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Mangraisat: The Oldest Lanna Law Code on Palm Leaves
The Mangraisat (Mangrai sat) is the name of the oldest law code of Lanna, which invokes the name of Phaya Mangrai (มังฯรายฯ, Kham Mueang reading mang lai), the first king, who founded the city of Chiang Mai. The law was inscribed on palm leaves (ไบลานฯ, read bai lan) in the Lanna (Tai Tham) script and copied again and again over several hundred years.
The Mangraisat is therefore both a body of law and an important work of palm-leaf literature. Reading it shows how the people of old Lanna ordered their society, judged disputes and understood justice.
What is the Mangraisat?
The name "Mangraisat" combines the royal name Mangrai with the word sat (ศาสระฯต์, read sat), which the dictionary explains as "a system of knowledge". The word for law, kotmai (ก฿ฏฯหมฯายฯ, Kham Mueang reading kot-mai), the dictionary explains as "provisions enacted by the supreme authority for governing the country, with penalties set for those who break them".
Charun Daennalert and Prayun Imiwat (2018) sum up that the Mangraisat is generally accepted as the oldest law of the Lanna kingdom and that it developed from local customs, religion and traditions built up over time into a system.
In the Lanna language, custom and tradition is called hit (รีตฯ, read hit) or charit (จารีตฯ, Kham Mueang reading cha-hit). The dictionary explains hit as "a tradition that is a social norm", and whoever breaks it "is strongly condemned by society". Lanna law thus grew out of the customs people already held to.
Lanna law goes by many names
In the research of Nalinphat Phithak-anothai (2014), who studied 22 old Lanna law texts already transcribed into the central Thai script, the texts fall by name into 8 types:
| Type | Note |
|---|---|
| Thammasat (dhammasattha) | e.g. Thammasat Luang, Thammasat Ratcha Kue Na |
| Mangraisat | opens by mentioning Phaya Mangrai |
| Tham | opens with a verse of homage to the Triple Gem |
| Awahan | e.g. Awahan Phai Khao, Awahan Phai Plai |
| Mangrai Thammasat | e.g. the Wat Chang Kham (Nan) version |
| Nangsue Anulomayan Kotmai Boran | — |
| Hatthakammawinitchai Bali Dika Rom Sommutti Rat | — |
| Kotmai | e.g. Kotmai Kho Sarat, Kotmai Phra Chao Nan |
The palm-leaf versions that survive
The Mangraisat has not survived as a single original. There are several versions, inscribed (chan, จารฯ, Kham Mueang reading chan), that is, written on palm leaves with a pointed iron stylus, and copied from temple to temple in tua mueang (ต฿วฯเมิอฯง, read tua mueang), the Lanna (Tai Tham) script.
The best-known version. A. B. Griswold and Prasert na Nagara (1977) describe it as 48 palm leaves inscribed in the Tai Yuan language and script, copied in Chula Sakarat 1162 (1800) at Lopburi by a monk whose name they transcribe as Thavara, at the request of a man named Noy Gambhira, who they suppose was in charge of the Tai Yuan people resettled by force at Sao Hai, Saraburi. Kraisri Nimmanahaeminda acquired this version in 1953; it is now kept in the library of the Siam Society.
The manuscript belonged to Camille Notton, the French consul in Chiang Mai. It was destroyed in the Second World War, but Kraisri Nimmanahaeminda had copied it in 1939. Griswold and Prasert na Nagara found traces suggesting that parts of it may come from texts compiled in the reign of Phaya Mueang Kaeo (1495–1526).
Nalinphat's research (2014) used five transcribed versions of the Mangraisat: Wat Sao Hai, Notton, Wat Chiang Man, Wat Muen Ngoen Kong and Wat Chai Sathan. The first three were transcribed by Prasert na Nagara (in 1978, 1982 and 1985).
Did King Mangrai really enact all these laws?
The opening of every version of the Mangraisat praises Phaya (พญา, read pha-ya) Mangrai. The Notton version begins:
…พระยามังรายเจ้าจึงตั้งอาชญาไว้เพื่อหื้อท้าวพระยาทั้งหลายอันเป็นลูกหลานเหลน … แต่งบ้านปองเมืองสืบต่อไป หื้อรู้ว่าอันผิดอันชอบดั่งนี้… — Mangraisat, Notton version, p. 1 (quoted in Nalinphat Phithak-anothai, 2014)
["…so Lord Phaya Mangrai laid down these laws, that all the rulers who are his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren … may go on ordering the land and the towns, and know what is wrong and what is right…"]
Nalinphat explains that mentioning Phaya Mangrai at both the beginning and the end serves to honour the law and lend it sacred authority, in keeping with the name Mangraisat.
Scholars, however, do not simply accept this preface. Griswold and Prasert na Nagara (1977) argue that the year in which any particular clause was enacted cannot be pinned down, and that the provisions were not all made at once but grew little by little over a long period. Whether the "old principles" in the first sections really go back to King Mangrai, the two decline to conclude.
Scholars' views on the age of the Mangraisat
- Griswold and Prasert na Nagara (1977) note that the Wat Sao Hai version has its closing formula twice, so they think the first part, up to section 22, is probably older than the rest. The later part, about 200 sections, includes many that seem to date from the late 18th century and show more influence from Ayutthaya law than from Lanna law.
- Charun Daennalert and Prayun Imiwat (2018) say it is commonly understood that the Mangraisat may have been influenced by the Mon dhammasattha law of Hariphunchai, while Griswold and Prasert na Nagara consider that there is not yet any evidence to answer this.
- Both sides agree that the surviving manuscripts are later copies, not originals from the time of King Mangrai.
Examples of clauses in the Mangraisat
Organising the commoners
The first sections deal with organising the phrai (ไระฯพ่, Kham Mueang reading phai), which the dictionary translates as "citizens, townspeople, commoners", under a ladder of officers, according to the translation by Griswold and Prasert na Nagara and the summary by Charun and Prayun:
| Officer | In charge of |
|---|---|
| Nai Sip | 10 commoners |
| Nai Ha Sip | 5 Nai Sip |
| Nai Roi | 2 Nai Ha Sip |
| Chao Phan | 10 Nai Roi |
| Chao Muen | 10 Chao Phan |
| Chao Saen | 10 Chao Muen |
In the dictionary, muen (หื่มฯร, read muen) means "the number ten thousand", so these titles also tell how many people each officer was responsible for.
The penalty for deserting in war
The next sections lay down that in wartime anyone who deserts his commander is to be put to death, from a commoner who deserts his Nai Sip up to a Chao Saen who deserts the king, and all his property is to be confiscated. Conversely, an officer who abandons his men on the battlefield is also punished.
Griswold and Prasert na Nagara point out that the passage allowing deserters to be tattooed on the forehead and released is a later amendment that softened the original penalty. This is one of the traces showing that the law was revised in layers.
Fines
Most penalties in Lanna law were sai sin-mai (ไส่สินฯไหมฯ, read sai sin-mai), fines. Sin-mai (สินฯไหมฯ, read sin-mai) the dictionary explains as "property that the losing party in a case gives to the winning party". An example from the Notton version, p. 42 (quoted in Nalinphat, 2014): anyone who takes a sword and hacks at another person's house "is fined 110 ngoen" (ต้องไหม ๑๑๐ เงิน).
Xinbei Lu and Sarassawadee Ongsakul (2022), comparing Lanna law with Chinese law of the Ming dynasty, found that Chinese law had five graded levels of punishment, from flogging to death, while Lanna law mostly punished with fines and used the death penalty only in some cases.
For restraining prisoners, the Lanna language has the word khue ka (ขื่คาฯ, read khue ka), which the dictionary explains as "the one put on the neck is called khue, the one put on the legs is called kha".
Teachings for judges
The Mangraisat is not only about penalties: it also instructs those who judge disputes. The Notton version lists eight kinds of "คำอันตัดแต่งบ่ชอบ" (improper judgments), which "ควรรีดม้างเสีย" (should be annulled).
The Mangraisat as literature
The Mangraisat belongs to the literature category because old Lanna laws were not only regulations. Nalinphat (2014) explains that Lanna laws include stories and weave in moral lessons.
The same research divides their form into three parts:
- Opening: in the Mangraisat, the mention of Phaya Mangrai, his lineage and the founding of the city.
- Body: the provisions, stories, or both together.
- Closing: the copyist gives the date, place, purpose and his own name, with the scribe's apologetic "disclaimer"; a feature particular to the Mangraisat is a list of the kings of the Mangrai dynasty.
It is these closing parts that help scholars trace the age of each version, such as the closing of the Wat Sao Hai version, which gives the year it was copied, or the list of kings in the Notton version.
Why the Mangraisat still matters
- It is evidence that Lanna had its own legal system, grown from local hit and customs.
- It gives a view of Lanna social life: the levying of commoners, trade, inheritance, marriage and women's rights. Xinbei Lu and Sarassawadee Ongsakul (2022) found that Lanna women had more freedom to choose their spouses than Chinese women of the same period.
- Versions copied in different periods show how the law was revised over time.
- It is a store of old Lanna vocabulary on government and the judging of disputes.
Summary
- The Mangraisat is the oldest Lanna law code, invoking the name of Phaya Mangrai, and it grew out of hit and local custom.
- The surviving manuscripts are later palm-leaf copies, such as the Wat Sao Hai version (1800) and the Notton version.
- Scholars think its provisions grew little by little rather than being enacted at once, so the age of each section is hard to fix.
- Its content includes the organisation of commoners, penalties for desertion, fines (sai sin-mai) and teachings for judges.
- It is both a law code and palm-leaf literature, with stories and scribes' notes.
Look up more Lanna words on law and government in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), and read about palm-leaf scriptures still alive in tradition in the article Tang Tham Luang.
Sources
- Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): มังราย · ฮีต · ใส่สินไหม · ไพร่
- Griswold, A. B. and Prasert na Nagara. (1977). The 'Judgments of King Man Ray'. Journal of the Siam Society 65(1)
- นลินภัสร์ พิทักษ์อโนทัย [Nalinphat Phithak-anothai]. (2014). รูปแบบการเขียนในกฎหมายล้านนาโบราณ [Forms of writing in old Lanna laws]. Journal of Liberal Arts, Maejo University 2(2). In Thai.
- จรูญ แดนนาเลิศ และ ประยูร อิมิวัตร์ [Charun Daennalert and Prayun Imiwat]. (2018). "พญามังราย" ปฐมกษัตริย์แห่งการปกครองแผ่นดินล้านนาโดยธรรม ["Phaya Mangrai", the first king to rule Lanna by the Dhamma]. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dhonburi Rajabhat University 1(3). In Thai.
- Xinbei Lu และ สรัสวดี อ๋องสกุล [Xinbei Lu and Sarassawadee Ongsakul]. (2022). การเปรียบเทียบสิทธิส่วนบุคคลของสตรีด้านสิทธิในชีวิตและร่างกายตามกฎหมายล้านนาและกฎหมายจีน [A comparison of women's personal rights to life and body under Lanna law and Chinese law]. Chinese Studies Journal 15(1). In Thai.
