Literary Work on Subin Kuman: A Comparative Study

Abstract

          The objectives of this comparative study of the literary work on Subin Kuman were: to investigate the general aspects, and the literary and social values of Subin Kuman in the version of Wat Phikunthong, Muang District, Ratchburi Province (the original Samut Thai copy); and to compare it with Subin Jataka of Phra Lak Ekthammo’s version (Kasem Khanapkaew, 2005), and an old version of Subin Kumar of a writer of Muang Nakhon Si Thammarat (Promotion Unit, Thai Culture Promotion Center, 1977).

The results of the study revealed that the general aspects of the Wat Phikunthong version were: it was named after the main character’s name; the content provided thoughts about Buddhism focusing on the importance of ordination focusing on passing down Buddhism. Regarding literary values, it was found that the core of the story was the result merit of ordination which has long been instilled in the soul of Buddhists. In terms of social values, two types of tradition were found. 1) Traditions about life, namely, tradition about birth, child-encouragement-boosting ceremony, baby-naming tradition, and ordination tradition; and 2) Social traditions, namely Songkran tradition. When comparing the three versions of Subin Kuman, it was found that the Wat Phikunthong version was different from the other two versions in several ways, namely, the background of the story, names of the characters, and details of some parts of the story. However, some similarities were found which were the values of the writing, and the literary and social values. No evidence was found about the authors of all the three versions of Subin Kuman and the time when they were written.