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Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies 7.2 (2024): 360–400; https://dx.doi.org/10.15239/hijbs.07.02.11
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ritual and Materiality in Buddhism and Asian Religions)
Material Evidence for Ritual Chant in Early Modern Siam: Leporello Manuscripts as Affordances for Deathbed Rites
Trent WALKER
University of Michigan
ttwalker@umich.edu
Abstract: This article examines material evidence for deathbed chanting in nineteenth-century Siam (today’s central and southern Thailand), focusing on folded-paper leporello manuscripts used for group chanting by monks on behalf of the terminally ill. As physical objects, these Khom-script leporellos convey much more than the Pali texts they transmit. Their paratextual dimensions, including colophons, ritual sequences, and chanting instructions, confirm that the specific material format and arrangement of leporellos made them a crucial piece of ritual technology in the deathbed context. Taking their materiality seriously reveals that such manuscripts are more than just records or manuals; they are affordances that made certain end-of-life rituals possible in early modern Siam. Drawing on examples from Thai, American, and European collections, this essay demonstrates how abundant paratexts unite the material and ritual dimensions of these manuscripts.
Keywords: Thailand, Buddhism, ritual, materiality, chanting, Pali, paratexts
About the Author: Trent Walker is Assistant Professor of Southeast Asian Studies and Thai Professor of Theravada Buddhism in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. A specialist in Southeast Asian literature, religion, and music, his publications include numerous articles on Thai, Lao, Khmer, Pali, and Vietnamese Buddhist texts and recitation practices. He is the author of Until Nirvana’s Time: Buddhist Songs from Cambodia (2022, winner of the 2024 Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation) and the co-editor of Out of the Shadows of Angkor: Cambodian Poetry, Prose, and Performance through the Ages (2022).
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
