CONTENTS
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6
INTRODUCTION 7
PART 1. THAILAND 10
Ramayana painting in Thailand 13
Murals of the Emerald Buddha cloister 15
Buddhaisawan cabinets 42
Wat Suthat triptychs 45
Wat Pho (Chetuphon) scripture house and ubosot doors 52
Wat Ratburana (Phisanulok) 60
Thai gilt lacquered cabinets 69
Thai Shadow leather-cut figures 73
PART 2. CAMBODIA 80
Ramayanic painting in Cambodia 83
The Murals of Wat Bo 83
Dating the painting 83
Restoration of the Murals 84
Textual Sources for the Paintings 84
Wat Bo: Description of the murals 86
West wall, upper register 88
West wall, middle register 90
West wall, lower register 94
North wall, upper register 99
North wall, middle register 102
North wall, lower register 107
East wall, upper register 113
South wall, upper register 116
South wall, middle register 122

East wall, middle register 128
East wall, lower register 133
South wall, lower register 136
Plaster Ramayana figures at Wat Bo 144
Comments on the mural paintings 144
The Wat Bo murals and Buddhism 145
Wat Bo cut leather skins - Sbek Thorn 149
Other visual Ramayanic narratives in Cambodia 155
Angkor Wat North (Siem Reap) 155
Wat Bo Lanka (Siem Reap) 156
Wat Nokor (Kampong Cham) 157
Wat Phnom Krom (Siem Reap) 159
Wat Bo Krom (Siem Reap) 159
Wat Kdol (Battambang) 160
Wat Ksach Puoy (Battambang) 162
Wat Damrei Sor (Battambang) 163
Painted wooden planks at the Phnom Penh National Museum 164
The Silvet Pagoda: key murals 165
Comments on the Silver Pagoda and its murals 173
Cambodian iconography at the turn of the 20th century 174
Conclusions 174
PART 3. LAOS 177
Ramayana painting in Laos 179
Phra Lak Phra Lam (Ban Naxon) 179
Phra Lak Phra Lam (Wat Kang Tha) 185
Pbmmachak version (Moung Singh) 188
Phra Lak Phra Lam from Luang Prabang 189
Gvay Dvorabhi from Luang Prabang 190
Ramajataka 193
Dasharathajataka 193
The murals of Wat Oup Muong murals 194
The friezes of Wat Mai frieze 194
The murals of Wat Pa Khe 199
The wood panels of Wat Xieng Thong (Luang Prabang) 204
PART 4. BURMA 211
Ramayana painting in Burma 213
Literary sources 213
Payagyi Pagoda tablets 21 8
APPENDICES 220
I. Khmer Ramayanic Texts and Images
The Ramayana 220
The Sbek Thorn narrative 220
The TraiBbet 222
The Poem of Angkor or LAV 224
The Reamker 226
The narrative of the Reamker I 227
The Ramakerti of the Oknha Veang Thiounn (OVT) 230
8. The Reamker of Mi Chak (Bizot s RMC) of Ta Krut and of Ta Soy 231
Comments on Cambodian recensions of Rama's story 234
II. Inscriptions on the Wat Bo murals and the search for An ur-story 237
CONCLUSION 245
BIBLIOGRAPHY 246
PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS 248
INDEX 249