Siamese Sampler:

This talk opens the conference with an overview of Thai manuscripts and the field.

This paper explores the impact of early American Protestant missions in Siam within the social and political context of the nineteenth century. In order to gain and maintain royal permission to introduce Christianity in the kingdom, U.S. missionaries cultivated a strong relationship with the monarchs and state officials, which heightened missionary contributions to modernizing the kingdom. This paper also seeks to understand the symbiotic relationship between protestant missionaries, Siam, and the United States, as Protestant missionaries came to represent U.S. interest as Consuls and became incorporated as both official and unofficial advisors to the monarchy. 

This talk explores the early Indic concept of hell and how it can be used in providing an ethical narrative for Buddhist canonical literature. From an analysis of the Pāli Sutta Pitaka, I extracted a hierarchical structure generated from over eighty two suttas. By looking at the kammic misdeeds that are deemed most unforgivable on a hierarchical scale, three figures arise who are vilified in early Buddhist literature. From this analysis, I hope to illustrate the complexities that arise from the small subset of suttas pertaining to the worst kammic misdeeds and how they may have influenced the later composition of canonical literature.

Sunthorn Phū (1786-1855) is known as 'the Shakespeare of Thailand.' Every nation has its own 'Shakespeare' but, in this case, the analogy is illuminating. As a deeply reflective artist coming about at a time of great change, Sunthorn Phū provides a fascinating insight into the values and cares of the early Bangkok period. This talk will provide a summary of his rambunctious life, his place in modern day Thai culture as well as an overview of his works.

The mini-conference is concluded with a summary of the exhibition, and a brief reading of Sunthorn Phū's Phra 'Aphaimanī from the volume held in the Penn collection.