Nong Han Kumphawapi Lake

Nong Han Kumphawapi Lake
Location	Udon Thani Province, Thailand
Coordinates	17°10′N 103°02′E / 17.167°N 103.033°E / 17.167; 103.033Coordinates: 17°10′N 103°02′E / 17.167°N 103.033°E / 17.167; 103.033
Primary inflows	Huai Phai Chan Yai
Primary outflows	Lam Pao
Basin countries	Thailand
Max. length	7 km
Max. width	3 km
Surface area	1.7 km² (including wetland 4.1 km²)
Average depth	1.9 m
Surface elevation	170m

Nong Han Kumphawapi (Thai: หนองหานกุมภวาปี, pronounced [nɔ̌ːŋ hǎːn kumpʰawaːpiː], often just Nong Han, lit. Goose wetland) is a lake in Northeast Thailand, located north of the town Kumphawapi, Kumphawapi district, Udon Thani Province.

The lake is very shallow, mostly not exceeding a depth of 1 meter. The open water area of 1.7 km² is surrounded by a wetland covering 4.1 km², including rice paddies.

In 2001 the lake was declared a wetland of international importance by the Thai government.

Etymology

Nong (Thai: หนอง) means swamp, bog or fen. Because this one lies within the area of Amphoe Kumphawapi, it is also called Nong Han Kumphawapi. Han means goose, Kumpha is Pali for Water Pitcher, the Hindu zodiac name for the sign of Aquarius; -wapi is Sanskrit for pond.^[1]

Folklore

Phadaeng and Nang Ai

Phangkhi

From the very beginning Nong Han played a part in the story of Phadaeng & Nang Ai.^[2] In summary, Nang Ai was the daughter of King Kom who ruled the country of Chathida. The beauty of Nang Ai was famed far and wide — and Deep. Many very much desired a royal wedding with her, and not all were men. Amongst the many who would wed Nang Ai were Prince Phadaeng, a man from another land, and Prince Pangkhii, who had wed Nang Ai in former lives but in this one was the son of Phaya Nak, the Grand Nāga who rules the Deeps. So many suitors desired to wed Nang Ai that her father staged a Rocket Festival competition, the winner to enjoy a royal wedding. But hopes were dashed when only rockets of her uncles make it aloft, and her father calls the whole thing off. Naga Prince Pangkhii shape-shifts into a white squirrel to spy on Nang Ai, but she espies him and has him killed by a royal hunter. Pangkhii's flesh magically transforms into meat equal to 8,000 cartloads (a metric cartload is 2,000 litres). Nang Ai and many of her countrymen ate of this tainted flesh, and Phaya Nak vowed to allow no one to remain living who had eaten of the flesh of his son. Aroused from the Deeps, he and his watery myrmidons rise and turn the land into a vast swamp — of which this very Nong Han is a remnant. See them fleeing at the Ancient Siam Garden of Pha Daeng-Nang Ai.

References

1. ^ Dictionary of the Royal Institute of Thailand (1982)
2. ^ Tossa, Wajuppa (1990). Phādāēng Nāng Ai : a translation of a Thai-Isan folk epic in verse. Includes bibliographical references. London and Toronto: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 0838751393. 

External links

• "Wetlands of South East Asia". ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation. http://www.arcbc.org.ph/wetlands/thailand/tha_nonhankum.htm. 

Krungsri Documentary (in Thai)

Story of Phadaeng and Nang Ai (in Thai)

• "Holocene Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction Based on Microfossil Analysis of a Lake Sediment Core, Nong Han Kumphawapi, Udon Thani, Northeast Thailand". Asian Perspectives, 1996 - Volume 35, Number 2 (Fall). University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu). 1996. hdl:10125/17082. "Pollen, phytolith, and charcoal analyses are presented for a Holocene lake sediment core taken from Nong Han (Lake) Kumphawapi, Udon Thani, Northeast Thailand. Major changes appear in the record at approximately 6500 calibrated years B.P. with the establishment of permanent swamp or lake conditions at the core site and a decline in regional arboreal taxa. These changes are difficult to explain in simple climatic terms and are inconsistent with other climatic reconstructions for the region. A coincident increase in disturbance indicators in the microfossil record may reflect human activities, particularly changes to dryland vegetation through the use of fire. The technique appears to be insensitive to the development of intensive wet-rice agriculture, which almost certainly occurred during the period represented by the microfossil record. Despite this, the results indicate good potential for further detailed microfossil analyses at Nong Han Kumphawapi. KEYWORDS: palaeoenvironmental analysis, pollen, origins of rice, Thailand, Southeast Asia."