BANG PA -IN SUMMER PALACE

BANG PA -IN  SUMMER PALACE 

The singular noun in the name is somewhat misleading . It is not one cohesive block of royal buildings , but a sprawling compound  with a jumble of about 30 palatial structures, of varying vintage and styles . It looks more like a modern theme park than a Palace . 

This is the colourful story of  Bang Pa-In , an island in the Chao Phraya river , some 40kms north of Bangkok . In the  17 th Cent , the young scion of the Ayutthaya dynasty got shipwrecked on this island . Ofcourse he was saved . Apparently by a beautiful damsel ......to cut the story short , the prince left more than a Thank You note when he returned safely to his city .....  

Later, the illegitimate son , Prasat Thong,  was made Chief Minister. But the fiesty fellow usurped power , made himself the King and built a monastery  and a palace in his mother's Island .

After the brutal Burmese invasion of Ayutthaya in 1767,  this island too went to ruin . 

The  Palace was renovated and revived as a Summer Retreat by the kings of Chakri Dynasty , Rama IV and Rama V . Buildings were added on down the years , in styles that caught their fancy periodically . As a result , the retreat looks like a medley , a patchwork . 

Ho Hem Monthian Thewarat ( " Golden Palace of The King of Gods" ) A small shrine with khmer style pagoda dedicated to King Prasat Thong  stands close to the entrance . Chinese stone lions keep guard, while ancient boundary marker stones collected from different sites are displayed behind it . 

Phra Thinang Warophat Phiman ( " Excellent and Shining Heavenly Royal Abode " ) Built in 1876. Clearly the king was enamoured of European styles . Built in Neo Classical design and richly furnished with the best from Europe , this building was used as residence and throne hall and is still in use . So, gaping public - keep out ! .....the annexe reminded  me strongly of colonial office buildings of our Mysuru . 

Phra Thinang Aisawan Thiphyart ( " Divine Seat of Personal Freedom " ) the only Thai style structure to be seen , the lovely pavilion was built in 1876 as a copy of the one in Bangkok's Grand Palace . It stands in a large pond teeming with beautiful fish of all sizes . For 15 Baht , you can get a bag of bread crumbs and buns to feed them . Reportedly , there's a bronze statue of King Rama V inside the pavilion , but just my luck , renovation work was in progress . So couldnt see it . Nor the full beauty of the pavilion . 

The semicircular building seen in the background is the Devaraj-Kunlai Gate , the entrance  to the Inner  Palace ( which is strictly private)  . The narrow hall within the Gate building has a snack bar and a small museum of Royalty related exhibits . 

The side view of Phra Thinang Uthayan Phumisathian ( " Royal Garden of The Secured Land" ) built of wood , in 1877 , Swiss chalet style . A favourite residence of past kings , it was accidently gutted in 1938 . Recent renovations were made under  personal direction of Queen Sirikit . It has a very pretty awning at the entrance which i couldnt capture well . 

Ho Withun Thasana ( " The Sage's Lookout " ) built in 1881 , Portuguese style.   Not restricted to sages ! Its  an observation deck to admire the surrounding vistas . The gardens laid all around are very lovely indeed . 

Phra Thinang Wehart Chamrun ( " Royal Residence of Heavenly Light " ) The only building fully open to visitors , though photography is restricted to the ground floor . Chinese style mansion built in 1889 . Ornate fretwork on the huge coloumns , latticed windows , gigantic porcelains , massive ebony furniture ....

...and lots of Reddddd and Golllllld ! In the upper storey is displayed a large and intricate woodland scene carved in camel bone . No info on who carved it or when . 

BTW , Footwear and Pokemon catching are strictly prohibited here ! 

Sakornprapaht Gate .....imagining nubile princesses gliding in lotus filled gondolas through this gate to their residences in the Inner Palace (  which used to be  out of bounds for non-royal men once  ) 

" Keng Boo pah Pra paht " Not babbling. Thats the name given to this very charming little cottage that looks like a doll house - .quite a mouthful of sounds . But i never found out what it means . The Guide waffled over it and the info brochure , given with the ticket, does not mention it at all . 

I am not buying the yarn that another tourguide was spinning away to the wonder of a bunch  of firangs : that  it was built for the royal concubines to sit and weave flower garlands ! ..

..whatever it was built for , i loved the look of it . So  Fairy-Tale pretty ! 

There is a Memorial obelisk erected in memory of Queen Sunanda Kumari Ratna and her infant daughter . The story behind it is beyond tragic . It is horrifying .

Sunanda was the half sister and first wife of King Rama V . In 1880 , when she was sailing to the Bang Pa-In palace with her 15 month old daughter , her boat  capsized in Chao Phraya River . By an ancient Royal Decree of Exclusivity , no one could touch the Queen and the Princess , upon pain of death . So  the  whole courtly retinue of minions attending to her on the  journey watched mutely as she sank with her daughter . 

Sunanda was 19 and pregnant with her second  child . 

The grief stricken king put up this memorial with an eulogy composed by himself .

The sombre shaft of cold grey stone left a bad taste in my mouth .  

Hunting for a nosePin in a haystack of ancient art

It was Indrani who sparked off this mad quest .

She sits in the ASI museum at Hemavathi ( AP) , a picture of regal splendour . Though lightly clothed , she does wear choice jewelry : Nupura , mekhala , kankana , keyura , kundala , hara ....and ...nothing on her well chiseled nose . 

Wait a minute ! What is a nosepin called in the devabhasha ? Nasika bhooshana ? But thats a description. Not a proper name like those above ....

A quick look around the museum hall revelas the fact that sculpted ladies of No

Nolamba vintage were not fond of ornamenting their noses ! 

What of others ? ....

Surely our Hoysala hudugis would have had fabulous nosepins to match the profuse jingle jangle of necklaces , chains ,bracelets, armbands, hipchains, earrings, tiaras, hairpins, anklets eighing them down ? 

Checked furiously . No nosepin at all ! The shilabalikas and darpanasundaris seemed to fear that that ine little nose pin would prove to be the last straw and break their bejwelled backs ....

Urely , the classy ladies down south would have beautified noses ? Else , from where could the southie maamis have taken inspiration for their Ettukkal Besaris and Bullakkus ? 

Checked out the Pallava and Chozha gentlewomen in stone and bronze .....what do you know ! No mookkutthis ! Ckean, neat, unpierced noses , all. 

 

What of the Pabdya , Vijayanagara , chera , Nayaka lasses' noses  then ? 

Madurai ...Krishnapuram ...nope . Nothing . Why , even the warrior queen Meenakshi is shown plain nosed on her wedding day ! Clearly Nosepins were a no-no or unknown .

 

Morechecking across the land ....must have seen these images hundreds of times before , without realising they never wore nosepins ! 

Gandhara , Gupta to Shunga, Shatavahana , pratihara  pala to rashtrakuta, utkal ganga , Takakkad GNga , Kakatiya , Chalukya .....no one's nose is pierced.

Harappan figures wire great hats , no nosepin . The Mohenjodaro girl would tather binge on bangles than on a measly nosepin. 

Tribal people of India and elsewhere have a long tradition of pierced noses , septum included . And till modern times , even men wore nose ornaments .

The large nose rings have a long tradition in Gharwal too.  

They must have worn it in medieval times too . But no sculptures were made of them ....

And the sculptures that were made , of devis, dasis, apsaras,matrikas,yoginis, naginis ,yakshis, rakshasis,chauribearers, dwarapalikas , queens ... none wore that little ornament. 

The nosepin ( laung, mookutthi, moogbottu ) , the nosering ( nath ) and nose pendent ( bullak ) are now considered traditional indian ornamentation and a lot of hocuspocus has been built around it being a symbol of marital bliss and auspiciousness . Pseudo scientific theories about the accupressure effect nosepins have on reproductive health are also zealously propagated. 

Yet not a whisper about its glories can be found in any local ancient literature. Or in ancient icons conjugal beatitude.

What about painted images ? 

Nose ornaments start showing up in murals only from Nayaka times , very pronounced during Marahtta rule in Thanjavur. 

In

In Mughal and Pahari paintings the very early ones do not have nosepins, but later ones show the septum drops and naths .

The single  gemmed simple nosescrew seems to have appeared on the scene only very late in the day , closer to modern times.

By the time kumpeni art  blossomed , noses of wom en got fairy buried under masses of jewels. Going the whole hog, with a vengeance . Early photographs bear testimony to the newfound fondness . 

Today , can we even imagine a utsava devi or the Bangla Durga without the great gem studded nise ornament ? When did it appear ?

 What a contrast between the Devi of yore and Devi of now ! 

Fascinating how "traditions"  begin ! 

After much searching and researching  among available literature and community  lores , it transpires that the Nose ornament is an idea that spread from outside the land , notably Persian . Its impossible  to find  a reference to it in local art before 9 th -10th CE , by which time , travel to and from the middle east had become easy and frequent .  

" Ancient Indian Costume " by Roshen Alkazi lists all articles of personal wear used from Mauryan to Gupta period , but has no mention of the nosepin. 

Though Lalitha Sahasranamam does mention a nose ornament , the hymn in the  present form , dates only from about 9 th cent . 

In some parts like Bengal , for instance , wearing a nose ornament was looked down upon by purebred hindus even upto early 29th century , as it was seen as a fashion of " outsiders" . 

By the way , when did Krishna take a liking to the nose ornament ?

Wonde why our men did not see it fit to keep  up that fashion ! 

Museum-ed memories of Lan Na

Lan Na , " The Kingdom of A Million Rice Fields " , aka Lannathai , flourished between 12 th and 18 th CE in Northern Thailand, rivalling Ayutthya , Siam and Myanmar in might . Most kingsof the line were vassals and allies of the larger neighbours till the kingdom was sacked by Thonburi and Myanmar . It was eventually absorbed into Greater Siam ( Thailand)

King Mangrai  built  Chiang Mai as the ambitious capital of Lan Na in  13 CE. 

Most of Lan Na art and architecture are preserved in modern Chiang mai and a small museum called FolkLife museum  is dedicated  to showcasing the forgotten life and culture of the Lanna people . 

From that museum : 

Ta Laew : The Eye of The Hawk . Based on the belief that the keen eyesight of the Hawk can see far and penetrate mystery , Lanna people erected this protective pole , symbolising the Hawk , at the entrance  to the town, the temple , the home , the granary etc. Made  of reeds , bark , palm fronds , grasses etc. 

Khoen  Ware ( Khrua  buk khran hang ) : Beautiful objects coated/ decorated with Laquer  and cinnabar . The art said to be originated by skillful people of Chiang  Teng situated in the Khoen River Basin. During the reign of King Kawila , they mifrated southwards to the Ping River Basin and the  beautiful black and gold decorative craft flourished and is widespread to this day .

Objects of everyday use were simply coated with black  laquer and decorated with cinnabar . The Ban Nantaram community added the unique feature of etched floral patterns .

For richer effect , cinnabar was replaced with gold leaf . The black  and gold combo ismuch favoured to this day in creating stunningly ornate door , window and wall panels in most Wats . 

Ceramics . The Lanna made a wide variety of ceramic ware , not just utility objects but toys and decorative things too . The ancient Lanna clay figures stringly resemble the  precolumbian Mesoamerican artefacts . 

Maha Wan Ya Amulet dolls . 

Not a Buddhist tradition , but an Animistic belief , bordering on blackmagic . Traditional Small talismans made using raw material like powdered human bones , ash from cremation , earth from rocksalt deposits , minerals etc. , the images were of ogres , animals etc. Having passed into Buddhism , the raw materials used now are less gory ( minerals , plant material etc ) and the figures are mostly of Buddha or the goodluck mandalas . Inks prepared with rainwater are used for painting on details on the laq coating . 

Lanna Stucco  is considered the best among Thai plaster work . The figures are exquisitely moulded, very graceful and of smooth finish achieving the effect of highly polished stone . 

The plaster used was a mixture of limestone , shells , fine sand , oil of Tong Tung wood , sugarcane juice with plant fiber , rice staw and reeds as binders. 

Native american artefacts

In Museums of Portland

Masks - wood , shell, feathers