the most
important event in the life of a young Siamese and is celebrated by
well-to-do parents with lavish expenditure. Those who are indigent
often avail themselves of the royal bounty, for each year a public
ceremony is performed in one of the temples of Bangkok at which poor
children receive the tonsure gratis. An elaborate description of the
tonsure rites has been published by Gerini.[231] They are of
considerable interest as showing how closely Buddhist and Brahmanic
rites are intertwined in Siamese family life.

Marriages are celebrated with a feast to which monks are invited but
are not regarded as religious ceremonies. The dead are usually
disposed of by cremation, but are often kept some time, being either
embalmed or simply buried and exhumed subsequently. Before cremation
the coffin is usually placed within the grounds of a temple. The monks
read Suttas over it and it is said[232] that they hold ribbons which
enter into the coffin and are supposed to communicate to the corpse
the merit acquired by the recitations and prayers.

3

In the preceding pages mention has often been made not only of
Brahmanic rites but of Brahman priests.[233] These are still to be
found in Bangkok attached to the Court and possibly in other cities.
They dress in white and have preserved many Hindu usages but are said
to be poor Sanskrit scholars. Indeed Gerini[234] seems to say that
they use Pali in some of their recitations. Their principal duty is to
officiate at Court functions, but wealthy families invite them to take
part in domestic rites, and also to cast horoscopes and fix lucky
days. It is clear that the presence of these Brahmans is no
innovation. Brahmanism must have been strong in Siam when it was a
province of Camboja, but in both countries gave way before Buddhism.
Many rites, however, connected with securing luck or predicting the
future were too firmly established to be abolished, and, as Buddhist
monks were unwilling to perform them[235] or not thought very
competent, the Brahmans remained and were perhaps reinforced from time
to time by new importations, for there are still Brahman colonies in
Ligor and other Malay towns. Siamese lawbooks, like those of Burma,
seem to be mainly adaptations of Indian Dharmasastras.

On a cursory inspection, Siamese Buddhism, especially as seen in
villages, seems remarkably free from alien additions. But an
examination of ancient buildings, of royal temples in Bangkok and
ro