Reading Khao Hong Hin: Kham Mueang Line by Line
Hong Hin (ห฿ง์สฯฯหินฯ, Kham Mueang reading hong hin) is the famous Lanna khao so that our grandparents' generation sat in circles to hear. This article does not retell the story (read the summary in the article Hong Hin). Instead it takes two passages of the khao and reads them slowly, line by line: what each Kham Mueang word means, how the rhymes are strung together, and why words that central Thai pronounces with ph, th, ch (พ ท ช) are read by Northern Thai people with p, t, c (ป ต จ).
The text used, and how to read it
Both passages come from the khao so (ระฯค่าฯวฯซํอฯ, read khao so) Hong Hin, in the Thai-script edition printed by the Prathueang Witthaya shop (Chiang Mai, 1968), as quoted by Phakaphot Thiamthan (ภคภต เทียมทัน, 2024) in a research article, keeping the original spelling. This edition spells words the way they sound in Kham Mueang, so you can read it aloud straight away.
Moradok Lanna compared every line with the text that Udom Rungruangsri (อุดม รุ่งเรืองศรี, 1973) transcribed in his thesis from the first printed Lanna-script edition of Chao Suriyawong. The wording is the same; only the spelling differs, and that difference is one of the key lessons of this article (see the section "Written ph, read p").
Passage 1: a puppy in place of the prince
In canto 2 of the story, the six minor queens learn that Nang Wimala, the chief queen, is about to give birth to a Bodhisattva, and they plot together:
| Line 1 | Line 2 | Line 3 | Line 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | กันวิมาลา | จักประสูติต๊อง | พระเจืองเจ้า | โพธา |
| 2 | หื้อนางนึ่งนั้น | เอาสุนักขา | อันบ่พรากกา | ปั๊ดนมแม่ได้ |
| 3 | ใส่ภูษา | ปามาที่ใกล้ | เมื่อจ๋อมนงวัย | ปวดต๊อง |
Source: khao so Hong Hin (1968), p. 3, quoted in Phakaphot Thiamthan (2024)
| Line | Word by word (central Thai equivalent) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| กันวิมาลา | when Wimala (ครั้นวิมาลา) | when Wimala |
| จักประสูติต๊อง | will give birth from the belly (จักประสูติจากท้อง) | is about to give birth |
| พระเจืองเจ้า โพธา | the great lord, the Bodhisattva (พระ...เจ้า โพธิสัตว์) | to the great lord Bodhisattva |
| หื้อนางนึ่งนั้น | let one woman (ให้นางคนหนึ่งนั้น) | let one of us |
| เอาสุนักขา | take a dog (เอาสุนัข) | take a puppy |
| อันบ่พรากกา | that is not yet parted (ที่ยังไม่พรากจากแม่) | one not yet parted from its mother |
| ปั๊ดนมแม่ได้ | can still drink its mother's milk (ยังกินนมแม่ได้) | still suckling at its mother's milk |
| ใส่ภูษา | put in cloth (ใส่ผ้า) | wrap it in cloth |
| ปามาที่ใกล้ | bring to a place nearby (พามาไว้ที่ใกล้ ๆ) | and bring it close by |
| เมื่อจ๋อมนงวัย ปวดต๊อง | when the finest young woman has belly pains (เมื่อยอดนางสาวปวดท้อง) | when the finest of women goes into labour |
The whole passage: when Nang Wimala is about to give birth to the Bodhisattva, let one of us take a puppy that is still suckling, wrap it in cloth, and bring it close by when the queen goes into labour.
Words to know in this passage
- Tong (ท้อฯง) is thong, belly. The dictionary gives "belly; to be pregnant, with child". So puat tong in the last line means labour pains before giving birth.
- Hue (หื้) means "to give, to let", and nueng (นึ่งฯ) means "one". "หื้อนางนึ่งนั้น" therefore means "let one woman…".
- Bo (บ) means "not", and phak (ฯระฯพากฯ, Thai phrak) means to go away, to be separated.
- Pat (พัดฯ) corresponds to Thai phat. The dictionary gives several meanings: to fan, to strike, to cut, and to eat. In this line it means to eat (drink milk).
- Pa (พา) means to take, to lead along. The printed edition writes klai (near) in its Thai form, but Northern Thai people read it kai (ไก้ลฯ).
- Chom (จอฯม) means the best of a group, and nong (น฿งฯ) means lady, woman, young woman. "จ๋อมนงวัย" is therefore a term of praise calling Nang Wimala the finest of women.
- The poet does not use the plain word ma (หมฯา), dog, in this passage, but the Pali word sunakkha to get an "-a" sound for the rhyme.
Passage 2: tying the wrists by the old custom
This passage comes from the middle of the story, when the prince takes an ogre king's daughter as his wife. The ceremony is held in a hurry, but the custom of tying the bride's and groom's wrists is still kept.
| Line 1 | Line 2 | Line 3 | Line 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | เพราะรีบเร็ว | บ่ปอพิลึก | ทำการหื้อ | นงเยาว์ |
| 2 | ปอหื้อแล้ว | ตามรีตเดิมเขา | ผูกแขนองค์เรา | บุตรีลูกเต้า |
| 3 | เงื่อนนึ่งผูกแขน | โพธิสัตว์เจ้า | จู๋งจั๊กเข้าสู่ | หอนาง |
Source: khao so Hong Hin (1968), p. 39, quoted in Phakaphot Thiamthan (2024)
| Line | Word by word (central Thai equivalent) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| เพราะรีบเร็ว บ่ปอพิลึก | because of haste, not enough to be elaborate (เพราะรีบเร็ว ไม่พอจะพิสดาร) | because of the hurry, it could not be grand |
| ทำการหื้อ นงเยาว์ | hold the rite for the young lady (ทำการให้นางสาว) | the ceremony for the young bride |
| ปอหื้อแล้ว | once it was finished (พอให้เสร็จแล้ว) | once it was done |
| ตามรีตเดิมเขา | by their old custom (ตามจารีตเดิมของเขา) | following the old custom |
| ผูกแขนองค์เรา บุตรีลูกเต้า | tie the arm of our daughter (ผูกแขนธิดาของเรา) | they tied the wrist of our daughter |
| เงื่อนนึ่งผูกแขน โพธิสัตว์เจ้า | one knot ties the arm of the lord Bodhisattva (อีกเงื่อนหนึ่งผูกแขนพระโพธิสัตว์) | with another knot they tied the groom's wrist |
| จู๋งจั๊กเข้าสู่ หอนาง | lead and draw into the lady's house (จูงชักเข้าสู่ห้องนาง) | and led the couple into the bridal house |
The whole passage: because of the hurry, the ceremony for the bride could not be grand. Once the rite was done by the old custom, they tied the daughter's wrist, tied the Bodhisattva's wrist with another knot, and led the two of them into the bridal house.
Words to know in this passage
- Po (พํอฯ) means "enough". It is used twice here: "บ่ปอพิลึก", not elaborate enough, and "ปอหื้อแล้ว", once it was done.
- Luk tao (ลูกเตั้า) means child, children. "บุตรีลูกเต้า" doubles a Pali word and a Kham Mueang word that both mean daughter.
- Chung (จูง) means to lead by the hand, and chak (ชักฯ) means to pull, to draw. "จู๋งจั๊ก" is a doubled word meaning to lead along.
- Ho (หํอฯ) is a house or building built for a special purpose. Here "หอนาง" is the bride's bridal house.
The word rit in the line "ตามรีตเดิมเขา" is the same word as hit (รีตฯ), which Northern Thai people use in the phrase hit hoi, "customs and traditions". The dictionary explains it as "tradition that has become a social norm that people accept and respect". So the poet is telling the audience that even though the wedding was rushed, the old custom was not left out.
Rhyme: khao strings words like a chain
The dictionary explains that khao (ระฯค่าฯวฯ) is verse "whose rhymes are threaded and interlinked … like a chain". Look at the bold words in the tables of both passages and the chain is clear:
- Passage 1: an "-a" sound is passed along from pho-tha → su-nak-kha → phrak ka → phu-sa (โพธา → สุนักขา → พรากกา → ภูษา), then an "-ai" sound takes over from mae dai → thi klai → nong wai (แม่ได้ → ที่ใกล้ → นงวัย). The word tong (ต๊อง) from the first row comes back to close the passage as puat tong (ปวดต๊อง), as if the story circles back to Nang Wimala's womb.
- Passage 2: an "-ao" sound makes the longest chain, from nong yao → doem khao → ong rao → luk tao → pho-thi-sat chao (นงเยาว์ → เดิมเขา → องค์เรา → ลูกเต้า → โพธิสัตว์เจ้า), and there is also the pair rip reo and hue laeo (รีบเร็ว, หื้อแล้ว) at the start of the rows.
Words per line: the "sam tua liao" rule is flexible
- Udom Rungruangsri (1973) explains that the first khao (stanza) of each canto has 11 lines, the following ones up to the second-to-last have 10 lines, and the last has 7 lines. The khao so Hong Hin has 17 cantos in all, and every canto opens and closes with khao of this kind, so the cantos are easy to tell apart.
- Chao Suriyawong himself states this rule in canto 1 of the story (in Udom's transcription), saying he wrote it to follow "ที่ ๓ ตัวหลยว" ("the third word looks back"), the rule khao poets remember as "sam tua liao".
- But Udom points out that even the line that states the rule does not have the right number of syllables, so he concludes that the number of words in khao is somewhat flexible, and this is not a serious flaw. The two passages in this article are the same: some lines have 2 syllables (โพธา, ปวดต๊อง), some have 4.
- Udom also explains that khao poets had no written notation; they tried reading their lines to a melody, and if a line "snagged", it was not yet well written. Read the full verse-form diagram in the article Khao.
Written ph, read p: the sounds of Kham Mueang in khao
Compare the two editions and something interesting appears. Udom Rungruangsri's text follows the letters of the Tai Tham script, so it writes pha, thong, phat and chung chak ("พามาที่ใกล้", "ปวดท้อง", "พัดนมแม่ได้", "จุงชักสู่หอนาง"). The 1968 Thai-script edition writes the words as Northern Thai people actually say them: pa, tong, pat and chung chak ("ปามา", "ปวดต๊อง", "ปั๊ดนมแม่", "จู๋งจั๊กเข้าสู่").
The Moradok Lanna dictionary records every one of these pairs: written one way, but read with a different sound by Northern Thai speakers.
| Written (central Thai) | Northern Thai reading | Found in the khao |
|---|---|---|
| pha (พา) | pa (ปา) | pa ma thi klai (ปามาที่ใกล้) |
| phat (พัด) | pat (ปั๊ด) | pat nom mae dai (ปั๊ดนมแม่ได้) |
| pho (พอ) | po (ปอ) | bo po phi-luek, po hue laeo (บ่ปอพิลึก, ปอหื้อแล้ว) |
| thong (ท้อง) | tong (ต๊อง) | chak pra-sut tong, puat tong (จักประสูติต๊อง, ปวดต๊อง) |
| chak (ชัก) | chak (จั๊ก, unaspirated) | chung chak khao su (จู๋งจั๊กเข้าสู่) |
| chung (จูง) | chung (จู๋ง, rising tone) | chung chak khao su (จู๋งจั๊กเข้าสู่) |
| chom (จอม) | chom (จ๋อม, rising tone) | muea chom nong wai (เมื่อจ๋อมนงวัย) |
| klai (ใกล้) | kai (ไก้) | pa ma thi klai (ปามาที่ใกล้) |
Notice that words which central Thai begins with aspirated ph th ch (พ ท ช) are read in this khao with unaspirated p t c (ป ต จ), and the tone changes too: thong becomes tong (ท้อง → ต๊อง), chom takes a rising tone (จอม → จ๋อม). Learn this rule and you can guess many more Kham Mueang words from Thai words you already know.
Summary
- The 1968 Thai-script edition of khao so Hong Hin spells words as they sound in Kham Mueang, which makes it an excellent Kham Mueang textbook.
- The puppy-swap passage teaches tong, hue, nueng, pat, pa, chom, nong; the wrist-tying passage teaches po, luk tao, chung, chak, ho and hit.
- Khao strings its rhymes like a chain, for example yao → khao → rao → tao → chao (เยาว์ → เขา → เรา → เต้า → เจ้า), and the number of words per line is somewhat flexible.
- Many words written with aspirated ph th ch (พ ท ช) are read by Northern Thai speakers with unaspirated p t c (ป ต จ), for example pha → pa, thong → tong (พา → ปา, ท้อง → ต๊อง), and ชัก → จั๊ก, where RTGS writes both as chak.
Look up more words from the khao in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), read the story and its origins in the article Hong Hin, and read the rules of the khao verse form in the article Khao.
More in the same series: Khao Ham Son Ying · The song Noi Chai Ya, or see the whole series at Kham Mueang through songs and literature (in Thai).
Sources
- Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): หงส์หิน · ต๊อง · ปั๊ด · ฮีต · มัดมือ
- 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 (quoting the khao from ค่าวซอเรื่องธรรมหงส์หิน [The khao so Dhamma story of Hong Hin], Prathueang Witthaya shop, 1968, pp. 3 and 39). In Thai.
- อุดม รุ่งเรืองศรี [Udom Rungruangsri]. (1973). วรรณกรรมลานนาไทยเรื่องหงส์หินของเจ้าสุริยวงศ์ [The Lanna Thai literary work Hong Hin by Chao Suriyawong]. Master of Arts thesis, Chulalongkorn University (chapter 2, the khao so verse form and the transliteration, pp. 6–7, 11, 13, 37–38). In Thai.
