Captured Citizens: the Tai Yong of Lamphun

 

                                      by Jim Goodman

 

       Lamphun is one of northern Thailand’s premier attractions.  Founded in the 7^th century under the name Haripunchai, it was the capital of a Mon kingdom that was the first organized state in northern Thailand.  It repelled three Khmer invasions and survived until conquered by King Mengrai of Lanna, in the late 13^th century.  It was Buddhist since its inception, for its first ruler Queen Chamadevi introduced and patronized the religion upon assumption of the throne.  Besides its political achievements, Haripunchai also enjoyed a reputation as the center of Buddhism in the north.  Mengrai appreciated this, spared the city any physical destruction and continued royal patronage after establishing Lanna’s capital just 25 km north.

        Historic religious monuments are the main attraction for contemporary visitors.  They usually start with Wat Prathat Haripunchai, the city’s most splendid compound.  But there is more of interest in the city besides religion.  Just outside the eastern entry gate stand several stalls selling locally made cotton goods.  More of these are across the street and still more line up inside the picturesque covered bridge across the Kuang River.  On the other
of the river lies Wiang Yong village, where most of the cotton goods are made.

       The residents are people of the Tai Yong sub-group who were not part of Lamphun’s original population, who were mainly Mon, later mixed with Tai Yuan.  They are descendants of people kidnapped from northeast Myanmar as part of a program to repopulate northern Thailand after the expulsion of the Burmese.

       In the late 18^th century, King Kawila of Lampang led a campaign that finally terminated over two centuries of Burmese rule in northern Thailand.  It was a long, slow, costly effort that depopulated the cities and many of the villages.  In 1796 Kawila officially re-established the Kingdom of Lanna in the newly rebuilt capital of Chiang Mai, but its shattered economy and agricultural production had to be completely rebuilt, too.  A new campaign of persuading villagers who’d fled to the forests to return to their homes proved inadequate. 

       The solution came from the traditional practice of war among states in Southeast Asia.  Rivals fought each other over their resources and people were considered one of them.  When armies invaded states their plunder included capturing local people and resettling them deep within their own state’s boundaries.  Kawila began launching such expeditions in the immediate area in 1797.  After ousting the Burmese from their last bastion in northern Thailand in Chiang Saen in 1804, Kawila turned his attention to two states in northeast Burma that had once been allies of Lanna—Chiang Tung (now spelled Kyaingtong) and Meuang Yong (now spelled Mong Yawng). Major roundups in 1805 and 1809 removed the entire population of many villages.

        Meuang Yong, close to the Mekong River, was founded in the late 13^th century.  It fell under Burmese suzerainty mid-16^th century, but that had all but eroded by late 18^th century.  Its people were mainly the Tai Lue subgroup, like the majority of the population of neighboring Xishuangbanna.  Their language, customs and Buddhist practices are close to that of the Tai Koen in Chiang Tung and the Tai Yuan of Lanna.  Their transplantation to Lanna would at least be to a familiar cultural environment. 

       In 1805 the Lanna government officially re-opened Lamphun.  The people abducted from Meuang Yong were re-settled in Wiang Yong, just across the Kuang River, for only the original Lamphun inhabitants, plus other Tai Yuan immigrants, were permitted to live within the city proper.  Another raid in 1809 augmented the numbers in and around Wiang Yong.  Lanna raids also abducted people from other Tai Lue settlements in Burma and Xishuangbanna, but these were dispatched to Nan and other provinces.  The Tai Lue of Wiang Yong subsequently became differentiated and known as Tai Yong.

       Far from enslaving their captives or discriminating against them as not full members of Lanna society, the campaign’s goal was to make them fully engaged citizens.  The Tai Yong chieftains pledged loyalty to Kawila’s state and in return were granted autonomous authority over their own community.  Class relations and social rules and customs that had prevailed in Meuang Yong would continue in Lamphun.  The ultimate authority would be the Lanna king, who ruled on matters of national interest but left local affairs to the charge of Tai Yong leaders.  It was a type of political arrangement common throughout Thailand at the time.  By acknowledging suzerainty Lanna had made a similar deal with the Kingdom of Siam.

       The new citizenry began cultivating the land and recreating the life they had back in the old country.  Other captured and resettled communities did likewise.  Some, like the Tai Koen from Chiang Tung, were noted for their craft skills, especially lacquer workers and silversmiths, and were relocated to the southern part of Chiang Mai.  The Tai Yong had no particular reputation for any special craft.  But in the tradition of self-sufficient farmers their women knew how to weave the material that clothed their family’s bodies.

       Weaving was an old tradition in the area, like most anywhere else in Asia.  A weaver operating a frame loom much like what is still used today is one of the relief sculptures depicting scenes from life in old Haripunchai on the wall behind the queen’s statue in Chamadevi Park.  Tai Yong women were already used to weaving for their own needs.  Their people traditionally raised cotton along with rice and vegetables and every girl learned how to spin thread and weave while growing up.  Now, with the reestablishment of Lamphun, Chiang Mai and other cities, they had a market for surplus production. 

       It’s a laborious process, especially in the beginning.  After picking the cotton bolls from the plants in the fields, the worker then runs the cotton through the rollers of a gin to crush the seeds within it.  The next step is to fluff the ginned cotton to remove the foreign matter.  Then it is ready to mount little by little on a spindle mounted on a frame with a wheel.  Turning the wheel starts the spinning of the cotton into thread.

       When the wheel has accumulated enough thread the worker removes the loop and mounts it on a winding frame to turn the loop into balls of thread, the easier to mount as warp threads on the loom and weft threads into the shuttles.  The amount of thread required depends on the length of the intended bolt of cloth, which is often several meters and more.  Mounting the lengthwise warp threads is time-consuming work, for each has to be separated by heddles that connect every other one to one of the foot pedals.

       The weaver sits on a bench behind the loom and depresses one of the foot pedals while pushing the heddle frame forward.  This creates an opening in the warp thread set, through which the weaver throws a shuttle of weft thread.  Then she knocks it firmly into place moving the heddle frame and then opens a new shed by depressing the other foot pedal and this time tosses the shuttle through the opposite direction.  The threads are thus locked into a tight web.

       Tai Yong style has evolved over the centuries, especially after the introduction of aniline dyes.  Nowadays weavers still produce pieces in soft, pastel colors resembling the shades and tones of vegetable dyes in the past.  Some use supplementary weft to add more pictorial designs across the fabric.  The more typical contemporary Tai Yong style, though, features a bold display of bright horizontal stripes in multiple colors, separated and accentuated by wide bands of black. 

       Tai Yong textiles of all kinds, as well as clothing and other items made from them, have been boosted by the growth of tourism in recent decades, more so with domestic tourists than foreigners.  Tai Yong goods are available beyond Lamphun Province, from shops in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang and Bangkok.  Besides enabling a more prosperous life, the growing interest in and appreciation of Tai Yong crafts has contributed to a sense of ethnic pride.    

       The compound of Wiang Yong’s Wat Ton Kaew, built next to a surviving 16^th century chedi, contains a Tai Yong Museum, as well as a weaving workshop.   The museum is an elegant stilted wooden building, its entrance flanked by two tall carved wooden posts.  The open ground floor displays antique furniture, musical instruments, old photographs and other items.  The much larger exhibit upstairs includes sculptures of Buddha and mythical animals, carved chests and containers, old typewriters, umbrellas, baskets, ceramic jars and vases, kitchen tools, antique women’s garments and all things associated with weaving.  On the walls hang framed historical photos of royal visits, famous monks being honored and Lamphun beauty contests from the 1960s.     

       In recent years the Lamphun fabric business has branched out from weaving cotton cloth to silk production and ikat dyeing.  Because silk threads are thinner than cotton the mounting of the warp threads and the weaving itself takes much longer.  And then there’s the trouble of raising the silkworms and acquiring the thread.  This was not a Tai Yong village tradition, so the new silk business started with outsider investment and work is confined to a few suburban factories.

       Other Tai Yong villages beyond Wieng Yong also got into the weaving business and today two of them, still actively involved in the trade, are in Pasang District south of Lamphun and are popular tourist attractions.  Several km beyond the town a tall wooden entrance gate flanks a side road leading a bit further to Don Luang village.  The cluster of shops and textile displays starts at the beginning of the settled area.  Most of the looms and dyeing sites are in houses in the side lanes.

       Shops hold bolts of cloth which they sell by the meter, cotton sarongs and a wide range of ready-made clothes.  Their stocks may also include locally woven cotton turned into bed sheets, curtains, pillow cases, table cloths, purses and shoulder bags.  Some of these items will be dyed ikat-style.  Ikat is a form of resist-dyeing in which the dyer covers the cloth in a specific design marked with beeswax or some other impenetrable matter.  When the cloth is immersed the covered parts do not receive the dye.  Afterwards when the cloth is washed and the beeswax boiled off the design appears as the part that resisted the color.

       This method can lead to some pretty imaginative results.  Dyers give the pieces several dye bath immersions, modifying the placement of the resisting element each time, even the colors used in the bath, to make ever more complex and colorful designs.  Most of the items are blue and white, but there are other combinations, the results of re-dyeing.  Some pieces sport sections, like sleeves, collars or just adjoining parts of the t-shirt body or trouser legs, dyed with different color and pattern combinations.

       About 4 km past Don Luang and through a similar entrance gate, lies the larger and more interesting Tai Yong village of Nong Ngeuak.  While also a weaving center, other crafts are both produced and taught here.  A bit distant from the highway traffic it’s a very quiet village, little disturbed by interruptions of noise from cars, trucks or motorbikes.  The people are very friendly and hospitable to visitors and a few offer home-stay accommodations.  Visitors are far fewer since the outbreak of the pandemic a couple years ago and the craft activity much reduced, but those who do come still enjoy a pleasant experience.     

       The village can boast of one of the most beautiful temples in the province—Wat Ngon Ngeuak, built in the style of their original homeland in Meuang Yong, Myanmar.  The compound entry gate is roofed and decorated with large stucco figures.  The main assembly hall is of modest size and smaller shrines in the yard feature carved and gilded embellishments.  The most graceful building is the library, standing on blocks in a rectangular pond.  It has a double roof with interior walls filled with religious frescoes.

       Across the street is the village park, with a giant spinning wheel standing at one end and flower beds stretching in front of it.  Beside it is a stilted house identified as the village’s own Tai Yong Museum, with a similar collection of exhibits as in Wiang Yong.  Craft centers are scattered throughout the village.  One shop produces sandals made from old rubber tires.  Another specializes in “owl bags” made by stitching together different small pieces of a variety of cloth. The same technique is also used to make long skirts.  There’s also a basketry center and, naturally, a few weaving workshops.

        One is a natural dye outfit that uses indigo and a group of local roots, fruits and vegetables to make the colors for all their woven work.  Because of the time and work required for the dyeing the products are more expensive.  But there is a niche market for such items, mainly among traditional-minded Thais, enough anyway to keep the skill and heritage alive.

   * * *

Watgate: Chiang Mai’s International Suburb

                                                                          by Jim Goodman

site of the former Watgate river port

       When King Mengrai of the state of Lanna conquered the ancient Kingdom of Haripunchai in the late 13^th century, he decided it was time to move his capital from Fang to somewhere closer to the center of his expanded realm.  Rather then move into Haripunchai (today’s Lamphun), he opted to make that old city Lanna’s spiritual center and instead build a new one at Wiang Kum Kam, about 25 km north.  Unfortunately, located beside the Ping River, the site was prone to regular flooding.

       Fed up with this situation, in 1296 he laid the foundations for Chiang Mai, literally “New City”, a few kilometers north and several hundred meters west of the Ping River, beyond the reach of any flood.  Besides the moats and walls around the city, eventually another wall went up between the eastern side of the city and the river, extending all the way around to the neighborhoods outside the moats to the southwest.  Most of the capital’s commoners lived inside this wall.

the vihatn of Wat Ketdaram

       Some lived along the river, though, for it was Lanna’s prime communication link.  The main port was on the east bank, opposite what is now Warorot market, in what became the district of Watgate.  Except for the small community involved with river trade, most of the area was agricultural and the farms didn’t extend very far from the river.  Nevertheless, in 1428 the royal government sponsored the construction of a temple close to the port, Wat Ketkaram, to service the spiritual needs of the inhabitants.  For over four centuries it was the only religious building east of the Ping River.

          In the late 18^th century, after two centuries of rule over Lanna, Burmese authority began to collapse.  Sporadic revolts broke out at various places in the north.  Because they were uncoordinated, the Burmese suppressed them and in some cases retaliated by expelling people from the cities that revolted, such as the entire population of Chiang Mai.  King Kawila of Lampang, allied with the Kingdom of Siam, expelled the Burmese from their Chiang Mai garrison in 1774 and then went on to chase them out of the rest of Lanna over the next several years. 

rainbow strikes the chedi at Wat Ketkaram

Chedi Chula Manee at Loy Krathong

       Rama I of the new Rattanakosin Dynasty appointed Kawila King of Lanna in 1782, but the city was deserted and the campaign against the Burmese far from finished.  Only in 1796, five hundred years after Mengrai founded the city, Kawila finally settled in the capital.  He had spent the previous few years going around to persuade scattered ex-residents to move back, now that it was again safe.

Sala Bitr, the former Chinese school

       Slowly but surely Chiang Mai’s population grew and commerce and agriculture returned to normal.  Watgate port became active again, a business community settled in around it, augmented in the 19^th century by Chinese immigrants, who sponsored a major renovation and expansion of Wat Ketkaram.  The renovated Chedi Chula Mani, said to house a hair of the Buddha, is the oldest original building in the compound, whole the rest are 19^th and 20^th century constructions.

       The viharn (assembly hall) is a beautiful example of the Rattanakosin style, with its multi-layered roof of orange tiles and golden trimmings.  The color red dominates the interior, with tall columns supporting the roofs, a gilded seated Buddha at the far end and a painting of a standing Buddha flanking one of the columns.

the 'dogs' of Wat Ketkaram

       Near the chedi stands a small, elegant open shrine to a standing Buddha, while next to it is the larger ubosot (ordination hall), with the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac sculpted around the exterior walls.  Flanking the doors are high-relief vertical descending tigers, a feature copied on the doors of the abbot’s residence on the other side of the chedi. 

       Behind the shrine stands Sala Bitr, built of dark teakwood and embellished with gold on the door panels and shutters.  The attractive two-story building was originally a school for Chinese but is now empty.  A much larger modern school in the eastern part of the compound has replaced it.

dog sculptures next to the chedi

viharn interior

       The very clean and tidy compound has one other unique feature—its dogs, not the real animals but statues of them.  The chedi was built in the Year of the Dog.  Thus dogs are honored here with statues of various breeds, including ones not native to Thailand.    

the Attaqwa Mosque

         With peace and prosperity continuing, Watgate continued to expand.  Besides the Chinese coming up from Bangkok, the district attracted Muslim Chinese (Hui) in the1870s after the suppression of the Muslim Revolt in Yunnan.  They also established themselves in Warorot, but a large community settled a few blocks east of the river.  They built the Attaqwa Mosque, which eventually included a school with teachers trained in Cairo and Saudi Arabia.  Today the school has 150 students and the language of instruction is Arabic.

       Around the same time Watgate witnessed the arrival of Western missionaries.  They built the first church in 1868 near the river at the southeast corner of the district.  The most prominent were Dr. Daniel and Sophie McGilvary, austere and dedicated, who believed Buddhism was superstitious idolatry and local people needed a true religion like Christianity to save them from the Devil. 

Muslim girls passing through Wat Ketkaram

       Local people felt Buddhism was quite good enough for them and so conversion was slow.  After several years McGilvary could count only eight converts and two of them were killed for it.  The missionary then had to turn his attention to efforts to get the Court in Siam to issue a decree that no one was to be harmed because of conversion.  That success protected his new Christians but did not speed up the conversion rate.

       The next step was to set up schools.  Chiang Mai didn’t have schools then.  All education was in the monasteries and only for boys.  In 1878 the McGilvary couple opened the Phra Racha Chaiya Girls School, named after the young daughter of Chiang Mai’s King Inthawichayanon.   This princess later grew up with the name Dara Rasami and today is revered and remembered as the most famous lady in late Lanna history.  The school eventually changed its name to Dara Academy and now has both girl and boy students.

the Christian School Chapel, Chiang Mai's oldest church

the church at Prince Royal's College

       Dara Rasami’s youth coincided with a time of great political anxiety in the country.  France had begun taking over Indochina and Great Britain had already subjugated much of Burma.  In 1883 a rumor spread that Queen Victoria wished to adopt Dara Radami.  Having just been through problems with British logging interests in the north, the rumor alarmed the Siamese Court.  They viewed it as a possible first step toward seizing Lanna. 

April flowers on Rattanakosin Road

       King Rama V dispatched a delegate to Chiang Mai to propose a royal marriage.  In 1886, the year Britain annexed northern Burma, Dara Rasami left her home to live in the royal palace in Bangkok as one of the king’s consorts.  She and her entourage continued to dress in Lanna style, with very long hair tied in a bun at the top of the head and sarongs with Lanna designs.  Other Court ladies looked down on them, considered them Lao foreigners.  These ladies wore their hair shorter and preferred different kind of sarongs, a style they believed was more ‘civilized’.

       In late1889 she bore the king a daughter, who unfortunately died in early 1892.  The distraught mother destroyed all photos and portraits of the girl.  Princess Dara bore no more children but remained in Bangkok until 1908, when she made a visit to Chiang Mai. Lampang and Lamphun to visit her relatives.  On her arrival in April she was greeted by royal and military officials, soldiers and commoners from all over Lanna.  Likewise, upon her return to Bangkok in November, the King and Court, government officials and Bangkok residents welcomed her back with a flotilla of a hundred royal boats.

Princess Dara Rasami in Chiang Mai

Siri Guru Singh Sabha, Sikh temple on Charoenrat Road

       In 1910 Rama V died.  Four years later Princess Dara asked his successor Rama Vi for permission to return permanently to Chiang Mai.  She remained active in her royal duties and patronage projects until she died in 1933.

       Much had changed since Princess Dara first moved to Bangkok.  In 1887 the missionaries opened another school in Watgate—the Chiang Mai Boys School.  This institution would educate Thai boys in subjects they did not study at the monasteries, like science, mathematics and, naturally, Protestant Christian theology.  It was successful and won royal favor such that in 1906, expanding into new buildings, Crown Prince Maha Vajiravudh, later Rama VI, came up from Bangkok to lay the cornerstone.  Thereafter its name was Prince Royal’s College.

=old buildings on Charoenrat Road

display in the Watgate Museum

       In 1888 missionaries opened McCormick Hospital on Kaew Nawarat Road, between Prince Royal’s and Dara Academy.  By establishing the first public health care center, with all the latest modern medicines and treatments, as well as the first formal schools, the missionaries certainly raised their prestige.  Though the great majority of Buddhists clung to their religion, conversions did grow.  Today Chiang Mai province has the largest number of ethnic Thai Christians in the country. 

       Meanwhile another foreign religious community immigrated to Chiang Mai and took up residence in Watgate—Sikhs from British India.  The first arrived in 1905, a cloth merchant who later persuaded many others to join him.  They also got involved in the cloth business, and still are, and in 1907 set up a gurudwara (Sikh temple) on Charoenrat Road along the Ping River—Siri Guru Singh Sabha, a large white block building with a golden dome on the roof.

the British Council, built in 1952

       The Watgate port was still active, but not for long.  When Princess Dara made her 1908 trip she went by train to Nakhon Sawan and by boat from there to Chiang Mai.  The journey took two months and nine days.  In the early 1920s workers completed a railroad and highway from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, reducing travel time either direction to just over a day.  River commerce was over.  But Watgate had already outgrown its port.

       The district included all the neighborhoods on either side of the three roads—Charoen Muang, Kaew Nawarat and Rattanakosin--that ran east of the three main bridges spanning the Ping River.  The new train station stood near the end of Charoen Muang and the northern bus terminal lies near the end of Kaew Nawarat.  The river port was dismantled and farms behind the eastern riverbank largely disappeared, replaced by residential neighborhoods. 

       For a look at the artifacts, crafts, photos and items of everyday use in this period one should visit Wat Ketkaram’s Museum, established around a century ago.  Many Lannna temples have museums, but this is the largest.  Furnishings, images, manuscripts and decorations from the original temple are on display, but the collection also includes a host of objects representing the secular life of the times.  These include baskets, musical instruments, leather cases, old typewriters, radios and phonographs, hunting and fishing gear, wooden animal head trophies, looms, thread winders, classic sarongs and festival rocket launchers.

a modern traditional style house in Watgate

       As the century progressed Watgate retained its importance to Chiang Mai’s educational program.  Dara Academy and Prince Royal’s College expanded into new buildings and today have a few thousand students.  Payap University, another Christian-sponsored institution, opened a campus opposite McCormick Hospital.  Facing Rattanakosin Road, in the rear of the campus, is the McGilvary Institute for religious studies.  Chiang Mai’s first church still stands, now called Chiang Mai Christian School Chapel, next to a Bible Study Institute.

       Besides the Christian schools, Watgate also has some language learning institutes.  The first was the British Council, on Bamrungrat Road, constructed in 1952, whose activities today are basically restricted to teaching English.  Besides English academies, there is also a center nearby for foreigners to learn Thai.

       From the late 90s tourism to Thailand accelerated and affected developments in Watgate.  New restaurants and nightclubs lined the riverbank between Charoen Muang and Kaew Nawarat.  Many of the fine old wooden houses were converted into hotels and art galleries.  The quiet end of Rattanakosin features several buffet grills, though customers are mostly Thai.

NcGilvary Academy, Payap University

       In fact, for all the foreigner presence in Watgate, the district’s residents are still predominantly Thai.  Several Buddhist temples have been built the last few decades, plus a crematorium at the end of Rattanakosin.  Typical of suburban Thai life is the warren of lanes behind this road.  Some of the houses are quite fancy, old or new, others very modest.  The residents include white-collar professionals and ordinary workers and traders, some of whom transport their goods in side carts attached to their motorbikes. Shops on the lanes cater to the neighborhood’s needs, including convenience stores, legal offices, realtors, beauty salons, food stores and small restaurants.

       Bars, karaoke clubs and snack and grill stands are just around the corner, opening in late afternoon.  People also gather at the tables in front of the small essentials shops to have a ‘sundowner’ beer or whisky.  It’s a quiet and convivial scene, far from city congestion and one of the delights of being a resident of Watgate.

Watgate riverside in May

                                                                          * * *           

Chiang Mai’s Forest Temples

                                                                        by Jim Goodman

temple at Wat Pha Lat

       When King Mengrai founded Chiang Mai in 1296, he laid out a city in a nearly square shape, surrounded by moats and walls on all four sides.  The king, his ministers, high-ranking nobles and the royal guards lived within the city.  Besides the palaces, nobles’ mansions and the barracks, the other buildings were mostly temples and monasteries.  The Kingdom of Lanna was a Theravada Buddhist state, religion was royally patronized and thus monks formed a large part of the urban population.

       Some of the nobility had homes on the other side of Chang Puak Gate and the northern moats.  Most of the commoners lived outside the city, especially between the eastern walls and the Ping River and in Haiya, the neighborhood south of the walled city.  They regularly entered the city during the day, mainly to the daily market through the center of the city.  But these temporary crowds returned to their homes by evening, when the gates were locked and quiet prevailed within.

the tunnel chedi at Wat Umong Maha Therachan

a tunnel of Wat Umong Suan Puthatam

       Most of the temple compounds stood beside groves of trees, usually away from the commercial zone.  This made them excellent locations for pursuing a largely quiet and contemplative lifestyle.  Yet from early in Lanna history, a faction of monks sought something even closer to nature, remote from the limited hustle and bustle of old Chiang Mai.  They would be known as the forest monks and concentrate on meditation in temples well beyond the settled areas. 

the chedi at Wat Umong

discarded image at Wat Umong

       King Mengrai was a very religious-minded sovereign and often consulted with monks on matters pertaining to state policies as well as religion.  One of his favorite advisors was the monk Therachan, who lived at the compound now named after him—Wat Umong Maha Therachan.  He used to meditate inside a tunnel chedi on the compound.   As construction proceeded inside the city, of palaces, temples, roads and such, he complained to the king that the commotion was disturbing his meditation.

martial scene in stone, Wat Umong

       In response, King Mengrai ordered tunnels excavated within a mound on a hill in the forest west of Chiang Mai.  This was the first forest temple in the region, established around 1300 and named Wat Umong Suan Putthatam.  Therachan moved here and, we can assume, meditated in peace ever after.  The compound was abandoned in the 15^th century and fell into ruins until it was finally renovated and reconstructed in 1948.

       Chiang Mai’s expansion since then has put its western suburban neighborhoods right up to the walls of the compound.  Yet it’s still a very quiet place and sprawls over a much bigger area than any city temple compound.  Besides its architectural and sculptural features, Wat Umong is also a meditation center for the laity.  Thais and foreign tourists enroll for as many days as they like, rise and eat early, listen to lectures, do some temple maintenance work and meditate as many hours as they can in special meditation quarters.

ladies in stone, Wat Umong

       Tall, leafy trees shade most of the pathways.  The meditation center and information office is a little ways inside the compound.  Signs everywhere urge for quiet and consideration.  Tour group leaders don’t use megaphones here, either.  The road continues past the meditation center and ends in front of the temple’s main architectural attraction—the mound with the tunnels inside and the chedi on top.

       Three tunnels about 25 meters long lead from the base of the mound to a long corridor tunnel at right angles to these, with a seated Buddha image in the center.  Altogether, they make a more capacious site in which to meditate than the cramped tunnel chedi of Wat Umong Maha Therachan.  But as they are full of tourists every day, they are no longer used for that purpose by resident monks, who live in separate huts in the grove behind and to the right of the chedi. 

ancient times on a stone stele, Wat Umong

enemy warriors, Wat Umong

       On the mound above the tunnels stands a large chedi in the Ayutthaya style, like an inverted bell, restored in 1948.  A row of sculpted Buddha figures surrounds the base of its spire.  Off to one corner of the area is a sculpture of a skin-and-bones Buddha at the peak of his ascetic practices, just before he abandoned them. 

hallway at Wat Padaeng

       To the right of the tunnels lies a yard containing religious images removed from homes or temples and no longer used.  As it would be sacrilegious to destroy them, people leave them here, at a kind of image dumping ground.  Some are broken, missing heads or missing bodies, but others are still intact and attractive pieces of religious art.

       Even more impressive are the works on exhibit inside and outside the long hall in front.  Some are paintings with mostly religious themes.  The bulk of them are stone carvings depicting mythological and quasi-historical themes.  A majority of them are rectangular or even round slabs of stone embedded in the lower walls of the building.  Others are free-standing steles.

viharn and chedis at Wat Padaeng

       The works are mostly high-relief sculptures ranging in theme from the religious, such as the death of the Buddha or portraits of very Indian-looking deities, to secular scenes like riding off to war on elephants and horses.  Martial scenes characterize several sculptures, along with portraits of demon-like enemies.  But the set also includes depictions of women making offerings and groups of young monks.  The high quality of the carvings, with realistic faces, attention to detail and sheer number of figures fitted into some of the steles exhibited in this fine outdoor museum further augment the experience of visiting Wat Umong..

chedi at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

stream beside Wat Pha Lat

       Back in front of the tunnels, a lane turning left passes a few shrines on the way down to a large pond, home of ducks, catfish and turtles.  At a booth above the bridges to the small island visitors can buy food for the creatures in the pond.  There’s also a coffee shop here.  For those residing at Wat Umong, in the wee hours of the morning here they might catch sight of rabbits and squirrels scampering about and even deer poking their heads through the bushes on the far banks.  As Chiang Mai’s first forest temple, Wat Umong still remains close to nature.

staircase figures,Wat Pha Lat

       Not far from Wat Umong, on a wooded hill above a residential neighborhood road, stands the much smaller compound of Wat Padaeng.  Except for the chedis, the compound consists mainly of recently constructed buildings, has no sculptural displays or facilities for laymen to learn or practice meditation.  Yet it qualifies as a forest temple, with a couple dozen resident monks and an atmosphere even more tranquil than at Wat Umong.

       After Wat Umong, the next major forest temples constructed were on Doi Suthep, the mountain west of the city that has always been revered by Chiang Mai people.  Even today, except for the temple grounds, a royal palace and two Hmong villages, thick forests swathe the entire mountain.  The construction of the temple Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, visible from the city 15 km away, dates from the 14^th century, commissioned by Lanna’s King Nuena.

       According to the popular origin story, a monk from Lamphun claimed to have found a Buddhist relic—a shoulder bone of the Buddha—and presented it to King Dhammaraj of Sukhothai.  But after proper installation and a round of rituals, the relic didn’t seem to affect anything and Dhammaraj lost interest.  However, King Kuena, who had just taken over in 1355, had heard of it and secured permission for its transfer from Sukhothai to Chiang Mai. 

elephant at rest, Wat Pha Lat

Phra Phrom image, Wat Pha Lat

       Upon conveyance to Lamphun the relic broke into two pieces.  The smaller piece wound up in a local temple.   Kuena ordered the larger piece placed on the back of a white elephant, which was released into the forest.  The animal at once began ascending Doi Suthep.  It made a couple stops along the way, then came to a spot high up the slope, trumpeted three times and fell over dead.  The king ordered a temple built on that spot to house the relic.

monks' huts, Wat Pha Lat

       The temple buildings have largely been replaced by very ornate modern versions.  But the original chedi, 24 meters high, built in 1384 and completely gilded, still stands in the main courtyard, surrounded by small shrines and images.  The monastic communities that once lived here were even more isolated than those at Wat Umong.  Once a year, though, on the night before Buddha’s birthday, devotees hiked up the mountain to pay respects to the enshrined relic.  Other than occasional visits by monks on pilgrimage, this was their only contact with the outside world,

       In 1935, Kruba Sivichai, a monk with a reputation for restoring old temples in    northern Thailand, organized devotees to build a paved road from the foot of Doi Suthep to the temple.  Nowadays, this road makes it easy to get there, so the temple has become a popular tourist attraction and a village full of food stalls and souvenir shops has grown in front of it.

       About a third of the way up the mountain, a lane branches left down and around a couple of nondescript roadside buildings to the premises of Wat Pha Lat—Temple of the Sloping Cliff.  In their eagerness to get to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, most travelers pass this by, yet this is the best contemporary version of a classic forest temple.  The shrines and other buildings lie on angled slopes, surrounded by trees and near a running stream.

Wat Rampoeng

16th century chedi at Wat Rapoeng

       The compound was built around the same time as Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, on a spot where the white elephant carrying the relic paused to rest.  Compared to Wat Doi Suthep, the buildings are modest, spaced apart from each other, and the chedi isn’t gilded.   The small number of resident monks lives in a row of huts in the center of the compound, while the main meditation center lies on the lower part of the compound slope.  Monks may also choose to do this exercise along the bank of the stream.  Lots of birds flutter among the trees, while squirrels, lizards and peacocks meander near the shrines.

miniature gold trees, Wat Rampoeng

       Besides its exquisite natural setting and serenity, Wat Pha Lat also features interesting sculptures.  The shrines hold various Buddha images, but more striking are the guardian creatures in front of them or at the bottom of the staircases.  These range from mythical lions to Thai-style sphinxes to creatures with a dragon body and the upper torso of a human (or maybe a god).  Other works of art include a four-faced Phra Prom, the Buddhist version of the Hindu god Brahma, a reclining elephant and a celestial scene carved on a wooden door.

       The last of Lanna’s classic forest temples was Wat Rampoeng Tapotharam, the Temple of Ascetic Practices, about four km southwest of the old city.  In the late 15^th century, King Yot Chiang Rai, following up an itinerant monk’s tale of miraculous rays of light emanating from beneath a certain tree, discovered a container holding a tooth of the Buddha.  To honor this relic, in 1492 he ordered a monastery built on the spot. 

       Like at Wat Doi Suthep, the original buildings have all been replaced, except for the chedi, erected early 16^th century to store the relic.  Shaped like a cone, it has eight diminishing tiers.  Wat Rampoeng was periodically abandoned and reopened and served as a compound for Japanese troops in the 1940s.  From 1974 it took on an additional identity as a meditation center.  Though the surrounding forest has largely made way for a suburban residential neighborhood, the temple lies at the end of a quiet lane, still has lots of trees around it and is far enough back from the Canal Road that traffic noise is inaudible.

viharn interior, War Rampoeng

       While it doesn’t enjoy the same isolation as Wat Pha Lat, for civilization, not a forest, lies just outside the entrance gate, Wat Rampoeng has a community of several dozen monks, all dedicated to the same forest monk lifestyle.  At any given time, it also houses many meditation students, who sign up for usually a 24-day course in the vipassana meditation method.  As at Wat Umong, they wear white clothing, rise and retire early, don’t eat after noon and spend most hours learning and practicing meditation. 

       The two viharns (assembly and worship halls), while new, are outstanding examples of religious architecture.  The sloping roofs are dark, setting off the gilded decorations along their edges, as are the walls, with golden embellishments above the doors and windows.  In front of the entrances stand miniature, gold-leafed trees, left there by pious devotees.   Altogether, Wat Rampoeng is one of the most beautiful compounds in the Chiang Mai area.

       Forest temples were designed to be close to nature.  Yet they are also endowed with exquisite works of art.  So then being close to nature implies being close to art.  The one reinforces appreciation of the other.  It is this concept that enhances the pleasure of time spent in a forest temple, whether as a contemplative resident monk or just an enchanted visitor.

the bigger viharn at Wat Rampoeng

                                                                        * * *