Pathomsombodhi Paintings: The Function for predicting the life of Phutai Ban Khambong people, Huai Phueng District, Kalasin Province
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Abstract
The purpose of this article was to study the fortune-telling function of the Pathomsombodhi paintings in Prasitbochai Temple, Bankhmbong Khambong Sub-district, Huayphueng District, Kalasin Province, during the Phutai’s Vessantara chanting ceremony. The study found that the contents of the paintings were related to the stories about the Buddha in Pathomsombodhi literature. The Phuthai Khambong people have constructed a new meaning and a new function to these paintings by using them as a tool for fortune-telling. The use of the paintings of the Buddha’s stories to predict people’s life reflects the relationship among Buddhist literature, art and people’s ways of life. The Pathomsombodhi paintings affected the belief about the future life of the Phuthai Khambong people because the paintings contained the Buddha’s stories, which are believed to be highly scared. Moreover, as the ways of life of the Phuthai Khambong people are highly connected with Buddhism, the Buddha’s stories in the Pathomsombodhi paintings strongly influence the system of thinking and belief of the Phuthai Khambong people. The Buddha’s stories in the Pathomsombodhi paintings included various positive and negative stories about the Buddha. When a person picks up a number to select a painting, the story in the selected painting can be used to interpret and predict the future of that person. Thus the Pathomsombodhi paintings have taken on the function as a fortune teller, forecasting the people’s life.
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