Serenity covered the tiny Devastan Shrine on Din So Road as a stream of worshippers entered the main gate into the elegantly-decorated place. It was late into the night, but no one seemed to mind.
Children with traditional hairstyles attend the tonsure ritual, which marks the end of Triyumpawai or the Brahmin New Year. The shaving of the head, presided jointly over by Phra Maha Raja Guru Bidhi Sri Visudhigun and Buddhist monks, signifies the rite of passage from child to adulthood.
Their mission was to pay respect to the Hindu gods Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu, who according to myth came down to earth once a year to give blessings to humans in two rituals known as Triyumpawai and Tripawai.
The rituals, comprising prayer chanting in the Pallawa dialect, was conducted by Phra Maha Raja Guru Bidhi Sri Visudhigun, the chief Brahmin at the Devastan.
The Brahmin priest said the annual 10-day ritual begins on the half moon night of the second month of the lunar calendar, which this year was Jan 18.
"It is to commemorate the day when Brahma god created the world, it's the time we show gratitude to these gods," said the guru. It's also the New Year's celebration for the Brahmin followers.
According to the Hindu myth, after creating the world, Brahma asked Shiva to test its stability. Brahma had Naliwan, the naga king, cling between two mounts and Shiva stepped on the naga king's body and swung harshly. When he was sure of the world's stability, Brahma then created living creatures, humans, animals and plants.
Triyumpawai, a term in an ancient dialect from southern India, may be a familiar words to Thais, but few know its real meaning. Triyumpawai is the act of worshipping Shiva, the god of creation, and Tripawai is worshipping Vishnu.
"Some may think 'tri' at the beginning of the term means three or three deities, Shiva, Uma his wife and Ganesha his son, but it is not. We do worship the goddess and Ganesha as they are Shiva's family members but the term has nothing to do with the number. It's just the way we pronounce the ancient term in Thai."
The prayer took place at a different building each night. It started with a welcome to Shiva in main building, called Shivastan or the adobe of Shiva, on the first night and moved to the remaining two buildings, the adobes of Ganesha and Vishnu.
The guru said the prayer's text was written in ancient Sanskit by an Indian Brahmin about 700 years ago.
In Thailand, the ritual dates back to Ayutthaya period. King Rama I restored the ceremony when he founded Bangkok as the capital in 1782. And it became annual event. In the old days, the ritual was accompanied by the move of the nearby Giant Swing. But that ceremony with senior court officials standing on the Giant Swing's plank as it moved was abolished in 1932 when the People's Party rose to power. New generations of leaders regarded the act as too dangerous.
During the rituals, four deities which are close to human life, the earth goddess, the Kangka or Ganges river, the Sun and the Moon, were also represented.
On the third night of Triyumpawai, the priest put three wooden carvings bearing the image of the four deities on to the ground. This ritual, called chern nang kradan, took place about 4am.
Part of the carvings' foundation is buried into the ground, symbolising the horizon. Each piece of wood faced East, the direction of sun.
After three nights, the priest moved the planks back to their container in the Shivastan building, The ritual also took place about 4am.
Worshippers throng the Devastan shrine, the adobe of gods, to pay respect to Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu gods.
Then came the farewell to gods which took place on the last three nights. The prayer chanting started about 8pm and lasted until 1am the next day.
Part of the farewell is a ritual called chaa hong when the guru moves a gold-plated swan on the replica of the Giant Swing. A swan is a sacred creature in the Himmapan forest. It is a vehicle to take the gods back to heaven.
At the end of the rituals, fruits and flowers used in the ceremony will be sent to the palace as a gesture to Their Majesties the King and Queen and the Royal Family.
The maha ratcha guru said some may think that the ritual is obsolete for the modern world.
''But it's not. Actually, it's a symbol signifying core values of our society. Our worshipping to the gods signifies gratitude. The Giant Swing, the re-enactment of Brahma's intention to test the world's stability, means the importance of rethinking, while the ritual's timing, very early in the morning can be translated as diligent.''
Teeranun Vichaidit, a postgraduate student at Burapha University, who studies Shiva worshipping in city shrines, said the ritual has been adapted to the new world. He noted Hinduism and the belief in spirits blended well into Thai Buddhism, adding that worshipping in Hindu belief is to gain access to ultimate truth, an idea similar to Buddhism, and to achieve a condition when one is united with gods.
''The advantage of the ritual is that it is an easy way to do good. But it may make some followers pay too much attention to superficial ceremonies, and overlook the core of Buddhism.''
The reflection of a worshipper at a small pool around the Brahman statue at Devastan Shrine.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/02/12/enduring-rituals/
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