northern Thailand, he engages which have sought to agree on the ori- in a variety of scholarly debates about gin of the first Buddha image, its style, the nature and history of Buddha images dating and location, as well as the sug- and image consecration. He also ex- gested impetus for this development. plores at length the person and nature Chapter 2 considers the location of the of Gotama, the historical Buddha, as Buddha image within its physical con- understood by monks, scholars and lay text, the Thai wat (temple-monastery), devotees since his miraculous birth. The and explores a number of scholars’ in- study considers the Buddha image from terpretations of the nature and signifi- its manufacture by skilled artisans to its cance of the stupa (the ancient Indian installation in the temple setting in a memorial mound in which relics are lengthy and complicated ceremony rich enshrined). Chapter 3 is largely given with meaning, which culminates in the over to the translation of three northern ritual opening of the image’s eyes. As Thai texts concerned with the proper well as the author’s considerable de- construction of a Buddha image. There scriptive and analytical study, a num- is also a description of the image-mak- ber of suttas, sermons and other ritual ing itself, followed by a discussion of texts appear in whole or in fragments, the notable features and themes drawn many of them in new translation. The from the texts, including a fascinating text is supplemented by 49 pages of discussion on the nature and use of footnotes, plus a glossary of selected yantras (Thai: yan), magical diagrams Thai and Pa¯li terms. 21 black and white with protective properties. photos accompany the text, the major- Part 2 begins with a description of the ity of them showing scenes from image image consecration ceremony. Its loca- consecration rituals in the Chiang Mai tion, various elements and actors are region. described and discussed in context. The book is arranged into three sec- Swearer explores the relationship be- tions and eight chapters. Part 1 incor- tween Gotama Buddha and his relics, porates three chapters, which consider images and “material signs”, asking if the Buddha image itself from a number the Buddha may be said to be present in

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such objects (pp.108–115). In order to The epilogue considers the role of the “become the Buddha’s double” (p.122), Buddha image in contemporary Thai- the image needs to be instructed in the land and includes the reflections of the life story of the Buddha, by the recital late Buddhada¯sa Bhikkhu on popular of texts which relate key events in the misinterpretation of the concept of Buddha’s life. Two such texts, the “taking refuge” in the Buddha. It also Pathama Sambodhi (Thai, Pathom includes a short response from well- Somphat, The Buddha’s Supreme known Thai scholarly monk P.A. Enlightenment) and Sitta¯t O¯k Buat Payutto (Phra Dhammapitaka) on the (Siddhatta’s Renunciation) appear here question of “Sacred Objects, Efficacious in translation (pp.129–137 and 138–151 Deities, and Miracles”. The book closes respectively). As well as being “in- with the efforts of Santi Asok (the Thai structed” in the life of the Buddha, the utopian Buddhist movement which es- image must also be empowered by the chews all Buddha images) to reinterpret ritual implanting (Thai: plu¯k) of the the traditional amulet consecration ritual knowledge, qualities and powers of as a ceremony to morally empower the Gotama Buddha. This is done by the movement’s members. monastic recital of texts which describe Although this study concentrates on in detail the circumstances, and, cru- one ritual in one region of Thailand, cially, the precise nature of his enlight- Swearer extrapolates from the relatively enment. small area of focus to illuminate a large In part 3 the various elements of the area of debate. Swearer is not afraid to book are brought together. There is an wade into some of the thorniest issues illuminating consideration of image to have occupied scholars of Buddhist consecration ceremonies in other Bud- studies since the inception of the disci- dhist countries. While there are many pline, and makes a timely and intelli- (often surprising) similarities, Swearer gent critique of the overly simplistic argues that what makes the northern view that paints Buddhists and Buddhist Thai ritual under consideration unique history in terms of iconic/aniconic, is “the charismatic intervention of Hinaya¯na/Maha¯ya¯na, and popular/mo- monk-meditators” (p.230). It is the em- nastic polarities. phasis on the life and, particularly, the enlightenment of Gotama Buddha Catherine Newell which leads Swearer to conclude in the final chapter that the buddha¯bhiseka ceremony “transforms the image into the living reality of the Buddha...[the ritual] creates a cult icon by the mimetic repetition of the events that constitute Buddhahood” (pp.230–231).

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Martin Jelsma, Tom Kramer, and Pietje opium. Two authors are from Burma, Vervest, eds, Trouble in the Triangle: while the rest are from elsewhere, ex- Opium and Conflict in Burma. Chiang cept, of course, the two anonymous Mai, Silkworm Books, 2005, pp. 231. poppy growers. Although the editors want to “move This book is the result of research on the debate forward”, it is not clear what drugs and conflicts in Burma. A confer- the pros and cons of the debate are. But ence on the subject was organized in based on clues in different texts, the 2003 by the Transnational Institute debate is between the proponents of the (TNI). The book contains ten papers war on drugs conducted by the United grouped into three sections, one each on States since 1971 and those who local, regional, and global perspectives. authored the articles in the book calling In their introduction, the editors call for the more humanitarian approach. for a more humane drug policy in One side of the debate was presented Burma. They express concern over the convincingly on 6 October 2005 in Paris drug ban initiated by the Wa Authority by Professor Al McCoy. He concluded in June 2005, as well as plans by the a meeting on “Drug Production and Government of the Union of Myanmar State Stability” by charging that the war to eliminate drugs throughout the coun- on drugs was failing. Referring to what try in 2014. Seeing such bans as efforts he called a donor-driven US-United to bring about “quick solutions” to com- Nations Office on Drugs and Crime plex problems, the editors suggest that (UNODC) partnership, McCoy claimed easing the deadlines while increasing that since this war began, drug produc- international humanitarian assistance tion had increased, the substances used would be more appropriate. had multiplied, while usage had both Paper writers included journalists, the soared and entered new sectors of soci- son of a Shan prince, social scientists, ety. He added that harsh control mea- and one person working in a develop- sures, such as fumigating crops in Latin ment project. Also contributing, in an America, created negative social and appendix at the end of the first section environmental impacts. (but left unmentioned in the introduc- The United States has shaped tion, as well as in the contributors’ sec- UNODC policy since 1971, when Presi- tion, the latter at their own request), were dent Nixon began actively trying to con- accounts by two opium poppy growers, trol drugs. That year, White House one from southern Shan State and one deputy for Domestic Affairs, Egil (Bud) from Kachin State. Eight papers are on Krogh, traveled to Chiang Mai with the Burma, while two provide balance by message that the United States would examining drug situations in Columbia fund drug control work in Thailand. and Afghanistan, respectively the Soon a workplan was drafted for the first world’s largest producers of cocaine and project of then newly-formed United

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Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control the US or UN had any influence on this (now UNODC) that adopted the crop decision and the Burmese government replacement approach pioneered by influence there was not strong. King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Prince Neither he nor any of the other au- Bhisatej Rajani directed both the UN thors explain that China has been wag- and the Royal Project, although they ing its own war on drugs for over 40 later diverged. Until 1984, when the years. After Mao Zedong took power in Thai government began eradicating the 1949, China aggressively reversed con- poppy crops, law enforcement was sec- ditions that had started a century ear- ondary to development work. Even then, lier, when the British fought wars for as dozens of international, bilateral and opium from 1839 to 1842. Many in NGO projects worked in poppy-grow- Mao’s government disdained the aggres- ing areas, economic development was sion that had forced them to cede Hong the focus. Later, similar projects began Kong, as well as starting what they saw in Laos, Vietnam and Burma. as an outrageous part of a century of ag- The biggest drug-related project in gression against them. this region now is the UNODC Wa When the Chinese Communist Party Project, operating with a total budget of suppressed opium, neither the US nor about US$16 million since 1998. the UN played any role. For over 25 Major activities include agricultural years, without UN or US involvement, development to increase food produc- China remained virtually drug free. The tion, feeder road construction, and impetus for the ban in the Wa is seen health and education components. This clearly in the Wa leader, Bao Yuxiang’s, project is discussed in the papers by one answer when questioned whether he was of the editors, Tom Kramer, and a lonely serious about the ban in 2005: “If I do project official, Jeremy Milsom. not carry out the ban, you can send my Despite efforts by the editors to re- head on a platter to Beijing.” main neutral in the debate, they some- China’s concern over opium exports times distort its parameters. For ex- from Burma changed in the 1980s, when ample, Kramer shows too close a link poppy cultivation from the Shan State between US/UNODC policy (and im- increased as one result of the US war plicitly the war on drugs) and the 2005 on drugs that shut down poppy cultiva- ban in the Wa region. Although he writes tion in the Middle East, leading drug that the United Wa State Army (UWSA) cartels to find new sources. By 1985, proclaimed the Wa region drug free, the when public notices were posted in article also states that “particularly” Jinghong announcing the execution of China, Thailand, and the US pressured drug dealers, China was facing a new the Wa into the ban. He overlooks the drug problem that grew to over a mil- fact that the ban was planned in 1990. lion opiate users in China in a decade. When the Wa leaders did this, neither Beijing sees China’s problems as flow-

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ing east from Shan State, into Yunnan trips he made at four intervals with dif- and thence elsewhere in China. ferent Shan guerrilla groups, from 1964 By not recognizing these factors, the to 1992–1994, he balances the informa- frame of the debate in the book is tion gained first-hand from, as he calls skewed. This is understandable to some them, “the principal predators” of the degree because, as the editors note, trade, with data from other sources. He many constraints impede knowing the reviews the growth of the opium trade, drug situation on Burma, such as gain- showing its connection with the princi- ing access to opium poppy growing pal Shan State rebel groups. He leaves areas. No journalists from anywhere the issue of the ceasefires and bans to except China have been able to visit the the other authors. Wa region for over a year, causing many The late Chao Tzang, descended from observers to rely on Shan border groups a leading Shan princely family and to that are often politically motivated. Such whom the book is dedicated, does ad- constraints contribute to some papers dress this issue, considering ceasefires focusing on the oft-told story of ethnic and bans more as business arrangements conflict and Burmese warlords. With by which the opium trade can continue. little current information on the area He suggests that only political changes (despite brief trips by two editors to the that “restore a functional relationship Wa region in 2003), the book continues between the state and broader society the discussion in terms of hurried UN in Burma” will accomplish this. and US wars on drugs, which force Tom Kramer also discusses the deadlines on the growers. ceasefires. He is concerned that inter- The present drug control situation is national assistance to the country, due more prosaic. Almost all the old opium to reluctance by donors since 1988 to armies and rebel groups have signed provide aid to the country, is insufficient ceasefire agreements and laid down their to provide much help to the opium farm- arms. Both UN and American estimates ers. Fearing that there will be much suf- of opium production find decreased fering in the Wa region when the ban poppy cultivation over the last decade. goes into effect (as it now has), he hopes Priorities now include increasing rice that the authorities extend the deadline production, providing better health care, (which they have not and will not). expanding education, and other devel- The paper by Jeremy Milsom, pres- opment activities. ently the manager of the UNODC Wa As for the articles themselves, the Area Development Project, is the only veteran journalist Adrian Cowell pre- one (besides the appendix noted above) sents an authoritative background to the that presents the point of view of the Wa situation by correlating the production leaders and ordinary farmers. of opium and the rise of anarchy in Shan Although the politics of the region has State. Basing his account primarily on led to many in Thailand and the West

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seeing the Wa as purveyors of all man- does not estimate dosage levels which ner of drugs, they are in fact a diverse might in fact be less than he thinks. group with many factions. Despite the Although he calls on China to avoid Wa leadership having been indicted as finger-pointing and to cooperate in drug drug dealers by the United States last control, he seems to ignore the fact that year, the UN Wa Project has continued. China signed the 1992 UN Sub-regional It seeks viable alternatives to opium pro- Memorandum of Understanding and has duction, which impoverishes more joined other international groups to growers than it enriches. Milsom’s pa- counter the spread of drugs and has, as per presents the most up-to-date account noted above, pressured the Wa to ban of changes in the Wa region ever writ- drugs in 2005, a ban that is indeed be- ten. ing enforced, although poppy cultiva- In the second section, Don Pathan tion may, as Fabre suggests, be moving discusses Thailand’s war on drugs. Af- elsewhere, such as Kachin State. ter reviewing Burma-Thai border rela- Soe Myint examines the trade of Bur- tions, he details the policies introduced mese drugs across the border into In- by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra dia. It is precisely because China is to aggressively reduce drug problems in clamping down on the trade across its Thailand that led, according to the Min- borders that drug cartels have begun istry of the Interior, to 81,000 suspected shipping in the other direction, through drug dealers being detained, about central Burmese towns such as 270,000 drug users entering treatment Mandalay and Monywa on newly-im- programs, and over 2,000 deaths. Pathan proved roads to India. His calls for in- focuses on the internal politics of creased awareness, educational initia- Burma, suggesting that drug exports to tives, and increased international assis- Thailand were facilitated by the ongo- tance for this region are appropriate, but ing presence of warlords and a state of may be difficult to implement. lawlessness that the ceasefires (which Martin Jelsma begins the third sec- he says were not political settlements) tion by assessing the global market for did not eliminate, thus ensuring contin- opium in the past and shifts in supply ued drug production. and demand. Despite variations in indi- Guilhem Fabre discusses the recent vidual countries, he states that the com- rise of heroin use in China, which, he bined world production has remained says, creates a demand for opium relatively stable for over a century. He larger than the supply reported by the also reviews the opium ban in the Wa UNODC. Although he believes that region, which he, too, incorrectly links increased imports from Afghanistan to the initiatives promoted by the United might be filling any decline in exports States and the United Nations since the from Burma, his figures of usage in late-1990s. He correctly notes, however, China may also be wrong, because he that the humanitarian consequences of

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rapidly banning opium may be severe, particularly on the poor farmers who are least able to find alternative livelihoods. The final two papers, in the third section, cover the situation in the two major narcotic crop producing areas in the world: Afghanistan (by Alain Labrousse) for opium and Columbia (by Ricardo Vargas M.) for coca, which is processed into cocaine. Because both countries seem to have more serious problems with armed groups and civic unrest than Burma, they offer some hope that the problems in this country may be on the road to repair. The book itself is well produced, though an index would have been use- ful, especially since many authors dis- cussed overlapping topics as well as the same people and locales. Overall the book contributes to our knowledge of drug issues in Burma, while at the same time indicating difficulties in keeping abreast of conditions in this country.

Ronald D. Renard

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Andrew C. Willford, Kenneth M. The eight chapters that comprise the George (eds), Spirited Politics: Religion book vary enormously in their contents and Public Life in Contemporary South- and focus, even as they show the east Asia. Ithaca, NY, Cornell Southeast entwinement of the state, or politics, and Asia Program, 2005, pp. 210. religion. Sometimes this happens in unintended ways, as Brenner’s essay on Beginning in the early 1980s, certain Islam and gender politics in Indonesia anthropologists have shifted their atten- demonstrates. When Suharto came to tion from face-to-face communities to power, he not only wanted to destroy the study of the culture of the public communism, but also to emasculate world. Considering the rise of middle political Islam. With the gradual disil- classes, the press and public opinion lusionment with the New Order, Islam about nationalism, political affairs, jus- became a symbol of opposition and even tice and the shape of tomorrow through- a moral stance. This, combined with out the twentieth century, this shift of global impulses, led to an impressive focus came rather late. Since then, how- revival of the religion, which in turn led ever, the unfolding of the cultural space the New Order to accommodate it. The between the state-owning elite and the subsequent efflorescence of Islam re- little people, as well as the globaliza- sulted in various internal debates on its tion of the media, the economy, and role in politics and the state, modernity, travel, has created a legitimate field of democracy and gender, and whereas cultural analysis; the book to be re- Brenner focuses on the last, she also viewed is a fine example. demonstrates that any generalization The contributions to the volume fo- about “Islam and its role in the modern cus on the interconnections between the state”, or in the world, for that matter, is state, politics, religion, society and in- a dangerous simplification. dividual life-worlds. Gone are the days If Islam as a social force was power- of the theatre of religious pomp to lend ful enough to struggle free from New glory to the state and its ruling class. It Order rigidity, the creation of an alien has been replaced by rhetoric about the other within through the denial of its nation and by religious discourse ma- own religiosity continued the colonial nipulated or on its own as major sources practice of setting the Chinese apart of legitimacy. In its current mobiliza- while denying them assimilation into the tion, there is nothing non-modern about multi-ethnic Indonesian nation. It is only religion that, in Spirited Politics, is seen in the post-Suharto era that the people as an enduring and increasingly signifi- of Chinese descent may be “admitted”, cant precinct of Southeast Asian poli- although they still have a long way to tics and public life (p.9) (which may, at go. This is illustrated in Abalahin’s chap- a certain point of time, appear as a bold ter on Confucianism and the negotiation overstatement). of Indonesian-Chinese identity that

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takes its point of departure in the long Cannell is convincing in showing that struggle of a couple to have their mar- American colonial prejudices found riage recognized by the state even if it their roots in a “Protestant” mentality, was sanctified through Confucian ritual. yet what she further wants to demon- The self-contradictory nature of na- strate with her discussion of “idolatry” tion-building through the exclusion of and “fetishism” remains both far- minorities is also highlighted by the fetched and unclear. The point, however, marginalization of the Hindu Tamil that lowland Christian Filipinos think of community of Malaysia. To illustrate the themselves as having no culture and no non-accommodation of Hindu practices identity is a lesson they learned well in an ideology of national purity, from their colonial masters and an opin- Willford focuses on the vicissitudes of ion I still encounter every day in spite a single spirit medium who, in his treat- of the nationalists’ appropriation of ment, becomes an icon of the “private”, Banahaw “mysticism”. non-national space of Hinduism in the In the same vein as a politician seeks country: that space is a cage or a zone an audience and his advantage through of confinement into which subjects (not banking on a cult’s popularity, Thai poli- citizens) have been coerced by the state. ticians exploit the opportunity of seek- In the Philippines something of an ing the limelight at wakes and crema- opposite nature takes place when ardent tions. As Fishel demonstrates, this phe- academic nationalists, not the state, pro- nomenon could arise through the shift claim certain popular religious sites and of venue of funerary practices from the practices as eminently national, as epito- forest to the urban temple and the con- mizing the kernel and secrets of Philip- sequent “domestication of death” in the pine identity and culture. On the lower wake of the growth of Thai middle slopes of Mt Banahaw this gave rise to classes. the appropriation of a cult, the Ciudad The other piece situated in Thailand Mistica de Dyos, that, as Lahiri shows, is White’s discussion of fraudulent grew out of its local boundaries and popular religiosity in the public sphere. became a vehicle for a politician in The State campaign to outlaw spirit search of publicity. mediums whose prophecies led to arson In a way, the interest of said nation- lead him to argue that although such alist academics reflects in the 1980s the mediums persist (in the margin of popu- opinions of equally zealous Americans lar religiosity), “the State”—or is it poli- bound to civilize the Filipinos through tics—is currently too weak, too unor- denying that the latter had any culture ganized, too unwilling and uninterested, worth noting, apart from a tendency to- to campaign for the eradication of irra- ward idolatry, mimicry and imitation. tional, pre-modern mediumship— By way of often circumstantial but whose focus, by the way, has changed equally humorous facts and stories, from arson to enhancing middle-class prosperity.

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As far as I know, in Thailand anything focusing on the growth of his political having to do with the appropriation of and religious awareness in parallel to his the supernatural still goes and those who artistic development, we get a fascinat- bank on the gullibility of the public hold ing commentary on the tragic story of on to their positions even as there are Aceh and the predicaments of Indone- significant shifts of focus, such as the sian citizenship. newspaper pages devoted to amulets and On the whole, Spirited Politics does supernaturally powerful monks giving what it sets out to do, namely, to give way to sports and pictures of pretty girls. insight into the complex relationships Be that as it may, the deep-down inter- between state, religion, society and est in the mysterious remains a fact of individuals, and into a public sphere life, at the same time that Buddhism filled by the cacophony of their voices lives on for the sake of merit-making, that sometimes result in discursive space auspiciousness, visibility, family and and also in the headstrong desire to ex- funeral rites (rather than because of the clude and not to communicate. In much attractions of modern reformism). of the book, however, the message is Even so, the state—or politics— cloaked in academic esotericism and a keeps a watchful eye on public mani- flood of verbiage relished by old-fash- festations it finds displeasing, as exem- ioned German professors. I doubt plified by its suppression, in the 1980s, whether this is a service to the reading of the “Bureau of the Heavenly Grand- public and the English language. fathers”, where, in my days, quite a few Chiang Mai academics sought guidance Niels Mulder from Napoleon, the Fifth Reign or cer- tain long-departed luang phi. It is un- fortunate that White does not give any attention to the other instances of state or political interference in popular reli- gious manifestations, such as the said Bureau (1980s) or the esoteric Dhammakaya sect (1990s), or even the reformist Santi Asoka sect (1970s); had he done, he could have made a case. Of the eight authors, Laheri, Willford and George seek to see the universe in a grain of sand, a procedure I am in sym- pathy with. Perhaps this is most point- edly so in the last chapter by George on the reaction to violence and religion of the Acehnese painter Pirous. Through

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Pratapaditya Pal, Art from Sri Lanka and and a pair of silver manuscript covers Southeast Asia (Asian Art at the Norton with intricate decorations. Simon Museum, Vol. 3). New Haven The next section is devoted to Indo- and London, Yale University Press in nesia. Here there is a fine small bronze association with the Norton Simon Art of the goddess Chunda. As Pal’s brief Foundation, 2004, pp.255. note shows, Chunda was an important deity. Unfortunately she has been rather This is Volume 3 in the set Asian Art neglected by modern scholarship; an at the Norton Simon Museum. Volume exception is a recent article by Robert 1 (2003) described ‘Art from the Indian Gimello, ‘Icon and Incantation: The Subcontinent’, while Volume 2 (2003) Goddess Zhunti and the Role of Images dealt with ‘Art from the Himalayas and in the Occult Buddhist of China’,’ China’. All three books, written by Pal, (Chapter 7 in Phyllis Granoff and Koichi are sumptuously produced, and have Shinohara, ed., Images in Asian Reli- detailed indexes and bibliographies. gions: Texts and Contexts, Vancouver Norton Simon (1907–1993) had a and Toronto: UBC Press, 2004). Both passion for Asian art, which led him to this image and a bronze Tara are in- amass what must be one of the biggest scribed with the ye dharma stanza, and most extraordinary private collec- which connects them with a ritual prac- tions in the world, now housed in the tice widespread in the greater Buddhist handsome Norton Simon Museum in world by the Pala period. Pasadena, California. The collection The pride of the collection is the ob- covered in this volume includes objects jects from Thailand and Cambodia. In from all of the countries and cultures of his long and useful introduction to the the region. The Introduction discusses section, Pal briefly touches upon one of the nature of the artwork and its rela- the most puzzling icons of the ‘Dvara- tions to the Indian subcontinent and to vati’ culture: the so-called Banaspati Buddhism and Hinduism. The lucid and images, or images of a Buddha, often balanced essay sets the stage for the flanked by a pair of deities or bodhi- catalogue, which presents the objects sattvas, riding on a garuda or a mythi- according to region or type. cal creature. The icon is not explained The first section is ‘Pottery of the Ban by any inscription or extant text, and Chiang and later periods’. The collec- many theories have been proposed. tion has several very fine pieces, re- None of these has been convincing, in- markably intact. Next is ‘Drums’—four- cluding a recent proposal by Sarah Tiffin teen bronze ‘rain drums’ of various and Martin Stuart-Fox (‘Dvaravati provenances and dates. This is followed ‘Buddha on a Monster’ stelae: a possible by ‘Sri Lanka’. Noteworthy are an ivory interpretation’, Journal of the Royal fan handle, an extraordinary sword Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 12, made of silver inlaid with gemstones, Part I, April 2002, pp. 47–65), which is

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flawed by some basic misunderstand- has a pair of handsome covers. Among ings. Pal cites a ‘Javanese prayer to the the rare inscribed objects in the collec- Buddha to avert a smallpox epidemic’ tion are two betel boxes from Burma. which, as he notes, ‘sheds light on the As in volumes 1 and 2 of the series, possible identification of the creature’ the photography is superb—colour (italics mine). That is, the prayer, from close-ups bring out the sensuous beauty another culture and context, cannot of the artifacts and the texture and solve the mystery, but it offers a new patina of their surfaces. Together, the perspective to consider. My own posi- photographs and the intelligent and tion remains agnostic: that is, in the ab- well-written text provide an excellent sence of any contemporary and local survey of the Norton Simon Museum inscriptional evidence, the issue cannot collection. be decided. I suspect that Dvaravati had a rich literature of its own, including Peter Skilling narrative or ritual texts that may have explained the icon, but that no longer survive. Among the especially fine objects from Siam are a stone standing ‘Hindu deity’, and several gold plaques depict- ing deities, all believed to be from Si Thep. Two masterful bronzes are from the Prakhon Chai finds: an Avalo- kiteshvara and a Maitreya. In contrast, there are several images which to me appear clumsy and of doubtful authen- ticity (see e.g. Cat. nos. 90, 92, 99, 100). From Cambodia are eight stone lingams — objects notoriously difficult to prov- enance or date — and a representative collection of stone deities, most in good condition. The final section brings together a miscellany of objects from Laos, Burma, and Vietnam. The ‘Buddhist Manuscript with covers’ is not in Pali, but in one of the Tai dialects used in the Shan states, Northern Thailand, North- ern Laos, and Yunnan, It is finely calligraphed in the ‘Tham’ script, and

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Books received for review

Baker, Chris, and Pasuk Phongpaichit, Poole, Colin, Tonle Sap: The Heart of A History of Thailand, Cambridge, Cambodia’s Natural Heritage, Cambridge University Press, 2005 Bangkok, River Books, 2005 Chouvy, P.-A., and Joel Meissonnier, Roveda, Vittorio, Images of the Gods: Yaa Baa: Production, traffic and Khmer mythology in Cambodia, consumption of Methamphetamine Laos, and Thailand, Bangkok, in Mainland Southeast Asia, River Books, 2005 Singapore, Singapore University St. John, Ronald B., Revolution, reform Press, 2004 and regionalism in Southeast Asia, Gilquin, Michel, Muslims in Thailand, London, Routledge, 2005 Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books, Sarassawadee Ongsakul, The History of 2005 Lanna, Chiang Mai, Silkworm Marchal, Sappho, Khmer costumes and Books, 2005 ornaments of the Devatas of Ibrahim Syukri, History of the Malay Angkor Wat , Bangkok, Orchid Kingdom of Patani, Chiang Mai, Press, 2005 Silkworm Books, 2005 From Isfahan Ismail Marcinkowski, M., Walker, Andrew, Merit and the Millen- to Ayutthaya: Contacts between nium: Routine and Crisis in the Iran and Siam in the 17th century , ritual lives of the Lahu people, Singapore, Pustaka Nasional, 2005 New Delhi, Hindustan Publishing, Morrell, Elizabeth, Securing a place: 2003 small-scale artisans in modern In- Wattana Sugunnasil, ed., Dynamic di- donesia , Ithaca, NY, Cornell Uni- versity in southern Thailand, versity Press, 2004 Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books, Owen, Norman G., ed., The Emergence 2005 of modern Southeast Asia: A New Younghusband, G. J., The Trans-Salwin History , Singapore, Singapore Shan State of Kiang Tung, Chiang University Press, 2005 Mai, Silkworm Books, 2005 Pompe, Sebastian, The Indonesian Su- preme Court: a study of institu- tional collapse, Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press, 2004

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