Pha That Luang, Vientiane

A very impressive and important Buddhist religious site is That Luang. That Luang or Pha That Luang means Large Tower in Lao.

One of the most important and oldest wat in the city and  also a significant national symbol.

It is said to enshrine a breastbone of Buddha.

 

Pha That Luang from a distance

King Setthatirat:

King Setthatirat (1534-1571) or Xaysettha (Lao) or Jayajyesthadhiraj or Chaiyachettathirat protected Lanna Kingdom against the Burmese which had already conquered Chiang Mai in 1558, Ayutthaya in 1564. He not only built this monument but also Haw Phra Kaew, Wat Ong Teu in Vientiane and Wat Xiang Thong in Luang Prabang.

In 1546, King Setthathirath was made the king. In 1548, he made Chiang Saen in Thailand as his capital.  But, the situation became unstable after the death of King Photsararath, King Setthathirath returned back to Lan Xang or Lancang (present day Laos).

He also brought the images of Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha) and the Phra Phuttha Sihing to Luang Prabang.

In 1560, capital was shifted from Luang Prabang to Vientiane because it was not deemed safe.

Emerald Buddha was housed in Haw Phra Kaew.

That Luang was renovated and to compensate for the lost position of a capital city, Wat Xieng Thong was built in Luang Prabang.

Many conspiracies and foul play took place against the King.  In 1571, the King was murdered. The country went into a turmoil after his death. He left a young child as his heir.

There was no peace in the country till King Sourigna Vongsa became the king in 1638, whose reign is said to be the golden age for Laos.

 

History of Stupa:

The Buddhist stupa is said to be built on a 13th century Indian temple. It is said that in the 3rd century BC, King Ashoka, who was the first Buddhist Emperor of India, sent monks across Asia to spread Buddhism. The monks came with a piece of breast bone of Buddha which was enshrined here.

In the 12th century, a Khmer temple was built at that spot during the reign of King Jayavarman VII who was one of the most powerful Khmer king and converted the state religion of the Khmer empire to Buddhism.

 

King Setthathirat built the monument on top of the temple after he shifted his capital to Vientiane in 1566. It  is said to be covered with 500 kgs of gold.

Destruction:

Vientiane suffered heavy destruction and looting by Siamese invaders in the 18th century. All the gold from the stupa was stolen. In 1900, French tried to restore the place but were not successful. It lay abandoned only to be rebuilt in 1930.

But, again during the Franco-Thai War in 1940, That Luang suffered heavy damages during Thai air raid.

It was finally restored after World War II. The monument is now painted golden with only the pinnacle covered in real gold.

That Luang holds a special place in the history of Laos. It graces the banknotes and national emblem.

 

Renovation:

Since the time of King Jayavarman VII, That Luang has been renovated many times. Not only was this stupa but several other temples were damaged and looted when Thai invaded Vientiane.

From 1828 to next 70 years, That Luang was left in ruins. It was renovated in 1900 and again in 1030.

In 1940, during French-Thai war, the place was damaged by Thai bombs.

The last renovation was in 2016 and 2017.

Statue of King Setthathirat in front of stupa

entrance to stupa

admission ticket

rules to be followed when visiting the site

 A high wall encircles the 45 meter stupa with small windows. There are entrances on all four cardinal directions. For the tourists, only the sides facing east and west are open.

The Phat Luang consists of three levels in accordance with the Buddhist cosmology.

The lowermost level (1) is the kamadhatu(अरूपधातु). This level represents the desires of the world to which we are bound. The wall is surrounded by sema stones that mark the sacred area of stupa. It is 67 meters by 68 meters.

 

On top of it is the second level(2), rupadhatu (रूपधातु), where we abandon our desires but still bound to the world. This level along with sema stones has 30 small stupas all around. This level is 47 meters square.

 

Level 3 is the arupdhatu(अरूपधातु), which is the place of formlessness. Here, there is no longer name or form. This part has the stupa which arises from between a blooming lotus. It is topped with a multi-tiered parasol. This topmost level is 29 meters square.

At the center of each wall is a prayer gate called Haw Wai. It is an open structure with double roof.

Inside the Haw Wai is an image of Buddha. The stairs to praying altar is guarded by Naga. Since, no one is permitted to go further, disciples offer their prayers at Haw Wai.

 Haw Wai in another direction

naga guarding the stairs

 

 stupa seen with Haw Wai on two sides

 

The stupa is enclosed by walls approximately 350 meters in perimeter. There is a cloister between the outer wall and stupa. Since, there is no access to the inside of stupa, this is the circumambulatory path or pradakshana or the walking path. The path is covered to ward off any evil.

On one side of the cloister, there are a row of articles which were found at this site.

serene statue of King Jayavarman VII in green sandstone

A huge statue of Jayavarman VII was also found here. Jayavarman VII has been one of the most important kings of Khmer kingdom. He initially built this stupa, enshrining Buddha relic under a stone obelisk in the 12th century.

sema stone

 

 Statues found at site

Many things including sema stones, Shiv lingam were found at the site.

The next cloister has oil paintings made by local artists.

drum in a corner in cloister

Hang Hod

Hang Hod or Rang Rod is used in the bathing ceremony of senior monks. On either side of Hang Hod is the head of Naga.

In one part of cloister are many images of Buddha on pedestal.

more items found, including a 17th century head of Buddha made of lime mortar

an inscription stone near the cloister

parking lot towards the east gate

smiling girls selling Khao Lam

Sticky rice is cooked with coconut and coconut milk stuffed inside a stick of bamboo.

Currency notes with That Luang in them:

 

K  or KN 50,000, 100,000, 10,000

Pha That Luang Festival:

It is one of the most important Buddhist festival called Boun That Luang. It is held on the full moon of the 12th lunar month. It is a three day festival with plenty of Buddhist ceremonies and celebrations. Alms are given to monks and people come to pay respect to the golden stupa.

The devotees go around the stupa three times with incense sticks in their hands to pay their respects.

People wear traditional clothes, and play traditional music. The ground is set up with plenty of stalls selling food, clothes and crafts. There are fireworks and candlelight procession.

Timings:

That Luang is open everyday from 8:00- 12:00 and then from 13:00 to 16:00

Tickets:

30,000 Kip for foreigners
 

Temples surrounding the stupa:

The large well kept grounds of stupa have other surrounding structures for which one does not need a ticket.

I plan to visit Wat That Luang Neua and Wat That Luang Tai. There is a Hor Dhammasabha Buddhist Convention Hall which is used for meeting and Buddhist conventions.

Neak Pean, Siem Reap

 Neak Pean or Neak Poan is a man-made island in the center of Jayatataka Baray. This temple though very small is different from any other temples. One might be delighted or might be disappointed to see just a small temple in the middle of a pond.

History of temple:

• Jayavarman VII built Neak Pean in the 12th century and he used to visit this place from Preah Khan. It was built as a Buddhist temple on a man-made island at the center of Jayatataka Baray. Jaya named after Jaya(varman)'s reservoir
• Pronounced as "Neerk Porn", Neak translates to "Naga" and Pean is entwined, so the word means entwined naga. The temple in center of pond is encircled by two naga whose tails are entwined.

Architecture and layout of temple:

The temple was built as a place for healing, where the water coming from four conduits supplied water to the pond. It was believed that a dip in the pond, healed people of any illness and rejuvenated them. 

Central Sanctuary:

The ideology behind the temple, rests on Hindu belief of balance. In the center of the pond is an east facing circular single shrine measuring 14 meters, which arises from the pond. The base of temple is encircled by two nagas, Nanda, which is another name for Shesha and is the King of Naga, and Upananda. They face in east direction gurarding with their hoods raised.  Their  tails are entwined in the west, giving temple its name of Neak Pean.

   

The temple stands on a fully bloomed double lotus on top of seven laterite tiers, petals curl upwards outside.

Inside the sanctuary was once an image of Buddha which is no longer there.  Image of Avalokiteshwar can be seen outside the temple with tri-headed elephant in between each image. Behind the images are false doors.

The central pond represents the mythical lake Anvatapta(अनवतप्त), tapta is heat so anavtapta is means place devoid of heat. The Anvatapta is said to have four mouths representing fire, earth, water and air. Said to be located in the Himalayas, near Mount Kailash, the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Indus and Brahmaputra have their origin flowing in different directions.

The four springs at Anavtapta has an elephant head on the east, bull mouth on south, west has horse's mouth and north has a lion's mouth. This strangely coincides with the animals on the Asoka Sarnath pillar.

This also very closely resembles the pattern at Neak Pean with gargolyes at four corners: elephant, lion, horse. But, for reasons unknown the bull has been replaced by a man's open mouth through which the water flowed out. Here, lion stood for fire, horse for air, elephant for water, and man for earth.

A sick person was sent to the pool of that element with which he would be suffering. This is parallel to Ayurveda's philosophy of healing where, in a human body all these elements exist in balance and any disturbance in them creates an illness.

Since, I could not click any pictures, I am putting some picture from EFEO here

gargoyle in the form of human head in east edicule

details of gargoyle

edicule north, gargoyle in the form of a lion's head

gargoyle in the form of horse's head in west edicule

edicule south, gargoyle in the form of a lion

This central pond is surrounded by four other ponds or srah in each cardinal direction, representing fire, earth, water and wind which in turn have eight ponds around. This gives an impression of 8-petaled lotus. The outermost ponds do not exist now.

It is said that a Buddhist priest would stand on the steps of central pond and poured sacred water into the main pond. This water would flow through the shaped spout on the worshipper who would be sitting under one of the spouts. Water flowing throwing the mouth would fall on the fall and he would be purified and healed.

Balaha: A stone horse, Balaha stands between the two naga facing the temple. He is seen half submerged in water.

The story of Balaha centers around a group of merchants whose ship got wrecked. They swam ashore to an island, Tamradvipa which was inhabited by demons. They were given shelter by women who took them to their home. They started living there and were very happy.

One day, the captain of the ship saw a house with no doors and windows and also heard sounds of weeping and miseries. Looking inside, he saw the merchants who were supposed to be lost. He told the merchants that they had to escape as they were all in the clutches of demons.

Balaha,who is said to be a reincarnation of Boddhisattva Avalokiteshwara, came to their rescue and once a month, he visited the island and the merchants would cling to his body to escape.

When fully exposed in the absence of water, he is seen with sailors clinging to him.

It is understood that bronze lion statues were once placed there symbolizing Kubera, the god of wealth. In the 14th century, when Siam conquered Angkor, they took those statues and brought them to their capital, Ayutthaya.

When Burma attacked Ayutthaya in 1765, they took those bronze lions to Mandalay where they remain there till date.

wooden walkway across Jayatataka Baray 

From the road, a wooden walkway connects to the island.

Jayatataka Baray

blooming water lily

small shrine

could not see anything inside

The temple stands on a fully bloomed double lotus, petals curling outside, west side with entwined tails of naga

east side of temple with Balaha and raised heads of naga

Statue of Lokeshwar and three-headed elephant

Balaha- the flying horse facing the temple

Balaha and hooded naga guarding the temple

central pool with side pool and edicule

East and north edicules

spout under the edicule connecting water of central pond and side pond

 north facing edicule

relief work on edicule facing west

discarded pillar used as a seating area

a small shrine under a tree

inside the shrine

I was disappointed that the water level was high which had covered all the figures in edicule

shrine with east and south edicules

walkway under a canopy of trees

time to eat

souvenirs

I could'nt stop myself from taking a picture of this cute boy

Temple timings: 7:30 AM - 5:30 PM

Angkor Pass is required