271206 Hor Prabang - misc

More lotus bud 'artichokes':



Hanuman & fish wife on pillars:



Think this is from the 'Hanuman jarb (catches) Suphanmacha' (หนุมานจับนางสุพรรณมัจฉา) episode in the Ramakien (รามเกียรติ์ aka. Phra Lak Phra Ram ພຣະລັກພຣະຣາມ in Laos). In this story, Phra Ram attempts to build a road to Tosakan's kingdom in order to rescue Nang Sida, who had been kidnapped by Tosakan. Tosakan orders his half-fish daughter, Nang Suphanmacha (สุพรรณมัจฉา), to thwart Phra Ram by enlisting the help of fishes to remove the rocks to destroy the road, but Hanuman catches her & takes her as his wife. In the gallery that forms the perimeter of Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok's Grand Palace, this scene appears as painting #47 out of more than 100 murals.



'Bible' study session - consulting travel guidebooks on 'what am I supposed to see here?':

271206 Hor Prabang - naga

"AHHHHHHHHH! A CAT!!!!!!!"...the nagas screamed:





Head of a naga that bit its own tongue...



neck...



body...



& tail...

271206 Hor Prabang - door

Shadow of the โก่งคิ้ว gong khiw (eyebrow-shaped pediment?) on the main door:



Left panel:



At his feet:



A few butterflies around him (no idea what they signify), & above him, one of two eagles seizing a snake that has caught a frog in its mouth:



Prince Siddhartha saw the snake catch the frog, & as the two were still struggling, an eagle swooped down & seized the snake, which was still hanging onto the frog - reflecting on this the prince realised how life is an endless cycle of the stronger preying on the weaker for survival - an endless cycle of suffering. This event would be followed by the 'four sights' & the prince's eventual decision to become a monk.

Right panel (no idea what's going on here):

271206 Hor Prabang - roof

A change from today's harsh late afternoon sun - as seen in the next day's early morning mist:

271206 Hor Prabang - gable

Think this depicts Prince Siddartha cutting off his hair with a sword beside the Anoma river (in southern Nepal, & namesake of the Arnoma Hotel in Ploenchit, Bangkok), at the point when he had decided to become a mendicant:



At the future Buddha's feet is his horse Kanthaka & one of the two other figures should be his charioteer Channa, who later became his disciple. Channa was the one who explained the 'four sights' (old age, illness, death & an ascetic) to the Prince, which inspired him to become a monk.

Buddha...



...with the Panjavakkiya, or his first five disciples - Kondanna (โกณฑัญญะ Konthanya in Thai), Bhadiya (ภัททิยะ Phathiya), Vappa (วัปปะ Wappa), Mahanama (มหานาม) & Assaji (อัสสช Atsachi):



He is giving them his first sermon at Deer Park (symbolised by the larger deer at upper left & a tiny one at upper right) in Sarnath, the first time he preached the four noble truths & eightfold path:



This event is now marked as Asanha Puja, the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, which is also the day before Khao Phansa (start of Buddhist Lent or rains retreat).

On the lower left panel of the gable - Buddha taking his first seven steps after his birth in Lumbini, with a lotus spontaneously blooming beneath his every step, & his mother, Queen Mahamaya, holding onto a branch of a cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis aka. ต้นสาละ sala tree) at right:



On the lower right panel - Buddha passing into pari-nirvana in the reclining pose, on the day now marked as Vesak day (Visakha Puja):

271206 Hor Prabang

On the grounds of the Royal Palace Museum: