Bot Lakhon Rueang Dalang with the Given Number 35: A Missing Ayutthaya Version of the Dalang

Abstract

Bot Lakhon Rueang Dalang, which was typed in 30 pages of paper with the given number of 35, was copied from a folded paper book (Samut Thai) and is now kept in the National Library of Thailand. It narrates the story from the scene in which Inao asked the king of Kurepan to go hunting, and moves forward to the scene in which Tammangong put Butsabasari, Inao’s consort, to death. Bot Lakhon Rueang Dalang number 35 is a different version of Bot Lakhon Rueang Dalang of King Rama I and has no information about the author and the history of composition. This article aims to examine the characteristics and the date of composition of Bot Lakhon Rueang Dalang number 35 by comparing it with the Dalang of King Rama I which is the oldest version of the Dalang in survival today. The study finds that various characteristics of Bot Lakhon Rueang Dalang number 35 are different from the Dalang of King Rama I. It presents some contents and characters different from those in the Dalang of King Rama I, it has more simple literary techniques than those in the Dalang of King Rama I, it uses the Klon style and some words like those found in Bot Lakhon of Ayutthaya and Thonburi periods, and it presents more concise continuity of the story than that in the Dalang of King Rama I while still containing descriptions appropriate for transformation into beautiful dances. Those distinctive characteristics indicate that Bot Lakhon Rueang Dalang number 35 might be a fragmented manuscript from the Dalang of the late-Ayutthaya period where the Dalang was first composed. Bot Lakhon Rueang Dalang number 35, therefore, should be recognized as a significant version of the Dalang demonstrating that the Ayutthaya version of the Dalang is not entirely lost and extending the knowledge of the Dalang literature and performance.