Wat Doi Ngam Meuang (วัดดอยงำเมือง)

Thai. Name of a Buddhist hilltop temple in the city of Chiang Rai. Located on a hill, the temple is accessible via a long staircase flanked with naga-balustrades, that leads to a double wooden gate of which the large doors have been elaborately carved with on one side scenes from Buddhism, such as the Buddha's descent from the Tavatimsa Heaven, and Siddhartha in the maravijaya pose with Bhumidevi, i.e. Mae Phra Thoranee, the goddess of earth, who appeared as a witness of the Buddha's accumulated merits from earlier lives, just before the moment of his Enlightenment and here depicted wringing water from her hair, thus aiding the Buddha in his resistance against Mara, i.e. the ‘destroyer’, also known as the tempter or the evil one, by flushing his army of spirits away, saving the Buddha from the temptation of desire. Adjacent to it, passed this entrance, eight tall wooden pillars have been erected, their number representative for the Buddha's Eightfold Path. Each one displays bas-relief carvings with scenes from history, depicting mostly local village life, as well as mahouts and the king on elephants. On the plateau next to the main prayer hall is a brick chedi, an ancient monument known as Ku Phra Chao Mengrai (กู่พระเจ้าเม็งราย), i.e. a ku (กู่) or stupa containing the ashes Poh Khun Mengrai, who in 1262 AD founded the city that was named after him and whose statue is erected in the front of the stupa. Adjacent to the monument are statues of white horses and a white elephant. Whereas the latter is an animal which in Buddhist nations is regarded as sacred and a symbol of royal might, and which is believed to bring good fortune to any nation that posses it, the horses are a symbol of power, freedom and independence. The stupa was built by Phaya Chai Songkhram (ไชยสงคราม), the son of King Mengrai and his successor. To the left of the staircase that leads to the main prayer hall, is a statue of Phra Upakhut, a Buddhist deity, who is believed to protect and have authority over all water, and is hence called upon to protect seafaring people, as well as to ask for rain, or alternatively, to stop the rain. In Thailand, he is believed to eradicate any obstacles to progress, and to vanquish danger. He is portrayed in a seated half lotus position, i.e. the right foot resting on the left thighbone and the left foot under the right thigh, with his head slightly tilted up, as if looking at the sky, and holding an alms bowl in one hand, while putting the fingers of his other hand into the bowl, a mudra or ‘hand position’ that in Buddhist iconography normally refers to eating from an alms bowl. On a slope in front of the temple is a statue of the Hindu god Ganesha, represented with a human body and the head of an elephant, with one tusk broken off, and here painted silver and gold, reminiscent of the silver and gold trees used as the annual tribute that vassal states in the past were required to pay to the ruling kings, as an indication of their loyalty. WATCH VIDEO. 回