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Photographs of Nora Across the Reigns of Two Thai Kings*

Professor Pornrat Damrhung

Associate Fellow of the Academy of Arts,
The Royal Society of Thailand

Dr. Wanwiwat Rattanalam

1. Introduction
Although an outsider to the culture of Nora, a folk dance-drama tradition based in
southern Thailand, I am a theater scholar and practitioner who is deeply interested in how

communities adapt and evolve with their arts and cultural practices. This interest became
connected to Nora in work done with Dr. Lowell D. Skar on the Ministry of Culture’s Department
of Cultural Promotion’s illustrated bilingual book Nora: A Living Dance Tradition of Southern
Thailand (2020). While researching and compiling this book, I interviewed prominent scholars,

experts, and local performers of Nora, including Pittaya Bussararak, Chaiyawut Piyakul, Nora Sarot
Nakawirot, Nora Thammanit Nikomrat, Benjawan Buakwan and Thianchai Isaradej. We also
gathered artist interviews, viewed Nora performances, collected diverse documents, and analyzed
an extensive collection of photographs tied to Nora.

Among the archival materials uncovered were over 200 historical photographs and
video recordings of Nora housed at the national Institute of Southern Thai Studies in Songkhla,
Dr. Skar and I were most intrigued by two sets of photographic and written materials tied to
Kings Rama V (r. 1868-1910) and Rama VI (r. 1910-1925). These photographs of Nora were captured

in two pivotal historical periods under the reigns of the two Siamese monarchs:
1. A set of four Nora photographs, believed to have been taken by King Chulalongkorn
(Rama V) in 1905, that appeared in the publication A Collection of Pictorial Records of Historical
Significance, Volume 2, published by the Office of the Prime Minister in 1977.

2. A series of photographs of Nora masters taken in 1923 under in the reign of
King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) by Martin Hürlimann (1897-1984), and which appeared in the heavily
illustrated Tumra Fonram (Dance Manual) text ordered by King Rama VI and compiled by
the Wachirayan Royal Library under the guidance of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (1862-1943)

to commemorate the cremation of Prince Chuthathuj Dharadilok (1892-1923), Krom Khun
Phetchabun Intharachai.

* This is an English version adapted from the article with the same title in Thai published in the book
“The Royal Institution and Academic Advancement of the Nation” (สถาบัันพระมหากษััตริย์์กับัวิิวิัฒนาการทาง
วิิชาการของประเทศ).

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