'Trai Phum' probe sought
The Fine Arts Department's Office of Literature and History is considering asking Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to assign 15 members to the National Literature Committee in order to speedily determine if the Trai Phum Phra Malai ("The Three Worlds of
The work of Buddhist cosmology is displayed at the National Library in Paris.
After the discovery of the Trai Phum, which challenged the previous belief that the Ayutthaya period had no such form of literature, Professor Pridi Pitphumvithi from Burapha University has copied the book onto microfilm for the office, the office's director, Benjamas Phaethong, said yesterday.
She will present the copy to the National Literature Committee, after which - if the committee deems it important literature from the Ayutthaya Era as suspected - it will be registered officially, she said.
Since the old committee's term ended along with the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration, the office plans to nominate the previous committee members for Yingluck's approval, so the committee can do its jobs: compiling Thai literature, assessing texts and producing the standard Thai literature history book.
