Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Erawan Shrine

The story of the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok can be traced back to 1950s…

Construction of Erawan Hotel (now Grand Hyatt Erawan) was halted by a series of disasters: marble destined for the lobby disappeared at sea; workers died under mysterious circumstances, and cost overruns threatened to crush the project. Spirit doctors, desperately summoned for advice, commanded the hotel owners to erect a shrine for the Hindu deity of Maha Brahma. The mishaps ended and word of the miracle spread.

Today, the Erawan shrine hosts a continual circus of devotees bearing incense, flowers and images of the elephant god Erawan, the three-headed mount of Brahma. Supplicants whose prayers have been fulfilled often sponsor performance of Thai dance.

Erawan Shrine is also famous among Chinese, who mistakenly refer to Brahma as ‘Four-faced Buddha’.


Erawan Shrine...


The statue of Maha Brahma...


Devotee praying to the deity...


Dancers performing traditional dance at the request of devotees. I think the devotee in this picture is a tourist from Taiwan...


Offerings, in the form of elephant...


Reference: Carl Parkes, Thailand Handbook

6 comments:

  1. That taiwanese shd make a big wish last time, now she get 8 dancers to play "thank god dance" for the 4-face buddha.

    ReplyDelete
  2. sinji
    Perhaps your guess is right...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Now I know a little bit more about this tourist attraction. Thank you, KS. Nice pictures too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. happysurfer,
    Knowing is not good enough. Experience it if you can :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wei? show us the sleazy side of thailand lah. The go-go bars...the massage parlors ..hahaha~

    ReplyDelete
  6. aiyo cocka,
    Cannot take picture inside the bar lah. Next time must bring a camera phone, take picture secretly...

    ReplyDelete