Friday, January 26, 2018

TRAVEL SPECIAL ......Wat Magnificence

Wat Magnificence

Bangkok’s temples, also known as wats, are unique repositories of Thai history and culture

I have just landed in the Thai capital city of Bangkok and can’t wait to plunge into a cultural immersion of sorts. Read: tour the city’s ornate Buddhist temples by boat and tuktuks and marvel at their over-thetop magnificence.
A Thai temple is known as a wat. And over 2,000 such splendid structures pepper Bangkok’s landscape like confetti, many of them world record holders.
Wat Traimit, for instance, is home to a 5,500 kg solid gold Buddha; Wat Phra Kaew showcases the world’s largest emerald Buddha, and Wat Pho houses the gargantuan 46-m-high reclining Buddha.
Bangkok’s Old City — home to a glittering array of temples and palaces — is where we begin our temple trail. We walk through the Wat Pra Kaew (or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) guarded by a pair of fire-spewing, 16-ft-tall concrete yakshis. If ever there was a time for egos to melt in the face of overwhelming art, it is here. The temple’s famed emerald Buddha, meticulously carved from a single block of jade, is considered so sacred that no one, except for the Thai king, can touch it.
Outside, the morning light is bathing the temple, making its exquisite statues, pagodas and bejewelled spires shine like, well, gold. Monks in saffron robes and wearing wooden flip-flops move about as if part of a cinematic landscape. They live in the temple complex, wake up at the crack of dawn, attend to prayers and then venture out to collect food and alms. This daily alms ritual (called “tak baht”) is intrinsic to the Buddhist philosophy of attaining a better life beyond the temporal one.

Massage, Anyone?
Despite the profusion, and seeming homogeneity of Thai temples, each one has a distinct personality. Bangkok’s oldest and largest temple — Wat Pho — is possibly one of the most dazzling slices of real estate in all of Thailand. It is managed by the Thai royal family, which also nurtures the monks who live here and maintain the temple. Referred to as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, its 90-odd goldcoated spires and stupas hunker in the blue sky. The 46-m-long, 15-m-high Buddha statue lies at the shrine’s core.
Few know that Wat Pho has been propagating the art of Thai massage for centuries and also hosts a formal Thai massage school on its premises.
We are led to an old building with window grills where a number of local masseurs are pummelling punters stretched out on wooden beds. The famed Thai massage is in progress.
“The Wat Pho Thai massage is a wellknown brand in Thailand now and is the hallmark of an authentic Thai massage. People come from all over the world just to take a few lessons at our school,” Khun Ben, the school’s proud supervisor, tells us while showing us the institution.
The story goes that some 300 years ago, visiting Chinese traders brought with them a traditional doctor who was so skilled in the art of massage that he could cure any ailment or deformity. So enamoured were the Thai royals of the good doctor that they requested him to train the local Thais at Wat Pho. Soon, people started flocking to the temple from far and near. Today, it is the favoured haunt of Hollywood celebrities, top bureaucrats and politicians for rejuvenating rubdowns.

The Temple of Dawn
The Chao Phraya River — Bangkok’s lifeline — offers a counterpoint to the city’s heaving, anarchic streets. Ferries shuttle up and down its glutinous surface from the Tha Tien pier, servicing the nearby temples. One such ferry took us to the Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), named after Aruna, the Indian goddess of dawn. The shrine — distinguished by five imposing prangs (towers) — has its entrance guarded by Sahassateja and Tasakanth, two figures from the Ramayana. It is said that the reclining Buddha, now showcased at Wat Pho, first resided in Wat Arun.
Over two hours, we explore the beautiful, white and multi-tiered temple accentuated by ceramic tiles and colourful pieces of Chinese porcelain placed delicately in intricate patterns.
We go up to the main, 70-m-high prang, considered one of Bangkok’s world-famous landmarks, taking in the panorama from the top which opens out to the glittering Chao Phraya River flowing past the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Ironically, we are at the temple of dawn at dusk. But the scene is so enchanting up here, time seems to stand still.

Neeta Lal
The writer is a Delhibased journalist
ETM 14JAN18


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