The Light of Lanna: Kham Mueang from a Song for Phra Ubali

The song Saeng Prathip haeng Lanna ("The Light of Lanna") is OverNormal's tribute to Phra Ubali Khunupamachan (Fu Attasivo). The lyrics are written in central Thai, but every line speaks of things for which the people of Lanna have words of their own, starting with the title itself. The word prathip (lamp), in Kham Mueang phang pha-tip (ผังฯผทีปฯ, Kham Mueang reading phang pha-tip), is the small flame that Northern people light in worship of the Buddha at the Yi Peng festival.

This article reads the song the way a language learner would: it takes the key words of the lyrics and compares them with the Kham Mueang (Northern Thai) words in the Moradok Lanna dictionary, looks at how the sounds change, finds words whose meanings differ from Thai, and looks at how the song places its rhymes. For his life story, read the article Phra Ubali Khunupamachan.

Listen to the song first

Saeng Prathip haeng Lanna (The Light of Lanna), words and music by Ajarn Jaree Soontornsing, was released on OverNormal Play on 1 October 2026. The song tells of his Phrae ancestry, the Thammarat school, Wat Phra Singh, and his work on language and the scriptures.

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The first verse and the chorus of the song go like this:

สายเลือดนครแพร่… มุ่งหน้าสู่ศาสนา สร้างโรงเรียนธรรมราช… พระ-เณร-เด็ก ได้ศึกษา วัดพระสิงห์ร่มเย็น… ด้วยพระคุณเมตตา แสงประทีปแห่งล้านนา… ส่องสว่างทุกเพลา

พระอุบาลีคุณูปมาจารย์… ร่มโพธิ์ไทรคุ้มกัน มอบวิชาความรู้… ให้ศิษย์ใช้ฝ่าฟัน เป็นพระคุณยิ่งใหญ่… ร้อยศรัทธาผูกพัน ชื่อ ฟู อตฺตสิโว… สถิตอยู่นิรันดร์

— The Light of Lanna, words and music by Ajarn Jaree Soontornsing (OverNormal)

In English: Of the blood of Phrae, he turned towards the religion; he built the Thammarat school, where monks, novices and children could study; Wat Phra Singh is at peace through his kindness and grace; the light of Lanna shines at every hour. Phra Ubali Khunupamachan, a sheltering bodhi and banyan tree; he gave knowledge for his students to make their way; great is his grace, binding people's faith together; the name Fu Attasivo abides forever.

Read the full lyrics and listen to the instrumental version at OverNormal Play: The Light of Lanna.

The words of the song, if said in Kham Mueang

This table compares words from the lyrics with Kham Mueang words of the same meaning. The Lanna (Tai Tham) script, readings and meanings all come from the Moradok Lanna dictionary.

The words phra-nen ("monks and novices") in line 2 also have a Kham Mueang equivalent. The dictionary explains under tu chao that "a novice is called pha". And for Phra Ubali, who was abbot of Wat Phra Singh, Khon Mueang (Northern Thai people) would call this position tu luang.

How the sounds change from central Thai to Kham Mueang

When the words in the table are lined up, several repeating sound changes appear. These patterns help you guess the Kham Mueang form of other words, but always check the dictionary to confirm.

• r becomes h: rongrian becomes hong hian, rom yen becomes hom yen
• pra- becomes pha-: prathip becomes pha-tip
• ch (ช) becomes ch (จ), with a change of tone: chat in maha chat becomes chat (จ้าด)
• ph becomes p: phrae becomes pae
• the tone changes even where the consonant stays similar: sattha becomes sattha (ศั๋ทธา), chai becomes chai (ใจ๋), panya becomes pan-ya (ปั๋ญญา)
• kr becomes kh: krap wai becomes khap wai

Sawang: the same word, a different meaning

The first verse ends "the light of Lanna… song sawang (shines brightly) at every hour". In central Thai, sawang means bright, full of light. But in Kham Mueang, the dictionary gives the meaning of sawang (ส่วฯางฯ, Kham Mueang reading sa-wang) as "to subside, to ease, to get better, to be clear and relieved, e.g. sawang khai".

How the song rhymes: one sound per verse

Each line of the lyrics is divided into two halves by "…". Each half is 5–6 syllables long, and the last words of all four lines in a verse use the same vowel sound throughout. Count it out in the first verse:

The other verses use the same method, changing the sound verse by verse:

• Verse 2: salai, phrae lai, khlai, wai (the -ai sound)
• Chorus: khum kan, fa fan, phuk phan, niran (the -an sound)
• Verse 3: di, bali, sukhi, nathi (the -i sound)
• Verse 4: man khong, sue trong, prasong, yuen yong (the -ong sound)

This way of rhyming differs from Lanna khao verse. Khao links its rhymes from one half-line to the next like a chain and has a fixed number of words, remembered by the rule of thumb "sam tua liao, chet tua thiao". This song uses a single end rhyme throughout each verse, like a modern song, which makes it easy to sing along and remember. Read about the verse form of khao in the article Khao.

The meaning of the chorus

The chorus praises Phra Ubali as a rom pho sai, a sheltering bodhi and banyan tree that protects his students; he gave them the knowledge to make their way through life, his grace binds people's faith together, and his name will last forever.

To say the same thing in Kham Mueang, you could use hom bai bun in place of rom pho sai, since the dictionary itself gives the example "monks are the hom bai bun of lay men and women", and sattha in place of sattha. A real bodhi tree, meanwhile, is called mai sa-li by Khon Mueang.

Summary

• The song The Light of Lanna is written in central Thai, but almost every key word has its own Kham Mueang equivalent: a lamp is phang pha-tip, a school is hong hian, a monk is tu chao.
• The sound changes that recur in this set of words are r to h, pra- to pha-, ช to จ, ph to p, and changes of tone.
• In Kham Mueang, sawang means to subside or ease, as in sawang khai, not to be bright.
• The song uses one end rhyme throughout each verse, with 5–6 syllables per half-line, unlike khao verse, which links its rhymes in a chain.

Look up more words about temples and monks in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), read his life story at Phra Ubali Khunupamachan, and read about other revered Lanna teachers at Keji Lanna. For the Vessantara sermon, read Tang Tham Luang.

More in this series: Lanna, Lanna · Kin Lam Kin Lam, or see the whole series at Kham Mueang through songs and literature (in Thai).

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary (dict2, in Thai): the entries for phang pha-tip, mueang pae, hong hian, tu chao, tu luang, hom yen, hom bai bun, mai sa-li, sattha, pan-ya, chao pha-nya, tham ma-ha chat, khap wai, hua chai, sa-wang
• OverNormal Play. (2026). แสงประทีปแห่งล้านนา [The Light of Lanna]. Words and music by Ajarn Jaree Soontornsing. In Thai.
• OverNormal. (2026). แสงประทีปแห่งล้านนา | น้อมรำลึก พระอุบาลีคุณูปมาจารย์ (ฟู อตฺตสิโว) [The Light of Lanna: in tribute to Phra Ubali Khunupamachan (Fu Attasivo)]. YouTube. In Thai.
• Moradok Lanna. ค่าว: คำประพันธ์ร้อยสัมผัสของล้านนา ค่าวซอ และค่าวฮ่ำ [Khao: Lanna's linked-rhyme verse, khao so and khao ham] (the khao verse form after the work of Yutthaphon Naksuk, 2019). In Thai.