Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Hong Hin: Lanna's Famous Khao So of the Stone Swan
Hong Hin (ห฿ง์สฯฯหินฯ, Kham Mueang reading hong hin, "the stone swan") is one of the most famous khao so in Lanna. It tells of a prince abandoned at birth who grows up in heaven, then rides back to his mother on a swan that the god Indra conjured from a stone. The Moradok Lanna dictionary records that the story was written in the Lanna script by Chao Suriyawong.
Behind Hong Hin lies the story of two generations of poets: Phraya Lomawisai, who wrote the first version under the name "Hong Pha Kham", and Chao Suriyawong, whose retelling became the one everyone knows. This article takes you through the plot, the origins, and the Lanna words worth knowing when you read this khao.
Where does the name Hong Hin come from?
The original title is Hong Pha Kham. Taken word by word with the dictionary: hong (ห฿ง์สฯฯ) is the swan (hamsa), a noble bird in religious tradition; pha (ผา) is a large rock; and kham (ฅำ) is gold.
In the story, Indra commands a magic stone to become a bird to carry the prince down to the human world. When the prince dismounts, the swan turns back into a stone until it is needed for the next journey. So the name "Hong Hin", which villagers gave to Chao Suriyawong's version, fits the story exactly.
The story of Hong Hin
This summary follows the thesis of Udom Rungruangsri (อุดม รุ่งเรืองศรี, 1973), who summarised all 17 cantos of Phraya Lomawisai's khao so Hong Pha Kham. He concluded that every version of Hong Hin has the same plot and order of events, differing only in small details.
Thao Purantapa, king of Benares, has seven queens. The six minor queens each give birth to a son, but Nang Wimara, the chief queen, is pregnant for twelve months, because in her womb is a Bodhisattva. Jealous, the six queens steal the newborn prince and drop him through a gap beneath the palace, then put a puppy in his place. Thao Purantapa is furious and banishes Nang Wimara from the city. She goes to live with an old grandfather and grandmother in a flower garden.
Indra learns what has happened and comes down to take the prince to be raised in the Tavatimsa heaven. When the prince grows up and cries for his mother, Indra tells him the truth and turns a magic stone into a swan to carry him to her. Nang Wimara is not sure he is her son, so she makes a solemn wish: if he truly is her child, may her milk flow into his mouth. And so it does. The old couple name the prince Thukkatakhatiyawongsa, because he is a king's son fallen on hard times.
The six princes like to play saba, a game of throwing discs, with golden pieces. The prince asks to join them, wins, and brings golden pieces home every day. One day he kills an ogre that has been catching and eating the townspeople, using Indra's sword. The six princes ask him to keep it secret, then take the credit to their father themselves.
Thao Purantapa grows suspicious and orders the six princes to find the queen grandmother, who has been carried off by a ghoul (phi dip). The princes come begging for the prince's help. He sets off on his swan, wins the daughters of three ogre kings as his wives on the way, and escapes from the ghoul city with his grandmother.
Jealous, the six princes kill the prince on a riverbank, then take the grandmother back to the city to claim the credit. His three wives follow and find his body, and weep until Indra comes down. Indra tests the three women again and again, and when he sees that they are faithful and steadfast, he brings the prince back to life.
The prince returns to the city. His grandmother recognises him and the truth comes out. All twelve wrongdoers are punished. Thao Purantapa goes to bring Nang Wimara back to the city, and the prince later rules with morality and generosity. At the end of the story comes the identification of the Jataka, telling who each character was in the life of the Buddha.
Where did the story come from? The Sakkathipani
At the start of his khao, Phraya Lomawisai wrote that he followed the story in the Sakkathipani. Udom Rungruangsri searched for a text of this name in both Chiang Mai and Lamphun but could not find it. The texts with similar names that he did find were close in content to the Traiphum Phra Ruang (the Three Worlds cosmology), not the story of Hong Pha Kham. He therefore suggested that the Sakkathipani may have been lost, or may never have existed.
The story of Hong Pha Kham does not appear in the Paññāsa Jātaka (the Fifty Jatakas) either, so the researcher concluded that Phraya Lomawisai was probably the first to write it as khao so.
The same story also exists as khao tham (Dhamma khao), inscribed on palm leaves for preaching. The khao tham version opens like an ordinary Jataka, telling how the Buddha told this story at the Jetavana monastery, and ends with the identification of the Jataka.
How many versions of Hong Hin are there?
The story was so popular that it was retold many times in many forms, as khlong verse, khao tham and khao so, inscribed on palm leaves, written in folding mulberry-paper books, and printed.
| Version | Form | Details (according to Udom Rungruangsri 1973) |
|---|---|---|
| Sakkathipani | scripture | the source Phraya Lomawisai refers to; not yet found |
| Khao tham Hong Pha Kham | palm leaf | for preaching; the copies surveyed were inscribed in 1934 and 1961 |
| Khlong Hong Pha Kham | folding book | 552 stanzas; author uncertain |
| Khao so Hong Pha Kham | folding book | by Phraya Lomawisai, 17 cantos; the copy was finished in the 8th northern month of Chula Sakarat 1243 (about May 1881) |
| Khao so Hong Hin | printed in Lanna script | by Chao Suriyawong; first printed 1917, revised and reprinted 1931 |
| Khao so Hong Hin | printed in Thai script | from the 1931 edition; printed 1963 and 1967 |
The mixed version, and the printing of khao so
- Udom Rungruangsri also found another khao so Hong Hin that mixes the wording of Phraya Lomawisai and Chao Suriyawong. He suggests it came from later khao writers who copied the text and added phrases of their own.
- He surveyed the 23 surviving khao so books from Mueang Chai's printing press and found none printed before Chao Suriyawong's 1917 Hong Hin.
- Mueang Chai began printing khao so in the Thai script from 1951 onwards.
Two poets: Phraya Lomawisai and Chao Suriyawong
Phraya Lomawisai was a court poet of the ruler of Lampang. He is said to have come from Chiang Rai and to have been the poetry teacher of Phraya Phromwohan. Udom Rungruangsri, citing Manee Payomyong, says he probably lived between the reigns of King Rama II and King Rama IV. His other work is the khao of Suwat and Nang Bua Kham.
Chao Suriyawong, originally named Khamtan Siroros, was a poet of outstanding skill who wrote several khao so. He served as the officer in charge of the border posts of Mae Hong Son and Khun Yuam, and died in 1935.
Udom Rungruangsri compares the two poets' styles: Phraya Lomawisai describes things in great detail, with long laments, while Chao Suriyawong uses simple words and tells the story quickly and concisely.
Why did Hong Hin win the hearts of Lanna people?
The researcher gives several reasons. First, Chao Suriyawong's language is close to today's, so people from other regions can follow it too. Second, the plot is not complicated, and it blends distinctly Lanna features with the descriptive style of central Thai poetry.
Another reason lies in the way people of that time enjoyed literature: lao khao (เลั่าระฯค่าฯวฯ, read lao khao), which the dictionary explains as "reading or chanting khrao verse to a melody". Around 1917–1937, those who could read the Lanna script were mostly men who had studied as monks, and most listeners could not read. So khao had to use simple words, the story had to move quickly, and it had to be divided into sections that could be heard through in one sitting.
For this reason Udom Rungruangsri classes Chao Suriyawong's Hong Hin as folk literature, aimed more at entertainment than at ornate language. Hong Hin's influence can also be seen in later khao so, such as the khao so Ai Roi Khot, which borrowed its descriptions of the royal costume and the celebrations for Prince Hong Hin.
The Moradok Lanna dictionary classes Hong Hin as khao ham (ระฯค่าฯวฯรํา, read khao ham), khrao composed to describe one particular subject, while scholars call it khao so. Both words can describe Hong Hin, depending on the point of view.
Lanna words you meet in Hong Hin
| Lanna word | Lanna script | Meaning (from the dictionary) |
|---|---|---|
| pha-sat | ผาสาทฯ | palace: a building with a tiered roof, the residence of a king |
| yak | ยัก์ขฯ | ogre: a non-human being in Jataka tales, huge, with long fangs, fond of raw flesh |
| ma | หมฯา | dog |
| wiang | วยฯง | town, a small town, or a town wall |
| pap sa | พัปฯสา | a folding book or book made of mulberry paper |
| bai lan | ไบลานฯ | palm leaf, the leaf of the talipot palm, used for inscribing scriptures |
The story also has several tham khwan (soul-calling) scenes, such as when the old couple learn who the prince is, and when Thao Purantapa celebrates his sons. If you are interested in this rite, read the article Hong khwan; hong khwan (ร้อฯงขัวฯร) is the Lanna way of calling back the khwan, the soul.
Summary
- Hong Hin is a famous Lanna khao so. Its original title is Hong Pha Kham (pha = rock, kham = gold).
- It tells of a prince abandoned at birth by the six minor queens, raised in heaven by Indra, who then conjures a swan from a stone to carry him back to his mother.
- The first version is by Phraya Lomawisai, a court poet of Lampang. The best-known version is by Chao Suriyawong, first printed in 1917.
- Its popularity came from simple language, a concise story, and the culture of lao khao, reading khao aloud for villagers.
- The sources still disagree about Chao Suriyawong's life.
Look up more words from Hong Hin in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), and read another kind of folk verse, choi, in the article Lanna rhinoceros beetles.
Sources
- Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): หงส์หิน · ค่าวซอ · ค่าวฮ่ำ · เล่าค่าว · ผา
- อุดม รุ่งเรืองศรี [Udom Rungruangsri]. (1973). วรรณกรรมลานนาไทยเรื่องหงส์หินของเจ้าสุริยวงศ์ [The Lanna Thai literary work Hong Hin by Chao Suriyawong]. Master of Arts thesis, Chulalongkorn University (chapters 1, 3, 4, the conclusion, and appendices D–E, citing Manee Payomyong, ประวัติและวรรณคดีลานนาไทย [History and literature of Lanna Thai]). In Thai.
- ภคภต เทียมทัน [Phakaphot Thiamthan]. (2024). คำเรียกผู้หญิงในวรรณกรรมค่าวซอ: ความหมายและมโนทัศน์ [Terms for women in khao so literature: meanings and concepts]. Journal of Humanities, Chiang Mai University 25(3), 94–117. In Thai.
