Bangkok is home to a number of Hindu temples. I have visited the Brahmin headquarters (the Royal Court Brahmins are Hindu priests who perform certain royal ceremonies throughout the year), but I had never had the opportunity to visit one of the city's Hindu temples until a recent Saturday morning walking tour that I joined.
The temple was inaugurated in 1969 by their majesties King Bhumibohl and Queen Sirikit along with a blessing ceremony using holy water from the sacred Ganges River in India.
Outside of the temple stood a statue to Savaswati, the goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is a part of the Tridevi, the Hindu trinity of goddesses and the counterpart to the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity. Each goddess in the female trinity is a counterpart and spouse to a god in the Trimurti. The Tridevi and the Trimurti bring balance to the universe.
*It's worth noting that Hinduism, despite the pantheon of what is sometimes described as 330,000 deities, can actually be considered a monotheistic religion. While there are numerous canonical gods and countless others, all of the gods in the Hindu pantheon are considered to be manifestations of the one universal god Brahman.
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| a statue outside of the temple dedicated to the Goddess Savaswati (Saraswati) |
The temple's interior hall enshrines numerous statues of the Hindu deities. The main deities were the Hindu trinity: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer (all of whom are aspects of the one god Brahman). There was also a shrine to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of fortune, knowledge, and art, as well as those dedicated to various other gods and goddesses with whom I'm not familiar.
(Read more: The Ganesha Festival)
I admit that my knowledge of Hinduism is quite lacking.
I was surprised, though, to see a statue of the Buddha in the temple. While Hinduism and Buddhism here in Thailand are not nearly as distinct as we Westerners would think, and while statues of Hindu gods regularly show up at Buddhist temples in Thailand (indeed, the story of the life of the Buddha features numerous appearances of Indra and Brahma), I didn't expect to see Buddha inside a Hindu temple.
It turns out that certain sects of Hinduism revere the Buddha as an incarnation of the god Vishnu.
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| goddess of knowledge, art, and wisdom |
When we visited, a service was just wrapping up. A white-robed Hindu priest was leading a prayer to the faithful. At the very end, the worshipers stood to make an offering.
A priest carried forward a silver tray with a burning lamp. The worshipers placed coins or baht notes on the tray in offering, then, used their hands to touch the flame gently with their palm before then touching their eyes and head.
The priest approached up, indicating that we too - though just visitors and very clearly not Hindu - were welcome to also partake of the blessing. He pantomimed with his hand that we should do the same.
Later, I did some research. The flame is from a burning camphor lamp, and the light represents the light of knowledge which overcomes darkness. During the service, the flame is waved around the deities three times indicating spiritual illumination. During the blessing, the devotee touches the flame and then his or her eyes and head, symbolizing the desire for personal illumination and enlightenment.
This purification ceremony is symbolic of receiving a blessing from God.
I wish that this post had more images! The interior of the temple was beautiful and so different from any other house of worship that I had ever visited. While photos were not permitted inside the temple, we were made to feel very welcome during our short visit.
You can, however, see a few photos inside the temple HERE on Dev Mandir's official website.
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