Book
Narration in the Vessantara Painted Scrolls of Northeast Thailand and Laos
(2016)
Abstract
This richly illustrated, full-colour volume offers an innovative study of the long, painted scrolls of Northeast Thailand and Laos that depictthe Prince Vessantara Buddhist birth story. A 31-metre scroll in the Asian Civilisations Museum provides the focus for this popular narrative. The scroll is reproduced in its entirety, with comparative illustrations from other scrolls. The authors analyze these scrolls in the context of the Bun Phra Wet – the Thai-Lao and Lao ceremony in which they are used – and consider the complex interplay of text, art, ritual, and belief which occur in these performances.
Disciplines
- Religion and
- Anthropology
Publication Date
2016
Citation Information
“Narration in the Vessantara Painted Scrolls of Northeast Thailand and Laos,” in Readings of the
Vessantara Jataka, Steven Collins, ed., New York: Columbia University Press (2016)