Online Lecture: "Mon Manuscripts in Thailand: Preservation and Development"

We kindly invite you to this online lecture in English language on Friday, October 17th, 2025, at 14:00–16:00 h (CEST/MESZ) / 19:00–21:00 (Thai time).

Topic:
    "Mon Manuscripts in Thailand: Preservation and Development"

Speaker:
    Tirattamar Jiamjuankhao

Affiliation:
    Member of the Mon Language and Literature Community Ramanwiwat รามัญวิวัฒน์ in Thailand
    and Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics, Mahidol University

Date/Time:
    October 17th, 2025 (Friday), 14:00 – 16:00 (CEST/MESZ) / 19:00 – 21:00 (Thai time)

Language:
    English

Zoom Link:
    https://uni-hamburg.zoom.us/j/64563521222?pwd=OEdSbENCOUV2Ynl5ZUdnNG5mM1pwQT09

Zoom Meeting-ID:
    645 6352 1222

Zoom Passcode:
    hgtlecture

About this lecture:

Mon manuscripts in Thailand were discarded and neglected for more than six decades. Due to cooperative efforts between Thai government organizations and patriotic Mon communities in Thailand, a number of projects aimed at revitalizing Mon manuscripts in local Thai-Mon monasteries across Thailand have emerged and have been publicized through accessible online media.

Various texts written on different materials, such as palm-leaf, metal plates, and even ivory, have gradually been made available both as original documents and in translations. While valuable content from these inherited manuscripts is now widely published, the paratexts are also attracting increased interest among enthusiasts for further study.

One prominent example is the local Mon script, which is unique in historical, linguistical and aesthetic terms. This Mon writing heritage can be viewed online and is utilized for various purposes by dedicated scholars. Thai-style Mon calligraphy has been modernized and integrated with AI technology to enhance its practicality. Despite such modernization, the Mon language and its local scripts are also expected to appear in their traditional forms, as they did in their original communities.

Brief profile:

Tirattamar Jiamjuankhao is a lifelong learner and emerging teacher of the Mon language in Thailand. She descends from Mon ancestors who fled Monland during the Mon-Burmese war over 200 years ago and settled in western Thailand.

Tirattamar has joined several Mon activist groups, such as the Bangkok Mon Youth Community and the Ramanwiwat รามัญวิวัฒน์ team, working to preserve, digitize, translate, and publish old Mon palm-leaf manuscripts found in Thailand.

With support from Mahidol University, she recently began offering a Basic Mon language course online for language enthusiasts. Tirattamar aims to draw on her efforts for her dissertation, which focuses on historical linguistics in the Mon language.

We would like to thank the Hamburg Society for Thai Studies for the cooperation. 

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