Searching for the Dvavarti: An Excursion to the Uthong National Museum

It was just 7:30 in the morning, but it was already hot! April is the hottest month here in Thailand, and the summer is well and truly upon us. Songkran is just days away, and while most sensible people are staying inside, myself and the small handful of expats who are currently training at the Bangkok National Museum to join the National Museum Volunteer guiding program were meeting under the sweltering sun on the way to our very first expedition.

Read more: Phra Puttha Sihing at the Bangkok National Museum

Over the past month, we've been undergoing rigorous art history training to try to learn all of the knowledge of the National Museum to be able to offer English tours when the country opens up again. It's a wonderful program (and a royal initiative, and thus the only place in Thailand where foreigners are allowed to guide).

Read more: The Buddhaisawan Chapel at the Bangkok National Museum

On this day, we were off to a place called Uthong District (Uthong means "City of Gold") in nearby Suphan Buri Province, 2.5 hours north of Bangkok and just west of Ayutthaya. We were on a study excursion to the Uthong branch of the National Museum, which houses the kingdom's finest collection of Dvavarti art and artifacts.

The Dvavarti

Dvavarti was an ancient kingdom, the first organized state in what is now Thailand. It flourished between the 6th and 11th centuries (with a proto-Dvavarti period existing from the 4th century) when it was replaced by the overpowering cultural influence of the Khmer Empire. An ethnically Mon kingdom, Dvavarti was heavily Indianized, and was responsible for introducing Buddhism to Thailand.

beautiful gardens outside of the museum

Not too much is known about the Dvavarti, but archaeologists have been able to gather some fascinating insights on their history and culture.

• Cities were generally surrounded by a round moat, but temples, markets, and residential areas existed beyond the moat. This indicates that it was a very safe period, and there was little need for defensive structures.
• The fact that there are zero artistic representations of war or violence from the Dvavarti Period, but many works showing music, dancing, and daily life further indicate a peaceful period without war in which the kingdom could focus on culture and artistic pursuits.
• Gold and beads which still turn up frequently in the fields around Uthong show that the Dvavarti Kingdom was a very wealthy one.
• Indian goods, Chinese silk, Vietnamese carvings, Persian lamps, and even a Roman coin (the only Roman artifact ever found in Thailand) show evidence of a great deal of trade. At the time (about 1500 years ago), the area that is now Bangkok was underwater, and cities like Nakhon Pathom and Lopburi were actually on the coast!
• Even though Dvavarti was an ethnically Mon kingdom, it was very much a cultural melting pot and very accepting of outsiders. Besides foreign traders, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Chinese immigrants were welcomed and integrated into the Dvavarti society.
• The Dvavarti Kingdom in Thailand is directly related to the Bagan Kingdom in Myanmar. Both were Mon kingdoms sharing a similar art and architectural style.
• It's unsure exactly what happened to Dvavarti. Eventually, its influence was eclipsed by the culturally dominant Khmer Empire from the east. It's not thought that the kingdom went out violently, as the Mon are still a major ethnic group in Thailand today.

touring the galleries

The Uthong National Museum houses an impressive collection of prehistoric, proto-Dvavarti, and Dvavarti artifacts. Below I've shared a few photos of the artifacts at the museum along with a caption explaining a bit about what it is.

prehistoric and Dvavarti art

Uthong National Museum Galleries

A standing Buddha statue. Note the loop of the robes around the Buddha's ankles. This is a design style that is unique to the Dvavarti period.

A carving meant to be placed above a window. It is believed to represent a person with long hair and jewelry, hinting at the wealth of the period.

Shivalinga - a symbolic representation of the god Shiva.

 You might recognize it as the treasure that Indiana Jones recovered from Temple of Doom

A triple linga of three tiers representing the Trimurti, or Hindu Holy Trinity of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma respectively (top to bottom).

Early Buddhist iconography - the Wheel of the Law, or Dhammachakra.

A tablet fragment with early Pali-Sanskrit text.

The only Roman coins ever found in Thailand - evidence of early trade. The coin at the bottom of the image bears the portrait of the Gallic emperor Victorinus who ruled a breakaway Roman state from 268-270.

Silver slivers were used as early trade currency.

Beautifully-preserved Dvavarti and pre-Dvavareti beads.

The beads were used both as decorative jewelry and as a trade currency.

The brightly-colored beads are in excellent condition.

A tablet fragment containing ancient Sanskrit writing.

Presentations inside the Dvavarti Room at the  Uthong National Museum.

A depiction of a boddhisatva - evidence of Mahayana coexisting with Theravada and Hinduism.

A Buddha statue carved not with the typical Indian facial features of the time, but rather featuring distinctly Thai features.

The lion was an early aniconic representation of the Buddha due to his princely clan being the "Lion Clan". Buddha discouraged anamorphic representations of himself, so early Buddhists generally made art featuring the Buddha Footprint, the Dhammachakra Wheel, and the Buddhist Lion. When Alexander the Great invaded India, Greco-Roman cultural influence led to the development of statues of the Buddha which were very clearly influenced by Western European religious art.

A Buddha statue which was discovered in the fields around Uthong.

One of the most spectacular treasures found in Uthong is this small golden Buddha head, which a farmer ploughed up in his field. Uthong literally means "City of Gold", and even today, golden treasures and artifacts are commonly dug up in the area.

One foot and two small fragments remain alongside the remarkably well-preserved head.

The golden head dates back to around the 5th-9th century, and is one of the more mysterious and evocative treasures from the elusive Dvavarti period.

Golden jewelry representing the Wheel of Teaching (Dhammachakra).

A stucco Naga (mythical serpent) figure. Dvavarti art favored stucco and terracotta.

Various Dvavarti statues and artifacts depicting Devas (angels) and other figures from Hindu and Buddhist cosmology.

Dhammachakra - the Wheel of Teaching / Wheel of Law - a representation of the endless cycle of Buddhist teaching. This symbol appears on the Thai Buddhist flag as well as the national flag of India.

The Dhammachakra sat on top of this pillar. It was a marker for the illiterate masses of the time to identify a temple.

The pillar looked something like this.

Note the amazing detail on the wheel (7th century).

More figures from the Dvavarti collection at the museum.

A 7th century image of the Buddha preaching his first sermon in Deer Park, India.

A collection of ancient amulet figures / ritual objects.

Buddhist lions were an early aniconic representation of the Buddha.

An amulet of a headless boy and monkey. The purpose of this figure is unknown, but many have been found around Uthong. It has been proposed that it is some sort of amulet used to remove bad luck, but it's only speculation.

Buddhist votive tablets - an early version of the modern-day Buddhist amulet still popular in Thailand.

Votive tablets were a sort of souvenir for Buddhist pilgrims. Upon visiting an important temple, the pilgrim would be presented with the clay tablet as a keepsake and teaching tool to help spread the Buddhist message to others.

In Buddhism, it is believed that in the future Buddhism will be forgotten, so it's up to people to preserve the teaching for future generations in writing and iconic tablets.

The votive tablets were made of clay molded by a stone press. This is very much like how temple amulets are still produced today! In fact, I've even made one myself!

A stone press used in the production of votive tablets.

A carved tablet with inscription on the reverse.

Various Buddha statues of the Dvavarti Period.

Dvavarti Buddha images were often made in symmetrical teaching postures.

Dvaravati Stupas

Just outside the doors of the museum, on a beautiful green lawn, stand a collection of small original Buddhist chedis from the Dvavarti Period. These chedis are excellent examples of the typical style of the era.

Dvavarti chedis (original) collected at the museum.

Dvavarti chedis have unique features, and are directly descended (artistically) from the stupas built by King Ashoka of India, who famously spread Buddhism across the subcontinent.

Using one's imagination, the chedi is supposed to represent monkhood: an upturned monk's bowl at the bottom with folded robes and a walking stick on top of it.

Dvavarti chedis feature this unique lotus design which I've never seen nor heard of anywhere else.

There is a beautiful collection of Dvavarti chedis just outside the national museum's main building.

Chedi 3

Before heading back to Bangkok following our excellent whirlwind tour of Uthong, we paid a visit to Chedi #3, an archaeological site just a 2-minute drive from the museum where many of the artifacts were recovered.

Today, Chedi 3 is just a ruin of what was once a magnificent Buddhist monument. It's a fascinating piece of an elusive period in Thai history.

A graphic of Chedi 3 and the artifacts found there.

The present-day remains of Chedi 3.

Chedi 3 is just a 2-minute drive outside of the Uthong National Museum. It was the archaeological site where many of the most exquisite artifacts at the museum were recovered.

Here, you can see what archaeologists and historians believed Chedi 3 would have looked like during the Dvavarti Period.

The seal of Ganesh is the symbol of the Fine Arts Department. These posts were placed around Chedi 3, signifying that the historical site is managed directly by the Ministry of Culture and the Fine Arts Department.