Postcards from Thailand

Then we hit the road again and visited a number of places identified earlier by Direk Injan, Apiradee Techasiriwan, Jettana Wannasai-Grabowsky, and Ubonphan Wannasai to collect field data on the current techniques of manuscript production and the ways it has developed. Our first destination was the monastery Wat Tao Bunrüang in the Hang Dong district of the Chiang Mai province, where we witnessed the gathering of palm leaves from a Talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera). In Thailand, only two species of the Talipot Palm (colloquially called the temple and the forest palms) can be used as basis for writing supports, as Professor Winai Saengkaew, a botanist at Maejo University in Chiang Mai, taught us. This is due to the durability and size of the fan-shaped leaves, which can grow over two metres long and six metres wide. The trunk of the palm can grow to 27 metres high, with a diameter of up to 90 cm. Just once in its lifetime, right before its death, this long-lived palm, which can get around 80 years old, rises a magnificent inflorescence with roughly 24 million tiny yellowish-white flowers.

Only when standing directly next these trees, you realise how giant they are. The task of climbing them to harness the leaves is both risky and impressive to watch. Fortunately, we did not have to do the 20-metre climb ourselves. This was done by an 68-year old professional who has been gathering leaves since he was twelve. In other words, he has 56 years of working experience in a profession for which there is no equivalent in Europe. We also observed the same performance, which somewhat resembles Asian Ninja cartoons, by Nit Tanthi in Wat Phuket in the Pua district of the Nan province. He has been doing this particular job for eight years but is used to climbing high trees since his early childhood. Both men climbed the palm tree without a belay. They had a rope with them, but it was mainly used to pull up tools and occasionally to cling themselves to one fan-like cluster of leaves cluster while cutting off another. For people watching from below, the gathering of the leaves was as thrilling as an acrobatic show in a theatre.

On the next day, we followed a red car full of leaves to Wat Tha Thum in the San Sai district, Chiang Mai province, where, step by step, we had the chance to observe and document the entire process of transforming the palm leaves into a writing support. This process was concluded by a demonstration of text copying by Phra Chaiwit Dhammarato, a senior monk at this monastery. We then observed a similar process at Wat Napang in the Phu Phiang district, Nan province, demonstrated by Somjate Wimolkasem and his team (see the trailer of our film). These demonstrations yielded many thought-provoking impressions: there are so many different paths that can be taken to achieve particular results, with regard to both the materials and technologies used to bring out specific properties of the palm leaf. However, there is no guarantee that these components are always the same; indeed, we observed how many different substances, such as tamarind leaves, soap pod, Thai eggplant, makrut or kaffir lime, curcuma (turmeric), and soap, can be added while boiling the leaves.

Nearby in Wat Muang Mai in the Phu Phiang district, Nan province, we also saw vast collections of old palm-leaf books which were just taken out of a stupa and are being digitised under the supervision of Somjate Wimolkasem, a retired teacher with decades of experience in the preservation and documentation of manuscripts in his home province. These books took us on quite a journey through various motifs on gilded and painted fore-edges, wooden and lacquered covers, and traditional wrappings finished with curved and inscribed markings separating the fascicles of the volumes. Some of those objects were really special. One volume, for example, had a string made out of cotton fibres twisted with long human hair. We learned that this was a common thing for women to make, and one of their few chances to gain merit, since unlike the men in the monasteries, they were not allowed to ordain.