Details

Subjects:

Yantras.
Tantrism.

Form/Genre:

Folded books.
Diagrams.
Drawings (visual works)
Manuals (instructional materials)
Manuscripts, Thai.
Manuscripts.
Manuscripts, Digital.

Language:

In Thai (Thai and Khom).

Summary:

Illustrated manual on the creation of yantras, geometrical diagrams used as aids to meditation in tantric worship. Includes instructions on how to write the royal elephant yantra and add gold leaf to it. Title appears as Phra Dara on upper cover, written more clearly as Phra Damra inside the upper cover (f. 1r). The text and diagrams do not have a consistent orientation throughout the manuscript; folio references in this record start from the upper cover on both sides.

Notes:

Written in 6 (recto side) or 5 (verso side) lines per segment on text folios; text folios ruled in lead; yantras drawn in lead and traced over in ink.
Written in Thailand in the 1920s or 1930s (Justin McDaniel).
Written in ink with later notes in pencil by multiple hands (f. 1r, 10r, 12r-13r, 26r, 39r, 1v, 24v, 39v).
Khoi paper; folded concertina- or accordion-style, including covers.
Worn covers, now mostly lacking their borders of heavy paper.
55 illustrated folios with diagrams (f. 4r-9r, 11r, 13r, 16r-35r, 37r-39r, 9v, 20v-38v), many of which have central drawings of animals, and line drawings of deities, monsters and an elephant (f. 2r-3r, 10r, 36r). A few illustrations have color added (f. 3r, 9r-10r). One large group of diagrams is enclosed by a border extending over multiple folios (f. 17r-26r).

Penn Provenance:

Sold to Konrad and Sarah M. Bekker in the 1950s or 1960s; Konrad Bekker worked for the State Department in Asia and Sarah Bekker was an art historian.
Sold from the estate of Konrad and Sarah M. Bekker at auction at Sloans & Kenyon, 14-16 June 2013, part of lot 467.

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 990, Item 13

Contributor:

Bekker, Konrad, died 1981, former owner.
Bekker, Sarah M., died 2013, former owner.

OCLC:

900161225