Interpreting a Cosmology: Guardian Spirits in Thai Buddhism

Author(s): Penny van Esterik

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Anthropos, Bd. 77, H. 1./2. (1982), pp. 1-15
Published by: Anthropos Institute
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 PennyVan Esterik

a Cosmology:
Interpreting
GuardianSpiritsin Thai Buddhism

Abstract.- Thispaperarguesthatthe Thaihierarchy of guardianspiritscan and

shouldbe incorporated in a Buddhistconceptualorder.Reasonsfor intra- culturaldiver-
sityin thelabellingof and behaviortowardguardianspiritsina CentralThaivillagemay
be tracedto canonicalsourcesand cosmological structure.A setofprinciplesunderlying
thevillagers*
classification beingsareproposeddemonstrating
of supernatural howambi-
guitiespermitalternateorderings of spirits.Ethnographic and textualevidenceare com-
bined in thisargument.Finally,thisargument raisesquestionsof broadertheoretical
interestin culturalanthropology regarding the relationbetweencognitionand action,
and theuse offolk taxonomies.[Thailand,Buddhism, Cosmology, Supernatural Beings]

No anthropologist who has workedin Thailandwouldunderestimate

the importance of guardianspiritsin Thai religion.Fromthe elaborate
shrinesnortheast of theGrandPalace,andtheErawanHotelinBangkok, to
themakeshift standsin mostruralcompounds, thesespiritsarewellhoused.
Western interpretersof Thaireligion,however, arenotagreedon thenature
of thesespirits.In a recentmonograph on Thai Buddhism Terwielargues
thatthe "basicmagico-anirnism whichcharacterizestribalT'ai alsounderlies
the religionof the farmers in lowlandThailand"(1975: 21). The theory
arguingthat Buddhism is onlya thinveneerovera morepervasive animism
is notdead.Building on earliersimilar
arguments, in
Terwiel, hisanalysis of
religiousceremonies in centralThailand,has returnedto thisposition.This
essaywillarguethatguardianspiritscan and shouldbe incorporated in a

PennyVan Esterikis currently a researchassociatein internationalnutritionand

a fellowin theSoutheastAsia Program, CornellUniversity,Ithaca,N.Y. She receivedher
BA fromUniversity of Torontoand herMA andPhD fromUniversity ofIllinois.A mono-
graphentitledCognitionandDesignProduction in BanChiangPaintedPottery,basedon
herdoctoraldissertation,waspublishedby Ohio University Press,1981. Otherrecentar-
ticleson Thai culturehistoryincludeSymmetry and Symbolism in Ban ChiangPainted
of
Pottery(Journal Anthropological Research),and Ban ChiangRollers: Experiment and
Speculation(AsianPerspectives). Previousfieldwork in Thailandon aspectsof villagere-
ligioncontributedto articleson tonsureceremonies, womenin Buddhism, casteideology
and symbolism.Currentresearchinterestsare in nutritional anthropology and food
ideology.
77.1982
Anthropos 1
2 PennyVan Esterik 77.1982
Anthropos

Buddhistconceptualorder.In fact,spirits,and specificallyguardianspirits,

are referredto in the Buddhistcanon, a fact thatarguesagainst"veneer"
theoryof Buddhismin Thailand.Secondly,thisstudysuggeststhatguardian
spiritsmay be the vehicleby which natureand localityspiritsand Hindu
deitieswereintegratedinto a singleBuddhistworldview. This shouldin no
way obscurethe factthatspiritsare an integralpartof thebeliefsystemof
TheravadaBuddhismtoday. The studywas promptedby recognitionof ex-
tensiveintra-culturaldiversity(Pelto and Pelto 1975) in thelabellingof and
behaviortowardspirits,particularly guardianspirits,in a Thai community. I
will proposesome of theprincipleswhichunderliethevillager'sclassification
of supernaturalbeings,showingwherethe ambiguitiesexist. But the guar-
dian spirit"problem"also raisesof broadertheoreticalinterestregarding the
relation between cognitionand action and the use of folk taxonomies.
The problem of how to understandthe systemof categorizationof
supernaturalbeingscame to my attentionwhilestudyingthe ritualsinstal-
lingguardianspirits.1I was unableto discoverwhethertheseguardianspirits
werephi (ghosts)or thëwada(deities).2Myinitialproblem,then,was to de-
finethe extentand compositionof the importantdomain of spirits.I at-
temptedto definethe guardianspiritsspatiallyin a cosmologicalframework
and to determine whethertheywere "good" or "bad." Clearly,moralat-
tributesand spatiallocationof thesespiritswereimportantcharacteristics to
but
my informants, they did not providethe basis fora hierarchicalordering
of spirits(cf. Endicott 1970: 98-100 for similardifficulties orderingthe
Malay spiritpantheon).Eventually,I realizedthatthiscategoryof guardian
spiritswerephi to some people, and thëwadato others,and myattemptsto
anchorguardianspiritsin one categoryor anotherworldwoulddistortand
oversimplify the interpretationsgivenme by thevillagers.Therewas no con-
sensus on the labellingof guardianspiritsand conflicting criteriaforestab-
lishingattributes the of
defining categories pAíand thêwadã.
Thus, I faced an immediateproblemin the interpretation of guardian
spirits.Beforelookingat how otherscholarshave resolvedthisdifficulty, I
considerbrieflythe Hindu-Buddhist cosmologicalstructure.The boundaries
and levels of the world of sensuousdesires(kãmaloka) appear veryclearly

Fieldworkin Thailand was conducted in a large villagein Uthongdistrict,Sup-

hanburiprovince,fromJune 1971 to January1972 under the auspices of the National
Research Council of Thailand. Funds were providedby a traininggrantfromthe Depart-
ment of Anthropology,and a fellowshipfromthe CenterforAsian Studies,Universityof
Illinois. My husband continued study of villagereligionin 1973-74, while I was involved
in anotherresearchproject elsewhere.Much of my work has benefittedfromhis criticism
and fromthe opportunityto revisitthe villagewhile he worked there.I wish to thankF.
K. Lehman,who stimulatedthe theoreticalapproach used here,and also advisedme while
I was in the village.
Transcriptionof Thai words is based on the formstandardizedin Skinnerand
Kirsch (eds.) 1975. However,I have,at times,followedconventionalusage or formsused
by authorsI am quoting,at the expensiveof consistency.
 a Cosmology: Thai Buddhism
Interpreting g

defined.The uppersix worldsare inhabitedby thëwada(deities)residingon

the upperslopes of MountMeruand above. Beneaththe worldof humans,
animals,suffering ghosts(peta), and demons(asura),is located an increasing-
ly hideous seriesof eighthells (cf. Tambiah 1970: 36-9; King 1964: 113).
This cosmology,describedin the fourteenth centuryThai text, The Three
WorldsAccordingto King Ruang (Trai Phüm Phra Ruang; Reynoldsand
Reynoldsn.d.), is widely knownin ruralThai villages.Guardianspiritsare
not anchoredin thisstructure, althoughin anothersense,theycan be loca-
ted at severallevelsin thiscosmology.In theirrelatively undefinedposition,
they fill the of
interstices cosmologicaland politicelispace, linkingthe two
systemsmetaphorically.

Worldand Its Interpreters

1. The Supernatural

The wide varietyof interpretations of the spiritworldgivenby Thai

villagersis reflectedin the scholars
difficulty haverecognizedin defining phi,
thëwada, and guardianspirits. B.C. Law concluded hisBuddhistConception
of Spiritswiththeobservationthatthereis a continuousgradingof goodness
and evil in the spirits,withthëwada"havinga preponderanceof good and
meritoriousdeeds in theirfavour,thoughthey are tainted,at least in the
lowerranks,withsomestainof evilwhichtheyhavegot to workout"(1936:
107f.). Between the lowest of the thëwada and the highestof the peta
thereis "hardlyanyline of cleavage"(108). Tambiah(1970) notesthatspir-
its addressedas chao phõ (respectedfather)are a mixtureofphi and thëwa-
da since the borderbetweenthe two is vague. Yet he stillopposes phi and
thëwada.He simplifiesthe analysisby admittingthatphi are differentiated
into good and bad, but thëwadaare treatedas a singleclass.He does not deal
withthe factthatguardianspiritsmay be treatedas respecteddeities.Kauf-
man (1960), too, notesthatthevillagersof Bangkhuadcould not explainthe
distinctionbetweenphi and thëwada,and givesthe guardianspiritof the
house compoundas an example,makingno attemptto accountfortheam-
biguity.Kirsch(1967) uses a syncreticapproachthatdistinguishes animistic,
Brahmanistic, and Buddhist He
subsystems. suggests that animistic locality
spiritsare beingup-gradedto Brahmandeities.These, in turn,are transfor-
medand givenBuddhistmeaning.By this"upgrading"of spirits(or Buddhai-
zation;Kirsch1967), apAí maybe transformed intoa thëwada.
Attagara(1967), approaching the question as a Thai, recognizesthat
villagersfindit difficult ghostsfromdeitiesand concludesthat
to distinguish
the people solve the problemby lumpingall supernatural agentstogetheras
phi. She gives historicalevidence to suggestthat in its earliestusage,phi re-
ferredto both phi and thêwadã.Her exampleis the powerfulPhra Khap-
hung,the guardianspiritof the fourteenth centuryThai kingdomof Sukho-
thai. Her evidencesuggeststhat since the earliestThai kingdomsguardian
spiritshave been an ambiguouscategorycapable of interpretation eitheras
phi or thëwada.
 4 PennyVan Esterik 77.1982
Anthropos

Attagara'sworksupportstheviewsof theauthorityon supernatural en-

tities,as on so many aspects of Thai traditions,Phya AnumanRajadhon,
who writes(1954: 154) that "the dividinglinebetweengods and devils,like
men,is a thinone whichis a matterof varyingdegree."He bases thisambi-
guityon the historicaldevelopmentof Buddhismreplacingan earlierani-
mism.He writes:"It followedthatall the good phi of theThai had by now
become thêwadã or gods in theirpopularuse of the language.The generic
word 'phi' therefore,degeneratedinto a restrictedmeaningof bad phi
(1954: 153). Clearly,the spirithierarchyis relevantto an understandingof
Thai religionand world view,but thereis littleagreementin the literature
about the natureof the spirithierarchyor how guardianspiritsshouldbe
classified.In our concern with classifying and definingphi and thêwadã,
perhaps we have missedthe most pointabout guardianspirits.By
significant
their ambiguousposition,guardianspiritsare capable of interpretation in
morethanone way.

2. GuardianSpiritsas phi

Guardianspiritsare interpreted by some Thai ãsphi (ghosts).Thisstate-

mentalone conveysverylittleinformation, sincephi itselfis an ambiguous
category, as the followingexamples illustrate.Greatambiguity surroundsthe
spiritsknown as phi prêt (Pali: peta). These spiritshave been rebornin the
realm of suffering ghostsbetweenthe realmsof the animalsand the asura
(demons) in the kãmaloka world,the world of sensuousdesire.In the vil-
lagers'terms,thesespiritsdo not have enoughdemeritto cause themto be
rebornin one of thelowerhellsnorenoughmeritto be rebornin thehuman
or heavenlylevels.Even thoughtheyinhabitanotherrealmin thekãmaloka
world,theymaywanderintotherealmof humanswherevillagersoccasional-
ly claim to encounterthem. In fact,the phi prêt wanderinto the human
realm for the expresspurpose of gainingmerit.Accordingto the villagers,
theycannotgain meritforthemselvesby listeningto thewordsof theBud-
dha, but mustrelyon humansto sharetheirmeritwiththem.Thesevillagers
attendinga templeservicedo, by means of a ritualknown as kruatnãm
wherebyBuddhistssharemeritwithall livingbeings(cf. Wells1960: 118).
Theirinteraction withphiprêtis in a Buddhistcontext.
Phi prêt are terrifying beings,gruesomelydescribedin thesermonsand
illustratedin picturesin the preachinghall. One villagerexplainedthatyou
do not need to feedphi prêt and you cannotbribethemwithfood,but if
you meet one, you can say, "please don't scare me-I will make meritand
transferit to you." Thesephi, then,onlyneed a smallamountof meritto be
rebornin a higherrealm.Theyare ambiguoustransitional categoryof spirits,
fixedin a level betweenthe hells and the humanrealm.They are labelled
phi but not treatedas otherphi. A Thai villagerlearnsthatphiprêt are cruel
ghostsbut no personalincidentssuggestedreasonsto fearphi prêt,as one
would fearothercruelphi.
 a Cosmology: Thai Buddhism
Interpreting 5

A second scripturalsource of potentialambiguityabout phi could be

the guardianspiritsof one of thesubhellsdescribedin the TraiPhüm.There
is a categoryof semi-permanent guardianswho havedone bothvirtuousand
sinfuldeeds and, as a result,spend fifteendaysa monthas guardiansinflic-
tingpunishmenton othersand fifteendays as victimsof the same punish-
ment.Some of thesebeingsare phi prêt forthe waxingmoon and thêwadã
forthe waningmoon. The existenceof sucha categoryof spiritsprovidesan
excellent argumentagainst those who conceptualizephi and thêwadã as
fixedcategoriesrepresenting absoluteand opposed spiritualbeingsthat can
be represented in a taxonomy.
The scripturesacknowledgethe existenceof spiritsalthoughtheydo
not specifytheirnatureor the extentof theirpower(cf. Khuddaka-nikaya,
Petavatthu).Similarly,the scripturesprovidelimitedmeans of protection
againstthemin the formofparitta(protectiveverses).Since thesespiritsare
not clearlydefinedin thescriptures, thereis roomfora varietyof interpreta-
tionsas to theiroriginand nature.Theirexistenceis not defined,but the de-
tailsare leftfortheindividualto fillin forhimself.
Villagersare able to account fora categoryof good spirits(phi dì) who
can be supplicatedand help solve daily problemssuch as lost cattleor sick
children.Phi dì are most commonlythose spiritswho are associatedwitha
particularterritory and have fixeddutiesto protectand help thoseresiding
in theirterritory. a villagercan definethe responsibilities
If and dutiesof a
phi, thenhe usuallyinteractswiththempositively.
A fewvillagersaccountedforthe existenceof good spiritsby referring
to the account of the existenceof prematuredeath recordedin the Ques-
tion of KingMilinda(Rhys-David1963). In thistext,whichis familiarto the
villagersthroughsermons,KingMilindaasks,

"Venerable Nagasena,when beingsdie, do theyall die in fulnessof timeor do some

die out of due season?" And Nagasena replies,"There is such a thing,O King,as death at
the due timeand such a thingas prematuredeath" (Rhys-David1963: 162).

In the wordsof one old woman,people may die of old age whenthey
"should" (Pali: upayakãya), that is, when Phra Yamarat(Yama, god of
death) calls them.They are thenrebornin theappropriaterealmdepending
on theirpast merit.But some people die of accidentsor illnessbeforePhra
Yamaratcalls them.These people (Pali: upaccheda kãmakãya)becomephi
who wanderfreelyuntilPhra Yamaratcalls themto be reborn.If theyhad
more demeritthan meritat the timeof theirdeath,theywill become evil
spirits;if they had more merit,they will become good spirits.This inter-
pretationallows forfreewandering,spiritswho are benevolent,and it can be
traced to a well knownscripturalsource,althoughthe villagerversionis
phrasedwithan animateactor, Yama, who recordsthe appropriatetimeof
death.
6 PennyVan Esterik 77.1982
Anthropos

Fig. 1
The creationof "bad and good" phi

1. NaturalDeath Birth Death

(Pali: upayakãya) P hra Yamarai calls normalrebirth
""""""""~~"
2. UnnaturalDeath BirthDeath Phra Yamaratcalls
(Psliiupaccheda kãmakãya) > + demerit > dangerousphi

3. UnnaturalDeath BirthDeath Phra Yamaratcalls

(Pali: upaccheda kãmakãya) ) + merit > goodpht

Guardianspiritsaddressedas phï are describedas immoraland untrust-

worthy,emotional,unreasonable,and,just likehumans,a littlestupid.They
are quite easily fooled: "You may promisethemone hundredeggsif they
assistyou, thengivethemonly one egg" (cf. Endicott1970: 55). They can
be bribedand willhelp thoseresidingin theirterritory onlyiftheindividuals
have shownrespectto the guardianspirits.But thehelp and protectionthey
give does not depend on Buddhistmorality.If ever an individualbegins
honouringand feedinga guardianspiritand thenstops,he is in greatdanger.
However, if a reciprocalrelationship was neverset up in the firstplace, the
guardianspirit will not harm him nor will he givehimprotection.Guardian
spiritsaddressed as phï, are treatedaspAiand givenofferings appropriatefor
phi, such as whiskey,cigarettes,meat, dishes,and an unappetizingspicy,
sour,fishmixture.

To summarize,guardianspiritscan be interpreted as good or bad spirits

or
(phi), behavingmorally immorally. In making sense out of the spirit
world,villagers must be able to account forphï prêt who are fearedbut do
not interferein thisworld,guardianprêtwho spendpartof theirtimeasp/ti
and partas thêwadã,and good spirits(phï di) who can activelyprotectindi-
vidualsresidingin theirterritory. These latterguardiansare morelikelyto
be trustedbecause theyare perceivedof as beingunderthe controlof a "pa-
tron." Villagerscan describeguardianspiritslabelled as phï as beinggood,
bad, or neutraldependingon the context. There is a body of lore and
personnalexperiencethatallows a villagerto interactwiththesespiritsin an
appropriateway. Further, these interpretations cannot be dismissedas
individualperversions,underlyinganimism,or even ignorant"folk Bud-
dhism," since there are scripturalreferencesfor villager'sinterpretations.
More importantly, theyare representative of the way people interprettheir
cultural categories. Ambiguity,paradox, contradictionare all potential
interpretative forcategoriesas complexas guardianspirits.
strategies
 a Cosmology: Thai Buddhism
Interpreting 7

3. GuardianSpiritsas thêwadã

Thereare also contradictions concerning thecategoryof spiritslabelled

as thêwadã,a term thatincludes both the Hindu-derived deitiesand theun-
named thêwadãwho live in the heavenbecause of the meritaccumulatedin
theirpast lives.These unnamedthêwadãare the ones thatvillagersinteract
withmostregularly.
The Hindu-deriveddeities,such as Phra In (Indra), and Phra Phrom
(Brahma)representa pantheonof permanentpositionsor slotswhichare fil-
led by a progression of beingswho take up such a positionbecause of their
accumulationof meritin past lives. The "offices,"muchlike the political
hierarchyof villageheadman,districtofficer,and governor,are permanent,
but the slots are filledby a successionof different people. Gombrich(1971:
181) also notes the analogy between the human and thedivinepowerstruc-
turein Ceylon.Since even low level thêwadãlive forthe equivalentof mil-
lions of years,it is not surprisingthatthesespiritsare consideredpermanent.
Included among these thêwadã are nine guardianspiritswithjurisdic-
tion over different kindsof territory. Usingthe Pali or Sanskritversionsof
theirnames,theseguardiansincludeJayamangala, withjurisdictionoverhou-
ses; Nagararãja,withjurisdiction over doors,forts,and ladders;Devathera,
withjurisdictionover domesticanimals;Jayasabana,withjurisdictionover
food and storedrice; Gandharva,protectorof marriage;D harmahorã, with
jurisdictionover gardenplots; and Dãsadhãra,withjurisdictionover bodies
of water.
To mostvillagers, theguardiansof thehouse,fields,temples,and stored
rice are relevant,but theirnamesare not oftenknown.Onlytheguardianof
the house compound can generallybe givenhis fulltitle,Phra Chai Mong
Khon (Sanskrit:Jayamangala).The ritualspecialists3have textswhichuse
the Sanskritor Pali titles,and theycan associatetheseguardianswithcertain
astrologicalconfigurations, in order to invoke the protectionof the guar-
dians and to choose appropriatedays for initiatingactivitieswithintheir
territory,such as buildinga house or transplanting rice,forexample.These
guardiansweredescribedas the servants of the kãmaloka worldwho reside
just belowrIndra'sheavenat the summitof MountMem (cf. Tambiah1970:
37). Theyare anchoredin the cosmologicalstructure.
The conventional,commonsense meaningof thêwadãrefersto a "rela-
tively undifferentiated categoryof divine benevolentagents" (Tambiah
1970: 60). It is thiscategoryof unnamedspiritsthatis invitedto the temple
and to ceremoniesin the home to offera generalbenevolentprotectionto
thosepracticing Buddhistmorality.But thisgeneralclassof thêwadãcan also
provideguardianspirits,as willbe seen later.

3
My primaryconcern in the field was the study of "Brahmanic" ritual, and
Brahmanicknowledge.The ritualspecialistsweredescribedas being "like Brahmans"and
officiateat rites of passage such as weddings,tonsures,and pre-ordinationcelebrations.
g PennyVan Esterik 77.1982
Anthropos

Includedin the categorythêwadãare somutthithëp, godsby theirposi-

tion in thisworld,the kingand theroyalfamily.Possessingsome traitssimi-
lar to guardianspirits,the King is viewedas the protectorof Buddhismand
the boundariesof a Buddhist kingdom.Similarly,the termwisutthithêp
labels a categoryof pure gods who obtain the statusof a god in thislife,in-
cludingthe Buddha and the saintswho havereachednirvana.Althoughresi-
dingin thehumanrealm,thesecan be labelledthêwadã.
Those who label guardianspiritsas thêwadãperceiveof them as an
integralpart of Buddhistorder and describe them as subservientto but
supportiveof the Buddha. These guardians,then,can onlyassistthoseprac-
tisingBuddhistmorality.Accordingto a popularabbot in Uthongdistrict,
all guardianspiritsare worthyof respectas thêwadãsince theyhaveall fin-
ishedthe eighthperfection(Pali: pãraraz-perfections) and are streamwinners
(Pali: sotãpatti"stream entry").By theirgreataccumulation of merit,they
may be reborn as thêwadã with "offices" such as Phra Phrom (Brahma)or
Phra In (Indra). These guardianspiritsinterpreted as thêwadãare conceived
of as moral,dependable,benevolent,and powerfulcreaturesworthyof ho-
nour and respectbecause of theirmeritaccumulatedin past lives.They are
offeredvegetarianfood giftfora thêwadã,such as youngcoconuts,boiled
eggs,and pinkand whitesweets.
A label such as thêwadãdoes not simplyapplyto supernatural entities
of highmoralstandards.It includeskingsand membersof theroyalfamily,
as wellas thesaintswho mayresidein thehumanrealm,deitiesof theHindu
pantheon convertedto Buddhism,such as Indra, Brahma,and the world
guardians;spiritsof humansrebornin theheavenlyrealmsby virtueof their
meritaccumulatedin pastlives;and even "bad" thêwadãcapable of harming
or temptinghumans(we mightincludeMãra here).4 To further complicate
the ordering,monksand lay devoteeswho keep Buddhistpreceptsare often
interpreted as morallysuperiorto the thêwadãinhabiting a higherrealm,for
they have the opportunityto make merit.

4. The Creationof GuardianSpirits

Althoughguardianspiritsare labelledas phi by some individuals,and as

in
thêwadãby others,villagershave no difficulty behavingappropriately to
the guardians.IndividualThai villagers,then,are able to constructa hierar-

4 Tambiah cites a Burmese

legend, which was also recited to him by villagersin
northeastThailand, in which Mãra is converted to Buddhism by Upagupta (Tambiah
1970: 176). The legend of Upagupta convertingMãra was not familiarto villagereligious
"experts" in Uthong district.The figureof Mãra is indeed complex and ambiguous,but
he was not consistentlydescribedas the enemyof the Buddha, much as Fergusonand Jo-
hannsen(1976: 650f.) describedin Buddhistmurals.I concur with Falk' s statementthat
Mãra never became a servant of the Buddha. He remainsthe "perpetual antagonist"
13). Severalvillagersexplained the existenceof "evil" thêwadã analogouslyto theirexpla-
nation forgood phi (Figure 1).
 a Cosmology: Thai Buddhism
Interpreting 9

chy of guardianspirits.I havenot yetdemonstrated thelogicby whichthese

spirithierarchiesare organized,nor have I demonstrated how thishierarchy
can be relatedto politicaland social order.To do this,it willbe necessaryto
examinethe creationof guardianspirits.
A free-wandering spiritcan be committedpermanently to a specificter-
ritoryby a ritualconverting the spiritto a guardianspirit.Guardianspirits
as
interpreted phi originate from victimskilledbeforetheend of theirallot-
ted lifespan.Such installationritualsset up a patron-client relationbetween
a spirit-clientand hishumanpatronwho needssuper-natural assistance.Villa-
gerscan citestoriesof richmenwho murdereda clientand chargedhimwith
the responsibility forprotectinga treasureagainstspiritor humanencroach-
ment.These guardianspiritsare dangerousonlyto thosewho would disturb
the treasuretheyguard.Storiessuchas Khun Chang,KhunPhan (Simmonds
1963), set in Suphanburiprovince,describethesespiritguardians.
Similarly,throughoutthe historyof the Thai kingdom,victimswere
sacrificedto protectthe gates on the cities. These intentionally murdered
victims-commonlypregnant women- were also used to createthe Chao Ph5
Lak Müéang (Lord fatherof the citypost) and were buriedunderthe city
shrine.Wales (1931: 302 f.) also refersto the shrineof Chao Cet, another
guardianspiritof Bangkokmaintaineduntil1919, who was "a truephi since
he was manufactured by the sacrificeof a suitableindividual/'But guardian
spiritsmay also be created afternaturaldeath. Such spiritsare usually
consideredbenevolentand labelled thêwadã. For example,some villagers
argued that the guardianspiritof the house compound was the winyãn
("consciousness)of the firstcultivatorsof that piece of land. In a similar
manner,the deceased abbot of the village temple is describedby most
villagersand some monksas the guardianspiritof the temple.Since the
abbot was addressedas Phra duringhislife,a termreservedforobjectsfullor
merit,most villagersassociatedthisguardianspiritwiththêwadãand other
highstatusguardianspirits.
Phra Chao Uthong(Kingof Uthong),theguardianspiritassociatedwith
the ancientroyalcityof Uthong,was describedby a famousabbot of a local
templeas a compositeof all the winyãnof the mostpowerfulkingsof the
Uthongdynasty.Althoughcreatedin thesame manneras thehouseholdand
templeguardianspirit,Phra Chao Uthongand Phra Siam Thevothirat (guar-
dian deity of the kingdom)could not be classifiedas a phi by the villagers
becauseof theirroyalstatusand theirtermof adress-Phra.
Kirsch,in an insightfulessay,has linkedthe religiousand the political
domaintopped by the kingpointingout thattheyare both separatedfrom
and above the secularrealm.Thus monks,Buddha statues,and Kings are
classifiedas ong (mana-filled)powerfulobjects and are addressedas Phra
(1975: 187). Guardianspiritsaddressedas Phra are conceptuallylinkedto
personsor objectsof greatmerit,and are referred to as thêwadã.
For example,the guardianspiritof the kingdom,Phra Siam Thevothi-
rat,is a compositespiritcomposedof thewinyãnof themostpowerfulkings
10 PennyVan Esterik 77.1982
Anthropos

of Thai history-specificallythose thatsuccessfully

defendedtheboundaries
of the kingdomagainstinvaders.Accordingto severalvillagers,theguardian
of the kingdomincludes Ràmkhamhãeng(1276-1317), Naresuan (1590-
1605), Narai (1656-1688), Taksin (1767-1782), and Chulalongkorn(Rama
5, 1868-1910),5 althoughmanyof thevillagersdid not knowhis termof ad-
dressandjust referredto himas theguardianspiritof the kingdom.

5. GuardianSpiritsas OrderedHierarchies

Guardianspirits,whetherinterpretedas phi or thêwadã,are a partof

Buddhistcivilizedorder.They protectthose withintheirterritory fromun-
convertedhostilespirits.These guardianspiritscan be further transformed
jurisdictionif theyare incorporated
into guardianswithlargerterritorial into
thepoliticaladministrationby ritualsof consecration,such as the coronation
of a king(cf. Gerini1895; Wales1931;Tambiah 1976). Theyare thusincor-
poratedinto the politicaldomainof a Buddhistpolityand are in factprere-
quisitesforBuddhistsocial order.Tambiah (1976: 73) documentsthe rela-
tion betweenBuddhismand polityin Thailand.He citesMus who writesthat
the mainpurposeof a statereligion"seems to havebeen theauthentication
of the whole system,enlistingas it did, at groundlevel,the tutelaryspirits
and geniiof the commonfolk."Hanks expressesthe hierarchialrelationbe-
tweenthe guardiansas he describesa farmeroffering food and flowersto a
local guardianspirit.
Yet this simple ceremonywithout the proceedingroyal plowing ritesat the capital
may well be ineffectual.The king in his capacity as Lord of the Flatness of the Earth
addresseshigherbeingsin the hierarchyof gods and angels . . . withword passed on from
on high, the many local guardiansare prepared to assist in everyvalley and backwater
(Hanks 1972: 78).
A villager,then,knowsthatthereis some orderto guardianspiritsal-
thoughhe may not know the appropriatelabels. Thereare severalpossible
analogieswhichmay be used to aid interpretation of guardianspirits.These
analogiesmay be known to a limited segment of the population,and appear
in my fieldnotes as isolated,esotericpieces of knowledge,superficially at
least, unconnectedto the organizationof ideas held by the majorityof vil-
lagers.This fielddata can be accountedforby viewingtheconceptof terri-
torial domains and theirspiritguardiansas encompassingseven structural
levels.Labels forguardianspiritscould potentiallybe drawnfromthe level
of the house, house compound, village locality,province,kingdom,and
kãmalokaworld. Each level has its own guardiansbut the organizationof
guardianspiritsis structurally similaron all levels(cf.J. Van Esterik1972,

5 Two informants
included another King, Boromracha (1370-1388), who was
Prince of Suphanburi, marched his troops from Suphanburi,and took over Ayudhya
(Kasetsiri1976: 109).
 a Cosmology: Thai Buddhism
Interpreting jj

on the structuralsimilarityof the ritualsinstallingthese guardians).The

guardiansof the lower level domains,such as house, compound,and vil-
lage are usuallyinterpretedas phi, while the higherlevel domains,such as
province,kingdom,and kãmalokaworldsare guardedby morepowerfuland
higherstatusspiritsinterpreted as thêwadã.Those villagerswho havea wider
knowledge of the world outside thevillageare morelikelyto applythe name
of a higherlevel guardian a guardianof a lowerdomain.Thus,knowledge
to
of the guardiansof different domainsis not evenlydistributed in thevillage.
Levels of relevanceto mostvillagersare guardiansof the house compound,
village,and locality.Some are aware of the cosmologicalanalogieswiththe
guardianof the kãmaloka world. Othersare aware of the politicalimpor-
tance of the guardiansof the districtand provincialcentres.Not all villagers
label the spirithierarchyin exactlythe same way, as a consideration of the
labels appliedto the guardianspiritsof the house compounddemonstrates.
Villagersreferred to thisspiritas phi chao thï,chao thi,phi ban,PhraPhüm,
Phra Phüm chao thi, and Phra Chai Mong Khon. The firstthreetermsare
used by the villagersthatconsidertheguardianspirita phi, and treathimac-
cordingly.The latterthreetermsare used by villagersthattreattheguardian
spiritas a thêwadã. The few who knew the termPhra Chai Mong Khon
(almostalwaysritualspecialists)identifiedtheguardianspiritwiththeworld
protectorsof kãmaloka (sensual world). It is consistentwiththe villager's
treatmentof and beliefin guardianspiritsto considerthat the varietyof
labels givento theguardianof thehouse compoundstemsfromthe factthat
severaldomainshaveguardianspiritsoccupyingthesame structural position.
Thus, labels fora higherdomain,suchas thekãmakola,can be appliedto the
analogousguardianof a lowerdomain,suchas a house compound.
Fig. 2
The domains of territorialguardianspirits,hierarchicallyordered

7 Kãmaloka World x
6 Kingdom I Guardianscommonly
5 Province Ì treatedas théwadã
4 I Locality '
3 Village ^ Guardianscommonly
House Compound ( treatedas phi
2
T"|I I I I I I- House '

As a partof the cosmologicalsystem,guardianspiritslinktheideologi-

cal and politicalrealms,and are an integralpart of a TheravadaBuddhist
state (cf. Heine-Geldern1956;Tambiah 1976). However,knowledgeabout
the labellingand meaningof thiscosmologyis not distributed evenlyin the
possessingBrahmanicknowledge(P.Van Esterik
village.Those practitioners
1973: 117) are more likelyto label the domains"correctly"and in more
detail.The farmerknowsthathe is protectedby a myriadof spirits,but he
mayonlyhaveoccasionto knowthenamesof a few.
12 PennyVan Esterik 77.1982
Anthropos

6. Conclusion

Knowledge of guardianspiritsis not evenlydistributedin this Thai

community.Yet all villagerscan interpretguardianspiritsin a way that
could be understoodby othervillagers.Thereis a singleconceptualstructure
underlyingthe varietyof behaviortowardand labellingof spirits,which
allows a villagerto generalizeabout them,and servesas a referenceforthe
interpretations of guardianspiritsas eitherphi or thêwadãor both.Thereare
clearly canonicalinputsinto thisconceptualstructure, but referencesto spir-
its in the canon are themselvesambiguous(recallthephi prêt,theguardians
of thehells,references to Indra,etc.).
It is no longerpossibleto take refugein an outmodedtheoryof Thai
animismto avoid morecomplexanalysisof Thai spirits.Analystsmustmake
use of scripturalsourcesif theywishto understand Thai religiousbeliefand
practice,because Thai villagerscan and do make use of such sourcesthem-
selves.It is only by examiningthe ambiguitiesand paradoxesin thesystem
of spiritsthatan analyst(or a villager,forthatmatter)can beginto discern
the principlesof orderingguardianspiritsand assigningthemmeaning.Some
of theprinciplesunderlying theorderincludethefollowing:
1) Guardianspiritscan be interpreted as phi or thêwadã,dependingon
theirperceivedmeritlevel. Those incorporatedinto the higherlevelsof the
politicelihierarchy are viewedas supporters of Buddhism,and labelledthëwa-
dã. They includespiritsthathave been describedas beingderivedfromthe
"Brahmanicalsubstratum."Guardianswithfixeddutiesand bounded terri-
tories are considered "controlled" and thereforedependable. Guardians
interpreted as phi are perceivedas havinga low meritlevel and are capable
of disruptingBuddhistorder.Because theyare not "controlled,"and may
havefewfixedduties,theirbehavioris moreunpredictable.
2) But neitherguardiansas phi or thêwadãcan be distinguished abso-
lutelyby "goodness" or "badness." There is a continuity of merit level in
thesupernatural world,just as in thehumanworld.
3) Justas humanscannot"know" theirown meritlevelwithanydegree
of certainty, so theycannotknow themeritlevelof occupantsof thesuper-
naturalworld. They mustrelyon cues whichmay lie outsideof the super-
naturaldomain,suchas personaldifficulties or the apparentdisintegration of
politicalor social order(cf.J. Van Esterik1977).
4) Guardianspiritsare linkedto the social and politicalworldthrough
patron-client relationsestablishedthroughritual.Intentionally killedvictims
and those dying of natural causes become differentkinds of guardians.
5) But ritualscan convertone kindof spiritinto anotherkind.Thus,
theprocessof creatingguardianspiritsis continuous.
6) Since distributionof knowledgeof the supernaturalworld differs
among specialistsand non-specialists, thereis unlikelyto be agreementon
the mappingof the spiritworld. Not all villagersstructurethe spirithier-
archyin the same way. From the point of view of a singleindividual,there
 a Cosmology: Thai Buddhism
Interpreting 23

are at least sevenstructural levelsof guardianspiritswhichmightprovidela-

bels and possible interpretations for guardianspirits.Only by conceptuali-
zingthesedifferent levelsas potentialsourcesforinterpretation,or potential
analogies, does thisintra-culturalvariationbecome meaningful.

This essay underscoresthe importanceof relatingthe meaningan indi-

vidualassignsto thespirithierarchy,and hisbehaviortowardthosespirits(cf.
Lehman 1971; Tambiah 1970). Furtherit demonstrates whytaxonomiesare
to
totallyinadequate expressknowledge of the spiritdomain. Taxonomies
of the spiritdomain (cf. Frake 1964; Brown1976) would not permitrecog-
nitionof ambiguity,and would simplyreflecta fewlabels at one point in
time in some particularcontext.In fact,the powerof guardianspiritsmay
be derivedfromthepotentialof ambiguousitemsto be orderedin morethan
one way. Guardianspirits,as identitieson theboundariesof majorcategories
(phi and théwadã),can be powerfuland dangerous(cf. Van Gennep 1960;
Douglas 1966; Endicott1970).
At the base of thisquestionof Thai guardianspiritsis the moregeneral
problemof how to expressboth processand structuresimultaneously (cf.
Willis1967; Cicourel1974). Guardianspiritsare ideal vehiclesformediating
a basic contradictionin Buddhistcosmologicalparadoxdealt withby Spiro
(1970), King (1964); and Tambiah(1970), amongothers.Brieflyput,how
can a religioussystememphasizingcentralvalues such as anattã (non-self)
and anicca (impermanence)providethe basis fora stablesocial and political
organization based on permanentstatuses,hierarchy, and kingship? This con-
tradictionis encapsulatedin theguardianspiritparadox,wherespiritentities
mustbe capable of interpretation both as temporarymanifestations contin-
ually being created and as a fixedpermanent bounded set of lin-
identities
kingcosmologicaland politicalorder.

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