JSS 062 1i SmithiesEuayporn WaiKruCeremonyOfNangYai

NOTES
THE WAI KRU CEREMONY OF THE NANG YAI

by
Michael Smithies & Euayporn Kerdchouay
The nang yai or giant shadow play, which we have described

elsewberet, has all but disappeared and with it its elaborate reverence to
teachers ceremonies (wai kru). Unusually these centre around written
texts. The texts are of unknown origin and in their present form date
from the beginning of the Ratanakosin period, but may well have been
reconstituted then from memories of an Ayuthian form. The entertain-
ment was well known in the Ayuthia period and the earliest reference
to it is in a law dated 1458 when the nang yai is mentioned several times
among the court entertainments.
Nicolas 2 compared the ceremony to the Nandi sequence in Indian
drama and found it analogous to the prayer uttered by the Javanese
dalang before presenting his figures on the screen. Prince Dbani3 ad-
mitted to finding the texts 'very difficult to understand' because of the
archaisms in which they abound and translated some passages of the
three thuay or sections into rhyming quatrains; he drew the attention of
his readers to the Thai article which Nicolas had used as his source and
which Prince Damrong was of the opinion came from the pen of Krom-
amun Sthitya or Prince Tosini4.
The ceremony starts5 with the master of the nang yai troupe receiv-
ing from the sponsor of the performance the wai kru offerings, consisting
1) Euayporn Kerdchouay & Michael Smithies, 'The giant shadow play of Thailand',
Orientations (Vol. 4 No.8 August, 1973), pp. 47-50.
2) Rene Nicolas 'Le thell.tre d'ombres au Siam', JSS (July 1927, Vol. XXI part 1),
pp. 37-51.
3) H.H. Prince Dhaninivat, Kromamiim Bidyalabh Bridhyakorn, The Nang (Thai
Culture New Series No.5), Fine Arts Department, (Bangkok, BE 2501 (1958) ),
PP· 16.
tV "- ~ 1 J. o 1 rv 1
4) {l\'11!111liJ11-ltl3J\IlH '1 fl1f'l\'1 6 ; \11111lllU111-l~ U~1UlJHHl"''l
5) The ceremony described here is that performed by the only known surviving
nang yai troupe in 197 3 directed by the aging Nai La- or Tongweesit in the tem-
ple of Wat Kan9n in the villa~e of Soi Fa 1 near Pot?ram i!l Rajburi provinc;:Q,
ilefmat~~, me
middle:
·rhc
the nHI.Jler ;md

dtclnimin.r¢ the ~<rtd Ant u:J~t.
lam~;;i (:ib!I:CUf'C, It ~UU'¥1 \liilh &,lft
*md th~ (»f the art
lt.nimilHit: .iflifil:& uf mHtm::

ilft:rcen, the MJfliXlrllfll
then in\lhed Hl C()rne 1md
tiuH tun been lumdcd d•nvn
rcfer~nce w
htil)P~rl14 in fiOtUbtrn
tmditnt~c lu !!.e<l
who \¥ill wm
fn:m:~c
the victor. Tbt ntlii!Utr finuUy
brighter behind the ICrC:Cft lO Jhe r~run·n~~~~~~"'"'
by an.
6) The~c tbree rlJurei artt cut lttrm:ii«~l to
SmitbieJ 19'13) and lire made ur !llipctiillil)· ll'lr~!niiir<!tt
Vi.libnu and Siva, and the ar~th!:)rtl~,i tt~pucn~lilnl•!l m" ~~t11U a~.
in a ratber Ylig.ue way, rcll1ion. lhc Tb11i lf~,.~!$11' ~~r Ihi.'! ~blldOW~ clo!!Cr
llelnn!lli
to the Jnditn I!J'IIf~J than to <:(1ntempor•rr Bt9dll:ibi~l. f't~
TilE WA! KRU CEREMONY OF THE NANG YAI 145
"1 shall pay respects to the mighty king Totsarot, the almighty god
of the earth. I shall pay respects to the king, to whom no one in the
whole country can compare, for he stands guard over all his people, the
slaves, farmers, officials, and he protects even the lords. But before
going to have an audience with the king, I must according to the old
tradition let my wife know of my departure. After this I shall pay res-
pects to my teachers, from whom I learned all that I hww.
"When my teachers were instructing me or were with me, I seized
the reins of knowledge, for they were all truly skilled. Sometimes they
would gather in a circle and teach the art of dancing. Some of them to
do this would put mortars and pestles in the centre, bend the bows with
their feet, and carry at the same time live charcoals in their mouths.
Some of them would tread on the edges of swords, and carry swinging
lanterns from their mouths. Some would tie their bodies in three places
and stab themselves with swords, and show their magic arts by scatter-
ing their guts over the ground. Then they would quickly start to shoot
their ur.rows, but these would be transformed into soldiers.
''With the very best musicians, I pay respects to the great king.
Then I pay respects to our lord. When he ordered it, then I commanded
that the search be started for the cow's skin to be brought in and I made
it into a shadow figure. I fashioned the skin into the figures of Rania,
and also Sita his wife along with him; and also a strong Lakshana was
made. Before the playstarts today, there must be special offerings. On
my left, I shall pay respects to Rawana and on my right I shall pay
respects to Rama.
"I wish the powerful almighty hermit, whose skills are so famous,
to bless me with bountiful grace; May success, prosperity, happiness,
please come to me in victory.
"I pay respects to the Buddha, who through his compassion for all
living creatures attained Nirvana. And also before starting, I pay res-
pects to the legendary king Anirutb. I pay respects to the spirits living
in the remote jungles, the spirits of the forests, streams, and of every
valley in the mountains. I pay respects to the gods of the river, of all
the caves and the woods. I pay respects to the teachers who instructed
me and the old masters who are still alive.
146 Michael Smithies & Euayporn Kerdchouay
"I am going to play the story of Rama. I asked my teachers to help

me to draw cleverly and guide the art of cutting. I beg my teachers to
help me to sing superbly, and also the help the dancers to give a marvel-
lous performance. I want to play the shadow play and to receive the
admiration of the audience.
"Cut down four wooden posts and set them up to raise the screen
on them; the screen will have a red border on its four edges and white.
cloth will be at the centre. Bring on the figure of Siva, surrounded by
stars, on a chariot riding through the sky, where the sun seems to shine
so brightly. And show the pictures of Lanka, the city of the demons,
and also the large powerful city Ayuthia : all this I shall show for you
to see.
"Now is the time to begin and hear the gongs, drums and long drum
which will play for you and make you bappy. Our shadow play is not
bad, and has been played for quite a long time, and no one has ever
been discontented with it.
"I beg the good spirits to protect me from any evil powers and aid
me from any one who criticises my shadow play for being bad, or for
not being beautifully performed. I beg the goodness of Rama and
Lakshana to enter into every figure of the shadow-play.
"After finishing this introduction, I shall mark, check and add
the finishing touches to the figures, in honour of Rama. I shall bring on
the cutout figures, so that all
of you can see with your own eyes. I
invite you all to come to see only the shadow of these figures of this
eternal story on the screen.
"My old master taught me the art, my teachers instructed me and
I ask for the protection of our lord to help me not to be defeated and
shamed. If anybody tells me I am beaten by the others, I shallnot
despair or be frightened, for if someone else wins, I shall take lessons
from him. Now, make baste my friends, make up the fire behind the
screen and do not obstruct the light. Now I shall perform the shadow
play for you all to see."7
7) This translation is interpretative in the sense that it tries to make the English
version coherent,
'l'HE WAI KRU CEREMONY OF THE NANG YAI 147
The incantation over, however, the play does not start at once.
There are still some rituals to be gone through. The music stops once
more, the master takes a candle to the two figures remaining, of Narai
and Isuan, and wafts the flame of the candle with his band towards the
· · ankles, arrows and other weapons of the figures, inviting them to conquer
{chaiya) over evil and be protected from the harm which the black powers
from the other troupes could cause. After this be places the two figures
against the bamboo poles, one at either end, and then the performance
proper starts.
These ceremonies are far more elaborate than those preceding a
nang talung performance or for that matter any other theatrical wai kru,
where a simple prayer, said before the shrine to the teachers if the theatre
is in a fixed location, suffices. With the nang yai there is a good deal
of mumbo jumbo which one must assume derives from the period when
performers were also in some respects magicians, as the text indicates.
The written text with all its obscurities (and, as Prince Dbani has men-
tioned, its occasionally humorous passages) makes the ceremony unusual
as well as lengthy. Modern audiences are restless during this wai kru,
but performances of the spectacle are now so rare that the initial tedium
is forgiven. Nearly half a century ago Nicolas pointed out that the
medium was too slow for contemporary Siamese and noted that the
nang yai was about to disappear forever. That it has survived at all is
something for which we must be thankful, but its wai kru ceremony,
howsoever unusual, has not helped it gain populari.ty with more sophis-
ticated, less gullible audiences than those of fifteenth century Ayutbia.

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NOTES

THE WAI KRU CEREMONY OF THE NANG YAI

The nang yai or giant shadow play, which we have described

the nHI.Jler ;md

lt.nimilHit: .iflifil:& uf mHtm::

"I am going to play the story of Rama. I asked my teachers to help

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