The Function and Spatial Distribution of Inscribed Objects in Luang Prabang
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
This beautiful glass-decorated candle holder from Vat Si Puttabat Thippraram was built in the year CE 1671 by the royal mother of Lao King Suriyavongs Thammykharat (r. 1633–1690).
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
A bronze bell from Vat Sangkhalok in Luang Prabang, crafted in 1912 under the patronage of the Queen of Luang Prabang and donated to that monastery.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The votive tablet from Vat Sangkhalok, made of wood and decorated with gilded flowers on a black background, rests on a layered base and features twenty-six Buddha images in the Subduing Mara posture. This votive tablet was crafted in 1910 under the royal patronage of King Sisavang Vong of Luang Prabang and his queen.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
According to the inscription on the pedestal of this Buddha statue in royal attire, in the standing posture, from Vat Visunnarat in Luang Prabang, was created in 1862 under the sponsorship of a laywoman from Luang Prabang called “Mother Sisuphan”.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The stone tablet at the stupa of Vat Saen Sukharam is in a deteriorated condition, with some characters missing, and white marks erasing or obscuring the letters in parts. Both the stupa and the inscription were created in 1936.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The inscribed stone from Vat Nong Kham, Luang Prabang, was made in 2006 to commemorate the construction of the main hall (sim) at Vat Nong Kham. The project was led by Thit (ex-monk) Singthòng and his wife, Nang Phio Sukkasoem, who had migrated from Khua District in Phongsali Province. They initiated the project together with the villagers of Nong Kham.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The stone inscription from Vat Xiang Maen in Luang Prabang was created in 1591. It records King Nomuang (Savangrat, 1546–1571), the heir of King Saiyasetthathirath, founding Vat Xiang Maen by granting land to become temple grounds in C.S. 952 (1591 CE) when he ascended to the throne.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
This stone inscription serves as evidence of the boundary-making ceremony at Vat Suvannakhili. The ceremony was held in 1950 under the chairmanship of His Highness Samdet Phra Sangkhalat Thamyana Maha Thera, with the presence of Sathu Nyai Khamfan Silasangvaro, the abbot of Vat Suvannakhili and the head of the Sangha (monastic order) of Luang Prabang.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The bronze prasāda from Vat Visunnarat in Luang Prabang, made in 1726, is a tall structure with multiple tiers. The middle tier consists of columns, and the top is covered with fabric, portions of which are missing. The decorative roof features deities sitting with bowed heads and folded hands, although two of the deities have damaged heads. One side of the prasāda bears a crack that affects the inscription in that section. The temple itself is rectangular in shape, and the edges of the relic are engraved with Lanna script. This structure can be dismantled into separate parts.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The stone slab from Vat Saen Sukharam in Luang Prabang, made in 1924, features engraved script almost entirely on its front. The lower left corner is cracked and missing pieces, but this does not affect the letters in the lines.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The old stupa from Vat Nong Si Khunmüang, featuring an inscription in Tham Lao script, was made in 1884 to commemorate the construction of the significant and ancient pagoda that houses the sacred relics at Vat Nong Si Khunmüang. This was conducted by Phra Mahasomdet Kurawongsa, the abbot of Vat Nong Si Khunmüang, and the royal court in the year B.E. 1246 (1884 CE).
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The votive tablet, crafted from silk cloth and embroidered with gold and silver silk thread, depicts a Buddha image standing in the center, flanked by two disciples on either side. The inscription indicates that Queen Thòngsi, the royal mother of King Sisavang Vong, made this votive tablet in 1909 and donated it to Vat Sangkhalok.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
Map of the monasteries in Luang Prabang town
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The main hall (sim) of Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
The altar inside the main hall of Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
A project staff member is taking a photograph of a Buddha statue inside the main hall of Vat Siang Maen in Luang Prabang on November 6, 2023.
Photo: Volker Grabowsky
A project staff member is reading an inscription on a Buddha statue while working at Vat Sangkhalok on November 9, 2023.
Background
Among the countries of mainland Southeast Asia, the epigraphical landscape of Laos is the least explored. On the background of the scarcity of edited inscriptions from Laos, our project focuses on the rather limited monastic environment of the city of Luang Prabang, the former royal capital of Laos and centre of Lao Buddhism since the fourteenth century. We do that out of various reasons. First, unlike most other cities of Laos, including Vientiane, Luang Prabang has hardly been affected by foreign invasions, colonial rule, civil war and revolution. Thus, the loss of cultural heritage, including inscribed steles and art objects, has been much less in this town of at present some 50,000 inhabitants which, with its more than thirty monasteries, has been inscribed on the UNESCO list of world heritage since 1995.
Each of the city’s numerous monasteries contains a variety of inscribed objects, ranging from those accessible at public spaces such as stone steles, stupa basements, boundary markers (sema), gongs, bells, pillars inside ordination halls (sim) and Buddha statues, to those kept in the more reclusive environment of monk’s abodes (kuti) and ordination halls. The latter play important roles in the everyday life of monks and novices, such as sermon seats, wooden plates, vases, medals and seals. Moreover, most monasteries have small bone stupas where the ashes and bones of members of the nobility are enshrined. Such stupas as well as the shrines with the remains of less prominent persons are part of the monastery’s outer enclosure and bear mostly funerary inscription, thus contributing some fine examples to the studies of the epigraphy of death.
Objectives
The main objective of the project is to study the spatial distribution of inscribed Buddhist art objects as well as their function by analysing the inscriptions which reveal a lot about different kinds of usage. Furthermore, we will examine the visibility and accessibility of the objects and their inscriptions since they were obviously kept in different spatial environments. Another research question relates to the motives for the collecting of Buddhist objects of art and utility by the abbot as reflected in dedications recorded in inscriptions.
Our study explores the content of the inscriptions and how they are related to the objects on which the text is inscribed. Of crucial importance are language and script. Inscriptions are usually written in vernacular Lao occasionally interspersed with Pali words and phrases. The preferred script is the Lao variant of the religious Dhamma script (Tham Lao), though the secular Old Lao script (Lao Buhan) is also found, notably in stone inscriptions. In many of the more recent inscriptions, including funerary inscriptions, the modern Lao script (a simplified derivative of the Lao Buhan script) is being used. Thus, we seek to address the following questions: Where and how is a change from Tham Lao to modern Lao script recognizable? When and in which contexts did this change occur? Moreover, we seek to classify the inscriptions both according to their contents and social functions as well as to their material aspects. Special attention will be given to multi-lingual (f.e. Lao, Pali) and multi-scriptural (f.e. Tham, Lao Buhan, modern Lao) inscriptions.
Finally, we will investigate whether the epigraphical landscape of Luang Prabang documented by our project reveals any hierarchy of the almost three dozen monasteries. Why do certain monasteries contain more inscriptions of the different categories and, in particular, more prominent inscriptions than others? This question needs to be discussed also on the background of the history of these monasteries and their religious, cultural and political significance.
The project aims to document, digitise, and catalog written artifacts from 27 monasteries in Luang Prabang, Laos. These artefacts will be stored sustainably using the University of Hamburg's research data management system. The collected data will be used for a research project titled ‘The Function and Spatial Distribution of Inscribed Objects in Luang Prabang’.
Principal Investigators
- Volker Grabowsky (University of Hamburg)
- Khamvone Boulyaphonh (Buddhist Archives of Luang Prabang)