THAILEX - Thailand Travel Dictionary

Sanskrit. A female divinity of low rank in Vajrayana Buddhism. There are two forms, malevolent and benevolent. There is a group of five dakinis associated with the five jinas, each holding a jewel, a lotus, or a double thunderbolt. A dakini may be distinguished from an apsarsa by the presence of a 'third eye' or urna in the middle of the forehead. In Hinduism dakinis are female imps who wait upon Kali and feed on human flesh.

Sanskrit. 'Able', 'competent' and 'intelligent'. Son of Brahma and usually associated with the idea of creative power.

Tibetan. 'Ocean of Wisdom'. High priest of the Tibetan Buddhists, and from the 17th century AD until 1959 also worldly ruler of Tibet. In Tibetan Buddhism he is considered an incarnation of the bodhisatva Avalokitesvara.

Thai. 'Convenient progress'. A canal in the province of Ratchaburi, where each morning a floating market is held.

Sandstone mountain range on the border of Cambodia and Thailand, which ends dramatically on a cliff overhanging the Cambodian plains. Here the ancient Khmer temple Khao Phra Wihaan is situated at a height of 657 meters above sea level. The mountain range also features ancient Khmer rock carvings and near Surin province it houses the Prasat Ta Meuan temples. In Thai the mountain range is referred to as Phu Khao Phanom Dongrek.

Thai. 'Celestial body per day'. System in Thailand in which each day of the week corresponds with a certain planet, moon or sun, that is, the Sun for Sunday, the Moon for Monday, Mars for Tuesday, Mercury for Wednesday, Jupiter for Thursday, Venus for Friday and Saturn for Saturday. In Thai planets are often named after these days, e.g. Venus is 'Dao Phra Suk' and Friday is called 'Wan Suk'. See also thep prajam wan, phra prajam wan, sat prajam wan and sih prajam wan.

Sanskrit. The charioteer and companion of Krishna, who attended him in his final days.

Hindustani-Hindi. 'Door' or 'gateway'. The word is the same in Kashmiri and Urdu where it is written in Nastaliq script, rather than the Devanagari script of Hindustani and Hindi. In Sanskrit it is known as douar, dwar or dvar and in Urdu it is also known as darwaazeh.

Sanskrit. Father of Rama, king of Kosala in the Ramayana, the Indian and original version of the epic. In the Thai version, the Ramakien, the father is called Totsarot but he is also known as Suddhodana. Also transcribed Dasaratha.

Designation for the Thailand-Burma Railway built by the Imperial Japanese Army during WW II and which ran from Nong Pladuk in Thailand to Thanbuyuzayat in Burma, with its main section running through the Thai province of Kanchanaburi. During WW I Japan gained a foothold in China when it captured the German fortress of Tsingtao in northeast China (wartime maps). The Japanese army subsequently became well established in Shantung and Manchuria and by the mid 1930's Manchuria had become the Japanese protectorate of Manchukuo. The Japanese envisaged a similar fate for the whole of China. However, further territorial demands by the Japanese on a weak and divided China subsequently led to war. In an attempt to force Japan to end this war Britain, Holland and the United States imposed a trade embargo on Japan. At the same time they provided the Chinese forces led by Chiang Kai Chek with weapons and supplies via a road across the foothills of the Himalayas. In order to cut this vital supply link and to obtain the raw materials of Burma for themselves, the Japanese needed to enter Burma. After the Japanese offensive, which began in December 1941 with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the invasion of Malaya, the Imperial Army's forces were by mid '42 fighting the British in Burma, their aim being to cut the above mentioned Allied supply link into China and ultimately an offensive against India. To maintain their armies in Burma the Japanese needed a more secure supply route than the vulnerable sea-lines between Singapore and Rangoon through the Andaman Sea, where Allied forces operating from Ceylon were attacking their supply ships. Thus realising the need for a safe land route the Japanese decided to construct a 415 km long railway through dense jungle and mountains. Work on the line began in southern Burma in October 1942 while at the same time construction also started in Thailand. To build the railway the Japanese assembled a multi-national workforce of approximately 250,000 Asian labourers and over 60,000 Australian, British, Dutch and American prisoners of war (POWs). On 16 October 1943 the two ends of the railway were joined at Kongkiwtah in Thailand. Of all POWs who worked on the railway 12,399 died (about 20%), and between 70,000 and 90,000 civilian labourers are also believed to have died, mainly as a result of lack of proper food, totally inadequate medical facilities and, at times, the brutal treatment from their guards. The appalling death toll that arose during construction -it is said one life for each sleeper- led to the use of the name 'the Death Railway'. See also Thailand-Burma Railway Centre and Hellfire Pass Memorial. In Thai Thahng Rot Fai Mareutayu.

Sanskrit. A free standing pillar in front of a temple in India, also called manastambha.

Name of a four-hoofed grazing animal of the deer kind of which male usually has antlers. It has the scientific name cervus unicolor equinus and belongs to the family of cervidae. When represented in Buddhist art (fig.) it usually refers to Mrigadava, the deer park where the Buddha delivered his first sermon. In mythology it is the mount of Phra Phareuhadsabodih, the god of Thursday (fig.). In Thai it is either called kwahng or mareuk (for a male) and mareuki (for a female).

Thai. 'Temple kid'. Term for young boys that live on the premises of a Thai temple and do minor household jobs for the monks and novices. In the past, the reason for becoming a temple kid was mainly to obtain a basic education, as it was often the only form of schooling available to upcountry peasants and it even used to be an obligatory requirement for attaining any higher education. Since the creation of the governmental school system the number of dek wat has declined sharply. Temple kids are traditionally no younger than eight years old and many of them are later ordained as novices. They can often be seen at the rear end of a row of monks and novices that are on alms begging round, to help carry the surplus of collected food offerings.

Monument in Bangkok commemorating the change from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy in 1932. It was completed on 22 June 1940 but officially inaugurated two days later, on the same day as Victory Monument and on the eight actual anniversary date of the event of 24 June 1932, when the governmental system changed. This date is symbolized in the height of the four wings and the radius of the monument (each 24 meters) whilst the year, namely 2475 BE (1932 AD) can be derived from the 75 cannons surrounding the memorial. The bas-reliefs on the lower part of the four wings illustrate the history of the Civilian Party whilst marking the change in governmental system. At the centre is a dome pedestal with a phaan holding the Constitution. This gold coloured part is three meters high, a reference to the third month of the traditional Thai calendar, i.e. June (the Thai new year, called 'songkraan', is in April). The six swords on the gates of the pedestal represent the six policies of the Civilian Party, namely Independence, Peace, Equality, Freedom, Economy and Education. In Thai Anusawarih Prachathipatai.

West Indian Spanish from Swahili. Name of an infectious tropical viral fever transmitted by mosquitoes and characterized by severe pain in the joints and muscular pains. Symptoms also include a high fever. Dengue is also known by the epithet break-bone fever. Also dengue fever and in Thai called khai sah. See also haemorrhagic fever.

Thai name for a plant of the genus coix lachrymajob, of the family gramineae. It has white seeds, called Job's tears, which are gained from its hard flower buds and are edible (fig.). It is an important economical crop in the province of Loei. In English known as tear grass. Also ton deuay.

Sanskrit. The residence or dwelling place of a deity. The main shrine in a Hindu temple.

Sanskrit. A god of undetermined rank. They are believed to be thirty three in number, eleven for each of the three worlds of Buddhist cosmology.

Name for the alphabet used to write different languages of the Indian subcontinent, including Hindi, Sanskrit, Pali, etc. Its script is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line that runs along the top of the letters, linking them together. It is written from left to right using an abugida writing system in which each letter represents a consonant that carries the inherent vowel 'a', whilst all other vowels, or the absence of vowels, require either modification of these consonants or have their own symbol. Also called simply Nagari.

Sanskrit. 'King of the gods'. A title often applied to both Indra and the Buddha. In Java and Cambodia, a cult of devaraja developed that claimed the king was an emanation of a god and would be reunited with that god after death.

Sanskrit. Title given to Parvati, the shakti or consort of Shiva, and a goddess with many forms, both good and bad. Her good forms are Uma 'light', Sati 'the virtuous one', Annapurna 'the one who bestows good deeds', Haimavati 'born of the Himalayas', Jagamata 'mother of the world', and Bhavani 'the female creator'. Her terrible forms are Durga 'inaccessible', Kali, Mahakali (fig.) or Shyama 'black', Chandi 'fierce', and Bhairavi 'terrible'. Her mount is the lion.

Pali-Thai. Often transcribed with a capital letter and in Sanskrit spelled dharma. In Thai tam, but when it refers to the Pali word it is pronounced thamma. It can be translated as 'right principles', 'scruples', 'rectitude', 'law', 'truth', 'reality' or 'righteousness'. In Theravada Buddhism it refers to the teachings of the Buddha as found in the Tripitaka. It is part of the Trairat, together with the historical Buddha and the Sangha.

1. Pali. Buddhist 'Wheel of Law' (fig.) that symbolizes the ongoing cycle of cause and effect in ones life, known as kam (karma) and resulting in perpetual reincarnation. This cycle can only be broken by reaching nipphaan (nirvana). The 'Wheel of Law' also symbolizes the Buddha's first sermon held in the deer park at Sarnath, setting in motion his philosophy. The turning of the wheel symbolizes the teachings of the Buddha which are spread endlessly, and if portrayed with eight spokes it symbolizes the Eightfold Path. In art sometimes depicted with the presence of one or more deer (fig.), and in Thailand it stands centrally on the Buddhist flag (fig.). In Sanskrit dharmachakra.

2. Pali. A mudra meaning the 'turning of the Wheel of Law', at which the Buddha's thumb and forefinger of both hands form a circle with the remaining fingers curving outward. A similar variant is known as vitarka, 'exposition', at which one or two hands are held up forward with each forefinger and thumb forming a circle separately. Both mudras refer to the Buddha's first public discourse on Buddhist doctrine given to five ascetics or panjawakkie in a deer park in Sarnath, India. In iconography often depicted in combination with the 'Wheel of Law' (fig.). In Sanskrit dharmachakra.

Pali. 'Defender of the Buddhist law'. In Vajrayana Buddhism they wage war against the demons and enemies of the faith, and have terrifying appearances. In Sanskrit dharmapala.

Sanskrit. 'Bow'. The mighty bow that surfaced during the churning of the Ocean of Milk and was given to Vishnu's avatar, Rama. The Thai word for bow, thanu, derives from it.

Sanskrit. 'Concentration'. A commonly seen mudra signifying 'meditation' with the Buddha seated in half or full lotus position with both hands resting on his lap, palms up and the right hand on top. In the Phra prajam wan geut system this Buddha image correspondents with Thursday. Also called samaddhi.

Sanskrit. According to Mahayana Buddhism there are five transcendental buddha's, four for the main directions and one for the zenith. They are usually portrayed seated in meditation, the most popular being Amitabha, the buddha of the western paradise.

Sanskrit. One of the eight listed guardians of the main and intermediate directions of the sky, who protect the world from demons. They are often depicted on Hindu temples facing different directions. Four dikpalas are guarding the cardinal points and another four the intermediate directions.

Chinese-Thai. Name for round chunks of a soft bread-like steamed dough filled with either savory or sweetmeat. They are made from wheat flower and are traditionally steamed in small round bamboo baskets called kheng (fig.). Often spelled dim sum and in Thai called sala pao.

Vietnamese. Village communal house composed of two parallel wings and often decorated with a dragon, unicorn, phoenix and tortoise, the four animals associated with happiness. The dinh is where the guardian spirit of the village resides, and is a place of private worship as well as public ceremonies. In some ways it can be compared with the Thai sahn lak meuang.

Thai. 'Japanese clay'. A colourful sticky substance that is capable of being moulded. It is similar to wet clay but remains flexible after hardening. In Thailand it is used in particular to mould ornamental imitation flowers (fig.) and miniature daily life utensils and foodstuffs (fig.).

Sanskrit. 'Lamp bearer'. The first of 24 buddha predecessors, who pledges to the ascetic Brahman Sumedha that he will one day become a buddha. Sumedha was an former incarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became the historical Buddha.

Latin name for an evergreen tree with a large straight trunk and which flowering season is from March to May. Its seeds have two wings which enables them to whirl down like helicopters. In North Thailand often seen on the side of the road. In Thai phluang. Also dipterocarpus alatus.

Annual event held in the province of Phetchabun on the 15th day of the waning moon in the 10th lunar month and in which the highly revered ancient Phra Phutta Maha Dhamma Racha Buddha image of Phetchabun is taken to the Pa Sak river to be immersed in the water for ritual bathing. The image was found in the Pa Sak river by a group of farmers about four hundred years ago and was taken to be housed in Wat Trai Phum. According to a legend the Buddha image had disappeared twice from the temple and was later found in the water. It was said that the Buddha image itself had wandered out of the temple. From that time onwards the local people have organized the Um Phra Dam Nahm Festival, in which they carry the image around town and place it under a tent at Wat Trai Phum so that Buddhists can pay respect to it by sticking gold leaf onto it. In the evening prayers are chanted and at night there are various kinds of entertainment. The next morning the image is taken to be immersed in the Pa Sak river by the local governor and traditional dances are performed to show respect to it. After the ceremony the water in the river is regarded as sacred and people will swim in it and take some water home. The Phra Phutta Maha Dhamma Racha Buddha image is then taken back to the temple where it resides to ensure seasonal rain.

Thailand's highest mountain. According to a sign on its summit this mountain in Chiang Mai province is 2,565.33 meter high.

Mountain in Chiang Mai on which Phuping summer palace is situated, and the famous Buddhist temple Wat Doi Suthep.

Lao. An fern leaf-like ornament which surmounts temple roofs in Laos. It may be translated as 'a bucket of flowers' and could be compared with the Thai chofa. Ten or more flowers indicate that a king built the temple.

Sanskrit. A brahmin sage who after the Buddha's cremation divided the relics of the Buddha among eight warring kings.

Center of Cham art and culture which supplanted the city of My Son from the time King Indravarman II built a Buddhist monastery there at the end of the 9th century AD. It remained the locus of Cham art and culture for less than a century.

1. Vietnamese. Decorated bronze drums of various types and sizes produced for ritual purposes and considered the pinnacle of Southeast Asian art. See also klong mahoratuk.

Cemetery near the centre of Kanchanaburi where 6,982 allied soldiers are buried, all victims from WW II, most who died during the construction of the infamous Burma railway. See also Chong Kai.

A mythical, usually winged, monster like a reptile, able to breathe fire. In ancient Chinese mythology the earth's natural process of procreation takes the form of a dragon, animating all things in the unending cycle of life, death and rebirth. It embodies the process of change itself, appearing only to disappear again, thus being in constant transformation. It therefore appears frequently in Chinese festivals, especially during Trut Jihn, the Chinese lunar new year (fig.). It has since long been the national symbol of the Chinese and is frequently seen in iconography as well as in architecture. The dragon is also the fifth animal of the Chinese zodiac as the fifth year of the animal cycle. In Thai mangkon.

Epithet for the phyllodium longipes. In Thai called klet plah or klet lin yai, literally 'fish scales' and 'long scaly tongue'.

Sanskrit. The first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism meaning 'suffering, unhappiness, misery'. In Pali spelled dukkha.

Sanskrit. 'Inaccessible'. A form of Devi, Shiva's consort, usually portrayed riding a tiger or lion. In Javanese and Indian art she is frequently depicted as slaying the buffalo demon Mahishasura with divine weapons.

A fruit of the genus duria of which different variations exist, such as mon thong, kahn yao, krathum thong, eekop, eeruang, kampan and chanie. Its fruiting season is from May to September. It is native to Southeast Asia where it is known as the 'king of fruits'. The fruit has a hard shell with sharp pikes and a pungent, penetrating scent. The local people say it smells like hell but tastes like heaven, nevertheless it is banned from most Thai hotels (fig.). The vanilla coloured flesh of fruit (fig.) sits around large bean-shaped pits and has an unique taste, considered a real delicacy by the locals. However, caution should be exercised when eating the fruit, as they have a high calorific value and excessive consumption in close succession could be harmful. Nutritional analysis of durians by the Nutrition Division of the Department of Health shows that different species of durian have different energy values, ranging from 181 calories per 100 grams for long-stemmed durians to 129 calories for kradum durians and in the case of candied durians, the calorific value is as high as 340 calories. This means for example that a 2 kilogram mon thong durian -one of the most popular varieties- with a peeled weight of around 600 grams would give a total of around 978 calories. It is thus advisable to eat no more than two segments of durian a day. Customary practice is to combine the consumption of the 'king of fruits' with mangosteen, the 'queen of fruits', as the latter lowers the body temperature and helps prevent stomach aches after durian consumption. Durians, usually the of the mon thong kind, are also made into a popular snack of fried chips and even into a paste (fig.), called either durian cake or durian paste, but some say it tastes best fresh, mixed with sticky rice and coconut milk. In Thai thurian.

1. Sanskrit-Thai. 'Satisfied' of 'fulfilled'. The term refers to the heaven above Mt. Meru where the bodhisattvas await their last existence on earth. It is one of the highest heavens in Buddhist cosmology, and the heaven in which the bodhisattva who would later become the Buddha was reborn, after gaining sufficient merit in previous lives. It is the last place where he stayed before being born as prince Siddhartha, as well as the heaven where the future Maitreya buddha dwells. In Hinduism it is the fourth heaven. Also Tusita and Tushita.

2. Sanskrit-Thai. A district in Bangkok in which the Vimanmek palace is situated, for one.

Name of the first multinational corporation in the world, established in 1602 by the States-General of the Netherlands, to carry out trading activities in the Far East and South Asia. In Dutch the company is called the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, abbreviated with the initials V.O.C. which are represented in their logo, a large capital V with an O on the left and a C on the right leg. Under this name, the company set up a number of permanent overseas trading posts, its first one in 1603, in Banten (Bantam), West Java, thus consolidating its influence and power along the Asian trade routes. In 1604 the Dutch came to Ayutthaya for the first time hoping to set up an overland trade route to China with the help of local merchants, but this aspiration was never carried out. In 1608 the V.O.C. established a factory (a warehouse and office of an overseas commercial enterprise) in Ayutthaya and the Dutch quarter on the banks of the Chao Phraya River became known as the most elegant and the grandest of all in the kingdom. The next year, in 1609, the V.O.C. established a second trading post in the southern seaport town of Pattani. On 12 June 1617 a treaty was signed granting the Dutch a trade monopoly in fur. The fact that the V.O.C. was protected by its naval fleet and that its overall trade was thriving placed it in a strong position with considerable bargaining power. Thanks to this influence they were also granted a trade monopoly in tin from Nakhon Sri Thammarat. But in 1636 restrictions were placed on the V.O.C.'s trading activities due to the Picnic Incident, an event in which a dozen Dutchmen had breached palace safety rules and behaved obstinately and maliciously against some Siamese whilst intoxicated. By the middle of the 17th century, trade with Ayutthaya had become very lucrative and the V.O.C. had positioned itself as part of a trade triangle, on the one hand exporting goods such as hides, tin and rice, whilst on the other hand importing goods from the various Asian ports, such as silver from Japan and textiles from India. By 1669, the V.O.C. was the richest private company in the world, with over 150 merchant ships, 40 warships, 50,000 employees and a private army of 10,000 soldiers. However, when by the end of the 17th century Japan imposed a ban on the import of Ayutthayan hides, it triggered Ayutthaya to also allow Chinese merchants to trade in fur, breaching the Dutch trade monopoly. This was a turning point that resulted in the end of the trade triangle and signaled the decline of the Dutch trade post in Ayutthaya which was closed in 1741 due to substantial financial losses. Trade however continued and in 1747 the factory was reopened. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Ayutthayan kings sometimes required the assistance of V.O.C. soldiers, who served on Dutch warships escorting the cargo fleet lest they were attacked by pirates or trade rivals, to serve as mercenaries in the Siamese army in exchange for trade privileges. Siamese kings are also known to have relied on V.O.C. craftsmen to help build Western-style ships for them. Prior to the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 the V.O.C. moved its personnel and goods out of the kingdom and their settlement became a stronghold for Chinese mercenaries in the Burmese war against Ayutthaya. Due to the decline of the market for sugar from Indonesia, increased global competition and saturation of the European markets, the V.O.C. got into financial trouble, became bankrupt and in 1800, the company was formally dissolved. Also United East Indian Company.

Sanskrit. 'Janitor'. A guardian of a temple entrance (fig.) often holding a club or mace (gada).

1. Thai. Name of a kingdom in Thailand between the 6th and 11th centuries consisting of a number of loose small city states and populated by the Mon people.

2. Thai. Name of the art produced in the period between the 6th and 11th centuries in the kingdom of Dvaravati.