Naveen’s Travel Blog

Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew

Thursday, May 29, 2008 – 11:31 pm

We have all known our share of history describing the riches of the Old World; magnificent palaces whose walls were covered with precious stones, metals and what not?!

Were they just an exaggeration of excited historians or blatant truth of outrageous opulence, who knows?

In India, there are plentiful of evidence to see from the massive scale of forts, palaces and temples. Yet there is NO glitter! where was the glow of its richness? the precious stones? gold and silver emblazoned walls?

Today, i happened to discover myself all the glitter and glow of this surreal past…

Stepping inside the compounds of the Grand Palace, one gets transported to an altogether different world, a different era! Forget the history, forget the imagination, just open your eyes!! Sprawled around as far as you can see were highly-decorated buildings, temples, stupas, statues, straight out of the Old world dazzling from top to bottom in their shiny overalls of metallic foils, golden lacquer, encrusted with innumerable pieces of glass, ceramic, stone.

What a fascinating sight !!

The Grand Palace grounds was the numero uno tourist attraction of Thailand, housing several structures which form the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew Temple complex. In tourist-friendly Thailand, its one of those rare places where visitors dresscode were scrutinised at point of entry: bermudas, short skirts, stringy wear and flipflops were prohibited. It also charges the highest entry fee: 250 baht

The Wat Phra Kaew is the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. The temple complex consists of atleast Seven major structures. In the snap from the Palace grounds, you can see the entire roofline of the temple complex.

The three towering pagodas in the centre were (from the front):

• Phra Si Ratana Chedi - its the most sacred of all stupas and contains relics of Buddha
• Phra Mondop - its a repository containing the Royal Golden Edition of Buddhist Cannon, inscribed in Palm leaves and enclosed in a Mother of Pearl inlaid cabinet
• Prasat Phra Dhepbidorn - this Royal Pantheon houses the statues and emblems of ruling Chakri dynasty

All of them were located in a elevated platform named the “Upper Terrace”.

The large multi-layered roof building on the right was the main Ubosoth housing the Temple of Emerald Buddha. In the left, you can see the roofline and stupa of three buildings:

• Hor Phra Naga - Mausoleum of the Royal family containing the crematorial ashes
• Phra Viharn Yod - houses Buddha images
• Hor Phra Monthian Dharma - Scripture Library

On stepping inside the temple premises

The Statue of Hermit, Patron of Medicine who saved several lifes during Plague in Bangkok

Three Stupas of the Upper Terrace

Glittering, towering Phra Si Ratana Chedi covered fully in golden mosaic tiles

Video of Phra Si Ratana Chedi

Dazzling Phra Mondop

Not a inch spared, the Ornate walls of Phra Mondop

Prasat Phra Dhepbidorn, the Royal Pantheon accompanied with two Golden Chedis

Facade of Royal Pantheon

Statues of Demons holding the base of the Golden Chedi

Lets get down from the Upper Terrace and go the Temple……

Temple of Emerald Buddha

Surreal view of pillars of Temple of Emerald Buddha

Intricately and highly decorated walls of Temple of Emerald Buddha

Statues of Lions guarding the King’s entrance to Temple of Emerald Buddha

The Emerald Buddha is known the “Palladium of Thailand” (Palladium signifying the power and protection through its antiquity). The history of Emerald Buddha was interweaved with myths, legends and facts. The image is considered to be from a very ancient period, thus an object of Power!

Originating from India, it has traversed through ages across Srilanka, Burma, Cambodia(Angkor Wat), Laos and finally captured by King Rama I who installed it in its current place establishing the Chakri dynasty.

Contrary to its popular name, its made of jade and not emerald. Possibly to overcome this disappointment, the image is adorned with GOLD garments. There are three sets of gold garments one for each season: Hot, Rainy and Cool. And the King personally changes the cloths in a brief ceremony everytime!!

Seated on a high pedestal inside the main Ubosot, the Emerald Buddha in its modest size was practically out of sight even from close quarters inside the Chapel! Again, its one of the rare images whose photography is prohibited. But what effect will such restriction do in the face of curiosity and ingenuity of thousands of tourists thronging the Temple? Everyone were happily zooming in from outside the Chapel capturing the Almighty God!! NO ONE was disappointed!!!

My own expertise with the Handycam was pathetic, anyway for your darshan…

Emerald Buddha seated on a high pedestal in the Chapel

Emerald Buddha clothed in Gold garments

Zoomed-in view of Emerald Buddha

The Wat Phra Kaew also houses several minor structures such as belfry, miniature of Angkor Wat, Bodhi tree, small monuments for deceased Kings etc The whole temple complex is surrounded by a cloister separating from the other structures of the Palace grounds. The Cloister is just a plain white wall from outside but on the insides it contains an impressive gallery of paintings depicted scenes from Ramakien, the Thai version of Ramayana.

On the eastern side of the Wat Phra Kaew is bordered by Eight towering identical Prangs which are spires. Only two of them were enclosed inside the cloister walls and others stand outside.

Sacred Bodhi tree

Monument for a deceased King on the Upper Terrace

Mural paintings of Ramakein inside the compound of Wat Phra Kaew

One of the Eight Prangs

Walking around this astonishing temple has cost of a lot of energy and has left my eyes dilated handling the camera. Added to that was the rainy weather, it drizzles, pauses, then starts again and loops like this forever. And we still got the Grand Palace to see. But it appeared soon that entry is not into those gigantic buildings. Tourists are only permitted to see whatever they can from the front yard. With the King not living in there any more and everything shut up, the only soul that the tourists have to rejoice was the stiff royal guard.

Chakri Maha Prasad Hall where the Coronation ceremonies take place

Close view of the grandeur of the balcony in Chakri Maha Prasad Hall, what better place one need to wave a hand!

Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall for lying-in-state of Kings, Queens and royal family (lying-in-state || dead-in-coffin!)

Before i leave for the galleries and a bit of lunch, let me conclude my prelude….

Yes the sight got one to make believe certainly on the magical opulence narrated in historical tales.

But spoilers do exist, not one, indeed two! First, this whole Palace was not as old: it was just built in the 17th Century and thanks to the Kingdom of rule, its very well preserved. Second, its not as precious(in material sense): the structures were not emblazoned in gold but goldEN tile, goldEN sheet. The glittering intricately designed motifs covering the walls endlessly were not made of precious stones but colored glass, ceramic, semi-precious stones.

Now, get over it and enjoy the fasinating place!!