From Mural Painting to the Creation of Tung Kaw Dham Banner in Buak Krok Luang Temple, Chiang Mai Province: Approach for Traditional Mahajati Preaching Conservation

Abstract

Tung Kaw Dham, traditional banner decorated by painting technique, is a kind of Buddhist arts with Lanna style. This art object depicts the story of Vessantara Jataka which specifically used in Traditional Mahajati Preaching. The religious ceremony is annually held during November – January or collectively called “Yi-Peng”, where thirteen episodes of Mahajati Preaching are altogether sermonized. The banners are normally hung in vihara as an important component of the ceremony to make listeners feel blessed. Lanna people believe that if someone listen to all thirteen episodes, these people could absolutely go to heaven.
Once Tung Kaw Dham have been founded in Buak Krok Luang community used in the Traditional Mahajati Preaching. They were disappeared from the community for around fifty years, the ceremony has been held without the important component since then. The interview with some elders in the community found that the missing Tung Kaw Dham are similar to mural painting in the vihara of Buak Krok Luang Temple and they also would like to create new banners instead of the old ones. This contributes to the need of studying from various areas to gather related data of Tung Kaw Dham including pattern, form, and storytelling. So that, banners from five communities in Lampang Province have been selected as specific samples for structuring the new ones: (1) Lampang Klang Tawan-ok Temple, (2) Ban Uam Temple,
(3) Ban Sak Temple, (4) Pong Sanuk Nuea Temple, and (5) Sob Li Temple. These selected banners depict different stories, but each one of them is traditionally consists of way of life and surrounding atmosphere of its community.
Moreover, this study also focuses on the mural painting in Buak Krok Luang Temple for creating new art works of Tung Kaw Dham, by drawing the story of Vessantara Jataka on fifteen fabric sheets. The first two sheets depict the Primary Story of Phra Malai (Phra Malai Ton) and the Secondary Story of Phra Malai (Phra Malai Plai), and other sheets demonstrate thirteen episodes of Mahajati Preaching. The composition of the paintings is applied from those banners found in Ban Uam Temple, Ban Sak Temple, and Pong Sanuk Nuea Temple. All components from the mural painting including human, location, architecture, material, animal, and tree are brought to be part of the works, as well as new actors are created. This contributes to new design of fifteen Tung Kaw Dham banners, which are then provided to the community.
The new works still maintain the identity of Tung Kaw Dham founded in Lanna area and also Tai Yai art technique related to mural painting of the community. The important objective of the project is to raise awareness among community’s members and youth regarding to the existence and conservation of Buddhist art in their own place. It is an inspirational project that attracts those who would like to learn and protect their cultural heritage, and leads to the promotion of local tradition. Most importantly, it has forged a collaborative network among community’s members to create their religious art works which can be transmitted to the next generation.