Khao: Lanna Chain-Rhyme Verse, Khao So and Khao Ham

Khao (ระฯค่าฯวฯ, Kham Mueang reading khao) is the verse of Lanna, in which words are strung together so that their rhymes interlock all the way along. The Moradok Lanna dictionary compares it to "a chain". Khao was once a tale a whole village sat down to hear, a love letter between young people, and the teaching of grandparents. Getting to know khao is like hearing earlier generations of Lanna people speak to us.

What is khao?

The dictionary explains that khao is "verse whose rhymes are threaded and interlinked, its words arranged in order like a chain, a literature of linguistic value in Lanna". It also records a second meaning: chueak khao, a large, long rope. The picture of a long rope running on without a break makes the nature of khao easy to remember.

Yutthaporn Naksuk (ยุทธพร นาคสุข, 2019) explains that the word khrao or khao originally meant a story or a piece of news, which could be told in any kind of verse. Only later did it become the name of a verse form for telling stories, with rules for the number of words, the rhymes and the tones.

Lanna people admire anyone who can speak in rhyme like khao. The Lanna language has a word for such speech: kam khao kam khuea (คำฯระฯค่าวฯคำฯระฯคิอฯอ, read kam khao kam khuea), "speech with rhyme and assonance, as beautiful as verse". The work of Phra Khru Wimonsilapakit (2017) records that people of the past believed that someone who could speak in kam khao kam khuea was clever and wise.

What kinds of khao are there?

The Moradok Lanna dictionary records many kinds of khao, named by length, purpose and subject:

Khao ham comes from the word ham (รา, read ham), which corresponds to Thai ร่ำ and means to describe in detail. Khao ham is therefore khao that describes feelings or events in depth.

Khao so is used for so (ซํอฯ, read so), Lanna folk singing, and also for telling long, tale-like stories.

The verse form: "sam tua liao, chet tua thiao"

Khao has rules in 3 areas: the number of words, rhyme both within and between stanzas, and tone. But Yutthaporn Naksuk (2019) points out that no diagram of the khao verse form has ever been found in Lanna documents. Poets of the past wrote khao continuously, without dividing it into stanzas, only into lines, and tested it by reading it aloud. If it did not read smoothly, they rewrote it.

Older khao poets had a saying to help them remember: "sam tua liao, chet tua thiao, bat lang bat na" ("the third word looks back, seven words to a beat, the following part and the leading part") (Yutthaporn Naksuk, 2019, citing Udom Rungruangsri). Yutthaporn explains that each beat of reading (thiao) has 7 words: the leading line has 3 words and the following line 4 words, and the following line "looks back" (liao) to rhyme with the 3rd word of the leading line, then passes the rhyme on and on. Still, this is only a broad rule; some lines may have more or fewer words.

Look at the opening lines of the Khao Si Bot, in the part called Mano Nueang, which Yutthaporn uses as an example (spelled as pronounced): "มโนเนือง / จี๋เหลืองเหี่ยวม้วย / ป๋านดั่งกล้วย / บ่มไว้ในขุม" (roughly: "my heart / turned yellow, wilted and dying / like a banana / left to ripen in a pit"). The first line has 3 words, and each following line has 4, just as the diagram says.

Khao so: Lanna tales in verse

Nattapong Panchaburi and Sirisan Muenphothong (ณัฐพงษ์ ปัญจบุรี และศิริสาร เหมือนโพธิ์ทอง, 2022) explain that the stories of khao so come from sermon texts called tham khao or khao tham, mostly non-canonical Jataka tales, including the Paññāsa Jātaka (the Fifty Jatakas). Khao so are therefore like verse romances of princes and princesses, and scholars believe the khao verse form arose about 200 years ago.

Early khao so poets named in this study include Phraya Lomawisai, author of Hong Pha Kham, and Phraya Phromthep of Lamphun, author of Chao Suwat Nang Bua Kham (though Udom Rungruangsri's 1973 thesis, citing Manee Payomyong, attributes this story to Phraya Lomawisai, so the sources do not agree). The Moradok Lanna dictionary quotes the story's opening under the word khai tamnong (ไขทำนอฯง, read khai tamnong), meaning to tell a story: "ฟังระฟังราหมู่จุมปี้น้อง จั๋กไขตำนองเรื่องนางบัวฅำ ไปต๋ามระบำออกในธัมม์พระเจ้า…" ("Listen, listen, all you brothers and sisters gathered here: I will tell the story of Nang Bua Kham, in the measure told in the Buddha's Dhamma…").

Another famous khao so is Hong Hin (ห฿ง์สฯฯหินฯ, read hong hin), which, according to the dictionary, was written in the Lanna script by Chao Suriyawong, a son of King Inthawichayanon, the 7th ruler of Chiang Mai.

Lanna people did not read khao silently. They preferred lao khao (เลั่าระฯค่าฯวฯ), reading it aloud to different melodies, such as the wing won (pleading) melody, the kong hiao bong melody and the ma yam fai ("horse treading fire") melody. Listeners got both entertainment and Dhamma that was easier to follow than a sermon, because the poets turned the Pali of the Dhamma khao into language villagers understood (Nattapong Panchaburi and Sirisan Muenphothong, 2022).

From palm leaves to the printing press

Khao were first inscribed on palm leaves (bai lan, ไบลานฯ, read bai lan) and written in pap sa (พัปฯสา, read pap sa), folding books of mulberry paper, in tua mueang (ต฿วฯเมิอฯง, read tua mueang), the Lanna (Tai Tham) script. These palm-leaf manuscripts were kept in the temple's ho tham (หํอฯธัม์มฯ, read ho tham), the scripture library, such as the one at Wat Phra Singh in the photo above.

As more and more people enjoyed reading and listening to khao, the texts were copied again and again. The great turning point was the printing press. Nattapong and Sirisan (2022) tell the story:

1. In 1892, American Presbyterian missionaries set up the first printing press in the North, in Chiang Mai.
2. In 1923, Mueang Chai Chainilphan (เมืองใจ ชัยนิลพันธ์), who had worked at this press, bought the business and began printing local texts, including khao so.
3. Khao so were printed in runs of 500–4,000 copies, and the press also hired poets to write new stories from interesting Jataka tales.

This research studied 24 khao so printed in the Lanna script between 1917 and 1955, and found that the poets wove in pictures of the society of their day, such as music played to welcome guests, at entertainments and as signals.

Phraya Phromwohan and the Khao Si Bot

The poet Lanna people honour as the greatest poet is Phraya Phromwohan. His masterpiece is Khao Nang Chom, also called Khao Si Bot (si bot, สี่บ฿ทฯ, read si bot, "four parts").

The work of Phra Khru Wimonsilapakit (Rueangrit Kaeopiang) (พระครูวิมลศิลปกิจ (เรืองฤทธิ์ แก้วเปียง), 2017) states that the Khao Si Bot has 4 parts: Rom Thanat, Chettana, Duang Salit and Mano Nueang. He wrote them to Si Chom, who had fled from Mueang Laplae to live with relatives in Phrae. All 4 parts describe love, longing and grief, and are full of teachings; the researcher found as many as 99 Dhamma principles in the work. (The dictionary calls Si Chom his "beloved wife", while the research calls her his "beloved".)

One of the best-remembered lines is quoted in the dictionary under mao hak (เมัารักฯ, read mao hak, "drunk with love") and yot mon kam u (ยอฯดม้อฯรคำฯอู้, read yot mon kam u), words of great worth that deserve to be remembered as a reminder:

ยามเมื่อฮักน้ำส้มว่าหวาน ใจ๋บ่เจยบานน้ำต๋าลว่าส้ม — Phraya Phromwohan, Khao Ham Nang Chom (quoted in the Moradok Lanna dictionary)

It means: when you are in love, even vinegar tastes sweet; but when your heart is not glad, even sugar tastes sour. This single line shows how khao uses simple, everyday words to speak of the deepest feelings.

The same work states that he died of old age at 85, in 1887.

Khao in Lanna life

Khao does not live only in books. It runs through everyday life in many forms:

• Khao kom are used for short lessons to children and grandchildren. The dictionary gives an example of a khao kom of 4 lines of 4 words: "ปี้แอบฮักน้อง ลักจองในใจ๋ ป๋ะน้องเมื่อใด หัวใจ๋ตื่นเต้น" ("I secretly love you and keep you in my heart; whenever I meet you, my heart beats fast").
• Kam u bao u sao (คำฯอู้บ่าฯวฯอู้สาวฯ, read kam u bao u sao) is the eloquent language young men and women use in courting exchanges, which Phra Khru Wimonsilapakit (2017) says was influenced by the Khao Si Bot.
• Choi (ช้อฯยฯ, read choi, often spelled joi) is the chanting of verse in so or khao form by young men going courting (aeo sao) at night.
• Pheng so (เพลฯงซํอฯ, read pheng so) are the lyrics for so singing, including courting verses, stories from history and songs in praise of birds and trees.

Today khao gets little attention from young people. Phra Khru Wimonsilapakit (2017) therefore suggests ways to pass it on, such as teaching it in northern schools, holding khao-writing and khao-reciting contests, and setting up khao lovers' clubs in communities.

Summary

• Khao (khrao) is Lanna verse whose rhymes link like a chain. The word originally meant "a story, news".
• There are many kinds of khao, such as khao so for sung storytelling, khao ham for description, short khao kom, and khao chai love letters.
• The easy rule to remember is "sam tua liao, chet tua thiao". The full diagram of the verse form was laid down in 1960, and scholars are still proposing improvements.
• Khao so were first inscribed on palm leaves and in mulberry-paper books, and spread widely once there was a printing press in Chiang Mai.
• Phraya Phromwohan is the greatest poet, author of the Khao Si Bot or Khao Ham Nang Chom.

Look up other kinds of khao in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), and read an example of a young man's courting choi in the article Lanna rhinoceros beetles.

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): ค่าว · ค่าวซอ · ค่าวฮ่ำ · ค่าวนางจม · ไขตำนอง
• 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.
• ยุทธพร นาคสุข [Yutthaporn Naksuk]. (2019). ข้อเสนอในการจัดแผนผังฉันทลักษณ์คร่าวซอ [A proposal for the prosodic diagram of khrao so]. Journal of Language, Religion and Culture 8(1). In Thai.
• ณัฐพงษ์ ปัญจบุรี และศิริสาร เหมือนโพธิ์ทอง [Nattapong Panchaburi and Sirisan Muenphothong]. (2022). บทบาทหน้าที่ของดนตรีที่ปรากฏในวรรณกรรมค่าวซอล้านนา [The roles of music in Lanna khao so literature]. Thai Studies Journal 18(2). In Thai.
• พระครูวิมลศิลปกิจ (เรืองฤทธิ์ แก้วเปียง) [Phra Khru Wimonsilapakit (Rueangrit Kaeopiang)]. (2017). วิเคราะห์เนื้อหาและหลักธรรมที่ปรากฏในวรรณกรรมล้านนาค่าวสี่บทพระยาพรหมโวหาร [An analysis of the content and Dhamma principles in the Lanna literary work Khao Si Bot by Phraya Phromwohan]. Silpakorn University Journal (Thai edition) 37(2). In Thai.