[
    {
        "id": 206892,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 169,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\nVISIT TO THE SUKHOTHAI SITES IN THAILAND\n\n163\n\nThe first overseas tour of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society went to Thailand from 1-6 February 1973. Twenty members took part.\n\nThe purpose of the tour was to visit the historical sites of Sukhothai, Srisachanalai and Kampengpetch in the centre of the country; these are the abandoned cities of the Sukhothai kingdom which asserted its independence from the Khmers about 1220, reached its apogée under Ramkamheng (r. ± 1275—1317), and declined after the foundation in 1350 of Ayuthia, which subjugated the northerly kingdom in 1378, when the Sukhothai king, Mahadharamaraja II, transferred the capital to Pitsanuloke to reign as a vassal of Ayuthia. The Sukhothai kingdom is famous for its export celadons which in recent years have found their merited place in world porcelain collections for their originality and texture.\n\nHowever, the tour first stayed in Bangkok and, using a converted rice barge, saw some old temple paintings in Dhonburi and Nonthaburi.\n\nWat Chalermprakiad on the Chao Phrya River is a picturesque and half-ruined temple built by King Rama III in memory of his mother. The temple is surrounded by a double wall, the inner one having square towers with circular openings showing the strong Chinese artistic and architectural influences in Siam during that king's reign (1824-1851). The building to the right of the central edifice is in a state of total ruin, but still has its original doors and windows with their lacquer and mother-of-pearl exteriors and their lotus-painted red and blue interiors. Those of the main building, which is in a far better state of preservation, are predominantly red and green. There is excellent stucco work over the doors and windows and broken porcelain is used for characteristic decoration on the roof lines. The rustic setting of the temple, with its teak kuti or monks' houses surrounded by rain trees and breadfruit trees dominated by the tapering white chedi in the centre, left a strong impression of dignified serenity.\n\nWat Po Bang O, off Klong Bangkrouay, is a small old temple also in rural surroundings which has interesting examples of original 18th century paintings with some 19th century overlay showing",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207816,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1976",
        "page_number": 204,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "The Ancient Mon-Pagan, Peru & Nakorn Pathom 189\n\n(Rama VI) complete with Shakespearian house and a statue to his dog whom he suspected had been poisoned by jealous courtiers.\n\nThe Pagan theme of temple paintings, though of a different period, may also be taken up again in Dhonburi, across the river from Bangkok. Dhonburi was the capital between the fall of Ayuthaya in 1757 and the establishment of Bangkok in 1782 and boasts a number of old temples, many still having their original mural paintings. The little visited Wat Wai Thepnimit is lost amid sluggish canals and has paintings in good condition dating from the late 18th century. Like many of such temples, the scene above the main door inside represents the victory of the Buddha over the temptations of Mara; the scene behind the altar shows the division of the world into paradise, earth, and hell; and at the lower levels on the sides, between the windows, are the stories from the last ten Jataka tales, while above are serried rows of alternating orahan, or devotees, and yaksa or giants. In better condition, though in not so charmingly dilapidated a building, is the temple of Wat Chaiyathit, which can only be reached by a walk by narrow canals and a railway track. The well-known paintings at the fine Wat Suwannaram on Klong Bangkok Noi need little introduction. The small dual buildings of Wat Rumarin Ratchapaksi near Wat Dusit, bombed by accident in the last war, are now at last being repaired, though not before the weather has caused considerable damage to the quality of the paintings. One of the most impressive buildings to survive the passage of time and weather is the old library at Wat Rakhang, the Ho Trai. This has three rooms and was formerly part of a dwelling of General Chakri, the founder of the present dynasty, in the 18th century. He had it converted into a library for the temple after he became king. The carved entrance doors are magnificent, and the Ayuthia period lacquered library cupboards are in very good condition. The paintings, which had been much damaged by time and smoke from a fire at the temple, are now being restored. The scenes depict barely recognisable episodes from the Thai version of the Ramayana.\n\nBangkok does not lack evening entertainment, but there is not much that can rival the setting of Krisnavara House, with its collection of antiques beside the Chao Praya River, for a performance of the now rarely presented hoon krabawk, or stick puppet theatre. The figures are clothed in 19th-century court dresses and",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 213618,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1995",
        "page_number": 214,
        "title": "RAS-1995",
        "content_text": "187\n\nTWO GROUPS OF CHINESE DEITIES RARELY SEEN ON CHINESE ALTARS\n\nKEITH STEVENS\n\nImages of Chinese deities on altars either stand alone, with their aides and assistants where applicable, or in groups of two, three, five, eight, ten, eighteen as dictated by their legend or custom. There are many such groups, most of which are to be seen on a number of temples. However, two groups, though quite frequently referred to in scripture and legend have only been noted once. The first, the Six Patriarchs of Buddhism, stand on three altars, side by side, in a secondary hall of a popular religion temple run by Ch'aochou devotees in Chonburi, a city just south of Bangkok. The second, the Taoist Seven True Ones (of the Northern School), the disciples, enlightened ones, of Wang Chung-yang can be seen in a separate side hall dedicated to them of a temple at the base of Hua Shan in Shensi province.\n\nThe Patriarchs of Buddhism, Tsu\n\nThere are two separate groups of Buddhist patriarchs, those of the West, that is, with Indian and Hindu origins, and those of the East, that is, Chinese. Indian patriarchs of Western Buddhism totalled twenty-eight, a few of whom were still revered in mainland Chinese temples during the earlier part of this century.\n\nThe Chinese patriarchs of Eastern Buddhism, a total of six, the Tung-tsu Liu(1), belong to a relatively late stage in the development of Buddhism in China of which one, the last and Sixth, Liu Tsu, is still regarded as a major deity in his own right by the Cantonese. However, images of Liu Tsu, together with the other five Patriarchs are to be seen in Chonburi, in a large combined Buddhist-Taoist temple.\n\nThe first patriarch of Chinese Buddhism is Bodhidharma who was also the 28th and last Patriarch of Indian Buddhism. He left India when already an old man and in about AD 520 after travelling for about three years he reached Canton bringing with him the sacred alms bowl of the Indian Patriarchate. He died some ten years later and, according to different schools of thought, is buried either near Loyang or near...",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 213625,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1995",
        "page_number": 221,
        "title": "RAS-1995",
        "content_text": "194\n\nWe have already noted that images of Bodhidharma, Liu Tsu and the Taoist Chiu Ch'ang-ch'un have been seen individually in Chinese temples, revered in their own right; however, the images of the four other Patriarchs of Eastern Buddhism and the six other Taoist True Ones have only been seen as described in Chonburi and at the base of Hua Shan.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 Note that there were two Sixth Patriarchs of Ch'an. One was Shen Hsiu (f), the Northern Patriarch and the other Hui Neng, the Southern Patriarch. Both were disciples of Hung Jen. Note also that (2) and (3) are interchangeable.\n\nThe Sixth Patriarch's full title is Nan-tsung hia Ta Chien Ch'an-shih.\n\n1 Literally 'the sect of Complete Reality'.\n\nThe group is also known as Pei-tsung Ch'i Chen-jen, and the Sect as The School of Seven.\n\n5 Elsewhere it is claimed that he was born in AD 1148 and died in 1227.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]