CHAPTERXVI.SIAMESE CUSTOMS FOR THE DYING AND DEAD.Whena Buddhist prince or princess is at the point of death, the attendants, wishing to give the departing spirit as good a passport into the spirit-world as possible, suspend every other care and address themselves to the work of fixing the thoughts of the dying one upon Buddha. To accomplish this they take turns in enunciating as clearly as possible the name of Buddha generally employed when in health—P’ra Arahang.Whenever the writer has been present at the death of an adult member of the royal family, this has been the name used. It is uttered as often as eight or ten times in a minute. This is done, hoping that the departed spirit will thus be helped to think of Buddha, and that that will accumulate a large fund of merit to his credit which will become of vast service to him in the spirit-world. It would seem to be a service having much the same object as that of the “extreme unction” of the Roman Catholics. It is continued from ten to fifteen minutes after the pulse has stopped its beating and the lungs their heaving, even until the body is cold and stiff in death.When all evidence of hearing is gone the attending friends will raise their voices almost to a stunning pitch, hoping that they may force the departing spirit to hear the name ofP’ra Arahang. When the most loving friends have ceased to have any lingering hope that the dead can hear them longer, then the continuous and deafening sounds ofP’ra Arahangare exchanged for the most uncontrollable wailings, which are so loud that they can be heard at a great distance. Then all members of the family, including the slaves in the house within hearing, join in a general outburst of crying and sobbing.When a prince of high rank has just died, other princes, nobles and lords, in the order of their rank, step up one by one and pour a dipper of water upon the corpse. Certain officials in the household dress the body for a sitting posture in a pair of tightly-fitting short pantaloons and jacket, and over these a winding sheet wrapped around the body as firmly as possible. Thus prepared, the corpse is placed in a copper urn with an iron grating for its bottom, and this is put into one made of fine gold, with an outlet at the most pendent point, and a stopcock from which the fluid parts of the body are daily drawn off until it becomes quite dry. The golden urn is then placed on an elevated platform, while conch-shell blowers and trumpeters and pipers perform their several parts with the greatest possible harmony of such instruments. This act is calledCh’on p’ra sop K’u’n p’ra taan—literally, an invitation to the corpse to be seated on the platform.When thus seated all the insignia of royalty which the prince was wont to have about him in life are arranged in due order at his feet—viz.his golden betel-box, his cigar-case, his golden spittoon, his writing apparatus, etc. The band of musicians now perform a funeral dirge; and they assemble daily at early dawn, at noon and at nightfall to perform in concert with a company of mourning women who bewail the dead and chant his virtues. In the intervals a company of Buddhist priests, four at a time, sitting on the floor a little distant from the platform, recite moral lessons and chant incantations in the Pali, with loud, clear, musical intonations.This service is continued day and night, with only the intervals for the performance of the dirges and mourning women, and a few minutes each hour as the four priests retire and another four come in and take their place. This is kept up from week to week and month to month until the time appointed for burning the corpse has arrived, which may be from two to six or even eight months. The remains of a king are usually kept from eight to twelve months. (In the present case the remains have been kept seventeen months.)In event of the death of a king his successor immediately begins preparations for theP’ramene, which is the splendid temporary building under which the body is to sit in state several days on a throne glittering with silver, gold and precious stones, and then and there to be committed to the flames.The building is intended to be in size and grandeur according to the estimation in which the deceased was held. Royal orders are forthwith sent to the governors of four different provinces far away to the north, in which large timber abounds, requiring each of these to furnish one of the four large logs for the centre pillars of theP’ramene. These must be of the finest timber, usually the oil tree, very straight, two hundred feet long and proportionately large in circumference, which the writer has observed to be not less than twelve feet. There are always twelve other pillars, a little smaller in size, demanded at the same time from governors of other provinces, as also much other timber needful in the erection of theP’rameneand the numerous buildings connected with it.CREMATION TEMPLECREMATION TEMPLE: A TEMPORARY BUILDING.As sacred custom will not tolerate the use of pillars that have been used on any former occasion, new ones must be obtained for the funeral obsequies of each king. These four large pillars are very difficult to find, and can be floated down to the capital only at seasons of the year when the rivers where they are found are full. They are hauled to the banks of the streams by elephants and buffaloes. The great difficulty of procuring these pillars is one main cause of the usual long delay of the funeral burning of a king. When brought to the city they are hauled up to the place of theP’ramenechiefly by the muscular power of men working by means of a rude windlass and rollers under the logs. They are then hewed and planed a little—just enough to remove all crooks and other deformities—and finished off in a cylindrical form. Then they are planted in the ground thirty feet deep, one at each corner of a square not less than one hundred and sixty feet in circumference. When in their proper place they stand leaning a little toward each other, so that they describe the form of a four-sided, truncated pyramid from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty feet high. On the top of these is framed a pagoda-formed spire, adding from fifty to sixty more feet to the height of the structure. This upper part is octagonal, and so covered with yellow tin sheets and tinseled paper as to make a grand appearance at such a height, but it would not well bear close inspection.Surrounding theP’ramenethere is a new bamboo fence ten feet high, enclosing a square of more than two acres, with a gate midway on three sides. On the inside of this fence are numberless bamboo buildings, fantastically painted and papered, for the accommodation of the priests and nobles, one side of the square being chiefly occupied with buildings for the king’s own accommodation while attending the ceremonies of the royal cremation. These are distinguished from all others by having their roofs covered with crimson cloth, the peculiar horn-like projections at the two ends of their ridges, and by the golden drapery suspended in front and tastefully gathered up to the several posts of the hall.The whole area is neatly covered with bamboo wickerwork, the slats of which the woof and warp are made being more than an inch wide, forming thus one unbroken bamboo carpet, giving great elasticity to the steps of all who walk upon it.There are placed here and there upon this bamboo floor multitudes of standards peculiar to the Siamese. Some are like theSawe-krachat, or royal umbrella of several stories high. Some of them are with machinery exhibiting a variety of little paper figures in perpetual action, imaging angels or devils. Here and there you will see a niche with rude landscape views of the lower series of the Buddhists’ celestial worlds and of princely dwellings there, with delightful pools and groves and many other sensual luxuries which a heathen mind fancies a heaven of happiness must give its inhabitants.Outside of the bamboo fence are buildings for the accommodation of officers of the government and others who cannot find room within the enclosure. There are also numerous playhouses for theatrical and puppet-shows, masquerades, wire-dancing, etc., and, more interesting to many, the great victualing establishment for all classes above the vulgar, presenting a large variety of dishes and fruits, well prepared and tempting to the appetite, all freely offered without price at all hours of the day.Thus much of a bird’s-eye view of what may be termed the mere shell of theP’ramene.The realP’rameneis erected in the centre of the whole, in the great hall directly under the loftiest spire, and in the centre of this stands theP’ra Bencha, or throne, on which the royal urn is placed in state. This is a splendid eight-sided pyramid, fifty or sixty feet in circumference, its base on a floor twenty feet above the ground. It diminishes by right-angled gradations upward some thirty feet to a truncated top, and on its top is placed the golden urn containing the remains of the late king most superbly decorated with gold, diamonds and other precious stones. Some ten or fifteen feet above this is suspended from the lofty ceiling a rich golden canopy, and far up above that is a white circular awning overshadowing the whole. Immediately under the golden canopy hang the sweetest and whitest flowers arranged in the form of a large chandelier.ThePra Benchais made brilliant by the skillful arrangement on its several steps of the most showy articles of porcelain, glass, alabaster, silver and gold artificial flowers and fruits intermixed with real fruits, little images of birds, beasts, men, women, children, angels, etc.For illuminating the hall splendid chandeliers are suspended from the four corners of the ceiling, assisted by innumerable lesser lights on the angular gradations of the pyramid.At the time of placing the royal remains in state on that lofty throne nearly all the princes, chief nobles and officials in the kingdom assemble just after the break of day to escort “the sacred corpse” to its last earthly throne on the summit of the newP’ramene.The golden urn is placed upon a high golden seat in a kind of Juggernaut car drawn by a pair of horses assisted by hundreds of men. This vehicle is preceded by two other wheel carriages, the first occupied solely by the high priest of the kingdom, sitting on a high seat, reading a sacred book of moral lessons in Pali calledApp’it’am. The second carriage is occupied by a few of the most favored children of the deceased. A strip of silver cloth is attached to the urn and loosely extends to the two front carriages. This forms the mystical union between the corpse, the sacred book and their royal highnesses. The carriage behind the one bearing the royal urn carries some fifty or sixty sticks of imported fragrant wood, richly gilded at the ends, with which the body is to be burned. Each of these carriages is drawn by a pair of horses, with scores of men to assist, all pulling at a rope in front of the beasts.Figures of elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, tigers and fabulous animals, all made of bamboo wickerwork and having on their backs large receptacles for priests’ robes, are drawn on small wooden wheels. In front and in the rear hundreds of men dressed in white, with pagoda-form white turbans eight or ten inches tall, purporting to be angels, walk four abreast and carry glass imitation lotus-flowers.The moment the procession begins to move the shells, trumpets and pipes are sounded and the death-drums are beaten with a slow, measured stroke until the royal hearse reaches theP’ramene. By ropes and pulleys the urn is drawn slowly up with much ceremony and placed on the splendid throne, to remain in state at least seven days before burning, the strip of silver cloth extending from the lid of the urn down the eastern and western sides of the pyramid nearly to the flight of steps on the east and west sides of the building.Then the chief priests of the city and from nearly all other parts of the kingdom begin to assemble, a hundred or more at a time, on the floor of theP’ramenein sight of the holy urn, and rehearse in concert lessons in Pali calledP’ang-soo-koon, which are in substance reflections on the brevity and uncertainty of human life, the certainty of death and transmigration, the sorrows connected with every state of mutability and the blessings of Nipan, where there can be no more change. Having uttered audibly these short lessons, they continue in a sitting posture, with downcast looks, a few minutes, reflecting silently on the condition of the living and the dead, and then retire, giving place to another hundred or more to recite the same lessons. Thus they come and go until thousands of the chief priests and others of lower rank have had the honor; and this is repeated every day while the corpse sits in state and for three days afterward.All the princes and nobles and royal servants are dressed in white. Every Siamese subject, noble or plebeian, man and woman, bond and free, must then out of respect for the dead have his head entirely shaven.The multitudes of priests are sumptuously fed from the royal bounty early every morning, and again before noon. Yellow robes are prepared for them at the expense of the king’s private purse. To every chief priest he gives a complete suit, and to every other priest some important part of a suit, if not the whole. Besides the yellow robes, the king has also in readiness vast provisions of bedsteads, fully furnished with mosquito-bars, mattresses, pillows, towels, spittoons, betel-boxes, cigar-cases, rice-kettles, lacquered trays, lamps, candles, boats with little houses on them, and other articles which the priests need in their daily calling. These articles he distributes to them every day.Another performance, usually more exciting than all the rest, is the daily scattering of money broadcast among the thousands that have assembled there for the sport. The king takes personally a very lively part in it. The money and jewelry are usually imbedded in little green limes or small balls of wood, to prevent them from getting lost among the crowd. His Majesty, standing in his temporary palace-door, having bushels of limes at his feet, each charged with one piece of money, taking up a handful at a time, throws them, often so guiding his hand as that some peculiar favorite shall have the best chance in the game—some corpulent prince whom he wishes to set into ludicrous motion by his efforts to catch the flying prize. To show proper respect, every one, whether prince or prime minister or consul or missionary, must exert himself to catch His Majesty’s gifts while flying, and must go down on all fours grabbing after them at the feet of the multitude if they happen to fall there. He manifestly enjoys the sport, often laughing most heartily at the sight of the jumping, scrambling and groveling eagerness of his lords to obtain the limes.Sometimes the limes are hung on artificial trees calledton Kappapruk—literally, “trees that gratified the desires of men.” They are intended to represent the four trees that are to be found in each of the four corners of the city in which the next Buddha is to be born, and which will bear not only money, but seri-leaf, betel-nut, oranges, clothing, gold, diamonds—in short, everything else that man shall need for his comfort under his reign.Four men ascend the mound in which these trees are planted to pluck the fruit by handfuls and cast them to crowds of men who stand as compacted as it would seem possible for them to live. Every throw is instantly followed by a universal shout from the multitude and a rush for the prize. And then they surge hither and thither like a forest swayed by a mighty wind. The writer thinks he has seen ten thousand men engaged at one time in this kind of sport. It takes but about fifteen minutes to pluck all the fruit from these trees, and then the game is over. It is a rare thing for a man to catch more than two or three limes.Still another mode of dispensing the royal gifts on such occasions is to divide them into lots, with a slip of palm-leaf attached to each lot and a copy of each on another slip, which, being rolled up or put into the wooden ball or lime, is thrown out by the king to his favored audience. He sometimes adopts a similar mode in dispensing his favors to companies of the chief priests, taking care, of course, that only such things as are suitable for priests are put into such lots.Sundry Chinese, Malay and Siamese dramas and shadow-scenes are played, and at early candlelight theP’rameneis most brilliantly illuminated within and without. About eight or nine o’clock in the evening the fireworks are sent off, being occasionally ignited by the king himself. You first hear the crackling of the matches, then you see the sulphuric fire and smoke running up tall bamboo poles and extending out into branches. Presently a dozen tall trees of fire throw an intense light over all the premises. These quickly burn out, and another flash brings into view beautiful fire-shrubbery. In a minute or two they blossom roses, dahlias, oleanders and other flowers of all hues, and the most beautiful, continually changing their colors like the chameleon until they all fade out into darkness. You are startled by the report of rockets sent up from various places in rapid succession, a hundred or more, showing that the Siamese are not far behind the times in this art. Immediately after this you will hear a terrible roaring like the bellowing of a dozen elephants, with an occasional crash like the bursting of a small engine-boiler. They are the fireworks calledChang rawng, which means “bellowing elephants.” Suddenly innumerable fire-birds begin chirping, buzzing, hopping and flying in all directions. Some ascend high in the air and burst with a small spluttering report. Mimic volcanic eruptions, attended with jets of ignited sulphur and iron, ascending like waterspouts and falling in showers of red-hot lava, are kept going until fifty or more have been fired.Before the burning of the body the golden urn containing the corpse is removed from the top of thePra Bencha, and the copper urn taken out. This has an iron grating at the bottom overlaid with spices and fragrant powders. All the precious articles with which the pyramid was decorated are temporarily removed from it, and some eight or ten feet of the upper part of it taken down to form a place of suitable dimensions for the burning. Then the fragrant wood is laid in order in cross layers on the platform, having a bellows attached to the pile. Precious spices and fragrant articles, many in kind, are put among the wood. A gunpowder match is laid from a certain part of the hall set apart for the seat of the king, reaching to a spot made particularly combustible in the pile of wood. These changes are made with surprising rapidity.All being ready, the king takes electric fire—which had been preserved for such purposes for a long time—and touches it to the end of the match at his feet. This kindles a flame in the midst of the wood. Immediately the next in rank among the princes steps up and lays his large wax candle, lighted from a lamp burning in the same lightning fire, among the wood or on the top of it as seems to him most convenient. The next prince in order of rank does the same, and all the nobles and lords lay their wax candles among the wood. The rank-order is soon lost in the hurry of the many who wish to contribute their candles before it shall be too late. Hundreds of wax candles, great and small, are laid on the wood ere the burning has advanced too far to admit any more.To prevent the flames from becoming too intense for the safety of theP’rameneand its appendages, strong men armed with long-handled dippers are dashing water whenever and wherever required; there are others armed with iron pokers, whose business it is to stir the fire occasionally. The moment the wood is fired the funeral bands strike up their dirges and the company of mourning women set up their wailing. This continues only a few minutes. The time occupied in the burning is not more than one hour.TOMB OF A BONZETOMB OF A BONZE.The fire is extinguished before all the bones have been reduced to ashes. A few of the remaining coals of the bones are carefully collected and deposited in a neat and very precious gold urn. By the time this is done the sun is set, and theP’rameneis left in a despoiled state until next morning. Nevertheless, the hall is lighted and all the usual exercises go on through the night as before. Early the next morning thePra Benchapyramid is restored to its original splendor and the little golden urn of precious coal is placed on its summit.All the ashes left by the burning are put in clean white muslin and laid in a golden platter. They are then ceremoniously carried in state to the royal landing, and, escorted by a procession of state barges, attended by the funeral bands, carried down the river about a mile and there committed to its waters.The funeral obsequies of a king are continued three days after the burning, and the ceremonies are almost the same as those in anticipation of it until the last day. On that day a royal procession is formed, somewhat like that of the first day, to bear the charred remains in the little golden urn to a sacred depository of such relics of the kings of Siam within the royal palace. Very soon after this the servants of the king gather up all the articles which it is customary to preserve for future funeral occasions—viz.the permanent gold and silver stands, the golden canopy and the ornaments of the pyramid. But the timber of which theP’rameneand its appendages are made is taken down and converted to other uses, usually the building of Buddhist temples.[1]Funerals Among the People.These very costly funerals of the royal family and nobility are not possible, of course, among the common people. The priests, however, are generally sent for to attend the dying, and when there sprinkle the suffering one with holy water, recite passages from their sacred books and pronounce the name of Buddha repeatedly.After death there is a season of weeping and wailing by the family, and the body is then washed and wrapped tightly in white cloth. An urn or wooden coffin covered with gilt paper and decorated with tinsel flowers is brought, and the body placed therein.Among the people the corpse is not kept long in the dwelling, and instances have been known where the dying one was removed outside on account of the superstitious fears of the family.When the coffin is carried off, it is not through a door or window, but a hole is cut in the bamboo wall, and sometimes the bearers run around the house two or three times, lest the spirit should find its way back and haunt the premises.The cremation takes place in some temple-ground where there is a permanentP’ramene. But occasionally the dying “make merit” by bequeathing their dead body to the vultures. In such cases the flesh is cut off with a knife and fed to these birds of prey, which haunt the burning-localities in great numbers, and the bones only are burned. Paupers and criminals are thus fed to the vultures or burned without ceremony. All persons struck dead by lightning or carried off suddenly by small-pox or cholera are first buried for some months, and then dug up and burned.The funerals of the wealthy last several days, and are connected with feasting, fireworks and theatrical displays. The garb of mourning in Siam is white, not black, and is accompanied with shaving of the heads of all the immediate family and their servants.Cremation at Bejrepuree of a Man in The Middle Walks of Life.[From theBangkok Recorder, May, 1866.]The corpse was first to be offered to the vultures, a hundred or more. Before the coffin was opened the filthy and horrible gang had assembled, “for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles [vultures] be gathered together.” They were perched on the ridges of the temple, and even on small trees and bushes within a few feet of the body; and so greedy were they that the sexton and his assistants had to beat them off many times before the coffin could be opened. They seemed to know that there would be but a mouthful for each if divided among them all, and that packs of greedy dogs were also in waiting for their share.The body was taken from the coffin and laid on a pile of wood that had been prepared on a small temporary altar. Then the birds were allowed to descend upon the corpse and tear it as they liked. For a while it was quite hidden in the rush. But each bird, grabbing its part with bill and claws, spread its wings and mounted to some quiet place to eat.The sexton seemed to think that he too was “making merit” by cutting off parts of the body and throwing them to the hungry dogs, as the dying man had done in bequeathing his body to these carrion-feeders. The birds, not satisfied with what they got from the altar, came down and quarreled with the curs for their share.While this was going on the mourners stood waiting, with wax candles and incense-sticks, to pay their last tribute of respect to the deceased, by assisting in the burning of the bones after the vultures and dogs had stripped them. The sexton, with the assistance of another, gathered up the skeleton and put it back into the coffin, which was lifted by four men and carried around the funeral pile three times.It was then laid on the pile of wood, and a few sticks were put into the coffin to aid in burning the bones. Then a lighted torch was applied to the pile, and the relatives and other mourners advanced and laid each a wax candle by the torch. Others brought incense and cast it on the pile.The vultures, having had but a scanty breakfast, lingered about the place until the fire had left nothing more for them, when they shook their ugly heads, and, hopping a few steps to get up a momentum, flapped their harpy wings and flew away.
Whena Buddhist prince or princess is at the point of death, the attendants, wishing to give the departing spirit as good a passport into the spirit-world as possible, suspend every other care and address themselves to the work of fixing the thoughts of the dying one upon Buddha. To accomplish this they take turns in enunciating as clearly as possible the name of Buddha generally employed when in health—P’ra Arahang.
Whenever the writer has been present at the death of an adult member of the royal family, this has been the name used. It is uttered as often as eight or ten times in a minute. This is done, hoping that the departed spirit will thus be helped to think of Buddha, and that that will accumulate a large fund of merit to his credit which will become of vast service to him in the spirit-world. It would seem to be a service having much the same object as that of the “extreme unction” of the Roman Catholics. It is continued from ten to fifteen minutes after the pulse has stopped its beating and the lungs their heaving, even until the body is cold and stiff in death.
When all evidence of hearing is gone the attending friends will raise their voices almost to a stunning pitch, hoping that they may force the departing spirit to hear the name ofP’ra Arahang. When the most loving friends have ceased to have any lingering hope that the dead can hear them longer, then the continuous and deafening sounds ofP’ra Arahangare exchanged for the most uncontrollable wailings, which are so loud that they can be heard at a great distance. Then all members of the family, including the slaves in the house within hearing, join in a general outburst of crying and sobbing.
When a prince of high rank has just died, other princes, nobles and lords, in the order of their rank, step up one by one and pour a dipper of water upon the corpse. Certain officials in the household dress the body for a sitting posture in a pair of tightly-fitting short pantaloons and jacket, and over these a winding sheet wrapped around the body as firmly as possible. Thus prepared, the corpse is placed in a copper urn with an iron grating for its bottom, and this is put into one made of fine gold, with an outlet at the most pendent point, and a stopcock from which the fluid parts of the body are daily drawn off until it becomes quite dry. The golden urn is then placed on an elevated platform, while conch-shell blowers and trumpeters and pipers perform their several parts with the greatest possible harmony of such instruments. This act is calledCh’on p’ra sop K’u’n p’ra taan—literally, an invitation to the corpse to be seated on the platform.
When thus seated all the insignia of royalty which the prince was wont to have about him in life are arranged in due order at his feet—viz.his golden betel-box, his cigar-case, his golden spittoon, his writing apparatus, etc. The band of musicians now perform a funeral dirge; and they assemble daily at early dawn, at noon and at nightfall to perform in concert with a company of mourning women who bewail the dead and chant his virtues. In the intervals a company of Buddhist priests, four at a time, sitting on the floor a little distant from the platform, recite moral lessons and chant incantations in the Pali, with loud, clear, musical intonations.
This service is continued day and night, with only the intervals for the performance of the dirges and mourning women, and a few minutes each hour as the four priests retire and another four come in and take their place. This is kept up from week to week and month to month until the time appointed for burning the corpse has arrived, which may be from two to six or even eight months. The remains of a king are usually kept from eight to twelve months. (In the present case the remains have been kept seventeen months.)
In event of the death of a king his successor immediately begins preparations for theP’ramene, which is the splendid temporary building under which the body is to sit in state several days on a throne glittering with silver, gold and precious stones, and then and there to be committed to the flames.
The building is intended to be in size and grandeur according to the estimation in which the deceased was held. Royal orders are forthwith sent to the governors of four different provinces far away to the north, in which large timber abounds, requiring each of these to furnish one of the four large logs for the centre pillars of theP’ramene. These must be of the finest timber, usually the oil tree, very straight, two hundred feet long and proportionately large in circumference, which the writer has observed to be not less than twelve feet. There are always twelve other pillars, a little smaller in size, demanded at the same time from governors of other provinces, as also much other timber needful in the erection of theP’rameneand the numerous buildings connected with it.
CREMATION TEMPLECREMATION TEMPLE: A TEMPORARY BUILDING.
CREMATION TEMPLE: A TEMPORARY BUILDING.
As sacred custom will not tolerate the use of pillars that have been used on any former occasion, new ones must be obtained for the funeral obsequies of each king. These four large pillars are very difficult to find, and can be floated down to the capital only at seasons of the year when the rivers where they are found are full. They are hauled to the banks of the streams by elephants and buffaloes. The great difficulty of procuring these pillars is one main cause of the usual long delay of the funeral burning of a king. When brought to the city they are hauled up to the place of theP’ramenechiefly by the muscular power of men working by means of a rude windlass and rollers under the logs. They are then hewed and planed a little—just enough to remove all crooks and other deformities—and finished off in a cylindrical form. Then they are planted in the ground thirty feet deep, one at each corner of a square not less than one hundred and sixty feet in circumference. When in their proper place they stand leaning a little toward each other, so that they describe the form of a four-sided, truncated pyramid from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty feet high. On the top of these is framed a pagoda-formed spire, adding from fifty to sixty more feet to the height of the structure. This upper part is octagonal, and so covered with yellow tin sheets and tinseled paper as to make a grand appearance at such a height, but it would not well bear close inspection.
Surrounding theP’ramenethere is a new bamboo fence ten feet high, enclosing a square of more than two acres, with a gate midway on three sides. On the inside of this fence are numberless bamboo buildings, fantastically painted and papered, for the accommodation of the priests and nobles, one side of the square being chiefly occupied with buildings for the king’s own accommodation while attending the ceremonies of the royal cremation. These are distinguished from all others by having their roofs covered with crimson cloth, the peculiar horn-like projections at the two ends of their ridges, and by the golden drapery suspended in front and tastefully gathered up to the several posts of the hall.
The whole area is neatly covered with bamboo wickerwork, the slats of which the woof and warp are made being more than an inch wide, forming thus one unbroken bamboo carpet, giving great elasticity to the steps of all who walk upon it.
There are placed here and there upon this bamboo floor multitudes of standards peculiar to the Siamese. Some are like theSawe-krachat, or royal umbrella of several stories high. Some of them are with machinery exhibiting a variety of little paper figures in perpetual action, imaging angels or devils. Here and there you will see a niche with rude landscape views of the lower series of the Buddhists’ celestial worlds and of princely dwellings there, with delightful pools and groves and many other sensual luxuries which a heathen mind fancies a heaven of happiness must give its inhabitants.
Outside of the bamboo fence are buildings for the accommodation of officers of the government and others who cannot find room within the enclosure. There are also numerous playhouses for theatrical and puppet-shows, masquerades, wire-dancing, etc., and, more interesting to many, the great victualing establishment for all classes above the vulgar, presenting a large variety of dishes and fruits, well prepared and tempting to the appetite, all freely offered without price at all hours of the day.
Thus much of a bird’s-eye view of what may be termed the mere shell of theP’ramene.
The realP’rameneis erected in the centre of the whole, in the great hall directly under the loftiest spire, and in the centre of this stands theP’ra Bencha, or throne, on which the royal urn is placed in state. This is a splendid eight-sided pyramid, fifty or sixty feet in circumference, its base on a floor twenty feet above the ground. It diminishes by right-angled gradations upward some thirty feet to a truncated top, and on its top is placed the golden urn containing the remains of the late king most superbly decorated with gold, diamonds and other precious stones. Some ten or fifteen feet above this is suspended from the lofty ceiling a rich golden canopy, and far up above that is a white circular awning overshadowing the whole. Immediately under the golden canopy hang the sweetest and whitest flowers arranged in the form of a large chandelier.
ThePra Benchais made brilliant by the skillful arrangement on its several steps of the most showy articles of porcelain, glass, alabaster, silver and gold artificial flowers and fruits intermixed with real fruits, little images of birds, beasts, men, women, children, angels, etc.
For illuminating the hall splendid chandeliers are suspended from the four corners of the ceiling, assisted by innumerable lesser lights on the angular gradations of the pyramid.
At the time of placing the royal remains in state on that lofty throne nearly all the princes, chief nobles and officials in the kingdom assemble just after the break of day to escort “the sacred corpse” to its last earthly throne on the summit of the newP’ramene.
The golden urn is placed upon a high golden seat in a kind of Juggernaut car drawn by a pair of horses assisted by hundreds of men. This vehicle is preceded by two other wheel carriages, the first occupied solely by the high priest of the kingdom, sitting on a high seat, reading a sacred book of moral lessons in Pali calledApp’it’am. The second carriage is occupied by a few of the most favored children of the deceased. A strip of silver cloth is attached to the urn and loosely extends to the two front carriages. This forms the mystical union between the corpse, the sacred book and their royal highnesses. The carriage behind the one bearing the royal urn carries some fifty or sixty sticks of imported fragrant wood, richly gilded at the ends, with which the body is to be burned. Each of these carriages is drawn by a pair of horses, with scores of men to assist, all pulling at a rope in front of the beasts.
Figures of elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, tigers and fabulous animals, all made of bamboo wickerwork and having on their backs large receptacles for priests’ robes, are drawn on small wooden wheels. In front and in the rear hundreds of men dressed in white, with pagoda-form white turbans eight or ten inches tall, purporting to be angels, walk four abreast and carry glass imitation lotus-flowers.
The moment the procession begins to move the shells, trumpets and pipes are sounded and the death-drums are beaten with a slow, measured stroke until the royal hearse reaches theP’ramene. By ropes and pulleys the urn is drawn slowly up with much ceremony and placed on the splendid throne, to remain in state at least seven days before burning, the strip of silver cloth extending from the lid of the urn down the eastern and western sides of the pyramid nearly to the flight of steps on the east and west sides of the building.
Then the chief priests of the city and from nearly all other parts of the kingdom begin to assemble, a hundred or more at a time, on the floor of theP’ramenein sight of the holy urn, and rehearse in concert lessons in Pali calledP’ang-soo-koon, which are in substance reflections on the brevity and uncertainty of human life, the certainty of death and transmigration, the sorrows connected with every state of mutability and the blessings of Nipan, where there can be no more change. Having uttered audibly these short lessons, they continue in a sitting posture, with downcast looks, a few minutes, reflecting silently on the condition of the living and the dead, and then retire, giving place to another hundred or more to recite the same lessons. Thus they come and go until thousands of the chief priests and others of lower rank have had the honor; and this is repeated every day while the corpse sits in state and for three days afterward.
All the princes and nobles and royal servants are dressed in white. Every Siamese subject, noble or plebeian, man and woman, bond and free, must then out of respect for the dead have his head entirely shaven.
The multitudes of priests are sumptuously fed from the royal bounty early every morning, and again before noon. Yellow robes are prepared for them at the expense of the king’s private purse. To every chief priest he gives a complete suit, and to every other priest some important part of a suit, if not the whole. Besides the yellow robes, the king has also in readiness vast provisions of bedsteads, fully furnished with mosquito-bars, mattresses, pillows, towels, spittoons, betel-boxes, cigar-cases, rice-kettles, lacquered trays, lamps, candles, boats with little houses on them, and other articles which the priests need in their daily calling. These articles he distributes to them every day.
Another performance, usually more exciting than all the rest, is the daily scattering of money broadcast among the thousands that have assembled there for the sport. The king takes personally a very lively part in it. The money and jewelry are usually imbedded in little green limes or small balls of wood, to prevent them from getting lost among the crowd. His Majesty, standing in his temporary palace-door, having bushels of limes at his feet, each charged with one piece of money, taking up a handful at a time, throws them, often so guiding his hand as that some peculiar favorite shall have the best chance in the game—some corpulent prince whom he wishes to set into ludicrous motion by his efforts to catch the flying prize. To show proper respect, every one, whether prince or prime minister or consul or missionary, must exert himself to catch His Majesty’s gifts while flying, and must go down on all fours grabbing after them at the feet of the multitude if they happen to fall there. He manifestly enjoys the sport, often laughing most heartily at the sight of the jumping, scrambling and groveling eagerness of his lords to obtain the limes.
Sometimes the limes are hung on artificial trees calledton Kappapruk—literally, “trees that gratified the desires of men.” They are intended to represent the four trees that are to be found in each of the four corners of the city in which the next Buddha is to be born, and which will bear not only money, but seri-leaf, betel-nut, oranges, clothing, gold, diamonds—in short, everything else that man shall need for his comfort under his reign.
Four men ascend the mound in which these trees are planted to pluck the fruit by handfuls and cast them to crowds of men who stand as compacted as it would seem possible for them to live. Every throw is instantly followed by a universal shout from the multitude and a rush for the prize. And then they surge hither and thither like a forest swayed by a mighty wind. The writer thinks he has seen ten thousand men engaged at one time in this kind of sport. It takes but about fifteen minutes to pluck all the fruit from these trees, and then the game is over. It is a rare thing for a man to catch more than two or three limes.
Still another mode of dispensing the royal gifts on such occasions is to divide them into lots, with a slip of palm-leaf attached to each lot and a copy of each on another slip, which, being rolled up or put into the wooden ball or lime, is thrown out by the king to his favored audience. He sometimes adopts a similar mode in dispensing his favors to companies of the chief priests, taking care, of course, that only such things as are suitable for priests are put into such lots.
Sundry Chinese, Malay and Siamese dramas and shadow-scenes are played, and at early candlelight theP’rameneis most brilliantly illuminated within and without. About eight or nine o’clock in the evening the fireworks are sent off, being occasionally ignited by the king himself. You first hear the crackling of the matches, then you see the sulphuric fire and smoke running up tall bamboo poles and extending out into branches. Presently a dozen tall trees of fire throw an intense light over all the premises. These quickly burn out, and another flash brings into view beautiful fire-shrubbery. In a minute or two they blossom roses, dahlias, oleanders and other flowers of all hues, and the most beautiful, continually changing their colors like the chameleon until they all fade out into darkness. You are startled by the report of rockets sent up from various places in rapid succession, a hundred or more, showing that the Siamese are not far behind the times in this art. Immediately after this you will hear a terrible roaring like the bellowing of a dozen elephants, with an occasional crash like the bursting of a small engine-boiler. They are the fireworks calledChang rawng, which means “bellowing elephants.” Suddenly innumerable fire-birds begin chirping, buzzing, hopping and flying in all directions. Some ascend high in the air and burst with a small spluttering report. Mimic volcanic eruptions, attended with jets of ignited sulphur and iron, ascending like waterspouts and falling in showers of red-hot lava, are kept going until fifty or more have been fired.
Before the burning of the body the golden urn containing the corpse is removed from the top of thePra Bencha, and the copper urn taken out. This has an iron grating at the bottom overlaid with spices and fragrant powders. All the precious articles with which the pyramid was decorated are temporarily removed from it, and some eight or ten feet of the upper part of it taken down to form a place of suitable dimensions for the burning. Then the fragrant wood is laid in order in cross layers on the platform, having a bellows attached to the pile. Precious spices and fragrant articles, many in kind, are put among the wood. A gunpowder match is laid from a certain part of the hall set apart for the seat of the king, reaching to a spot made particularly combustible in the pile of wood. These changes are made with surprising rapidity.
All being ready, the king takes electric fire—which had been preserved for such purposes for a long time—and touches it to the end of the match at his feet. This kindles a flame in the midst of the wood. Immediately the next in rank among the princes steps up and lays his large wax candle, lighted from a lamp burning in the same lightning fire, among the wood or on the top of it as seems to him most convenient. The next prince in order of rank does the same, and all the nobles and lords lay their wax candles among the wood. The rank-order is soon lost in the hurry of the many who wish to contribute their candles before it shall be too late. Hundreds of wax candles, great and small, are laid on the wood ere the burning has advanced too far to admit any more.
To prevent the flames from becoming too intense for the safety of theP’rameneand its appendages, strong men armed with long-handled dippers are dashing water whenever and wherever required; there are others armed with iron pokers, whose business it is to stir the fire occasionally. The moment the wood is fired the funeral bands strike up their dirges and the company of mourning women set up their wailing. This continues only a few minutes. The time occupied in the burning is not more than one hour.
TOMB OF A BONZETOMB OF A BONZE.
TOMB OF A BONZE.
The fire is extinguished before all the bones have been reduced to ashes. A few of the remaining coals of the bones are carefully collected and deposited in a neat and very precious gold urn. By the time this is done the sun is set, and theP’rameneis left in a despoiled state until next morning. Nevertheless, the hall is lighted and all the usual exercises go on through the night as before. Early the next morning thePra Benchapyramid is restored to its original splendor and the little golden urn of precious coal is placed on its summit.
All the ashes left by the burning are put in clean white muslin and laid in a golden platter. They are then ceremoniously carried in state to the royal landing, and, escorted by a procession of state barges, attended by the funeral bands, carried down the river about a mile and there committed to its waters.
The funeral obsequies of a king are continued three days after the burning, and the ceremonies are almost the same as those in anticipation of it until the last day. On that day a royal procession is formed, somewhat like that of the first day, to bear the charred remains in the little golden urn to a sacred depository of such relics of the kings of Siam within the royal palace. Very soon after this the servants of the king gather up all the articles which it is customary to preserve for future funeral occasions—viz.the permanent gold and silver stands, the golden canopy and the ornaments of the pyramid. But the timber of which theP’rameneand its appendages are made is taken down and converted to other uses, usually the building of Buddhist temples.[1]
Funerals Among the People.
These very costly funerals of the royal family and nobility are not possible, of course, among the common people. The priests, however, are generally sent for to attend the dying, and when there sprinkle the suffering one with holy water, recite passages from their sacred books and pronounce the name of Buddha repeatedly.
After death there is a season of weeping and wailing by the family, and the body is then washed and wrapped tightly in white cloth. An urn or wooden coffin covered with gilt paper and decorated with tinsel flowers is brought, and the body placed therein.
Among the people the corpse is not kept long in the dwelling, and instances have been known where the dying one was removed outside on account of the superstitious fears of the family.
When the coffin is carried off, it is not through a door or window, but a hole is cut in the bamboo wall, and sometimes the bearers run around the house two or three times, lest the spirit should find its way back and haunt the premises.
The cremation takes place in some temple-ground where there is a permanentP’ramene. But occasionally the dying “make merit” by bequeathing their dead body to the vultures. In such cases the flesh is cut off with a knife and fed to these birds of prey, which haunt the burning-localities in great numbers, and the bones only are burned. Paupers and criminals are thus fed to the vultures or burned without ceremony. All persons struck dead by lightning or carried off suddenly by small-pox or cholera are first buried for some months, and then dug up and burned.
The funerals of the wealthy last several days, and are connected with feasting, fireworks and theatrical displays. The garb of mourning in Siam is white, not black, and is accompanied with shaving of the heads of all the immediate family and their servants.
Cremation at Bejrepuree of a Man in The Middle Walks of Life.
[From theBangkok Recorder, May, 1866.]
The corpse was first to be offered to the vultures, a hundred or more. Before the coffin was opened the filthy and horrible gang had assembled, “for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles [vultures] be gathered together.” They were perched on the ridges of the temple, and even on small trees and bushes within a few feet of the body; and so greedy were they that the sexton and his assistants had to beat them off many times before the coffin could be opened. They seemed to know that there would be but a mouthful for each if divided among them all, and that packs of greedy dogs were also in waiting for their share.
The body was taken from the coffin and laid on a pile of wood that had been prepared on a small temporary altar. Then the birds were allowed to descend upon the corpse and tear it as they liked. For a while it was quite hidden in the rush. But each bird, grabbing its part with bill and claws, spread its wings and mounted to some quiet place to eat.
The sexton seemed to think that he too was “making merit” by cutting off parts of the body and throwing them to the hungry dogs, as the dying man had done in bequeathing his body to these carrion-feeders. The birds, not satisfied with what they got from the altar, came down and quarreled with the curs for their share.
While this was going on the mourners stood waiting, with wax candles and incense-sticks, to pay their last tribute of respect to the deceased, by assisting in the burning of the bones after the vultures and dogs had stripped them. The sexton, with the assistance of another, gathered up the skeleton and put it back into the coffin, which was lifted by four men and carried around the funeral pile three times.
It was then laid on the pile of wood, and a few sticks were put into the coffin to aid in burning the bones. Then a lighted torch was applied to the pile, and the relatives and other mourners advanced and laid each a wax candle by the torch. Others brought incense and cast it on the pile.
The vultures, having had but a scanty breakfast, lingered about the place until the fire had left nothing more for them, when they shook their ugly heads, and, hopping a few steps to get up a momentum, flapped their harpy wings and flew away.