A Manuscript of Lilit Phra Lo Recension Edited by Luang Sora Wichit (Hon) in 1778 CE: Significances for the Study of Lilit Phra Lo

Abstract

This research paper presents a study of the earliest manuscript of Lilit Phra Lo, namely, the khoi-paper leporello manuscripts no. 17077 and 17076 (2) from the Northern Thai Information Center, Chiang Mai University (Thailand). The study finds that though registered in two different inventories, these two fragments are proved to belong to the same manuscript, preserving the latter part of the text Lilit Phra Lo (from stanza no. 383 to 660, according to the sequence in the standard printed edition). The colophon (versified in khlong meter) also mentions that Luang Sora Wichit found the exemplar manuscript of Lilit Phra Lo in the twelfth year after the fall of Ayutthaya kingdom (1778 CE) and edited the lost part of that text. The date of the manuscript recorded by Nai Thok, the copyist, is equivalent to 1778 CE in the reign of King Taksin of Thonburi. Thus, the manuscript is considered the earliest manuscript of Lilit Phra Lo ever found so far. Despite its incompleteness and slight variations from the printed edition, the manuscript is arguably a significant evidence for textual criticism and for Thai literary history.