Captured Citizens: the Tai Yong of Lamphun

 

                                      by Jim Goodman

 

       Lamphun is one of northern Thailand’s premier attractions.  Founded in the 7^th century under the name Haripunchai, it was the capital of a Mon kingdom that was the first organized state in northern Thailand.  It repelled three Khmer invasions and survived until conquered by King Mengrai of Lanna, in the late 13^th century.  It was Buddhist since its inception, for its first ruler Queen Chamadevi introduced and patronized the religion upon assumption of the throne.  Besides its political achievements, Haripunchai also enjoyed a reputation as the center of Buddhism in the north.  Mengrai appreciated this, spared the city any physical destruction and continued royal patronage after establishing Lanna’s capital just 25 km north.

        Historic religious monuments are the main attraction for contemporary visitors.  They usually start with Wat Prathat Haripunchai, the city’s most splendid compound.  But there is more of interest in the city besides religion.  Just outside the eastern entry gate stand several stalls selling locally made cotton goods.  More of these are across the street and still more line up inside the picturesque covered bridge across the Kuang River.  On the other
of the river lies Wiang Yong village, where most of the cotton goods are made.

       The residents are people of the Tai Yong sub-group who were not part of Lamphun’s original population, who were mainly Mon, later mixed with Tai Yuan.  They are descendants of people kidnapped from northeast Myanmar as part of a program to repopulate northern Thailand after the expulsion of the Burmese.

       In the late 18^th century, King Kawila of Lampang led a campaign that finally terminated over two centuries of Burmese rule in northern Thailand.  It was a long, slow, costly effort that depopulated the cities and many of the villages.  In 1796 Kawila officially re-established the Kingdom of Lanna in the newly rebuilt capital of Chiang Mai, but its shattered economy and agricultural production had to be completely rebuilt, too.  A new campaign of persuading villagers who’d fled to the forests to return to their homes proved inadequate. 

       The solution came from the traditional practice of war among states in Southeast Asia.  Rivals fought each other over their resources and people were considered one of them.  When armies invaded states their plunder included capturing local people and resettling them deep within their own state’s boundaries.  Kawila began launching such expeditions in the immediate area in 1797.  After ousting the Burmese from their last bastion in northern Thailand in Chiang Saen in 1804, Kawila turned his attention to two states in northeast Burma that had once been allies of Lanna—Chiang Tung (now spelled Kyaingtong) and Meuang Yong (now spelled Mong Yawng). Major roundups in 1805 and 1809 removed the entire population of many villages.

        Meuang Yong, close to the Mekong River, was founded in the late 13^th century.  It fell under Burmese suzerainty mid-16^th century, but that had all but eroded by late 18^th century.  Its people were mainly the Tai Lue subgroup, like the majority of the population of neighboring Xishuangbanna.  Their language, customs and Buddhist practices are close to that of the Tai Koen in Chiang Tung and the Tai Yuan of Lanna.  Their transplantation to Lanna would at least be to a familiar cultural environment. 

       In 1805 the Lanna government officially re-opened Lamphun.  The people abducted from Meuang Yong were re-settled in Wiang Yong, just across the Kuang River, for only the original Lamphun inhabitants, plus other Tai Yuan immigrants, were permitted to live within the city proper.  Another raid in 1809 augmented the numbers in and around Wiang Yong.  Lanna raids also abducted people from other Tai Lue settlements in Burma and Xishuangbanna, but these were dispatched to Nan and other provinces.  The Tai Lue of Wiang Yong subsequently became differentiated and known as Tai Yong.

       Far from enslaving their captives or discriminating against them as not full members of Lanna society, the campaign’s goal was to make them fully engaged citizens.  The Tai Yong chieftains pledged loyalty to Kawila’s state and in return were granted autonomous authority over their own community.  Class relations and social rules and customs that had prevailed in Meuang Yong would continue in Lamphun.  The ultimate authority would be the Lanna king, who ruled on matters of national interest but left local affairs to the charge of Tai Yong leaders.  It was a type of political arrangement common throughout Thailand at the time.  By acknowledging suzerainty Lanna had made a similar deal with the Kingdom of Siam.

       The new citizenry began cultivating the land and recreating the life they had back in the old country.  Other captured and resettled communities did likewise.  Some, like the Tai Koen from Chiang Tung, were noted for their craft skills, especially lacquer workers and silversmiths, and were relocated to the southern part of Chiang Mai.  The Tai Yong had no particular reputation for any special craft.  But in the tradition of self-sufficient farmers their women knew how to weave the material that clothed their family’s bodies.

       Weaving was an old tradition in the area, like most anywhere else in Asia.  A weaver operating a frame loom much like what is still used today is one of the relief sculptures depicting scenes from life in old Haripunchai on the wall behind the queen’s statue in Chamadevi Park.  Tai Yong women were already used to weaving for their own needs.  Their people traditionally raised cotton along with rice and vegetables and every girl learned how to spin thread and weave while growing up.  Now, with the reestablishment of Lamphun, Chiang Mai and other cities, they had a market for surplus production. 

       It’s a laborious process, especially in the beginning.  After picking the cotton bolls from the plants in the fields, the worker then runs the cotton through the rollers of a gin to crush the seeds within it.  The next step is to fluff the ginned cotton to remove the foreign matter.  Then it is ready to mount little by little on a spindle mounted on a frame with a wheel.  Turning the wheel starts the spinning of the cotton into thread.

       When the wheel has accumulated enough thread the worker removes the loop and mounts it on a winding frame to turn the loop into balls of thread, the easier to mount as warp threads on the loom and weft threads into the shuttles.  The amount of thread required depends on the length of the intended bolt of cloth, which is often several meters and more.  Mounting the lengthwise warp threads is time-consuming work, for each has to be separated by heddles that connect every other one to one of the foot pedals.

       The weaver sits on a bench behind the loom and depresses one of the foot pedals while pushing the heddle frame forward.  This creates an opening in the warp thread set, through which the weaver throws a shuttle of weft thread.  Then she knocks it firmly into place moving the heddle frame and then opens a new shed by depressing the other foot pedal and this time tosses the shuttle through the opposite direction.  The threads are thus locked into a tight web.

       Tai Yong style has evolved over the centuries, especially after the introduction of aniline dyes.  Nowadays weavers still produce pieces in soft, pastel colors resembling the shades and tones of vegetable dyes in the past.  Some use supplementary weft to add more pictorial designs across the fabric.  The more typical contemporary Tai Yong style, though, features a bold display of bright horizontal stripes in multiple colors, separated and accentuated by wide bands of black. 

       Tai Yong textiles of all kinds, as well as clothing and other items made from them, have been boosted by the growth of tourism in recent decades, more so with domestic tourists than foreigners.  Tai Yong goods are available beyond Lamphun Province, from shops in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang and Bangkok.  Besides enabling a more prosperous life, the growing interest in and appreciation of Tai Yong crafts has contributed to a sense of ethnic pride.    

       The compound of Wiang Yong’s Wat Ton Kaew, built next to a surviving 16^th century chedi, contains a Tai Yong Museum, as well as a weaving workshop.   The museum is an elegant stilted wooden building, its entrance flanked by two tall carved wooden posts.  The open ground floor displays antique furniture, musical instruments, old photographs and other items.  The much larger exhibit upstairs includes sculptures of Buddha and mythical animals, carved chests and containers, old typewriters, umbrellas, baskets, ceramic jars and vases, kitchen tools, antique women’s garments and all things associated with weaving.  On the walls hang framed historical photos of royal visits, famous monks being honored and Lamphun beauty contests from the 1960s.     

       In recent years the Lamphun fabric business has branched out from weaving cotton cloth to silk production and ikat dyeing.  Because silk threads are thinner than cotton the mounting of the warp threads and the weaving itself takes much longer.  And then there’s the trouble of raising the silkworms and acquiring the thread.  This was not a Tai Yong village tradition, so the new silk business started with outsider investment and work is confined to a few suburban factories.

       Other Tai Yong villages beyond Wieng Yong also got into the weaving business and today two of them, still actively involved in the trade, are in Pasang District south of Lamphun and are popular tourist attractions.  Several km beyond the town a tall wooden entrance gate flanks a side road leading a bit further to Don Luang village.  The cluster of shops and textile displays starts at the beginning of the settled area.  Most of the looms and dyeing sites are in houses in the side lanes.

       Shops hold bolts of cloth which they sell by the meter, cotton sarongs and a wide range of ready-made clothes.  Their stocks may also include locally woven cotton turned into bed sheets, curtains, pillow cases, table cloths, purses and shoulder bags.  Some of these items will be dyed ikat-style.  Ikat is a form of resist-dyeing in which the dyer covers the cloth in a specific design marked with beeswax or some other impenetrable matter.  When the cloth is immersed the covered parts do not receive the dye.  Afterwards when the cloth is washed and the beeswax boiled off the design appears as the part that resisted the color.

       This method can lead to some pretty imaginative results.  Dyers give the pieces several dye bath immersions, modifying the placement of the resisting element each time, even the colors used in the bath, to make ever more complex and colorful designs.  Most of the items are blue and white, but there are other combinations, the results of re-dyeing.  Some pieces sport sections, like sleeves, collars or just adjoining parts of the t-shirt body or trouser legs, dyed with different color and pattern combinations.

       About 4 km past Don Luang and through a similar entrance gate, lies the larger and more interesting Tai Yong village of Nong Ngeuak.  While also a weaving center, other crafts are both produced and taught here.  A bit distant from the highway traffic it’s a very quiet village, little disturbed by interruptions of noise from cars, trucks or motorbikes.  The people are very friendly and hospitable to visitors and a few offer home-stay accommodations.  Visitors are far fewer since the outbreak of the pandemic a couple years ago and the craft activity much reduced, but those who do come still enjoy a pleasant experience.     

       The village can boast of one of the most beautiful temples in the province—Wat Ngon Ngeuak, built in the style of their original homeland in Meuang Yong, Myanmar.  The compound entry gate is roofed and decorated with large stucco figures.  The main assembly hall is of modest size and smaller shrines in the yard feature carved and gilded embellishments.  The most graceful building is the library, standing on blocks in a rectangular pond.  It has a double roof with interior walls filled with religious frescoes.

       Across the street is the village park, with a giant spinning wheel standing at one end and flower beds stretching in front of it.  Beside it is a stilted house identified as the village’s own Tai Yong Museum, with a similar collection of exhibits as in Wiang Yong.  Craft centers are scattered throughout the village.  One shop produces sandals made from old rubber tires.  Another specializes in “owl bags” made by stitching together different small pieces of a variety of cloth. The same technique is also used to make long skirts.  There’s also a basketry center and, naturally, a few weaving workshops.

        One is a natural dye outfit that uses indigo and a group of local roots, fruits and vegetables to make the colors for all their woven work.  Because of the time and work required for the dyeing the products are more expensive.  But there is a niche market for such items, mainly among traditional-minded Thais, enough anyway to keep the skill and heritage alive.

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The Three Krubas of Li

 

                                                         by Jim Goodman

 

       In its previous incarnation as Haripunchi, Lamphun was the first city established in Northern Thailand, way back in the 7^th century.  It was allegedly planned by the hermit Wasuthep, who adopted and raised a Mon girl, from a nearby village, after rescuing her from  an eagle's grasp, then when she reached puberty sent her downriver to be trained for her future role at the Mon royal court at Lawo, today’s Lopburi.  When her boat arrived the royal family considered this something auspicious and took her into the palace as a member of their own family.

       Wasuthep had also taught her martial arts and the new princess proved her value as an asset by leading Lawo’s armies in victorious battles with rival Mon states.  After a few years she answered Wasuthep’s summons and left Lawo to return upriver to take charge of the new city as Queen Chamadevi of Haripunchai.  She subdued the indigenous Lawa tribe, introduced and spread Buddhism in the area, expanded the realm’s territory and eventually abdicated in favor of her elder twin son and retired.  After her death Chamadevi remained an indelible part of the people’s memory and regard and her cult continues down to the present, with a big park in Lamphun honoring her memory..   

       In later centuries Haripunchai repelled three Khmer invasions, halting Khmer expansion in Thailand after its conquest of the other Mon states in the Menam Chao Phya River basin. The next major event in the city’s history was its conquest in the late 13^th century by King Mengrai of Lanna.  Quite impressed by its high level of civilization, he did not attack the city but instead basically took it by subterfuge.  He built his own capital at Chiang Mai, 30 km north, modeled on Haripunchai's layout and designated Haripunchai the spiritual capital.

       Though its legacy still influenced Northern Thailand in religion and architecture, the city no longer played a role in regional history.  Eventually renamed Lamphun, it was just the small capital of a small province.  But in the late 19^th century it once again became influential thanks to the work of the Three Krubas of Li, the province’s southern district.

       The word kruba means ‘great teacher’ or ‘teacher of teachers’ and is bestowed on monks with a reputation for extraordinary piety and religious awareness.  A monument to the Three Krubas of Li stands at the outskirts of the town of Li, with statues of Siwichai, Apichai Khao Pi and Chaiyawongse, all of them monks from the district.  The first monk so designated was Siwichai, born to a devoutly Buddhist but poor peasant family in Ban Pang in 1878.

       As  he grew up the boy believed that his family’s poverty must be due to karma from a previous life and decided to atone for that with good works.  He became fully vegetarian and a Buddhist novice at 18 and fully ordained monk a few years later.  He became known for his asceticism, mastery of meditation, generosity and compassion for animals.  After his ordination he built a new temple in Ban Pang by persuading the local populace to cooperate as a way of making merit.  This was the first of many such temple projects, usually renovations, which Siwichai sponsored and led, such as Wats Suan Dok and Phra Singh in Chiang Mai and Wat Chamadevi, with its 12^th century chedis, in Lamphun.  

       His charisma attracted a wide following and his recommendations on a proper monastic life, inspired by his own example, won respect throughout the region.  It also stirred up controversy, even outright opposition, with the religious hierarchy in Bangkok.  At that time the kingdom was under the rule of Chulalongkorn, Rama V, and the former Kingdom of Lanna was semi-autonomous, still having its own hereditary sovereign (chao).   France and Great Britain were gobbling up territory on Thailand’s borders and Rama V felt the need to more fully integrate the company in the face of foreign threats.

       Besides reducing the Chao of Chiang Mai’s powers, Rama V’s government sought to unify the country’s Buddhist practice.  The Sangha Act of 1902 created monastic hierarchies with royal titles and rankings.  Lanna monasteries tended to be without established hierarchies and Bangkok abbots viewed Siwichai as antipathetic to the Sangha Act.  Moniks like Siwichai were expected to fall in line.  It was a matter of national unity, not to mention ecclesiastical  authority.. They ordered him arrested and subjected to several interrogations, even confined for over a year to Wat Haripunchai in Lamphun.  

      The suspicions were unjustified, for Siwichai’s work was concerned with making merit and spreading good works and not involved in monastic organization, much less Lanna separatism.  The charges were dropped and Siwichai was free to resume his projects.  The affair did have one impact on him, for his renovations did not restore Lanna temples in the precisely original Lanna style, but modified to the Rattanakosin style of central Thailand, such as whitewashed walls and orange roofs.

       Three years before he died, Siwichai carried out his most famous project in 1935 by mobilizing thousands of devotees to build a road from the northwest edge of Chiang Mai 15 km up the mountain to the temple of Doi Suthep.  The mountain was named after Chamadevi’s first guardian Wasuthep and the temple constructed in 1383.  Surrounded by forests, it is visible from the valley and Is one of the city’s notable landmarks and, with the road making for easier access, a popular tourist attraction. On the full moon might of the 4^th lunar month, the occasion of Makha Bucha, marking the day of the Buddha’s birth, Enlightenment and death, Chiang Mai devotees hike to the temple to pay homage, returning after sunrise. 

       A statue of Siwichai stands in the Doi Suthep compound and another one stands in front of the assembly hall at Wat Phra Singh.  Devotees also erected a huge seated Siwichai, with hunched shoulders, on a hill beside the expressway at the turnoff to Lamphun.  The temple he built at Ban Pang has a museum displaying his personal effects and Siwichai amulets are still popular.

       Back in Li, a quiet small town 100 km south of Lamphun, one of Siwichai’s disciples, Kruba Apichai Chao Pi, acquired a similar reputation.  His most notable achievement was the renovation of Wat Prathat Phanom on a hill in the town. The temple had been abandoned for three centuries and under Apichai’s directions volunteers built a new, expanded temple compound and gilded chedi.  After his death his body was mummified and laid in a glass coffin inside the temple.  Devotees ritually change the corpse’s clothing once every March.  A statue of him, 15 meters tall, stands in front of the chedi, from where people also to come at sunrise to enjoy the view across the valley. 

       Close to the Three Krubas of Li monument lies Wat Phrabat Ha Duang, which local legend claims was originally built at the direction of Queen Chamadevi.  Returning here from military campaigns in the east she witnessed five lighted balls floating over five pieces of soil.  She ordered chedis to be constructed over each of the spots.  Those standing there now are not the originals, but recent renovated versions in exactly the same places.

       This tale of Chamadevi, as well as others of her exploits around Li, is not part of the usual narratives about her, historical or mythical, in Lamphun or elsewhere in her former realm, such as the imagery of Wat Chamadevi and Wat Prayeun in Lamphun or Wat Doi Kham south of Chiang Mai.  Wall murals at these temples depict mythical scenes from her life like her abduction as an infant by an eagle and rescue by Wasuthep, his training of her on the mountain, her boat journey to Lawo, her enthronement and how she first battled and then outwitted the Lawa chieftain Viranga.

       Murals also portray true historical events such as her reception in the city, her life at court and her diplomacy, in which she arranged for her twin sons to marry the deceased Viranga’s daughters, thus pacifying the Lawa and accommodating them to her rule.  Nothing else.  A temple a little south of Hot named after her was built next to a place on the Mae Ping River where she stopped for a break on her boat journey from Lawo.  It features a large seated sculpture of her and on the plain beside the river stands a chedi built at that time.  

       Relying only on this imagery one could conclude that after the trouble with the Lawa peace was established all around and Chamadevi’s career afterwards consisted of simply spreading Buddhism.  The people of Li, however, retain more of her life story, beyond just the tale of the chedis of Wat Ha Duang.  And thanks to the legacy of Chaiyawongse, the third famous kruba of Li, this is on public display.

      In the 1970s Chaiyawongse, strict vegetarian himself, persuaded Karen villagers to give up consuming animal products, become Buddhists and rebuild a temple ten km south of Li next to a large village of two branches of the Karen minority.  Called Wat Phrabat Huai Tom, the temple compound features special architectural elements like a rounded temple roof and a stepped white pagoda.  A statue of Chaiyawongse sits beside the entrance to the assembly hall. 

       What also distinguishes this temple is the courtyard next to the assembly hall that exhibits a replica of the boat Chamadevi rode on her journey to Haripunchai.  Wall murals along the corridor portray incidents of her life, in particular her military exploits around Li.  A portrait of her fondling an elephant while it bows in obeisance and a gibbon kneels nearby suggests her affinity with wild animals.  There’s a scene of her presiding over her court and another of her dispatching emissaries to her allies or subordinate princes in her military campaign against enemies east of her realm.

            A depiction of her preparing plans for combat while camping in the jungle comes next, followed by portraits of her and her armies in battle.  In these she or her sons ride elephants in fights with enemies, but in other scenes only the armies are in action, foot soldiers against their foes.  In one mural she is on horseback on a hill directing maneuvers and in another she rides forth, wielding a sword, to engage in a duel with a mounted opponent. 

       Murals in Wat Doi Kham portray her military training under Wasuthep and there are historical records of her leading Lawo forces to repel an invasion by a rival Mon state, though these were written long after the events.  Nevertheless, the murals at Wat Huai Tom reinforce her military reputation and hint at a more involved life than that assumed by her devotees today in the Lamphun area.

       How much of this is relevant to the Karen Buddhists who come to pray at the temple is a good question, for hers is a separate cult, more like that of a guardian spirit, only partially connected to the Buddhist religion.  The Karen have only been living in Thailand about two hundred years.  But Wat Prathat Huai Tom also draws Thai pilgrims from throughout the area, largely descendants of Chamadevi’s original subjects.  For them the murals and boat replica are likely to resonate more.

       The Karen village here also specializes in handicrafts, like basketry, woodcarving and especially weaving.  Displays of textiles—sarongs, Karen blouses and fringed shoulder bags are just outside the compound and the steady trickle of visitors provides customers.

       Chaiyawongse’s final project, done in the 90s, was to persuade Li people to build a new chedi and temple called Wat Chedi Sri Wiang Chai.  He claimed to have found fossilized cattle feces left by a previous incarnation of the Buddha, when he was a cow belonging to a bodhisattva.  This made the spot sacred and, worried that the area now open range and uncultivated might be profaned by development, he launched his building campaign.

       Modeled on the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, the gilded Sri Wiang Chai Chedi stands over twenty meters high.  As the area is relatively level land, it can be seen from far away.  The compound also holds a shrine housing life-size images of a pair of cattle, statues of the Buddha, of a demon spirit, of Chaiyawongse himself and a general riding a multi-headed elephant. It is a fitting example of the work of the three krubas of Li, carried out not by the sponsorship of government or the wealthy class, but by the common people, motivated solely by the desire, as good Buddhists, to do something to make merit.

 

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Decoration and Edification: Chiang Mai Temple Murals

                                            by Jim Goodman

social life in a Lai Kham mural

       When travelers come to Chiang Mai they have usually prepared a list of attractions they wish to see and appreciate.  Besides the markets, daytime, nighttime and weekend, the riverside and the nearest mountains, their program will include an extensive exploration of the old city.  Surrounded by a moat, with picturesque wooden bridges crossing it, it features the ruins of the original ancient bastions at each corner, some restored wall fragments, five reconstructed city entry gates and many old temples.

       From its founding in 1296, Chiang Mai was a consciously Buddhist city.  Its first temple, Wat Chiangman, was built at the same time as the king’s palace and city walls.  Others soon followed and today dozens of temples lie within the boundaries of the old walled city.  Naturally then, a tour of Chiang Mai inevitably includes visits to several of the more famous ones.

Jataka Tales illustrated at Wat Buak Krok Luang

       These may be notable for their architecture, as outstanding examples of the classic style.  Wat Lokmolee, Wat Lai Kram in the Phra Singh compound and Wat Inthakin, with their dark sloping roofs, fit into this category.  Or it could be for their unusual chedis, the bell-shaped reliquaries behind the main viharn, or assembly hall, such as the gigantic ruined one at Wat Chedi Luang, and those with elephants around the base, like at Wat Phra Singh and Wat Chiangman.  And it could be for their rare and ancient Buddha images, like at Wat Chiangman. 

       For travelers experiencing their first exposure to Buddhist arts in situ, these sights can be appreciated only to a certain degree.  Not having been raised in a Buddhist environment, nor specializing in the religious arts, visitors find themselves admiring the basic aesthetic attractions of a building or a statue, without connecting to it any other way.

lai khram-style mural at Wat Chiangman

portrait of a farmer, Wat Chiangman

       But there is one Thai temple art that can go beyond aesthetics and draw them right into the culture—wall murals.  Not every temple has them and the quality varies in those that do.  They mainly depict religious subjects, such as well-known scenes from the life of the Buddha, plus incidents from the Jataka Tales, a compilation of stories of the Buddha’s previous incarnations.   They decorate the walls with imagery that enhances the spiritual atmosphere of the building.

religious and secular activities, Wat Chiangman mural

       In many cases the imagery, particularly involving scenes from the Buddha’s life, is rather ordinary, looking much like mass-produced Indian posters.  The painters did not see themselves as Renaissance-style individualist artists, but more like ordinary artisans producing imagery according to fixed prescriptions written down in books.  In Bangkok and the central provinces painters worked according to Court-directed styles and formulas.

       This was much less the case in the north, allowing for individual styles and an altogether livelier rendition, especially in the details.  Scenes from the Jataka Tales provided more scope for a painter’s own ideas, such as choosing which little everyday life vignettes to include.  It did not extend to portraits, for the faces of both men and women are all alike.  The overall general style also seems fixed.  There are no shadows, no shading, no sense of perspective and the size of individuals in the murals depends upon their importance.  Royalty, spiritual beings and Buddhas are larger than mere mortal commoners.

how the murals were made--exhibition at Lanna Folk Life Museum

       Besides decoration, temple murals also served as aids to preaching.  Temple murals originated centuries ago when literacy was mostly restricted to men and even those who could read did not spend much time reading religious texts.  Devotees did gather at temples to hear the monks preach.  And in their discourse the monks frequently referred to the paintings by way of illustrating their remarks.

       Religion was more closely integrated with everyday life back then.  In addition to religious motifs the murals also depict scenes from the daily life of the community, to make the worshipers feel the temple was just another part of domestic life.  These vignettes, especially in the older murals of Lai Kham Viharn in the Wat Phra Singh compound and Wat Buak Krok Luang, constitute a graphic illustration of Thai culture and history that can be appreciated by foreign visitors even if they knew virtually nothing about Thailand or Buddhism before they came here.

18th century soldier, with spear, City Pillar Shrine

detail from a mural inside the City Pillar Shrine

       Wall murals are of two main types.  The simpler one, called lai khram in Thai, consists of just two colors—gold or yellow figures on a red or red-brown background.  The best example of this is at the main viharn of Wat Chiangman, where the imagery comprises scenes of everyday life, set back centuries ago.  We see the clothing and hairstyles of the time, with the women in striped sarongs and wraparound breast cloths, hair tied in a bun, the men shirtless for the most part, and soldiers riding horses or elephants, the nobility in their palaces and the commoners in simple stilted huts.

Burmese delegates, Lai Kham mural

       The scenes include rituals in front of chedis that resemble Chedi Liam in the pre-Chiang Mai capital of Wiang Kum Kam, modeled on those in Haripunchai (ancient Lamphun).  There are also vignettes of farmers leading buffalo carts, carrying loads on balance poles, reaping rice, tying a buffalo to a stake for its slaughter and cooking over a log fire, all of them subjects that can still be witnessed in the countryside today.  Only the military scenes, and the Court vignette of scribes writing in palm-leaf manuscripts cannot be witnessed anymore, but are interesting insights into the life of times past.

everyday life vignette, Lai Kham mural

       The other, more common type of mural is full color.  Painters first outlined all the figures in the mural and then filled in the outlines with different colors.  Sometimes one artist did all the outlines and others, often his students, filled in the colors.  Unlike fresco painting, in which the pigments are applied to wet plaster, Thai temple painters applied the colors to dry plaster.  This made them more vulnerable to the effects of a climate that was very damp several months a year.  The paint flecked off, especially on the lower parts of the walls.  The usual solution was to simply remove the rest of the painting and make a new one. 

       Even when the intention was to recreate the original, mistakes could mar the result.  The City Pillar was originally kept in Wat Inthakin, but when Kawila re-established Chiang Mai at the end of the 18^th century he moved it to a new shrine in the compound of Wat Chedi Luang.  The small shrine’s walls were covered with typical classic-style murals.  These decayed over time and early this century temple authorities decide to restore them. 

court scene, Lai Kham mural

daily life, Lai Khan mural

       The artists did a fine job recreating the original themes, but for some reason depicted the warriors next to the doors, while dressed in Kawila period style, carrying M-16 rifles or submachine guns.  After the grand re-opening, someone pointed out this anomaly and soon the modern guns were replaced with spears.

boys on buffaloes,Lai Kham mural

       Fortunately, in two of Chiang Mai’s temples the authorities opted for preserving the originals.  At Lai Kham Viharn in the Wat Phra Singh compound, the murals date from the early 19^th century, the oldest extant in the province.  Lai Kham is one of the most beautiful examples of Buddhist architecture in the city.   After Kawila restored the Kingdom of Lanna, its interior walls became covered with murals of Jataka Tales and other subjects.

       Time and weather corroded the paintings, but fortunately, instead of painting new murals over the old ones, in this case the goal was restoration, beginning a couple of decades ago.  It was a long and painstaking process, but nowadays most sections of the murals have been restored to their original vivid colors.  Except for a few men with moustaches, the shape of the heads, faces and facial expressions of the humans in the murals are all very similar, though their clothing, while in the same general classic style, is very individualistic.  No two sarong patterns, for example, are exactly alike,

Jataka Tales at Wat Buak Krok Luang

       A few celestial beings appear on the walls, but the primary concentration is on secular themes.  We see traditional houses with their sloping, arched roofs, the sides open to reveal the people inside or on their balconies.  They could be preparing food, minding the children or just socializing.  Several vignettes depict courtship scenes and both young men and young women smoke cheroots while they chat.

       Other daily activities include carrying bowls of food or other things, market scenes, presenting offerings or just lounging around.  One cute picture depicts young boys riding buffaloes.  Another shows a contingent of Burmese men, wearing the most colorful garments of all.  Their lungyis reach to the knee, revealing some of the dark tattoos that used to cover the thighs of the males of those times, both in Burma and in Thailand.

 

=grieving scene,Wat Buak Krok Luang

      The second oldest set of classic temple murals graces the interior of the viharn of Wat Buak Krok Luang, about two km west of the PIng River off the Sam Kamphaeng Road.  Though the temple dates its construction three centuries ago, the murals were added after renovation in the late 19^th century.  They are the work of a Shan immigrant and not quite the same style as those at Lai Kham.  The subject matter may be similar, mainly several Jataka Tales, but the details can differ.

       Human figures have the same kind of bodies and largely expressionless faces, except for the smiles of courting couples.  But there are scenes of grief and very poignant weeping figures.  The elephants look realistic, but some of the horses have disproportionately longer bodies and spotted skin.  To illustrate a military episode the artist included a rank of Shan soldiers in red helmets and jackets.  And on the right rear wall is a picture of two demons torturing a sinner in Hell.

the torments of Hell,Wat Buak Krok Luang

       These murals cover more space than those at Lai Khan, but restoration has been slow.  Some are still in excellent condition, while others have a strange red hue over them and streaks and blotches where the pain has peeled off.  Nevertheless, they are valuable for the cultural and historical insights they offer, as well as appreciation of the art itself.  Inevitably, too, the visitor will spend much time lingering over fascinating details.

       The classic mural style of these two places did not prevail in later temple paintings, which affect a modern style of more or less realistic portraiture.  One of the buildings in Wat Bupharam, in the heart of the city, did adopt the style, but the subjects are not taken from the Buddha’s life or the Jataka Tales, but instead illustrate scenes from contemporary life. 

Thai kick-boxing, Wat Bupharam mural

       They are mostly crowd scenes or festival processions.  The women wear the traditional blouses and striped sarongs, but most of the men, and especially the children, dress in modern fashions.  It’s like what one sees at the festivals nowadays.  A few vignettes of domestic life are included, looking more like the classic at-home and flirting scenes of the old murals.  There’s also a unique portrayal of the modern Thai sport of kick-boxing.

       Contemporary secular life and religious stories characterize most temple murals.  But local history can provide other themes.  One such story is that of Queen Chamadevi, the first ruler of the Mon state of Haripunchai (ancient Lamphun).  She was a real historical person, but her life story has been augmented by legend.  Murals portraying the episodes of the city-state’s foundation cover the walls of the viharn of Wat Chamadevi and the ordination hall of Wat Prayeun in Lamphun.  They are also the subjects of murals in two of the buildings of Wat Doi Khan, a hilltop temple 11 km south of Chiang Mai.

the hermit Wasuthep raising young Chamadevi, Wat Doi Kham

       Doi Kham was the home of Pu Sae and Ya Sae, former cannibal ogres whom the Buddha converted and who were the parents of the hermit Wasuthep, who lived on the mountain later named after him--Doi Suthep.  When Chamadevi was born near Lamphun, a huge bird abducted the baby and flew to Doi Suthep.  There the hermit frightened it enough that it released the child, who fell into an instantly created lotus. 

       Wasuthep raised the girl himself and even taught her martial arts.  When she reached puberty he divined her future, learned she was destined to become a queen and sent her downriver to Lopburi and its royal Mon family.  When she matured, Wasuthep laid out the city of Haripunchai and she came up to rule over it.  These tales and the subsequent history of Haripunchai’s establishment are the subject of murals in one of the viharns and the separate shrine to Chamadevi.

       Whether the topics are religious, narrative or simply portraits of everyday activities, temple murals greatly enhance the experience of a visit.  The statues and furnishings may be of high artistic quality.  But only the murals will engage the eye for closer examination and relishing of surprise details and make a simultaneous appeal to the eye, mind and heart.

Shan soldiers on a mural in Wat Buak Krok Luang

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