My recent evening walk through Thonburi's Talat Phlu led us to a beautiful temple called Wat Khun Chan.
Hindu-Khmer spires set this temple apart from most others in Bangkok. Although certainly a Buddhist temple, Wat Khun Chan does feature some strong Hindu elements in both architecture and the temple's statuary.
We spent some time exploring the temple as my friend and our guide for the evening, Bow, told us about some of its most interesting elements.
And I finally got the answer to a question that I had had for years: why are Burmese-style Buddha statues always depicted with pale skin, dark hair, and red lips?
Bow told us that while Thai and other sects of Buddhism believe that the statues to Buddha are just representations designed to help Buddhists focus on his teachings, Burmese Buddhism teaches that the Buddha is actually still alive and in our world. Therefore, instead of being depicted in somber gold, he is shown with pale skin, dark hair, and vibrant colors as if to show that the Buddha is alive.
The temple also has a large statue to Phra Rahu, the Indian god of darkness, eclipses, and shadows and king of meteors. According to Hindu mythology, Rahu was a giant who became jealous at not being invited by the gods to share an elixir of immortality. He stealthily stole a portion of the elixir, but was seen by the god of the sun, who told the other gods. Rahu was punished.
Now, he becomes angry whenever he meets the sun god, and sometimes tries to eat the sun. That is when there is an eclipse!
By pure chance, the day we were there happened to be the day of a small solar eclipse, so there were several people praying and making offerings at the Phra Rahu Shrine.
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