THAI CHARMS AND AMULETS

THAI  CHARMS  AND  AMULETS
Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 52.2d (1964)

by  Phya  Anuman Rajadhon พระยาอนุมานราชธน (Acting President,  Royal  lnstitute )

Tbe belief in and use of charms and amulets as magical
protection  against  dangers  and  misfortunes,  and  also  to  bring  love,  luck  and  power  is  a  world-wide  one.It  is  not confined  to primitive races  only,  but  also  to  be  found  among  modern  peoples  of  every nation  and  faith.  In  fact  “the  thought  and  practice  of  civilized peoples  can  not be cut off as with a knife from the underlying customs and  beliefs  which  have  played  a  determining  part  in  shaping the resulting products, however much subsequent knowledge and ethical evaluation may have modified and transformed the earlier notions”. 1 For  this reason, every faith  and  religion has  in one  form  or another certain cults and formulas, as  inherited from  the dim past and handed down  from  generation  to  generation,  from  the old  belief of magic and  superstition, which are paradoxically contrary to the real teaching of the religion’s founder.  This is inevitable; for the mass of humanity that  forms  the  woof  and  warp  of  the  woven  fabric  of  faith  of  the great  religions, is composed of many levels of  culture.
A.B.Griswold says  in his  “Doctrines and Reminders of Theravada Buddhism” that
“within the Theravada there are two very different sorts of Buddhist-rationalists  and pious believers.”2 This  may  be  applied  equally  to  other  religions:  there  are  always  implicitly  two  sorts of  believers within  the  same  religion,  the  intellectuals and  the pious people.
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1  Preface  to  the Comparative Religion by E.O.  James,  1961. 2 The Arts of Thailand, p. 28, 1960 A.D,
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It is with  the  latter  that one can find  abundant  phenomena  of  charms and amulets  in belief and practice.
In  the Thai  language charms and amulets are called collectively
khawng-khlang  ( “ของขลัง“)  which  means  “sacred,  potent  objects or talismans.”
Traditionally,  this  is divided  and classified  into  four  major  classes, namely:
I  Khruang-ran.g  (เครื่องราง),       II  Phra  Khruan.g  (พระเครื่อง),
III  Khruan.g pluk-sek  (เครื่องปลุกุเสก)  and   IV  Wan ya  (ว่านยา ) 1
I  Khruang-ran.g . This is a material substance transformed  from
its  natural  and  normal  state  mostly  into  stone or copper.  Such  a
thing is supposed  to he  imbued  inherently  with  magical  power.  If
held  in the mouth or carried or worn on the  body of a person, it will
provide  him  or  her  with  invulnerability  and  protection  against
dangers or misfortunes. ” Guns will not fire,  sharp  things will not  wound  if  fired  at  or  struck  at  the wearer”  (ยิงไม่ออกพั่นไม่เข้า) who  has such  a magical  object with him or  her. The khruang-rang  is sub-divided roughly into two sub-classes,
namely:
( a)  Khot  (คด )  •  A  certain  kind  of  talismanic  stone found
in certain animals, birds, fishes,  crabs  and  trees;  (for  instance  teak
and  bamboo).  Included  also  in  this  sub-class  are  certain  stones
found  in termite hills,  stone eggs,  certain kinds of  ores  and  lek-lai (เหล็กไหล)2 and  a  certain  kind  of  stone  called  “khot  akat”  ( คดอากาศ),  literally  the  “khot  of  the sky.”  Probably it  is  a meteoric stone  or  fragment.  There  are  many  kinds of  “khots  “, more  than enumerated here,  and  no  text books  relating  to  the  subject as  far  as I  know  are  in  printed form.  Some  khots  I  have  seen  resembled  in material  substance  black  stone  or  oxidised  copper.  Whether, perhaps  they were  artificial,  I  am  unable  to  verify.3
(b)  Unclassified.  Included in  this sub-class  are  certain seeds found in  jack fruit,  tamarind,  krathin thet  ( กระถินเทศ– agacia faraesiana  ),  pradu  ( ประดู่ – pterocarpus  indicus ),  saba  ( สะบ้า – entada phaseoloides ),   satü  ( สะืืตืือ– caudia  chrysantha)  and makha  (มะค่า-lntsia bejuga  ).4
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1  The  transcription  of  Thai  words  is  based  mainly  on  the  Transcription of Thai
Characters into Roman, The Royal  Institute, Bangkok, 1954.
2  A miraculous iron characterized by  its quality  to become soft  if held over candle-fire.
3  Probably  the  “khot” and  the  Burmese  amade  are one and the same  thing.  See
Shway Yoe, The Burman, his life and notions, 3rd ed.  1909.  p.  46.
4  Latin words from McFarland, Thai-English Dictionary·
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With the exception of the jack-fruit tree, all the above trees and vines are “leguminosae” in species, and are found more or less as indigenous growths in Southern Thailand, the northern part of the Malay Peninsula. Any seed or pod from the aforesaid species of trees if found unusually in its natural state to be copper, it is deemed a miraculous object which commands awe and trust, and can be utilized for its supposed inherent vital force as khrüang – rang.
Parenthetically, there is a well-known belief among the older
generation that if a man is born, as a freak of nature, with a lone
copper testis, he will have in himself a certain magical property.
Such a prodigy cannot be slain by any means with ordinary
weapons but by impalement only. There have been once or twice,
if my memory serves me right, mentioned in old chronicles of such
a notable man. Ondoubtedly, the belief in the magical efficacy
of copper is an echo of the Copper Age preserved superstitiously
by man that any such object, a novel and a freak of nature, is a
thing of awe and wonder.
Sometimes, I am told, for lack of such rare magical things
as enumerated above, people will resort to artificial ones by
fashioning them in copper as representations of the aforesaid
natural ones. Khrüang-rang both sub-class (a) and (b) may be
set, mounted or encased with precious metals and strung to a gold
chain to be worn as a necklace. Sometimes they are enmeshed
with fine wires strung to a piece of thread to be hung around
the neck, or wrapped with a narrow piece of white cloth, then
rolled and twisted to be worn as a charm or an amulet. If a natural
one is sizable, in particular the “khot” stone, it may be broken
in smaller pieces for convenience of wearing.
Included too in sub-class (b) are adamantine cat’s-eye ( เพชรตาแมว) and rat’s-eye ( เพชรตาหนู), solid boar’s tusk, canine tooth of tiger or “sang” 1) ( สาง), boar’s or elephant’s tusk broken and lodged in a tree. The latter elephant tusk has a special name in Thai kamchat kamchay ( กำจัดกำจาย= to expel and disperse).
Also included in this sub-class (b) are buffalo’s and bull’s horns
which flash with a radiant light in darkness as if in flames. Any
object of this class, (or part of it if it is a big one) may be ornamented
with precious metal and worn or carried by the owner
as a protection against any danger.
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1. Sang is an old tiger which can transform it self into a man, or vice-versa a
magician who can turn himself into a tiger. It is a were-tiger in Thai folklore.
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The names of these talismanic objects of the Khrüang-rang
are mentioned frequently in Thai historical romances, particularly
in the well-known story of “Khun Chang Khun Phaen” ( ขุนช้างขุนแผน ) . Without an elementary knowledge of the objects of Khrüang-rang, one will not be able to have a clear idea of popular beliefs and lore of the good old days among members of certain
social groups in Thailand. One studies such survivals of the
present day in order to know something of the past and to understand
the present. To ignore such studies for various reasons is
to understand incorrectly the growth and development of the
thoughts and ideas of the folk.
II Phra-Khrüang  (พระเครื่อง). Allied to objects in class I
or Khrüang-rang are certain classes of figurines representing
attitudes and episodes of the life of the Lord Buddha. In fact,
the Thai word Phra Khrüang is a shortened form of Phra
Khrüang-rang (Phra = the lord + khrüang-rang).
These figurines are of three sizes, large, medium and small
which can be utilized as a necklace pendant or carried conveniently
by a person. One or many of these figurines may be worn or carried at the same time after the manner of folk thinking that the bigger the number, the better the safeguared against dangers.
(The more the water, the fewer fish will die; the less the water, the more fish will die” is a Thai saying.)
These sacred figurines are divided into four classes according to materials used and
the process of making them. They are:
(a) Terracotta figures. These are made of fine clay, or a
mixture of clay, pollens from certain kinds of flowers and “wanya”
(see Class IV). The ingredients of the mixture vary in different
degrees in different “schools of teachers” and the formulas are
a jealously kept secret.
(b) Votive tablets of Phra Phim ( พระพิมพ์) meaning Buddha
figurines cast in a mould.

The materials used are of many kinds.
They may be made purely of clay or chalk powder after a certain
magical pronouncement and religious process of a mixture of
certain metals such as iron, copper, tin, lead or certain alloys of
metals. Sometimes gold and silver and mercury are added also.
These again are varied according to the ideas of different “school
of teachers”.
Votive tablets were originally made in tens of thousands
and deposited in caves or enclosed in a stupa or Phra Chedi
(= pagoda) for the pious purpose of reminding the people of their
reverential feeling for the Lord Buddha and his religion; at the
end of five thousand years after his death he will be succeeded
by another Buddha named Sri Arya Metrai ( ศรีอารยเมตรัย) or
Phra Sri Arn ( พระศรีอารย์) in colloquial Thai. Undoubtedly this
belief was influenced more or less by Mahayan, or the Northern
School of Buddhism in contrast to Hinayan, the Southern School
of Buddhism, which has been adopted as the national religion
of Thailand. Historically, there are traces of Mahayan Buddhism
embedded in literature, folklore and ancient monuments in
Thailand which formed the belief of the mass of people or popular
Buddhism in Thailand and the neighbouring countries.

In the process of time more and more such votive tablets
were deposited in stupas as erected, sometimes made not in fullfilment
of a vow but to be used rather as talismans. Old ones have
been discovered from time to time in old or ruined phra chedi,
and many of them fetch high prices determined by the types
and localties where they were discovered. Evidently there are fake
ones too and a knowledge of how to distinguish the real from
the faked ones becomes an art in itself.
(c) Cast figurines. The Casting of these Buddha figurines
has a ritual process in the same manner as casting Buddha images,
but there are certain details that differ, of course, with different
“school of teachers”. The metal cast is either iron, nak ( นาก –
an alloy of gold and copper, the red gold), or silver.
(d) Carved figurines. Materials used for carving are the
wood of certain kinds of trees, such as the sacred fig tree, sandalwood
tree, teak tree and star gooseberry tree. The latter is called
in Thai mayom ( มะยม ) . The second syllable in the word “yom”
has the same identical sound as two other Thai words niyom ( นิยม )
and Phra Yom ( พระยม ). The former means “liked, approved,
respected” (Sanskrit-niyama), and the latter means the Hindu
God of the Underworld (Sanskrit-Yama) feared by all evil spirits.
This is no doubt a play on words which have the same sound
but different meaning, carried far back to the superstition that
the same sound will produce the same effect in the realm of magic.
Apart from such specific woods, the figurines of Buddha may
be carved also out of stone, “khot” (see above), ivory, or tiger’s
canine tooth.
III Khrüang pluk-sek. Before dealing with objects pertaining
to this class, which are numerous, it is necessary to say something
first on the word pluk-sek, for it enters magically not only
this class of talismanic objects, but also other kindred ones as
well. Pluk-sek in Thai means “to arouse the potency of a person or an object by the use of a spell or incantation”; hence “a consecration, a blessedness” in a sense. A spell in the Thai language is khatha-akhom ( คาถาอคม) or wet-mon (เวทมนตร์). These two sets of words are used synonymously by the people, even by the
adepts of magical arts. In fact the four words khatha, akhom,
wet and mon have Sanskrit and Pali words as their origin. They
are gatha, agama, veda and mantra.
Gatha is a verse of a song in Sanskrit and Pali, but khatha
in Thai, apart from its original sense, means also a spell.
Agama in one sense means the Vedas while in Thai akhom
means a spell to be used magically when inscribing or tattooing
certain cabalistic letters, arithmetical figures, circles, squares,
etc. (Yantra) on an object or on the physical body of a person.
Vedas, the sacred scriptures of the Hindus, is Wet in Thai,
which means spell or a set form of words supposed to have magical
power.
Mantra is in Thai pronunciation mon and both mean spell
also. The two terms Veda and mantra, though synonymous in
the Thai language, have different uses. The Vedas mean spell
in relation to post- Vedic Brahminism and the mantras mean
mostly spells in connection with Popular Buddhism. The Thai
knew the first four books of the Vedas, i.e. the Samhitas or the
collection of mantras only, and called them Phra 1 Wet(พระ เวท) .

1. Phra ( พระ ) is vara in Sanskrit and Pali. It is an honorific word in Thai meaning
“lord, precious, etc., to be found in such Thai words, Phra Chao = God,
Phra Jesu = Lord Jesus, and Phra Mahamad = Prophet Mohamad. Phra
alone means also God, a Buddhist monk, or a king or a hero in Thai romance.
If a recitation of certain selected verses from the Buddhist scriptures
is applied with a purpose as a protection against danger or for
the promotion of health and wealth, it is called mon (mantra)
and if otherwise it is called wet (Veda). Hence the confusion of
meanings of these four words with the tendency to merge into
one  another in popular usage.There is another type of wet-mon or spell peculiar perhaps
to the Thai where purely Thai words are recited, or sometimes with Pali terms interspersed here and there for sacredness. Many of the Pali words therein are corrupted ones, while some of the
Thai words are sometimes unutterable or unprintable in everyday
speech because of their obscenities in meanings. Paradoxically,
such a spell is to be pronounced in a loud voice during incantation
in order to have an instant effect on a person or thing concerned.
This type of spell is called Mon Maha Ongkan
( มนตร์มหาโองการ = the mantra of the Great Aumkar or Aum) or in
brevity and in Thai pronunciation mon or Ongkan for the reason
that most of the spells begin with the Hindu mystic sound Aum .
Many Thais of older generation, particularly the uncultured ones,
know more or less of these mantras or spells. They have them
by heart for emergency use, but will not divulge the secret for fear
of indecency or want of kind consideration,1 ) but they may be
told to someone as humorous anecdotes during informal conversation
among intimates.
Sometimes the set form of words to be recited or muttered
is a long one, a selection of initial letters of certain words of the
spell being used as a sort of cabalistic word in place of the full length
text. It is deemed that such an abbreviated form will have
the same magical effect not unlike that of the magic “abracadabra”.
This abbreviated word is called in Thai “the core of the heart” (หัวใจ); probably the same as the words hridya and bija in Sanskrit which mean heart and seed.
I may add here also, as a parenthesis, that when inscribing
or tattooing the word-form in its abbreviation, Cambodian letters
are used for sacredness; only numeral figures are written, in Thai.
Why ? In the old days all sacred Buddhist scriptures were inscribed
on palm leaves with the khom or Cambodian characters unlike
the present day when they have all been replaced by the Thai
alphabet. It has been a traditionai belief and preserved unreflectively
among the folk that khom or Cambodian letters of the old
days were not unlike runic characters with regard to magical
purpose.
Now we can dicuss at some length those objects that pertain
to class III, Pluk-sek. Any artificial objects, apart from Buddha
figurines in class II, have to pass through certain processes of
“pluk-sek” in Order to arouse in them their magical property
by the use of certain magical formal figures such as magic squares,
circles or other and certain incantations appiopriate to the objects
or purposes concerned. Talismanic objects in class I Khrüangrang
and also even Buddha figurines in class II Phra Khrüang, if
they are deemed to grow effete in their magical functioning,
may go through the same process of “pluk-sek” in order to re-enforce
and renew their potency. What has been said here applies
equally to objects in class IV Wan-ya also.
As there are a large variety of objects pertaining to the class
of “pluk-sek,” only certain ones which are comparatively well known,
or so far as I know, will be described as the following.

Takrut ( ตะกรุด ) or amulet (in its limited sense). This class
of objects is a long hollow cylinder in shape with varying length
and thickness. Usually, as far as is known, it is about two inches
long more or less; the shortest one is about half an inch, while
its thickness varies as to material used, ranging from about half
an inch in circumference to about an eighth of an inch. What
has been described here is an approximation only, for there is
to my knowledge no hard and fast rule relating to a standard
measurement. The material used is a small sheet of metal, such
as gold, nak (red gold), silver, copper, tin or lead, cut to the desired
size and inscribed on a small piece of paper or on the metal itself
with mystic letters or other forms and figures as determined in
a particular formula of pluk-sek which differs with each “school of teachers”.
The sheet of metal is then rolled to form a long
hollow cylinder. Sometimes a small twig of bamboo is cut to
the desired length and enlarged with ample hollowness for convenience
of stringing. The takrut is worn with a gold or silver
chain, or with a cotton string, consecrated or otherwise, as a necklace,
a chain worn over the right shoulder as one wearing a sash,
an armlet or a girdle, for protection against dangers or for other
magical purposes as determined by each particular treatise. Usually
the takrut as worn is not a single object but comprises many pieces,
all of the same uniform sizes and lengths as a set or otherwise.
Sometimes magic figures to be inscribed on the takrut are
elaborated into many figures and lines of letters so as to form a
complete set. These cannot be inscribed in totality on a single
small piece of metal but have to be spread out on a number of
takruts; hence the wearing of a number of “takruts” of uniform
size in a single chain. They are usually 3, 5 or 7 in number and such
takruts are called takrut phuak ( ตะกรุดพวก) or associated takruts.
Sometime takruts of various sizes and lengths are worn on a single
chain, because these takruts belong to different “acharns” ( อาจารย์ –
acharya) or teachers of different schools of magic which have
each a peculiar virtue of sacred potency, and one ought not to
miss wearing them if one has a chance of owning them. There
are also Ornaments made in the shape of a takrut which have
nothing to do with magic, but are for adornment only.

Salika. This is a very tiny kind of takrut. The word salika
is a Pali word ( Sanskrit – sarika ) which means a mynah bird which
features often in folk-tales as a sweet talker. Hence the name
of this kind of takrut. Whoever has a salika takrut inserted in a
narrow space between his or her teeth, will find himself or herself,
while talking to someone to have sweet and melodious speech
commanding goodwill towards him or her. Hence a common
saying “he is a salika lin thong i.e. a golden-tongued salika”.
If it is found convenient to insert the salika in the space
between the teeth, the salika may be made in a tiny thin form
instead of rolling it into the takrut shape. Sometimes the salika is inserted on the inner lower lid of either eye to command goodwill from other people toward oneself when in sight. Some authorities
say that in this case, it is a misnomer to call it salika. Its
appropriate name is takrut prasom net ( ตะกรุดประสมเมตร) which
means literally in my own rendering “Takrut of meeting with
the-eyes”, i.e. the takrut which has the power to condition the
meeting of friend or lover to be united in wedding or for gaining
wealth, luck or fortune as desired.
Phismon ( พิสมร ). A talismanic object made from a piece
of leaf of talapot palm inscribed with mystic figures and letters
through a magical process, and woven into a square shape about
an inch in diameter. It is strung on a silk thread, for reason of
its relative strength, rather than on an ordinary cotton thread.
It is worn crosswise from the left shoulder.1
Phismon was used during one of the Thai traditional New
Years, of which there are two – Trut Thai ( ตรุษไทย ) and Trut
Songkran – the water-throwing festival.2  The former, Trut
Thai, falls on the last day of the 4th lunar month (March-April).
In the old days it was a time for people to make merit by offering
food to monks and to wear a phismon during the end of the Old
Year as a protection against evil spirits still lurking as supposed
during and after a ceremonial expulsion at the end of the Old
Year. There was during those days an official ceremony, participated
in by both Buddhist priests and brahmins of the royal
court, when palm-leaf “phismon and tabong phet (ตะบองเพชร)” 3

__

phismon

1. The description of “phismon” is based on a description and a rough sketch
kindly supplied to me some 20 years ago by my friend the late Phra Devabhinimit,
one of the famous Thai artist painters.
2. See J.S.S. Vol. 42 (July, 1954) pp. 23-30
3. Tabong phet means baton made of diamond. In realty it is made of a piece of
palm leaf, and is now still used in the “tonsure ceremony” as a survival of
the old days. See a sketch of tabong phet in plate II No. II of G.E. Gerini,
Chulakantamangala or the Tonsure Ceremony, Bangkok, 1895 A.D.
were distributed to the people who longed for some
tangible protection against evil spirits and the bad luck of the
Old Year.1) The Trut Thai is still observed feebly by the older
generation up to the present day when food is presented to priests
and monks as a special occasion only.
There are also phismons made either of gold or silver which
have no magical value, but are for ornamental purposes only,
unless they have passed through a magical process. They are
worn over the left shoulder in a cross-wise direction strung to a
gold chain, or over both shoulders across the breast and fastened
in front with a pin or a brooch. When many are worn on a chain,
there are also takruts in between the phismons, and again there
are gold beads at both ends of the phismons and takrut called
in Thai luk skot ( ลูกสะกด ) which act as “restrainers” ( สะกด )
or separators. The word “phismon” is curious. It seems to be a word in
a Sanskritized form. It is written as bismara but pronounced
phismon in Thai, but no word bismara is, to my knowledge, to
be found either is Sanskrit or Pali, the classical languages of
the Thai. There is a word basmala in Malay, Arabic in origin,
which is a formula for the words “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the
Compassionate”. It is inscribed on a piece of paper and enclosed
in a small metal case and hung by a string and worn as a necklace.
I describe this from memory only when I saw half a century ago
a Pathan wearing such a thing around his neck. He told me
that it is called bismala. It is possible that the Thai phismon and
bismala or basmala may come from the same source.3)
There are two other words in Malay which are similar to
Thai words in connection with magic. They are the words kaphan (กะพ้น ) and khun (คุณ ). The former is usually juxtaposed to another Thai word to form a synonymous couplet peculiar to the Thai language as Yukhong Kaphan ( อยู่คงกะพ้น ).
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1. See H.M. King Chulalongkorn, The Royal Monthly Ceremonies of the Year
( พระราชพิธิ่สิบสองเดือน) in Thai.
2. See article “Basmala” in Encyclopaedia of Ethics and Religion

Yukhong is no doubt an indigenous Thai word meaning invulnerability;
the same meaning attaches also to the word “kaphan” – a word
of doubtful origin. The Malay has a word kabal with a similar
sound and meaning i.e. invulnerability. Khun in Thai means
an incantation by which a piece of raw hide is magically reduced
greatly in size to harm an enemy sending it with means to enter
the victim’s body. The magical raw hide will resume gradually
its normal size inside the victim, and he will suffer great pain
and die in agony. If I remember right Malay has a word “guna”
with a similar meaning. There is no doubt that because of similar
conditions of mind among the simple folk of the people of South-
East Asia, there have been in the past mutual borrowings of
magical practice. This may apply to other peoples as well; for
“civilization is only skin-deep” . One will find similar practices
and ideas, though modified and transformed to modern ideas,
among people of every race or nation.
Pha prachiat (ผ้าประเจียด). This is a piece of cloth about
the size of a handkerchief or a napkin inscribed with yantra. In
the days when people usually wore a singlet or otherwise with a
pha khama ( ผ้าขาวม้า )loincloth i.e. a scarf hung loosely on a shoulder or as a sash as one’s upper garments, the pha prachiat was worn
as a neck-or an arm-band when going out as a proof against
weapons, as a protection from malignant spirits and to avert any
mishaps. Later, when one wore a coat, a hat or cap, the pha
prachiat was kept either in the coat-pocket or in the hat or cap.
There are a number of books in Thai, mostly in manuscripts
in private possession, which treat the subject of yantras more
or less systematically with copious patterns and designs of the
yantras. No one who is a stranger to this mystical art will be
able to make yantras effectively from book knowledge only. He
must also know the mysteries communicated or imparted ritually by a teacher. Hence yantras made by a priest famed for his holiness are eagerly soughr for. Psychologically, any object magical in its origin must acquire a religious significance ritually before it
can be regarded as an object of khrüang pluk-sek.
The ritual process by which a yantra can be produced effectively
is roughly as follows:
After the usually preliminary purificatory act as required
in all solemn rites, the practitioner will begin by making an address
invoking the help, firstly, of the holy Triple Gems, i.e. the
Buddha, his Law and his Council of Orders; next come the chief
deities of Hinduism and semi-divine beings, including in their
train also certain rishis or holy seers who are traditional preceptors
peculiar to the particular rite on hand; then come one’s parents
and teachers, both in the past and present as relevant to one’s
particular profession. In certain rites evil spirits, both local
and foreign, are coaxed and coerced at the same time.
The list of such conglomerations of beings varies more or
less in different “school of teachers”, and some of the names
in the iist, particulary the rishis or seers, are compted and difficult
to identify with Indian ones. Some of them bear local names only.
The invoking address is not confined to the production of yantras,
but carried out also as a preliminary act traditional for other
solemn undertakings, for instance, the rite relating to the casting
of Buddha images, the writing of certain literary compositions
and the annual homage to teachers and instructors by students.
The tradition is a beautiful one as an expression of gratitude to
one’s benefactors, both imaginary or real and in the past and
present, and to ask solemnly for grace, goodwill and success in
any undertaking or learning. The tradition has a great influence
upon the attitude of most of the Thai towards their parents,
teachers and mentors.
After the afore-said act, the practitioner will concentrate
his mind religiously and begin to draw the yantra. He has to hold
his breath hile mumbling certain specific gathas, or, in other
words, a magic spell, and at the same time he must not withdraw
certain specific lines. What has been described here is an imperfect
statement of a layman who has never been instructed in
the mysteries as imparted by a teacher of the art.
Akin to pha prachiat there are a number of specific yantras
inscribed on a piece of cloth or Paper. They are not known by
name as a class like pha prachiat but called individually by the
names they bear with the word yantra as a prefix. Their uses in
magic are the same as pha prachiat, save that they are not worn
or carried by a person but hung somewhere as a means of protection
against unseen danger from the phi or evil spirits. Two of
these yantras, well-known ones, are described herewith.
Yan Thao Wessuwan ( ยันต์ท้าเวสสุวรรณ). It is a yantra
a figure image of King Wessuwan who is a yakhsa or supernatural
being of gigantic size. He is no other than Kuvera or Vaisravana
the Hindu king or chief of the evil spirits, a sort of Pluto, and
also a god of wealth and a regent of the North. His vehicle, unlike
that of other Hindu chief deities, is man. In Thailand there has
been a belief among the folk that Wessuwan is the guardian of
new-born babies which are liable to be taken or killed very easily
by numerous evil spirits that swarm and lurk somewhere near
the vicinity where a child is bom. Hence a Yantra bearing his image
is hung over a baby cradle or cot. Evil spirits seeing Wessuwan’s
image in the yantra will be frightened and give it a wide-berth
for Wessuwan has a terrible and ugly appearance as a giant holding
always a very massive bludgeon. In Hindu mythology he has
three legs as his means of locomotion. Why is he very interested
in human babies? Because they are his human vehicles. In the
old days, some fifty years ago, there were printed copies of this
yantra on sale in the market. I do not know whether these printed
yantra were merely ordinary printed ones or whether they have
passed through a proper magical process. Anyhow, to the folk
this is not important so long as they had faith in tbe efficacy of
the yantra.Yan Trinisinghe ( ยันต์ตรีนิสิงเห ). A yantra in the form of
a square with four equal sides, and a smaller one interposed
diagonaily. A line is drawn across either angle of the two squares;
thus forming four little squares diagonally within the main one.
There are also three small circles to each side at the outer rim of
the main square, two at each corner and one in the middle between
the two. Thus within the main square there are four little squares
and two half-squares each at every corner. In these eight spaces
certain numeral figures are inscribed, so that when added up in
a straight line they will give certain mystic numbers. Here is the diagram of the yantra:

Note figure 5 at the top with a spiral crest. It is a sacred
and mystic symbol known as unalom in Pali and urna in Sanskrit.
It is a traditional curled tuft of hair between the eye-brows peculiar
to the Lord Buddha.
The Yan Trinisinghe has many functions in connection
with white magic. In former days when a baby was born, a number
of these yantras were hung by a string around the perimeter of
the room where the mother with her baby was lying near a fire
after giving birth. This is a safe-guard against danger from evil
spirits especially the phi krasü ( ผีกระสือ). 1
There are many kinds of yantras of the type of yan trinisinghe.
No doubt they are elaborations of the said yantra even
though they bear different names and functions.
Süa Yan ( เสื้อยันต์). Akin to pha prachia is the “süa yan”
or a jacket inscribed with yantra. It has the same use and function
as a magical protection not unlike the pha prachiat. In principle
the süa yan jacket and the pha prachiat are evidently one and
the same thing. The difference lies in that the former has ample
space for drawing yantra in details, enabling one to include on
the jacket many patterns of yantra to comparatively satisfy one’s
needs as desired, while the latter cannot.
The süa yantra jacket is usually red and the inscription black.
Those that I have seen which belonged to the King’s wardrobe
were each in one of the seven colours corresponding to the seven
days of the week, (each of which has a specific colour relating
to the apparel one wears).2) These royal jackets are called in
Thai court language chalong phra ong long raja ( ฉลองพระองค์ลงราชะ )
which means literally “royal jacket inscribed with raja”,
(which in this instance means yantra), identical in sound and
meaning to the Malay word raja.

___________________________________________
1 See “The Phi’’ J.S.S. Vol. 41, pt. 2. 1954.
___________________________________________
Tattooing. Five decades ago or more most male Thai particulary
among the folk, tattooed themselves for invulnerability.
Travel in the old days outside one’s own village was an adventure,
with danger both from human beings and the phi or evil spirits.
One had to be a law to oneself in some outlying places. Hence
to have certain potent magical tattooed charms always on oneself
as a safeguard was better than none. Tattooing was also done
by other classes of people too, sporadically, for the healing of
certain diseases magically. The practice of tattooing for such
purposes survives weakly up to the present day.
In Northern Thailand tattooing was practised to the extent
that both thighs, down nearly to the knee and up to the waist
were totally tattooed. Seen from a distance, if scantily clad,
the tattooed man appeared to wear black short trousers. Tattooing
of yantra may be done on any part of a human body – arms,
hands, chest, back and even on the crown of the head, and
sometimes on the nape and chin. Prominent tattooed marks
are usually made on the breast and back, for the reason that
here are comparatively wider spaces for one to include certain
yantras which require more room for inscribing.1)
Evidently the tattooing of oneself with yantras and the
inscribing of them on a süa yan jacket seem to be one and the
same in principle; the difference lies in that the former is made
on a human living skin but the latter on a cloth. There is an apparent
advantage of the former over the latter in that to have a
charm always permanently with one is better than to wear one
with a süa yan jacket. One need not worry about losing such a
valuable thing. On the other hand, the wearing of a jacket of
süa yan has a compensating advantage over the former for one
will not suffer obvious pain at the initial stage during tattooing.
On this assumption I am inclined to believe that the süa yan jacket
might have been a development from tattoaing yantris.
Tattooing with a yantra has a rite of its own. It is to be
done traditionally within the sanctuary of a “bote” (Buddhist
chapel). After having made a customary obeisance before the
Buddha image, the tattooing begins under the supervision of an adept,

a priest or a layman, who will recite in a subdued voice
certain incantations throughout the time while the puncturing
of skin is in progress. When the tattooing is completed, the
tattooed man will have to face a more painful ordeal of pluk-sek
which is specific and different from what has been described. The
tattooer will strike hard with his open hand on the tattooed yantra
many times, until the designs of the yantra tattooed emerge distinctly
and prominently on the skin. There may be a test done
on the tattooed man by throwing something hard at him, or striking
him with a sharp instrument and if he comes out unscathed, it
means that the ritual process is magically a success. I am here
describing what I got from an informant, and I am unable to
verify the fact, for very few people I have come across can enlighten
me much with any authority. It seems to be in one respect something
of an initiation ceremony into manhood for young men.
There are no books on tattooing magically I have ever come
across, though there may have been many patterns and designs
kept by professional tattooers which were meant more for decoration
than for magical purposes. I am inclined to believe that
they use the same kind of yantra as selected from such books
on yantras. Perhaps there may have been some specific patterns
that are used exclusively by tattooers. In my younger days, some
sixty or more years ago, I saw certain tattooing designs appearing
on certain persons’ thighs often which I have never come across
in books on yantras. Perhaps it is too late now to find such
specimens. I may add here that a person with a tattooed yantra
or one who can say by heart certain spells will superstitiously
not eat carambola fruit or bottle gourd for fear that the charm
and spell he has with him will deteriorate in potency.
There were, also, two tattooed designs of by – gone days,
one of which I can remember vividly but hesitate to describe them,
for they border on vulgarity. However for academic purposes
I will write here roughly what they are. These two tattooed designs
are no other than phallic symbols representing both male and
female generative organs. They are known representively as ai
khik ( อ้ายขิก) and ee pü ( อีเป๋อ). No one can enlighten me what they mean either literally or etymologically; save that the prefixing words “ai” and “ee” are appellations for male and female used now in a derogatory sense. I was able to draw one of them
sketchily when I was a boy through a vagary of youth.
These two patterns of dual phallic symbols were usually
tattooed, either one or the other, on a thigh or on a forearm above
the wrist. The “ai khik” was the more frequent, for it could be
drawn easily in a grotesque shape with a tail and two legs added
in a rearing position. 1 I have never come across either of them
nowadays. Strange to say, as told to me, a person with a tattooed
ee pü has to express in sacrilegious words or acts things going
against his own Buddhist religion, if he wants the charm to operate
effectively.
The ai khik was also made, as a detachable object of a little
size, of metal (usually copper or silver) or of certain kinds of
wood. It is similar in shape to the Hindu linga. Many pieces of
these little things were worn on a string round a male child’s waist;
while a female one would wear instead a chaping (จะปิ้ง) – an
ornamental gold or silver genital shield suspended from a string round a small girl’s
waist. It is a Malay word of Portuguese origin chapin which
means a metal disc to cover the hole of anything.
Many ai khik objects were worn around a small boy’s waist,
but sometimes they were worn alternately on the same string with
other miniature metal padlocks, bells, and objects in the shape
of a chilli or red pepper pod. Such a string of magical objects
may have survived up to the present day, probably in outlying
places far from urban influence. I am told that they are, when
worn, a proof against weapons far those that are tattooed with
such figures, and as a protection from animal’s teeth and fang
which is in the Thai idiom “fangs and tusks” ( เขี้ยวงา). I believe
the practice of wearing these little things and also the chaping
the little girl wears to hide her nudity was to avert the evil eye,
which idea seems to be forgotten now among the Thai word durai ( ดูร้าย ) in ancient Thai law books meaning literally “ evil look”. Probably it may mean “evil eye” or “drishtadosha” in Sanskrit.
In certain localities in out – of – way places, one will still sometimes
come across phallic symbols of a comparatively large size
in the shape of the Hindu linga. They are mostly made of wood,
crudely done and lying or hanging on small tree branches around
or in front of a spirit shrine. One will know at once that a female
spirit has her abode there: Such thing is called in Thai dokmai
chao (ดอกไม้เจ้า) or “flowers of chief phi“ as an offering to her.
I saw some years ago while passing along a “klong” ( canal ) in a
boat, actuaily in Bangkok, a spirit shrine with many such “chao’s
flowers” hanging there. Many farangs (Westerners) also have
seen them and have asked me as to the reason why. It is a relic
of “the good old days” revived as a practical joke by a certain
old gentleman now long dead on the sophisticated folk who
look at things materially and realistically.
Luk-om (ลูกอม). Anything of a globular shape is called
“luk” in Thai and “om” means to hold in a mouth. The
“luk-om” is, in this instance, a ball which one can hold in the
mouth – a name for a certain class of khrüang pluk-sek. The
materials used as ingredients to form into a ball of luk – om are
many. It can be made of a composition of stone, lime, wax,
silver, etc. The best and well – known one is a luk-om of solidified
mercury or quick-silver. Here is the secret formula.
File down a silver baht coin into powder of ¼ baht in weight.
Mix the silver powder with pure quick – silver of one baht in weight.
(To have pure quick-silver, mix it with one ladleful of boiled rice.)
The mixing is done in a small mortar, stirring well with a pestle
until they adhere to each other sufficiently to become a compact
little ball. Put it in a piece of cloth and tie it into a compress
with a piece of string attached for hanging. Hang it above the
mouth of a boiling pot for a day; the quick-silver will thicken
into a solid. Take a kaffir lime ( มะกรูด – Citrus Hystrix, McFarland’s
Siamese-English Dictionary) and cut its top open. Insert the
quick-silver into the lime and close it with the piece of the lime which has been cut as a lid, pinning it with a silver of wood. Boil the lime with the quick-silver in it until the quick-silver becomes a solid mass in a ball about the size of a thumb, very weighty
and having a glossy surface. The quick-silver now has a magical
property. Anybody having with him such quick-silver will be
free from misfortunes and accidents. If it is put in his mouth
he will feel no thirst. It goes so far in popular belief that whoever
holds it in mouth will feel rejuvenated. Though old, his skin
will become smooth, his wrinkles and the folds of skin will
disappear. He will in the end be able to fly and become a phethyathon
(semi-divine being, the vidyadhara of Hinduism). Having
a magic solid quicksilver with you, when going into a jungle, evil
spirits will not dare to harm you. A friend of mine jokingly said
he once lived in a jungle for some time and was not molested by
evil spirits because he had with him such magical quicksilver. But
when he left the jungle, after a few days he had an attack of
high malaria fever. Assuredly the making of quicksilver into a
solid mass which gives a magical property of the alchemist’s art.
This solid quick-silver may be compared to the “Philosopher’s
mercury” of Mediaeval Europe.
Included in this class III khrüang pluk-sek, are the phirot
arm and finger ring ( แหวนพิรอต ),1) used by officiates in traditional
ceremonies, the nang kwak ( นางกว้ด = “she who beckons”)
made of metal,2 mit maw ( ÁÕ´ËÁÍ – “a master knife” inscribed
with gathas, a weapon against the phi ) and many others too
numerous to enumerate and describe herein.
As already described, the khrüang pluk-sek are consecrated
objects aroused into their magical potency by the use of certain
incantations and other ritual acts. Many of these incantations
are excerpts from certain gathas or stanzas from Buddhist literature,
and these are certain mystic abbreviations of the texts. A
well-known one is the formula Namo Buddhaya shortened into

_________________________________________________________
1. See “phirot ring” in Gerini’s Chula-Kantamangala, p.154. Also in “Bracelets
de sorciers au pays Thai” (Institute Indochinois pour l’ Etude de 1’ Homme,
1941, torne iv).
2. See “Nang kwak” in Clasz IV Wun- Ya.

__________________________________________________________

five initial letters of the five syllables na, ma, bha, dha, ya and
interpreted as the five names of the Buddhas of the period of
the age of the world (the kalpa in Sanskrit and Pali). E.O. James
in his Comparative Religion (p. 40) says rightly that “before anything
can be venerated as an object of worship it must acquire a
religious significance, that is to say, condition religious behaviour”
and in another place he says “The Indian does not interpret life
in terms of religion, but religion in terms of life” (p. 43). Look
with a generous mind on the world’s great religions and one will
not wonder why magic and superstition still form an integral part
of the faith in every religion in its popular aspect, for it takes all
sorts and conditions of humanity to form a world.
Parenthetically, there appear in a book of yantra ( คําภีร์พุทธรตนมหาย้นต์) a set of 14 stanzas of gatha, or “spell” in this instance, which are meant to be inscribed specifically
each on 14 different yantras. The first and the fourteenth
stanzas in Pali are as follows:
“Pajotā dhamma bhāhotu jotavaro satāvoha tāva riyo
suvatabhā dharo yogo chasusmmā” (first stanza).
“Ti loka magga hana komataṃ nayo sabba dayo mahasamapa
dhamsa yi ti loka maggā hana ko mataṃ nayo” (fourteenth stanza) .
It says in the book that these fourteen gathas originated
in Lankadvipa (Ceylon) during the reign of King Devanampiyadis
of Ceylon. The scholars and seers of the realm, who wished that
prosperity might reign with the great king, selected all the best
referring to the graces of the Lord Buddha and composed them
into 14 stanzas together with procedures as to their uses. These
were presented to the king who committed them to memory
and practice. By the grace and efficacy of the Fourteen Stanzas,
king Devanampiyadis had a long and prosperous reign in Anuratburi
(Anuradhapura), Lanka.
There was a great elder or maha thera named Phra Maha
Vijaya Mangala Thera, famed for his holiness, who visited Ceylon
to pay homage to the famed tooth relic of the Lord Buddha.Wishing that the great King Brahma Trailok of Jambhudvipa might derive great benefit from these Fourteen Stanzas, he copied and brought them as a present to the said king. By virtue of the
Fourteen Stanzas the great monarch became famous for his regal
splendor far and wide and foreign kings never dared to oppose
his majestic greatness and paid homage to the great king.
Whoever, whether he be a king, a samana (monk), a brahmin,
a wealthy man, or a householder, wishes to derive benefit and
happiness in the three worlds (heaven, earth and nether world)
from the Fourteen Stanzas, he has to study and commit them
to memory and to practise them daily and he will be prosperous
with happiness and good fortune until the end of his days.
IV. Wan Ya ( ว่านยา). “Wan” is the Thai name of certain
plants, mostly with tuber roots, popularly considered as a class;
and “ya” means medicine, either as a healing agent or as a poison.
The “wan ya”, as its name implies, is used mainly in folk medicine,
and many of the plants are used also in magic. Medicine and
magic among the untutored folk are inseparable in practice in
most of the remedies. Certain mantras, i.e. charms and spells,
form a preliminary and essential part for beginners in the study
and practice of the traditional art of folk medicine. Certain diseases
of unknown cause were deemed as implications of the phis or evil
spirits which lurked invisibly nearby. Without the aid of magic
one could not be sure of the efficacy of a remedy. It however,
served a useful purpose for some ailments as faith-healing does.
As most of the so-called wan ya are to be found growing
wild in jungles, it is no wonder that the lore of utilizing them as
remedial agents and posion may have come by experience originally
from jungle folk who use them as their sole medicinal remedy.
The same plant of the wan ya may have different names in different
localities, and the same name may be known in certain areas
referring to a different kind of plant. Hence it is difficult sometimes
to be Sure of the identity of any of the plants. George B.
McFarland in his Thai-English Dictionary gives under the word
“wan” some ten well-known names of the wan plants with identifyword “wan” itself. There are more than a hundred names of
wan with descriptions of the plants and their use transmitted
orally as lore which await systematic study before it is too late.
We call medicinal materials derived from plants in their crude herbal
form smun phrai ( สมุนไพร) . The word smun is still etymologically
and literally in meaning unknown, while the word phrai means
a forest or jungle from a Mon-Khmer word. Tacitly such medicinal
materials were originally forest products.
As the wan ya forms a major part of the study of folk
medicine it is outside the scope of this article. We, therefore, will
confine the discussion here to one kind of wan ya, as an example,
that has some bearing on charms and amulets.
Wan nang kwak ( ว่านนางกว้ก ). As hinted previously, nang
kwak means “she who beckons” with her hand; this wan is well known
among shop-keepers. It is used exclusively as a mysterious
magical agent to attract more buyers of the goods in the shop if
placed somewhere nearby. Here is a rough description of the
plant from memory. It is a small plant similar to the arum family
with a reddish or greenish colour. It is usually cultivated in an
earthen pot. My description here differs radically from the one
described in a certain Thai treatise on the wan plants.1

The wan nang kwak as known by botanists is Eucharis sp.2

There are one or two stalls in the week-end bazaar in Bangkok (Phramane Ground) that deal in wan plants. Perhaps there are some of the nang kwak variety in the collection. The difficuly lies in that one has to believe what the seller asserts, with no way to verify.
It is a well-known belief, mostly among women of the shopkeeper class, that whoever has the wan nang kwak in the stall will enjoy a brisk market for goods through the mysterious attraction of the wan nang kwak i.e. “she who beckons”. It may be made from the said wan either from its tuber root, certain kinds of wood of the fig family, or cast from metal, into a small figure in the image of a young woman with traditional hair style and
dress attire in an attitude of sitting side-ways on the floor, the
left hand either placed on the thigh or supported on the floor
while the right hand is raised and stretched a little forward in a
beckoning attitude of Thai style with palm downward. To beckon
with palm upward may create a misunderstanding and a sensitive
feeling to certain Thais, for it is deemed undecorous in Thai
manners.