Lanna Buddhist legend merits revival
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Lanna Buddhist legend merits revival

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This aerial photo, taken on April 11, 2023, shows Doi Suthep Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai. The temple is a landmark of the cultural and architectural style of Lanna Buddhism.  (Photo: AFP)
This aerial photo, taken on April 11, 2023, shows Doi Suthep Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai. The temple is a landmark of the cultural and architectural style of Lanna Buddhism.  (Photo: AFP)

When religious pilgrims trek to sacred sites, they reaffirm not only their faith but also their own culture and communities. One example is Spain's ancient route of Santiago de Compostela, which leads to the tomb of St James the Greater, one of the apostles who spread Christianity. It was established more than a thousand years ago, yet this route attracts millions of pilgrims and tourists today. Unesco recognised it as a World Heritage Site in 1985.

Here in the Mekong subregion, Thailand and its neighbours have an important sacred route, as described in the "Legend of the Buddha's Travels Around the World", or Tamnan Phra Chao Liap Loke. First recorded 500 years ago, the oldest copies today are centuries-old palm-leaf manuscripts housed in temples in Chiang Mai and Nan. The legend describes journeys believed to have been taken by the Buddha along paths across parts of today's northern Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, as well as southern China. All along these routes are temples and stupas that house sacred relics such as Buddha footprints, hair and fragments of bone. For centuries, pilgrims ritually travelled these paths to pay their respects at the holy sites.

Yet neglect and the pressures of modern development have eroded both the tradition and the sites. If they disappear, we will lose touch with a time when cultures and people were not divided by today's national boundaries but were linked by religion and ethnic ties across vast areas. The Legend of the Buddha's Travels names sites in six ancient polities. In today's Myanmar, these include two ethnic Shan kingdoms: Maw, near the Maw River and Kyaing Tong (or Kengtung), along the banks of the Salween River, as well as an ethnic Mon kingdom centred in Bago, Hanthawaddy. Many other sites are in the old Lanna kingdom in present-day northern Thailand. In what is now China's Yunnan province were the Nanzhao and Xishuangbanna kingdoms, in the upper Mekong River basin, also reaching into today's upper Laos.

The legend narrates the founding of sacred sites throughout these areas. It also prophesies the rise and fall of communities, villages and cities along the routes, describing the ways of life of local peoples, including ethnic groups like the Haw, Lua, Lue, Thai Yuan, Karen, and Kha. Giants, nagas and lions also appear.

This rich chronicle of social interactions makes The Legend of the Buddha's Travels an important piece of regional cultural heritage. It serves as a historical record of local communities and the relationships in trade, economy, society, and culture among diverse peoples. The stories describe holy practices and sacred places along centuries-old routes travelled by monks and pilgrims. These paths overlap with trails traversed by other groups of people, such as traders leading caravans to exchange goods like rice, salt, betel and tea across the region.

Now, these routes and sites are threatened by ever-faster economic development. The construction of high-speed railways and multi-lane highways has made cross-border movement of people more convenient, causing cities to burgeon while small towns and villages decline. These new routes bisect the age-old paths. Leading all the way out to the sea, the traditional arteries used to connect people and communities of various cultures. But as these legendary routes vanish, memories of them, too, are fading away.

This decline affects both physical heritage and intangible heritage. Change is eroding natural features such as mountains, caves and rivers, as well as Buddhist structures like temples, resting pavilions, and stupas believed to contain relics of the Buddha. Equally impacted are the cultural wisdom and traditions connected to the Legend of the Buddha's Travels. The beliefs, customs, rituals, and systems for managing and preserving sacred spaces within each community are gradually being lost as modern transportation routes expand throughout the region.

How can we ensure that this heritage survives into the future? Last year, the legend celebrated its 500th anniversary. It's now a timely opportunity for these four countries to join in reviving this story and exploring the current state of the places, communities, and towns that appear in it.

A total of 141 towns are mentioned in the legend. More than half of them, 71, can be accurately located today, according to my research using field surveys and geographic information system (GIS) technology, published in 2021. The people in these areas, especially older adults, can still recall stories related to the legend, which are closely connected to local geographical features.

Let's document these oral histories as soon as possible and archive our collective memories. Let's bring the sacred routes back to life. Scholars, monks, local communities and government agencies should work together to survey, collect, study, and compare documents, tales, customs, rituals and histories related to the legend in each locality. Let's revive the recitation of the legend during local annual religious ceremonies and organise festivals and rituals honouring the Buddha's footprints and stupas in each community. With translations and transnational efforts, we can learn about the interconnected network of pilgrimage routes and sacred areas to rediscover traditions we shared for hundreds of years.

This will create an important new dialogue across regions, cultures, and ethnic groups, helping ensure that this sacred cultural route will continue to be venerated and preserved, enriching our lives and understanding for the next 500 years.


Suddan Wisudthiluck is associate professor at the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University. Heritage Matters is a monthly column presented by The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage to advocate conserving the architectural, cultural and natural heritage of Thailand and the neighbouring region. Each column is written by a different contributor. The views expressed are those of the author.

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