The city of
Nan
Nan or NAN may refer to:
Places China
* Nan County, Yiyang, Hunan, China
* Nan Commandery, historical commandery in Hubei, China
Thailand
* Nan Province
** Nan, Thailand, the administrative capital of Nan Province
* Nan River
People Given name
...
's most famous
wat
A wat ( km, វត្ត, ; lo, ວັດ, ; th, วัด, ; khb, 「ᩅᨯ᩠ᨰ」(waD+Dha); nod, 「ᩅ᩠ᨯ᩶」 (w+Da2)) is a type of Buddhist temple and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State, Yunnan, the Southern Provi ...
is renowned for its cruciform
ubosot
The ordination hall is a Buddhist building specifically consecrated and designated for the performance of the Buddhist ordination ritual ('' upasampada'') and other ritual ceremonies, such as the recitation of the Patimokkha. The ordination hall ...
which was constructed in 1596 and restored during the reign of ''Chao Ananta Vora Ritthi Det'' (1867-1875).
Exterior
It is the only temple which was built as if it were on the back of two immense snakes (or
Nagas).
Each of the four entrances is preceded by a small corridor topped by a finely decorated point shaped structure (underlining the royal origin of the temple) and is equipped with smoothly carved doors; with Chinese demon guards in the East, flowers in the North and forest life motives in the
Lanna
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
style in the West and South.
Interior
The
wat
A wat ( km, វត្ត, ; lo, ວັດ, ; th, วัด, ; khb, 「ᩅᨯ᩠ᨰ」(waD+Dha); nod, 「ᩅ᩠ᨯ᩶」 (w+Da2)) is a type of Buddhist temple and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State, Yunnan, the Southern Provi ...
's interior is impressive. It is also a good example of
Thai Lue
The Dai people ( Burmese: ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; khb, ᨴᩱ/ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿ; lo, ໄຕ; th, ไท; shn, တႆး, ; , ; ) refers to several Tai-speaking ethnic groups living in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and ...
architecture. The structure of the roof is supported by twelve
teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...
pillars decorated with gold on black and red
lacquer and elephants motives. The ceiling is also finely decorated. The flowered
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
resting in the center of the bôt supports four
Buddhas of the
Sukhothai style in the pose of
''Bhūmisparsa mudrā'' ("Buddha Invoking Mother-Earth", "Bhumi to be His Witness" or "Buddha subduing
Māra
Māra is the highest-ranking goddess in Latvian mythology, Mother Earth, a feminine counterpart to Dievs. She takes spirits after death. She may be thought as the alternate side of Dievs (like in Yin and Yang). Other Latvian goddesses, somet ...
" - the hand pointed down to the earth with the fingers touching the ground), facing the four directions. The shape of the ears and nose shows a
Lao influence. Next to the altar one finds a splendid ''thammdat'' (a ''dhamma seat'' used by teaching monks).
Murals
Well preserved murals of great value illustrating the ''Khattana Kumara
Jataka
The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, th ...
'' on the Northern wall and the ''Nimi Jatakas'' on the Western wall as well as scenes of the local life of the time when they were painted by Thai Lue artists during the restoration of the temple at the end of the 19th century. Europeans can even be noticed: a reference to the arrival of the
French to whom the East of the Nan valley area was yielded in 1893. The style is rather distinctive and quite removed from the traditional style of temple paintings in Thailand. They somewhat resemble the style of the murals of
Wat Phra Singh
Wat Phra Singh (full name: Wat Phra Singh Woramahaviharn; th, วัดพระสิงห์วรมหาวิหาร; ;pronunciation; nod, ) is a Buddhist temple ( Thai language: Wat) in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
King Anan ...
in
Chiang Mai and are very much like the murals of
Wat Nong Bua in
Tha Wang Pha District, just north of the city of Nan. The setting of the murals at Wat Phumin however, is that of the culture and everyday life of the Thai Lue people. The two most famous scenes are of greater dimensions than the majority of the other paintings: a man whispering to the ear of a woman (on the Southern side of the Western door) and the portrait painted on the side of the Southern door, which could be king ''Chao Ananta Vora Ritthi Det''. The large paintings on each side of the main entrance show a Chinese influence which can be explained by the origins of the Thai Lue people.
Gallery
File:Wat Phumin, Nan2.jpg, The interior of Wat Phumin
File:Peinture murale Wat Phumin, Nan.JPG, Murals at Wat Phumin showing the city and European troops
File:Peinture murale Wat Phumin2, Nan.JPG, Murals at Wat Phumin (a woman and a child), Nan
File:วัดภูมินทร์ จ.น่าน.jpg, A close-up of one of the columns
File:2013 Wat Phumin mural 03.jpg, Murals showing Westerners and French warships in Bangkok during the Paknam incident
The Paknam Incident was a military engagement fought during the Franco-Siamese War in July 1893. While sailing off Paknam on Siam's Chao Phraya River, three French ships violated Siamese territory and a Siamese fort and a force of gunboats fire ...
of 1893
References
* David K. Wyatt: ''Reading Thai Murals''
Silkworm Books Chiang Mai 2004,
* David K. Wyatt (Transl., Ed.): ''The Nan Chronicle''. SEA-Program Cornell University, Ithaca 1994,
* Carol Stratton: ''Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand''. Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2004,
* David K. Wyatt: ''Temple Murals as an Historical Source. The Case of Wat Phumin, Nan''. Chulalongkorn University Press, Bangkok 1993,
*'Temples and Murals of Nan', in: Forbes, Andrew, and Henley, David, ''Ancient Chiang Mai'' Volume 3. Chiang Mai, Cognoscenti Books, 2012. ASIN: B006IN1RNW
External links
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091027113837/http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/7153/nan.htm Geocities website on Nan province br>
Asian Historical Architecture: Wat Phumin
{{Coord, 18, 46, 28.81, N, 100, 46, 17.73, E, region:TH-55_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title
Buddhist temples in Nan Province
Thai Theravada Buddhist temples and monasteries
16th-century Buddhist temples