CHAPTER XXXI

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SIAM.

The “Castle of Indra,” call they the hall, In which are displayed the deities all, The golden images, chiseled with care, And all incrusted with jewels so rare.

Full thirty thousand their numbers are: Their ugliness passes description far; A compound of men and animals dread, With many a hand and many a head. HEINRICH HEINE.

Siam is the land lying just to the east of Burmah; on account of the extreme reverence paid to the white elephant it is often called the Land of the White Elephant. It has a population of 6,300,000, who are, with but a few exceptions, Buddhists. Buddhism entered this country in 638 A.D., and was thus the last nation to yield to the power of that religion. The Siamese people are gentle, cheerful, timid, careless and almost passionless. They are disposed to idleness, inconstancy and inaction; they are liberal almsgivers, severe in enforcing decorum between the sexes. They are fond of sports, and spend half their time in amusements. They are sharp and even witty in conversation, and resemble the Chinese in their dexterity in imitation. Of theatrical displays, rope-dancing and the like, they are extremely fond.

Of the wit of the people, the best evidence is to be found in their familiar proverbs, of which a few are here cited:

“When you go into a wood, do not forget your wood-knife.”

“An elephant though he has four legs may slip; and a doctor is not always right.”

“Go up by land you meet a tiger; go down by water you meet a crocodile.”

“If a dog bite you, do not bite him again.”

As in most Oriental lands there is the greatest and most painful contrast between the luxury and splendor of the king’s court and the poverty and squalor of the common people. The royal palaces are filled with all that wealth and power can procure. The peasants’ hovels are denied even the common comforts of life; they are bare and comfortless. They contain no furniture, but only a few roughly made vessels of earthenware, and a mat or two spread upon the floor. The food of a peasant consists of a bowl of rice with a morsel of fish. At a Siamese State dinner there are usually served with great ceremony from sixty to a hundred carefully cooked dishes.

THE CELEBRATED WAT CHANG PAGODA.

This is the most splendid temple in Bangkok. It is shaped somewhat like a bell, rising to the height probably of 250 feet. Every inch of its surface glitters with curious ornaments and carvings; the forms of men and birds, and beasts like nothing in heaven above, nor earth beneath, nor waters under the earth. It is made of brick and plastered on the outside. In a large niche in the sides, about two-thirds of the way to the top are images of Buddha, riding on four white elephants made of shining porcelain each facing toward one of the points of the compass. A sharp spire rises from the summit. All over this temple tower, from the base to the top, from every projecting point hang a multitude of small sweet-toned bells, swinging and ringing in the slightest breeze, filling the air with liquid melody.

[Illustration: TOWER OF WAT CHANG PAGODA AT BANGKOK, SIAM.]

[Illustration: FUNERAL TEMPLE OF WOOD, BAMBOO AND PAPER, TO BE BURNED WITH THE BODY OF A DEAD KING.]

“How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells-- From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.”

Within the Wat Chang inclosure, besides the pagoda, are priests’ dwellings, temples, with their idols, a preaching-hall, a library and small parks, with flower and fruit-gardens, ponds, caves and stone statues of Chinese sages and warriors, presenting a scene of bewildering richness.

TEMPLE OF THE EMERALD IDOL.

The Wat P’hra Keau is the temple where the reigning monarch worships. On the road leading to this temple is another temple, the Wat Poh, where reposes in gigantic state the wondrous Sleeping Idol. This is a reclining figure, 150 feet long and 40 feet high, entirely covered with gold-plate. The soles of this giant figure’s feet are covered with carvings inlaid with pearl and chased with gold. The designs of these carvings represent the many transmigrations of Buddha before he obtained Nirvāna (or, as the Siamese call it, Niphan). On the nails of the toes are engraven Buddha’s ten divine attributes. Beyond this temple are the stables, or, more properly speaking, the Palace of the White Elephant, where the huge creature is housed and cared for royally.

[Illustration: THE KING OF SIAM GOING TO WORSHIP AT THE TEMPLE OF THE EMERALD IDOL.]

[Illustration: ALTAR OF THE TEMPLE OF THE EMERALD IDOL, SIAM.]

Beyond these is the Temple of the Emerald Idol. This is one of the most remarkable and beautiful structures of its kind in all the East. Its model is like that of all the others, but its finish is of a much higher order. The exterior is adorned with lofty octagonal pillars, with quaint Gothic doors and windows, all carved with a great variety of emblems, the lotus and the palm occurring most frequently. This temple, like all Siamese temples, is built of brick, with a number of roofs rising in connected tiers, and reaching out over broad verandas, supported by rows of pillars, the whole covered with white cement. The roofs are usually made of many-colored tiles; at the ends of the ridge-pole are many ornaments, resembling bullocks’ horns in size and shape. The walls and ceiling of the interior are covered with finely-executed paintings. Mrs. Leonowens, an English lady who lived for six years in the palace of the King of Siam, and who thereby enjoyed unusual privileges, thus describes the interior and worship of the Wat P’hra Keau:

“The altar is a wonder of dimensions and splendour--a pyramid 100 feet high, terminating in a fine spire of gold, and surrounded on every side by idols, all curious and precious, from the bijou image in sapphire to the colossal statue in plate-gold. A series of trophies these, gathered from the triumphs of Buddhism over the proudest forms of worship in the old pagan world. In the pillars that surround the temple, and the spires that taper far aloft, may be traced types and emblems borrowed from the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec, the proud fane of Diana at Ephesus, the shrines of the Delian Apollo; but the Brahminical symbols and interpretations prevail. Strange that it should be so with a sect that suffered by the slayings and the banishments of a ruthless persecution, at the hands of their Brahmin fathers, for the cause of restoring the culture of that simple and pure philosophy which flourished before Pantheism.

“The floor is paved with diamond-shaped pieces of polished brass, which reflect the light of tall tapers that have burned on for more than a hundred years, so closely is the sacred fire watched. The floods of light and depths of shadow about the altar are extreme, and the effect overwhelming.

“The Emerald Idol is about twelve inches high and eight in width. Into the virgin gold of which its hair and collar are composed, must have been stirred, while the metal was yet molten, crystals, topazes, sapphires, rubies, onyxes, amethysts and diamonds--the stones crude, or rudely cut, and blended in such proportions as might enhance to the utmost imaginable limit the beauty and the cost of the adored effigy. The combination is as harmonious as it is splendid. No wonder it is commonly believed that Buddha himself alighted on the spot in the form of a great emerald, and by a flash of lightning conjured the glittering edifice and altar in an instant from the earth, to be a house and a throne for him there!

“On either side of the eastern entrance--called ‘The Beautiful Gate’--stands a modern statue; one of Saint Peter, with flowing mantle and sandaled feet, in an attitude of sorrow, as when ‘he turned away his face and wept;’ the other of Ceres, scattering flowers. The western entrance, which admits only ladies, is called ‘The Angel’s Gate,’ and is guarded by genii of ferocious aspect.

“On a floor diamonded with polished brass sat a throng of women, the _élite_ of Siam. All were robed in pure white, with white silk scarfs drawn from the left shoulder in careful folds across the bust and back, and thrown gracefully over the right. A little apart sat their female slaves, of whom many were inferior to their mistresses only in social consideration and wordly gear, being their half sisters--children of the same father by a slave mother.

[Illustration: RUINED TEMPLE AND IDOL OF BUDDHA AT AYUDIA, THE OLD CAPITAL OF SIAM.]

“The women sat in circles, and each displayed her vase of flowers and her lighted taper before her. In front of all were a number of my younger pupils, the royal children, in circles also. Close by the altar, on a low square stool, overlaid with a thin cushion of silk, sat the high-priest, Chow Khoon Sâh. In his hand he held a concave fan, lined with pale-green silk, the back richly embroidered, jeweled and gilt. He was draped in a yellow robe, not unlike the Roman toga, a loose and flowing habit, closed below the waist, but open from the throat to the girdle, which was simply a band of yellow cloth, bound tightly. From the shoulders hung two narrow strips, also yellow, descending over the robe to the feet, and resembling the scapular worn by certain orders of the Roman Catholic clergy. At his side was an open watch of gold, the gift of his sovereign. At his feet sat seventeen disciples, shading their faces with fans less richly adorned.

“We put off our shoes--my child and I--having respect for the ancient prejudice against them, feeling not so much reverence for the place as for the hearts that worshiped there; caring to display not so much the love of wisdom as the wisdom of love; and well were we repaid by the grateful smile of recognition that greeted us as we entered.

“We sat down cross-legged. No need to hush my boy; the silence there, so subduing, checked with its mysterious awe even his inquisitive young mind. The venerable high-priest sat with his face jealously covered, lest his eyes should tempt his thoughts to stray. I changed my position to catch a glimpse of his countenance. He drew his fan-veil more closely, giving me a quick, but gentle half-glance of remonstrance. Then raising his eyes, with lids nearly closed, he chanted in an infantile, wailing tone.

“That was the opening prayer. At once the whole congregation raised themselves on their knees, and, all together, prostrated themselves thrice profoundly, thrice touching the polished brass floor with their foreheads, and then, with heads bowed and palms folded and eyes closed, they delivered the responses after the priest, much in the manner of the English Liturgy; first the priest, then the people, and finally all together. There was no singing, no standing up and sitting down, no changing of robes and places, no turning the face to the altar, nor north, nor south, nor east, nor west. All knelt _still_, with hands folded straight before them, and eyes strictly, tightly closed. Indeed, there were faces there that expressed devotion and piety, the humblest and the purest, as the lips murmured, ‘O, Thou Eternal One, Thou perfection of Time, Thou truest Truth, Thou immutable essence of all Change, Thou most excellent radiance of Mercy, Thou infinite Compassion, Thou Pity, Thou Charity!’

“I lost some of the responses in the simultaneous repetition, and did but imperfectly comprehend the exhortation that followed, in which was inculcated the strictest practice of charity, in a manner so pathetic and so gentle as might be wisely imitated by the most orthodox of Christian priests. There was majesty in the humility of those pagan worshipers, and in their shame of self they were sublime.”

WORSHIP OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT.

With regard to this subject, before referred to, we prefer using another’s description:

Sir John Bowring tells us that the Buddhists have a special reverence for white quadrupeds; that he has himself seen a white monkey honored with special attention. Also, that white elephants have been the cause of many a war, and their possession more an object of envy than the conquest of territory or the transitory glories of the battle-field. In the money market a white elephant is almost beyond price. Fifty thousand dollars would hardly represent its pecuniary value; a hair from its tail is worth a Jew’s ransom. “It was my good fortune,” he says, “to present to the First King of Siam (the Siamese have two kings exercising supreme authority) presents with which I had been charged by my royal mistress. I received many presents in return; but the monarch placed in my hand a golden box, locked with a golden key, and he informed me the box contained a gift far more valuable than all the rest, and that was a few hairs of the white elephant.

And perhaps it may be well to state why the white elephant is so specially reverenced. “It is because it is believed that Buddha, the supreme emanation from the Deity, will necessarily, in his multitudinous metamorphoses or transmissions through all the grades of existences, and through millions of æons, delight to abide for some time in that grand incarnation of purity which is represented by, and found in the white elephant. While all the _bonzes_ teach that there is no spot in the heavens above or the earth below, or the waters under the earth, which is not visited in the peregrinations of the divinity--whose every stage or step is toward purification--they hold that his tarrying may be longer in the white elephant than in any other abode, and that in the possession of the sacred creature they may possess the presence of Buddha himself. It is known that the Ceylonese have been kept in subjection by the belief that their rulers have a tooth of Buddha in the temple of Kandy, and that on various tracts of the East impressions of the foot of Buddha are reverenced, and are the objects of weary pilgrimages to places which can only be reached with difficulty; but with the white elephant some vague notions of a vital Buddha are associated, and there can be no doubt that the marvelous sagacity of the creature has served to strengthen their religious prejudices. Siamese are known to whisper their secrets into an elephant’s ear, and to ask a solution of their perplexities by some sign or movement. And most assuredly there is more sense and reason in the worship of an intelligent beast than in that of stocks and stones, the work of men’s hands.

[Illustration: SIAMESE WORSHIPING THE WHITE ELEPHANT.]

[Illustration: TOMB OF A BUDDHIST SAINT.]

“And yet,” continues Sir John, “after all, the white elephant is not _white_, nor anything like it. It is of a coffee-color; not of unburnt, but of burnt coffee--dull brownish yellow or yellowish brown--white only by contrast with his darker brother. The last which reached Bangkok was caught in the woods. The king and court went a long way out into the country to meet him, and he was conducted with a grand procession, much pomp and music, and flying banners, to the capital. There a grand mansion awaited him, and several of the leading nobility were appointed his custodians. The walls were painted to represent forests, no doubt to remind him of his native haunts, and to console him in his absence from them. All his wants were sedulously provided for, and in his ‘walks abroad,’ when ‘many men he saw,’ he was escorted by music and caparisoned by costly vestments. His grandest and farthest promenades were to bathe in the river, when other elephants were in attendance, honored by being made auxiliaries to his grandeur. Now and then the two sovereigns sought his presence, but I did not learn that his dignity condescended to oblige them with any special notice. But he wanted no addition to his dignity. Everything associated with majesty and rank bore his image. A white elephant is the badge of distinction. The royal flags and seals, medals and moneys--on all sides the white elephant is the national emblem, as the cross among Christians, or the crescent among Turks; and the Siamese are prouder of it than Americans, Russians, Germans or French are of their eagles, or Spaniards of the golden fleece. The Bourbon _Oriflamme_, the British Union Jack, show but faintly in the presence of the white elephant.”

RUINS OF THE GREAT TEMPLE OF NAGKON WAT.

Some of the most famous ruins of the world, and but little known to general readers, are those at Angkor, in Eastern Siam. The Frenchman, M. Mouhot, says the ruins of Nagkon Wat--a temple which must have rivaled the temple of Solomon in its splendor--might take a most honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece and Rome. Another writer says the ruins of Angkor are as imposing as the ruins of Thebes or Memphis, and more mysterious. Modern travelers have proved in their descriptions of these ruins that these are not words of fulsome praise.

There are no certain answers to the questions who built it? when was it built? and what has become of the builders? But recent researches in Chinese history seem to show that it was built between the tenth and twelfth centuries A.D.

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE GREAT TEMPLE OF NAGKON WAT.]

The visitor enters upon an immense causeway, 725 feet long, with six gigantic griffins, each carved from a single block of stone, ranged along its sides. On either side of the causeway are artificial lakes, each of about five acres in extent. The temple is romantically, as well as beautifully and impressively situated in the midst of a forest of palm-trees. The outer wall of the Nagkon Wat is about half a mile square, and is built of sandstone, with gate-ways upon each side. These are handsomely carved with figures of gods and dragons. The main gate-way is on the western side, passing through which and up a causeway, for a distance of 1,000 feet, one comes to the central main entrance of the temple. The entire building is raised on three terraces, each about thirty feet above the other. The whole is built of stone, without cement, with joints so closely fitting that even the lapse of years has not seamed. The immense blocks of stone were quarried about thirty miles away. The central temple is oblong, being 796 feet long, 585 feet wide, and 250 feet high in the centre. From the doorway, on either side, runs back a hall-way, with a double row of columns, each cut--base, shaft and capital--from a single block. This hall-way has an oval-shaped roof, covered with carvings and walls covered with sculptures. This gallery of sculptures, which forms the exterior of the temples, consists of over half a mile of continuous pictures, cut upon sandstone slabs, each six feet in width. These sculptures represent subjects taken from the Hindu book called the Ramayana, which describes the adventures of the god Rama and the son of the king of Oudh.

In the Nagkon Wat 1,532 solid columns have been counted. Passing on up steep staircases, we come to several image-houses. These contain several hundred images, made of stone, wood, brass, clay, of all shapes, sizes and ages. Galleries cross and recross each other. Finally we come to the central pagoda, in which are at present placed colossal images of Buddha. This temple is believed to be at least 2,000 years old.

[Illustration: STATUE OF THE LEPER KING.]

A little ways from the Nagkon Wat rests the statue of the Leper King, who is supposed to have assisted in the building of the temple. This famous statue is carved from sandstone, in a sitting posture; the eyes are closed; a thin mustache, twisted up at the ends, covers the upper lip; the ears are long; the hair is thick, and displayed in curls upon the head, the top of which is surmounted by a small, round crown. The tradition says that this king was an Egyptian, who for some wicked deed was turned into a leper, and who built the temple in fulfillment of a vow that he might be freed from his disease.

SOME OTHER TEMPLES.

Near Pechaburi is a cavern, or series of small caves, called the Cave of Idols. One or two small openings in the ceiling permit the light to enter. Rows of gilt Buddhas line its sides, and a huge reclining image of Buddha lies at one end of the halls. Just outside of the cave, and at the bottom of the hill, is a temple containing another immense reclining Buddha. This is built of brick and mortar, covered with thick gold-leaf. It is clothed with yellow garments, such as the Siamese and Burmese Buddhist priests wear. Its head rests upon the right hand and presses upon a gayly-ornamented pillow. The idol is 135 feet high.

We notice that very many of these immense reclining idols of Buddha are found in Siam alone.

There are 3,000,000 of Chinese in Siam, who are Buddhists and have their own temples. The largest of these is in Bangkok, and contains a brass Buddha, sitting cross-legged, and about fifty feet high, and forty feet wide at the knees. The immense temple roof is 100 feet from the ground. In a smaller temple, in the same inclosure, is another brass Buddha, seated upon a rock, with a copper elephant on one side and a leaden monkey on the other, looking up, in reverence, at the idol Buddha.

When the King of Siam dies, the funeral ceremonies are participated in by the nation. During about four months, 300 or 400 men are engaged in building the funeral temple. The funeral pile, on which the body is to be burned, is placed in the centre, and the temple built around and above it. Its style is similar to other Siamese temples. The trunks of teak trees, not less than 170 feet high, are placed upright so as to form a square about thirty feet each way. On this is built an octagonal, sixty-foot spire, covered with gold-leaf. Around this central building poles are erected, on which are hung peculiar ornaments covered with crimson cloth. Around the interior are grouped pictures of the gods and of the Buddhist’s heaven, with lakes, groves and gardens. All around the temple is a screen of woven bamboo work, and the ground is covered with the same. The whole exterior of the temple is decorated with objects of glass, porcelain, alabaster and silver, with artificial flowers and images of birds, beasts, men and angels. Splendid chandeliers are suspended from the ceiling. Under the central tower is a pyramidal pile, on which the body is to be burned. Thousands of priests are engaged in prayers during the service. The scene and service at such a time is impressive beyond the power of description.

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