https://englishkyoto-seas.org/

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang: Application ofModern Printing Technologies
Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, August 2024, pp. 343-383.

How to Cite:
Jaengsawang, Silpsupa. Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang
Prabang: Application of Modern Printing Technologies. Southeast Asian Studies,Vol. 13, No. 2, August 2024, pp. 343-383. DOI: 10.20495/seas.13.2_343.
Link to this article:
https://englishkyoto-seas.org/2024/08/vol-13-no-2-silpsupa-jaengsawang/
View the table of contents for this issue:
https://englishkyoto-seas.org/2024/08/vol-13-no-2-of-southeast-asian-studies/
Subscriptions: https://englishkyoto-seas.org/mailing-list/
For permissions, please send an e-mail to:
english-editorial[at]cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang
Prabang: Application of Modern Printing Technologies*
Silpsupa Jaengsawang**

Printing technologies that arrived in Laos with French colonialism (1893–1945)
facilitated the Lao manuscript culture by introducing new writing tools and writing
support. When storing and categorizing manuscripts in a repository, librarians
began using new technologies such as writing tools and paper labels as well as the
Roman alphabet to encode pronunciations for vernacular titles of anisong manuscripts.
Monk-preachers began using pen to correct sermonic texts written on palm leaves.
Affiliation markers in the precolonial as well as colonial periods were written
mostly in the modern script, since monastic lay assistants—who were sometimes
responsible for transporting and storing manuscripts in the monastic library—were
illiterate in the Dhamma script. Since the modern Lao script was available inmodern printing machines, there was a gradual decrease in the use of the traditional
Dhamma script. The modern Lao script was thus used to compensate for thedwindling knowledge of the Dhamma script and to accommodate those who could
not read the traditional script but were still part of the manuscript culture.
Keywords: printing, transformation, Lao manuscripts, manuscript culture,anisong, colonialism

I Introduction
After King Saisetthathilat (1534–71) moved the capital of the Lao kingdom of Lan Sang
from Siang Thòng to Vientiane in the mid-sixteenth century, Siang Thòng remained a* The research for this article was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German
Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy–EXC 2176 “Understanding Written
Artefacts: Material, Interaction and Transmission in Manuscript Cultures,” project no. 390893796.
The research was conducted within the scope of the Centre for the Study of Manuscript
Cultures (CSMC) at Universität Hamburg.
** Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), Universität Hamburg, Warburgstraße
26, 20354 Hamburg, Germany
e-mail: silpsupa.jaengsawang@uni-hamburg.de
https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3284-3936
Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, August 2024, pp. 343–383© Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University

DOI: 10.20495/seas.13.2_343

343

344

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

center of Lao Buddhism.1) It was renamed Luang Prabang in honor of the Phra Bangstatue, which had become Laos’s precious Buddha symbol. In the early eighteenth
century Laos was split into three kingdoms: Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and Champasak.
Each claimed to be the successor state of Lan Sang, and all were forced to recognize
Siamese suzerainty in 1778. Following the failed uprising by King Anuvong of Vientianein 1826–28 (in which Champasak—but not Luang Prabang—participated), Vientiane andChampasak became fully incorporated into the Siamese kingdom while Luang Prabangremained a vassal state. Hence, after 1893, when Siam ceded all territories on the leftbank of the Mekong River to France, only Luang Prabang became a French protectorate
while the rest of Laos became part of the French colony. This explains why Lao Buddhism
was influenced by Siamese traditions even though Lao Buddhist practices depended
upon local traditions (Khamvone 2015, 5). The French barely intervened in Buddhist
activities in Luang Prabang, focusing instead on the restoration of Vientiane, which had
been devastated by Siamese troops. Francis Garnier (1885, 286, cited in Ladwig 2018,100) reported that the first French missions between 1866 and 1868 found Vientiane
in ruins. Buddhist sermons were still part of daily life, which contributed to the commissioning of religious texts inscribed in palm-leaf manuscripts by laypeople. The Laomanuscript culture continued despite the French administration, which lasted approximately fifty years (1893–1945 with a brief interregnum in which Laos was a Japanesepuppet state).2)
Western technologies were applied to Lao manuscript production from the latenineteenth century and resulted in, for instance, typewritten palm-leaf manuscripts
unique to Luang Prabang. The existence of several typewritten copies of palm-leaf
manuscripts suggests an effort to preserve religious texts, particularly under the manuscript-copying projects led by Sathu Nyai Khamchan Virachitto (1920–2007).3) Whilereligious texts recorded in the manuscripts were preserved using this new method,
Dhamma script literacy4) gradually declined as typewriters had the modern Lao1) After the kingdom was invaded first by the Siamese and then by the Burmese during the sixteenth
century, in 1563 King Saisetthathilat moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. Vientiane
was more centrally situated with respect to the Lao territories and more easily defensible against
Burmese attack (Stuart-Fox 1986, 8).
2) Based on the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts (DLLM) collection at the National Library of Laos,the earliest known palm-leaf manuscript from Laos is a Pali canon titled Parivan, written in 1520
during the reign of King Phothisalat (Code: 06018504078-00, National Museum, Luang Prabang).
3) Sathu Nyai Khamchan Virachitto served as an abbot for sixty years, developed close relations withthe highest-ranking individuals of the Lao sangha hierarchy, and rose to senior positions within thesangha. A huge corpus of documents and artifacts was left behind after his death (Khamvone 2015,
vi–vii).
4) For the spread of the Dhamma script in the Upper and Middle Mekong region, see Grabowsky (2011).

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

345

script.5) In the late twentieth century, manuscripts written in the Lao variant of the
Dhamma script could only be produced by hand, on mulberry and industrial paper.6)
Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 1995, the town of Luang
Prabang has a long religious and political history, with a mixture of indigenous andEuropean—notably French—cultures.7) The use of palm leaf, mulberry paper, andindustrial paper was steadily associated with new printing technologies that arrived
there in the late nineteenth century. This article discusses manuscript transformations
due to the application of new technologies in Luang Prabang. It also touches on the
purposes behind and the results from encounters with modernity in Lao manuscript
culture in the late nineteenth century. This study argues that French colonialism had agreater influence on the Lao manuscript culture than any other factor. After providing
general information on the Lao manuscript culture and anisong manuscripts, this paper
outlines the social and cultural setting of Luang Prabang in the late nineteenth century.
The manuscripts discussed date from the French colonial period to the present. The useof new printing technologies is discussed next. The four key factors heuristic tool andparacontent are the core methodologies applied in this study.
Note on Quotations from Manuscripts
Since the manuscripts used as primary sources for this research were written in either
the Dhamma or the modern Lao script, quotations are necessarily presented differently.
Those from manuscripts written/typewritten in the modern Lao script are simply presented
in that script, while texts written in Lao Dhamma (i.e., the Lao variant of the Dhamma
script) have been transcribed into the modern Thai script, largely preserving theorthography of the original. Thus, readers familiar with modern Thai might better
apprehend the English translations. I consider this approach—despite its shortcomings—
more appropriate than transcribing the text into modern Lao (due to the script’s limited
number of consonants) or using a Lao Dhamma font.

5) The availability of the modern Lao script in typewriters helped monks and novices who were
illiterate in the Lao Dhamma script, enabling them to study texts without having to learn a new
script (Bounleuth 2016, 246–247).
6) For example, BAD-13-2-093 Anisong thawai kathin (Rewards derived from participation in the
Kathin festival) and BAD-21-2-004 Salòng than dòk mai (Rewards derived from the donation of
flowers).
7) Despite the transfer of the royal capital to Vientiane, Luang Prabang has retained its rich cultural
heritage, with the highest density of monasteries in Laos and perhaps the whole of Southeast Asia.
Since the mid-fourteenth century it has been the main pillar of Lao Buddhism (Khamvone andGrabowsky 2017, 1).

346

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

II General Information on Anisong Manuscripts
The impact of French colonialism on Lao Buddhist manuscript culture along with technological innovations in writing and composition is manifold. Some genres of texts
reveal more nuanced perspectives on the changes than others. Anisong manuscripts’
popularity, their position in the manuscript corpus as a whole, and their social relevanceand ritualistic use are considered here. This previously under-researched genre of Lao
Buddhist texts deals with the rewards obtained from meritorious deeds.
In the Buddhist social context, where meritorious benefits derived from praiseworthy activities are hard to measure, concrete manifestations referring particularly to
the Buddha matter. The liturgical culture of delivering anisong sermons has been
passed down for centuries. The ritual of delivering these sermons assures practitionersof blissful consequences acquired through religious ceremonies and rituals and assuresthem that no meritorious deed goes unrewarded:
The outcomes and effects of this ritual engagement are people broadly subsumed under one
notion—merit—in Lao called boun (from Pali puñña). Any ritual event conducted in temples isfirst and foremost labelled boun, which besides religious merit then refers to the event itself, also
in the sense of a collective party. (Ladwig 2021, 26–27)

Anisong is the Lao (and Thai) pronunciation of the Pali word ānisaṃsa, meaning“rewards,” “benefits,” “advantages,” or “results of positive deeds” corresponding to
puñña in Pali. Anisong also represents a textual genre and a type of sermon declaring
the benefits derived from meritorious acts.
Another terminological alternative for anisong sermons/texts is the Khmer wordsòng or its variant salòng. Sòng or salòng (chlòng ឆ្លល ង, ສອງ/ສະຫຼຼ ອງ), corresponding tochalòng (ฉลอง, “to celebrate”) in Thai, is a derivative of the Khmer verb chlòng, meaning“to cross,” “to inaugurate,” “to dedicate,” “to celebrate,” and “to spread” (Grabowsky
2017, 416). The sermons are called salòng or thet salòng (ເທດສະຫຼຼ ອງ) in Laos andanisong sermons or thet anisong (เทศน์์อานิิ สงส์์) in the historical region of Lan Na, inThailand’s north. The term anisong (Th: thet anisong เทศน์์อานิิสงส์์) in Northern Thailand
signifies “the announcement of rewards,” while salòng or sòng (Lao: thet salòng ເທດສະຫຼຼ ອງ) in Laos signifies “the announcement of completion”:
Anisong is derived from Pali ānisaṃsa which means “benefit, advantage, good result.” In the
Buddhist context Anisong or Salòng (Lao, from Khmer: chlaṅ, “to dedicate,” “to celebrate”)—often
contrasted to Sòng—are used for homiletic purposes, such as performing sermons and preaching.
Those texts, generally rather short (rarely containing more than twenty folios), describe therewards in terms of merit, or literally the “advantage” which a believer may expect from a par-

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

347

ticular religious deed. (Grabowsky 2017, 416)

Sometimes salòng is defined as “gratuity” or “benefits.” Silpsupa Jaengsawang (2022,
66–67) discusses a manuscript containing five texts (BAD-13-1-0157, 1944 CE)8) from
Luang Prabang that was partly written with blue pen in the modern Lao script to introduce
the Anisong hask sin sermon. In a colophon added later, salòng is defined as “gratuity”
for one’s religious faith (ฉลองศรััทธา) and “benefits” (ประโยชน์์) one may gain from meritmaking or listening to the Dhamma. For the second case, instead of Anisong haksa sin
or Salòng/Sòng haksa sin, the sermon title is Payot haeng kan haksa sin: the term
anisong or salòng or sòng is replaced by payot haeng kan,9) meaning “benefits derived
from the activity of.” Accordingly, the two mentions of salòng in the newly written
introduction define anisong as “gratuity” and “benefits” resulting from meritorious deeds.
The new introduction is quoted below, with the key words related to anisong/salòng/sòng
underlined:บััดนี้้� จัักแสดงพระธรรมเทศนา เพื่่�อสลองศรััทธา ประดัับสติิปััญญาของท่่านสาธุุชน ผู้้มีีกุ� ุศลจิิตมาบำำ�เพ็็ญกุุศลบุุญราศีีใน
พระพุุทธศาสนา เพื่่อ� สั่่�งสมบุุญบารมีีในตนให้้หลายยิ่่ง� ขึ้้�นไป เพราะการเฮ็็ดบุุญไว้้นี้� ้ มีีแต่่เพิ่่�มพููนความสุุ ขให้้แก่่ตนตลอดเวลา
ตรงกัันข้้ามกัับการเฮ็็ดบาปหยาบช้้า ยิ่่ง� เฮ็็ดหลาย ก็็ยิ่่ง� นำำ�ความทุุกข์์ลำ�บำ ากให้้แก่่ตนทั้้�งในปััจจุุบันั และอนาคต พระธรรมเทศนา
ที่่�จะนำำ�มาแสดงนี้้�มีีชื่่�อว่่า ประโยชน์์แห่่งการรัักษาศีีล ตามคาถาบาลีีที่่�ได้้อััญเชิิญไว้้เบื้้�องต้้นว่่า สีีเลนะ สุุ คะติิง ยัันติิ แปลความ
ว่่า บุุคคลจะไปสู่่�สุุคติิ ก็็เพราะมีีศีีลเป็็ นที่่รั� กั ษา จะได้้โภคสมบััติมิ าก็็เพราะมีีศีีล จะมีีวาสนาถึึงพระนิิพพานก็็เพราะมีีศีีลเป็็ นหลักั ปฏิิบัติั ิ

Now the Dhamma sermon will be delivered as remuneration for your religious faith (gratuity) inorder to promote the wisdom of devotees (you) who virtuously make merit for Buddhism for the
purpose of higher meritorious accumulation; because merit-making always increases happiness.
[Merit-making] is contrary to sinful deeds; [namely,] the more sinful deeds one does, the moregrief one experiences in both present and future times. The following Dhamma sermon is titled
Benefits of Precept Observance, which is in accordance with the introductory Pali expression as
sīlena sugatiṃ yanti, [literally] meaning “With precept observance, one is destined to rest inpeace.” Property and enlightenment are also derived from the following precepts. (BAP, code:
BAD-13-1-0157, folio 8 [recto], Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang, 1944 CE)

Titles of anisong texts in Lao manuscripts are mostly preceded by the word salòng orsòng: for example, Salòng cedi sai (Rewards derived from [building] sand stupas), Sòngfang tham (Rewards derived from listening to the Dhamma), Salòng khamphi (Rewards
derived from copying religious books). Thet salòng or salòng sermons are apparently
associated with “dedicating” and “celebrating,” because they are delivered to mark a8) The five texts are Sòng dòk mai thup thian (Rewards derived from the donation of flowers, incense
sticks, and candles), Sòng haksa sin (Rewards derived from precept observance), Sòng fang tham(Rewards derived from listening to the Dhamma), Sòng phao phi (Rewards derived from the participation in funerals), and Sòng maha wetsantara chadok (Rewards derived from listening to
Vessantara Jātaka).
9) Kan (การ), meaning “action” or “activity,” is a prefix used for nominalizing verbs.

348

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

completion of merit-making—to acknowledge, celebrate, and value donors’ meritorious
deeds: “The public act of lauding itself is in Laos called saloong (‘to celebrate the outcome of the meritorious deed’) and the donors have variously been described as having
prestige or being worthy of veneration” (Ladwig 2008, 91).
In a sermonic ritual the monk usually holds an anisong manuscript while reading thetext. However, sometimes monks improvise an anisong sermon or recite one by heart
while holding another type of manuscript. An anisong sermon is delivered during or
after a merit-making activity in a monastery’s main ordination hall,10) at a layperson’shouse where a meritorious event is held, or even outdoors where a monastic object
donated by local people has been installed (Silpsupa 2022, 103–106). The sermon isdelivered in public and therefore “witnessed” by all participants, especially by thepreaching monk who approves the successful merit and delivers the sermon to explainor “affirm” the forthcoming rewards.
Anisong liturgical texts have been copied and transmitted on several kinds of writing
support, from palm-leaf manuscripts to mulberry paper and industrial paper. The earliest
dated Lao anisong manuscript is titled Salòng paeng pham (Rewards derived from theconstruction of pavilions) and is from Attapü Province. The manuscript, made of palm
leaves, was written in 1652 (DLLM, code: 17010106001-11). The most recent Lao
anisong manuscript, dated 2016, is made of industrial paper (a blank notebook). TitledAnisong lai pae fai (Rewards derived from the donation of light floating vessels), it isfrom Luang Prabang (DREAMSEA, code: DS 0056 00645). Compared to anisong manuscripts from Northern Thailand, those in Laos are made of a wider variety of writing
support, writing tools and substances, and bookbinding materials, thanks to the adventof new printing technologies.
Anisong manuscripts have been found in many places in the Upper and Middle
Mekong region—the Dhamma script’s cultural domain, which includes Northern Thailand,
large parts of Northeastern Thailand, Laos, the eastern parts of Myanmar’s Shan State,and southwestern Yunnan. Luang Prabang has the most manuscripts in Laos because of
its role as a center of Buddhist education, supported by royal patronage until 1975, andits monastic schools that were operated without French involvement or even the Frenchlanguage/curriculum. Most lay and ordained students in Laos studied at monastic schools
10) Due to the main Buddha image housed within, ordination halls are frequently used for delivering
anisong sermons in which lay audiences sit silently on the floor facing the grand Buddha image,while the preaching monk sits on an elevated chair or pulpit, facing the audience. Thus, the laity
listen to anisong sermons before the main Buddha image; it is as if the Buddha image “witnesses”
their meritorious deeds and “blesses” them through the medium of the preaching monk. Monastic
halls in which anisong sermons are delivered have a sacred aura (Silpsupa 2022, 324).

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

349(McDaniel 2008, 39). Luang Namtha Province, bordering China and Myanmar, has thegreatest variety of writing support: palm leaf, mulberry paper, and industrial paper.

III Luang Prabang Manuscript Culture in the Late Nineteenth Century
Although the French were not literate in the Dhamma script, they were involved in the
manuscript culture. In 1900–53, for instance, they collected manuscripts from monastic
libraries in Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Champasak, and Khammuan and deposited themin royal offices, libraries, and central monasteries. In doing so, they were able to learn
about Laos’s history and culture in their effort to colonize, consolidate the population,and monopolize power. Many manuscripts were never returned to their original monasteries (Bouakhay 2008, 62–63), and some ended up in unintended temples, as recordedin their colophons.11) French efforts to rule Laos through building a harmonious andreligion-friendly environment included the revival and patronage of Buddhism, withscholars from the École française d’Extrême-Orient (French School of the Far East)
becoming engaged in historical and textual studies of the religion (Ladwig 2018, 104).
French colonialists aimed to incorporate Laos into French Indochina in order to use
Lao territory, economically and strategically, for increased access to Vietnam and China(Stuart-Fox 1995, 111–112). They supported the construction and renovation of religious
buildings, including That Luang (Laos’s most important Buddhist relic shrine) and Vat
Si Saket, because they realized the power of the sangha over Buddhist rulers and theemotional appeal of their actions for the Lao. This was a strategic colonial plan of
initiating statecraft and moving from assimilation to association (Ladwig 2018). Thus,
religious manuscripts continued to be produced and circulated among local monasteries.
The colonial period brought challenges for Buddhism, with Vientiane being destroyed
by Siam in 1828, Luang Prabang having to pay tribute to Siam, and large parts of Laoscoming under French rule (Khamvone 2015). But during this period Lao people reinforced their Buddhist identity. They commissioned a large number of manuscripts andpromoted Lao as the national language, which caused considerable conflict during the1940s between Lao elites, led by Cao Maha Uparat Petcharat, and French officials, led
by Charles Rocher, the French director of public education in Vientiane. The Lao elites11) Manuscripts have two main uses: cultic and discursive, depending on whether the text of a manuscript is involved. In a cultic use, to iconically or symbolically signify certain meanings, manuscripts
are treated as “objects” in “seen” and/or “unseen mode.” Manuscripts are discursively used
when their texts are dealt with in three modes: composition, display, and storage (Griffiths 1999,
22–28; Veidlinger 2007, 5–7).

350

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

declined the French proposal to use the Roman alphabet for book printing, thus protecting the country’s writing tradition, inherited manuscripts, and indigenous customs.
The Lao elites’ success against the French represented “intellectual liberation” from“intellectual colonization” (Bouakhay 2008, 74–75). At the opening ceremony for the
newly rebuilt manuscript library in Vientiane, a head of the Lao sangha gave a speechreferring to Lao manuscripts as “Dhamma” manuscripts written by the Lao, in order toclarify that the French were responsible merely for the building that housed the manuscripts, not for the production of the manuscripts (McDaniel 2008). Thus, the Lao
accepted religious support from the French but under limited conditions.
The French supported architectural innovation and the rebuilding of Buddhist
monasteries (Ladwig 2018, 99). Fig. 1 illustrates the unique phenomenon of Lao
Buddhism during colonial times. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries Frenchcolonialism spread over and outside Laos. As shown in the gray shaded area, Lao
Buddhism featured a combination of French influences and indigenous beliefs. It wastrapped by the positive and negative effects of colonialism and Western influence, thereby
remaining in the “gray zone,” where indigenous traditions and a foreign power tolerated
and negotiated with each other. Buddhism in other French colonies—represented by
the white-colored parts of the diagram—had slightly different practices, depending on
the people and history of the countries.
In its half-century under French colonialism, Laos absorbed the influence of Westernmodernity on the local manuscript culture:

Fig. 1 
Unique Situation of Buddhism in Laos during the
French Colonial Period (1893–1945)
Source: Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

351

Anisong texts were also produced according to the traditional way of making manuscripts in the
Buddhist circle of Luang Prabang. When the city was influenced by Western civilization in thetwentieth century, it became possible for Buddhist scholars and scribes who had access to modern
publications to employ modern techniques of writing for manuscript production. (Bounleuth andGrabowsky 2016, 250)

Typewriters were used to inscribe texts on palm leaf during 1960–90 by monks who had
the required skills (Bounleuth 2016, 247).12) The sole surviving typewriter used fortyping palm-leaf manuscripts, made of iron and weighing about 20 kg, is in the monastic
library at Vat Suvanna Khili (Fig. 2). Characterized by the special length of theplaten—26 cm—the typewriter, with its 29 cm roll, was suitable for typing palm-leaf
manuscripts, which were generally longer than normal paper. A white piece of paper
attached to the platen reads (in English): “This typewriter, Achan Khamvone brought itfrom the Buddhist primary school Vat Mano13) to the Buddhist Archive on 26 March 2014
for preservation.” “Achan Khamvone” or Dr Khamvone Boulyaphonh is the director of
the Buddhist Archive of Luang Prabang, whose head office is in Vat Suvanna Khili. Partly
hidden behind the white paper, the phrase “ຫ້້ ອງການສຶຶ ກສາ [room of education]” waslightly inked on the platen in the modern Lao script before the typewriter was moved to
Vat Suvanna Khili.
Because typewriters were used and donated among sangha communities in Luang
Prabang monasteries, monks and novices were the only people who had access to them.
12) The advent of typewriters in Laos was followed by photographic cameras. In 1840, during theperiod of Siamese suzerainty over the Lao lands, photographic technology was invented in France.
Europeans soon introduced cameras and printing technologies in Bangkok, evidenced by King
Mongkut of Siam (r. 1851–68) being photographed as early as the mid-1850s. Gifts were regularly
exchanged between the kings of Siam and Luang Prabang, and it is likely that cameras and film,
soon after their arrival in Siam, came to the court of Luang Prabang. Lao princes, monks, andofficials went to Bangkok for their studies and might have also brought back cameras to Luang
Prabang. We may assume that by the late 1870s photography was being practiced in the town’smonasteries. The presence of photographs from the 1890s in the Buddhist Archive of Photography’s
collection coincides historically with the arrival of French rule in 1893 (Berger 2015, 99).
13) One of the previous abbots founded Vat Mano or Vat Manorom, Luang Prabang’s first and only
monastic elementary school, in 1960. Due to the Laotian Civil War (1959–75), he was forced tomigrate from Houne District (Müang Hun) in Udomsai, northwestern Laos, to Luang Prabang inlate 1960. His students followed him there, and he set up a new school. There were fifty to sixty
novice students in the school’s early years. After Laos came under the Lao People’s Revolutionary
Party in 1975, the Communist government reorganized and intervened in the sangha community
and monasteries. It opened a road through Vat Manorom, dividing the monastery in two. One of
the rooms that had been occupied by the French was renovated by the monastery and used as aclassroom. As of 2022, although the number of novices was below the minimum of thirty students
required for classification as a school, the monastery was trying to keep the school active for its
heritage value (Khamvone Boulyaphonh, phone interview, December 24, 2022).

352

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Fig. 2 
Typewriter for Typing Palm-Leaf Manuscripts (photo by
Silpsupa Jaengsawang, Vat Suvanna Khili, Luang Prabang,
August 24, 2022)

Fig. 3 Typewritten Colophon, Panya barami (Rewards Derived from Following the Thirty Perfections)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), BAD-13-1-0760, Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang, 1963 CE

Fig. 3 shows the first dated hybrid palm-leaf manuscript with handwritten and typewritten
text (Silpsupa and Grabowsky 2023, 115). The manuscript is titled Panya barami(Rewards derived from following the Thirty Perfections). The colophon is newly typed,
marking 2506 BE (1963 CE) as the year of production.
Not only were colophons written with a typewriter, in a number of palm-leaf manuscripts even texts were written with a typewriter. For example, a 1984 palm-leaf
manuscript titled Anisong bun wan koet (Rewards derived from merit-making on birthdays) from Luang Prabang (see Fig. 4) was typed, though its cover folio was decoratively
handwritten with blue and red ink. Typewritten manuscripts were produced under the
Buddhist dissemination project of religious text preservation led by Sathu Nyai Khamchan
Virachitto, the abbot of Vat Saen Sukharam. Between the 1940s and 1960s, he sponsoredand donated hundreds of manuscripts to his monastery. He also asked monks (e.g.,
Sathu Phò Phan of Vat Hat Siao), novices, and laypeople to copy manuscript texts
brought from neighboring countries (Khamvone 2015, 225). The availability of themodern Lao script on typewriters had two contrasting results: the decline of Dhamma
script literacy and an increased accessibility to religious texts among non-Dhamma script
communities. However, typewriters did not completely replace the Dhamma script—the
latter was still used for handwriting texts and corrections and taking notes.

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

353

Fig. 4 
Typewritten Manuscript Anisong bun wan koet (Rewards Derived from Merit-Making on Birthdays)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), BAD-19-1-0137, Vat Siang Muan, Luang Prabang, 1984 CE

The tradition of dedicating religious books or manuscripts to a monastery preserved
handwriting habits: sponsors wrote their own names, names of family members, andnames of merit recipients—usually their dead relatives—in handwritten, typewritten, oreven printed manuscripts. Modern printing technology can replace the process oftransmitting texts, but the tradition of manuscript donation is irreplaceable (Silpsupa
2022, 173). The example in Fig. 4 is excerpted from the typewritten Anisong bun wan
koet, made of palm leaves and aligned in three columns. Anisong manuscripts from
Northern Thailand were less influenced by modern printing technologies and tend topreserve local traditional styles (Silpsupa 2022, 172).
White correction fluid is widely found in manuscripts from Luang Prabang; theearliest evidence of dated manuscripts applying correction fluid is Nangsü ha mü hai müdi (Book of calculation for [in]auspicious days). The manuscript, from 1908, is made ofmulberry paper in the leporello style (see Fig. 5). White correction fluid is frequently
used, and new text and corrections have been handwritten.
Easier accessibility to industrial paper was accompanied by the use of ballpoint
pens, which were used on palm-leaf and mulberry paper manuscripts for corrections oreven for writing text. Paper was bound in various ways: gluing and folding multiple
sheets to form a concertina-like folded book, using metal staples to form a whirlwind
book, or using strong string at the top margin. The last technique is similar to stab

354

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Fig. 5 
Mulberry Paper Manuscript with White Correction
Fluid: Nangsü ha mü hai mü di (Book of Calculation
for [In]Auspicious Days)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), BAD-13-2042, Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang, 1908 CE

bookbinding.14) In many cases anisong manuscripts were written in blank school notebooks especially manufactured by Sawang Kanphim (Silpsupa 2022, 199–200). The
notebooks are still in use and found in the library of Vat Ong Tü in Vientiane (Silpsupa
2022, 93). Since December 1975, when the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party came to
power, anisong manuscripts have been less monitored by the government, due to a lackof Dhamma script literacy. Compared to the era of French colonialism, anisong manuscripts drastically decreased in number under the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party(Silpsupa 2022, 185–186), and religious activities were partly controlled and shaped
according to Communist orientations: “Monks were constantly informed that Buddhism14) Stab bookbinding is characterized by a thread stitch with many variations depending on the book’s
size, the materials, and the local binding tradition. A thread is pulled through stabbed holes on one
side of a book, which then becomes a spine. Traditional Asian books bound in this way are usuallylighter than leporello and loose-leaf books due to the properties of the paper used to make theirleaves (Helman-Ważny et al. 2021, 142).

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

355

and socialism were congruent and complementary since both promoted equality, communal sharing, and the objective of ending suffering” (McDaniel 2008, 59).
One important case study was the collectivist religious event of building a temple
in February 2019, hosted by a successful businesswoman in Vientiane (Ladwig 2021).
Participants from different social backgrounds and both urban and rural areas madedonations to join the construction campaign. However, the event seemed to have abusiness angle, because it included advertising and branding for a company. Merit was
believed to be distributed among the participants, who treated one another as equals.
However, in the end the businesswoman’s family name was inscribed on the new temple
gate and the “artificial” space of a stratification-free collective ritual quickly evaporated(Ladwig 2021, 12–38). Such “invented” and romanticized egalitarian strategies allow
feudalists to exploit and convince laypeople to donate their labor for religious pursuitsin exchange for merit (Khamtan 1976, 18; Ladwig and Rathie 2020, cited in Ladwig
2021, 34). Phoumi Vongvichit, the minister of religion in Laos after the revolution,argued that the new Lao Buddhism should promote solidarity and donations should begiven by people from all strata of society (Vongvichit 1995, cited in Ladwig 2021, 34–35).

IV Application of New Technologies to the Lao Manuscript Culture
Three Oxford University Press dictionaries give similar definitions of “technology”:
the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes (Wehmeier 2005, 1576–
1577); developed machinery and equipment (Stevenson 2010, 1826); and a branch of
applied science knowledge (Turnbull 2010, 1589–1590). In general, with the applicationof new technologies, the quality and quantity of products are improved, time taken is
reduced, and human labor requirements are reduced. New printing technologies were
initially beneficial to religion and education in Laos, as these fields employed suchtechnologies the most (Hindman 1991, 3).
Thanks to the living tradition of anisong sermons, manuscripts have been revisedby contemporary users for purposes ranging from aiding in chanting to updating thecontents, improving some chanting words with respect to the audience, adding a new
salutation, and even reproducing a new anisong manuscript for inexperienced preachingmonks. Due to their active use, anisong manuscripts have been changed using modern
tools—to the modern Lao script and foreign languages. The French arrival gave monks
and novices access to new technologies, as explained in the context of Venerable Sathu
Nyai Khamchan Virachitto’s manuscript collection:

356

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Together with the manuscripts, a great number of various modern publications and printed
materials—such as books, magazines, newspapers and documents—were found in Pha Khamchan’sabode. This indicates that the Venerable Abbot himself might have had access to different typesof such modern publications. This may have been the case for the other monks, novices, and lay
Buddhist scholars. Anyone who was able to write the Dhamma script on palm-leaf might use similar“modern” techniques in his writings. Not only did some anisong texts found in Pha Khamchan’sabode develop “modern” structures and contents, but the layout of such anisong manuscripts was
influenced by features of modern printing technology as well. (Bounleuth 2015c, 259)

IV-1 Writing Tools, Writing Materials, and Modern Lao Script
Traditional palm-leaf manuscripts were inscribed with a stylus or pin-topped pencil. A
dark substance such as lamp oil was applied on the inscribed surface to expose the textual
traces engraved by the stylus. Ink, ballpoint pens, and pencils gradually came to be used
not only in mulberry and industrial paper manuscripts but also in palm-leaf manuscripts.
Additions and corrections often appear to have been made by ballpoint pen to avoid
blurring by re-darkening processes.
White correction fluid was convenient and popular for deleting words and replacing
them with new words written by pen or even typewriter.15) The author (Silpsupa 2022)
has highlighted a remarkable example of new writing on a spot covered by white correction fluid in a palm-leaf manuscript titled Sòng Sapphathung (Rewards derived fromthe donation of all kinds of religious flags) (BAD-13-1-0387, 1910 CE). Correction fluid“concealed” the inscribed traces of mistakes, so that dark resin would not remain in
the inscribed traces while the surface was being coated (Silpsupa 2022, 350–351).
Computer printing is the most recent technology for facilitating the production ofanisong and non-anisong texts. One example of a hybrid printed-handwritten anisongmanuscript is Anisong sang pha tai pidok (อานิิสงส์์สร้้างพระไตรปิิ ฎก Rewards derived fromcopying the Buddhist canon, n.d.). The manuscript is made of paper and was printed bycomputer, with three columns and a running head resembling the modern format ofprinted books. The manuscript cover was also produced by computer, with the logo of
the institution and a decorative title. The names of sponsors and merit recipients are
handwritten.
With typewriters and computer printers featuring the modern Lao script,16) thisscript replaced the Dhamma script, which could only be written by hand. In the late15) The use of typewriters required a special technique to “soften” palm leaves so they could beflexibly adjusted. The preparation of typewritten palm-leaf manuscripts is thus different from the
preparation of traditional palm-leaf manuscripts (Bounleuth 2016, 246).
16) Like the modern Lao script, the modern Thai script was employed in Lao manuscript culture andinfluenced by new printing technologies during the second half of the twentieth century (Bounleuth
and Grabowsky 2016, 6).

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

357

nineteenth century the Dhamma script was not widely installed in typing machines,
although it was first used in the 1890s by the American Presbyterian Mission Press in
Chiang Mai (Anonymous 1890, 115–116, cited in Dao 2022, 88). Modern and foreign
characters could be used in Luang Prabang manuscripts due to Lao people’s exposure toforeign influences. Increasing numbers of anisong manuscripts were therefore producedwith new kinds of writing machines, which allowed preaching monks who were newly
ordained or less experienced in the Dhamma script as well as laypeople to use typed orprinted manuscripts. Mass-produced manuscripts had blank spaces for adding personal
details: sponsors’ names, recipients’ names, colophons, or wishes. Such handwritten
entries made some manuscripts unique.17)
Colophons appear to include more entries in the modern Lao script than the main
texts. According to Bounleuth Sengsoulin (2015c, 255), due to their short length—
usually fewer than 15 folios—anisong manuscripts were popular for newly ordainedmonks and novices to practice reading and copying the Dhamma script. Apart from themodel texts written in Pali, mostly in the Dhamma script, student monks were supposed
to write colophons with various wishes18) and were sometimes allowed to write in the
more familiar modern Lao script. Colophons are thus found in several scripts.
IV-2 Roman Alphabet and Foreign Languages
The Roman alphabet was most frequently used by librarians for categorizing and organizing manuscripts on shelves, especially in the case of anisong manuscripts at the National
Library of Laos in Vientiane. Added in the first or second folio, the manuscript titles
were spelled in the Roman script, with the Thai-Lao pronunciations provided. This wasintended to help foreigners catalogue the manuscripts and shows the involvement ofWesterners in Lao manuscript libraries. A striking example is the aforementioned caseof the French gathering manuscripts for their own cultural and historical investigation
into Laos along with other projects.19) According to Harald Hundius (2009), 3,678
17) Featuring interrelated content and physical elements, handwritten manuscripts are unique: “Suchinterplay between content and physical characteristics is by no means limited to hand-written books(or alternative formats). In contrast to printed books, however, each manuscript is a unicum whichreflects the choices, preferences, requirements, skills and errors of individual producers, users andowners” (Wimmer et al. 2015, 2).
18) Colophons of manuscripts found in Venerable Khamchan’s abode contain the names and personal
backgrounds of scribes (phu chan) and sponsors/donors (phu sang), their desires and moods, anddates of manuscript completion (Bounleuth and Grabowsky 2016, 13). In some cases there isinformation on the occasions for which the manuscripts were produced and the production processes. Relationships among scribes, sponsors, donors, and users are also included.
19) The École française d’Extrême-Orient played an important role in rematerializing Lao Buddhism
as a governmental strategy.

358

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

manuscripts from 94 monasteries in nine provinces were surveyed by Lao and Frenchscholars in 1970–73:
A notable initiative is the work of the Chanthabouly Buddhist Council, under the leadership of Chao
Phetsarat, which asked abbots throughout the country to submit lists of their manuscript holdings
between 1934 and 1936.
Work on the EFEO [École française d’Extrême-Orient] inventory, plus research and analysis
of manuscripts, followed in the 1950s and 1960s by Henri Deydier, Pierre-Bernard Lafont, andCharles Archaimbault. An Inventaire des Manuscrits des Pagodes du Laos (Lafont 1965), buildingon the previous work of French scholars, was conducted under the leadership of Pierre-Bernard
Lafont in 1959 and covered altogether 83 monasteries: 13 in Luang Prabang, 25 in Vientiane, and
45 in Champasak. (Hundius 2009, 21)

Not only did Western technology permeate the written language, but French words werealso used in manuscripts from Luang Prabang. French words are written in the Dhamma
script in modern Lao orthography and appear in the colophons of some anisong manuscripts (see Section V-1). Sathu Nyai Khamchan Virachitto headed several Buddhist
missions and helped in the transmission of Buddhist texts from palm-leaf manuscripts.
He was knowledgeable in French (Khamvone 2015, 46) as well as Lü and Pali (phoneinterview with Khamvone Boulyaphonh, August 31, 2023).

IV-3 Paper and Ink Stamps
The most widespread use of new technologies was in the manufacture of labels: thesewere made of various new materials, including paper, glued paper (stickers), and ink

Fig. 6 Palm-Leaf Manuscripts with Inked Stamps and White Sticker
01012906004-05, n.d.: Salòng phasat phüng (Rewards Derived from the Donation of Beeswax Castles)
01012906005-01, 1901 CE: Salòng umong (Rewards Derived from the Construction of Chapels)
01012906006-07, n.d.: Sòng thammat (Rewards Derived from the Donation of Pulpits)
Source: Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts, National Library of Laos (n.d.)Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang359

stamps. Ready-to-use stickers were mass-produced in different shapes, indicating their
popular usage and the development of the industrial paper business. Ink stamps weremade of wood or rubber and engraved with institute logos. Red and blue were the mostcommon ink colors. Fig. 6 shows examples from three palm-leaf manuscripts at the
National Library; red and blue stamps appear in their first folios. The white label in thelast picture is on the right-side margin that bears the beginning of the text. The label
indicates the code “554,” the title Sòng thammat (Rewards derived from the donationof pulpits), and the number of fascicles—“1 fascicle”—in the bundle.

V Manuscript Transformations in Luang Prabang
Anisong manuscripts appear to have been most strikingly influenced by new printing
technologies, according to the survey by Bounleuth (2015c, 250) on manuscripts kept in
the abode (kuti) of Pha Sathu Nyai Khamchan Virachitto. For instance, a palm-leaf
manuscript titled Salòng khao phan kòn (Rewards derived from the donation of one
thousand rice balls) (BAD-13-1-0685, 1985 CE) was written with a typewriter and ink;a palm-leaf manuscript titled Sòng pathip hüan fai (Rewards derived from the donationof light floating vessels) (BAD-13-1-0714, n.d.) was revised with ink by later users;
the colophon of a palm-leaf manuscript titled Anisong katham bun taeng ngan (Rewards
derived from merit-making at wedding ceremonies) (BAD-22-1-0899, 1997 CE) was
written in blue ink. Blank school notebooks became popular for writing anisongmanuscripts: for instance, Sòng pha nam fon (Rewards derived from the donation ofmonk robes in the rainy season) (DS 0056 00643, n.d.) and Anisong thung (Rewards
derived from the donation of all kinds of religious flags) (DS 0056 00644, 2012 CE).
Anisong preaching is a living tradition, and anisong manuscripts are still produced,
with new technologies being adopted. The transformation of Luang Prabang’s manuscript culture is relevant for the following six purposes: production, librarians’ work,
editions and revisions, affiliation and ownership statements, dedication rituals, andBuddhisization.
V-1 Production
New printing technologies are important for producing anisong manuscripts as both texts
and objects. As mentioned above, the breakthrough project of manuscript reproduction
led by Venerable Khamchan Virachitto in the late twentieth century was associated withmodern printing. Anisong manuscripts came to be reproduced easily and quickly, in
unlimited quantities. Printing houses manufactured paper, published books, produced

360

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

blank notebooks, and printed manuscripts in the pothi shape20) using paper. Mulberry
paper and industrial paper were popularly used for printing pothi-shaped leporellomanuscripts known as lan thiam (ลานเทีียม), literally, “artificial palm-leaf manuscripts”(they resembled traditional palm-leaf manuscripts). The manuscripts had blank spaces
for filling in the names of manuscript donors (phu sang ผู้้ส� ร้้าง) and deceased persons towhom the merit derived from donation was transferred. This practice reveals thesurviving tradition of offering religious books to monasteries and the common belief in
meritorious dedication to the dead. Traditions and beliefs remain alive even with therise of modern printing technology (Silpsupa 2022, 116).
During my 2018 research trip to Phrae Province, I found lan thiam manuscripts at
a supermarket near the provincial temple Wat Sung Men. The temple is known to be
the largest repository of palm-leaf manuscripts. The manuscripts were, interestingly,
placed near the bottom of the shelves, even though they were intended for donation to
the monastery. I found that disrespectful because religious manuscripts are normallyplaced at an elevation. For the business owner, however, the manuscripts were simply
commodities. Customers could buy them, write their names, and dedicate them to amonastery.
This case study reveals two dimensions of the transformation of manuscript culture.
First, the relationships and statuses of manuscript commissioners and production
agents21) have changed. Compared to the traditional commissioning and dedicating of
anisong manuscripts to monasteries, “scribes” have become “factories” of printed orlan thiam manuscripts, and “sponsors” have become “customers.” The traditional meritreciprocal relationship between scribes and sponsors has been replaced by a demandsupply or market-centered relationship, and the special aura that manuscripts take onin rituals has been weakened through the demand-supply circuit. Printed manuscripts
are mass-produced and traded as normal products in the market; they are elevated tosacred objects only after being ritually dedicated to a monastery. Thus, spatial or
20) Pothi manuscripts are oblong, and their text is read by flipping upward. Giovanni Ciotti (2021, 866)
explains pothi as an umbrella term for any manuscript made of a stack of folios in landscape format
that are prepared for writing and possibly illuminations and which are flipped upward rather thansideways. The term is preferred to its Sanskrit etymological antecedent pustaka, or pustikā, or toalternative terms in other languages, since it is widely understood by scholars working on manuscripts from Central, South, and Southeast Asia.
21) Production agents and production practices are included under “production,” one of the four key
factors in the heuristic tool for comparative studies of manuscripts from different manuscript
cultures. The tool was established in 2015 by a group of scholars led by Hanna Wimmer from theCentre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures. The four key factors are production, use, setting, andpatterns. Production agents can be people or institutes, either a group or a single person (Wimmer
et al. 2015, 2–3).

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

361

environmental changes transform them from commercial products to sacred objects.
The micro-settings22) of the two locations (supermarket and monastery) determine therole of the manuscript. A book is a carrier of two relationships: between the book andits makers, and the book and its readers (Davis 1975, 92, cited in Hindman 1991, 3).
Books are thus characterized by commercial and social factors, corresponding to two
broad approaches in the sociology of literature. This study explains that literature isconcerned with man’s social world, his adaptation to it, and his desire to change it(Laurenson and Swingewood 1972, 12) and that literature exists in its own sociology.
The first and more popular approach adopts the documentary aspect of literature, arguingthat it provides a mirror of the age. The second approach emphasizes the production
aspect, especially the social situation of the writer (Laurenson and Swingewood 1972,7–17).
Figs. 7 and 8 show hybrid productions combining new technologies (typewriters
and computer printers) with handwriting.
The cover folio, containing the manuscript title, is handwritten in modern black
ink to resemble printed books in which titles tend to be enlarged and aligned in the
middle. The title is flanked on the left by the usage purpose, “Anisong liturgical text forreligious merit-making occasions,” and on the right by the sponsor and his affiliation,“Pha Khamchan Virachitta Thera, affiliated with Vat Saen Sukharam in Luang Prabang.”
The title folio is handwritten in the modern Lao script, like the text, which is typewritten

Fig. 7 Hybrid Typewritten-Handwritten ManuscriptSalòng khao phan kòn (Rewards Derived from the Donation of One Thousand Rice Balls)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), BAD-13-1-0685 (1985 CE), Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang

22) Also part of the four key factors of the heuristic tool, micro-setting and macro-setting are subdivisions of “setting”: “The spatial setting applies to a very specific, ‘micro’-setting (a lectern/a bookshrine or, one step up, a scriptorium/a library), as well as the ‘macro’-setting (a monastery/a city/aregion)” (Wimmer et al. 2015, 6).

362Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Fig. 8 
Hybrid Printed-Handwritten Manuscript Anisong sang pra tai pidok (Rewards Derived from
Copying the Buddhist Canon)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), BAD-13-2-033 (n.d.), Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang

in that script. The text is set in three columns to be read sequentially rather than in
one column as in the case of handwritten palm-leaf manuscripts. The title and foliation
orders are typewritten vertically on the left margins of the recto sides (black box, Fig.
7), influenced by the modern templates of printed books. This is different from handwritten palm-leaf manuscripts, in which foliation is generally on the verso side.
The manuscript in Fig. 8 is made of paper and computer-printed in the modern
Lao script. The first picture shows a small paper cover for holding the manuscript inorder, while the second shows the cover page. On the cover page the centralized title
is enlarged and curved, followed by a statement showing the usage purpose: “[thismanuscript text is] for liturgical uses on great merit-making occasions and at otherspecial events.” There are emblems in the left and right margins: the left one is a
Buddha image in a locket-like frame; the right one is the national emblem of the Lao
Kingdom, a triple-headed elephant under a tiered umbrella.23) The left-side emblem is23) The old Lao Kingdom was named Lan Chang, literally, “Land of a Million Elephants.” Elephantsthus symbolize the national identity.

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

363

identical to that on the paper cover, which is flanked by the title (left) and source of text
(right).
The third picture shows the beginning of the text, which is—unlike in handwritten
palm-leaf manuscripts—preceded by a colophon. The colophon dominates the first pageand has blank spaces to be filled in with sponsors’ names (two boxes in the third element)(ທອງວັັນ ສຸໍ ເນັຸ ຕະພົູ ກທຸຸ ກຄົ່� ສະຫະຮັັຖອະເມຮິ້ ອມຄອບຄົິ ກາ ຮັັຖຄາລີີ ຟໍັ ຽົ ມ ພ້ົ ວ ແລະລູົ ນ ຢູ່
�ທີ່່ ເມື່� ນຽນ Thòngwan Sutaphrom and his/her family who live in Union City, Californiaື ອງຢູ່
in the US) and merit recipients’ names (ແມ່່ �່ ຊື່ສາວຄຳຳ�ພັັນ His/her mother named
Khamphan). Providing a colophon at the beginning of the manuscript allows a recipientmonk to navigate the names of sponsors to be announced in dedicational rituals, which
is traditionally followed by a water-pouring act (kruat nam)24) (see Silpsupa 2022, 351).
The tradition of writing colophons at the end of the main text was perhaps unfamiliar
among laypeople because monks and novices were mostly responsible for manuscript
production and therefore knew where the colophons were. Colophons at the end of
the text could be unintentionally overlooked, and manuscript donors could miss fillingin their names. Hence, placing the colophon at the beginning made the donation act
more visible—future readers and users could see the sponsors’ names at first glance.
In the last picture of Fig. 8 the box in the last element shows the names of those
who participated in the manuscript’s production by composing the text from other sources(Master Monk Suwat Paphaso), transcribing and translating the text into the Lao language
and script (Monk Wòn Varapañño), and printing and checking the manuscript (Khampòn
Phothirat). While the work of the production team (scribal task) is shown throughprinting, the work of the dedication team (sponsoring task) is shown through handwriting,which eventually results in a codex unicum and creates an original. Dedicated manuscripts can thus be donated individually to one monastery. As the scribal tasks in thiscase included translation and consultation of other sources, this printed manuscript
was not merely a copy like traditional handwritten manuscripts. Rather, the production
team adapted the text in order to serve market demand. Such a scribal practice issomewhat innovative and leads to language change: “Observing language change overtime, we can see that scribes are both active agents of change but also have a morepassive role when—perhaps unknowingly and unintentionally—documenting variation
or developmental tendencies and patterns in language” (Wagner et al. 2013, 3).
24) In the kruat nam ritual, donors in the same group touch one another in a chain together with thewater-pouring donor, with the belief that merit can be shared. After the monk finishes the blessing,
the water is poured on a tree root, as it is believed that merit can be further transmitted anddedicated to the dead via the ground or the Earth Goddess (Th: mae thòrani, แม่่ธรณีี ). The act isanimistic, contagious, indirect, and positive (see Silpsupa 2022, 64).

364

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Fig. 9 Manuscripts with French Words in Colophons(Top) BAD-22-1-0910, 1968 CE: Sòng cedi (Rewards Derived from the Construction of Pagodas)(Middle) BAD-22-1-0934, 1967 CE: Salòng hò pha (Rewards Derived from the Donation of Cloth)(Bottom) BAD-22-1-0936, 1968 CE: Sòng cedi (Rewards Derived from the Construction of Pagodas)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), Vat Maha That, Luang Prabang

Because computerization allows for the production of several copies, many people
besides sponsors and scribes are involved in textual corrections and visual design, as
shown by the list of people and their tasks in Fig. 8. Traditional manuscripts requireprecision and writing expertise from monks, while modern manuscripts require skillful
typing and proofreading from lay technicians. The collaboration between sangha and laity
is similar to the commissioning of handwritten palm-leaf manuscripts, though experts
are required for more elaborate tasks:
By changing their work and their writing, it [print] forced the writer, the scholar, and the teacher—the standard literary roles—to redefine themselves, and if it did not entirely create it, it noticeably
increased the importance and the number of critics, editors, bibliographers, and literary historians.
(Kernan 1987, 4)

French text occasionally shows up in colophons. The scribe of the manuscripts in Fig. 9
was a monk named Phui Thiracitto (ผุุย ถิิระจิิตโต),25) who sponsored Anisong bun wan
koet, the aforementioned anisong palm-leaf manuscript typewritten by a monk named
Cinna Thammo (จิินนะธััมโม).26) Thiracitto was familiar with commissioning typewritten
palm-leaf manuscripts and with other modern—namely, French—influences. Fig. 9shows the colophons of three handwritten manuscripts, with French words for years
and months.
The three French month names, in the boxes in each element, are written in the25) Phra Phui Thiracitto (1925–2005), a great intellectual monk and abbot of Vat Maha That, exclusively
used manuscripts kept in his abode (Grabowsky 2019, 136).
26) Anisong bun wan koet (BAD-19-1-0137) is kept at Vat Siang Muan, Luang Prabang.

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

365

Dhamma script and orthography and indicate the pronunciations of nowòn (novembre),chòngwiye (janvier), and desòm (décembre). In the first picture nowòn is in parentheses,
followed by the vernacular term “November,” while the French words in the next two
pictures replace the vernacular words for January and December, implying that themonastic scribal community was familiar with the French language—or even Frenchpeople. Venerable Khamchan Virachitto’s personal letters contain both English andFrench words: “They (i.e., personal letters) were written in various languages such asLao, Thai, English and French, and in various scripts such as old Lao (pre-1975), modern
Lao (post-1975), Tham-Lao, Thai, and Latin” (Khamvone 2015, 161). The use of Frenchshows communications and interrelationships between the Lao and the French, as well
as French influences on Laos, especially on Lao manuscript culture:
It is not unusual for scribes to mix the orthographic systems (Lao: labop akkhalavithi or lak khianthuai) of both scripts, and in some instances, we find idiosyncrasies, reflecting particular multilingual and multi-ethnic cultural environments the scribes were exposed to. (Bounleuth andGrabowsky 2016, 7)

V-2 Librarians’ Tasks
Librarians used new technologies for identifying and cataloguing manuscripts in archival
storage. Individual fascicles of anisong manuscripts are identified by their titles, codes,
and textual genre labels with inked stamps and paper stickers. These identifiers wereadded after the manuscripts were moved from their original repositories to be restored
at the National Library, where they were catalogued and digitized for online access.
Roman numerals and the Latin alphabet were used for the titles, revealing the participation of Westerners in librarians’ work.
When the National Library (Fig. 10) was made a repository of manuscripts, categorization aids were devised to indicate textual genres, mark dates of manuscript acquisition, identify fascicle orders, and add tables of contents. Cataloguing facilitates the digitization of manuscripts. Begun in January 2012, digitization was completed throughcollaboration with the University of Passau and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer
Kulturbesitz and funded by the German Research Foundation and German Federal
Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (National Library of Laos, n.d.).
With manuscripts sourced from several repositories, the National Library required
international financial and collaborative support to systematize registration codes,
shelves, and online access. Coding phrases newly written on the manuscript pages oron glued white paper have different handwriting styles, scripts, and languages.
Fig. 11 shows a round paper sticker made and attached by a librarian on the verso

366

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Fig. 10 
Manuscript Bookshelves in the National Library of Laos (photo by
Silpsupa Jaengsawang, March 15, 2017)

Fig. 11 Paper Sticker Used for Cataloguing
01012906006-04, 1870 CE: Sòng thung lek (Rewards Derived from the Donation of Religious Iron
Flags)
Source: Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts, National Library of Laos (n.d.)side of the last folio for cataloguing purposes. On it in blue ink is written “206” (code),Sòng thung lek (manuscript title), and “1 fascicle” (number of fascicles). The numbers
206 and 1 are written in Roman numerals and the words Sòng thung lek and fascicle inthe modern Lao script. Instead of the Dhamma script, which was understood by only alimited group, librarians used the modern script and Roman numerals. Through the useTransformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

367

Fig. 12 Notation on the Date of Manuscript Acquisition
06011406004-09, 1847 CE: Sòng pha sangkat lòng (Rewards Derived from Merit-Making at Traditional
New Year Festivals)
Source: Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts, Vat Mai Suvanna Phumaram, Luang Prabang

of a non-Dhamma script and modern writing/printing materials, anisong manuscripts
written in the Dhamma script gained a wider audience.
In Fig. 12 the gray-highlighted writing in the last folio reads “ໜັັງສື້ ເອາມາແຕ່່ື ໄດ້ວັັນ�ທີ່່ 12 ເດືື ອນ 9 1938” (This manuscript was given on the 12th day of the ninth monthin the year 1938). The date is written according to the Common Era, with the ninth
month referring to September and not to the ninth month of the Lao lunar calendar(August). According to its colophon in the following quote, the manuscript was written
in 1847 by a monk from Vat Sop Sikkharam before it was, almost a century later, forwarded to its current location, Vat Mai Suvanna Phumaram:จุุลศัักราชได้้พััน ๒ ร้้อย ๙ ตััว ปีี เปิิ กสััน วัันอาทิิตย์ ์ เดืือน ๑๑ ขึ้้�นค่ำ��ำ ๑ รจนาแล้้วยามกองดึึก หมายมีีเจ้้าหม่่อมพ่่อมั่่�น วััดสบ เป็็ นมููลศรััทธา ได้้สร้้างธรรมปิิ ฏกะผููกนี้้�ไว้้กัับศาสนาเท่่า ๕ พัันวัสั สา ขอให้้อานิิสงส์์ส่่วนบุญุ อัันนี้� ้ ไปค้ำำ��ชููพ่อ่ แม่่ลููกเมีียแห่่งข้้าพเจ้้า
ผู้้ที่่� �จุุติิไปสู่่�ปรโลกภายหน้้านั้้�นแด ก็็ข้้าเทอญ นิิพฺฺพา นิิพฺฺพา ปรมํํ โหนฺฺ ตุุ[The writing of this manuscript was finished] in 1209 CS (1847), a poek san year, on a Sunday, on
the first waxing-moon day of the 11th [lunar] month,27) at the time of the evening drum (19:30–
21:00). Cao Mòm Phò (father-aged monk) Man from Vat Sop [Sikkharam] was the principal
initiator who sponsored the production of this Piṭaka religious manuscript to ensure the continuation of the five-thousand-year Buddhist era. May this merit support my parents, my wife,and my children who passed away and entered the other world. Nibbā nibbā paramaṃ sukkhaṃ
hontu.

The notation was written as a new layer of affiliation (see Section V-4) with ballpoint
pen in the modern Lao script, with Arabic numerals and the year of the Common Era.
This implies either that the librarian of Vat Mai Suvanna Phumaram was more familiar27) The date corresponds to 1209 Asvina 1 = Sunday, October 10, 1847. However, CS 1209 was amoeng mao year. The nearest poek san year was CS 1210.

368

Silpsupa Jaengsawang(Front)(Back)(Edge)

Fig. 13 
A Piece of Palm Leaf and Cloth Sewn to Strengthen Bookbinding and Edges (photos by Silpsupa
Jaengsawang, February 21, 2017; February 24, 2017)with modern and Western scripts or that the librarian wrote the notation for future
librarians who may be inexperienced in the Dhamma script. The librarians’ work in thetwo examples above can assist users illiterate in the Dhamma script.
V-3 Editions and Revisions
The third purpose of using new technologies was for editing and revising manuscripts,
for both texts and objects/leaves. In sermonic practices, aids such as pronunciation
markers and pause markers were added. Scriptural learning (Lao: hian thet hian sutຮຽນເທດຮຽນສູູ ດ, literally “learning preaching and learning sermons”) is an importanttask (Lao: thit-thang nathi ທິ້ າ�ທີ່່ )28) of the Lao Buddhist sangha, as defined byິ ດທາງໜ້
the Lao Buddhist Fellowship Organization in 2007 (Bounleuth 2015a, 51). Monks arethus required to devote themselves to supporting basic pedagogy.
The text of a manuscript is not shown to the audience during a sermon, and anumber of manuscripts are filled with corrections made in ink. Inscribing manuscripts
is a one-way process in which no stroke can be undone, especially in the case of writing
tools that leave permanent traces, e.g., inked handwriting and traces of engravings.
Mistakes cannot be corrected without affecting adjacent words, worsening surface
texture, and reducing legibility. White correction fluid was commonly applied to manuscript surfaces to correct mistakes. Ink and ballpoint pens were used to write additions,delete mistakes, emphasize faded traces, provide a statement for organizing folios, andmark replacement positions. New writing and correction tools saved scribes time: scribes
no longer had to discard wrongly written folios and start afresh. In the case of palm-leaf
manuscripts, a small piece of palm leaf or cloth was sewn with yarn to fix fragile spots
but not to make textual corrections (Fig. 13).
In Figs. 14 and 15 revisions were made with blue ballpoint pen: faded spots were28) Examples of monks’ tasks are: (1) administering the sangha, (2) educating the sangha, (3) disseminating the Dhamma and moral codes, (4) meditating, (5) managing public facilities, and (6)improving foreign relations (Bounleuth 2015a, 49).

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

369

Fig. 14 Corrections with Blue Ballpoint Pen
BAD-13-1-0714, n.d.: Sòng pathip hüan fai (Rewards Derived from the Donation of Light Floating
Vessels)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang

Fig. 15 Deletion of Lines and Sentences with Blue Ballpoint Pen
BAD-22-1-0181, n.d.: Sòng sim (Rewards Derived from the Construction of Ordination Halls)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), Vat Maha That, Luang Prabangemphasized, unwanted words were deleted or marked for deletion, and new words wereadded to replace unwanted ones. In Fig. 15 unwanted sentences were framed to bedeleted and marked “discard” (�ບໍ່່ ເອົົ າ) and “delete this row” (ແຖວນີ້້� ເອົົ າອອກ) in themodern Lao script. It is not unusual for anisong manuscripts to have corrections, eventhe most organized ones. Especially in the late twentieth century, manuscripts wereregarded as utilitarian objects for scientific studies rather than sacred objects that it was
sinful to interfere with; correctness of spelling was considered more important than thesacredness of the Dhamma script (Bounleuth 2015b, 213–214). Revisions made by later
users are considered acceptable as long as the texts have not deteriorated and are stillout of the audience’s sight. Since some colophons have scribal statements openly
inviting users to correct mistakes, revisions are not regarded as sinful but as helpful, as
in the following example:เจ้้าหม่่อมหมั้้�นได้้สร้้างสองทุุงเหล็็กไว้้กัับศาสนาโคตมะเจ้้า ๕๐๐๐ วััสสา ขอให้ไ้ ด้้ดัังคำำ�มักั คำำ�ปรารถนาสู่่�เยิิงสู่่�ประการก็็ข้้าเทอญ
ตััวหนังั สืือบ่่งามเท่่าใดแล้้ว อายเจ้้าหม่่อมอายจััว ตกผิิดเหลืือผิิดให้้คอยพิิจารณาหาใส่่ ได้้เน้้อ

370

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Fig. 16 Indication of a Wrong Folio
01012906006-04, n.d.: Sòng thung lek (Rewards Derived from the Donation of Religious Iron Flags)
Source: Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts, National Library of Laos, Vientiane

Cao Mòm (monk) Man sponsored this manuscript titled Sòng thung lek to ensure the continuationof the five-thousand-year Buddhist era. May all my wishes be fulfilled. It is embarrassing [if]monks and novices [see this manuscript, because] my handwriting is not elaborate. [You areallowed to] correct missing parts and mistakes. (Sòng thung lek [Rewards derived from the donationof religious iron flags], code: BAD-22-1-0366, Vat Maha That, Luang Prabang, n.d.)

In Fig. 16, according to the comment in the gray box—“ໃບນີ້້�ບ່່ ແມ່່ ນ ເຈົ້ິ ດ”້� າຂອງໃສ່່ ຜິ(This folio is wrong; the owner put the wrong one)—a blue ballpoint pen has been used
to delete the mistaken folio. The comment is written in the modern Lao script invernacular, indicating a folio wrongly allocated. This wrong folio likely belongs to a
Jātaka story, as it mentions a Bodhisatta (Buddha-to-be).
V-4 Affiliation and Ownership Statements
Affiliation and ownership statements are reflected through a new layer of affiliation
notes written in ink or ballpoint pen. The new layer reflects the tradition of manuscripts
being circulated among local temples. Secular and even religious manuscripts werelimited in number due to the lack of Dhamma script literacy, which was restricted to (ex-)
monks and (ex-)novices. It was thus quite common for a sermonic manuscript to beavailable at only one monastery. Since circulating manuscripts could get lost, affiliationand ownership statements (monasteries and monks) were added to remind users toreturn the manuscripts to their original owners after use. As affiliation/ownershipstatements are not found in every extant manuscript, those with new entries may beconsidered to have been particularly popular: if a manuscript had not been borrowed often
by other monasteries, an ownership statement would not have been added.
The newly added affiliations shown in the gray boxes in Figs. 17 and 18 read “[Thismanuscript] belongs to Monk Phui” and “Vat [temple] Pa Fang,” respectively. Both

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

371

Fig. 17 Affiliation Monk
BAD-22-1-0913, 1975 CE: Salòng thung lek (Rewards Derived from the Donation of Religious Iron
Flags)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), Vat Maha That, Luang Prabang

Fig. 18 Affiliation Monastery
BAD-15-1-0031, n.d.: A compilation of anisong texts
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), Vat Pak Khan, Luang Prabang

ownership statements are written in blue pen in vernacular in the modern Lao script,
at the end of the text. Monk Phui or Sathu Nyai Phui Thirachitta Maha Thela (1925–
2005) was the abbot of Vat Maha That (Grabowsky 2019, 136); the manuscript in Fig. 17
is thus marked with his name as the affiliation or principal authority. This manuscript’s
colophon also mentions his name as the sponsor and scribe.29) In the example in Fig. 18,
the affiliation “Vat [temple] Pa Fang” was added in the last folio of the manuscript
fascicle even though, according to its code preceded with “BAD-15,” its current monastic
archive is Vat Pak Khan. The manuscript was sponsored by a couple and donated to Vat
Pa Phai, according to its short colophon: “มููลศรััทธาทิิดยา ผััวเมีียสร้้างแล ป่่ าไผ่่” (The principal
sponsors [of this manuscript] were Thit [ex-monk] Ya and his wife. [The manuscript was
donated to a temple] named Pa Phai). The manuscript’s journey thus commenced at Pa
Phai Monastery through the donation of the sponsors, traveled to Pa Fang Monastery,and eventually reached Pak Khan Monastery. The three monasteries are close to one
another. Manuscripts were ordinarily circulated within a local community, with village
monasteries having limited numbers of liturgical or educational manuscripts. Monastic
libraries functioned as local or public ones. Manuscripts are thus held by either monasteries or individuals, and ownership is not static (Bounleuth and Grabowsky 2016, 12).
29) พุุทธศัักราช ๒๕๑๘ ปีี รัับเหม้้า เดืือน ๑๑ ขึ้้�น ๕ ค่ำำ�� วัันศุุกร์์ ยามแถเที่่�ยง หมายมีีพระผุุย ถิิรจิิตฺฺโตภิิกฺฺขุุ เจ้้าอธิิ การวััดพระมหาธาตุุ

ราชบวรวิิหาร และเจ้้าคณะตาแสง วััดธาตุุ กำำ�แพงนครหลวงพระบาง เป็็ นเจ้้าศรััทธาสร้้างและเขีียน

[The writing of this manuscript was finished in] 2518 BE [1975], a hap mao year, on the fifth waxingmoon day of the 11th [lunar] month, on a Friday, at the time of the late morning horn (9:00–10:30).
[The manuscript was] sponsored and inscribed by Phra [Monk] Phui Thiracitto Bhikkhu, the abbot
of Vat Phra Maha That Ratchabòvoravihan [Vat Maha That] and the head of the monastic subdistrict
affiliated with Vat Maha That, Luang Prabang.

372

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

A number of colophons in anisong manuscripts include reminders that borrowed manuscripts need to be returned to their home affiliations.
V-5 Dedication Rituals
Since the dedication of manuscripts to a monastery requires a short religious ritual foranumodanā or a celebration of merit-making,30) a number of manuscripts have the namesof sponsors to be announced at the ritual. There are two kinds of donation: original donation and re-donation. Originally donated manuscripts were never donated elsewhere
after being produced. Re-donated manuscripts were donated to a monastery before being
circulated or “allowing” the names of new donors to be written. New donors can offer
money to support monastic tasks such as repairing a monastic library, funding monkscribes, and providing funds for monastic education. People still believe in merit gained
through sustaining the Dhamma and the next Buddha Metteyya after the end of thecurrent five-thousand-year Buddhist era.31) The use of modern ink pen for writing redonation statements reflects the living tradition of religious manuscripts being donatedto monasteries. Re-donated manuscripts are viewed as multilayered manuscripts32) as
they contain representations of different donation authorities.
Fig. 19 shows a statement of manuscript donation newly written with blue pen in
the modern Lao script: “ໜັັງສືຸ ກຜັັວສາວຈັັນ” (This manuscript [belongs to] Siangື ຊຽງສຸ
[ex-novice] Suk [who is] the husband of Sao [Miss] Can). The names of the sponsors
also appear at the end of the text, as shown in the gray box reading “Ban [village] Bak
30) Short verse recitations bless donors (anumodanā) without explaining the content of the text. They
are different from anisong sermons, in which monks read out texts written in Pali and vernacularso that the audience can understand. Another difference is in the length of the two: while anumodanā
verses last less than one minute, anisong sermons last about twenty minutes and are more structured and serious. Nicolas Sihlé explains anumodanā as an expression of thanks or rejoicing foralms or donations. Often described as “blessings,” anumodanā verses aim at granting liberationfrom the cycle of birth and rebirth and contain wishes for happiness, well-being, protection from
misfortune, and fulfillment of the donor’s desires (Sihlé 2015, 363).
31) “The earliest of these inscriptions is the ‘Nakhon Chum’ inscription dated 1356, during the reignof King Lithai. The inscription refers to the prophecy of the gradual disappearance of the Buddhist
religion. The prophecy in fact was of some antiquity, usually being attributed to the fifth century
Sinhalese commentator Buddhaghosa. It predicts five major disappearances to take place within
five thousand years of the Buddha’s death: that of the Tripitaka or sacred Buddhist scriptures, propermonastic conduct, the achievement of enlightenment and nirvana, the institution of the monkhood,and finally the Buddha’s relics. The final extinction of the Buddhist religion would be followed bya dark age in which the people, lacking a moral teaching to guide their actions, would commit sinsand be condemned to rebirth in hell” (Jory 1996, 11).
32) Multilayered written artifacts have various formatting practices: adding or deleting contents or evencombining written artifacts, such as codicological units, in a composite (Centre for the Study ofManuscript Cultures 2023).

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

373

Fig. 19 Statement of Original Donation
BAD-22-1-0440, n.d.: Sòng anisong pitaka (Rewards Derived from Copying the Buddhist Canon)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), Vat Maha That, Luang Prabang

Fig. 20 Statements of Original Donation and Re-donation
BAD-13-1-0155, n.d.: Panya barami (Rewards Derived from Following the Thirty Perfections)
Source: Buddhist Archive of Photography (BAP), Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang

Lüng, Siang [ex-novice] Suk [and] Sao [Miss] Can,” which was inscribed with a stylus in
the Dhamma script before the new text was written. The only occasion where sponsors
are addressed is a dedication ritual in which a recipient monk announces the names ofdonors when praising their meritorious deeds. The paracontent33) in the manuscript
provides barely any traces, probably why the sponsors’ names are repeated in themodern Lao script. However, the position of the last folio leads to speculation on the
purpose of the new writing. It was likely an aid for a recipient monk who was moderately
skilled in the Dhamma script but responsible for holding a dedication ritual in which thesponsors’ names had to be announced. The names were therefore written in the modern
Lao script in the last folio or back cover, which was easily visible.
Fig. 20 shows the first folio of a palm-leaf manuscript containing a colophon.
Unlike this example, colophons in anisong manuscripts were normally at the end of the
text. This photograph shows original donation and re-donation. The initial colophon
was inscribed in the Dhamma script with a stylus and mentions “[A]Can [teacher] Suk”
and his family, who lived in the United States (black box). Framed in the gray rectangles,
the names “Thao [Mr.] Thòng Wan” and “Thao [Mr.] Can Pheng” were newly addedin the modern Lao script with blue pen, obviously showing the re-donation of thismanuscript by the two new donors to gain shared merit from dedicating the manuscript.
Re-donated manuscripts can thus contain several donor names. Like the example inFig. 19, the modern Lao script may have aided a recipient monk inexperienced in the
Dhamma script in a dedication ritual.
33) Paracontent is a set of visual signs (writing, images, marks) in a manuscript in addition to the corecontent and serves three functions: structuring, commenting, and documenting. Paracontent canbe part of the original production or a later addition (Ciotti et al. 2018, 1).

374Silpsupa Jaengsawang

V-6 Buddhisization
Like in other regions whose manuscript cultures were transformed through new printing
technologies and writing tools, manuscripts as objects in Laos were influenced bymodernity in the postcolonial period. Particularly in Luang Prabang, however, anisongmanuscripts were regarded as texts in the contemporary cultural context. They werecreated for actual events and to Buddhisize secular34) or non-Buddhist rituals—such as
birthdays and marriages—as evidenced by the extant anisong manuscripts. Anisong, as
studied by Gregory Kourilsky and Patrice Ladwig (2017–18), is regarded as a case of
hybrid writing, a genre composed in Pali and vernacular languages to link vernacular
writings to local customs:
A review of existing manuscripts in Laos reveals that while the most ancient manuscripts available(sixteenth century) are Pali texts, vernacular language writings progressively replaced Pali to suchan extent that from the nineteenth century onwards, the vast majority of texts is actually written
in Lao, but interspersed with Pali fragments, sentences or words. These hybrid writings belong
to specific categories such as nissaya, vohāra, sap, anisong (P. ānisaṃsa), sutmon (P. sutta-manta),gāthā, nithan, (P. nidāna), tamnan (“chronicles”), and so forth. Actually, Pali (or, to a lesser extent,
Sanskrit) scriptures are used as a “tool box” of notions, concepts and technical terms, whose main
purpose is to connect vernacular writings and local customs to what Steven Collins has aptly termed
the “Pali imaginaire.” (Kourilsky and Ladwig 2017–18, 200–201)

Formerly non-Buddhist rituals were elevated to Buddhist ones by inviting a (chapter of)monk(s) to give an anisong sermon explaining meritorious rewards. Among otherdefinitions given by various scholars, Justin McDaniel defines anisong and salòng, which
also deal with non-monastic rituals, as follows: “Ānisong (ānisaṃsa) are ‘blessings’
that honor gifts made to the sangha and are often preludes to honor other Buddhist
texts. Xalǭng (Chalong) are ‘celebratory’ texts used to describe and instruct, often, nonmonastic rituals” (McDaniel 2009, 130). Manuscripts concerning birthdays and weddings
did not originate from Buddhism, because birth and marriage, as part of the cycle ofbirth and rebirth, are contrary to Buddhism’s ultimate goal of enlightenment (nibbāna).
To Buddhisize these secular ceremonies, anisong manuscripts were composed from34) The terms “religious” and “secular” originated in Western Europe during the Middle Ages, the former
defining the communal life of Christian monks and the latter the world beyond monastic communities.
With the diversity of religious beliefs and behaviors making it difficult to provide universal definitions, applying these terms to non-Western cultures and societies is sometimes misleading andinappropriate. In general, there is a separation between the church and state that during some periods
developed into inclusive and exclusive secularism. The former is an adapted coexistence of thestate and church, while the latter has a clear-cut division between the two (Kettell 2019). The
general understanding is that “religious” and “secular” are opposites: the former aimed at gaining
ultimate goals (e.g., eternal peace, immortality, celestial rebirth) under the guidance of prophetsand the latter unrelated to goals taught by prophets. This is the interpretation applied in this paper.

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

375

several (non-)canonical sources and associated with the teachings of the Buddha sothat audiences at anisong sermons could be convinced the Buddha’s teachings could beapplied to their everyday lives.
Although the two main duties of Buddhist monks were—and still are—scripturallearning and meditation training, monks were invited to give blessings, hold religious
sessions, and add a sacred element to nonreligious ceremonies (Bounleuth 2015a, 44;
Bounleuth and Grabowsky 2016, 3). The Buddhist sangha held a privileged position in
traditional Lao society and was in times of political crisis even able to intervene insecular matters (Grabowsky 2007, 137). There was a reciprocal relationship betweenmonks and laypeople: “while a vat (temple-monastery) determines the identity of acommunity, the members of that community have the obligation to maintain the vat”
(Khamvone and Grabowsky 2017, 19). Buddhisization of secular ceremonies was a
result of mutual agreement between the sangha and the laity who promoted activities
that were unrelated to the goal of nibbāna but not sinful. Buddhism does not prohibit
secular life, and the Buddha even delivered teachings for those who were not part ofthe monkhood, e.g., Iddipāda (Paths of accomplishment),35) Brahmavihāra (Sublime
states of mind),36) Saṅgahavatthu (Bases of social solidarity).37)
Anisong manuscripts containing sermonic texts to Buddhisize secular rituals andceremonies and even other profane matters have been discovered in Luang Prabang:
Anisong taeng ngan lü kin dòng (Rewards derived from merit-making at wedding
ceremonies), Anisong tham bun wan koet (Rewards derived from merit-making on
birthdays),38) among others.39) Ten anisong manuscripts concerning birth and marriage35) There are four paths of accomplishment: will (chanda), effort (viriya), dedication (citta), andexamination (vīmaṁsā) (Payutto 2012, 160).
36) There are four sublime states of mind: loving-kindness (mettā), compassion (karuṇā), sympatheticjoy (muditā), and equanimity (upekkhā) (Payutto 2012, 124).
37) There are four bases of social solidarity: generosity (dāna), kindly speech (piyavācā), useful conduct(atthacariyā), and participation and proper behavior in all circumstances (samānattatā) (Payutto
2012, 143).
38) Source: DLLM, code: 06011406005-15, Vat Mai Suvanna Phumaram, Luang Prabang, 1973 CE.
Anisong manuscripts on rewards derived from merit-making on birthdays are hardly found, sincebirth is part of the cycle of rebirth, which is contrary to the goal of nibbāna. Birthday celebrations
are thus secular events. Even though there are only a few manuscripts, a number of clues show
their frequent use as shared objects at birthday sermons, reflecting the popularity of merit-making
at birthday ceremonies (see Silpsupa 2022, 70–71).
39) For example, Anisong kratham bun taeng ngan (Rewards derived from merit-making at wedding
ceremonies) (Source: BAP, code: BAD-22-1-0899, Vat Maha That, Luang Prabang, 1997 CE);
Anisong taeng ngan bao sao (Rewards derived from merit-making at wedding ceremonies) (Source:
BAP, code: BAD-22-1-0923, Vat Maha That, Luang Prabang, 1975 CE); Anisong katham bun taengngan (Rewards derived from merit-making at wedding ceremonies) (Source: BAP, code: BAD-221-0467, Vat Maha That, Luang Prabang, 1997 CE).

376

Silpsupa Jaengsawang(1952–98) have been discovered in Luang Prabang. Nine of them were donated bymonks, implying monks’ openness to Buddhisizing secular rituals by giving anisongsermons. Within the expansion of the anisong preaching tradition, secular activities
contributing to beneficial outcomes are valued as merit-making:This “Buddhization” of formerly non-Buddhist rites and rituals is best reflected in Anisong texts
which are generally known under the terms Salòng or Sòng in Lao. . . . More surprisingly, collections of manuscripts also include titles referring to non-Buddhist rituals, such as marriage ceremony (Anisong taeng ngan) in which monks are not supposed to intervene in this region of Southeast Asia. In truth, Anisong could be seen as a paradigm of the principle of what we might call
“Buddhization by means of text,” that is, the legitimization of a given practice by its written record
with a sacred script (the Dhamma script) on a sacred object (the manuscript). In this way, any local
custom may become unquestionably “Buddhist” if it is included as a subject in an Anisong.
(Bounleuth and Grabowsky 2016, 3)

One example is a manuscript titled Anisong salòng taeng ngan lü kin dòng (Rewards
derived from merit-making at wedding ceremonies), which is combined with another text
titled Anisong thawai pha pa (Rewards derived from the donation of monk robes) to makea multi-text manuscript,40) from Vat Mai Suvanna Phumaram. The text pertains to two
types of marriage in India: awaha,41) which is performed at the husband’s house and thecouple live in the husband’s house; and wiwaha,42) which is performed at the wife’shouse and the couple live in the wife’s house. It explains what the wealthy man (setthi)
Thananchai taught his devout and generous daughter Nang Wisakha (Visākhā),43) the ten
proper habits of a good wife and how to cherish married life. The manuscript was usedin wedding ceremonies to teach couples how to keep the family peaceful and happy,
even though marriage was not regarded as a way to enlightenment. With hopes for abright future, luck, and propitiousness during life transitions or rites of passage, ceremonies could be Buddhisized by making merit, offering alms to monks, and invitingmonks to pray and give blessings. This was often accompanied by an anisong sermon.
40) The manuscript is coded 06011406004-17 and was written in 1962, on the first waning-moon dayof the third lunar month, at 14:00, by the Supreme Patriarch and Pha (monk) Wandi from Vat Pha
Khom.
41) The Thai Royal Institute defines awaha (noun) as “taking a woman to live [in one’s house].” In the
awahamongkhon marriage, common in northern India, the groom takes the bride to live in his house(Thai Royal Institute 2013, 1410).
42) The Thai Royal Institute defines wiwaha (noun) as “taking [someone] out.” In the wiwahamongkhon
marriage, common in southern India, the groom is taken to live in the bride’s house. In Thailand
marriage is called wiwaha, no matter where the bride and groom live (Thai Royal Institute 2013,
1124–1125).
43) Visākhā attained the initial stage of sainthood immediately after first hearing the Dhamma from the
Buddha (Buddha Dharma Education Association and BuddhaNet 2008).

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

377

Evidently, Buddhisizing anisong manuscripts reflects the harmonious coexistence of
non-Buddhist activities in the Buddhist context and the reciprocal relations between thesangha and laity, who, as long as they are not sinful, support one another.

VI Conclusion
During the period of French colonialism, the relationship between Lao people and their
French administrators influenced the use of the vernacular language as well as manuscript culture in Laos. New printing technologies introduced by the French affectedthe Lao manuscript culture in the following four ways. First, projects pertaining to thedissemination of Buddhist teachings were supported by new writing tools and writing
support for mass production. New printing technologies helped monks and novices topropagate the Buddha’s teachings. Second, the librarians’ tasks of storing and categorizing manuscripts in a repository used the new technologies of writing tools, paperlabels, and especially the Roman alphabet to encode pronunciations for vernacular titlesof anisong manuscripts; this reflected the participation of foreigners. Third, delivering asermon requires familiarity with the recorded text; monk-preachers thus took time topractice and in the process marked and corrected texts written on palm leaves by using
pens. Due to this, the original texts inscribed with a stylus look completely different
from the text added in ink. Lastly, affiliation markers were written mostly in the modern
script, reflecting the illiteracy in the Dhamma script of the monastic lay assistants who
sometimes transported and stored manuscripts in monastic libraries.
There were four kinds of actors involved in the use of new technologies: sponsors,
scribes, monks, and librarians. The modern Lao script was accompanied by new technologies, with a gradual decrease in the use of the Dhamma script. The modern Lao
script was used to compensate for the dwindling knowledge of the Dhamma script andto accommodate those who could not read the script but were still part of the manuscript
culture.
Accepted: October 2, 2023

Acknowledgements
With the attentive and helpful support of several people, the quality of this paper was greatly improved.
First, I would like to thank Professor Dr. Volker Grabowsky, the principal investigator of my research
project, who carefully read and commented on the paper. He tirelessly responded to my questions

378

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

and guided me on the direction the paper should take. Second, I would like to express my greatest
gratitude to the anonymous reviewers who spent their precious time on reading, evaluating, and giving
constructive feedback and comments. They gave me new insights on relevant issues and ideas. The
additional sources they recommended gave me a better understanding of the social context during thecase-study period.

References
Manuscripts
01012906004-05. รวมอานิิสงส์์: สลองพระเจดีีย์์ทราย; สลองปราสาทผึ้้�ง; สลองปราสาทผึ้้�ง; สลองปราสาทผึ้้�ง [A compilationof anisong texts: Salòng pha cedi sai rewards derived from building sand stupas; Salòng phasat phüng
rewards derived from the donation of beeswax castles; Salòng phasat phüng rewards derived fromthe donation of beeswax castles; Salòng phasat phüng rewards derived from the donation of beeswax
castles]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 24 folios; n.d.
01012906005-01. รวมอานิิสงส์์: สลองอุุมง; สลองอุุมง; สลองอุุมง [A compilation of anisong texts: Salòng umong
rewards derived from the construction of chapels; Salòng umong rewards derived from the construction of chapels; Salòng umong rewards derived from the construction of chapels]. Palm-leaf
manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 48 folios; CS 1263 (1901 CE).
01012906006-04. รวมอานิิ สงส์์: สองทุุงเหล็็ก; สองทุุงเหล็็ก; สองทุุงเหล็็ก; สองทุุงเหล็็ก; สองทุุงเหล็็ก; สองทุุงเหล็็ก [Acompilation of anisong texts: Sòng thung lek rewards derived from the donation of religious ironflags; Sòng thung lek rewards derived from the donation of religious iron flags; Sòng thung lek rewards
derived from the donation of religious iron flags; Sòng thung lek rewards derived from the donationof religious iron flags; Sòng thung lek rewards derived from the donation of religious iron flags;Sòng thung lek rewards derived from the donation of religious iron flags]. Palm-leaf manuscript;
languages: Lao and Pali; scripts: Tham Lao and modern Lao; 27 folios; CS 1232 (1870 CE).
01012906006-07. รวมอานิิสงส์์: สองวิิด; สองธรรมาสน์์ [A compilation of anisong texts: Sòng wit rewards derived
from the construction of public toilets; Sòng thammat rewards derived from the donation of pulpits].
Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 13 folios; n.d.
06011406004-09. สองพระสัังกาดล่่อง [Sòng pha sangkat lòng Rewards derived from merit-making attraditional New Year festivals]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao;
13 folios; CS 1209 (1847 CE).
06011406004-17. รวมอานิิสงส์์: อานิิสงส์์สลองแต่่งงาน; อานิิสงส์์ถวายผ้้าป่่ าบัังสุุ กุลุ [A compilation of anisong texts:
Anisong salòng taeng ngan rewards derived from merit-making at wedding ceremonies; Anisong
thawai pha pa bangsukun rewards derived from the donation of monk robes]. Palm-leaf manuscript;
languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 15 folios; CS 1324 (1962 CE).
ำ ุญวัันเกิิด Anisong tham bun wan koet [Rewards derived from merit-making
06011406005-15. อานิิสงส์์ทำ�บุ
on birthdays]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 7 folios; CS 1335
(1973 CE).
06018504078-00. ปะริิ วาร Parivāra [Palivan epitome of the Vinaya]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages:
Pali; script: Tham Lao; 22 folios; CS 882 (1520 CE).
17010106001-11. สลองแปงผาม Salòng paeng pham [Rewards derived from the construction of pavilions].
Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 11 folios; CS 1014 (1652 CE).
BAD-13-1-0155. ปัั ญญาบารมีี Panya barami [Rewards derived from following the Thirty Perfections].
Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 8 folios; n.d.
BAD-13-1-0157. รวมอานิิสงส์์: สองดอกไม้้ธููปเทีียน; สองรัักษาศีีล; สองฟัังธรรม; สองเผาผีี; สองมหาเวสสัันตระชาดก [A com-Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

379

pilation of anisong texts: Sòng dònk mai thup thian rewards derived from the donation of flowers,
incense sticks, and candles; Sòng haksa sin rewards derived from precept observance; Sòng fangtham rewards derived from listening to the Dhamma; Sòng phao phi rewards derived from theparticipation in funerals; Sòng maha wetsantara chadok rewards derived from listening to Vessantara
Jātaka]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 40 folios; CS 1306 (1944
CE).
BAD-13-1-0387. สองสรรพทุุง Sòng sapphathung [Rewards derived from the donation of all kinds ofreligious flags]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 6 folios; CS 1272
(1910 CE).
BAD-13-1-0685. สลองข้้าวพัันก้้อน Salòng khao phan kòn [Rewards derived from the donation of one
thousand rice balls]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: modern Lao; 6 folios;
CS 1344 (1985 CE).
BAD-13-1-0714. สองประทีีปเรืือนไฟ Sòng pathip hüan fai [Rewards derived from the donation of lightfloating vessels]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 8 folios; n.d.
BAD-13-1-0760. ปัั ญญาบารมีี Panya barami [Rewards derived from following the Thirty Perfections].
Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; scripts: Tham Lao and modern Lao; 6 folios; CS1325 (1963 CE).
BAD-13-2-033. อานิิสงส์์สร้้างพระไตรปิิ ฎก Anisong sang pha tai pidok [Rewards derived from copying theBuddhist canon]. Mulberry paper manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: modern Lao; 6 sides;
n.d.
BAD-13-2-042. หนัังสืือหามื้้�อร้้ายมื้้�อดีี Nangsü ha mü hai mü di [Book of calculation for (in)auspicious days].
Mulberry paper manuscript; language: Lao; script: Lao Buhan; 80 sides; CS 1270 (1908 CE).
BAD-13-2-093. อานิิสงส์์ถวายกฐิิน Anisong thawai kathin [Rewards derived from participation in the Kathin
festival]. Mulberry paper manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 21 sides; n.d.
BAD-15-1-0031. รวมอานิิ สงส์์: สองอุุมง; สองหอกลอง; สองหีีบหนัังสืือ [A compilation of anisong texts: Sòngumong rewards derived from the construction of chapels; Sòng hò kòng rewards derived from theconstruction of drum shelters; Sòng hip nangsü rewards derived from the donation of book chests].
Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 30 folios; n.d.
ุ วัันเกิิด Anisong bun wan koet [Rewards derived from merit-making on birthdays].
BAD-19-1-0137. อานิิสงส์์บุญ
Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: modern Lao; 9 folios; CS 1346 (1984 CE).
BAD-21-2-004. สลองทานดอกไม้้ Salòng than dòk mai [Rewards derived from the donation of flowers].
Mulberry paper manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 10 folios; CS 1357 (1995
CE).
BAD-22-1-0181. สองสิิ ม Sòng sim [Rewards derived from the construction of ordination halls]. Palm-leaf
manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 11 folios; n.d.
BAD-22-1-0366. สองทุุงเหล็็ก Sòng thung lek [Rewards derived from the donation of religious iron flags].
Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 5 folios; CS 1288 (1926 CE).
BAD-22-1-0440. สองอานิิ สงส์์ปิิฏกะ Sòng anisong pitaka [Rewards derived from copying the Buddhist
canon]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 6 folios; n.d.
BAD-22-1-0467. อานิิสงส์์กระทำำ�บุุญแต่่งงาน Anisong katham bun taeng ngan [Rewards derived from meritmaking at wedding ceremonies]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; scripts: Tham
Lao and modern Lao; 10 folios; CS 1359 (1997 CE).
BAD-22-1-0899. อานิิสงส์์กระทำำ�บุุญแต่่งงาน Anisong katham bun taeng ngan [Rewards derived from meritmaking at wedding ceremonies]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; scripts: Tham
Lao and modern Lao; 8 folios; CS 1359 (1997 CE).
BAD-22-1-0910. สลองเจดีีย์์ Sòng cedi [Rewards derived from the construction of pagodas]. Palm-leaf
manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 9 folios; CS 1330 (1968 CE).

380

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

BAD-22-1-0913. สลองทุุงเหล็็ก Salòng thung lek [Rewards derived from the donation of religious ironflags]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 7 folios; CS 1337 (1975
CE).
BAD-22-1-0923. อานิิสงส์์แต่่งงานบ่่าวสาว Anisong taeng ngan bao sao [Rewards derived from merit-making
at wedding ceremonies]. Palm-leaf manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 16 folios;
CS 1337 (1975 CE).
BAD-22-1-0934. สลองห่่ อผ้้า Salòng hò pha [Rewards derived from the donation of cloth]. Palm-leaf
manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 11 folios; CS 1329 (1967 CE).
BAD-22-1-0936. สองเจดีีย์์ Sòng cedi [Rewards derived from the construction of pagodas]. Palm-leaf
manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; script: Tham Lao; 9 folios; CS 1330 (1968 CE).
DS 0056 00643. สองผ้้าน้ำำ��ฝน Sòng pha nam fon [Rewards derived from the donation of monk robes in therainy season]. Industrial paper manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; scripts: Tham Lao and modern
Lao; 20 sides; n.d.
DS 0056 00644. อานิิสงส์์ทุุง Anisong thung [Rewards derived from the donation of all kinds of religious
flags]. Industrial paper manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; scripts: Tham Lao and modern Lao;
32 sides; CS 1374 (2012 CE).
DS 0056 00645. อานิิสงส์์ไหลแปไฟ Anisong lai pae fai [Rewards derived from the donation of light floating
vessels]. Industrial paper manuscript; languages: Lao and Pali; scripts: Tham Lao and modern Lao;
40 sides; CS 1378 (2016 CE).
English Sources
Berger, Hans Georg. 2015. Photographs of Laos: The Buddhist Archive of Photography. In The Lao
Sangha and Modernity: Research at the Buddhist Archives of Luang Prabang, 2005–2015, edited byVolker Grabowsky and Hans Georg Berger, pp. 95–148. Luang Prabang: Anantha Publishing.
Bounleuth Sengsoulin. 2016. Buddhist Monks and Their Search for Knowledge: An Examination of the
Personal Collection of Manuscripts of Phra Khamchan Virachitto (1920–2007), Abbot of Vat Saen
Sukharam, Luang Prabang. PhD dissertation, Universität Hamburg. https://katalogplus.sub.unihamburg.de/vufind/Record/869710087?rank=1, accessed March 17, 2024.
―. 2015a. The Lao Sangha of Luang Prabang and Its Social Roles after 1975. In The Lao Sangha
and Modernity: Research at the Buddhist Archives of Luang Prabang, edited by Volker Grabowsky
and Hans Georg Berger, pp. 41–64. Luang Prabang: Anantha Publishing.
―. 2015b. Manuscripts Found in the Abode of Pha Khamchan at Vat Saen Sukharam. In The
Lao Sangha and Modernity: Research at the Buddhist Archives of Luang Prabang, 2005–2015, edited
by Volker Grabowsky and Hans Georg Berger, pp. 193–218. Luang Prabang: Anantha Publishing.
―. 2015c. Buddhist Manuscript Culture in Laos on the Road to Modernity: Reflections on
Anisong Manuscripts. In The Lao Sangha and Modernity: Research at the Buddhist Archives of Luang
Prabang, 2005–2015, edited by Volker Grabowsky and Hans Georg Berger, pp. 249–266. Luang
Prabang: Anantha Publishing.
Bounleuth Sengsoulin and Grabowsky, Volker. 2016. New Insights into Lao Buddhist Manuscript Culture:
A Catalogue of Manuscripts Kept in the Monk’s Abode (Kuti) of Pha Khamchan Virachitto (1920–2007),the Late Abbot of Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang: Anantha Publishing.
Buddha Dharma Education Association and BuddhaNet. 2008. (Part Two) 4. Visakha, Great Female
Supporter. BuddhaNet. https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/2_4lbud.htm,
accessed March 6, 2024.
Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures. 2023. (Re-)Shaping Written Artefacts. CSMC. October
25. https://www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/research/cluster-projects/field-d.html, accessed March
17, 2024.

Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

381

Ciotti, Giovanni. 2021. Notes for an Ontological Approach within Manuscript Studies: Object Oriented
Ontology and the Pothi Manuscript Culture. In Exploring Written Artefacts: Objects, Methods, andConcepts, Vol. 1, edited by Jörg B. Quenzer, pp. 865–887. Berlin: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/
10.1515/9783110753301-042.
Ciotti, Giovanni; Kohs, Michael; Wilden, Eva; and Wimmer, Hanna. 2018. Definition of Paracontent.
CSMC Occasional Paper No. 6. Hamburg: Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures. https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.9814.
Dao, Sirui. 2022. Typing the Minority Tai Languages in the Internet World: Transnational Communication and Language Maintenance through the Tai Tham Keyboard. Journal of the Siam Society110(1): 87–102. https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/pub_jss/article/view/255846, accessed March
13, 2024.
Grabowsky, Volker. 2019. From Nan to Luang Prabang: The Buddhist Heritage of Northern Laos as
Reflected in Recently Discovered Manuscript Collections. Journal of International Buddhist Studies
10(2): 123–157. https://so09.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jibs/article/view/2539, accessed March 17,
2024.
―. 2017. Anisong through Religious Donations: The Case of the Phaya Sekòng Manuscript from
Müang Sing (Laos). In 13th International Conference on Thai Studies, Vol. 1, pp. 410–434. Facultyof Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University. https://icts13.chiangmai.cmu.ac.th/documents/FINAL_AG_MAY_2018.pdf, accessed March 17, 2024.
―. 2011. The Dhamma Script Cultural Domain as a Contested Space in the Tai-Lao World.
Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand 3: 98–112.
―. 2007. Buddhism, Power and Political Order in Pre-Twentieth Century Laos. In Buddhism,
Power and Political Order, Vol. 1, edited by Ian Harris, pp. 121–142. Abingdon: Routledge.
Griffiths, Paul J. 1999. Religious Reading: The Place of Reading in the Practice of Religion. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Helman-Ważny, Agnieszka; Direk Injan; Boulyaphonh, Khamvone; and Grabowsky, Volker. 2021. The
Stab-Stitched Binding of Thai Manuscripts: A Survey of History, Technique, and Function. Journalof the Siam Society 109(1): 139–168. https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/pub_jss/article/view/248873,
accessed March 17, 2024.
Hindman, Sandra L., ed. 1991. Printing the Written Word: The Social History of Books, Circa 1450–1520.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Hundius, Harald. 2009. Tai Manuscripts in the Dhamma Script Domain: Surveying, Preservation andDocumentation (Part 2). In Manuscript Cultures, Vol. 2, edited by Michael Friedrich and Jörg
Quenzer, pp. 21–25. Hamburg: SFB 950 “Manuskriptkulturen in Asien, Afrika und Europa.” https://www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/publications/mc/files/articles/mc02-hundius.pdf, accessed March 17,2024.
Jory, Patrick. 1996. A History of the Thet Maha Chat and Its Contribution to a Thai Political Culture.
PhD dissertation, Australian National University.
Kernan, Alvin. 1987. Printing Technology, Letters & Samuel Johnson. Princeton: Princeton University
Press.
Kettell, Steven. 2019. Secularism and Religion. Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Politics. https://doi.
org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.898.
Khamvone Boulyaphonh. 2015. The Life, Works and Social Roles of the Most Venerable Sathu Nyai
Khamchan Virachitta Maha Thela (1920–2007). PhD dissertation, Universität Hamburg. https://ediss.sub.uni-hamburg.de/handle/ediss/6618, accessed March 13, 2024.
Khamvone Boulyaphonh and Grabowsky, Volker. 2017. A Lost Monastery Library Rediscovered: A
Catalogue of Lao Manuscripts Kept in the Abbot’s Abode (Kuti) of Vat Si Bun Hüang, Luang Prabang.

382

Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Hamburg: Hamburger Südostasienstudien.
Kourilsky, Gregory and Ladwig, Patrice. 2017–18. Governing the Monastic Order in Laos: Pre-modern
Buddhist Legal Traditions and Their Transformation under French Colonialism. Buddhism, Law& Society 3: 191–242.
Ladwig, Patrice. 2021. Wealth, Social Stratification and Ritual Economy: Large-scale Donations andProsperity Buddhism in Laos. Taiwan Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 16(2): 7–48.
―. 2018. Imitations of Buddhist Statecraft. Social Analysis 62(2): 98–125.
―. 2008. From Revolution to Reform: Ethics, Gift Giving and Sangha-State Relationships in Lao
Buddhism. PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge.
Ladwig, Patrice and Rathie, Martin. 2020. Lao Buddhism and Faith in the Revolution: The Life andCareer of Maha Khamtan Thepbuali (1919–2019) in the Context of Buddhist Socialist Movements.
Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 106: 403–431. https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_03361519_2020_num_106_1_6340, accessed March 27, 2024.
Laurenson, Diana T. and Swingewood, Alan. 1972. The Sociology of Literature. New York: Schocken
Books.
McDaniel, Justin Thomas. 2009. Two Buddhist Librarians: The Proximate Mechanisms of Northern
Thai Buddhist History. In Buddhist Manuscript Cultures: Knowledge, Ritual, and Art, edited by
Stephen C. Berkwitz, Juliane Schober, and Claudia Brown, pp. 124–139. New York: Routledge.
―. 2008. Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words: Histories of Buddhist Monastic Education in Laosand Thailand. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
National Library of Laos. n.d. Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts. CrossAsia. https://digital.crossasia.
org/digital-library-of-lao-manuscripts/?lang=en, accessed March 12, 2024.
Payutto, P. A. 2012. Dictionary of Buddhism. Bangkok: Museum for Sustainable Buddhism.
Sihlé, Nicolas. 2015. Towards a Comparative Anthropology of the Buddhist Gift (and Other Transfers).
In Religion Compass, edited by Tamara Sonn and Scott Noegel, Vol. 9, pp. 352–385. New York:
Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12185.
Silpsupa Jaengsawang. 2022. Relationship between Anisong Manuscripts and Rituals: A Comparative
Study of the Lan Na and Lao Traditions. Segnitz: Zenos-Verlag.
Silpsupa Jaengsawang and Grabowsky, Volker. 2023. Hybrid Production of Anisong Manuscripts inLuang Prabang. Journal of the Siam Society 111(1): 111–142. https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/
pub_jss/article/view/264583, accessed March 17, 2024.
Stevenson, Angus, ed. 2010. Oxford Dictionary of English. Third Edition. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Stuart-Fox, Martin. 1995. The French in Laos 1887–1945. Modern Asian Studies 29(1): 111–139.
―. 1986. Laos: Politics, Economics and Society. London: Frances Pinter Publishers.
Thai Royal Institute. 2013. Royal Institute Dictionary. Bangkok: Nanmeebooks.
Turnbull, Joanna, ed. 2010. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Eighth Edition. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Veidlinger, Daniel, M. 2007. Spreading the Dhamma: Writing, Orality, and Textual Transmission in
Buddhist Northern Thailand. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Wagner, Esther-Miriam; Outhwaith, Ben; and Beinhoff, Bettina, eds. 2013. Scribes as Agents of Language
Change. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Wehmeier, Sally, ed. 2005. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Seventh Edition. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Wimmer, Hanna; Bondarev, Dmitry; Karolewski, Janina; and Lorusso, Vito. 2015. A Heuristic Tool for
the Comparative Study of Manuscripts from Different Manuscript Cultures. CSMC Occasional Paper
No. 3. Hamburg: Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures. https://www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/Transformations of Anisong Manuscripts in Luang Prabang

383

publications/occasional-papers/files/csmc-occasional-paper-3-wimmer-et-al.pdf, accessed March
17, 2024.
Thai and Lao Sources
Bouakhay Phengphachanh บััวไข เพ็็งพระจัันทร์์. 2008. Kann fün fu khamphi bai lan lao nai yuk ananikhom
farang set การฟื้้� นฟููคััมภีีร์์ใบลานลาวในยุุคอาณานิิคมฝรั่่�งเศส [The revitalization of Lao palm-leaf manuscripts
during French colonialism]. In Warasan sangkhom lum nam khong วารสารสัังคมลุ่่�มน้ำำ��โขง [Journal of
Mekong societies], edited by Maniemai Thongyou มณีีมััย ทองอยู่่� and Dararat Mettariganond ดารารััตน์์
เมตตาริิ กานนท์์. Khon Kaen: Center for Research on Plurality in the Mekong Region 4(3): 57–81.
Khamtan Thepbuali ຄຳຳ�ຕັັນ ເທພບົ
ີ . 1976. Pha song lao lae kan patiwat ພະສົິ ວັັດົ ວລີົ ງລາວແລະການປະຕິ
[The Lao monk and revolution]. Vientiane: n.p.