Brutal karma at the shrine?

On my daily walk to work yesterday there was something strange going on at the Rajprasong intersection. Usually there are many people milling around at the junction of Rajdamri and Ploenchit roads as one of the most famous shrine's in Bangkok, San Phra Phrom (or the Erawan) is positioned besides the crossing. The area around the scene was even busier today but as i approached i saw that the shrine was closed off with police tape and the actual statue itself was covered with white sheeting. Asking my usual coconut seller what had happened i got the answer that someone had hit the statue.. After further conversation in pidgin Thai I understood that it was someone considered 'crazy' and that they had used a hammer to damage the four headed image of Brahma. Further more during the incident a fight had broken out with the guy involved and he was tragically beaten to death by two street cleaners. Actually the answer i got did not make any of this very clear as obviously everyone was pretty agitated about what had just happened. Later that day more details leaked out and the death was confirmed in the press. I have yet to read the papers today but this picture I took shows the covered statue and the makeshift placement of offerings outside this revered shrine.


I am sure that the majority of people will consider the death to be a vicious Karma and will have little thought of wrong doing on the part of the killers, even if it is true that the man suffered from a mental illness. What it highlights to me is twofold; first that however placid and full of smiles Thai people are, that once pushed too far they can snap with real force and about things that may seem strange to those with little understanding of the local culture. Secondly, that the power of belief can be immensely deep and often causes actions out of odds with everyday behaviour, and the Buddhist religion- if you consider it a religion, contains an extremely diverse range of devotion and adherence.

Hopefully (for my coconut seller for one) the shrine will soon be repaired and open for the tourists and the devotees once again. I will also keep an eye on the trial of the two accused of this death, but I expect that the law will deliver a relatively lenient sentence, perhaps the thinking will be to allow Karma to judge the killers also?

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