This Handbook is the first to study comprehensively how the Southeast Asian calendar was constructed and how positions for the sun, moon and planets were determined. It examines the differences that distinguish Burma from Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and those that distinguish Northern Thailand from the rest of that country.
Explanation of such matters as ways of naming the years, differences between the types of lunar year, variations in methods used to mark times of day, constructing horoscopes, determining calendar dates, and many other technical matters are accompanied by worked...

The first part of this study covers the technical, economic and site constraints of the famous ancient Khmer monuments, as well as the architectural concepts and decoration of the structures. The second part considers the buildings proper. It then considers in turn the important shrines of Pre Rup, Tak Keo, the Bapuon and Angkor Wat, and concludes with a survey of the architecture in the reign of Jayavarman VII and wooden structures of the thirteenth century. The book also considers the historical and social context of these monuments, forming a clear expression of early Khmer society. Dr....

In spite of its being one of the cornerstones of historical research, even the historical expert is - understandably - terrified by the complications involved in the calculation of dates. Early Javanese Inscriptions puts the study of Indonesian epigraphical dating on a completely new footing, both in terms of speed and reliability of the analytical procedures. No luni-solar calendrical system can be properly accounted for unless the system of intercalation is properly understood. This study examines the early Javanese inscriptions, taking account for the first time of the detailed...

This handbook is the first in-depth overview of the fascinating world of Burmese folk-tales. Part one provides a wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary survey of folk-tale studies, together with a broad functional classification of Burma's tales. Part two presents, mostly for the first time in a European language, the categorized actual tales themselves. With commentaries on plots and cross-cultural motifs - past and present. With index, substantial bibliography, and suggestions for further research.

Carefully following their historical development, this volume describes the various construction techniques in southern Asia. Readers get acquainted successively with the techniques of carpentry layout, the setting of bricks, stone-cutting and stereotomy, as well as binders and plasterwork. With the help of drawings and photographs it is illustrated how the various difficulties subsequently encountered were met. The combination of the author's firm background in architecture, as well as an in-depth knowledge of the region itself, make this handbook volume into a unique reference for students...

This study of warfare in Southeast Asia between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries examines the chief aspects of warfare in the region. It begins with an examination of the cultural features that made warfare in the region unique, followed by a discussion of the main weapons used, and the two major sites of fighting, sieges and naval contests. Three chapters examine the role played by animals such as elephants and horses. The final two chapters examine the shift from mercenary armies and masses of levies to smaller standing armies. The study closes with an examination of the tumultuous...

Written sources on Thai history are scarce. It took Hiram Woodward many years of painstaking archaeological and art-historical research to finally piece together this first ever comprehensive survey work on the art and architecture of Thailand from the earliest times until the establishment of the Thai-speaking kingdoms. The book, organized geographically and chronologically, covers four eras: the prehistoric period; the period characterized by the culture of the kingdom of Dvaravati; the centuries of Khmer dominance; and, as classical Khmer civilization waned, the period of the...

This reappraisal of Political Systems of Highland Burma, the seminal work by E.R. Leach, presents much new material on the highlands of Southeast Asia and its borders from writers with long-term research experience in these areas. The Introduction establishes in detail both the theoretical and regional ethnographic significance of Leach's work and the chapters to follow. Part One discusses issues relating to Leach's fieldwork, including the background to his research and issues arising from his fieldwork practice. Part Two presents a variety of engagements with Leach's theoretical...

The northern Mon-Khmer language Wa is a group of dialects spoken by about a million people on the China-Burma border. The Dictionary of Wa documents the lexicon of a digitised corpus comprising the majority of extant printed resources in the two closely related de facto standard Wa dialects. Approximately 12,000 headwords and compounds are translated and explained in Burmese, Chinese and English, with some 7,000 example sentences, similarly translated. The dictionary is alphabetised in the Wa orthography officially adopted by the authorities in the Wa Special Region in Burma, a...

There are many excellent published collections of the indispensable Dutch documents for the History of Indonesia in the seventeenth century. However all of these have a Batavia-centred VOC view of the Archipelago and beyond, and show the relations of the Company with states which eventually fell within its orbit. Aceh, however, was the one state of the Archipelago that never fell within this orbit and maintained a defiant independence until 1873. It is therefore the most interesting state, but the least well known. Historians of Indonesia and of Islamic Asia in particular will need to consult...