Research & Article

This paper presents a content analysis and a study of spatial pattern of Tamnan Phra Chao Liep Loke (The Legend of the Buddha’s Travels Around the World). Archival research and content analysis discusses the relationship between the reproduction of these Buddhist religious manuscripts and geo-politics of premodern states in Southeast Asia. The spatial pattern analysis with Geographic Information System (GIS) method illustrates how an idea of Lanna as the region’s cosmological centre has been reified through a) the juxtaposition of the Buddha’s journey from India to Southeast Asia with those from Lanna to the region’s “hinterland” and b) narratives about the Buddha’s holy practices which form a hierarchical structure of the region’s sacred places. This spatial pattern resembles historical record on Lanna’s Buddhist mission and trade routes from 16th to mid 20th century, and still persists in contemporary pilgrimage practices that follow various Tamnan routes.