On the Trail of King Taksin’s Samutphāp Traiphūm

Abstract

Two manuscripts describing the Buddhist cosmology state that they were made on order of King Taksin in 1776. One of these is kept in Bangkok, one in Berlin. A third has been expertly declared to be a later copy. In Thailand it is believed that “their” document is genuine, while the Museum in Berlin is sure “theirs” is the original. A comparison of the two shows that the Berlin document has a better claim to originality, yet is somewhat flawed. Prince Damrong, who examined it in 1930, reported that he remembered having seen a fourth version, very similar in artistic execution, but with beautiful covers. In his opinion the Berlin document was not the one that had been presented to the king. It is possible that this fourth version, that promises to surpass all known versions in beauty and skill, still exists.