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Chapter X.
LITERATURE IN SI AM.
With the religions of India, Hinduism and Bud-
dhism, the literature of India has also come over to
Siam. It is quite natural that this literature in Siam
should be religious in character, because it was meant
to propagate the religions of India.
We hare seen that Hinduism could not make much
progress in Siam ; the Hindu literature in Siam is,
therefore, limited. What remains we have of the Hindu
literature in this kingdom, point to Indian traditions
as the basis. We have in Siam books like the Rdmayana
and stories from the Mahnbharata. But this branch
of the Siamsee literature is not so vast as the Java-
nese literature.
In 1836 Capt. James Low wrote a valuable
article on Siamese Literature in the pages of Asiatic
Reseat c/ies.
The most important book is Rama ke unt which
is nothing but the Siamese version of the Indian
Ramayana. It tells the story of Phra Rana or Rama
and his brother PhraLik or Laksma]j3, their wars with
Sotsakan or Diishakcmtka or Rarana of Ceylon, who
stole aways Rama's wife, Nang Seda or Sita.
There are some books in Siamese based on the
stories of the Mahabharata. One of them is U'nna-
t, which is a Siamese drama about the life of U'nna-
or Aniruddha, the grandson of Krishna. It .is as-