| 
			Wat Sakawan (วัดสักกวัน) 
			a Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai, situated outside the city's centre, 
			roughly 1.5 kilometer north of the Kok (กก) River. It has an 
			octagonal bell-shaped stupa surrounded by eight mondop (มณฑป)-like 
			edifices with niches that each contains a gilded Buddha statue 
			according to the days of the week, in line with the Phra prajam wan 
			(พระประจำวัน)-system. The current white chedi (เจดีย์), decorated 
			with gold ornaments, was built over the former more squarish gilded 
			pagoda, between 2015 and 2016. The ubosot has a staircase with a 
			pair of green coiling naga while on the inside it features the Phra 
			prathaan (พระประธาน) and some colourful murals with scenes from the 
			chadok (ชาดก). On the northern side of the large sala hall is a 
			staircase with balustrades in the form of colourful dragon-like 
			chang patjay naak (ช้างปัจจัยนาค), i.e. a mythical creature that is 
			described as a snake with the head of an elephant, and also referred 
			to as chang hua naak (ช้างหัวนาค), which translates ‘elephant-headed 
			naga’; on the western side of this large hall is smaller staircase 
			flanked by gilded makaras (मकर), i.e. mythological creatures known 
			in the northern dialect as mom (มอม) and is said to be the mount of 
			the god of the storm clouds, Thep Patchanna (เทพปัชชุนนะ). Also on 
			the temple premisses are statues of the Burmese spirit or nat 
			(နတ်)-like deity Bo Bo Gyi (ဘိုးဘိုးကြီး), who in Thailand is known 
			as Thep Than Jai (เทพทันใจ), and of Shin U Pagok (ရှင်ဥပဂုတ္တ, 
			ရှင်ဥပဂုတ်), another deity originally from Myanmar and in Thailand 
			known as Phra Upakhut (พระอุปคุต). 
			
			
			回 |