Syncretic Mekong

Syncretic Mekong: Some Historical Observations

Rujaya Abhakorn, Memory of the World, UNESCO, Chiang Mai, THAILAND

Abstracts

The concept “Syncretism” as applied in Southeast Asian historical studies usually refers to the process or the end result of acculturation involving seemingly different religions, faiths or cults. Examples in Angkor where Mahayana Buddhism was combined with Brahmanism, or different sects of Brahmanism co-existed, are usually cited. This paper raises the question whether this concept can be applied to specific local areas or regions such as the middle-upper Mekong that covers northern Lao PDR, northern Thailand, part of the Shan state in Myanmar, and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, China, where there existed different groups of highlanders with “animistic” beliefs and practices, and lowlanders who practiced Theravada Buddhism. Based on foreign accounts and local sources, it appears that iconographic evidence provides clues of coexistence or assimilation, but there is a pattern of attempts at raising the status of Buddhism by the Buddhist sector. Ethnic or linguistic differences did not act as boundaries between the Buddhistic and “animistic” worlds as both needed all the powers in the universe to provide protection against personal and communal misfortunes. In fact as the craftsmen or local leaders provided their own interpretations or inputs into this syncretic situation, the concept may become overloaded and less effective

The 2nd SSEASR Conference