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Turning to spirits in hard times


Two shrines at a temple in Phra Khanong are drawing daily crowds desperate for a change in fortune

Writer: Suthep Chaviwan

Published: 15/03/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: Spectrum

'We come here to worship the spirit of Mae Nak with the hope that she will bless us to have a prosperous life, and we also expect that the spirit of Ton Takien here will give us a lucky lottery number," said Chutamas and Wasana in unison last weekend at Bangkok's Wat Mahabut in Phra Khanong district. The two women had come to worship at the temple's Mae (Nang) Nak and Ton Takien shrines. Ton Takien shrines are logs from hopea trees found in some Buddhist temples.



HOPEFUL: Images of the Nang Nak ghost with her child. Worshippers come seeking the ghost’s blessings on hope itwill help them find what they want.

Chutamas and Wasana, both in their thirties, joined several hundred people at the temple on Soi Onnuj last weekend, mostly others who have fallen on hard times in the current economic downturn. There are two other shrines at Wat Mahabut - an image of the Buddha known as Luang Poh Yim (smiling Buddha) and a Chinese Kuanyin (Goddess of Mercy and Love) - but it seems that the Nang Nak ghost shrine and the Ton Takien shrine are the most favoured. Of course, the two shrines make a lot of money for the temple as the worshippers make donations through them.

Along with 150 other workers at a food processing factory in Thon Buri which closed after the owners decided they could no longer operate at a loss, Chutamas and Wasana have been jobless for two months. The two women have visited many spirit shrines and temples to ask for blessings in their search for jobs, but as of now there don't seem to be any jobs available for them.

Another worshipper, 42-year-old Sanit Phumnathee, said he was laid off along with 80 workers at an car company in the first part of January. He also has travelled to many Buddhist temples and shrines in the hope it will bring him employment.

"I have a family with two kids to take care of. I don't know what to do about our future and I don't know whether the spirit of Mae Nak or the Ton Takien shrine can help me or not," he said.

What is known is that new employment is very hard to find nowadays, not only for those recently laid off, but also for the 700,000 new university graduates this year.

The Federation of Thai Industries has warned that about one million people in the country are expected to be laid off due to the economic meltdown.



LUCKY NUMBERS: Worshippers touch the bark of the Ton Takien log hoping to see lottery numbers on the tips of their fingers.

THE LEGEND OF NANG NAK

The story of Mae Nang Nak, perhaps the most famous of all Thai ghosts, began during the reign of King Mongkut (1851-1868) when a newlywed couple, Nang Nak and Tid Mak, moved into a small and abandoned house in Bangkok's Phra Khanong district, near Wat Mahabut.

According to the legend, Tid Mak was called off to war, leaving Nang Nak pregnant and all alone.

Both Nang Nak and her child died during childbirth and they became ghosts. Yet they still took the form of human beings as they waited for Tid Mak to return.

When he did return he was under a spell, and knew nothing of the death of his wife and child. His neighbours tried to tell him, but he did not believe them, and so he lived with the ghosts in the secluded house.

One day Tid Mak was watching Nang Nak as she was preparing dinner. She dropped a lemon and it fell off the elevated floor and into the earthen cellar of the house. Nang Nak then extended her arm all the way to the ground to pick up the lemon.

Terrified, Tid Mak realised that his beautiful wife was a ghost as his neighbours had been telling him all along, and he tried to flee from her.

When she knew her husband had left the house, Nang Nak chased him to the area of Wat Mahabut, but she could not enter the temple. She decided to stay nearby and terrorise the people as an expression of her anger with them for helping her husband leave her.

Nang Nak's ghost was later exorcised and confined within an earthen pot, which was thrown into the river.

People in the area had a change of heart however, and erected the shrine at Wat Mahabut for her and her child and invited their spirits to dwell there.

There are, however, other versions of Nang Nak's story, some very different from the one above.



Some say that the story is fiction and based on rumour, while others believe it is true, although there is no evidence to prove it.

What is not in dispute is that the Nang Nak ghost shrine truly exists at Wat Mahabut and that each day the shrine draws hundreds of worshippers who are looking to improve their fortunes.

At the very least, the story of Nang Nak has been a gift for the Thai movie industry, with more than 20 films produced so far, and no doubt more on the way.

Most of those coming to Wat Mahabut go with the intention of worshiping at the ghost shrine of Nang Nak, asking her spirit to bless their lives with good fortune, but almost to a person they also make a stop at the Ton Takien shrine for a lucky lottery number.

According to reports, worshippers just rub on the Ton Takien log, pray to the spirit of the log, and the lucky number magically appears on their fingertips.