Colenda Digital Repository

Phra Malai 1870s or 1880s

Date:
1870
Description:
Illustrated manuscript of the popular story of Phra Malai, a monk who visits heaven and hell, preceded by the short text Abhidhamma chet kamphi. A note in the text of the manuscript advises the monk after finishing the previous three prayers to take and break and drink hot tea (f. B12).
Language:
Thai
Provenance:
Donated to a monastery for a funeral by a woman nicknamed Older Sister Nu (mouse; colophon in pencil, f. B47).; Gift of the Estate of Elizabeth Lyons, Keeper of the Asian Collections, University Museum, 1989.
Subject:
Heaven -- Buddhism; Heaven; Buddhism; Hell -- Buddhism; Illumination of books and manuscripts, Thai -- Specimens; Illumination of books and manuscripts, Thai
Resource Type:
Text
Form/Genre:
Facsimiles; Folded books; Illuminations (visual materials); Manuscripts, Thai; Manuscripts; Specimens; manuscripts (documents)
Physical Description:
1 online resource (98 folios) : color illustrations
Rights:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Notes:
Title for manuscript from title for predominant work supplied by Justin McDaniel (viewed on December 23, 2015); Table of contents: 1. f.A02-A05: Abhidhamma chet kamphi -- 2.f.A05-46B: Phra Malai.; Written in 10 lines per folio.; Written on khoi paper; folded concertina- or accordion-style.; 13 illustrated folios with images of deities (f. A02-A04) and episodes from the Phra Malai (f. A06, A26-A27, A41, B12-B13, B26-B27, B37, B46).; Attached covers with a border formed of additional layers of heavy paper; shiny patches from former lacquer or glue?; Written in central Thailand, probably in the 1870s or 1880s (Justin McDaniel).; Dimensions of original manuscript: 13.5 x 69.0 cm.; Reproduced from the original with permission of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.; In Pali with note and colophon in Thai (Pali in Khom script; Thai in Thai script).
Physical Location:
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Web, Penn Museum 89-13-251