January 16, 2011

071209 Wat Had Siaw 5 - detail of interior murals

An interruption to normal programming - a 'special feature' series of posts on Wat Had Siaw in Chomphet district of Luang Prabang. Please see part 1 of this series for background info on this place & the reason for this 'special feature'.



Apologise for poor quality of images - they are all cropped from the photos shown in the previous post i.e. not close-up shots. Hopefully someone with a better camera & skills will be able to show the world the beauty & detail of these paintings.

The cat does not know if the paintings on all interior walls depict scenes from the same story, or from more than one story. However, those on the wall on the left of the altar & the right half of the wall with the main door seem to feature the same guy & his white horse. A Thotsakan/Ravana-like character & an army of demon-like creatures appear in some of the scenes with the guy & his white horse, but the cat can't figure out if he is the equivalent of Hapkhanasouane & whether those scenes have anything to do with stories from the ພຣະລັກພຣະຣາມ Phra Lak Phra Ram (Lao version of Ramayana). The paintings on the wall on the right of the altar & the left half of the wall with the main door have sustained a lot more damage, to the point where the cat is unable to figure out the sequence of the scenes there.

Wall on right of altar - right half:

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Interior of main entrance door - right half...

The guy (seated & pointing at two crow-like birds, one on either side of the large crack) & his white steed behind him:

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He brings his horse into some enclosure (bottom left) where boys are playing & climbing palm trees (upper right):

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Wall on left of altar - left half...

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Airborne demon (based on their ears + fangs) army with tiger:

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The predecessor of Lao Airlines - first class cabin for a red garuda on upper deck, economy class below:

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Below them the greens & the whites meet:

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& a white elephant with striped tusks is led through the gates:

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Wall on left of altar - right half...

Ancient Lao version of Batman sailing above Gotham city:

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White horse takes a break at middle left:

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A multi-armed Thotsakan/Ravana-like character charges out of the gates in attack mode - note the two white 3-tiered parasols on the back of his chariot:

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Guy & white horse in battle:

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Bloody battle scene - five heads get lopped off within this frame, with two of the beheaded trying to catch their own heads (bottom):

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The Thotsakan/Ravana-like character has come off his chariot - the two 3-tiered umbrellas have broken off - & fires off three lotus bud-tipped arrows that sail above the white horse:

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Guy & white horse report to someone at left:

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Green-faced guy leads a princess character out (bottom left):

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White horse hitches a ride on the back of a naga:

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