Listen to Jakhae

     It is believed that the jakhae is a further development of the earlier phin instrument. It is made to be played sitting horizontally on the floor or ground. The player sits on the floor or ground also. In order to make it seem more natural in this position, in the old days the case or body of the instrument was made in the shape of a crocodile and the front part carved to represent the crocodile’s jaws. However, the body was also made hollow to serve as a resonance chamber. The word for crocodile in Thai is jaw-ra-khae, which was gradually shortened jakhae after it became the name of the instrument. The Indian phin type instruments (vina or bina), from which the jakhae was probably evolved, were made in the shape of a peacock, the upper end being the tail. This instrument was called ma-yu-ri, which means peacock. Today the jakhae body is made more simply and usually without carving and can be considered to resemble the body of a crocodile only in a general, rather stylized way. Also because it is more convenient, today the instrument is made in two parts—the long, narrow neck and the body or sound box, each side of which bulges out. There are three strings along the top of the body—one of brass wire and two of gut—each of which is attached to a peg on the side of the neck end, or, with this instrument, the “ tail “ end. From the pegs the strings pass out of the instrument and through a high support or bridge which, with the normal bridge on the sound bow, suspends the strings over the 11 frets.

     The jakhae has been used by the Thai since at least the first part of the Ayuthaya period (c.1357 A.D.—B.E. 1900) for it is mentioned in the court regulations of that time. But it appears that it has been used in the string ensemble only since the time of King Rama I (1782-1809). Before this, the jakhae may have been considered an instrument more suitable for solo playing. Some authorities say that the Cambodians also had a jakhae type instrument with a shape resembling a crocodile. Today the instrument is considered distinctively Thai and one of the Thai instruments having a particularly lovely tone. It is an important member of all string ensembles.

     The name Krajappii comes from the Javanese word Gatchapi, which comes from the Pali-Sanskrit word, "gatchapa," which mean turtle.  Perhaps in the old days it was thought that the resonance chamber of the instrument resembled the turtle shell.  But whatever the origin, the Javanese name was used though it is doubtful if the model for the instrument came from Java.  It probably came to the Indo-Chinese peninsula, of the ancient Khmer or Cambodian kingdom during the time of the king of Srivijaya.