Chapter · Thailand · Legends
A jade Buddha and houses for spirits
The Ramakien, the Emerald, the phi
A statue a king dresses himself three times a year, a white monkey painted along two kilometres of wall, a little house on a post outside every building in Bangkok. This chapter tells what the texts say of each, what people do with them, and where the legend stops.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this chapter
- 1The Emerald Buddha, which is not emeraldForty-five centimetres of jade or malachite, never emerald. Carried off from Vientiane in 1777, five years before Bangkok was founded. The king changes its clothes three times a year, and the nobles swear before it.9 min
- 2The Ramakien, or why the kings are called RamaAn Indian epic turned into the royal story of a Buddhist kingdom. The founder of Ayutthaya is already called Rama in 1350, and the Bangkok dynasty takes the name up again. You read it on a temple wall, not in a book.9 min
- 3The spirit house, and what is left in itThe spirit belongs to the ground, not the house, and the little house compensates it for being displaced. This is not a belief one professes but a contract one honours, which is why it survives in a city of towers.9 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.