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Thai
Traditional Literature is essentially religious. Most of the literature
in the old days consisted of works on Buddhism and Hinduism directly
or indirectly. Whatever culture the Thai people brought with them
from thier homeland in Southern China where they had been in contact
with Chinese culture for centuries was adapted to its later conception
of Buddhism, their adopted religion. Traces of their original culture
may be found here and there in a disguised and weak form embedded
in their literature. Most of the works of emotive literature were
written in veerse in various patterns. Five prominent examples of
such works may be cited briefly.
 1.
The Romance of Khun Chang Khun Phaen, an indigenous story of
love and pathos, at time humourous, of a triangular love plot of one
heroine with two lovers. The story, apart from its beautiful expressions,
contains a mine of infomation on old beliefs and social customs of the
Thai before the impact of Western culture. The story as is known has
been traslated into English and French.
2. Ramakian
(or Ramakirti in transliteration) is the story based on the famous Indian
epic, Ramayana. It is unique, containing many episodes and details which
are not to be found in the original epic, but showing traces of contact
with certain versions of the Ramayana in India, Malaysia, Java and Cambodia.
There is an English translation.
 3. The Romance of
Inao. This is a translation from the well-known storty of adventures
of the national Javanese hero prince. It is written in a refined and
perfect style of the Thai Language and meant for dramatic performance.
4. Sam Kok.
This is a translation from San Kuo Chi, a Chinese historical romance
of the Three Kingdoms. Unlike the three preceeding ones, it is written
in prose with perfect expressions of style of the language.
5.
Phra Aphaimani.
This is a romantic tale written in verse by one of the most famous and
popular poets of Thailand. It is an imaginary tale of love, intrigue
and adventure, and reflects some ideas of the people towards the Europeans
of the last century. There is an English translation in concise form
by one Prem Chaya.
The employment of prose in
Thai emotive literature along the lines of the Western style is of recent
date due obviously to the influence of Western literature.
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Information from:
"Essays on Cultural Thailand" by Office of the National Culture
Commission.
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