The Kap Maha Chat (Thai: กาพย์มหาชาติ, pronounced[kàːpmā.hǎːt͡ɕʰâːt]) is an old work of literature composed in Siam in the Ayuthian period. There is no mention of the name of its author and its history remains unclear. However, it is held as a work of both literary and religious value.
History
Prince Damrong postulated that the Kap Maha Chat was likely composed during the reign of King Songtham[1] at a joint convention of philosophers and royal academicians between the years 1602 and 1627.
Content, language, style
The content of the Kap Maha Chat is a rhymed narrative composition retelling the story of Maha Chat[2] or Vessantara Jataka (มหาเวสสันดรชาดก, Maha Wetsandon Chadok) in a style known as yok gathā (ยกคาถา, yok katha), which is the incantation a sentence or phrase in Pāḷi and then retelling it in Thai. The entire tale being told from start to finish by alternating between the two languages. Verse is in a style known as rai boran, at the time referred to as rai maha chat (ร่ายมหาชาติ). Aside from being simply prosework composed to give sermons on the Maha Chat itself, each chapter (known as a bap (บรรพ) when referring to the Maha Chat) is in fact quite concise so that it could be directed at an audience of average layfolk. The Thai prefix kap of the title can be glossed as 'narrative poem'.[3]
Examples
From the chapter Wanaprawet (วนประเวศน์); words in bold are in Pali:
^Brereton, Bonnie Pacala (1992). The Phra Malai Legend in Thai Buddhist Literature: A Study of Three Texts. University of Michigan. p. 112.
^Jory, Patrick (2016). Thailand's Theory of Monarchy: The Vessantara Jātaka and the Idea of the Perfect Man. State University of New York Press. p. 71. ISBN9781438460895.
^Le Bas, Dominique (1992). "Le Vessantara Jātaka sur le mobilier thaï". In Blanchon, Flora (ed.). Donner et recevoir. Presses de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne. p. 40.
