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50 MÆT LANKA

The So is, by nature, popular. It is the preferred style of poets for pieces consi-

dered as secular, even if they are slightly tinged with religious philosophy. The So is
generally chanted on trestles, at contests held at festivals. Winners receive prizes and
their works, recorded on mulberry paper, belong henceforth to the public domain.
The Mæt is, by definition, more intimate, more worthy, and usually shorter. It
enables the poet to deal with issues both lay and religious : Love, with its joy and
pains ; Happiness, especially that felt in the fulfillment of a good deed ; Pain, in particular
that of the separation from the loved one or nostalgia for the village during a distant
journey. We recognize a Mæt by the formula Phaoni ( gzÔkou˙), or Phaoni rotmüa ( gzÔkou˙
i˜ƒg,√n Δ ) at the beginning of the poem. The reading of the Mæt, which is between the chant-
1
ing and singing, also bears a name : Euh Mæt ( vn Δ,kª) . When he hears the voices of
Mæt poetry, with its rhythmand cadence, the listener is immersed in a sweet euphoria.
As beautiful as they are, singing a poem finishes in the long run in creating a
certain monotony, which leads the poet to insert here and there other forms of versi-
fication, such as the Ay gai ( vjkπw¡h), a verse in five feet, which always begins with
the formula Oy no ( v‡oX) and ends with Neu ( go√n) or Heuy no ( £oX). Its sporadic
appearance in a poem changes temporarily the rhythm of the song, which becomes slower,
even drawling, and the orator, playing the level of his voice, shows all his talents.
Generally limited to poignant passages, during which the emotion is at its height, the
Ay gai then causes to vibrate the hearts of the audience (A. Peltier, 2000 : 200).

The translation of a poem is, by definition, a thankless task, because each
language has its peculiarities. The subtleties of the poetics, with its lyrical flights but
also its repetitions and redundancy, compelled us, in many cases, to confine ourselves
to the spirit of the text.
For the western languages, i.e. French and English, we have chosen to translate
the most representative verses, or 74 of the 196 that make up the story. The understand-
ing does not suffer as long as the “ missing verses ” have been replaced, through and
through, with short summaries.
For the Thai language, we opted to give a transliteration of the original version,
followed by a complete translation of the work. Students and researchers who are fami-
liar with Thai will take full advantage of this work, both in substance and form.

C. The history of the Tooth-relic

After the funeral of the Buddha, the Mallas of Kusinæræ wanted to keep the relics,
as the Blessed One had passed away in their territory. But the neighbouring peoples also

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The Mæt is a kind of poem that can be read by one or more persons at a time. In the latter case, the
manuscript, folded in accordion shape, is open. The same content is found on both sides, lengthwise, but
in opposite directions. In this way, several readers sitting around can chant the same text, each with a
distinctive tone. The whole creates a song with many voices, and this adds to the harmony of the poem.