A Legendary Account of Phayao Pagodas as the Primary Source for Tale Innovation of Phayao

Abstract

The article  aimed to present form, structure, convention and to (2) examine strategic creation in the Phayao legendary literature focusing both on written form which are preserved in palm leaf manuscript, transcribed and published and verbal form, the oral form of 19 Phyao pagoda legend as the primary source for the tale innovation.Results showed  that  Pagoda literature was composed in the form of prose mixed with Pali language and ancient Lanna language together with modern prose style for the descriptive way. The structure of the legend literature consisted of 3 features: (i) content showing the story back to the time of the Buddha, (ii) content showing the event taking place after the Buddha’s demise referring to important and historical persons like King Ashoka, and (iii) the content indicating certain incidents that link to the current events. Concerning creation, Phayao pagodas’ legend has major creative conventions consisting of (i) Introductory part starting with solely Pali introduction and the concluding part, (ii) the convention of salutation part, and (iii) the convention of motif, the smallest part of the legend, the Buddha’s relic is the motif leading to the composition of the legend to support the building of the pagoda to enshrine the Buddha’s relic, practices, rites and other statements related to the Buddha’s relics.