¹ The phrase comes from Keyes, Charles F., Thailand: Buddhist Kingdom as Modern Nation State (Bangkok: Duang Kamol, 1989)Google Scholar.

² Bunnag, Tej, The Provincial Administration of Siam 1892–1915: The Ministry of the Interior under Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1977)Google Scholar.

³ Battye, Noel A., “The Military, Government, and Society in Siam, 1868–1910: Politics and Military Reform During the Reign of King Chulalongkorn” (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1974)Google Scholar.

⁴ Wyatt, David K., The Politics of Reform in Thailand: Education in the Reign of King Chulalongkom (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969)Google Scholar.

⁵ Ishii, Yoneo, Sangha, State, and Society: Thai Buddhism in History, trans. Hawkes, Peter (Kyoto: Kyoto University, 1986). See also CharlesGoogle ScholarKeyes, F., “Buddhism and National Integration in Thailand”, Journal of Asian Studies 30, 3 (1971): 555–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Khanungnit Chanthabut has written a fascinating study of the local effects of the Fifth Reign court's tightening up of monastic administration and monastic education reform in Ubon Ratchathani; see Chantabut, Khanungnit, “Phutthasatsana nai Ubon Ratchathani kora kanplianplaeng kanpokkhrong 2475” [Buddhism in Ubon Ratchathani before the change of government in 1932], in Ekkasan kansamana prawatisat lae borannakhadi Ubon Ratchathani [Conference documents: History and archaeology of Ubon Ratchathani], proceedings from a conference held on 26–2809 1988,Google Scholar Ubon Ratchathani Teachers College.

⁶ Winichakul, Thongchai, Siam Mapped: A History of the Geobody of a Nation (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994)Google Scholar.

⁷ Walter F. Vella, assisted by Vella, Dorothy, Chaiyo! King Vajiravudh and the Development of Thai Nationalism (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1978). See alsoGoogle ScholarKesboonchu, Kullada, “Official Nationalism Under King Vajiravudh”, Proceedings of the International Conference on Thai Studies, vol. 3, pt. 1 (Canberra: Australian National University, 1987), pp. 107–120Google Scholar.

⁸ Murashima, Eiji, “The Origin of Modern Official State Ideology in Thailand”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 19, 1 (1988): 80–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁹ Aeusrivongse, Nidhi, “Phasa Thai matrathan lae kanmuang” [Standard Thai and politics], Phasa lae Nangsu 17, 2 (1984): 11–37; andGoogle ScholarDiller, Anthony, “What makes Central Thai a National Language?”, in National Identity And Its Defenders: Thailand 1939–1989, ed. Reynolds, Craig J. (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1991), pp. 88–131Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread ofNationalism (London and New York: Verso, 1991), p. 44Google Scholar.

¹¹ Ibid., pp. 164–85.

¹² More accurately, the “Library for the Capital City” (i.e. Bangkok).

¹³ A type of manuscript made from leaves of the corypha palm. The text is inscribed into the leaf with a stylus, and the entire manuscript is comprised of several leaves bound together. Bai Ian manuscripts are used mainly for texts of a religious nature.

¹⁴ A type of paper manuscript used by the Thais before the introduction of printing. It was made from the pulp of the khoi plant (streblus asper). Samut khoi were also known as samut thai, and came in two forms: samut thai dam, a black paper to be inscribed in white; and samut thai khao a white paper to be inscribed in black.

¹⁵ “Prawat Hor Phrasamut Wachirayan“, Wachirayan 1 (1894): 16Google Scholar.

¹⁶ The Library was founded in name in 1881, though the opening ceremony was only held in 1884. For the difficulties in its establishment and the slow progress during its early years, ibid., pp. 40–46; and Rajanubhab, Prince Damrong, Tamnan Hor Phrasamut Hor Phramonthiantham Hor Phutthasatsanasangkhaha lae Hor Samut samrap Phranakhom [History of the Book Hall, the Palace Dhamma Library, the Buddhist Collection and the State Library], cremation volume for Phra Inthabenya (Sarakham Wattha) (Bangkok, 1969), pp. 31–32.Google Scholar

¹⁷ “Prawat Hor Phrasamut”, p. 5.

¹⁸ Ibid., pp. 24–25, 127–29–, 133–34. There are a number of phrases in Thai in use at the time which convey this general sense: “charoen wichakan thang puang”, “chak chung panya khwamru”, “charoen wicha”, “charoen khwamru”. In the preface to a new textbook for teaching Thai, Munlabot banphakit, King Chulalongkom wrote that the purpose of the book was to instruct youths in the Thai language, “for the increase of their knowledge, that they might become proficient in the use of the alphabet and the tone markers, correctly, expertly, clearly, and widely, and for the future benefit of the government”; quote from , Wyatt, The Politics of Reform, p. 68 (Wyatt's translation)Google Scholar.

¹⁹ Note, however, that in the Thai Buddhist tradition studying the scriptures was by no means the only path to understanding the dhamma; meditation was a highly developed practice which shared the same aim. There is a long history of division within the Thai Sangha — and in other Theravada countries as well — between text-based Buddhist learning (khanthathura) and the practice of “insight meditation” (vipassanathura).

²⁰ Nidhi writes of this old conception of knowledge and learning that “knowledge of the highest truth (khwamjing pamrnat) was the end of all learning”; Aeusrivongse, Nidhi, “Lok khorng Nang Nopamat” [Lady Nopamat's world] in Pak kai lae bai ma: ruam khwam riang waduai wannakam lae prawatisat ton Rattanakosin [Quill and sail: Essays on Early Bangkok literature and history] (Bangkok: Amarin, 1984), p. 366.Google Scholar

²¹ Kotmai tra sam duang [Three Seals Law], Book 1 (Bangkok: Khurusapha, 1962), p. 8.Google Scholar The Thai version of the Dhammasastra was in fact based on a Mon Buddhist adaptation of the Hindu legal classic, The Laws of Manu: see Tambiah, Stanley J., World Conqueror and World Renouncer: a Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand Against a Historical Background (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), pp. 93–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²² Cf. Brun, Viggo, “Traditional Manuals and the Transmission of Knowledge in Thailand”, in The Master Said: To Study and … To Soren Egerod on the Occasion of His Sixty-Seventh Birthday, ed. Arendrup, B. et al. (Copenhagen: East Asian Institute, 1990)Google Scholar.

²³ See Phraratchaphithi sipsorng duan, phraratchaniphon Phrabat Somdet Phrachulachormklao Chaoyuhua [Royal ceremonies of the twelve months by Chulalongkom, King] (Bangkok: Sinlapa Bannakan, 1973), pp. 430–33Google Scholar.

²⁴ The court's encounter with new kinds of knowledge from outside the kingdom, eg. astronomy, geography and other Western sciences, during the Third and Fourth Reigns is well known to scholars of Thai history. For the court's awareness of new knowledges from China and the West before this period, see , Nidhi, “Lok khorng Nang Nophamat”, pp. 344–48Google Scholar.

²⁵ The thinking of the Thai court must owe some of its inspiration to the Western idea of the library. Chartier writes of “The dream of the library […] that would bring together all accumulated knowledge and all the books ever written…” Yet whereas Chartier argues that this “dream” can be found “throughout the history of Western civilization”, in the Thai kingdom it seems to be a distinctly modern idea; Chartier, Roger, The Order of Books: Readers, Authors and Libraries in Europe between the Fourteenth and Eighteenth Centuries, trans. Cochrane, Lydia G. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), p. 62Google Scholar.

²⁶ On the value the King placed on literacy skills and the downplaying in importance of Buddhist knowledge in the educational reforms carried out in the Fifth Reign see , Wyatt, The Politics of Reform, p. 66Google Scholar.

²⁷ The survey was carried out by the de facto head of the Sangha and brother to the king, Prince Patriarch Wachirayan Warorot. See Pramuan phraniphon Somdet Phramahasamanachao Krom Phraya Wachirayan Warorot: laiphrahat kiaokap kansuksa [Prince Patriarch Wachirayan's collected writings: Writings on education] (Bangkok: Mahamakut, 1971)Google Scholar.

²⁸ “Phraratchadamrat nai phraratchathan rangwan nakrian thi rongrian Phratamnak Suan Kulap mua pi raka Phor. Sor. 2427“[King's speech at the distribution of awards to Suan Kulap students in the Year of the Cock, 1884], in Sitthiphan, Prayut, Maharatchakawi Piyamaharat ramluk Chor. Por. Ror, chotmaihet phraratchaniphon phraratchahatthalekha phraratchaprarop phraratchadamrat phrabowmmarachowat [Chulalongkorn the Great, beloved King, the great royal poet: Records, writings, correspondence, announcements, commands], Part 1 (Bangkok, 1984), pp. 146–49Google Scholar.

²⁹ , Damrong, Tamnan, p. 1Google Scholar.

³⁰ Prawat Hor Samut haeng Chat [History of the National Library], ed. Chawalit, Maenmat (Bangkok, 1966), pp. 19–20Google Scholar.

³¹ Variously denoted in Thai documents of the period by the word charoen or, sometimes, siwilai; and opposite in meaning to the word pa, meaning ”wild“, ”of the jungle“, ”savage“, etc.

³² , Vella, Chaiyol, pp. 2–3.Google Scholar

³³ See Reynolds, Craig J., “The Case of KSR Kulap: A Challenge to Royal Historical Writing in Late Nineteenth Century Thailand”, Journal of the Siam Society 61, 2 (1973): 63–90Google Scholar.

³⁴ “Samakhom supsuan khorng buran nai Prathet Sayam, phraratchadamrat khorng Phrabat Somdet Phrachulachormklao Chaoyuhua” [Society for Research into Siamese History, King Chulalongkorn's speech], Sinlapakorn 12, 2 (1966): 42.Google Scholar The society's name is sometimes translated as the “Archaeological Society”.

³⁵ Stone inscriptions were also under the authority of the Wachirayan Library following the 1905 amalgamation with the Hor Phutthasatsanasangkhaha, or “Buddhist Collection”.

³⁶ “Samakhom supsuan khorng buran”, pp. 42–43.

³⁷ , Damrong, Tamnan, p. 27Google Scholar.

³⁸ Ibid., p. 104.

³⁹ Ibid., pp. 28–29. See “Prawat Hor Phrasamut Wachirayan”, Wachirayan 7 (1895): 652,Google Scholar for a lengthy description of the celebrations.

⁴⁰ Later known in English as the “Wachirayan National Library of Siam”; Coedès, Georges, The Vajirañana National Library of Siam (Bangkok: Published by the authority of the Council of the National Library, 1924), pp. 3–6.Google Scholar The library's official name in Thai was not “nationalized” until the 1930s, after the overthrow of the absolute monarchy, when the “Wachirayan” (King Mongkut's monastic name), was dropped; it then became “Hor Samut haeng Chat” — “the National Library”, the name it retains today; see Hor Samut haeng Chat: chak adit thung patchuban [The National Library: Past and present] (Bangkok: National Library, 1985), p. 67Google Scholar.

⁴¹ , Damrong, Tamnan, pp. 1, 44Google Scholar.

⁴² Ibid., pp. 2–12.

⁴³ See, for example, Davids, T.W. Rhys, Buddhist India (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1926), pp. 171–74Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ See the exchange of letters between Chulalongkom and Prince Naritsaranuwatiwong in 1904 on the subject of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism; Phraratchahatthalekha Phrabat Somdet Phrachulachormklao Chaoyuhua song phraratchawichan thiap latthi Phraphutthasatsana fai Hinayan kap Mahayan lae ruang sang Phrabot Luang [King Chulalongkorn's correspondence on the subject of the comparison of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism, and the construction of the Royal Chapel], cremation volume for Nai Kawi Wianrawi (Bangkok, 1966), pp. 8–57Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ Ibid., p. 34.

⁴⁶ See my discussion of this point in Jory, Patrick, “A History of the Thet Maha Chat and its Contribution to a Thai Political Culture” (Ph.D. dissertation, Australian National University, 1998), ch. 4Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ See, for example, Pramuan phraniphon Somdet Phramahasamanachao Krom Phraya Wachirayan Warorot: Phraratchahatthalekha — laiphrahat [Prince Patriarch Wachirayan's collected writings: Correspondence between the Prince and the King] (Bangkok: Mahamakut, 1971), p. 54Google Scholar; Prince Wachirayan's trip to the North of the kingdom to inspect monastic discipline, in Wachirayan, Prince Patriarch, Raya thang Somdet Phramahasamanachao sadet truat Khana Song Monthon Fai Nua Phor. Sor. 2457 [Prince Patriarch's inspection of the Sangha in the Northern Monthon, 1914] (Bangkok: Khurusapha, 1961)Google Scholar; and the survey ordered by the King into religious practices throughout the kingdom, in Wachirayan, Prince Patriarch, Pramuan…kan suksa, pp. 1–123Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ Ibid., p. 313. Chulalongkorn's perception of the corruptness of Lao religion is in “Phraratchadamrat kae Phrasong nai kan thi cha truat sorp Phratraipitok, pi chuat, 2431” [Royal speech to the Sangha on the recension of the Tripitaka, Year of the Rat, 1888] in , Prayut, Maharatchakawi, p. 154Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ , Damrong, Tamnan, pp. 18–19Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ , Coedès, The Vajiranana National Library, p. 8.Google Scholar As late as the 1920s, Coedès wrote that the Library's manuscripts were “far more numerous” than its printed works.

⁵¹ See the fourteenth-century inscription “Silacharuk Nakhorn Chum lak thi 3”, in Prachum silacharuk [Collected inscriptions], Book 1 (Bangkok: Prime Minister's Office, 1978), p. 63.Google Scholar There are references to the prophecy in the Sangitayavamsa, written in the reign of Rama I, and in the Pathomsomphothikatha, written by Prince Patriarch Paramanuchitchinorot in the Third Reign. See Wanarat, Phra, Sangkhitiyawong: phongsawadan ruang sangkhayana Phrathammawinai [Sangitiyavamsa: Chronicle of the recension of the Scriptures], trans. Phraya Pariyathammathada (Phae Tanlaksamon), cremation volume for Somdet Phra Phuthachan (Wanathitiyan Mahathera) (Bangkok, 1978), p. 558; andGoogle Scholar Prince Patriarch Paramanuchit Chinorot, Phrapathomsomphothikatha [Story of the First Enlightenment] (Bangkok: Department of Religion, Ministry of Education, 1962), pp. 552–62. As late as 1888 King Chulalongkom criticized the continuing belief of many people in the pancha antarathan prophecy, stating that it was patently untrue and a hindrance to the nation's future progress; see his Phraratchaphithi sipsorng duan, pp. 430–33.

⁵² The king's nurturing of the Buddhist religion is an important theme in Buddhist chronicle traditions, present in such Northern chronicles as the Tamnan mulasatsana and Chinakalamali of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, all the way through to Chaophraya Thiphakorawong's chronicles of the first four reigns of the Chakri Dynasty — the Phraratchaphongsawadan Krung Rattanakosin, composed early in Chulalongkom's reign.

⁵³ The lack of urgency in the collection of printed works stemmed from the Library's concern that the kingdom ‘s manuscripts were in greater danger of being lost forever, whereas printed works on the whole faced no such threat. By 1922, however, printed material was being produced in such great quantities that the king ruled that printers were required to send two copies of every printed work to the Library within one week of the date of publication; Maenmat, , ed., Prawat Hor Samut, p. 26Google Scholar.

⁵⁴ , Damrong, Tamnan, pp. 48, 63–67Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ Ibid., p. 47.

⁵⁶ On Damrong's concern at the loss of the kingdom's books, particularly as historical evidence, see Breazeale, Kennon, “A Transition in Historical Writing: The Works of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab”, Journal of the Siam Society 59, 2 (1971): 42–43Google Scholar.

⁵⁷ Ibid., p. 47.

⁵⁸ , Coedès, The Vajirañana National Library, p. 25Google Scholar.

⁵⁹ , Damrong, Tamnan, p. 61Google Scholar.

⁶⁰ “Ruang nangsu Hor Luang” [On the books of the Royal Library], in Rajanubhab, Prince Damrong, Nithan borannakhadi [Stories from historical studies] (Bangkok: Khlang Witthaya, 1974), pp. 136–38.Google Scholar On the trade in ancient manuscripts see also , Reynolds, “The Case of KSR Kulap”, pp. 85–86Google Scholar.

⁶¹ ’Phuak len sasom khorng kao“(literally, ”hobby collectors of old things“) is the term , Damrong uses (Nithan borannakhadi, p. 133)Google Scholar.

⁶² Ibid., pp. 141–42. Damrong regretted that he did not also check the libraries in Paris, which contained large numbers of Thai manuscripts.

⁶³ , Damrong, Tamnan, p. 58Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ Ibid., p. 61; Maenmat, , ed., Prawat Hor Samut, p. 26Google Scholar.

⁶⁵ , Damrong, Nithan borannakhadi, p. 136Google Scholar.

⁶⁶ The book was Chotmaihet khwamsongcham khorng Krommaluang Narintharathewi; see , Damrong, Tamnan, pp. 58–59.Google Scholar During the first reign of the Bangkok Era there had been considerable political rivalry between the ”Royal Palace“(under the King, Rama I) and the almost as powerful ”Front Palace“under the King's younger brother, Prince Surasi, who controlled large numbers of troops and had fought numerous campaigns against the Burmese. The institution of the ”Front Palace“was abolished during Chulalongkorn's reign.

⁶⁷ Ibid., pp. 57–58.

⁶⁸ A reference to ”strange“palm leaf manuscripts is in ibid., p. 39.

⁶⁹ Nithan borannakhadi, pp. 132–33.

⁷⁰ On collections of palm leaf manuscripts see Batichi ruang nangsu nai Hor Phrasamut Wachirayan [Catalogue of the books in the Wachirayan Library], phak 1 [Part 1 ], phanaek bali [Pali section], cremation volume for Prince Sommot Amoraphan (Bangkok, 1916), which lists religious books in ”Lao“scripts collected by the Library from the North, most of which are written on palm leaf (pp. 87–103).Google Scholar More recent catalogues of manuscripts held in temple libraries in the provinces similarly show the predominance of palm leaf manuscripts; see Raichu nangsu boran Lanna ekasan mikrofilm khomg Sathaban Wichai Sangkhom, Mahawitthayalai Chiang Mai Phor. Sor. 2521–2533 (Catalogue of Ancient Lanna Literature on Microfilm, University of Chiang Mai Social Research Institute 1978–1990) (Chiang Mai, 1991); andGoogle ScholarBanchi samruat ekasan boran [Catalogue of the survey of ancient documents], 14 parts, Maha Sarakham, 1981–90. Collections of manuscripts at Nakhorn Sri Thammarat Teachers College and the Sathaban Taksinkhadi Suksa (Institute of Southern Studies) in the South, do contain a certain amount of literature in the form of ”samut khoi” manuscripts (referred to in the South as nangsu but), but the earliest examples date only from the late nineteenth century.

⁷¹ Wachirayan, Prince Patriarch, Pramuan‘hellip;kansuksa, p. 33.Google Scholar This shows the connection in the popular consciousness between printing technology and the Western missionaries, who had introduced printing into the Thai kingdom in the 1830s.

⁷² , Damrong, Nithan borannakhadi, pp. 137–42Google Scholar.

⁷³ Sveitstrup, Chas S., Catalogue of the Books of the Royal Vajirajan Library by Order of H.R.H. Krom Hmun Damrong Rachanuphap (Bangkok: R. Cotte, 1892).Google Scholar The categories into which the Library's Western books were divided were: Medical Science; Natural Philosophy; Natural History; Geography; History; Law; Sociology, Political Economy and Statistics; Commerce and Finance; Military Science; Navy and Navigation; Linguistics; Polite Literature; Periodicals of Miscellaneous Contents; Fine Arts; Archaeology, Fine Arts of Greece and Rome, Numismatics; Engineering, Surveying and Mining; Manufacturing Industry and Trades; Farming and Gardening, Domestic Economy; Exhibition Catalogues; Eastern Religions; Theology; Philosophy; Instruction and Education; and Miscellaneous.

⁷⁴ , Damrong, Tamnan, p. 71Google Scholar.

⁷⁵ Neither borannakhadi nor wannakhadi appear in Bradley's Siamese dictionary (Nangsu akkharasaphithansap — Dictionary of the Siamese Language), published in Bangkok in 1873. On the historical thinking of the Thai court at this time see Satayanurak, Atthachak,“Khwamplianprae khorng samnuk thang prawatisat lae kanplianplaeng khorng sangkhom Thai tangtae Ratchakan thi 4 thung Phor. Sor. 2475” [Shifts in historical consciousness and change in Thai society from the Fourth Reign to 1932] (Masters thesis, Chulalongkom University, 1988), p. 59.Google Scholar Eventually prawatisat was coined as the preferred term for “history”. As for the word wannakhadi, Damrong stated in a letter to Prince Narit, who had inquired as to the origin of the word, that it had been coined by King Vajiravudh in 1914; the two men's correspondence is in San somdet [Royal letters], Book 25, (Bangkok: Khurusapha, 1962), p. 45. I have been unable to trace the origins of the (Khmer-derived) term tamra. A term for which the court had not yet found a Thai equivalent, but which was a natural result of the Library's activities of categorizing Thai knowledge, was “culture”. “Watthanatham”, the word that eventually was used for this purpose, was not coined until the 1930s; see Barmé, Scot, Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai Identity (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1993), p. 160Google Scholar.

⁷⁶ , Damrong, Tamnan, pp. 72–73.Google Scholar The English translations of the Thai categories are only an approximate guide, as the words in each language signified different bodies of knowledge.

⁷⁷ The important question of the extent to which the court's new “mentality” was determined by “Western” influences, as opposed to being more a result of an “indigenous” modernization process, is beyond the scope of this article. The use of Western-derived terms to signify certain knowledge categories (often Chulalongkom and court intellectuals even used the original Western-language terms themselves) was certainly not uncommon.

⁷⁸ Chulalongkorn had himself encouraged historical inquiry beyond the narrow focus of the courtly dynastic histories (phraratchaphongsawadan); see “Samakhom supsuan khorng boran”, p.43.

⁷⁹ , Damrong, Tamnan, p. 85Google Scholar.

⁸⁰ Ibid., p. 86.

⁸¹ See the list of works published by the library from 1906–1915 in ibid., pp. 88–99; see also , Coedès, The Vajirañana National Library, p. 10Google Scholar.

⁸² The Library's publication of the Prachum Phongsawadan series began in 1908; it later became one of the principal (and authoritative) collections of published source material for the writing of Thai history.

⁸³ These magazines are mentioned in Reynolds, “The Case of KSR Kulap”, pp. 67–68.

⁸⁴ , Coedès, The Vajirañana National Library, p. 10Google Scholar; , Damrong, Tamnan, pp. 87–88, 99Google Scholar.

⁸⁵ “Kanchaek nangsu pen khorng chamruai” (Distributing books as gifts), in Ankhong, Sanguan, Sing raek nai Muang Thai [Firsts in Thailand], Book 3 (Bangkok: Phrae Phitthaya, 1973), p. 709Google Scholar; see also Olson, Grant A., “Thai Cremation Volumes: A Brief History of a Unique Genre of Literature”, Asian Folklore Studies 51 (1992): 279–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸⁶ , Sanguan, Sing raek, p. 713Google Scholar.

⁸⁷ , Damrong, Tamnan, p. 86Google Scholar.

⁸⁸ , Sanguan, Sing raek, p. 722Google Scholar.

⁸⁹ , Coedès, The Vajirañana National Library, pp. 11–13;Google Scholar, Damrong, Tamnan, p. 99Google Scholar.

⁹⁰ Kotmai tra sam duang, Book 4, pp. 165–66.

⁹¹ , Sanguan, Sing raek, p. 718Google Scholar.

⁹² Take, for example, the hundreds of local versions of the Buddhist classic Vessantara Jataka which were overlooked in favour of the Library's version published in 1911 as Maha Wetsandom Chadok (, Damrong, Tamnan, p. 90)Google Scholar.

⁹³ The categories and the chosen works were as follows: Klorn Lilit — “Pra Lor”; Klorn Chan —“Samutthakhot”; Klorn Kap — “Mahachat kham thet”; Klorn Suphap — “Sepha ruang Khun Chang Khun Phaen”; Bot Lakhom Rorng — “Inao”; Bot Lakhorn Phut — “Hua jai nak rop”; Khwam Riang Nithan — “Sam kok”; and Khwam Riang Athibai — “Phraratchaphithi Sipsorng Duan”; see Phraratchaphithi sipsorng duan, pp. khor-ngor [ii–iv].

⁹⁴ , Breazeale, “A Transition in Historical Writing”, p. 39Google Scholar.

⁹⁵ , Sanguan, Sing raek, pp. 715–18Google Scholar.

⁹⁶ The “local studies” movement starting in the 1970s has succeeded to a certain extent in broadening this understanding of “Thai literature”, at least in the universities.

⁹⁷ Hor Samut haeng Chat, p. 67.

⁹⁸ , Damrong, Tamnan, p. lGoogle Scholar.