Sukanya Sujachaya
Chulalongkorn University
Many jatakas, both canonical like the Vessantara Jātaka and local like the Suvarṇasaṅkha Jātaka, have been known by Thais for a long time. They were represented in various forms of arts—painting, architecture, and performance, both for the purpose of teaching and promoting religious faith and for entertainment.
Since 2007, after the popularity of the phenomenal bubbled-priced ‘Chatukham Ramathep’ and the assertion of ‘creative economy’ commercial policy by the Thai government, new kinds of amulets have been invented all over Thailand. Well-known jātakas have been widely exploited as significant source materials by amulet creators, mostly Buddhist monks, to add commercial value and to promote faith in the new amulets.
This paper aims to study the new amulets invented from the reinterpretation of jātakas, namely amulets that draw on the dramatis personae of the jātaka stories, such as Jūjaka, Chao Ngoh-Phra Sang, and Phaya Tao Ruan amulets, Bundarika masks, Chao Ngoh and Phaya Chaddanta magic cloths. Other amulets are related to the jātaka narratives, such as Khao Khatha Phan (Thousand-verses rice), Phong Maha Laluay Bua Bang Bai (Maha Laluay Lotus Leaves magic powder), Nakhabat Phran Boon (Hunter Boon’s Naga rope), etc., or to the Pali verses from the jātakas that must be recited to empower the amulets.
It is found that since 2009 two new amulets have been created from the canonical jātakas—the Vessantara Jātaka and the Chaddanta Jātaka, three have been created from the Paññāsa Jātaka—the Sudhana Jātaka, the Suvarṇasaṅkha Jātaka and the Suvarṇakacchapa Jataka, and three from local jātakas—Phaya Khao Kham, Tamnan Kob Kin Duan (the myth of the Frog eating the moon), and Si Hu Ha Ta (Four ears, five eyes).
(Presented in the 2012 Chulalongkorn-EFEO International Conference on Buddhist Studies : Imagination, Narrative, and Localization, 6-7 January 2012, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, organized by Faculty of Arts and Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University In conjunction with The Buddhist Studies Group, EFEO)