Bangkok’s Wat Pariwat is embellished with intricate, mosaic figures that are outside of expectations and yet in keeping with Buddhist teachings
Visitors stop short at what they see. Popeye wedged into a corner, his outstretched arms braced against the walls. Captain Hook standing high on top of a column. Wolverine, knuckle-bladed, crouching. Along borders are Arachne, Medusa and Cyclops; above the eaves, elegant butterfly-like beings hover. Everywhere, sacred architecture is crowded with the fantastical, with figures drawn from ancient myth, the animal kingdom, history and pop culture – Batman, Che Guevara, Barack Obama, Donald Duck, David Beckham, Albert Einstein... Can this really be a Buddhist temple?
the ordination hall (ubosot)
Situated by the Chao Phraya River, in the Yan Nawa district of Bangkok, Wat Pariwat Ratchasongkhram traces its origins to the late eighteenth century, during the transition from the Ayutthaya period to the early Rattanakosin era. Originally a small temple, it was restored in 1850 but, 145 years later, disaster struck, as Phra Khru Palad Boonruang Punyawaro, assistant abbot of Wat Pariwat, explains: “In 1995, floods submerged the temple so deeply you could swim in it, forcing us to demolish everything. To ensure the community’s donations wouldn’t be wasted, the abbot Phra Ratch Phattanakon decided to rebuild the ordination hall as a work of art, because art never dies.”
Batman
Major renovations began in 2008. The monks had a vision, and teams of skilled craftsmen were given unusual freedom to decorate the newly rebuilt structures. The result is surprisingly modern but it is no whimsical display of pop culture. “The ideas had to come from this time,” the assistant abbot says. “If you want the old styles, you can go to Ayutthaya, to Sukhothai, or to the Grand Palace or Wat Pho. But if you want art originating in this era, then you have to come here. That is how all this art came about.”
Assistant abbot Phra Khru Palad Boonruang Punyawaro standing in the ubosot, with the main Buddha and Phra Kan behind him
Most Thai temples feature beings drawn from the Hindu-Buddhist cosmological world: the winged Garuda crowning the gables; naga serpents flanking the staircases; figures influenced by the Ramakien, Thailand’s rendering of the Ramayana epic, like the giant guardians called yak who stand at temple gates. Yet even these figures had their origins elsewhere, often India. Such is the syncretic nature of Thai Theravāda Buddhism, where Brahmin and animist beliefs intermingle with Buddhist doctrine. Wat Pariwat, then, is not irreverent. It may be understood as an extension of the same approach.
By STEPHEN LORRIMAN
This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision #128.
