The Khmer shadow play and its links with ancient India, a possible source of the Malay shadow play of Kelantan and Trengganu
Mubin Sheppard (1968) argues that the Malay shadow play of Kelantan and Trengganu derives not from Indonesia but from the Khmer shadow play tradition, which itself originated in ancient India. The article is grounded in Sheppard’s direct observation of Khmer shadow play figures and performances in Cambodia during a 1968 visit, and in consultation with scholars in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
Summary
The article challenges a prevailing theory, attributed to an eminent Thai scholar, that the large Thai shadow play (Nang Yai) reached Thailand from India via Indonesia and the Malay peninsula. Sheppard instead proposes a direct India-to-Khmer-to-Malay transmission route, supported by both material comparison and political history. He examines two forms of Khmer shadow play — the large ‘Nang Sebek’ and the smaller, more popular ‘Nang Trolung’ — and compares their figures, performance methods, and repertoires with those of the Malay shadow play.
The core argument rests on a fundamental difference in manipulation technique: in the classical Indian and Khmer traditions, puppeteers stand behind a long screen and hold large composite figures above their heads, whereas in the Indonesian tradition puppeteers sit behind a much smaller screen. This distinction, Sheppard contends, constitutes a major obstacle to the Indonesia-mediated theory. He supplements this with historical evidence of direct Khmer-Malay political and cultural contact, most notably the reign of Suryavarman I, a Malay prince who ruled the Khmer kingdom from Angkor. Sheppard also notes remarkable visual similarities between Khmer single figures still in use in Battambang and Kelantan and Trengganu Ramayana figures dating from the late 19th century, before Thai stylistic influence was introduced.
Key Findings
- The Nang Sebek figures average four feet eight inches in height and weigh thirty pounds; they are composite groups of two or three individuals supported by two vertical bamboo ribs (p. 199).
- The Nang Sebek screen is over twenty feet long and eight feet high, with the base about three feet above the ground; illumination is provided by burning coconut shells on a bamboo platform sited centrally about nine feet to the rear (p. 200).
- A full Nang Sebek performance requires a team of 24: two Kru (head puppeteers/narrators), twelve puppeteers, and ten musicians (p. 200).
- The Nang Trolung screen is about ten feet wide and four feet high; figures average slightly less than two feet high with mobile arms at shoulder and elbow (p. 201).
- Suryavarman I, son of the Malay Raja of Ligor and his Khmer consort, conquered the eastern half of the Khmer kingdom in 1002 AD and ruled from the vicinity of Angkor for the next forty years (p. 203).
- Classical Indian shadow play figures are between four and five feet high, made from translucent goat skin, and manipulated by standing puppeteers behind a long screen (p. 202).
Conclusion
Sheppard concludes that the shadow play travelled from India to the Khmer kingdom in very ancient times, was then transmitted from the Khmers to the Malay peninsula during the period of close political and cultural contact in the 12th century, and that the small Khmer form (Nang Trolung) is the most likely direct ancestor of the surviving Malay shadow play of Kelantan and Trengganu.
Context
- Primary evidence is drawn from Sheppard’s direct observation of Khmer shadow play figures and performances in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in 1968, supplemented by consultation with local scholars and reference to the work of Indian and German puppetry researchers (Pischel, Lüders, Spies, Meinhard, Samar, Ramana Murthy).
- The article contributes to the historiography of shadow play transmission in Southeast Asia by challenging the Indonesia-mediated theory and proposing a direct Khmer-Malay route supported by both material comparison and political history.