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Intellectual Cultural Heritage
77
Most of the decorative motifs might look similar to
the uninitiated eyes but they are actually different. Each
carver has the freedom to choose the motifs that he
prefers and arrange them in any way that he wishes
to do. These traditional motifs to choose from are, for
example,
Lai Met Khao San
(rice grain motif),
Lai Dok
(flower motif),
Lai Yoi
(drooping motif),
Lai Khruea
(vine
motif, a kind of Thai arabesque).
Carved cart building presently risks disappearing
because animal-drawn carts are obsolete today and the
raw materials for making them are running out. The
cart-makers and craftsmen had to change to other
profess ion, and consequent ly, the ar t of carved
cart-making risk disappearing forever.
Carved Cart
Traditional Thai cart or
kwian
has two wheels and
is pulled by a water buffalo or an ox. It is used for
transport and travelling long distances. Most carts are
constructed from hard woods such as blackwood,
Siamese redwood, Burmese rosewood, and Malabar
ironwood.
Cart-making requires the knowledge and skill
to calculate the right proportion of the structure and
components to correspond to the function that the cart
will serve. The right kind of wood must be selected for
each component to suit the load, shock and friction the
cart will be subjected to. The principal production source
centres in Ban Na Samai Village, Nasamai Sub-district,
Mueang Municipal District, Yasothon Province.
One unique characteristic of the cart created at
Ban Na Samai Village is in the decorative carvings all
over the car t , hence the name Kwian Salak Lai
(Carved cart). The cart body and other components are
decoratively carved, such as, the
paen chan
(footboard),
the
hua thon
, the
khan yan
, the
paet
or
praek
(cotter),
the
hua thuak
(head of the cart’s pole), the
khan thup
kwian
(the cart’s pole), the
hua tao na
and the
hua tao
lang
(front and back joists of the cart’s cot), the
khan na
and the
khan lang
(front and back joists of the cart), and
the
kong phlao
(axle). The
hua thuak
of the Nasamai
carved cart is slightly curved down. The cart’s cot is
separately built to be assembled later by placing it
directly onto the joist framework and cart’s pole can also
be disassembled as required.