Bangkok, Lord Brahma is back at Erawan Shrine

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Sunday May 21 2006

 

Phra Prom (Lord Brahma) returns to Erawan Shrine

 

In a ritual harking back to Thailand's Hindu roots, a reconstructed

Brahman statue was paraded Sunday to the Erawan shrine in the heart of

Bangkok, where hundreds of worshippers were on hand to welcome the

revered deity.

 

A procession of lion dances and gong-bangers escorted a motorcade

transporting the renovated statue from the Fine Arts Department,

leaving at exactly 11:39 a.m., to the Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok,

where more than 1,000 worshippers including Thai Prime Minister Thaksin

Shinawatra awaited it.

 

The orginal Phra Prom statue was destroyed exactly two months ago by a

mentally ill man who was forthwith beaten to death, allegedly by guards

of the shrine.

 

"I feel at peace now that Phra Phom has returned to the shrine and we

can worship him again," said Absorn Keowsopha, 52, one of hundreds of

mostly elderly women dressed in white who had gathered outside the

shrine to welcome the returning Hindu god.

 

Many of the worshippers wrote down the license plate number of the car

carrying the statue in the hopes that it would prove the lucky lottery

draw.

 

Thai Culture Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who presided over the

placement of the statue, noted that the government had made two copies,

keeping the second at the National Museum in case of another mishap.

 

The shrine, built in 1956 to ward off bad luck at the adjacent Erawan

Hotel, is one of Thailand's most popular places of worship, especially

among those seeking good fortune in business, love, the birth of a male

child or a lottery jackpot.

 

The destruction of the Brahman statue was deemed a national disaster,

prompting predictions of the fall of Prime Minister Thaksin and

political upheaval for the country.

 

The government quickly ordered a replacement statue built.

 

Although Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party went on to win a snap election

on April 2, the poll was annulled earlier this month and Thailand is

currently being managed by a caretaker administration until a new

election can be held later this year.

 

Rear Admiral Luang Suwichanphaet, a specialist in astrology, first

advised the Erawan Hotel management to construct a shrine for the

statue on the corner of its property, to ensure good fortune after the

hotel ran into a spate of unlucky accidents.

 

The Erawan Hotel was bought by the Hyatt hotel group about 14 years

ago.

 

The shrine is a popular place of worship for Buddhists and Hindus from

Thailand and abroad, especially among tourists from Hong Kong and

Singapore.

 

Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country but many popular religious

practices hark back to Hinduism, the first world religion to be adopted

in the Southeast Asian nation. - (dpa)

 

 

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