Thosapol Sripum
Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)
This paper aims to study Pathum Chadok Waduay Kon Haeng Sattri, a Thai didactic literary work published by the Royal Printing House in 1871 (2414 B.E.) in order to consider the significance of tales-within-tales and other literary techniques used to convey the theme of the story. The study finds that the text is adapted from the Mahāpaduma Jātaka in the Jātaka-aṭṭhavaṇṇanā by deriving the plot from the original jātaka and adding twenty-two tales about vicious women into the story. The twenty-two tales emphasize the danger of “femme fatale” by repeating stories about women’s deception to her husband and illustrating examples of men’s misfortune. The fifty-two deceits in the sub-tales imply that the text is not only to demonstrate feminine peril, but also to elaborate a practical instruction for men to avoid marital misery.
(Presented in the International Conference on Buddhist Studies: Buddha's Biography – Buddhist Legends, 18-19 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Department of Thai, Faculty of Arts, The Pali and Sanskrit Section, Department of Eastern Languages, Faculty of Arts and Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University)