CULTURAL DIFFUSION OF ‘PHA-YA ’ DURING ISAAN HOLY MAN'S REBELLIONS

Abstract

This article is part of a research paper called 'Decoding semiology in the poem in the event of the Holy Man's Rebellion as a communication tool to create mixed media art'. It aims to examine the background and present status of Pha-ya in relation to the Holy Man's Rebellion. The study on the decoding and the meaning of Pha-ya of the Holy Man's Rebellion through the qualitative research study process. The information can be analyzed using the Structural-Functional Theory and the Semiology theory.

According to the research results, it was found that the content was influenced by the Bodhgaya from India, which was found in the Kalanapmeusuay Book, or the Buddhist prediction. Using the Structural-Functional Theory by Bronislaw Malinowski, it was found that the Pha-ya has a function of responding to the need in maintaining the livelihood and the need, as well as the acceptance within the social aspect of the ethnic groups to the administrative group in the Isaan region. As for decoding the meaning of the Holy Man's Rebellion Pha-ya using Semiology's theory by Roland Barthes, the ten stanzas of the poem can be summarized into 17 concepts and can further be categorized into two groups based on the meaning. The first group aimed to convey the fear to initiate chaos by releasing the rumor in the form of chain letters within the area of Isaan. The second group is trying to convey the meaning of hope in the prosperities or the future, which is normally related to the next world, or the world of Maitreya, with the help of the Holy Man's Rebellion group. This rebellion's success was due to the use of Pha-ya as a tool to communicate to villagers and those with the same political ideology in a systematic way. This reflects the effort of gathering people of the same ethnicity to fight with the Siamese State, or Thai, in the land of Isaan.