Wat Pra Kaew

[khiemtran]

Third stop in this highlights tour of Bangkok, is Wat Pra Kaew, home of the Emerald Buddha, and part of the Grand Palace.




Wat Pra Kaew is the most sacred Wat in Thailand, and is thronged by visitors both local and foreign.



First up, inside the gates, you are greeted by the Hermit Doctor.



Then an impressive array of stupas. Each of these holds Buddhist relics. You can see the classic bell shape on the left and a prang-shaped one on the right. There's actually a whole taxonomy of stupas with subtle variations each having different meanings.



This is a scale model of the temple at Angkor Wat. Note the prangs, whose shape should be pretty familiar by now.



A close up of the lions by the gate of the model.



Statues of kinnara, half-bird, half-human creatures, abound.



Kinnara in front of various stupas and a prang.



This is the view from outside the building housing the Emerald Buddha. No photography was permitted inside, but here's a link to the wikipedia article. The Emerald Buddha is possibly the most sacred object in Thailand and may only be touched by the King. Its provenance is also quite extraordinary. Although there are legends describing its origins, no one really knows who made it before it appeared (possibly unearthed in a temple after a lightning strike) in the fifteenth century. It is also a kind of war trophy - being held at various times by just about each of the major powers in the region, just as each of them had their turn of domination over their neighbours.
[Edited: actually, that's not quite true. After going over the events again, it looks like the Burmese never actually possessed the Emerald Buddha because it was in Vientiane at the time they sacked Ayutthaya. Although they do feature in some of the legends about the statue's origins.] Note that there's also a Haw Phra Kaew in Laos where the Emerald Buddha used to reside.

Seeing it in person was a special moment, and its modest size compared with the massive statues in some of the other temples only made it seem more precious. When I was there it was wearing its "rainy season" clothing (the King changes its clothing three times a year to match the three Thai seasons).

On now to some more photos from the temple grounds...

Comments

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

Those look great, thanks for sharing! Making me wish for a Bangkok stopover on our way to Vietnam :)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Are you off to Vietnam again soon? (My parents just came back from a trip there and I was discussing with one of my sisters about when we might be able to bring the kids over.)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yet another place we visited too close to closing time to do it real justice, so thank you for these photos. It is nice to get to study the details and those oh-so-rich colors. :)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

They're really vivid, aren't they? I forgot to mention that those last pictures are from the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Ramayana.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I had this entry open from last night. I think it's responsible for my dreaming about Laos (even though you only mention Laos in passing).

Maybe the emerald Buddha only reappeared in this world of hours and days after the lightning strike.

I love the kinnara. I'll have to do a google search and see what legends and stories involve them.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

After doing some more reading (as one does), it looks like it may have been find inside a stupa that was damaged by lightning (which figures, that's the most obvious place where a precious relic might have been hidden). Although it does raise the question of just what else might be forgotten about under all those other stupas. (I remember reading of a temple in Japan with a venerated object that it is referred to only as "the object" because no-one knows (or is telling) what the object actually is.)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I see definite story potential here....