Pattaratorn Chirapravati

Human-fashioned boundaries transform spaces by introducing dualisms, bifurcations, creative symbioses, contradictions, and notions of inclusion and exclusion. The Buddhist boundaries considered in this book, sīmās—a term found in South and Southeast Asian languages and later translated into East Asian languages—come in various shapes and sizes and can be established on land or in bodies of water. Sometimes, the word sīmā refers not only to a ceremonial boundary, but the space enclosed by the boundary, or even the markers (when they are used) that denote the boundary.

Sīmās were established early on as places where core legal acts (kamma), including ordination, of the monastic community (sangha) took place according to their disciplinary codes. Sīmās continue to be deployed in the creation of monastic lineages and to function in diverse ways for monastics and non-monastics alike. As foundations of Buddhist religion, sīmās are used to sustain, revitalize, or reform Buddhist practices, notions of identity, and conceptualizations of time and history. In the last few decades, scholarly awareness of and expertise on sīmās has developed to a point where a volume like this one, which examines sīmās across numerous cultural contexts and scholarly fields of inquiry, is both possible and needed. Sīmā traditions expressed in the Theravāda cultures of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka constitute the dominant focus of the work; a chapter on East Asia raises questions of historical transmission beyond these areas. Throughout contributors engage texts; history; archaeology; politics; art; ecology; economics; epigraphy; legal categories; mythic narratives; understandings of the cosmos; and conceptualizations of compassion, authority, and violence.

Examining sīmās through multiple perspectives allows us to look at them in their contextual specificity, in a way that allows for discernment of variation as well as consistency. Sīmā spaces can be both simple and extremely intricate, and this book helps show why and how that is the case.

All too often, modern scholarship limits its scope according to the boundaries of contemporary nations and current geopolitical borders. Academic expertise frequently ties itself artificially to these pre-defined spaces and in so doing often does a disservice to the past. It is no great revelation to point out that people of the past defined the limits of their political and cultural reach in ways that were very different from those found on modern maps. Ancient rulers, merchants, and priests understood the reach of their influence and defined foreignness in ways that would be deeply unfamiliar to those only knowledgeable of the modern world. Yet, despite the well-recognized truth in these observations, it is still relatively rare for scholars to research in ways that transcend modern boundaries. This collection of essays invites readers to take a broad view of South Asian art and culture by providing a wide geographic and chronological scope. The articles are united only by their focus on art – historical and archaeological concerns and their concentration on South Asia – ranging from Afghanistan to the island kingdoms of Indonesia. Each essay on its own constitutes a solid, well-grounded academic study, but taken collectively they provide a wide and inclusive view of issues of art and material culture that span the region and invite comparison. By taking this approach, this volume is a tribute to Prof. Robert L. Brown whose lifetime of teaching has always emphasized connections as well as differences. Over his professional career, he has trained a large cohort of students (many of whom are contributors to this volume) whose expertise truly does reach across the south of Asia.

It was Professor Stanley O’Connor’s article, “Buddhist Votive Tablets and Caves in Peninsular Thailand,” that sparked my first interest and fascination with votive tablets when I was an undergraduate student. Twelve years later I wrote my PhD dissertation, “The Cult of Votive Tablets in Thailand (Sixth to Thirteenth Centuries),” under his guidance.² Prof. O’Connor’s interpretation of art history has inspired me immensely. This essay, written on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, will explore Buddhist traditions in peninsular Thailand based on the study of votive tablets (seventh–eleventh centuries). From my examination of the votive tablet record, I have reached

'Mural Art - Studies on mural paintings in Asia' is a series of 10 articles by the best scholars on murals in Afghanistan, Xinjiang (China), Tibet, Burma, Thailand and Mongolia - from the 5th to the 18th century. With issues such as preservation, digital reconstruction of lost murals, redating through the study of regional influences, iconography, style, translation and edition of captioned murals, this book provides new information with challenging perspectives based on the latest findings. It also reveals murals never published (Burma, Thailand, Mongolia), recently rediscovered and endangered (Tibet) or destroyed and vandalized (Afghanistan, Xinjiang).

This chapter focuses on the history of clothing styles in India and Siam during the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. The dress of Thai elites clearly evolved and adopted Indian materials and styles that were utilized by Indian monarchs during this period. These materials and styles both were shaped and were influenced by the political and cultural identities of these monarchs. Dress styles that hybridized ‘traditional (Indian/Siamese)’ and ‘modern’ fashion were used as political tools in reaction to the intense cultural interactions and colonial expansion, and the global cosmopolitan influence of the Victorian era, in the colonial and post-colonial periods.

Paintings of funeral scenes are rare in Asian art. The most common theme associated with funerals in Thai art is the death scene of the Buddha referring to hisparinirvāṇa. Even though depictions of the actual funeral of the Buddha are generally scarce in both Indian and Southeast Asian art, in Thai art the Buddha’s funeral became an important subject of Thai mural paintings and manuscripts around the 18th century.¹ By around the second half of the 19th century, another type of funeral and cremation scene appeared in Thai Buddhist manuscripts and mural paintings. This funeral scene depicts the funerals