THAILAND 🇹🇭 | Butsaba, นางบุษบา

Many countries in Southeast Asia have brought the Javanese Panji stories into their literary cycles, especially in the form of performing arts one of them is Siam. In Siam royal court dramas, there exist two texts that date from the late Ayutthaya period: Dalang and Inao, which are scripts of the Thai Panji stories written in the poetic pattern. These two versions have endured from the Ayutthaya period to the following Thonburi and Bangkok eras.

 

After the Ayutthaya period, there were various versions of Dalang and Inao, both in the form of certain episodes and as a complete story. Inao stood out and became more popular than Dalang, due to the latter’s confusing content, difficult character names, and more violent scenes. The Thai Panji stories were first composed in Thailand by Princess Kunthon and Princess Mongkut, the two daughters of King Borommakot (1733-1758) of the late Ayutthaya period. They knew the Javanese Panji stories from a Malay maid in their court called Yawo (the word used to call an old woman). Each princess then composed her own story of the Panji tales in the klon botlakhon pattern, entitled Dalang, and Inao respectively. Important evidence can be found in Bunnowat Khamchan, a literary work composed in 1751-1758, the same period as King Borommakot’s reign, according to which Inao was performed as a court drama to celebrate the Buddha’s footprint at Suwannabanphot, which means “the golden mountain” in Saraburi Province.

 

Early Rattanakosin period in the reign of King Rama II (1809-1824), the king composed Inao in the form of the klon botlakhon pattern by improving King Rama I’s version of Inao, in order to make it suitable for both reading and court drama performance. Since then, the Inao story by King Rama II has been considered as his masterpiece as well as the best work of court performance literature. As a result, other versions of Inao composed by other poets have gradually disappeared from the Thai literary cycle. To this day, the Inao story by King Rama II is still widely used for court drama. The Performances Inao by King Rama II has proved to be very popular among Thai people, especially among the kings and their courtiers. Some poets, who lived during and after the reign of King Rama II, composed various versions of Inao based on the complete story of Inao by King Rama II, but in different kinds of poetic form. The content of most versions covers only one or a few episodes. For example, Sunthon Phu, the best-known Thai poet who lived during the reigns of King Rama II to King Rama IV, created Nirat Inao, which is a story of Inao searching for Butsaba in klon pattern.

 

#southeastasia #Thaiculture #Thailand