Introduction
In 1827 Jao Anuwong of Vientiane rebelled against Bangkok and the king of Siam. He brought his army to Nakhon Ratchasima and seized the city. The people of Nakhon Ratchasima were ordered out of the city and moved to Vientiane. However, as the captives reached Thung Samrit in Phimai district, Lady Mo, with the backing of the women and men of Khorat, fought in hand-to-hand combat with the Vientiane troops and defeated them. Jao Anuwong had to withdraw his forces. A Thai army was mobilized. It suppressed the rebellion, and captured Jao Anuwong.
The noble and courageous Lady Mo was the heroine who saved Nakhon Ratchasima by her skills and actions to the great benefit of the nation.Footnote 1 As a token of his appreciation, King Rama III honoured her with the title ‘Thao Suranari’.Footnote 2
This is the official story of the courageous Thao Suranari, more commonly referred to as ‘Ya Mo’, or ‘grandmother Mo’.Footnote 3 Whilst everybody in Khorat knows this story well, the details differ in each narrated version as to who she actually was, what she did, and how and whom she fought. However, the moral of the story is always the same. The enthusiasm for this legend is related to the great heroine, her courage, her cunning schemes, her clear-sightedness, her leadership and her female charm—not to mention her love and patriotism for her home city, Khorat.
Khorat, or Nakhon Ratchasima, is the gateway to the north-east, the gateway to Isaan.Footnote 4 With the difficult Dongphayayen passage over to the Khorat plateau, originally the only entering point into Isaan from Bangkok, Khorat and the rest of Isaan was long a region of isolation and seclusion, so Buddhism spread much slower here than in the rest of the country. A railway connection established in 1900 between Bangkok and Khorat made Isaan more accessible, leading to an expansion in its rice trade which resulted in several mills and granaries being built in and around the city.Footnote 5 The province is the largest and most populated in Thailand and the city of Khorat itself is today the commercial centre of the lower parts of Isaan region.
The story of Ya Mo is one of a great Khorat heroine, honoured with a grand monument in the city centre. The historical narrative and Ya Mo herself are of considerable national significance for the Thai nation, but perhaps even more so for the city of Khorat and the Isaan region. Whilst her role as a national icon, both in practical politics and as a symbol of patriotism is substantial, Ya Mo's monument is also a sacred shrine embedding her guardian spirit which protects the people of the city. She is a grantor of protection, auspiciousness and good luck, and can fulfil wishes, needs and requests. Her spirit can be benevolent as well as ferocious and vengeful. She is a warrior and a guardian, but also a grandmother and a symbol of kinship and loving kindness.
The Ya Mo monument is situated in Khorat by the reconstructed Prato Chumphon, the western gate of the old city walls. The bronze statue is erected on a plinth in front of the gate, next to the moat, along Ratchadamnoen Road. Every day, morning and night, Khoratians from all levels of society visit to pay their respects to the guardian spirit by offering flowers, incense sticks, fruits, foods and various other goods. To the right of the monument there are a couple of stalls that sell some of Ya Mo's favourite offerings, and little live birds can be bought and released for the people to gain merit (bun),Footnote 6 for their meritorious act. A small stage is built next to the stalls and for a couple of hundred bàth, people can pay for a song and dance performance to honour Ya Mo. The dancers perform plaeng Khorat, which is a distinctive form of dancing and singing specific to the province of Nakhon Ratchasima using Thai-Khorat language. The performance is by male and female folksingers with improvised dialogue. Directly behind the monument is the Chumphon gate where it is said that whoever walks through the gate will some day have to return to Khorat.
At almost any time of day there are crowds of people revering the statue, and frequently a police escort will accompany a high-profile businessman, celebrity or politician wishing to pay their respects. People passing by will most likely wâi Footnote 7 to greet Ya Mo. Her significant role in the history of Khorat is never dismissed or looked down upon, and it is evident to any visitor that the area around the monument is exceptionally sàksìt (sacred or holy). Ya Mo's picture is displayed in many Khorat homes, often next to portraits of the King and the royal family, and Ya Mo coins and amulets are advertised in amulet magazines throughout the country.Footnote 8 Ya Mo stickers and posters are also displayed in the front window of buses alongside pictures of Rama V, famous local monks like Luang Pho Khun, or other luck-bringing icons.
Every year at the end of March there is a big festival in Khorat to honour the memory of Ya Mo. With its firework displays and beauty pageants the festival is similar to others—a big fair where people can go out (pai thîao) and have fun (sanùk). Though the spiritual aspect of the festival is not particularly emphasized, to skip it altogether is not an option, as the spirit of Ya Mo may become angry and misfortune and inauspiciousness befall the city and its people.
Admiration for the brave woman of Khorat is immense, but like any other sacred place in Thailand, the reverence goes beyond sheer respect. Anyone can seek help from the spirit of Ya Mo, such as students who need to pass an examination or obtain a scholarship, or childless couples who want a child, and she will grant their wish. When asking Ya Mo for help it is customary to give her a promise in return. If the wish is granted, she must be given what has been promised. This ceremony of returning favours to spirits is called ‘kâe bon’. Popular gifts for Ya Mo are flower garlands, coconuts and other fruits, but since she used to be an ordinary person, just about anything will do as a gift. She places no restrictions on the gift of meat and eggs, that a deity (thevada Footnote 9) might have, and chickens, pigs’ heads and baskets of eggs are not uncommon offerings. The important thing is that the offering matches the request for support. The habits of the spirit of Ya Mo are similar to those of a living human being. People come to her shrine and ask for favours in the morning, before she ‘goes out for the day’, and in the evening to kâe bon (present their gifts), when she ‘returns home for dinner’. These times are believed to be the best for acquiring the desired results.
This reciprocal relationship between the spirit of Ya Mo and the people of Khorat is typical for other Thai spirits. Thus, the historical heroine, Ya Mo, and her shrine monument are best perceived in relation to Thai religion and the position of otherworldly beings like deities, spirits, and ghosts in Theravāda Buddhism. Ya Mo represents a wide range of meanings and functions, but when viewed exclusively as a historical figure, most of these meanings and functions do not surface. In order to understand the Ya Mo phenomenon, the field between religion and magic in Thai Theravāda Buddhism must therefore be explored, as well as how people create and uphold distinctions between religion and magic, and how they communicate and negotiate between these two spheres or dimensions. Although Ya Mo and her monument are not specifically related to Buddhism, her sacred shrine and embedded spirit add to the spiritual and magical dimension of Thai religion, complementing Buddhist doctrines. Using the example of Ya Mo, this paper attempts to analyse how non-Buddhist monuments and shrines (in this case a historical memorial erected as part of Thai nation-building) play a significant role in Thai religious and spiritual life, which is deeply rooted in a Buddhist worldview. The communication and negotiation between people, spirits, and deities reveal a more complete picture of Thai Buddhism; a communication and negotiation which make it possible to pinpoint the links between different aspects of Thai religious life and identity.
This paper is the result of fieldwork, which took place from September to December, 2003, to study religious identity and the seemingly non-Buddhist religious phenomenon of revering spirits and otherworldly beings among urban, middle-class, Thai Buddhists in the north-eastern city of Khorat.
The Thai Spirit World
The Thai worldview, similar to that of other South and South-east Asian peoples, includes a wide range of spirits and otherworldly beings who people relate to in a number of ways. These beings can roughly be divided into two groups. A thevada is a heavenly and blissful, god-like being, often associated with the Hindu or Brahman pantheon, but also with Chinese deities. A phĩi, a spirit not associated with the heavens, is a more human-like spirit.Footnote 10 This belief in phĩi is indigenous to the Tais,Footnote 11 and a thevada and a phĩi should be treated very differently. They are, for instance, offered different kinds of food. Fruits and khanõm, or sweets, are offered to the thevada, while basically any kind of food is offered to the phĩi. The spirit of Ya Mo falls into the phĩi category.
Magical or reciprocal behaviour is a natural part of the comprehensive cultural system which is religion, and when it comes to the behaviour towards otherworldly beings, magical and religious aspects are always intertwined. In order to study Thai religion and Theravāda Buddhism as a living religious system, it is therefore essential to see the different features of religious practice reflected as one multifaceted and comprehensive system. In fact, spirits and magical rituals are a vibrant part of the seemingly rationalistic Buddhist religion. Both religious and magical aspects are almost always present in the different ritual behaviours. The strengthening of bonds, increased self-confidence, and specific practical achievements are continually intertwined with religious and soteriological goals.
Thai religion is a complex cultural system of multiple functions and interpretations. Systematically, this can be approached through the theories of Richard Gombrich, Melford Spiro and Niels Mulder, who have all given us useful ‘dissection tools’ for this task.
Gombrich recognizes that the line between the religious and the secular is drawn very differently by the adherents of different religions. For Buddhists, religion is quite often defined purely as a matter of understanding and practising the Dhamma (the teaching of the Buddha) and what is relevant in the quest for salvation. Buddhists who revere gods or spirits are, however, not being inconsistent, unorthodox, or syncretistic: ‘They would only be syncretistic if they attributed to their gods the power to save them, to grant them nibbāna’.Footnote 12 Spirits and gods are part of this world, caught in the trap of samsāra and tied to the law of kamma. Gombrich thus defines religion in terms of two kinds of phenomena, one soteriological the other communal religion. Soteriological religion is the doctrine of salvation, and communal religion is the religion for ‘man in society’, an understanding of religion as Émile Durkheim characterized it; society reacting to its own existence.Footnote 13
Spiro goes further in classifying these different categories of religion into ‘nibbanic’, ‘kammatic’ and ‘apotropaic’ Buddhism.Footnote 14 Nibbanic Buddhism is the soteriological religion of the arahat, the world renouncer. Its aim is to be released from saṃsāra, the cycle of rebirth, and reach the goal nibbāna. The means are the extinction of kamma through morality (sīla), meditation (bhāvanā) and wisdom (paññā), the essence of the Four Holy Truths that the Buddha taught. It is the soteriology of the few, which Weber referred to as ‘the most radical form of salvation-striving conceivable’.Footnote 15 Nibbanic Buddhism is the religion of radical salvation.
However, both the means and the goal of Buddhism alter when it is transformed from an elitist sect into a mass religion.Footnote 16 In kammatic Buddhism, what is desired is the extinction of samsaric sufferings and not its pleasures. Instead of renouncing the world and all its desires, the goal is to attain a better rebirth, either as a wealthy human or as a blissful, heavenly being. From nibbanic to kammatic Buddhism there is a shift in the soteriological goal. Kammatic Buddhism is a religion of proximate salvation where the goal is mundane (lokiya) rather than transcendent (lokuttara). Instead of seeking nibbāna, the goal becomes a better and improved rebirth. This is the soteriological doctrine of the majority.Footnote 17
Apotropaic Buddhism is different in character from the nibbanic and the kammatic kind as it falls into the category of Gombrich's communal religion. It is a communal doctrine described by Spiro as the religion of magical protection, concerned with matters of the present existence where goals can be achieved by specific magical acts.Footnote 18 This kind of communal religion is needed because kamma is not the exclusive source of suffering. The theodicy of kamma, which Weber described as the most complete formal solution to the problem of suffering,Footnote 19 seems insufficient when standing face to face with dangers of a more immediate nature. In certain situations there is a need for a protective shield against potential dangers caused by malevolent powers. The important thing is not to confuse such precautions with salvation and soteriological goals.Footnote 20
Buddhism as a whole, with its devotion, rituals, ethics and scriptures, acts as a protective shield against threatening and hostile external powers of the present existence.Footnote 21 In a Thai context, this becomes evident when the khuna, ‘moral goodness’, and decha, ‘power’, dimensions of existenceFootnote 22 are explored and viewed in association with the nibbanic and kammatic soteriological religion, as well as the apotropaic communal religion discussed above.
In Inside Thai Society, Mulder divides Thai social order into a ‘khuna dimension of existence’ and a ‘decha dimension of existence’. The khuna realm relates to the trustworthy order of morality and goodness, symbolized by the Buddha or Buddhism, the ‘Home’, the ‘Mother’, and by female symbols such as ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘Mother Rice’. Next to this realm is found the decha realm of supernatural powers, everything which by the Thais is regarded as sàksìt,Footnote 23 powerful, holy or sacred. This realm is less trustworthy and basically amoral. There is, nonetheless, a tenuous order in this realm and there are clear and almost mechanical ways to deal with it. The powers are domesticated and because they can be controlled, this decha realm is subject to the most intensive magico-religious preoccupation. It can be said that the spirit of Ya Mo belongs to this domesticated decha realm.
However, there is also a non-domesticated decha realm. This is the area of chaos and extreme unreliability that represents a fearsome spectre of pure wickedness and immorality, which can only be challenged by a strong counter-force such as the Pāli chanting of Buddhist monks.Footnote 24 The domesticated decha realm is controlled by a set of magical rules while the non-domesticated decha realm is, if not controlled, then curbed by symbols of moral goodness, or khun ngam khwam dii, from the Buddhist Saṃgha and the khuna realm. Different kinds of amulets, tattoos, or a sãi sĩn Footnote 25 are examples of such symbols of Buddhism belonging to the khuna realm, which act as magical protection against the potential dangers of the non-domesticated decha realm. These symbols are filled with the Dhamma, the teaching of the Buddha and its ethics, and thus both work as reminders of this soteriology and are infused with sacred and magical powers used in the apotropaic communal religion of the non-domesticated decha realm.Footnote 26 In fact, symbols like these represent the only counter-forces to this immoral sphere.Footnote 27 However, as I will show, non-Buddhist phenomena such as Ya Mo can also function as khuna symbols.
The Thai term sàksìt means ‘holy’ or ‘sacred’, but can also mean ‘revered’ or ‘sacrosanct’. If a thing or a person is ‘sàksìt’, this implies an immanent magical power with the ability to protect or grant wishes. The question of what is regarded as sàksìt, and what is not, is determined by subjective assessments, but when it comes to certain things or phenomena, such as, for example Ya Mo, most people will be able to agree on their sàksìt nature. Sàksìt is inherent power, mana, and a tool of communication and negotiation between religion and magic. Symbols of moral goodness from the khuna realm are almost always associated with sàksìt powers and they are valuable when facing the malevolent and immoral dangers of the outside world. The person who possesses the symbol will also be encouraged to good moral behaviour.
Sàksìt powers communicate and negotiate between soteriological and communal religion, and between different soteriological and different communal spheres. They are instrumental in bringing out different qualities of the different dimensions of existence and in establishing contact between magic and religion. It can be argued that sàksìt powers represent the dynamics of Thai Buddhism.
The Thai spirit world is almost infinite. Every tree, every field and every mountain are inhabited by spirits of different kinds. They are everywhere and people must relate to them accordingly. Nobody should ever act in a disrespectful manner towards spirits or gods. As the proverb goes: Mâi chûea yà lóblòo—Even if you do not believe, do not disrespect. Any shrine or spirit house, whether it is a sãn phrá phum jâo thîi Footnote 28 in front of a house, a sãn phiang ta Footnote 29 at an accident spot along the road, or it is a big old tree where people have started respecting the tree spirit, a sãn thêparák, all these spirits are seen as powerful beings with magical capabilities that can help out in everyday matters. The same can be said of statues and monuments, which can also be inhabited by powerful spirits of the domesticated dehca realm, of which the Ya Mo monument is a good example. But equally important, certain kinds of spirits can become malevolent and make trouble for people, if they do not get the attention they require. Especially the spirits of people who suffered a painful or sudden death (phĩi tai hõng),Footnote 30 or women who died in labour or during pregnancy (phĩi tai thông klom), can become extremely malicious ghosts.Footnote 31 These beings belong to the non-domesticated decha realm, but by showing respect and giving them a shrine, malevolent spirits can be tamed and turned into giving and protective spirits. Enshrining and reverence are means to domesticate non-domesticated decha spirits. In this way, the most ferocious ghost or malevolent spirit can be tamed into a spirit of the same level as the sprit of Ya Mo.
There seems to be a collective knowledge and memory in Thailand about what different kinds of spirits look like and how they appear. Jâo thîi, or the ‘Lord of the land’, wears long white clothes and has long white hair and a white beard. Ghosts are often described as dark shadows that would come to people at night as a pressure or a heavy force on their chest, making it impossible to breathe. Traditionally, folklore has been the main source from where this knowledge of spirits has been transmitted and kept alive. Numerous legends and ghost stories, such as the story of the famous phĩi tai hõng, Nang Naak Phra Khanong, have been told and retold for generations. In current Thai culture, movies and television series have become important bearers of folklore, if not creators of folklore. The story about the horrific Nang Naak is a classic here as well. It has been filmed over twenty times and Wong describes the story of Nang Naak as part of the collective psyche of Thai people,Footnote 32 something which might explain the tremendous popularity of the story.
Thailand is not known only for its grand monuments such as the Ya Mo shrine: all across the country, along the roads, in front of houses and old trees, in the rice fields, and almost everywhere that people go, there are different shrines dedicated to various spirits. Even the gruesome Nang Naak has her own frequently visited shrine at On Nut in Bangkok.Footnote 33 Despite her horrific nature, Nang Naak can bring good luck when tamed through reverence. She is known to be benevolent in giving out lottery numbers. Because she is said to have died whilst waiting for her husband to return from the military, her shrine is also popular amongst young men who want to avoid their name being drawn out in the so called ‘red bean black bean’ draft, where people are selected to the army. Nang Naak is known to protect young men who do not want to serve in the military.Footnote 34
Nang Naak, as told in the legends and shown in the movies and on television, is a horrific and feared ghost. She belongs to the non-domesticated decha realm of power and is met only with awe and fear (kreang klua). However, at On Nut in Bangkok she is enshrined and domesticated and people come to her with offerings where the same horrific and immoral ghost has become bound to certain values and technical rules and can be approached without fear and anxiety. In the domesticated form at On Nut, Nang Naak is met with khuna qualities, such as generosity and moral respect (dāna and sīla) and not with protective khuna symbols like amulets which would be appropriate in a meeting with her non-domesticated form. It is this ambiguity between the malicious and the benevolent ghost that has inspired Wong to draw the line from the legend of Nang Naak to that of Hindu deities like Durgā and Kālī,Footnote 35 a comparison well founded. Durgā and Kālī, in their different manifestations, can also be said to operate in both the domesticated and non-domesticated decha realm. The ambiguity of many Thai spirits is a clear parallel.
In whatever way one chooses to interpret gods (thevadas) and spirits of different categories, it is crucial to recognize the impact they have on Thai Buddhists. In the Buddhist worldview, these beings exist and are a vibrant part of religious life. Respect and generosity towards all beings are greatly emphasized as good moral conduct. Although the relationship with otherworldly beings is clearly irrelevant to the pursuit of nibbāna, and thus to people's spiritual progress, this respect and generosity are of great significance because they are seen as a way of gaining merit. Generosity in gifts and donations (dāna) and moral respect (sīla) are merit-making activities that are frequently carried out in the presence of otherworldly beings of the domesticated decha realm. The saying ‘tham dii dâi dii tham chûa dâi chûa’ (‘If you do good, you will receive good, and if you do evil, you will receive evil’), was used by most of the people I interviewed to describe the core of Buddhism. If you do good and are good to others, you will become part of that goodness and become a better person. This kammatic motivation is of tremendous importance in everyday Thai religion, in which morals and ethics are the guidelines for a better life. Paying respect to Ya Mo and other spirits is therefore not solely a reciprocal activity, but it is also of kammatic value for the practising individual. Hospitality, respect and generosity towards other beings, worldly or non-worldly, are consequently not fully detached from their religious pursuit. To a certain extent they are part of each person's private spiritual development process.
This moral motivation is an important rationale, but there are also practical reasons for showing respect and reverence to the spirits. Spirits are potentially dangerous, but they might also become benevolent. They are powerful, sàksìt beings and in domesticating a dangerous spirit by enshrining and revering it, the spirit becomes less unpredictable and is easier to be around in everyday life. A certain order is established. The powers of the spirit can be canalized and dealt with by following clear and almost mechanical rules.Footnote 36 The outside world thus becomes less chaotic and unpredictable, and a safer place to live in, possibly also with beneficial results.
Ya Mo in Contemporary Khorat
To relate these theoretical tools introduced above to the example of Ya Mo and the contemporary reverence of her spirit in modern-day Khorat, it can be said that Ya Mo is a spirit of the domesticated decha realm. She is sàksìt, and, in fact, regarded as a guardian spirit for Khorat and a rival and competitor to the city pillar cult, the làk mueang cult. Additionally, to show generosity and moral conduct (dāna and sīla) to Ya Mo are a means to reach the kammatic goal of a better rebirth. To treat otherworldly beings with the same respect as is shown to living people is of great significance: soteriological values are communicated over to the communal, apotropaic Buddhism of the domesticated decha realm. The decha realm relates in different ways to these khuna values and moral laws of soteriological Buddhism, and, as will be seen, Ya Mo, with her sàksìt powers, is an example which highlights all dimensions of both these spheres.
However, the ethical aspect must also be seen in association with Ya Mo's role as a benevolent spirit who grants wishes to her people. The relationship between Buddhist doctrine and magico-religious behaviour is, as Tambiah has argued in his work on the cult of amulets, a complex one with a multilayered meaning, and the dynamic between these aspects is crucial. The intentionality and ethical behaviour of the reverent is as important as the sacred powers that she or he relates to. In a conversation with a businessman, Tambiah hears this explanation of amulet power:
You have to practice the moral precepts (sīla tham) beforehand, if the amulets are to benefit you. If a person is immoral, the amulets will not help them. [. . .] The sacralization of amulets [. . .] employs Dhamma.Footnote 37
Spirits belonging to the sphere of communal religion, such as Ya Mo, are also inextricably linked with the Dhamma and thus also soteriological religion.
But the connection to Ya Mo goes beyond the reciprocal relationships of other spirits. She is also considered to be kin to the people of Khorat. She is family and, despite her violent warrior reputation, to the people of Khorat she is the grandmother of the city and thus associated with one of the most valuable and precious khuna symbols, the ‘Mother’.
None of the people interviewed in Khorat are indifferent to the spirit cult of Ya Mo. Kûng, a 46-year-old male architect with great interests in Buddhist philosophy and practice, emphasizes that the purpose of this cult is to pay tribute to a great human being. However, he still thinks of the Ya Mo monument as an area in the city with considerable sàksìt powers:
Ya Mo is not about religion. She was a brave woman, and her statue is to commemorate her [. . .] I don't know if she is still in our world or born another place, but there are some powers around the monument from all the people who come to pray there. The merit of those people makes it sàksìt. Or maybe her spirit is also still there.
Kûng's explanations of the sacredness of Ya Mo reflect the respect and admiration most Khoratians share. The fact that she was a great heroine who saved the city, and the fact that so many other people acknowledge her importance, increase the sacredness of the place, makes it more sàksìt. Most of the people interviewed are not great believers in miracles, but they have seen them happening to others and will not question other people's experiences. The Thai saying ‘Mâi chûea yà lóblòo’ was mentioned by most of the people with whom I discussed Ya Mo, spirits, and otherworldly beings. Even if you do not believe, you should not disrespect. Not all interviewees had experienced the powers and miracles of Ya Mo, but nonetheless they had great respect for these powers.
The interviewed people did not visit the shrine very frequently for reciprocal reasons, but when they did, they exclusively came to ask for favours regarded as important, and only on very special occasions. Except for a couple of the women I talked to, who went to show respect to Ya Mo quite often, most of my informants had only been there once for reciprocal reasons and at other times would only wâi whenever they passed the shrine. Typical reasons for visiting the shrine were to ask for help with examinations, scholarship applications and chances to go abroad to study.
Most people that I talked to do not bother Ya Mo with minor requests and problems and therefore only go to see her when there is something they really want, or when there is something important at stake. It was as if none of them was completely confident that the power and capability of Ya Mo could actually make a difference, but the tradition was nonetheless worth carrying on with, if only ‘to be on the safe side’. Nók, a 29-year-old female college teacher, asked Ya Mo for a favour only once, while she was waiting to see if she would get her scholarship to go to university in Australia: ‘It was my mother's idea, but I think it was good. It is important for me to follow traditions and not look down on them. Even if I don't believe, I still respect.’
Lék, a 21-year-old male student of mechanical engineering, and Nõo, a 23-year-old female pharmacist's assistant, both emphasize the feeling of confidence that a visit to Ya Mo can bring. Nõo states:
I think Ya Mo is sàksìt because we believe that she will help [. . .] it makes us confident and whoever has confidence has power and becomes very strong, because we believe Ya Mo is helping us. After we get something from Ya Mo, or maybe from ourselves, but we think it is Ya Mo, we give something back to her.
Lék and Nõo both accentuate how following a tradition can increase their kamlang jai.Footnote 38 This is not very different from the sentiments expressed by Tambiah's businessman quoted above. When he emphasizes honesty, diligence and the practice of morality as the recipe for success, he adds: ‘What the amulet do is to reinforce these virtues, give confidence to the honest man, and lend certainty to his normative commitments’.Footnote 39
In a more analytical manner, Mõo, a 56-year-old male university teacher and researcher, explains this kind of psychological interpretation and especially the situation of young Thais like Lék and Nõo more sociologically:
[. . .] it means that many people nowadays are in lack of self-confidence because of the [changes in society], technological progress [and rapid modernisation]. They [young people] need something to give them confidence. There are many problems everywhere, in the cities and in rural areas.
This classic argument of religious change and modernity given by Mõo reflects that he is a skilled researcher of social history. He is also in agreement with Keyes in this matter who sees Ya Mo as one of a number of new cults emerging as a response to what he calls the destabilizing influences of rapid economic growth and modernization. As he notes: ‘This religious and cultic ferment found in Thailand today [. . .] is characteristic of a more general response to modernity’.Footnote 40 The parallels to Gombrich and Obeyesekere's Buddhism Transformed are also striking.Footnote 41
There are many examples of Ya Mo's presence found in contemporary Khorat. In central Khorat alone there are more than twenty spirit mediums who claim that Ya Mo comes to possess their bodies.Footnote 42 There are also numerous stories circulating on the miracles that people have experienced after visiting the shrine. Mót, a 46-year-old woman with a degree in business, told me her story. Her sister once approached Ya Mo because she wanted a baby. She had been married for 2 or 3 years, but could not get pregnant. She and her husband went to Ya Mo and not long after they had a baby boy. Whether the pregnancy was a direct consequence of Ya Mo's influence or not is hard to say, but there is a peculiar thing about this boy that made them wonder if the spirit might have been involved:
My sister is not very black [she has fair skin] and her husband is not very black. But the son, he is black. We joke and say he must be a son of Ya Mo, because he is as black as the Ya Mo statue. His sister is white like the parents.
It is interesting to note that the contemporary reverence of the Ya Mo spirit is characterized by, on the one hand, the respect and memory of a great being, rooted in kammatic soteriological values, and on the other, by reciprocal relations of a more communal quality. Additionally, one finds the strengthening of kamlang jai that people achieve when revering Ya Mo. However, the Ya Mo monument was not erected to serve any of these causes, its construction was purely political.
The Nationalistic Struggle over the Spirit of Ya Mo
The Ya Mo monument at Prato Chumphon was first erected in 1934, a year after Prince Boworadet's nearly successful countercoup against the government that seized power after the civilian and military elite managed to force King Prajadhipok, Rama VII, to give up the absolute monarchy and accept a new constitution in 1932.Footnote 43 Prince Boworadet had held his troops in Khorat and the new government was worried about the loyalty of the province. Thus, the Thao Suranari memorial was the first monument erected after the 1932 revolution and the political aim, according to the Thai historian Saipin Kaew-ngamprasert, was to create an icon of the loyalty of Khorat to Bangkok.Footnote 44 In other words, the monument was a direct result of a deliberate attempt to create nationalism and a feeling of ‘Thai-ness’Footnote 45 that also would include the people of Khorat, who along with the rest of Isaan, had long been regarded as ‘Lao’. Saipin's book from 1995, The Politics of the Thao Suranari Monument, thus also links the erection of the monument to the rewriting of the history of 1827. The Jao Anuwong war is presented in Thailand as a war between Laos and Thailand, while the political distinction between a ‘Thai’ and a ‘Lao’ nation is a quite recent one. ‘Lao’ was more a lingual and cultural category than a label put on people from what later became the country Laos.Footnote 46
Until the end of the nineteenth century, the term ‘Lao’ was used by rulers, and even ordinary people in Bangkok, in a rather vague way to refer to people living in the North and the north-east of what was regarded the core of Siam. These people followed cultural traditions and spoke languages related to, but clearly different from, those of Siam.Footnote 47 The understanding of Siam, or later Thailand, as a ‘nation’ populated by ‘Thai’ people started at the earliest in the last part of the nineteenth century as a result of Western colonization of the neighbouring countries of Siam. Benedict Anderson refers to the time of Rama V, King Chulalongkorn (1868–1910), as a starting point when he analyses Thai nationalism.Footnote 48 Mulder draws this trend back to King Chulalongkorn's predecessor Rama IV, King Mongkut (1851–1868), and especially to the Bowring Treaty of 1855.Footnote 49 But it was Rama VI, King Wachirawut (1910–1925), who proudly defined himself as the country's first nationalist with his formulation of ‘Thai-ness’ as ‘Nation, Religion and King’.Footnote 50 In 1827 the notion of ‘Thai’ and ‘Thai-ness’ was non-existent.
The ‘Thai nation’ and the concept of ‘Thai-ness’ became fully established around the same time as the 1932 revolution, possibly starting with Luang Wichit Wathakan, one of the most influential and prominent Thai intellectuals of the early twentieth century.Footnote 51 Saipin argues that the Jao Anuwong war was in fact a result of a vassal state rebelling against an overlord that was considered to be vulnerable and threatened by the British. Vientiane was only one of many vassal states regarded as ‘Lao’. Khorat would also be considered predominantly ‘Lao’ at that time. Therefore, according to Saipin, the erection of the Ya Mo monument in 1934 must be said to be a deliberate political achievement detached from the historical incident of 1827, making a relatively marginal figure from Khorat into a dominant national narrative and a symbol of Thai nationalism.Footnote 52
Interestingly, this national symbol is seemingly also embedded in the Khorat identity. On 4 March 1996 there was a big rally in front of the Ya Mo monument. Between 20,000 and 25,000 people gathered to support Ya Mo, to honour her and to protest against Saipin's book.Footnote 53 Saipin was, as Keyes puts it, accused by ‘the proponents of the dominant nationalist narrative’Footnote 54 of taking sides with the Laotians and of being unpatriotic. The situation became extremely tense and Saipin was forced to leave her home and her teaching job in the Wang Nam Khiao district and go into hiding in Bangkok.Footnote 55 The 1996 demonstration seemed to be a result of the confrontation between the ruling elite, their nationalist narratives, and academics such as Saipin who questioned the political motives of such narratives. However, as Saipin knows, and as Keyes also underlines, the reason why so many people participated in this 1996 demonstration was due to a third group of interests, represented by a less self-conscious, but nonetheless significant group: the people who adhere to the potent and sàksìt spirit of Ya Mo. This diverse and rather indefinable group of devotees may join a call to protect the honour of Ya Mo. Keyes thus rightly claims that the devotees of the spirit of Ya Mo might be the real threat to the ‘dominant Thai nationalist narrative’.Footnote 56 This paper, as shown below, will indicate the same.
It is not given that this group even relates to the nationalistic narratives presented. In fact, to many people, Ya Mo has become a symbol of patriotism, albeit not so much a ‘Thai’ symbol, more a symbol of Khorat, or even the whole of Isaan itself. The example given by Keyes underlines the regional rather than the national patriotism connected to Ya Mo. When asking a Bangkok taxi driver from Roi Et provinceFootnote 57 why he had an image of Ya Mo on the dashboard of his taxi, along with protective amulets and other magical objects, his reply was just that: ‘Pen sãnyalák Isãan’ (‘she is a symbol of Isaan’).Footnote 58 Whereas the context of this paper is mostly limited to Khorat, and Ya Mo is first of all associated with this province, when considering the proud Isaan culture and the Isaan consciousness found in this region, this example does not come as a surprise. In fact, meeting people around Isaan sharing this view is not uncommon.Footnote 59
As a symbol of patriotism, national, regional or local, to the people of Khorat, an amulet or a miniature statue of Ya Mo will contain the khuna values from the safe sphere of the home. Although not as strong as the sàksìt powers derived from the Buddhist Saṃgha, the loving kindness of the safe and familiar home are also strong bearers of khuna powers. Such an amulet will thus, like a Buddha amulet, or a sãi sĩn, be a sàksìt object which will serve as a protector in the meeting with non-domesticated decha powers of the outside world. Ya Mo can grant protection, both as a khuna symbol, for example as an amulet, and as a domesticated decha power inherent in her statue. In many ways, she has become the guardian spirit of Khorat.
Guardian Spirit and Mother of Loving Kindness
The present Ya Mo statue was erected in 1967 and it is around this monument that the cult of Ya Mo has developed. The new monument is much bigger than the original one and the city has over the years gradually re-orientated itself, making the monument the central point of Khorat. As Saipin notes, and as my informants also show, Ya Mo has gained increased importance as a spirit, just as much as a heroine. The spirit of Ya Mo has even replaced the cult of the city pillar, the làk mueang.Footnote 60 Since the late nineteenth century the làk mueang has been the centre for where Chinese immigrants have worshipped the local ‘god of the place’. Later, the provincial government linked làk mueang and Ya Mo directly by placing a large ceramic mural depicting the story of Ya Mo on the wall behind the shrine.Footnote 61 Nevertheless, although there still is a làk mueang of Khorat, it is the actual Ya Mo monument that has adopted its ritual importance. Kòp, a 34-year-old college teacher from Kalasin province,Footnote 62 told me that he used to respect the làk mueang there when he was living in Kalasin. However, now that he has moved to Khorat, Ya Mo requires his respect. His colleague, Daeng, Nók's 31-year-old husband, also makes that link between Ya Mo and làk mueangs of other cities.Footnote 63 But he regards Ya Mo not just as the jâo thîi of Khorat, but of the whole province.
Jâo thîi, or phrá phum jâo thîi, is the guardian spirit, the ‘Lord of the land’ that protects every Thai home from unwelcome and malevolent spirits and ghosts. Practically all Thai houses and buildings have at least one spirit house somewhere on the premises. These are lavishly decorated, miniature temples on pedestals and the residences of phrá phum jâo thîi, the ‘Lord of the place’ or ‘Lord of the land’.
Phrá phum and jâo thîi are essentially just two different names for the ‘Lord of the land’. The former comes from Sanskrit or Pāli, the latter is Thai. The name phrá phum, venerable phum, is derived from the Sanskrit and Pāli term bhūmi, which means earth or soil. Phrá phum is not visualized as one single spirit that owns the earth. Rather, there are many different phrá phums in different realms and spheres.Footnote 64 In fact, he is said to have nine brothers, one for each part of the house, embodied in the door or the top of the stairs. There are also phrá phums for different houses, such as the wedding house, the monastery or even for the rice field.Footnote 65 The name jâo thîi, the Lord of the place, indicates a more traditional Thai spirit in the phĩi category. He is the owner of the land and its guardian spirit.Footnote 66 Terwiel's description of chao phii also corresponds with the jâo thîi used here: ‘[. . .] the tutelary spirits living outside the homes of people.Footnote 67 These powers may reside in the forest, in a mountain cave, or in a tall tree’.Footnote 68Phrá phum jâo thîi, the ‘Lord of the place’ or ‘Lord of the land’, is the spirit of the man who used to own the land. He still lives on the property to take care of his land and makes sure that no other spirit enters the property. A malevolent ghost, such as a prêt, or peta in Pāli, a hungry ghost, is especially dreaded. If people treat phrá phum jâo thîi with respect and give him a proper shrine and good offerings, he will protect the house and take care of all the people living there.
The use of spirit houses in modern-day Thailand is quite often reflected in two kinds of spirit houses erected next to each other. One is for the ‘phĩi’, the jâo thîi, and the other is for the thevada phrá phum, sometimes iconographically presented as phrá phrom, the Hindu god Brahmā. The taller and most beautifully decorated of the two spirit houses rests on a single pillar, whilst the smaller, lower one rests on four pillars. The taller is where phrá phum will be invited to stay.
Why the Hindu god Brahmā sometimes appears as phrá pum is understandable if the Thai notion of hierarchical stratification is taken into account. Brahmā, or phrá phrom, in Thai tradition and in Theravāda Buddhism in general, is a powerful thevada who plays an important role and who frequently appears in Buddhist mythology.Footnote 69 In the Milindapañha (III 6, 4) it is also argued that Brahmā is a devoted follower of the Buddha.Footnote 70 In Thai Buddhism, Brahmā is no doubt among the greatest of all the thevadas. Thus, because he is one of the most powerful thevadas, having phrá phrom outside the house looking after the people who live there has immense advantages. No ghost can enter an area where phrá phrom rules the ground. A guardian spirit, manifested in a Brahmā statue, can be defined both as a god and as a spirit, and as a spirit he is above all other spirits; he is ‘higher’ than the others. Phrá phrom is primarily appreciated as a great thevada with an exceptionally elevated status, and, maybe just because of that, he also sometimes appears in the role of the ‘Lord of the land’.
The reverence of phrá phum jâo thîi is part of communal Buddhism in Thailand and belongs to the domesticated decha realm of existence. Similar to Ya Mo, showing respect, generosity and moral conduct (dāna and sīla) are means of reaching the kammatic goal of a better rebirth. Treating phrá phum jâo thîi with respect can therefore be a way of gaining merit.
But phrá phum jâo thîi is, like Ya Mo, not revered primarily for the purpose of gaining merit. He is a guardian spirit and protects the house and the people who live there from ghosts and malevolent spirits and, thus, also holds an apotropaic function. The boundary between the domesticated and the non-domesticated decha realm is maintained by keeping a good relationship with the guardian spirit.
Jâo thîi, the ‘Lord of the land’, is thought of almost like a regular person. He used to be a human being and should be treated and respected like one. Jâo thîi is considered to be a very old man and is thus treated almost like a patriarch, with the same respect as people would show their grandparents.Footnote 71 To respect and not disrespect is the essential sentiment towards jâo thîi, and a good relationship with the guardian spirit, where spirit and man can live in harmony, will protect the family.
However, a good relationship with the ‘Lord of the land’ can also lead to good fortune. Apart from the protection of the house provided by the spirit, a mere reciprocal relationship is not uncommon. Treating other people with respect are khuna qualities and soteriological values of kammatic Buddhism, but being good to others may also lead to good fortune and a realization of communal goals. It can be said that soteriological values are communicated into the communal domesticated decha domain.
An example of this is how phrá phum jâo thîi and similar spirits are sometimes known to give out winning lottery numbers.Footnote 72 The phrá phrom at the famous Erawan shrine, outside the Erawan Hotel in Bangkok, is also known for giving out such numbers.Footnote 73 In fact, many people suspect lottery numbers to be the motivating force of people who are obsessed with luck-bringing amulets and different kinds of spirit shrines. Kòp is one of them:
People are crazy about them. They believe and expect things that normally cannot be done. They think the Buddha will help them win the lottery. I don't think they respect Buddhism in the right way.Footnote 74
There are many different shrines and spirit houses in Thailand. The distinction between sãn phrá phum jâo thîi and others is that the former, to a large extent, is a private shrine. Sãn phrá phum jâo thîi belongs to the household, almost as a part of the family. However, some of these shrines can become more public, as relatively private shrines also can become national treasures. The Brahmā shrine outside the Erawan Hotel is one example. Another example, of course, is the reverence of Ya Mo, and it is not unusual to hear people in Khorat talk about her as the jâo thîi of Khorat.
Ya Mo seems to serve many different purposes to the people of Khorat. The comparison and association with làk mueang and jâo thîi make sense when one regards the spiritual rather than the historical significance of the Ya Mo phenomenon. The psychological support that the guardian spirit provides to the people who revere her is another interesting spiritual aspect. I have already mentioned how Lék and Nõo feel that Ya Mo gives them confidence and self-esteem in their daily lives. Another example was given to me by a muay thai boxer from Phak Chong district, who has lived outside the province and Isaan since he was 12 years old. He told me that although he rarely visits his home province these days, not to mention the city of Khorat, prior to a fight, he will always think of his warlike and belligerent grandmother, Ya Mo, and ask her for support and kamlang jai. This practice somewhat contradicts Mulder's presentation of the realm of supernatural powers, the domesticated decha realm. Mulder emphasizes the physical presence required to benefit from a spirit's sacred powers.Footnote 75 However, the boxer in this context sees his connection with the spirit of Ya Mo more as a source of mental support rather than a reciprocal give-and-take relationship. Many of the people I interviewed told me that they did not need to go to Ya Mo directly, and be in the physical presence of her, to benefit from her powers, or to go to a temple to meditate or to sùat mon (pray). It is sufficient to picture the image of Ya Mo and the image of the Buddha in their minds. Similarly, they do not feel the need to go to the temple to tham bun (make merit). You can make merit anywhere, directed towards anyone. In fact, a lot of people emphasized giving alms to the poor, helping another person, or giving money to charity as something just as meritorious as giving alms to the monks in the morning.
It is tempting to interpret these things as modern and urban phenomena. As for merit-making, city life makes it harder to visit the temple as often as would be customary in a village. Time is prioritized differently and the temple may not be situated as close to the home as in a village. In this perspective the boxer's visualization of Ya Mo, rather than physical reverence, is not particularly outstanding. It represents a solution to modern life. However, if the intentions behind the act of merit-making and reverence are looked at instead of the act itself, these do not necessarily have to be viewed as new trends. On the basis of the Pāli canon, Torkel Brekke finds that although something like a gift or an offering is seen as a sacrifice, it is also seen as an activity of charity. Moreover, although the qualities of the recipient determine the merit achieved by the gift or the offering, it is the intention behind it that counts. In this perspective, something that seems like a redefinition of merit-making can, in fact, also be found as a discussion in the Buddhist texts: ‘If the giving is seen as a sacrifice, the qualities of the recipient are naturally the focus of intention. If the gift is charity, the intention of the giver comes to the fore’.Footnote 76 The same mechanisms are in use when offering gifts or showing respect to Ya Mo, other spirits, or otherworldly beings. Thus Brekke supports the religious motivation of my informants with examples from the Buddhist Pāli canon, and rejects that this necessarily is a phenomenon typical of the modern world.
It seems clear that the reverence of Ya Mo goes beyond purely reciprocal behaviour. Nút, a 52-year-old director of a university language centre, who never calls on Ya Mo for reciprocal reasons, nonetheless visits her a lot. Every time she goes away on a trip or returns home to Khorat she will pay her respects and ask for safety, but she never asks for help that requires her to kâe bon. Nòy, a 26-year-old working in the family restaurant, is less restricted in asking favours and told me that she will go to Ya Mo for similar reasons that she would go to the Chinese goddess Jao Mae Kwan Im.Footnote 77 She will ask for favours and protection, but she will also go there to show respect to them and honour them. It can be argued that Ya Mo and Kwan Im, despite obvious and distinct differences, serve similar spiritual purposes. Nòy's family on the paternal side is partly Chinese, but Kwan Im has become popular with ethnic Thais as well, especially amongst women. Nõo, who is a good example of someone who admires the traditions of other religions, also has a great fascination for the Chinese goddess. The same can be said of Mót and Nút.
Although there is a significant amount of reciprocal activity surrounding Ya Mo and Kwan Im, their individual importance appears to go even further. Ya Mo and Kwan Im, each in their own way, represent the love, goodness, virtue, compassion and selflessness of the Mother image. In this way they are also symbols of the khuna realm. The Mother holds the qualities of moral goodness, reliability and forgiveness.Footnote 78 According to Mulder, the image of the Mother is one of the most sacred Thai symbols, an idea which is also emphasized and taught in the Thai educational system.Footnote 79 Interestingly, the potent spirit of Ya Mo, which obviously belongs in the decha realm of power, as the protective and loving grandmother of the whole city, the province, and maybe even the entire Isaan region, has also become a symbol of the Buddhist values of the khuna realm. Ya Mo symbolizes the loving kindness of the Mother.
Conclusion
There are two important points to be made about the understanding of Ya Mo. First of all, people emphasize the historical origin of Ya Mo, where she is presented as a heroine of Khorat. Second, whether they believe in miracles or not, all the people I interviewed also recognize her sacredness. She grants wishes and provides protection. Her monument, the Thao Suranari memorial, is very sàksìt, either because her spirit resides in the monument, or because all the prayers, the respect and the faith of the devotees create a sacred and magical atmosphere. Nobody really knows, but most people believe in a combination of these two theories.
The turmoil following Saipin's book indicates the complexity and the politics connected to the narrative of Ya Mo. Her analysis stirred some fundamental aspects of the Thai nation-building project and thus received more attention than anticipated. The importance of defining Isaan as ‘Thai’ rather than ‘Lao’ and to integrate the whole country into the Thai nation is an ongoing process and Saipin obviously got in the way of the shaping of this political agenda. Nonetheless, it is important to note that it is probably the potent spirit of Ya Mo that carries out the greatest threat to this nationalistic narrative.Footnote 80 Moreover, Ya Mo is portrayed as a sãnyalák khorat, a symbol of Khorat rather than of the Thai nation. This is because she is the guardian spirit, the phrá phum jâo thîi, the ‘Lord of the land’, the ‘Lord of Khorat’.
At the same time, the relationship to grandmother Mo is imprinted with the same respect and love that would be bestowed on a senior family member. The feeling of being indebted to Ya Mo for her braveness, courage and sacrifice for her city can be compared with the debt and gratitude felt and reciprocated towards the ‘Mother’. This relationship is built on moral virtues and gives strength, confidence and kamlang jai to the people who include Ya Mo in their lives and who recognize the ‘family ties’.
When meeting with Ya Mo, kammatic, soteriological values are communicated to the apotropaic field of communal religion. Ya Mo, as a spirit of the domesticated decha realm, uses her sàksìt powers in order to protect and grant wishes. However, it also seems to go further. Ya Mo, as a mother figure, is seen as a strong symbol of the moral virtues of the khuna realm, and thus increases kamlang jai and gives confidence to the people of Khorat as they face the challenging non-domesticated decha realm of existence. Although the example of Ya Mo has nothing to do with Buddhism, the Buddhist ideals of generosity and moral virtue (dāna and sīla) are deeply rooted in the reverence of Ya Mo. Moreover, she is herself also a symbol of dāna and sīla, and thus is yet another example that shows how religious and magical motivations are intertwined and in constant contact with each other.
Soteriological and communal religion, as well as nibbanic, kammatic and apotropaic Buddhism, and the khuna and decha dimensions of social existence, suggest some identifiable patterns of religious behaviour. They help give a comprehensive understanding of how these patterns coexist and form the complex cultural system that is Thai Theravāda Buddhism. In the analysis of Theravāda Buddhism in general, and Thai Buddhism in particular, these theoretical approaches add useful means to identify religious and magical Buddhist behaviour. When seen in relation to each other, they bring out complementing and mutually reinforcing dimensions. The sacred thread that binds these different spheres together, and communicates and negotiates between them, is the Thai notion of sàksìt. When something is sacred, when something is sàksìt, magic qualities are also immanent. Sàksìt powers erase the line between religion and magic as they hold both religious and magical values and qualities. These powers contain elements from all aspect of Thai religious life and they communicate and relate, not only to the human, but also to the entire sentient world.
