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Saang Pam
The Birth Saang of Children Born on Monday
KPC II; 108.
...Saang nam [? patches} are about the size of a leaf of
the Chinese date,^ and the red colour of the almost ripe fruit of Ceylon spinach.^ They come up on the back and sides, or on the arms and chest. There are no major
pustules, and the baby will not die from this. The doctor should examine it carefully, then treat it with these medicines...
KPC III, 2; 143.
{Saang nam has already been described on p. 180,^ but
some of the details are different. These are given here for you to decide which version to accept.)
...Saang nam has nineteen major pustules about the size of
Chinese date leaves, and the red colour of the almost ripe fruit of Ceylon spinach. The pustules appear on the legs, in the centre of the back, on the shins, and on both cheeks, erupting one at a time until the child is two and a half years old. Then they break, suppurate, and form sores all over the body, after which they dry, and withdraw inside the body. As a result, the child’s head and body become hot, and it has abdominal pain. The doctor should first give medicine to expel the saang completely, then give a dose of the medicine four or five times to help it recover. He should be on the alert for the minor saang Lsaang faail
and saang la-ong,5 as it is very serious if they both come
at the same time, because the saang nam will then be severe too. If saang faai, la saeng p h r a c h a nwhich is the la of
saang n a m, and la-ong kaeo witchian,? which is its form of
la-ong p h r a b a a tall affect the child; then it is as if
it were under the influence of Rähü Usee p. 57, note 53.
1 phutsaa w i t t Zizyphus jujuber Lamk. The Chinese date
or Indian jujube. The leaf is oval, and about an inch wide. The wild fruit is the size of a cherry, the cultivated fruit is eggsize. (VJ)
2 phak plang tfmJfo Basella rubra L. Ceylon spinach. (VJ)
3 Misprint, actually p. 108.
4 saang faai eTnu cotton saang. Not to be confused with saang
fai, fire saang, one of the birth saang.
5 saang la-ong See p. 27, note 2; and Chapter 6, p p . 78-82. The
1871 text has 'la and la-ong'. These are mouth diseases associated with birth saang.
6 la saeng phrachan moonlight la.
7 la-ong kaeo witchian asaO'Uin'alifluy diamond la-ong. Kaeo witchian, a form of
follicular pharyngitis; an infantile disease. Me, p. 130.
8 la-ong phrabaat the dust of the royal feet; the dust
of the Buddha's footprint. For descriptions of la and la-ong, see Chapter 6, pp. 78-82.
KPC IV; 186.
About three months after leaving the fire Cat
approximately four months of age9, babies born on Monday or Wednesday in the morning or at midday will have saang nan or saang sako respectively. This starts in the throat, and grows up over the palate and mouth,* while another patch comes up to the base of the tongue from the outside of the intestines producing a scaly lesion resembling the Clargei scales of the carp. Then it becomes inflamed, and sores develop at the rectum, after which the child has diarrhoea with red stained faeces, is thirsty, and listless. If the doctor gives the appropriate medicine, the baby's life will be saved £see p. 45 , note 2 5.
KPC IV; 192.
If a child born on Monday becomes ill, it is because of the element water. The birth saang is saang nan.^ If it comes up on the tongue, the baby cannot eat or drink, and has diarrhoea and vomiting. The vomit is like rice water and mashed boiled eggs.
Saang Daeng
The Birth Saang of Children Born on Tuesday KPC II; 99-101.
o o o
Saang nin looks like this: * ° ° Ccf. p. 449. One day after birth, there are o> <o o three pustules in the crown of the head, and five in the spine. There are three pustules in the crown, and no khamao while the child is by the fire. After leaving the fire, there will be khamao and taan saang. To be certain of his diagnosis, the doctor should examine the pustules on the baby very carefully. The saang in the crown will move to the palate, where it will erupt with one, three, or four heads; and when this happens, there
is no khamao while by the fire or afterwards. Two or three months later Cwhen the infant is three or four months old9, the saang spreads to the gums and jaws, causing general aches and pains, vomiting, diarrhoea, thirst, flatulence, and inability to eat. In three months Caged six or seven months!], it appears on the neck in a red pattern that looks like popped rice, and the anus and urethra are red. After another three months Cnine or ten months old9, the saang nin subsides, and is replaced by saang daeng, which appears at the throat and the body orifices. If the saang nin was in the cheeks, then saang daeng erupts in the gums, in front of the teeth, and in the upper jaw, at the angles of the jaw. If the doctor notices that the pustules in the gums and angles of the jaw have black heads and yellow bases, then he must not treat this Csee p. 45, note 29, If, despite this warning, he treats the baby, the doctor is forbidden to give drastic purgatives, because, if he does this, the child is sure to die. If the saang in the
1 Misprint of 'paan' <^r>‘w for 'paak' “dnn. 2 Misprint of 'rue' vifo for 'khue' .
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1
2
3
throat is red, and goes away by itself, then it will certainly develop internally. Then, in three months time Ewhen the child is one year old!, the saang in the crown moves to the right side of the spine. If the baby is a girl,
it comes up on the left side, close to the backbone. It has six heads. Six months later Eat one and a half years of age:, they all withdraw together, and recur internally like this:
-Tiy-'-' * o o t» o c ° c oQ c o c a o
t»oO
If the doctor is certain that this is the case,^- he should be very careful about the medicine he gives, as the disease will cause diarrhoea, vomiting, thirst, a high temperature, and cold hands and feet; and the diarrhoea will last for seven days. Then the baby will have dysentery for nine days, then pass foul
blood for seven days.2 La-ong follows, appearing in the mouth and throat, at first causing coughing. Then it breaks, and cracks, and comes up at both the underarms like the rough tubercles of red boraphety^ like this:
£ I
«öd ca 0
. When it erupts in thee> e O © o°
throat it is like this: ° then, indeed, symptoms of
saang will appear in the feet, and this is the sign
of death. The doctor should be able to distinguish between the symptoms of the various types of saang which afflict all infants. He should examine the baby's legs very carefully, from the ankles up, to see if the flesh is as rough as the skin of the feet. Whenever this occurs in a child, it has diarrhoea at first, then pants and gets breathless. The 70 followers of saang daeng then erupt on every bone, in the flesh, in the intestines, inside the long muscles of the back Ebeside the spine:, and spread all over the body. And
the major pustules of saang develop in the important parts - one in the pubic area, one in the abdomen, one in the upper chest, one in the crown, one in the throat, and one in the eye. And the sign of death will show in the eyes. The whites will be blood red. Once all these symptoms of saang daeng have occurred at the same time, the baby will die in nine days.
Dissection of bodies is contrary to Thai custom, but the internal effects of disease could have been observed in bodies exposed to the ravages of birds of prey, for example. Also, the doctor's experience might tell him that this is probably the case, just as Western doctors can knox^, without modern technological aids, with reasonable certainty, that someone has appendicitis. The
illustration is, doubtless, symbolic, but it does indicate that some sort of pustular lesion has been observed on the internal organs. In the museum at Wat Bovornivet, in Bangkok, specimens of all the substantial elements of the body are displayed, which seems to contradict the notion that dissection is not carried out. It is quite remarkable that young babies should survive such an ordeal, but evidently they do, because la-ong follows.
boraphet daeng uos-s m m i e u This could be Tinospora
crispa. (VJ) Alternatively, Stephania sp. Winit Wanandorn,
Chue phan mai haeng prathet Thai (Thai plant names) (Bangkok: