Tai-Burmese-Lao Buddhisms in the ‘Modernizing’ of Ban Thawai (Bangkok): The Dynamic Interaction Between Ethnic Minority Religion and British–Siamese Centralization in the Late Nineteenth/Early Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

Drawing on extensive Thai literary and oral history sources this article sets out to explain the complex social, political, ethnic and religious framework within which the opening by ‘the Irish Buddhist’ U Dhammaloka of a free, bilingual and multi-ethnic Buddhist school at Wat Ban Thawai, Bangkok in May 1903 acquires a broader and deeper significance. The article documents the mutual relationships between the local Buddhisms of Tai, Burmese and Lao ethnic minorities and the politics of British-Siamese alliance in the period before and during the First World War. It examines the British-Siamese support of these Buddhist communities in Bangkok and explores the British-Siamese use of their diplomatic relationship with the Tai, Burmese and Lao ethnic minorities in Ban Thawai and elsewhere (i.e. across the borders between Siam and Burma) in order to centralize power. It also discusses the anomalous effect of British and French influence in Ban Thawai which allowed local resistance to Siamese centralization and saṅgha reform.

Acknowledgements

The initial version of this paper was presented at the Conference SE Asia as a Crossroads for Buddhist Exchange: Pioneer European Buddhists and Asian Buddhist Networks 1860 – 1960 hosted by the Study of Religions Department, University College Cork, Ireland, 13–15 September 2012 and funded by the Dhammakaya International Society of the United Kingdom as part of the 2012 postdoctoral fellowship ‘Continuities and Transitions in early Modern Thai Buddhism’.

Notes

 1. Until the early twentieth century, the area was also called Khok Kwai and Otiachia, the latter used by Chinese ethnic migrants and referring to ‘Ban Phung Dam’, meaning ‘the accommodation of those who have black stomachs’. For more see Sathienkoset (2003, 13). The influential, prolific Thai author Sathienkoset (Phrayaanumanratchthon) (1888–1969) grew up in Ban Thawai and lived there from 1888 until the mid-1950s. Sathienkoset (2003) is the fourth edition of Sathienkoset's writing, first published in 1957. The oral history component of his writing reflects his own experience and observation of the area.

 2. For consistency of transliteration, this article mainly employs the ‘Royal Thai General System of Transcription’. So, while most academics would write ‘Tavoy’, I transcribe it as ‘Thawai’ here and hereafter.

 3. See Note 2.

 4. This article covers mainly the period 1850–1920 and the country's name was officially changed from ‘Siam’ to ‘Thailand’ only in 1939, so I use the name ‘Siam’ throughout.

 5. After World War II and the withdrawal of the French and British, these territories would become parts of the newly independent neighbouring countries, Cambodia, Laos and the Union of Burma. Siam lost several territories to France in 1893, 1904, 1906 and 1907, and to Britain in 1892 and 1908. These pieces of land later belonged to Lao, Burma and Malaysia.

 6. For the detail of the Treaty see Bowring (1857). I wish to give special thanks to Ms. Boonyarat Deadson for her help during August 2012 in reading Thai material on all the British and French Treaties from the mid-1850s to 1890s.

 7. See also http://www.anglicanthai.org/historythai.htm (accessed February 9, 2013).

 8. For the detail of Harris Park Treaty and the Diplomatic Treaty between France and Siam, see Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1968, 35–46, 57–70).

 9. This figure of 1000–2000 Thawai people is based on my calculation, confirmed by an interview—the total number of British subjects was 10,000 (of which Malays 1,800, Indians 700, several thousand Singaporean Chinese and several hundred British). This leaves us with the number of other British subjects as 3000–4000 including Thawai, Mon, Burmese and others. Since amongst these ethnic minorities the Thawai had the highest population, I speculate that the number of Thawai people is at least 1000 but not more than 3000. Somphong Wongsangam, an 82 year old ex-monk lay supporter of Wat Don Thawai in an interview on 29 December 2011 informed me that the population of Thawai surrounding Wat Don Thawai was around 300–500 in the early 1900s and, in total, in Ban Thawai there would be over 1000 Thawai people in the area at that time. Somphong has lived his entire life in the area and is a competent witness to the community here. His knowledge is based on oral tradition and personal experience.

10. In part I am drawing on public and tourist information signage for information. On the increasing uptake of Western medicine in the nineteenth century, see Sukhum (2005, 10–11).

11. For details of Bombay Burmah Trading's business in Chiangmai, see also Ian Bushell's (2012) Merchants and Missionaries—Western Incursions into Lanna between 1829 and 1921, presentation paper (May 22, 2012). Some of these ethnic migrants migrated into Siam as early as the Ayutthaya period; the majority arrived in Siam during the reign of King Chulalongkorn.

12. www.railway.co.th/home/srt/about/history.asp (accessed February 9, 2013)

13. Bushell (2012) Merchants and Missionaries – Western Incursions into Lanna between 1829 and 1921, presentation paper (May 22, 2012).

14. See also www.railway.co.th/home/srt/about/history.asp (accessed February 9, 2013)

15. It is specified in Article 5 that each British subject needs to report to the British officers at the nearest consulate both before leaving and after arriving at their destination (see above).

16. http://www.lannaworld.com/cgi/lannaboard/reply_topic.php?id = 15149 (accessed February 9, 2013).

17. Learning Resources Relating to the Construction and Refurbishment of Wat Don, Yannawa, Bangkok-Thonburi City. [บรรณสารการสร้าง และปฏิสังขรณ์ วัดดอน ยานนาวา นครหลวงกรุงเทพธนบุรี]. No publisher's detail. Wat Don publication (n.d. 1–10).

18. Wat Don publication (n.d., 1–10)Wat Don publication (n.d. 1–10). The second Jangvang in the early twentieth century, ruling the Thawai from the 1910s to 1920s, was a close friend of Sathienkoset, whose writings I use here.

19. See also Wat Don Publication (n.d. 7–10).

20. Wat Yannawa publication (n.d. 7–8, 26–30).

21. Wat Yannawa publication (n.d. 22–25).

22. Interview with Somphong (29 December 2011) and Sathienkoset (2003, 106–107).

23. Interview with Somphong (29 December 2011) and Sathienkoset (2003, 106–107).

24. http://www.anglicanthai.org/historythai.htm. For Greenstock's life, see McFarland (1999, 207–208).

25. For example, in 1928 there were 40 churches in the Thawai-Mergui area in Burma. Most of these churches offered English language classes. This information is taken from Sixty-third Annual Report. Burma Baptist Missionary Convention , page 44 (no detail of author). It records the meeting held in Tavoy in October 26–28, 1928.

26. Wat Don School publication (2007, 18–23) and interview with Somphong (December 29, 2011).

27. For the issue of the impact of the Siamese politics of centralization on the authors' under-representation of non-centralized and non-Thai identity and view, see Choompolpaisal (2011, 134–153).

28. During fieldwork from March to May 2012, I reviewed Thai books which discuss Western Buddhist monks. Not a single Thai source mentions Dhammaloka. For a further detailed analysis of Dhammaloka's role in relation to the Thawai ethnic minorities, see Choompolpaisal (in preparation).

29. Wat Yannawa publication (n.d. 28–29); and interview with Somphong (29 December 2011).

30. Interview with Somphong (December 29, 2011). In part I am drawing on public and tourist information signage for information.

31. Interview with Somphong (December 29, 2011) and interview with anonymous Mon monk residing at Wat Prok (April 25, 2012).