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Tattooing in Thailand's history1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

B. J. Terwiel
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Extract

In view of the lengthy descriptions of tattooing from many other regions in Southeast Asia, it is odd that the Chao Phraya basin receives but little attention. The custom is usually not mentioned, or is given a passing reference as one rather old-fashioned habit to which modern observers need pay little regard. Accounts of central Thai tattooing which cover more than a single paragraph are rare. Moreover, this is in marked contrast to the extensive local literature on closely related subjects such as magical diagrams, protective spells, amulets and astrology.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 111 , Issue 2 , April 1979 , pp. 156 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1979

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References

2 For example Kaufman, H. K., Bangkhuad: a community study in Thailand, New York, 1960, 176–177Google Scholar; Landon, K. P., Siam in transition, reprint, New York, 1968, 199Google Scholar; and de Young, J. E., Village life in modern Thailand, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1955, 45.Google Scholar

3 As far as I have been able to ascertain, there are no books on tattooing in the Thai language and the only three authors who deal with central Thai religious tattooing in some detail are Rajadhon, Phya Anuman in “Thai charms and amulets”, Journal of the Siam Society, LII, 1964, 187–190Google Scholar; Textor, R. B., An inventory of non-Buddhist supernatural objects in a Central Thai village, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, 1960, 102–105Google Scholar; and myself in Monks and magic: an analysis of religious ceremonies in Central Thailand, London, 1976, 83–93.Google Scholar

4 Village life in modern Thailand, 45.Google Scholar

5 “Thai charms and amulets”, 187.Google Scholar

6 Fieldwork was carried out mainly in a rural community in Ratburi province between 1967 and 1970, for a total period of about 17 months. The fieldwork was sponsored by the Australian National University.

7 An inventory, 102–105.Google Scholar

8 Rajadhon, Phya Anuman, Thai literature and Swasdi Raksa, National Culture Institute, Bangkok, 1953, 20.Google Scholar

9 Only in certain exceptional cases has tattooed skin been preserved after the death of the owner. For mainland Southeast Asia, I am aware of two instances: one from Laos (See Bouteiller, M., “Le tatouage: technique et valeur sociale ou magico-religieuse dans quelques sociétés d'Indochine (Laos, Siam, Birmanie et Cambodge)”, Bulletin de la Société d'Anthropologie, 1953, 525Google Scholar); and one rather gruesome case of a Burmese magician, killed in Cambodia at the end of the nineteenth century, whose skin was taken to France (See Jammes, L., Revue Indochinoise, 1900, 739–740).Google Scholar

10 In this paper, Thai words are transliterated according to the General System of the Royal Institute of Thailand with the modification that long vowels are marked by a macron. Place names and personal names are given according to accepted usage.

11 Sēphā ru'ang Phaen, Khun Chāng Khun, Chabap haeng chāt, Bangkok, Department of Fine Arts, 1965, 130.Google Scholar

12 The organization of Thai society in the early Bangkok period, 1782–1873 (Cornell University, Southeast Asia Program, Data Paper 74), New York, 1969, 57.Google Scholar

13 The organization of Thai society, 57.Google Scholar

14 The Kingdom of Siam (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints), Oxford, 1969, 79.Google Scholar

15 The Ship of Sulaimān (Persian Heritage Series No. 11), tr. O'Kane, J., New York, 1972, 96.Google Scholar

16 See Quaritch, H. G. Wales' argumentation in his Ancient Siamese government and administration, New York, 1965, 81–82.Google Scholar

17 Sukhabanij, Kachorn, čhāk adīt, Bangkok, 1975, 34.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., 31.

19 Photočhanānukrom Thai, Bangkok, chabap Phraephitthayā, n.d., 1324.Google Scholar

20 See the entries for sak in McFarland's, Thai-English Dictionary, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1969, 840.Google Scholar

21 čhāk adīt, 42.Google Scholar

22 Ibid., 41.

23 Chomchai, Prachoom (ed. and tr.) Chulalongkorn the Great, Tokyo, 1965, 53.Google Scholar

24 The salu'ng is one-fourth of a baht.

25 Soms is short for phraisom, indicating those people of a dignity mark of less than 400 who were assigned to a specific individual, other than the king.

26 Chulalongkorn the Great, 54.Google Scholar

27 Monks and magic, 83–84.Google Scholar

28 The alphabet is Cambodian writing, which in central Thailand was traditionally reserved for all sacred texts. Since the Second World War the Bangkok authorities have stopped printing sermons in but in esoteric skills the letters are still used.

29 See the references in Bouteiller, M., “Le Tatouage”.Google Scholar

30 The Book of Ser Marco Polo, tr. and ed. Yule, H. (third, revised edition by Cordier, H.) II, London, 1903, 117.Google Scholar

31 The Kingdom of Siam, opp. p. 31.Google Scholar

32 MgrPallegoix, , Description du royaume Thai ou Siam, reprint, Farnborough, 1969, 1, 35.Google Scholar

33 For Burma, see Yoe, Shway, The Burman, his life and notions, reprint, New York 1963. 39–47Google Scholar; Aung, Maung Htin, “Burmese initiation ceremonies”, Journal of the Burmese Research Society, 1952, 80Google Scholar and his Folk elements in Burmese Buddhism, London, 1962, 116–118Google Scholar. For north and northeast Thailand see Klausner, W. J., Reflections in a log pond, Bangkok, 1974, 87Google Scholar; Kingshill, K., Ku-Daeng the red tomb, a village study in Northern Thailand, Chiangmai, 1960, 217–218Google Scholar; see also the remark of Wood, W. A. R. in his Consul in paradise, London, 1965, 88Google Scholar; Bock, C. published on tattooing practices for the whole region in Temples and elephants: the narrative of a journey of exploration through upper Siam and Lao, London, 1884, 170–174 and 364–365Google Scholar. See also his “Le tatouage au Laos occidental”, Revue d'Ethnographie, 1884, 259–261.Google Scholar Many details of Laotian tattooing can be found in Nguyen-Xuan-Nuguyen's “Contribution à l'etude des tatouages au Laos”, Bulletin de l'Institut pour l'Étude de l'Homme, 1941, 99–111Google Scholar as well as in Levi's, P. article in the same issue (pp. 113–118)Google Scholar. De La Loubère noted the custom at the Court of Ayuthaya, but remains uncertain whether this initiation ceremony had been performed upon other courtiers, or even the King of Siam (The Kingdom of Siam, 27–8).Google Scholar

34 “Thai charms and amulets”, 171.Google Scholar

35 Description du royaume Thai ou Siam, II, 47.Google Scholar

36 Some of the preliminary evidence of D. Lauro's demographical study of a community in Ayuthaya province is consistent with this view (personal communication, 18 May 1977).

37 The trend appears to be continuing well into this century, see for example Textor's, R. B.From peasant to pedicab driver (Yale University, Cultural Report no. 9), New Haven, 1961.Google Scholar

38 “Contribution à l'étude des tatouages au Laos”, especially illustrations 3c, 12b–15h and 23–25 (torso only).

39 See my Boeddhisme in de Prak tijk, Assen, 1977, 113–116.Google Scholar