Sculpture
in Thailand was confined in the past to casting
Buddha images. The carried this art to perfection both
in technique and artistic expression. Some anci ent specimens
of this art can be compared favourably with other nation's
classical arts.
Painting
in Thailand was also in the past confined
to mural tempera painting within the temple
buildings. The style was more conventionalised and achieved
some artistic manifestations to a high degree, but it
cannot be compared to sculpture which was a perfect artistic
achievement.
Modern architecture
sculpture and painting of Thailand are of
Western style. But in order to carry on her artistic traditions
as peculiarly her own and enriching humanity, the problem
is to preserve her own classical arts as a source of inspiration
for evolving her own modern arts with the progress of
the times in order to preserve her own identity individual
cultures suitably within the culture of a wider one.
The
music of Thailand is akin to that of the Chinese.
The Thai especially the scale of music is a diatonic one,
with neither major nor minor in the sense of western music,
but with a special diatonic scale characteristic of her
own. Though music in the theoretical conception of Buddhism
is not tolerated by the monks , by usage it is allowed
in certain religions ceremonies. no doubt to promote religions
emotions, and also on festive occasions.
Dramalike her sister art, music also served religion. Its
technique was of Indian origin, but the Thai evolved the
arts peculiar to their own. The actions are very graceful,
slow in motion but not unpleasant to sensible minds. Thai
dramatic performance is called lakhon, a word of
Indonesian origin, and is well known to enthusiastic lovers
of this art both inside and outside Thailand. In former
days, the people could only witness such performances
in the compound of the monastery on festive occasions
only. Nowadays many new types of dramatic performance
are usually adapted or copied from the West and the popularity
of the cinema takes the place of the classical ente rtainment.
The latter may be seen only occasionally as performed
by the artistes of the Department of Find Arts.
The literature of Thailand dates back
to the 13th century A.D., when the present Thai or Siamese
alphabet was formed. Owing to the havoc of time and tropical
climatic conditions, the earliest works of literature
that have survived are comparatively few. The earlier
works were of a religious mature. They were written either
in prose or verse. The forms were mostly written in poetical
prose, while the latter in their earlier forms showed
a likeness in their patterns to the unwritten or oral
folk li terature, and they again may be compared in affinity
to the Chinese. Later on through Indian influence, many
rhythmic patterns were introduced and these in time came
to the forefront against the background of the former
through the influence of the educa ted class. The language
used is more artificial as more and more words from foreign
origins, especially Pale, Sanskrit and Cambodian, were
introduced into the verses, while the former are more
natural and still popular with the common people. However
both achieved their technique and emotional arts
in many of their works. The subjects of Thai prose and
verse in the earlier works were mostly inspired by Buddhist
literature and meant to serve religion. Later on more
secular subjects relating to episodes of history, legends
and indignous tales were introduced to serve dramatic
art and reading. Of the two great epics of India, the
Mahab harata and the Ramayana, only the latter was turned
in its entirety into Thai verse in dramatic form, while
only certain episodes were taken from the former. The
Ramayana of the Thai version differs radically in detail
from the original Valmiki version, but agrees here and
there either with the Tamil, the Bengali, the Javanese
or the Malay versions. No doubt this shows that at one
time or other, there have been intermixtures of cultures
going on among the S.E. Asians and with India to an appreciable
de gree. The Ramayana is well known to the Thai people,
especially in the Central and Southern areas. The Lao
of the North-eastern area had a tale of Rama in their
local literature, but they incorporated many of their
local traditions and tales into the st ory, and in many
places showed traces of Indonesian influence cue obviously
to the once highly hinduized Cham people whose country
Champa is now Annam. The Ramayana of the Thai version
is one of the literary achievements in the language.
Within the last century, there has appeared
a new type of literature written in prose which has become
very popular with the public. It is a translation of those
popular Chinese historical romances. The translation is
complete from the dawn o f Chinese history down to the
last days of the Ming dynasty. The Thai of older generations
know the outline of Chinese history through these translations.
One of them, the The San Kuo Chai You I or the Romance
of the Three Kingdoms, has been very popula r and its
merit, apart from the theme of the story, is the style
of its translation. It is perfect and in the best prose
style. The pronunciation of names of the various characters
in this Chinese romances is Fukian, despite the fact that
most of the Chi nese who came in later days were Swatow
people. The Swatow dialect has one peculiar tone in its
phonetic system; while the Thai language, although a tonal
language like the Chinese, has not this tone. Nevertheless
the Fukians pronounce this tone at a different pitch and
the Thai have it too, hence Fukian dialect was used in
the Thai language has six or probably seven pitch tones.
but in theory there are only five tones. We know for instance
the names of Liu Pei, Kwan-u and Tiohui.
In recent times Western literature has
been in introduced into the country and there have been
constant translations mostly through the medium of English.
There has arisen in quite recent times too Thai novels
and short stories in the Western style, Some of Shakespeare's
works such as Romeo and Juliet, As You Like it. The Merchant
of Venice were translated by King Vajiravudh, so also
a number of English and French plays. Many of them were
adapted and staged, giving an impetus to a new kind o
f performance. King Vajiravudh also translated and dramatized,
through English translations, a number of Sanskrit classical
dramas, for instance, Sakuntala, Savitri. Through King
Vajiravudh's genius and influence, a new era of Thai literature
has evolve d and developed up to now.
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