Phraya Anuman Rajadhon
Thai nobleman
Phraya Anuman Rajadhon (Thai: พระยาอนุมานราชธน; RTGS: Phraya Anuman Ratchathon, also spelled Phaya Anuman Rajadhon or Phrayā Anuman Rajadhon; December 14, 1888 – July 12, 1969), was one of modern Thailand's most remarkable scholars. He was a self-trained linguist, anthropologist and ethnographer who became an authority on the culture of Thailand. His name was Yong Sathirakoses (Thai: ยง เสฐียรโกเศศ, RTGS: Sathiankoset); Phraya Anuman Rajadhon was his noble title. He also took his family name, Sathirakoses, as a pen name by which he is well known.
His prolific work and his interest in a multitude of culture-related fields, from folklore to sociology, set the foundations for a long-lasting cultural awareness among young Thai scholars.
Phraya Anuman Rajadhon was the first Thai scholar to conduct a serious study of Thai folkloristics, taking notes on the nocturnal village spirits of Thai folklore. He established that since such spirits were not represented in paintings or drawings, they were purely based on popular traditional oral stories. Thus most of the contemporary iconography of ghosts such as Nang Tani, Nang Ta-khian, Krasue, Krahang, Phi Am, Phi Hua Kat, Phi Pop, Phi Phong, Phi Phraya, Phi Tai Hong and Mae Nak Phra Khanong has its origins in Thai films that have become classics.
Biography
Moved by an innate curiosity and having an eye for detail, Phya Anuman Rajadhon observed and took notes on Thai society at a crucial time when much of the traditional culture was being overwhelmed by modernity. As years went by he studied in depth the language, popular customs, oral tradition, social norms and the value system of the Thai people.
“Phraya Anuman Rajadhon” enters the record as thai nobleman. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Phraya, Anuman and Rajadhon can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4923648. VIAF identifies the subject as 24645157. The Library of Congress control number is n82098848. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1888 and 1969.
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This entry incorporates text from “Phraya Anuman Rajadhon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.