จดหมายถึง Thaiastro

จดหมายถึง thaiastro

Waraporn K.srisuwan [nok_wara@yahoo.com]

Sawasdee Khun Visanu,

I'm so interested in your handwritng document which is in process of translation. Could you give me some detait about it ? The others are all in my university's library. In my opinion, thai astronomy is unable separated from astrology. That's right ? I would like to know more how thai astronomers or thai astrologers work in the past. There are any books about it at the Thai Astronomical Society Libraly.

Thanks for your kindness

thaiastro

The documents were copied from the archive of Paris Observatory. There are many sections to the whole document, some pages were astronomical observation notes made by Jesuit priests living in this part of the world during King Narai's reign or a few years afterward. Some notes were made in Lopburi at Wat San Paolo, some in a prison in Malacca. Another part is a near duplicate of Tachard's account in his book, but with a little more details. I think Tachard copied these notes for use in his book. It is quite a surprise when I found out about this in my research.

There are some notes about Thai and French methods too. However, most of the document do not relate directly to Thai astronomy.

Astronomy grew out of astrology. This is true for any culture's astronmy. Nevertheless, there are other uses of astronomy even in old Siam. You should read the book by Nipatporn Pengkaew: "ไทบ้านดูดาว". It is a very interesting book and my only comment is that it is too short--I wish she could write more about it. The book is currently availble at many bookstores. Kledthai is the book's distributor. Thai Astronomical Society's members gets a 15% discount if they buy through the society.

Visanu E.