# Khon
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{{Short description|Thai masked dance drama}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox performing art
| name = Khon
| image = Khon Thammasat 20090306 01.jpg
| caption = Khon performance at [Thammasat University](/source/Thammasat_University)
| medium = Dance drama theatre
| types =
| ancestor =
| descendant =
| culture = [Thai](/source/Culture_of_Thailand)
| era = [Ayutthaya Kingdom](/source/Ayutthaya_Kingdom)
}}
{{Infobox intangible heritage
| ICH = Khon, masked dance drama in Thailand
| State Party = Thailand
| ID = 01385
| Region = APA
| Year = 2018
| Session = 13th
| List = Representative
}}
{{Dance drama of Indochina
|image =
|caption =
}}
'''Khon''' ({{langx|th|โขน}}, {{IPA|th|kʰǒːn|pron}}) is a dance drama genre from [Thailand](/source/Thailand). Khon has been performed since the [Ayutthaya Kingdom](/source/Ayutthaya_Kingdom). Born from the harmonious blend of traditional Thai performing arts, Khon has flourished into a distinctive cultural treasure of Thailand.[{{cite news
|last1=Pungkanon |first1=Kupluthai |title=Majesty in the movements |url=https://www.nationthailand.com/detail/lifestyle/30353807 |access-date=6 September 2018 |work=The Nation |date=6 September 2018 |archive-date=5 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905230252/http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/lifestyle/30353807 |url-status=live }}]
It is traditionally performed solely in the royal court by men in masks accompanied by narrators and a traditional [piphat](/source/piphat) ensemble. A variation of this genre with female performers is called ''khon phu ying'' ({{lang|th|โขนผู้หญิง}}).
==History==
Khon is a Thai traditional dance which combines many arts like dance and drama. The provenance of Khon was based on [Ramayana](/source/Ramayana) and later developed to [Ramakien](/source/Ramakien) in the Thai style. Moreover it is mentioned in Thai literature's ''Lilit Phra Lo'' (c. 1529) which was written before the reign of [King Narai](/source/King_Narai).[Sri Venkatesvara University, Oriental Research Institute. (2004). ''Sri Venkateswara University Oriental Journal Vol. 47''. p. 23. "In the reign of King Narai, Monsieur de La Loubere, French ambassador to Siam, wrote about the Khon performance in which performers wore masks."
* Klamcharoen, A.. (1993). ''Sunthariyanattasin Thai'' [สุนทรียนาฏศิลป์ไทย]. (2nd ed.). Bangkok: OdiantStore. {{ISBN|974-276-340-2}}. p. 37. "คําว่า “โขน” ในหนังสือลิลิตพระลอในงานฉลองพระศพของพระลอ และพระเพื่อนพระแพงว่า “ขยายโรงโขนโรงรํารําระทาราวเทียน” ดังที่ได้กล่าวแล้ว “โขน” ได้มีมานานแล้วก่อนรัชสมัยสมเด็จพระนารายณ์"
* Phraiphibunyakit, N.. (1999). ''Khon'' [โขน]. Bangkok: Et Thi Phi Woen Media. 120 pp. {{ISBN|978-974-2-71132-0}}. p. 19. "คําว่า “โขน” กลับมีปรากฏไว้ในหนังสือของชาวต่างประเทศซึ่งกล่าวถึงศิลปะการเล่นของไทยในรัชสมัยสมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช"
* {{cite web |url=http://www.finearts.go.th/node/317 |title=ความรู้ทั่วไป | Knowledge | สำนักการสังคีต | ความรู้ทั่วไปโขน | FineArts Department |access-date=2013-11-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311085722/http://www.finearts.go.th/node/317 |archive-date=2012-03-11 }}][{{cite web|last1=Ritthiboon|first1=Pravit|title=History of Khone Drama|url=https://www.l3nr.org/posts/51516|website=L3Nr|access-date=16 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016070220/https://www.l3nr.org/posts/51516|archive-date=16 October 2017|url-status=dead}}]
[[File:Siamese theater group around 1900.jpg|thumb|A theater group from [Bangkok](/source/Bangkok) performed in [Berlin](/source/Berlin), 1900]]
Historical evidence shows that the Thai art of stage plays must have already been highly evolved by the 17th century. In 1687, King [Louis XIV](/source/Louis_XIV) of France sent a diplomat [Simon de la Loubère](/source/Simon_de_la_Loub%C3%A8re) to record all that he saw in the Ayutthaya Kingdom. In his famous account ''[Du Royaume de Siam](/source/Du_Royaume_de_Siam)'', La Loubère carefully observed the classic 17th century theatre of Siam, including an epic battle scene from a Khon performance, and recorded what he saw in great detail:
{{blockquote|''The Siamese have three sorts of Stage Plays: That which they call Cone [khôn] is a figure dance, to the sound of the violin and some other instruments. The dancers are masked and armed, and represent rather a combat than a dance. And though every one runs into high motions, and extravagant postures, they cease not continually to intermix some word. Most of their masks are hideous, and represent either monstrous Beasts, or kinds of Devils. The Show which they call Lacone is a poem intermix with Epic and Dramatic, which lasts three days, from eight in the morning till seven at night. They are histories in verse, serious, and sung by several actors always present, and which do only sing reciprocally .... The Rabam is a double dance of men and women, which is not martial, but gallant ... they can perform it without much tying themselves, because their way of dancing is a simple march round, very slow, and without any high motion; but with a great many slow contortions of the body and arms''.[{{cite book |last1=La Loubère |first1=Simon |title=The Kingdom of Siam |date=1693|page=49 |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition=1986}}]}}
Of the attire of Siamese Khôn dancers, La Loubère recorded that, "[T]hose that dance in Rabam, and Cone, have gilded paper-bonnets, high and pointed, like the Mandarins caps of ceremony, but which hang down at the sides below their ears, which are adorned with counterfeit stones, and with two pendants of gilded wood."[Rajan, S. (2005). ''South Indian Performance Traditions and Their Influence on Southeast Asia''. Chennai: Dravidian Arts Foundation. pp. 112–114.]
==Characters==
Khon roles are dictated by long-standing tradition. The principal characters are the heroes, the heroines, the ogres, and the monkeys. The monkeys are some of the most important roles in Khon.[Fine Arts Department of Thailand. (2011). *Khon: Thai Masked Dance Drama*. Bangkok: Ministry of Culture.] The best-known monkey characters in the story is the monkey warrior Hanuman.
Modern Khon contains many elements from the ''[lakhon nai](/source/lakhon_nai)'' and today, includes female performers playing female characters, formerly performed by men.[{{cite book|last1=Brandon|first1=James R|title=Theatre in Southeast Asia|date=1967|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=0674875877|url=https://archive.org/details/theatreinsouthea0000bran|url-access=registration|access-date=16 October 2017}}]{{RP|67}} While the ogre and monkey characters wear masks, most of the human characters do not.[Department of Cultural Promotion. (n.d.). "The Art of Khon Performance". Ministry of Culture, Thailand. Retrieved July 2025.]
==Performances==
Khon is based on the tales of the epic [Ramakien](/source/Ramakien) (Thai adaptation of Indian Hindu epic [Ramayana](/source/Ramayana)),[{{Cite web|url=https://www.esamskriti.com/essay-chapters/Historical-Ties-India-and-Thailand-1.aspx|title = Historical Ties India and Thailand}}] as [Thai literature](/source/Thai_literature) and [drama](/source/Thai_art) draws great inspiration from [Indian art](/source/Indian_art)s and [legend](/source/Hindu_mythology). Khon Ramakien originally could be performed by men only.