Thursday, April 12, 2007  The laws of King Mangrai as myth or
history? (Kirsch)  Thomas Kirsch review of: Wichienkeeo,
Aroonrut and Gehan Wijeyewardene, translators and editors. The
Laws of King Mangrai (Mangrayathammasart). The Wat Chang Kham,
Nan Manuscript from the Richard Davis collection. Canberra:
Department of Anthropology, The Australian National University,
1986, in the Asian Folklore Studies, 1987, vol. 46 / 2 (Note:
All back issues of this long-running journal appear to be online
now)  This book review has a nice parry to a slightly dyspeptic
Michael Vickery: "In addition, the text might be examined for
its historical contribution. In this regard, Wijeyewardene
supports the caution urged recently by Vickery on the historical
value of such documents. Vickery (1979: 170) sees them as a "
confused mixture of fact and fancy due to people who were
grossly ignorant of the facts of the past." Be that as it may,
Vickery's comment suggests another perspective for these texts.
If they are mixtures of fact an