Royal Greeting Cards Given by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn

Abstract

This article aims to study the royal greeting cards written by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn given to Thai people and various organizations. There are two types of royal greeting cards, namely Vesak Day cards and New Year cards. The results indicated that the contents of the Vesak Day cards were derived from prayers, the Buddha's proverbs, new compositions based on the Buddha's life, the importance of Vesak Day and the Buddha's teachings. The compositions were in Pali prayer with translated prose, in prose and in Khlong. Regarding the New Year cards, at first the contents were in accordance with Thai customs. Subsequently, however, they have become blessing texts using Zodiac metaphors. The format of the royal greeting cards became clearer, containing the royal “ส.ธ." seal, her shortened designation "สิรินธร” and her royal illustration. The compositions in the Vesak Day cards and New Year cards demonstrate Princess Sirindhorn's ingenuity in Thai, Pali and Buddhism as well as her kind contributions to Thai people.