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ANALYSIS OF THE MYTH

I have presented the myth as related to me by two Phraan Muan village
informants. The myth is well known throughout the entire North-east,
and while there are variations of detail as told in different parts of the
North-east, the main plot and structure of the myth remain the same.

The myth has two associations for the villagers of this region. It tells
of the origin of the various swamps and rivers in the region. Clearly one
of the concerns of the myth is to relate the origin and naming of these
ecological phenomena which are of such vital interest to villagers living
in a dry land. The swamps, for instance, connote perennial water and
symbolize rain. In different regions of the North-east the geographical
details of the story, such as the names of rivers, swamps and lakes, are
changed to correspond to the phenomena of the local region. In presenting
the `social geography' of the region, the myth serves to give a sense of
regional identity to the people, as well as a sense of history in that in the
mythical past their territories were parts of kingdoms whose capitals were
cities, like Sakorn Nakorn, which still exist today.

The villagers view the myth as also related to the origin of the rocket
festival (Bunbangfai). The myth itself includes a rocket-firing competition,
and villagers, after relating the myth, are apt to say, `This is why we fire
the rockets', referring to the competition. The anthropologist, however,
notes that the Bunbangfai rite has no direct relation to the details of the
myth; it is not a simple reflection of the myth.

Apart from these conscious associations, the observer senses an underlying
theme, ostensibly presented as a conflict between man and the
dragon of the water, but in fact stating a complex relationship between
man and nature. This will emerge as the details of the myth are analysed.
Since the two versions of the myth agree on essentials, I shall treat them
together.

The myth is constructed around a triangular contest. Pangkee, the
son of the Naga (embodiment of water and the underworld), is opposed
to and in competition with the male human protagonist, Phadaeng (who
is a ruler of human beings), for a prize represented by a female character,
Princess Nang Ai.

The relationship between the three figures is a balanced opposition.

In a previous life, Pangkee and Nang Ai were husband and wife, but

Pangkee was a bad husband and abandoned Nang Ai. In the later life
Pangkee falls in love with Nang Ai but she rejects him, and by virtue of
her vow is bound to destroy him. We note that in the previous life, Pangkee
deserted Nang Ai while she was up a tree picking figs; in the later life
Pangkee himself was shot, at Nang Ai's instigation, while he in turn
was up a tree.

The relationship between Phadaeng and Nang Ai also carries an element
of stalemate. While the two return each other's love, Phadaeng fails to
win her legitimately when he loses the rocket competition. It is the losing
of this competition by Phadaeng and also by Nang Ai's father through
the failure of their rockets, which signifies impending disaster and leads
to the next stage of the drama. On Pangkee's side, his persistent and
unrequited love for Nang Ai also serves as the catalyst for the movement
of the plot.

The myth reaches its climax when Pangkee, a creature of the underworld,
takes the form of an attractive trickster, a white squirrel, an arboreal
creature. He is killed and his meat, which is inexhaustible, is eaten by
all the people except old widows and the hero Phadaeng. The manifest
meaning of the story is that the killing and eating of the squirrel results
in the disappearance of human settlements and their transformation into
swamps. I would suggest that the latent meaning is that the eating of the
meat represents the union of man and nature. The swamps and lakes
containing perennial water are the product of this union. They contain
portions of the Naga prince eaten by human beings; his dismemberment
also accounts for his multiple presence in individual swamps. The swamps
in turn represent ancient submerged human settlements. Thus, while
the plot of the myth overtly predicates an antagonism between man and
nature, the underlying message is the resolution of the relationship between
them in terms of fertile union and sharing of common properties. It is
relevant to note that old widows, being barren and useless, were excluded,
and escaped the disaster because they did not eat the meat.

The same message comes through in the last part of the myth which
describes the attempted escape of Phadaeng and Nang Ai on horseback.
Whereas earlier the dismembered portions of the flesh of the Naga are
seen as acting upon human beings and their settlements, in this sequence
it is the cultural products of human beings and their symbols of ordered
society—the regalia—which are seen as acting upon nature to produce
(or to name, which is the same thing) swamps and tributaries. The significant
aspect of the attempted escape is not the uncertain survival of the
human actors but that they abandoned the regalia and the horse. The overt
meaning is that nature captured those emblems which validate and make

possible ordered society. The latent meaning is that the swamps and
rivers are the repositories of ancient regalia that give legitimacy to human
settlements. Thus, while one level of meaning represents again the opposition
between nature and society, and the futility of this conflict for
nature is stronger, at another level it is resolved by the implication that
the natural phenomena which contain the regalia validate the human
settlements around them because of this possession.

In brief, while the sinking of human settlements as a result of humans
having eaten Naga meat represents naturalization of human society, the
incorporation of human cultural products by nature represents the
humanization of nature. It is this balanced equation that the myths
portray.

We are now ready to tackle two problems concurrently. The ethnographic
problem is the relationship between Buddhist ritual and the
cult of the guardian spirits. I propose to consider it by comparing the
grand Buddhist festival of Bun Phraawes and the myths concerning
Uppakrut who figures in that festival (described in Chapter 10) with the
rain-making festival of Bunbangfai and its related myth. From this ethnographic
discussion we can abstract a formal problem which is of theoretical
interest to anthropology, namely the relation between myth and rite.

Fig. 4 Diagram showing the relationship between two festivals

The arrows in the diagram indicate the relationships we have to examine
in order to arrive at answers to the two problems set out above. The
relevant ethnography has already been presented and therefore has only
to be brought into focus here. We have at hand Buddhist myths and an
associated ritual, and another body of myths (or, rather, variants of a single
myth) and an associated ritual devoted to the guardian spirits, both
complexes relating to a common village preoccupation. It is hoped that analysis
will bring out the formal relations (1) between myth and its associated

rite, and (2) between two related complexes of myths and their associated
rites, which derive their orderly meaning precisely because of their coexistence
within one cultural and social universe.

I treat myth and its associated ritual initially as two separate phenomena,
each with its own logical structure and message contents, and examine
the nature of the `correspondence' between them. The extension of this
comparison to two complexes of myths and rites will allow me to make
a further statement about formal structural relations and the configuration
of meanings within a single universe of religious thought and action.

The underlying feature that gives coherence to the analysis is the Naga
symbol. In Buddhist ritual, a good example of which is the Bun Phraawes
festival, is represented a cluster of features of the Naga as a servant of
Buddhism and as the life over which the Buddha achieved conquest.
In the cult of the guardian spirits, of which the Bunbangfai is an apt
representation, we have another aspect of the Naga emphasized, namely
its autonomous status and its power as a force of nature in its own right.
In this second aspect, human beings propitiate it as a deity and express
their submission to and reconciliation with it.

To recapitulate some of the main conclusions reached in respect of the
Bun Phraawes festival: it is the major festival of the village performed after
harvest at a time of plenty. It is a grand merit-making ceremony in which
the villagers make liberal gifts to the monks and the wat, listen to the most
celebrated story of Buddha as Phraawes engaging in acts of selfless giving
which represent the ultimate in self-sacrifice, and by analogy and transfer
they acquire merit. Structurally the Bun Phraawes festival divides into
three sequences. First comes the invitation to Phraa Uppakrut, the swamp
monk, to attend the festival; he is associated with protecting the village
and ensuring rains. I interpreted this as man's communion with and the
taming of natural forces. The second phase is the invitation and propitiation
of the divine angels (thewada), who are regarded as benevolent agents of
Buddhism. This phase represents man's reunion with the upper benevolent
spirit world. Uppakrut mediates with nature, the thewada with the divine.
The ideologically central part, enacted in the third phase, is merit-making
and recitation of and listening to the great story (Lam Phraawes). This
sequence recalls and enacts Buddha's life in this world: it recalls a heroic
past and allows present-day humble humanity to participate vicariously
in that past. The three structured sequences represent a hierarchy of
values in which the lower world of nature and the upper world of divine
angels take their place in the service of Buddhism.

How do the myths concerning Phraa Uppakrut relate to the ritual
enactments of Bun Phraawes? I reported three stories or myths concerning

Phraa Uppakrut. In one he is seen as a product of the incorporation of
Buddha's semen by a mermaid: he is thus part Buddhist agent and part
of nature, a union that combines both elements. As mermaid's son, or as
Naga, he represents beneficial water in the never drying pond. In the
second story he is seen as nature's powerful agent who allies with human
beings against their mortal adversary, Mara, who is death. In the third
story he is represented as an ascetic who is superior to temporal power and
who defends Buddhism by reconciling theological differences in the
Sangha.

The intriguing point is that the myths, by exploiting certain thematic
oppositions, produce a resolution by which Uppakrut or Naga becomes
the servant and protector of Buddhism. But the rite addressed to Uppakrut
in the first sequence of Bun Phraawes (the procession to the swamp in
order to `invite' him) does not dramatize the myths; rather it essentially
enacts the conversion and enrolling of the services of the Naga in the
service of Buddhism. The ritual articles carried in the procession are
conspicuous symbols of monkhood—the begging bowl, sandals and robes.
He is persuaded to leave the swamp and climb the sedan by showing him
the Buddha images, and by the sprinkling of puffed rice. Cries of victory
and the chanting of the victory blessing by the monks express the success
of his conversion and the assured success of the battle against Mara with
him as ally. In a sense then, the myths and the rite stand in an inverse
relationship. The myth says that Uppakrut is an agent and guardian of
Buddhism; the rite enacts his conversion into an agent. Thereafter his
role is that of protector and guardian of peace and order, and the festival
itself is regarded as ensuring rain, long life, good health, and absence of
conflict in the village. It might be said that at the Bun Phraawes festival
Uppakrut takes over the role of the village and swamp guardians, while
the guardians themselves, in their non-Buddhist aspect, remain intact
and separate.

Now when we compare the rocket festival (Bunbangfai) with the Bun
Phraawes, we see a different pattern. This festival is in theory unambiguously
directed to the soliciting of rain, prosperity and good health from
the village guardians, who are elevated phii. But the sequences of the
festival show a complex weaving in of Buddhist sequences without confusing
category distinctions, and how the guardian spirit cult is linked to
Buddhism.

The first sequence described was the ordination of novices and monks.
A major reason why ordination takes place at this time is that part of the
merit acquired is transferred to the swamp and village guardians. This
expresses not so much the conversion of the spirits into Buddhist agents

(as Bun Phraawes does with Uppakrut) but that the human actors as
Buddhists transfer some of their moral worth to the spirit guardians as
an offering in order to solicit favours. The ceremony for the elevation
and honouring of monks occasionally performed together with ordination
embodies rich meaning: the monk is purified by water which flows
through the Naga's throat. Here the Naga is distinctly conceived as a
Buddhist agent, and the analogy is that just as the Naga in this ritual
context purifies a monk, so may the swamp and village guardians fertilize
the fields.

The second phase of the festival, which consists of the procession to
the Tapubaan shrine and the firing of the `rocket of respect', excludes the
participation of monks. The villagers, under the leadership of the spirit
guardians' own officiants, enact their collective submission to and dependence
on the guardians. The categorical opposition between Buddhism
and spirit cult is clearly expressed here. However, that same night the
monks in turn chant suad mongkhon and bless the rockets at the wat
according to the Buddhist mode, thereby doubling the chances of success.
The third and final phase is the firing of the wishing rocket, followed by
ritual licence and competitive rocket-firing. In this final phase all take
part, both monks and laymen. All distinctions of social and religious
hierarchy are temporarily dissolved in ritual licence as a prelude to
beginning a new agricultural and religious cycle. This licence is the very
converse of Bun Phraawes which concludes with the day-long listening
to a moving and austere sermon.

The comparison between Bun Phraawes and Bunbangfai reveals that
two ritual complexes stand in opposition and complementarity, and state
a dialectical relationship between two quite different positions taken by
the villagers in regard to man's relationship to nature and the divine.
The first as a Buddhist ceremony and the second as a phii cult bring out
the following contrasts. Bun Phraawes is staged in terms of the pious
Buddhist ideology of merit-making; in this festival the two main categories
of actors are monks and lay elders, who occupy the most important statuses
in the village. Merit-making is accompanied by a grand fair, thus combining
the moral pursuits of monks and elders with the pleasure derived by the
youth. The festival concludes with a day-long recitation of a moving story
of the Buddha's acts of charity and sacrifice. Bunbangfai is staged in terms
of the ideology of the guardian spirit cult, in which favours are sought in
exchange for offerings. The ritual officiants—tiam and cham—practise
ecstatic techniques. Possession represents the descent and entry into men
of powerful supernatural agents in order to aid them. The ceremony
concludes with ritual licence in which village statuses and the respect

hierarchy are dissolved temporarily before the next agricultural cycle
starts. The targets of such licensed behaviour include monks and elders.
The entire community participates, the desire for rain being a collective
wish without grade or distinction. In this sense and in this context, monks
are members of the village like anyone else. When rocket-firing concludes
in competitive play, those who fail to fire rockets successfully are greeted
with mud because they have failed to represent the wish adequately.

Now to compare the two sets of myths. Placed against the legends
concerning Uppakrut, the myth of Phadaeng and Nang Ai states a counterproposition
to the Buddhist statement which is that the Naga, representing
nature, is a power in his own right with whom man has to come to terms.
At one level the Phadaeng and Nang Ai myth portrays conflict between
man and Naga and the latter's superior powers of destruction. But at
a deeper level the myth establishes a relation between society and nature
in the form of a resolution in which both participate in each other: the
swamps and rivers give an historic stamp to the human settlements
around them. The myth validates the power of the Naga as swamp spirit,
and more importantly asserts through a story of conflict the necessary
union of man and nature so as to secure ordered social life.

In the rocket festival as rite, the conflict sequences of the associated
myth are not enacted. The guardian spirit of the swamp (Chao Phau Tong
Khyang), symbolizing rain and fertility, is propitiated by humans in their
capacity as subservient children. Here in the rite the guardian spirit
embodies the conclusion or resolution of the myth, and unites in one
person the twin values of benevolent nature and orderly society. The
rockets, which are vehicles of competition in the myth now in the shape
of the two bang tawai and siang rockets, express in the rite the human
attitude of respect to the spirit and the wish for rain and good health.
They carry these wishes up into the sky in an attempt to reach the
inaccessible. It is only at the end of the festival that the remaining rockets
are fired in a spirit of competition and ritual licence. There is thus a
dialectical inverse relationship between the Phadaeng myth and the rite
of Bunbangfai, paralleling a similar relationship discussed earlier between
the Uppakrut stories and the Bun Phraawes rite. It is therefore time to
examine the formal relations between myth and rite.