FOOTNOTES:
[188] The principal sources for information about Siamese Buddhism are: Journal of Siam Society, 1904, and onwards.
L. Fournereau, Le Siam Ancien, 2 vols. 1895 and 1908 in Annales du Musée Guimet. Cited here as Fournereau.
Mission Pavie II, Histoire du Laos, du Cambodge et du Siam, 1898.
Gerini, Researches on Ptolemy's Geography of Eastern Asia, 1909. Cited here as Gerini, Ptolemy.
Gerini, Chŭlăkantamangala or Tonsure Ceremony, 1893.
H. Alabaster, The Wheel of the Law, 1871.
P.A. Thompson, Lotus Land, 1906.
W.A. Graham, Siam, 1912.
Petithuguenin, "Notes critiques pour servir à l'histoire du Siam," B.E.F.E.O. 1916, No. 3.
Coedès, "Documents sur la Dynastie de Sukhodaya," ib. 1917, No. 2.
Much curious information may be found in the Directory for Bangkok and Siam, a most interesting book. I have only the issue for 1907.
I have adopted the conventional European spelling for such words as may be said to have one. For other words I have followed Pallegoix's dictionary (1896) for rendering the vowels and tones in Roman characters, but have departed in some respects from his system of transliterating consonants as I think it unnecessary and misleading to write j and x for sounds which apparently correspond to y and ch as pronounced in English.
The King of Siam has published a work on the spelling of His Majesty's own language in Latin letters which ought to be authoritative, but it came into my hands too late for me to modify the orthography here adopted.
As Pallegoix's spelling involves the use of a great many accents I have sometimes begun by using the strictly correct orthography and afterwards a simpler but intelligible form. It should be noted that in this orthography ":" is not a colon but a sign that the vowel before it is very short.
[189] The name is found on Champan inscriptions of 1050 A.D. and according to Gerini appears in Ptolemy's Samarade = Sâmaraṭṭha. See Gerini, Ptolemy, p. 170. But Samarade is located near Bangkok and there can hardly have been Tais there in Ptolemy's time.
[190] So too in Central Asia Kustana appears to be a learned distortion of the name Khotan, made to give it a meaning in Sanskrit.
[191] Gerini states (Ptolemy, p. 107) that there are Pali manuscript chronicles of Lamphun apparently going back to 924 A.D.
[192] Strictly Sŭkhồthăi.
[193] Phongsá va: dan or Vaṃsavâda. See for Siamese chronicles, B.E.F.E.O. 1914, No. 3, "Recension palie des annales d'Ayuthia," and ibid. 1916, pp. 5-7.
[194] E.g. Aymonier in J.A. 1903, p. 186, and Gerini in Journal of Siam Society, vol. II. part 1, 1905.
[195] See especially Fournereau and the publications of the Mission Pavie and B.E.F.E.O.
[196] Gerini, Ptolemy, p. 176.
[197] See Fournereau, I. p. 225. B.E.F.E.O. 1916, III. pp. 8-13, and especially Bradley in J. Siam Society, 1909, pp. 1-68.
[198] This alphabet appears to be borrowed from Cambojan but some of the letters particularly in their later shapes show the influence of the Môn or Talaing script. The modern Cambojan alphabet, which is commonly used for ecclesiastical purposes in Siam, is little more than an elaborate form of Siamese.
[199] See B.E.F.E.O. 1904, p. 161.
[200] Bradley, J. Siam Society, 1913, p. 10, seems to think that Pali Buddhism may have come thence but the objection is that we know a good deal about the religion of Camboja and that there is no trace of Pali Buddhism there until it was imported from Siam. The fact that the Siamese alphabet was borrowed from Camboja does not prove that religion was borrowed in the same way. The Mongol alphabet can be traced to a Nestorian source.
[201] See for these inscriptions papers on the Malay Peninsula and Siam by Finot and Lajonquière in Bull. de la Comm. Archéol. de l'Indo-Chine, 1909, 1910 and 1912.
[202] Fournereau, pp. 157 ff. and Coedès in B.E.F.E.O. 1917, No. 2. Besides the inscription itself, which is badly defaced in parts, we have (1) a similar inscription in Thai, which is not however a translation, (2) a modern Siamese translation, used by Schmitt but severely criticized by Coedès and Petithuguenin.
[203] This portion of the narrative is found only in Schmitt's version of the Siamese translation. The part of the stone where it would have occurred is defaced.
[204] See Fournereau, vol. II. inscriptions xv and xvi and the account of the Jâtakas, p. 43.
[205] Fournereau, I. pp. 247, 273. B.E.F.E.O. 1917, No. 2, p. 29.
[206] See the texts in B.E.F.E.O. l.c. The Bodhisattvas are described as Ariyametteyâdînam dasannam Bodhisattânam. The vow to become a Buddha should it seems be placed in the mouth of the King, not of the Metropolitan as in Schmitt's translation.
[207] See Fournereau, pp. 209 ff. Dharmâsokarâja may perhaps be the same as Mahâdharmarâja who reigned 1388-1415. But the word may also be a mere title applied to all kings of this dynasty, so that this may be another inscription of Śrî Sûryavaṃsa Râma.
[208] 1350 is the accepted date but M. Aymonier, J.A. 1903, pp. 185 ff. argues in favour of about 1460. See Fournereau, Ancien Siam, p. 242, inscription of 1426 A.D. and p. 186, inscription of 1510 described as Groupe de Sajjanalaya et Sukhodaya.
[209] Fournereau, vol. I. pp. 186 ff.
[210] O. Frankfürter, "King Mongkut," Journal of Siam Society, vol. I. 1904.
[211] But it was his son who first decreed in 1868 that no Siamese could be born a slave. Slavery for debt, though illegal, is said not to be practically extinct.
[212] = Cûlâlaṇkâra.
[213] The word has been derived from Vâta, a grove, but may it not be the Pali Vatthu, Sanskrit Vâstu, a site or building?
[214] = Uposatha.
[215] These finials are very common on the roof ends of Siamese temples and palaces. It is strange that they also are found in conjunction with multiple roofs in Norwegian Churches of eleventh century. See de Beylié, Architecture hindoue dans l'extrême Orient, pp. 47, 48.
[216] The Buddha is generally known as Phra: Khodom ( = Gotama).
[217] In an old Siamese bronze from Kampeng Pet, figured in Grünwedel's Buddhist Art in India, p. 179, fig. 127, the Sirô rồt seems to be in process of evolution.
[218] P.A. Thompson, Lotus Land, 1906, p. 100.
[219] Four images facing the four quarters are considered in Burma to represent the last four Buddhas and among the Jains some of the Tirthankaras are so represented, the legend being that whenever they preached they seemed to face their hearers on every side.
[220] These figures only take account of twelve out of the seventeen provinces.
[221] Thompson, Lotus Land, p. 120.
[222] They bear the title of Só̆mdĕ̃t Phra: Chào Ràjagama and have authority respectively over (a) ordinary Buddhists in northern Siam, (b) ordinary Buddhists in the south, (c) hermits, (d) the Dhammayut sect.
[223] For this and many other details I am indebted to P.A. Thompson, Lotus Land, p. 123.
[224] When gifts of food are made to monks on ceremonial occasions, they usually acknowledge the receipt by reciting verses 7 and 8 of this Sutta, commonly known as Yathâ from the first word.
[225] Kathina in Pali. See Mahâvag. cap. VII.
[226] Fournereau, p. 225.
[227] The ploughing festival is a recognized imperial ceremony in China. In India ceremonies for private landowners are prescribed in the Gṛihya Sûtras but I do not know if their performance by kings is anywhere definitely ordered. However in the Nidâna Kathâ 270 the Buddha's father celebrates an imposing ploughing ceremony.
[228] I.e. Tusita. Compare such English names descriptive of beautiful scenery as Heaven's Gate.
[229] See Keith, Aitereya Aranyaka, pp. 174-178. The ceremony there described undoubtedly originated in a very ancient popular festival.
[230] I.e. float-raft. Most authors give the word as Krathong, but Pallegoix prefers Kathong.
[231] Chulakantamangalam, Bangkok, 1893.
[232] P.A. Thompson, Lotus Land, p. 134.
[233] For the Brahmans of Siam see Frankfürter, Oriental. Archiv. 1913, pp. 196-7.
[234] Chulakantamangala, p. 56.
[235] They are mostly observances such as Gotama would have classed among "low arts" (tîracchânavijjâ). At present the monks of Siam deal freely in charms and exorcisms but on important occasions public opinion seems to have greater confidence in the skill and power of Brahmans.
[236] King Śrî Sûryavaṃsa Râma relates in an inscription of about 1365 how he set up statues of Parameśvara and Vishṇukarma (?) and appointed Brahmans to serve them.
[237] Maj. Nik. 47.
[238] Siam Society, vol. IV. part ii. 1907. Some Siamese ghost-lore by A.J. Irwin.
[239] Jour. Siam Soc. 1909, p. 28. "In yonder mountain is a demon spirit Phră Khăphŭng that is greater than every other spirit in this realm. If any Prince ruling this realm reverences him well with proper offerings, this realm stands firm, this realm prospers. If the spirit be not reverenced well, if the offerings be not right, the spirit in the mountain does not protect, does not regard:—this realm perishes."
[240] The most popular life of the Buddha in Siamese is called Pa:thó̆mma Só̆mphôthĩyan, translated by Alabaster in The Wheel of the Law. But like the Lalita vistara and other Indian lives on which it is modelled it stops short at the enlightenment. Another well-known religious book is the Traiphûm ( = Tribhûmi), an account of the universe according to Hindu principles, compiled in 1776 from various ancient works.
The Pali literature of Siam is not very large. Some account of it is given by Coedès in B.E.F.E.O. 1915, III. pp. 39-46.
[241] When in Bangkok in 1907 I saw in a photographer's shop a photograph of the procession which escorted these relics to their destination. It was inscribed "Arrival of Buddha's tooth from Kandy." This shows how deceptive historical evidence may be. The inscription was the testimony of an eye-witness and yet it was entirely wrong.