Traiphum Phra Ruang: Belief in “Naraka”, Reproducing Phenomenon in Modern Country Songs

Abstract

The belief in Naraka or hell from Traiphum Phra Ruang in the Sukhothai period is the valuable text influencing from its time to the present. There is evidence of the reproduction of the belief through poets of the past until present-day country songs.They can be considered to be representative of Thai society.The reproducing phenomenon of Naraka is still regularly happened in Thai society. It is about action and reaction in both the present life and the afterlife. Present-day country songs reproduce the contents of Naraka about the cause of going to hell, characteristics of hell, the name of each section in hell, and hell's personnel. Moreover, the reproduction also emphasizingly implies the facts of the modern society. Although the world is rich in material growth, the growth of the human mind drops,lacking morality. The reproduction of hell sometimes implies that society lacks justice. The songwriters, therefore, find the way by asking sympathy from Yama (God of Death).This implies that even though Thailand is a kingdom under constitutional democratic monarchy, with the constitutional law as the main law controlling people in the society, some people with wrongdoings are not punished by the law accordingly. Therefore, Thai people still have the belief that bad persons can probably circumvent the law but not Karma by reproducing Naraka according to the ancient belief as an allegory in order to caution people to be afraid of wrongdoings and to maintain peace in the society.