1 See for example, Hongladarom, Soraj, Witthayasat nai sangkhom lae watthanatham thai [Science in Thai society and culture] (Bangkok: Institute of Academic Development, 2002)Google Scholar.

2 Siam is used for all references to the polity before its change of name to Thailand in 1939.

3 For a recent enquiry on this theme, see Reynolds, Craig J., Power, protection and magic in Thailand: The cosmos of a southern policeman (Canberra: ANU Press, 2019)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Tambiah, Stanley J., World conqueror and world renouncer: A study of Buddhism and polity in Thailand against a historical background (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), pp. 201–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 See Chronicle of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya: The British Museum version, intro. David K. Wyatt (Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 1999), pp. 344–55.

5 Prachum phongsawadan phakthi 38: rueang chotmaihet khong khana batluang farangset [Collected chronicles volume 37: Historical accounts of the French Mission, in King Borommakot's reign], cremation vol. for Khunying Songsuradet (Bangkok, 1926), pp. 67–8.

6 McMahan, David L., ‘Modernity and the early discourse of scientific Buddhism’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 72, 4 (2002): 897–933CrossRefGoogle Scholar; The making of Buddhist modernism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). See also Almond, Philip C., The British discovery of Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 McMahan, ‘Modernity’, p. 900. For Dharmapala's speech and distinctive role at the gathering, see Barrows, John Henry, ed., The World's Parliament of Religions, 2 vols. (Chicago: Parliament, 1883), vol. 1, pp. 62–187Google Scholar; see also Kemper, Steven, Rescued from the nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist world (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015)Google Scholar.

8 On the Buddhist reform movement in Sri Lanka, see Malalgoda, Kitsiri, Buddhism in Singhalese society, 1750–1900: A study of religious revival and change (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), pp. 191–255CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Blackburn, Ann M., Locations of Buddhism: Colonialism and modernity in Sri Lanka (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 See Eoseewong, Nidhi, Pen and sail: Literature and history in early Bangkok, ed. Baker, Chris and Anderson, Ben (Chiangmai: Silkworm, 2005)Google Scholar, esp. chap. 5 on the biography of the Buddha, pp. 255–86.

10 Both arguments appear from Mongkut onwards; the first mostly from Damrong, Rueang khati khong farang khaoma mueang thai [Ideas on the arrival of Western peoples in Siam] (Bangkok: Sophonphiphat thanakorn, 1927); see also Aphornsuvan, Thanet, ‘The West and Siam's quest for modernity: Siamese responses to nineteenth century American missionaries’, South East Asia Research 17, 3 (2009): 401–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Reynolds, Craig J., ‘Buddhist cosmography in Thai history, with special reference to nineteenth-century culture change’, Journal of Asian Studies 35, 2 (1976): 211, 215CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Ibid., p. 214.

13 Craig J. Reynolds, ‘A nineteenth-century Thai Buddhist defense of polygamy and some remarks on the social history of women in Thailand’, in Proceedings of the Seventh IAHA Conference, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 22–26 Aug. 1977, ed. William Warren et al. (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press, 1979), pp. 927–70; republished as ‘A Thai-Buddhist defense of polygamy’, in Craig J. Reynolds, Seditious histories: Contesting Thai and Southeast Asian pasts (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006), pp. 185–213.

14 Thongchai Winichakul, ‘Buddhist apologetics and a genealogy of comparative religion in Siam’, Numen 62 (2015): 86.

15 Regarding the traumatic significance of the 1893 Franco–Siam crisis in Thai historical writings, see Thongchai Winichakul, ‘Siam's colonial conditions and the birth of Thai history’, in Southeast Asian historiography: Unravelling the myths, ed. Volker Grabowsky (Bangkok: River, 2011), pp. 23–45; and ‘Modern historiography in Southeast Asia: The case of Thailand's royal-nationalist history’, in A companion to global historical thought, ed. Prasenjit Duara, Viren Murthy and Andrew Sartori (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2014), pp. 257–68.

16 See Shane Strate, ‘An uncivil state of affairs: Fascism and anti-Catholicism in Thailand, 1940–1944’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 42, 1 (2011): 59–87; Shane Strate, The lost territories: Thailand's history of national humiliation (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2015).

17 Thongchai, ‘Buddhist apologetics’, p. 82. Thongchai had earlier discussed Thipakorawong's Kitchanukit, which was the outcome of these debates. See Thongchai Winichakul, Siam mapped: A history of the geo-body of a nation (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, 1994), pp. 40–42.

18 Max Weber, The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, tr. Talcott Parsons (New York: Charles Scribner's, 1930).

19 See Dorothy Stimson, ‘Puritanism and the new philosophy in 17th century England’, Bulletin of the Institute of the History of Medicine 3, 5 (1935): 321–34; Robert K. Merton, ‘Puritanism, pietism, and science’, Sociological Review 28, 1 (1936): 1–30; Peter Harrison, The Bible, Protestantism, and the rise of natural science (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998); Peter Harrison, ‘Science and secularization’, Intellectual History Review 27, 1 (2017): 47–70.

20 The post-Civil War Social Gospel movement was shaped by urbanisation and industrialisation along with Darwin's theory of evolution, applying the gospel's principles to social reform. As ‘a crusade for justice and righteousness in all areas of the common life’, the movement engaged in the transformational forces of American society and its Protestantism. See Ronald C. White, Jr. and C. Howard Hopkins, The Social Gospel: Religion and reform in changing America (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1976), pp. xi–xv. See also Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ‘A critical period in American religion, 1875–1900’, in ‘June meeting: a critical period in American religion’, Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3rd Series, 64 (Oct. 1930–Jun. 1932): 522–48; and C. Howard Hopkins, The rise of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism, 1865–1915 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1940).

21 Kate Crosby, ‘The impact of the science–religion bifurcation on the landscape of modern Theravada meditation’, in Theravada Buddhist encounters with modernity, ed. Juliane Schober and Steven Collins (London: Routledge, 2018), p. 33.

22 Ian Hodges, ‘Western science in Siam: A tale of two kings’, in Beyond Joseph Needham: Science, technology, and medicine in East and Southeast Asia, special issue, Osiris 13 (1998): 80–95; Wayne Orchiston and Darunee Orchiston, ‘King Rama IV and French observations of the 18 August 1868 total solar eclipse from Wah-koa, Siam’, in The emergence of astrophysics in Asia, ed. Tsuko Nakamura and Wayne Orchiston (Cham: Springer, 2017).

23 Thongchai, Siam mapped.

24 Davisakd Puaksom, ‘Of germs, public hygiene, and the healthy body: The making of the medicalizing state in Thailand’, Journal of Asian Studies 66, 2 (2007): 311–44; Quentin Pearson, ‘“Womb with a view”: The introduction of Western obstetrics in nineteenth-century Siam’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 90, 1 (2016): 1–31.

25 Jakkrit Sangkhamanee, ‘Bangkok precipitated: Cloudbursts, sentient urbanity, and emergent atmospheres’, East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal 15, 2 (2021): 153–72.

26 My use of the term ‘literati’ in referring to members of the knowledge community in Siamese society follows Michael W. Charney, Powerful learning: Buddhist literati and the throne in Burma's last dynasty, 1752–1885 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2006), p. 12.

27 See David K. Wyatt, A short history of Thailand, 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), p. 74; Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongphaichit, A history of Ayutthaya: Siam in the early modern world (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), pp. 120–34; Seri Phongphit, Katholik kap sangkhom thai [Catholics and Thai society], 2nd ed. (Bangkok: Munnithi Komol Khimthong, 1984), pp. 21–2.

28 Catechism in Thai script appeared at least since 17th century Ayutthaya as seen in a few manuscripts in the Gallica digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits: collection Indochinois 250–350, Siamese ancient fonts; esp.: Indochinois no. 250 Khăm són, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10088887c; and Indochinois no. 261, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10088806m. See Antoine Cabaton, Catalogue sommaire des manuscrits indiens, indo-chinois et malayo-polynésiens (Paris: E. Leroux, 1912), pp. 196–212, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10329763p. See also Simona Bunarunraksa, Monseigneur Louis Laneau, 1637–1696: Un pasteur, un théologien, un sage? (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2013). A catechism manuscript from this period was also translated into French: see Louis Laneau, Rencontre avec un sage bouddhiste, intro. and notes Pierre-Yves Fux (Genève: Ad Solem, 1998).

29 Prachum phongsawadan phakthi 37: rueang chotmaihet khong khana batluang farangset [Collected chronicles volume 37: Historical accounts of the French mission, during the reigns of King Suea and King Taisa] (Bangkok: Sophon phiphatthanakorn, 1926), pp. 35–80.

30 Prachum phongsawadan phakthi 39: rueang chotmaihet khong khana batluang farangset [Collected chronicles volume 37: Historical accounts of the French mission, during King Ekkathat, Thonburi, and early Bangkok periods] (Bangkok: Srihong, 1927), pp. 100–136; Seri, Katholik kap sangkhom thai, pp. 110–14.

31 Arnaud-Antoine Garnault, Khamson Christang [The Christian admonishment] (Bangkok: Rongphim Assumption, 1997 [1796]).

32 See Gonçalo Fernandes and Carlos Assunção, ‘First codification of Vietnamese by 17th century missionaries: The description of tones and the influence of Portuguese on Vietnamese orthography’, Histoire Epistémologie Langage 39, 1 (2017): 155–76.

33 Garnault, Khamson Christang, pp. 25–41, and passim.

34 See Peter A. Poole, The Vietnamese in Thailand: A historical perspective (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1970), pp. 23–35; Walter F. Vella, Siam under Rama III, 1824–1851 (New York: Association for Asian Studies, 1957), pp. 35–8.

35 Thanet, ‘The West and Siam's quest for modernity’, pp. 408–9.

36 Vella, Siam under Rama III, pp. 35–8.

37 Ibid., pp. 117–18; Charles Gutzlaff, Journal of a residence in Siam, and of a voyage along the coast of China to Mantchou tartary (Canton: Chinese Repository, 1832), pp. 7–8.

38 A letter from the governor of Saigon to Siam's minister of military affairs, Chaophraya Srisurayawongs, during the early years of Mongkut's reign. See Chaophraya Thipakorawong, Phrarajaphongsawadan krungrattanakosin ratchakarnthi 4 [The dynastic chronicle of the Bangkok Era, 4th reign {1934}], 2nd ed. (Bangkok: Thonchabap, 2004), pp. 160–63; Cawphraja Thiphaakorawong, The dynastic chronicles: Bangkok era, the fourth reign, tr. Chadin Flood, 5 vols. (Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, 1965), vol. 1, pp. 186–9.

39 In the first year of its publication, the subscription rate was 1 baht per year (for 24 issues). Reader could buy it for 1 fueang per copy. As one baht comprised of 8 fueang, without a subscription, one paid 3 baht for 24 issues. In its second run a list of 102 subscribers was published in 1866. Most lived in Bangkok; 11 were provincials: 8 from Phetchaburi; 3 from Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla and Pang-nga. The subscribers were: 18 princes and other royals. The rest comprised of 2 officials of the highest rank (Chao Phraya), 12 high officials (Phraya), 16 officials (rank: Phra or Chamuen), 13 officials (rank: Luang), 15 lower-ranking officials (Muen and lower), 4 foreigners, 3 Buddhist monks (one a well-known intellectual, Thiannawan), and 15 commoners. Of these, 7 were Chinese; 2 Thai subscribers from Phetchaburi had Christian names, i.e., Frederick William (son of the deputy governor of Phetchaburi) and Walter Lawry (son of the governor of Phetchaburi). See ‘Raichue phu thi chue chotmaihet ni’ [List of those who purchased the periodical], Nangsue Chotmaihet The Bangkok Recorder (BR) 1, 23 (Jan. 1866): 225–6.

40 ‘History of the Sandwich Islands: Overthrow of idolatry’, BR 2, 16 (Oct. 1845): 13–15. For an insightful account of this encounter, see Marshall Sahlins, How ‘natives’ think: About Captain Cook, for example (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).

41 Seni Pramoj and Kukrit Pramoj, A king of Siam speaks (Bangkok: Siam Society, 1987), pp. 14–19.

42 Prince Mongkut is reputed to have even understood that the earth was spherical some 15 years before the missionaries came in 1828, when he was nine years old, the age at which he attained puberty. See W.L. Bradley, ‘Prince Mongkut and Jesse Caswell’, Journal of the Siam Society 54, 1 (1966): 38. See also Paul Christopher Johnson, ‘“Rationality” in the biography of a Buddhist king: Mongkut, King of Siam (r. 1851–1868)’, in Sacred biography in the Buddhist traditions of South and Southeast Asia, ed. Juliane Schober (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1997), pp. 232–55.

43 For an eyewitness account of Bangkok in the late 1820s, see Gutzlaff, Journal of a residence in Siam, pp. 20–26. Bangkok's trading port was also vividly depicted in Sunthorn Phu's poems; see Nidhi, Pen and sail, pp. 153–98.

44 On socioeconomic change in the early Bangkok era, see Nidhi, Pen and sail, pp. 1–152; Saichon Wannarat, ‘Phuttha satsana kap naew khwamkhit thang kan mueang nai ratchamai phrabatsomdet phraphutthayotfa chulalok (pho.so.2325–2352)’ [Buddhism and political thoughts in the reign of Rama I (1782–1809] (MA thesis, Chulalongkorn University, 1982), pp. 23–91; Chris Baker and Pasuk Pongpaichit, A history of Thailand (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 26–46.

45 See Nidhi Eoseewong, Kanmueang thai samai phrachao krung thongburi [Thai politics in the Kingdom of Thonburi] (Bangkok: Sinalapawatthanatham, 1986).

46 Saichon, ‘Phuttha satsana’, pp. chochang and 205. See also David K. Wyatt, ‘The subtle revolution of King Rama I of Siam’, in Moral order and the question of change: Essays on Southeast Asian thought, ed. David K. Wyatt and Alexander Woodside (New Haven, CT: Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, 1982), pp. 9–52.

47 Saichon, ‘Phuttha satsana’, pp. 92–119.

48 Srisupon Choungsakul, ‘Khwam plianplaeng khorn khanasong: sueksa korani thammayutikanikaya, pho.so. 2368–2464’ [Change within the Sangha: A case study of Thammayuttikanikaya, 1825–1921] (MA thesis, Chulalongkorn University, 1987). See Mongkut's correspondence in Pali on Sima religio-spatial demarcation, Pali pronunciation, and the ritual purity of the Buddhist ordination with the Ceylonese and Burmese monks in Prachum phraratchaniphon phasabali nai ratchakanthi 4 phakthi 2 [Collected Pali writings of King Mongkut, part 2], cremation vol. for Chuan Uthayi, the Supreme Partriarch (Bangkok: Khanathammayut, 1972), pp. 338–619. For a comparative perspective of Buddhist purification reforms in mainland Southeast Asia, see Anne Ruth Hansen, How to behave: Buddhism and modernity in colonial Cambodia, 1860–1930 (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007); Jason A. Carbine, Sons of the Buddha: Continuities and ruptures in a Burmese monastic tradition (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011).

49 Bradley, ‘Prince Mongkut and Jesse Caswell’, p. 39.

50 Ibid., p. 36.

51 Susantha Goonatilake, ‘Pānadurā Vādaya and its consequences: Mischievous association with fundamentalism’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, NS 49 (2004): 87–118.

52 Blackburn, Locations of Buddhism, pp. 15–18, 104–42.

53 See Michael S. Vasanthakumar, ‘The legacy of the controversies: The continuing impact on interfaith encounters in Sri Lanka of nineteenth-century controversies between Buddhists and Christians’ (MPhil thesis, Open University, 2001); see also Malalgoda, Buddhism in Singhalese society, pp. 191–255, and Blackburn, Locations of Buddhism.

54 Bradley, ‘Prince Mongkut and Jesse Caswell’, p. 40.

55 See Reynolds, ‘Buddhist cosmography’, pp. 211–14.

56 Manuscript of Mongkut's letter without the name of the addressee, 1866, published in Phraratchahatthalekha phrabatsomdet phrachomklao chaoyuhua [Royal letters of King Mongkut], 3 vols. (Bangkok: Kurusapha, 1963), vol. 2, pp. 126–7.

57 ‘Chotmaihet ratchakan thi 4 cho.so.1215’ [Manuscript of the fourth reign in 1853], no. 82; cited in Charnvit Kasetsiri, ‘Siam/civilization—Thailand/globalization: Things to come?’, Thammasat Review 5, 1 (2000): 120.

58 Thongchai Winichakul, ‘The quest for “Siwilai”: A geographical discourse of civilizational thinking in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Siam’, Journal of Asian Studies 59, 3 (2000): 531–4.

59 Washington Gladden, ‘the father of the Social Gospel’, was a supporter of ‘the oldest and strongest of the church groups working for the education of the freedmen, the American Missionary Association’. Gladden was elected to the AMA presidency at the beginning of the 20th century. See White Jr. and Hopkins, The Social Gospel, pp. 103–7. Like Gladden, who had high praise for W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Bradley was an abolitionist. See ‘Khao ma tae mueng amerika’ [News from America], BR 2, 1 (Mar. 1866): 6–7.

60 Damrong Kraikruan, ‘Kan phim kap mo Bradley’ [Printing and Bradley], in ‘Proceedings of the Conference on D.B. Bradley and Thai Society, Thammasat University and Chulalongkorn University, 16–17 July 1985’, unpublished.

61 BR 1, 1 (Mar. 1865): 4.

62 ‘Nangsue luang’ [Royal letter], BR 1, 24 (Feb. 1866): 233–4.

63 ‘Nangsue mo Bradley’ [Bradley's letter], BR 2, 1 (Mar. 1866): 8–9.

64 ‘Yuniwoetsiti’ [On the university], BR 1, 7 (June 1865): 37–8.

65 ‘Trachu yang nueng’ [On a certain balance], BR 1, 9 (July 1865): 58–9.

66 ‘Phu klua phuttha satsana cha mot rew pai’ [One who fears that Buddhism might soon be extinguished], BR 1, 16 (Oct. 1865): 140–41.

67 ‘Kan sangson wicha yang phrathet Europe’ [On European education], BR 1, 16 (Oct. 1865): 143–4.

68 ‘Kham tuen sati than thang lai’ [Advice to all sentient beings], BR 1, 17 (Nov. 1865): 149–50.

69 ‘Kan thi than kae duai satsana’ [On your defence of religion], BR 1, 17 (Nov. 1865): 149.

70 ‘Kham top than phu sansoen phuttha satsana’ [A reply to the writer who praises Buddhism], BR 1, 18 (Nov. 1865): 162–4.

71 ‘Kham top kae than phu chop phuttha satsana’ [An answer to the writer who admires Buddhism], BR 1, 20 (Dec. 1865): 186–7.

72 ‘Nangsue luang’ [Royal letter], BR 1, 21 (Jan. 1866): 204; and 1, 22 (Jan. 1866): 211.

73 ‘Nangsue top phu thi sansoen phuttha satsana’ [A reply to the one who praises Buddhism], BR 1, 23 (Jan. 1866): 228–9. See also Schlesinger, ‘A critical period’, pp. 524–30.

74 See Simona Bunarunraksa, Monseigneur Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix: Ami du roi du Siam, imprimeur et écrivain (1805–1862) (Paris: l'Harmattan, 2013).

75 Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix, Butxa visatchana [Questions and answers], 2nd ed. (Bangkok: Catholic Mission Press, 1897[1850]), pp. 11–12.

76 Pallegoix also used other, more neutral, terms to designate God: Phra chao [lit. ‘the magnificent lord’], Phra pen chao [lit. the magnificent (who) is lord], and Phra phu pen chao [lit. the magnificent who is lord]. Pallegoix, Butxa visatchana, pp. 327 and passim.

77 Ibid., pp. 25–6.

78 Ibid., pp. 27–8.

79 Ibid., pp. 29–36.

80 Ibid., pp. 124–54.

81 Ibid., pp. 191–202.

82 Ibid., pp. 235–6.

83 John Taylor Jones, Trachoo thong [The golden balance] (Bangkok: Sarasat, c.1953 [facsimile 5th ed., 1889]), pp. 4–7.

84 Thipakorawong, Sadaeng Kitchanukit [Book explaining various things], cremation vol. for Siddhi Sawetsila (Bangkok: 2016 [facsmile 1867 ed.]). See also Henry Alabaster, The modern Buddhist (London: Trübner & Co., 1870); and Henry Alabaster, The wheel of the law (London: Trübner & Co., 1871).

85 There are few studies on Thipakorawong's Kitchanukit. Most of them ignore the preceding debate in Nangsue chotmaihet The Bangkok Recorder. See Saichon Wannarat, ‘Phon kratop khong mo Bradley to sangkhom thai’ [Bradley's effect on Thai society], in ‘Proceedings of the Conference on D.B. Bradley and Thai Society, 16–17 July 1985’. See also Sven Trakulhun, ‘Chaophraya Thiphakorawong: A book on various things (Thailand, 1867)’, in Religious dynamics under the impact of imperialism and colonialism: A sourcebook, ed. Bjorn Bentlage, Marion Eggert, Hans Martin Kramer and Stefan Reichmuth (Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. 63–76; Reynolds, ‘A Thai-Buddhist defense of polygamy’, pp. 185–213, and Thongchai, Siam mapped, pp. 40–42.

86 See Somjai Phirotthirarach, ‘The historical writings of Chao Phraya Thipakorawong’ (PhD diss., Northern Illinois University, 1983), pp. 30–80 for his life and career; pp. 81–130 for his religious and cultural writings; and pp. 131–77 for his historical writings.

87 Alabaster, The modern Buddhist, p. 12.

88 Thipakorawong, Kitchanukit, pp. 123–7, 155–7.

89 Ibid., p. 196.

90 Ibid., pp. 128–30, 153–8. For a Siamese traditional cosmology and cosmography, see Frank Reynolds and Mani B. Reynolds, Three worlds according to King Ruang: A Thai Buddhist cosmology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982); Reynolds, ‘Buddhist cosmography’; and Thongchai, Siam mapped, pp. 20–36.

91 It is perhaps worth pointing out that the idea of an absolute religious truth, though acceptable to most Westerners, would not have made sense to Siamese Buddhists.

92 Thipakorawong, Kitchanukit, pp. 167–8.

93 Ibid., pp. 171–6.

94 Ibid., pp. 169–70, 176–9; Bradley, ‘Prince Mongkut and Jesse Caswell’, pp. 38–40.

95 Thipakorawong, Kitchanukit, pp. 168–9; Thongchai, ‘Buddhist apologetics’, p. 82.

96 Thipakorawong, Kitchanukit, pp. 179–84.

97 See Ruth Streicher, ‘Imperialism, Buddhism and Islam in Siam: Exploring the Buddhist secular in the Nangsue sadaeng kitchanukit, 1867’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 52, 1 (2021): 7–25.

98 Thipakorawong, Kitchanukit, p. 226. Earlier in the 1830s, Gutzlaff wrote a similar note on the tribe of Kha who lived in the ‘most inaccessible mountains’ of Lao and were ‘not far superior to that of herding elephants’. See Gutzlaff, Journal of a residence in Siam, p. 16.

99 Ibid., pp. 179–80.

100 Alabaster, The wheel of the law, pp. xiii–xvi.

101 See for example, ‘Polit nam’ [River police], Chotmaihet Sayam Samai (SS) 2, 10 (19 Dec. 1883): 80; ‘Kham top chotmaihet sayam samai kho thi klaw sansoen’ [Answer to Sayam Samai on aspects that were worthy of praise], SS 2, 12 (16 Jan. 1884): 95–6; Nai Khui [Mr Khui], ‘Kham plae kham top chotmaihet sayam samai’ [A translation of Sayam samai's answer], SS 2, 13 (30 Jan. 1884): 103–4.

102 ‘Krut farang’ [Christmas], SS 2, 11 (2 Jan. 1884): 89.

103 ‘Kham chom lae kham ti’ [Praise and a criticism], SS 2, 14 (13 Feb. 1884): 109–10.

104 ‘Kham rong thuk’ [A complaint], SS 2, 15 (27 Feb. 1884): 117–18.

105 ‘Waduai phrachao’ [On God], SS 2, 19 (30 Apr. 1884): 150.

106 ‘Manut pen phrachao mai dai’ [Humans cannot be God], SS 2, 19 (30 Apr. 1884): 150.

107 ‘Phraborom lokkanath chao’ [The lord of this earth], SS 2, 23 (25 June 1884): 182.

108 It is not certain whether this title refers to Pallegoix's original work or a variant of the same.

109 ‘Kham tuean sati’ [A notification], SS 3, 7 (15 Oct. 1884): 264–5; and ‘Khun chotmaihet’ [Worth of the chronicle], SS 4, 12 (11 Nov. 1885): 89–90. See also ‘Kham tuean sati chao sayam’ [A notification for the Siamese], SS 4, 3 (23 Sept. 1885): 20–21.

110 Karaket, ‘Het hai mi khwam charoen’ [A cause of progress], SS 4, 11 (4 Nov. 1885): 84–5.

111 ‘Kham tuean sati’ [A conscientious warning], SS 4, 14 (25 Nov. 1885): 108–9. In Japan, except for the early phase, Christians were persecuted, especially after 1614. On martyrdom and apostasy, see C.R. Boxer, The Christian century in Japan, 1549–1650 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951), pp. 308–61; Shusaku Endo, Silence, trans. William Johnston (New York: Picador, 1969).

112 ‘Chao sayam top kham phra phuttha satsana’ [A Siamese replied to a Buddhist discourse], SS 4, 19 (30 Dec. 1885): 145–6.

113 See for example, ‘Kham top to wa chao sayam thi ang wa tua thue khitto satsana’ [An answer to the Siamese who claimed that he believed in Christianity], SS 4, 6 (30 Sept. 1885): 44. See also exchanges on the situation in Ceylon and Burma in ‘Rueang mueang langka’ [A story of Ceylon], SS 4, 7 (7 Oct. 1885): 51–2; ‘Khon thi yak bangkhap chaokhong chotmaihet’ [Those who wish to have a commanding influence on the paper's owner], SS 4, 10 (28 Oct. 1885): 79.

114 ‘Wa duai satsana’ [On religion], SS 4, 45 (30 June 1886): 356.

115 See, for example, ‘Khaphachao phu-chao phetchaburi’ [a Phetchaburian] in SS 3, 7 (15 Oct. 1884): 265–6; ‘Khaphachao phu satsue thuenai kritsatsana’ [a Christian follower] in SS 4, 3 (23 Sept. 1885): 19–20; ‘Khaphachao thipen suppayek thangprethet’ [a foreign subject] in SS 4, 14 (25 Nov. 1885): 109; ‘Khaphachao lae kampani khong khaphachao’ [I and my company] in SS 2, 2 (22 Aug. 1883): 13; ‘Mong wae’ [Mr Maung Wae] who was a resident of Moulmein in Burma in SS 4, 8 (14 Oct. 1885): 59; and ‘Nai Karaket’ [Mr Karaket] who had lived in the Straits Settlements, in SS 4, 11 (4 Nov. 1885): 84–5.

116 Wyatt, Thailand, pp. 181–4.

117 Trais Pearson, Sovereign necropolis: The politics of death in semi-colonial Siam (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2020), pp. 36–44.

118 Kashemsanta Sobhaga, ‘Waduai rupapan lokaya’ [On geology], Darunovada 1, 2 (1875): 11–13.

119 ‘Minerlochi vichahinlaeraethang-thang’ [Mineralogy], Museum, 3 vols. (Bangkok: Bradley, 1877–78), vol. 2, pp. 151–66; J.W. Van Dyke, ‘Vichahaeng khong’ [On the law of nature], Museum, vol. 2, pp. 143–50 and vol. 3, pp. 135–44.

120 Pasakorawong, ‘Athibai kham wicha’ [Explanation of knowledge], Vajirayan 1, 1 (1885): 53–60.

121 Disawara Kumara [Prince Damrong], ‘Kaya karuha’ [On the human body], Vajirayan 1, 2 (1885): 89–122.

122 See for instance, Khun Maha Vichai (Chand), ‘Tonmai mi chiwit rue’ [Is a tree a living being?], Vajirayan 17 (1896): 1753–75; Nai Arunpricha, ‘Sonthana rueang thammada sat’ [A discourse on normal science], Vajirayan 26 (1896): 2614–41, and 27 (1896): 2710–37; ‘Sonthana rueang phumisat’ [A discourse on geography], Vajirayan 20 (1896): 2051–68, 21 (1896): 2137–53, 22 (1896): 2250–60, and 23 (1896): 2322–30.

123 ‘Saengsawang tham hatsai chaithale’ [Luminous light on the beach], Vajirayan Viset 7, 41 (1892): 481–83; Librarian's Assistant, ‘Rueang satpralat’ [On strange animals], Vajirayan Viset 6, 12 (1891): 139–40.

124 See Craig J. Reynolds, ‘The Buddhist monkhood in nineteenth century Thailand’ (PhD diss., Cornell University, 1973); Craig J. Reynolds, Autobiography: The life of prince-patriarch Vajiranana of Siam, 1860–1921 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1979); Patrick Jory, ‘Thai and Western Buddhist scholarship in the age of colonialism: King Chulalongkorn redefines the Jatakas’, Journal of Asian Studies 61, 3 (2002): 891–918; Patrick Jory, Thailand's theory of monarchy: The Vessantara Jataka and the idea of the perfect man (New York: SUNY Press, 2016).

125 Chandradat Chudhadharn, ‘Buddhism as exists in Siam’, in Barrow, World's Parliament of Religions, vol. 1, pp. 645–9.

126 Chas S. Sveistrup, comp., Catalogue of the books of the Royal Vajirajan Library (Bangkok: R. Gotte, 1892), p. 26.

127 Sonabandit, ‘Wa duai manut’ [On human races], Vajirayan Viset 1, 11 (1886): 183–4.

128 Prisdang, ‘Thammapavatti vicha’ [On evolution in nature], Vajirayan Viset 4, 50 (13 Oct. 1889): 586–7; this article was serialised until 5, 21 (1890): 248–9; cited from 5, 5 (17 Nov. 1889): 53–4.

129 ‘Proceedings of the Society’, Journal of the Natural History Society of Siam 2, 2 (1916): 183 and 2, 4 (1917): 347.

130 Anuson khong pho.to. luang suriyaphong phisutthiphaet [A memorial of Major Luang Suriyaphong phisutthiphaet], cremation vol. for Krachang Bunnag (Bangkok, 1965), pp. 33–5, original emphasis; see also Krachang Bunnag, Chaikhwam khong phraphutthasatsana doi yo [A concise introduction to Buddhism] (Bangkok: Srikrung, 1935).

131 Samak Buravas, Phutthapratya: athibai duai vitthayasat [Buddhist philosophy: A scientific explanation] (Bangkok: Thongtham, 1937) and Phutthapratya: mong phutthasatsana duai thatsana thang vitthayasat [Buddhist philosophy: Look at Buddhism through a scientific perspective] (Bangkok: Sayam, 1994 [1953]).

132 Buravas, Samak, Vitthayasat mai lae phra sri araya [New science and new Buddhist millennium] (Bangkok: Phraephitthaya, 1970 [c.1955]), p. 643Google Scholar.

133 Yong Hoontrakool, Phutthatham kap vitthayasat [Buddha dharma and science], tr. Rosarind Kakkhanang, cremation vol. for Ua Chiamprasert (Bangkok, 1954), pp. 20 (in Thai); 11 (in English). The English translation appears after the Thai essay, but its page numbering starts anew.

134 Uay Getusingh, Vitthayasat sueksa phraphutthasatsana [Science studies Buddhism], cremation vol. for Khambai Kasemsant (Bangkok, 1971).

135 Rungrueang Papassaro, Kan banchopkan khong phraphutthasatsana lae vitthayasat [A convergence of Buddhism and science] (Bangkok: Munnithi kan rianru phua dek thai, 2017).

136 On Buddhadasa, see for instance, Jackson, Peter, Buddhadasa: A Buddhist thinker for the modern world (Bangkok: Siam Society, 1988)Google Scholar; Ito, Tomomi, Modern Thai Buddhism and Buddhadasa Bhikkhu: A social history (Singapore: NUS Press, 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

137 Pracha Prasannathammo, Lao wai muea wai sonthaya: attachiwaprawat khong than phutthathat [Talking in the twilight years: An autobiography of venerable Buddhadasa] (Bangkok: Munnithi Khomon Khimthong, 1992), pp. 545–8.

138 Buddhadasa, Dhamma nai thana vitthayasat [Buddhism as a science] (Chaiya: Thammathan, 1991). This book comprises his weekly sermons during the Buddhist Lent of 1979, delivered at his monastery in Surat Thani. See also Jackson, Buddhadasa, pp. 125–55.

139 On Buddhadasa's criticism of the misinterpretation of conditioned genesis, see Buddhadasa, Paticcasamuppada chak phra-ot [Paticcasamuppada in Buddha's own words] (Chaiya: Thammathan, 1979), pp. 1–85. On its controversy, see Ito, Modern Thai Buddhism, pp. 153–60.

140 Jackson, Buddhadasa, pp. 60–61.