Khan (Tiger)

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 Tiger Mars is the mouth: liking to tell scurrilous stories about women. Jupiter is the heart: not very clever, with poor learning ability, but suitable to be a monk. The Sun is the loins: will like sensuous pleasures. Mercury and Venus are the hands: good craft ability. Saturn and Moon are the feet: will travel much and be fortunate.

This person will have a miserable youth, unable to love relatives, but only others. A misfortune at the age of two; at twenty will become flourishing, and afterwards rich and powerful.

5th, 6th or 7th month: a royal Tiger, element dry wood. A watchful tiger; very reliable, but in danger of becoming poor.

8th, 9th or 10th month: a fish Tiger, element heart wood. Will have agreeable wives and sons, and be wealthy.

11th, 12th or 1st month: a leopard, element scented wood. Reliable and wealthy.

2nd, 3rd or 4th month: a yellow man-eating Tiger, element mountain tree wood. A very cunning type.

Sunday: a Tiger in a cave, finding food with difficulty.

Monday: a Tiger in a trap; much trouble likely.

Tuesday: a Tiger eats a man. This suggests an inclination to anger and ferocity.

Wednesday: a fasting Tiger; a good disposition. An excellent portent.

Thursday: a Tiger reared by a holy hermit. A great future.

Friday: a Tiger falls over a precipice. Much trouble.

Saturday: a Tiger as a protective spirit; very good.

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: fierce and powerful, a terse speaker who keeps his word; but finds it hard to bring up his sons.

Month 6 or 12, or day 2: a man with an attendant. Will be great, have many slaves and do good government work.

Month 7 or 1, or day 3: a woman riding a nāga. Hard-hearted and fierce, liking only amusement, and apt to be diseased.

Month 8 or 2, or day 4: a man asleep in a palace. Will do well and be very happy, with so many attendants as never to need to feel tired.

Month 9 or 3, or day 5: a woman in a house. Wealthy and happy.

Month 10 or 4, or day 6: a noble riding a nāga. An active disposition and a position of power, but often worried by litigation.

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 Tiger shares its predictions with the Rooster.

Death: when the time comes, will die because work is unsatisfactory. Patron: will find a patron who will not treat well. Fate: will suffer from rather bad demerit in a former life; will speak agreeably to one’s face, but then backbite. Wealth: will obtain gold. Travel: if one must travel, likely to fall ill or become footsore. Employment: would serve a patron well and do good official work, in the latter case thanks to the help of a fair person.

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 wood year, with a woman of: wood, metal (iron)
• A woman of a wood year, with a man of: earth, wood, fire

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

• Chuat (Rat): duck seller
• Chalu (Ox): rewarded by the king
• Khan (Tiger): soldier
• Tho (Hare): junk (ship) trader
• Marong (Large Snake): junk officer
• Maseng (Small Snake): goldsmith
• Mamia (Horse): cook
• Mamae (Goat): boat hirer
• Wok (Monkey): fishmonger
• Raka (Rooster): common person
• Cho (Dog): official
• Kun (Pig): devatā

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 yakṣa and a yakṣī, happy though apt to quarrel at times: Raka (Rooster)
• A yakṣa and a yakṣī, only moderately satisfactory: Wok (Monkey)
• A yakṣa and a yakṣī, where disputes gain the upper hand: Cho (Dog)
• A devatā and a yakṣī, only moderately good, mainly with this pair, where the children will not respect them: Chuat (Rat)
• A man and a yakṣī, at best moderate, happy at first, then as likely to end in hatred: Chalu (Ox), Maseng (Small Snake)

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.