The Narrative of Death on Isan Temple Mural Paintings in Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to understand the content, signification, and narratives of death on temple mural paintings in the northeastern region (Isan) of Thailand. Qualitative research methodology was used to analyze mural paintings of 16 temples in Isan (north eastern), Thailand. The results are as follows; 1) Content related to death could be divided into 4 groups: causes of death, funeral arrangements, beliefs in the afterlife, and contextual content related to death. 2) Methods for signification, including associations with Buddhist literature, using mural painting codes, spatial organization, symbols in rituals, and binary opposition, as well as the use of body language iconic codes to express emotional content. 3) Narrations were found using 7 elements: (1) stories – stories about life and death according to ways of life, the cycle of birth, old age, sickness, and death, funeral ceremonies, and karma from the sins of the deceased, (2) plots – beginning with the ‘exposition’ explaining hell as the beginning, then the ‘rising action’ where every life moves on to death, ‘climax’ when the judgment day arrives, ‘falling action’ when lives follow the rule of karma, and the ‘ending’ with mindfulness of death, (3) themes – the dominant theme revolved morality, (4) characters - characters could be classified into 2 groups: human beings (ordinary humans and humans with magical powers) and non-humans (gods, deities, workers of the underworld, and underworld creatures) and all characters had non-complex personalities, (5) conflicts – there were often conflicts between human beings and mara, human beings and the laws of nature, and human beings and society, (6) points of view – the omniscient point of view was used, and (7) setting – three types of scenes were used: natural scenes, livelihood scenes, and abstract scenes. In terms of narratives of death – 3 methods were found used for narratives of death: (a) narrations through intertextuality, (b) applied narrations of death in both chronological and non-chronological formats, and (c) non-continuous death narrations focusing on telling stories to respond to emotions such as fear or peacefulness in order to promote understanding of Maranasati.