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THE KINGDOM OF THE YELLOW ROBE
THE KINGDOM OF THE YELLOW ROBE
THE KINGDOM OF THE YELLOW ROBE Being Sketches of the Domestic and Religious Rites and Ceremonies of the Siamese BY ERNEST YOUNG Late of the Education Department, Siam. With Illustrations by E. A. Norbury, R.C.A. (Late Director of the Royal School of Art, Bangkok, Siam) And from Photographs by the Author. WESTMINSTER ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & Co 1898...
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PREFACE
PREFACE
The following pages are intended to present to the reader an account of the domestic and religious rites and ceremonies of the Siamese. They are the outcome of several years' residence in the Capital of Siam. In order to verify some of my own observations or to amplify some points with regard to which my own knowledge was rather scanty, I have consulted most of the books which in recent years have been published concerning the country of Siam. I am particularly indebted to the works of two write
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CHAPTER I. STREET SCENES IN THE VENICE OF THE EAST.
CHAPTER I. STREET SCENES IN THE VENICE OF THE EAST.
Bangkok, the Venice of the East, was not the Capital of Siam during the earlier period of that country's history. Formerly the seat of government was at Ayuthia; but the ancient capital is now a heap of ruined temples and dwellings, an attraction for travellers, but of little importance to the people themselves. At the time when this mouldering city was the home of the Sovereign, a man of Chinese origin was sent to govern one of the northern provinces of the country. He is known in Siamese histo
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CHAPTER II. BY "KHLONG" AND RIVER.
CHAPTER II. BY "KHLONG" AND RIVER.
In a walk through any Siamese street the traveller cannot fail to remark the total absence of any carriage or other wheeled vehicle of native design. There are conveyances of many descriptions borrowed from India, China, Japan, and Europe, but none whatever that can be pointed out as being designed by the Siamese themselves. Any enquiry as to the cause of this apparently strange lack of originality in a matter which so directly concerns the daily life of the community, is readily answered. Until
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CHAPTER III. THE CHILDREN.
CHAPTER III. THE CHILDREN.
The lives of the children of the East are surrounded by a number of time-honoured rites and ceremonies of an imposing but superstitious character. The infant is a priceless gift from the beneficent gods, and its life must be ordered in accordance with the curious superstitions invented of old by the legendary deities of its forefathers. The infant is at once a source of pride, for it is a mark of heavenly favour, and of hope, for it shall, if good luck befall it, hand down its father's name unto
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CHAPTER IV. THE SHAVING OF THE TOP-KNOT.
CHAPTER IV. THE SHAVING OF THE TOP-KNOT.
Of all the ceremonies that attend the lives of Siamese children none are so important as those connected with the shaving of the top-knot. From their earliest days the whole of the hair is shaved off the top of the head, with the exception of one small tuft that is never touched until it is finally removed with great pomp and ritual. This single lock is daily combed, twisted, oiled, and tied in a little knot. A jewelled pin stuck through it, or a small wreath of tiny flowers encircling it, are i
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CHAPTER V. COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.
CHAPTER V. COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.
Although marriage does not follow immediately after the shaving of the top-knot, yet after the important event has taken place, both boys and girls are legally entitled to marry. In the case of the girls, marriage takes place about fourteen, but the men defer their entrance into the matrimonial condition until they are about twenty. Every girl gets married sooner or later, so that old maids do not exist. There are about as many ways of attaining the state of matrimony in Siam as there are in Eng
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CHAPTER VI. DOMESTIC LIFE AND CUSTOMS.
CHAPTER VI. DOMESTIC LIFE AND CUSTOMS.
It is an easy matter to obtain some idea of the daily life and surroundings of the poorer inhabitants of Siam, for their houses are such open structures that every enquiring eye may gaze therein without any interruption. They spend so much of their time, and pursue so many of their employments in the open air, that even the most casual observer could not fail to rapidly acquire much information concerning their domestic life and customs. In the case of the wealthier classes there is much more pr
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CHAPTER VII. DOMESTIC LIFE AND CUSTOMS (continued).
CHAPTER VII. DOMESTIC LIFE AND CUSTOMS (continued).
Slavery or serfdom is one of the most interesting features in the social life of the Siamese. It is another of those customs which they have borrowed from a neighbouring nation. The Shan ancestors of the Siamese were "free" men, and the name "Thai", which was the name they called themselves, signified that fact. It is, moreover, the name of the nation to-day, though the condition of slavery is a very wide-spread one. For many years the inhabitants of the plains were tributary to Cambodia, whose
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CHAPTER VIII. POPULAR AMUSEMENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. POPULAR AMUSEMENTS.
The Siamese are fond of being amused and of amusing themselves, but they do not usually indulge in active sports with the exception of rowing and a species of football. Games that involve any great physical exertion are played chiefly by persons who make a business of the performance. The professional acrobats that are met with on festive occasions are fearless and skilful. Amongst the many feats they perform for the amusement of their fellow-countrymen, there are few that do not require both st
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CHAPTER IX. OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL.
CHAPTER IX. OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL.
Within the limits of the crowded capital one can easily study closely the superstitions, the customs, and the ceremonies of the people. But if any idea is to be gained of the industries of the country, it is necessary to pass from the busy canals and the crowded highways into the wide plains beyond. In the busy city the Siamese are shopkeepers, policemen, postmen, soldiers and government officials. The mechanics and artisans are Chinese. There is no sign of any native industry, no weaving of clo
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CHAPTER X. THE CULTIVATION OF RICE.
CHAPTER X. THE CULTIVATION OF RICE.
The natives of Siam depend absolutely on rice for their very existence. It is the only necessary article of food. Should the supply fail, there is nothing to take its place. All other forms of food are, comparatively speaking, luxuries. Abundance of rice means life; scarcity of rice brings famine and death. The failure of the crops in Siam would produce a famine as far-reaching and as disastrous in its results as those of India, which have at different times evoked to such a large degree, the pr
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CHAPTER XI. LAWS AND LEGISLATION.
CHAPTER XI. LAWS AND LEGISLATION.
Recent years have witnessed great changes in the methods of governing and judging the people. In nothing is the distinction between Old and Young Siam so definitely marked. But it is the old order of things that will chiefly concern us in this chapter, for the new order, though indicative of great progress, has been carried out by Western minds in imitation of Western methods, and it therefore presents little which is of intrinsic interest to the student of foreign customs. But as any account of
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CHAPTER XII. CEREMONIES FOR THE DYING AND THE DEAD.
CHAPTER XII. CEREMONIES FOR THE DYING AND THE DEAD.
Death is essentially awe-inspiring and mysterious, and in the case of a people whose lives, from the cradle upwards, are lived in an atmosphere of superstition, it is only to be expected that the ceremonies for the dead should be duly and respectfully performed. When a person is at the point of death, those by the bedside endeavour to fix the thoughts of the dying one upon the "Great Teacher," whose words are their hope and guide at such a time. Loudly and rapidly, at least eight or ten times a
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CHAPTER XIII. THE ORDER OF THE YELLOW ROBE.
CHAPTER XIII. THE ORDER OF THE YELLOW ROBE.
Among the crowd of brightly dressed people who throng the streets and alleys, the canals and rivers of Eastern Venice, there are none who so soon command the attention of the new arrival, or who appeal more strongly to the eye of the oldest inhabitant of the city, than the yellow-robed priests of the Buddhist faith. In the capital of Siam there are over ten thousand of them, while in the whole kingdom there are more than one hundred thousand. No ancient order of Grey or White Friars ever exhibit
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CHAPTER XIV. AMONG THE TEMPLES.
CHAPTER XIV. AMONG THE TEMPLES.
Every single town and village of Siam is crowded with temples, or "wats," as they are locally called. Compared with similar religious institutions in England, their number seems to be out of all proportion to the number of the population. Their variety of size and method of decoration, as well as their number, is sufficiently conspicuous to make even the most casual observer enquire why they abound to such an extent. And the reason for this superabundance of religious edifices is not to be found
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CHAPTER XV. AMONG THE TEMPLES (continued).
CHAPTER XV. AMONG THE TEMPLES (continued).
Several of the larger "wats" in the capital are deserving of further notice. The largest temple in the country is Wat Poh. It has often been said that "he who has seen Wat Poh has seen every Buddhist temple in Siam." It covers an immense extent of ground in the very heart of the great city, and inside its high brick walls are gathered together examples in wood and stone, in bronze and porcelain, of everything connected with ecclesiastical architecture in the country. Its chief attraction is an i
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CHAPTER XVI. RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.
CHAPTER XVI. RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.
Religious ceremonies follow one another with incredible rapidity in the "Kingdom of the Yellow Robe." They are observed by every one, not on account of their religious value, but because they afford excellent reasons for indulging in general holidays. A few of the more important ones will be dealt with in this and the two succeeding chapters. Thet maha chat. The first one to be noticed here is the "Thet maha chat" or "The Preaching of the Story of the Great Birth." It does not, like the other ce
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CHAPTER XVII. RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES (continued).
CHAPTER XVII. RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES (continued).
The Thot Katin. The Thot Katin ceremonies are not nearly so old as those described in the preceding chapter. They are said to have been first established as purely state ceremonies by one of the Siamese kings, called Somdet Pra Luang, who reigned over Northern Siam about seven hundred years ago. He was a very popular monarch, and as powerful as he was popular. Whatever he ordered to be done in his own provinces in the north of the country, was always carried out to the letter, and the ceremonies
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CHAPTER XVIII. RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES (continued).
CHAPTER XVIII. RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES (continued).
Loy Krathong. The Loy Krathong festivals were established by King Pra Luang, the founder of the Thot Katin ceremonies, and they originally occurred in connection with them; but they have gradually become separated from them, and have now an independent existence of their own. Whereas the Katin ceremonies owe their origin to a superstition propagated by worshippers of the Buddhist faith, the Loy Krathong festivities are an outgrowth of Brahminical worship. The old "wat" visitations, with the pres
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CHAPTER XIX. THE PILGRIMAGE TO PRABAT.
CHAPTER XIX. THE PILGRIMAGE TO PRABAT.
About one hundred miles to the north-north-east of the city of Bangkok there stands an isolated hill, whose sides are greatly scored with "rays" that plainly indicate its volcanic origin. As all the surrounding land is but a wide stretch of low level plain, flooded in the rainy season, the jagged peak is a conspicuous object for many miles away from its base. The hill is known as Mount Prabat . The name "Pra-bat" is a compound of two words, meaning "the holy foot," and is given to the hill becau
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CHAPTER XX. THE ELEPHANTS.
CHAPTER XX. THE ELEPHANTS.
The Siamese Twins and the Siamese White Elephants are the two objects round which many an Englishman grouped all his knowledge of "The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe" until the political troubles of the past few years drew public attention to this hitherto little known country. The elephants have given rise to a proverbial expression in England, which is a little misleading when viewed in the light of Siamese opinion. To give to a European a useless and troublesome present is known as giving him a "
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