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Historic journal is digitised to reach more readers, by: PLOENPOTE ATTHAKOR

Just one click, and the knowledge of old Siam will pop up on your computer screen.

The knowledge is from Vachirayanviset, a popular palace journal during the reign of King Chulalongkorn, now digitised on a website under a project to revive rare books. The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre worked in collaboration with other agencies, including the Siam Society, the National Library and Science and Technology Knowledge Service Thailand. The website, www.siamrarebooks.com, was officially launched last Tuesday June 9. Vachirayanviset - ǪÔÃ*Ò³ÇÔàÈÉ
Siam rare books – ˹ѧÊ×Íà¡èÒªÒÇÊÂÒÁ
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre - ÈÙ¹ÂìÁÒ¹ØÉÂÇÔ·ÂÒÊÔÃÔ¹¸Ã (ͧ¤ì¡ÒÃÁËÒª¹)
The Siam Society under Royal Patronage – ÊÂÒÁÊÁÒ¤Áã¹¾ÃкÃÁÃÒªÙ»¶ÑÁÀì
Science and Technology Knowledge Service Thailand - ÈÙ¹ÂìºÃÔ¡ÒäÇÒÁÃÙé·Ò§ÇÔ·ÂÒÈÒʵÃìáÅÐà·¤â¹âÅÂÕ

Vachirayanviset was published for nine consecutive years beginning in 1884. Senior princes, including Prince Devavongse Varoprakarn, Prince Damrong Rachanuphap and Prince Narisaranuvattivong, took turns being the journal's editor, a title called kamasampathik in the old language. King Chulalongkorn took up the editor's seat in the fourth publication year (1888), substituting for his son, the then Crown Prince Vajiravudh, who was too young for the job. Kamasampathik – ¡ÃÃÁÊÑÁ»Ò·Ô¡, pronounced as ‘kaam-ma-saam-pa-tik’, means ‘member of such a body; executive member’

Scholars and researchers have praised the journal's virtues, saying it contained literary gems that are timeless. Among them are pieces by King Mongkut and King Chulalongkorn, poems, plays, chronicles, articles on various issues like entertainment and Q&A as well as riddles.

In particular, they said, the journal, which ran for about 50 issues per publication year, gives an insight into people's livelihood in old-day Siam.
The digital version aims to give easy access to rare literary works.

Conventional copies of Vachirayanviset are kept in the National Library's rare books section, which offers limited service. Visitors are required to hand over a request letter to get a glimpse of the journal. A few copies remain in private collections.

Anake Nawigamune, renowned writer and founder of the House of Museums, said Vachirayanviset was a source of information for his famous Raek Me Nai Siam (First in Siam) book series. House of Museums – ºéÒ¹¾Ô¾Ô¸Àѳ±ì
Raek Me Nai Siam – ááÁÕã¹ÊÂÒÁ
Books written by Anake Nawigamune (à͹¡ ¹ÒÇÔ¡ÁÙÅ)

He said the journal features interesting issues like the traditional lottery, known as huay kor khor, alchemists, boxing and the pencil-making site that becomes the name for Din So Road in Bangkok. Laundry service was established for the first time in Siam in the reign of King Chulalongkorn, Anake said, adding that the first laundry to serve the foreign community in the Kingdom was near the British consulate.

He noted that one issue featured historic Buddha relics procession during the Phukhao Thong (Golden Mount) Fair at Wat Saket.
''That lets us know that the Phukhao Thong Fair has lasted for more than 100 years,'' he said.

From the journal, it is clear there were no hair salons at that time, he said.
''Instead, hair cutting was offered at customers' homes. Hairdressers would travel around with their cutting equipment,'' he said.

In the old days, there were no beauty salons, and hairdressers would cut hair at the customer’s home.

Anake also pointed out that readers of Vachirayanviset were more than familiar with kratu _ now known for Q&A comments in cyberspace. King Chulalongkorn was said to have replied to some kratu himself. The monarch used the pen names of ''Tung-tung'' and ''Nai Sood''. Other members of the royal family, male and female, did the same, many using acronyms for their pen names. Nor Ror, for example, was the pen name of Prince Narisaranuvattivong.

Anake noted that slang was also used in the journal. Some terms like kae for cool, or thueng for dazzling, are still in use today, he said.

More interestingly, it was found that copyright was observed in the Kingdom during this time. According to the journal's code of practice, re-prints of Vachirayanviset articles required the permission of the respective editor.

Suvanna Kriengkraipetch, a member of the committee on rare books, said the project was first initiated in 2007 as the Ya Praek (a term symbolic of knowledge in the Thai learning tradition) project. However, the committee later decided on the Nangsue Kao Chao Siam (Rare Books in Siam) project, which was officially launched on Monday. Ya Preak – Ë*éÒá¾Ã¡ or bermuda grass, scutch grass, star grass, couch grass, bahama grass, quick grass

In wai kru ceremony (to pay respect to teacher), students present a flower arrangement to their teachers, one of these flowers is ‘Ya Preak’, the symbolic of knowledge, patience, and perseverance.

Nangsue Kao Chao Siam – ˹ѧÊ×Íà¡èÒªÒÇÊÂÒÁ

She said Vachirayan was the original name of the national library. ''Vachira means lightning or jewels and yan means knowledge. Thus, the meaning of Vachirayan is precious knowledge.'' Vachira – ǪÔÃ, ǪÔÃÐ means lightning – ÊÒ¿éÒ, jewels – ྪÃ, the weapon of Indra - ÍÒÇظ¾ÃÐÍÔ¹·Ãì

Yan – *Ò³ (pronounced as yan, ya-na, yan-na) means knowledge – ¤ÇÒÁÃÙé, »ÃÕªÒ/¤ÇÒÁÊÒÁÒöËÂÑè§ÃÙé – ability/talent/wisdom from the practice of meditation

Suvanna said the online project was time-consuming due to the decrepit state of the over-100-year-old journal. Mostly, the print has become blurred while some pages have holes.

Besides, the old-style language, which is unfamiliar to typists, complicates their work.

She said readers of the online version will see the text in its original form. ''We will not fill up the words that were lost in the holes. Old-style spellings will remain the same,'' she said.

Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool, director of the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, said there are indexes and help tools to provide explanations for some difficult terms.

It is designed as a user-friendly website, with various formats to choose from _ flash e-book, plain text, pdf and extra pdf.

Paritta regarded the journal as an ''edutainment'' tool, not only in its time but also for today's world.

''It's indeed a fun read with useful information,'' she said.

At the same time, it is Paritta's wish that people of today's world can still find the old knowledge relevant to their lives and experiences and make use of it.

''If the journal is kept in the library's closed cabinet, people will never see it.

But the digital version will allow access and, more or less, they can link the old information to their life. Once that happens, people will see the journal's value,'' she said.

Although the project will cover every issue, available online are only those that were published in the sixth and seventh publication years, 1890 and 1891, given the journal's relatively agreeable condition in those years.

''The journal published in the early years is in a sorry state,'' Paritta added.
She said more rare books will be digitised under the project.

''The next works may be travelogues _ the literary type that recognises ethnic diversity in the nation.'' Photos:
The print version of ‘Vachirayanviset’
The cover of ‘Raek Me Nai Siam (First in Siam)’ by Anake Nawigamune
An old photo of Phu kao Thong at Wat Saket
A hairdresser at work
A mural depicts boxing as a popular sport

Bangkokpost
www.siamrarebooks.com