8 th Euroseas conference Vienna, 11–14 August 2015

— Development of Local Museums in the Lands Bordering the Straits of Melaka
John Miksic (National University of Singapore)
A perennial subject of debate in the study of museums in Southeast Asia concerns the degree to which they are co-
lonial implants from the west rather than the outcome of local socio-cultural factors. During the 19th and early 20th 
centuries, museums in Indonesia were mainly developed by the colonial government. Some royal families such as the 
Mangkunegara in Surakarta built private museums in the early 20th century, but this family like much of the Javanese 
elite was highly acculturated to western attitudes and ideals. Other private museums were built in Indonesia in the 
1930s, but they were mainly established by western missionaries. 
In 1968, when I first visited Indonesia, there were 46 registered museums in the country, most of which were run by 
the central government. I became aware of the existence of private local museums in the 1970s when I discovered 
small museums in the hinterlands of north Sumatra. During the past 40 years, the growth of private museums has far 
outstripped that of official museums. In 2010, 281 museums were officially recognized by the Indonesian government, 
of which 201 are non-state museums. I will discuss briefly the positive and negative effects of this pattern, and attempt 
to give some reasons for it. I will discuss some specific examples from Indonesia as well as Malaysia and the Malay-
speaking area of southern Thailand.
Panel: Changing Moral Geographies: Pilgrimage Trails and the Re-Sacralisation  
of Heritage Sites in Modern Southeast Asia 
convener: Marieke Bloembergen (KITLV)
discussant: Padma Maitland (UC Berkeley)
panel abstract
Many formerly ruined religious sites in today?s Southeast Asia have, in the course of the twentieth century, and across 
colonial and postcolonial regimes, developed into (national) monuments or UNESCO World Heritage sites. In the 
same period, old and new believers, from members of the theosophical society and religious revivalist movements to 
those of new national and international religious organizations, have followed old and new pilgrimage trails across 
Asia, often successfully pursuing re-sacralisation practices. This has affected the respective sites in different ways. They 
have in point of fact become hybrid spaces, in which different auratic experiences are being sought and evoked, and 
divergent senses of belonging have emerged alongside or in competition with each other.
This panel aims to gain insight into the political and moral dynamics of the various knowledge regimes that have 
developed at such sites and (or) the trails that have connected them, by investigating the tangled logics of heritage 
and religion as well as concomitant processes of inclusion and exclusion. The panel thus explores, in historical and 
comparative perspective, the interactions between the various parties involved in „keeping? or „making? the site: the 
state, religious experts and pilgrims, entrepreneurs, scholars, and so forth, who operate at local and supra-local levels, 

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following the various trails that connect the sites.
To enhance the comparative and inter-Asian perspective we invite participants working on religious networks, pil-
grimages and/or religious sites in mainland Southeast Asia, or connecting Southeast Asia to South Asia.
— Borobudur and Mendut “In the Light of Asia”: Pilgrims, Scholars, Hippies, and Moral Geographies of Greater 
India, 1908-2000s 
Marieke Bloembergen (KITLV) 
Scholarly, spiritual and religious revivalist networks, operating at local, inter-Asian and global levels, have, since the 
late nineteenth century, and along old and new pilgrimage trails, spread the fame of the material and intangible re-
mains of Indonesia’s Hindu-Buddhist past (temples and objects, texts and stories, and religious practices – in short 
‘sites’). The interests in these sites vary, and they are of individual, associational and institutional nature, but they are 
bound by a fascination for what was (and is) considered to be these sites’ Indianized quality, their cultural legacies 
and their presumed origin – ‘India’. This paper, part of a new research-project, aims to gain understanding in the role 
of these networks and the trails they created, in the situating of Indonesia in what I call moral geographies of Greater 
India (in reaction to the notion of ‘Indic cosmopolis’), and on their impact on processes of inclusion and exclusion. 
Taking the eighth century Buddhist shrine cum heritage site Borobudur as a starting point, the paper analyses how 
scholarly and spiritual knowledge networks helped re-sacralizing these historical remains into sites of Indianized 
heritage, of Indianized universal art and of religious revivalism – in ways that went beyond the interest of the state or 
state-supported institutions. It will focus, in particular, on the site-related engagements of theosophical and Hindu-
Buddhist revivalist associations. This will be the anchor point to explore, tentatively, connections, continuities and 
discontinuities between scholarly and spiritual knowledge networks and pilgrimage trails over time and across space, 
from the theosophists and Hindu-Buddhist revivalists in the 1920s to the hippie trail of the 1970s.
— Visits to the Buddha’s Lands: Pilgrims from Southeast Asia in India 
Padma Maitland (UC Berkeley)
This paper examines the influx of pilgrims from Southeast Asia to India in the later half of the twentieth century. 
Focusing on groups of Buddhist pilgrims traveling to Bodh Gaya and the other major pilgrimage sites of Sarnath, 
Lumbini, and Kushnigar from other parts of Asia, it argues that the articulation of a “pilgrimage circuit” for foreign 
Buddhists resulted in multiple conceptions of India as the Buddha’s ground. In particular, this paper considers how 
the religious and historical value of Buddhist sites in India has been impacted by foreign conceptions of them, and 
how representations of them in Southeast Asia impacts subsequent restoration and development.
— At the Fault Lines of the Moral Geography of Indonesian Buddhayana 
Martin Ramstedt (Halle University, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Halle) 
The peculiar moral geography of Indonesian Buddhayana, began to take shape in 1955, when the Sino-Indonesian 
monk Ashin Jinarakkhita founded the Association of Indonesian Buddhist Laymen and –women (Persaudaraan Upa-
saka Upasika Indonesia, PUUI) in Java. A year later, PUUI, the first Buddhist organization in independent Indonesia, 
joined in the celebration of the 2500 years of Buddha Jayanti in the Theravada world at large. It thereby demonstrated 
that Buddha dharma was undergoing a revival in the archipelago, after it had almost completely vanished in the cen-
turies following the defeat of the last Old-Javanese Hindu-Buddhist Empire of Majapahit that had precipitated subse-
quent Islamization and, a little later, Christianization. The further development of Buddhayana in newly independent 
Indonesia was spurred by the religious policies of the Muslim-dominated Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs 
that required Indonesian Buddhists to organize themselves into a coherent community and to demonstrate that they 
indeed represent “a religion adhered to by the Indonesian people”. Ashin Jinarakkhita was instrumental in achieving 
this feat, forging a common imaginary between Sino-Indonesian Mahayana, Burmese Theravada, and the Vajrayana 
traditions of ancient Sriwijaya and Majapahit. Shortly after the official recognition of Buddhayana in 1967, the first 
cracks emerged in the image of a harmonious association of Indonesian Buddhists that eventually led to splits and 
segregation within the Indonesian Buddhist community at large. Indonesian Buddhayana has managed to provide a 
common framework, though, for some divergent Buddhist traditions until today, despite the emergence of rival or-
ganizations. It nevertheless suffers from continuous eruptions at the fault lines within its own moral geography that 

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conflates divergent lineages and sacred geographies. The paper offers an analysis of this predicament, presented with 
the help of visual material from a Buddhayana museum and several Buddhayana temples in Java.
Panel: Curating Siam: Collecting and Collectors in the Making of Thai Studies
convener: Claudio Cicuzza (Webster University Thailand)
panel abstract
Generally the history of Thai Studies outside of Thailand is connected to the rise of Southeast Asian Studies Centers at 
SOAS, Cornell, the University of Michigan, Kyoto University, National University of Singapore, Hamburg University, 
among other major academic institutions after World War II. However, before there were institutionalized Thai Stud-
ies programs there was a non-institutionalized collecting of Siamese texts, art, flora, fauna, and ethnographic field 
data. This panel looks at the history of this curating from a variety of perspectives and looks at the pre-Thai Studies 
history of Siamese and Tai-Lao Studies. Jana Igunma, of the British Library looks at the origins of the study of Siamese 
texts and art in Great Britain. Soonil Hwang looks at the origin of Siamese Studies and the collection of Siamese mate-
rial in Korea. Baas Terwiel looks at the history of Siamese Studies in Germany. Toshiya Unebe examines the creation 
of Siamese art and text collections in Japan.
— Chindamani Text as an Origin of Thai Studies from Literary Culture Aspects
Suchitra Chongstitvatana (Chulalongkorn University)
The study is an attempt to analyse ‘Chindaman?’ text of Ayuthaya period considered as the first text-book in Thai, 
believed to be composed in the late Ayuthaya. This text has a unique characteristic of teaching the language for the 
purpose of composing poetry and thus is considered also as the first Thai poetics. ‘Chindaman?’ also reveals indirectly 
the traditional Thai literary taste and practice and thus is an inspiration and a ‘norm’ for Thai scholars and poets in 
the later period, may be upto Ratanakosin period. This text would be an evidence of the ‘origin’ of Thai Studies from 
within Thai culture among both Thais and perhaps non-Thais from the past till the present.
— A Preliminary Report on the Corpus of Thai Manuscripts Preserved in the Apostolic Vatican Library and in 
Two Italians Libraries
Claudio Cicuzza (Webster University Thailand)
In the last few months I have had a chance to work in the Apostolic Library in Vatican City, having had a research 
proposal approved by the Vice Prefect of the Manuscript Section of the Library. I was able to have access to their cata-
logues (mainly the provisional catalogue prepared by George M. Moraes). I have noticed that Siamese manuscripts 
have not been always catalogued and inserted in the proper section (“fondo”) related to Southeast Asian codices. 
There are at least two manuscripts that have to be identified and studied, and in my paper I will present the result of 
my research. Moreover, I will offer the list of other manuscripts preserved in two different Italian libraries, in Naples 
and in Venice.
— Buddha, Beauty and the ‘Magic of the Different’: Thai Manuscript Collections in the UK
Jana Igunma (British Library)
Over half a thousand Thai manuscripts are currently being held in British institutions, with the largest collection at 
the British Library. Other important collections are at the Wellcome Library, the Royal Asiatic Society, the Bodleian 
Library and the John Rylands Library. 
Thai manuscripts and historic documents first came to Britain as a result of trade contacts, and documents from 
the earliest period include official letters and materials received from Thai counterparts. Many manuscripts were 
brought from Thailand by missionaries, travelers, traders, and officers of the India Office stationed in Burma, oth-
ers were systematically collected by educators and scholars with a particular research interest. The largest number of 
manuscripts contains of Buddhist scriptures and texts related to Buddhism, many of them in Pali language. However, 
almost all topics that can be found in the Thai manuscript tradition are represented in the collections held in the UK, 

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for example literary and linguistic works, traditional medicine and healing practices, customary laws, cosmology and 
astrology, fortune-telling and divination, and animal treatises. The manuscripts are written in various scripts that were 
used in Thailand (Thai, Khom/Khmer, Tham (Dhamma) script, Lao buhan or old Lao script). Approximately a quarter 
of these manuscripts are illustrated or decorated in some way; some being outstanding examples of the tradition of 
Thai manuscript painting and manuscript decoration.
This diversity is the result of the different intentions and ambitions of the collectors. Some collectors carefully chose 
material that they had a certain research interest for. For example, Henry Ginsburg who was fascinated by the beauty 
of Thai manuscript art built the most important collection of illustrated Thai manuscripts in the UK (held at the Brit-
ish Library). Rhys Davids had a special interest in Buddhism and Buddhist linguistics, therefore he concentrated on 
the collection of Buddhist texts, not only from Thailand but from various Buddhist countries. Quaritch Wales focused 
his research on Indian influences in Southeast Asia and collected material to support his research.
 Other collectors – the majority - were simply fascinated by the “magic of the different”: they were interested in collect-
ing things different from what they were familiar with in Europe: the different book formats found in Thailand (palm 
leaves, paper folding books, bamboo stick books, diagrams on textiles etc.), the different styles of manuscript paint-
ings, the different languages, scripts and writing styles, the different contents found in manuscripts, and the different 
storage solutions in traditional Thai libraries. They did not necessarily understand what they were bringing back to 
Europe, or what the religious or cultural context of a manuscript was. Many manuscripts were given to British institu-
tions after the death of the collector, and the trade in manuscripts only began to play a role in the second half of the 
20th century. In my paper I will give an overview of Thai manuscript collections in the UK, and major contributors 
and builders of these collections.
— Adventitious Acquisition: Manuscripts of U.S. Medics, Missionaries, and Civil Servants in Siam
Susanne Kerekes (University of Pennsylvania)
 
The Siamese manuscripts of some of the earliest collections in the United States were “unintentionally” acquired. They 
passed through the hands of U.S. medical doctors, missionaries and various civil servants stationed in Siam during 
the mid-19th and early-20th centuries. This talk will present a survey on early collections of Siamese manuscripts in 
the U.S., with special focus on those held at the University of Pennsylvania. While some manuscripts are esoteric in 
content (e.g., astrological, medical, or illegibly bureaucratic), many others are ubiquitous (Abhidhamma Chet Kam-
phi, Phra Malai), a few blank, and some rare ones commissioned (such as a Thai language lesson book made for a 
missionary’s wife!). There is possibility, even, of a forgery. Through an investigation of these early collectors and col-
lections, this talk will trace networks of procurement, as well as cataloguing methods and issues, from “owner(s)” to 
institution(s) and digitization.
— Curating Magic: Significance of Thep Sarikaputra’s Collection of Magic in the Study of Thai Buddhism
Artjid Sheravanichkul (Chulalongkorn University)
Thep Sarikaputra (1919-1993) is one of the most important persons who collects the knowledge on magic (saiyasat) 
and astrology (horasat) from many sources and writes many books including Khamphi phrawet (six volumes), Khlet-
lap khong wicha saiyasat, Khamphi Phutthamon Osot, Phutthaphisek Chabap Sombun, etc. These books serve as 
‘textbooks’ for his students and those who are interested in this science. The knowledge includes verbal magic, mantra, 
g?th?, yantra, the making of amulets, astrology, etc. Amidst the reformation of Thai Buddhism and search for ortho-
doxy, his collection reflects the significance of magic in Thai traditional monastic education and meditation practice 
and the inheritance of this knowledge through the lineages of Thai magic masters. Also, it can serve as ‘reference’ to 
understand the cult of magic in the modern day Buddhist practice, which is an important part of Thai Studies.
— Thai Documents and German Collectors, 1830-1930
Barend Jan Terwiel (Hamburg University)
In the chief German libraries and museums there are tens of thousands of Oriental manuscripts, but relatively few 
of them originate from Siam. Few Germans can read Thai, and unless illustrations guide the observer, librarians and 
museum’s custodians, when confronted with a samut thai or a text incised on bai ch?k, often find it impossible to de-
cide what is top and what bottom, or where is the beginning and where the end of a text. When on 25 July 1930 Prince 

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Damrong visited the Berlin Museum of Ethnology, he was not only shown its most valuable Siamese manuscript (the 
samutph?p traiph?m, on which more below) but also was asked to assist the Director with the identification of Siamese 
books (Cattiyakorn 2012: 119-120). This survey deals with the time between 1830 and 1930. During that period, some 
scholars, travellers and traders carried a few manuscripts that ended in public collections, but most Siamese docu-
ments that found their way to libraries and museums came from individuals employed by the Siamese government.
Panel: Vernacular Architecture: Transitions from Traditional to Contemporary 
conveners: Ulrike Herbig (TU Wien), Ferenc Zamolyi (TU Wien)
panel abstract
Vernacular architecture in South East Asia is undergoing rapid changes. House types are being transformed as new 
materials and technologies become readily available. In some regions, the phenomena of modernisation can be linked 
to the notion of a ‘decline of customs, traditional values and building technologies’. However, it would be too simplistic 
and the result of a static worldview to see change merely as a loss of values. It is true that in many places vernacular 
buildings of an old typology are associated with forms of social organisation (as for example strict hierarchical sys-
tems) that no longer exist. Social conventions which resulted in the production of lavish and elaborate buildings, 
mostly as display of power, wealth and prestige, have become obsolete and hence the old architectural forms are no 
longer needed. It is also true that in many communities modern materials like concrete and brick have become the 
preferred building materials, either because they are associated with progress or, simply, because they are cheaper than 
building wood of high quality. Thus, the old laws are no longer respected and vernacular buildings are no longer built 
of local materials, as the emerging new category of vernacular is actually an architecture of brick and cement. Even 
if houses are built in the traditional way, they are not always using resources of the immediate locality: wood often is 
imported and, hence, has become a precious material. The social interpretation of buildings and their definition of 
‘traditional’ seem to be changing too. This can go as far as a re-interpretation of local architecture and its re-location 
into a new context, thus offering new ways of identification and re-inventing tradition. Such processes are sometimes 
influenced by local or national agendas and policies regarding the preservation of cultural heritage and historical 
monuments. The buildings then become political tools, or objects of artistic or touristic values, with a strong focus on 
ethnic or cultural display and representation. 
Thus, as researchers we have to rethink our long-standing definitions of vernacular architecture and the traditions 
connected to it. This concerns the structure of the physical building as well as the social and cultural practices con-
nected to it which may also be new and re-invented to satisfy the needs of a modern lifestyle. Last but not least, the 
image and emblematic character of the house in South East Asia needs to be re-examined: how do people think of 
their houses in the modern era? Is the traditional understanding of the house as an object of cultural identity still valid 
and how does it fit into a changing social and economic environment?
 
— Adoption of Elements of Architecture Bugis Traditional House to Modern Bugis Houses: A Case Study of no-
bility houses in Soppeng South Sulawesi, Indonesia 
Andi Abidah (Vienna Technology University)
This research will focus on modern Bugis houses of nobles in Soppeng, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is known that 
certain elements of vernacular buildings in South Sulawesi in general and in the Soppeng region in particular are re-
served to nobility as markers of the social rank of the dweller of the house.
The Dutch colonial government issued regulations concerning nobleman´s houses, which changed or restricted the 
house design in some aspects, especially those elements concerning the display of rank. Later, after independence, 
more recent adaptations changed the traditional house which resulted in a modern form of a Bugis house.
Today, distinct modern Bugis houses which are built of wood or concrete and brick have developed in the district of 
Soppeng. The aim of this study is to analyse the present situation and the changes in design and material connected 
with it. As mentioned, historical antecedents dating from the colonial period will also be presented as well as recent 
developments. It will be explained, which special architectural elements of the traditional Bugis house were adopted 
by modern houses and how the overall design was altered.
 

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— Elements of Tradition Transcended - ‘New Khmer Architecture’: The Anatomy and Authenticity of a Style
Helen Grant Ross (independent)
Two major tendencies in architectural expression were at work during the Sangkum Reastr Niyum political experi-
ment that lasted from 1955 to 1970 and ended with the ousting of Sihanouk by the military dictator Lon Nol in March 
1970.
•  the most powerful and authentic style transcends elements of tradition, modern and vernacular into a unique 
Khmer style. It draws its inspiration from many sources including the “modern movement”. It offers a specific 
response to the climatic and material resources, social behaviour and traditions of Cambodia.
•  The second tendency relates to a more literal and aesthetic reinterpretation of traditional Khmer architecture.