{
 "schema": 1,
 "id": "bia-kae",
 "level": "kind",
 "parent": null,
 "names": {
  "th": "เบี้ยแก้",
  "roman": "bia kae",
  "en": "Bia kae (warding cowrie)",
  "aliases": {
   "th": [
    "เบี้ยจั่น",
    "เบี้ยแก้หลวงปู่บุญ"
   ],
   "roman": [
    "bia gae",
    "bia kae"
   ],
   "en": [
    "mercury cowrie",
    "counter-charm cowrie"
   ]
  }
 },
 "region": [
  "th-central"
 ],
 "axes": {
  "class": "yantra_wattu",
  "functions": [
   "maha_ut",
   "kan_phi",
   "khum_khrong"
  ],
  "materials": [
   "takua"
  ],
  "figures": [
   "natural"
  ]
 },
 "form": {
  "type": "shell",
  "shape_th": "เปลือกหอยเบี้ย บรรจุปรอท อุดปากด้วยชันโรง หุ้มตะกั่วแผ่นบาง ถักเชือก ลงรักปิดทอง",
  "shape_en": "A cowrie shell filled with mercury, its mouth stopped with stingless-bee resin, wrapped in beaten lead, plaited with cord, lacquered and gilded",
  "size_mm": null,
  "wearable_th": "ห้อยคอหรือคาดเอว มักใส่ตลับ",
  "wearable_en": "Worn at neck or waist, often cased",
  "obverse_th": "หลังหอยโค้ง มักมองไม่เห็นใต้เชือกถัก",
  "obverse_en": "The domed back of the shell, usually hidden under the plaiting",
  "reverse_th": "ปากหอยที่อุดไว้ หุ้มตะกั่วลงตัว นะ มหาอุด",
  "reverse_en": "The sealed mouth under lead, inscribed with the na maha-ut glyph",
  "notes_en": "Shake it: the trade listens for the mercury moving inside. That is a type-level expectation, not a test of any piece."
 },
 "iconography": [
  {
   "th": "ตัว นะ มหาอุด ในวงกลม ลงบนตะกั่ว",
   "en": "the na maha-ut glyph in a circle on the lead wrap"
  }
 ],
 "origin": {
  "wat_slug": null,
  "wat_th": "วัดกลางบางแก้ว",
  "wat_en": "Wat Klang Bang Kaeo",
  "maker_th": "ท่านเจ้าคุณพุทธวิถีนายก (หลวงปู่บุญ) ตามที่ตำราระบุ",
  "maker_en": "Chao Khun Phutthawithinayok, Luang Pu Bun, per the treatise's own ascription",
  "era_th": "ตำราไม่ระบุปี",
  "era_en": "Undated treatise; the ascription is the treatise's, not verified here",
  "place_th": "นครปฐม ภาคกลาง",
  "place_en": "Central Thailand",
  "first_attested": ""
 },
 "diagnostics": [
  {
   "th": "เป็นหอยเบี้ยจริง ไม่ใช่หล่อ — ฟันหอยที่ปากอาจโผล่ใต้ตะกั่ว",
   "en": "A real cowrie, not a casting: the shell's toothed lip may show at the edge of the lead",
   "source": "s:th-wiki-bia-kae",
   "tier": "cited"
  },
  {
   "th": "ปากหอยอุดชันโรงแล้วหุ้มตะกั่วแผ่บาง",
   "en": "Mouth stopped with underground stingless-bee resin, then sheeted over with beaten lead",
   "source": "s:ms6983",
   "tier": "catalogue"
  },
  {
   "th": "ถักเชือก ลงรัก ปิดทอง — ผิวนอกจึงเป็นเชือกรักดำทองเก่า",
   "en": "Finished by cord plaiting, lacquer and gilding; the outer skin reads as dark lacquered cord with worn gold",
   "source": "s:ms6983",
   "tier": "catalogue"
  },
  {
   "th": "ตำรากำหนดปรอทหนัก ๑ บาท — น้ำหนักในมือมากกว่าหอยเปล่า",
   "en": "The recipe loads one baht-weight of mercury; a bia kae is heavy for its size next to an empty shell",
   "source": "s:ms6983",
   "tier": "catalogue"
  }
 ],
 "confusable_with": [
  {
   "id": "takrut",
   "tell_th": "ตะกรุดเป็นแผ่นม้วน เบี้ยแก้เป็นหอย ถักเชือกเหมือนกัน",
   "tell_en": "Both get the plaited-cord finish; a takrut is a rolled sheet with a cord channel, a bia kae a shell with no channel and a domed back."
  },
  {
   "id": "khot-kala",
   "tell_th": "คดกะลาเป็นก้อนแข็งในกะลา ไม่ผ่านพิธี เบี้ยแก้สร้างด้วยพิธี",
   "tell_en": "A khot kala is a natural concretion kept as found, its class natural talisman; a bia kae is manufactured and consecrated, its class inscribed object."
  },
  {
   "id": "lek-lai",
   "tell_th": "เหล็กไหลเป็นโลหะดำมัน ไม่ใช่หอย",
   "tell_en": "Lek lai is a dark lustrous metal held to be alive; a bia kae is a shell whose weight is mercury. Different class, different story."
  }
 ],
 "market": {
  "search": [
   "เบี้ยแก้"
  ],
  "excludes": [],
  "tier": "both"
 },
 "media": {
  "commons_categories": [],
  "commons_files": [],
  "wanted_en": "No free photograph on Wikimedia Commons as of 2026-09-02 (searches on เบี้ยแก้, bia kae, cowrie amulet returned nothing relevant). Needed: the plaited piece whole, the sealed mouth, and an unbound cowrie beside it for scale."
 },
 "images": [],
 "text": {
  "what_th": "หอยเบี้ยบรรจุปรอทผนึกไว้ ถักเชือกหรือหุ้มโลหะ เครื่องราง แก้ คลาสสิกที่หันภัยและคุณไสยออกไป ตำราในคลังนี้มีวิธีสร้างที่ระบุว่าเป็นของหลวงปู่บุญ วัดกลางบางแก้ว",
  "what_en": "A cowrie shell loaded with sealed mercury and bound in cord or foil — the classic 'undoer' that turns aside harm and bad medicine. The formulary in this corpus carries a making ascribed to Luang Pu Bun of Wat Klang Bang Kaew.",
  "story_th": "ตำราให้เสกปรอทหนัก ๑ บาทด้วยคาถา อะสิสะติธะนู ๑๐๘ คาบ กรอกลงหอยเบี้ย เสกคาถาปิด ๑๐๘ คาบ อุดปากหอยด้วยชันโรงใต้ดินพร้อมบริกรรม โธอุทธัง ธังอุทโธ ๑๐๘ คาบ แผ่ตะกั่วหุ้ม ลง นะ มหาอุด ถักเชือก ลงรักปิดทอง แล้วปลุกเสกด้วยอิติปิโสแปดด้าน ๑๐๘ คาบ ใช้ทางมหาอุด กันการกระทำ กันผีปอบผีป่า",
  "story_en": "The treatise consecrates one baht-weight of mercury with the asisati-thanu formula 108 times, pours it into the cowrie, seals it with a closing katha 108 times, stops the mouth with underground stingless-bee resin while reciting tho-utthang 108 times, sheets it in beaten lead inscribed with the na maha-ut glyph, plaits, lacquers and gilds it, and wakes it with the eight-direction Itipiso 108 times. It is for maha-ut, against sorcery-workings, and against pob and forest ghosts. Thai Wikipedia adds the trade's condition: the keeper must think and act well or it may not hold.",
  "keeping_th": "ไม่มีผู้อยู่ ไม่ต้องเลี้ยง",
  "keeping_en": "Nobody home, nothing owed. Safe to adopt with unknown history; mercury inside, so do not open it."
 },
 "sources": [
  "s:holding-key",
  "s:vault-classes",
  "s:ms6983",
  "s:th-wiki-bia-kae",
  "s:amulet-reference",
  "s:tradition"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "catalogue",
   "source": "s:ms6983",
   "note": "bilingual.md lines 3496–3497 (printed p. 93)"
  },
  "fields": {
   "axes": {
    "tier": "catalogue",
    "source": "s:vault-classes"
   },
   "text.what_en": {
    "tier": "catalogue",
    "source": "s:holding-key"
   },
   "text.keeping_en": {
    "tier": "catalogue",
    "source": "s:vault-classes"
   },
   "names.aliases": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:th-wiki-bia-kae"
   },
   "form.wearable_en": {
    "tier": "tradition",
    "source": "s:tradition"
   },
   "form.notes_en": {
    "tier": "tradition",
    "source": "s:tradition"
   },
   "origin.place_en": {
    "tier": "tradition",
    "source": "s:tradition"
   },
   "market": {
    "tier": "catalogue",
    "source": "s:holding-key"
   }
  }
 },
 "confidence": "high",
 "needs_verification": false,
 "updated": "2026-09-02",
 "class_facts": {
  "key": "yantra_wattu",
  "term": "วัตถุมงคล (ยันต์)",
  "roman": "wattu mongkhon",
  "en_gloss": "blessed/inscribed object",
  "resident": "none",
  "upkeep": "none",
  "provenance_sensitivity": "low",
  "definition": "Takrut, yantra cloth, blessed medallions — power in the inscription and the rite. Impersonal.",
  "confidence": "high"
 },
 "function_terms": [
  {
   "key": "maha_ut",
   "term": "มหาอุด",
   "roman": "maha ut",
   "en": "stopping projectiles / misfire",
   "definition": "Literally \"greatly stopped-up\". The gun jams, misfires, or the shot does not penetrate. The efficacy is located in the weapon, not the body."
  },
  {
   "key": "kan_phi",
   "term": "กันผี",
   "roman": "kan phi",
   "en": "warding spirits",
   "definition": "Against ผี specifically — the dead, the hungry, the malicious — not against human violence. A different threat model from คงกระพัน entirely."
  },
  {
   "key": "khum_khrong",
   "term": "คุ้มครอง",
   "roman": "khum khrong",
   "en": "general protection, watching over",
   "definition": "Unspecified guardianship. **A holding pen, not a category** — when a source says only คุ้มครอง it usually has not said which of the specific functions above it means. Treat its presence as a gap to close, not an answer."
  }
 ],
 "material_terms": [
  {
   "key": "takua",
   "term": "ตะกั่ว",
   "roman": "takua",
   "en": "lead",
   "definition": "Lead, used both as an alloy component in ชิน and on its own — most visibly as the sheet rolled into ตะกรุด. Soft enough to take an inscription with a stylus, which is the whole reason it is used for rolled amulets."
  }
 ],
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "th-central",
   "th": "ภาคกลาง",
   "en": "Central Thailand (Bangkok, Ayutthaya basin)"
  }
 ],
 "market_stats": {
  "listings": 275,
  "priced": 275,
  "median_thb": 119.0,
  "typical_thb": [
   39.0,
   490.0
  ],
  "source": "s:catalog-db",
  "tier": "catalogue",
  "note": "title matches only; delete-then-test excludes applied"
 },
 "primary_image": null,
 "tier_labels": {
  "en": {
   "catalogue": "Catalogue — checkable against the corpus (catalog.db, a transcribed treatise)",
   "cited": "Cited — a named external source, linked",
   "tradition": "Tradition — general knowledge of the wider tradition, hedged",
   "inference": "Inference — this project's own reasoning from the above",
   "field": "Field — someone stood there"
  },
  "th": {
   "catalogue": "จากคลัง",
   "cited": "อ้างอิงแหล่ง",
   "tradition": "ตามประเพณี",
   "inference": "อนุมาน",
   "field": "พบเห็นเอง"
  }
 }
}