Paper short abstract:

The presentation is an up-to-date comprehensive field and museum survey of northern Thai inscriptions in "Dhamma" (Tham) script from the 16th to the 18th centuries CE.

Paper long abstract:

The inscriptions that are subject of this conference presentation date all from the time when northern Thailand lost its independence to Burma in the 16th century CE up to the beginning of the post-Burmese period, the 18th century.

The data upon which this presentation is based have been collected in the field in northern Thailand over the past two years and represent the first comprehensive survey since the late Hans Penth's.

The texts in this corpus are all written in "Dhamma" (Tham) script and in Thai, Pali or a mix of both languages. The "Fak Kham" script that was also used at that time and earlier in northern Thailand will not be discussed here, as it has been dealt with in a three-volume monograph (Buchmann 2011-2015).

An introduction to script and language will be followed by an overview of objects and materials used on which these inscriptions were written on. These include not only slabs and stelae but also a large variety of Buddha images.

A detailed and comprehensive up-to-date overview, with the aid of statistical data, about the status of my current research and an outlook for forthcoming studies will be the main part of this presentation, followed by a report in the current state of research in Thailand.