Phraya Anuman Rajadhon

Phya Anuman Rajadhon (Thai: พระยาอนุมานราชธน; rtgs: Phraya Anuman Ratchathon, also spelled Phaya Anuman Rajadhon or Phrayā Anuman Rajadhon; December 14, 1888 – July 12, 1969), was one of modern Thailand's most remarkable scholars. He was a self-trained linguist, anthropologist and ethnographer who became an authority on the culture of Thailand. His name was Yong Sathiankoset (Thai: ยง เสฐียรโกเศศ); Phraya Anuman Rajadhon was his noble title. He also took his family name, Sathiankoset, as a pen name by which he is well known.

His prolific work and his interest in a multitude of culture-related fields, from folklore to sociology, set the foundations for a long-lasting cultural awareness among young Thai scholars.

Phraya Anuman Rajadhon was the first Thai scholar to conduct a serious study of Thai folkloristics, taking notes on the nocturnal village spirits of Thai folklore. He established that since such spirits were not represented in paintings or drawings, they were purely based on popular traditional oral stories. Thus most of the contemporary iconography of ghosts such as Nang Tani, Nang Ta-khian,Krasue, Krahang,Phi Am, Phi Hua Kat, Phi Pop, Phi Phong, Phi Phraya, Phi Tai Hong and Mae Nak Phra Khanong has its origins in Thai films that have become classics.

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