4. Sculptures in Thailand (Introduction)

Vietnamese Buddhist Art

by Nguyen Ngoc Vinh | 2009 | 60,338 words

This essay studies Vietnamese Buddhist Art in South and South East Asia Context.鈥擨n the early spread of Buddhism to Vietnam, three primary sources are investigated: Chinese histories, Sanskrit and Pali literature and local inscriptions and art: Initially Buddhist sculptures were carried from India to Vietnam by monks and traders. The research are o...

Go directly to: Footnotes.

4. Sculptures in Thailand (Introduction)

< Previous

Next >

[Full title: Style and the Dating of Sculpture (2): South East Asia (b): Thailand (Introduction)]

When Thai people stepped into the history of this peninsula, Hinduism and Buddhism were already in existence. The Thai people adopted these philosophies and rituals from their neighbouring countries^[1] Buddhist links between Thailand and India have been strengthened for over two thousand and five hundred years. The majority of the Thai population in Thailand is Buddhist.^[2]

Thai arts and sculpture in particular, are only known in England from the objects, either quite modern or of fairly recent origin, brought by travellers, and these in most cases, as might be expected, have been indiscriminately chosen and are decadent in style. The result of this has been that in museum present a very inadequate idea of the sculptural art that has been produced on Thai people (Siamese) soil,, though in truth Siam is one of the most attractive and fascinating countries for the student of art history. Cultural influence have invaded it through the centuries from north, south, east, and west, and there is still a wide field open for research. So for a clear understanding of the racial movements which have give rise to all its various schools of art, we must take a good look at a map of Thai. It will be seen that the country is divided naturally into four parts.

First, there is the north of Siam, which comprises the modern Circle of Bayab a province larger than Ireland. Secondly, there is Central Siam, which is formed by the valley of the Menam. Thirdly, there is North-eastern Siam, which forms a large plateau about 800 feet high; and fourthly, there is the Siamese portion of the Malay Peninsula.

To understand the true meaning of Thai art, one must begin in the pre-Tai period when the roots of Thai art and culture took hold and鈥攊n a variety of unforeseeable and unexpected ways鈥攃ontributed to their growth.

The links between old and new and the ways in which both the pre-Tai and Tai legacies found their way into modern Thai sensibilities are not always apparent. Over the centuries many contribution of the country鈥檚 pre-Tai peoples were forgotten, only to reemerge in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries when epigraphic, archaeological, and art historical research began in earnest. Some aspects of pre-Tai culture had been previously rejected or ignored. Others had been buried within the outer casings of newer ideologies and given new meanings to fit more recent religious and political attitudes.^[3] Some gaps between pre-Tai and more recent traditions may never be filled, while others have been invented to bridge past and present. Although attempts have been made to link the designs of Thailand鈥檚 Neolithic pottery of the first millennium BC to that of the Tai speakers who were producing fine ceramics in the fourteenth century A.D.^[4], corroborative evidence is lacking. And while it is interesting to draw comparisons between the lively scenes of daily life that appear in hundreds of Thailand鈥檚 prehistoric cave paintings and the folksy genre scenes that became common in Buddhist paintings centuries later, there are no evolutionary bridges to connect them. In determining the elements that link old and new, much more than stylistic or thematic similarities must be considered. Complex and sometimes elusive historical and cultural connections must also sought, scrutinized, and carefully evaluated.

Much of Thailand鈥檚 sculpture and architecture is easily relatable to pre-Tai antecedents. Early Mon and Khmer style sculpture provide undisputed links with sculpture of later periods.^[5] Mon speakers had inhabited what is now Thailand since prehistoric times, but as early as the mid-first millennium A.D., the population was perhaps already ethnically diverse. Certainly, by the early second millennium A.D., there were many local Khmers.^[6] Their contributions throughout the ages are ubiquitous. Blustered window designs that were common in pre-Tai Khmer buildings survive in twentieth-century buildings. And the designs of some of the country鈥檚 most renowned and arguably its most Thai鈥� architectural monuments, scattered throughout the country or conspicuously positioned in its modern day capital, Bangkok, derive from pre-Tai prototypes and are still revered as landmarks central to Thailand鈥檚 cultural identity. Some major twenty-first century landmarks, even though they bear no physical resemblance to those of the past, are nonetheless identified historically鈥攊f not architecturally鈥攚ith pre-Tai monuments that occupied religious and political sites of special importance in ancient times.

Based on the elements of the peoples in historic of Siam that the art of Siam has been an infusion of so many different styles by different schools or periods, these schools are as follows:

1) Pure Indian, i.e. brought from India itself鈥搖p to the fifth century A.D.

2) Dvaravati: (Mon鈥揑ndian Gupta)鈥揻ifth to tenth centuries A.D.

3) Srivijaya: Hindu鈥揓avanese鈥搒eventh to twelfth centuries A.D.

4) Khmer: Tenth to fourteenth centuries A.D.

5) Tai: Eleventh to seventeenth centuries A.D.^[7]

The links between Thailand鈥檚 pre -Tai and Tai period and the role that the pre-Tai peoples鈥揗on, Khmer, Indian, Malay鈥損layed in the formation of the Thai ethos was vital to its development. To understand the true meaning of Thai art, one must begin in the pre-Tai period when the roots of Thai art and culture took hold and鈥搃n a variety of unforeseeable and unexpected ways鈥揷ontributed to their growth.

Much of Thailand鈥檚 sculpture and architecture is easily relatable to pre-Tai antecedents. Early Mon and Khmer鈥搒tyle sculpture provide undisputed links with sculpture of later periods. Mon speakers had inhabited what is now Thailand since prehistoric times, but as early as the mid鈥揻irst millennium AD, the population was perhaps already ethnically diverse. Certainly, by the early second millennium AD there were many local Khmer. Their contributions throughout the ages are ubiquitous. Balustered window designs that were common in pre-Tai Khmer buildings survive in twentieth-century buildings. And the designs of some of the country鈥檚 most renowned and arguably its most Thai鈥� architectural monuments, scattered throughout the country or conspicuously positioned in its modern-day capital, Bangkok, derive from pre-Tai prototypes and are still revered as landmarks central to Thailand鈥檚 cultural identity. Some major twenty-first century landmarks, even though they bear no physical resemblance to those of the past, are nonetheless identified historically.