Market Friday: Royal Vehicles or Chariots at the National Museum, ราชรถที่พิพิธภัณฑ์แห่งชาติ
This is my entry for #marketfriday hosted by our lovely and kind @dswigle who loves to invite people from around the world to share their cultural aspects of their countries. I have collected these photos which I took while wandering in the National Museum in Bangkok. There is a special building for keeping these historical royal vehicles or chariots for use in special ceremonies. These wooden vehicles are quite old and some have been through a lot of repair and renovation.
The oldest royal chariot was built in 1795 during the reign of King Rama I, about 225 years ago. These chariots were built for different status levels of Royalties. The bigger and more ornately decorated, the higher the level of the Royalty who would have the privilege of using the specific chariot. These were mostly used during funeral processions of the Kings, Princes and family members. There are also Royal Chariots for invitation procession of Buddha relics. These chariots symbolise the high virtue and honour bestowed upon a Royalty or a famous person with commanding respect of the people.
เราเก็บภาพที่ถ่ายจากโรงราชรถ ที่พิพิธภัณฑ์สถานแห่งชาติมาปีกว่าแล้ว ยังไม่มีโอกาสได้แสดงสักที เราอยากให้เพื่อนไปเดินเบ่นที่นั่นบ้าง เพราะว่ามีของเก่าที่มีคุณค่ามากมาย เราประทับใจในราชรถโบราณเหล่านี้มาก คันที่โบราณที่สุดสร้างในสมัยรัชกาลที่1 แต่ก่อนราชรถอยู่ในสถาพที่แย่มากเพราะไม่ได้รับการดูแลมานานมาก พอจะมีพระราชพิธีพระบรมศพของในหลวง จึงได้มีการบูรณะซ่อมแซมราชรถที่ต้องใช้ในริ้วขบวนกันเป็นการใหญ่ เรารอจนทุกอย่างซาลงและคนเริ่มไม่สนใจแล้ว เราจึงไเดินเล่นที่พิพิธภัณฑ์บ้าง ความประณีตงดงามของงานช่างที่บรรจงสร้างราชรถ ให้สวยงามเหมือนในงานเขียนในวรรณคดีและภาพฝาผนังในวัดพระแก้ว ทำให้เราทึ่งในความสามารถของช่างโบราณในเมืองสยาม เขาเนรมิตงานออกมาจากใจและความรูสึกของเขาจริงนัก เราเดินดูไปก็รู้สึกเศร้าเพราะ ทำให้คิดถึงงานพระราชพิธีมี่ผ่านมา รวมถึงตวามเป็นจริงที่ยังจะต้องมีงานเช่นนี้ในอนาคต เพราะเราเกิดมาใช้ชีวิตเพียงชั่วคราวเท่านั้น ไม่มีใครอยู่อย่างอมตะได้
According to the old tradition, the King was supposed to be a reincarnation of some gods in Heavens who was sent to look after people in the land. This belief has its roots in Hindu tradition of having so many gods and goddesses looking after the Heaven and earth, so the balance and harmony of the whole universe could be maintained. When a King passes away, a ceremony to send his soul back to the Heaven has to be correctly performed with full honour and respect. I have noticed some old paintings in temples and the Grand Palace seemed to be the original inspiration for the actual design of Royal Chariots.
I don’t know how long this old tradition will still be maintained in the future. The older generations of craftsmen were already gone and the new trainees are very few. This work requires total dedication and the cost for organising an old ceremony properly is very expensive. Most Thai people know that this may be the last decade for all these fine ceremonies and complicated tradition. So, I have included a video of the grand ceremony several years ago, it is worth a quick browse. The modern digital world seems like another universe when viewed against our old tradition which will be lost through time.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EAUAjrxdvSM
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Cheers.
Very beautiful photos!
Thank you very much! Hope you are very well! I am waiting for your new photos!!
Many thanks!
Yes, I’m doing well and I have many new photos :-))
And to you too, I wish you all the very best!
Oh! Son good to hear! Hope it is nice and cool there.
wow, gold is the currency of kings
All Kings in this world prefer gold to fiat!! Hahaha. Gold is timeless and ageless on earth (not in outer space!)
LoL
My heart aches for Thailand. Thanks for the nice post!
Thank you so much for your understanding. The show must go in! The running river never stays still! So, we have to survive the best way we could with love and peace.
Best.
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Cheers.
Lol, you are super busy 😉
This was such an amazing post @kamichan! The absolute stunning sight of these antique chariots is jaw-dropping. The only time I have ever seen one is a painting of a royal chariot that had the future Buddha. This was before he renounced his royal position. I remember being in awe of it. And that was a picture of it, not even the real deal.
I hope someday to stand in awe in person, to see these relics from another time.
The video also was wonderful. The pomp and circumstance, the synchronization, and the dedication to learn this will soon become lost. Young people today are not interested in their heritage I have found. Perhaps these are fleeting feelings and as they mature, they may be interested. I agree the digital age has ruined many things nad helped in some.
Thank you, once again for putting forth a wonderful, awesome, beautiful, interesting post! You always manage it!
Thanks for joining! I appreciate the love and support you are giving to #MarketFriday! Without you and people like yourself, I wouldn't be able to have such a successful challenge! I know that it is one of those challenges that take a lot of time and effort to be part of, so it means a lot to me that you participate. Thank you again for being a part of all this and I hope that you will, indeed, have a great day and week ahead!
Fridays are all about the #MarketFriday Challenge! Looking to take part in it? Here is how:
How to Participate:
Go to the market! Any market will do! Food, clothing, plant, or animal, if you wish. You can go to the zoo, an art auction, and restaurants. Anywhere or anything that you pay money for any kind of service.
Take pictures! Be creative! It’s fun!
Tell us a little bit about the market, what brought you here?
Post the picture.(s)
Don’t forget to use the MarketFriday Community #196308 to post from or hashtag it! #MarketFriday by @dswigle If you hashtag it, drop the link to your post here so I can easily find them.
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Upped and reposted
!tip .20
Thank you so much for your overwhelming feedback to my humble post. May be I am used to the old ceremonies and tradition so I am cool but full of respect for all the dedicated artistic work of older generations.
These craftsmen, painters, artists and builders worked long hours with happy willingness. They all considered that was a great honour to them and their families. The concepts of honour, grace and spiritual fulfillment seem to have slowly disappeared these days. Everything is measured in terms of material gains, gratifications and power.
This ceremony was very symbolic and a culmination of the feeling of unity among people in the whole country. They shared the same loss and they grieved together for months. The country was in automatic moaning for one year; they just wore only black most of the time. I had to go for pale or dark colours the whole year, to show my respect and sensitivity.
But life must go on! I don’t know how things will turn out by the end of this year. But I hope that we will unite in working together through all obstacles and difficulties.
Thank you so much for your moral support and encouragement.
Best.
It is always my pleasure, and I am always overwhelmed with warmth when I see the time and attention to detail you use to answer everyone's comments. Thank you for that.
Thank you so much for your compliment. Luckily, these are most friendly people i have known around here. I learn a lot from their culture and their stories. It would be nice to have a meetup with all these bloggers one day! Should be a lot of fun!
Wouldn' t that be fun? I agree. Of course, with things the way they are, it will be a few years before any of that will take place for me. But, time will tell. Have a most wonderful day!
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Thank you for your kind tip!
The craftsmanship of these chariots are so much more intricate than the King Tuthakhamun's chariot I saw at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Perhaps new trainees are harder to recruit also had to do with gender imbalance in Thailand. There are three times more women than men in Thailand. Some traditional jobs are only meant for male trainees. Then, I remember what my friend's aunt told her parents when she converted to Christianity. Honoring the dead is not as important as treating one's own parents well when they are still alive. All the ceremonies are for show only.
Old ceremonies have their place and meaning in the context of that culture at the particular time in the history of the people of the land. These will change with time and the need of new generation of population. These changes leave traces for making the historical stories of a civilisation. I wonder that Alien archeological experts would be saying in ten million light years when they came to dig this quiet and desolate earth!
Well, according to the Japan, US, UK and South Korea immigration, any foreigners (non-citizens) entering their countries are considered "Aliens." Need not wait that long to anticipate their thoughts since anyone could be an Alien :P
Yay!
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Thank you!
Wow very impressive and so beautiful ❤ @kaminchan! :-)
I love seeing history and traditions from all over the world!
I've never seen these and I'm enjoying the video link too!
Oh! Thank you so much for your appreciation. So glad you also like the video though it’s quite long. That’s once in a life time ceremony!
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know every user has their own profile map?
And so does every post as well!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Hi! Thanks for making a great map!
You're welcome @kaminchan 🙂👍
liz