Epic
Phya Khankhaak, the Toad King
ພະຍາຄັນຄາກ
Anonymous · 1500
Synopsis
A prince born in the form of a toad, endowed with extraordinary powers, gathers the creatures of the earth to make war on the god of the sky who, offended, has stopped sending rain. His victory brings back the downpours and the order of the world. The text is linked to the rites of the rocket festival, which call the monsoon.
Context
For centuries the poem was known only in palm-leaf manuscript and in the recitation of monks, with no date or author's name: the copies bear no year, and the ritual use of the text has kept oral transmission alive alongside the written. The monk Phra Ariyanuwat Khemajari produced in the twentieth century a versified version, transcribed from the manuscripts, and it is this that Wajuppa Tossa translated into English for Bucknell University Press in 1996. Few readers can decipher the original manuscripts, and transcription campaigns have stopped for lack of money.
Who it is for
A verse epic, not translated into French; an English version has existed since 1996. The golden toad, the nagas and the god of rain belong to a common stock in Laos and north-eastern Thailand.
Prizes and reception
It is one of the two texts attached each year to the rocket festival, and it is recited both in Laos and in the Isan.