Erawan Shrine

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View of the shrine from the skytrain

The four-faced Brahma (Phra Phrom) statue

Flowers and incense around the shrine

Thai dance performed for Brahma

The statue after restoration

The Erawan Shrine (Thai: ศาลพระพรหม, read San Phra Phrom) is a Hindu/Buddhist shrine in Bangkok, Thailand that houses a statue of four-faced Brahma Sahampati. A popular tourist attraction, it often features performances by resident Thai dance troupes, who are hired by worshippers in return for seeing their prayers at the shrine answered. On March 21, 2006, a mentally disturbed individual vandalised the shrine and was subsequently killed by bystanders.

1 Location
2 History
3 Shrine vandalised
- 3.1 Motives examined
- 3.2 Political controversy
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] Location

The shrine is located by the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel, at the intersection of Ratchadamri Road and Ratchaprasong Road in Pathum Wan district, Bangkok, Thailand, at 13°44′39″N, 100°32′27.5″E. Near the shrine and along the Phloen Chit and Sukhumvit roads are several of Bangkok's most upscale shopping complexes including Sogo, Siam Center and the Amarin plaza.

[edit] History

The Erawan Shrine was built in 1956 as part of the government-owned Erawan Hotel to correct bad omens believed to be caused by laying the foundations on the wrong date.

Construction of the hotel was delayed by a series of mishaps, including cost overruns, injured laborers and the loss of a shipload of Italian marble intended for the building. In addition, the Ratchaprasong Intersection had been used in years past to put criminals on display.

An astrologer was brought in to provide solution to the bad luck, hence the shrine. The Brahma statue was designed and built by the Department of Fine Arts and enshrined on 9 November 1956.

The hotel construction then proceeded without problem. In 1987, the hotel was demolished and the site used for the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel.

[edit] Shrine vandalised

In the early hours of 21 March 2006, the Brahma statue was vandalised by a Thai man who was believed to be mentally ill. After smashing the statue, the man, identified as Thanakorn Pakdeepol, 27, was beaten to death by angry bystanders. Two street sweepers who worked for the Pathum Wan district office were arrested for the beating.

Witnesses said the man stood on the base of the statue, holding a large hammer in his hands, and smashed the hollow statue to pieces. The deity's four-faced head, torso, six arms and weapons were fragmented. Only the part of lap and base of the statue were left intact. The incident occurred at about 1 am.

A white cloth was put up to conceal the absence of a statue. The shrine was closed to the public for time, but officials later reopened the site, displaying photographs of the statue so that worshippers could continue to pay their respects.

The new Brahma statue was completed and placed in the shrine on 21 May 2006 at 11:39 a.m., the time the sun was shining directly above the shrine. According to officials with the Religious Affairs Department and the Maha Brahma Foundation, it was made of plaster, mixed with a mixture of gold, bronze and other precious metals, along with pieces of the old statue. Another statue, made wholly of metal, was cast from the same mold, and will be kept in the National Museum.

[edit] Motives examined

During an autopsy of Thanakorn Pakdeepol, the vandal who destroyed the revered statue, doctors found Arabic characters tattooed on his back and arms, prompting police to investigate whether the attack had a religious motive and if Thanakorn or his family had any ties to Muslim extremists.

However, the slain man's father, Sayant Pakdeepol, said his son had received treatment for psychiatric problems in recent years and that the mental illness was the cause for the attack.

Sayant called the beating death of his son an "overreaction".

"Doing something like this is not the act of people with good beliefs, of those with real faith in Brahma," Sayant was quoted as saying by The Nation. "Murder is an immoral act and people with morality would not have done what they did."

[edit] Political controversy

In the days following the incident at Erawan Shrine, embattled Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited and paid his respects to the broken statue of the deity.

At an anti-Thaksin rally on 22 March, government critic Sondhi Limthongkul charged that the destruction of the statue was a plot by a superstitious Thaksin who was seeking to maintain power through black magic.

The vandal's father dismissed that notion, and was quoted by The Nation as that Sondhi is "the biggest liar I have ever seen."

Thaksin, when asked to comment on Sondhi's accusations, simply replied: "That's insane."