“Phrachomyongongyukhan” Yukhan Lakhon Nok: Presumption of authored period of Yukhan and Nangprawalim’s love scene

Abstract

This article has an objective to study Yukhan Lakhon Nok, Fine Arts Department Edition, which mentions the last part of the story, Love of Yukhan. From the study, Yukhan script shall be completed after the reign of King Rama I (Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok) clearly according to many reasons such as the orthography, the style of writing according to the royal style Lakhon Nok, and the content that is likely to be influenced by Inao, royal script of King Rama II (Phra Phutthaloetla Naphalai). Moreover, there is the use of new costumes created in the same reign. However, if considering the evidence of citing and ideas from various literature, it may be assumed that this script may be written between the reign of King Rama III (Phra Nangklao Chao Yu Hua) and King Rama IV (Phra Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua) because even the king had the purpose to cancel royal drama during that time, it was a time when the drama was very thriving until there was the openness of entertainment culture among the people freely after that. It is possible that noble groups who used to work for the king about the drama had set up their own theater group to perform drama in people style. However, they still adhered to some descriptive characteristics from the royal style that they used to be cultivated.