Chalu (Ox)

The Brahmajati, the Thai book of destiny, reads a child’s future from the year of birth. Its method is the Chinese “fate calculation”, which the Thai may well have known since at least the thirteenth century, when they adopted the twelve-animal cycle; Indian learning added the planets of the week and the picture of the body as a small universe. Quaritch Wales, who called for a representative selection of the manuscripts in the National Library in Bangkok to satisfy himself of the general authenticity of the printed editions, notes that the text reflects old Siam: a freeman served a feudal patron, Brahmans were greatly respected, and slavery was finally abolished only about 1900. The portent for the month of birth can often be virtually the opposite of that for the day, and that is just what appeals to the Thai reader: one can be set off against the other, leaving, of course, a favourable balance.

According to the Brahmajati, for one born in the year of the Ox the Moon is the mouth: proud and sharp-spoken, it discusses arts and legal matters well. Mercury is the heart: clever in legal matters, and liking to associate with monks and nobles. Saturn is the loins: enjoying sensual pleasures; if a man, will have many wives; if a woman, inclined to secret affairs. Sun and Jupiter are the hands: craft ability very mediocre. Mars and Venus are the feet: not very suited for travel.

If a trader, will be successful; and will have four sons, one powerful and one an official.

5th, 6th or 7th month: a wild Ox, element sweet earth. A noble bull of good breeding, but difficult to use; cruel, though good when young.

8th, 9th or 10th month: a plough Ox, element mud. Taciturn and brave.

11th, 12th or 1st month: a lame Ox, element mountain-top earth, which lives in the shed. Of good disposition, but will find it difficult to make a living.

2nd, 3rd or 4th month: the king of the oxen, element excellent earth. A puller, perfect in every respect, and very wealthy.

Sunday: a bad-spirited Ox; not good.

Monday: an excellent Ox. Very good, and will have many attendants.

Tuesday: a common Ox; not good.

Wednesday: a broken-legged, blind Ox. Hard to rear.

Thursday: an Ox of good disposition; will be wealthy.

Friday: a pack Ox; must work hard and become very tired.

Saturday: robbers steal this Ox in order to kill it. Portends trouble.

A simpler system, very popular in the illustrated manuscripts, uses the year only as a calendar and trusts in numbers. The months are taken in pairs, beginning with months 5 and 11, each with a day of the week, or two days in the first case, to accommodate the odd seventh day (the days are numbered from Sunday, day 1). One looks up both the month and the day of birth: if both are good, very good; if one is good and one bad, take the mean; only if both are bad is the outlook truly depressing.

Month 5 or 11, or day 1 or 7: adequately well-off, but of uncertain temper, sometimes pleasant, sometimes the reverse.

Month 6 or 12, or day 2: a prisoner wearing a cangue collar. Will experience litigation and much trouble; if a man, the trouble comes from a woman, if a woman, from a man.

Month 7 or 1, or day 3: a man riding a fine horse. Will like travel rather than staying at home; would succeed in government service.

Month 8 or 2, or day 4: husband and wife quarrelling. Will often speak aggressively, and so become engaged in altercations.

Month 9 or 3, or day 5: a youth riding a bull. In trouble when young, but will do well as an adult, succeeding through one’s own efforts.

Month 10 or 4, or day 6: a man riding a nāga. An active type who works very quickly; people are likely to fear this ferocity.

The Treatise of the Seven Numbers trusts only the power of seven numbers. For the year of birth its seven classes are death, patron, fate, wealth, travel, and private and state employment. The years go in pairs: the Ox shares its predictions with the Monkey.

Death: likely to be separated from the spouse. Patron: will go where a patron gives a good welcome. Fate: likes talking about others. Wealth: will receive property from an important Brahman, or be helped by one to get it. Travel: would travel quickly. Employment: not suited to be an official, and in the service of a patron liable to be punished for the misdeeds of others.

The Thai treatises judge a marriage in several ways. One compares the birth elements, with metal always counted as iron: most pairs are favourable, and only the unfavourable ones are listed. Another treatise looks at the animals of the two birth years: from it a girl could learn what her suitor would become if he married her. Quaritch Wales prints it in full because it gives an illuminating picture of the range of social positions theoretically open to anyone of the freeman class, and concludes that what a man makes of his life work depends in part on his wife.

According to one well-known system, marriages between men and women are favourable only for a few pairs of years, because for many people mixed marriages are contemplated between humans and partners who are actually devatā or demons (yakṣa or yakṣī) in disguise: a thought that is second nature to a Thai reader raised on the Ramakien.

• A man of a earth year, with a woman of: water, wood
• A woman of a earth year, with a man of: fire

Birth elements: most combinations are favourable, and only the unfavourable ones are listed. Metal always counts as iron.

• Chuat (Rat): royal teacher
• Chalu (Ox): rich man
• Khan (Tiger): rewarded by the king
• Tho (Hare): treasury official
• Marong (Large Snake): noble
• Maseng (Small Snake): low official
• Mamia (Horse): mahout (good only later)
• Mamae (Goat): rich man
• Wok (Monkey): boatman
• Raka (Rooster): army officer
• Cho (Dog): Indra
• Kun (Pig): yakṣa

Birth animals: what the husband is likely to be. From this table a girl could learn her suitor’s future position, if he married her.

• A man and a woman, favourable only with these years: Tho (Hare), Kun (Pig)
• A man and a female devatā, excellent though liable to temporary separation: Mamia (Horse), Mamae (Goat)
• A man and a yakṣī, at best moderate, happy at first, then as likely to end in hatred: Khan (Tiger), Cho (Dog)

Mixed marriages: for many people, a partner may actually be a devatā or a demon (yakṣa, yakṣī) in disguise; and since none of them is immortal, they too follow the fortunes of their year of birth.