Tag: Thailand

Flooded Buddha

UNESCO World Heritage site in Ayutthaya (Thailand) province – inundated with floodwaters on October 10, 2011. More than 250 Thais have died after two months of heavy rainfall have inundated large swathes of the country and hit provinces on the northern outskirts of the capital particularly hard. AFP PHOTO / Pornchai KITTIWONGSAKUL (Photo credit should read PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP via Getty Images)

Manimekhala: The Goddess of the Sea

Manimekhala is a budddhist goddess regarded in Southeast Asia as guardian of the Seas.

The rescueing flood

This painting shows a scene from early buddhist texts from the 3. and 4. Century AD: When Mara, the God of Death, attacked Siddhattha, Siddhattha called on Vasundhara, also referred to as Bhumi or Mother Earth, to save him. Vasundhara creates a massive flood by wringing her long hair and ths drowning all the adversaries. Here Siddhattha, later to become Buddha, can be seen seated and meditating in a small tower high above the flood created by Vasundhara. The image is from the 19. Century. As Christian Rohr notes, the image of Vasundhara wringing her hair is particularly popular in modernity. Today it is a popular talisman in Thailand and Burma.

Thailand; 3. Century AD; Buddhist; Painting, Sculpture