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.
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
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