The Use of Anisong Manuscripts at Funerals in Northern Thailand and Laos

The anisong manuscripts in this case study specify the rewards gained by people taking part in different funeral procedures and reflect various stages of the physical decay of corpses. The manuscripts were read aloud by monks who held sermons to affirm karmic rewards. Monks and novices were more familiar with Buddhist textual sources than laypeople and played a significant role in the production of anisong manuscripts. Many of the manuscripts in the examined corpus reveal textual revisions and (non-)textual paracontent associ ated with the interaction of the preaching monks and their sermon audiences. Since the funeral procedures were rituals performed again and again, the man uscripts were not just circulated but regrouped as necessary, and were also recopied, thereby serving as master versions from which to produce further exemplars.