Minutes of the 260th meeting - Tuesday 8 March 2004
"THE 'SINGHALESE' BUDDHA : Thailand's Highly Revered Guardian Image in the
National Museum Bangkok.
Is This Image the Original? Two Others Claim the Title.
A Detective Story"
A Talk and slide presentation by Carol Stratton
Present: Thianchai Ahsrondit, Paul Ardern, Dianne & Mark Barber-Riley, Paul
Barber-Riley, Thomas Baude, Mark Bleadon, John & Martha Butt, Guy Cardinal,
Bernard Davis, Brian DeBenedetti, Klaus Berkmüller, Brian Doberstyn, Allen
Dubbs, Ron Emmons, Lorenz Ferrari, Louis Gabaude, Laura Godtfredsen, Judy &
Dale Harcourt, Reinhard Hohler, Harry Kraft, Deborah Nester, Thomas Ohlson,
Suresm Patel, Jeanette Pembroke, Nicolas Revire, Jennifer Salisbury, Samy
Ridq, Lamar & Chongchit Robert, Carl & Keiko Samuels, Bob Stratton, Jay
Thirst, Celeste Tolibas-Holland, Barbara Tyrell, Valerie Veres, Renee
Vines, Monica Weber, Bill Woodruff. An audience of 42.
About the speaker
Carol Stratton has been working on the art history of Thailand for over
thirty years. She and her family lived in Bangkok for six years during the
early 70's where she worked extensively for the National Museum Bangkok
Volunteers as guide, researcher and writer. With a colleague, Miriam McNair
Scott, she wrote "The Art of Sukhothai: Thailand's Golden Age" published by
Oxford University Press in 1981. With the aid of several major US grants
(the National Endowment for the Humanities, Rockefeller Foundation, Asian
Cultural Council) she has been researching and writing on the art history
of Northern Thailand. Her second book, "The Buddhist Sculpture of Northern
Thailand" was published last year by Silkworm Books in Chiang Mai.
Carol's abridged version of her talk and presentation:
The Phra Phuttha Sihing is one of the most revered Buddha images in
Thailand. The Singhalese Buddha, as it is also named, along with the
Emerald Buddha are the two foremost palladia or protector/guardians of the
Chakri Dynasty and thus of all of Thailand.
While the Emerald Buddha is located in its own wihan at Wat Phra Kaeo, the
Phra Puttha Sihing is now ensconced in a place of honor in the Phuttaisawan
Chapel of the National Museum. This chapel was especially built to house
the image in the Palace of Wang Na or Second King, Today this palace is an
integral part of the National Museum Bangkok.
Many claim that the image shown here is THE Singhalese Buddha, but there
are two other major Buddha images claiming the title. More on them later.
As for the name Phra Phuttha Sihing: Phra is an honorific, Phuttha is
Buddha in Thai and Sihing means Singhalese or from Sri Lanka. The same word
is also pronounced "Singh" and means both "Singhalese" and "lion", a
situation which can cause great confusion, as we shall see. To distinguish
between "Singhalese" and "lion," I have used a slightly different spelling
and pronunciation for the Sihing meaning Singhalese and Singh meaning lion.
So why is the Phra Phuttha Sihing so important? It is not because this
image is beautiful, although it certainly is a stunning example. It is not
just because it is "old", although this one boasts an ancient lineage. It
is because the image is widely perceived as having GREAT MAGICAL POWERS
Just as a hierarchy exists from common peasant to the exalted king, so too
do Buddha images have relative status. While to most Buddhists, all Buddha
images are objects of respect, some are considered to have more intrinsic
power and are thus more important than others. The ones of the highest
stature are palladia, defined as sacred objects having power to preserve
the cities or states possessing them. The Emerald Buddha is the chief
palladium of Thailand while the Phra Phuttha Sihing is conceivably the
second.
These highly revered images are believed to have PROVEN their power by
insuring its possessor wins in war and politics, thus enhancing the ruler's
political authority. In turn the ruler pays respect to the image by
providing it a special setting like an elaborate altar in its own hall, by
bathing it in lustral water, by making offerings of flowers, incense and
candles, and bestowing gifts of precious material.
So specifically, why is the Phra Phuttha Sihing considered so powerful? For
one thing, this image is used in the rainmaking ceremonies where the Phra
Phuttha Sihing (and now an exact replica) is carried out of the Museum
during Songkran in mid April and paraded around Sanam Luang. There it is
bathed in lustral perfumed water, thus insuring the coming beneficent rains
and the continuity of the agrarian cycles. The Phra Phuttha Sihing and the
Emerald Buddha have been linked together several times in their history and
are considered by many to be symbiotic: the Phra Phuttha Sihing is
concerned with watery realms, rains, the serpent emblem while the Emerald
Buddha is solar, aerial, the bird emblem.
Moreover, the Phra Phuttha Sihing is also extremely important because it
boasts a long venerable history. According to its chronicle its lineage can
be traced back to Sri Lanka, the home of the purest Theravada sects of
Buddhism. The Sihing chronicle, like others histories, such as that of the
Emerald Buddha, combines myths, tradition, and verifiable history. Both
chronicles written in the 15th century have many similarities.
As there is no time here to go into all the Phra Phuttha Sihing's
peregrinations, a brief synopsis of the chronicle is as follows:
- The "original" or "Ur" Sihing was purportedly cast in bronze in Sri
Lanka in the second century B.C. by local artisans copying a wax model.
- This wax model had been formed by some holy men upon seeing an apparition.
- The apparition, an exact copy of the Buddha, complete with all his
unique anatomical characteristics, had been provided by a helpful naga, a
semi-divine snake, who had known the Buddha personally.
The chronicle further relates that the image stayed in Sri Lanka for many
centuries until it was brought to Nakhon Si Thammarat on the Peninsula of
Thailand by King Rocaraja (sometimes identified as King Ram Khamhaeng of
Sukhothai) and thence carried to the Sukhothai Kingdom in the late 13thC.
In one account, the image floated on a raft from Sri Lanka, perhaps
symbolic of the new "pure" sect of Theravada Buddhism that came from Sri
Lanka to the south of Thailand at that time. Here is Nakhon Si Thammarat, here is Sukhothai (on the map). From there the
Singhalese Buddha was seized by Ayutthaya, removed to Kamphaeng Phet,
installed in Chiang Mai, heisted to Chiang Rai, taken to Chiang Saen, back
to Chiang Rai then returned to Chiang Mai. Most of these last wanderings
were within the Northern kingdom of Lan Na. Thus, during the course of its
early history, kings and princes from three great Thai kingdoms (Sukhothai,
Ayutthaya and Lan Na) vied for its possession.
Later, authoritative history for the Museum Phra Phuttha Sihing has the
image taken from Chiang Mai to Luang Phrabang in Laos, back to Chiang Mai,
again to Ayutthaya, back to Chiang Mai and finally to Bangkok.
At any point in the Singhalese Buddha's travels, a copy could have been
substituted and if the copy had been cast correctly, it might have the same
powers as the original. However, neither the Singhalese image from Sri
Lanka nor the Singhalese image from Sukhothai can be identified today. They
are lost.
This not withstanding, currently there are three claimants to being THE
Singhalese Buddha. They are quite different from each other in style and
iconography AND they are quite different from Sri Lanka Buddha images.
The first contender is the National Museum's Phra Phuttha Sihing on the
left. Please compare it with a medieval Sri Lanka Buddha on the right. The
basic iconography is the same: both are seated in virasana, right leg
folded over left, hands in the meditation mudra, have a long shawl and a
flame finial. Further the legs lie very flat against the base. But
stylistically the two are very different especially the shape of the flame,
the eyes and the robes.
Perhaps this is the place to briefly review the difference between
Iconography and Style. The iconography, in the case of Buddha images in
Thailand, consists of the posture of the Buddha (seated, standing, walking
or reclining), its hand gesture (the meditation and the hand pointing to
the earth Calling the Earth to Witness are the two most common), the way
the monk's robe is worn, and the shape of the finial on top of the head. A
flame finial is the most common and is emblematic of the fiery spiritual
energy of the Buddha spurting from the top of his head. Another very
distinctive iconographic feature is the ushnisha, the bulge on top of the
Buddha's head indicating a personage of uncommon wisdom.
Still other iconographic factors in creating a Buddha image are the
Anatomical Conventions or 32 major lakshanas taken from Sanskrit poetry
with similes such as a nose like the beak of a parrot, eyes like lotus
leaves, chin like a mango stone, arms like the trunk of a young elephant,
chest like a lion, etc.
While the iconography is proscribed and chosen by the patron, be he king,
monk or laymanŠ. the style, or how these elements are depicted, can vary
substantially and the details are often left up to the artisan. Certain
combinations of iconography and style in a given locality make a Type or
School.
Thus the Museum Sihing is not from the Sri Lanka or Singhalese School
because of the style of the monks robe, the style of the flame finial, and
the lack of an ushnisha on the Sri Lanka image.
The second contender for the title of The Singhalese Buddha is the image
called the Phra Singh. This image is one of the palladia of Chiang Mai, the
old capital of Lan Na, and is located at Wat Phra Singh in this city. But
it has a very different iconography from either the National Museum Phra
Phuttha Sihing or the Sri Lanka image. Here Number 2 contender has the legs
doubly crossed in vajrasana, the hands in Calling the Earth to Witness, a
short shawl and a gem as versus a flame finial. This combination of
iconographic details places the number 2 contender in a group called "Lion
Lord" by Griswold (the word "singh" in this case is "lion" and the
honorific "Phra" is "Lord") and called "Phra Singh TYPE" by others. In
style, Contender 2 is a Golden Age, late 15th Century image from Chiang
Mai.
An example of excellence is another Golden Age product with the same Lion
Lord/ Phra Singh iconography and was also probably cast in Chiang Mai
during the late 15th Century. Ignoring the head of Contender 2, which is a
replacement after the original was stolen in the 1920s, one can see how
similar they are with their "lion-like" torsos and strong legs. The number
2 contender is said to have appeared in Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai (which
was specifically built for the Singhalese Buddha) sometime during the
absence from Chiang Mai of contender number one, the Museum Phra Phuttha
Sihing. On the right we have another Buddha image which is the earliest
dated example of the Lion Lord/ Phra Singh Type. The iconography is the
same as Contender number 2 in Chiang Mai. The inscription on the base
states: "this Phra Singh Buddha" and it gives the astrological data that
can be deciphered as 1470. So it appears that the inscription is referring
to a Phra Singh Type, not a second century B.C. image from Sri Lanka.
The third contender for the title is an image in Nakhon Si Thammarat on the
southern peninsula of Thailand. It is called "Phra Khanom Tom" after a
southern dessert, because of its sweet round face. Although number 3 has
the same leg and hand position, short shawl, gem finial as the Lion Lord
type, its torso is shorter and the shawl over the shoulder is pleated
identifying it as a peninsular/Ayutthayan version of the Lion Lord / Phra
Singh Type from perhaps a century or more later. When comparing Contender 3
from the Peninsula at left with another Sri Lanka image at right, we can
readily see the former did not come from Sri Lanka. The Peninsular Singh
does not even have the meditation hand gesture or the long shawl. The
Peninsular Singh's claim to the title is the belief that the Singhalese
Buddha stayed in the south of Thailand and did not travel North with the
Sukhothai king in the 13th century. Thus because of the foregoing analysis,
I think we can say with confidence that NONE of the three contenders are
the original "Singhalese" Buddha from Sri Lanka either from the second
century B.C. or even the thirteenth century A.D.
Some say that the National Museum Phra Phuttha Sihing is a Sukhothai image
brought from the Sukhothai kingdom to the Lan Na kingdom during the 1380s.
Let's compare a 14/15th century Classic Sukhothai image with the Museum
Sihing. Let's take the profile first as that is quite distinctive in the
Sukhothai School.
The Museum Sihing is at left, the Sukhothai one at right. The two look very
similar - the expanded chest, the muscle-less arms, the sheer monks robes.
As many of you know, the historic Buddha of the 6th Century B.C.E. India
has traditionally been portrayed as an idealized ascetic with certain
special anatomical conventions and wearing monk's robes.
How about a profile of the heads which also looks good: hooked nose, jowls,
rounded ushnisha, flame finial. The hair however in our Sihing at left
consists of small SPIKY CURLS while the hair of the classic Sukhothai image
at right is usually small flattened coils. Both cases represent the shaven
head of the Buddha as a monk whose hair, according to legend, grew back in
such tight coils that he never had to shave it again.
What about hands and feet? Especially associated with Lan Na are the
extraordinary long and abstracted fingers as well as the elongated
flattened feet seen at left on the Museum Sihing. These are notable,
especially as compared to the more natural renderings of a classic
Sukhothai image at right.
Now let's try of a full frontal. On the outset, except for the hand
position, it again looks like a pretty good comparison.
The shawl of our Sihing is wider but that's a minor difference.
But for the art historian there are two major differences.
First the Base of the Phra Phuttha Sihing at left. Utterly diagnostic of a
Northern Lan Na kingdom image is a base decorated with lotus leafs in a row
along with the stamen and anther (the stem and bud) above. This type of
plinth is supposed to represent a fully opened lotus flower upon which the
Buddha rests. A typical base of a classic Sukhothai image, shown at right,
is a plain plinth.
Further, the outer edges of the knees of a Sukhothai image such as at right
hang past the edges of the plinth or are directly aligned with the sides
whereas the knees of Lan Na images end within the plinth, with the plinth
extending past the knees such as is the case with the Museum Sihing.
Even more important is something you can't see, and that concerns the flame
finial on top of the head - in a Sukhothai image the finial is cast right
with the rest of the body, while in Lan Na the finial is cast separately.
This convention enables relics to be placed within a Lan Na image. The
Museum Sihing has a finial that CAN be removed. Thus the Phra Phuttha
Sihing is NOT a Sukhothai image.
So now I will try and prove that our Phra Phuttha Sihing was made in Lan Na
during the last half of the 15th C.
First: VERIFIABLE history of the Museum Phra Phuttha Sihing begins in 1481
when King Tilok of Lan Na has the Sihing image in Chiang Mai along with the
Emerald Buddha. These two superstars, together with other important images,
undoubtedly confirmed Tilok's POWER status during his long and eventful
reign in the last half of the 15th century. But later in 1547 another King
- Jetta - left a weakened Lan Na (translated as the Land of a Million Rice
Fields) and took the two sacred images to Laos when he became King of Lan
Chang (translated as the Land of a Million Elephants). The Sihing and the
Emerald Buddhas made a triad with the local palladium, the Phra Bang,
(after which the old royal capital Luang Phrabang was named). A bit later a
new king back in Lan Na asked for the Sihing and Emerald Buddhas back but
was given only the Sihing because rumor had it that its powers were
depleted.
In 1661, following the invasion of Lan Na by King Narai of Ayutthaya, Narai
asked a sage if the Sihing could really fly. He was informed that indeed
the statue could fly - before the two gems in its eyes were stolen. Narai
took the image anyway. In 1767, after the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya, the
Sihing was reportedly returned to Chiang Mai. In any event, in 1795 the
Sihing was brought from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and placed in the
Phutthaisawan Chapel. The Emerald Buddha was brought by King Rama I from
Laos where it had resided for two hundred years, and eventually placed in
the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The two images have been reunited.
Thus the Phra Phuttha Sihing we see today in Bangkok is probably the one
that was in Chiang Mai at least by the second half of the 15th C. during
King Tilok's reign. This was the Golden Age of Lan Na arts and culture. Lan
Na has been home for a thousand years to a plethora of Buddha images of
multiple Types exhibiting many combinations of styles and iconography, a
number of them co-existing. To sort them all out is an art historian's
nightmare. But very helpful to us art historians is the appearance during
Lan Na's Golden Age in the late 15th century of some Buddha images with
inscribed dates. These inscriptions, usually found on the base, often give
the name(s) of the donor and the auspicious astrological date of its
casting, along with hopes, vows, or some sacred Buddhist texts.
What is the purpose of making all these Buddha images and inscribing them?
It is believed by most Thais that by donating towards the making of a
Buddha image, whether a statue in the round or on a votive plaque,
individuals, whether royalty or commoner, monk or lay person, male of
female, can "make merit" and thus enhance their karma so that they might be
reborn in better circumstances - or - to counteract bad actions (in this
life or previous ones) so as not to spiral backwards along the chain of
rebirths. Over many lives, by following the Buddha's teaching, the
individual hopes to progress along the path laid out by Buddha to complete
understanding and Nirvana, the ultimate goal of all Buddhists. Thus a Lan
Na inscription often records the donor's hope for a good rebirth. Examples
of these hopes can be seen on two metal votive tablets from Phayao, perhaps
from the 14th or 15th Centuries.
The first, on the left, is made of gold
and expresses the wish of a high-born lady underneath an embossed picture
of the Buddha with a recumbent elephant. To paraphrase her wish: "As a fruit of my action of making this Buddha image, wherever I am reborn,
may I remember my previous lives. May I be reborn in good circumstances and
not suffer poverty. And let me have a good husband, and good children, and
good servants, precious as gems." In the same vault was another made of
tin, shown at right, donated by a man named Chiang Phiu, who was probably a
guard or retainer of the lady's household. His wish is simpler:
"Let me not go to Hell - in every life."
These two inscriptions tell us a lot about two lives in two strata of
ancient Thai society. As for Buddha images with inscribed dates, they can
tell the art historian some about the society but a lot about the Buddha
images themselves Š what Type of image was preferred, when, by whom, and in
what place. The study of art history has a double significance. Not only
does it help one appreciate the beauty and significance, it uses art as a
means of defining history. Although Art History is not a science, it uses
scientific methods and thinking. Of course it is always preferable to work
with verifiable data, but this, in art history, like quantum physics, is
not always possible. So theories must be developed based on the best
verifiable information available. Thus the images with inscribed dates are
major tools for the art historian. Using these dated examples as the
armature, we can group the undated ones that have similar iconography and
styles. Placing the images into categories and naming them is what we art
historians like to do best.
The Museum Phra Phuttha Sihing is a Lan Na Mixed Type mingling Lan Na,
Sukhothai and Sri Lanka characteristics. As we have already discussed, the
Sri Lanka or Singhalese characteristics are primarily the meditation
gesture but also the flattened legs close to the plinth, the rounder face,
and a flame finial. Sukhothai's hand can be seen in the style of the flame
finial, hooked nose, full jowls and silhouette. Mon Hariphunchai gets a
brief nod with the spiky curls, the urna dot between the eyes and the two
bulges on the lower lip. Lan Na distinctive characteristics are that the
flame finial that was cast separately and the lotus leaf base that extends
past the knees. Further Northern details from the 15th - early 16th century
are the wider shawl, the hooked nose with bridge line and the two ball
nostril flaps, outlined mouth with prominent corner ticks, two slight
swellings on the lower lip and the distinctive Lan Na impressed circle on
the checks around the mouth as well as the style of crimped topped lotus
leaves overlapping on the base.
Among the most outstanding attributes of the 15th century Lan Na workshops
is the over-all quality of the casting, the luminosity of the burnished
bronze, and the careful attention to detailing. Not all Lan Na images are
as expertly cast.
The late 15th century date for the Phra Phuttha Sihing can not be
definitively proven until the bronze is analyzed for the chemical
components of the metal and of the clay interior mould, or until a new test
to determine the age of bronze material (currently impossible) can be
devised. Until that time, the old-fashioned analysis of the style and
iconography, using dated images as the framework, is the tool of the art
historian.
While many superb pieces were cast in Lan Na during the Golden Age, at the
apex of them all we place the revered Phra Phuttha Sihing. With a
reminiscent look to Sri Lanka, it combines the most profound and beautiful
features from Sukhothai and Lan Na - these two early Thai kingdoms so
important to the history of Thailand. This magnificent image with its dual
heritage is a fitting guardian/palladium not only for the present Chakri
dynasty but for the united kingdom of Thailand as a whole.
After a thought-provoking question and answer session, the meeting
adjourned to the Alliance Cafeteria where, over copious amounts of drinks
and snacks, members of the audience engaged Carol in more informal
discussion.
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