Kata

[muaythaimma]

Hi all. I am new to the forum, i will be travellling to thailand next month to do some muay thai training out there and travel the island to take in some of the cultre. before i go i am thinking of having another tattoo i have bein searching around and getting ideas and then i discoverd the work by ajarn noo think thats how you spell it lol. and i really like his design and what i no of the meaing of the yan-suea-koo but i dont no what the text says underneath appartnley it has been muddled so you can not copy it? is this true? if so does any one know what it should say? i would really appreciate the help as i want to get it done at home because i can not afford the prices of Ajarn and dont think i like the sound of how they tattoo. hope this dosent offend anyone and will it if i have it done in england and not thailand? i have uploaded the design below

many thanks brad

[kriswillems]

Could it be Cambodian?

The tigers make me think the text is related to Brahmanism(พราหมณ์ )

[aitch]

been so focussed on Thai, actually pulled out the "Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader" by Franklin E Huffman book that's been patiently waiting on my bookshelf. 99.9% sure that's Cambodian. that long curling line looks like what's called a "koo-mout". page 55 > "a full stop symbol that marks the absolute end of a text. it is usually reserved for poetic or religous texts" (shortened definition).

actually spent some time writing the Cambodian consonants. after going thru that for a couple weeks, writing Thai became much less dificult.

[Rikker]

I can't really read it, but I know it's Pali language written in Khmer script. Khmer (Cambodian) is used in Thailand for these "yantra" (ยันต์), mystical symbols believed to be endowed with power, and frequently tattooed (in which case they're called สักยันต์ "yantra tattoo", pronounced "sak-yan").

Anyhow, the "yan-suea-koo" (ยันต์เสือคู่ "pair of tigers yantra") is a famous one. I'm guessing you got that picture from this page on sak-yant.com, right?

On that page it says:

Kata phonetics can unfortunately not be done for this particular design, due to the fact that all the designs in Ajarn Noo’s books are written falsely as far as Kata go. This is to prevent copycats (which it doesn’t, some people just get it done anyway).

It's unclear what is meant by "written falsely". Perhaps they're unaware the script is Khmer? Anyhow, it's written in Khmer because that's been traditional since the days when the several Thai nation-states were essentially subjects of the Khmer empire, and Khmer was the official language of the empire. The use of Khmer in religious ritual is a remnant of that. I'll ask a friend of mine if he will decipher the Khmer and get back to you.

[meadish_sweetball]

It's unclear what is meant by "written falsely".

Could it be that they have replaced the magick spell in Khmer with a shopping list, decree on land transport, or something else not quite as esoteric?

[muaythaimma]

Hey

Thank you all for you input so far i wil keep reasearching and see what i can come up with i may just wait until i go to thailand and go to a temple and see if i can get the real meaning of the design. glad i joined the forum it seems there is a lot of clever people on hear and i am very intersted now in the whole cambodian view on it. hmmm

Many thanks

[Rikker]

Well, the meaning at its most basic seems clear enough -- it's supposed to bring you victory. The "full" name which I'm seeing mentioned online is ยันต์เสือคู่ (ศัตรูพ่าย), meaning "pair of tigers yantra (enemies defeated)".