Spreading the Dhamma: Writing, Orality and Textual Transmission in Buddhist Northern Thailand. Drawing on a vast array of primary sources, the author Daniel Veidlinger traces the role of written Buddhist texts in the predominantly oral milieu of the kingdom of La Na in northern Thailand from the 15th to the 19th centuries. He examines how the written word was assimilated into existing Buddhist and monastic practice in the region, and the place of writing in the cultic and ritual life of the faithful. He also considers the manuscripts themselves, the people who sponsored them and the rivalry between monks who want to maintain the oral tradition of transmission and those who support the new medium of writing. Throughout, he emphasizes the influence of the changing modes of communication on social and intellectual life. With notes, bibliography and index.