Devalok
From the epics · 2 tellings · Southeast Asia

Rama in Thailand and Cambodia

Thailand's Ramakien makes Phra Ram an incarnation of Phra Narai and a Bodhisatta; Cambodia's Reamker reads Preah Ream almost as a mortal through a Theravada lens.

Who is in it

  • Rama hero, as Phra Ram or Preah Ream
  • Vishnu as Phra Narai, the god Rama incarnates
  • Shiva as Phra Isuan, the boon-giver
  • Hanuman the hero's ally, with an expanded romantic life
  • Ravana antagonist, as Thotsakan, merged with Bhasmasura in Thailand

Texts: Ramakien, Reamker

The story, beat by beat

  1. Under King Rama I the Thai court compiles the Ramakien between 1799 and 1807.
  2. Phra Ram is the incarnation of Phra Narai and also a Bodhisatta on the way to Buddhahood.
  3. Phra Isuan grants the boons that shape the plot; the demon king absorbs the Bhasmasura story.
  4. Hanuman is given a much larger romantic life than in Valmiki.
  5. In Cambodia the Reamker keeps Preah Ream as Vishnu's incarnation but treats him largely as a man bound by karma.
  6. Reamker scenes are carved at Angkor Wat and Banteay Srei and danced at court.

avatar bodhisattva karma epic adaptation

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Encyclopedia

Ramakien (Thai)

Southeast Asia · Thailand Southeast Asian Thai

The Ramakien is Thailand's Rama, compiled at the court of Rama I after the fall of Ayutthaya had destroyed earlier versions. Its hero is Phra Ram, an incarnation of Phra Narai, the Thai Vishnu, and at the same time a Bodhisatta, a being on the way to Buddhahood, which is how a Buddhist kingdom absorbed a Hindu avatar. Phra Isuan, the Thai Shiva, hands out the boons that set the story in motion, and the demon king carries the Bhasmasura episode into himself. Hanuman is the crowd's favourite, a warrior with a long list of romances that Valmiki never gave him. Temple murals at the Grand Palace and the khon masked dance keep the epic in public view.

Ramakien — Wikipedia

Encyclopedia

Reamker (Khmer)

Southeast Asia · Cambodia Buddhist Khmer

Cambodia's Reamker, in Middle Khmer verse from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, keeps Preah Ream as Vishnu's incarnation on paper but reads him as a man whose fortunes turn on karma, and gives the story a Theravada stress on compassion. Angkor Wat, built for Vishnu in the twelfth century, and Banteay Srei carry its scenes in stone.

What is different here:

Where the Thai text makes Rama both avatar and Bodhisatta, the Khmer text plays down his divinity and reads the plot morally; both differ from Valmiki's and the Puranas' seventh avatar.

Reamker — Wikipedia; Reamker

Sources: Ramakien — Wikipedia; Reamker — Wikipedia; Reamker

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