Under
the same banner of ‘Cultural Trip’, this time we had an interesting menu in our
program. We were driven off to the ancient places of Thailand.
It
was fortunate for me to be a part of this troop that solely comprised of more
than 75 foreign students. The visit to the Wat
Samanrattaram temple where a huge Lord Ganesh stands was amazing. Lord Ganesh
is believed to be the ‘God of wisdom, knowledge
and new beginnings”.
The
mythology in Hindu has it that, this God with an Elephant head, was crafted by
Goddess Parvati (wife of Lord Shiva) in order to guard her while taking bath. Since
she had nobody around, she fetched some turmeric paste used for bathing to create
a figure and then breathe life into it (Ganesh). Keeping the figure near
the door, she is said to have instructed him to prohibit the entrance of any visitors
inside her abode until she is done with the bathing and then she fled the
scene.
In the
due course of time, Lord Shiva was returning home but only to be stopped by
Ganesh. The enraged Shiva cut off his head and killed him on the spot. On
hearing the story by Goddess Parvati, she was so infuriated that she decided to
ruin all the creations of the Universe.
Lord
Shiva then immediately instructed his followers to fetch the head of the first creature
they meet which is facing north. This creature happened to be an elephant which
was then sacrificed. Lord Shiva replaced Lord Ganesh’s head with that of an
elephant and this is how Lord Ganesh is visible with an elephant head even
today.
Following
the visit of Lord Ganesh, we lunched at Baan Mai market which was comparatively
ancient in Thailand in terms of settlement and architecture. This modern part
of the Kingdom was still accommodating the ancient structures vividly. Next, we
visited the admirable Wat Sothorn Wararam Warawihan decorated with a huge
Chinese Temple. Passing by the souvenirs shop at Tang Seng Jua was yet another
exciting moment on that day.
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page”-
Anonymous
